Chapter 135: The Earthās Wasteland Chapter (8)
Translator: Sigma Editor: Sigma
Wild Trace Sword Shadow was standing around five meters away from that headless corpse to guard over Feng Bujue.
"Do you really have to do that?" Wild Trace Sword Shadow looked at Feng Bujue, who was crouching down and busying himself with the corpse, as his eyes were saying, āYouāre really a pervert.ā
"I am doing it right now, aren't I? What? Youāre willing to give up your grenade?" answered Feng Bujue.
"Ah... Honestly, let alone the fact that whether we are going to waste my grenade or not, Iād rather be more concerned about your mental statusā¦" Wild Trace Sword Shadow glared at him.
"Whatās the matter with my mental status?" Feng Bujue answered. "Iām just using a corpse in a virtual game to set up a trap. Any player with normal psychological status, if they can think about this plan, they will do it without any hesitation."
"Haha, as you wishā¦" Wild Trace Sword Shadow didnāt want to discuss with him anything. Now, he seemed to understand why this guyās ID was āUnidentified Mental Disorderā.
Feng Bujue tied a wire through the pull ring of the grenade then rolled up his sleeve, brutally thrusting his hand holding the grenade down the corpseās throat to its stomach. And on the skin above the stomach, he just needed to make a small cut to pull out a part of the wire through the skin.
Next, he carved some words. At the place where the wire protruded from the skin, he decorated it with a question mark ā?ā, waiting for the opponent to bite his bait.
"Why do you need to write something there and just cover half of it?" asked Wild Trace Sword Shadow while looking at Feng Bujueās setup.
"If I donāt cover it, they can read if from far away," Feng Bujue said. "If I cover it entirely, they perhaps wonāt find these words." After he was done, he used the corpseās garment to wipe his hands, got up and said, "Half-coveredā¦ they will have to crouch down and lift up the cloth to see what it is. And then, if their vision is normal, they will find the wire awaiting there."
"What makes you so sure that they will touch the wire?" asked Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
"Who said that I am sure that they would touch the wire?" replied Feng Bujue.
"Wut?" Wild Trace Sword Shadow seemed not to understand his idea.
Feng Bujue spoke up again, "Does this look like a trap?"
Wild Trace Sword Shadow really wanted to catch up with his train of thought. "A trap should be placed at a random place where the others have to travel through. For example, behind a door."
"Itās alright then." Feng Bujue nodded.
"Done?" Wild Trace Sword Shadow still didn't get it.
"I'll give you an example," Feng Bujue said, "remember the time we received the side quest from the iron chest?"
"If we opened the chest leading to an explosion, would we get trapped already?"
"The system wouldn't make such setup," Wild Trace Sword Shadow answered. "Because players would not be able to run away. If that chest was really an explosive object, there should be a clue or a reminder before we had opened it."
"Ah," Feng Bujue said, "am I the system?"
"Do I look like a good guy whoās willing to remind the enemy?"
"Besides, thereās another reason that made you think that the chest wouldn't trigger a Death Flag without any hesitation," continued Feng Bujue.
"Becauseā¦ that room is an optional quest that we actually didnāt need to open the gate as we could take the other way around to leave the place. Although we had killed all the monsters, we could always choose not to open the chest," mumbled Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
Feng Bujue pointed at the corpse. "This corpse lies on the ground. They can ignore it, and they wonāt check out the other half of the line I left. Even if they see it, they can choose not to touch the wire."
Wild Trace Sword Shadow scratched his head as he just understood a part of it. "This is something likeā¦ the psychology of suggestion?"
Feng Bujue had already walked forward, gestured his friend to catch up with him while saying, "If you want to make someone do something that doesnāt look harmful at all, but itās actually dangerous, you have to let him feel that itās okay if he has to do it or not, and he isnāt forced to do it. Then, this will look like itās just a ānormalā matter, and whatās so-called ānormalāā¦ shouldn't be too difficult. Because if itās too difficult, it wonāt work. And it should also be not too easy. If it is too easy, the enemy will be suspicious of it.
"For example, when you attempt to kill someone and the victim starts to resist, itās ānormalā. But if he resists too hard, you will give up in the middle of the process. And, if your victim is too calm waiting for you to kill him, you will have suspicions.
"Another example, if you want to install a bomb in some structures, if that place is strictly guarded, you will eventually give up. And if the defense is too weak, you will feel itās inconceivableā¦"
Feng Bujue licked his dry lips and dryly coughed. "Thus, I have to hide the grenade inside the corpse and set up the wire at a place they can choose to touch it or not. And, my message isn't placed on the surface or on its ass, so that they couldn't easily find it." He sighed, "Finally, we prepare an unpredictable surprise for them."
"What if they canāt find the wire or wonāt check the corpse before they left?" asked Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
"They are professional gamers, arenāt they?" asked Feng Bujue.
"If you were there, would you leave without checking anything?"
Before Wild Trace Sword Shadow could answer, Feng Bujue spoke up again, "Of course, in the worst case scenario, we simply lost a grenade."
"You didnāt lose anything though, rightā¦"
"Yup," answered Feng Bujue shamelessly.
It was roughly 10 minutes after they had been walking and talking along the way. All of a sudden, a metal chunk as big as a basketball emerged from a turn ahead of them, screaming through its way, brushing Feng Bujueās left cheek.
Feng Bujueās initial reaction was to bend down, taking out the pistol and preparing to counterattack.Ā As he was looking forward, he found a silhouette standing in a dusky corridor far away from them. Apparently, that one had launched this attack.
Wild Trace Sword Shadow had also noticed the attacker. His action was extremely fast as he didnāt say a word; he just stormed forward with the sword in his hands.
No matter who or what the attacker was, to Wild Trace Sword Shadow, if it were in the effective range of [Glorious Shadow Slash], he was definitely confident that he wouldn't fall into a disadvantaged situation.
As that silhouette saw Wild Trace Sword Shadow had stormed towards it, it was petrified at the spot for an entire two seconds before turning around and running away.
At this moment, Feng Bujue was also running forward. Noticing the otherās reaction, he called out to Wild Trace Sword Shadow who was running ahead of him, "Catch him alive!"
Wild Trace Sword Shadow didnāt have time to answer, but he had heard that.
When Feng Bujue ran with all his strength, he was fast. In the scenario where the two of them had fought against each other, Wild Trace Sword Shadow could see that when Feng Bujue ran with all that he had, it was 80% or 90% of his speed. And, after he had activated his [Body-Spirit Congregation Technique], even if Wild Trace Sword Shadow had used all his strength, he couldn't catch up with Feng Bujue.
Right now, the two of them were using the same speed to chase after and soon approached the runner. That guy was wearing an orange protection suit. His speed wasnāt at the same level with the two players, and he was holding an [Anti-gravity Launching Device] in his hands. As Feng Bujue saw him, he could confirm that the one who had ambushed them was an NPC. Thus, he shouted ācatch him aliveā.
Not long after that, Wild Trace Sword Shadow had finally reached to the range he could activate his Glorious Shadow Slash. After he had used teleportation, he appeared right in front of the other. That NPC was frightened but couldn't stop his footsteps. Wild Trace Sword Shadowās elbow swept over the manās collarbone, throwing him down on the ground.
Although the man had already suffered from the fall and was groaning on the ground, Wild Trace Sword Shadow didnāt show any mercy as he pulled the NPCās arms and pushed him closer to the ground then snatched his weapon.
Feng Bujue arrived, but he didnāt look like the other hotshot who could always maintain calm and stable breathing. Seeing the situation was under control, he then rested both hands on his knees and panted heavily.
"Say it, who are you?" said Wild Trace Sword Shadow to his captive.
That man had been running until he was out of breath and then got thrown down to the ground, so how could he speak up now.
"Get off him. Itās alright," said Feng Bujue.
Wild Trace Sword Shadow loosened his grip, took two steps back while still holding his sword, gazing cautiously at the attacker on the ground.
That man flipped his body over, and faced up while his chest was heaving heavily. It took him a really long time to stabilize his breathing. From his transparent mask, they could see that he was a Caucasian man, looking very young, around 20 years old. His head was relatively small. He was around 160 centimeters tall with a small build and black hair that looked like instant noodles.
After he had recovered a little bit, the man sat up, his pair of arms supporting his body from behind while he retreated until he reached the wall. All this time, he looked at the other party standing in front of him with a frightened face.
"Letās talk," Feng Bujue crouched down, leveling his eyes and the otherās eyes, "Whatās your name?"
"Outlanders! You evil! Pagans!" the man screamed while holding his helmet with both hands. "Donāt you even think about hypnotizing me with your ādevil languageā! In your dreams!"
Wild Trace Sword Shadow looked at Feng Bujue. "I thinkā¦ Itās getting complicated. Isnāt it a science-fiction scenario? Why is there a magical and religious setting?"
Feng Bujue hesitated for a while then beamed a cold smile. "No, I think this is a futuristic science-fiction setting." He finished then took out the steel sword from his bag.
Having seen that, the man started to scream out insanely with all of his strength.
"Shut upā¦" Feng Bujue used a normal voice to speak, but the other was screaming louder. Feng Bujue immediately put the steel sword on his neck and shouted, "Shut up!"
The guy was scared and immediately shut his mouth up.
"What, is, your, name?" asked Feng Bujue, spitting out one word after another.
"Han... Hank," answered Hank.
"Hank, whatever you think we are, itās okay. I don't need your trust. I also donāt need to explain anything to you. However, you have to answer us honestly. If not, you will dieā¦ very painfully," said Feng Bujue.
"Noā¦ Don'tā¦" said Hank, "Donāt, please, I still have a mother at homeā¦ My brothers are all deadā¦ I canātā¦"
"Donāt babble!" Feng Bujue interrupted, "Iāll ask, and you will answer."
Hank nodded. His emotion was a little bit calmer, just like a crying child who was scared and forced to stop crying.
"What are you doing? Why are you here?" asked Feng Bujue.
"Iā¦ Iām a member of the āScavengersā squadā¦ under the order, Iām here to search," answered Hank.
"How many people are there in your squad?" asked Feng Bujue.
"Fiveā¦" answered Hank. "But several hours ago, Iāve lost connection with them." He strangely looked at Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
"Donāt look at me like that. I didnāt kill your friends." Wild Trace Sword Shadow, of course, recognized that. He retrieved his sword and said, "Weāve seen a friend of yours, but when we saw him, a monster had killed him already." That was the man who got the octopus parasite.
"Whatā¦ monsā¦ monster? Ah, my godā¦ damn it." Hankās body was shivering constantly, just like he was about to cry. "Thatās why they said they found something peculiarā¦"
"What kind of vehicle youāve used to come here?" asked Feng Bujue.
"Vehicle?" Seemed Hank didnāt understand this word.
"What did you ride to come here?" Feng Bujue changed the words of his question.
"Itās the āShark Cabinā. Scavengersā members all use it," answered Hank.
"Is that something like a boat or a car?" asked Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
"Car?" Hank was confused again.
Feng Bujue shook his head, sighed and continued his interrogation, "Originally, you were staying in the āShark Cabinā while your four other friends had entered this lab to search. And, because youāve lost connection with them, youāve entered here too, right?"
"Why did you attack us?" asked Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
"Youā¦ you areā¦" Hank looked at them with fear in his eyes. "Because you guys are outlandersā¦"
"Can you explain what is āoutlandersā?" said Feng Bujue.
"Devils! Men from outside the village!"
"How do you know we come from another place?" asked Feng Bujue.
"Your clothesā¦" said Hank. "Iāve never seen clothing like that. Moreover, you guys donāt need protection suit to survive here."
"What?" Feng Bujue frowned. "How? Would you die if you breathe in the air here?"
"Of course! It was only in the village that we can breathe fresh air! The air outside is fatal! Itās because the outlanders have diffused toxic gas!" Hank pitched up his tone.
Feng Bujue got up, walked to Wild Trace Sword Shadow and said, "Do you remember the opening of the 10th movie in āFriday the 13thā franchise?"
"Just say what you want to sayā¦" Wild Trace Sword Shadow said, "Whatever you say is true anywayā¦"
"That means you don't remember exactly," said Feng Bujue.
"Nonsense. Who can remember in details a movie released years ago?" said Wild Trace Sword Shadow. Anyway, after he had spoken up, he suddenly recognized something and immediately added, "Alright, not including youā¦"
"I remember clearly that in the opening scene of that movie, the member of the scientists team from the outer space can remove their helmet and breath when they enter this lab. Of course, the premise is that they have already checked the air quality and the bacteria around there," said Feng Bujue.
"Get to the main points," continued Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
"The main point isā¦ the man in front of us, just like Iāve assumed beforeā¦" Feng Bujue lowered his voice to talk while watching Hank, who was crouching and leaning against the wall. "He should be the descendant of the survivors on the Old Earth, but I don't know why he isnāt evolved physiologically to adapt to the environment. Quite the contrary, he got the tendency of degeneration. Even those immigrants in space can breathe the air in this lab for a short while, but he canāt do that."
"Is it strange?" asked Wild Trace Sword Shadow.
"Is Darwin a false God?" asked Feng Bujue.
"Eh..." Wild Trace Sword Shadow said, "Alright, Iām not good at biology. But, I think you are saying that this situation is not suitable with the theory of evolution?"
"The group of people living in the spaceship has similar lungs and heart functions with human beings of 400 years ago," Feng Bujue said, "but the ones who survive on the Old Earth, which has the extreme conditions for living creatures, will choke themselves to death breathing the air here." He paused for a while, "And, do you remember the guy with the octopus?"
"You meant the one youād beheaded and harassed by putting the grenade through his throat and carved words on his tummy?" Wild Trace Sword Shadow pretended to concentrate then spoke up. "Haā¦ itās easy to forget himā¦"
"His height and appearance arenāt much different from Hankās. Unusually thin and weak," said Feng Bujue.
"They are Caucasianā¦ I should remind you a bit here. In our age, Western European menās average height is around 180 centimeters, and the guys from Northern European countries approach 190 centimeters," said Feng Bujue.
"Donāt you think that in this planet, the malnutrition is more popular?" Wild Trace Sword Shadow said, "and, this is just a game, why do you need to pay attention to those details?"
Feng Bujue shook his head. "I donāt know how many human beings are left on this Old Earth, but I can confirm that Hankās āvillageā has some problems."
"Feng-Geā¦ do you remember that we are playing Killing Game 2 versus 2? We are not here to save some NPCās village!"
Feng Bujue held up his hand, unfolded three fingers then seriously listed up three reasons. "Breathing air in their village will not reduce our Survival Value. Their science and technology level can produce [Anti-Gravity Launching Device]. Moreover, people there canāt bear one strike from us."
"Ahā¦ You are not going to save the village, but to burn down houses and rob their properties, arenāt you?" Wild Trace Sword Shadow seemed to understand.
"Saving and also robbing, well, talk about it laterā¦ We need to think about how to get on Hankās āShark Cabinā to leave this lab. Then we are invincible. Before the two patient badasses from Corpse Saber have drained their blood supplements, we have a variety of strategies to use and totally grip the initiative," said Feng Bujue.