Chapter 372: Secret Plan
Fang Heng opened the game log.
The vine zombie team had successfully entered the ventilation duct and was heading to the storage room on the second floor.
Fang Heng glanced at Su Jincheng, who was a little anxious.
Su Jincheng had been worried about the Licker in the ventilation duct. He was barely holding his uneasiness in.
Seeing that, Fang Heng immediately controlled the zombie team hidden in the ventilation duct to gather at the control center hall in the third basement.
"Alert! Alert! Unknown creature has been detected! "
Soon, another ear-piercing alarm sounded in the main control room.
Su Jincheng's heart was in his throat. He stood up from his seat with a whoosh.
"What's going on? ! "
"Lickersa! A large number of Lickers detected! "
The researcher's forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he looked panicked.
On the surveillance monitors, more than ten Lickers crawled out of the broken ventilation duct!
Earlier, there were only two Lickers, and they had already caused so much trouble.
"Not good! They are coming toward our main control room! "
"Quick! Gather all of the teams! " Su Jincheng immediately ordered.
What was bound to come had come!
It had been three hours since anything had happened. Su Jincheng was still trying to convince himself that what had just happened was just an accident. Who knew that as soon as he relaxed, a large number of Lickers appeared.
"Stop them! We must not let them destroy the teleportation passage! "
Fang Heng turned to look at Su Jincheng and reminded him calmly, "Mr. Su, I suggest that you don't let the Lickers break into the main control room. From the surveillance footage just now, after the Lickers self-destruct, their highly corrosive blood spews over a wide range. A slight corrosion could cause damage to the stabilizer and affect the normal operation of the teleportation passage. "
"D*mn it! Parason, come with me! "
Su Jincheng clearly realized how tricky the situation was. He quickly counted his men and personally led them to guard the passage entrance.
Parason was scared to death, but he still followed the team out to check the situation.
Instantly, there were only five Night Owl players and three NPC researcher survivors left in the main control room.
The researchers were busy in front of the command station while the five Night Owl players were guarding the entrance of the main control room.
However, their minds were mostly focused on the big screen in the control room.
The big screen was playing the surveillance footage of the various passages in the third basement.There's a fluctuation in the stabilizer's energy. You guys, quickly go and check the operation of the stabilizer! " Fang Heng found a random excuse to send the three NPC researcher survivors away.
"Yes! "
He then walked to the main control platform.
Clearing his throat, Fang Heng pressed the loudspeaker button for the sixth basement.
"Warning! Lickers detected! Attention, large numbers of Lickers have been detected approaching the sixth basement. Estimated arrival in five minutes. Please protect and help evacuate the researchers to the research personnel lounge in the fifth basement. The ventilation duct on the fifth basement has been cleaned and reinforced. Before receiving new orders, please protect the research personnel and guard the passage to the fifth basement. "
Fang Heng continued, "I repeat! Warning! Lickers detected… "
In the sixth basement, four Night Owl organization players who were standing guard heard the warning from the loudspeaker and immediately felt a chill run down their spines.
They had limited manpower, to begin with. Not long ago, two of them were injured, and then four more were transferred away. Currently, only they, the last four players, were left to guard the passage on the sixth basement.
They were alone, yet they were about to engage a large number of Lickers.
How could they survive?
Sacrificing for their ideals was one thing, but throwing their lives away for nothing was another.
Hearing sounds coming from the ceiling, the few of them subconsciously raised their heads.
Something was climbing in the ventilation duct above the ceiling!
It was obviously a Licker!
"Hurry up! Take the research personnel to the fifth basement! "
"Let's go! "
"Hurry up and retreat! "
The Night Owl players never suspected that it could be a false order. They immediately used the magnetic card to open the door of the secret laboratory and evacuate the research personnel.
Through the surveillance monitors, Fang Heng had been monitoring the sixth basement players' every move.
Looking at the players quickly retreating, Fang Heng could not help but exclaim in awe. "Heh, they retreated quite quickly. "
Upon seeing that the Night Owl players had led the research personnel and evacuated from the sixth basement, Fang Heng narrowed his eyes and immediately entered a string of commands into the command station.
Meanwhile, the four Night Owl players had just managed to escape from the sixth basement to the fifth basement alongside the research personnel.
Before they could catch their breaths, they heard a loud sound from the passage entrance to the fifth basement.
Turning back, they saw that the iron gate at the end of the passage was closed.
What happened?
Why was the iron gate of the passage closed?
The Night Owl players looked at each other in dismay, and the remaining NPC researchers also became nervous.
A player thought of something. She looked at the surveillance camera facing everyone and said, "Don't be nervous. The iron gate was probably closed to protect us, to prevent the Lickers from breaking in from the sixth basement. We'll just wait here for support. "
The players felt that it made sense.
However, in the next second, they heard a familiar shuffling sound.
"A licker? ! " they thought unanimously.
The sound, akin to a life-threatening curse, made the faces of the players change again. They raised their guns and aimed in the direction of the sound.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The net of the ventilation duct in the corner was instantly broken.
A few red figures darted out from the opening of the duct.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The reaction speed of the Night Owl organization's players was much faster than that of ordinary players!
Almost instantly, four players opened fire at the same time.
Hum…
They threw a flashbang forward.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The four players raised their submachine guns and kept firing at the Lickers.
However, there were too many Lickers!
The Lickers kept coming out from the passage entrance. The Night Owl players realized in despair that even if they used flashbangs, their damage output was not enough to kill the Lickers!
They wanted to escape, but their only escape route, the iron gate, was closed.
It was over.
For a moment, all the players felt despair rising in their hearts.
After recovering their senses, the Lickers pounced at the players again.
…
Three minutes later, the fifth basement fell into silence once again.
"Mr. Fang Shuo, we've checked all aspects of the stabilizer. There's no problem! "
Without even turning his head, Fang Heng answered, "No! The data is still wrong! Check it again! Check it carefully! "
"Yes! "
Fang Heng continued to control the zombie team in the fifth basement to drag the corpses into the ventilation duct and clean up the crime scene.
"Okay, I've found the problem. Come back, all of you. "
The NPC researchers didn't know what was going on. They simply listened to Fang Heng's command and walked back one by one, continuing to operate the main control platform.
No one realized what had happened in the short ten minutes.
Finally, Fang Heng raised his head and glanced at the few Night Owl players in the main control room. He then quietly left the main control room.
Chapter 373: Cultivation by Batch
Fang Heng took the elevator to the sixth basement.
He was blocked by the alloy metal gate of the laboratory at the end of the passage.
Crack, crack…
The ventilation system on the ceiling of the passage behind him was broken again.
Crack, crack…
One after another, a large number of vine zombies holding iron shovels and hammers fell from the top.
They slowly stood up and scattered on the spot.
A zombie staggered to Fang Heng's side and handed him a blood-stained magnetic ID card.
The ID card was earlier found on a researcher on the fifth basement.
Fang Heng took the card and scanned it on the card reader.
"Beep Beep Beep… ID verified. Welcome, Dr. Liu. "
The alloy metal gate opened in front of Fang Heng.
Fang Heng stepped into the laboratory.
"Ha, I'm coming for you, babe. "
Fang Heng was in a good mood when he saw the laboratory filled with Tyrant form cultivation pods.
Previously, he had lured the players and NPCs from the sixth basement into the fifth basement to kill them. While he did it to prevent triggering the alarm of the sixth basement, Fang Heng was more worried that the battle would result in the destruction of the cultivation pods.
Since they could be used to create Tyrants, even the destruction of one would make Fang Heng feel pained.
Fang Heng walked forward and extended his hand to touch a Tyrant form cultivation pod.
"Item: Tyrant T103's cultivation pod (mass-produced) . Hint: this cultivation pod is in operation. Cultivation completion rate: 90% . A catalyst can be used to accelerate cultivation. "
Fang Heng walked to the experimental command station at the side.
He had learned about the operation of Tyrant T103's cultivation pod (mass-produced) when he was in Pine City.
In fact, he had even personally practiced operating it.
The Tyrant forms in the cultivation pods had yet to fully take shape. When the pods were first designed, Meteorite Company had set up an emergency cancellation feature in them for safety reasons.
Once the feature was activated, an special anti-virus liquid would be injected, and those half-finished products could be easily killed.
Fang Heng skillfully entered a string of commands on the experimental command station.
Buzz… Ka Ka Ka…
The 42 Tyrant form cultivation pods' emergency cancellation features were activated at the same time.
The pale yellow liquid in the cultivation pods was slowly extracted, and green anti-virus liquid was poured into them.
Gulp, gulp, gulp…
A series of bubbles emerged from the Tyrant forms' bodies that were soaked in the green liquid.
Their originally strong bodies rapidly dissolved in the green liquid.
"Hint: you have activated the Tyrant T103's cultivation pod (mass-produced) 's emergency cancellation feature. The Tyrant forms in cultivation have died. "
Fang Heng reached out and pressed the red button.
The green liquid in the cultivation pods was extracted again.
Bang! Bang Bang!
When the liquid was drained, the cultivation pod doors opened automatically one after another.
"It's your turn. "
As Fang Heng spoke, the vine zombies standing beside Fang Heng walked forward one by one. They removed the zombies that had been deeply decomposed from the cultivation pods and walked into the cultivation pods.
"I hope I'm lucky enough to get more Tyrant form zombies this time. " Fang Heng rubbed his hands nervously.
"Damn it, I wish Old Mr. Mo was here. "
While talking to himself, Fang Heng pressed the red button.
Bang!
The pod doors closed again.
With the injection of the yellow viral nutrient solution, rows of game hints appeared on Fang Heng's retina.
"Hint: your zombie clone is experiencing abnormality. "
"Hint: Your zombie clone is attempting to undergo an even more high-tier transformation. "
"Hint: authentication completed. Currently, you can only target your zombie clone. Transformation can not be used on a proliferator. "
"Hint: current transformation success rate: 31% . "
"Hint: current remaining transformation time: 300 hours. "
"Hint: you can use up survival points to greatly reduce the transformation time. "
"Hint: detected that the zombie clone has undergone corpse vine transformation. Current transformation can be fused with the original transformation at the same time. Estimated fusion level: low… "
"Hint: you can choose transformation overlay (after overlaying, the original corpse vine transformation's enhancement effect disappears) . Alternatively, you can choose fusion transformation (after fusion transformation is completed, the corpse vine transformation's effect will remain) . "
"Hint: current transformation overlay success rate: 31% ; current fusion transformation success rate: 17% . "
"Hint: after the transformation is completed, there is still a great risk. Player will need to spend additional survival points and evolution crystals to eliminate this risk. "
"Hint: because Tyrant T103's cultivation pod (mass-produced)'s evolution liquid has been specially modified, per Tyrant T103, you can additionally spend 1,000 survival points, twenty complete crystallization crystals, and one Tier 1 crystallization crystal to access the additional options available. Option 1 (highly-efficient evolution overlay) : transformation overlay success rate increases to 45%. No fusion transformation ability. Option 2 (highly-efficient fusion evolution) : fusion transformation success rate increases to 27% . No transformation overlay ability. "
Seeing the game hints that appeared, Fang Heng was stunned.
Those in Night Owl actually modified the Tyrant form cultivation pods' solution such that there were two different options to choose from for leveling up.
It was a pleasant surprise to Fang Heng.
Fang Heng felt that those in Night Owl were interesting, and he checked the explanation again.
The so-called transformation overlay was to transform the vine zombies into Tyrant form zombies, and the fusion transformation was to transform the vine zombies into a combination of Tyrant form and vine zombie.
Of course, Fang Heng was going to do things to the end and choose fusion transformation.
However, there was a problem. There were a total of 42 zombies that needed to be evolved.
Fang Heng's survival points were adequate, but where would he get the evolution crystals needed?
Just the first transformation required 840 complete crystallization crystals and 42 Tier 1 crystallization crystals.
Apart from that, after the fusion with the Tyrant forms was completed, Fang Heng would need to use Tier 1 evolution crystals to make the zombie clones' evolution permanent.
The crystallization crystals that he owned were all left in District 8. Currently, he only had three high-energy crystals which could not be put to use since he the number of required crystals were much higher.
At this juncture, where could he find evolution crystals?
Fang Heng scratched his hair in annoyance and narrowed his eyes.
There was no other way at the moment, so he could only bite the bullet and take some from the Night Owl players.
Fang Heng calculated in his heart for a moment, then returned to the main control room in the third basement.
…
In the main control room, a few Night Owl players stood guard at the entrance, but their eyes could not help but look at the big surveillance monitors, paying attention to the battle situation in the passage of the third basement.
The three NPC researesearchers were still focused on operating the main control platform and analyzing various data.
Fang Heng walked to the stabilizer and looked around.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, Fang Heng kicked a weak part of the stabilizer.
Thud!
A faint sound was heard.
The next second, an ear-piercing alarm sounded once again throughout the entire third basement.
"Alert! The stabilizer of the space tearing device has been damaged! Its operating efficiency has decreased. Please repair it in time! "
Hearing the alarm, the players and NPCs in the main control room were shocked. They all turned their heads to look at the stabilizer and Fang Heng.
Fang Heng's expression was calm, and his voice was loud and clear.
"Don't panic. It's just a small problem. Leave it to me. All of you, stick to your assigned tasks! "
Even though Fang Heng did not have the authority to command, the few Night Owl players did not suspect Fang Heng's answer at all. They continued to stand guard at the entrance of the main control room.
Chapter 374: Excavation
In the passage, a fierce battle was going on.
Su Jincheng was about to be driven mad by those Lickers!
The group of Lickers shuttled through the passage and went around in circles, not attacking head-on.
After a long time, Su Jincheng and the few players he brought along didn't manage to kill any Lickers. Instead, they wasted a lot of ammunition.
Su Jincheng was unsettled by the Lickers.
He had no choice but to defend the entrance of the few main passages outside the control center hall.
After waiting for a while, he found that the surroundings were quiet. Su Jincheng thought that the Lickers had retreated, but just as he turned around to go back, they suddenly came out from the ventilation duct.
Parason was a support player. Most of the time, he hid at the back of the team and shivered.
He felt that it was still okay if the Lickers did not fight head-on.
After all, they might not be able to handle the Lickers charging over at the same time.
As he was lost in his thoughts, a sharp alarm sounded in the passage.
"Alert! The stabilizer of the space tearing device has been damaged! Its operating efficiency has decreased. Please repair it in time! "
"It's broken? Troubles are coming one after another," thought Parason as his eyelids twitched.
He stood up abruptly and was about to turn back to check when Lickers swarmed over at the passage entrance in front.
Almost instantly, the Night Owl players raised their guns and fired.
As gunshots rang out, Parason quickly hugged his head and squatted down, hiding behind a bunker.
When the gunshots stopped, Parason felt someone pat his shoulder.
"Fang Shuo? " Seeing the red mask on the person's face, Parazon asked anxiously, "What's the situation with the stabilizer? "
"Not too good. Do you have any evolution crystals? "
"Evolution crystals? " Hearing Fang Heng's words, Parason was stunned.
"The central part of the stabilizer for the space tearing device has been damaged. It probably won't be able to hold on for long. To completely solve this problem, we need to replace the converter. The manufacture of the converter parts requires a large number of evolution crystals. "
"Oh, so that's how it is. " When Parason heard Fang Heng's explanation, he did not doubt it.
Fang Heng's explanation was very logical. Coupled with his anxious tone, it appeared very realistic.
"I have some on me. I'll give them all to you. "
District 5 was an old server. The overall standard of the players was several grades higher than District 8. Tier 1 crystallization crystals were all publicly traded, so they were not considered particularly rare items.
Since they weren't heavy, Parason had a lot of crystals on him.
He immediately traded all the evolution crystals in his backpack to Fang Heng.
"Hint: you have obtained 2271 evolution crystal fragments, 588 complete crystallization crystals, and 57 Tier 1 evolution crystals. "
"Parason has quite a lot, " thought Fang Heng.
He calculated with his fingers and found that the evolution crystals provided by Parason were enough for the zombie clones to evolve.
However, after the initial evolution, Tier 1 evolution crystals were still needed for the stabilization of the evolution form. During the process, additional Tier 1 evolution crystals were needed.
"I'm still short of some Tier 1 evolution crystals. Do you have more? " asked Fang Heng.
There should be some spare materials in the second basement's warehouse. However, there is a security lock at the door there. We need Su Jincheng to go over to unlock it. " Parason was distressed. "We can't go there in this situation. "
"Try to think of another way. I'll go back and temporarily strengthen the spacial rift stabilizer. It won't be able to hold on for long. We need to replace the stabilizer immediately. "
"I understand. I'll think of a way. "
Troubled, Parason carefully poked his head out and looked outside.
The Lickers that had just launched a surprise attack retreated.
After a round of battle, not a single Licker died, and a lot of bullets were wasted.
"I'll be going, " said Fang Heng.
"Hey! Be careful! " Parason turned his head, but before he could stop Fang Heng, the latter had already slipped through the other side of the passage and was quickly running back to the control center hall.
Parason, still in shock, thought Fang Heng was really stupid and bold to have run out despite the risk of a Licker appearing in the passage.
…
"Hint: player has consumed 42,000 survival points, 84 complete crystallization crystals, and 42 Tier 1 crystallization crystals to perform a zombie clone fusion transformation. Fusion transformation success rate: 27% . Consumption of survival points has shortened the time needed for evolution. "
Fang Heng still had a lot of points left, so he used a large amount to further shorten the time needed for evolution.
"Hint: player has consumed 124,000 survival points to accelerate the completion. Remaining time needed for evolution: 180 minutes. "
Gulp Gulp…
A series of bubbles emerged from the cultivation pods, and the zombie clones' bodies expanded like a beating heart.
"I must have as many successful fusion transformations as possible! " Fang Heng secretly prayed.
All that was left was to wait for three hours, and the transformation process would be done.
During that duration, Fang Heng thought he might as well think of a way to obtain the first-generation meteorite.
After that, he could quickly run away.
Fang Heng felt that he should not stay there for long. With the Federation and Night Owl fighting so vigorously, he might risk getting entangled in the mess.
Turning around, Fang Heng walked to the front of the alloy metal door at the back of the laboratory.
If his guess was correct, the metal door led to the seventh basement where the first-generation meteorite was probably hidden at.
Fang Heng tried to use the researcher's magnetic card to scan the card reader on the door.
"Beep Beep Beep… Access denied. "
As Fang Heng expected, he was unable to open the door.
He reached out and tried to push the heavy metal door again.
With a hammer, Fang Heng immediately acquired knowledge of the total durability of the metal door from the game log: 5.5 million.
However, every knock of the hammer only deducted 5 to 20 durability.
"Looks like I can only resort to that. "
Fang Heng controlled two vine zombie proliferators to walk to the door and fight each other.
When their HP dropped to 10% , they self-destructed.
A large amount of blood splashed on the metal door, and a white mist rose.
The metal door corroded, and its durability had dropped by nearly 800 points.
It was too little of a decrease.
Fang Heng did a rough calculation in his mind. Even if he self-detonated all the zombies he brought with him, he would not be able to open the metal door.
"What should I do? " Fang Heng mused as he suddenly thought of something. "I must be an idiot! "
Since he had confirmed the building layout and confirmed that the secret laboratory was directly below the sixth basement, he should just directly dig downward!
"Why should I try to knock down this metal door? "
Fang Heng took out the initial blueprint of the Meteorite Company for reference. Then, he controlled the zombie clones to gather in an inconspicuous corner of the laboratory.
The zombies took out the shovels that the they had gotten from the storage room and started digging at the floor of the research room.
Fang Heng wasn't in a hurry to leave. He simply sat down on the spot. While supervising, he opened the game log and controlled the Lickers in the third basement to tease the players from the Night Owl organization.