Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Side Mission Update
So, to kill Candy, one needs to hit her head with precision.
Unfortunately, her reactions and speed are many times faster than that of a normal person, which greatly increases the difficulty.
Ryan's initial plan was fairly simple.
He wanted Leo to act as bait to attract Candy's attention while he hid in the distance, using a compound bow to find the opportunity to take her down.
However, after watching the surveillance footage, Ryan felt that this approach was extremely challenging.
If the first ambush fails, and Candy starts to be on guard, succeeding afterward would be nearly impossible.
Leo, standing nearby, also felt somewhat troubled.
After his earlier reasoning, he was left with confusion.
But the only conclusion he could draw was that Candy was indeed terrifyingly strong.
He felt certain that he wouldn't be able to defeat those scavengers without using a gun.
At that moment, Leo spoke up, "I want to go up and confirm the situation..."
After saying that, Leo looked at Ryan, seeking his opinion.
After all, before the operation began, they had already discussed that the command authority rested with Ryan.
Ryan pondered for a moment and then nodded.
It was time for Leo to understand Candy's true strength.
At the very least, he couldn't continue to regard her as an ordinary person.
Otherwise, Leo might become complacent during the upcoming actions.
"Buddy, you stay here for now." Ryan said quietly to Buddy.
Buddy obediently sat down on the ground.
Ryan followed Leo as they climbed through the window of the first-floor corridor.
The two successfully entered the hotel.
After confirming that there was nothing unusual on the first floor, they headed towards the second floor together.
As soon as they entered the stairwell on the second floor, Leo's nostrils flared slightly.
As a professional hunter, his sense of smell was quite sharp.
There was a faint metallic scent of blood hanging in the air.
Moreover, if the smell was still lingering at this distance, it meant that the prey must have bled a lot…
Ryan followed closely behind Leo.
He adjusted the system panel to "visible only to myself." so that others couldn't see it.
He slightly increased the panel's transparency and kept an eye on the real-time map.
At that moment, Candy had returned to the room at the far end of the right side of the second floor, she seemed to be cleaning herself inside.
So, until she finished washing away the blood, this area was temporarily safe.
At the same time, Ryan continued to think.
Was there any way to control Candy?
After all, the hunting mission had not yet begun, and if they killed Candy now, they wouldn't get any rewards, which would be troublesome...
Moreover, it was crucial to ensure that Ryan was the one to kill Candy.
It was equally important to make sure that the kill reward wouldn't be snatched away by Leo.
But Candy was incredibly strong, and ordinary methods wouldn't be able to restrain her at all.
Could it be that he had to resort to that method...?
"Ryan... look." Leo whispered, interrupting Ryan's thoughts as he pointed out the bodies of the scavengers.
Ryan also looked up, and upon seeing the scene inside the room, he couldn't help but frown.
Inside the room, the scavengers had all been cut open at the chest.
Their internal organs had been completely removed and devoured, resembling pigs slaughtered in a butcher shop.
Witnessing this bloody scene firsthand was indeed quite shocking.
Ryan suppressed the nausea rising in his stomach and feigned a surprised expression, examining the scene closely: "The organs of these corpses are missing."
Leo's expression was grave.
He never expected these scavengers would meet such a gruesome fate.
After calming himself slightly, Leo turned to Ryan and asked, "Ryan, what should we do next?"
Leo was completely at a loss.
This situation had far exceeded his understanding.
If he were acting alone, he would likely have retreated by now.
Ryan spoke softly, "Do you remember Candy's livestream? It seemed she was attacked by some kind of monster."
"Yeah, I saw that." Leo nodded. "The clips of her being attacked were recorded and posted in the pinned section."
Ryan continued to analyze, "She must have been injured at that time and then got infected and turned into a monster."
Leo looked confused, "But... that doesn't quite add up, does it?"
His eyes were filled with conflict: "If Candy was infected and turned into a monster, how did she still send messages in the chat room?"
Ryan casually replied, "Maybe she's a monster that retains some human rationality."
"Look at this food, it must have come from those dead players..." Ryan squatted down and picked up a piece of bread soaked in blood.
This bread was clearly from the supply crate.
Ryan casually tossed it aside: "Clearly, this human food is no longer useful to Candy."
"Her food now consists of human organs?" Leo understood Ryan's implication.
Ryan nodded, "Yeah, just like those special zombies."
Even though it was hard to believe, Leo felt that if Ryan's theory was correct, then everything started to make sense.
Ryan instructed, "Let's scavenge some useful items first, we can split what we find."
The two began to search through the belongings left by the scavengers.
They found two makeshift shotguns, along with the primers and ammunition needed for loading.
Leo also discovered two flashlights: "It looks like you don't have a flashlight, right? You can take this one, and we'll each keep a shotgun."
"Sounds good." Ryan said as he reached out to take the flashlight.
Leo rummaged through the pockets of the scavenger leader's clothing.
"I found something good!" Leo's eyes lit up.
He discovered two packs of wrapped cigarettes inside a plastic bag that once held chips.
Ryan swallowed hard: "Haha, that's definitely a good find."
Both of them were actually smokers.
They had been in this survival game for nearly a whole day and hadn't had a single cigarette.
If it weren't for the fear that the smell would be too strong and attract Candy's attention, they would have wanted to smoke one right away.
"Let's split it in half, as we agreed." Leo said, tossing over a pack.
Ryan caught it and opened the pack to take a whiff.
The cigarettes were well-preserved and showed no signs of dampness or mold.
It seemed the scavenger leader had taken good care of them for a long time, in a post-apocalyptic world, tobacco and alcohol were also valuable commodities.
After all, living beings need some ways to relax, otherwise, what's the difference between them and animals?
Ryan packed away the cigarettes.
Then, under Leo's guidance, Ryan learned how to load the makeshift shotgun ammunition.
"When you're packing in the steel balls at the end, make sure to control your strength, don't just shove them in hard, as that could risk a burst chamber..." Leo demonstrated.
Ryan had good manual skills and learned it in just one go.
Suddenly, both of their system panels popped up at the same time.
[Quest task has been updated]
[Players can head to Shelter No. 2 to accept the mission]
[The large resource point, the Central Mall, has opened]
[A highly dangerous BOSS is lurking in the Central Mall, players/teams that kill it can receive generous rewards]
Ryan quickly read through the messages, it seemed the BOSS in this instance had appeared.
However, Ryan wasn't in a hurry.
With the players' current strength, even if they banded together, they wouldn't be able to deal with that monster.
Once they encountered the BOSS, they would only be ruthlessly crushed.
So he didn't need to worry about the reward being snatched away.
Once Candy's bounty mission came out, they could kill the BOSS and get to choose materials to craft a medical disinfecting lamp.
Then, by exploiting the BOSS's weaknesses, they could easily take it down.
Leo quietly asked, "After dealing with Candy, are you interested in this BOSS?"
"Let's see then, after all, I have no leads at the moment…" Ryan sighed softly.
At that moment, Ryan's system panel popped up again.
Candy sent him a private message.
[Candy: Ryan, I've taken care of my troubles over here. Where are you now?]
[Candy: We're still at the motel.]
[Candy: Should I send you my location, or will you come to meet us?]
Ryan said softly, "Candy just messaged me, let's head back down to the first floor."
Leo nodded, and the two returned to the first floor.
In the stairwell, Leo quietly asked Ryan for his thoughts: "What are you planning to do?"
Ryan shared his plan: "I intend to distract her and set a trap in this motel."
He was now planning to use the method he had initially thought of.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone