This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 291: You’ve Been Sentenced Too?

Chapter 291: Chapter 291: You’ve Been Sentenced Too?

When Chu Guang and his group arrived at the Third Ecological Protection Park in Qingquan City, the fire caused by the previous air raid had gradually extinguished.

However, the smell of roasted meat lingering in the air seemed impossible to disperse for a long time.

Ten KV-1 Exoskeletons from the Jungle Corps stood at the entrance of the building.

Seeing the azure power armor approaching from a distance, Midnight Chicken Killing immediately stepped forward, with his right fist rested on his chest, he gave a military salute.

"Respected Manager! The Looter within the area has been eradicated, and the Third Ecological Protection Park is now under your control!"

Brother Killing Chicken’s expression was one of utter loyalty.

Players who had a stronger sense of immersion would occasionally do this, of course, some players did it for favorability points and hidden tasks.

"You’ve done well," Chu Guang, fulfilling his role, nodded approvingly.

Meanwhile, a task completion popup appeared on the VMs of Midnight Chicken Killing and his teammates behind him.

[Task: Raid on the Third Ecological Protection Park in Qingquan City (Completed)]

[Reward: Detailed in the Campaign Settlement List]

Seeing the task rewards displayed in the VM, everyone’s faces lit up with surprise.

An income of over 500 silver coins per person!

Such a high return could definitely be considered a windfall.

Indeed, they would have to work on leveling up their Archaeology Group in the future.

With the task completed, Midnight Chicken Killing led his jubilant team members away. There was no need to keep two Army groups there as guards since the hostile units in the area had been cleared.

Chu Guang continued forward with Yin Fang and Heya, walking past streets thick with trees into the vine-entangled ecological protection park.

"Do all zoos from the Human Alliance Era look like this?" Chu Guang glanced at the fully enclosed dome in front of him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that it looked more like a stadium than a zoo.

Heya, equally curious, surveyed the surroundings, her interest piqued more by the Wasteland vegetation in the area.

It was completely different from what she had seen in VR devices, even distinct from the upright pine and cypress trees in the North suburb of Qingquan city.

It was as if it came from another world.

"The ones for sightseeing in the city are said to look like this, the large ecological reserves outside the city are another story. After the war broke out, the animals escaped, and the monkeys active in this area probably came from here," Chu Guang explained.

He gave her an unexpected glance.

"Did the monkeys before the war also have scales on their backs?"

Heya replied, "Genetic mutation + natural selection, perhaps the monkeys with scales on their backs managed to survive better here, but how exactly the scales came to be known only to the monkeys."

At that moment, Yin Fang, who had been staring at his tablet without saying a word, suddenly looked up and blurted out.

"I found it."

Chu Guang turned to Yin Fang.

"What did you find?"

Interest painted Yin Fang’s face as he continued.

"Information about this ecological protection park, I just restored it from a set of damaged trial records... In 2113, twelve years before the outbreak of the war, an incident or scandal occurred in the Third Ecological Protection Park in Qingquan City that created a sensation throughout the Human Alliance."

Chu Guang’s expression turned strange.

"What scandal could there be in a zoo?"

"An unauthorized experiment that jeopardized the lives of twenty-three thousand visitors. The twenty researchers and professors involved were expelled by their academic institutions, the responsible officials were prosecuted, and the entire ecological protection park almost closed down..." Yin Fang swiped his finger across the tablet, excitedly relaying the freshly restored information.

Chu Guang had no interest in occurrences from two hundred years ago.

However, when he heard about the experiment, he arched an eyebrow in interest.

"What was the content of the experiment?"

"It had to do with the Human Alliance’s colonies and Resonance Field Theory," Yin Fang turned off the tablet, his excitement palpable as he looked ahead, "It’s been more than two hundred years, especially being from before the war, this is as much as we can deduce from the public information, but we’ll get to the bottom of it soon."

The entrance to Shelter No. 401 was located in the basement of the ecological protection park, and the players had already marked the entrance location in their VMs.

As for the Mind Interference Field’s control room, it was on the third floor of the ecological protection park.

Upon entering the dome-shaped building, the group split up.

Yin Fang went to the entrance of Shelter No. 401, and Chu Guang assigned Wild Wind to follow him, taking responsibility for his safety. In addition, Chu Guang equipped Yin Fang with a Hummingbird drone and instructed Xiao Qi to support him within her capabilities.

As for Chu Guang himself, he went straight to the third floor with Heya.

They had just reached the doorway when they heard the sound of an argument and cursing from inside.

"You bastard! This punch is for my fallen comrades!"

"Enough, calm down... I’m a victim too, you can’t blame me for all the people the Looters killed?!"

"Heh, a victim? I spit on that!"

Inside the control room.

Two men past their prime were scuffling, cursing in the incomprehensible language of the Human Alliance.

The one who seemed to be in the wrong, a robust old man in a Blue Jacket, was on the defensive and kept casting nervous glances at the players standing by, as if worried they would intervene.

The other man, in tattered clothes, was furious but visibly ill, and his punches lacked force. After a messy barrage, not a scratch was visible on his opponent, leaving the attacker out of breath instead.

As for the players?

Naturally, they stood by watching the drama unfold.

They couldn’t even understand what was being said, let alone intervene.

Wild Wind had left earlier, and among them, Fang Chang was the best with the Human Alliance language, but his so-called proficiency was only relative to the other players—the equivalent of "middle school English" to "broken English."

Tomato Scrambled Eggs looked at his teammates with a complex expression.

"Should we break them up?"

Old White turned to Fang Chang.

The latter pondered for a moment and shook his head.

"Don’t act rashly. What if this triggers a storyline?"

Quit Smoking nodded in realization.

"Good point!"

Then let them keep fighting.

After all, neither old man had much combat power, and there was no fear of a fatality.

Just then, the control room door opened, and looking at the power armor that appeared at the door, the eyes of the players in the room instantly lit up.

Here it comes!

Indeed, this had triggered a storyline!

"Stop!"

A thunderous voice came from the doorway, causing the two old men who were exchanging blows to involuntarily halt and turn their attention towards the azure power armor.

One of them, with sparse hair and wearing ragged clothing, clearly recognized the equipment on Chu Guang’s body. A glimmer of excitement, even tears, appeared in his murky pupils.

"Mr. Sven... is that you?"

Sven?

Is this old man from Shelter No.117?

Chu Guang’s expression subtly changed, and with two light taps of his index finger on the side of his helmet, he unlocked the face mask.

As the helmet lifted to reveal the young face below, the old man froze on the spot.

"...I am the Manager from Shelter No. 404, also the Manager of the New Alliance. You can call me Chu Guang. As for the Sven Vilard you mentioned, he passed away many years ago."

The old man’s expression dimmed, his eyes and brows drooping slightly.

"Passed away... of course, it’s been so many years."

The old man in the Blue Jacket, still panting heavily, muttered softly.

"The New Alliance? That post-war reconstruction committee? Didn’t it fall apart over a century ago?"

Suddenly, Heya popped up from behind Chu Guang, staring at the ragged old man for a moment before exclaiming in shock.

"Zhao Yuan?!"

The old man looked at Heya and hesitated.

"You are... Heya?"

Never expecting to see a fellow refugee from the same shelter after twenty years, Heya nodded excitedly.

"It’s me! How did you... end up like this?"

"Natural aging... I wasn’t young even twenty years ago, let alone now," the old man’s eyes shifted, seemingly guilty.

Chu Guang glanced at Heya, who was rarely seen showing such emotional excitement.

He had thought she would hate these traitors who destroyed her homeland, yet she was unexpectedly magnanimous upon meeting her fellow countryman.

"Do you know him?"

"Yes!"

With her snowy white hair gently swaying, Heya nodded vigorously, excitedly saying, "He and my master were both experts in bionic organ research. I can’t believe we’re all still alive... By the way."

Heya turned to the old man, her eyes filled with hopeful inquiry.

"Where is Karen? Isn’t she with you?"

"She went south... Many followed that guy called Wang Yi," Zhao Yuan’s eyes flickered with anger and regret as he muttered to himself, "Those Waste Land Wanderers are no good, should’ve let them perish on their own! I should’ve seen that sooner!"

Chu Guang stared at the old man for a while.

"Are you with the Torch Church?"

"The Torch Church? You mean the Torch?" The old man paused, then said softly with his head lowered, "Indeed, I joined the Torch over twenty years ago... and it’s the biggest regret of my life."

It seemed that the Torch hadn’t yet evolved into a religion at that time, and this old man was unaware of where his former companions had gone or what they had done.

Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully.

The man standing before him was likely one of the initial few "rebels" who founded the Torch, and it was their actions that lead to the downfall of Shelter No.117.

Judging by the old man’s battered clothing and weathered face, he had suffered much hardship over these twenty years.

Chu Guang turned towards the other old man, taking in the Blue Jacket he wore.

"And you? Are you a survivor from Shelter No.117 too?"

Before the old man could speak, Zhao Yuan glared at him accusingly.

"He is no survivor of Shelter No.117; he’s just a dog, one raised by those bandits!"

"Sun Zewen, from Shelter No. 401," regardless of the cursing, disheveled old man, the one in the Blue Jacket cleared his throat and spoke politely, "Respected Manager of Shelter No. 404, and master of the New Alliance... Thank you for extending your aid to us in our time of need."

Disdainful of the man’s affectations, Zhao Yuan sneered.

"Mr. Chu Guang, please don’t be fooled by his honeyed words; he’s clearly an accomplice to those Looters! According to the laws of the Human Alliance, he should be sentenced to at least three hundred years without the possibility of cryosleep for crimes against humanity."

The word in Zhao Yuan’s statement seemed to have struck a nerve, and Sun Zewen, who was poised and polite just a second ago, suddenly glared at the old man with rage.

"What’s wrong with surviving? Who was it that let those outsiders in? Was it me? I also refuse to acknowledge your accusations. I did nothing except helping them tame a bunch of monkeys."

"Did nothing?" Zhao Yuan looked at him with contempt, "Including that girl they gave you? The age difference spans centuries, how could you even...?"

Sun Zewen’s face flushed red, then purple, and he could no longer hold back, eventually choking out,

"I... I had no choice! What do you think would have become of her if I hadn’t accepted? And what’re centuries... you can’t count the years I spent in cryosleep."

Chu Guang listened to the two quarreling with interest, getting a rough idea of what happened. It was then he noticed a body with a tragic death in the corner of the wall and turned to ask the players.

"Who is that person?"

Wagging his tail excitedly, Garbage Duke stepped forward.

"I took him out!"

"He’s Tus!"

Although he didn’t understand what Chu Guang had just said, Zhao Yuan guessed that the Manager was inquiring about the identity of the deceased and immediately followed up.

"He’s the leader of the bandits here, with countless lives on his hands. It can be said that his crimes are so grave he deserves more than death! I ask that you not blame your soldiers."

Chu Guang smiled and said,

"Of course, I won’t blame them. In the territories of the New Alliance, our attitude towards Looters has always been zero tolerance."

Hearing this, the old man named Sun Zewen trembled in the shoulders.

"My lord, I—"

Chu Guang looked at him.

"I believe you had no choice in the matter. The laws of the New Alliance will not pursue the past. I don’t care what you did before; from the moment I stand here, I hope you can start anew and become someone useful to society, to civilization."

Now was the Wasteland Era, an age even more chaotic than an era of strife. Humanity had even fallen from the top of the food chain—pursuing the past was meaningless now.

Moreover, who on this wasteland was truly good?

Including Zhao Yuan himself.

Chu Guang certainly didn’t think the Torch was anything good, but he equally had no desire to delve into what happened in the other shelters.

Sun Zewen bowed his head, trembling, and said,

"Thank you for your mercy."

Zhao Yuan’s face still had a trace of indignation and unrest, but he said nothing more.

These people had saved his life.

After all, he had said, he couldn’t force them to understand and sympathize with the hardship he had endured.

At that moment, footsteps came from the corridor outside.

Yin Fang, who had returned from Shelter No. 401, held a tablet in his hand and burst into the room like a gust of wind.

"Amazing! You’d never guess what I’ve found!"

Before Chu Guang could ask what he had discovered, Yin Fang excitedly blurted out,

"A Resonance Field!"

"I’ve been searching for it for half a year, and I never thought it would be right here!"

Taking a deep breath, he looked at Chu Guang, excitement in his voice,

"We’ve struck gold!"

...

Everything started over two hundred years ago.

It was around 2111, two years before the scandal that almost closed the zoo. A letter from a distant colony and the samples it brought stirred the entire fields of biology and sociology.

The original letter could no longer be found, but as a professional archaeologist, Yin Fang had pieced together the gist of the letter based on the limited clues.

In a nutshell, the colony was plagued by exoplanetary lifeforms, with frequent organic activities posing a significant threat to the safety of the colonists.

Initially, the colonists used an "infrasound fence" provided by their home planet to drive away the alien lifeforms. However, over time, they found that the seemingly harmless infrasound fence caused serious health issues for the colonists.

Due to the limited scientific research conditions in the colony, the colonists hoped that the academic community on the home planet could extend a helping hand to help them develop a harmless shielding field that would prevent the alien lifeforms from harassing the colony.

After securing the agreement of the relevant departments of the Human Alliance, the colonists sent several samples of extraterrestrial life, and this was the first time the home planet of Human Alliance received biological samples from the colonies.

Before this, biologists of the Human Alliance who wanted to study lifeforms of extrastellar systems had to take the sole monthly immigration flight to visit personally.

As the Human Alliance was just beginning to venture into the Star Sea and not yet skilled in mastering gravity channels, the development of extrasolar colonies was low. Thus, flights to the colonies were basically one-way; it was hard to return once you went.

It goes without saying how precious these samples were.

The samples from the colony and the plea for help quickly gained widespread attention in various circles of the Human Alliance. The research on alternatives to the "infrasound fence" became a hot topic, attracting the participation of numerous scholars.

"Wait... extrasolar colonies?"

Listening to Yin Fang’s narrative, Chu Guang rubbed his temples and said with a slight headache, "I always thought the territory of the Human Alliance only extended to the Kuiper Belt."

Heya was also clueless.

She grew up in a shelter and had only seen the sky for the first time a few months ago, let alone known about extrasolar colonies.

Yin Fang spoke patiently,

"That perception isn’t wrong after all, going to extrasolar colonies and going to colonies on Mars or the Moon are completely different concepts... But that doesn’t concern us. Those places are too far from us, I don’t know much more than you do."

Yin Fang coughed lightly, steering the topic back from where Chu Guang had led it astray.

"Continuing from where we left off... the dissection of extraterrestrial lifeforms opened the eyes of the academic world. Reliable evidence suggested that these extraterrestrial lifeforms, over tens or even millions of years of evolution, developed a unique beehive social structure. They work together like ants, each with its duty, selectively expressing their genes as needed by their group, even altering their own genetics."

"Isn’t it astonishing? A bunch of Variants who haven’t even invented internal combustion engines yet mastered the secrets of evolution; if only I had been born in that era..."

A hint of envy appeared in Yin Fang’s eyes as he continued, looking at his tablet,

"Anyway, based on these research findings, the research team from the Biomedical Research Institute of South Gate University brought out their ’Resonance Theory’ set and boldly speculated that those extraterrestrial lifeforms were controlled by some Unified Consciousness."

"To prove this conclusion, the team leader found a medical enterprise called Silver Hope, using their resources and connections with the Third Ecological Conservation Park in Qingquan City, hoping to utilize the park’s ground and animals to study the Resonance Field."

Chu Guang: "...Did they succeed?"

"More than succeeded," said Yin Fang with admiration, "They were inspired by the extraterrestrial lifeform samples, built upon the Resonance Theory, put forward the Resonance Theory, and designed a set of Mind Interference Devices—they could output specific messages and amplify them exponentially on an individual."

"This message could be as specific as a sentence or as complex as an image, vague like a dream, or simply a pure emotion. The higher the intelligence, the more specific information it could accept but the less impacted it was by it. Conversely, the lower the intelligence, the less specific information it could accept, but it was more significantly influenced."

Chu Guang stroked his chin.

"I see."

The intelligence of a monkey probably fell somewhere between humans and a Hyena?

Possessing a degree of intelligence, capable of understanding simple orders, but not highly intelligent, and thus susceptible to influence by the Mind Interference Device.

The Mind Interference Device designed by Shelter No.401 seemed quite similar to the device used by the Torch Church.

Only the latter seemed to have modified it to some extent, turning the "AOE Skill" into a point-to-point single-target ability.

"...This device is far more reliable than an infrasound fence, not only utilizing less energy, offering more application scenarios, and having fewer side effects, but also affecting only specific life forms, with adjustable frequencies."

"As long as you continuously emit an emotion of fear towards the surrounding exoplanetary creatures, they will conscientiously stay away from the colony. In the field of agriculture and animal husbandry, it can also accelerate the reproduction rate of animals."

"However, the corporation sponsoring them clearly wasn’t content with just this accomplishment; they quickly turned their attention to the customers, and so the experiments continued, but with the zoo animals replaced by visitors."

"Various signs showed they were still successful. Although it’s difficult for higher minds to be directly influenced by such a device, under the relentless prompting of ’buy it,’ the sales of ecological preservation park souvenirs hit an all-time high, with many visitors paying the price of a smart wearable device for a commodity worth no more than a bottle of spring water... This nearly overturned the advertising industry."

Chu Guang stared at Yin Fang with his mouth agape.

"This is possible?"

"People of the Prosperity Epoch were all monsters... whether researchers or merchants," Yin Fang lamented genuinely, "Of course, that corporation was indeed punished into bankruptcy, which is true. Those who treat others like idiots usually don’t end up well. All involved were prosecuted, and it’s said that the heaviest sentence handed down isn’t even over yet."

Sun Zewen, who had been listening quietly by the side, had a face flushed with shame and guilt emerged on his face.

"Stop talking..."

All this information was stored in the deepest part of Shelter No. 401’s server. He had never told anyone and had no idea how this guy dug it all up.

Chu Guang looked at the man before him in surprise.

"You were sentenced too?"

Holy shit.

What a talent!

This was his first time meeting an old stick-in-the-mud from the Human Alliance Era.

Responding to Chu Guang’s surprised look, Sun Zewen said with a bitter smile,

"I was just a minor researcher... The main responsible parties indeed received heavy sentences, but it didn’t go as far as implicating us."

Yin Fang looked at him with interest and said,

"And you even obtained a ticket to enter Shelter No. 401."

Sun Zewen was silent for a moment before nodding.

"Yes, I won’t deny that my survival to this point is somewhat related to my research. After all, technology itself is innocent; it can free our fellow colonists from the harassment of extraterrestrial creatures. It’s just regrettable... Such a newly born technology has been misused by the wrong people in the wrong place."

"I agree with you, technology itself is neither good nor bad; it’s the people using it that need to be regulated," Chu Guang nodded approvingly and paused for a moment before continuing.

"Now it’s not just the distant world that suffers from the invasion of Variants, but the very land beneath our feet as well. The New Alliance needs your technology, and I hope you can put it to more meaningful use."

With this device, the control of Variants would no longer depend on enclosing walls, and the farmlands, pasturelands, and villages near the settlements would no longer have to worry about the harassment of the Variants.

However, this technology was not without risks.

Once the frequency was adjusted to match the human brain’s compatibility range, it was tantamount to opening Pandora’s box.

Although the mental resonance had limited effects on higher-minded creatures, continuous and unceasing emotional input was no different from brainwashing.

And the impact was indiscriminate.

Thinking about how the Torch Church also possessed similar technology, Chu Guang couldn’t help but be internally vigilant.

He was a man with principles.

But whether others had any was another matter.

He had to take over the legacy of Shelter No. 401, not just to deal with Variants and the Tide, but also to develop means of counteraction.

"Of course, respected Manager," Sun Zewen said, bowing his head humbly, "It would be my honor to serve the great New Alliance."

To be honest, he didn’t care about all this.

The world has already become what it is now; whoever used the knowledge in his head, it was still getting used. At least the man in front of him seemed a lot better than those Looters.

Zhao Yuan, standing aside, had been silent the whole time.

He glanced at Sun Zewen, who had decisively pledged allegiance to a new master, and then at Chu Guang, who wore the ex-Manager’s gear, before suddenly speaking up.

"You said the same thing to that person."

Chu Guang, realizing he was being addressed, curiously glanced at him.

"Which person?"

"Wang Yi... the boy we rescued from the Wasteland. We raised him, and because of him, we split twice. Perhaps we never should have opened that door," the old man said, regret flickering through his cloudy eyes as he lowered his head.

Chu Guang remembered that name.

That name marked the beginning of Shelter No. 117’s dissolution and was also, a decade later, the leader of the Torch Church—his followers called him "Saint Heir."

Since making contact with the Pioneer, Chu Guang had been collecting information about the various forces on the Wasteland as best as he could, sifting through it to identify useful leads.

"I’ve been meaning to ask since earlier, after you left Shelter No. 117, did you stay here for a while?"

"Shelter No. 401 offered us an olive branch. Their Mind Interference Device could drive away Variants within a three-kilometer radius, and we initially planned to establish a base here, then relocate the stubborn old folks from Shelter No. 117, to show them up with a beautiful new home... but that Wang Yi, he believed we should continue southward to find that sample of exoplanetary life."

Zhao Yuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his tone heavy.

"We parted ways again... Only three of us, including myself, stayed, while the rest followed Wang Yi to the south. I even suspect that they were all brainwashed by that so-called Resonance Field or Mind Interference Device."

"Don’t make false accusations, the Resonance Field doesn’t have that function," Sun Zewen, now allied with his new employer, was much bolder than before, and scoffed at the old man, "Haven’t you ever considered that it might be your own failing? Like being too gullible?"

Zhao Yuan grew angry again.

"Who are you calling gullible?"

As the two seemed about to argue once more, Chu Guang, his head aching, was about to step in to mediate.

However, just then, Heya suddenly muttered softly.

"Karen... my master is still alive."

The anger in his eyes was gradually replaced by a shade of guilt, and the old man slowly lowered his head, falling silent for a long time before saying,

"I didn’t know..."

"But like you, she could live a long time under normal circumstances."

"If nothing unexpected happened, she’s probably still out there."

-

(Thank you to the "Falling Feather of the Ji family" for the Sterling Silver alliance reward!! Big shout out to the big boss!!)

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