Chapter 20
Back at the game screen, Tang Xiao stared at the CG and fell into thought.
At the moment he died, the conference hall had already become a living hell. The highly educated elite inside rushed blindly toward the exits, but the boulders had already buried any hope of escape.
All the exits were blocked, leaving no hope of escape. Inside the hall, what looked like a zombie virus outbreak had erupted...
Oh, no—it was zombie fungus. But its effects really were much like the zombies Tang Xiao had seen in movies and television. Those infected by the fungus gradually lost their reason and attacked their own kind in a frenzy. In the blink of an eye, most of the people in the hall had become fungal hosts.
Damn, that was brutal... Most of the Third Eye’s scientists were in that hall. This attack had struck at the organization’s very foundation. After suffering such a blow, the Third Eye would likely be severely weakened.
And those boulders that had just fallen from the ceiling—how had they landed so perfectly to block the entrance? Their trajectories had obviously been wrong.
Someone with superpowers?
The term flashed through Tang Xiao’s mind, and he pondered it.
This was clearly a premeditated conspiracy, and there was no way one person could have carried it out alone.
Which faction had done it? The Alliance? Or the Returnist Church?
Tang Xiao glanced at the CG description. Well, he’d cast his vote for the Returnist Church.
After Rocky had mentioned the Returnist Church, Tang Xiao had also looked it up on the Third Eye’s internal network. It was more or less as Rocky had described, and the main reason the Third Eye feared them was that the two organizations were mortal enemies.
The Returnist Church was a religious group that believed merging with fungi would bring glorious evolution, and despised anything that tried to
‘understand’ their faith. Unfortunately, the Third Eye was an academic organization—and a gathering place for mad scientists who had abandoned all moral and ethical restraints.
How could it be such a coincidence? A scientist from the Third Eye had just discovered a way to detect zombie fungus, and now an infection crisis had erupted. It was an outright provocation.
The goal was probably to destroy Dr. Feng’s research and prevent the zombie fungus detection device from being released.
Then he thought about his own objective and grew troubled. Breaking this deadlock didn’t seem too difficult; he only had to stay out of the hall. But what then? If so many senior scholars in the hall died, the Third Eye would undoubtedly be severely weakened and have no time to worry about any project.
He had to stop this from happening. At the very least, most of the scholars couldn’t be allowed to die here.
Having set himself a new goal, Tang Xiao took a deep breath and loaded his save.
His last save had been made before the presentation. Thankfully, he had a habit of saving.
The first half went as before. Tang Xiao handed his paper to the other scholars and was rejected. Having been through it once already, he was much calmer this time. His mind remained unruffled as he considered how to deal with the coming attack.
He couldn’t go straight inside, or he’d be trapped in another dead end.
Tang Xiao thought it over. If he wanted to keep the scholars from dying in the hall, shouting about it himself wouldn’t work. Only the Third Eye’s higher-ups could stop the presentation midway.
As before, the short-haired guy invited Tang Xiao to attend the presentation. Tang Xiao saved first, then said apologetically, “Sorry, I have something to take care of.”
This time, he didn’t go inside. He waited outside to see what would happen. He hadn’t expected to clear the level in one try anyway; he wanted to gather as much information as possible before each reload.
Li Ji was disappointed, but didn’t say much. He went to the presentation alone.
Tang Xiao waited where he was for almost an hour. At last, a loud noise came from inside the presentation hall, followed immediately by an explosion outside.
“W-what happened?”
The researchers still outside looked completely bewildered. Tang Xiao had already dashed out of the lobby and was surveying his surroundings. He saw black smoke rising from the laboratory area. His gaze sharpened, and he ran toward it.
When he reached the site, he found that Building 7, a laboratory building, had been hit hardest. A few other labs were also sending up wisps of black smoke.
“Whose lab is that?” He grabbed a researcher running out and shouted the question at him.
“D-Dr. Feng’s... Maybe some others too.” The scholar, completely at a loss, answered on instinct.
Just as expected.
Tang Xiao let him go, looking thoughtful. Sure enough, his earlier guess had been right. The culprit was likely the Returnist Church, and their target was Dr. Feng’s research. They’d also taken the opportunity to damage a few labs they disliked.
He keenly realized that this incident might not be entirely bad news for him. Chaos... also meant he might be able to fish in troubled waters.
Then wasn’t this the perfect stage to show off 428’s abilities?
But his thoughts were all over the place, and he still couldn’t put together a complete plan.
In any case, next time he’d try to stop the disaster from happening.
This time, after politely declining the short-haired guy, Tang Xiao headed straight for the staff at the venue.
“Who’s directly responsible for this presentation? I have something I’d like to report.”
The staff member beside him paused and glanced at Tang Xiao’s ID badge, seeing that he was an unranked rookie scholar.
According to the Third Eye’s ranking system, only researchers who had published papers and made tangible contributions could become ranked scholars. Scholars held an extraordinary position in the Third Eye; to some extent, the organization existed as a platform for these researchers.
So even though Tang Xiao was an unranked research grunt, an administrative staff member couldn’t simply brush him off. The staffer immediately took him to an office, knocked on the door, and explained Tang Xiao’s request from outside.
The door opened soon after, and a middle-aged man came out. He looked at Tang Xiao impatiently. “You’re the one who wants to report something? Go on, what is it?”
The middle-aged man’s ID badge identified him as a Level Two Scholar, but the title of Department Director stood out even more. Like a university, the Third Eye had people devoted to academic research, as well as those who felt their talents were limited and turned to administration instead.
Tang Xiao glanced at the staff member. The other man took the hint and left at once. Time was running out. After making sure no one else was nearby, Tang Xiao put on a frightened expression and said urgently, “Please stop this presentation! There’s a spy in the organization. They’re very likely to make a move during the presentation!”
The middle-aged man froze, then immediately grew serious. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“Of course not,” Tang Xiao said anxiously. “I accidentally overheard their plan. They said they were going to take out people and destroy the research. I didn’t see their faces, so I thought they were joking. But just now, I found a bomb in Dr. Feng’s lab... Dr. Feng herself may be in danger!”
Seeing the middle-aged man frown and say nothing, Tang Xiao grew even more anxious. “It’s true! I’m not lying. I’m standing right in front of you. If nothing happens, or if I’m lying, I’ll take responsibility myself!”
“Please hurry. Dr. Feng’s discovery is a treasure of all human civilization, and as you can see, almost all the senior scholars are in that hall...”
In fact, the middle-aged man didn’t need Tang Xiao to explain. He knew what a media firestorm it would cause if something really happened there, and cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead.
The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and said to Tang Xiao, “I understand. I’ll handle this. For now, please stay here, all right?”
Tang Xiao nodded. As long as he could stop this disaster, that was all that mattered.
The middle-aged man left the office. Before leaving, he even locked the door behind him. Clearly, he didn’t dare let Tang Xiao run off—in case it was a false alarm, he’d have a scapegoat.
After waiting in the room for half an hour, Tang Xiao suddenly heard several explosions in the distance. Then the alarm quickly began to blare.
The door had been locked from the outside, and Tang Xiao had no idea what was happening out there. He just found it strange.
Wasn’t he supposed to stop it?
Tang Xiao instinctively stood up and looked toward the window, but he couldn’t see what was happening outside from the office. Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Thinking the director had returned, Tang Xiao hurried over to open it. As soon as the door swung open, a staff member wearing a hat and mask asked, “Are you Tang Xiao?”
Alarm bells rang in Tang Xiao’s mind. Before he could react, the person suddenly stepped forward and lunged into Tang Xiao’s arms.
Tang Xiao felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down in shock and saw a dagger plunged straight into the area over his heart.
[You have died]
...
Damn, another spy!
Tang Xiao blinked and found himself back at the game login screen.
How many spies did this damn organization have!?
He’d warned the higher-ups, and he’d still died. It seemed the explosion hadn’t been stopped either.
Tang Xiao sighed. What else could he do? He could only keep trying.
Third round, begin!
This time, Tang Xiao didn’t plan to go through the higher-ups. He took matters into his own hands, found the venue’s control room, drew the staff away, and then cut the power cable.
The presentation moved to another venue and continued. The explosion happened again. Failure.
Fourth round.
Tang Xiao considered it. It seemed neither the higher-ups nor outside interference could stop the presentation from happening. That left him with no choice but to try something inside the hall.
This time, he followed the group into the hall again. He couldn’t help wondering what the point of the security check had been. The hall still exploded, and the zombie fungus still spread. The security check had been completely useless!
They hadn’t even detected 428.
Just before going in, Tang Xiao noticed 428 shifting restlessly in his pocket, then settling down again.
The first time, 428 had moved too, but Tang Xiao hadn’t noticed it was following him. He’d thought he’d accidentally bumped into the person in front of him and hadn’t paid it any mind. But now he was keeping a close eye on his pocket, so the movement immediately caught his attention.
After thinking it over, Tang Xiao made an excuse to use the restroom. Once he was in a stall, he took the hyphae hidden in his pocket out and asked, “What’s wrong?”
This little strand of hyphae wasn’t 428’s main body. It was weak right now. In earlier attempts, Tang Xiao had tried throwing it out when he ran into danger, and it had been destroyed.
428 should still be in its original lab, waiting to devour him and escape if he failed...
Only after asking did Tang Xiao remember that this offshoot of hyphae probably couldn’t speak. But then it moved.
The hyphae crept across his palm, back and forth several times. Tang Xiao realized something was off. It wasn’t drawing randomly. It looked like it was... writing words?
[Strong, dangerous, fragrant]
What did that mean?
Tang Xiao pondered the words, so lost in thought that he even forgot to ask when 428 had learned human writing. He racked his brain, then suddenly had a realization.
This person could sit at the security checkpoint with such a casual attitude, while everyone around them acted as if they weren’t there—and even seemed to treat them as the center of attention.
A word suddenly appeared in Tang Xiao’s mind.
Someone with superpowers.
Tang Xiao’s eldest brother had also told him that it would be best if he awakened a superpower in the game. Tang Xiao hadn’t managed to do so, but in a sense, that meant superpowers really did exist in the game’s world.
But why hadn’t someone with superpowers appeared when the presentation hall exploded earlier? Had the presentation gone on so long that the person had already left?
These questions flashed through his mind, a chain of ideas bouncing around in his head. In reality, only a minute or two had passed. After thinking it over, Tang Xiao decided to take a chance.
There hadn’t been anyone with superpowers in the hall at the time. But if one appeared during the presentation, might things turn out differently?!