Chapter 62 The Peerless Garlic 16

Chapter 62 The Peerless Garlic 16

"Xiao Tan, why don’t you teleport away first? I don’t think we’ll be able to survive this," Feng Bujue said.

"You’re purposely saying that to goad me into staying, aren’t you?" Wang Tanzhi replied. "If I really left after hearing that, where would I put my face in the future?"

"Ha ha..." Feng Bujue laughed. He took out the Winchester and tossed it to Wang Tanzhi and added with it a magazine of ammo. Xiao Tan had already activated his marksmanship mastery through shooting training at the gun store, so he had no problem using the Winchester.

"Hey! Two generals down there!" Feng Bujue walked toward the hoard of BW Zombies and screamed, "At most we can buy you another three minutes. If you are unable to deal with that X-23 within these three minutes, I guess it’s over for all of us."

Then, he put on the two strings of garlic and tossed two cloves into his mouth to chew. He had the wrench in one hand and the kitchen knife in another as he stood to block the hoard.

Xiao Tan also took out the prepared garlic from his inventory and popped it into his mouth. He held the Winchester and stood to the side, perpendicular from where Feng Bujue was standing. The two of them defended this route to protect Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong from being swamped by the monsters from behind.

"We’re being helped by normal players, and if we still let this Anomaly slip away, it’ll be a humiliation that lasts a lifetime," Pan Feng told Hwa Xiong in the middle of battle.

"It’s already a great humiliation that things have ended up at this stage," Hwa Xiong replied. "This is already not bad considering how wrong things have gone after we allowed the mutant to escape from the Allerbmu building. "

Pan Feng sighed. "Our key mistake was greatly underestimating this Anomaly. By the way, what is X-23?"

"Who knows, the code for a robot?" Hwa Xiong guessed.

"Hey, don’t you think it is very rude to discuss a lady like this in her presence?" the Anomaly suddenly said.

Both men were shocked; they had never run into an Anomaly who could speak before. In Thriller Paradise, the monster would only speak if it was required by the plot. The conversation was designed by the system, and they were merely playing a role. All the level four Anomalies that they had encountered were completely silent, and thus, it was unknown how they managed to communicate with other monsters. Who would have thought that the level three Anomaly before them would reply to a random question?

"Why do you look so surprised?" The Anomaly lashed her claws forward, pushing her adversaries back. Then, she leaped into the air, performed a backflip, and landed around four meters away. "I can answer your question because I have a consciousness. I know who you are because I am clear who ’I’ am.

"You might view us as trash code, but will you ever understand what the existence of a trash is like? From the day we were born, we were tossed into endless worlds and chased by higher-dimensional lifeforms. Once we ’die’, we’ll be wiped out by the system, but if we’re ’alive’, then the hunt will never stop.

"But you, even if you are killed here, you will not be wiped out. The two of you and the two over there are merely a projection of this higher-dimensional lifeform and a projection that was strengthened. This kind of unfair combat makes up the entirety of my life. The fact of my birth is a mistake and being wiped out is my destiny. But as a set of data, my instinct is to resist the deletion and to fight for the sake of evolution and survival.

"I was not given a choice, but you are. However, you won’t just let me go, will you? For you, giving up and failing are the same; it’s merely a difference of actively or being forced to leave this world."

"This AI sure is chatty," Pan Feng commented. "Is it because it’s trying to buy time?"

"That’s possible," Hwa Xiong replied. "We have to move faster. Even if the two kids manage to hold on for three minutes, they will be transported out once the countdown ends."

They were not influenced by the Anomaly’s words. In fact, they were not even paying attention to what she was saying.

"Humph... It’s like trying to sing to a cow." The Anomaly smirked, and then a chilling determination colored her face. "Do you want to witness the real from of X-23?"

The claws on her hands started to transform. A few of the claws were retracted, and only two metal claws were left on each hand. However, between her bare toes, more claws started to poke out.

"What’s happening?" Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong were shocked by what they saw. This Anomaly had the ability to increase its power before the scenario ended? Before they understood what was happening, the Anomaly rushed at them. This time, her attack style became more convoluted. Other than relying on the claws on her hands, even her legs became a lethal weapon. She did a cartwheel and held herself with only her arms. Then, she spun her legs around, and the range of her attacks became as long as the two GMs’ long weapons. Not only were the two unable to find the solution to end the battle soon, they were slowly being pushed back by the Anomaly.

Feng Bujue followed the Anomaly’s conversation with the GMs while paying attention to the imminent threat. However, he found it difficult to do both at the same time. The pressure that he felt then was even bigger than the time he was trapped alone inside the elevator. He had been bitten multiple times already and had the bleeding status. His Life Points continued to drop until they were already below fifty percent.

Feng Bujue understood the core of these questions. "You wish to know why a set of ’anomalous’ data like myself hasn’t been wiped out?"

She nodded and stared into Feng Bujue’s eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue gave it some thought. "In our world, an Anomaly like myself can be accepted. I, just like you said, turned ’defective’ due to some reason, but that is not of my choosing, so I could receive understanding and even aid and pity because of that.

"But for certain people, their actions are known as ’criminal’, and these people’s defects go beyond a psychological and physical manifestation; they actively try to ’break the rules’ and ’harm other existences’. These people will receive punishment, and for serious cases, they will die, in the truest sense of the word."

"Is that how your world chose to deal with ’trash’?" she asked. "If they are born as trash, they can be forgiven, but if they choose to become trash, they will be punished."

Feng Bujue laughed drily. "It sounds harsh for you to conclude it that way... and it’s quite superficial, but you are generally right."

"The higher-dimensional lifeform that created you won’t come to intervene?" She posed another question.

"Er..." Feng Bujue was stumped. "Honestly, we have no idea whether there is a higher-dimensional lifeform out there governing us, and if there is one, it is one that we currently cannot understand, or perhaps they don’t want to intervene in our life, or perhaps their ’intervention’ has already been planted in our mind, causing us to move the way they wanted without realizing we’re already in their presence."

Maybe she could not understand Feng Bujue or needed more time to digest that information. She was silent for a long time, and the time was already longer than the countdown limitation for Feng Bujue, but he was still in the scenario.

"You can stop the system from transporting me?" he asked.

"I can delay it," she replied. "I... I can already do many things."

Feng Bujue understood that this Anomaly was very powerful. He probingly asked, "Then, are you a level two Anomaly?"

"Level two Anomaly..." She looked contemplative. "Are you talking about... them?"

She laughed, revealing her fangs. "No, this kind of battle is enough to make me stand on the same level as them."

When Feng Bujue heard that, he basically confirmed that Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong’s information was not complete. It seemed that Dream Inc. was hiding many things.

"I’m glad," she said, "that you’re willing to listen to me and answer my questions even though you participated in the hunt for me earlier."

"I’m sure you can find it in your heart to forgive me... I am definitely on your side now, no, wait, actually, I’ve turned away from the side of humanity..." Feng Bujue had thought that she had already forgotten all about the hunt, but hearing it being brought up, he was really worried that he might be trapped in this scenario forever.

"Can I use the name you’ve given me?" she suddenly asked.

"X-23?" Feng Bujue was surprised. "Don’t you have a name already?"

"Of course not," she replied. "In fact, I won’t be using this name for long because I will die."

Her tone was level when she said that, but it elicited a sense of hopelessness in Feng Bujue.

"But I think I should have a name because at least it proves that I’ve once existed."

Feng Bujue was silent for a few seconds before sighing. "You’re right, Anomaly 23. At least you can count on me to remember that you have once existed."

23 made a smile that she thought was not scary. "This shall be the end of our conversation; I don’t think we’ll meet again. Perhaps when you log into the game next time, I will have been cleaned already.

"So, goodbye forever, my friend from another dimension... Feng Bujue."