Xu Mo spoke calmly to Liu Yishou’s corpse, pronouncing the man’s final judgment.
Characters like this existed solely to annoy people. He had played enough games to be tired of watching a useless minor villain prance around in front of him.
“What are you doing!?”
Wan Qianhong looked at “Bai Feifei” in shock. Every time she thought Bai Feifei couldn’t get any more outrageous, the girl found a new way to surprise her.
“Killing someone,” Xu Mo replied, his tone as natural as if he were mentioning what he’d had for lunch.
Wan Qianhong nearly choked on her own breath. She managed to say:
“Do you have any idea? He was a key figure from the Second Outpost. We needed to interrogate him to find out exactly what he’s been doing during his tenure.”
“He was our breakthrough to discover who is truly pulling the strings behind all this.”
“Moreover, he was the only way to potentially clear your name and even earn you merit. Do you understand that?!”
Xu Mo treated her words like wind whistling past his ears. He curled his lip and said:
“The things you’re thinking of are impossible. I can see the future, and I’m telling you now: in the end, it would have just been a tangled mess of bickering and finger-pointing between the various factions in Dawn City.”
“As for clearing my name? There’s no need. I don’t care.”
“Only with him dead is my mind at peace!”
The consensus among players regarding the ending of the game 《Old Ones' Awakening》 was that the world would eventually be destroyed; there were no other possibilities.
Therefore, the game was all about the experience—about pursuing that sense of mental clarity and satisfaction.
Why let an NPC ruin his mood while playing a game?
In Xu Mo’s past playthroughs, he couldn't always save those he wanted to save, but if he wanted someone dead, they were as good as buried!
Such things could never be delayed, or it would ruin the flow of his game.
Wan Qianhong stared at Bai Feifei, finally certain that this girl recognized no laws or rules. She acted entirely on whim, making any further argument meaningless.
The frustration was so intense she felt the world start to spin.
Wait...
That wasn't right.
A faint rumbling echoed from the surrounding mountains. Everyone present began to look around, feeling the ground beneath their feet grow unstable.
Wan Qianhong’s dizziness wasn't from anger; the mountains across the entire mining area were actually shaking.
Furthermore, the intensity of the tremors was increasing. Several miners who were in poor health began to lose their footing.
“An earthquake?”
The Scavengers were confused. In their memory, this mountain range had never experienced an earthquake before.
After all, regions capable of forming large-scale coal deposits usually had relatively stable tectonic plates.
Wan Qianhong was experienced. Setting aside the girl who was giving her such a headache, she immediately looked at her subordinates.
“No, that’s not right. Does anyone have an anomaly detector?”
Rather than believing this was just a sudden earthquake, she had to rule out an anomaly first, especially since this place was already plagued by trouble.
Among those from the Second Outpost still standing, Wu Xin proactively raised his hand.
“My ability can detect it. I’ll do it.”
He was Liu Yishou’s deputy. He had previously used his ability to scout the mine and locate “Bai Feifei.”
Upon arriving, he had realized she was not someone to be trifled with. He had cleverly kept his teammates in front of him as shields, unlike that woman Zhao Jiao, who had rushed forward in an attempt to snatch all the credit.
Now, seeing the leader of the Second Outpost dead, he feared being purged in the aftermath. He hurried to speak up, hoping to make a good impression in front of the high-ranking leader.
【Thousands of Winds and Thunders, Enter My Ears!】
As the Word Soul left his lips, Wu Xin closed his eyes, and his mental energy rapidly radiated outward into the surroundings.
However, a few seconds later, he suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream.
“Agh!”
Blood leaked from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Within a few breaths, he collapsed limply to the ground.
Wan Qianhong’s expression shifted. She raised her hand slightly to stabilize his blood flow and asked urgently:
“What happened? What did you see!”
“I... I don’t know...” Wu Xin’s eyes were wide, his voice strained and difficult. “When my perception attempted to penetrate downward, it was hit by a massive impact.”
“Inside the mine... there’s... something wrong!”
After saying that, he actually fainted!
He was a Rank 3 Scavenger, yet his body and mind could only withstand those few seconds of contact.
“Oh boy, the big one is coming,” Xu Mo suddenly remarked, his tone laced with a hint of confusion. “But that’s not right. Why is the timing so much earlier this time?”
“What do you know?” Wan Qianhong turned to ask.
“The anomaly beneath this coal mine is rioting. As for its grade, to be honest, it’s hard to say. It will likely exceed all of your imaginations.”
Xu Mo didn’t hide anything; he had known about this all along.
Beneath the Black Smoke Coal Mine, there existed an extremely powerful anomalous fluctuation. It could be a powerful aberrant or a Containment Object.
However, during his previous playthroughs, he could never find it no matter how much he searched. It was likely that the thing simply wasn't meant for novice players.
Furthermore, according to the normal plot progression, once that anomaly rioted, Dawn City wouldn't be far from total destruction...
“Is Dawn City really about to blow up already?” Xu Mo muttered to himself.
“What?!” Bai Feifei, who hadn't spoken in his mind for a long time, couldn't hold back upon hearing this. “Will this event lead to the destruction of Dawn City?”
“Don’t worry about that for now. Evacuate first!” Xu Mo gave a perfunctory reply, then turned and began running toward the perimeter of the mining area.
The others here didn't have a game panel, so they weren't as sensitive to changes in Sanity.
But from his perspective, he could see Bai Feifei’s Sanity beginning to drop slowly again. They hadn't even seen an aberration yet, and the mere presence of the event was affecting her Sanity!
For some reason, Wan Qianhong instinctively chose to trust Bai Feifei at this moment. She shouted an order:
“Everyone, take the civilians and evacuate immediately! Get away from the central area!”
With that, the group quickly mobilized, rushing toward the outskirts of the mining area in a confused, desperate flight for their lives.
...
By the time everyone had retreated to the perimeter, the tremors had stopped.
Looking at the grim mountain before them, everyone felt an inexplicable tension, a dark premonition looming over their hearts.
Although there were no accidental casualties during the evacuation, such a sudden and violent upheaval was a first for many of them.
Wang Xu answered a call. Whatever he heard made his hands start to shake instantly.
He immediately ran to Wan Qianhong’s side, drenched in cold sweat.
“District Head Wan!”
“The personnel stationed at our outpost just sent word.”
“The anomaly detector... after screaming continuously just now, it literally cracked!”
“What?!” Wan Qianhong and the Scavengers standing near her exclaimed in shock simultaneously.
What did it mean for a detector to literally crack!
After the initial shock, Wan Qianhong subconsciously looked toward “Bai Feifei,” who was standing nearby looking as if nothing had happened, and recalled what she had just said.
——The grade of the anomaly beneath the coal mine will likely exceed all of your imaginations!
Rate on N.U.
