Chapter 11: The Curse Gambler

Neither of them spoke. The only sound in the room was the rustling of papers as they flipped through the files.The safe contained experimental reports with a vast amount of text, but Ji Xun read through them quickly.

The mechanical-armed girl was obviously more familiar with the significance of the file classifications than Ji Xun. Upon seeing a key point, she silently exclaimed, “This 407 Anomalous Creature Containment Facility is researching… a ‘T-class Calamity Source’!”

Ji Xun listened to the barely audible murmur while speed-reading through the documents.

This was what he had been looking for.

Some key clues to clear the level.

In the files, he not only saw information about the [Fallen Witch] in Room 2012 but also the [Corrupted Giant] in 1099, the [Cursed Gambler] in 3045, and some others.

Records of the most troublesome calamities they had explored so far were all there.

However, Ji Xun realized he had made a slight mistake in his previous assumptions.

This bunker wasn’t researching the imprisoned monsters.

These monsters were just byproducts of the experiments.

The real research subject was that “Calamity Source.”

Although he didn’t fully understand what the Calamity Source was.

But from the descriptions, it seemed to be some kind of highly contaminating dangerous item.

His peripheral vision constantly monitored the mechanical-armed girl’s expressions as she browsed the files, and it wasn’t hard to deduce that this was probably something extraordinary.

The two didn’t communicate as Ji Xun rapidly flipped through the files.

At this point, he opened another envelope and found an incident report.

“Sealed File: S719 Incident Report”

“Incident Rating: D-class”

“Details: On July 19th, anomalies were detected in the central experiment monitoring data. All containment chambers experienced short-term unusual agitation of the mutants. After careful inspection, no suspicious conditions were found. Judged to be a low-level risk. Solution: Increase patrols.”

“Investigating Specialist: Dr. P. Luo”

“File Correction: On August 2nd, a mutant riot occurred in the experimental bunker. It was at this moment that I realized we might have made a grave mistake – this is an S-class catastrophic incident! The Calamity Source had actually been leaking contamination long before, and we had been unknowingly infected. My perception, and that of everyone in the lab, had been eroded by some mysterious force, causing us to misjudge the risk level. It’s too late to stop it now; the horror has already descended upon us.”

Reading this, the puzzle pieces in Ji Xun’s mind seemed to connect.

Although a few pieces were still missing, he had roughly reconstructed the cause of the events at this [407 Anomalous Creature Containment Facility]: Someone had once researched a dangerous “Calamity Source” in this bunker, which resulted in these monsters. But during the research, a contamination leak occurred, infecting the entire laboratory. The monsters rioted and killed everyone in the lab.

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Ji Xun noticed there weren’t many files left to go through. As he continued reading, he casually reminded the mechanical-armed girl beside him, “Be careful, the monsters should be appearing soon.”

The mechanical-armed girl, hearing this, thought he had discovered something and immediately became alert.

But after sensing for a moment, she didn’t detect any monsters.

Although she was confident in her perception, she still asked for confirmation, “Did you notice something?”

Ji Xun hadn’t actually noticed anything and chuckled, “It’s just that according to normal plot progression, now that we’ve obtained the key clues, the difficulty should increase.”

The mechanical-armed girl was completely bewildered by this jargon, “???”

“I’m just guessing,” Ji Xun said with a shrug, realizing that his words had gone over her head.

He pointed at the documents and said, “From what we’ve seen so far, these documents are all necessary ‘clues’ for clearing the level. So if there are monsters, they’ll definitely appear after we get the documents. If the monsters killed us as soon as we entered, all those intricate level designs would be meaningless.”

The mechanical-armed girl still found it hard to believe.

Guessing?

What kind of logic was this?

Just like how they had inexplicably found these crucial clue documents, she couldn’t understand why this guy was suddenly so certain that monsters would appear soon.

Ji Xun looked at the empty laboratory, not elaborating further, and said meaningfully, “We’ll know soon enough.”

In this alternate dimension, he had sensed something unusual.

It just happened to confirm some of his hypotheses.

However, before any monsters arrived, they first encountered some outsiders.

While they were still browsing through files in the archive room, they heard the sound of intense gunfire.

It seemed that the people from the first floor had rushed up, attempting to force their way to the third floor.

The firepower was fierce, but the monsters were clearly fiercer.

The sound of gunfire was constantly suppressed near the elevator on the second floor.

“Damn it! The monsters on the second floor all have mental contamination abilities. It’s hard for us to reach the third floor like this. Captain, should we retreat?”

“Retreating is also a dead end. Quickly find a way out!”

“Hey, there’s a hole in the wall of Room 2013!”

“Quick, hide in the room for a moment!”

“…”

Whether by coincidence or after trying each door, those people outside rushed into Room 2013 and then discovered the hole.

Judging by the commotion, there were quite a few of them. They entered the research lab.

Through the glass, Ji Xun saw a squad of fully armed elite troops rush in, about a dozen or so people.

The mechanical-armed girl recognized the insignia on their uniforms and warned, “Be careful, they’re mercenaries from the ‘Black Water Group.’ They’re cutthroats.”

Concise and to the point, Ji Xun immediately understood that these people were probably not to be trifled with.

He turned his eyes and asked, “Can you take them?”

“…”

The mechanical girl didn’t speak, just glanced at him.

That look clearly meant: I can protect myself, but you’re the liability.

Ji Xun immediately understood and smiled, not minding.

Compared to the level difficulty they were about to face, he felt these mercenaries weren’t much of a threat.

In fact, having more people meant more chances to test strategies.

Being professional mercenaries, the armed group easily discovered traces of the two from the marks on the ground.

“Captain, there are people here!”

After Ji Xun and his companion were discovered, both sides appeared very cautious.

Fighting was not an option.

With over a dozen opponents, the chances of accidentally injuring a weaker member were too high.

Ji Xun signaled his companion not to act rashly, spread his hands, and took the initiative to speak, “Gentlemen, we have no intention of being your enemies.”

Seeing him walk out of the room with his hands up, the bald, muscular man leading the other side sized him up and also lowered his guard a bit, then asked, “Did you kill the monsters outside?”

In this situation, everyone knew the biggest threat was the monsters, and rashly starting a conflict was not a rational choice.

“Yes,” Ji Xun responded, “We were lucky. While fighting the monsters, we accidentally broke the wall and discovered this place.”

From this opening, he guessed these mercenaries hadn’t recognized what that puddle of flesh outside was.

Not everyone recognized the A-class calamity [Fallen Witch].

At least within this instance, all those who had seen its monster form before were dead.

Otherwise, if they had recognized it, these mercenaries would definitely be speaking more politely than they were now.

As he spoke, Ji Xun didn’t forget to gather information, “Gentlemen, what exactly happened? Why did the difficulty of this space suddenly increase?”

The bald, muscular man obviously knew something but didn’t answer.

He sized up the two of them and asked in return, “Have you found anything?”

Probably thinking Ji Xun’s side was just two scattered individuals, this guy’s demeanor and attitude exuded the arrogance and dominance of having superior numbers.

With a dozen guns pointed at his head, Ji Xun also put on a compliant face and responded, “Oh. We just found a safe, but we couldn’t open it.”

Being a professional actor, at this moment he portrayed the luck of an opportunistic adventurer who had survived by sheer luck, without any flaws.

“A safe?”

Although the bald, muscular man was suspicious, he couldn’t detect any inconsistencies.

But clearly, the keyword “safe” immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

Their instincts told them: This was a key clue!

With black gun barrels pointed at them, Ji Xun and his companion wisely retreated.

Two mercenaries went in to confirm and shouted, “Captain, there really is a safe.”

The bald captain immediately ordered, “Number Six, go and try to open it.”

From the squad, a weasel-faced mercenary walked in, “Yes, sir.”

A mature mercenary group would definitely have various professionals, such as those in the thief sequence, skilled at opening treasure chests and disarming traps.

Seeing the lockpicking tools that man took out, Ji Xun knew this person was very professional.

However, he wasn’t worried about them finding the safe empty after opening it.

Because time wouldn’t allow it.

Previously, the two of them had been a small target, making little noise.

Now with such a big commotion, if there were monsters, they should be coming by now.

He pulled the mechanical-armed girl beside him, finding a position against the wall to stand, so at least their backs wouldn’t be exposed to monsters.

Sure enough.

Suddenly, everyone clearly felt an inexplicable chill.

The mechanical-armed girl was the first to notice something and warned in a grave tone, “Be careful, something’s coming in.”

Her gaze swept sharply across various spots.

Ji Xun, on the other hand, was quite relaxed.

Having something to fight meant there was risk; if they were completely outmatched, there was no need to consider the risk.

His strength was so low that even worrying was unnecessary.

He could leave the fighting to his companion.

In his mind, he was organizing and analyzing the complex information from the files they had just found, categorizing them one by one, then selecting what might be useful, and connecting it to the current situation to formulate contingency plans.

His thoughts were racing.

Not far away, there were clearly some perceptive superhumans among the Black Water mercenaries. After a moment, they also discovered something and exclaimed, “Captain, there’s a calamity aura approaching!”

Upon hearing this, the dozen or so mercenaries immediately entered combat mode, forming a professional-looking iron barrel defense formation.

Gun barrels pointed towards the corridor at the far end of the laboratory.

For a moment, the vast space was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and even breathing became heavy.

Now that the difficulty of this alternate dimension had been raised to “unknown,” no one knew what kind of monster would appear.

The atmosphere was very tense.

Suddenly!

A shadow flashed at the corner of the distant corridor in the laboratory, and several spider-like humanoid creatures quickly crawled out from the ceiling.

Like cold water dripping into a hot oil pan, at this moment, the huge laboratory boiled over.

“Rat-tat-tat-tat”

“Boom-boom-boom-boom”

Various guns and artillery poured out like a rainstorm, the sound so loud it was as if someone had been stuffed into a drum and beaten wildly.

The muzzle flashes were like light elves in the darkness, flickering and dancing, illuminating faces twisted with fear and tension.

It must be said that the combat effectiveness of these Black Water mercenaries was directly reflected in their equipment.

Various heavy firearms, along with steam-powered black technology, unleashed super-strong destructive power. Steam hammers, high-pressure jet cannons, mechanical flying forks…

The single-soldier boilers equipped on these burly men were larger in volume and more powerful.

The dozen or so people cooperated tacitly, alternating fire cover, giving the monsters no chance at all.

Those few humanoid spiders were turned into sieves as soon as they appeared.

Compared to any monsters, Ji Xun was more curious about those magic cards.

During the battle, he saw another new type of magic card.

He watched as the bald man swiftly threw out several red cards, which suddenly exploded like grenades near the monsters with “boom” “boom” sounds.

The cards could fly out in large numbers at once, and with good throwing technique, they could achieve precise explosions.

This was much more useful than hand grenades.

However, in the blink of an eye, the monsters at the edge of their vision were lying on the ground as a mess of rotten flesh.

But the crisis was far from over.

The mechanical-armed girl sensed something, her expression becoming increasingly grave.

And Ji Xun also felt that this level of monster was far from reaching the expected strength.

Sure enough!

The group had just killed a wave of small monsters and hadn’t had time to catch their breath.

At this moment, from another corridor entrance, a monster over two meters tall slowly walked out.

This was a humanoid dog-like monster with a ferocious face, missing one hand.

Ji Xun looked over, his eyes narrowing slightly.

With such high recognition, it was clearly the B-class calamity from Room 3045 on the third floor.

However, now it was no longer the B-class mentioned in the intelligence.

[Curse Gambler]

Description: First-order A-class calamity; It was once a cheating gambler who had one hand cut off. Even after mutating into a monster, it retained the bad habits of a gambler; A mysterious contaminated being, skilled in curse techniques; It will gamble with you, with life as the stake, whoever loses dies; It is a skilled gambler, don’t imagine it won’t cheat, and don’t think about escaping, not gambling means certain death;

This was a curse-type BOSS!

Seeing this, everyone’s faces changed simultaneously, including the mechanical-armed girl.

Because this monster had another nickname among hunters: Touch and Die.