"Anti-eliminator," the woman said, sounding somewhat embarrassed.
"In the past, a batch of odor-eliminating agents would leak out of the laboratory, but six months ago, the raw materials were once again scarce, and the quantity of odor-eliminating agents was insufficient, so recently they have only been supplied to official hunting teams. In addition, the warehouse was robbed yesterday, so I don't have much left."
"Was there a shortage of disinfectant before?"
The internal NPC, 'dazzled' by the tall, handsome player before him, blushed and whispered, "This is currently classified; only a few people know about it. I know a little bit because I work in the lab."
This NPC in the white lab coat is in charge of certain special experiments. Humans who make mistakes will appear in her laboratory and become experimental subjects, with a near 100% failure rate. Even within the laboratory, she is a formidable and untouchable figure.
However, this great demon is now smiling like a budding flower.
Perhaps the halo of love shouldn't be called the halo of love, but rather the halo of 'dementia'.
"Not enough raw materials? What are raw materials?" The handsome player smiled, his warm breath brushing against the NPC's ear. From a distance, they looked like an ordinary young couple, and passersby wouldn't give them a second glance.
The NPC looked troubled.
"Can't you say? If it's difficult for you, then forget it. Don't let me affect you."
In this NPC's eyes, the handsome player is practically a human-shaped source of hormones; with the help of his skills, he possesses an extraordinary charm.
The NPC's eyes were bubbling with pink bubbles, and in a daze, he blurted out the secret: "We need the Scarlet Witch's blood."
Scarlet Witch, that name again.
"Why her blood?"
The NPC, whose mind had been manipulated by this player, revealed even more confidential information without hesitation:
"The Eliminator requires the blood of a special type of monster, but these monsters have been dying off one after another in the past two years, and the last one doesn't look too good either. That's why the Scarlet Witch, who has defected, has become very important, which is why the hunting party is searching for her all over the city."
Defection? Players pondered these two words, finding them quite interesting. Would you use the word "defection" to describe a monster?
"What makes the Scarlet Witch different from other demons?"
"He was raised by humans from a young age," the NPC said. "He is a blood-feeding monster. Hunting parties have used monster blood as bait to lure him, but the Scarlet Witch still prefers human blood. He is very intelligent, has a strong learning ability, and is also very cautious. Once he has been tricked, he will never be fooled by the same trap again."
"So, we can no longer use traps?"
The NPC thought for a moment and said, "Unless we use enough human blood to lure them. But that's too dangerous. Many monsters like to eat people, and we don't know what kind of monsters we'll attract."
These monsters have different origins, so their weaknesses and abilities are also different. If one of them comes along that they can't handle, it would be a huge loss.
They dared to lure the Scarlet Witch because they knew her weaknesses. Though called a witch, the Scarlet Witch was more like a vampire; she was bloodthirsty and feared light and silver.
However, unlike the legendary vampires, Scarlet Witch is a character who grows in power.
When he first came to the lab, he looked like a human baby. His appearance has been growing ever since, and his abilities have been evolving. Who knows what breakthroughs he might have made in the two years he's been away?
The researchers told the handsome player all of this without reservation.
"A woman full of wisdom is like a goddess, full of charm," the handsome player praised in a low voice.
The NPC was completely overwhelmed; a vortex appeared in her eyes, and her heart lowered its defenses for this man.
What makes these special monsters so special? How many of them are there?
"There are eight of them. They have different abilities, but they are all growth potential," the researcher said.
"Most monsters appear in their final form. Even those that appear to be in a nursing or infant state don't actually reproduce or grow up. Only these few keep growing and evolving. We also want to figure out their secrets."
The researcher, though misled, remained reserved. She didn't tell the handsome player that the most unique aspect of these special monsters wasn't their 'growth,' but rather that they were all made from pure human genes.
They cannot extract genes from other monsters, but they can from these monsters, and their genes are very stable.
The lab has been researching whether it's possible to create a new kind of human capable of surviving in the new world through human trials. They once accelerated the maturation of a human, allowed it to mate with a human, and extracted its reproductive cells for experiments.
So far, all experiments have failed.
The reasons for each experiment's failure were different, as if some force was preventing their experiments from succeeding.
The handsome player still had many questions, but the NPC had only revealed so much, and no more information could be extracted. Seeing that the skill's duration was about to expire, the player decided to say goodbye—using psychological suggestion to get her to go out and commit suicide in the middle of the night.
"You must come. I'll be waiting for you there."
The NPC, eyes glazed over, replied, "Okay."
All the NPCs are like wax figures that can be discarded after use, typical of high-level players.
Not long after the handsome player left, another person arrived, with long legs and a bag on his back: "Repeat exactly what he asked you."
When the NPC woke up, she found a knife to her neck and a stranger behind her.
"No, don't do it."
"I'll tell you everything..." Her voice came from the recorder. The researcher turned pale and realized that she had just revealed a lot of secrets.
"If you don't want me to send it to the research institute, then answer my question. Since I've already said it, it doesn't make a difference whether I do it once or twice, right?"
The researcher gritted his teeth and said, "Okay."
The base at the same time.
As the sunlight streamed into the base gate, the gate creaked open.
People who had spent the whole night in the underground city gradually emerged, roaming freely in the sunlight, or going to check on their small vegetable gardens.
The underground city is strictly hierarchical; not everyone is permitted to step onto the sunlit surface to breathe freely. Many have not seen sunlight for months, or even a year or two.
Some died while waiting for the sunlight.
At this moment, the former player who was dismissed yesterday drove out of the base in a car, accompanied by a person and a dog. Although he had been dismissed, he still had merit points and the authority to enter and exit the base.
As usual, the base's gatekeeper said, "Don't go too far, and don't go to secluded or dark places."
The car has already driven away, and there has been no response.
The former team member managed to get some gasoline last night, and since the original owner had his own car, they could head out. Just in case, he also called a member of a hunting party with hounds, and the two decided to go find the 'Scarlet Witch' today.
The hunting dog, attracted by the scent of blood, seemed excited, but it was well-trained and didn't bark unnecessarily. Its owner, tense yet expectant, clenched his fists.
"The Scarlet Witch's strength lies in hiding; she's very clever. But her actual combat ability isn't that great. If we can find her during the day, the outcome is predictable." The NPC was in high spirits.
"We can keep the spoils all to ourselves. The Scarlet Witch's bounty is very high. We can live on food and drink for ten years."
The car drove out of the streets near the base and headed towards the sea. It was very close, only a ten-minute drive, but to them, each day felt like an eternity.
The NPC was calming the hunting dog while looking at the city scenery on both sides.
It looks so desolate during the day, but mysterious and dangerous at night.
A former team member, driving by, chuckled, "Speaking of which, I don't know why the captain is so obsessed with the Scarlet Witch."
"Yes, there was a wanted poster two years ago, but recently they've suddenly become very concerned about it. I don't know what happened to them. But this kind of thing has nothing to do with us. We just do what they say, risking our lives to make money." The NPC's eyes darted around, not revealing the information he knew.
The car quickly drove to the hunting grounds where they had been the day before, where traces of yesterday's battle still lingered. A former team member got out of the car: "Right here."
At night, demons roam the streets, but during the day, the streets are deathly silent. Scattered paper ashes were found at the place where the old man who shone yesterday died, and there seemed to be writing on them.
After a while, the former team member identified the words "sending away the soul".
"This is an Eastern monster that is said to call upon the souls of children who died violently, sending them to reincarnation. However, reincarnation and such are just legends created by humans," the NPC said indifferently.
The former player didn't seem to care much. After searching for a while, he drew a circle with a small pebble: "It's probably here."
The NPC approached with a hunting dog, which excitedly circled the area, its tail wagging. A former team member produced an arrow stained with the Scarlet Witch's blood and instructed the dog to sniff it carefully.
"Woof woof woof!" the hunting dog barked loudly.
"A clue?" The NPC was somewhat surprised. "He used to quickly dispose of the scent."
"The Scarlet Witch?" a former player asked.
"Yeah, this isn't the first time we've encountered the Scarlet Witch, but she's escaped every time. She's not very strong, but she's excellent at hiding, luring us into monster lairs time and time again, just like yesterday. And she's incredibly quick to learn, very cunning. Sigh... she's getting more and more troublesome each time."
The NPC continued, "So we always laugh and say that we have to treat the Scarlet Witch as a human with special abilities, and an extremely cunning one at that, in order to have a chance of catching her."
"If you treat them like ordinary monsters, you'll be easily tricked into delivering food to other monsters."
"So," he stroked his chin, "was this an oversight?"
The NPC found the lingering scent strange, but attracted by the high bounty, he was unwilling to go back just like that: "Let's give it a try anyway."
The NPC patted his bow and crossbow, gaining a lot of courage.
Besides the former team members, other players and NPCs also left one after another.
Most of those granted permission to go out are working diligently, needing to work incredibly hard just to support themselves. However, a small minority, due to preferential treatment for their families, can live a life that others envy without much effort, such as being able to go out and bask in the sun every day.
However, if you get too much without giving anything in return, life can become dull and boring.
"When can we go back to the past and live a carefree and free life?"
In the open, cleaned square, a girl in a white dress feeds pigeons with the extra bread she has.
A gentle and kind woman smiled as she looked at her mistress.
The cooing of the pigeons led them into another 'world,' just like in the old movies, where people used to love feeding pigeons in the square.
However, since the anomaly occurred, no one has been seen to do that—in the dungeon where food is mainly fed on a certain type of fungus, food is extremely expensive and is only served on special holidays, so how could they bear to feed pigeons?
"Yes, Miss," the nanny comforted her. "As long as the hunting party defeats those monsters, we will definitely be able to return to the past."
Even if it's incredibly difficult, sooner or later humanity will once again become the master of this planet, and everyone hopes for that.
"Those monsters?" The girl paused, then scattered the crumbs, attracting more pigeons. "Are those monsters scary? I've never seen them with my own eyes."
"It's horrible," the nanny said. "They're all ugly, man-eating monsters."
"Oh." The girl nodded and scattered a handful of food crumbs.
"Miss has been enjoying coming here to feed the pigeons these past few days," the nanny said with a smile, noticing that she seemed to be in a good mood.
"Like in those movies, feeding pigeons is a special signal," the girl said with a smile.
The nanny was even more puzzled: "What signal?"
The girl spread her arms, letting the breeze flutter her expensive white lace dress, standing out from everyone else, her whole being screaming "spoiled."
She gave a pure and charming smile: "Similarly, my presence here is the signal that the story can begin."