Chapter 49: Chapter 44 New Fragment Information
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Task Hall, there is one in each fort of the outer city, primarily for posting various missions. The Task Hall occupies a large area but is relatively rudimentary.
Inside, it seems chaotic, with various sweaty odors filling the nostrils.
Many people continuously look at the mission boards for announcements, find what suits them, tear them off, and then go to the counter to register, a somewhat primitive process.
Conflicts over high-reward missions are a common occurrence.
But those who cause trouble will be deducted points or expelled.
All sorts of mission categories are available, and there are also many missions in the current world, such as the case clues for the Li family annihilation case seen here, along with tasks like rat extermination.
Besides these printed mission notices, there is a single electronic LED screen in the entire Task Hall, continuously displaying some of the more important missions.
As a ‘partner,’ Tao Yu skips the step of competing for missions and has a dedicated contact to assist him.
A pretty little beauty, considered attractive by the standards of the outer city, respectfully led Tao Yu to a small compartment with a notebook in hand.
The beautiful waitress was in a brown linen short-sleeved shirt, revealing her smooth arms with a healthy complexion. Occasionally, as she moved her hands, a glimpse of a side mark could be seen.
“Partner Sir, there are many tasks in the new Development Zone, many of which are open-ended tasks. You don’t need to accept them; if there is a harvest, you can come straight back and submit it. You have a W4-type mission bracelet; I can import the task data to your bracelet for easy access at any time,” she said.
The young beauty leaned close to Tao Yu, her gaze occasionally sweeping over the smartwatch on his wrist that had been gifted to him. With Tao Yu’s high attractiveness, her breath almost reached his face, leaving her cheeks red and flustered.
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“That would be great, thank you,” Tao Yu responded.
Tao Yu did not mind the occasional subtle contact with her, but he certainly wouldn’t waste his time on such frivolities.
She wasn’t a rich woman who could affect the speed of his sword drawing.
While inserting something akin to a USB flash drive into the watch to import the task library for easy access in the Abyss, Tao Yu glanced through the notebook in front of him, spotting several new Development Zone tasks highlighted in bold.
“New Development Zone Abyssal Fragment Exploration Task: Explore as many Abyssal Fragments as possible. Rewards will depend on the findings. Partial rewards are also available for those who repeatedly submit information first. Information may include cartography, biological atlases, special events…”
“Blackwater Toxin Decryption Reward: The fragment codenamed ‘Alien 01’ is filled with a kind of Blackwater Toxin, which possesses biological properties and is extremely tricky to deal with. After contamination, it can transform ordinary animals into first-generation Aliens. Pioneers without superb physique, toxin resistance, or similar talents should enter with caution…”
“Codenamed ‘Zombie World 01’ Fragment Development: Heading north from the fragment codenamed ‘Alien 01’ will lead you to the fragment codenamed ‘Zombie World 01.’ This fragment borders both Rainforest 01 and Alien 01 and is home to a species called Zombies, suspected to be transformed humans. Zombies are relatively weak, but their numbers are vast. Radio signals have been detected, possibly mutually intelligible with the language of the Alien world. The fragment barrier is reasonably strong, preventing Aliens from entering…”
“Alien Breeder: Responsible for understanding the habits of Aliens, identifying the best host organisms, recording the host organisms’ reproduction capabilities and Yuan Force output ratio, summarizing the details on cultivation environment, temperature, feed, etc. This task can be completed by a team. It is recommended to source creatures from the neighboring rainforest and apply for Empress eggs…”
“Cleaning Aliens: Aliens have an extremely strong ability to reproduce. To ensure the safety of newcomers, organizations have put together field Alien cleaning squads. Each piece of Alien Yuan Force item, in addition to its inherent value, will reward an extra 100 Yuan Force units. It is advised to team up for this task. Those with alien body implantation should avoid participating as they are likely to become targeted for capture and incubation by Aliens…”
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On seeing a task about breeding Aliens and another about cleaning out Aliens, Tao Yu immediately thought of the Cobra Effect.
However, after comparing the task rewards, he quickly realized there might not be too much cause for concern.
“If you have the ability to breed Aliens, it seems you could simply complete the first task directly. Sneaking around to use them for hunting and then submitting them seems to be a loss. After all, the organization does not require any proof for cleaning tasks; you could be killed off like a monkey with nowhere to argue…”
And Tao Yu did not believe that Aliens were so easy to clear out…
It cannot be denied, though, that with the support of the Floating City, the exploration progression is quite fast.
Tao Yu has been constantly learning and improving his skills, but for those two individuals from Floating City, they probably mastered most of the actively learned skills before turning eighteen.
They might rest for five days before plunging back in, which is why they keep discovering new things.
Some information is free for partners to access, so Tao Yu locked onto the world fragment codenamed ‘Zombie World 01.’
Mainly because, at the moment, he was already moving northward along the junction of the rainforest and the plains, which is probably the closest to this location.
According to the information, the two from Floating City probably had no interest in the harvest from Zombie World, having headed off to pioneer other places after setting the task.
However, protected by a world barrier, the Zombie World could be a good choice for an initial base location. Hence, a separate exploration task was set up for it.
And…
If it was the Resident Evil type of Zombie World with the T-virus, whether movie or game version, there would be substantial potential for exploration, and it’s quite suitable for Tao Yu’s current abilities to manage.
At least the risk is relatively smaller compared to being besieged by Aliens.
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However, the Zombie World is just too vast, with little detailed information, making it truly impossible for Tao Yu to judge.
Just from their slow movement, he was able to rule out several enhanced zombie worlds and the later stages of a biological crisis.
“On average, each zombie drops from 0.01 to 0.05 units of Yuan Force, with no skill information, no wonder it’s overlooked…”
Tao Yu himself felt somewhat helpless to comment on this, judging from the task at hand, it seemed like the tycoons of the Floating City were really prepared to domesticate Aliens, even already scouting for suitable creatures to cultivate.
As for the meager drops from the zombies, Tao Yu also felt a bit speechless; it was just too poor!
Because one unit of Yuan Force is purely a unit set by the company for ease of management, the occurrence of amounts like 0.01 or 0.05 isn’t strange since many fragments of the Abyss are not under the company’s jurisdiction.
Moreover, the absorption of Yuan Force after each kill requires finding the concentration of Yuan Force that gathers after the death of a Yuan Force creature, it doesn’t just pop up like scoring points upon death.
Each zombie only has so little to offer, to say nothing of the energy expended in killing them, even cleaning up the corpses afterwards is troublesome work.
Killing two hundred to a thousand zombies a day and handling their bodies only yields about ten points of Yuan Force, roughly equivalent to the daily income of his parents.
For a regular Pioneer, it indeed seems like an unrewarding task that’s both time-consuming and labor-intensive.
“However, it might be that they’re looking to scout and select a gathering place, as the exploration rewards are quite abundant. Discovering other adjacent, unknown fragments of the Abyss could reward five thousand.
“The rewards for mapping are also decent, finding other Yuan Force creatures beyond zombies has its rewards, and then there’s the source of that broadcast…”
Tao Yu took a closer look at the tasks for the Zombie World, noting these were all additional rewards, with all the gains along the way being his to keep.
But thinking about the scarce output of zombies, he figured that for an ordinary Pioneer, it would probably just mean scavenging some resources to sell back.
The only advantage of this world might be the absence of strong Yuan Force creatures like Pythons or Aliens that ordinary Pioneers can’t even escape from.
And it’s also protected by a world barrier that prevents Yuan Force creatures from entering!
The safety should be the highest, at least for now.
“My greatest strength still lies in my potential. Now, the threat of Aliens is still immense to me, and I don’t know the current number of Aliens and the extent of their proliferation. Although the rewards for hunting Aliens are high, safety comes first…”
Tao Yu pondered internally that even if he were to hunt Aliens to earn money, he could still use the Zombie World as a base and run both sides.
The most crucial point is that even with his current strength, if truly surrounded by Aliens, he would likely still come out at a loss. He could first try to increase his strength in the Zombie World before hunting Aliens.
He didn’t want to relive the feeling of always having to sleep with one eye open in the rainforest, constantly on edge and mentally exhausted.
“The difficulty of these initial fragments is not small. The welfare for tasks in the new Development Zones is actually quite good. Once I manage to achieve the second Deification of my main skills and talents, I should be ready for official exploration. I still need to make money…”
Having potential means he has to endure loneliness and make money to accumulate for himself, as his strength is the most tangible thing.
Looking back at the tasks for the Zombie World, Tao Yu became more and more satisfied; in fact, his current strength was already not weak.
It would take five days for a round trip, and as long as he was careful to learn the habits of the zombies and explore gradually, it wouldn’t be a big problem for an ordinary Pioneer to complete a map survey once a month.
If he managed to get a vehicle or something, the possibility of reaching other adjacent fragments was not small.
But the size of a world fragment is entirely up to luck; if it turns out to be very large, then it would indeed be quite a loss. However, based on the current rewards for tasks, if it really was that way, it could be counted as important intelligence and receive additional rewards.
“I’ll register this task, thank you.”
His USB drive had already transferred the data on the open tasks, and Tao Yu left without any attachment.
He operated his W4 task bracelet for a moment; this smartwatch-like device had quite a complete set of features, including assistance with map surveying and convenience in submitting tasks.
It supported solar charging and automatic radio searching and even had a reserve of over a hundred units of Yuan Force, having likely enhanced some functions.
While there might be a small chance of it being located or tracked, Tao Yu currently had nothing of value for the big shots of the Floating City to covet, so the likelihood was really not significant.
Or rather, his value was not yet worth them risking their reputation.
“This is what it means to be a wealthy woman…”
Tao Yu sighed with some regret. His talents had exploded a bit too much, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, he could only painfully forego the shortcuts…