Unrefreshed NPCs

"Commander's squad has been successfully deployed. No abnormalities reported in the vicinity. Other squads, please respond immediately upon receipt."

John said in the squad's all-channel chat.

"First squad, all is well."

"The second squad is all right."

"The third squad is all right."

The three teams responded immediately after receiving the voice communication.

These people were, after all, veterans of dangerous areas, although they acted nonchalantly and even somewhat disobediently in the Bald Eagle Association branch meeting room.

But once inside the danger zone map, everyone seemed to change their demeanor, becoming serious and focused.

"This mission involves eliminating all NPCs within the prison."

"Core objective: Defeat the map boss, the Warden."

"Now, remain in place and begin pre-battle preparations."

John's team then immediately began administering various injections.

"Here it comes, the classic pre-battle buff session!"

In the live stream, viewers watched with excitement as John's team pulled out various syringes from their ammunition pouches and injected themselves with them.

"My goodness, these injections cost anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands! And they just keep shoving them into your body like that, it's so extravagant!"

After John, Cole, and Miles were all ready, they conducted a full scan of their surroundings.

"Attention! The commander's squad can accurately locate the exact positions of the remaining surviving NPCs."

"However, it is impossible to distinguish between the warden and ordinary prison guards, so please be careful when arranging NPC locations in the commander's squad to avoid encountering the warden and engaging in direct combat."

"Currently, NPCs are concentrated in three areas: the prison, the elevator shaft, and the administrative area, with the prison area having the largest number of NPCs."

"All squads, please assemble in the tide control room area for collective combat to reduce the risk of being ambushed."

"Be careful along the way and avoid passing through prison cells, elevator shafts, and administrative areas."

"When all squads change to a new area, they should report to the commander squad in a timely manner. We will provide the NPCs' movement directions in real time."

Upon receiving the information, the leader of the Three Bald Eagles action team immediately set off for the tide control room.

"Captain." A team member whispered to the squad leader after John received the message.

"What's going on with these three guys? It's so outrageous!"

He never imagined that, having just entered the map less than two minutes ago, their commander John's squad had already informed them of the complete distribution of all the NPCs on the map.

They even planned out their routes.

What kind of ability is this?

"I told you before, these three are definitely not ordinary." The captain closed the voice channel. "Now it seems, they might really have some kind of cheat code."

"Is this our club's new red-tier item technology? I've never heard of it before! And this ability is way too overpowered!"

The captain shook his head. "I don't know. Those three were broadcasting the entire operation live with cameras. Be mindful of your words and actions when you're around them."

"This operation was covered by a confidentiality agreement. If the Bald Eagle Society finds out we're discussing classified matters and broadcasts it live, we're finished!"

Upon hearing this, the team member felt a chill run down his spine. "I'm not saying anything more. Anyway, they're not our enemies. They're so powerful, we should just lie down and give up."

"I hope so..."

Before long, the three teams arrived at the tide control room one after another.

Once everyone had arrived, John gave the on-site command, "Assembled. Now, based on the NPC distribution we've identified, proceed with the first operation."

"There are 18 NPCs gathered in the cell, which is a large number. Based on the analysis, the warden is very likely to be among them. Therefore, we should immediately start checking the cells one by one."

It's certainly alarming to see 18 prison guards gathered in one area, but now there are 12 fully armed player operators.

In a direct confrontation, the prison guards' equipment was completely outmatched, and their numbers were also insufficient to create an advantage.

The only potential ambush was completely thwarted by John's vision.

The only possibility is that the warden is also deployed here, using his numerical and terrain advantages to engage in battle with the Bald Eagle Squad.

Inside the armored vehicle, Anderson watched John's first-person live stream and analyzed it silently.

Will the final battle take place in the prison cell?

Send NPCs to ambush the foot masseur and wait in front of the prison evacuation point.

It fits his stereotype of the warden perfectly.

In the dangerous area of ​​the prison, when the map was first released, the warden used these few tricks to catch players off guard.

Are we still using the same few tricks?

Anderson breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the NPCs in the danger zone were still the same; they still had their own fixed set of behavioral logic.

However, the warden's behavior and logic were difficult for them to understand.

Now that I've figured it out, it's actually no different from other map bosses.

In the footage, John's team leads the advance.

The team spread out in a fan shape, and John synchronized information with each squad via voice channel.

The prison guards who had been lying in wait in various corners of the cell were found one by one.

Just as he expected, they either crouched in corners or lay prone around bends, waiting for the operatives to appear so they could immediately open fire at their feet.

However, nowadays, player teams with X-ray vision are completely immune to this.

They eliminated all the prison guards lying in ambush along the way with almost zero casualties.

"Huh?" An agent passing by a cell was startled and pointed his gun into the cell.

"What are you doing?" The burly man in the cell was doing push-ups when an agent passing by the door suddenly pointed a gun at him and stopped him.

"Report...Report!" He pointed his gun at the burly prisoner and immediately reported into the voice system.

"A prisoner NPC was found in the second-floor cell."

John immediately looked in the direction of the operator, but there were no red dots on his X-ray vision monitor.

"I haven't found anything unusual here," John replied in the voice channel.

John immediately went to the operative's location and looked into the cell. Sure enough, there was a burly man wearing a yellow prison uniform inside.

He sat panting on the edge of the bed and said helplessly to the door, "Can you hurry up? You're making me late for my workout."

"It's very impolite of you to stare at me like that, you know?"

John checked the X-ray again to confirm that there was indeed no signal displayed.

He didn't speak, but transmitted the information to Cole and Miles via brain-computer interface.

A moment later, the two of them transmitted their conversation back via brain-computer interface.

"We also can't see the locations of the prisoner NPCs inside the prison."

"Is the perspective effect malfunctioning?"

"I don't think so, because the prison guards' X-ray vision is still working properly."

"Then there are only two possibilities: either the X-ray effect is ineffective on the prisoner."

"Either these NPCs are imprisoned in cells and are not in a refreshed state, so the perspective effect cannot recognize them normally."

After some discussion, John came to this conclusion.

But he was still not at ease. Staring at the burly man in front of him, he instantly picked up his M14 and fired three shots.

Three bullets struck the burly man, making muffled thuds.

The burly man looked speechless, as if nothing had happened.

"Seriously, bro? You'd beat me up even if I were locked up in jail?"

Seeing that the prisoner was unharmed, John replied via his brain-computer interface.

"The prisoner NPCs locked in the cell are not currently refreshed. Even if they are not wearing any armor, shooting at them will have no effect. Ignore them!"

"Keep pushing forward!"

The group then left in front of the burly man, who wore an innocent expression. Only after they were sure the men were really far away did he grin and pry the bullet off his pectoral muscle.

"Damn it, that really hurts! Just you wait!"

Clang, clang, three discus fell to the ground and rolled to the side.