Fatal Shot
chapter-145

"What?"

"By 12:00 midnight, all of Roguetown will be blown to smithereens!"

After Feng Luo collected the blood of the Tyrant and returned to the Guard Bureau, the expressions on the faces of the players were no longer as relaxed as they had been while dividing up equipment.

The news brought by Lin Aotian and his two associates, without a doubt, caught everyone by surprise.

"But don't we still have the mission to defend the town for 12 hours and eliminate the opposing enemy team?"

"The mission was announced by the system at around 12:00 noon. If we want to complete it, we need to wait until 12:00 midnight at the very least. Doesn't that mean that we have no time to escape!?"

"The system wouldn't give us a mission that sends us to our deaths, would it?" Brother Ling said with a frown. As the person responsible for the current mission, he had a headache right now. He was more adept at direct combat and safety work. This sort of intelligence analysis work really was not his strength.

"Defending for 12 hours might not be absolutely necessary," said Sister Rui calmly. "I think that there is a reason the system put a time limit on the mission. In truth, it wants to keep us in Roguetown so that the 'Biohazard Omen' storyline can continue to develop through us."

Feng Luo interrupted and said, "War's missions aren't always the same because, in the game, players' actions can influence the development of the story to a certain extent. As such, many mission requirements change as the story develops. So, either it has some hidden requirements that allow us to shorten the time we need to defend the city, or we can think of something to delay the time of the explosion!"

He had thought about this problem after he heard about it from Lin Aotian and gang, and his conclusion was the same as Sister Rui.

The degree of freedom in War's missions was extremely high. There was no fixed procedure. The system's restriction on players was mostly set to ensure the development of the storyline. For example, in the Town of Exiles, the rebel army's siege on the town had been to eliminate the Steel Beetle Boss that had entered the base. As such, this had not allowed players to run away in the face of danger.

The current mission needed the players to defend Roguetown. Without a doubt, it needed to work with the Resident Evil/Biohazard storyline, so the system hoped the players would remain in Roguetown for a certain period.

However, as the mission was an automatically accepted story mission, the players did not receive a certificate of conscription like before, in the Town of Exile. As such, the system's requirements on the players were not as strict. If the players chose to break out and leave right now, then they would probably only cause the "Biohazard Omen" mission to fail, and there would not be a severe system punishment.

As such, at the moment, two choices were placed before the players. The first one was to give up the "Biohazard Omen" story mission and choose to break out and leave early. In this case, they would not have to endure the dangers brought about by the Umbrella Corporation's behavior of destroying evidence. The second was to remain in Roguetown. Then they would have to think of a way to shorten the duration needed to defend the town or to delay the time of the explosion.

If they chose the first option, it would undoubtedly be beneficial for completing the city-building mission. After all, they had already obtained proof, so as long as they broke out, the city-building mission should no longer have any obstacles.

As for the second option, the dangers and risk factors would undeniably increase; it could even cause the difficult, half-completed city-building mission to fail.

So, how should they choose?

After a short moment of silence, Brother Ling was the first to speak. "I think we should just leave straight away. Inform the NPCs about the news before getting the NPC guards to join us in breaking out. In that case, getting the fat director out of here shouldn't be too difficult!"

"I agree!"

The male player who had snuck Young Master Lin and the other two into the area immediately voiced his agreement. "The city-building mission is more important. After all, the company sent us on this mission because they trust us. If we fail the city-building mission because of a somewhat dangerous story mission, wouldn't we be betraying the trust that the young master and the board of directors have in us?"

His words instantly obtained the support of several other players. However, around half the players remained silent.

Common sense would dictate that the city-building mission was certainly more important, so the former option could not be disputed. However, in the hearts of many people, they were more inclined to the second option: to remain and complete the Biohazard story mission. It would definitely be riskier, but with that risk came greater rewards.

A Level-45 Commander-grade monster had already dropped an enhancing potion that permanently increased a player's stats. If they could complete the entire mission, the ultimate reward at the end would definitely not be something normal.

But the system would not reward the players with anything after the completion of the city-building mission. At most, the company would show their gratitude, which would most likely mean credits.

Some things, however, could not be bought by credits—for example, the enhancing potion in Sister Rui's possession. Moreover, the Biohazard story mission was not in conflict with the city-building mission. Completing the Biohazard mission would not cause the city-building mission to fail.

One might even say that if the city-building mission were to fail, they could just delay for a while before going to claim the rewards. It did not mean they could no longer build a city ever again. Of course, considering the loss caused to the company due to the situation…

Two different options. In truth, it was fundamentally a contradiction between the company's benefit or the individual's benefit. As such, the people with other ideas were not in the minority. However, no one said anything because, more often than not, thinking about it was one thing; doing it was another.

Brother Ling saw that no one was speaking up, so he decided things on his own, pretending to be ignorant.

"All right. Since no one has any opinion, we'll prepare to break out right now. Counting ours, there are around 300 NPCs in the Guard Bureau, among them include over 40 NPC guard soldiers. It's not dark yet. If we were to break out, we would have lost the advantage of Heavy Weapons, but with this many people, it will be impossible for the Umbrella Company to stop everyone. The probability of entering the mountains surrounding the area shouldn't be too slim… So, let me divide the responsibilities…"

As part of the senior management of the company, as well as his not-so-enthusiastic attitude toward the game, he was probably the only person who genuinely did not want to take the risk of going on the Biohazard mission.

However, just as Brother Ling finished his sentence, a series of gunshots coming from outside the Guard Bureau interrupted them.

Bang, bang, bang…

Less than 20 seconds after the series of gunshots, two patrol vehicles that had bloodstains on their front bumpers and wheels entered the main gate of the Guard Bureau at high speed.

Clang!

The car doors opened, and seven or eight guard soldiers with raised assault rifles immediately rushed toward the entrance upon disembarking from the vehicles. Over a dozen rescued survivors got off the patrol vehicles with panicked expressions and ran toward the Guard Bureau building.

The players exchanged glances with each other and communicated through their eyes: There's a situation!

The last one who exited the vehicle was the Caucasian guard captain, Harley. His face had not rested for the entire day and was grim and filled with anxiety. His eyes were bloodshot, and his body was completely soaked with bloodstains and sweat. "Captain Ling," he said. "So, you're all here. Hurry—"

"Captain Harley, what is this…?" Brother Ling could only interrupt him and go toward him to inquire about the situation. After all, even if it was only for breaking out, they still needed the strength of the NPCs.

"There's trouble," Harley said with a very grim expression. "There's big trouble! I have to head to the command room immediately. Sam, you brief them!" After that, he instructed the young guard soldier before quickly dashing into the Guard Bureau building.

"Sam, just what exactly happened?"

This Sam was a young member of the guard team who had not become a Tyrant and had fought with Feng Luo and company before at the cafe.

"Living dead… A lot of living dead!" Sam's face was filled with fear, and his gaze betrayed an uncontrollable sense of panic. "All the living dead outside are headed toward the Bureau. We only made it here because we put our lives on the line all the way as we rushed over here!"

"What!?" The tone of the players could not help but go up several octaves.

******

"Brother Feng! This scene. It's really epic! I must record it and bring it back to show the people from the club!" Mumbled Mu Zi, who was on top of the Guard Bureau building, his eyes wide as he looked at the scene below him.

Under the afterglow of the golden dawn, the originally beautiful and scenic Roguetown had turned into a "Town of the Living Dead."

Bloodstains were everywhere. Severed limbs and other debris littered the streets. "Humans" who walked with tottering steps moved slowly toward them with distorted, stiff poses. These NPCs who had once been tourists or townspeople had no light in their eyes. Their skin was as pale as paper while their veins popped out. Their outer appearance was gruesome and horrifying.

On the bodies of these tourists were expensive, brand-name clothing that had been torn to shreds. On the edges of the mouths of the "people" were bloodstains left over from devouring human flesh. As for their arms or legs, many had lost one or more of them to their own kind.

The zombies of all of Roguetown were headed toward the Guard Bureau. Looking over the scene, it was impossible to count the number of zombies that blocked every nook and cranny of the streets. They had already finished off quite a few zombies throughout the afternoon. However, it was now clear that that amount was a far cry from the ridiculous number of zombies heading toward the Guard Bureau right now.