The crew eventually reached the other side of the mall. They destroyed the part of the tumor blocking the road and exited the supermarket.
They have now reached halfway to the next core, they are around the outskirts of the city. The buildings here are also covered with purple substances. And around the buildings are more humps similar to those they saw at the stadium.
Not much virus lifeforms lurk around here as most of them wander in the city. At here the terrain has various oddities, the ground have slight protruding and sinks.
"There are so many humps here...."
"Then quicken your pace, we'll leave this place quickly when you quicken your pace."
Albur looked around the environment, trying to spot out any hidden survivors. Suddenly, a hump next to Albur started squirming very violently. Albur took a few steps back and raised his rifle.
"Guys....we have a problem."
The crew looked at Albur. The hump squirmed even violently until it cracked and broke open.
Albur charged up a Virus Corruption and prepared to attack whatever is coming out. But then, a little creature crawled out of the hump. It is a small purple creature that have 5 purple legs and its body is literally a chunk of the ground. It crawled out and wandered away, leaving the human with a mind full of question marks and confusion.
"What the heck is that?"
The crew walked towards Albur. They stared at the creature that came out from the hump. Johnson picked it up and analyzed it with a scanning beam.
"It is a virus lifeform, but it's body is made out of a chunk of rock."
The creature bit Johnson's robot claw, but it didn't even bit through the virtual hazmat suit. The crew looked at the virus lifeform as it struggled to hurt Johnson.
"Hmm, these humps look like those we saw at the stadium right?"
"Yeah."
"Wait, remember the hump Johnson cut opened earlier?"
"The one I cut? Oh, the one that have a chunk of the land of the field?"
"Yeah. This thing is also a chunk of the ground as well."
Mysty looked at the hump that hatched out the mini virus lifeform.
"The hump seemingly scooped up a chunk of the ground and mutated it into a virus lifeform...."
"Wow, the AC-23 virus is sure dangerous."
"Nah, I'd win."
Havoc smirked.
Rhea took a look at the mini virus lifeform and scanned it with a scanning beam.
"We should probably keep this too, UTD might need to research it as well."
"Then, how are we gonna address this thing?"
Albur looked at Havoc.
"Any ideas, bud?"
"Hmm...it is a virus-based lifeform that comes into existence by consuming an object. So.....I guess the name 'Consumer Lifeform' would be good."
"That was quick."
Johnson scoffed and threw the consumer lifeform on the ground, it fell on its back and got up again. It stared at Johnson and emitted a high-pitched screech before leaping at him again.
"Its all yours, female."
Rhea grabbed the consumer lifeform, she then put it into a different coffin and trapped it in there before putting it into the four-dimensional storage bag on her battle bot.
The crew continued their journey, walking for another hour before passing a series of buildings. They looked old and long abandoned, with dust and rust creeping across their walls.
"What is this place? Why are we here?" asked Albur.
"What do you think? Of course we have to go through it, its faster." said Rhea.
"Now this place is what I call familiar." said Mysty.
"What?" Johnson looked at Mysty in confusion.
"Remember who I am? A mystery unraveller. Abandoned buildings are a piece of cake to me."
The crew entered the area with their flashlights turned on. The area look like they were once used as a fun fair. Abandoned game equipment, heavily rusted attractions and dusty dolls. But strangely the floor isn't heavily coated with dust compared to the other funfair buildings.
"Huh, the floor is cleaner than I expected."
"Yeah, normally the floor of abandoned areas should be very dusty."
Covie flew around and poked at every structure in the abandoned area out of curiosity. Just then, something caught her attention. She noticed an object covered by lots of purple substances, there's one singular light bulb that isn't covered still flickering. Covie flew towards that object and observed it. She then attempted to pull of the purple substances to see what is under it. Johnson noticed her actions, and walked to her.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm trying to pull this thing off."
"Why? Its just something covered by these purple things."
"I'm curious what is it."
Johnson let go of the trolley's handle and took out his minigun. He fired it at the purple substances, which removed them from the object. The object is apparently a sign, an arrow pointing towards the North-Northwest direction is seen. Words are seen on the arrow, written 'Fortune Teller: The observer of time'.
"Huh, fortune teller? Who the heck still believes in these thing, its 8167."
Covie looked at the rest of the crew, the direction they are heading to is conveniently the way the arrow points.
Johnson took the trolley's handle and signaled Covie to catch up before following the crew. Covie quickly caught up.
After a few minutes, they reached the edge of the fun fair which fences fenced this whole area.
But when the crew is about to hop over the fences and continue the journey, Covie found the building the sign leads to. Its a stall like small building. Strangely, there are light coming out from the window, which doesn't make any sense in an abandoned area.
"Hey guys, look at that small building." Covie pulled Johnson's arm. The crew stopped looked at Covie. She pointed at the stall that have light coming out from the window.
"Huh? Why does this stall still have its lights on?"
"Would that be a survivor?"
Albur walked towards the stall, he peeked into the windows, the windows are super clean and doesn't look like being abandoned for a long time. He saw a door inside the stall with a sign written 'open'.
"Who the heck is still staying here running a business?"
"What?"
"There's a door in there, with a sign written open."
Albur slowly opened the door, which isn't locked. The crew followed him in as well, Johnson left the moon hut outside. Albur stood against the door, he held his rifle firmly and looked back at the crew, they all held their weapons and nodded. Albur slowly opened the door, and took a few steps in. He looked around, he found lots of circus themed objects sitting in display cases and mystical decorations. A yellow lamp on the ceiling brightened the whole room. The room is warm and doesn't have the kind of damp smell that the environment in the tumor has. Albur walked in, beneath his shoe are blue and purple carpets. The crew slowly walked in, and was surprised.
"Wow, this place doesn't look abandoned at all."
Johnson looked at the circus themed objects in the display cases. He scanned one of them.
"Hmmm....made in the year 8026?"
Albur looked at everything in the room, then, his attention was caught by a counter. There's a counter sitting at the end of the room, with lots of amulets, mirrors, and a crystal ball at the middle of the counter. Albur was confused, he looked behind the counter. It is dark, there's nothing.
But suddenly, a pair of purple eyes glowed in the dark. Albur was shocked, he aimed his rifle at the pair of eyes. The crew looked at him, and saw the glowing purple eyes too.
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
The purple eyes started to get closer and closer, Albur gripped onto his rifle harder and harder. Until, the purple eyes stepped out of the darkness. The light shone on the figure, turns out the purple eyes belongs to a robot. The robot have a LED screen on its face and a giant wizard hat on its head. It wears a robe that is purple in color with yellow stars and moon as decoration. The robe covered its arms and feet and looks loose.
"How may I help you, sir? "
The robot speaks in a feminine metallic voice.
"Wha- uh..."
Albur lowered his rifle and looked at the crew, the others was also confused.
"Wait a minute,"
Rhea slowly approached the robot.
"Ma'am, I thought this place is abandoned. What are you doing here?"
"I own this stall, its not illegal to stay here. I did not cause any health hazard nor harm to the world."
"Fine, but the government had given evacuate protocols, why aren't you at the evacuation center?"
"I am not bothered by those things out there, I can survive here."
"Well that is illegal to ignore the evacuation order. I'm sorry but you have to come with us."
"Do you need help or anything?"
The robot calmly asked and ignored Rhea's words.
"I said, you have to come with us!"
"Do you need help? Yes or no."
"I don't care about that, you have to come with us!"
"Do you need help?"
"NO!"
Rhea slammed the table. The robot calmly adjusted her wizard hat and sighed. But then, the surrounding started to wobble. The whole room is wobbling and flicker. Albur and Rhea quickly stepped back. Johnson, Mysty and Covie entered battle stance. Then, the surrounding started fading away, and ultimately disappeared. The crew is back outside of the stall. Everyone stood there in confusion.
Rhea ran to the door of stall and busted in. She opened the second door that leads to the room. Except there is no room, only an empty apartment with a flickering yellow light on the ceiling.
"What, the....."
Rhea looked around, Albur peeked into the room, the room that was filled with things are now gone. Only emptiness.