Chapter 2763: Degenerated Players

"They claim that Punishment City is short on manpower and is recruiting extra staff to help for a period of time," said Chai Sheng.

Indeed, one of the two was Chai Sheng, whom Xu Huo had previously encountered on the flying craft, and he pointed to the prop Xu Huo was wearing, "I recognize this."

Xu Huo nodded; this was no surprise.

"It seems that whether recruiting extra staff or hiring people to attack, it’s just a ploy to trick Outer Zone players."

When Chai Sheng met Xa Huo and his companion, he also realized that such a large Punishment City with barely any people in sight wouldn’t really need to hire outside help.

The group of four quickened their pace, but after the alarm sounded, rows of holes suddenly appeared on the walls of the corridor, releasing white smoke with a strong odor that quickly filled their available space.

They swiftly donned gas masks and sped up further; however, the sensor doors would no longer open automatically. Not only that, but parts in front and behind them were reinforced with closed metal layers. Cutting through one door revealed another identical door behind it, as if all corridor walls were embedded with pre-prepared Metal Shields, automatically forming layers of portals every few dozen meters, seeming endless.

"This route was probably a mistake," Chai Sheng said, "Let’s change directions!"

So, the group turned to a different corridor, and luck seemed better this time. After opening a few doors, they found one that kept bouncing open due to malfunction.

Xu Huo and Chai Sheng went through first, but unexpectedly, they were greeted by a dense cutting net. The Qi Blade released by the prop quickly sliced through it, cutting the net from the wall. However, this delay caused Lei Xiaohe and his companion behind them to be trapped outside.

The door, which was jammed a moment ago, was now completely shut, while the corridor where Xu Huo and his companion were located suddenly sank underground, even though Chai Sheng swung his blade as fast as possible, only leaving a few scratches on the ceiling.

Feeling the wall, he said with a grim face, "This metal layer is different from the one above; it looks more like prop material. We might be trapped inside a venue prop."

The underground space wasn’t any better; the remnants of the fog indicated it had just been sprayed with poison. Although they descended along with the entire corridor, the walls and floor of the underground space had turned a silvery white. The material wasn’t kind to the eyes, with light reflecting everywhere, causing disorientation after prolonged exposure.

"There’s a room ahead, seems like someone is inside," Chai Sheng pointed to one end.

"Let’s take a look," Xu Huo stepped forward first.

As they approached, the sensor door automatically opened, revealing an old operating room. Some surgical instruments were messily thrown onto the cart, and a bed in the center of the room had a figure completely bandaged lying on it.

Many parts of the bandages were soaked with blood, some long-dried; his limbs and body were still tied with restraints. Though still alive, his chest seemed collapsed, like he didn’t even have a sternum.

"Punishment City is using captured players for human experiments?" Chai Sheng said.

"Not necessarily human experiments," Xu Huo moved closer, observing the faintly moving nostrils of the bandaged figure, "Maybe they’re harvesting organs."

Chai Sheng seemed puzzled, "In the game world, you can find any potion, so why use live people?"

"What if you discovered a person who could live forever—what would you do?" Xu Huo asked.

"Lock them up and find out why," Chai Sheng said, "Though I have some principles, I wouldn’t slice people up."

"What if someone told you that their flesh and blood could make you immortal too?" Xu Huo continued.

"That’s impossible!" Chai Sheng didn’t believe.

"It’s impossible, yet some would do it," Xu Huo said indifferently, "They’d consume not just flesh and blood, but even bones and nails boiled into soup."

"That’s a bit sickening," Chai Sheng reacted with disgust.

"It is disgusting," Xu Huo reached under the bandaged person’s nose, and the seemingly lifeless body suddenly erupted, mouth aiming to bite his throat!

However, Xu Huo was prepared, grabbing the face of the bandaged figure and slamming it into the bed, leaving a dent resembling a house shape on the metal bed. The bandaged person got stuck, violently tearing at the restraints!

Chai Sheng quickly used a prop to restrain him again, stepping back two paces as the bed continued to shift, "Strong like a bull!"

Xu Huo cut off the bandages from the face and body, discovering that eyes and facial skin were gone, part of the rib cage removed, causing the chest cavity to collapse, with a poorly sewn wound on the stomach, stitches loose, revealing blood-red flesh beneath.

"Can they still live like this?" Chai Sheng was surprised, "I doubt if that’s even a human anymore."

"Even if not now, once it was human," Xu Huo observed the bandaged person’s hand, skin replaced by patches of thick brown skin, nails tending toward animalistic features.

"Alien," Chai Sheng studied the figure, "Aliens likely evolved from people unable to adapt to evolution; they’re no longer human, their genes rewritten, devoid of research value."

"Not necessarily," Xu Huo said, "Have you heard of the Wise Variant?"

"Wise Variant? Those words together sound absurd," Chai Sheng chuckled.

"It does exist, whether wise is debatable. But someone in the game is researching variants, perhaps aiming to create stronger beings," Xu Huo ended the bandaged figure, looking toward another door in the room, "I wonder how many more are here."

Chai Sheng gripped his Long Blade tightly, "If they appear, I’ll kill them; no psychological burden on killing variants."

Sure enough, several consecutive rooms ahead contained variants; although their combat abilities were weak due to surgery, their physical strength far exceeded the first one, coordinating actions, resembling animals.

But after removing the bandages, they discovered that their bodies were closer to human, some merely showing animal traits on the skin, clearly degenerate players.

There are only two outcomes for player degeneration: one is gradually exhibiting animal features, with gene mutation causing them to resemble animals, losing sanity progressively. The other is a decline in bodily functions, sudden organ aging, or severe illness, weakening until death.

The first type of player has traces on their body due to special evolution, but true degenerates like Xu Huo hadn’t encountered, the second type being more common.

How could this Punishment City gather so many degenerate players?

"Bang!" Xu Huo