Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1322 - 1323: The Dried-Up City

Chapter 1322: Chapter 1323: The Dried-Up City

The air in the swamp area is particularly hot and humid, and coupled with the vast expanse of this region, staying in the hot air balloon for an extended period gradually leads to a feeling of suffocation.

At this time, on the simplified map, Xu Huo had yet to cover a quarter of the journey distance to Twin Cities A Point.

After Cao Qinglin was poisoned, she experienced repeated episodes. The antitoxin could only maintain for half an hour; she had to take the antitoxin again every half hour. The poisons, combined with internal injuries, without a good environment for recuperation, her condition fared worse than when she was on the train.

Fortunately, after three hours passed, the hot air balloon finally left the swamp area. Without the fog and wind hindering them, the view ahead suddenly opened up, immediately revealing an abandoned city not far ahead.

"Finally we see a city, I wonder if there are any people inside." Qiu Ming said.

Getting a little closer, one could see the city surrounded by iron fences.

The fence, tens of meters high, was full of sharp blades, with three layers of iron network both inside and outside. However, many areas were damaged, there was no sight of skeletons, but some beast teeth and claws were ensnared without being cleared, leaving old marks.

"Was this place breached by Aliens?" Cao Qinglin looked down as the hot air balloon approached the edge of the city. From this position, one could see the city’s dilapidated appearance since there were no vegetation around, coupled with unsuitable climate for plant growth, even the greening turned into rows of desolate dead grasses, occasionally swept by the wind, causing the withered branches and leaves to shatter like ancient paper.

The whole city appeared grayish, be it buildings or vehicles parked on the ground, everything was covered with dust. Not to mention people, not a single mutated beast could be seen.

The hot air balloon crossed over the iron network, proceeding along the main road in the city, but at this time a leaking sound emerged from above the balloon, causing the glass cabin hanging below to sway.

"The prop has failed, we need to go down." Before the hot air balloon completely descended, Xu Huo retrieved the prop, and using the strings, made a brief pause in the air allowing a smooth landing on the ground.

Qiu Ming, holding Cao Qinglin, used a parachute prop, descending slightly slower, landing next to Xu Huo a few seconds later. Qiu Ming vigilantly surveyed the surroundings, "I haven’t seen anyone else."

Xu Huo indicated he didn’t find anything either.

Cao Qinglin said, "Maybe it’s the interference devices set up in the city before. Some areas completely block off the airspace to prevent air raids by external players. Although this city is abandoned, the device may not necessarily have failed."

"The place looks quite large; finding the interference device might be a bit difficult." Qiu Ming surveyed the surroundings.

"Let’s not bother; let’s walk there." Xu Huo glanced at the tilted vehicles on the roadside, "If we’re lucky, we might find a usable car."

The three of them walked along the main street, leaving three sets of footprints on the dust-covered ground.

The dust in the air danced around like fine snow, and it seemed not long before the fresh footprints were capped by a light layer.

The three didn’t walk fast, Qiu Ming said, "Be careful not to step into the random instance."

The entrance to a random instance doesn’t have a fixed form; sometimes it might be an item, sometimes simply a demarcated area. Often, even instruments can find it hard to catch the entrance comprehensively as some instances don’t remain open continuously.

Nonetheless, to someone like Xu Huo, who has already mastered spatial power, he could discern some special items; items representing random entrances often display different spatial rays than those surrounding them, making them very conspicuous—he had checked the area when descending, finding nothing suspicious.

At least nothing apparent.

The battle traces on the street were incredibly old; many places had double layers of dust settled, but no skeletons or Alien corpses were visible. This city had been attacked by Aliens, and regardless of whether Aliens or humans cleared the bodies from the outer iron network area, the city streets shouldn’t be this ’clean.’

"There’s a parking lot underneath." Qiu Ming found an underground passage blocked by an iron fence covered with strips of cloth; he pushed the fence aside when suddenly a dried head dropped out!

Qiu Ming was startled, instinctively kicked the falling corpse away. The thing was already wind-dried; a single kick scattered it into pieces, disintegrating completely within three meters.

"I mentioned not seeing bodies; turns out they were moved to places away from sight," he rationalized to himself, "I mistook it for a live person!"

"They probably moved the bodies to avoid attracting Aliens." Cao Qinglin, unperturbed, said, "It’s dry and hot here; corpses desiccate quickly."

"But isn’t there something off?" Qiu Ming entered the underground passage, puzzled, "Since someone cleared the streets, it shows this city’s people might not all be dead. If a massive migration occurred, why are there still so many cars left on the street?"

"Maybe it was a government-organized relocation using large transportation tools." The underground passage was pitch-dark; Cao Qinglin turned on a flashlight, seeing Xu Huo twisting the iron door at the end of the tunnel, guiding her light over.

With a muffled sound, the chains on the iron door were twisted off; Xu Huo barely opened the door when half a human head fell down, half of the body hanging above, dangling to his face.

Facing the dark, hollow eye socket for a moment, he reached out to push the corpse aside, turning back to the two behind him, "Be careful."

Cao Qinglin and Qiu Ming exchanged glances and followed him into the parking lot.

However, upon entering, the two were a bit dumbfounded; compared to the cleanliness outside, inside looked like it had been attacked by Aliens instead, with a large number of damaged vehicles cluttered together, disordered corpses scattered everywhere, and scratch marks and stains all over columns and ceilings, indicating just how tragic the situation was back then.

"Was it an Alien attack?" Qiu Ming halted at a woman’s corpse holding a child.

"The people in this city mutated." Xu Huo glanced around, "Most died from mutual slaughter; some corpses show signs like bone scratches and tooth damage, but no animal traits, indicating short mutation time."

"Were they locked here?" Cao Qinglin was somewhat surprised, paused a moment, and added, "One iron door can’t confine so many Evolvers, most likely done by players."

"The numbers are overwhelming," Qiu Ming said, "I’ve never seen a zone experience mass mutation on such a large scale all at once."

Generally, when attacked by Aliens, the number dying greatly exceeds those infected; only when large-scale evolution or being specially infected occurs could so many people regress simultaneously.

"I have heard that in some places, to quickly increase player numbers, ordinary people are deceived into injecting Evolver’s Blood under the guise of vaccines. If such is the case, half a city’s people could begin evolving within a day or two."

Cao Qinglin said.