Chapter 40
Chapter 040 Maybe This Is What You Call a Simp
It turns out that being hefty has its perks, like in situations like this where the chubby guy has a definite advantage over others.
Of course, it’s not without consequences; that last hit left his whole face purple.
And when the female researcher saw he didn’t go down with one strike, she quickly wriggled out of his arms, stepping back to unleash a series of attacks. But the chubby guy wasn’t one to be messed with. He immediately raised his hands at her and gritted his teeth, “Damn it, Thunderstorm!”
Crack—!
Suddenly, a thunderous noise erupted indoors, the blinding flash startling everyone into closing their eyes. When the light faded, they opened them to find a corridor, now charred and blackened in half.
The chubby guy stood at the edge of the darkness, panting and shaking as he stared ahead, “Crap, I overdid it… feeling a bit faint, Old Ling, help me out…”
Ling Mo: “…”
At that moment, he understood what the chubby guy’s ability was.
Sure enough, Master of Thunder.
And it certainly looked quite intimidating.
Xia Xinyan nonchalantly stepped over to the scorched area and after a quick search, successfully found a charred ID card.
Murong Yue also leaned in, marveling at the blackened object, “This ability of the chubby guy is pretty strong… By the way, is that carbonized? Can it still be used?”
“Let’s find out.” Xia Xinyan approached the door, placed the card in the sensor area, and suddenly the indicator light turned green, causing the tightly shut door to creak open.
“Wow, it really works? This quality is impressive.” Murong Yue couldn’t help but comment.
“Enough chit-chat, let’s hurry in and grab what we need.” The chubby guy’s expression darkened, “I have this ominous feeling.”
“Ominous feeling? Are you infected?” Murong Yue shot him a glance, “That’s actually a real possibility; you did just get hit, didn’t you?”
“…Who said getting hit means infection? Don’t spread panic here.” The chubby guy patted Ling Mo, “Old Ling, let’s go check it out.”
Ling Mo nodded, supporting him as they walked inside.
Xia Xinyan followed, but once inside, they found an empty room.
The room was quite high-tech, its walls projecting data that screamed impressive, but the most crucial thing—the shelf that should have held the vaccines—was entirely bare.
“Where are the vaccines?” The chubby guy was dumbfounded, “A whole shipment gone?”
Xia Xinyan glanced around the room and spotted a notification on a table in the corner. Picking it up, she quickly figured out what was going on: “The syringes have been moved.”
“What?” The chubby guy halted, “There’s a procedure like this? Where did they move them to?”
“It says here they were sent to the southern mall for trial distribution.” Xia Xinyan passed the notice around for everyone to see, somewhat helpless, “I have no idea where the southern mall is.”
This is just one of the quirks of this game that she should have anticipated from the start. Items or events that can positively change a player’s fate in the dungeon often come with certain challenges. Like the vaccine—if getting it were too easy, it would lose its challenge.
It seems even the initial dungeons aren’t overly lenient with newcomers…
“Isn’t that a complete waste of time?” Murong Yue couldn’t help but complain, “If I’d known, we might as well have hidden somewhere safe from the start. By the way, do you guys even know where your homes are?”
“I know,” Xia Xinyan nodded, then added, “But just hiding at home for a few days thinking we’ll clear the dungeon is too naive. Even without the vaccine, we need to figure out how to get a map of this city.”
Once players enter the game, they don’t have any personal belongings, including electronic devices like phones. They had navigation in the car, but unfortunately, it couldn’t be taken with them, so after leaving the car, they became practically blind in this city.
However, since Xia Xinyan mentioned a map, Ling Mo suddenly had an idea: “How about we find a store and grab a few phones? There should be maps on them, right?”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” The chubby guy was the most eager, brandishing his gun and charging outside.
Just as Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan were about to head out, Murong Yue suddenly pulled them back, whispering, “Hey, seriously, don’t you think it’s possible that… what’s his name again? Anyway, he might be infected with the virus? Didn’t he just get hit?”
Ling Mo hesitated.
Xia Xinyan looked at her with interest and asked softly, “So what do you suggest?”
“How about the three of us just go, leaving that chubby guy to fend for himself? He has a weapon, right? If he is infected, we shouldn’t let him drag us down,” Murong Yue proposed.
Ling Mo turned to Xia Xinyan.
It seemed his instinctive first reaction was to seek Xia Xinyan’s opinion or thoughts—even if he had his own plans; he wanted to consider her feelings.
Maybe this is what you call a simp.
But even as a simp, he believed he was the kind that would end up with everything in the end.
Xia Xinyan didn’t seem to mind much: “Let’s see what A Mo thinks.”
Hearing that, Ling Mo froze again.
A Mo…
Although it sounded a bit strange, it was kind of an endearing nickname, right?
An endearing nickname…
Hehe.
“Hey, so what’s your plan?” Murong Yue’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts.
Ling Mo cleared his throat, “Zhang Daring is my friend in real life. Do you think I’m cut out for this?”
“It’s just a game; do you really like letting people mess you over while playing?” Murong Yue couldn’t help but mutter.
“You know it’s a game?” Ling Mo shot her a sideways glance and retorted, “Why be so serious about a game? How do you know he’s already infected? Even if he is, we can always find some vaccines later. If you don’t want to, you can just go solo; after all, you have a weapon, right?”
Murong Yue: “…”
Tch.
Ling Mo ignored her further, turning to head outside and said, “Xinyan… let’s go back sooner for safety.”
Noticing the change in his way of addressing her, Xia Xinyan raised an eyebrow.
Heh, a bit brave.
She had originally expected him to act as if he hadn’t heard anything.
The chubby guy had been waiting at the door, and upon seeing them finally arrive, couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you dawdle for so long?”
“Just checked if there was anything valuable inside.” Ling Mo casually deflected, then changed the subject, “Do you remember where there’s a phone store nearby?”
“Who remembers that?” The chubby guy looked around the street with a frown, “The brand stores in this dungeon aren’t the same as in reality; who knows what stores sell phones here? There isn’t even a 5G advertisement around.”
“Then what do we do? Just search one by one until we find something?” Murong Yue chimed in.
As soon as she finished speaking, a cry for help suddenly rang out from ahead: “Help!!!”
The four turned to look and saw a man crawling out of a deformed car on the road. Behind him, four to five infected individuals had found him and charged at him, while he scrambled to his feet, calling for aid and running toward the street up ahead.
“Is he a player?” Ling Mo eyed him and asked.
“Not a chance,” Murong Yue shook her head, “I don’t recognize him.”
“Then… maybe we can save him.” Xia Xinyan smiled, “Local people in this world should have phones, right?”
Murong Yue: “…”
She knew that girl was definitely no nice person.
