This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 369: The Complexity of Humans Lies Herein

Chapter 369: Chapter 369: The Complexity of Humans Lies Herein

Leaving the virtual world was simple.

All that was needed was a touch to the temples to take off the glasses.

In casual conversation with Dr. Method, Chu Guang learned that the residents of Shelter No. 404 had abandoned their flesh and uploaded their consciousness to the virtual world, embracing a higher form of evolution.

And with that, they had been reborn.

"...Our world originally had only 6,000 people, and now it has a population of 3 billion, most of whom were born from complex self-evolving algorithms. We only need to consume a tiny amount of insignificant resources to meet all material and spiritual needs."

Sitting on a bench in the park, the man’s gaze passed over the bustling crowd.

The city’s outline was visible in the distance.

"I spent my life savings here, storing enough resources in the shelter to maintain the world’s smooth operation for a thousand years or even longer."

"But one day it will vanish."

Upon hearing Chu Guang say this, Dr. Method smiled faintly and asked in a light voice.

"Yes, but what is eternal anyway?"

"The indestructible Alliance lasted only a little more than a century, and our time of prosperity wasn’t even longer than our time of decline."

"Here, we can anticipate the day the world will be destroyed and calmly welcome our final fate before the apocalypse arrives. I don’t think that’s a bad thing."

Saying this, he rose from the bench and smiled at Chu Guang who sat beside him.

"Thank you for staying with me so long, but now I must go to find my wife and daughter. If you are interested in our world, you can walk around."

"This world is vast and will never bore you. Of course, if you like it here, you are welcome to stay."

That last sentence didn’t sound like a joke.

Chu Guang hesitated for a half-second, but that was all.

"No need, there are many people waiting for me over there."

He admitted this place was beautiful.

Clean sunlight, air, and water, endless resources sustaining a population of 3 billion.

This was the real "Game world."

And a perfect Utopia.

There were no Variants, no Looters and Mutants, and even the concept of exploitation didn’t exist.

However, it was precisely because of this that Chu Guang feared he would indulge in this beautiful yet fictitious dream.

Rising from the bench, he raised his index finger to touch his temple, feeling for a transparent protrusion.

According to Dr. Method, all he had to do was take it off to leave this place.

However, as Chu Guang was about to do just that, he suddenly thought of something and blurted out.

"If I choose to stay, wouldn’t the experiment of that professor you mentioned be a failure?"

If he remembered rightly,

after his death, Shelter No. 404 would activate its shutdown procedure, and the Morphological formation field device would cease to operate, waiting for the right time to reactivate.

Maybe it would be ten years later, or a century, or even further in the future.

"It doesn’t matter, since you’ve made it this far, you are certain to refuse," the man’s face suddenly revealed a cunning smile, "just take that as polite talk."

That smile caused Chu Guang to roll his eyes.

He did want to be unpredictable, but if he really did so, it might play right into this man’s hands.

"You can keep dreaming in daylight for the rest of your life."

Watching the figure fading away, the doctor waved his hand with a smile.

"Thanks for your good words."

...

Vivid colors separated from consciousness, and the dark lenses came into view.

Chu Guang took off the glasses and placed them on the table beside him, then stood up and walked to the door.

The door opened.

Seeing Chu Guang at the door, the soldiers waiting there finally breathed a sigh of relief.

So did Hoene, standing to one side.

He reached into his sleeve, took off the VM strapped to his arm, and handed it to Chu Guang at the door.

"The Forerunner asked me to give this to you."

"Thank you."

After a brief courtesy, Chu Guang took the wrist computer.

And almost the moment his index finger touched it, a pale blue popup appeared before his eyes.

[Mission: Retrieve the Manager’s VM from Shelter No. 101 (Completed)]

[Reward: 3,500 Gene Sequences]

Looking at the popup that appeared before him, a hint of joy surfaced in Chu Guang’s eyes as he tapped his earpiece.

"Xiao Qi."

At the sound of his voice, Xiao Qi’s voice came through.

"I am here, master."

Chu Guang immediately commanded.

"Restart player recruitment!"

Xiao Qi: "Received!"

After a crisp response, the long-paused beta test qualification distribution finally restarted.

Still at the rate of 20 accounts per day.

This time he would focus more on recruiting some players with ideas and creativity, enriching the diversity of the player community while ensuring a position of neutrality or better.

3,500 Gene Sequences was enough to last until the end of the year. Considering the abundance of food after autumn and the gradually increasing food import quota, this rate of beta test distribution was just right.

Soon, a fresh batch of new players would enter the fray.

Great!

Chu Guang looked at the VM in his hand.

This was probably the easiest task he had received from the "Manager’s Work Log."

At first, when he saw the mission reward, Chu Guang thought the task would be very difficult.

Turned out, the manager of Shelter No. 101 just wanted to see him, having no other plans or schemes.

For Chu Guang, it was like going through a CG cutscene.

Suddenly thinking of something, Chu Guang turned to Hoene, who was standing beside him, and asked out of curiosity.

"Do you usually communicate this way too?"

Hoene nodded gently.

"Yes, after all, opening the door once requires a lot of energy, it’s more energy-efficient through the virtual reality system."

Chu Guang asked.

"Haven’t you thought about staying there?"

"Staying... there?"

A blank look crossed Hoene’s eyes, "Do you mean the pure white room? But there’s nothing there, right?"

A trace of strangeness surfaced in Chu Guang’s eyes.

Well, great.

It turned out that the residents of Camp 101 had never really been to that world.

But on second thought, it made sense.

Unless one had a resolute mind, after seeing the prosperity of that world, it would probably be difficult to maintain one’s true nature.

After all, a person’s life lasts no more than a hundred years, if one could obtain a thousand years of peace, there really wasn’t much worth clinging to in the physical body.

Seeing Chu Guang’s expression was a bit peculiar, Hoene couldn’t help but ask.

"Is there a problem?"

"Nothing, it’s all good," Chu Guang casually replied, quickly ending the conversation.

Hoene looked at him blankly. Though puzzled, he didn’t continue to probe.

It wasn’t, after all, a matter of importance.

"It seems you’ve had a pleasant talk with our Forerunners... May I ask if there is anything else you need?"

"No, thank you for your hospitality."

Taking one last look at the gear-shaped door seemingly fixed in space, Chu Guang then turned his attention to Lu Bei and the other soldiers of the Guards Corps.

"Let’s go."

...

After leaving Shelter 101, Chu Guang returned to the surface.

He first visited Xia Yan and Little Fish, along with the other students, then took a turn at the construction site in Dawn City, and finally returned to the base of the Second Corps.

As he crossed the threshold of the military camp, a group of young players were carrying back a deer with three antlers from the direction of the forest.

They brought the game to the campfire, preparing to cook it into a wild delicacy.

Noticing the Manager, the players’ eyes lit up, their expressions like those who had discovered a rare animal, immediately turning their gaze toward Chu Guang.

One player, with a stronger sense of role-playing, clapped his hands, stood up, and jogged over to Chu Guang, respectfully saying,

"Respected Manager, we’ve just caught a deer and were about to roast it!"

"If you don’t mind, we have extra space here!"

Chu Guang, who happened to be hungry, said with a smile,

"Then I won’t be polite!"

The player’s face showed surprise, clearly not expecting Chu Guang to agree so readily.

However, the surprise soon turned to delight, and he excitedly nodded,

"Alright!"

Seeing their companion bring the Manager back, a group of players immediately pulled him aside.

"Damn, why’d you bring the NPC over here?"

The player scratched his head with an embarrassed smile,

"Heh, wasn’t I just thinking about getting a good impression rating, what if it unlocks a hidden quest, wouldn’t that be a fortune!"

"Hiss... you make a good point."

"I’d better put some serious effort into it!"

Listening to the players’ murmurs about their favorability with him, Chu Guang couldn’t help but suppress a chuckle.

However, watching them busily handle the game, he didn’t laugh out loud after all.

The game took more than an hour to process.

This included skinning and removing excess fat, as well as sprinkling with the Shelter’s special spices.

To hang the game over the charcoal fire, the group of young players was bustling with joy.

As the sun set, Chu Guang finally got to taste the wild game the players had roasted.

The rich fragrance spread between his lips and teeth, a pity there was no beer here, or it would have been even better.

Holding the deer leg in his hand, Chu Guang couldn’t help feeling somewhat emotional.

Rather than saying he couldn’t bear to leave this world, it was more accurate to say he couldn’t bear to leave those hardworking and brave companions.

"Thank you, it’s delicious, feels like it’s driven away the fatigue of the whole day... if you opened a barbecue restaurant, it would definitely be a hit," Chu Guang joked.

The player who had pulled him here earlier, once again stood out, loyally stating,

"You’re welcome!"

"It’s our honor to serve you!"

The small group of players gathered around the fire, all looked at Chu Guang with expectant faces, their eyes shining with the light of hopeful futures.

Their expressions seemed to be calling out.

It went up!

The favorability!

Definitely went up!

...

A night without words.

The next morning, as the sun rose, Chu Guang boarded the train back to Dawn City, concluding his visit to Dawn City and Camp 101.

Aside from the 3,500 beta testing spots, another gain from the trip was that Chu Guang finally had an answer to his confusion about the origins of the Wasteland.

The Doomsday War that occurred 200 years ago was between the United Human’s mother star and colonies.

And the motive for the outbreak of war didn’t seem to be for independence or purely economic benefits.

After all, if it were for those two goals, it would have been hard to fight to such an extent.

This kind of fight aiming at the complete annihilation of the opponent was just like a slaughter between two different species.

And there might be some hidden reasons behind this that he still didn’t understand...

"History is a cycle, but it usually doesn’t repeat itself simply."

Sitting on the train, while organizing his notes, Chu Guang wrote this sentence at the very end of this Chapter —

About Camp 101.

...

Shelter No. 404.

In warehouse B2, Yin Fang stood in front of a piece of power armor, fixing armor made of A3 aeronautical aluminum onto the damaged cut with assistance from two engineers.

The entire armor’s surface was polished to a certain degree, looking brand new, and the shell was painted with a fresh urban camouflage.

Different from the "battle-damaged style" exoskeleton that Clear Spring had lucked into, when repairing this "Dragon Cavalry," Yin Fang clearly invested more effort, striving to restore it to the most perfect condition, rather than just making do with a "good enough" attitude.

That’s why when Chu Guang saw this piece of power armor, he almost didn’t recognize it.

"You’re back? I was about to report good news to you!"

Watching Chu Guang approach from the door, Yin Fang stopped his work and went to greet him, his face animated with excitement.

"The condition of this power armor is simply perfect! Not only are the reactor and batteries good, but even the tactical helmet’s holographic image is intact! How much did you spend to get this?"

"If I say I didn’t spend a dime, you definitely wouldn’t believe it," Chu Guang joked.

Yin Fang laughed and said, "Why would I not? At most, I would say, ’It’s just like you.’"

What the heck?

Do I look like someone who would freeload?

Chu Guang rolled his eyes, too lazy to explain, and directly ended the topic.

"I met your revered ancestor."

"What?"

Yin Fang was taken aback by the sudden statement.

Chu Guang didn’t pause and continued speaking.

"That Dr. Method."

"Method...?"

Yin Fang came to his senses, looking at Chu Guang with a face full of shock, momentarily unsure of what expression to make.

"Wait... You met Dr. Method? Where? Was it like before, a holographic image, or—"’

"At Shelter 101," Chu Guang interrupted his incoherent words, saying, "He’s the Manager there."

The air fell into an awkward silence for a moment.

Yin Fang took a deep breath, calming himself down.

He sorted out his jumbled thoughts, pinched the bridge of his nose, and after a moment asked.

"What kind of person is he?"

Chu Guang thought for a bit and said.

"To be honest, he’s not exactly likable, but that’s just from my perspective. Maybe those of you from the Academy have a different opinion."

Yin Fang’s expression became somewhat peculiar.

"The Academy’s archive has records about him; they describe him as a pessimistic realist. Incredible... to think he’s actually at Shelter 101. I always thought he was buried in the Wandering Swamp."

As he said this, his tone suddenly changed.

"Why didn’t you invite him out? Although he doesn’t hold as much presence as the other two founders in the Academy, there are still not a few scholars who follow him. If he were to call upon them, he might sway many of the Academy’s researchers to join you."

Looking at the weird expression on Yin Fang’s face, Chu Guang wore a helpless look.

He had indeed thought about this.

He had even considered coaxing a few engineers from there to help out with work.

After all, if the students they taught were so capable, the skills they possessed themselves must also be strong.

However...

"He and the residents of Shelter 101... have chosen to live in another form, uploading their consciousness to computers. In short, coming out of that door is not very likely."

Yin Fang paused, then after a moment of thought, muttered.

"Hmm... that does sound like his style, though it’s not entirely the same as in the books."

Chu Guang, curious, asked.

"In what way?"

Yin Fang’s eyes fell into reminiscence.

"The book ’Origin of the Academy’ describes him as someone who would always say discouraging things at inappropriate times, and he wouldn’t hesitate to bluntly suggest to students without qualifications to change their career paths. He was like a cold stone, not giving joy nor having the interest to actively do anything for others... but he actually did a lot of unnecessary things, didn’t he?"

"Like that Camp 101. If he decided to spend the rest of his life in a different form, there was really no need to go through the effort of teaching those Waste Land Wanderers arithmetic and literacy, let alone offering them protection."

This was indeed an interesting perspective.

Before abandoning his flesh and blood, that man must have tried all sorts of things.

And when he resolved to draw a close to his journey, he must have had no lingering attachment to the real world.

From this standpoint, the creation of Camp 101 was indeed superfluous.

Watching Yin Fang lost in thought, Chu Guang pondered for a while, then said slowly.

"Perhaps the complexity of people lies precisely in this."

...

On the edge of the West Fifth Ring of Qingquan City.

Walking on the broken streets with a large box on his back, Killer Dagger felt equally complex.

Initially, when Fang Chang brought up this "money-making" bug, his first reaction was excitement, almost willing to offer his own heart on the spot for the Alliance’s foreign reserves.

However, when the cold box was on his back, his mood suddenly weighed heavy.

"I always feel there’s something odd about this business..."

Blame could only be cast on the game being too realistic.

If it were just a texture or a string of numbers in a backpack, he’d bet he wouldn’t be having these second thoughts.

Fang Chang, walking beside him, glanced at him, guessing what was on his mind.

"You could think of it from a different angle. If it weren’t for us, the ones stripped of parts would be unarmed survivors, the poor in the slums, or scavengers lost on the Wasteland."

"Not everyone can afford bionic organs worth thousands or tens of thousands of chips. To survive, they would resort to any means, so in fact, we are sacrificing ourselves to benefit others."

Killer Dagger stared at him, dumbfounded.

Of course, he knew this reasoning wasn’t sound, but for the moment, he couldn’t think of a rebuttal.

Right.

The parts were taken from clones; they hadn’t deceived any non-respawnable NPCs.

Who was losing out?

It seemed to be the shelters.

After all, according to the settings, cultivating clones in the chambers required a lot of electricity, while the shelters only charged them for "vital substances."

Old White, walking beside them, teased.

"Your twisted logic is really something."

Unperturbed, Fang Chang replied.

"No, I’m just normally playing a game. It’s rather those who bring real-world rules into the game who are strange. Would you feel guilty for killing a civilian in GTA5, or for pushing the nuclear button in Civilization 6?"

After a moment of thought, Old White answered.

"Not guilty, but pushing the nuclear button does tend to make me feel empty."

After all, when you start seeing mushrooms all over the map, it’s pretty much the end of the game.

The meeting place for the deal was set on the edge of the West Fifth Ring of Qingquan City.

The straight-line distance from City of Dawn was further than that to Giant Stone City, but the actual route was shorter.

Medium-density residences filled the suburbs, and the Alliance’s players had explored this area, but because of the low return rate, the exploration wasn’t as thorough as that of the jungle in the East District.

The buyer of the Awakeners’ parts was not Dr. Greys’ clinic, but a client of Greys—a man named Edmond.

He used to be Dr. Greys’ assistant before the boss of the Dagger Gang, Jeff, took a liking to him and made him Jeff’s personal doctor for a while.

Maybe it was because the pay was too little, or for some other reason, but later on, Edmond broke away from the Dagger Gang and set out on his own in the Wasteland, opening a hospital.

Although he never gave his hospital a name, the mercenaries who knew the place still habitually referred to it as Edmund’s Clinic or Edmund’s Ranch.

As for why it had that nickname, it was unknown.

Anyway, the nobles of the Inner City wouldn’t fancy weak flesh and blood, and even mechanical replacements full of the smell of machine oil couldn’t catch their eye; only the clean and hygienic bionic prosthetics were their pursuit.

Therefore, the users of these parts were mostly mercenaries, bounty hunters, and even Looters who lived by the knife.

People who often faced bullets wouldn’t think of getting themselves expensive parts—cheap and durable was the name of the game.

After all, you never knew when you might be hit by an EMP grenade, and electronics could become a burden.

The parts of Awakeners might not be enough to turn them into Awakeners, but they certainly met the criteria of durability.

Two thousand chips were a huge sum for the average people of Giant Stone City, but for some capable mercenaries, it wasn’t an unbearable price.

"The Golden Dune Cinema... is just ahead."

Night Ten took a look at the map and locked his gaze on a relatively taller ruin nearby, "I’ll go over there and set up the gun for you."

"I’ll go with him," said Wild Wind, glancing at Night Ten before following.

After all, doing business in the ruleless "dark area" required extra caution.

"Mhm, stay safe."

Watching the two disappear around the corner, Fang Chang at the head of the group waved his hand forward.

"Move on."

The group of over twenty players continued forward.

The abandoned cinema was at the other end of the street, its half-collapsed ruins had been transformed into a fortress.

All the interactive holographic horror movies that were shown here 200 years ago were nothing compared to the reality of today, 200 years later.

Because people really died here.

And not just a few.

Kidney Fighter stared at the building for a while, then suddenly muttered.

"Why do I feel like this is a Looter’s den?"

Fang Chang didn’t speak, but his brows furrowed slightly.

Now that it was mentioned, it really did have that kind of vibe.

The bloodied stakes and the pieces of flesh and limbs hanging from the stakes instinctively reminded him of the Blood Hand Clan they had encountered several versions back.

However, that’s also what made the game most troublesome.

Looters didn’t write the word on their faces, there was no defined standard.

While the players were sizing up the building in front of them, pairs of eyes hidden inside the building were also sizing them up.

At that moment, the door opened.

A bare-chested burly man with four underlings walked out.

He exuded a strong smell of blood, one that could even be seen with the naked eye.

Stopping about twenty meters from Fang Chang, he tilted his chin up.

"Where’s the stuff?"

"It’s here," Fang Chang glanced at the boxes carried by several players beside him, then looked at him, "Are you that Edmond?"

"Dr. Edmond is performing surgery; I’m his apprentice. You can call me Iron Thorn."

The burly man grinned and looked toward his subordinate.

The skinny man understood, immediately grabbed two cases, opened the locks, and showed Fang Chang the series of 25-value, greenish chips inside.

Fang Chang made no move but glanced at the building not too far away, where he could see a machine gun casting a sinister cold light in the shadow of the window.

Noticing his gaze, the burly man known as Iron Thorn chuckled and said,

"Don’t mind that. We’re very trustworthy. After all, only those who keep their word can do long-term business, right?"

"All the chips are here; do you want to count them?"

Fang Chang nodded and stepped forward.

However, just then, his eyes moved beyond the burly man’s shoulder, and he saw a series of oval iron cages displayed inside the gate.

The cages contained both men and women, mostly under thirty, some even younger than twenty.

Their hair was unkempt and dirty, their faces too grimy to see clearly, and most were draped in nothing but a piece of tattered cloth; some were even stark naked.

Similar scenes he had witnessed in the Blood Hand Clan’s stronghold came to mind.

The only difference was that these people were not locked in dark, damp dungeons because what was needed from them were healthy "parts."

Meeting those desperate gazes, Fang Chang felt his heart shrink slightly.

What kind of people was he doing business with, after all?

He stopped, his legs feeling as if they had been filled with lead, and shifted his gaze back to the man’s face in front of him.

"Who are those people?"

"Those?"

Iron Thorn appeared momentarily stunned, glanced back at the iron cages behind him, then turned with an easy smile as if nothing mattered,

"Oh that... They’re just Scavengers, and some who owe gambling debts were sent here, or they’re the defective products from the clone factories."

"But they’re in luck. Our clients are more interested in the parts from the Awakeners. Before we find buyers, they get to live a little longer."

That matter-of-fact tone and expression, treating people as commodities, caused many players to feel physically ill.

Old White shifted his gaze awkwardly.

His feelings about Wasteland OL were somewhere between "cut the crap" and "long way to go."

Simply put, he didn’t regard the game as a complete world, nor did he entirely immerse himself in the gaming mentality.

Therefore, he wouldn’t judge other players’ in-game actions with his own moral standards, nor would he let the game affect his real-life emotions.

But if asked to come again next time, he thought he would most likely decline.

Staring at the man in front of him and the chips in the case, Fang Chang fell silent for a while, then he seemed to have an epiphany and sighed,

"If this were ’Stars,’ I wouldn’t feel any guilt for packing an entire planet’s worth of living people into cans."

"But in some games, just taking a can from an old man’s house can make me feel conflicted for half a day."

The burly man was taken aback, staring at Fang Chang with furrowed brows.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He couldn’t understand a word this guy was saying; it didn’t seem like any language he knew.

He just had a feeling that something was slightly off about the atmosphere around Fang Chang.

Fang Chang did not respond to him, nor did he care about his fidgeting, continuing to mutter incomprehensively to himself.

"It’s nothing."

"I just suddenly feel... doing business with people like you might make me lose my appetite tonight."

Standing behind Fang Chang, Old White, who had a complex expression earlier, finally revealed a gratified smile.

"Haha, I knew you’d say that!"