This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 480: Rebirth

Chapter 480: Chapter 480: Rebirth

Although he hadn’t received reinforcements from the Academy until the end, Zhao Xiao unexpectedly received incredible news from Old White—

He could go home now.

It was a dark and windy night.

The empty camp was deserted, completely silent.

Fifteen minutes ago, soldiers from the Burning Corps had set up here but hadn’t stationed themselves in the camp, leaving behind a truck and some supplies before departing.

Standing in the center of the camp, Zhao Xiao felt a mix of emotions.

He hadn’t expected Old White to be serious, truly releasing the prisoners.

Not just him but also Chen Yutong and Wu Liangping, who was severely injured and unconscious in the Sleep Cabin... all the captured personnel were here.

As for Xuan Feng.

The Alliance insisted that a bionic without an "Intelligent Plugin" should be considered equipment, a view also held by the Academy, so its body and AI core were not included in the prisoner exchange.

Although it seemed a bit far-fetched, the Academy indeed didn’t recognize bionics as humans, and Zhao Xiao couldn’t think of a way to refute it.

Not just Xuan Feng.

His own sniper rifle and accessories had also been confiscated by someone called Night Ten... but he had never expected those people to return his weapons and his freedom.

Although he had regained his freedom, there was one thing Zhao Xiao couldn’t understand for the life of him.

That was why the Alliance and the corporations had released these prisoners.

And what puzzled him even more was why, despite soon being able to go home, he couldn’t feel happy at all.

Perhaps it was because of that bet.

Old White hadn’t mentioned the beer, simply patting his shoulder with a smile in congratulations at the end.

But he knew very well that he had ultimately lost...

At that moment, Chen Yutong, who was standing beside him, suddenly spoke.

"I’ve changed my mind."

Zhao Xiao was taken aback and turned his head to look at her.

"Changed... your mind?"

Chen Yutong nodded.

"Yes, I’ve decided to stay."

As confusion in his eyes slowly turned into astonishment, Zhao Xiao stared at her incredulously, it took quite a while before he managed to squeeze a word out of his throat.

"Why?"

Betrayal was a serious crime.

A cadet who defected would face endless bounties and manhunts from the Academy, the higher the level, the higher the bounty.

Moreover, every cadet had the duty to record any defector’s words and actions upon discovery and report them to the Department of Internal Affairs for the Purge Plan to handle.

Otherwise, they would be charged with the crime of complicity...

Zhao Xiao instinctively put his hand on his waist, but quickly realized there was nothing there and let it fall.

"I don’t know."

Unperturbed by her teammate’s movement, Chen Yutong gently shook her head as if she hadn’t seen anything.

She turned away and looked toward the starry sky in the south, murmuring in a soft voice, "Maybe... I just want to see what it’s like."

Although she was well aware that the Alliance wasn’t the "Heaven" she imagined, she still wanted to see what kind of place it was that could make those loyal to it confidently utter that phrase—

You can verify it with your own eyes.

At this moment, her curiosity about that place even surpassed her interest in ruins.

Of course, the fact that the food was really good was also a reason.

Finally, having made her decision, Chen Yutong suddenly felt as though she had put down all the burdens she had been carrying; she felt much lighter all of a sudden.

Rank, status...

Those things were no longer important.

She had already died once for the Academy.

Now, she planned to follow her heart in life, living for the things that interested her.

She looked at Zhao Xiao.

"Tell the captain that I already died in the previous battle and thank him for looking after me all this time..."

She paused there, then suddenly laughed at herself, shaking her head.

"Wait, never mind, forget that last part—it’s strange for a dead person to talk."

After all, the captain probably didn’t even know she had been captured, so it was better to let him think she had died in that previous operation just like those other fallen comrades.

As long as she didn’t cause the Academy any embarrassment, it probably wouldn’t bother about a mere E-level, and not all those missing explorers in operations had definitely died; perhaps just like that Class D explorer Old White spoke of, they were living well somewhere.

As for thanks.

She would thank him in person if there was a chance later.

Zhao Xiao swallowed.

Duty told him he should stop this defector in front of him, but he found himself saying something else instead.

"...Take care."

After all, they had been teammates for many years, and he still couldn’t enforce that discipline.

He just hoped she wouldn’t regret her choice today.

It was better to consider her already dead.

Chen Yutong nodded, turned her back on him, and without any guard, walked away towards the edge of the camp.

Almost less than ten minutes after her departure, the sound of caterpillar tracks crunching over gravel traveled along the ground.

Zhao Xiao looked up toward the direction of the north side of the camp, just to see the familiar heavy caterpillar vehicle slowly entering the quiet, empty camp.

Sitting in the driver’s seat was Zheng Hao, the leader of the Beacon team.

Surprise flashed in Zhao Xiao’s eyes, he hadn’t expected him to personally come to pick him up.

"Captain!"

Watching Zheng Hao jump down from the tracked vehicle, Zhao Xiao quickly jogged over and gave him an excited hug.

Patting the young man’s shoulder, Zheng Hao let go of his hands, looking at the young face before him, a tense expression suddenly softened.

On his way here, he had been hesitating about whether his decision was right, but at this moment all hesitations vanished.

He was extremely grateful for the choice he made at that moment.

Perhaps from the perspective of the academy, removing these few Level E names from the list was the most "economical" method, and he and the other team members were supposed to erase these people’s names and memories from their minds.

But he was ultimately not the academy.

Both the professor and the chief technical officer were far from him.

He was just a selfish person, an insignificant Level D, a pawn who could be ordered around by superiors...

No matter the circumstances, those people had died on his command.

Even saving one would ease the guilt in his heart.

"Those people didn’t do anything to you, right?"

Zhao Xiao shook his head excitedly.

"Nothing! They were actually quite kind to me... they didn’t even beat me up."

"That’s good."

A rare smile broke across his usually expressionless face as Zheng Hao patted the young man’s shoulder, releasing him.

"They kept their promise, I’ll remember this favor... By the way, did that guy called Old White give you anything?"

"I have it! I brought it with me!"

Zhao Xiao immediately nodded and took out a test tube from his pocket and handed it over.

Old White had instructed him to personally deliver it to their team leader.

Taking the test tube, Zheng Hao’s eyes flashed with joy, but as his gaze landed on the nearby sleep cabin, that joy was quickly diluted by complex emotions.

"Are there any others?"

Zhao Xiao was silent for a moment and shook his head.

"There’s no one else."

Zheng Hao said nothing more.

"...Let’s get Old Wu onto the truck, this place isn’t for lingering, it’s time for us to leave."

Zhao Xiao nodded without further questions, cooperating with the captain to carry the sleep cabin containing Old Wu onto the back of the truck.

The two then went to the front of the truck, opened the door, and got into the driver and co-driver seats.

A piece of paper was stuck on the steering wheel.

A few clumsy drawings roughly illustrated how to start the truck, turn on the headlights, and how to drive, etc.

Zheng Hao glanced at it, then ripped off the note and tossed it aside, turned the key, and started the car, driving away from the camp.

Looking in the rearview mirror at the gradually receding camp, Zhao Xiao suddenly spoke up.

"Oh... there’s something else."

Zheng Hao responded casually as he drove.

"What is it."

"Chen Yutong... she was badly injured earlier, felt she wouldn’t make it, so she gave up her sleep cabin to Old Wu who still had a chance to be saved."

This was a story he had just made up.

Without exposing that she was still alive, it was a plausible explanation.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Xiao continued.

"She wanted me to tell you to thank you... thank you for always taking care of her."

Zheng Hao nodded.

His expression seemed like he guessed something, but he didn’t seem to delve deeper into that.

"Hmm, I understand."

Zhao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

Some things were uncomfortable to keep inside.

Speaking them out felt much better.

...

The truck drove about five or six kilometers and stopped next to a mountain road.

Several members of the Beacon team carrying rifles came up, and seeing that the ones in the driving seats were the captain and the sniper, they all breathed a sigh of relief, lowering their guns.

"Transaction successful."

Jumping down from the vehicle, Zheng Hao looked behind him, no headlights were following.

It seemed those people really did let them go.

Perhaps, as Old White had said, they were looking forward to cooperating again... although he had no desire to encounter those monsters again.

Deputy leader Song Changfeng came forward and asked.

"What do we do now? Without communication devices, we can’t report our situation to the academy..."

"That’s just fine. When we return, just say we encountered an offensive attack from the Alliance and corporate reinforcements, and our follow-up operation failed."

Pausing for a moment, Zheng Hao continued.

"But as the saying goes, there’s always a way out. For the price of one vehicle, we not only successfully rescued a captive member, but also obtained a sample of the mother organism."

Although they lost a tracked vehicle, it wasn’t theirs to begin with, using the academy’s equipment to exchange for a captive teammate was not a bad deal.

This was already discussed beforehand, and everyone had agreed; for this, the team’s engineer even helped to format the AI core of two cyborg team members.

A team member climbed into the back of the truck and suddenly discovered that besides a sleep cabin, there were also two boxes inside. He shouted out to ask,

"What are the two boxes on the truck?"

Zhao Xiao heard him and replied,

"Oh, those are the supplies they gave us. They said they couldn’t finish them all and left them for us to eat on the road..."

The medic sneered.

"Who would eat something from the enemy."

He had already unloaded the supplies from the vehicle, including enough freeze-dried food, energy bars, and fresh water for the team to last thirty days.

Zhao Xiao scratched the back of his head.

"Well, that’s true, but those things actually taste pretty good..."

Several team members exchanged glances with subtle expressions.

This guy must have gone crazy from being locked up.

Song Changfeng looked toward Zheng Hao, clearly seeking his opinion again.

Zheng Hao, however, didn’t say much, just nodded indifferently,

"Let’s keep them."

He had already heard about those two boxes from Zhao Xiao earlier on the truck, although he was confused as to why the other side would do something so redundant, he hadn’t considered the possibility of them poisoning the supplies.

With their skills, there was absolutely no need for that.

He didn’t bother with such trivial matters.

Right now, he was considering which professor would be most suitable to contact once he was back at the Academy.

There was only one chance.

He needed to find a way to maximize the value of that test tube in his hand...

Meanwhile, in the north of Oasis No. 8,

After nearly a week of long-distance travel, Old White and his company finally managed to rendezvous with the main support forces.

Seeing Sun Ze coming towards them, several corporate pilots walked up, laughing, and patted him on the shoulder and arm.

"Haha, brother, I heard from behind that you fell pretty hard."

Sun Ze sighed.

"You bet, who knew what got into those crows in the swamp, they blasted me down with a missile the moment they saw me! You have no idea how thrilling it was, I were almost done for! Good thing my flying skills are awesome, pulled me right out of there!"

"What about the plane?" another pilot asked curiously.

Sun Ze waved his hand carelessly.

"Totaled! I’ve marked the wreckage on the map, let the aviation science team take care of it... damn it, I’m worth it! Hahaha!"

Laughing, Sun Ze vividly recounted his encounter with the Burning Corps after landing.

Especially focusing on how he cleverly and bravely led his soldiers to breakout from the encirclement by the Academy, conveniently forgetting to mention how he was nearly scared to death at that moment.

A few junior players stood aside, dumbfounded, watching the subtitles on the VM and whispering in Mandarin,

"Damn, that’s some big talk!"

"+1, his skin must be thicker than the walls of Giant Stone City..."

The two rescued corporate pilots were to take a direct flight back to Ideal City to be interviewed by various media and to clarify some misunderstandings.

However, before going back, their superior seemed to have something to say to the two lucky survivors, so he pulled aside Sun Ze who was boasting about his exploits.

As for Falling Feather and Xiaoyu, they were going back to City of Dawn on a corporate plane, carrying the samples previously recovered from the Eagle Fighter plane.

The corporation wasn’t particularly interested in Xiaoyu.

Or, to put it more precisely, those interested in it didn’t have sufficient say or influence in the Supreme Council.

On the other hand, the bionic person named "Xuan Feng" might catch the attention of Kang Mao Group, but that was for the Manager to worry about.

Old White confirmed the updated mission on the VM.

After rendezvousing with the main forces of the Burning Corps, they were to take the heavy reindeer-tracked vehicle "captured" from the Academy back to the frontline airport and await further instructions.

Word was that the frontline battles were progressing exceptionally smoothly, with the joint attack by the Skeleton Corps, Storm Corps and the Lion Kingdom Army, two of the nine retreating ten thousand troops were beaten down.

At this rate, less than half of the ten thousand troops would successfully make it to Oasis No. 2. The scales of victory were nearly fully tilted in the favor of the Alliance.

It was expected that by the end of the year, the Alliance would be able to meet their old friends from the Pioneer.

At this moment, Wild Wind, who was operating a drone, suddenly looked up at Old White who was pondering over the upcoming march route.

"There’s someone coming from the north."

A hint of surprise appeared on Old White’s face.

The north?

Haven’t those nerds given up yet?

"How many."

Wild Wind touched his nose and said,

"I only saw one."

"I’ll go meet them!"

Night Ten excitedly jumped down from the truck, eager to try out the newly acquired weapon accessories, but was stopped by Old White’s hand.

"There’s no need to make a fuss, I’ll go and check."

Saying this, Old White walked out of the camp alone.

Around ten minutes later, a figure quickly appeared on a distant sand dune.

She came alone, without any weapons.

Seeing Chen Yutong approaching, Old White smiled and asked.

"Did you leave something behind?"

Chen Yutong shook her head, but after a moment, she gently nodded.

"I want to go with you to see that place where the Waste Land Wanderers gather for warmth," I mentioned.

Old White looked at the girl in surprise.

Seeing her expression wasn’t joking, he didn’t ask further but smiled and stretched out his right hand.

"It looks like you’ve thought this through for a long time. Since you’ve decided, I won’t try to dissuade you... Welcome to join us."

"Thank you. If you hadn’t taken me in, I might have been homeless."

She extended her hand and shook his, slightly relaxing her expression as she joked, "After making this decision, I’ve probably gone from missing to dead back at the Academy."

Old White also made a playful joke.

"Congratulations on starting a new life. Do you want to change your name?"

Chen Yutong replied straightforwardly.

"No need, I’m not planning to forget my past. Besides, with so many people sharing the same name, I doubt anyone would care about the life or death of an E-level Explorer."

She was just a minor figure, not worthy of the attention of those high and mighty A or B-class individuals.

After a pause, she looked around and continued.

"Didn’t you get a track vehicle from Zheng Hao? Why don’t I see it?"

Old White embarrassingly said.

"It’s still on the way back... My people just took over and are studying the manual your captain left. It should be back in a few minutes."

Compared to the Alliance’s trucks, that thing was much more troublesome to drive, with a twelve-inch central console crammed with over fifty buttons.

It was hardly any easier to operate than the Flapping Machines that corporations sold to them.

Chen Yutong smiled wryly.

"That’s perfect. Once your people are back, I can teach you how to drive that thing."

A flash of surprise crossed Old White’s eyes as he replied with a hearty laugh.

"That would be great, you’d really be helping us out a lot!"

Her naturally falling bangs obstructed her view, so she casually flicked them aside and said nonchalantly.

"Don’t mention it. It’s no big deal. When we get back, just treat me to a drink of that liquor made from potatoes... What’s it called?"

"Do you mean vodka?"

Old White looked at the brave girl with surprise and teased her, "I heard Academy people don’t drink alcohol; ethanol is used only for reagents and fuel... Are you sure you can handle it?"

Chen Yutong’s mouth quirked up.

"I’m no longer one of the Academy’s people. And how would I know if I can handle it without trying?"

Perhaps due to her changed status or maybe because she had come to terms with her decisions, Old White always felt she had changed compared to the previous day.

But, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Trying some new things she hadn’t been exposed to before would really help her adapt to her new life.

"Alright, I won’t stop you... but I’d recommend a beginner-friendly way to drink it, mixing in some cola or Sprite."

Chen Yutong asked curiously.

"What’s that? Is it tasty?"

"It’s a drink... Crafted by life-loving Residents of the refuge—my meaning is, career players; simply put, it’s sugary water with some carbonation added."

"Carbonation? Does that stuff have a flavor?" Chen Yutong frowned slightly.

The Academy also had drinks with added sugar, caffeine, and vitamins.

But they would never add carbonation to drinking water; instead, they’d treat it like ethanol and store it in labeled sample cabinets.

Those substances neither provide nutrition nor boost dopamine production, rather they result in a loss of minerals in the body, much like how alcohol damages the brain.

Even if harmful doses could be controlled, there was absolutely no need to take unnecessary risks for meaningless activities.

"It has no taste, but the sensation of the bubbles exploding between your lips can bring a bit of a different thrill to mundane sugary water. You should try it and see..."

Old White’s response was as she expected.

What surprised her, however, were his other insights about "meaning."

For her, who was newly reborn, this was even more intriguing than the taste.

"So that’s how it is... Can you tell me more about Sprite? I’m a bit curious."

Looking at her face filled with curiosity, Old White somewhat helplessly explained.

"Shush, that topic is too technical. Overall, it’s similar to cola, but we’ve replaced caffeine with citric acid..."

"Citric acid replacing caffeine?! That’s intriguing..."

Unknowingly, the pair started heading back.

Chen Yutong naturally followed beside him, eagerly asking many questions she’d been interested in but hadn’t had the chance to ask.

The two talked like old friends who had known each other for ages, without any barriers, and before they knew it, a lot of time had passed...

Not far away, on a sand dune with a sniper rifle, Night Ten cursed as he packed up his gun and brushed the sand off his trousers.

"Damn it! Enough watching, I was worried he might be in trouble, and instead, I get fed a mouthful of dog food."

Wild Wind, holding binoculars, glanced at him sideways.

"How can you see it as dog food? Can’t it just be pure friendship?"

Night Ten retorted.

"Cut it out. Have you forgotten about Fang Chang, that dog? Started with all business talk and ended up calling her his wife... Ugh."

No, he couldn’t stand sentimental stuff unless it was his own.

Wild Wind coughed.

"Fang Chang is Fang Chang, Old White is Old White... They’re different."

Night Ten rolled his eyes.

"Going back."

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