This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 171: The Academy’s Traitor

Chapter 171: Chapter 171: The Academy’s Traitor

Refugee Camp.

In a simple shanty.

Looking at the old man lying on the stretcher, Yin Fang took a deep breath, and finally made up his mind, slowly extending his right hand.

A moment’s pause.

Then, from the pulse of his right hand, a silver surgical scalpel slowly extended, stopping only when it was an inch longer than his middle finger.

The scalpel slowly bent downward, resembling a praying mantis’s forelimb. Upon closer examination, around the scalpel, four silver threads circled, hanging in the air and gently fluttering like antennae.

Looking at the young man’s right hand, the old man curled up on the stretcher wore a face of fright, trembling and wanting to ask, yet too afraid to make a sound.

"Don’t be afraid, I’ll take care of your wound."

After reassuring the old man, Yin Fang concentrated all his energy on the surgery.

Anesthetic injection followed by sterilization.

His right hand’s five fingers moved nimbly and adeptly, gently quivering up and down, manipulating the scalpel and silver threads hanging below his palm.

It was like controlling a marionette!

The scalpel precisely avoided nerves and blood vessels within the muscle tissue, carefully excised the necrotic parts, and deftly sewed and bandaged with the silver threads, leaving only spider silk-thin thread ends.

The entire set of movements flowed smoothly!

Yin Fang held his breath and focused intensely, with fine beads of sweat forming on his brow, even carefully controlling his breathing rate.

Under his precise control and operation, the excision and bandaging of the necrotic tissue were almost simultaneous, and the surgery caused minimal blood loss.

The surgery lasted an hour.

After removing all necrotic tissue, Yin Fang finally breathed a sigh of relief and raised his left hand, wiping the sweat from his brow with his arm.

Then, he took a small spray bottle from his pocket, carefully spraying it several times on his right hand, and slowly retracted the extended scalpel and silver threads back into his bionic limb.

Almost at the same time, an unfamiliar voice rang out from behind him.

"Remarkable skill... Is this for medical use, this bionic limb?"

Yin Fang was startled, swiftly turning around to see a man wearing an exoskeleton standing at the door, looking over with interest.

He had been so focused during the surgery that he hadn’t noticed someone had come in.

Yin Fang’s heart raced; he hid his right hand behind him, quickly realizing that this was akin to covering up.

He lowered his arms, which he had been holding across his chest. Chu Guang displayed a friendly expression on his face and casually asked,

"Don’t be nervous, I was just asking... are you a doctor?"

"..."

Hesitation was written all over Yin Fang’s face.

Chu Guang could tell by his look that this guy probably had many secrets, probably racking his brains right now to concoct some story to fool him.

Why bother?

I’m not going to eat you.

Not wanting to hear this guy’s story full of loopholes, Chu Guang looked at him and cut straight to the point.

"I am the Manager of Shelter No. 404 and also the Lord here. If you need any help or have any ideas on improving living conditions, you can go find Jiu Li or Luka, they will bring you to me."

"I offer job opportunities to capable people, but honesty is a prerequisite."

After speaking, Chu Guang did not linger there any longer and turned to walk out the door.

Watching the closing door, Yin Fang slowly exhaled, his charged shoulders relaxing as well.

At this moment, a weak voice came from the stretcher behind him.

"Thank you, young man."

The old man had woken up during the ordeal, but with an important figure present, he dared not interrupt.

Yin Fang looked back at the old man and squeezed out a forced smile, speaking in a soothing tone,

"Don’t mention it, are you feeling better?"

"Much better..." The old man nodded, reading the atmosphere, he said softly and embarrassingly, "I’ve troubled you."

"It’s nothing," Yin Fang shook his head.

Saving a life was important, and besides, these people had helped him a lot.

If it were just him alone, he wouldn’t have made it here, nor would he have escaped the pursuit of bounty hunters.

The old man struggled to sit up on the stretcher, attempting to walk, but his legs were still in pain. After a few tries, he gave up.

At that moment, a man walked into the shanty and, seeing the old man’s condition, hurriedly came forward to support him.

"Dad, are you feeling better?"

A smile spread across the old man’s face as he nodded.

"Much better... Thanks to this young man. If he ever finds himself in trouble, you must help him."

Sun Cheng turned to Yin Fang, speaking earnestly,

"Brother, thank you! My name is Sun Cheng; you’ve saved my father’s life. If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know."

Yin Fang shook his head, indicating there was no need to be polite, and did not take this paper-thin promise to heart.

If only it were that simple.

His troubles were not something any Waste Land Wanderer could simply solve.

Watching the father and son leave the shanty, Yin Fang sat down on a nearby chair, staring at the ceiling, and sighed.

"Ah."

"Let me be..."

...

"There’s a doctor in the refugee camp, don’t worry about the plague, he seems like a compassionate man, leave it to him to handle."

"Also, have Jiu Li keep an eye on him, but don’t deliberately disturb him, don’t actively ask him questions, and don’t make him feel exceptionally cared for. If he does anything suspicious, report it to me."

After leaving the shanty, Chu Guang found Old Luka and handed him this task.

"All right, sir, leave this with me!"

Old Luka nodded earnestly, committing this matter firmly to memory.

Shelter No. 404 had not yet fully established trust with these refugees; it was natural to be cautious, and in such circumstances, rushing things was not advisable.

Chu Guang was not in a hurry to pry open the secrets of that person, nor was he eager to invite him over.

In this freezing weather, where could a person possibly run off to?

What’s coerced never feels genuine; it’s better to wait until he is ready to come clean voluntarily.

Having left the refugee camp, Chu Guang was planning to inspect the labor reforms of the prisoners of war.

Just then, from the north side of the refugee camp, a burst of dense gunfire suddenly resounded.

Judging by the sound, it was approximately 1 kilometer away.

And by the looks of it, the battle seemed fierce; Chu Guang even heard the sound of homemade mines made by mosquitoes exploding.

Unperturbed, Chu Guang immediately composed a mission through his VM and sent it to the devices of players within a designated area on the map.

[MISSION: Players within 1 kilometer of the map marker must proceed immediately to the target area for support.]

[REQUIREMENT: At least one captive must be kept]

[REWARD: 10 Silver Coins, 10 contributions, 50 regional reputation]

Judging from the gunfire, there were probably four or five shots.

Maybe six at most?

Having spent so much time in the Wasteland, guessing the number of people from the sound of gunshots had become a basic skill. It wasn’t completely realistic to guess exactly, but estimating the upper limit wasn’t a problem.

According to the display on the VM map, there were at least thirty players in the area where the conflict occurred, and they were mostly veteran players.

Chu Guang felt very relieved leaving it to them.

...

However, Eugene’s feeling at the moment was completely disastrous.

What initially seemed a simple mission, optimistic estimates suggested it could be completed in three months, yet it ended up in this mess because of those incompetent teammates.

Had he known it would turn out this way, he might have acted alone.

But now, complaining seemed pointless.

Less than ten minutes after the gunfire began, he and his teammates were ambushed by at least thirty people. Gunfire rained from all directions, making it impossible for them to raise their heads.

Eugene witnessed the mercenary, who fired first, and his beloved dog being riddled with bullets. The other three were killed one by one during the resistance.

Seeing no hope of breaking out, he didn’t hesitate to throw down his weapons and surrender.

The men roughly tied his hands and then threw him into a truck that took him to the back of a concrete Enclosing Wall into a spacious room and then pushed him onto the floor.

A man in a Blue Exoskeleton was sitting in the room, scrutinizing Eugene with a probing gaze before he spoke.

"Looter?"

Eugene didn’t respond immediately, his mind racing as he contemplated how to escape.

The man in the exoskeleton, however, did not seem very patient. Seeing that he hadn’t spoken, he waved his hand impatiently.

"If you don’t talk, take him down and deal with him."

After all, the equipment on him didn’t seem very valuable, and he probably wasn’t anyone significant.

The Wrench, standing beside Chu Guang, didn’t waste any words and immediately stepped forward, grabbed the captive by the collar, and started to drag him out.

Seeing this, Eugene panicked and struggled as he spoke.

"I am not a Looter, I... my name is Eugene, I’m a mercenary! Sir, I mean no harm."

"No harm?" signaling Wrench to stop, Chu Guang looked at him with interest, "You mean, that burst of gunfire was accidental?"

The initial contact rule of Shelter No. 404 was to not attack NPCs in neutral areas, but if a neutral unit opened fire, any form of retaliation was permitted.

VM wasn’t just a vital signs monitor; it also had a function to record activities. Although it didn’t record video, it was easy to determine who fired first by analyzing the gunfire and recording sounds.

Chu Guang was curious as to how this guy would explain himself.

Feeling his heart chill under that gaze, Eugene hastily explained.

"It was a misunderstanding, the gun wasn’t fired by me... I was just in a cooperation for a commission with those people!"

"Commission?" Chu Guang stared at him with a scrutinizing look and continued, "What commission?"

Not daring to conceal anything, Eugene quickly confessed.

"It was a commission from the Academy."

Hearing this unexpected answer, Chu Guang was slightly stunned internally, but he didn’t show it on his face. Instead, he continued to interrogate.

"Go on."

Eugene swallowed, speaking rapidly.

"About three months ago... I received a commission from the Academy, requesting our help to capture a fugitive Prospector. We tracked him down to River Valley Province based on clues provided by the employer. If not for an unexpected encounter with disbanded soldiers of the Army, we would have caught him last month. However, he fortuitously blended into a group of refugees."

"Is the deserter you’re talking about equipped with a bionic prosthetic limb?" Chu Guang asked thoughtfully.

Eugene’s eyes lit up as he nodded briskly.

"Yes! That must be him! The commission requires us to bring him back to Wandering Swamp or, at the very least, to bring back his arm. If you’re willing to hand him over to me, I can split the bounty with you—no, 40-60! You 60, me 40!"

That 60% share seems reasonable.

Suppressing his laughter, Chu Guang looked at him and said,

"How much bounty did the people from the Academy offer you?"

Thinking Chu Guang was tempted by his proposal, Eugene hastily continued.

"5,000 CR! Originally, it was to be split among six of us, but now there are only two left."

Chu Guang asked with surprise.

"CR? Why would the Academy use corporate funds to pay?"

"It’s not that the Academy is using corporate money, sir. We mercenaries only accept corporate CRs or the Army’s Dinars," Eugene explained with a resigned expression. "You should know that every place has its own form of money. I’ve even seen transactions with bullet casings and bottle caps."

Although corporate paper money experiences severe inflation far from the East Coast, where a rifle sold at 300 CR on the East Coast can fetch 600 or even 800 CR in River Valley Province, it’s still somewhat more practical than those highly regional currencies.

Chu Guang stroked his chin in thought.

Just 5,000 CR.

That probably means the fugitive isn’t that significant.

If it were a 500,000 CR bounty, Chu Guang might consider the "diplomatic risk" of keeping the person. But with such a meager reward, he’s almost certainly just a "cyber fugitive," unlikely even to be a B-class wanted individual.

But keeping such a significant matter from him.

This wasn’t very honest of the young man.

A subtle shift crossed Chu Guang’s mind as he looked toward Wrench, who was waiting nearby.

"Go to the Refugee Camp, find a man named Yin Fang, and bring him here."

"Yes, sir," Wrench nodded, accepting the order and immediately stepped outside.

It wasn’t a long wait.

Wrench soon brought the man Chu Guang wanted to see.

Seeing Eugene in the room, Yin Fang’s face changed instantly, and he turned around to leave. However, just as he turned, he was blocked by Wrench standing at the doorway.

Upon seeing Yin Fang, Eugene’s face showed a burst of joy as he hastily exclaimed loudly,

"Sir, it’s him—"

"Shut up."

Chu Guang signaled with his eyes for Eugene to close his mouth, then looked toward the young man whose eyes were filled with fear, and said,

"Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?"

A bitter look surfaced on Yin Fang’s face as he lowered his head.

"I apologize... I didn’t mean to conceal my identity from you..."

Chu Guang stared at him and asked,

"Are you from the Academy?"

Yin Fang nodded.

But soon, his expression darkened, and he shook his head again.

"I was, half a year ago. Not anymore."