บท 91: Chapter 91、Dammit! Dude, You Can Fly?!
Certainly! Here's the polished English version of the excerpt:
As everyone knows, without special talent rewards, most survivors lack the talent units and upgrade materials needed to level up their shelters.
This directly led to the first round of the apocalypse passing, yet the shelters remained at Level 0. Most survivors still hadn't managed to recruit any talent units.
Yi Bai was an anomaly, relying purely on his top-tier starting talent to earn rewards every day.
But Yi Bai's case was unique and couldn't be used to analyze the overall apocalypse game mechanics. He had already thought about this problem. Since shelters had levels, there must be a way to upgrade them. And given that talent units accounted for the majority of the prerequisites for upgrading shelters, they were crucial.
But how could others acquire talent? Or, to be more precise, what channels could survivors use to reliably obtain talent units?
Now, the answer had emerged!
Enter the Puzzle Gate to obtain talent units and upgrade materials! This was the only stable channel for survivors in the apocalypse. And the system's message emphasized the rarity of the Puzzle Gates, which indicated their immense value and competition.
Furthermore, the introduction of the Puzzle Gates hinted at the considerable dangers within. This meant that, in order for humanity to survive, they would have to fight each other for control of the Puzzle Gates, competing for something that could very well bring about their deaths.
"Is this the malicious amusement of a mysterious existence?" Yi Bai murmured, "Watching us scramble to grab a Puzzle Gate that could kill us... It must be something like a high-risk, high-reward dungeon."
It was another of the mysterious entity's schemes.
Even though Yi Bai knew the Puzzle Gate was dangerous, he couldn't ignore it. The rewards inside the gate were sure to threaten his current advantage. If he wanted to stay ahead, he needed to participate and expand his lead. Staying ahead meant avoiding being attacked. To avoid falling behind, he had to take risks!
"Yes, Commander!"
Lin Yue responded in a low voice, quickly issuing an order: "Li Qiang! Song Shu! Go take a look!"
Two soldiers stepped forward, forming a combat formation as they quickly approached the Puzzle Gate.
"Huh?"
Chen Qiuren looked at Lin Yue curiously, "You don't have a communication device either, how are you communicating with the commander?"
Lin Yue didn't answer. Her gaze was fixed intently on the two soldiers' movements.
As they slowly approached the Puzzle Gate…
Suddenly!
The Puzzle Gate, which had been burning like fire, suddenly flared with light, as if receiving some kind of signal. It quickly formed a complete red gate!
The gate was towering, its frame decorated with strange patterns, while within it, ripples like lava surged.
It looked incredibly hot, but no heat was felt; instead, there was a slight coolness, and a cold breeze blew outward from inside.
The two soldiers stood near the gate, and even the surrounding man-eating fungi didn't approach them. It seemed the gate created a safe zone, preventing any active attacks from the apocalypse creatures.
As the soldiers neared the gate, Yi Bai saw a new system message appear before him.
[Your talent unit has detected a new Puzzle Gate!]
[Would you like to select an appropriate talent unit to explore within?]
[Explorers must be either yourself or one of your talent units, and must be close to the Puzzle Gate, in a non-combat state.]
The message was simple, offering no further useful information.
Yi Bai squinted slightly. After a brief silence, he disconnected the link, turning to look at Wang Shi.
"Do you know about the Puzzle Gate?"
"No," Wang Shi opened his eyes and shook his head. "I've never heard of it, but judging by the name, it sounds like something we need to solve puzzles to get through?"
"Are you good at solving puzzles?"
"Sir, I have a Level 3 combat AI assistant." Wang Shi pointed to his head, speaking calmly, "Although it's not for intelligent research, given the current world's technology, culture, and knowledge, I can solve most puzzles in this world, except for those that are unsolvable."
"Well, this should be easy!"
Yi Bai relaxed a little, smiling.
He had Wang Shi, the near-omniscient future warrior!
Wang Shi was an S-tier talent, and the Puzzle Gate before them was B-tier. No matter what dangers the puzzle held, based solely on their ranks, a B-tier puzzle gate shouldn't be able to kill an S-tier talent, right?
The game mechanics of the apocalypse did follow certain underlying logical rules. The rank and level of talents were one of the key standards.
"Go ahead, find Lin Yue."
Yi Bai nodded, assigning the task to Wang Shi. "They're in the city hospital, where there's a Puzzle Gate."
"Try to resolve it and bring new resources to the shelter."
"Yes, sir!"
Wang Shi saluted sharply and turned to leave.
He never spoke unnecessary words. He was a man of action.
Within moments, Wang Shi had already exited the shelter. Even though he slowed his pace, Yi Bai couldn't catch sight of his movement speed.
From the information shared with Jiang Xiaoci, Wang Shi had already grasped most of the population, talents, and intelligence data within the shelter. Moreover, with the "Ancient City Map" in his mind, he could easily pinpoint Lin Yue's location.
Less than a minute after Yi Bai's order, Wang Shi's figure silently appeared behind Lin Yue.
"Commander's bodyguard, Wang Shi, reporting for duty."
Wang Shi spoke softly, causing the group that had been vigilantly watching the Puzzle Gate to jump in surprise.
"Don't be alarmed, he's one of us."
Lin Yue turned, lowering her gun. She glanced at the Puzzle Gate in the parking lot before looking at Wang Shi. "The commander sent you to handle this?"
"Yes."
Wang Shi gave the group a brief glance, nodding. "You all continue with your original tasks. I'll handle this."
Without saying another word, he quietly walked toward the Puzzle Gate.
The group watched him approach the gate, and without a moment's hesitation, he stepped into the red, lava-like ripples.
"Hiss!"
Chen Qiuren took a sharp breath and rubbed his arm, muttering, "What a tough guy. He just went in without even testing the waters?"
"Now that's a real man—brave and unafraid!"
Zhao Siqi suddenly spoke, highly praising Wang Shi.
Chen Qiuren shot her a resentful look, but the female doctor didn't even glance at him, walking straight toward the hospital building.
"Lin Yue, let's continue with our mission," Zhao Siqi reminded, "We don't have many bullets left, but as long as we find enough raw materials and equipment, we can use medicine to dispel the man-eating fungi on the way back."
"Mm."
Lin Yue nodded, casting one last look at the Puzzle Gate before leading the team into the hospital building.
Inside the building, chaos and destruction reigned. The floors were overrun with man-eating fungi.
The team split into small groups, following Zhao Siqi's instructions and the hospital's regular routes to locate key areas—pharmacies, cold storage, research labs, and equipment rooms.
Zhao Siqi's list was diverse, but thankfully, none of the items were large equipment or common medical supplies that other survivors could easily take.
Though it was troublesome to search, at least they could carry everything away.
What made Lin Yue feel somewhat at ease was that there was no sign of human activity in the hospital. It was just the man-eating fungi harassing their team.
No other survivors were fighting for resources. That was a good sign.
But considering the tenacity of the man-eating fungi, most survivors were likely holed up in their shelters, too afraid to venture out.
"Hey, buddy."
In the operating room on the seventh floor, Chen Qiuren, while rummaging through medical materials and equipment, asked the soldier helping him, "Do you know the guy named Wang?"
"Who, Wang Shi? No, I don't know him."
The soldier shook his head, his eyes constantly scanning for threats as he sliced through the fungi tentacles attacking from the walls.
"Do you think he's manly?"
Chen Qiuren paused, then asked, "Do you think he's a real man?"
"Probably."
The soldier answered absentmindedly, clearly more focused on the task at hand. "Anyone who can be the commander's bodyguard must be capable."
"Capable?"
Chen Qiuren sneered, raising an eyebrow. "I think that soldier is just a big, dumb brute who only knows how to fight. When it comes to real skill, he's nothing compared to me."
"Ah, I'm not saying all soldiers are bad. You know what I mean, right?"
Chen Qiuren pointed to himself, speaking meaningfully. "Do you know why the commander sent Lin Yue personally to protect me and Dr. Zhao?"
The soldier shook his head.
"Because of our status! We're doctors—the only two doctors in the entire shelter!"
"We're the key to solving the man-eating fungus problem!"
Chen Qiuren lifted his head proudly, a smug expression on his face. "That big guy? He can't handle this. Only Dr. Zhao and I can take credit for solving it."
"I tell you, he's not a real man. A real man needs both brains and brawn. He may look brave, but he's all muscle, no brains."
"Is that what they call a Puzzle Gate?"
Chen Qiuren walked over to the window and pointed to the red gate in the parking lot below. "The boss should have sent me, not him. Puzzle Gates... sounds like something that requires brains to figure out."
"Why send Wang Shi? What if he dies in there? The boss would lose a bodyguard!"
Chen Qiuren grumbled, his tone full of male rivalry.
"Huh? Buddy, what are you looking at? Can you at least respect me while I'm talking?"
Chen Qiuren noticed that the soldier had also been looking out the window, ignoring him, which annoyed him. "What are you staring at? It's just a patch of green. Want some? I'll research a recipe for man-eating fungi dishes. Can you at least tell me what you think about what I said?"
"What did you just say? That Wang Shi will die?"
The soldier turned around, looking at Chen Qiuren, pointing toward the window. "But he's already out."
"Wang Shi... huh? He's out!"
Chen Qiuren leaned over the window, scattering some powder to dispel the annoying man-eating fungi. He stared wide-eyed at the parking lot below.
The big guy had already come out of the gate and was standing in front of the red door.
How long had it been? He was already out?
Wang Shi seemed to notice Chen Qiuren's gaze. He looked up and met Chen Qiuren's eyes from across the distance.
"He didn't die in the Puzzle Gate?"
Chen Qiuren clicked his tongue, muttering, "What a lucky idiot. He doesn't look like the type to solve puzzles..."
"Not entirely a puzzle. There's also combat involved."
Wang Shi's voice suddenly echoed in front of Chen Qiuren, calmly responding to his mutterings.
"Combat? That makes sense. Soldiers are great at fighting..."
"Holy crap!!"
"Dammit!!"
Chen Qiuren's realization hit him like a lightning bolt. He stumbled backward, staring at the window in disbelief.
"You... you can fly!"
He pointed at Wang Shi outside, his finger shaking violently. "How the hell can you fly?!"
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