The bounty lay on the board like a gauntlet thrown down, a challenge cast in cold, digital text. [Obtain a non-degraded, 50-gram tissue sample from the primary digestive organ of an Abyssal Devourer]. The reward was tantalizing: 500 Contribution Points. The key to unlocking the next level of Oracle's knowledge.
But the price of entry was a near-suicide mission.
In the stark, professional interface of [Channel: Zero], Captain Lin Mei was the first to articulate the brutal reality of the task. Her fingers flew across her keyboard, her mind already deep in tactical analysis.
Nomad-Lead: This bounty is an order of magnitude more difficult than the Shrieker problem. A Level 4 Abyssal Devourer isn't just a monster; it's a walking fortress. Its multi-layered chitinous armor is resistant to most energy weapons and all but the most powerful kinetic strikes.
Nomad-Lead: The primary objective—the digestive organ—is the most challenging part. The organ is located deep within the creature's core, protected by the armor and a corrosive internal environment. Furthermore, its tissues begin to degrade within ninety seconds of the creature's death due to its own digestive acids. This isn't a simple kill-and-collect mission. We would need to extract the sample while the creature is either dying or immediately upon its death. Nomad-Lead: The risk factor is astronomical. My squad is not equipped for this.
Her pragmatic assessment hung in the chat, a grim testament to the difficulty of the challenge.
Hephaestus, from his chaotic workshop, responded with his usual gruffness.
Hephaestus: Enough with the battlefield complaints. Whining doesn't crack armor. The question isn't *if* it's hard; the question is *how* we do it. My plasma cutters can slice through a Devourer's shell, but they require a power source the size of a truck. Useless in the field. To build something portable that can do the job, I'd need materials that are prohibitively expensive.
It was Old-Man-Jiang, from the tranquility of his tea house, who brought clarity to the situation. His text was calm, measured, and cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Old-Man-Jiang: Patience, my friends. Reflect on the nature of our benefactor. Oracle does not strike me as an entity that sets impossible tasks. If he had wanted one of us to single-handedly defeat a Devourer, he would have provided the means. He did not.
Old-Man-Jiang: This is not a test of individual strength. It is a puzzle. And the first piece of the puzzle is the realization that he expects us to solve it *together*.
A silence descended on the channel as the weight of his words sank in. They had been thinking like individuals, as they always had. A soldier, a craftsman, a strategist, each operating in their own sphere. But Oracle hadn't recruited individuals. He had recruited a team.
Hephaestus: ...Hmph. A collaborative project, then. The old man has a point. My tools, your tactics, his plans. Fine. So, what's the plan, strategist?
The game had changed. It was no longer about their limitations, but about their combined potential.
The brainstorming session that followed was a masterclass in professional synergy. Three brilliant minds, strangers to one another, began to weave together a plan from nothing.
Old-Man-Jiang: A direct confrontation is a fool's errand. We will not fight the Devourer on its terms. We will set a trap. Devourers are gluttonous creatures, driven by a simple, overwhelming hunger. We can exploit that.
Old-Man-Jiang: Step one is bait. They are drawn to sources of high-purity spiritual energy. There is a type of crystal, a 'Spirit Lure Stone,' that emits a powerful energy signature as it decays. The problem is, they are rare and a single stone costs upwards of 500,000 credits on the market.
Before anyone could point out the financial hurdle, Hephaestus interjected.
Hephaestus: Spirit Lure Stones are a scam perpetrated by the merchant guilds. The core component is just a standard energy crystal subjected to a specific resonance frequency that causes rapid, high-energy decay. I can replicate the effect on a cheap industrial-grade crystal. It will be unstable and burn out in an hour, but it will work. Cost: negligible.
Lin Mei could almost feel the old general smiling.
Old-Man-Jiang: Excellent. That solves the bait. Step two: the trap. We need to immobilize the creature. Its physical strength is immense; no normal cage can hold it.
Hephaestus: Leave that to me. If you can lure it to a pre-designated kill zone, I can construct a custom-built kinetic press. A series of hydraulic pistons powered by spiritual energy accumulators, buried underground. When triggered, they will shoot out and clamp onto the creature's limbs. It won't kill it, not even close. But it might just pin the beast down for the few crucial seconds you need.
Nomad-Lead: Immobilization is good, but it will still be thrashing. Its armored head and tail will be a problem. My squad can provide distraction. We can draw its attention, forcing it to focus its attacks on us while the extraction team moves in on its softer underbelly. But who is the extraction team? And what tool will they use?
This was the crux of the problem. They had a plan to trap the beast, but they still needed a team to perform the delicate, life-threatening surgery.
Old-Man-Jiang: I will handle that. There is a small but highly reliable hunter squad I have worked with in the past, the 'Iron Vultures'. They specialize in high-risk retrieval missions. I will hire them for a 'private contract'. The payment will be substantial, ensuring their discretion. Their task will be simple: when the target is immobilized, they are to use a specialized tool to retrieve the sample.
Hephaestus: Specialized tool? I will forge it. Something that can pierce the softer membrane of the underbelly. A high-frequency pneumatic injector. It will be a one-use item, but it will get the job done.
The plan was audacious, complex, and filled with a thousand things that could go wrong. But it was a plan. For the first time, a path through the impossible had been cleared.
Nomad-Lead: The plan is solid. My squad is in. We will be the distraction. Old-Man-Jiang: I will contact the Iron Vultures. Hephaestus: I will begin forging the injector and designing the press. I need the schematics for the hunting ground.
The first collaborative hunt of Project Zero was now in motion.
The next day, at Shanghai No. 1 High, a physics test was underway. The silence of the examination hall was punctuated only by the scratching of pens on paper.
Qin Mo's pen flowed across the page with an effortless grace. He finished the final question—a complex problem regarding wave mechanics and harmonic resonance—in just under twenty minutes. To him, the elegant dance of numbers and theories was a simple, soothing melody.
With forty minutes to spare, he leaned back in his chair, his expression placid. But his mind was far away. He was observing the logs from [Channel: Zero]. He reviewed the entire conversation between his three operatives, his mind processing their collaboration like a supercomputer analyzing a complex simulation.
'Initial analysis complete,' he noted. 'The subjects have independently grasped the core principle of this project: synergistic collaboration. The proposed plan integrates their individual strengths into a cohesive whole, mitigating their individual weaknesses. Hephaestus provides the tools, Nomad-Lead provides the combat application, Old-Man-Jiang provides the strategic oversight and resources. The cell-based operational structure is viable.'
He calculated the probability of success based on their plan. 'Factoring in equipment failure and unforeseen monster behavior, the probability of successful sample acquisition is now 78.4%. An acceptable parameter.'
His internal review complete, he turned his attention to a more pressing matter. His "Dragon Monarch" avatar, in a world where one's power was tied to the dragons they bonded with, had just discovered a nest of rare, nascent Void Dragons. The political and strategic implications in that world were immense. He began running simulations on the optimal bonding strategy.
The school bell rang, signaling the end of the test. Qin Mo handed in his paper, his mind still half-a-universe away.
The plan, once conceived, moved with astonishing speed.
In his roaring workshop, Hephaestus worked with a fervor he hadn't known in years, the sparks from his forge illuminating a manic grin on his face as he shaped a massive, piston-like device.
In his quiet tea house, General Jiang Wei made a call on a secure line. "Old friend," he said, his voice calm and steady. "I have a private contract for your 'Vultures'. High risk, very high reward..."
In her dusty forward operating base, Captain Lin Mei gathered her small, loyal squad. She unrolled a large map on the briefing table. She didn't speak of Oracle or secret organizations. She spoke of a high-paying client, a dangerous target, and a chance to prove they were still one of the best hunter squads in the business. Her team, trusting her leadership implicitly, listened with grim determination.
She picked up a red marker and circled a desolate location on the map—a sprawling, abandoned industrial complex deep within a Level 4 quarantine zone.
"This," she said, her voice firm and clear, "is our hunting ground. This is where we hunt the Devourer."
The pieces were in place. The players were ready. The first hunt had officially begun.