Chapter 598

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"Just treat it as buying a lesson."

The money had already been transferred out; He Jie couldn't get it back (after all, since the other party could do it, they weren't afraid of being discovered).

He Jie looked at Shen Yao with a pitiful expression, and upon receiving Shen Yao's nod, immediately prepared to retaliate with high spirits.

Hmph hmph hmph!

He was someone backed by a Big Shot, so he wasn't afraid of these messy things.

Shen Yao was also decisive; the other party had transferred money to buy supplies for a rainy day. Since He Jie's money couldn't be recovered, they might as well settle the debt with supplies.

After finding out where the other party had placed most of the supplies, Shen Yao personally took He Jie for a trip, not leaving until they had taken almost everything.

"Although the other party bought only ordinary supplies, we don't know how long we'll need to live in the Instance; even if it ends up wasted, it's still better than being clueless and scratching our heads trying to think of a way."

Upon hearing this, He Jie nodded repeatedly, handing over more than half of the supplies he had brought to Shen Yao. "Sister Shen, don't be courteous; if it weren't for you, this money would likely have been wasted."

Now that he had gotten these supplies for free (even though it was still his own money spent), He Jie was already completely satisfied.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao glanced at He Jie, who looked like a second fool, and shook her head helplessly. Since her Space Backpack still had storage space after the Upgrade, and He Jie wanted to give them, she wouldn't be stupid enough to push them away.

"Go back and rest. Wait a couple of days; if the situation isn't right, leave."

Waving her hand, Shen Yao turned and entered the house. Xu Ningchen happened to be home. The two's gazes met, and everything was understood without words.

…………

The town's situation took a sharp turn for the worse on the second day after He Jie's money was recovered.

As if overnight, the trees surrounding the town became withered and damaged.

Any organism growing in the ground, no matter how good its stems and leaves looked, could not stop the rot that started from the roots.

The only exception was those new variety fruits and vegetables; they grew strangely and were completely unaffected.

The Official side acted very rapidly, popularizing the cause of this situation through various online and offline channels.

"Ripening agent?"

A bacterial ripening agent, with a ripening effect, acting on the plant itself.

It's just that this type of ripening agent's effect is too outstanding; ordinary plants can't withstand it and die quite cleanly.

"Sister Shen, Brother Xu, let's go to the few Reception Areas announced by the Officials."

Before the people even arrived nearby, He Jie's loud voice had already reached Shen Yao's ears.

Turning her head to look at the two approaching, Shen Yao pointed at the locations in the scene before her. "The Reception Areas announced by the Officials are all here," distributed in a radial pattern.

The nearest one is thirty kilometers away; driving normally, it would take less than an hour.

Considering they have to carry supplies, the road isn't easy to travel, and other factors, half a day should be more or less enough to arrive.

The four people (actually only two people) quickly agreed on which Reception Area to go to, then packed up their respective belongings and drove away.

"Careful, there are dead snakes on the trees."

Xu Hai had sharp eyes; he noticed a touch of tender green among the withered yellow leaves at a glance.

The trees were dead, emitting a faintly nauseating rotten smell. Quite a few dead small animals lay under the trees, mostly pet cats and dogs.

"Follow those cars ahead." The vehicles merged onto the town's main thoroughfare, slowly forming a long dragon whose head and tail couldn't be seen.

There weren't few people wanting to escape the town at this time. Locals might hesitate, reluctant to leave; outsiders, having prior experience, had prepared early.

So, to smoothly break out of the heavy siege within the long line of queuing vehicles, one needed good eyes and high driving skill.

Xu Ningchen had the three people fasten their seatbelts, himself gripping the steering wheel, turning left and right, and soon entered one of the small paths.

Driving slowly and leisurely, Shen Yao narrowed her eyes, then heard He Jie behind her point at the roadside and exclaim, "Those lying there are people, right?"

Hidden behind the green belt; if the green belt's leaves hadn't turned yellow and fallen off by more than half, this dead-angle position would truly not be easy to discover.

Shen Yao glanced casually and said, "They're people," but not whole — only half.

Do the plants here eat people? Looking at the neat cuts, it doesn't look like human handiwork.

Crunch crunch——

Shen Yao twitched her ears, using the view from the window side to scan the surroundings. This is a small commercial street, with shops, stalls, and green belts.

The incident happened suddenly; there were very few shops open normally on both sides of the street. They had driven for so long and hadn't even seen a single living human figure.

Where did the sound just now come from? Shen Yao called the System.

"Host, it's above your head!"

The System spoke crisply, accompanied by its unique mechanical sound's scream. Shen Yao covered her ears amid He Jie and the other's puzzlement. "There's something on the car roof. Let's go fast."

Accompanying her words was the car suddenly accelerating, with thudding falling objects landing behind them.

He Jie and Xu Hai lay on the seats looking back, their mouths wide open.

Heavens, a goddess scattering flowers?

Only what scattered down weren't flowers, but corpses of unknown life and death.

Someone killing and dumping bodies? Who has such guts!

The words at his mouth weren't spoken yet when Xu Hai noticed a touch of green ahead.

It was a vine about as thick as an arm; its tip coiled around a person's waist and abdomen, lightly tossed downward, and in just a few seconds the sound of a hard object hitting the ground occurred.

Xu Hai: …… So the one dumping bodies is a plant!

The words at his mouth were swallowed back down. Xu Hai patted his wildly pounding chest and exchanged a bitter smile with He Jie beside him.

The vehicle beneath them was still accelerating, and the corpse-dumping action behind them had not stopped.

Until the vehicle turned a corner, throwing the alley far behind them, did that vine that kept dumping corpses give up the chase and disappear.

"What on earth is going on?" Wasn't it ripening? How did it mutate?

Shen Yao replied, "The bacteria with ripening effects are active," some can't withstand it and just die off, some can withstand it and can mutate again.

"For you all, put on the gas masks properly, don't take them off lightly."

Shen Yao conjured four system-produced gas masks and distributed them, one per person.

Covering the entire face leaving only a pair of eyes, Shen Yao once again took out a palm-sized spherical electronic instrument from her space.

Beep beep beep—

The red light on the spherical electronic instrument lit up, continuously emitting a piercing sound.

Shen Yao looked at a line of text that appeared on the small screen below the electronic instrument, and nodded unsurprised.

"Just used the air analyzer to monitor, there are overactive molecular fluctuations in the air, excessive inhalation will cause the brain to receive frequently," the brain being in an active state will affect the human body, Shen Yao put away the spherical electronic instrument and pointed at the gas masks on several people's faces, "Leave the small town first."

Taking the small path avoids the main road traffic jam, but the time spent is several times the original.

By the time they had circled around and finally drove out of the small town's range, they were still twenty-odd kilometers from the government's nearest reception area.

Behind them was the increasingly distant small town, surrounded by haphazardly parked vehicles.

Many vehicles were parked on the roadside for unknown reasons, crookedly occupying the not-very-wide road.

"Sigh, these cars" really don't know how to park!

He Jie complained verbally, after they nearly crashed into a vehicle on the roadside, he wished he could jump down and actively help push it away.

Xu Ningchen stepped on the brake, "Get down and take a look, whether it's the vehicle's problem or the road we're taking has a problem."

He Jie and Xu Hai, hearing this, took the lead; the two had not helped with much since they came out, and now encountering this kind of work within their ability, of course they had to perform well.

"Hey, no one in the car."

"No one around either, the car is fine, can be driven."

He Jie and Xu Hai spoke one sentence each, and finally concluded that the people sitting in the cars had suddenly disappeared.

"Something dragged them out," because the time it happened was too short, causing many people to be unable to react in time.

Shen Yao confirmed it was not human operation, very likely similar to the vines they crashed into before, all special varieties catalyzed by bacteria.

Simulating the subconscious movements of a person being dragged, Shen Yao quickly discovered jewelry remnants by the car window.

Earrings, wristbands, and strands of hair.

"Traces disappear here," Xu Ningchen pointed at the position at the edge of the road, raised his hand and knocked on his cheek, "Up or down."

Shen Yao walked to Xu Ningchen's side, "People have weight, moreover so many people missing together," compared to underground, the possibility in the sky is greater.

"Go back and search around, take whatever is useful," they were relatively lucky, their arrival time was not early not late, that thing that just succeeded in attacking probably won't come looking for their trouble.

Xu Ningchen's prediction was not wrong, the four people circled around this group of vehicles searching all over, a large pile of things was cleaned out, no other shadows were seen.

He Jie and Xu Hai grinned, both had spatial equipment on them, although the internal area was not as large as Shen Yao's, they still filled more than half.

Originally thinking to collect whatever they encountered on the road, unexpectedly the surprise came this suddenly.

"Worthy of being a Big Shot, we're really lucky this time."

"Yeah, really hope there's this kind of opportunity next time too."

The two, since entering the instance, spent most of their time following Shen Yao, for outside situations they only heard but didn't see, therefore in their hearts they didn't take this instance seriously.

Shen Yao for some unknown consideration, the most she said to them was just to be obedient, so when they arrived at the official reception area, learned that all food, clothing, housing and transportation had to be self-sufficient, and simultaneously had to unconditionally undertake workloads beyond ordinary people's capacity, the two unsurprisingly exploded.

This is official regulation? Not some bandits? Robbery wouldn't work either right.

In their hearts they thought to firmly refuse all conditions of the official reception area, but because Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen had no objections, He Jie and Xu Hai could only agree.

"First figure out the reception area's situation, then inquire about the Territory Token's news."

Shen Yao suspected the instance mission needs triggering, as the country's overt management organ, the official side certainly has the most authority.

The four people were temporarily allocated to a building near the outside of the reception area.

The people inside were all civilians from the surroundings, basically by family unit, because the cost of moving in was relatively high, those prone to trouble basically didn't exist.

The floor they moved into was the fifth floor, rooms dense, only one walking stair, upon entering they were still gossiped about by neighbors because of the rather magical combination.

"The reception area is not large, besides places used for residence, the surroundings are all planting areas circled by the official side."

Some places they cannot go, like relatively important planting areas or the central area, but ordinary civilians' residential areas are unimpeded.

The instance mission setting is relatively intelligent, whether verbal contact or range delineation, both can trigger it.

They have been in the instance for over half a year now, mission progress not a bit.

Even those who pride themselves on patience can't endure it, let alone those restless ones, known for efficiency, who only want to do missions to earn points.

Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen have good reputation outside, but because of their own strength they appear out of place.

Changping Guild people also like to judge by appearance, don't dare disturb Shen Yao and the other, can only privately contact He Jie and Xu Hai to probe for news.

He Jie and Xu Hai are bothered beyond endurance, wish they could just cut ties with these people completely, pity once out of the instance they are still guild members, both sides' abilities are about the same, what if they get assigned to the same instance again later.

Sigh

Ordinary people have this bad point, Big Shots can act without any scruples, don't need to consider social obligations, ordinary people have more to consider, including He Jie and Xu Hai, rolling their eyes to the sky in their hearts, but on their mouths still having to speak nicely and curry favor with them.

Snap—

The phone was hung up accordingly, Xu Hai spat, "Trying to get something for nothing!"

Not willing to pay out anything, just want to probe for Territory Token news, why don't they let them find it and send it over, people look ugly but think beautifully.

He Jie exhaled, "The big pie is drawn quite round," just dry eating chokes panic.

"Tell Sister Shen and Brother Xu about it," Xu Hai shrugged, afraid of being a step late and having other evil people file complaints first to sow discord.

"Rest assured, you can speak the truth," after all they currently have no progress at all.

Unable to trigger the instance mission near the reception area, the things they have to do next are even more.

"Sister Shen"

He Jie looked at Shen Yao carefully, and at her signal, he spoke, "The instance mentions a plague; what exactly is it?"

He didn't see any disease; instead, more and more plants appeared mutated, finally evolving into a chaotic dance of all plants? That has even less to do with a plague.

Shen Yao's expression paused, "I said before, there are Overactive Molecules in the air; the bacteria they form have a maturing effect, and are also the cause of the plant mutations."

Overactive Molecules will affect the human brain; the brain is a key part of the human body; once something goes wrong, the consequences need no further explanation.

This is extremely likely to be the root cause of the plague.

He Jie:...

He Jie nodded, thinking to himself that if it were truly like this, the Changping Guild's people would probably be wiped out in large numbers.

Not many like them escaped; most Taskers are Lone Wolves, who like to hoard supplies alone and hide away to clear the instance.

The lucky ones pick a valley surrounded by no danger; the unlucky ones pick the Deep Mountains and Old Forests; when they then encounter plant mutations, there's nowhere to escape.

The four of Shen Yao stayed in the Reception Area for three days; on the morning of the fourth day, the Wedding Guests followed Official Personnel to the planting area to labor; when the four saw the range demarcated for the planting area, the Instance Mission that had been silent for a long time jumped out.

Ding—

Instance—Plague

Mission: Protect New Variety Plants unaffected by HY Molecules so they can be planted on a large scale

Time Limit: Three Years