Chapter 95 Sanctuary 9

Chapter 95 Shelter 9

Boss Huang was stunned.

Qin Mo felt a cold dread creeping in.

He had expected Gao Chen to deflect blame with solid arguments, clearing himself of guilt. But in this situation, Boss Huang had already formed preconceptions. No matter what Gao Chen said, his credibility would be greatly diminished.

Yet Gao Chen didn’t do that.

He positioned himself as indispensable, all but demanding to be used.

Qin Mo's words died in his throat. Gao Chen’s profession was that of a physician, the Vitality Potion had been voluntarily provided by him, and all remaining stock was in his possession—these were cold, hard facts.

Beside them, Boss Huang perked up with interest. "Really? A miracle cure that can heal all ailments?"

Gao Chen gave a thin smile. "To be precise, I don’t have an antidote. But the potion cures any disease, which is why it healed those residents attacked by zombies."

Then, he spoke with deliberate precision, "Only I know where the remaining potions are hidden."

Boss Huang suddenly felt gasping for air. He roughly loosened his tie and snarled, "A potion that cures all diseases? Hah, why should I believe the words of a liar?"

But his heart was pounding wildly. What if it was true…

Gao Chen shrugged carelessly. "I can provide you with one potion for free, for testing. In fact, I’d be even happier if your medical team could analyze its exact composition and replicate it perfectly."

Suddenly, Qin Mo felt death's breath on his neck.

The next second, Gao Chen glanced at him and said casually, "To demonstrate my sincerity in cooperation, why not help me take out this trash first? I’ve never liked traitors."

"Boss Huang—" Qin Mo tried to speak, but Boss Huang merely waved his hand. Immediately, guards raised their guns and surrounded him.

"Damn it!" Qin Mo cursed under his breath.

Unfortunately, he'd burned through his explosives and grenades in the previous instance. The in-game store hadn’t opened before this round, and after entering, he had been too busy setting up the scheme to trade with the exchange… So now, he could only make a desperate last stand with his gun.

Besides, he was down to his last few rounds…

"Taking him out should prove my sincerity, right?" Boss Huang took a sip of tea.

"Of course," Gao Chen replied without hesitation. But after a beat of silence, he added, "There are a few others—it’d be even better if they could be handled too."

"If you mean those who followed you around begging for potions, they’ve already been dealt with," Boss Huang said with a smirk. "Thanks to someone’s tip-off."

"That’s perfect." Gao Chen beamed like a salesman, though inwardly, he thought, *As expected, so-called temporary teammates can’t be trusted.*

In the last virus instance, among the players who had shouted for everyone to quarantine in the hospital—only to run off on their own—were these very people.

So even though they had formed a temporary squad at the start of this round, Gao Chen had kept his knives sharpened. These people had only wanted to exploit his intelligence—they were utterly unreliable. If anything went wrong, they’d be the first to flee.

Gao Chen mused, *What kind of companions exist in this game? It’s all just mutual exploitation. As long as you have value, you’ll be treated kindly.*

If his temporary teammates had trusted him, he would have protected them all, then negotiated with Boss Huang using the Vitality Potion to secure the caravan’s protection. But now…

Gao Chen curled his lips and murmured softly, "After rigging the whole damn game and controlling the situation, only to have it ruined by a pack of backstabbing morons—and not even getting revenge? How could I make such a stupid mistake twice?"

As soon as he finished speaking, bullets riddled Qin Mo’s shoulder, brow, and temple, and in the next moment, his bullet-riddled body burst into pixelated death's glow.

Gao Chen smiled pleasantly. "Now that the loose end's tied up, we can continue our conversation…"

**

The underground research institute of the shelter.

Assistant Wang reported the situation, "After administering the experimental drug, Subject 1 showed slight improvement, Subject 2 had no reaction, Subjects 3 and 4 deteriorated... Subject 9 is recovering well and could wake up any minute now."

Old Jiang paused mid-motion, nearly dropping the test tube. He thought he must have misheard and turned to confirm with the assistant, "Subject 9—wasn’t that just some random kid we found on the road?"

"That’s correct," Assistant Wang nodded, his face twisting oddly. "It’s strange. All subjects were given the same medication, but only she showed a significant positive reaction."

"Did she develop antibodies against the virus?" At this thought, Old Jiang couldn’t sit still and rushed to draw blood for testing and research.

However, he had barely started when he was interrupted. "Old Jiang, the boss has obtained a new potion. Please hand over your current tasks to someone else and study the properties of this potion."

Old Jiang was displeased. "Do you realize how important my work is to humanity?!"

The messenger kept his tone polite but firm, "I apologize for interrupting your work. But to the boss, this potion is more important."

Old Jiang, "...he couldn’t exactly say no."

The boss provided food and shelter—it wouldn’t be right to refuse.

Reluctantly, he took the potion and changed focus.

**

At 9 a.m. on the 8th day, a robotic system voice announced, "Shelter I22 (the server where players are located) has 793 players, 1,134 Resident NPCs, and 648 zombies remaining."

Every day, people died from lack of treatment. Others ran out of supplies and starved to death. Thefts, robberies, and conflicts occurred frequently, claiming the lives of many residents.

Su Han sat quietly by the tent, lost in thought. When would this dungeon end? Watching people die day after day wasn’t exactly fun.

Fortunately, only 648 zombies remained. Once they were all eliminated, the dungeon would be over.

"Can’t you show some enthusiasm?" Zhong Rui gave his buddy a look. "Even though the lab coats have entered the inner circle of the shelter, there’s still a chance if you’re determined."

"But I’m not looking to start shit," Su Han sighed.

"I only want to deal with the con artists, not drag all the survivors in the shelter into this."

"Right now, the lab coats are likely under the protection of the merchant group. Going after them means opposing the traders. Either way, it’s too much trouble."

Su Han thought to herself that there were already enough troublemakers in this round of the game—she wasn’t about to join them.

"Someone’s already taken the lead," Zhong Rui dropped casually.

Su Han glanced at him. "What?"

Zhong Rui said calmly, "With the zombies mostly cleared out, some people are eager to make their move."

"The lab coats have Vitality Potions, and the traders' stash is loaded—pretty juicy targets, huh?"

"Even worse, the lab coats sent people to their graves. The merchants knowingly shielded them despite their crimes. With so many grievances, it’s easy to whip up the crowd."

Su Han connected the dots. "A small group of insiders did this? They helped cover up the lies early on to let the scam proceed smoothly. Now that the zombies are mostly cleared and the numbers are manageable, they’re flipping sides. They want to mob the place and loot the warehouse?"

"Smooth move," she couldn’t help but sigh sarcastically.

"But why not wait until the 10th day, when they can leave the dungeon anytime?" Su Han found it strange. But soon, she realized, "It’s only the 8th day. The outer ring folks are running on empty—they won’t last much longer."

Without enough Resident NPCs to do the heavy lifting, things would become much more troublesome. So, considering everything, they had no choice but to act early.

"Right now, it’s the stage of whipping up the crowd and stirring anger. Want to go take a look?" Zhong Rui extended an invitation to his companion. "If we sneak into the inner circle, we might score some loot—or even run into the lab coats."

Zhong Rui was unaware that, apart from Gao Chen, all members of the con team had already been eliminated.

Su Han remained silent. She disliked exploiting others for personal gain, but from the current situation, other skilled players in the dungeon seemed entirely indifferent. They had no problem using the remaining players and NPCs as pawns to manipulate at will.

It was as if she and Zhong Rui, who held onto their principles, were the weird ones.

"Good thing I picked you back then," Su Han murmured softly. She genuinely felt that if Zhong Rui had been like these people, the two of them would have long since been at each other’s throats.

Though her voice was quiet, he heard it.

Zhong Rui quirked his lips slightly, his expression calm but his tone solemn, "I won’t do anything that would make you dislike me."

That was enough.

Su Han quickly regained her composure, back to her usual cool expression. "Let’s go see what the fuss is about."

Unexpectedly, Zhong Rui caught her arm and said seriously, "If you don’t want to go, don’t force yourself." After all, their supplies were ample—they weren’t hurting for supplies.

"I’m not forcing myself," Su Han replied with an indifferent expression. "Thinking about it, neither side is good. So let’s not bother—just cause some chaos and wait to profit."

She sounded normal.

Zhong Rui relaxed and casually responded, "Yeah, let’s go."

**

Seven days had passed. The outer ring, once bustling, had now become desolate. Many tents and thatched huts stood empty, no one left.

Upon closer inspection, Su Han noticed that only about three hundred people remained in the outer ring—less than a tenth of its original population.

Should they blame human greed, or the awful shortage of supplies? Or perhaps both? Su Han didn’t know. She had simply witnessed firsthand what it looked like when the land died and lives were destroyed.

In the distance, a man stood atop a rock, giving a fiery speech:

"...He said crystals could be exchanged for rice. He said a lot of lucky people traded them. But where’s the proof? Is there anyone who dares to step forward and say they actually found crystals after hunting zombies?"

The crowd shook their heads.

The speaker’s tone turned mournful. "We’ve all been deceived! There are no crystals inside zombies’ heads—he just wanted to trick us into getting ourselves killed!"

"But why?" someone asked, utterly baffled. "We have no grudges against each other. Why lie and deceive?"

Before the speaker could answer, another person sneered and interjected, "If all the zombies are cleared, won’t the rich kids in the inner ring be safe?"

That one comment hit a nerve among the outer ring residents, instantly sparking outrage.

"Exactly! The inner ring folks live it up while we refugees in the outer ring struggle just to survive!"

"I just wanted a decent meal—who did I offend? And yet they tricked me into fighting zombies..."

"I knew something was off. No matter how many zombies I killed, I never saw any crystals. Turns out it was all a lie!"

"They knew clearing zombies was dangerous, but they couldn’t bear to risk their own people, so they screwed over the poor instead. How could they?!"

Just then, someone spoke up slowly, "From what I know, the white-coated doctor who made the potions entered the inner ring and never came out. I suspect he’s been hidden away by the merchant leader after completing his task..."

The crowd went wild—this was tantamount to accusing the merchant leader of being the mastermind.

Before the residents could refute, another person stepped forward and said, "Though the white-coated doctor lied about the crystals, many witnessed injured residents recovering quickly after drinking the potions he provided."

"Think about it—in these times, aside from the merchant team’s own doctors, who else has the time and energy to study medicine when survival is already a struggle?" "There’s no doubt the white-coated doctor belongs to the merchant team."

He paused, scanning the surroundings, then declared in a resolute tone, "The caravan's cutting us off at every turn! If we don’t unite and fight back, we’re doomed!"

Instantly, the crowd erupted in fury. The residents loudly condemned the caravan, venting their grievances.

Su Han watched coldly as certain individuals, hidden in the shadows, took turns fueling the crowd’s anger with their words.

"Hmph. They’ll pin any blame on the caravan," Zhong Rui muttered with a sigh. "Half this crap is clearly made up."

"That’s what happens when the mob mentality kicks in. No one bothers to verify every accusation—they just believe the caravan is beyond redemption," Su Han replied, her emotions mixed.

"They think they’re making rational judgments, but in reality, their actions have been manipulated from start to finish. First, they were lured by the white-coated group to hunt zombies. Now, they’re being incited to attack the caravan—all nothing but chess pieces being moved around."

"Marionettes, unaware of their own strings. Pathetic, really."

Yet, outwardly, they put on their angry faces, as if consumed by rage.

In mere moments, the crowd’s discontent reached its peak. More and more people gathered—players and NPCs alike—all baying for blood against the caravan.

The schemers exchanged knowing glances, silently confirming: Mission accomplished.