B U G Arc
Exam God 15
“Do you want me to complete the mission first?”
Xin Lan quickly understood and spoke.
After all, her mission had already failed at the very beginning.
Her mission was to confront her ex-boyfriend as his former girlfriend, but her ex-boyfriend had already died before making an appearance.
It was Wan Yan who was the core of this operation, tasked with eliminating the BUG in this world.
This mission has been eliminated, and there’s a high chance it could lead to death. Even though the system may not truly die in this world, the mission has still failed. She doesn’t know how to eliminate the BUG staying here, so it’s best for Wan Yan to succeed.
“No need.”
Wan Yan immediately vetoed.
Putting aside how powerful this BUG might be, what if the elimination mechanism actually harms Xin Lan in some way?
Hosts can freely traverse all the sub-worlds, but that doesn’t mean they can surpass these worlds themselves. Many local elements can sometimes cause unexpected harm to the host, and Wan Yan wouldn’t take that risk.
“Setting aside whether this mission is random or intentional, it seems to be hostile at the moment, but it’s not clear how hostile.”
“In any case, they’re all Northern bases; merging them should suffice.”
Wan Yan waved it off, seeing no significant issue.
“That sounds adventurous,” Xin Lan paused for a moment, “but I like it.”
She had a smile on her face and a gleam of eagerness in her eyes.
Success or failure, they would face it together.
As for the other candidates, not only would they refrain from causing harm, but they would also ensure their safety, preventing them from dying due to mission failures.
If it triggered a program breakdown, all the better; they would go directly to confront that BUG.
After their conversation, Xin Lan and Wan Yan continued to walk along the path.
“This place isn’t very remote, so why are there so few zombies here?”
Xin Lan looked at the office areas and laboratories within the walls, surveying her surroundings.
This place should have originally been densely populated, so how could there be only a few zombies wandering around?
While it’s possible that the majority of them were drawn to other areas, Xin Lan couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t that simple.
A rustling sound reached their ears, and Xin Lan grabbed Wan Yan’s hand, gesturing towards a specific spot.
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Wan Yan nodded, and the two of them casually continued walking forward. When they reached a ventilation shaft, they simultaneously raised their energy guns and launched an attack in that direction.
The cover of the ventilation shaft was melted, hanging halfway in the air, and simultaneously, something dropped down.
Xin Lan took a glance at it. It resembled something like octopus tentacles, but it had already been charred, with the end curled up, emitting a burnt odor.
“It’s an experiment. Let’s keep moving.”
Wan Yan could tell it was one of those initial genetic fusion experiments. As long as it didn’t provoke them first, there was no need to waste time killing it now.
Xin Lan took a step forward and suddenly covered her ears.
Wan Yan halted upon hearing a screeching sound, which was rather piercing.
“This body might have been better off without enhancements.”
Because she was an experiment, Xin Lan’s body possessed some experimental traits this time around, with particularly acute hearing. However, in moments when others screamed, this heightened sense of hearing became a disadvantage.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“My granted ability is disassembling, assembling, and crafting weapons, but I was already skilled at it.”
Wan Yan also indicated that the added ability didn’t serve much purpose, but at least it didn’t hinder her. Xin Lan’s ability would have been very useful on an ordinary candidate, but on her, it was somewhat redundant.
“It’s coming.”
What kind of feeling was it to see a bunch of octopus tentacles descending?
Xin Lan just wanted to eliminate it.
The sound that thing just emitted nearly deafened her.
The tentacles extended outward, quickly crowding the area.
Xin Lan finally saw its full form, which could no longer be described as human but rather as a monster.
Its upper body was bloated, with an enormous head, almost no neck, and no limbs, replaced instead by a group of writhing tentacles.
Xin Lan raised her hand and pierced its head with the gun.
“Many things are coming, let’s go.”
Having dealt with this one, Xin Lan heard the rustling sound again, accompanied by some strange tapping noises.
Perhaps the screech of the previous monster had attracted its companions.
Perhaps it had even drawn zombies.
Wan Yan and Xin Lan hurried forward, following the map in their minds, until they reached the door that separated them from Sector S.
The energy on the door was still flickering. Xin Lan was about to attempt to forcibly break it, but Wan Yan scanned her own iris.
[Insufficient authority!]
“Gaia, open the door.”
The panel displayed some fluctuations, and in a moment, the red turned green, indicating passage.
“It worked.”
Xin Lan gave Wan Yan a meaningful look, and Wan Yan nodded with a hint of delight.
Sector S was a confidential laboratory with few researchers, and only a few zombies were wandering around.
Xin Lan took care of the zombies while Wan Yan had Gaia open the door, and they made their way to the central area.
“It’s really you guys! This is great! Sisters, take me with you!” Yuanyuan exclaimed when he saw Xin Lan and Wan Yan, two familiar faces, almost on the verge of tears of joy.
These two sisters were not only good-looking but also radiated an air of competence and power. They were like golden opportunities!
Xin Lan nodded in response but didn’t show too much enthusiasm.
Now that there were two known factions, it remained uncertain which side Yuanyuan belonged to, and more importantly, whether there was a third faction.
“Professor Owen! How did you guys get here?”
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Dr. Cana exclaimed upon seeing the two individuals, as if they had just spotted saviors, while holding a coded box.
“We walked here, Dr. Cana. Are you okay?”
Wan Yan replied in a rather perfunctory manner, eyeing Dr. Cana with an NPC name tag.
“I’m okay, but the others…”
Dr. Cana’s face displayed a hint of pain.
“I don’t know how the virus leaked out. I saw Gaia trying to release those experiments to stop the zombies, but the experiments are uncontrollable. The higher their level, the more destructive they become!”
Dr. Cana wore a distressed expression, the virus being the subject of his research team. It was still incomplete, initially intended to allow cells to continuously regenerate, thus extending human lifespan. However, this substance had not been successfully developed and had suddenly leaked.
Fortunately, all the research data was intact, and by reverse-engineering the virus’s structure, they might be able to alleviate the crisis.
But the surveillance system showed that the outside had already turned into a living hell. Without any weapons at hand, he couldn’t even open the door to the outside labs to deal with several, or even dozens, of zombies.
As Dr. Cana spoke, Xin Lan began to look more and more familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite remember.
As an advanced experiment subject, Xin Lan stood quietly nearby.
“Dr. Cana, we’ll escort you out.”
“Okay.”
Without many questions, the NPC complied with the script.
Each area had an exit leading to the outside. Before heading out, Wan Yan had Gaia adjust the surveillance towards the exit.
In the surveillance feed, numerous zombies were milling around near the exit, seemingly repeating their past behavior.
“So many zombies.”
Yuanyuan’s legs were trembling, visibly anxious.
“I’ve only seen these things in movies and games before. Facing them now is a bit too much. What kind of crazy test is this?”
Yuanyuan’s face turned pale, and he noticed that neither Xin Lan nor Wan Yan showed any intention of agreeing with him. His voice grew quieter.
“What’s your ability?”
“Me? I can move objects.”
Yuanyuan was suddenly called out by Xin Lan and hesitated for a moment before answering promptly.
Xin Lan nodded, indicating that she understood.
“Let’s go.”
Wan Yan and Xin Lan walked in front and behind, with Dr. Cana and Yuanyuan in between.
NPCs never meddled, so Dr. Cana simply walked in silence, clutching his box.
Before reaching the exit, Xin Lan purposely listened for sounds.
Nothing, just dead silence.
Xin Lan and Wan Yan exchanged a hand signal, and Wan Yan nodded, indicating her understanding.
“Stay here.”
Xin Lan left a remark and proceeded forward with Wan Yan, both armed with guns.
Xin Lan deliberately made footsteps, and soon, she heard the shuffling sounds of movement.
Numerous zombies were approaching together, some making a cacophony.
Xin Lan and Wan Yan stood at the end of the straight corridor, engaging in a battle with the zombies.
The zombies moved slowly, unaware of evasion, marching straightforwardly, and falling after being struck down.
The zombies from behind stumbled forward, only to fall again.
In no time, a pile of zombies had fallen in front, blocking the corridor.
Xin Lan signaled for Yuanyuan to bring Dr. Cana over. The two led the way, ready to eliminate any stragglers.
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Yuanyuan had his leg grabbed by a zombie and instinctively let out a cry. Xin Lan frowned, and before she could speak, Wan Yan issued a warning.
“Quiet down. I hope you can keep it down. Stay as calm as possible, unless a zombie is about to swallow your head.”
Screaming so close would have disturbed her wife.
Wan Yan thought seriously to herself, not daring to say it aloud, afraid that Xin Lan might find her too frivolous.
Yuanyuan nodded, thinking that screaming would attract zombies, so Wan Yan instructed him to stay quiet.
Gaia opened the exit door, and Wan Yan walked out.
Outside, there was a desert landscape.
“It seems like we don’t have a map.”
Yuanyuan hesitated for a moment. Although he knew the direction that would lead them to the passable area based on his ability, without a map, how would they know which direction was correct?
“Let’s just get out of here.”
Before them stretched a vast expanse of yellow sand, the sunlight shining down, somewhat inexplicably dazzling.
“Follow me.”
Dr. Cana suddenly spoke, carrying the energy box and heading in a particular direction.
“I remember there should be a supply station here. Let’s go there first.”
The NPC offered assistance, and the three naturally followed along.
Xin Lan had initially expected Yuanyuan to speak to ease the atmosphere or engage with Dr. Cana to gather information. However, Yuanyuan remained silent, following behind them with a heavy-hearted demeanor.
Xin Lan figured that he might have experienced something after the second test, causing him to lose some of his initial liveliness and reluctance to interact with NPCs to gather information.
They left a trail of footprints in the yellow sand, which vanished as soon as the wind blew.
The supply station wasn’t far away, and Xin Lan squinted as she looked around. She spotted the sign for the supply station.
As they approached, the landscape opened up even more.
To Xin Lan’s surprise, there were already people waiting there.
Three men and one woman stood in place, as if they had been waiting for quite some time.
“Hey, bro! I see you again!”
Yuanyuan excitedly ran toward one of the individuals.
Coincidentally, it was someone they knew.
Xin Lan and Wan Yan nodded to Huo Xu in acknowledgment, a sort of greeting.
“The car is ready for us, we can leave anytime.”
Said a fair-skinned man in a pink shirt. He looked a bit flashy, with his eyes half-closed and a somewhat charming smile, appearing rather suave.