Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

After observing the surrounding environment, the senior executive said with a serious expression, "This city seems to be quite large. If we use a thorough search, I don't know how long it will take to find the time station. Do you have any suggestions?"

“Vibe City is similar in style to cities on Earth, and it should have several city stations. Perhaps the time-space station we are looking for is among these stations.”

After finishing his reasoning, the college student suggested, "Why don't we just go to the train station in Vibe and try our luck?"

“You’re being too presumptuous,” the executive said speechlessly. “Besides, we don’t even know where the train station is in Vibe City.”

“Stationways are usually located in the four cardinal directions,” the college student said. “Based on the time and the position of the sun, it shouldn’t be difficult to roughly determine the four directions. We can search them one by one.”

The hooded youth frowned and said, "That's too reckless."

The executive looked at Fan Xiao and asked, "Fan Jianqiang... Brother Fan, what do you think?"

Chapter 5 Different Types of Players

"We need a map."

Fan Xiao responded to the executive man, "Since the style of this city is almost the same as that on Earth, let's look for buildings like subways. There are usually some maps at each subway entrance."

"That's right! The subway! There are many subway stations in the city. As long as we can find any one of them, we can get a map."

The college student realized what was happening and exclaimed excitedly.

“It’s only a partial map,” Fan Xiao reminded him. “The map of the subway entrances and exits covers a very small area.”

"If we find more, we should be able to piece it all together, right?" the hooded youth asked.

“That would be a lot of work,” Fan Xiao smiled. “But we don’t necessarily need to piece it all together; we just need to know how to get to some of the locations.”

The direction of our exploration suddenly became clearer.

The eight people acted quickly, leaving the dilapidated square and searching throughout the city.

Strangely, there were no monsters in the city.

After searching for almost half an hour, they hadn't encountered a single monster.

This makes one question the realism of the monsters mentioned in the game's hints.

During their time there, the group found a large supermarket that was still in relatively good condition.

However, the shelves inside, which were used to display food, were all empty.

Of course, even if there were any, they would probably be rotten and spoiled, and no one would dare to eat them.

Fortunately, instead of finding food and drinking water, the group discovered some knives that could be used as weapons.

Fruit knives, kitchen knives, and the like.

Besides the knife, Fan Xiao also found a broken steel bar of suitable length with sharp ends, which could be pulled, knocked, smashed, and stabbed.

The others also made simple preparations for their own protection.

After looting the supermarket, about ten minutes later...

Finally, amidst the ruins, they discovered a subway entrance.

The city had long since lost power, so there were naturally no lights in the subway entrances.

Except for the entrance and the area below the light well, which are illuminated by sunlight, most of the interior is pitch black, making it appear very oppressive from the outside.

Naturally, there was no flashlight, a useful item.

As expected, Fan Xiao took out the matches he had collected, as well as a few simple torches—made from broken mop handles wrapped in a lot of plastic and cardboard, all of which came from the supermarket he had visited before.

They lit torches and the group of eight walked up the stairs into the subway entrance.

When they reached halfway down the stairs, the senior executive suddenly reached out to stop them, and said in a low voice, "Wait, don't go down yet, there's breathing, three... no, four, there might be four monsters inside."

All eyes were on him.

The executive explained, "My hearing is much better than the average person's, and I can hear very subtle sounds."

"Hearing ability...is this your talent?" the college student asked curiously.

"Talent?" The executive was taken aback. "What talent?"

"Uh..." the college student exclaimed in surprise, "You don't know about talent? Isn't talent something every aspiring player can develop?"

Upon hearing this, the male executive frowned.

He turned his gaze to the others and asked, "You all have talent?"

No one answered his question.

It concerns my own secrets, so naturally I can't just reveal them casually.

Fan Xiao suddenly asked the executive, "Have you ever hunted dogs?"

"...That's right."

The executive hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "As you all know, evolved beings have a strong predatory instinct. I endured it for two weeks, but I was really at my limit, so I bought a dog myself... Then, a day later, I was selected as a prospective player."

"You endured it for two weeks?" The college student was stunned. "You're amazing. I could only endure it for four days before I couldn't take it anymore. Luckily, I became a prospective player on the fourth night, and my hunger lessened considerably. I estimate that once I become a full-fledged player, my appetite problem will be completely solved."

"I hope so."

The executive sighed and said, "According to what you're saying, it seems that only players who have never hunted any animals can develop this so-called talent."

His tone was full of regret.

No one would be willing to accept missing out on such an opportunity.

Of course, his regret wasn't particularly strong.

Because he gained the hearing and sense of smell of a dog.

Whether innate talent or animal ability is superior is still undecided.

What does it feel like to eat a raw dog?

Fan Xiao then posed another question to the male executive.

"Brother Fan, why...why are you asking this?" The executive's expression was unpleasant.

"I'm a little curious," Fan Xiao continued, "Have you ever thought about eating people?"

"What?" The executive asked, doubting his hearing. "Cannibalism?"

“Just kidding,” Fan Xiao chuckled. “Humans are animals too. Maybe there are evolved beings who will eat people.”

"This joke is not funny."

The male executive shook his head.

Fan Xiao had a guess in his mind.

"The male executive has eaten dog food and has excellent hearing... Did he acquire a dog's hearing?"

The concept of "ingesting genes to complete mutations" suddenly came to Fan Xiao's mind.

Perhaps the desire of evolved humans to prey on animals is driven by genetic factors.

That's why it's so irresistible.

He glanced discreetly at the executive's hat, suspecting that there was a high probability that a pair of dog ears were growing from it.

Gene mutations often have side effects, which is normal.

The hooded youth was also wearing a hat, so he was probably in the same situation. I just don't know what kind of animals he had hunted.

"The executive wasn't lying. Unless he's a very good actor, his micro-expressions won't fool me. In other words, an evolved being who indulges their appetite won't necessarily become a cannibal. What's the difference?"

As Fan Xiao pondered, something suddenly came to mind.

Before entering the instance, the cannibalistic evolved being that attacked him did not exhibit any beast-like characteristics.

The man-eating monsters actually look like normal people.

"Evolvers...acquire genes by preying on animals. Humans are also a type of animal, and genetic mutations can lead to bestiality..."

Fan Xiao boldly hypothesized: "Did the beast-like humans mutate back to their beastly appearance after preying on normal humans and absorbing human genes?"

A line of logic has been formed.

Right now--

When evolved beings eat animals, they acquire the relevant genes and become beast-like.

If animals eat too much and become too feral, they might start wanting to eat people.

Then, after eating humans and absorbing their genes, their appearance will revert back to normal.

But the appetite for cannibalism is very likely to remain.

This conjecture lacks any data or theoretical support, perfectly illustrating what it means to make assumptions without any basis.

But Vanshaw instinctively felt that this was the right answer.

His instincts were always spot on.

……

"What should we do now?"

The executive spoke up, bringing everyone back to reality, and got down to business: "Shall we try a different subway exit?"

“We definitely have to change! There are monsters here!” the frail woman exclaimed excitedly.

"Keep your voice down."

The male executive frowned and reminded her.

“Hmm…” The frail woman’s shoulders trembled.

"Let's keep going; changing locations probably won't make much of a difference."

Fan Xiao spoke up, offering his guess: "We've been exploring the ground for so long and haven't seen a single monster, but four have suddenly appeared in the subway. If hiding from light and hibernating is their habit, then there must be just as many monsters at other subway entrances."

"I...I'm not going." The frail woman took a few steps back.

The greasy middle-aged man didn't say anything, but he did take a few steps back.

Among the remaining 5 people, some hesitated.

Fan Xiao ignored them and continued walking downstairs on his own.

Arguing now is not only pointless, but may even wake up the monster.

Besides, finding a map doesn't require so many people; any disputes can be resolved later.

If we really encounter danger, it's a good time to test the practical effects of the A-level talent.

A-level talent—the highest level in evolution games—shouldn't be unable to handle the four monsters in the beginner dungeon, right?

Chapter 6 Split up

"Brother Fan, wait a moment."

The male executive caught up with them.

High school sisters also caught up with them.

Fan Xiao glanced at the two sisters, somewhat surprised.

The high school girl, holding a doll in one hand, said, "I need to check the map myself."

The younger high school student behind her held tightly to her older sister's other hand, and although she was scared, she insisted on keeping up.

"Being cautious is a good habit."

Fan Xiao smiled and said, "After we find the map, leave the memory to me. I have a very good memory. When I signal to leave, don't delay, come out with me."

"it is good."

The high school girl nodded.

After that, none of the four of them spoke.

Slow down your breathing, walk on tiptoe, try to suppress your voice, and keep going deeper.

In the firelight, Fan Xiao saw the silhouette of the first monster.

It was a monster whose shape was similar to a human.