When he opened his eyes again, Li Ang found himself standing in a dilapidated room, facing two figures also dressed in protective suits.

The room under his feet was quite spacious. A double bed covered in a crimson silk quilt was now laden with dust, and the carpet laid on the solid wood floor was so dirty its original color was unrecognizable.

Is this... a hotel room?

Li Ang thought, glancing with his peripheral vision at the largely shattered floor-to-ceiling window adjoining the bedroom.

What should have been transparent and clean was now layered with thick dust, and only through the shattered openings could he see the equally derelict high-rise buildings across the street.

War? Nuclear warfare? An epidemic outbreak? Alien invasion? Did everyone head north because of a ten-year-long Black Friday sale, turning this place into an empty city?

As his thoughts raced, Li Ang dedicated a fraction of his attention to scrutinizing the two teammates the System had matched him with for this 3v3 battle.

The one on the left was tall and imposing, wearing an extremely ugly, deep blue emergency anti-contamination suit, supposedly from the "Resident Evil" central pollution area. This suit was fully sealed and equipped with an integrated, electric, forced-air ventilation filter breathing system, capable of blocking a wide range of materials, including infectious agents and radioactive particles. Because the motor was constantly ventilating, the suit looked puffy, mimicking the appearance of Baymax from the animated movie "Big Hero"—albeit a degraded and ugly version. Through the transparent panoramic face screen, Li Ang could see that the person inside wore a pure white mask with only slits for their eyes and mouth.

Going by the "squinty eyes are monsters" principle, this person should be a master player.

As for the one on the right, he wore a dark green, one-piece, hooded radiation shielding suit made of lead rubber. It was capable of protecting against ionizing radiation and radioactive aerosols, as well as providing defense against acids and other chemicals. His face mask featured a filter-type, spherical, full-vision window—making him look both silly and stupid.

However, considering there was only a five-minute preparation period before teleportation, the attire of these two teammates was already quite professional, offering at least a modicum of protection in the dangerous and harsh environment they were currently in.

Players who survive many missions are indeed not dumb, Li Ang nodded to himself, displayed his player ID, and asked, "How may I address you two?"

The tall figure in the deep blue protective suit simply revealed his ID:

[Unburnt Kindling·Dusk Knight][Lv9]

The other player, clad in the radiation shielding suit, hesitated for a moment before disclosing his:

[Loulan Slay·Wanli Fengdao][Lv8]

Damn, Brother Dao, it's you!

Under the cover of his protective suit, Li Ang couldn't help but take another look at Wanli Fengdao. In a single second, they exchanged about ten glances, a silent, mutual understanding passing between them not to reveal they already knew each other.

If Dusk Knight weren't here, Li Ang would have definitely laughed out loud by now, taunting Wanli Fengdao for still being at a lower level than him after all this time.

There was nothing to be done about it. After completing the mission at the Solitary Cold Temple, Wanli Fengdao had consistently worked as one of the Bounty Hunters, hunting special individuals. Lately, he had even become an external assistant to the Special Affairs Bureau's Mobile Detachment, running around the world with Xing Hechou. He spent most of his time cleaning up after supernatural incidents and therefore hadn't triggered many regular missions to boost his level.

"Good. Since everyone is a player of level 8 or higher, I won't go over basic knowledge," Li Ang cleared his throat and said. "First, let's analyze the background of this mission. The mission objectives—1, 2, and 3—are to eliminate the president of Libra Company, obliterate the primary mutant, and destroy the Libra Company laboratory..."

He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, pulled it open, and looked up and down the street for a moment before turning back. "This hotel suite in the commercial district is completely deserted. There are no pedestrians on the streets, and the cement roads are overgrown with various wild plants. Given the mission objectives, we can tentatively assume this is a post-disaster Fictional World where civilization has collapsed." The canonical source for this content: *.

"The disaster is very likely related to the so-called Libra Company,"

Wanli Fengdao cast a subtle glance at Li Ang and said in a deep voice, "This Libra Company might specialize in biotechnology, much like the powerful, monopolistic organizations depicted in many films and television shows. With enormous power and advanced technology, they could cause colossal disasters that the world's official powers cannot resist. For instance, the Umbrella Corporation from 'Resident Evil', or the Weyland-Yutani Corporation from 'Alien'—they can move heaven and earth, even manipulating and interfering with the launch of nuclear missiles through their networks. If that's the case, we might face modernized combat armies, or worse, 'mutant' legions in the later stages of the mission."

After Wanli Fengdao finished his analysis, he and Li Ang turned their gaze to Dusk Knight.

This kind of pre-mission analysis was crucial. It wasn't just for brainstorming the mission itself and identifying potential oversights, but also for quickly gauging teammates' meticulousness and operational styles, allowing players to prepare accordingly. For example, a teammate with muscles but no brains could be treated as a temporary meat shield, a makeshift fighter... or even emergency rations.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Dusk Knight, who was bundled up as round as an onion, offered his judgment in a muffled voice:

"Judging from the seven-day time limit for the mission, we can't be too far from Boston, the target of mission objective three. It's even possible that we are in this Fictional World's version of Boston right now. However, we definitely can't completely apply the conditions of the real Boston to this instance. Any person or animal still alive here has likely already mutated..."

Before Dusk Knight could finish, a panicked and piercing male voice cried out from the hotel corridor, "Help! Help!"

So soon? Li Ang thought, looking towards the door in surprise.

"Help! Somebody save me!"

The piercing scream drew nearer, growing louder as it passed the room where Li Ang and his companions were. Li Ang and his two teammates exchanged glances and silently crept to the door. He pressed himself against it, signaling his teammates with his eyes to get ready.

The thing howling in the corridor was not a living person. As the screams rapidly approached, no footsteps could be heard, only a barely audible buzzing sound.

Li Ang twisted the doorknob with his left hand and aimed his SCAR-H rifle with his right. He burst out of the door, simultaneously raising the muzzle of his rifle.

At the far end of the hotel corridor, where his rifle was pointing, Li Ang saw the source of the screams. It was indeed a human male in a tattered bulletproof vest. His limbs were gone, and his entire upper body was fused to the back of a moth the size of a lion, like wax melting onto a candle.

BUZZ.

The moth fluttered its wings, slowly flying towards the end of the corridor. The half-man on its back, his fate unknown, was still screaming mechanically, "Help! Help! Someb—"

The screams suddenly stopped.

The moth leisurely flapped its wings and slowly turned around. The half-man on its back, his hollow, pitch-black eye sockets devoid of eyeballs, stared eerily at Li Ang, who stood in the center of the corridor.

"Well now, you vexing little creature, quite the unique look you have there. Could you be the legendary Mothman?" Li Ang remarked, looking at the creature's empty black eye sockets with a deadpan expression. "However, your supercilious attitude is starting to grate on me."