This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 144 Who Exactly is Our Enemy?

Chapter 144: Chapter 144 Who Exactly is Our Enemy?

Official Forum.

Just logged off, Crow rushed in.

"Big news!!! That piece of paper with ’100CR’ written on it can actually be exchanged for money! Guess how much I got? (*≧▽≦)"

Night Ten, "Huh? Speak of the devil, and he shall appear? (funny)"

Elena, "(funny)"

Crow, "Hey! Stop interrupting, do you guys want to know or not! (;｀O´)o"

Si Si, "I guess 10 Silver Coins."

Fang Chang, "Just tell us."

Don’t Beat Around the Bush, "Exactly! Stop keeping us in suspense!"

Tail, "GKD! (｀∀´)Ψ"

Crow, "Hehe, listen up, I was selling mushroom soup, when suddenly a sneaky NPC ran over, pulled out a piece of paper, and tried to snatch my pot! And then, just when I didn’t know what to do, the Manager suddenly appeared! Speaking of which, the Manager’s new armor looks so cool, I wonder if I can buy that skin. (✧◡✧)"

Canyon Escape Mole, "Damn! Just get to the point!"

Teng Teng, "???(╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻"

Crow, "100! 100 Silver Coins! The Manager took the paper, then gave me 100 Silver Coins! I was about to say, don’t rush me. QAQ"

The entire thread went quiet for a moment.

Then, dozens of replies burst out instantly!

Old White, "?!?"

Wild Wind, "..."

Night Ten, "Damn!"

Fang Chang, "100???"

Crow, "Don’t flood the chat, actually, it’s 200... because I also went yesterday with that ’100CR’ ticket and exchanged it with the Manager. The Manager even praised me, said I was a good kid, hehe.

Elena, "￥@#!"

Two pots of mushroom soup exchanged for 200 Silver Coins!

This luck can’t even be described as Exalted!

The players on the forum were green with envy, even the early access passes for the expansion pack lost their allure...

...

Meanwhile, at the Outpost Base’s reception room.

"Burp~ This wine is not bad, the fruity aroma of grapes mixed with the freshness of oak, even in a company... it must be a rare delicacy."

"You know about this, too?"

"Of course, my father has a wine cellar, filled with his collection, he goes there every day just to spend some time, doesn’t drink, just enjoys the atmosphere, I suspect if this continues, all that wine will turn into vinegar... Ah, I really want to go home."

Several empty wine bottles were laid out on the table, Luo Hua, drunkenly slurring, leaning on the chair and burping incessantly.

Chu Guang responded absentmindedly, taking the chance to glance at the VM, which listed the information Xiao Qi had organized for him.

[155. This person comes from a wealthy family, holds a mid-level position in the First Pioneer Corps, it is assumed that the crew members of the ’Pioneer’ in the company are mid-to-senior employees, with no low status.]

This intelligence was all exchanged for a table of barbecue, a pot of soup, and precisely six bottles of wine.

Normally, Chu Guang wouldn’t possibly indulge so extravagantly.

However, these efforts all came with rewards.

From the mouth of the office manager, Chu Guang managed to indirectly inquire about quite a few interesting things.

Firstly, the company was located in the easternmost part of the Central Continent in the Province of Yúnjiānxíng, at the mouth of a major river and two tributaries, which was the political, economic, and cultural center before the Prosperity Epoch, encompassing four strategic areas, three urban agglomerations, two industrial centers, and an area of "historic," ancient cities.

As for the company’s headquarters, it was situated at an industrial zone remnant between Cloud-On-City and Cloud-Below-City, above No.0 Shelter, in a place known as "Ideal City."

There, towering walls like dams stood with towers reaching the clouds, aircrafts navigated between the streets yet couldn’t fly too far, and people crowded into an "urban" area of less than five hundred square kilometers. Most people lived underground without windows, and only a few could see the clouds outside their floor-to-ceiling windows.

Listening, Chu Guang always felt that this "Ideal City" had some semblance of the "City That Never Sleeps," unsure of how much truth there was in this man’s words.

In addition, contrary to the intelligence reported by Xia Yan, the internal structure of the company was not riddled with factional strife and severe infighting but was not the type of organization the mercenaries from Giant Stone City understood it to be.

For instance, the company did not have a ruler in the strict sense, but a corporate board with a strict organizational structure and clear division of powers, where most members were chairmen of the subsidiaries. Each subsidiary had even smaller sub-companies layered down.

These subsidiaries varied from producing steel to cement, manufacturing guns and cannons to drones, and trading clones or biomimetic companions. Silver Wing Group was just one of the "marketably" larger ones, but market values change daily, making it hard to say who was the biggest.

Ten years ago, the company did dispatch an Expeditionary Army inland, but the target was not Qingquan City in the southern River Valley Province but the Grand Canyon in the north.

People always liked to credit successes to themselves; the same event, once passed through two people’s lips, could evolve into three different versions.

And the versions that prevailed, most often were not the ultimate truth but merely because those narratives were tantalizing, and people preferred to believe them to be true.

However, according to Luo Hua, it was true that the Expeditionary Army had indeed failed, for there had been a time when the victories from the front were frequently mentioned through various channels.

Then, suddenly one day, no one mentioned it anymore.

Besides those who bought "war bonds" finding themselves on rooftops plummeting, many never returned, and everything seemed as if nothing had happened.

In a sense, The "Pioneer" was also a similar existence. To build this magnificent fortress on land, Silver Wing Group had also issued a significant amount of "bonds," likely promising some perks to the wealthy buyers.

The latter part, however, was Chu Guang’s conjecture.

Perhaps he just wasn’t high-minded enough, but Chu Guang felt that if he lived in such an environment and happened to have a lot of money on hand, he definitely wouldn’t throw it away.

Furthermore, from Luo Hua’s words, Chu Guang also learned that their current objective was to head west to find a place called No.0 Shelter.

Legend had it, that it was the strategic planning location of a grand scheme, where the founders of the Prosperity Epoch, the pathfinders of the great voyages, and immortals who garnered countless glories, once rested.

Some regarded it as the last hope.

"...Since you have such advanced technology, why pin your hopes on a mythical existence? You actually don’t know where it is, right?" Chu Guang poured Luo Hua a glass of wine and asked, "And from what you describe, since you can build a fortress on the ruins, why haven’t you considered... well, starting over?"

Luo Hua sighed, waving his hand amidst the smell of alcohol.

"I’ve heard that argument too many times...my friend, how far have you been? The furthest you probably have been is just from the north side of Qingquan City, maybe a bit closer to the fifth ring road. It’s not as simple as just building a few houses."

Chu Guang smiled and said,

"After all, I’ve only come out from underground a few months ago... I’m also curious about what the world has actually become."

"It’s a mess," Luo Hua shook his head. "What’s the most terrifying Variant you’ve seen? Eaters? Crawlers? We generally refer to them as slime mold parasites, but do you know how they originated? Have you seen their Lair?"

Luo Hua continued.

"I have seen them, even a Lair as big as an entire skyscraper, with runaway slime mold fused with reinforced concrete, covering half the city district. The survivors there resisted, but failed, and then were swallowed up in swathes... We were powerless, only able to take dozens of the few survivors left and place them by a lake fifty kilometers away."

Chu Guang’s expression shifted slightly.

He had heard that there seemed to be a Lair in the center of Qingquan City and that every once in a while, Variants like Eaters would spread from the city center outwards.

The survivors of Giant Stone City called it "Tide."

All this was told to him by Xia Yan.

"So you just... leave that Lair alone?"

"We don’t need to worry about that thing," Luo Hua waved his hand. "You underestimate the power of nature. Anything on this planet, once it expands beyond a certain limit, will quickly decline. It’s the same with those slime molds. In rare cases, they might mutate, run amok, no longer fear sunlight, and voraciously consume nearby living beings, using their flesh and blood to rapidly reproduce. That sounds terrifying, but once they expand to a certain scale, they will quickly recede to where they came from... We call this the self-limiting nature of the expansion of mutant slime mold colonies."

Hearing this, Chu Guang’s expression slightly relaxed.

Right.

If they could have expanded endlessly, this planet would have been occupied by them long ago.

Moreover, from the perspective of energy balance, probably no ecosystem could accommodate such terrifying creatures.

After a pause, Luo Hua continued to babble as he burped from the alcohol.

"These mutant slime molds are just one of the troubles. As you know, in this world, not far away, there are those damned Eaters, and even the mutant cockroaches, which have nothing to do with the slime molds, are annoying enough. And then there are the Mutants. Have you ever seen a ’Super Mutant’ as tall as a three-story building? I suspect that thing is just a lump of human tumors. We used two tactical nuclear bombs to completely eradicate it... so you guys are really lucky. Those dozens of Mutants, we took care of them with just five power armors."

Chu Guang’s Adam’s apple moved.

He had meant to ask where all these damned creatures were coming from, but the question that was already on his lips changed into the one he had been pondering all along.

"Who exactly is our enemy?"

Hearing this question, Luo Hua smiled.

"Our? Enemy? You mean... that war of the apocalypse? Haha, who knows what happened two centuries ago? I’ve met many who were cryogenically frozen from the 22nd century; some really came to find refuge, and others simply thought it would be fun to go to the future. Haha, anyway, they themselves couldn’t clarify what happened, thinking they were on the set of some variety show, ranting about suing us."

As he spoke, Luo Hua’s gaze became a bit hazy, his hand holding the wine glass trembling.

Chu Guang felt he was drunk, so he added another cup for him... after all, it was part of his "official duties," and there wasn’t much left in the bottle anyway.

"Those poor guys... hic, all we can do is hand them over to the nearby survivors. Maybe their knowledge could be useful, but I doubt it."

Without refusing the drink Chu Guang poured for him, Luo Hua tilted his head and took another gulp, letting out a long burp that rendered his tongue unable to straighten.

"They say the answer is in No.0 Shelter, it’s not just us looking for it, the Academy, the Army... many people are searching for it, but there hasn’t been any result for years. Maybe it’s not in the west, or like you said, maybe it doesn’t exist at all. But who knows? Someone has to try."

As he spoke, Luo Hua face-planted on the table.

Seeing him about to dip his head into the nearby fire basin, Chu Guang quickly reached out to help him, moving his head to the other side.

Luo Hua was still blabbering.

"I want to write a memoir. If we succeed, it will become the best-seller in Ideal City."

"That might be difficult. Your names are too hard to pronounce, not conducive to word-of-mouth. If you change ’First Pioneer Corps’ to ’Knights Templar’, and rename Pioneer to Zheng He, and give your captain a more imposing name... such as Ruby Janka, venturing to the western heavens, I bet this book would become the best-selling adult fairy tale on the East Coast."

Originally, Chu Guang was just talking nonsense, but Luo Hua brightened up after hearing this.

"Great idea—"

He had only bitten off half of the word "idea" when suddenly, with a thud, he was out cold. His wine glass also fell with a clang next to the fire basin.

Chu Guang no longer bothered with the drunkard but stared at the VM screen.

Observing the last line of the gathered intelligence, he lightly raised his eyebrows.

"The Army and the Academy..."

This world seemed broader than he had imagined.

Good.

He could draw a new big pie.

...

The next morning.

At six o’clock sharp, the diligent little players logged on on time, running to the communal washbasin in the central latrines of the camp.

After a quick wash, they gathered in groups of threes and fives, carrying their boxed meals as they continued running toward the open space in the center of the camp.

However, as soon as they reached the open space, they were stunned.

Twenty or so NPCs clad in gray coats stood in line before a large pot, already holding bowls in their hands.

Seeing the Blue Jackets looking over, the crew of the Pioneer somewhat sheepishly grinned and waved amicably, pointing to the bowls in their hands.

Their expressions seemed to say,

"Big bro, don’t panic, we’re just here to snag a meal and then we’ll leave."

The players holding the bowls were all stunned.

"Damn! These NPCs are becoming ever more brazen about scrounging meals!"

"The pot isn’t even heated up yet, what’s the rush?!"

"Eh? Where’s Fry-Up Brother? I just saw him by the faucet, but now he’s gone?"

Not far away, Fry-Up Brother was walking with Old Luka, carrying a large basket of noodles. Arriving beside the iron pot, he set down the basket heavily on the table.

The table also held other ingredients and seasonings.

Wiping his forehead with his arm, Fry-Up Brother donned sleeves and an apron, then rapped a spoon against the side of the pot.

"Plant-based meat, synthetic starch noodles, and Crow Boss’s chicken fat mushrooms... Let’s try some high-tech ingredients today. Just to let you know, I haven’t tried these either, so I’ll do my best. If it doesn’t taste good, we’ll figure it out next time."

Fry-Up Brother had initially planned to cook porridge just to get by, considering there wasn’t as much time in the morning as there was in the evening, and they would have to go to the New Map to work soon.

But just then, his VM suddenly received a mission—to cook a pot of food that could bring happiness to the players in the camp.

What constitutes a food that could bring happiness?

Fry-Up Brother looked utterly confused, but the three question marks under the mission rewards section, and the expansion pack exclusive tag pinned at the top, piqued his competitive spirit.

Hearing that Fry-Up Brother was showing off his skills, the queueing players burst into a raucous cheer.

"Big bro is awesome!"

"Add an extra egg for me!"

"Pass it on! Fry-Up Brother is serving us below!"

"Ew, I can’t pass that on, pass it yourself!"

Although the crew members of the Pioneer didn’t understand, seeing the excitement among the Blue Jackets, they too looked forward to it with anticipation.

Fry-Up Brother ignored them and immersed himself wholly in the task at hand.

He put some fat from the wild boar at the bottom of the pot to burst out the flavor of the oil, then skillfully poured in the plant-based meat, which had been marinated beforehand in "secret sauce marinade."

Shzzzz—!

The aroma of the meat wafted through the air.

Quickly stir-frying, adding soy sauce for color, and sprinkling some salt and pepper to enhance the aroma, once the mince started bubbling, Fry-Up Brother adeptly lifted a pot of boiling water, pouring it into the iron pot, shaking it a few times, then covered it with a lid.

The bubbling noise and aroma were both sealed in.

With the sauce ready, the simmering chicken fat mushroom soup also began to release its fragrance.

The taste buds were relentlessly enticed as the queueing NPCs constantly swallowed saliva, switching their bowls from the left hand to the right, and back again, nearly wearing out the shine.

Finally, the pot boiled.

Fry-Up Brother scooped up the noodles with a strainer, blanched them briefly, and served them into the bowls passed to him, evenly ladling the mushroom soup and sauce.

"4 CR each! There’s enough for everyone, no need to rush."

Old Luka collected the money and handed the bowl filled with noodles to the truck driver who thanked him profusely, then continued to call out warmly to the lined-up gray coats.

"Next!"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.