"If I wanted to make a move, I would have cooperated with Kang Yongjie and the others earlier," Xu Huo said calmly, "Don't worry, I still know the rules on this."

Yi Mao smiled, "I could tell from the start you were different from the rest. As long as we all get out alive, I'll prepare a generous reward. Whether you've cleared the dungeon or not, the trip won't be wasted."

Xu Huo nodded in thanks.

The five of them then continued onward following the directions marked on the map.

The farther they went, the higher the temperature rose. Wearing the protective suits made everyone feel stifled. Not just Yi Mao and Wan Xiao, even Liang Song involuntarily slowed his pace under these conditions.

Their drinking water was being used up faster than expected. Liang Song topped up supplies twice before they reached the junction between the Gobi Area and the Swamp Area.

"So this is the Swamp Area?" Xu Huo looked at the dark, mudlike ground ahead, where large patches of surface reflected water. It was obviously waterlogged marshland—places you couldn't walk across, with no clean water or animals. Far ahead there was only a distant smattering of green and some indistinct low hills.

"The Swamp Area keeps changing, the old map might not be one hundred percent accurate. Once we go in, we have to be more careful," Yi Mao said. "Avoid places that glint with water. If you step into those, it's hard to get out. Try to walk in cracked channels, and be cautious."

Xu Huo watched the others stow their guns. "Cars can't come in, and flight devices can't either? The best way to get through the Swamp Area would be by air. The Gobi Area and the Swamp Area are both worthless for trekking on foot."

"You haven't stayed in Clown City before, have you?" Yi Mao said, understanding dawning. "The high-frequency sound from flight devices can also stimulate the Mutants. If multiple flight devices emerge from the direction of the Protective Wall, they could very well trigger a Mutant surge."

"A team sent half a month ago to purify water used ultra-quiet vehicles to transport equipment and still got surrounded by a Mutant tide. Only a few players escaped; the other staff, including three professors, all died."

"So it's not that we don't want to use them, it's that we can't," he said helplessly.

Zhuo Wangsun and the others hadn't appeared nearby, meaning they were completely scattered. That invisible flight device that had inexplicably appeared less than an hour's distance from the Protective Wall surely wasn't the work of Mutants, so it must have come out from Clown City.

If high-frequency sound really could trigger a Mutant tide, the flight devices sent out by Clown City's adventurers wouldn't be shooting at their own people.

Not to mention the Gobi Area's size—add this Swamp Area in front of them, and even if several flight devices or vehicles were in the air, or ten engines were running, it still wouldn't necessarily lure distant Mutants over. The claim that heavy machinery and high-firepower weapons couldn't be used was absurd in itself.

And yet the warriors from Clown City participating in the cleanup were restricted to quieter handguns and submachine guns. Those firearms share one trait: low lethality, basically for point-to-point engagements.

In other words, the cleanup mission arranged by Clown City was absurd.

Of course, some people were clearly motivated by the rewards; whether that had anything to do with players clearing the dungeon was unknown.

"I noticed you picked up a pouch around your waist earlier, can I see what that is?" Yue Weiping asked.

"Just some stones I found." Xu Huo idly wiped his gun, not intending to share, and changed the subject, "Let's go. Otherwise we'll have to spend the night in the Swamp Area."

Yue Weiping didn't press further. Entering the Swamp Area, they occasionally saw grayish stones on the cracked ground. The Holographic Glasses would pre-identify the stone types and prompt if any had value.

Picking up stones on the way was obviously not wise, so the five of them instinctively ignored the glasses' prompts and each kept watch in different directions.

"Mutants sometimes show up in the Swamp Area," Yi Mao explained.

But after three hours of nonstop walking, they didn't encounter a single Mutant. Instead, their protective suits were splattered with wet mud and had to be taken off for cleaning.

"The quality of these protective suits is terrible," Xu Huo remarked, straightening the paint-chipped cuffs of his pants.

Yi Mao and the others had just taken out spare protective suits now and apologized to him, "Sorry, we didn't bring extras."

It was obvious their suits were valuable. Xu Huo raised a hand to indicate it was fine, took a suit from his backpack, changed into it, and swapped to the item boots "Heavy Steps."

Liang Song had a sharper eye and could tell at a glance that although Xu Huo's protective suit wasn't common in Clown City, its quality was acceptable. He probed, "Old Wu brother, where did you get that protective suit? It's uncommon."

"Zhuo Wangsun sold it to me," Xu Huo said casually.

"Weren't you guys a temporary team?" Yi Mao didn't quite believe strangers would trade for such good protective suits. Besides, Zhuo Wangsun himself wore a suit bought from the arena.

"We just clicked, I guess," Xu Huo said indifferently.

He didn't want to elaborate; the others, being perceptive, didn't press further. After some more walking, Liang Song suddenly leveled his gun at a withered tree, "Come out!"

Xu Huo looked over and saw a humanoid heat-map silhouette lifting a gun from behind the tree.

"It's a Mutant!" Wan Xiao shouted.

Bang bang bang! A burst of successive gunshots and Liang Song successfully got around behind the Mutant, blasting its head with a shot.

When the Mutant fell dead, its thermal silhouette immediately changed color. The glasses gave a prompt and announced, "Due to the Mutant carrying pathogens, warriors must not touch the corpse, and please disinfect the protective suits."

After killing it, Liang Song stepped back. Seeing Xu Huo rummaging through the corpse with his gun, he warned, "The pathogens on Mutants are highly contagious, don't touch it."

Xu Huo's barrel was already aimed at the Mutant's face. Before he could remove his Holographic Glasses, Yue Weiping suddenly kicked at the corpse!

He swung his leg to shove it aside. Xu Huo turned, pulling his gun to the side and aimed it at Yue Weiping's temple. Hearing the sound of weapons raised behind him, he dragged the man around, "I just wanted to check the corpse, what's wrong with that?"

"You can't touch the corpse unless you want to get us all killed!" Yue Weiping snapped, slightly angry. "If its blood and body fluids smear us, our disinfectant can't guarantee killing the pathogens. Once we leave, we'll become human carriers. I don't know what you're trying to do, but you can't drag us down with you."

"Also, you were just about to take off your glasses. Even though we're far from the Protective Wall, the light is still harmful to the eyes. If you don't want to go blind, you'd better not do that!"

"I'm not too convinced there really are Mutants with retained intelligence in the world," Xu Huo said, "How can you be so certain what you killed was a Mutant and not a human?"