Chapter 173: Energy Retrogression

【TASK TYPE: REGULAR TASK (TEAM)】

【TASK NAME: ENERGY RETROGRESSION】

【TASK OBJECTIVE: TRANSPORT TO THE BATTLEFIELD, CARRY THE POWER BATTERY TO THE DESIGNATED LOCATION, AND INSTALL IT】

【TASK TIME LIMIT: 48 HOURS】

【TASK REWARD 1: 1300 EXPERIENCE POINTS】

【TASK REWARD 2: 2000 GAME CURRENCY】

【TASK REWARD 3: 2 RANDOM ITEMS, QUALITY DEPENDS ON COMPLETION RATING】

【TASK REWARD 4: 1 RANDOM SKILL SCROLL, QUALITY DEPENDS ON COMPLETION RATING】

【TASK REWARD 5: 1 MEDIUM LIFE POTION】

【TASK REWARD 6: 1 FREE ATTRIBUTE POINT】

【FAILURE PENALTY: NONE】

【ACCEPT?】

At midnight, the system's broadcast echoed in his ears; fully armed, Li Cheng glanced at the wall clock, confirmed the time, and selected teleportation.

When he opened his eyes again, Li Cheng stood in a tunnel.

The tunnel was circular, ten meters in diameter, its walls made of an unknown cement-like material, the arched ceiling embedded with perpetual light tubes.

Ahead lay a massive alloy door; behind, the passage twisted and turned, leading into unknown directions.

Three others had also appeared in the tunnel.

A sharp, efficient Asian woman in a suit, wearing thin-framed glasses and a ponytail;

A young man of Indian descent wearing a gray sweatshirt;

A man clad in red-and-white motorcycle rider gear, gloves and helmet on.

The four studied each other, confirming through eye contact that they were all players.

"Let's introduce ourselves."

The woman in the suit broke the silence first: "I'm an operational agent of the Global Occult Consortium's East Asia Division. Here's my credentials."

She pulled a badge bearing the GOC emblem from her coat pocket and showed it to the others, then voluntarily revealed her player ID.

【BORN IN PURPLE CHAMBER · ZHAO ZIJING】【LV12】

GOC was an orderly-side official organization; with Zhao Zijing setting the tone, the Indian-mixed youth exhaled in relief and introduced himself: "I'm a member of the Monster Alliance Guild."

【SON OF THE MOON · MIDNIGHT HOWL】【LV11】

One level eleven, one level twelve—perhaps this task wouldn't be as hard as imagined?

As thoughts swirled in his mind, Li Cheng adjusted his glasses and said calmly: "I'm Chu Xuan of Long Yin Base, Colonel rank, the sole surviving first-generation gene-modified human."

The atmosphere turned icy; the motorcyclist groaned: "Master Pi Fu, not now, man. Stop with the memes."

Correct—the man in the iconic red-and-white uniform was Li Cheng's former teammate from the Monster Theme Park mission: the Crimson Rider of the Thousand Throats Beast Guild.

"Pfft." Li Cheng switched expressions instantly, rolled his eyes, and displayed his own ID like the Crimson Rider.

【DEADLY GAMBLER · PI FU】【LV12】

【ROCKET TEAM · CRIMSON RIDER】【LV10】

【How did he get to level twelve so fast?】

The Crimson Rider was startled; during their last mission together, Pi Fu's level was nearly identical to his own—now he was two levels ahead.

And this was even after the rider, as a member of the Thousand Throats Beast Guild, received bonus experience from regular tasks.

"Rider, how did you join Rocket Team?!"

Li Cheng frowned, speaking with a tone of disappointed frustration: "That's not a good place at all!"

"It's just a prefix," the rider said listlessly. "As a Pokémon trainer, I'd rather have titles like Master Sage, Loot King, or Pokémon World Champion."

Li Cheng continued: "Especially their former CEO, Morey—he eats China's benefits while cursing China, enjoying rich rewards while violating principles, severely hurting Chinese fans' feelings. No room for redemption."

Li Cheng continued, "Especially their former general manager Morey — he eats from China while cursing China, enjoying丰厚 benefits on one hand while challenging the bottom line of principles on the other, seriously hurting the feelings of Chinese fans. There's absolutely no room for reconciliation."

The Crimson Rider's eye twitched, once again feeling that familiar, agonizing pain.

Their banter confirmed they had known each other before.

Zhao Zijing silently pulled out an old-fashioned keypad phone, typed "Pi Fu" on its keyboard, and searched the Global Occult Consortium's offline database for related information.

GOC maintained decent relations with most guilds (except oddballs like the Laughing Troupe), keeping basic information exchange.

But Li Cheng had joined no guild, so Zhao Zijing found little.

But Li Cheng hadn't joined any guild, so Zhao Zijing naturally couldn't find much information on him.

Ripples stirred the air; four more figures materialized suddenly in the tunnel.

They were: a young white woman in jogging attire, a black youth with dreadlocks, a burn victim wrapped entirely in bandages, face obscured, and a Southeast Asian youth in a tailored suit with a branded watch.

Aside from the burn victim lying unconscious on the ground, the other three clearly had no idea what was happening—upon seeing the tunnel, they screamed in panic.

Apart from the burn patient lying on the ground, unconscious, the other three seemed completely unaware of the situation. Realizing they had arrived in the tunnel, they immediately panicked and began screaming.

"How did I get here?"

"Are you kidnappers? Don't kill me! My dad can pay the ransom!"

Their shouts echoed through the tunnel; the four players exchanged glances and instantly realized these were ordinary people dragged into the battlefield through a rift.

Their clamour echoed through the tunnel. The four players exchanged glances and decisively realized they were probably ordinary people who had been swept into the killing field by the rift.

Zhao Zijing sighed, left hand holding her GOC credential, right hand flipping to reveal a suppressed assault rifle, and fired a burst down the tunnel's far end.

The piercing gunfire instantly silenced the confused civilians.

The dreadlocked black youth was likely a gang member—the outline of a pistol was faintly visible beneath his loose clothing at his waistband. But he clearly understood the firepower gap between a pistol and an assault rifle; he immediately raised both hands and knelt, signaling he posed no threat.

That dreadlocked Black man was most likely a gang member—the area around his waist beneath the loose clothing faintly showed the outline of a handgun. But he was also well aware of the firepower gap between a small pistol and an assault rifle, so he immediately raised both hands and knelt on the ground to show he posed no threat.

"I'm an operative under the Global Occult Coalition. It's fine if you've never heard of this organization — just know that I have United Nations backing."

The GOC had ample contingency plans for this kind of situation. Following the procedures in her operations manual, Zhao Zijing recited a long string of scripted lines and extracted their information.

The white woman in jogging attire was named Catherine, from London, England — an ordinary office worker. Her memories stopped at the end of September 2022.

The young Black man with dreadlocks was named Miles, from Detroit, USA — a low-level gang member. His memories stopped at the beginning of 2023.

The Southeast Asian youth wearing a famous-brand watch was named Mendoza, a scion of a Philippine political dynasty. His memories stopped one month ago.

All three claimed they had been living perfectly fine, then suddenly found themselves in this tunnel.

Zhao Zijing then asked some common-knowledge questions — who was America's first Black president, what date Christmas falls on, how many satellites Earth has, and so on — to confirm they were Earth humans rather than people from another world.

"I don't know whether to call you unlucky fools or lucky ones."

Zhao Zijing shook her head helplessly, then turned to Li Cheng and the others and said: "These few should all be missing persons from the real world. They got sucked into a rift and have been in a state of frozen spacetime the whole time, only just now being unsealed."