San Tian Liang Jiao

Chapter 61 Peerless Garlic Chapter (8)

Chapter 10 The Z Virus

There were two pieces of paper in the drawer, clearly puzzle clues provided by the system. Feng Bujue unfolded the first piece. It had three lines of hints written in a hurried scrawl: jmmjAod, 14f, and 34f.

Feng Bujue glanced at it and scoffed dismissively.

The second piece of paper had more content. It was a printed document with neatly typed text, containing a detailed description of the virus.

First, the virus was indeed codenamed "z." Since the description of the Blood Wolf Zombies at the beginning of the script also mentioned this name, it seemed the monsters on the streets and the people infected in this research institute had the same virus. But why they transformed into different kinds of zombies was unknown.

Second, the virus left players less than three hours to find a cure. The document stated that within three hours of infection, flu-like symptoms would appear, followed by a high fever, and in later stages, severe dementia. This explained why Feng Bujue was currently covered in cold sweat and feeling weak in his limbs. Obviously, the system couldn't make players exhibit "severe dementia," so when the virus started affecting the brain, the player would be judged as dead and removed from the script.

Next was a detailed description of the infected's mutations, such as disseminated cell necrosis, leading to localized gangrene; increased oxygen-carrying capacity of red blood cells, slowing blood flow and increasing muscle endurance and strength; severely diminished cognitive abilities, leading to attempts to consume the flesh and blood of the living, and so on. Of course, there was also a final note: suppressing a fully infected individual requires extremely severe extr Cranial trauma.

After reading this, Feng Bujue couldn't help but say, "This is Resident Evil 008, isn't it? But… this script's setting actually has an antitoxin serum." As he said this, his gaze fell on the final section about the serum.

The paper read: "Experiments have shown that the antitoxin serum is not effective for everyone. Through three hundred and ninety experiments on different genders, ages, blood types, and races, a total of one hundred and fifty-four people became immune to or were cured of the virus's effects after being injected with the serum. The probability of the serum working is slightly below 40%. Currently, no clear pattern has been found as to whether the serum will be effective."

After reading this document, Feng Bujue gradually felt a sense of foreboding. Given his luck, the probability of failing to detoxify himself was self-evident… Even if he found the serum, there was only about a 40% chance of removing the [Disease] status. Otherwise… he only had two hours left. It would probably be impossible to clear the game within that time. The greatest contribution he could make would basically be to find the serum and give it to his teammates.

Speaking of teammates… He had realized when he heard the news of Atobe-shao's and Xiao Ming's deaths in the corridor a dozen minutes ago that this script was far from as simple as it seemed. The deaths of the two of them were very perplexing. They didn't seem like the type to leave the gun shop and go looking for trouble on their own. So their successive deaths in such a short period of time most likely meant that they had directly encountered some kind of very powerful monster right outside the gun shop.

But how could there be that kind of monster in a place in the city that had nothing to do with the main quest? Even if those Blood Wolf Zombies were strengthened at night and swarmed over, they shouldn't be able to kill two players with submachine guns simultaneously within a few seconds.

In addition, Pan Feng and Hua Xiong, who were with Wang Tanzhi, also made Feng Bujue feel a little strange. Judging from the current situation, after the two of them took Xiao Tan into the building, they didn't come to this underground research institute, but went somewhere else. Why was that? There was such a big sign in the lobby on the first floor, and the main quest clearly stated to save a "Doctor." The other floors were labeled with miscellaneous departments, or just words like "Office Area." How could anyone still go upstairs to look?

There were too many abnormal situations, and there was no corroborating evidence at the moment. Feng Bujue didn't continue to think too deeply. He turned around and walked toward the metal gate, bending down to look at the combination lock on the gate.

"As expected, it's six digits…" He looked at the keypad for entering the password with an "unsurprised" expression, and directly entered 312928. Unexpectedly, after he finished entering, the word "ACCEPT" actually popped up.

Feng Bujue understood the meaning of this puzzle as soon as he saw the paper. The first line, jmmjAod, represented the first letters of January, March, May, July, August, October, and December respectively, all of which have 31 days. The "f" in the second and third lines represented February, since only February starts with "f." 14 represented the 29 days of February in a leap year, and 34 naturally represented 28. This kind of puzzle was not difficult for him. He was someone who often had to come up with puzzles himself. If the clues were written on paper for him, as long as the knowledge required to solve the puzzle didn't exceed his ability, he could usually figure it out quickly.

After unlocking it, Feng Bujue grabbed the hand valve on the gate, turned it vigorously a few times, and then opened the door. Inside was a relatively small room. All three walls were filled with transparent cabinets, and the cabinets were full of test tubes filled with liquid. Each row was labeled with a number.

Picking up a test tube would reveal the item description:

[Name: Antitoxin Serum]

[Type: Story-Related]

[Quality: Average]

[Function: Has a 39.48% chance of allowing the user to remove and become immune to the z virus's effects]

[Can it be taken out of this script: No]

[Note: Injection or drinking are both acceptable; ineffective on monsters and fully zombified players]

Looking at the serial numbers, it could be inferred that these serums were manufactured in batches, and perhaps their composition would also be different. Feng Bujue couldn't help but wonder at this point whether this z virus wasn't developed by the Ailebu Corporation, but rather that they had discovered it, controlled it, and were trying to develop a method of detoxification?

Feng Bujue temporarily couldn't be bothered to delve into the corporation's position. He didn't know which batch of these serums was more effective than which, so he just randomly took one from the cabinet, drew a tube with the syringe he had just found, and gave himself an injection.

As soon as this injection went in, his Medical Specialization was activated, becoming F-grade. The system prompt followed: [Congratulations, you have unlocked all Specializations in the closed beta stage.]

"Closed beta stage?" Feng Bujue thought to himself, "Does that mean they'll open new Specializations in the future?" He opened the game menu and saw that the Specialization bar was fully opened, which was a good thing. Unfortunately… the [Disease] status next to his Survival Value hadn't disappeared.

"So I failed after all…" He muttered with some disappointment, "Should I try another shot with a different one? I wonder if there will be any side effects…"

Just as he was hesitating, the two words "Disease" in the menu disappeared, and the abnormal status next to his Survival Value returned to: [None].

Luckily, he didn't close the menu immediately, otherwise he might have overlooked this slightly delayed change, leading to another injection for no reason. Feng Bujue immediately laughed three times, instantly feeling like he had come back to life.

He took a test tube rack from the freezer, which had two rows of eight antitoxin serums. He carefully put it into his inventory. At this moment, his inventory was exactly full: Mario's Pipe Wrench, Eye of Hatred, Western-style Kitchen Knife, Baseball Bat, Flashlight, M1911A1 Handgun, Echo Armor, Winchester Shotgun, Antitoxin Serum *8, and a Bag of Garlic.

Jazz Dance was equipped on his feet, and unless it was replaced, it was unlikely to return to the inventory. Of course, if needed, Feng Bujue could just take out the Eye of Hatred and wear it, and take another weapon in his hand, which would also free up space in his inventory.

Now that the serum had taken effect, Feng Bujue no longer needed to continue exploring the research institute. He had originally come down to find his teammates. He hadn't expected to be infected as soon as the elevator door opened. When he was first infected, he didn't know the specific mutation time, so he could only search for the possibly non-existent serum as quickly as possible.

And now that he wouldn't die due to the time factor, he felt it was better to go back upstairs and find his teammates first. Considering that he had obtained the serum, it might trigger some kind of flag, and further exploration might lead him to encounter a mini-boss. For someone who was already immune to the virus, it wasn't worth the risk at this time.

Just as he was thinking this, a system prompt sounded: [Current Quest Completed, Main Quest Updated]

"What?" Feng Bujue was very surprised, "Could it be that Dr. Ashford really isn't underground? They were right to go upstairs, and they've successfully rescued the doctor?"

He quickly opened the menu to see what the quest had updated to after rescuing the doctor, but the quest was actually: [Defeat Ashford's Mutated Form]