There were two pieces of paper inside the drawer, it was obviously a clue to a puzzle given by the system. Feng Bujue opened the first paper, and three rows of hints were written on it with bad handwriting. The first row was JMMJAOD, the second row was 1/4F, and the third was 3/4F. Feng Bujue glanced at them and tutted condescendingly.
The content of the second paper was more interesting—it was a printed document. The handwriting was neat, and it contained details of the virus. First, the virus’ code name was indeed Z, and since the introductory CG had already mentioned it, it looked like the monsters on the surface and the people in the building suffered from the same type of virus infection, but if that was the case, why did they transform into different kinds of zombies?
Secondly, the player had three hours to cure the infection once they contracted the virus. The document said the following. “Within the three hours from the infection, flu-like symptoms, a high fever, and finally dementia will settle in.”
This explained why Feng Bujue was breaking out in a cold sweat and suffering from listlessness. Since the system could not simulate the experience of ’dementia’ to the player, when the virus started to the affect the brain, the player would be categorized as dead and kicked out of the scenario.
Then came a detailed description about the virus within the infected’s system like how it would infect the healthy cells, causing cell death; the increase in storage capacity of hemoglobin and slowed blood flow to improve muscle tenacity and strength; severely compromised intelligence and intense desire for human flesh… Of course, there was the last tip that said, “A heavy hit to the head is required to incapacitate the infected.”
Feng Bujue finished reading that and breathed out to himself. “Isn’t this SCP008? But at least there is a serum placed in this scenario.”
When he said that, his eyes had already fallen on the final part where it described the serum.
“Experiments prove that the serum is not effective on everyone. Due to factors like gender, age, blood type, and race, in our 390 experiments, only 154 people who got the serum survived and got the symptoms of the infection removed. The survival rate of the serum was less than 40%. There is currently no theory to explain the efficacy of the serum.”
After reading the document, Feng Bujue felt unsettled. With his luck, there was no chance he would survive even with the serum. Even if he found the serum, he only had a forty percent change to cure his status. Otherwise… he only had two hours left, and clearing the scenario within that time limit did not seem possible. The biggest contribution he could make was to find the serum and hand it to his teammates.
Speaking of teammates… ten minutes prior, when he heard the death announcement of Atobe-sama and Ming Zi, he had realized that the scenario was not as simple as it appeared. The death of those two confused him; they did not seem like the type who would wander away from the gun store for no reason. Therefore, the fact that they had died in quick succession meant that they had probably run into some extremely powerful enemy at the gun store.
But how could there be a monster that powerful in a place that had no connection to the main quest? If night had come and that strengthened the BW Zombies, even if they swarmed the two players with guns, they would not have died so soon, right?
Other than that, he had suspicions about Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong, whom Xiao Tan was travelling with. Based on his current observations, after they led Xiao Tan into the building, they did not head toward the underground lab but went somewhere else. Why would that be? There was a large layout map in the first-floor lobby, and the main quest clearly stated that they were to save a ’professor’. The other floors were filled with other departments or the office area, so why would they run upstairs to conduct their search?
There were too many strange situations and too little evidence. Feng Bujue stopped dwelling on it, and he turned to walk toward the metallic valve. He leaned to look at the lock next to it.
“So, it is a six-digit password…” Looking at the panel, he revealed a ’I thought so’ type of expression. He keyed in 312928, and once he was done, the light on the panel lit up.
The puzzle was simple; Feng Bujue had solved it as soon as he saw the hint. The first row’s JMMJAOD represented the first letters of the months January, March, May, July, August, October, and December, the months with thirty-one days. The F on the second and third row represented February, the only month that started with F. 1/4 meant leap year that came every four years, and naturally, 3/4 was the other three years. The password was the number of days in the months listed out, so the password was 312829. The puzzle was not hard for Feng Bujue, as someone who had to come up with puzzles often, so once the clue was found and as long as the puzzle did not require knowledge that he did not have, he could solve it easily.
After unlocking the door, Feng Bujue grabbed the valve and turned. It was a relatively small room inside; the three walls were arranged with transparent cupboards, and they were filled with test tubes. Each one of them was marked with a sticker for clear identification.
He grabbed a test tube to study its attributes.
———
Item Name: Antidote Serum
Item Type: Plot Item
Quality: Normal
Function: 39.48% chance to neutralize the effect of Virus Z
Can be taken out of the scenario: No
Remark: Can be used through shot or direct ingestion. Ineffective against zombies and zombiefied players.
———
Based on the serial number, Feng Bujue discerned that the serums were made in batches, and perhaps they contained different components. Feng Bujue could not help but think that perhaps this Virus Z was not created by Allerbmu, but they were merely trying to come up with the antidote after discovering the virus strain.
Feng Bujue had no time to waste on understanding the company’s stance. He had no idea which batch of the serum was most effective, so he grabbed a random tube, filled the syringe that he had found earlier with it, and gave himself the shot.
Once the shot was administered, his Medic mastery was unlocked to level F. The system audio said, “Congratulations for unlocking all the masteries available during the Closed Beta.”
“During the Closed Beta?” Feng Bujue repeated. “Meaning more masteries will be unlocked in the future?”
He opened the game menu, and as the system said, all the masteries were unlocked. This was a good thing, but… the ’diseased’ status next to his Life Points was still there.
“So, I’ve failed…” he said disappointedly. “Shall I give myself another shot? I wonder if there are any side effect to overdose?”
Just as he was hesitating, the Diseased status disappeared, and the status bar returned to None.
Luckily, he did not close his game menu instantly, or else he might have missed out on this delayed update and taken another shot for no reason. Feng Bujue laughed three times and had a feeling of revival.
He grabbed a test tube rack from the cupboard, and it had eight serums in total. He carefully placed it inside his inventory, and thus, his inventory was full with Mario’s Wrench, The Eye of Hostility, a kitchen knife, a baseball bat, a flashlight, an M1911A1 Pistol, Echo Armor, Winchester Shotgun, Antidote Serum x8, and a bag of garlic.
The Jazz Shoes were on his feet. Unless they were replaced, they would not be returning to the backpack any time soon. Of course, if necessary, Feng Bujue could put on the Eye of Hostility and carry a weapon in his hands to free up the space.
After his status was cleared, Feng Bujue did not need to explore the lab anymore. He had gone down there to find his teammates, and he had been ambushed once the elevator door opened. When he was initially infected, he did not know how long he could last, so he could only find the serum as fast as he could.
Since he was no longer on a death timer, he thought that it was better for him to go back the surface to find his teammates. Considering that he already had the serum, he might trigger some event, and he might run into some mini boss if he continued his exploration. For someone who had just recovered from certain death, he did not want to take such an unnecessary risk.
Just as he thought that, the system said, “Current quest completed. Main quest updated.”
“What?” Feng Bujue was shocked. “Is Professor Ashford really not underground? It was right for the three to head upstairs. Does this mean they’ve successfully rescued the professor?”
He quickly opened the menu to see the updated quest. The quest was ’Defeat the mutated Ashford.’