The system wasn’t joking when it informed that the quest was updated, focusing on the quest information. It confirmed he was in the right location for the quest, sadly it didn’t say where, nor when, he arrived. Living without a way to measure time was confusing, not knowing what date it was and how much time it took for his space flight. Trying and failing to find the quest next step, Roberion was forced with the Nulls out of the spaceship and throw out, they were later put on new buses. When the last Null entered, they were at full speed to the big complex just ahead.
Glancing at the exit of the airship hangar, the number of weaponry defending it was incredibly lackluster, having only a couple of mini-guns and missiles. For some reason, the entire area screamed half-assed security, even the number of soldiers was way lower. If this is really the place, why the security is so low?. Roberion glanced furtively at the other Nulls, Who of these guys are moles too? The masked person message instructed about cooperation, but it won’t work without knowing who is who.
After a short travel, he finally reached the complex. Exiting his bus, he was crestfallen. The place looked like some sort of animal husbandry, outside one could see through the glass panel a forest similar to the one he was outside. Inside, weird bovine animals rested at, from the distance the only thing he could say is that they were apparently pink.
The Nulls kept an impassive face, but Roberion did not, because the system just sent a new quest:
Quest detected: Feed the Peak-Mundane-Bull of Seventree, Accept: Yes/No
However, this time he wasn’t forced to accept, but he chose Yes to maintain his facade. For his surprise, instructions showing on his screen the simple process of feeding the bull wasn’t that simple, the Nulls were forced to get the bull from the husbandry center, from there they would need to enter in the wild forest, the reason was because an indigenous fungus that grows on the soil; the Bulls were expert on finding such ingredient. The system informed, that there were dozens of such stations on this continent. Some of the fungus was collected, but most were fed to the bulls, which was his task. They would increase their tier organically by eating these fungi, and later they would be slaughtered and their materials extracted.
Accepting his fate, he enters the complex. Inside a bunch of Nulls in more regular clothes are keeping the bulls, some persons are also there, like security and what looks like veterinarians and technical personnel. Just after a short walk, he enters in one of the glass rooms with another ten Nulls, there an official goes to a console and each Null leaves to enter the mini-forest.
Quest: Feed the Peak-Mundane-Bull of Seventree - Quest objective update feed BTU287638371TR.
So this must be the bull that I will feed, the system is even tracking him, Roberion walk into the forest was short, but the number of bulls he encountered was high, ‘So this place is like the pods we Nulls had, just a place to stay between breaks, this case though these bulls probably live better here, for a short time that is’, the smell was strong but for someone like Roberion that didn’t have any aromatic preference, it was just odor.
Are these bulls the same species?, during his walk, Roberion notices that some of the bull were smaller and others were bigger, the bigger ones had a darker color and their horns were bigger and sharper. Nearing one of them, he finally found his assigned bull, Remembering that serial number will be too much work. I will call you Brutus. Nearing the bull, Roberion gets alert, the bull noses flare, grinding its hoot on the soil.
Ah, I just want to do feed you. Come here, Brutus, using the same tactics as before with the spider. He circles the bull. The bull, however, doesn’t move. Stealthily and fast, he approaches the bull, the bull moves, foreseeing an attack of Brutus, he punches the bull in the head. Hurting the bull releases a hurtful moo, and dexterously fast, betraying its size, moves and kicks Roberion on the stomach, both legs hitting the target. Roberion flies two meters in the distance, Brutus in angry state start trotting on the ground heavily, before he could go after Roberion, a veterinarian shows up and shoots some gas on the bull, slowly Brutus gets calm and his eyes almost close.
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“These people keep sending the shittier Nulls they had, they don’t even know how to feed a dumb cow, these pieces of shit is the reason I need to work in this ass job, if they did their works right, they would only need these muscles brains to kill the wild animals”, as he says that he kick Roberion on the ground, “At least this one seems to know how to take a beating”.
Trying to mimic a Null, Roberion gets up and stares right ahead, not sparing a glance at the veterinarian and the bull, ‘Is it a cow? It doesn have utter though’. “Go and take that cow out, or is recycling time for you”. Not dallying and hurting a little, Roberion takes the cow, however the cow was moving too slowly, without any option and keeping his Null persona, he walks out of the place.
Quest updated: Feed the Peak-Mundane-Bull of Seventree
His quest was updated, showing two locations. The first one is just to his left side in a big house, and the second one is deep in the forest. Not dallying, he and bulls get to the house. ‘Yeah, now we are talking’, without sparing a glance, he walks to the two soldiers near a turret, one of them gives him a submachine gun and some ammo, the quality of it really is really poor, but he would wage that with the right amount of work, it could put a mundane down.
Deep in the forest, the animals he found would always scurry away, even the random wild bull that showed up. The people here made a lasting impression. The vegetation was varied, but there was no way to know their quality without stopping and getting the help of the system. Both things would get the attention of the patrolling guards and the random Null. It wasn’t that hard to reach the place. The cow that was sleepy most of the way, got energetic when finding and eating the luminous brown mushrooms.
Hours later, the cow was still eating the mushrooms, ‘I don’t know if I can keep going like this, this seems like a waste of time’, checking his gun he doesn’t seem Brutus before it gives a body slam on him, making him fall on the ground and losing his gun. “DAMNED CO—”, an explosion in the direction of the spaceship hangar sends shockwaves and causes tremors in the earth, as a giant orange and black orb of fire rises to the sky. Another explosion can be heard in the distance, indicating a full-blown assault.
Quest updated: Feed the Peak-Mundane-Bull of Seventree - FAILED
Quest updated: Reach the research station - Countdown started by Quest Giver; 6 days; 23:59 hours.
Panic, full-blown panic, in the distance gunshots and explosions can be heard, the raging fire could be seen in the destroyed airship area, if something was alive in that place, it was anyone guess. Brutus fells agitated, but didn’t move, seeing that, Roberion goes after Brutus, ‘“Come here, let’s check it out”. Reining Brutus, he walks fast and stealthy as possible. I need to find better weapons, he stops Yeah, I just know the place. After an hour, he reaches the ends of the wild forest, just in time to see the most confusing and gruesome scene of his short life.
The husbandry was on fine, everything else was brutalized. Fire was eating away, the concrete breaking, glasses broken and liquified. A sea of dead Nulls and humans lies on the floor like a mad butcher had the time of his life, their blood transforming the soil into mud. The cleared missile launcher explained why some bodies were in flames. But the most confusing part was ahead, a group of Nulls was getting annihilated by the turrets mini-guns, near it, the guards that gave his weapon lies dead, one with a pulverized head, one cut in two by a barrage of shots.
Why? These damnable machines got crazy!. Hearing multiple footsteps near, Roberion silence Brutus and both of them get to the ground trying to mesh with the foliage. Focusing on the group, his eye starts displaying a system screen, multiple signals overlaying the now revealed armed to the teeth Nulls, A group of undercover Nulls!. A heavy chested and muscled Null yells to all present in his gruff voice, “Team Spike, go and replenish our ammo and bombs. Team Delta I need you t—For the love of, there is something exiting the building, fan out, protect the turrets and cover the blind-spots”.