This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 437 That is the Will of God

Chapter 437: Chapter 437 That is the Will of God

"F*ck my life... finally got the hell out of there!"

Panting heavily, the construction kid wiped the sand and sweat from his face with a brick, gazing at the mountains ahead, unable to suppress the joy that surged onto his brows.

It wasn’t just him.

A whole bunch of Strength Type players from the Death Legion couldn’t help but cheer when they saw the edge of the desert.

They had been pedaling a tricycle so hard, it almost felt like an upgrade, but at last, they saw the mountains of River Valley Province.

If it weren’t for the experience points and hard-earned equipment, they would have already used the "last hit TP" trick to teleport back to city!

Kakarot couldn’t help but complain.

"Damn, only Mole Old Brother gets to live the life, coming back from a vacation in Ideal City and landing a big job right away."

Debt Giant Eye, sitting on the tricycle, nodded in deep agreement.

"But that’s 900 kilometers away... How’s he planning to get there?"

The construction kid piped up sarcastically.

"Who knows? Since when do we pedaling a tricycle worry about someone else driving a car?"

Hearing the snide comments from the teammates, Edge Shoveling gave an embarrassed smile and patted the shoulder of his mount.

"Heh heh... sorry, bro, for putting you through this."

The construction kid rolled his eyes.

"As long as you know you owe me, that’s good enough!"

Cussing out the leader was just par for the course.

Most people weren’t that petty; the conditions when the servers first opened were way worse than now.

At least now there were tricycles.

Back then, even bicycles were treasured like pandas, and most players, even those at T0 and T1, had to rely on their legs to travel the map most of the time.

No matter what, they had indeed made it through the Army’s encirclement and completed this miraculous thousand-mile rush and relocation.

All faces were brimming with joyful smiles.

Even the captured Piman and Antonite.

Being tied up like sticky rice dumplings on the tricycle, they were almost baked dry by the sun.

No matter what these people planned to do with them, the torture of wind and sun exposure was finally over.

"This game’s map is just so freakin’ huge..." Debt Giant Eye raised his binoculars, looked north, but still couldn’t see the edge of the map, as if such a concept didn’t exist in the game.

This was probably the first time Alliance players had set foot in the northern boundaries of River Valley Province.

Though it was a plain area here as well, the plains on this side were completely different from those in the south.

Here, there were no green forests or grasslands stretching over the hills, but rather, bare yellow earth and seabuckthorn grass swaying at the edge of the Gobi.

There was a forest in the distance, but the tall pines were completely barren, without a single leaf on their branches, signaling the wholesale dying off of vegetation.

It seemed like Tianshui separated the entire province into two different worlds.

If the area around Qingquan City was modulated with a gray-green palette, then this place seemed like it was doused with a bucket of shit-yellow paint.

And that wasn’t all.

The Variants wandering nearby were even uglier; the mutated hunting dogs with thick fur in the south were reduced to a few sparse tufts of hair on their foreheads here.

However, the Variants here were noticeably more robust; not only were their bone structures larger, but their twisted muscles had even bulged onto their faces.

But it was probably for this very reason that the contorted muscles were compressing their eyeballs, resulting in poor eyesight, which led them to trouble they shouldn’t have stirred.

Over thirty mutated hunting dogs swarmed around, baring their teeth with vicious growls.

Sitting casually behind the construction worker, Edge Shoveling was unfazed, supporting the machine gun and sweeping it across in a burst, instantly killing half of the mutated hunting dogs that charged.

The other half was easily taken care of by a few players who got out of the car, using engineer shovels and bayonets without dragging their feet.

"The intensity is slightly higher than the mutated hyenas and Eaters... should be around level five or six."

Edge Shoveling shook the blood off his shovel and suddenly noticed more commotion in the distance, giving a teammate beside him a look and putting down his shovel to pick up the rifle hanging in front of his chest again.

The four of them cautiously approached only to see a humanoid monster crouched with its back to them, its hands covered in muck fervently digging in the ground.

Its body was lean and its flesh was a sickly gray-white, with skin covered in pus and sores, like a body that had rotted in a lake, as if searching for something in the soil.

Finally, it seemed to have found something, excitedly pulling something out of the ground and stuffing it into its mouth, voraciously feasting with crunching sounds.

Edge Shoveling and the young construction worker exchanged puzzled glances, unsure of what that thing was.

Noticing the movement behind it, the creature stopped what it was doing and glanced back at the four of them warily before retreating sideways and then scurrying into the nearby forest on all fours.

Debt Giant Eye shouldered his rifle, aiming at its back, but ultimately did not waste the bullet, lowering the barrel.

"...What is that thing?"

"I’m more curious about what it was eating..."

The young construction worker and Brick approached out of curiosity, only to quickly see half a brain buried in the ground.

His face turned pale and he gagged, cutting off his sentence.

"It’s navy blue... military uniform," said Edge Shoveling, who had gone up to look earlier, scraping the ground with his engineer shovel a couple of times, his brows furrowed slightly, "It’s someone from the Army."

And it was likely the Centurion!

In an instant, Edge Shoveling seemed to understand something, glancing around at the pockmarked, muddy wilderness.

This place must have been a Battlefield before!

The expeditionary force of the Army had clashed here with the forces of the Grand Canyon.

And the undulating and pitted terrain of the plain could very well have been plowed by artillery fire...

Although curious about that never-before-seen Variant, no players pursued it.

That leafless forest always seemed unnerving, and who knows what oddities were hidden within.

They still had a mission to carry on with, and it was best not to create additional complications.

The group continued on, soon coming upon a fairly large Survivor Settlement.

The sight of human habitation brought joyful expressions to the players’ faces.

Their supplies were nearly exhausted on this journey, and they could finally replenish them.

Signaling the main force to wait at a distance, Edge Shoveling advanced with a few familiar teammates, stopping a Scavenger to ask.

"What is this place?"

The Scavenger glanced at his exoskeleton and then at his rifle, saying warily,

"There’s no name here, we all call it the Recycling Station."

"Recycling Station?" Debt Giant Eye interjected curiously.

"Yes, see that plain out there?" The man pointed to the vast stretch of mucky ground in the distance, "That’s where the Army’s expeditionary force dug trenches. Later, they were defeated and fled in disarray... dead left dead, runaways ran... leaving all their equipment there."

Edge Shoveling looked in the direction he pointed, and could vaguely see two trenches interrupted by shell craters.

"Are you here to scavenge?"

"That’s right," the man glanced at the camp behind him and said with an ambiguous voice, "Everyone’s here to pick up garbage. Some collect garbage, some buy garbage, some sell shovels... Although the Army hasn’t done anything good, their bodies have provided for quite a few."

Edge Shoveling nodded.

It seemed this wasn’t a permanent camp but a "nomadic group" formed by Scavengers.

Perhaps once the nearby trash was dug up, the Scavengers would gradually move away, and the camp would relocate elsewhere.

As for who was buying this trash, there was no need to think about it. It was undoubtedly the people from Bugra Free State.

"Can we resupply here?"

"Why not? Just go to the merchant stalls in the camp, they’ll sell you anything, as long as you’re willing to pay. But... it’s better not to make trouble unless you want to make enemies of everyone here."

The Scavenger hinted subtly and didn’t waste more time here. Picking up his sack, he entered the muddy land.

Debt Giant Eye looked at Edge Shoveling.

"What do you say?"

Edge Shoveling pondered for a moment and quickly made a judgment.

"Replenish supplies, then hit the road."

"Why don’t we just camp here?" the construction worker asked curiously.

"The captive’s identity is special, and everyone here does business with Bugra Free State. You can’t be sure that there are no spies among them."

Edge Shoveling glanced at the back of the Scavenger and gestured with his chin.

"Let’s go."

"After we’ve resupplied, we need to get moving quickly."

...

They changed out of their Exoskeletons.

Edge Shoveling, along with Big Eyes and the construction worker, entered the camp known as the recycling station.

Though it looked shabby from the outside, the camp was bustling with activity inside.

Traders leading Double-headed Cows set up stalls on both sides of the road, selling not only junk like bottles and cans but also some unusual high-tech items.

This included security Robots with welded pipe rifles and biomimetic laborers modified with scavenged junk and smart cores.

There were even people selling power armor.

However, Edge Shoveling realized upon closer inspection that the thing, besides having a nearly drained fuel rod protruding from its chest, had nothing in common with power armor.

The construction youth and the brick-layers curiously leaned in to check the price tag and saw it was actually 600,000 Cr. Their eyes bulged.

"Holy shit! That’s a rip-off!"

If memory served, the current exchange rate between Cr and Silver coins was 1:3, which meant 1.8 million Silver coins!

The merchant selling the item glanced at him, saw his unworldly, poor look, and didn’t bother to engage him.

"We’re not here to buy equipment." Edge Shoveling patted the construction worker’s shoulder and pulled him back.

Most equipment here was DIY’d by Scavengers, and the likelihood of malfunctions was heartbreakingly high.

He had no interest in haggling.

"By the way, how much did Old White pay for that power armor?" Debt Giant Eye suddenly asked.

Edge Shoveling thought for a moment and answered,

"I remember... it was 1 million Silver coins, wasn’t it?"

Hearing it was only 1 million Silver coins, all the players immediately sighed with emotion.

Sure enough, the Manager was more conscientious.

These Waste Land Wanderers were indeed cunning!

After browsing the market, they finally found a merchant selling food.

The old merchant was not young, about forty years old, and he seemed to be from Sunset Province based on his appearance. People from there, regardless of their skin color, all had deep-set eyes.

To the players’ surprise, this merchant actually accepted Silver coins!

According to the old man, his next trip was going to the South, so he was willing to take both Dinars and Silver coins.

"4000 kilos of dry bread, 300 kilos of beef jerky... Let me calculate, um, that’ll be ten thousand Silver coins."

Upon hearing the old man’s price, Big Eyes couldn’t help but complain,

"Damn! That’s expensive!"

The construction worker also swallowed hard.

"Ten thousand Silver coins... That’s enough to buy a set of Light Cavalry Exoskeletons."

Edge Shoveling didn’t seem to mind and smiled,

"Think of it this way, being able to solve the supply issue for five teams of a hundred with the price of a set of Light Cavalry Exoskeletons, I think it’s already quite economical."

There was no way to wage war without spending money.

If money could solve a problem, it wasn’t a problem—especially since the Manager reimbursed logistic expenses.

He pulled out banknotes and counted 100 of them, handing them over to the old man.

"Deal."

The old man received the money with a smile, beckoning the boys by his side to help weigh the goods and pack them to be delivered to the clients outside the camp.

Edge Shoveling had the construction worker follow them, while he and Big Eyes stayed in the camp.

When the construction worker returned, Debt Giant Eye suddenly thought of the creature they had seen on the journey, looking like a corpse, so he turned to the old man and asked,

"Have you ever seen a creature... with skin like it’s been decayed by soaking in water, just like a walking corpse?"

"Decayed by soaking? Walking corpses?" The old man pondered for a while, then a smile suddenly squeezed out on his wrinkled face,

"You must have encountered Ghouls."

Debt Giant Eye was stunned for a moment.

"Ghouls?"

"Yeah, to the west of the Grand Canyon there’s a series of nuclear craters spanning hundreds of kilometers. They probably crawled out from there. Usually, they don’t eat anything alive, but they don’t shy away from anything dead, treating plague and rot as delicacies."

Brushing the ashes from his pipe, the old merchant squinted at the scavenging people in the distance, biting his mouthpiece and taking a puff.

"...Don’t mind those guys, they’re just a bunch of poor souls."

...

Meanwhile, far away in the southern part of Luo Xia Province, under Double Peak of the Jubar Mountains.

As rumors fanned by interested parties spread, the news that Army troops were closing in on the city quickly spread through Petra Fortress.

However, to everyone’s surprise, the message got distorted as it was passed along and became increasingly preposterous...

Dusk set in once more.

Old Buma handed the ledger to Si Si and hesitated for a moment before he couldn’t help but speak up.

"Miss... it’s no longer safe at Petra Fortress, you’d best buy a ship at the docks to the south while there’s still time."

Looking at the worried expression on Buma’s face, Si Si, who took the ledger, was momentarily stunned, her usually composed face revealing a curious awkwardness.

"Didn’t you say... that Petra Fortress was impregnable?"

If she remembered correctly, she had heard that statement just three days ago.

"That’s true, fortresses built by gods cannot be overtaken by mere mortals. If it were an army, no matter their numbers, Petra Fortress could fend them off without any trouble..."

Old Buma’s face still showed absolute certainty, but as he spoke, his voice began to waver involuntarily.

"...But if it’s an evil god, that’s a different story."

"An evil god?!" Tail’s eyes widened in surprise, her love for a spectacle drawing her in with excitement, "What does he look like?"

"With an appearance comprising countless forms of ugliness, nobody knows where he comes from; it could be from the skies or the deep sea. The moment he descended, his corporeal form filled the entire riverbank, his tens of thousands of tentacles tore through the clouds above, and not even The God of the Sky could match him..."

Tail’s eyes sparkled with fascination.

"Whoa! Giant-sized tentacles!"

Old Buma’s pupils clouded over as he tried to describe something he had never actually seen.

But for the time being, it seemed that only Tail was willing to believe him, even Meat Meat shook her head in doubt.

"...With such a vast desert, the army chose that specific location, there is no doubt that they knew they couldn’t defeat us with their own strength, hence they plan to awaken the devil suppressed by the Sky Scepter through a malignant ritual."

"This desert is doomed... Twilight of the Gods is upon us once again, and this time, there are no gods left to stop him."

The old man muttered under his breath, his cloudy eyes filled with despair, and his voice grew lower and lower until it faded into the distant dusk outside the window.

Holding a snoring kitten in her arms, Sesame Paste quietly looked over at Si Si and whispered,

"Is this part of the plan?"

Si Si, lost in thought, shook her head.

"I only had that mercenary spread the news about the army stationed in Lost Valley; I didn’t expect the people here... to have such wild imaginations."

The army stationed in Lost Valley was conducting a malevolent ritual to awaken an evil god that had slumbered for two hundred years, in hopes of employing the devil’s strength to conquer the unsurpassable Petra...

The plan had exceeded expectations, to the point that even a steadfast believer like Old Buma began to waver.

Looking at that old face full of sorrow, Si Si couldn’t help but worry.

Had she pushed too hard...

Just as she harbored these concerns, a series of heavy knocks suddenly came from the door.

Sesame Paste, who was standing by the door, heard it and went to open it.

"I’m sorry, we’re closed for today—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she recognized the person at the door and was instantly struck dumb.

Standing there was a squad of fully armed guards, numbering about thirty.

They had submachine guns slung around their waists, and they were already in their hands.

The person in the lead was the captain of the nearby patrol team.

Old Buma recognized that face immediately and quickly stepped forward with a forced smile.

"Captain Sayandis, may I ask what instructions you have?"

Ignoring the old man, Sayandis expressionlessly swept his gaze over everyone in the room, including the talking bear.

"Who’s the boss here?"

Meat Meat hesitated and was about to raise her hand, but Tail was a step ahead of her—

However, before Tail could lift her arm, Si Si, standing by, pushed it back down.

’Leave it to me.’

Giving Tail a reassuring look, Si Si walked over to where the Sesame Paste was.

Glancing at the mercenary who had been subdued, she calmly spoke to the captain of the patrol team.

"It’s me."

Seeing that she had no intention of violently resisting arrest, the patrol captain wasted no words and gestured with his hand.

"Come with us."

...

The castle shrouded in twilight.

The court of the Petra Fortress’s lord was filled with courtiers whose faces were etched with anxiety.

A man dressed in fine clothes sat on a stone chair, looking down expressionlessly at the people below the steps.

His right elbow propped on the cold armrest, his left index finger tapped on the armrest, a look that suggested deep thought or mere impatience.

His name was Sain, the lord of this Petra Fortress, from a noble family of the Camel Hump Kingdom, guarding the kingdom’s northern border for generations.

The Camel Hump Kingdom had declared war on the Falcon Kingdom long ago, yet it had been slow to send troops.

While many interpreted this as royal weakness, he knew that was not the case.

No one in the kingdom was more devout and courageous than His Majesty.

The respected gentleman was all too aware that appeasement only led to increased demands.

In fact, the royal family had always intended to gather troops to march north for aid, but the lords, including the ruler of Silver Moon City, were only willing to give money, not soldiers.

These profit-seekers were still hoping to defeat the Army with their moneybags.

Money could not solve this problem.

Of course, Sain stood on the side of the king.

The survival of Petra Fortress and his family relied on the royal family’s generosity.

They ate food transported from the Oasis, drank its water, and were the most loyal Garrison State, fundamentally different from the city-states governed by corrupt nobility and merchants.

However, he alone was not enough.

In this corrupt kingdom, cowards were everywhere, and the brave were rare.

Whether it was in His Majesty’s palace or his own court...

"...We should negotiate with the Army; there’s nothing that can’t be resolved by sitting down and talking."

"The Male Lion Royal Family is too rude. If they hadn’t harbored the offspring of the Honey Badger Royal Family, they wouldn’t have drawn the Falcon Kingdom’s attention!"

"In fact, I think... being like the Falcon Kingdom isn’t so bad, the Army has provided them with a lot of aid, and that Oasis would’ve been wasted if not for the Army’s help."

"It’s true, there’s no denying that. Although the Weilante People have bad tempers and are frightening in their treatment of slaves, they can’t be faulted for how they treat their vassals, giving whatever is needed."

"No matter what, just don’t go to war. The soil of Petra Fortress is barren, and if trade is affected by war, those poor people will starve."

The courtiers within the palace were abuzz with discussion.

This included the nobles without actual power, wealthy merchants, and guests.

Some proposed negotiating with the Army.

Others subtly hinted that the Falcon Kingdom’s approach seemed quite good, not only was the Falcon Royal Family sitting firmly on the throne, but the country’s power had also increased several times over compared to ten years ago.

Sain felt extremely irritable inside, but he simply couldn’t snap at these people, after all, Petra Fortress couldn’t do without them.

He was about to wave his hand to dismiss these people, but at that moment, footsteps echoed from the entrance of the hall.

The heavy wooden doors opened.

The captain of the guards stood at the doorway, giving a military salute.

"My lord, I’ve brought the person."

The ministers and nobles inside the great hall ceased their conversations, curiously turning their gaze toward the entrance.

Sain gestured with his hand for the person to be brought forward.

The captain of the guards bowed to take his leave, exiting the door quickly and efficiently.

It wasn’t long before he returned with a woman from the Aliens.

Seeing this scene, everyone in the great hall began whispering among themselves, curious about what the city lord intended to do.

Ignoring the noise,

Sain, seated on a stone chair, fixed his gaze on the woman below the steps, looking her over twice.

"Do you know why I’ve called you here?"

Knowing that playing dumb was pointless, Si Si simply nodded in acknowledgment.

"I know."

Seeing that unchanging expression on her face, a hint of admiration flashed in Sain’s eyes.

Those cowards who would kneel before the Army at the drop of a hat should feel ashamed of the words they had spoken, for not even a young girl had as much courage as them.

However—

Appreciation aside,

The law was the law.

Looming over the person at the foot of the steps, his eyes glinted with a hint of ice, and he said with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.

"In Camel Hump Kingdom, those who start rumors and create chaos will have their tongues cut out."

"Using the name of a god to deceive will result in a sentence of sand punishment, buried in the sands to be roasted by the sun for ten days, with none but gods allowed to provide food and fresh water."

"An act of almsgiving to those in suffering can waive three days of punishment, and you may choose the order in which to receive your sentences."

"Do you plead guilty?"

His solemn and cold voice echoed throughout the cavernous great hall.

All eyes were focused on her, some showing surprise, some an "as expected" look, and others were expressionless.

They hadn’t expected that the big fuss in the city was caused by a young girl... This seemed rather implausible.

But looking at the city lord’s expression, it appeared he wasn’t joking.

Interest gradually rose in the audience’s eyes.

Regardless of whether she was set up as a scapegoat, they were curious to see how the Alien girl would respond.

Si Si was silent and didn’t speak.

She knew that at this point, whether she nodded or shook her head, the outcome wouldn’t be good.

Thinking back on it, offering almsgiving meant exchanging Golden Camel Coins for those "waste products," didn’t it?

She didn’t think that was any sort of charity, at best it was a mutually beneficial trade.

However, the fact that the city lord’s understanding of the city’s affairs reached such a detailed level genuinely surprised her.

It seemed she had underestimated the intelligence of NPCs.

After she had taken care of that matter, she should have immediately given those mercenaries a sum of money and asked them to leave right away.

Now, the only thing worth feeling relieved about was that she hadn’t involved the other members of the knight order.

That city lord seemed not to covet their small wealth, or perhaps he disdained to loot in such a way.

As her thoughts raced in her cooled-down mind, Si Si considered ways to break the situation.

Deny that she concocted the rumors?

That was true.

She really hadn’t fabricated the parts about the gods; those exaggerated rumors were born from one error leading to another.

Nevertheless, such a defense was clearly useless; the other party wouldn’t play word games with her and it made no difference how she denied it if the mercenary confessed.

Furthermore, appealing to the Alliance was even less advisable.

If she let Camel Hump Kingdom consider her a spy directed by the Alliance, the outcome would probably be worse.

Not to mention the possibility of losing favor with the Manager, making such a move would transform a common case into a diplomatic dispute, and Camel Hump Kingdom, with its wavering stance like a fence-sitter, might just directly tip over to the other side in light of this incident.

Their faith was already not that firm...

Wait, faith!

In an instant, she grasped the thread that could break the situation, and Si Si’s eyes briefly lit up. The boiling thoughts in her brain rapidly cooled.

Recalling what she had read in two books, she organized her thoughts for a moment and looked up at the city lord seated on the stone chair.

"Respected city lord, sir, those rumors in the city indeed relate to me, but I don’t believe I am guilty."

The hall filled with hushed whispers.

The city lord narrowed his eyes slightly, now supporting his chin with his left arm.

"Oh?"

Although this pale defense wouldn’t alter her fate, he still wanted to hear what this person intended to say to exonerate herself.

"Indeed, those rumors originated from me, but they were not falsehoods."

She held her head high.

She could feel the multitude of gazes fixed upon her, more than half of which were malicious, and most of the remaining half were just there for the spectacle.

However, she was not the slightest bit intimidated.

She knew clearly that showing any hesitation or weakness at this moment would mean throwing all previous efforts away.

Her composed expression unchanged, she raised her voice, imbuing it with sincerity—or rather, a sense of righteousness.

That conviction stemmed not only from the truth of her assertions.

Also because—

"It was the will of the god."