Chapter 112

Chapter 112

However, as to how humans transformed into Busavachas, Kurt didn’t delve into the details. Instead, he raised his arm and declared, "We represent the last hope of humanity. We stand here today to carry on the torch of hope!"

Unfortunately, Kurt's impassioned plea failed to resonate with anyone else.

But Kurt seemed not to care about their reactions. He went on to emphasize, “Remember, your sole mission this time is to hunt the Busavachas and to survive.”

"Wait—"

Choi Haosung furrowed his brow, “That sounds like two objectives, doesn’t it?”

First is to hunt the Busavachas, and secondly to survive.

After all, they were designated as warriors in this scenario. Historically, seldom does a warrior’s mission on the battlefield become solely about survival, especially now when they’re purportedly hunting an extraterrestrial creature called “Busavacha”.

To this, Kurt responded, "No, it’s just one objective."

"Because only by slaying the Busavachas and extracting a limb's flesh to create an antibody vaccine can you prevent becoming another Busavacha."

“A piece of flesh?”

Dangdang whispered to Liu Buhua, “That’s a strange way to phrase it.”

Usually, they’d describe meat in terms like "a chunk" or "a pound." What's this new measure, "a piece"?

Liu Buhua was about to express his confusion when Kurt turned to them and explained, “It means a limb. Just like humans, Busavachas have five limbs: two legs, two arms, and a torso. One limb’s flesh can produce one vaccine, so one Busavacha can yield five vaccines.”

The weight of the information conveyed in those few sentences was substantial, requiring everyone a moment to ponder and digest.

“We need to get vaccinated too?” Feng Jingshan asked, voicing everyone’s lingering doubt, “If we don’t, will we turn into Busavachas?”

“Yes.”

Kurt shifted his gaze to him, his typically stern and determined face now betraying a hint of eerie malice. “Did you think the Busavachas were alien creatures that emerged from a spaceship thirty years ago?”

Hesitating, Feng Jingshan inquired, "…Aren’t they?"

Kurt didn't respond further but stood with an air of commanding authority, hands clasped behind him, stating, “The Pusapacha are elusive, nocturnal creatures. They require bait to lure them out and won't appear in places with too many humans. If there are six people within a fifty-meter radius, they won't show. We must divide and conquer.”

Kurt's explanation was thorough, but it left the group more puzzled than before—

Firstly, thirty years ago, the Pusapacha managed to consume three hundred million people in just a week, indicating their vast numbers. Secondly, Kurt had mentioned that without a vaccine, humans would turn into a Pusapacha by the next day, implying an ever-increasing number of the creatures.

Initially, they assumed that upon leaving the starship base, they'd face a swarm of Pusapacha, and with only sixteen of them, they'd be like isolated ants in front of a massive predator, likely to be hunted down.

But now, from Kurt's account, the Pusapacha sound more like an endangered species. Could they, armed as they are, really hunt them?

Furthermore, Kurt added a contradictory point: the Pusapacha avoid areas with high human concentrations. If the entire human population united, surely they could repel the creatures? How did humanity plummet to a mere thirty thousand?

Despite the many questions, Kurt chose not to explain further. Instead, he pressed a sequence of buttons on his wrist panel. A minute later, eight robots dressed in traditional qipaos from the waist up, but with roller-like lower halves, entered. They held silver-lined guns in their right hands and long glass vials in their left.

“These are your baits and weapons.”

The qipao-clad robots handed the guns to the veterans and the glass vials to the newcomers.

The gun seemed ordinary, albeit with attractive silver linings.

However, the content of the glass vials raised eyebrows: inside was a human arm.

“Remember,” Kurt warned, “Only a headshot will incapacitate a Pusapacha. Shooting elsewhere is ineffective, and a shot limb cannot be used for the vaccine.”

“Furthermore, we received intel yesterday. A new type of Pusapacha has emerged. They're no longer fully human but can maintain a human guise. They lack a strong carnivorous appetite, but without meat, they revert to their Pusapacha form in two days, only reverting back after consuming flesh. We call them 'Kama'."

Mu Yujie, narrowing her eyes upon hearing the name, elaborated, “Kama is also one of the thirty-six hungry ghosts mentioned in the 'Zhengfa Nianjing'. Commonly known as the 'Ruyi Yecha', they can shape-shift at will, stealing and consuming from human households.”

Kurt added, “Our preliminary studies suggest Kama are key to developing the ultimate cure. Capture one and bring its head to me, and you'll be rewarded by the Empire with a lifetime supply of the vaccine.”

The veteran participants seemed to grasp things quicker. Xie Ahqiu summarized, “This mission offers two paths to success. One, hunt the Pusapacha for the vaccine to survive seven days. Two, find the new type of Pusapacha—Kama—and deliver it to Kurt for an immediate victory.”

"Right," said Zhuo Changdong, setting his heavy glass vial on the ground, "But how do we locate this Kama?”

“Externally, and in their behavior, the Kama are indistinguishable. However, when a Pusapacha dies near them, they resonate and revert to their Pusapacha form for a minute. So,” Kurt paused, scanning the group, “always watch your teammates. We don't know if the person returning from a mission is the same one who left.”

With this, the group understood why participants were split into two batches. Kurt was insinuating that among them was a Kama.

They looked at each other, each trying to discern who among them might be the elusive Kama in disguise.

The silver-haired young man, Zheng Shu, witnessing this scene, chuckled with his arms folded, "Oh? Did you just attempt to turn us all against each other?"

His partner, Chen Ning, who was generally quiet, only spoke after loading his submachine gun, the first words he uttered since entering the instance, "Regardless of which path we choose to clear, we have to hunt down the Pusapocha."

"Commander Kurt, are the new soldiers only equipped with bait and not guns?" Yuan Sinning, the more reserved one from the new recruits, raised his right hand to inquire of Kurt, "Without weapons, how can we hunt the Pusapocha?"

"You have weapons," Kurt nodded, gesturing for the qipao-clad robot to hand a cylindrical silver handle to the rookie soldiers. "This is a thermal laser sword. Press the button to use it. It can slice through the Pusapocha and decapitate the Kamo."

"Got it, I'm in close combat."

Liu Buhua glanced at the lightsaber handle in his hand and then looked at Dangdang, saying, "You're ranged."

However, Dangdang looked troubled, "I don’t want to be ranged; my shooting is not accurate..."

Having conveyed all he had to, Kurt turned and led everyone to the starship's entrance, proclaiming, "Now, go hunt, my warriors—"

The starship was stationed above the rooftop of a skyscraper. Everyone disembarked via the starship's ramp, directly onto the rooftop.

Standing atop the building, they looked down to see a city that could be summed up in one word: Decay.

As Xiao Xingxi said, this was a post-apocalyptic style instance.

The starship they had just been on seemed to be the pinnacle of technology in this era. Once outside, everywhere they looked was filled with rust, dust, and desolation,

a dystopia.

The scene below—this city that seemed exceptionally dim in the night, became desolate and fallen due to the massive human casualties and disappearances. It looked like a ruin devoid of life. The only sign of life was the weeds sprouting from the concrete. Yet their silent existence only accentuated the city's eerie desolation.

"... No wonder we need bait." Yuan Sinning glanced at the long glass vial in his arms and then down at the ruined city, "Are there really Pusapochas here for us to hunt?"

"Let's get down there first," Pan Ruoxi looked around and spotted an elevator entrance on the left, "I'm just not sure if the elevator still works. If not, we might have to take the stairs."

Fortunately, the elevator still had power and was operational.

The skyscraper had more than one elevator; there were four entrances for participants to choose from.

While waiting for the elevator doors to open, Feng Jinshan jittered his leg and muttered, "What I really don't get is, why do we turn into Pusapocha if we don’t get the antibody vaccine? It feels like..."

But whatever it felt like, Feng Jinshan didn’t finish his sentence.

The one in the elevator with him, Choi Haoseong, inquired, "Why do you always leave your sentences half-finished?"

But whatever Feng Jingshan said next was missed by Xie Yinxue, as the elevator doors slid open in front of them.

Xie Yinxue, Bu Jiuzhao, Liu Buhua, and Dangdang entered, while the other participants took different elevators.

"Kurt mentioned that the Busapocha are difficult to deal with. How about the four of us team up to hunt one down?"

As the elevator began its descent, Dangdang moved closer to Xie Yinxue and Bu Jiuzhao, suggesting, "Besides, one Busapocha can yield five doses of the antibody vaccine. Just one will suffice for the four of us."

A Busapocha won't appear if six people are within a fifty-meter radius. With Dangdang's poor shooting skills and Liu Buhua's reliance on the laser sword, it became evident why she made the proposal — to capitalize on Bu Jiuzhao's prowess and kill a Busapocha.

Author's Note:

NPC: I am Xie Yinxue, in a world for two, understand?