An hour later.
The fire spreading in the clock tower area was extinguished. There were scorch marks everywhere. The power plant under construction was destroyed, and the collapsed clock tower was in ruins. The area was in a mess, and the clean-up mission was increased.
A cordon was set up nearby, and Huang Yu was commanding at the scene. Fortunately, there were players cleaning up the ruins, so the situation was still stable.
Thousands of players gathered in the distance, looking at the broken scene in shock. A series of cracked footprints were left on the brick ground by the group of black shadows. Their feet had three claws, and their shape was long and thin. No one knew what kind of creature it was.
At this time, the group of black shadows had retreated to the river channel and disappeared. That was obviously their nest, and no one dared to provoke the group of unknown monsters for the time being.
"What kind of beast can cause such a commotion?"
"The monsters we encountered in the past few days were only LV10 or LV20. I thought there were no powerful monsters. So they were hiding here."
"I heard from the people at the scene that their detection results were all question marks, and the danger level was extremely lethal."
"Oh, that's at least LV40."
"Let's wait and see. We'll probably have to do the mission soon."
Huang Yu arranged the work, turned on the communicator, and reported, "Your Excellency, the situation is temporarily stable."
"How are the losses?" Han Xiao's tone was calm.
"Not very good. The power plant we were building was destroyed, and the construction materials and engineering equipment inside were all destroyed."
Han Xiao gritted his teeth. He had expected this. Since the sanctuary was the main storyline, it was very likely that there would be twists and turns. Accidents really did happen. He did not expect that there were powerful monsters hidden in the Graymetal Ruins. The loss of the construction materials and engineering equipment was secondary. If there was no way to deal with the beasts, it would greatly delay the construction.
"What kind of beasts are they?"
"We're still investigating, but they're hiding in the drainage channel. We don't know anything about that place, so it's very dangerous."
"Wait for me."
Ten minutes later, Han Xiao arrived at the scene. Everyone gathered around to report. He listened for a while, waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then came to the footprints to carefully examine.
"To be able to crack the stone floor, it means that the beast's leg strength is very developed, and it is very heavy. It likes to live in damp and dark places. It is a social animal, its food is unknown, and it is very aggressive …" Han Xiao turned on his tablet and searched for Blue Star's Illustrated Handbook of Wild Beasts. He found many examples that fit the description.
After thinking about it, Han Xiao lifted his windbreaker, and seven or eight Spider Detectors landed on the ground along his legs. They slowly crawled into the river channel in groups to investigate the situation inside. The tablet was connected to the detector's night vision device and infrared vision.
While waiting, Han Xiao casually asked, "Are there any powerful beasts in other places?"
Huang Yu immediately replied, "No, only here. The clean-up work in the other areas is very smooth."
The shocking change here did not delay the other construction. The giant city wall was still under construction, and the residential houses, warehouses, energy plants, internal life-support facilities, greenhouses, and farms were all being built at the same time. Only with the help of tens of thousands of players did Han Xiao have enough manpower to fully develop the city. Sanctuary Two was still struggling to explore the city, and their progress was many times slower than his.
The Spider Detectors sent back images. The walls deep inside the river channel were covered in the mucus secreted by some kind of creature. It was very sticky and disgusting, and it was still slowly dripping down.
A small spider was covered in the dripping mucus. Its slender mechanical limb twitched a few times, and it directly stopped functioning as if it was wrapped in amber.
Further in, Han Xiao saw a shocking scene. At the end of the river channel, there were countless forks dug by beasts. He ordered the small spiders to split up. As the images continued to be sent back, everyone was more and more shocked.
Beneath the Graymetal Ruins, there was actually a terrifyingly large underground lair! It covered more than half of the West District!
These beasts had been in this abandoned city for many years!
"Oh my god …" Han Xiaoxin was slightly shocked.
The hidden beast showed its outline in the infrared vision. Han Xiao quickly flipped open the beast illustration handbook and finally locked onto the target this time.
"Its scientific name is Nigaro Shadow Viper, also known as Shadow Stalker Viper. It is an oviparous animal with six legs and three claws. Its entire body is covered in a chitin shell, which is divided into head, torso, four limbs, and a long tail. It can reach up to four meters in length when fully grown. Claws, tail swings, and bites are its most common attacks. It can secrete a corrosive mucus from its mouth and excrement, which is used to dig its nest.
Other than the fact that it did not have a facehugger, this thing was very similar to Xenomorph!
Han Xiao compared it to the database of Viper and found that the life force signal of the Shadow Stalker Viper was around Level 40. To the current players, every one of them was a mini boss level monster.
Roughly estimating that there were more than a thousand Shadow Stalker Vipers in the nest, which was a huge hidden danger for the sanctuary. If they were not eliminated, accidents like today would keep happening, and it would delay the construction of the West District.
Han Xiao suddenly found something strange.
"Shadow Stalker Vipers like hot environments. Weird, this is a flat area, so it should be cool and humid underground. Why would it attract Shadow Stalker Vipers? Could it be … there's an abandoned reactor or high-energy waste underground?"
He thought to himself and felt that it was best to let the players detect the radiation density.
If he guessed correctly, a Shadow Stalker Viper horde would have a wild boss level Beast King, and only he could deal with this thing.
The complex terrain of the nest was the Shadow Stalker Viper's home field. Han Xiao did not want to deal with an entire horde alone. Even with the mechanical guards, he would suffer heavy losses.
The players should be able to kill a normal Shadow Stalker Viper with numbers. Since there were players, he had to make the best use of them.
"Speaking of which, the Shadow Stalker Viper's carcass and eggs are a kind of potion material …" Han Xiao's eyes sparkled as he came up with a plan.
At this time, Huang Yu was actively giving suggestions and said, "I think we can use a large amount of explosives to destroy the underground cavern and cause a landslide to flatten the Shadow Stalker Viper's nest, which will cause the ground of the West District to collapse. However, this is an abandoned city, so it won't be a big problem if it collapses. We can use it for renovation …"
"Good idea." Han Xiao's eyes sparkled. He always liked to maximize the benefits within his ability. Directly blowing up the nest of Shadow Stalker Vipers would be a waste. However, Huang Yu reminded him that the Shadow Stalker Vipers would attack violently when disturbed. This was a good way to lure them out. He could set up a trap in advance and give them a head-on blow.
He was a man of action. He gathered all the Generation 2.5 Rangers that were patrolling around the river channel and asked the people of the Dark Net to move the small cannons over. He then arranged them into a formation and aimed them at the river channel.
"Go in and put in a flashbang." Han Xiao gave a mission to Mad Blade. Mad Blade did not say anything and directly rushed in. He did not even bat an eyelid.
Minutes and seconds passed. Everyone held their breaths and was very quiet. Occasionally, there would be players who were watching from afar whispering to each other and staring at the battlefield.
The fierce roar of a beast broke the long wait. Accompanied by a short scream, the ground shook slightly. The sound came from the channel and was getting closer and closer. Something was about to come out.
Rumble!
A large group of Shadow Stalker Vipers rushed out. Their entire bodies were covered in black carapaces, and the three pairs of scarlet eyes hidden in the carapaces were filled with anger and irritation. At least a hundred Shadow Stalker Vipers appeared, and they immediately noticed the crowd gathered in the distance. They roared and charged toward them.
Tut tut tut tut!
In the next second, a storm of guns and cannons rained down on the Shadow Stalker Vipers, pushing them back. Dozens of large caliber machine guns fired, and the steel-core bullets shattered their chitin carapaces. The shells cracked, and viscous fluids splashed everywhere. Their roars turned into cries. They struggled to stand up again and again, but they were knocked down by the rain of bullets and pressed to the ground by the continuous kinetic energy.
The flashing gun flames illuminated the side of Han Xiao's face time and time again. He slowly lit a cigarette and watched the hundreds of Shadow Stalker Vipers being turned into sieves.
Not long after, the machine guns made clicking sounds. The magazines were empty, and the ground was full of bullet shells.
The smell of gunpowder filled the air. The whole place was quiet. The tragic bodies of the Shadow Stalker Vipers were scattered all over the ground.
Many of the players who were watching turned pale. They were disgusted by this scene.
"Move the bodies back and put them in the cold storage."
Everyone quickly cleaned up the battlefield. Han Xiao switched to Hao Tian to release the flash grenades again. This time, the Shadow Stalker Vipers did not fall for it. After killing Hao Tian, they still hid in the nest and refused to come out no matter what.
This way, the mechanical guards were temporarily useless. The open terrain was the best place to use firepower. If they entered the narrow nest, they would only be torn apart by the Shadow Stalker Vipers one by one. It was enough to trick the enemy once.
The players had been watching for so long. It was time to find something for them to do.
"I need some people to clean up this nest. It's best if you can do it within three days," Han Xiao said loudly. He quickly set up the mission and sent it out.
"Prize Pool Mission: Clean up the nest!"
After a few days, Han Xiao released another Prize Pool Mission. He realized that Prize Pool Missions could easily ignite the players' passion. As expected, the players who were watching the show were instantly excited. They swarmed over and fought to be the first to accept the mission.
The prize pool quickly accumulated over a million EXP, and it was still increasing. The quest requirement was to kill the Shadow Stalker Viper and bring back the egg. Contribution points would be awarded through these two actions. The top ten would be rewarded according to their contribution points. (Counting the team's ranking.)
A large number of players rolled up their sleeves and swarmed into the nest to hunt down the Shadow Stalker Vipers. If they were not strong enough, they would make up for it with numbers.
Han Xiao turned around and said to Mad Blade and the others, "Take this device and check the radiation density of the nest. Also, check if there are any special Shadow Stalker Vipers. That's the Beast King. Inform me immediately if you find one. If you find anything else, remember to tell me too."
The four nodded and entered the nest.
Looking at the passionate players, Han Xiao thought to himself.
The Shadow Stalker Vipers are too strong for the current players. In order to get the Prize Pool Mission, the players will need weapons even more urgently. After seeing my mechanical guards, some people will definitely be tempted …
It just so happened that he had enough parts. He could sell weapons and make some more money.
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