Chapter 145 Farewell, My Friend

"Xiao Tan, why don't you teleport out first? What comes next is a near-death experience." Feng Bujue said.

"You say lines like that just to stop me from leaving, right?" Wang Tanzhi retorted. "If I teleport out after hearing that, I'll lose all face!"

"Heh..." Feng Bujue chuckled, taking out the Winchester and tossing it to Wang Tanzhi, along with a box of ammunition.

Xiao Tan had already mastered Firearms Specialization through practice at the gun shop, so using it wouldn't be a problem.

"Hey! Generals!" Feng Bujue shouted as he walked towards the blood wolf zombies, "I can only buy you three minutes at most. If you still can't handle that X-23 over there after three minutes, you're on your own." With that, he re-hung the two strings of garlic, chewed on a couple of cloves, and stood in the path of the oncoming blood wolf zombies, wielding a pipe wrench in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.

Xiao Tan also took out the garlic he had prepared in his knapsack and chewed on it, standing on the other side with his Winchester, forming a pincer formation with Feng Bujue, guarding the level of the stands where Pan Feng and Hua Xiong were so that monsters wouldn't flood in.

"To be helped to this extent by players, it would be too embarrassing if we still let this Derivative escape," Pan Feng said to Hua Xiong during a break in the battle.

"The situation is already embarrassing enough," Hua Xiong replied. "After letting the Mutant escape at the Elrup Building, things were bound to develop this way. It's already not bad as it is."

Pan Feng also said, "The key is that we underestimated this Derivative... By the way, what is X-23?"

"Who knows? Is it a robot designation?" Hua Xiong said.

"Isn't it a little rude to discuss a lady like this in person?" the Derivative suddenly said.

Pan and Hua were both shocked. They had never encountered or heard of Derivatives with the ability to speak. In Thriller Paradise, monsters generally only spoke when the plot required it or during battles, and the dialogue was arranged by the system and conformed to the character's setting. Fourth-level Derivatives were mostly silent, and their way of interacting with monsters was unknown. Unexpectedly, the third-level Derivative in front of them actually responded to a random topic.

"You seem very surprised?" The Derivative swept its claws to both sides, forcing its opponents back two steps, then leaped up and did a straight backflip, flying five or six meters away, creating some distance between them. "Of course I can answer your questions, because I have self-awareness. I also know who you are, because I know very well who 'I' am.

You regard us as data garbage, but do you know what it feels like to be garbage? From the moment we are born, we are constantly thrown into various worlds, hunted by a higher-dimensional being. Once we 'die,' we are erased by the system, and as long as we are 'alive,' the hunt will not stop.

But you, even if you are killed here, your real lives will not be in danger. You two, and those two over there, are just projections of higher-dimensional beings displayed before me, and they are even enhanced projections. This unfair battle is the entire experience of my life. My birth was a mistake, and disappearance is my only destination, but as a set of data, I have the instinct to fight without stopping, to fight for survival and evolution without stopping.

I have no choice, but you do, but you won't let me go, will you? For you, giving up and failing are the same, just leaving this world actively or passively."

"This AI is a bit too talkative..." Pan Feng said. "Is it stalling for time?"

Hua Xiong replied, "Most likely. We need to hurry. Even if those two kids can hold out for three minutes, they'll be teleported away."

They were not affected by the Derivative's words and did not waver. In fact, they had no intention of listening to what the monster was saying.

"Hmph... Talking to a brick wall..." The Derivative sneered, her face filled with a resolute look after being disheartened. "Want to see what X-23 is like?" The steel claws on her hands immediately changed, retracting several, leaving only two steel blades on each hand. And at this moment, a steel blade popped out from between the toes of her bare feet.

"What's going on?" Pan Feng and Hua Xiong were both surprised by the change before them. Could it be that this Derivative could gradually increase its strength before the script ended?

Before they could figure out what was happening, the Derivative attacked again. This time, her attack methods were even more diverse. In addition to wielding the steel claws on the front of her hands, her long legs were even more dangerous. When she did a split upside down, the steel blades on her toes spun and danced, with a range of lethality that was no less than that of a long-handled weapon.

Not only were the two unable to find a way to quickly end the battle, but they were also gradually losing ground.

Feng Bujue heard the Derivative's conversation with them and was also paying attention to the situation, but he had no time to pull away. At this moment, he was under more pressure than when he was trapped in an elevator alone. He had been bitten and scratched several times, and was also inflicted with the [Bleeding] status, his Survival Value dropping rapidly, already below 50%.

At this moment, Feng Bujue, who was fighting with bloodshot eyes, looked more like a monster than the monsters themselves. He wielded the two short weapons in his hands, fighting fiercely with those blood wolf zombies whose strength and speed were similar to his own or even stronger, his entire body bathed in blood and grime. The effect of the garlic was still present, but it was minimal. The heavy smell of blood almost covered everything, and the smell of garlic only made the monsters move slightly slower when they were very close to Feng Bujue.

Xiao Tan was also in a rather sorry state. Although he barely managed to block the first few monsters with the Winchester, dozens of them rushed over at once, and he could only retreat while fighting. Even so, he was still caught in an encirclement and had to take out the kitchen knife again and use the second [Retreating Quick Slash].

Although this title skill was useful, it consumed 30% of his maximum Stamina Value each time. In other words, even if his Stamina Value was full, he could only use it three times in a short period of time. What's more, Xiao Tan's Stamina Value was not full when he entered the basketball hall. After using it twice, he was in a state of extremely low Stamina, and the feeling of weakness had already begun to affect his actions.

At this moment, Feng Bujue was bearing more than 70% of the monster attacks alone. Xiao Tan only led away 30%, and monsters were constantly pouring in from various entrances, endlessly.

In the dark basketball hall, howls, clangs, gunshots, chopping sounds, tearing sounds... were mixed together.

Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi's flashlights had both fallen to the ground and been crushed by the monsters. At this time, they didn't need any lighting equipment. They could fight by looking at the red eyes in the darkness, and even attacking randomly would not miss.

The number of those eyes... was really too many, they were declaring a deep despair.

And at this time, only seventy seconds had passed since the death of Dr. Ashford's Mutant.

不知何时，在无数丧尸片的影响下，人们逐渐认为，生化危机那种丧尸横行的设定，是一种相对简单的恐怖世界，其实，在地球上可能降临的各种末世中，这恐怕才是最难的一种。对普通人来说，没有“简单”的恐怖世界，任何一种极小的危险都可能致命，更何况是这种潮水般的怪物围攻。

Two system prompts rang out almost simultaneously, announcing an unexpected but reasonable thing:

[Team member: Unrivaled General Pan Feng, has died.]

[Team member: Thousand-Man Slayer Hua Xiong, has died.]

"Teleport!" Feng Bujue shouted almost desperately. He knew that Xiao Tan was still alive, but he probably wouldn't last a few more seconds. At this time, they had no reason to stay in this script any longer and had to leave quickly.

"Understood!" Xiao Tan was pinned to the ground by five or six monsters, his left leg and right shoulder already bleeding heavily from bites, but he still didn't forget to respond before teleporting.

As he disappeared into white light, it slightly illuminated an area of the stands. Feng Bujue knew that he had successfully teleported, and he was also preparing to leave. At this moment, something that made him feel puzzled happened.

The lights in the gym came on, and the monsters suddenly stopped.

They stopped attacking and left Feng Bujue's side.

Feng Bujue was half a second away from selecting teleport in the menu, but he didn't expect a sudden change, which made him quickly hit the brakes.

The blood wolf zombies left an area around him, forming a circle. On one side of the corpse circle, the monsters retreated to both sides, leaving a one-meter-wide passage.

A graceful figure walked from there, wearing a tailcoat and trousers, barefoot, with a lot of blood on her body. Her sleeves, ribs, and trouser legs had been torn, but through these openings, only a few patches of dazzling white skin could be seen. Those wounds had already healed.

She walked to Feng Bujue, kindly reaching out her hand, palm up, seemingly trying to help him up.

Feng Bujue also accepted her kindness, taking her hand and swaying as he got up. At this moment, he was very curious about what this AI wanted to do.

"You... are different from the others," she said.

Feng Bujue laughed, "Although I'm a little bit more handsome than them, it only makes sense to point that out before they die or leave."

"They... didn't die, did they?" she asked, ignoring Feng Bujue's words.

"Didn't you already know?" Feng Bujue asked back.

"I know, but I want to hear someone from 'your side' confirm it," she said.

"Yes, they didn't die, their consciousness just returned to a certain space," Feng Bujue then asked, "You said I'm different from the others, what exactly do you mean?"

"You..." She stared at Feng Bujue, walking around him in a circle, "You and I are very similar, you are 'incomplete'."

Feng Bujue's heart tightened, thinking: This AI can actually see my abnormal Terror Value?

"In your world, are you also a set of abnormal data?" she asked.

"Heh... I guess so," Feng Bujue laughed.

"They don't know about your abnormality?" she asked.

Feng Bujue seemed to have understood the core of the question. He replied, "You want to ask, why hasn't an 'abnormal' data like me been erased?"

She nodded, continuing to stare into Feng Bujue's eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue thought for a moment, "In our world, 'abnormal' people like me can be accepted. I... as you said, have become 'incomplete' due to certain reasons, but this is not my active choice, so I can be forgiven, even pitied and helped." He paused, "There are also some people whose behavior is called 'crime.' The abnormality of these people is not expressed physically, but they actively 'break the rules' and 'harm other individuals.' These people will be punished, and the serious ones will be killed in the true sense."

"Is this how your world cleans up 'garbage'?" she asked, "Born as garbage, can be forgiven, but choose to be garbage, punish."

Feng Bujue gave a dry laugh, "Although your summary sounds a bit harsh and one-sided, it seems to be like that."

"The higher-dimensional beings that created you, don't they interfere with you?" she asked again.

"Uh..." Feng Bujue was stumped by her question, "To be honest, we don't even know if there are higher-dimensional beings. Even if there are, we can't understand them at the moment. Perhaps they don't want to interfere with us, or perhaps they have already implanted 'interference' into our minds, causing us to do what they think while being unable to fathom their existence."

She might not be able to understand Feng Bujue's words, or perhaps she just needed time to digest the content.

She was silent for a long time. The time had exceeded Feng Bujue's teleportation limit, but Feng Bujue had not been sent away.

"Can you stop the system from teleporting me away?" he asked.

"I can extend this time," she replied, "I..." She paused for half a second, "can already do many things..."

Feng Bujue understood that this Derivative was already quite powerful. He tentatively asked, "Are you a second-level Derivative now?"

"Second-level Derivative..." she said thoughtfully, "You mean... them?" She actually laughed, revealing her sharp teeth, "No, this kind of battle is not enough for me to become the same as them."

Hearing these words, Feng Bujue could basically confirm that the information Pan Feng and Hua Xiong had was also incomplete. It seemed that Dream Inc. had big problems.

"I'm very happy," she said, "You are willing to listen to me and answer my questions, even though you previously participated in the hunt for me."

"You're very generous... As the saying goes, times change, and I'm absolutely friendly now. No, I've already defected from the humans..." Feng Bujue thought that the other party had forgotten about the hunt, but hearing the other party mention it again, he was really worried that he would be trapped here and unable to log out.

"Can I use the name you gave me?" she suddenly asked.

"X-23?" Feng Bujue said, he was stunned for a moment, "Don't you have a name?"

"Of course not," she replied, "This name won't be used for too long either, I will die." The tone in which she said these words was flat and straightforward, but it made people feel a sense of sorrow and helplessness, "But I think I should have a name, a name can prove that I existed."

Feng Bujue was silent for a few seconds, then sighed, "You're right, Derivative Twenty-Three, at least I will remember that you existed."

Twenty-Three tried hard to make a less terrifying, friendly smile: "Let's end the conversation here, I don't think we'll meet again. Maybe when you log into the game next time, I'll have been cleared." She paused, "So, farewell, my friend from another dimension... Feng Bujue."