Chapter 1352: Chapter 1353: Car Accident in the Rain

The communication facilities in Zone 023 haven’t been damaged, yet between the Capital City and the Secondary City, there seems to be an insurmountable chasm, which is quite unusual.

“Past this Starflower Sea is another route, but I don’t know if they’ve gone through yet,” Dai Song pointed to a spot on the map.

“There’s a valley past the Starflower Sea. We’ve passed by it before, the narrower the valley, the more dangerous it is. You’re not deliberately leading us into a trap, are you?” Qiu Ming asked bluntly.

“Believe it or not, it’s up to you,” Dai Song glanced at Xu Huo. Although he assumed Dr. Duor was in their hands, he wasn’t prepared to say more. In his view, the success rate of Qiu Ming and the others combined was even less than Xu Huo alone. Since his goal was also to send Dr. Duor to the Secondary City, he would certainly reach the Secondary City within the instance time.

Without Dr. Duor, Dai Song was now like a rolling knife, able to leave Zone 023 with tickets at any time. Forcing him to reveal more information was nearly impossible.

So Qiu Ming and Fan Zhigang looked towards Xu Huo.

Xu Huo knew that the valley past the Starflower Sea wasn’t particularly dangerous, because Bai Jing’s group had already been there and ambushed another team escorting Dr. Duor near the area. However, according to the notebook records, the other team reached the same location earlier, thus being dealt with first by Bai Jing and others.

Dai Song surely knew the approximate time different routes would take, which is why he mentioned this route to lead them astray.

Because it was the most advantageous choice for him.

Regardless of whether Dr. Duor was actually in his hands, for Xu Huo to clear the instance, he must quickly exit the Heaven’s Ladder. Rather than wandering among mutant plants, it was better to leave sooner. If Dr. Duor was still alive, completing the escort mission would still matter. If this Dr. Duor was already dead, another Dr. Duor might emerge from the Heaven’s Ladder. Predictably, near the exit and outside the Secondary City, there would be external zone players and Ya Clan People lying in wait. In that case, the sooner they arrived before this round of escort missions largely failed, the better.

At this point, Xu Huo had made two judgments about Dai Song’s attitude.

The Dr. Duor they came with certainly wasn’t the original. Yet Dai Song still regarded him as Dr. Duor. It could be as Cao Qinglin suggested, Dr. Duor, who looked the same, inherited the real doctor’s knowledge as a clone. As for the process, it was not worth pursuing for now. Strictly speaking, they didn’t count as Dr. Duor, but their identity was recognized.

Another possibility was that there was no Dr. Duor, that Dr. Duor had never left the Capital City. The goal of this instance was to fish, with the target being the Ya Clan. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why such a roundabout way was used to send people to the Secondary City. Even if container props might pose a risk, with such significant casualties, they could randomly find a technician to go out and build a flying device to return, or offer high rewards to hire Rank-B or Rank-A Players. Although most Advanced Players wouldn’t act out of goodwill, money might motivate them.

Of course, this could also be related to the short time since the potion research succeeded. If a clone could be made at the Chunsun Laboratory, hitting two birds with one stone wouldn’t be a bad idea. But if so, Twin Cities’ intentions would seem malicious, as they wanted to deliver Dr. Duor to the Secondary City to save their compatriots.

Leaving aside whether Zone 023 had other purposes, if Dr. Duor never left the Capital City of Twin Cities, players leaving from here could never clear the instance. The best solution now was to find another Dr. Duor. Given the establishment of clones, there could be more than one Dr. Duor, which wouldn’t hinder progressing through the instance. Otherwise, they should return to the Capital City now to find the real Dr. Duor, or else they wouldn’t be able to clear the instance within the time limit.

“Walk north after passing through the Starflower Sea,” Xu Huo commanded the housekeeping Mechanical Being.

The notebook from Bai Jing’s companion recorded several place names. Judging from the map, there was a pattern, likely a route layout by Twin Cities. The valley a bit past the Starflower Sea had already been cleared. Walking further should intersect with another route.

Even if this judgment proved wrong, the journey across the Heaven’s Ladder might still yield new clues.

“Let’s try our luck,” Xu Huo added, “If we can’t find the next Dr. Duor then, we’ll abandon the vehicles and wait on the necessary road to the Secondary City.”

Cao Qinglin and the others had no objections. They worked together to fight their way to the vicinity of the Starflower Sea, then turned around to move forward, yet an hour of pursuit yielded no other teams.

Just as they were about to abandon the vehicles, a heavy rain suddenly poured down from the jungle. The seemingly contaminated rain had a certain viscosity, sticking to them and refusing to run off like water does, forming layer upon layer of residue, which was not light in weight.

Qiu Ming wiped the black liquid off his arm and rubbed it a bit, “It feels like oil, but it hasn’t damaged the protective suit.”

“Does Heaven’s Ladder also experience this kind of oil rain?” he asked Dai Song as he looked back.

Dai Song silently watched the world outside the car window, and at that moment, the car suddenly bumped as if it ran over something, then stalled.

“Sorry, sir, there was an accident,” the housekeeping Mechanical Being turned around and said, “the person hit has already died.”

An accident?

The people in the car were momentarily bewildered, finding it impossible to associate this ordinary term with their current situation.

“How could it be an accident, there was no one in front…” Qiu Ming hadn’t finished speaking when the car’s front was suddenly dented in the middle, as if from an impact—even though they couldn’t see what hit it, the mark truly resembled that of an actual accident.

“What the heck?” Qiu Ming and Fan Zhigang got out to inspect, only to discover a white shadow lying in front of the car, wriggling slowly as if it was boneless, trying to stand but unable to rise.

Out of caution, the two used Defense Props to cover the person on the ground, but unexpectedly, in the next second, the head of the white shadow rotated 180 degrees, turning back to show them a spine-chilling smile!

The unexpected visual shock was a little frightening, and even more terrifying was that it began to squirm towards them…

Qiu Ming and Fan Zhigang were about to curse when Xu Huo, who had just exited the back, kicked the mannequin several meters away and set it on fire in one swift motion.

After the dummy fell, it didn’t rise again—even when the flames were soon extinguished, it remained in its original prostrate position on the ground.

The rain in the grove intensified, nearly obscuring visibility, yet the car was continuously attacked by an unseen force, getting battered into distortion. When Cao Qinglin and the others emerged, they were even flipped over, rolling several times before halting by a tree, making it look exactly like a crash site.