This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 350: The Duel Between Awakeners!

Chapter 350: Chapter 350: The Duel Between Awakeners!

"Boss, do you think they’ll come this way?" The muscular man with a steel stud on his nose excitedly asked as he repeatedly stroked his tape-wrapped rifle with his index finger.

"They definitely will..."

In the middle of an abandoned building overgrown with moss and vines, the man in a leather jacket held binoculars, staring unblinkingly at the street ahead.

His name was Black, living outside the Giant Wall in the slums, and he was a Bounty Hunter who fought for his employers.

He was also an Awakener.

Although he lived in the slums, it wasn’t because of poverty.

For an Awakener, moving to the Inner City was no big deal; no Mercenary Group would refuse an Awakener’s membership, provided the ability wasn’t especially useless.

However, Black had no interest in living a life bound by others’ rules. To others, that Giant Wall marked the boundary between savagery and civilization, but to him, it was nothing more than a useless concrete cage, only for cowards who needed others to protect them.

The true strong relied solely on their own fists.

The previous evening, he had received a mission from a client at the Pirate Bay Tavern.

The employer didn’t want to reveal his name, but he was generous; he had paid Black an advance of a chip worth 1000, with the promise of two more upon completion.

Such large denomination chips seldom circulated in the market, they were typically used by the Inner City’s Nobles. Normal shops couldn’t make change for them, and they had to be exchanged at a bank.

When Black saw the advance, his eyes almost lit up with chips of various colors, and he took the job without a second thought.

Though generally speaking, the more valuable the reward, the more dangerous the mission, he wasn’t overly concerned.

Firstly, he had absolute confidence in his own abilities, and secondly, the content of the mission didn’t sound particularly difficult.

The New Alliance’s delegation was on its way to Giant Stone City, and for the city’s future, the mysterious employer wanted him to ambush these envoys halfway.

He didn’t need to kill everyone, just launch a sudden attack to teach those North Suburb yokels a profound lesson—to learn courtesy and humble manners and to take their so-called friendly cooperation agreement and roll back to wherever they came from.

Black licked the corner of his mouth with excitement, but as time passed, his eyes suddenly took on an unnatural look.

"...Something isn’t right."

Why haven’t they reached the ambush circle yet?

Could they have been discovered beforehand?

That shouldn’t be possible.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered a rumor from the Pirate Bay Tavern.

A mysterious "Intuition system" Awakener was rumored to have made a fool of a group of mercenaries in the North Suburb.

Black’s expression gradually turned grave.

If the rumors were true, maybe they had already been discovered.

"Everyone prepare for battle."

He muttered a low command and signaled to his brothers nearby, then picked up the RPG launcher from the ground and loaded a high-explosive grenade into it.

He had bought this thing from a weapons shop.

Though its explosive and armor-piercing capabilities didn’t match those produced by the Giant Stone City Military Industrial Complex, it was still better than the Iron Fist, which was small yet potent.

The key was it was cheap and reloadable, and even though its accuracy at medium distances wasn’t great, not everyone needed the device.

Just like not everyone needed to face Evolutionary bodies.

His brothers nearby were also ready, chambering their submachine guns and automatic rifles. The heavy machine gunner, stationed in the building, also clicked the bolt into place with a snap.

On the quiet street, murderous intent was thick.

Although the fight hadn’t started, it was as if one could already smell the scent of blood.

Black waited silently, adjusting the rhythm of his breathing.

However, just then, from a window 200 meters away from him, suddenly came the sound of a massive explosion.

Boom—!

He suddenly looked over there and saw a figure thrown out of the window, screaming tragically with a prolonged sound as it smashed into a meat mush on the sloping concrete bridge.

That was the direction of the heavy machine gun position!

The one thrown down just now was his partner!

Black’s eyes instantly filled with a trace of blood, and his pupils spelled out rage and horror.

"Damn it! Luther!!"

How had he been found?!

But now there was no time to think about this question. Without a second word, he lifted the launch tube and pulled the trigger towards that window.

With a whoosh, a white tail flame darted toward the diagonally opposite window.

The blast wave and flames surged out from that pitch-black ruin, even charring the moss on the wall.

At the same time, Black revved up his voice, his eyes bloodshot as he yelled loudly.

"Kill them for me!"

On the other side, an agility system player shook his head and got up from the ground in the window that had been hit by an RPG.

His ID was "Killer Dagger," and he entered the Game in the Alpha 0.5 version. Since both "Killer" and "Dagger" were awkward to pronounce, his buddies who knew him well simply called him Kill Dagger.

As a Level 15 agility system player, his talent was to convert half of his reflex nerves into environmental perception.

Although in the current version, the perception system was slowly showing a trend of inheriting the position of the intelligence system’s younger brother, for stealth players, this talent was just right!

The bulletproof panels of the composite material of the Light Cavalry Exoskeleton blocked most of the shrapnel, but the blast wave still shook his internal organs as if they were nearly displaced.

However, since he couldn’t feel pain, he was more concerned about his equipment and the trophies that flew away.

"Damn it—my original armor!"

And that heavy machine gun!

He was about to confiscate it when a rocket launcher came flying and blew everything away.

Definitely a plot kill!

Targeted by the dog planner!

While he was cursing, Old White’s voice came through the communication channel.

"...How’s the situation over there?"

"I’m fine... The enemy has heavy firepower."

"Do you need support?"

"No need, no need," Kill Dagger chuckled, "Leave it to us!"

The scouting team consisted of three people besides him, including "Kidney Fighter" and "All the Good Names Were Taken by Dogs."

One was a strength type, and the other was a perception type, both Level 15 and 14, respectively, and, like him, old players who entered the Game in the Alpha 0.5 version.

Before joining the Burning Corps, the three of them had already teamed up to brush maps and do quests.

Touching near his helmet twice, Kill Dagger moved towards the half-collapsed staircase while communicating with his teammates.

"Kidney, dog thing, what’s the situation over there?"

A response came quickly to his ear.

"...The outer defense has been removed, moving up the building. What about your side? I think I just heard something explode."

"Ate a rocket, no big deal... I’m on my way to the support position, expected to arrive in one minute."

"Roger that, be safe."

"Quick battle, quick decision!"

Gunshots rang out, and flashes of gunfire flickered in the ruins.

Releasing the small drones from their shoulders, two players clad in exoskeletons carrying rifles pressed on, going ’tat-tat-tat’ all the way, nimbly weaving through the broken concrete rubble.

The Light Cavalry Exoskeleton showcased unparalleled mobility in urban terrain, especially among the complex landscape of ruins where ordinary people couldn’t reach, those wearing light exoskeletons could easily climb up.

Screams of subordinates echoed from downstairs continually.

As the gunfire grew closer, Black’s eyes filled with fear and rage.

Eventually, all emotions turned into a roar as his muscles began to swell outward like entwined pythons, his eyes bloodshot and emitting a terrifying red.

"I’m going all out!!"

A steel syringe was jammed into his thigh. Black, who had just roared in anger, left his cover and, grabbing a rust-covered steel plate, charged toward the flickering muzzle flashes at the end of the corridor.

Every cell in his body swelled to its limit, and he charged like a berserk tank. With each stride, the corridor tiles wailed in distress.

Bullets hitting the steel plate left only small dents; the authoritative 7mm rounds couldn’t penetrate!

At such a close distance, there was no time to use a rocket launcher, and the scout team wouldn’t carry that thing anyway.

"Holy shit! Has this guy lost his mind?!"

The dog-faced man appeared surprised, but after playing the game for so long, there was nothing he hadn’t seen.

Even without a glance his way, the Kidney Fighter next to him put down his assault rifle and, letting out a low snarl, drew his engineer shovel.

"Berserk!"

His strength surged, and instead of retreating, he charged toward the muscular behemoth.

Surprise flickered across the face layered with flesh, but it quickly turned into a contemptuous, arrogant laugh.

"You want to die—I’ll grant your wish!!" Black roared and charged forward with the steel plate leading the way.

Exoskeletons?

Drones?

Those precious toys were nothing before pure strength!

His muscles were the strongest engine!

Thud!!!

Metal collided with metal, ringing out a sonorous roar.

However, the man before him was not sent flying as Black had anticipated.

The steel plate he held was like hitting a wall—it just slightly wobbled and then stood firm apart from a slight tremor.

A look of surprise crossed Black’s face, but it was quickly replaced by renewed anger.

He violently lifted the steel plate and pulled out a nail hammer hidden inside it, swinging fiercely at the exoskeleton-clad head.

The clang of metal rang out again.

The man was holding an iron shovel, completely at odds with his high-tech armor, and impressively parried the blow!

Shock and fear filled Black, especially as a tingling sensation spread from the heel of his hand.

"Ha ha! Nicely done!"

The man shouted words Black didn’t understand. Swinging the shovel in an arc, he violently aimed a blow at Black’s head.

Black desperately raised his nail hammer to block, resulting in two clanging sounds as the impact forced him to step back.

The man seemed tireless, his engineer shovel waving like a windmill.

Even as the steel deformed from the battering, it relentlessly targeted Black’s face without a break.

Black was scared, his face revealing a hint of terror.

Even if he was slow to realize, at this moment, he clearly recognized that the man before him was an Awakener!

And his strength was in no way inferior to his!

With the support of the exoskeleton, the combined power of muscles and mechanics in combat was like a fierce storm.

Far from showing any signs of fatigue, the man became more vigorous as the fight continued.

His bodily functions were on the brink of their limits.

Black could no longer parry and fell back, he plopped down on his knees and raised his arms in surrender.

"I surrender!"

The few underlings who had survived behind him were stunned on the spot, exchanging glances. But seeing that their boss had surrendered, they ultimately laid down their weapons.

Staring at the kneeling checkpoint BOSS, that player named "Kidney Fighter" was slightly startled, and the raised engineer shovel paused midair.

He was having a blast fighting.

Why did he surrender so suddenly?

Get up and keep it up!

Kneeling on the ground, Black trembled, cold sweat dripping down his forehead. The look in the eyes of the man before him instilled an instinctual unease.

However, he truly could not continue fighting.

At that moment, both players heard the panting voice of a teammate in their ears.

"Damn, I finally made it... I’ve arrived at the support location. Which floor are you guys on? Why has the gunfire stopped? Is everyone okay?"

"...It’s already over, the BOSS surrendered," Dog Thing said with a nuanced expression, "You can go down now."

Kill Dagger: "%￥#@!"

...

Not far away atop a tall building, a woman covered in alloy stood still.

The black visor and helmet concealed her entire head, revealing her gender only through her silhouette.

At first glance, it seemed like she was wearing an exoskeleton but a closer look would reveal that the helmet and visor were non-removable components, directly grown onto her neck.

She had no name, only an X-16 designation, which was marked on her left chest and the processor embedded within her thoracic cavity.

A small and delicate electronic sparrow landed on her shoulder, and a string of dark green characters flashed across its lively black eyes.

X-16 silently nodded, her pitch-black visor looking straight ahead as she spoke in a cold electronic voice.

"...The bait has been captured."

"Should we initiate Plan B?"

An answer came through the communication channel.

"No need, come back."

X-16 nodded her head.

"Yes."

Not long after her voice fell, the figure on the rooftop had silently departed.

As if she had never been there...

...

Elsewhere.

Black and his five disheartened subordinates, under the watch of three exoskeleton-clad players, hands on their heads, walked out of the riddled abandoned building.

When Black saw the seven soldiers standing next to the envoy, a hint of despair could not help but appear on his face.

Until a few seconds ago, he naively believed that the three people he had just encountered were already the strongest force of the New Alliance envoy.

However, the seven soldiers before him, adorning exoskeletons, radiated an aura not at all inferior to those three, especially the one standing at the forefront—their strength was unfathomable!

At this moment, he finally realized how foolish it was to take on this mission.

The confiscated weapons were gathered together.

Looking at the RPG launcher on the ground, a hint of surprise crossed Old White’s face.

"Where did you get the rocket launcher?"

He used the language of the United Human to ask this.

Black answered cautiously.

"... You can buy such things in the slums’ black market."

In fact, Giant Stone City’s weapon shops also had them, but they only occupied a small space on the shelf, consisting of a tiny launching tube.

Explosives over 50 grams in quantity were not allowed inside the giant walls, and after payment, one had to pick up the goods at a trade station outside the walls.

It seemed that all survivor settlements on the Wasteland followed this rule.

Luka walked over, looked down at Black crouched on the ground with his hands over his head, and said in a deep voice,

"Who sent you?"

Seeing the plot trigger, the players nearby watched this scene with interest.

"I don’t know..."

Black stammered, his eyes darting to the unfriendly gazes around him as he quickly explained, "I really don’t know, I... I was just paid to do the job. My contact is a regular at Pirate Bay Tavern; his name is Bit... You can ask the bartender there; they all know that person."

"Paid to do the job?" Luka frowned as he stared at him, "What job were these people asking you to do? How much did they pay you?"

"My contact just told me to ambush you here with my men, and then he gave me... a down payment of 1000 chips," Black said, his face pleading and obsequious, "I’m willing to give up all my possessions to you, just spare me."

Old Luka didn’t pay much attention to this bounty hunter’s pleas, his face betraying a hint of seriousness.

Although he had anticipated that this trip wouldn’t be uneventful, to avoid complications, he had deliberately scheduled the contract signing soon, leaving no time for those with malicious intent to prepare.

Yet, they had still become a target.

Old White cast an inquiring look at Luka.

"What do we do with these prisoners?"

Luka considered for a moment before speaking.

"Leave it to the Manager to handle."

After saying this, he displayed his VM, setting coordinates on the map, and then turned to Old White.

"The Guards Corps will send someone to retrieve the prisoners. Please arrange for two people to wait here for a while."

Old White nodded, looking at two Agility system players beside him.

"The NPC responsible for the prisoners’ custody is on their way here. You two stay and guard for a bit. Follow us after the handover is complete."

Both nodded in agreement.

"Okay!"

"No problem!"

...

The prisoners and the loot were left behind as two were tasked to guard them, and the group continued on their way.

Shying away from these little difficulties would play right into their enemies’ hands.

Old Luka made a firm decision in his mind that regardless of what happened, he must bring the agreement back with him.

At the same time, within a very industrial-looking building in the outer city of Giant Stone City.

A man in formal attire sat in an office, quietly scrutinizing a holographic image projected on the surface of his desk.

Though it was an office, the room didn’t bear a hint of minimalism.

The entire room was designed to the standard of a presidential suite in an inner city hotel.

From the table in front of him to the bed in the adjoining room, every piece of furniture was an imported good of ideal origin.

His name was Yibers, the chairman of the Huge Rock Military Industry.

As the underground emperor of the outer city, he alone possessed the financial means to enjoy all this.

And he alone was worthy of such comforts.

Standing beside the man, his slightly aged secretary spoke softly.

"... Their strength is surprising."

Yibers nodded, his expression emotionless.

"Yes, they must have mastered some technique to induce awakenings."

"And the strength displayed by those awakenings isn’t weak."

Although it’s not easy to induce awakenings, it’s also not an impossible task.

When a species is faced with an existential crisis, there will always be one or two abnormally strong individuals who emerge.

Coupled with the achievements in genetic engineering from the Human Alliance Era, this special situation became infinitely amplified, leading to what’s known as "Awakening"—the most mainstream viewpoint.

Without resorting to any technology, some survivor settlements could naturally produce Awakeners.

And with some technological intervention, inducing individuals with the potential to awaken was also feasible.

Though this would come with a series of risks, including reproductive isolation.

Yibers was aware of such technologies; he even knew over a dozen awakening induction methodologies.

Huge Rock Military Industry mastered two of those. Acquiring another wouldn’t make much difference.

They would periodically produce a batch of clone babies, select a few with awakening potential for focused training, and send those without potential to orphanages in the slums or dispose of them.

The selection process wasn’t 100% accurate, but as long as the overall quality rate exceeded 80%, it was sufficient for them.

To Huge Rock Military Industry, Awakeners were merely a "high-cost performance, low-output" piece of equipment. Their military capabilities didn’t depend on just one or two pieces of equipment but on the entire system.

However...

What gave Yibers cause for concern was,

The New Alliance had too many of these high-cost performance pieces of equipment.

The secretary beside him evidently shared his thoughts.

"... If their regular soldiers all possess the combat power of Awakeners, we might need to deploy the Militia Group to handle them."

Based on the intelligence they had gathered, the New Alliance had an Awakeners Corps of about 1000 to 3000 individuals, and this was the confidence behind their declaration of a northern campaign.

Even though their high-tech equipment was limited, sometimes quantity was a formidable force.

"... Moreover, there’s something off about these people."

Yibers casually inquired.

"In what way do you mean?"

"In every sense," the secretary paused for a moment before clearly continuing, "They don’t seem like normal people, nor do they seem like clones, but rather like special entities somewhere in between."

"I suggest we increase our interactions with them to figure out exactly what’s going on."

Strange occurrences were not uncommon on the Wasteland, but this matter happened right at their doorstep.

After pondering for a while, Yibers slowly nodded.

"You’re right, it is necessary to look into this."

The respectful secretary said, "Would you like me to arrange a meeting with the city hall manager for you?"

"There’s no need; I spoke to him on the phone last night. Things are moving in the direction we want."

"Even so," the secretary continued, "Mr. Dulon seems to be running into some trouble."

Yibers’ eyelids lifted slightly.

"What kind of trouble?"

"Workers have surrounded the city hall. They are dissatisfied with the results of the negotiations between Dulon and the New Alliance and are demanding to renegotiate."

Yibers paused, then let out a snort of laughter.

"Interesting."

...

Long, long ago, Giant Stone City was not a city, nor could it even be called a Survivor Settlement—it was merely a building.

Like other survivors in the apocalypse, those living there struggled through the end times with great difficulty.

However, at that time, a group of people arrived and told the inhabitants of the building—

"We will build high walls for you, grant you swords, seeds, and torches."

"However, the unreliable Alliance is crumbling, and our lifespans are as fragile as candles in the wind."

"For the future of us all, please hold onto the last spark."

"Until the end—"

Over time, more and more people gathered around the "flame."

The more people there were, the higher the flames soared. Though they were not a fraction as prosperous as the era of prosperity, they still retained a hint of warmth.

Gradually, the original building and the surrounding blocks became the Inner City, and the buffer zone between the Inner City and the colossal walls developed into the Outer City.

Now, even the vast Outer City can’t accommodate everyone. Those who cannot enter behind the giant walls set up shanties outside the walls or dispersed to the surrounding areas, forming villages like Bet Street.

Of course, bad luck might mean getting caught by slavers and sold to places like Brown’s farm.

"...Or, simply becoming food for Mutants, Looters, and Variants."

After listening to Xia Yan’s recount of "history," Chu Guang spoke thoughtfully.

"That group of people... were they called the Post-War Reconstruction Committee?"

He had watched Doctor Principle’s holographic images over and over, where Giant Stone City was never mentioned, but the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, this mysterious organization, was mentioned several times.

Two centuries ago, the Wasteland should have had none of these major powers like corporations, armies, and academies, and The Torch Church only emerged a decade or two ago.

To be able to build such towering walls on the ruins, it seemed only one possibility existed.

"As for that, I don’t know. There are other versions of the story, but that’s all I know..."

Sitting on the lounge sofa in the browsing room, Xia Yan cradled a cup of hot milk with cocoa, sipping gently.

She didn’t know why Chu Guang suddenly became interested in a story from 200 years ago, but she happened to have heard a bit about it.

Given the chocolate’s sake, she didn’t mind chatting with him for a while.

Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully and pressed a few keys on the keyboard.

Curious, Xia Yan watched Chu Guang, who was meticulously staring at the computer, casually resting his biomimetic prosthetic leg on another well-shaped leg.

"Are you writing a diary?"

"Diary?" Chu Guang was slightly startled and then laughed, "Why would you think that?"

Xia Yan blinked.

"Because it feels like you’re always writing."

Pausing his hands, Chu Guang spoke after a moment of thought.

"...Well, rather than a diary, it’s more like I’m weaving dreams."

Xia Yan rolled her eyes helplessly.

"There you go speaking cryptically again."

Chu Guang just smiled faintly, without responding.

Everything he said was true, but he rarely completed a sentence.

In that regard, politics and sales were really similar.

Just that the items sold were different.

After completing the world-building in the settings collection, Chu Guang logged onto the official forum to take a glance.

It wasn’t time to log off yet. Players were all in the game, but the forum was buzzing as usual.

Two hours ago, the Silver coin trading platform reopened. The trading price had gone through dozens of rollercoaster rides, causing the onlookers to exclaim that it was absurd.

"Holy shit! It broke a hundred!"

"Awesome!"

"How did it fall to single digits?!"

"The big shots, give us some power! If everyone stops selling, we’ll shoot the Silver coins to the sky!"

"Dammit! Who is selling off?!"

Because the idle chat section forbade discussion on such topics, similar posts flooded the trading section.

While the masses cared about the price, Chu Guang was flipping through the information of those large transactions in the background.

Without even needing Xiao Qi’s computing power, he could roughly figure out, based on capital flows, that major powers in reality were consciously accumulating the Air coins he had issued.

They even hired professional traders.

"...Looks like this battery has quite the charge."

A smile crept onto Chu Guang’s face.

If they decided to mistake him for an extraterrestrial civilization and took Wasteland OL as some sort of enlightening fable, then let them continue with their misunderstandings.

It wasn’t a bad thing.

Compensating those who work is only fair.

Although he couldn’t go to that world, he still hoped his little players could have a slightly better life.

Just then, Xiao Qi’s voice suddenly drifted over.

"Master."

Already almost PTSD from this assistant AI’s habit of reporting only bad news, Chu Guang anxiously looked toward the doll sitting at the corner of the table.

"What’s wrong?"

Xiao Qi, stared at so intently, showed a bashful expression and a timid smile.

However, that did not make the bad news any better.

"You only have two closed beta access slots left, Master."

Chu Guang paused.

"Only two left? Didn’t I say to reduce the distribution when the closed beta access was almost gone?"

Xiao Qi protested with a hurt tone, "I’ve been doing as you instructed... I already reduced the distribution to 10 a day last week, and reduced it a bit more this week, but there are only so many."

Although it also wanted to help Chu Guang recruit more players, there was a hard "recruitment cap," and it couldn’t do anything about it.

Chu Guang said nothing for the day, and Xiao Qi spoke softly.

"Should I change it to one per day?"

Or perhaps distribute one Gold coin a day, collecting 10 to exchange for a discount coupon for a helmet.

Xia Yan tilted her head, not understanding what Chu Guang and the figurine on the table were talking about.

"That won’t be necessary. Just distribute the last two."

Looking at the tasks in his work journal, Chu Guang massaged his temples with some headache.

"...Looks like I’ll need to schedule contact with Shelter 101 sooner rather than later."

To cheer up that Pai, he specifically sent the obedient, sensible, and cute Little Fish to be her "exclusive customer service."

He wondered how she was doing on her end...

—

(Thanks to "czhang59" for the generous rewards!!!)