The task assigned to Yi Mao's group was to clean up the area marked on the map issued by the government. This was their basic mission; only after completing the cleanup would their task be considered finished, after which they could return or voluntarily expand their mission area.

Turning back now was impossible. They were wearing glasses, and everything that had just happened might have been transmitted in real-time to the logistics supervision department. If they wanted to return, they could only follow the original plan to complete the task and remain silent about it afterwards.

"This is also the only way," Liang Song agreed, glancing at Xu Huo. "Fortunately, we now have two D-level players."

Two D-level players meant two luggage compartments; the water and food they carried should be enough to sustain them until the mission was completed.

Xu Huo gave a slight nod, indicating his agreement with his words.

"What about him?" Yi Mao was referring to Jin Dong.

Jin Dong absolutely had no chance of returning to Clown City, and he had already mutated. He could lose his sanity and attack others at any moment. Once bitten or scratched, they would also face the desperate situation of being unable to return to the city.

Killing him was the best option.

Jin Dong probably realized this too, involuntarily taking a step back.

"Let me say something fair," Xu Huo stepped in front of him and said to the others. "He's a living person. We can't kill him just because he might turn into a Mutant. Although it involves some risk, we must preserve the bottom line of being human. If we can't even do that, then don't talk about protecting our homeland or our families."

Liang Song and Yue Weiping were players who could leave the cleanup area at any time, but they didn't dare. Their families were all in Clown City. If they just left, the next ones entering the cleanup area might be their parents and children.

Not pushed to that extreme yet, Yi Mao and Wan Xiao remained silent. Only Yue Weiping gave a preemptive warning. "We can spare him, but we can't take him with us."

"Really? You'd abandon someone in need?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise. "Before leaving the city, I heard all of you talking about reclaiming our homeland. If you can discard your own compatriots at any moment, I don't see what difference it makes whether this homeland is reclaimed or not... Then again, maybe the entire cleanup area is filled with your compatriots."

"You...!" Yue Weiping was instantly furious but was stopped by Liang Song, who said, "You don't need to use reverse psychology. We'll take him with us."

"Brother Liang!" Yue Weiping couldn't help but speak up.

Liang Song signaled for him to calm down. "He's been deep into the cleanup area. He knows what's inside. Taking him might help us avoid some dangers."

Jin Dong seized the opportunity and wrote: "Past the Swamp Area is the jungle. Most cleanup tasks are in the jungle. There are many areas densely populated with mutated species."

After reading it, Yue Weiping hesitated for two seconds before finally nodding.

The six of them set off again. Jin Dong also proactively walked ahead, maintaining a certain distance from them.

Unlike the previous Gobi Area, they hadn't gone far before they were attacked a second time. This time, the attackers weren't Mutants, but warriors also participating in the cleanup mission.

A player surfing across the swamp on a skateboard let out a strange, high-pitched cry. As he swooped over Xu Huo and the others, he fired a few casual shots at them and said, "Hand over your food and water, and I'll spare your lives!"

Then, five or six others also on skateboards began weaving back and forth around them.

"These are all players!" Liang Song shielded Yi Mao behind him. "Everyone, be careful!"

"And a Mutant!" One of the skateboard players spotted Jin Dong crouching ahead. With a flick of his skateboard, he charged forward. "Haha! Ten thousand White Bills!"

Jin Dong's gun had already been confiscated by Yue Weiping. Weak from exhaustion, he struggled to his feet and desperately ran forward a couple of steps, but how could he outrun a player using an item? Seeing the other raise his gun, Jin Dong lunged forward, tumbling into the mud. Then, something warm splashed over his head. Wiping his face, he saw that the player who had been chasing him had fallen off his skateboard, head separated from his body!

Aside from the killed player and Jin Dong, everyone else present saw it clearly: a thin beam of light shot through the air, directly slicing off that player's head. The one who made the move was Xu Huo, standing not far away!

Without even glancing at the dead man, Xu Huo turned and killed another skateboard player passing in front of him. He then used a kite string to snag a third player, yanking him off his skateboard and throwing him into the swamp.

In what seemed like just a few blinks of an eye, three players were killed. Both sides were so shocked they couldn't speak. As for the remaining four skateboard players, forget about avenging their companions; without a word, they turned and fled.

Unfortunately, Xu Huo had no intention of letting them go. He took out the item "Lament of Plants." The piercing, sharp noise attack caused two of them to fall from their skateboards. One had bad luck, plunging headfirst into the swamp with his upper body buried. The other didn't dare try to save his companion. He picked up his skateboard and was about to run when a voice came from behind.

"I'm still short one skateboard."

That player glanced back at Xu Huo, abandoned his skateboard, and fled.

This time, Xu Huo didn't pursue relentlessly. He picked up a nearby skateboard. "With this, we should be able to cross the Swamp Area smoothly."

Yi Mao and the others didn't know what expression to wear. After a prolonged silence, they went to collect the skateboards on their own.

Up ahead, Jin Dong retrieved those two skateboards. Xu Huo signaled for him to give them to Yue Weiping.

Yue Weiping didn't want to get close to Jin Dong, so he told him to throw the skateboards on the ground and then back away.

Jin Dong looked angry but didn't argue about it.

"Five skateboards," Yi Mao looked at Xu Huo, who then took out another skateboard and tossed it to Jin Dong. "The player I just killed had a spare."

Jin Dong quickly thanked him, looking at him with eyes full of admiration.

Xu Huo glanced at him. "Want to become a player?"

Jin Dong first nodded, then shook his head.

Xu Huo understood but said, "Even becoming a player doesn't necessarily mean you'll be strong. Look at those guys just now. I've been doing dungeons for a while now, and I've never encountered such weak E-grade players."

Indeed, killing several players in one breath without giving them a chance to fight back made those players seem pretty weak.

Yi Mao was very interested in this and asked eagerly, "Brother Five, have you been to many Game Partitions? Are those places very different from Clown City?"

Xu Huo paused slightly, his tone ambiguous. "Actually, not that different. You can ask Liang Song."

Liang Song had only just completed one D-rank Dungeon, and he passed by sheer luck. However, he had good judgment; Xu Huo had just been displaying his strength.

"There's nothing to yearn for about dungeons," he said. "The mortality rate is very high. It's not uncommon for everyone in a dungeon to die."

Yi Mao, after all, wasn't a player and didn't have a concrete sense of this.

Xu Huo told him, "The cleanup area is also a dungeon. It's the same here."