This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 390 Ideal City

Chapter 390: Chapter 390 Ideal City

Red glares flickered.

A meteor streaked across the sky, falling sharply into a field on the easternmost part of the Central Plains Continent.

That muffled sound could be heard even hundreds of meters away, let alone by Wang Dashan, who was working in the field with his tractor.

"What the hell was that?"

Startled by the sound, the unkempt man jumped down from his tractor and pulled out the hunting gun hanging beside the driver’s cabin, shoving a cartridge into the chamber as he walked toward the direction of the noise.

This place was at the remote border of the Province of Yúnjiānxíng, the neglected northwest corner to top it all.

Usually, no one would visit this impoverished spot, not even merchants who deemed this place too poor in opportunity; they preferred to go further ahead to the neighboring province to try their luck.

But there were always exceptions.

Last month, he had spotted several mutants—likely deserters scattered by corporate patrol teams.

Those hideous creatures were so revolting that even a glimpse from afar was enough to make him feel sick.

It was a crater about ten meters wide, as if blasted by artillery.

Looking at the ruined crops, Wang Dashan felt a pang in his heart but still cautiously approached.

There seemed to be something in the crater.

He glanced at the Geiger counter on his wrist, confirming radiation levels were normal before leaning over for a closer look.

In the crater lay a silver metallic sphere, steaming faintly, its intense heat even evaporating the moisture in the soil.

"What in the world is this?"

Staring at the metal sphere in the hole, Wang Dashan studied it for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.

Pressing the communicator hanging on his shoulder, he reported the situation to the guard in the village.

Before long, the headlights of a vehicle appeared at the edge of the field, and the guard, clad in an exoskeleton suit, jumped down from the vehicle, striding toward him.

"What happened?"

No sooner had the guard spoken than he noticed the crater in front, shining his flashlight into it, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Standing aside, Wang Dashan quickly chimed in.

"I was working in the field just now when I suddenly heard a loud noise and came over to check... and then I found this thing in the field."

The guard continued to inquire.

"Did you see where it fell from?"

Wang Dashan pointed at the sky above.

"Heaven."

"Heaven?"

Surprise showed on the guard’s face as he looked up at the sky, then back at the metal sphere, and it was as though something dawned on him, a flash of realization in his eyes.

"You wait here; I’ll call the company--"

The guard was cut off mid-sentence.

Before Wang Dashan had the chance to respond, he saw a dark shadow approaching from afar.

It was the company’s plane.

The black fuselage, about ten meters wide and birdlike, with two drum-style engines that rotated slowly, shifted from jetting blue arcs rearwards to blowing downwards.

The downdraft flattened the wheat in the field as the plane landed smoothly in the middle of it.

As the hatch opened, six soldiers wearing exoskeleton suits emerged one by one.

One of them, carrying a large case taller than himself, walked straight into the crater, picked up the silver sphere, and put it into the case.

"Hey, hold on, you’ve ruined my—"

As he watched them take the object and start to leave, Wang Dashan, holding his hunting gun, mustered his courage and shouted after them.

But before he could finish, a banknote was stuffed into his hand, silencing his protest.

The exoskeleton-clad soldier looked at him and asked succinctly.

"Is that enough?"

"Enough, enough, heh heh..."

Looking at the banknote in his hand, Wang Dashan’s righteous indignation turned instantly to a smile of joy as he politely watched the soldiers head back to the plane.

100Cr.

That could not only pay for the crushed wheat but also be more than enough to buy the entire season’s crops from his field.

The guard cast an envious glance at the man before returning to his vehicle.

If only he had found it first, some of that money would have been his.

Working for the company was guaranteed to pay off; this had almost become common knowledge in the Province of Yúnjiānxíng.

Although these people weren’t exactly generous, they were never stingy with their compensation...

...

If one were to speak of a place in the Wasteland where one could admire the last gleams of the United Human, it would, without a doubt, be the "Ideal City," the Utopia on the East Coast.

Layers upon layers of concrete and steel frames extended from the ground all the way into the sky; standing on the surface and looking up, one could not even see the end at a glance.

The neon light pollution, flickering and blinding, was this city’s most iconic portrayal; even from tens of kilometers away, one could see the holographic images projected on the outermost buildings.

No matter how bustling the place they came from, any Waste Land Wanderer who arrived here would look around, eyes wide as saucers, bewildered by the flashing lights and the intricate network of traffic.

Maglev trains shuttled between the high-rises, much like schools of fish navigating through seaweed.

Only a select few "big fish" could swim to the highest point to enjoy the first light of early dawn...

Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, the man quietly watched the view outside, as if admiring a fish tank in his living room.

His name was Luo Yong, and he was one of the core members of the Silver Wing Group’s board of directors, holding 17% of the shares.

"Emergency communication methods... It seems that our Pioneer spacecraft really ran into trouble." The guest sitting on the sofa took an interested look at his wine glass then casually remarked.

His name was Kang Le, and he was one of the core members of the Kang Mao Group’s board of directors.

Unlike the Silver Wing Group, which mainly dealt with heavy engineering equipment manufacturing, Kang Mao Group’s business scope primarily included auxiliary equipment and medical devices.

Although the two men were drinking buddies, the topics they discussed whenever they gathered had nothing to do with the liquor.

"Mhm."

"I heard your son is on that Pioneer spacecraft?"

"Yes."

Seeing how composed the other man was, Kang Le raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Aren’t you worried?"

"You have a cloning custom service, right? Just clone another one." Luo Yong spoke in an indifferent tone, his voice as calm as ever, betraying no emotion.

Kang Le raised his eyebrows again, surprised, giving him another look as if he hadn’t expected such a response.

Shifting his gaze away from the silhouette at the window, he spoke with a light smile.

"... We can clone cells, but we can’t clone memories, let alone souls."

"Do you still believe in that stuff?"

"It’s not about belief; it’s an abstract expression. To me, humans represent a concept that differentiates from objects, and flesh and blood are merely carriers of this concept. Creating the vessel is easy; we’ve been able to do that for a long time, even better than nature can produce, yet we still can’t transfer abstract thoughts from one vessel to another..."

Kang Le rambled on, but Luo Yong, standing at the window, didn’t want to listen, focusing intently on the scene outside.

Not far away, an "Electric Eel" transport plane slowly passed through the crowded buildings, landing on the helipad atop a building.

He saw several soldiers carrying a box, quickly entering the building.

Soon, the satellite contained in the box would be taken to a specialized technical department for dismantling, to download the data inside.

Although he had not yet read the data stored in that satellite, Luo Yong could already guess what was written in it.

That kind of emergency communication method would only be used in the direst of circumstances.

The fact that the satellite had left its orbit and fallen here was, in itself, very telling...

"I’m not interested in your theories."

Turning his gaze back from the window, Luo Yong interrupted Kang Le’s monologue.

Looking seriously at the man seated on the sofa, he continued,

"No.0 Shelter is the faith of the residents of Ideal City. After two centuries... we finally found it. Just by unlocking that door, we can end all the chaos on the Wasteland, and return this land to that great era."

Kang Le was momentarily stunned, then, as if he’d heard a hilarious joke, he burst into laughter.

He shook his head and put his wine glass back on the table.

"... You mock my belief in souls, yet you believe in an even more unreliable legend."

Luo Yong corrected him,

"It’s not a legend, but a conclusion drawn from rigorous and precise calculations."

Kang Le’s attitude remained unchanged.

"Calculations... Ha, if such technology to foretell the future really existed, would those buried in their graves have foreseen becoming what we are today?"

"The future that can be calculated is not the future per se, but probable possibilities. Isn’t our existence the best proof?"

Ideal City was built upon the No.6 Shelter; everything here, in a strict sense, was a product of the "Fortress" project.

Unable to refute this, Kang Le fell silent for a while, then spoke in a very soft voice,

"... Let’s assume for a moment that No.0 Shelter really has the power to clear up the chaos of the Wasteland like a sweeping wind, who can guarantee it won’t affect our current prosperity?"

If the Pioneer spacecraft had only gone for a casual excursion, it would have been fine.

Whether spreading corporate ideologies, sowing the seeds of civilization, or flaunting prosperity and power... all these would greatly benefit the company.

After all, trading with a bunch of Primitive Men, you’d at most get a few shells or beast skins.

But sell mining exoskeletons and drilling machines to the Waste Land Wanderers, show those wanderers the beautiful life in Ideal City, and when their Commercial Team passes by again, they’d be able to trade wagonloads of ore for mere paper bills.

Setting off for ideals is just a slogan; even if they returned empty-handed, no one would blame them.

Yet, nobody expected that those naive youngsters would really find No.0 Shelter.

That’s why the attitudes of the major groups that originally supported the expedition had begun to waver.

The only one steadfastly supporting the expedition was the Silver Wing Group.

It wasn’t for some grand ideal, the main reason was that the Pioneer was built from their investment.

That land fortress didn’t just embody their hard work, the crew members aboard were the elite backbone trained by the Company.

Not to mention others.

His son was on that fortress...

Though he’d say that if you died you could just be reborn, that was just talk.

Technology could solve many problems, however, not all troubles could be solved by technology.

Luo Yong looked at Kang Le, who was sitting on the sofa, and said seriously,

"...I didn’t expect to convince you by reasoning, let’s talk about terms."

Without asking what the terms were, Kang Le fixed his gaze on him.

"Oh? What do you want me to help you with?"

"In another two hours, the data analysis should be complete..."

Luo Yong flicked open his sleeve with his index finger and glanced at his watch, "We will submit the proposal to expand the reinforcement scale at noon today; we’ve already gained the support of the Chang Ge Group, and we’re just one vote short... I hope you can persuade the board of directors of the Kang Mao Group to support our proposal during the supreme corporate board meeting."

The Chang Ge Group was the largest arms dealer in the Ideal City.

Kang Le was not at all surprised that the Silver Wing Group had won the support of those guys.

Those arms dealers would love nothing more than a blazing war outside, and their favorite daily activity was to slash prices on their products to promote sales while clamoring that the corporate armament funds were overburdened and demanding an increase in the size of the assault teams.

Although there were tens of thousands of subsidiaries, each subsidiary that held shares of the parent company had voting rights on major decisions, but since the vast majority of shares were held by five giants, when a proposal was supported by three giants, there would be no suspense about its passage.

Conversely, if three giants opposed it, a proposal would never pass no matter what.

Kang Le pondered, this guy turned to him most likely because he was rebuffed by the other two.

It made sense, the "Endpoint" Group, which focused on smart business, and the "Ideal" Group, which focused on public utilities and urban construction, did not care about affairs on the Wasteland at all.

The only ones that could potentially be persuaded...

Seemed to be just his side.

"Expand the scale of reinforcements... Kang Mao Group can accept support in terms of equipment and economics, that’s all we can accept. I don’t know what agreement you’ve reached with the Chang Ge Group, but the assault team is already big enough, you don’t want to see those war maniacs get bigger, do you?"

Luo Yong’s expression remained unchanged as he spoke.

"Our agreement with them has nothing to do with expanding the assault team’s size; it’s about other areas."

Kang Le stared at him for a while, then slowly nodded.

"Alright, I can help you, but I’m just a shareholder on the board of directors of the Kang Mao Group. You can’t expect me to convince the others with just my words."

Luo Yong said nothing, waiting for him to continue to state his terms.

After a pause, Kang Le continued.

"If you’re willing to compromise on the proposal for bionic people to participate in public affairs... I think they should agree to your request."

Hearing this demand, Luo Yong breathed a sigh of relief. His tense expression finally eased into a smile.

"Deal."

...

Distant River Valley Province.

The horizon finally revealed a hint of dawn, and residents of the City of Dawn one by one pushed open their windows and stepped out of their homes, ready to greet a new day.

But at this moment, someone inside Shelter No. 404 hadn’t slept all night and was still excitedly sitting in front of a uniquely designed computer.

"...Unbelievable, guess what I found in those data?!"

Not looking at Yin Fang, whose eye bags were deeper than a panda’s, Chu Guang absentmindedly replied.

"What?"

"The order for the Lagrange Space Station docking bay renovation project!" Yin Fang’s face lit up with joy as he rapidly continued, "I knew it, any research institution that can own an independent scientific satellite is definitely not simple!"

The Lagrange Space Station wasn’t bad.

That was indeed quite far.

With the Army closing in step by step, Chu Guang couldn’t think about such distant matters for the time being.

Compared to the distant space technology, he was more concerned about the reinforcements from the East Coast.

Still, he made a casual joke.

"So you plan to complete the order for them?"

Hearing that, Yin Fang couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

"Are you joking? That’s an order from over 200 years ago! By the end of 2125, before the outbreak of the War, the design work was already 50% complete..."

Chu Guang: "And then?"

"...Then, they planned to replace the astronomical telescope on the 41st connecting arm with a two-kilometer long mass accelerator. And then, we discovered some recoverable technology in the inventory."

"This includes 12 electromagnetic control-related technologies, as well as 4 key gas molecule manipulation technologies, out of which 5 reached Level E standards, 3 technologies reached Level D standards, and 2 reached C-Class standards!"

Good lord, C-Class technology!

And there were two of them!?

With a look of surprise on his face, Chu Guang, who was initially indifferent, suddenly sat upright on the sofa.

At present, the New Alliance only had two C-Class technologies, one was Solid Hydrogen, and the other was A3 aerospace aluminum alloy.

The reserve of high-end technologies had doubled, a gain that far exceeded his expectations.

Technology was the foundation of the Alliance’s development.

For Chu Guang, recovering new technology was even more exciting than seeing an increasing number of players break through LV20.

"Can you tell me more about that C-Class technology?"

"I was about to do that."

Yin Fang’s face showed a proud expression as he cleared his throat and continued.

"One is the synthetic pathway for N10- azide Anions used in ejection buffer airbags... This stuff is similar to Solid Hydrogen, with a very high energy density. But unlike Solid Hydrogen, the azide compound is naturally unstable and is more suited for bombs than batteries."

"Another is about nitrogen molecule control... Using a gas manipulation field to form a gas shield, your hammer uses similar technology, so you should be familiar with it. However, this thing consumes a lot of energy; without a portable fusion reactor, it can only be used for a short time with chemical batteries and capacitors."

Chu Guang said, smiling,

"No problem! The residents of my shelter won’t mind! By the way, what’s the technology related to electromagnetic control?"

"That’s, well, related to mass accelerators, simply put, a railgun. You won’t be able to use it for now... Hmm, but maybe not."

Saying this, Yin Fang suddenly paused for a moment, then shifted the topic and continued.

"Once the fusion reactor in West State City is reignited, setting up some mass accelerators as anti-aircraft cannons shouldn’t be a problem."

"The necessary materials are not too difficult to come by, and that thing is way more useful than your cannon."

Railguns!

Thinking about the electromagnetic Point Defense System on the Pioneer that could even intercept shells, Chu Guang was immediately excited.

"Can you mount a mass accelerator on a tank?"

As if guessing he would ask this,

Almost at the same moment Chu Guang spoke, Yin Fang shook his head and said,

"Forget it, unless you can get your hands on the technology to miniaturize electromagnetic guns... These devices are electromagnetic guns meant for space stations, needing to be paired with fusion reactors. Even if you scale it down, there’s no way you can fit it in a vehicle."

Nuclear Fusion again...

"Alright, forget I asked."

Subduing his excitement, Chu Guang let out a slightly regretful sigh.

If only the Alliance could produce its own fusion reactors.

But right now, even thinking about this seemed pointless.

More critical than the fusion technology itself was the nuclear fuel required for fusion.

The nearest Helium-3 Collection Station to him was 380,000 kilometers away, on the Moon.

Seeing Chu Guang’s still unsatisfied expression, Yin Fang couldn’t help but tease him.

"Be content, two C-Class technologies! At the Academy, that merit would be enough for a Class D explorer to be promoted to C-Class."

"No, I’m not dissatisfied; I’m just wondering when our reinforcements will arrive."

"Then you should ask the Company’s people, but I advise you not to get your hopes up; those folks might not be very cooperative." Yin Fang’s expression was subtly complex as he spoke.

Observing that subtle expression, Chu Guang suddenly thought of something and asked,

"Speaking of which, I’ve always been curious."

"About what?"

"The relationship between the Academy and the Company doesn’t seem very good?"

Yin Fang pondered seriously for a moment.

"That’s true to some extent, although I personally don’t dislike the Company’s people, but we indeed have significant disagreements with them on some matters."

"Is it because of their exploration of the ruins?" Chu Guang said thoughtfully.

Yin Fang scoffed lightly.

"That’s just the surface. How they use the ruins is their prerogative... Ultimately, what’s disappointing is that they possess these precious legacies but show no ambition. Whether it’s territory or knowledge, you’ll find that they aren’t so eager. Wealth? Perhaps, but I think rather than a thirst for wealth, it’s more a greed for enjoyment."

"You can see they decorate their homes beautifully; the luxury there is almost no different from the Prosperity Epoch, with many Waste Land Wanderers and old ice pops dreaming of living there for a lifetime. But in my view, that’s a place farthest from the Prosperity Epoch."

"The Prosperity Epoch left behind many things, whether used fusion batteries or the garbage that can be recycled and the Black Boxes that can turn waste into treasure... But all of these things will eventually run out, if not today, then tomorrow."

"Once we finish cataloging the leftover technologies of the former civilization, we will immediately start exploring new topics, seeking methods to restore the ecosystem of this planet to its pre-War state."

"And they, they’re just squandering the already limited legacy."

Here, Yin Fang paused for a moment.

"Of course, the Company does have some respectable individuals, and searching for No.0 Shelter is a good idea... I recall the Academy also sent an exploration team into the desert."

Chu Guang was slightly stunned.

"The Academy looked for No.0 Shelter?"

"That was many years ago," Yin Fang sighed, "I only remember that exploration team disappeared into the wilderness... After that, no one ever mentioned it again."

-

(Thanks for the tips from "ぶ摯ぐ愛﹍ぇ," "Angel of Lingbo," "DevilMayCry5," "ぉ蝴蝶ぁ," "云无冬," "云之崖"!)