Wasteland Hideout: Upgrading from the Sewers

Chapter 139: Understanding the Aurora Animal Assistance Association's Tactical Objectives

The identity recognition device Yu Yuan had previously taken from that thug must have been working.

All these mutated animals completely ignored him.

If it weren't for still needing to complete the regional event mission, he really wanted to find a quiet place to calmly gather spirituality.

Soon after, he saw two hundred meters away, a massive king cobra raised its body and opened its huge mouth.

Pale yellow venom sprayed toward the location where the Iron Anchor Shipping Company thugs were positioned.

This venom rapidly vaporized into mist upon landing on the ground, combat vehicles, and human bodies, enveloping the entire surrounding area.

The color gradually shifted to bright yellow.

But any thugs who inhaled this mist immediately developed blackish-blue complexions, with blood flowing from the corners of their eyes, ear canals, nostrils, and mouths.

They died instantly under the lethal poison.

Bullets striking the king cobra's scales produced clinking sounds—evidently the snake's special ability, Scale Armor Plating, was already comparable to military-grade alloy steel plates.Watching this scene from a distance, Yu Yuan immediately recognized that this king cobra's patterns were identical to the one photographed at Nightingale. The answer was now obvious.

Lilith had already arrived.

Now truly facing this giant snake directly, Yu Yuan realized that Qingqing's previous description had seriously underestimated it.

This snake wasn't just twenty or thirty meters long—it was at least thirty to forty meters, the kind that would qualify as a python demon in Journey to the West.

Yu Yuan immediately chose to detour around, relying on the identity recognition system to pass through the barrier formed by mutated animals and run toward the aquarium.

"Everyone, keep your recognition devices properly secured. If you get targeted by the test subjects, you'll only have yourself to blame."

Outside the aquarium, Aurora Animal Assistance Association thugs were rapidly constructing defensive fortifications.

Yu Yuan passed through the shrubbery and easily blended in among the thugs, entering the aquarium.

He saw that this so-called aquarium had long been completely transformed—the original aquatic facilities had all been dismantled, leaving only various defensive works and combat structures. Three heavy machine guns were firmly positioned to cover the aquarium entrance.

At the center of the aquarium, a passage leading directly underground appeared before him.

In front of this passage, security personnel constantly moved in and out, transporting various weapons and ammunition outward.

"The entrance to the underground laboratory!"

On the Virtual Light Screen, the first requirement of the [Regional Event - Mysterious Religious Ritual] mission: Explore Johnck Zoo and find the entrance to the underground laboratory.

A checkmark (√) symbol indicating mission completion had already appeared behind this requirement.

"The first requirement is completed."

Yu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, confirming this entrance was exactly what he was looking for. However, infiltrating it seemed considerably more difficult.

Because the clothing and identity recognition devices worn by the armed personnel who could freely enter and exit the underground laboratory were noticeably different from what he possessed.

Clearly, the thug he had killed earlier was just an ordinary Aurora Animal Assistance Association thug without access rights to the underground laboratory.

This situation was unexpected yet made perfect sense.

But for Yu Yuan to infiltrate the underground laboratory, he needed to solve this problem.

"Damn it, what are you doing? Hurry up and move the ammunition outside..." a thug yelled at Yu Yuan.

Seeing this, Yu Yuan immediately picked up ammunition from the ground and walked toward the aquarium exit. While going through the motions, he also observed and contemplated his next plan.

The Aurora Animal Assistance Association had been operating in the zoo for years, enjoying home field advantage. Relying solely on the Iron Anchor Shipping Company clearly wasn't feasible anymore.

With support from main battle tanks, the Thug Prison and Burning Fortress factions should normally handle those few mutated creatures and the Black Shield Police Department's vanguard units quite easily. They should reach the zoo soon to begin the siege.

But Yu Yuan felt something was off—he didn't believe the Aurora Animal Assistance Association would be that easy to deal with.

So far, against the Iron Anchor Shipping Company's invasion, the Aurora Animal Assistance Association had only released those failed mutation animals and deployed thugs for resistance.

The only truly combat-effective mutated creature that had appeared was Lilith's king cobra.

But from what Yu Yuan understood about the Aurora Animal Assistance Association, how could they only have these resources?

Not to mention, in Ning Zhe's video, even before the wasteland's arrival, the Aurora Animal Assistance Association's weapon configurations far surpassed the Black Shield Police Department's.

Their internal automated defense weapons were particularly comprehensive.

Yu Yuan refused to believe that after all this time in the wasteland, they hadn't made similar modifications to the zoo.

This was their headquarters, after all—it defied logic.

Additionally, the thugs entering and exiting the underground laboratory showed no signs of panic from being attacked, instead displaying calm and composed demeanors.

The more Yu Yuan thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Taking advantage of covering while moving supplies, he opened the Virtual Light Screen—Book of Fate.

Activate—[Intelligence Card - Tactics]

Function: Using this card can reveal enemy tactical arrangements and increase the success rate of one's own tactics.

Target—Aurora Animal Assistance Association

As the intelligence card activated and gradually dissipated, Yu Yuan's movements briefly paused before he continued transporting supplies. In his mind, all intelligence about the Aurora Animal Assistance Association was rapidly organized and analyzed.

Soon, Yu Yuan felt the previously confusing aspects becoming clear, as if mist before his eyes was slowly dissipating.

He saw beyond the mist the true purpose of the Aurora Animal Assistance Association.

"So that's it! They're fishing!" Yu Yuan suddenly understood.

The Aurora Animal Assistance Association was actually feigning weakness against their enemies.

Their goal through this incident was to lure out all the hidden forces that coveted them.

Then... capture them all at once.

Today was actually their carefully orchestrated "Hongmen Feast"—a setup to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys.

What a grand scheme!

Yu Yuan couldn't help but admire the Aurora Animal Assistance Association's boldness.

An organization with sufficient power that chose to conceal it was indeed not easily dealt with.

Yu Yuan believed that the Aurora Animal Assistance Association's real trump cards were probably already prepared.

They were just waiting for all the restless forces to reveal themselves.

When that time came, they would truly bare their fangs for harvesting and intimidation.

"Damn it, then what about my mission!"

Yu Yuan understood that this was his only chance to complete the regional event. If he missed this opportunity, infiltrating this place later would be extremely difficult.

Soon, Yu Yuan formulated a preliminary plan in his mind.

It was the old method—chaos. Only by creating sufficient chaos could he achieve his objective.

Since the Iron Anchor Shipping Company wasn't effective, he would have to take matters into his own hands.

And the most effective way to create chaos was naturally—explosions.

As long as he could enter the underground laboratory and find an opportunity to obtain an internal personnel identity recognition device, he could figure out how to complete subsequent missions.

"Silver-level missions are truly life-threatening!"

With a plan in mind, Yu Yuan immediately began taking action. While transporting ammunition and other supplies, he started placing timed explosives in several concealed locations.

He still had plenty of timed explosives seized earlier from the Burning Fortress, and now they would finally serve their purpose.