The morning light is dim.
The light inside the UFO is a little dim.
The small room at the rear was surrounded by metal walls and was as dark as night.
Tang Yi spent some time in the dark room filled with clutter using a flashlight, but was unable to find any clues. He had no choice but to give up, got up, and returned to the control room.
At the front of the control room is a large windshield.
The chocolate-like control panel was quietly bathed in the silvery morning light, presenting an overall dead gray color.
Tang Yi just said "eh" softly and walked over quickly.
Ten minutes ago, when he entered the UFO to check, the control panel was still completely gray. At this moment, a button in the upper right corner suddenly lit up, and a battery-like pattern appeared.
Tang Yi was shocked.
What's this?
...Is this an energy button? !
Why did this button suddenly light up for no apparent reason?!
No, that's not right.
Tang Yi quickly scanned the entire control panel and confirmed one detail - all the other buttons were covered with a thin layer of dust, just as he had checked ten minutes ago, but the dust on the lit energy button had disappeared.
This was pressed down manually!
This discovery made Tang Yi swallow his saliva and take a step back, but his back hit something, which scared him.
He turned around suddenly and saw Zhang Yan standing behind him.
This woman had looked like someone who was not to be trifled with since the beginning of the dungeon, and at this moment she was staring at Tang Yi with a cold face.
Tang breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously and whispered, "Sister Zhang, you're here too... I just noticed someone touched this keyboard. I suspect aliens may have sneaked in!"
"Really?" Zhang Yan uttered these two words slowly.
Tang Yi frowned and said nervously, "We've been guarding here but haven't noticed anything. The aliens might be disguised as humans!"
Are they disguised as NPCs or...
Tang Yi was thinking, but Zhang Yan took a step closer to him, staring at him with a straight look, and repeated those two words again: "Really?"
These eyes were extremely dark, not reflecting any light at all, as if they were dead, revealing a cold, mechanical feeling.
Tang Yi was relieved.
He took a step back without leaving a trace, and said with a forced smile, "Sister Zhang... I'll go tell Brother Song and the others about this discovery."
He turned to leave, but an arm stopped him.
Tang Yi paused for a moment and looked quickly. Zhang Yan's right arm had been separated from his right shoulder, connected by a metal rod in the middle.
Zhang Yan tilted his head, opened his mouth, and repeated for the third time: "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes?"
She was like a broken machine that suddenly got stuck, and her whole body was shaking.
This strange posture made Tang Yi's face turn pale instantly!
He wanted to crawl under her arm and escape through the hatch, but Zhang Yan's arm suddenly extended infinitely, binding him like a rope and dragging him into Zhang Yan's arms!
The woman hugged Tang Yi tightly, lowered her head, stared at him with one eye, and rolled up the other eye. Her mouth hung down as if dislocated, but she still made sounds in her throat.
"Y-yes, y-yes, y-yes?"
"Mechanical anomaly, mechanical anomaly—"
"Sector E03 was damaged in a crash fifteen hours ago and is no longer usable. We have three minutes of use left—"
She mechanically uttered a series of words, which frightened Tang Yi so much that he turned pale.
Then, Zhang Yan said while shaking, "Then, then, killing one human counts as one—"
She lifted Tang Yi up. Tang Yi's legs left the ground and he struggled desperately. He shouted Song Yang's name. Zhang Yan's right arm stretched out like a noodle and stuffed it directly into his mouth.
Tang Yi's eyes were bloodshot.
The next second, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet pierced through Zhang Yan's eyebrows and also penetrated the metal panel of the UFO behind her!
The place where Zhang Yan was pierced by the bullet exposed the metal mechanical structure inside!
"She" leaned back, then stopped suddenly, then jumped up like a bug, and attacked Song Yang and Xia Jing who appeared from the cabin door!
She grabbed Tang Yi to her chest as a shield!
Song Yang said sternly, "Tang Yi, keep this position and don't move!"
Tang Yi stood there frozen with tears in his eyes.
The next second, two more gunshots rang out, and two bullets shot off "Zhang Yan's" left and right arms. Tang Yi screamed and fell down. Xia Jing who rushed over caught him and threw him to the ground with his backhand!
Xia Jing turned around quickly and grabbed Zhang Yan's neck from behind the moment she fell to the ground.
"Zhang Yan" continued to speak: "Kill—kill—kill humans!"
Her head turned 180 degrees, her mouth opened wide, her neck stretched out, and she bit Xia Jing fiercely!
Song Yang's pupils suddenly constricted: "Xia Jing!"
Xia Jing said softly, "It seems that we can't get anything out of him by torture."
When the others arrived here, they saw the young man grabbing "Zhang Yan's" head with one hand and exerting force suddenly.
With a sharp "click", in front of everyone, "Zhang Yan's" head was separated from her body, mechanical parts flew apart, and "her" body completely stopped working, and the whole body slid down.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Xia Jing glanced at the relatively well-preserved head in his hand and raised his eyebrows in satisfaction.
Shen Bai huddled behind Pei Guang, shaking like a sieve.
Zhao's mother and daughter and Deng Kai were stunned, and Chai Feng was also stunned and stood there.
When he came to his senses, he asked, "...What on earth happened?!"
Seeing Xia Jing handling the situation with ease, Song Yang let out a long sigh.
He squatted down and examined the mechanical remains in front of him with Xia Jing. Without turning his head, he said, "Ask Shen Bai."
Shen Bai received everyone's gaze and shuddered. He said in a trembling voice, "I just got up and wanted to go to the woods next to me to pee. Halfway through, I heard a noise in the bushes. I looked over and saw Zhang Yan. She was covered in blood, lying on the ground motionless!"
Everyone was stunned.
Shen Bai pointed in a certain direction outside the cabin door: "We just went to check, she's dead!"
It was at the moment when her death was confirmed that Song Yang and Xia Jing took the lead and rushed towards the UFO.
At this moment, Chai Feng glanced at Xia Jing and Song Yang, pursed his lips, turned around and took the rest of the people to the place where Shen Bai found Zhang Yan.
The woman was lying in the grass, motionless. She was wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday, and her body was covered in blood, looking extremely tragic.
The most peculiar thing was her head, where there were strange bloody holes all around, as if someone had forced a headband full of steel nails into it.
Everyone looked at this scene in disbelief.
The Zhao mother and daughter covered their mouths. Deng Kai's eyes widened as he asked, "This is actually Sister Zhang? Then who was that in the UFO just now—"
Chai Feng quickly examined Zhang Yan's body, then stood up, frowning: "...That was a machine, a monster."
They had seen with their own eyes the mechanical structure exposed in the body of "Zhang Yan".
Deng Kai was stunned, still unable to believe it, questioning his life: "But Sister Zhang has always been with us, how could she suddenly become a robot? How could the real Sister Zhang appear here? When did the aliens replace Sister Zhang?!"
He held his head, completely confused.
Chai Feng suddenly turned to look at Deng Kai and asked, "Did you really not see anything after you slid down the slope yesterday?"
This question made Deng Kai stunned, and the eyes of the others were immediately focused on Deng Kai.
Deng Kai was confused and said, "Ah? I saw something, that biological gel and... Wait, Brother Chai, are you doubting me?"
Deng Kai's face suddenly changed. "When I went down there yesterday, Sister Zhang was lying there. That was her! Her voice, her looks, her clothes, how could I tell she had been replaced? Didn't you guys notice it too? And it was only a few seconds—yes, it was only a few seconds. How did the aliens—"
Deng Kai's panic didn't seem fake, but Chai Feng still stared at him and said, "Are you willing to prove your identity now? Xiao Deng, don't blame me for being suspicious. There was no movement for a whole minute after you went down yesterday. The monsters in this dungeon seem to be robots. You can prove yourself by just swiping your finger."
Deng Kai tried hard to defend himself: "I discovered traces of the monster at that time, and I was confused for that minute!"
Seeing that the others were still looking at him with some hesitation and nervousness, Deng Kai opened his mouth but could no longer speak, and his shoulders drooped.
No matter how much you say, the answer will be clearer than actual actions.
He raised his right hand and bit his index finger hard, and blood immediately came out.
He stretched out his hand to show the others and said weakly, "Is this okay?"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Chai Feng's voice returned to its gentle tone.
He patted Deng Kai on the shoulder and said soothingly, "Sorry, Xiao Deng, this is for everyone's safety."
He looked at Zhang Yan's body again and said seriously, "The only time I can think of Zhang Yan being replaced is when she slid down the slope."
At this moment, Song Yang, Xia Jing and Tang Yi had already walked out of the UFO and walked towards them.
Chai Feng couldn't help but look at Xia Jing again.
Song Yang said calmly, "There's a device similar to a storage tank inside the robot's body. It's empty, with only some jelly-like substance left."
"I think the circular footprints you and Xia...Jingqiu found were probably the footprints left by the monster in its original state, and the jelly-like substance you found on the slope was the residue left behind by the robot after analyzing Zhang Yan's appearance and transforming into her."
"Not only did she transform into Zhang Yan's appearance, but even her clothes were directly transformed."
He and Xia Jing had already checked and found that the clothes actually felt like skin to the touch, but when the clothes were torn open, the exposed cross-section of the material was metal.
Song Yang half-knelt down, looking at the circle of holes on Zhang Yan's head, and said, "The Zhang Yan who returned with you clearly has her own memories and personality. Although it can't be said to be exactly like her, at least the robot is trying hard to impersonate her."
The robot was indifferent and had a sharp attitude. She knew about the existence of Smiley City and that Zhang Yan and Shen Bai had a grudge against each other.
But no matter how hard she tried to act, she was still not Zhang Yan herself, so she spoke little, was silent, and her cold face towards Shen Bai seemed a bit deliberate.
Song Yang pointed at the hole in Zhang Yan's skull and said word by word, "After the robot transformed into Zhang Yan, it probably used this method to quickly acquire her memories and adjust to her behavior patterns."
When everyone saw the circle of wounds, they felt a dull pain in their heads and their faces looked very ugly.
——The monster is directly attacking the human brain!
"She has pressed the UFO's energy button, but the other buttons are still gray. I think the real meaning of that button should be to charge the aircraft—"
Song Yang raised his head and looked at everyone, and said slowly: "In this instance, the way the monsters took the UFO is probably by replacing human players and blending in with us. Then, in order to successfully activate the UFO, they will continue to attack us."
As soon as he finished speaking, the scene fell into silence, and everyone stared at him with very stiff eyes.
At this moment, everyone suddenly dared not look at the people around them.
They didn't notice Zhang Yan lingering among them the entire night, so how could they be sure now that the person next to them... was actually them?
——Yesterday afternoon, they divided into three groups and acted separately!
It only takes a few seconds for the monster to complete its disguise. Even people in the same group can't detect it, let alone people in different groups. How can they trust each other?!
For a moment, the atmosphere became weird.
It was the height of summer, but their hands and feet were cold.
Of course, it is still very simple to prove yourself.
Chai Feng was about to speak, but Deng Kai swallowed hard and broke the strange silence first.
His face was pale and he muttered hoarsely, "But...but why didn't I see the real Sister Zhang when I went down there? Where on earth was she hidden by that monster?"
Xia Jing said softly, "You said that the slope in that place extends all the way to the winding mountain road below, right?"
"There might be another platform beneath the one you were on. If you abandon Zhang Yan there, she'll be unconscious from the attack and unable to make any sound, and you won't be able to find her."
Xia Jing said slowly: "When she wakes up, she can use the props to climb up the slope and climb all the way back to the top of the mountain."
Deng Kai was stunned and said, "But her space bag is on the monster. After I found 'Sister Zhang' yesterday, she took out the medical supplies herself."
Her cell phone was also snatched away by the monster.
Xia Jing leaned down and turned up Zhang Yan's sleeves.
Everyone then noticed that there was a rope mark on her wrist - she had been to the safe house, and the props obtained through the safe house could not be taken away by force!
Xia Jing actually didn't have much impression of Zhang Yan. After all, so many players had entered and exited the safe house, it was impossible for him to remember everyone.
But before the game started yesterday, when everyone was introducing each other, Zhang Yan raised her hand to stroke her hair, and Xia Jing noticed this sign.
At this time, everyone felt the same deep despair when they thought of Zhang Yan who desperately climbed up the slope and climbed all the way back to the base camp, but still died at the last step because of lack of medical supplies.
Zhao Mingjing took a step back first and said in a hoarse voice, "I...I'm going to the bathroom."
Her face was pale and she turned around in a daze. Everyone watched her stagger towards the toilet.
Zhao Leya hesitated for half a minute, then said worriedly, "I'll go see my mom."
After the mother and daughter left, Pei Guang whispered, "They were so kind as to take Zhang Yan in yesterday, but ended up spending the entire night with the robot. They're lucky they didn't get killed."
The robot probably knew that there would be someone on guard all night, so it didn't dare to act rashly.
Pei Guang wanted to say something, but Tang Yi tugged at the corner of his clothes.
Pei Guang was stunned, and then he realized that everyone else was staring at the direction where the mother and daughter left, without saying a word.
The atmosphere gave him a fright.
He fell silent.
*
Zhao Mingjing staggered into the bathroom and twisted his neck stiffly.
This toilet was temporarily built by an NPC. It is more like a dirt pit surrounded by cardboard and boxes than a toilet.
There are only three pits in total, and each pit is separated by cardboard.
Because the excrement piled up here and could not be moved, the place was stinking. However, Zhao Mingjing seemed to be completely oblivious to the stench, and her eyes moved between the three pits.
Suddenly, she seemed to have discovered something, and her eyes were fixed on a patch of dirt ground outside the back door of the toilet.
The soil was slightly raised and was obviously much softer than the surrounding ground.
Zhao Mingjing strode across the pit, walked to that place, knelt down, and began to dig the soil with his hands.
She dug the soil mixed with grass leaves to the side. Her eyes were a little straight, her fingers were stiff, and she dug faster and faster. Her ten fingers were embedded in the soil like animal claws, and the soil was dug to the side.
At this moment, Zhao Leya's weak voice came from behind her: "Mom...what are you doing?"
Zhao Mingjing paused.
She didn't look back, but just kept digging halfway, as if she was frozen there.
After a few seconds of silence, Zhao Leya's voice became nervous: "...Mom? Why are you... a little weird?"
The last note falls.
Zhao Mingjing gasped.
After a moment, she hunched her back and twisted her neck little by little. The movement was so stiff that it seemed as if she had used a lot of strength to do it.
Her gaze silently turned to her daughter standing behind her.
Her daughter's face was expressionless, but she said in a voice that sounded extremely nervous: "Mom, you are not... a monster?"
Zhao Mingjing slowly clenched her hands.
Under her fingertips, in the soft soil, she could vaguely see a beautiful eye buried underneath, slightly open, with dilated pupils.
Zhao Leya reached out from behind, holding a gun in his hand.
The gun was pointed directly at Zhao Mingjing's eyebrows.
Zhao Leya blinked and said sadly, "Then I can only kill you."