Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

Li Aozi had a comfortable night's sleep, not one to overthink or laze in bed, so as soon as six o'clock struck, he got up, ready to continue planning his leveling route. Suddenly, the door to the isolation ward was kicked open, and upon looking up, he saw the grim face of Head Nurse Nodley come into view.

"That was pretty fast," Li Aozi glanced over and commented indifferently.

"You no longer have health issues, come out for exercise," Nodley's voice had not yet fallen when Li Aozi immediately jumped out of bed, unconcernedly dragging his restraint suit as he walked towards her.

Nodley was somewhat surprised; she hadn't explained anything yet.

'Could it be that a Level 5 Infected isn't manic at times, and is no different from a normal person? That's a huge difference from Level 3 and Level 4 Infected...'

"What are we doing?"

Li Aozi didn't think too much and casually asked, interrupting Nodley's train of thought.

"Come with me."

She said brusquely, almost as if escorting Li Aozi to the training ground.

Li Aozi looked around the environment with interest, silently taking note of the layout. His own isolation ward was located at the very back of the first floor; along the way, he could see the various sections and departments of the shelter.

No sooner had they left the isolation area than the number of people increased significantly, with various patients in sick wear coming and going. Li Aozi's gaze swept over their forms, and he noted that this group of patients had a high degree of freedom, with some having partial amputations and deformities.

Even though he wasn't in a combat state, his shrewd eye could tell that these seemingly harmless deformed, disabled patients had at least a combat strength between level 10 and 15. Some moved agilely and powerfully and even seemed keenly aware of Li Aozi's scrutiny.

[No wonder I heard in the past life that this mission was tough to speedrun… With the patients having such high average levels, it must have been very difficult for players in the first two versions.]

Li Aozi recalled that the level cap for players in version 1.0 was 30 and in 2.0 it was 60; one can imagine the despair the players faced when initially encountering this mission at the start of the open beta.

There was no escaping, and if you couldn't beat even the patients here, you had no choice but to sincerely cooperate with the experiments and grind through missions.

"Don't let your eyes wander," Nodley coldly snorted, "All of them have achieved Ersha Self-Suppression, both their physical fitness and combat strength are stronger than you, a person from the Four Nations."

"Oh."

Li Aozi responded absentmindedly and then pointed at a few cells adjacent to the isolation ward:

"You also hold prisoners here?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'm also a patient, surely not more dangerous than a criminal?" Li Aozi shrugged, "That ZX-102 ward looks not bad, can I move in there?"

"No."

"Why not? ZX-101 is also fine; both locations are good, with a view of the cafeteria—"

Bang!

Before Li Aozi could finish speaking, a burst of sonic boom erupted next to his ear, leaving his eardrums ringing and slightly in pain. He turned his head to look at Nodley, whose gray eyes flashed with ferocity before quickly putting on an innocuous smile.

As he raised his hand to face Nodley, who still had a hint of scorching heat lingering around her fist, he put on a puzzled and apologetic demeanor:

"Sorry, I'm new here and didn't mean to offend you."

"Good that you know." Nodley raised her sturdy arm, her tone slow and deep. She caught a glimpse of the change in Li Aozi's attitude from the corner of her eye and immediately showed a hint of ruthlessness, "Don't bring it up in front of me again. If there's a next time—"

Smack!

She viciously clawed at the air, and immediately, a violent explosion-like noise echoed throughout the hallway.

The strong winds blew, scattering Li Aozi's disheveled black hair as he slightly bowed his head, his apologetic face now smiling instead of angry.

Although Li Aozi paid no mind to the threats of the weak, the series of information flowing on his retina made him quite happy.

[You have triggered a mission— "Not to be Remembered"]

[Type]: Investigation

[Time Limit]: Valid indefinitely

[Mission Difficulty]: S

[Introduction]:

Some histories should not be buried, and some people should not be forgotten.

By a twist of fate, you were captured by the Mingji Humanitarian Rescue Organization and inspired by 'The Professor' to aspire to make a great contribution to the fate and future of mankind.

But is it really so?

They see you as a 'turning point', yet you know best what has happened to you.

In this cold and desolate Outer World, does anyone truly wish to risk their lives to save others?

You seem to be recruited, but no one truly respects you. Your personal freedom is restricted.

The patients, though disabled, seem to be filled with aggression, their combat abilities even surpassing those of professional soldiers.

The organisation's internal affairs also appear to be divided, with unpredictable human hearts; things may not necessarily develop in a good direction.

You don't care about the continuation of humanity, nor about their internal strife, but you know that life is precious, and love is even more valuable; if it's for freedom, both can be forsaken.

The only solution is to step on the road to freedom in order to survive, to find the real answers.

[Progress]: 0.00%

[Settlement Conditions]:

1: Investigation progress no less than 30% (mandatory)

2: Leave the Mingji Organization (optional, choosing this action will add an additional 10% to investigation progress)

[Task Reward]: Rewards will be given according to the investigation progress.

[Special Attention]: This task is regarded as a Main Quest and is valid for a long term.

-------------------------------------

"Rewards... let's see, wow, as expected for being regarded as a Main Quest. If the investigation progress reaches 60%, you can get 1 million Experience points," said Li Aozi, raising an eyebrow. For a Mutant, 1 million points of Experience was enough to reach Level 20.

One advantage of the Dominator System is that it doesn't require much Experience in the early stages and also has low equipment needs; most of the time is wasted on mastering and developing Arcane Energy— and the latter doesn't need Experience, but personal technical accumulation and professional knowledge.

Experience can be used to learn professional knowledge, and for Mutants with different Arcane Energies, the knowledge required also varies. For instance, someone with 'Flame Control' Arcane Energy would need to learn 'Fuel Science', 'Basic Chemistry', 'Plasma Science', 'Basic Thermodynamics', 'Law of Conservation of Mass' and so forth.

These are the big spenders of Experience.

The few Specialties Li Aozi needed were not easy to find, as they were monopolized by the Global Trade Bank and the Four Nations; the Outer World had no access to them.

However, he didn't need that much Experience for the time being.

If the situation became urgent and he had to leave prematurely, Li Aozi glanced at the Settlement Conditions, only needing to complete 20% of the progress and then find a way to escape from Mingji. If he left according to the minimum settlement conditions, he could still get 100,000 points of Experience.

Afterward, by leveling up through fighting monsters in the Outer World, Li Aozi estimated that it wouldn't take him long to reach Level 10.

He could also rush to complete 'Not to be Remembered' if he wanted, since having the Mutant was already in his grasp, he had plenty of choices.

He glanced at Room ZX-102, one of the places where secrets lay.

"I'm not very clear about the details of the 'Not to be Remembered' task; I haven't seen any related explanations or analyses about what stand the Mingji Organization takes," he said.

In his past life, Li Aozi was a player from the Red Arrow Empire, and he couldn't recall the specific tasks about Frost Plated; he only knew that Mingji Humanity could be used to obtain a very powerful Specialty. As for what happened within Mingji Humanity and what internal conflicts there were, he was clueless.

However, one thing was certain, this organization would not fall until version 1.7.1, so in actuality, he had plenty of time.

Li Aozi didn't bother to think any further. Head Nurse Nodley had already taken him to the training ground, and he just followed along with the training for now.

There was nothing special about the training ground, just bars, parallel bars, a soccer field, and an athletics track with a 200-meter runway. The grass had been worn away, leaving only a bare asphalt area. Around it, several security members were exercising, their muscles bulging, their physiques towering, occasionally exuding an intimidating aura—clearly, these were Martial Artists.

"Let's settle here so as not to disturb Johnny and the others during their practice," said Head Nurse Nodley, finalizing the location. Then she turned to Li Aozi and said,

"Go, run ten kilometers first."