Chapter 149 Dawn

One day later, at dawn.

Northern West洲, a desolate basin, rainstorm.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and torrential rain poured down. The sky had just begun to brighten, the firmament a blend of purple and black. Large swathes of night were being driven away by the light. As far as the eye could see, a misty haze filled the air, rain pelting down, moisture permeating everything, rising and turning into fog.

Looking down from the sky, countless wild beasts occupied this black basin. The number was astonishing, the species varied, including giant beasts dozens of meters in size. There were many predators and prey existing in a hierarchical food chain, occasionally attacking each other, rolling in the mud and water. On the ground were the skeletons of beasts that had been completely devoured.

At the edge of the pack, a player was lying on the top of a hill, quietly peeking out to observe this massive horde.

His ID was "Jiuweihu (Nine-tailed Fox)", a key member of the Misty Rain Jianghu guild, who had accepted the [Locking the Source] mission and happened to discover this beast pack.

The beast pack stretched for miles, a magnificent sight. The detector couldn't probe the interior of the basin. Jiuweihu was thinking of a way. Infiltrating the beast pack was unrealistic; stealth wasn't his forte. But he was a Mechanic and carried a small remote-controlled drone he'd bought from the Six Nations.

"If the target is inside the beast pack, missing it would be a huge loss. It's just a remote-controlled drone, so what if it's gone? I'll take the gamble!"

Jiuweihu swallowed, took out a slender remote-controlled drone, attached a detector to it, and controlled the drone to rise to a height of thirty meters, piercing through the rain and flying towards the beast pack.

The heavy rain was a natural camouflage; the beasts on the periphery didn't notice the drone passing overhead.

The drone gradually went deeper, flying for a short while when suddenly, a dark, viscous substance hit the drone like a cannonball, knocking it down into the mud.

Crack...

The next moment, the black substance entangled the drone. It was elastic, like a colloid, quickly contracting, and the drone was instantly crushed into pieces. The detector hadn't successfully locked on yet and was also shattered.

A pitch-black, humanoid, mutated original body walked out from the beast pack. The surrounding beasts seemed not to see it. The black substance that had shot down the drone rolled on the ground, merged into the mutated original body's calf, and disappeared without a trace.

"What shot it down?"

Jiuweihu looked puzzled. His control interface was pitch black. The picture had been disconnected the moment the drone was hit. As he was wondering, countless beasts that had been resting suddenly stood up and looked in the direction of Jiuweihu, emitting all kinds of roars.

The sonic waves were like rolling thunder!

"Crap! I've been discovered!"

Jiuweihu was shocked and ran away, but before he could get far, a black shadow flashed past like lightning, whipping up a frenzy of rain, and blocked his path. It was the mutated original body.

"What is that thing? So fast?!" Jiuweihu looked surprised, sizing up the monster in front of him. It was humanoid, with bulging muscles, pitch black, and the skin was a bit reflective, without any hair. At first glance, he thought it was a life-sized model.

*I'm a level 62 character, yet I can't see the monster's movements clearly?* Jiuweihu was secretly shocked and hurriedly cast a detection spell.

[Mutated Original Body - Semi-Mature Stage (Red Name)]

[Level: ?]

[Attributes: ?]

[Danger Level: Extremely Deadly]

[Note: This target is the source of the [Mutation Disaster] main storyline]

"Found it!"

Jiuweihu's eyes lit up.

But before he could react, the mutated original body suddenly approached, and its arm spurted out surging black matter, like splitting tentacles, which wrapped around his waist and below. The next moment, the tentacles suddenly contracted, and the force of crushing metal and splitting stones was applied to his lower body from all directions. In just an instant, more than a dozen damage values popped up on Jiuweihu's head, his health instantly dropping by more than half, and he also received the negative status of [Leg Disability].

Fortunately, the player's body structure was peculiar, shielding the pain of the reproductive system; otherwise, Jiuweihu would have been clutching his crotch.

At the critical moment of life and death, Jiuweihu didn't hesitate at all, ignoring the mutated original body's attack. He quickly took out a spare detector, threw it out, and planted it in the wet, soft mud.

Buying a detector could complete the mission, but Han Xiao didn't limit the number of detectors that could be purchased, and detectors could be damaged. A small number of players had bought more than one detector as a backup, and Jiuweihu happened to be one of them!

The next second, his health was emptied. Before turning into white light, Jiuweihu revealed a ecstatic smile.

"Hahaha, I hit the jackpot!!"

As long as he could complete this mission, what did dying once matter!

The mutated original body retracted its tentacles, seemingly wondering why there was no corpse, and stared blankly at the spot where Jiuweihu disappeared, becoming curious. The detector buried in the mud was an inanimate object, and the mutated original body ignored it.

In the mud, the detector's values rapidly increased, finally crossing the threshold. This set of data turned into electromagnetic waves and was transmitted through the communication component.

At the same time, players searching all over Aquamarine Star received a prompt on their panels.

[[Locking the Source] has ended]

[Mission Completed by: Jiuweihu]

Around the world, many players were stunned.

"T-This is only one day, and the mission is over?!"

"Who is Jiuweihu?"

"I know him, he's a core member of the Misty Rain Jianghu guild of the Storm Club."

Players were in an uproar. The mission ended too suddenly, with only one winner. The others didn't even get a thank-you-for-participating award. The speed at which their dreams were shattered was too real.

However, after all, the cost paid was small, and the other players weren't too frustrated, just envious of this player called Jiuweihu.

The Misty Rain Jianghu guild immediately inquired about Jiuweihu, got the information, and quickly released an announcement on the forum, revealing the coordinates of the mutated original body. The mission had been completed, the coordinates were no longer important. For the guild, publicly releasing this information to the majority of players was a very popular move.

For a time, a large number of players rushed towards this basin. Although their mission had failed, according to the mission description, after finding the mutated original body, there would obviously be follow-up events, and no one wanted to miss it.

Players located on other continents were helpless. They couldn't cross the ocean to reach the scene in a short period of time, while the players in West洲 had the advantage of being close to the water and getting the moon first.

Before long, players riding vehicles or relying on their legs for long-distance travel appeared on the edge of the basin. Soon, hundreds of players gathered, maintaining a safe distance from the beast pack, enduring the rain and edging closer.

Among the onlookers, many were guild members. Jupiter, the president of the God's Domain guild, was also among them.

"President, what do we do next? Are we going to attack the beast pack?" a member of the God's Domain guild asked.

Jupiter's eyes rolled. "We've found the mutated original body, so the next step must be combat. We should also have a chance to participate in the plot, and we can probably get more progress in the main storyline."

Looking at the surrounding players, Jupiter decided to organize everyone and loudly attract the attention of the players present.

"Everyone, this may be the Boss of the Mutation Disaster main storyline. You've also seen that the enemy is numerous. Relying on one guild alone won't work. It's best if we act together. Don't rashly provoke the beast pack and wait for more people to come and join us..."

This statement was fine. Facing the wild beasts all over the mountains and plains, they were simply not enough. The hundreds of players present already had this idea in mind and nodded in agreement.

At this moment, before Jupiter could finish speaking, a burst of airflow suddenly sounded in the sky.

Rumble--

The hundreds of people located on the edge of the basin subconsciously looked up and saw the Blacklight Stealth aircraft streaking across the sky, piercing through the rain clouds, and stopping in the central sky above the basin.

"That's... Black Star is here!"

The faces of hundreds of players changed.

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(There's another page later)