This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 380: The Weakness of the Iron Heart

Chapter 380: Chapter 380: The Weakness of the Iron Heart

On the mountaintop.

Beside a bulging mound of earth, Meat Meat stuck a crooked wooden sign into the ground.

The following words were written on it, in the language of this world.

"He stepped forward for his companions, writing a legend of courage with his life."

"—Teddy"

Besides this name, the signatures of all members of the White Bear Knights were present below.

There were many memories about it, but she could not write too many flowery phrases, and it was beyond her to summarize them in a few words.

"I hope in your next life, you’ll visit our world..."

"By the way, if you get to choose, try to pick the one with dark circles around its eyes... They have the most comfortable lives."

Reaching out her bear paw, Meat Meat gently touched the raised mound of earth and mumbled softly to herself before slowly standing up from before the gravestone.

The breeze blew gently, swaying her white fur and the grass beside her.

The morning sun in the distance had already risen, casting a shimmering golden hue through the forest.

She wanted to sing a song before leaving but couldn’t remember which one it should be.

Staring at the epitaph on the wooden sign and touching her chin, her tail pondered for a while and suddenly spotted a loophole.

"Wait."

"If we write our names too, won’t people think we are also buried below?"

"Yikes, don’t start telling ghost stories at a time like this!" Meat Meat, who had been sorrowful just moments ago, said with a cry of laughter.

"Um... It does feel a bit weird." Sesame Paste expressed subtly, finger to her lips, "it’s like... setting a huge flag."

Tail suddenly put on a sinister face and lowered her voice sneakily.

"Speaking of ghost stories, have you heard about that one... A girl attended her friend’s funeral one day and suddenly found her own name on the tombstone—"

"Enough, enough, please stop!"

Meat Meat covered Tail’s mouth, and the latter let out strange squeals.

The playful noise helped reduce some of the sorrow.

Turning back to glance at the crudely made gravestone, Sesame Paste gently knelt down and planted a small flower brought from the base of the mountain next to it.

Since this is a fully realistic Virtual Reality Game.

I suppose, after some years, colorful flowers might cover this entire hillside.

As long as the server doesn’t roll back...

Standing up from the ground, she looked toward her companions with a smile on her face.

"It’s time to go."

And like always brimming with energy, Tail, who had wriggled away from Meat Meat, energetically waved a fist.

"Whoa! Let’s go!"

...

Because of a newspaper, the entirety of Giant Stone City was in turmoil.

And Hal, the instigator behind all this, was currently exuding charisma—or rather, looked quite pleased with himself.

"Print more! Print 20,000 more copies of yesterday’s issue! Now our readers are not just idlers in taverns or unemployed wanderers in the streets, but also well-dressed citizens and nobles living in the Inner City!"

He sat by the office window, holding a bottle of champagne, slightly tipsy from drinking early in the morning, and issued orders to the editorial team with a strong smell of alcohol.

Yes, a bottle.

And a large one at that.

But it was all worth it.

Just two days ago, the circulation of "Survivor’s Daily" was hovering around 6,000, yet with yesterday’s headline, newspapers were sold out instantly.

Moreover, the subscription count had doubled, and now the whole city was listening to what he said.

This Haus?

Just a whining loser on the radio who couldn’t scare anyone; he didn’t take him seriously at all!

Shifting his gaze away from the employees, Hal looked towards Fang Chang standing in the editorial office, his face bursting with a radiant smile.

"My dear friend, those two photos you brought were just perfect! Why don’t you join our newspaper as a journalist? From my years of experience, I can tell you are a genius in this field!"

Years of experience, indeed...

Fang Chang remembered that a month ago, this guy was still a well-mannered member of the Royal Family.

In just a few weeks’ time, he’d degraded into this no-nonsense, blabbering figure.

He didn’t know whether to criticize the newspaper for spoiling people or this city that smelled of copper.

Clearing his throat lightly, Fang Chang responded.

"Perhaps you should thank our Manager... At most, I am just a tool for transporting."

"Ha ha, of course, he deserves thanks too—allow me to offer my respect to the Manager, second only to the esteemed Spirit of the Sand Sea!"

As he said this, Hal blew another puff into the bottle.

Fang Chang felt that the respect wasn’t sincere but merely an excuse to drink more.

However...

He didn’t seem to be mocking the stance either.

Just like how there are always people bringing up Thunder Bluff, but players who truly love tauren are few and far between.

He was the first to call someone "Respected Manager" when the game began, and now it has become a customary phrase among players to enhance immersion.

As for respect?

There might be some admiration, for indeed, it’s hard to find someone so upright and selfless in the real world—perhaps only in history books under ’the master’s thesis’.

But to say heartfelt respect for a character in a game? It seems not quite right.

"Salute to the Manager!"

Fang Chang briefly said, clinking his glass against his bottle with a smile, took a light sip, and set it aside.

"Is it really good for you guys to be drinking this early in the morning?" murmured Dolly, arms crossed.

Everyone in the editorial department was diligently working.

It was one thing for Fang Chang; he wasn’t from the newspaper and just came by occasionally "to do tasks."

But this Hal...

He was supposed to be the president, right?

"It’s fine! Even drunk, I can still write exquisite sentences in 12 different sorts..." Hal burped, found a chair with a wobble, and sat down, "I’ve figured it out, this war is an opportunity! The future ’Survivor’s Daily’ won’t just be for Giant Stone City, it will become the bestselling newspaper of the entire River Valley Province, even the entire Wasteland!"

Fang Chang cracked a joke.

"Growth and prosperity, and reaching new heights, right?"

Hal’s eyes lit up, snapping his fingers with his right hand.

"Exactly!"

"It might be tough; there isn’t even a unified currency in the wasteland."

Hal laughed, "Ha-ha, such issues will eventually be resolved by someone, I believe it will happen."

Watching him talk nonsense, Fang Chang chuckled and shook his head, planning to leave with Dolly.

Just then, Hal suddenly spoke.

"I don’t quite understand."

"What don’t you understand?"

Watching Fang Chang pause, Hal continued.

"That book Yu and I talked about... it’s crucial for our defeat of the Army."

"He’s absolutely right, is there a problem?"

"It’s no small issue. Why would the respected Manager think that a newspaper could solve the problem? Here, what ordinary survivors say doesn’t really matter, does it? They’re barely even able to eat."

This place is much like his hometown.

The kingdom in the Luo Xia Province, where all power belongs solely to the supreme king.

And here, all power belongs to that unseen landlord.

So what if the Army’s airship gave the city-folk a scare?

Even with everyone trembling before the 400mm main cannon, doesn’t the landlord remain silent?

"Yes." Fang Chang didn’t deny it.

Hal curiously asked.

"What’s the point of spreading such a message then? Of course, this is just my personal curiosity... they love a spectacle, and regardless of the Manager’s guidance, I’d still continue with the reports."

"The point is mobilization."

"Mobilization?"

"Yes, we are fighting a war that concerns life and death, and not just our own. Although we can’t influence the landlord’s decisions, we can inspire those who want to survive to do something while it’s not too late."

"Whether they are loading workers at trading depots, assembly line workers, mercenaries who earn their living by risking their lives, or factory owners, bankers, or whatever else... Giant Stone City certainly has its owner, but ultimately, it’s made up of these people."

Watching the inebriated newspaper president, Fang Chang paused for a moment before continuing.

"The city is like a rusted machine; we need to get it moving, any bit helps, any awakening counts..."

"And that is the meaning of mobilization."

Hal thought for a moment, a contemplative expression crossing his drunk face.

"I see..."

"I think I understand what you are planning to do."

Exiting the newspaper office.

Fang Chang noticed Dolly walking beside him, looking at him with curious eyes.

"What is it?"

"How do you know so much?"

As she spoke, her tone was indistinguishable between surprise and admiration, perhaps a bit of both.

"It might be because I come from a refuge?" Fang Chang said in a half-joking tone.

"A refuge, huh..." Arms folded behind her head, Dolly gazed at the sky, lost in thought.

Then, as if struck by a thought, she looked at him and asked.

"Knowing all this, don’t you think those of us outside the refuge are foolish?"

Fang Chang paused, then laughed.

"How could that be?"

Rather than denying, he greatly admired the Waste Land Wanderers who managed to survive optimistically through 200 years after the decline of civilization.

Browsing with a filter was one thing, but actually living in this world...

He felt he would likely go insane.

It wasn’t that his psychological resilience was lacking, but he had a clear understanding of his own capacities.

Forget about war, the apocalypse, or the wasteland; the mere fact that money couldn’t buy necessities would likely drive his SAN values to plummet.

Dolly stared into his eyes for a while, then her lips suddenly curled up slightly.

"Ow, that’s good then."

Her emerald green hair swayed lightly, and with that cryptic comment, she briskly walked ahead.

"?"

Watching the suddenly cheerful girl, Fang Chang couldn’t help but fall into thought.

Was she so happy just to be called clever?

That seemed too easy to please.

...

City of Dawn, Army Command.

A wooden command desk held a frontline battle report that Xiao Qi had helped organize.

Since a stable communication network hadn’t yet been established, Chu Guang could only keep up with frontline developments through the official forum.

The "communication network" based on the Morphogenesis Field operated entirely in a completely unrelated parallel world, ensuring connectivity under any circumstances.

"...After marching for over thirty hours straight and dispersing to infiltrate the defense zones, crossing fifteen kilometers to conduct five successive raids and annihilating numbers approaching a fully enlisted hundred-man team... Are you sure this is just a twenty-person squad?"

What was essential was that only a few had suffered non-fatal injuries and none had died!

Vanus’s face was filled with astonishment.

Honestly, he didn’t quite believe it.

Padding the battle reports could be said to be a fundamental operation for frontline troops, and he was well aware of this.

However, this was also understandable.

After all, the battlefield changed rapidly; if someone fell and wasn’t carried away within three minutes, it was counted as a kill, if they were taken away, it counted as an injury. It wasn’t like someone was timing with a stopwatch and binoculars how many seconds an enemy combatant didn’t get up.

As an excellent commander, the first skill to possess was the ability to discern the authenticity of the intelligence sent from the front line, and based on nebulous information, estimate the overall situation to command those "who might still be alive" and execute orders "that might be achievable."

If his subordinates brought him such a battle report or spoke to him like that over the radio, his first reaction would surely be that the person was talking nonsense.

However—

This battle report was personally brought by the Manager.

This man was not one to be naive about warfare; he had earlier charged into battle wielding a Nitrogen-Powered Hammer and had even led a charge.

As the Alliance grew, he gradually moved behind the scenes after leaving behind a myriad of incredible legends.

If Vanus were to assess him, this man would surely rank among the likes of Kras and General Griffin if born in an army, at least.

The reason he wasn’t ranked higher, as a Legion Leader or the supreme Marshal, was simply because ordinary people could only rise to the position of a general by their capabilities.

Vanus wasn’t the only one astonished.

Including the array of officers at command, everyone exhibited disbelief upon seeing the fabulously unbelievable battle report.

"...To be precise, so far only more than twenty have arrived, with over a hundred more people and logistics support en route, expected to arrive within three days."

Saying this, a hint of emotion unconsciously appeared on Chu Guang’s face.

"Don’t say you can’t believe it, I was just as shocked when I first received this battle report... but I can confirm its authenticity is beyond doubt."

The players discussing the war situations on the forums would "verify" each other, and the battle report Xiao Qi helped him organize was the final verified result.

It was also the result closest to the truth.

Seeing that the Manager had spoken, the officers no longer doubted the authenticity of the battle report from the frontline.

Instead, they began discussing strategies.

"...According to frontline information, the Iron Heart seems to have a suspected engine malfunction, visible repair scaffolds on the outer hull, and construction workers in the midst of repairs."

"At the same time, they have also expanded their ground deployment, dispatching about a thousand troops, apparently planning to use Rui Valley City as a long-term base."

"However, their methods are not sophisticated, still relying on the old approach of armed threat, sending soldiers to extort nearby Survivor Settlements, demanding contributions of food, livestock, and labor to the airship, all the while using Dinars to buy off mercenaries and Looters as auxiliary troops... This has also caused considerable dissent among the local survivors."

Looking at the map hanging on the frame, Chu Guang continued.

"I’ve discussed with the frontline commander, and his thoughts mostly align with mine."

"In the first phase of the battle, we aim to strategically unite the local survivors and tactically wear down the enemy’s living forces through guerrilla tactics."

"If we achieve the goal of reducing the enemy forces by more than 20% in this first phase, we may force them to withdraw from the area... or alternatively, adopt a more aggressive strategy!"

At this, Chu Guang paused, scanning the commanders gathered in the command room.

"If it’s the latter case, the battlefield would likely extend beyond 150 kilometers, and we need to prepare for the worst. At the same time, before the final battle, we must find a way to effectively shoot down that airship!"

Chu Guang suddenly looked toward Vanus, who was deep in thought.

"Do you know Captain McCullen well?"

Vanus was momentarily stunned, then let out a bitter smile.

"I’m only a leader of a thousand... Moreover, from the Clone Army."

"To sit as a captain before the age of 40, that man has a limitless future in the army... There’s no need for him to bother with a minor figure like me."

Though famously known throughout the Wasteland for its vast Clone armies, the status of officers commanding Cannon Fodder troops was mediocre at best.

Especially for air fortresses like the "Iron Heart," which belonged to a system distinctly différent from the Army.

Even if they met, McCullen probably wouldn’t give him a second glance.

Chu Guang nodded slightly and didn’t say much.

"Seems like we can give up on the option of negotiation."

Although he never harbored such illusions.

"The key issue is that troublesome deflection shield," the leader of the First Army Corps, Wrench, said with a furrowed brow, "If we use a very slow-moving bomb and drop it on them..."

Vanus shook his head.

"If it were as simple as you say, they wouldn’t even be able to fly out of their own doorstep, let alone fly from the West Coast to here."

"The anti-aircraft machine guns spread across the fuselage can intercept any slow-moving targets, not to mention the armor-piercing effect of explosives in open areas... might only damage its engines."

Those connected rows of propellers are not technically complex, and damaging a few wouldn’t be difficult.

However, even if those were destroyed, the worst it would be like a bicycle getting a flat tire or a tank losing a track — it wouldn’t cause any substantial damage.

"Doesn’t this thing have any weaknesses?" Wrench couldn’t help but ask.

Vanus was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"Of course, there is a weakness."

Chu Guang immediately asked,

"Where?"

"The belly."

Vanus pointed at the photo, directly underneath the airship.

"...This here is the bomb bay, compared to other parts, this area has the least density of firepower. I’ve heard that survivors once caused quite a bit of trouble using dense clusters of balloons. Though ultimately, the survivor settlement was leveled."

A silence fell over the command center.

An officer from the staff thought for a moment and then said,

"Weakness in the belly... If we place anti-aircraft guns directly underneath and fire, could we inflict effective damage on that airship?"

Vanus shook his head.

"I’m not sure about that, but I think their ground troops and observers on the airship aren’t blind."

The officer from the First Army Corps clenched his fist.

"Let’s figure out a way to develop vertically launched landing crafts! We could ambush from right underneath them and jab up like raiding a bird’s nest! We have the strongest light infantry, and if they storm into that fortress, they’ll knock it out in minutes!"

Vanus sighed without responding.

He didn’t even need to refute this time, as even Wrench standing nearby couldn’t help but retort.

"What if they drop bombs downwards?"

"Exactly! And what is a vertical-launch landing craft anyway? I haven’t even heard of such a thing!"

As the officers debated vociferously, Chu Guang also fell into contemplation.

Just then, a phone call suddenly came through to him.

"I’ll take this call."

Leaving these words behind, Chu Guang turned and walked outside, leaving the discussion to the other officers in the command center.

The call was from Luka.

As soon as he appeared on the VM screen, he eagerly began,

"Sir, Giant Stone City’s City Hall summoned our office head this morning!"

"Duron?"

"Yes!"

"What did he say?"

Facing the Manager’s inquiry, Luka said meaningfully,

"He said a lot... for example, he asked if we needed help. And he mentioned that since we helped them bear part of the Tide at the beginning of the year, they have plenty of armory stocks left over... If we’re interested, they are willing to sell it to us at 50% off."

Although undeniably this was good news, the offer was so generous it made it hard for him to decide, suspecting there might be a catch.

Thus, after he received the news, he immediately called Chu Guang.

Chu Guang was also stunned for a moment and then subconsciously asked.

"Is it 50% off the market price or the cost price?"

"50% off the procurement cost... and Duron even said that if we don’t have enough money, they can lend us a loan specifically for purchasing armory."

What the hell?

There’s such a good deal?

Surprise filled Chu Guang’s face.

Although it was his idea to pull Giant Stone City into the alliance’s chariot, this was progressing too fast.

It seems that the 400mm main cannon had left a significant impact on the civilization living inside the giant walls, making them forego profit.

Without any hesitation, Chu Guang immediately said,

"Have them send it over quickly! I’ll take as much as they have, the faster the better!"

"Also, remind them that just weapons for dealing with the Tide aren’t enough, we can manufacture rifles and cannons ourselves, we need weapons that can actually damage that airship!"

At that moment, recalling the conversation of the officers, Chu Guang unapologetically added.

"Especially high-altitude landing equipment!"

"If they can help our people board that airship, even better!"