This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 388: Silence

Chapter 388: Chapter 388: Silence

Shelter No. 404’s medical room.

Luo Hua opened his eyes on the scanning bed, his gaze met with a silvery-white ceiling. He tried to sit up but found the effects of the anesthesia hadn’t worn off yet, leaving his body unresponsive.

Except for his left hand—

Looking at the biomechanical prosthetic in front of him, he couldn’t help but swallow.

At that moment, a strange voice came from the side.

"Yo, awake?"

Luo Hua slowly moved his neck, looking towards a strange man standing by the window. Just as he was about to ask where he was, he suddenly noticed fine threads, like strands of hair, floating around the man’s arm.

He recognized that object—it was a "scalpel" used for minimally invasive surgery on neurons, commonly seen with large medical devices used for prosthetic modification surgeries.

Only those obsessed with Prosperous Epoch Technology to the point of near-paranoia would equip such things on a biomechanical prosthetic...

Swallowing, Luo Hua managed to squeeze out a question.

"Are you from the Academy?"

"Yes, the branch of Shelter No. 404, I’m the Director here."

Yin Fang made a light joke to ease the atmosphere, a trick Chu Guang had once taught him, as he retracted the hair-like surgical tools into the port inside his forearm.

Looking at the man lying on the scanning bed, he smiled faintly and spoke.

"Welcome to Shelter No. 404, besides being the director of the Academy’s branch, I’m also the head of this place’s scientific expedition team. By the way, the biomechanical organs in your body are quite interesting, I just opened them to take a look. You wouldn’t mind, right?"

Luo Hua replied with a bitter smile.

"...Would it matter if I did?"

"It really wouldn’t, it’s already done," commented Yin Fang humorously, then continued, "My name is Yin Fang, if there’s any issue with your parts, you can come to me for repairs."

"Luo Hua... employee of the Silver Wing Group," Luo Hua looked around in surprise, "This... is Shelter No. 404?"

Yin Fang slightly raised his eyebrows.

"Right, have you not been here before?"

"I have...but"

He had no recollection of this room.

Luo Hua blankly stared at the ceiling.

Just then, he suddenly remembered something and immediately said to Yin Fang standing next to the scanning bed.

"Where’s your manager?"

"Right outside the door, should I call him in?"

Luo Hua nodded, just about to say "Please do" when the door to the medical room swung open.

A man and a woman entered.

The woman with silver long hair was unfamiliar to him, but the person standing next to her, he knew all too well.

"Chu Guang..."

Chu Guang nodded with a smile.

"We meet again."

Compared to a year ago when they first met, the young man lying on the bed had aged considerably, his face bearing the marks of hardships. If it weren’t for Yin Fang having shaved his beard, his look might have held a more artistic flair.

A trace of excitement flickered through Luo Hua’s eyes as he struggled to sit up from the scanning bed, but Chu Guang raised his hand to stop him.

"Don’t get excited, you can talk while lying down. We’ve just woken you up, let’s not have you passing out in the middle of our conversation."

Chu Guang smiled, then continued with concern.

"How do you feel? Any better?"

"Much better," Luo Hua swallowed, then immediately said, "We found it!"

"No.0 Shelter?" asked Chu Guang thoughtfully.

"Yes!" Luo Hua exclaimed, "It’s in the Great Desert... we found the entrance!"

"What does it look like?"

"I don’t know."

"You don’t know?" Chu Guang looked at him surprised, "Didn’t you go in?"

A bitter expression appeared on Luo Hua’s face.

"To be precise, we almost did..."

"Because of the Army?" Chu Guang pondered.

Luo Hua nodded somberly.

"We successfully found the coordinates of No.0 Shelter and obtained the key to enter the shelter from a key figure... the one you’re holding."

Chu Guang glanced at the silver card in his hand, deep in thought.

Resting on the scanning bed, Luo Hua paused for a moment before continuing.

"They are tougher than expected... even though we had power armor, their combat power is not weak, and the Falcon Kingdom in Oasis No. 2, closest to the Great Desert, is their vassal."

"Facing an onslaught of soldiers like a tide, we had to abandon the Pioneer, some of us hid in the temporary shelters near the base of the space elevator."

Chu Guang was momentarily stunned.

"...Space elevator?!"

"Yes, didn’t you know?"

When Luo Hua saw Chu Guang slowly nod, he continued.

"The remnants of the Human Alliance Era space elevator are near the equator in the central part of the Great Desert... That thing collapsed two hundred years ago, and pieces of it are scattered across the Great Desert; the furthest piece even fell on the East Coast. But that’s not the point, the point is No.0 Shelter is nearby!"

Taking a deep breath, he looked earnestly at Chu Guang.

"Lu Yang... our team leader told me to head east at all costs, to ensure that the card doesn’t fall into the Army’s hands."

"That is our last hope to end all suffering on this land."

Pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, Chu Guang took a moment to digest this enormous amount of information.

"I will do my utmost to help you, but currently, the Army’s aircraft have reached right under our noses. Without dealing with them, our people will have to detour a great distance south to enter Falling Leaves Province... Do you have any way to contact the eastern coast?"

A look of anxiety crossed Luo Hua’s eyes.

"We’ve already reported the situation to the enterprise, haven’t they arrived yet?"

Hearing this, Chu Guang’s expression became subtly complex.

"We have arrived, but there are only a little over a hundred people... Are you sure that’s enough?"

Luo Hua was clearly stunned.

"Only a little over a hundred... How could there only be a little over a hundred?!"

Watching Luo Hua’s eyes gradually fill with urgency and disbelief, Chu Guang silently nodded and continued speaking.

"That’s the reality. Assault Team No.26 has arrived, comprising just over a hundred people, led by Yun Song. Although they have twenty power armors, there is a severe lack of heavy weapons... Honestly, I don’t think that few people will be adequate."

This was also one of the reasons he hadn’t called those people back to help deal with Steel Heart; those hundred-odd people weren’t really useful for much, better to have them assist in the west.

What he needed was more substantial support.

Whether it’s weapons or technology, he wanted as much as possible.

Luo Hua clenched his teeth and said,

"One assault team is definitely not enough! Not to mention the two ten-thousand strong armies deployed by the Army in the west side of Sunset Province, the standing army of the Falcon Kingdom alone is around a hundred thousand! Even with twenty power armors... it’s impossible to deal with so many people."

Chu Guang sighed.

"That’s what I think too."

Especially after witnessing the power of that 400mm main gun, he became even more convinced of this.

To be honest, he even wondered if something had gone wrong on the East Coast, otherwise why had so few reinforcements come.

However, now was clearly not the time to discuss these matters.

After a pause, Chu Guang asked,

"Don’t you have some large transport planes or airships or something?"

A troubled expression appeared on Luo Hua’s face.

"We do have them, but just the distance to the East Coast is nearly three thousand kilometers... This distance is already far beyond the maximum range of our ’Electric Eel.’"

The "Electric Eel" was a dual-engine transporter equipped by the Enterprise faction, capable of switching between fixed-wing and vertical takeoff and landing, with a maximum range of only five hundred kilometers.

Otherwise, Yun Song and his team wouldn’t have traveled by land.

All this time, the Enterprise faction only had Ideal City as a survivor settlement, and they only maintained trade with other settlements of the Province of Yúnjiānxíng; they had neither the need for ultra-long-distance deployment and combat nor overseas military bases, and therefore, they had never developed technology for large aircraft.

Starting to develop this now wasn’t impossible, given their advanced power technologies and energy storage technologies, designing a practical device wouldn’t be too hard for them.

However, whether they could catch up with the current crisis was a problem.

Luo Hua fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he spoke.

"Anyway, we need to find a way to contact the Enterprise... I have to tell the people over there about the situation here!"

Chu Guang asked.

"Do you still have ’Migrant Bird’?"

"That big guy... How could I possibly carry it with me," Luo Hua coughed dryly and continued, "But apart from Migrant Bird... there’s actually another emergency method."

Chu Guang immediately asked.

"What method?"

Standing aside all this while and silent, Yin Fang suddenly chimed in.

"Is it the orbital satellite again?"

A surprised look appeared on Luo Hua’s face, and he nodded.

"...How did you know?"

An intriguing look appeared on Yin Fang’s face, with a barely detectable hint of sarcasm.

"It’s not the first time you guys have done this."

Chu Guang’s brow furrowed slightly, a bit confused.

"Orbital satellite? What do you mean? Isn’t near-Earth orbit filled with space junk—"

"Because outer space orbits are filled with space junk, there’s always one or two things that can still be used, right?"

Lowering his crossed arms, Yin Fang continued with a mocking tone,

"If some data is uploaded to one of the functioning satellites, and then use the leftover fuel to guide the satellite to fall near the East Coast, whoever finds the satellite just needs a crowbar or axe to break open that lump of iron like cracking a coconut shell, and see what’s written inside... such burn-the-bridge actions, only they would do it."

Chu Guang was stunned.

Damn?

Can it really be done like this?

Not just Chu Guang, Heya standing to the side also had a dumbfounded look.

Finally catching the sarcastic undertones in those words, Luo Hua’s face flushed as he said,

"We’re not using it to make phone calls; it’s just an emergency measure."

Chu Guang couldn’t help but say,

"But why... why must the satellite be made to fall? Can’t it just serve as a signal relay?"

Yin Fang shook his head.

"You’re thinking too simply. First off, the satellites that can be utilized through this method aren’t low-orbit communication satellites, but rather a type of research satellite that lasts longer and is more reliable in quality, generally referred to as... T-series satellites."

"These types of satellites are usually in higher, wider synchronous orbits, remaining relatively stationary to the ground and have contact only with the research facility directly below them... and the method of contact isn’t radio waves, but rather narrower-scope lasers."

Chu Guang: "Lasers?!"

Yin Fang nodded, stating succinctly,

"Correct. When information needs to be exchanged, the ground research facility sends up a beam of light, and then a beam of light comes down from above, which you can generally understand as hitting a coin-sized transmitter from thirty-six thousand kilometers away with a pistol... This method of communication is very secure; aside from the research facility linked to the satellite, it’s virtually impossible to contact that satellite from elsewhere or to ascertain the satellite’s specific coordinates."

"Usually, if the ground communication base station loses connection with the satellite, these satellites will enter a dormant state until they are awakened again. Thus, theoretically, these satellites generally have leftover energy, and that leftover energy should at least be sufficient for one orbital transition."

Chu Guang thoughtfully said,

"So we just need to find a ground base station that can make contact with one of these satellites, write the data into the satellite, and then guide the satellite to fall..."

"Yes, hence these people burning their boats; the way those on the East Coast utilize the relics of the pre-war civilization is destructively, with no understanding of sustainable utilization. Dropping a research satellite worth tens of millions just to send a message, tsk tsk..."

Yin Fang’s tone was laced with sarcasm as he clicked his tongue.

Although the remark was aimed at the Enterprise and not at Luo Hua lying there, it still caused the latter’s face to turn red.

"Are we not discussing the Army’s problems here? Or do you have a better method?"

Yin Fang bluntly stated.

"No, but do you know where to find that kind of research facility?"

"Of course! There’s one in the South of River Valley Province, I remember the coordinates!" Luo Hua looked at Chu Guang and earnestly said, "It’s a research institute, about seventy kilometers from Qingquan City... The materials inside should be useful to you, could I trouble you to send someone over?"

Chu Guang nodded.

"No problem."

That was easy for him.

A distance of seventy kilometers was less than an hour’s flight for the "Dragonfly" transport plane, just a few parachutes dropped over would do.

As for crashing a satellite...

After all, it wasn’t his satellite.

Getting the materials from the research institute was enough.

The urgent task now was to get The Enterprise faction to send more reinforcements, and of course, it’d be better if they could send more weapons.

The airport in the north of the City of Dawn was spacious enough for any large transport plane to land.

Luo Hua’s eyes filled with gratitude.

"Thank you."

Chu Guang grinned and said.

"Don’t mention it, the Army is our common enemy."

"Just rest and heal, and leave the rest to us. Speaking of which, I’ve got hold of a few barrels of fine liquor, we’ll celebrate once you’re all healed."

Luo Hua weakly smiled.

"Ha ha... That will have to wait a while."

His tense shoulders finally relaxed as he leaned back on the scanning bed, a relieved expression finally spread across his face.

Though his companions were still in crisis far in the Great Desert, Chu Guang’s supportive stance gave him hope.

Heya, standing with her arms crossed at the door, suddenly spoke up.

"Now that the surgery is finished... can we arrange for him to be transferred? This place is not meant for recovery."

Although it was called a medical room, it had long been used by her as a laboratory, and the only scanning bed in the entire Alliance was an essential research tool.

Luo Hua’s face showed an embarrassed expression.

"I am sorry for the disruption."

Chu Guang smiled.

"How could it be? But this place really isn’t suitable for recovery, I will arrange for someone to transfer you to a better environment in a friendlier ward."

After saying that, he called in the medical staff waiting at the door and instructed them to transfer Luo Hua to the ground-based Alliance’s First Hospital.

The wards there were spacious, a few wounded members of Enterprise factions previously left also resided there.

Regarding the medical expenses...

It would be too distant to mention those.

Yin Fang, standing beside with arms crossed, murmured under his breath as the medical staff moved the patient outside the medical room.

"I knew it..."

"These guys from the East Coast definitely have a treasure map!"

...

That evening.

A transport plane took off from the north of the City of Dawn, carrying twenty-five players from the Burning Corps, flying towards the research facility seventy kilometers to the east.

At the same time, in Rui Valley City, one hundred and fifty kilometers west of the City of Dawn, the White Bear Knights and the Death Legion’s siege on Shelter No. 79 had also entered its final phase.

The main route to the central research area had been cleared.

Though Variants and "Wildmen" continued to swarm from other areas, the attack wasn’t as intense as the first few days.

After all, the Variants active in this shelter were not those controlled by the "hive mind"

of mucosal entities.

Their attacks on players were more out of motives to protect their territory and hunt, without the cooperation between different groups or forming a massive "Tide."

"Mother... this guy is quite strong!"

Flicking the blood off his engineer shovel, the construction site youth and Zuan looked at the shambles inside the room, clicked their tongues, and firmly grasped the assault rifle hung across their chests, changing the magazine.

The spacious hall was littered with bodies numbering forty to fifty, primitive weapons like lances and bows scattered across the floor along with smoking shell casings.

A fierce encounter had just occurred here.

Their opponents were a group of wildmen who seemed to have been lying in ambush nearby, launching a sudden attack as the players entered the room.

Their skin was sickly pale, but their limbs were surprisingly robust, their strength attributes probably around 13 to 15, equivalent to level of a first awakening.

More than that, their speed was extremely fast, their resilience frighteningly strong, and the skillful muscle coordination was almost beast-like.

Or more precisely, they were beasts, with almost none of their internal organs resembling those of humans, just happened to look somewhat human.

Fortunately, these wildmen only used bows and spears.

Otherwise, they’d have been tough to handle.

"We’re at the last ’checkpoint’ to the research area, up ahead seems to be the lair of the Claw of Death, and our ammunition is running low..."

Shouldering his rifle, Edge Shoveling stepped forward to the group from the White Bear Knights and continued,

"I suggest we continue the siege tomorrow."

"Tail agrees! Phew, I’m almost dead tired!"

Tail, leaning against the wall, gasped for air, wiping his forehead with his arm, smearing blood rather than wiping away sweat.

Similarly breathless, Si Si glanced at the remaining magazines and nodded.

"Yeah... let’s continue tomorrow."

Night had fallen in Shelter No. 79.

She looked around the area and continued,

"There are plenty of rooms here, since the creatures are cleared out, why not explore a bit more before we head back?"

This building was the last one before the research area, seemingly an administrative building. While exploring other areas, she had found some interesting clues.

Before leaving, she planned to verify those.

Hearing Si Si’s suggestion, Edge Shoveling readily agreed.

"Alright, let’s gather in an hour."

"OK."

After reaching an agreement, the players dispersed to search the room.

The tail, which had been too tired just a moment ago, sprang up from the ground with a swoosh and disappeared somewhere with Meat Meat.

Having a clear goal in mind, Si Si glanced at the floorplan and headed straight through the lobby to the upstairs office area.

Unexpectedly, this area wasn’t occupied by Variants.

The entire corridor was eerily quiet.

Especially surprising to Si Si was that, unlike the previous areas they had passed through, the doors here were all wide open.

"Oh, an unexpected discovery..."

She picked the nearest room and after carefully confirming it was safe, she cautiously entered with her rifle in hand.

The office had a futuristic feel.

The furniture inside looked quite stylish and the room, nearly twenty square meters in size, extravagantly housed only two tables.

Approaching the nearest table, Si Si glanced at the cluttered surface and casually pulled open the right drawer.

Inside, there were some personal items, a work card, and a thumb-sized storage device.

The interface of the storage device was compatible with the VM.

"Is this...a USB drive?"

A trace of interest sparked in her eyes as she examined it for a while, then plugged it into the VM.

A dim signal light flickered, and a pale blue dialog box quickly appeared before her, automatically translated into her readable language by the VM’s built-in translation program.

[Shelter No. 79 Research Log]

[Experiment Log: 2129/February/7]

[Experiment Log: ...]

The last entry was dated July 8, 2178.

Speaking of which...

Was 2129 the first year of the Wasteland Era?

Index finger gently rubbing her chin, Si Si’s eyes grew increasingly interested as she opened the first log on the list.

[2129/February/7: Sleep Cabin opened, and it wasn’t joyful kin waking us up, but the shelter’s program, indicating we had reached the worst possible outcome, with the outside world destroyed, this place is our last home...Damn, it sounds like a dream, but the rubidium atomic clock never lies.]

[I will remember this day of despair and hope; we shall fulfill the promise made three years ago... But can such a far-fetched thing really be done?]

"...Far-fetched thing?"

She muttered softly, her brow furrowing slightly.

Yong had mentioned that Shelter No. 79 was conducting research on "restoring mutated creatures to their pre-mutation state."

But were there Variants in the first year of the Wasteland Era?

She vaguely remembered the official setting collections mentioning that Variants appeared massively after the half-century-long Little Ice Age?

"So...what was actually being conducted here?"

She wouldn’t take every word of an NPC as truth; in fact, she had always had doubts about Yong’s identity.

Since it was a fully realistic virtual reality game, NPCs lying was also a possibility, right?

However, just as she was about to turn to the next log, the alloy door behind her suddenly shut, cutting off the only exit.

Si Si’s face slightly changed as she immediately rushed over and rammed her shoulder against the door, only to find it immovable.

Without hesitation, she stepped back a few steps, lifted her assault rifle hanging at her chest, and pulled the trigger at the alloy door.

"Bang bang," two thunderous gunshots echoed in the room. Sparks leaped towards the ceiling, yet the surface of that door remained unmarked by a single bullet.

She took a deep breath, walked up to the door to fumble around for a while, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted,

"Ah Wei!"

"Can you hear me?"

No response.

She pressed her ear against it and couldn’t hear any sound from outside.

"Tsk, the soundproofing is too strong."

Tsking, Si Si gave up the futile attempt and moved her ear away from the door.

In the shelter, the Manager’s authority was absolute—she was truly experiencing the implications of this setting.

A pinnacle of technology from the Human Alliance Era, it wasn’t something her old-fashioned assault rifle could penetrate.

Probably, even using all the grenades she had wouldn’t help much.

As long as the Shelter’s Manager was willing,

he could even lock this door until the next century.

Just then, Si Si suddenly noticed that the air vent overhead had gone silent, seemingly no longer functioning.

Realizing the implication, she muttered softly,

"Planning to silence me..."

That guy must have harbored the intent to kill all along.

Otherwise, he could have locked the door before she even entered.

"A normal adult consumes 0.75 kilograms of oxygen a day... A twenty-square-meter room with about three meters in height makes sixty cubic meters of air."

CO2 poisoning occurs when oxygen content drops below 10%.

"That means... it could support life for about five days."

Considering the metabolic rate of Awakeners, maybe just two or three days would be it.

Glancing at the VM screen with the log, a subtle smirk suddenly formed at the corner of Si Si’s mouth.

The time left for herself was perhaps...

a bit too generous.

-

(Thanks to the leaders "My name is Wang Laoji," "NightChicK3n," and "Little Dimple Accompaniment" for the generous rewards!!!)

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