This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 226 Funeral

Chapter 226: Chapter 226 Funeral

After the battle ended.

Chu Guang had someone tally the casualties.

Of the 37 guards stationed at Changjiu Farm, 25 died, 4 were seriously injured, and the rest suffered minor injuries.

A total of 221 players took part in the battle, but only half of them actually engaged the enemy. Many reinforcements rushed from the Outpost Base and had just arrived on the battlefield when the fight was already over.

Aside from 4 who died in the melee and 2 who were seriously injured, the rest suffered minor injuries; even if those who got motion sickness were included, the total was less than 10.

Since there were no irreversible injuries, the wounded players just had to lie down in the Cultivation chambers back at the refuge for a while, and it was not a big problem.

As for the Looters, although they initially had an overwhelming offense, they were swiftly brought to heel as more players joined the battlefield.

In total, 107 were annihilated, 40 of whom were specifically eliminated by Mosquito artillery. When Edge Shoveling led his team to search, they found one barely clinging to life. Because the scene was too gruesome, Edge couldn’t bear to look and granted him a quick death.

Additionally, there were over forty more captured, half of them seriously wounded, and over forty percent with light injuries.

It was not honorable to slaughter those who had given up resistance. Wrench did not execute these prisoners, but that did not mean forgiveness.

Death would be too easy for them.

They should atone for their sins through labor in the icy wilderness, cultivating the wasteland north of Rhombus Lake until they had paid for their crimes or died.

Since there weren’t enough cells, everyone was stuffed into a warehouse with so little space that there was barely room to lie down, and it was pitch black.

There were no medical supplies, not even bandages for dressing wounds, and some of the seriously injured prisoners soon stopped breathing, while the others, even if still alive, would have a hard time making it through the night.

...

On the other side, at the guard’s quarters.

In the room where the injured were being treated.

A young boy with his stomach wrapped in bandages lay on a stretcher, weak and barely alive.

He had taken at least two bullets to the stomach and had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his shoulder.

With such severe injuries and the primitive medical conditions of the Wasteland, he was practically a dead man.

His heart was not filled with much sadness. He had contemplated death the moment he picked up a gun, just not that it would come so quickly.

If there was any regret, it was that he never got to taste the hot soup from New Year’s Eve.

He wondered what it tasted like...

Just as he was starting to feel sleepy, he vaguely heard someone calling his name.

"Lu Bei!"

Straining to open his eyes a sliver, Lu Bei saw another boy with his arm in bandages running towards him.

"...Xu Shun?"

"Lu Bei! Thank goodness, you’re still alive!"

Smiling weakly, Lu Bei was about to say something when he saw Xu Shun clumsily take out a syringe, and then he jabbed it into his arm.

There was no sensation of pain.

Lu Bei even doubted there was a needle at all.

Watching his relieved friend, he hesitated before saying,

"What’s this?"

"Medical injection! It’s from the Manager. It’s said to bring people back as long as they still have a breath left!"

Xu Shun chuckled with a sigh of relief as he continued,

"I made it just in time! I thought it was too late!"

Medical injection?

Lu Bei was startled.

Could such a thing really help?

As this thought crossed his mind, his stomach and shoulder wounds started to itch as if a thousand ants were crawling over them, irritatingly so.

The feeling of pain began to return.

This was a good sign.

Lu Bei gradually felt his cold body warming up, and his previously fuzzy consciousness began to sharpen.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

Could it really work?!

Absolutely incredible!

Looking at Lu Bei slowly coming to, Xu Shun reached out to support his arm and said excitedly,

"Bro, do you feel better?"

Lu Bei nodded slightly.

"Much better... but the shrapnel in my shoulder hasn’t been removed yet,"

Xu Shun said.

"You’re too weak right now to have surgery. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while longer before we can remove the shrapnel."

At this, he sighed in regret,

"Ah, it’s a shame the congee scorched. But if it’s reheated, it still tastes alright. Do you think you can eat anything now? If you can, I’ll go get you a bowl."

As soon as Lu Bei heard there was food, his spirits were lifted, and he reached out to steady himself on the bed’s edge.

"Let’s go, together."

"Together?"

Xu Shun hadn’t quite caught on when he was surprised to see his good friend, who just minutes before was barely hanging on, had sat up in bed.

Touching his stomach, Lu Bei chuckled and said,

"I’m not too sure myself, but I feel a lot better... look, doesn’t seem like anything’s wrong at all."

With that, he swiftly jumped out of bed and urged his friend,

"Hurry up, or it’ll cool down again!"

It wasn’t just Lu Bei who had recovered; the other three seriously injured guards also mustered their strength with the help of treatment.

But, while the medical injections could speed up recovery, they couldn’t regenerate limbs or restore burnt skin to exactly how it was before.

Lu Bei was probably the luckiest, as the two bullets hadn’t hit any vital areas.

Had they been a bit lower or higher, he might have had to spend the rest of his life in regret.

"Have all the meds been distributed?"

Standing at the entrance to the guard’s station, Chu Guang found Wrench, who was directing the aftermath cleanup.

This brother was also tough as nails, the composite bulletproof plate attached to his Type Five exoskeleton had shattered completely, and he had been shot once in the left arm and right leg. Yet, he had stubbornly fought to the bitter end, powered by the exoskeleton.

Different from the players,

They lacked the dulling of pain.

They also didn’t have a second life.

Such bravery certainly deserved a Silver Medal!

"All distributed..." Noticing the Manager’s gaze falling on the medal on his chest, Wrench looked down at it, feeling somewhat ashamed, "Sorry, I damaged the equipment you gave me."

Chu Guang looked at him and said,

"Lift your head; you’ve performed very well. Equipment can be repaired or replaced if it can’t be fixed. But we only have one life, and I hope you can see the latter as more important than the former."

Four healing injections, two boxes of anti-inflammatories, and over ten boxes of hemostatic bandages.

The intermediate blind boxes Chu Guang had once thought useless now proved incredibly useful.

However, this round of consumption had nearly emptied his stock of medical supplies.

A great battle approached.

It seemed like he had saved up to 120 points, which he decided to spend on intermediate blind boxes upon his return.

A touch of gratitude appeared on Wrench’s face.

He knew well how expensive that exoskeleton was since he’d seen it in the store.

Lifting his head, he responded with a firm voice,

"Yes, Sir!"

Chu Guang nodded in approval at his response.

Later on, I’ll have someone make a steel chest armor for you to replace it.

Now, take me to see the wounded."

"Yes!" Wrench excitedly nodded his head and took the lead.

As the two made their way to the interior of the guard’s station, a young man was sneaking out.

The north wind was howling outside. Lu Bei tightened his coat, which was riddled with holes, and headed northward.

There had been a great battle here before, with the ground covered in trodden dirty snow and blood-mixed slush, horrifying footprints hardened on the surface, not yet fully frozen.

A few reinforcements who had come over stood nearby on duty, supervising several prisoners of war as they dragged bodies into an open space and lined them up.

The bodies were easy to recognize: the guards all wore black coats, while the Looters were mostly dressed in ugly furs.

The bodies of the guards were covered with cloth or something else.

Whereas the Looters’ bodies were laid face up, to be hauled away by a truck after a while.

Bodies could attract scavenging Variants, and more likely bring plague, they had to be dealt with promptly.

Noticing the youth wrapped in a big coat, a guard approached him, urging him to leave.

"Hey, what are you wandering around here for? Hurry back, or your wounds will freeze and fester."

Lu Bei murmured softly.

"I’ll go back soon. I’m looking for someone."

Seeing the expression on his face, the guard paused.

After a silence, he nodded.

"Then hurry up."

"Thank you!"

After nodding his thanks, Lu Bei immediately trotted forward. After searching through the pile of corpses for a while, he finally found the person he was looking for.

His breath paused slightly.

Trembling fingers pulled away the burlap.

Glancing at the frost-rimmed wrinkles and eyebrows, Lu Bei’s Adam’s apple moved, and this time he finally believed what his comrades and he had told himself.

After a long silence without a word, Lu Bei silently took out a still warm lunch box from his chest and placed it beside the old man’s face.

"... The captain told me this takes more courage than facing the Claw of Death."

"He also said that thanks to you, we reacted in time; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."

"He said that our enemies are much stronger than Blood Hand, and defeating them is something to be proud of. We defeated more than just our enemies, we overcame our past too."

"The captain said a lot of things, but I can’t remember them all. I just remember the dumpling soup was pretty good, especially right when it’s scooped out of the pot, one sip and you feel warm all over..."

"...I put it here."

As Lu Bei was about to get up, he suddenly saw the whistle lodged in the parched lips.

After a moment of silence, Lu Bei gently tugged at the whistle clenched between the teeth and took it out of his mouth.

Searching for a pocket without holes in the battered coat, he carefully stored it away.

"Thank you."

"I’ll take good care of it for you."

Speaking softly, the youth covered him with the cloth again, rose to give a military salute, and walked away towards the direction of the guard team’s base...

...

Official Website:

[Worldwide Announcement: The emergency mission is over. Thank you, everyone. You have thwarted the Looters’ raid; victory is yours!]

[Worldwide Announcement: All players who responded to the mobilization will receive one Copper Gear Medal, and the team with the highest score will receive one Silver Gear Medal.]

[Battle rewards will be tallied later. Happy holidays to everyone.]

For the indigenous people of the Wasteland, any victory comes at a heavy cost.

But for players not of this world, it is after all just a Game.

With their helmets removed, they still have unfinished dumplings to eat, or they may have to reheat cold takeout, and perhaps have unfinished work to rush off to.

Chu Guang pondered for a long time but ultimately chose not to express the heavy mood in the announcement.

Today is New Year’s Day.

There will be a funeral at dawn.

The battle report can wait until tomorrow.

Details not part of the main storyline can be included in setting collections on the official website, or added as Easter eggs in the Game for players to discover on their own.

They had already done very well.

They shouldn’t be subjected to a Dog Planner’s interrogation of humanity.

Forum:

Tomato and Egg: "Brothers, how’s the situation at the front? Is the team battle over?"

Old White: "We fought the loneliness. By the time we rushed over from Outpost Base, everything up front was already over."

Tail: "Tail was the first to get up there! I’m definitely MVP this time! (｀∀´)Ψ"

Mosquito for WC: "Don’t even think about it, the MVP is definitely me, I wiped out four teams by myself! (grinning teeth)"

Tail: "!!!"

Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "WTF?!"

Night Ten: "WTF! You hacking or what?!"

Thunder Mage Professor Yang: "A noob’s question, how many people are in four teams?"

Wild Wind: "Looters generally have teams of ten..."

Thunder Mage Professor Yang: "Awesome!"

Quit Smoking: "Holy crap, that strong?!"

Elena: "Not bad, not bad, Goblin Technology rising to power. (joking)"

I Wanna Go to the Bathroom: "Awesome my ass! The cannon is ours! (flips table)"

Grandpa Ao: "Laugh, that’s it? All together, it’s less than one company. My uncle’s group, even the weakest cook has over a hundred lives on his hands. Just forty, not even noob level."

Elena: "Bro, even though it’s the dark Forum, you shouldn’t be talking nonsense. (joking)"

Night Ten: "A noob’s question, is your uncle Hail Ding? (joking)"

...

The funeral for the fallen guards was held at dawn the next day.

All the guards lined up at the north gate and fired three shots into the sky, then transported the bodies of the fallen onto a truck.

In the Wasteland, burying in the ground equates to feeding the Variants, as many Variants have the habit of digging in the soil for food and making burrows.

If they had a choice, almost no one would choose a burial in the ground.

The wish of the vast majority of guards was to go into that steel furnace, just like those Blue Jacket people who had once helped them.

Some wished to be cremated and have their ashes scattered in lakes, atop high buildings, or places where they had once fought and defended.

No one knew their last wishes better than their comrades-in-arms, who would survive to carry out those "afterwards things."

Luka stayed for the entire duration of the funeral.

Before leaving, Chu Guang suddenly noticed that there were also a few players standing at a distance, watching, and like him, stayed till the end.

Don’t Talk Nonsense: "Speaking of which... when NPCs in the Game die, they don’t respawn, right?"

Makabazi: "I think so, I remember the settings mentioned that once they die, they’re gone, but someone else will take over their post."

Don’t Talk Nonsense sighed.

"Sigh..."

Makabazi looked at him.

"What’s up, bro? Feeling emo this early in the morning?"

Don’t Talk Nonsense: "Nothing... just that I counted, and I realized someone is missing."

Makabazi said in surprise, "You can remember their faces?"

He had face blindness, hardly remembering a few faces in real life, let alone those wearing filters in the Game.

The only ones he could probably remember were Little Fish, Boss Xia and perhaps Luka.

Oh right, and the esteemed Manager.

But the Manager didn’t always show his face, so remembering his face wasn’t significant; his deep blue power armor was more representative.

Don’t Talk Nonsense sighed again.

"No, I only remember a few as well. Like that old grandpa, every week on his day off, he would go to the lakeside to watch us fish. As soon as I saw his expression, I knew he was a fellow enthusiast, so I recommended a fishing rod to him, and even taught him how to catch leeches with a bottle..."

Makabazi was stunned for a moment.

"Uh, is there a hidden quest?"

"No."

Don’t Talk Nonsense shook his head, sighing for the third time.

"Even though it’s a meaningless thing, it was pretty fun."

"And thinking that fellow angler won’t come again, indeed, it feels a bit lonely..."