This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 136: Battlefield Reporter Xiao Qi and Director Chu

Chapter 136: Chapter 136: Battlefield Reporter Xiao Qi and Director Chu

Near the East Gate of Wetland Park.

The players were still engaged in a firefight with the Mutants.

After Edge Shoveling led the team to sneak some kills, they retreated in combat, following the retreat route marked on the VM map, and quickly withdrew to an evacuation point on the adjacent street.

Normally, a typical FPS game would have ended here.

But for an open-world game like "Wasteland OL," the monsters’ aggro didn’t seem to depend on how far they were from home, but truly on how much they wanted to tear you apart.

The Mutants chasing Edge didn’t swarm into the ambush; instead, they split into three teams to flank.

This resulted in, aside from the first wave of Mutants who rushed onto the street being caught off guard by the ambushed players, the remaining two teams entering the battlefield in full health and full rage.

Fifteen against thirty.

Even though the players had a numerical advantage, merely double the number isn’t enough to bridge the gap in levels and attributes.

The battle quickly intensified.

"Damn! How thick is the blood of these damn Mutants?!"

"Two shots to the chest and they don’t fall; do you really have to hit the head to kill them?!"

"Disgusting, without anti-material rifles, we can’t fight at all!"

"Anti-material rifles wouldn’t do much good, it’s not about penetration anymore, it’s like they’re freaking immune. We should at least bring out recoilless guns or dynamite!"

"What? Bro, you also play ’Loofah’, let’s team up for black ops after we die here!"

"Uh, I play ’Mama 3’ mostly... I don’t understand what you’re saying."

"Dog planners are finally waking up to work! This health regeneration speed is absurdly unreasonable!"

After several cold arrows, the Mutants began to realize, these humans had no other methods except for a few small pipes.

And there seemed to be no other reinforcements.

Grinning viciously, the closer Mutants picked up engine hoods and car doors as shields and drew axes and daggers, preparing for close combat with these slender humans.

Looking at a fallen teammate beside him and remembering the man’s promise, Edge Shoveling showed a sorrowful expression, pulled off his VM from his arm, and handed it to a comrade beside him.

"Bro, this is my VM, take it back for me!"

The player was stunned for a moment, and then said blankly,

"What? What are you doing?"

"I said I’d bring all my brothers back alive, and it’s freaking just me left."

The more he spoke, the more embarrassed he felt. Filled with sorrow, Edge Shoveling handed his well-worn beloved gun to his teammate and picked up a lance from the ground.

"You guys retreat; I’m going to fight these bastards—"

Before he could finish, there was a loud bang.

A Mutant soldier rushing out from cover had his head blown off in a burst of blood mist and fell to the side.

Seeing this sudden turn of events, the players shooting from behind cover were all stunned.

What the hell?

What just happened?

Did the planners finally wake up to work?!

The Mutants, halfway through their charge, were also dumbfounded, staring blankly at their fallen comrade, thrown into chaos.

Where’s the head?

How did it disappear?!

Time didn’t stop for their confusion, and the sound of air tearing apart erupted like scattering beans!

Metal bullets accelerated to Mach 5 by the electromagnetic rail burst forth, pouring down like a storm from one side of the street.

The Mutant Warriors charging onto the street were instantly flipped over by this sudden firepower, with limbs flying all around.

Some Mutants didn’t even have time to cry out before they were turned into sieves by the mass bombs, dropping into pools of blood, breathless.

Forget about flesh and blood.

Even solid steel plates less than 20mm thick were like paper mache in front of this terrifying kinetic energy.

Seeing four power armors emerge from the shadows and the sparking gun muzzles, the players crouching behind cover were spellbound.

"Holy crap... what is this thing?!"

"Power armor! Awesome! It’s the power armor from the official settings collection!"

"Are they allies?!"

"Roughly? Looks like they’re here to trouble the Mutants!"

"Man, the Dog Planner is awesome!"

"This is too cool..."

Several players displayed looks of envy on their faces.

That streamlined ergonomic design, the sharply defined breastplate and shoulder armor perfectly matched their ideal of violent aesthetics.

And that incredibly powerful Gauss Rifle!

These green-skinned muscle men were nothing more than paper dolls in front of it.

In a nutshell, it was damn cool!

"No bullshit, I bet these guys are at least Level 30!"

"Not necessarily, it’s the gear that’s strong, not the person. Give me a set, and I could go up too!"

"Keep dreaming! But speaking of which, Wasteland OL’s gear doesn’t have level restrictions, right?"

"I read in the settings that some weapons have attribute requirements, like the Manager’s hammer needs a lot of strength... at least that’s the setting."

"What do you think would happen if you hit power armor with the Manager’s hammer?"

"Emmm... ask the Dog Planner."

The battlefield turned into a one-sided slaughter.

The players had ceased firing and started spectating on the side, relinquishing control of the battlefield entirely to the allied forces that had suddenly invaded.

Their little guns wouldn’t have been much help anyway.

Better save the bullets and watch the show.

Caught in the eye of the storm, the enraged Mutants didn’t retreat. Instead, they roared and charged at four sets of power armor, their muscular arms lashing out with rocks, spears, and axes.

However, against the thick armored steel plates, these attacks were akin to scratching an itch, only managing to create clanging sounds on the armor.

Just like cavalry charging a tank.

This reckless behavior of the Mutants only hastened their demise.

"Are these creatures’ muscles growing into their brains? Charging at survivors is one thing, but power armor?"

Watching his own axe bounce off his breastplate, a Marine soldier grinned, pulled the overheated barrel out of the rail, replaced it with a new one, and resumed firing.

"Hahaha, I agree! These East Coast green-skinned monsters at least know to embed two useless steel plates in front of their chests!"

Less than three minutes after entering the battlefield, the Mutants had already suffered heavy casualties, with the street filled with dismembered limbs and bloodied corpses.

The battlefield was a gruesome sight!

The battle nearly halted.

Lu Yang raised his right fist, signaling his teammates to cease fire, intending to move forward to check on their allies.

However, at that moment, an unexpected change occurred!

From the shadows beside the street, there suddenly came a furious roar.

A bare-chested green-skinned muscle man stood up holding a drum, and with brute force, hurled it forward.

He threw the drum, filled with Dynamite and his rage, at the iron monstrosities that were slaughtering his teammates.

The fuse burned out!

The Dynamite-filled drum exploded mid-air!

Although the suddenly erupting Mutant was riddled with bullets by the alert soldiers, turning him into a sieve, the rolling smoke and shrapnel managed to engulf the nearest power armor.

The flying shrapnel left only tiny scratches on the armor, inconsequential to its integrity. However, due to the angle, the explosive shockwave still rocked the Marine soldier’s shoulders.

"Cough, cough—"

A series of disordered coughs came through the communication channel.

The bewildered Marine soldier stumbled out of the smoke, propping himself up with his Gauss Rifle, and clutching his unscathed helmet, he shook his dizzy head.

Seeing this, a teammate went up to help him.

"Damn... buddy, are you okay?"

"He’s fine, probably just choked from laughing."

"Get lost... to hell with you! Cough, cough... I think I need to see a doctor."

"A dentist?"

"Maybe a proctologist, I suspect he got a scare and swallowed the gum he was chewing."

"Shut up!"

Reprimanding his teammate who was jesting, Lu Yang reached out to grab his comrade involved in the explosion, clenched his shoulder, and had him face himself, looking seriously at his helmet.

"Can you still go on?"

Taking a deep breath, the soldier nodded.

"I... I can still go on!"

"Good!"

Patting his shoulder armor, Lu Yang affirmed with a nod, then raised his right fist and waved it forward, signaling to attack.

"Keep advancing!"

"Let’s eliminate all those bugs before the sun sets."

"Not a single one left!"

...

In the distance.

Through drone surveillance, Chu Guang instructed Xiao Qi to capture exciting moments while critiquing the combat effectiveness of these people.

"...It looks like the power armor isn’t entirely invincible; I thought it would at least have a nitrogen shield or something else added on."

"Still, being able to withstand several tens of kilograms of dynamite at such extreme ranges is impressive. Calling it a humanoid tank might be an exaggeration, but humanoid armor vehicles are definitely a thing."

Mutant technology primarily extends up to black powder, and the explosive force of an equal mass of black powder is roughly one-fifth to one-seventh that of TNT.

Ignoring other factors such as detonation velocity and the burning rate of the explosives, that blast was comparable to the power of 5~10 kilograms of TNT.

That’s quite powerful.

"In the event of a conflict, let me think... 10 kilograms might not be enough, but 50 kilograms’ worth of TNT should definitely do it."

Chu Guang had high praise in his heart for these allies in their honeymoon phase.

The battle had progressed to a point where there was basically no suspense left.

Four power armor units advanced cleanly through the alleys between abandoned buildings, protected by an observer, and efficiently eliminated the mutants hidden in the alleys and ruins.

Perhaps it was his own wishful thinking, or perhaps these soldiers were unconsciously showing off, but Chu Guang always felt they were flaunting something to him.

But it didn’t matter.

Chu Guang wished they’d show off even more, ideally revealing all the capabilities of the power armor so that his game CG could be even more explosive.

"Xiao Qi, move closer, skim over from above their left, and let the camera follow their charge, capturing that bulldozing momentum!"

"Ah? Closer? But I’m worried about stray bullets..." And what kind of momentum is bulldozing?

Xiao Qi was busy flipping through the internet of the Different World to find information, only to find that there were several hundred gigabytes of data.

I can’t understand it at all!

"It’s fine, just keep filming, and if it gets damaged, we’ll make them pay!" Chu Guang said without hesitation.

"Okay, okay then..."

Watching the power armor effortlessly leap five meters high using the vortex engine, clear obstacles, and land steadily, Chu Guang felt incredibly envious while instructing Xiao Qi to give those big brothers some close-up shots.

The mobility really is badass!

It’s like a Hummer flew through an alley.

If you have this jumping capability, what’s there to fear from RPGs?

You could probably chase down RPGs!

Ah, I really want one!

In just five minutes, the battle outside the mutant tribe had concluded, and only meager resistance remained—merely a dying struggle.

Commanding Xiao Qi to raise the camera again to observe the power armors breaking into the mutant tribe’s camp, Chu Guang watched with a look of wanting more.

"It would be great if there was a long-range tactical nuclear strike now."

Xiao Qi timidly responded, "But wouldn’t that risk hitting your players?"

By this time, players had already entered the alleys near the mutant tribe’s camp.

It wasn’t so much to support the allies; it was mainly to collect heads.

A mutant corpse could be exchanged for a lot of money!

Does it matter if I killed it myself?

After all, NPCs won’t compete with players for credit.

Chu Guang didn’t mind the minor players’ actions; the mutants’ bodies could also be utilized, producing quite a bit of active materials.

Meanwhile, a light blue pop-up window caught Chu Guang’s eye.

[Task Complete!]

[Objective: Exterminate the mutant tribe at Street No.76]

[Reward: 200 reward points]

...

"Area cleared."

"Confirmed 47 mutants killed... quite a few more than the intel from our allies suggested. Plus, those beasts fried one of our guy’s brains; they ought to owe us some compensation."

"Get lost... If you mention my brain again, I’ll shove my fist into your mouth!"

"Ha ha ha, calm down, I was just joking."

The soldiers occupying the camp boasted and joked over the communication channel. This time, Lu Yang didn’t intervene. After a fierce battle, they truly needed to unwind.

All the mutants had been wiped out, not a single one spared.

Rather, the mutants didn’t give them a chance to keep any alive.

From the moment they breached the fortress, those green-skinned monsters in bizarre outfits, insane as they seemed, charged at them.

Yet, it was all in vain.

In the face of a Gauss Rifle, not only their muscle but even their wooden fortresses were like paper.

They drove the remaining mutants to the eastern side of the camp, likely where the leader’s tent or something similar was situated. Then, they fired into it until the gun barrels, packed with magnetic slugs, glowed red-hot before they ceased fire and went forth to finish the job.

With mutants, there was no need for mercy.

In these past two centuries, they had not done a single good deed.

"Captain, come look at this..."

"What have you found?"

"Some interesting stuff... Come take a look, and you’ll see."

Hearing his comrade’s voice, Lu Yang, who was reporting the frontline situation to Pioneer 10 kilometers away, immediately walked over to the marine.

Before them was a spacious wooden house, its door narrow in the middle and wider at both ends, with spikes hanging from the eaves like a monster’s mouth. Inside were parts taken from various prey: a bear’s claw, a deer’s head, a two-headed dog, and a human hand.

The mutants had a strange tribal culture, worshipping not only blood and violence but having a unique affection for the variants of the Wasteland.

They wouldn’t consume their entire prey. Instead, they preserved parts of it, half smeared with a liquid containing copper sulfate and nitrous acid, kept as trophies, and the other half left at the camp’s gate or outside the enclosing wall as offerings to their envisioned gods—although, mostly, those offerings ended up being eaten by rats or cockroaches.

It resembled an altar for storing trophies.

"Is there anything noteworthy here?" Lu Yang glanced around the room, his expression revealing disgust.

If possible, he truly did not want to stay here another second.

"Yes, Captain... I found something odd here."

Saying this, the marine shone his helmet light onto the floor.

Lu Yang followed the beam and saw a deep, dark bloodstain on the wooden floor.

The shape somewhat resembled a drag mark from a body.

"It seems like a place for sacrifices, where these mutants butcher their prey and then dismember—"

"Enough, you don’t have to explain; I know what they do."

Lu Yang frowned, stepped forward, and stamped his right foot on the wooden floor made of whole logs.

The sound from beneath his foot seemed off.

Something inside him stirred, and he forcefully stomped forward, snapping the wood plank in two.

Just as expected!

Beneath the floor was empty.

Lu Yang, following the same method, broke a few more logs and shone a beam of light down, revealing a tunnel with walls carved with strange symbols.

"...There’s even a tunnel?"

The marine came to his side, comparing the pre-war maps in the database.

"Your current location should be the central flower bed of the community. From the concrete structure below, this passage appears to have been built before the war."

So, were those symbols left by the mutants?

"What do you think this tunnel leads to?"

"Sir, I’m not sure, but from experience... only certain special shelters need to be hidden beneath a flower bed."

Lu Yang pondered for a moment and soon made up his mind.

"Let’s go down and take a look."

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