Chapter 310: Volume 1 Chapter 310: You Are My System (20)

Outside the pharmacy, deathly silence returned once more, the gloomy mist cutting off their desire to venture out and investigate.

In the fog, all electrical devices become junk. Due to chaotic magnetic fields, even compasses lose their usefulness.

The closer they get to the center, the more they lose their sense of direction; wanting to leave here is harder than climbing to heaven.

Adding to that, lurking mutants all around, their ability to hold out until now is entirely thanks to good gear and good luck.

Xie Xunze came to his senses and replied, "I don't know either."

Jiang Zhi had been reading too many overbearing CEO melodramas, and getting this perfunctory answer, she went full drama queen: "Wuu wuu wuu, I can see you just don't want to tell me. Lately your attitude toward me has been getting colder and colder, Xie Xunze—if you dislike me, I'll just leave."

Her tearful words would make any normal person feel pity and sympathy.

Xie Xunze said indifferently, "Oh, then go ahead."

Jiang Zhi: "……"

The script changed, but that's fine; she continued, "You scumbag, after using someone you just discard them. Knowing they can't leave you, you still say such things—it stabs people in the heart."

Xie Xunze said expressionlessly, "If you keep acting, I'll make your words come true."

Jiang Zhi blinked: "What do you mean, come true?"

Xie Xunze lifted his eyelids, speaking word by word: "Our relationship."

Jiang Zhi fell silent at once, not daring to utter a sound.

Not long after this farce ended, the group inside the pharmacy, having secured the entrance, sent a few people in to search everywhere.

Xie Xunze hid at the doorway, already changed into a uniform he'd picked up somewhere, its chest bearing an insignia specially made for the Huabeijidi base—anyone who knew the gear would recognize it.

The searching team members were startled by him, and soon a bunch of people ran over, bringing him to the main house.

Jiang Zhi met the gaze of those people—only desperate outlaws have such a look.

"Where are you from? What's your name? Who's your superior? When did you arrive?" The captain was a one-eyed man; his right eye bore a fierce, deep scar that extended to his jaw, showing how dangerous the situation had been. His condition was far better than that of the troops behind him; he sat in a chair, interrogating in a cold voice.

The boy, pressed to the ground, had a deathly pale face, eyes full of fear, his body trembling from fright, staring at the floor, whimpering, unable to speak.

The team member holding him down, seeing this, kicked out with his leg, snarling, "Captain, he's scared stiff, yet he came to Xintangshi and still isn't dead—I suspect this kid is faking it."

The one-eyed captain raised his hand and said, "First, release him."

The team member reluctantly let go, standing aside, extra vigilant, ready to stop him if he suddenly rose and tried to kill.

But the boy, curled up on the ground, terrified to the point of passing out, his eyes rolled back, his body shaking like a seizure, and only after more than ten minutes did he improve slightly.

The one-eyed captain declared firmly, "It's not an act; no matter how he pretends, he couldn't make his whole body cooperate with the act."

The injured, one-armed team member said, "Captain, if he's not faking, how could he have survived in this place overrun with monsters?"

It's truly astonishing that someone this weak could still be alive.

The one-eyed man said, "Take another look—first go seal off this pharmacy."

The few remaining team members, all bearing various wounds, used their abilities to suppress the bleeding and followed orders to set up defenses.

Jiang Zhi watched the boy feigning sleep on the ground; she had known since he was eight that he was good at acting, but she never imagined that at eighteen he could still perform so convincingly, deceiving these knife-licking bloodsuckers.

Strong, little brother.

One can roughly guess why he deliberately acted as a timid weakling: he came to Xintangshi on a mission, first needing to find the location of an A‑level monster.

These people have obviously been in Xintangshi for a long time; if it were her, she would definitely try to get information from them.

But she still pretended not to know, asking puzzled, "What are you doing? Axun."

Xie Xunze ignored her, lying on the ground feigning unconsciousness.

Jiang Zhi wouldn't let up: "I know you're not faking it, Axun—tell me."

Xie Xunze thought: "I'll tell you after we get out."

Jiang Zhi reluctantly said, "Okay."

They sealed all the windows and barred the door completely, then lay about in a listless heap; prolonged tension kept them from resting properly, and even the slightest rustle would startle them awake.

When Xie Xunze "woke up," the one‑eyed man was still sitting in the chair before him, motionless, staring at him.

As soon as he noticed Xie Xunze awake, he immediately said, "I won't hurt you, but you must answer my questions truthfully, or I'll throw you out to feed the monsters."

Xie Xunze took a while before speaking: "You… what do you want to ask?"

The one‑eyed man repeated his earlier questions.

Xie Xunze showed no sign of lying, pouring out all his "information" to him.

A squad from the Huabeijidi base—he had the highest luck stat among his attributes, so he followed them as a mascot; but shortly after entering the fog they scattered, and he seemed to catch a glimpse of gold in the mist before he could see clearly, when an A‑level monster appeared and nearly killed him, prompting him to flee desperately into this pharmacy.

The one‑eyed man was half‑believing, half‑doubting, and very interested in that last part: "What gold?"

Xie Xunze scratched his messy black hair, recalled a moment, his face pale to near transparency: "I… don't know either, but I feel that behind that golden light lies tremendous power."

The one‑eyed man fell into thought.

He, just in case, pulled up the boy's attribute panel to have a look.

Sure enough, as the boy said, his luck points were the highest.

The one‑eyed man's doubts largely vanished, and a flash of excitement crossed his eyes.

The higher‑ups' old fogies weren't lying—Xintangshi truly possesses a mythic‑grade item.

Only a mythic‑grade item emits that golden light.

But judging from the boy's later words, there ought to be an A‑level monster guarding it.

Once a monster reaches A‑level, it gains human‑like intelligence.

He rose, stepped over the boy, entered the pharmacy's storage room with a few trusted teammates.

The boy lying on the ground lowered his gaze, his expression turning cold; he activated his ability, and through the thick walls heard the conversation in the storage room.

"If it's an A‑level monster, it must be the one we ran into before."

"That time we almost lost half our comrades; that monster was too strong, already evolved, making it more like an S‑level than an ordinary A‑level."

I have a way to obtain a mythic item.

Captain, what way is that?

The one-eyed removed the eyepatch from his right eye, voice vicious: "We can use that kid; his luck stat is maxed, stealing a mythic item from an A-rank monster is perfect."