Finally can’t hold on anymore? Claire Harris thought.

However, no matter who it was, he didn’t have time to worry about his teammates’ mental state right now.

He stared at the corpse for a few seconds, didn’t immediately touch it again, but instead drew his military knife from the strap on his calf and used the handle to pry open the dead man’s eyelids.

Sure enough, just like the homeless man, this corpse’s eyeballs were also grayish-white, so clouded it was hard to even distinguish the pupils.

Emily Thompson said, “Damn, it’s the same symptoms as that crazy guy earlier. What is this? An infectious disease?”

Recalling how he’d almost been bitten—meaning he’d almost been infected—Emily Thompson was filled with lingering fear.

Claire Harris said, “It’s possible, but we can’t be sure.”

Adding in the corpse in the park and other traces of blood… Could a single crazed homeless man really have caused so many murders? He was doubtful.

Ryan Bennett didn’t actually throw up.

When Claire Harris returned to the administrator’s office, Ryan Bennett was examining the communicator with no signal. Aside from looking a bit pale, he had already composed himself.

Seeing them come in, Ryan Bennett said, “I found a video.”

“I found the communicator’s charging port in the drawer.” Apparently not used to expressing his thoughts in front of others, Ryan Bennett continued emotionlessly, “After turning on the communicator, I found this video, downloaded a month ago.”

The communicator projected the video.

A man with a deathly pale face covered in blue, web-like veins appeared on screen, his bulging pupils gray and white, crazily charging at the camera. The person filming screamed, the image shook, and the man was yanked back by the iron chain around his neck. His neck was bloodied from the violent pulling, but even so, the man still lunged with his mouth wide open, a hoarse “huh huh” growling from his throat.

The person filming was a woman. Her sobbing voice came through in the video: “Help! Please help me… My husband has mutated! There are so many more outside! Please, I don’t want to die! I haven’t been bitten! Someone help me!”

The video ended on the man’s ferocious face.

Everyone shuddered.

“It’s zombies!!”

“If they really are zombies, how many of them are out there?!”

“No wonder this place is so weird!”

“And this video is from a month ago!”

Having just watched a real-life horror movie, Ryan Bennett’s expression was also strange: “The communicator has no network, but I just received a message. It should be for us.”

William Cooper asked in surprise, “The message is on the dead man’s communicator, but it’s for us?”

He emphasized the word “us.”

This was just too bizarre.

But Ryan Bennett confirmed it: “I think so.”

Claire Harris said calmly, “Open it.”

A faint blue light flickered, and the holographic projection gradually lit up.

The team gathered in a circle, staring at the message on the projection, exchanging glances.

[Welcome, guardians from Xingyuan year 1456, welcome to PU-31.]

The familiar greeting from the Sky Dome System appeared. It should have been reassuring, but as everyone was filled with confusion, they all felt a chill down their spines.

Not only because the message really was for them, but also because a second and third line of text quickly appeared on the projection.

[This jump is locked. Unlock after mission success.]

[Mission mode: Ouroboros.]

[Mission rule: Death elimination.]

“Look!!” Helen Ford, standing by the window, suddenly shouted, pointing outside.

Everyone rushed over.

They were all stunned.

A black wall had suddenly appeared between heaven and earth, spreading from the direction they had come.

No, it couldn’t really be called a wall.

If you had to describe it, it was like the black loading screen in a model game, moving rapidly, swallowing up everything visible from sky to ground, stopping only just in front of the park management office.

“Beep—” The communicator chimed.

The final line of text appeared on the projection.

[Mission target: The Dark Chaser.]

Chapter 6

“Shit, what the hell is this?? What exactly is PU-31?!”

“Did the command center suddenly change our mission?!”

“Use your toes to think, there’s no way HQ would change our mission at the last minute.”

“Could it be someone else’s mission got mixed up with ours? Or is it a prank from Team Nine?”

“And what the hell is the Dark Chaser?! If we don’t finish, we can’t go back?!”

“Captain Harris, have you ever encountered something like this before?”

Amid the noisy chatter, Ryan Bennett’s question quieted everyone down.

The black combat uniform made Ryan Bennett look especially slender, but compared to his teammates, his tone was calm.

“First time.” Claire Harris, “Have you ever encountered this in a Recorder mission?”

Seeing him silent, it was clear he hadn’t. Claire Harris raised an eyebrow and said, “What, are you scared?”

Ryan Bennett shook his head. “No, I’ll just win by lying down.”

Everyone was shocked: “!!!”

No one expected Consultant Bennett would actually say something like that! At such a critical and confusing moment, was this really okay?!