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My objective this time was to find a bunch of combatants. According to Aunty Xinqing’s information, there were no civilians in this group I was heading for. They were all pilots armed with exosuits.

Yet, for some strange reason, she did not elaborate further after giving me the coordinates.

Upon arrival, I was immediately greeted by a well-known sight: one of Southern Plains’ most famous underground theme parks. It was said that this very location was once the home of a subterranean offshoot species of humans. When the first fossilised skeleton was discovered, there was a mad rush amongst the archaeological community, whether in the Federation or the other planets.

After a long period of excavation, the Federation team finally uncovered a previous settlement of subterranean humans. The buildings all had a unique earthen architecture to them. Their basic tools were also made of earth and clay, but there were some scatterings of bronze tools as well. This led to the archaeologist concluding that these humans were most likely at the bronze age before their civilisation ended.

Speaking of civilisations ending, no other skeletons were found in this settlement, as if they just vanished one day.

Eventually, this settlement was transformed into an underground theme park. The ticket fees were expensive, but anyone visiting Southern Plains wouldn’t pass up on a chance to visit this exciting slice of history.

Ignoring that cheesy welcome sign stating, the wonderful world of the subterranean awaits you, I quietly flew above the horde of wandering zombies below, eyes scanning the area for my objective today.

To be honest, when I saw where the location of today’s mission was, I had a hunch it would involve some spelunking, and it probably wouldn’t be an easy task.

“Ke, have you reached the coordinates yet?” A holographic feed of Aunty Xinqing suddenly popped up in front of me. Her eyes betrayed a myriad of emotions within them, most of them anxiety. “The mission has been cancelled, there’s no need for you to go any further.”

“Wait, why?”

What the heck, I’m literally at the front gate, why is it cancelled? Do they think I’m incapable of completing this mission?”

“The Subterranean Park has always been a popular destination. When the virus first broke out, this was one of the first places, and also the worst hit. The park itself is actually built by a private but powerful conglomeration. They even had an exosuit security force set up just for the theme park. In fact, their power has even extended to the upper ranks of the Federation. There was a police post nearby which sent in help when the virus first struck… Unfortunately, there has been no news of that team since…”

Looking at that weighty expression on her, I immediately understood what she was trying to say.

“So there has been no communication since then?”

“No. Only one-sided communications from the other party.”

“Aunty Xinqing thinks this is a trap?”

“While we do not want to admit this, the degree to which Southern Plains has fallen is severe. Coupled with the fact that not only has civilian communications been severed, the entrances have been sealed up as well… Strategic Command says there’s an extremely high chance of this being the other party’s trap…”

“Even if this is a trap, I still have to check it out.” As I said that, I waved my hand and conjured forth a three-meter wide wall of flames in the most concentrated zombie horde. The spell immediately spread like wildfire, tearing into the zombies with merciless rage. Any zombie unfortunate enough to be caught in the initial contact had already been turned into ashes before the wall reached its full potential.

Focusing my will, I had the spell inch forward slowly into the horde. In just a few seconds, I had already taken out over a hundred zombies. However, moving the wall required an exorbitant amount of SP. Just those few seconds alone were enough to deplete most of my SP reserves, forcing me to down a SP Recovery Potion.

The spell itself had been highly successful in taking care of the zombies. Their mindless flailing about would inadvertently spread the fire onto other zombies who would then set off a domino effect. But the stench of burning flesh was truly horrendous. So bad in fact, I instinctively commanded the wall to burn off the stench, in the process, learning how to purify the air… I’m such a genius.

By the second bottle, Aunty Xinqing’s curiosity was thoroughly aroused. “Ke, what’s that you are drinking?”

“A small bottle of SP Recovery Potion. It can refill my SP reserves in an instant. Quite effective for its size.” I casually tossed the potion bottle down at the zombies like I would a hidden weapon. And like a ninja’s throwing knife, the decidedly blunt bottle tunnelled through the zombie’s head with sheer brute force…

I think I’m getting more and more violent… I swear it just doesn’t feel right if I don’t toss a bottle at a zombie after downing one of these potions…

“SP Recovery Potion?” Unable to see my casual bottle toss, Aunty Xinqing’s attention had never once changed from the contents of said bottle. “Forget it. Now’s not the time for idle talk, are you sure about heading down into the park, Ke?”

“I am. Giving up halfway isn’t my style, after all.”

“In that case, your aunty won’t say more. Just be careful.”

“I will. I’ll be off, if there’s nothing else.”

I was just about to shut off the channel when Aunty Xinqing suddenly chimed in at the last second, “Don’t forget to turn on your video feed.”

“Video?”

I paused for a second. What for?

Aunty Xinqing was already prepared for that question, even if I didn’t voice it out loud. “We want to know what happened in the park itself. We’ve been trying to find out, but there’s some sort of unknown energy interfering with communication. I hope Ke would be able to record what’s going on down there.”

“I understand.” I shut off the channel and turned on the video capturing, as instructed. It was then that the system dinged me.

“Ding! Mission update…”

Mission: An Invitation from Subterranean Park.
Objectives: Investigate the strange happenings in the theme park.
Reward: 10,000 points.
Comments: A theme park is a great place for a date. Too bad you don’t have one now.
Status: Incomplete.

TEN THOUSAND?! Is the sun finally going to rise from the west? When did my black-hearted system become so generous all of a sudden?

In other words, is the danger within the park really that serious… Well, no point thinking too much at this point.

The main entrance of the park was a cave that extended downwards into the abyss. The sides of the giant hole were lined with spiralling staircases, but if one wasn’t feeling particularly athletic that day, there were also cable cars that extended downwards. Then there were specially crafted transparent walkways for the more adventurous visitors. Dotted around were little pockets within which rock hunters could exercise some amateur digging…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE