This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 504: Survivors of the Pioneer

Chapter 504: Chapter 504: Survivors of the Pioneer

The harsh white light pierced through his eyelids as Yi Hai lay motionless on the hospital bed, his eyebrows twitching slightly.

As consciousness slowly returned, a searing pain suddenly surged into his throat, causing him to retch reflexively on his side.

"Ugh! Cough cough—"

After vomiting a stomach full of acid, he was quickly pushed back down by two people dressed in white coats.

Thinking he had been captured by Vellante People, he instinctively tried to struggle, but the sound of conversation nearby made him stop.

"Doctor! How is he doing?!"

"Cryogenic aftereffects... For cryosleep over half a year, a long-term sleep injection is required. Using a short-term one will lead to this condition. Luckily, you brought him back in time; in another two months, he might have really turned into a block of ice."

"Brother."

Hearing the familiar voice, Yi Hai finally regained full control of his body, moving his stiff neck to look at the young man standing beside him.

"...Yi Chuan?"

"It’s me!" Watching the man on the bed who was barely alive, Yi Chuan finally could not hold back his choked voice.

He sniffled hard, trying to squeeze out a reassuring smile.

"We’re here to take you home!"

Yi Hai’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, and a relieved smile finally spread across his haggard face.

"You’re here..."

"We won’t give up on any of our people stranded outside. No matter the cost, we will bring them back."

A solemn voice came along with the footsteps of shoes hitting the ground.

Approaching the bedside, Wu Changnian patted Yi Chuan on the shoulder and continued in a gentle tone.

"Your relative is out of danger. For those who are still unrescued, I have something I’d like to discuss with him."

Yi Chuan nodded vigorously, giving the man on the bed a comforting look. He then stepped back and turned to exit the tent.

Watching his brother’s figure disappear at the door, Yi Hai glanced at Wu Changnian standing by the bed, then at Chu Guang, a look of surprise suddenly appearing on his face.

"Are you... the Manager?"

"Yes." Chu Guang nodded with a smile, watching the face filled with bewilderment.

He knew very well that the deputy of Captain Lu Yang must be full of questions. Even his facial expression seemed to be asking, "How come you’re here?"

It was normal to have such questions.

After all, Yi Hai’s memory of Qingquan City remained from a year ago, and back then, the concept of an Alliance didn’t even exist.

To the crew of the Pioneer, they had merely passed a nondescript small village, both sides helping each other a little within their capabilities.

Gazing at those confused eyes, Chu Guang continued in a casual tone.

"There’s so much about us that could take days and nights to tell. I bet our story is just as fascinating as your journey has been... But before we discuss our situation, I need you to tell me where the rest of the crew is."

Wu Changnian also fixed his gaze on him as he spoke.

"What about the others from the Pioneer?"

Resting the back of his head against the pillow, Yi Hai closed his eyes and sorted through his chaotic memories, piecing them together like a puzzle.

"They... have probably already gone in."

"Into where?" Wu Changnian quickly asked.

"The shelter..."

"Is it No.0 Shelter?"

"I don’t know," Yi Hai’s pupils filled with uncertainty, and he continued with a hesitant voice, "It should be there if nothing went wrong... We found its entrance. Lu Yang said he planned to take the remaining people to the shelter to hide from the Vellante People and the mutants."

A sudden twinge of pain crossed his brow, and he raised his hand to press it against his forehead.

"...The attack wasn’t just from the Vellante People and the mutants. Their equipment was superior to that of the Army’s, and closer to pre-war standards."

Superior equipment?

Wu Changnian furrowed his brow.

"Could it be the Academy?"

"Unlikely..."

Yi Hai shook his head, coughing before continuing.

"We’ve never encountered people from the Academy... Those people seemed to have been living in the Great Desert for a long time, they’re very familiar with this area. At first, we thought they were after No.0 Shelter just like us. Captain Lu Yang proposed cooperating with them, saying if No.0 Shelter indeed had the capability to end the Wasteland, having an extra person to open it wouldn’t be a bad thing, until later, we discovered..."

Seeing him pause, an engrossed Chu Guang immediately asked.

"What did you find?"

Yi Hai was silent for a long while.

"... Those people had more information than we could imagine; it seemed they knew the location of the No.0 Shelter right from the start, and they were never really after it, but seemed to just want to stop us from obtaining it."

Chu Guang frowned.

"Who exactly were those people? Did they identify themselves?"

"They seemed to..." Yi Hai pondered for a long while, vaguely recalling something, "They seemed to be called something Enlightenment."

...

In the subsequent statement, Yi Hai briefly explained the whole situation, including how they discovered the location of No.0 Shelter, how they engaged in a conflict with the Vellante People, and how they ended up in danger...

Captain’s Office.

Back on the airship, Chu Guang stared at the notebook in his hand, deep in thought.

On the blank page, a pencil sketch depicted a sloppy symbol—two inverted triangles interconnected, forming a shape resembling a torch.

Yi Hai claimed they had seen this symbol on those people, but he was clueless about the "Torch Church" he mentioned.

Those people claimed to belong to an organization called the Enlightenment Society, mostly composed of Blue Jacket—residents of the shelters.

After all, the four major industrial zones and the central space elevator were once the industrial and economic heart of the Human Alliance Era, making the number of shelters in these areas far greater than in Luo Xia Province and River Valley Province.

Since the end of the nuclear winter, almost every year, a group of people awakens in some unknown corner... The Enlightenment Society was formed by some of these shelter residents.

The philosophy of this organization was just like their name, aimed at restarting the fading civilization and rescuing this world that had been in decline for two hundred years.

That was precisely why Lu Yang had chosen to collaborate with them and together search for No.0 Shelter.

It was truly difficult to meet like-minded people in the Wasteland.

However, no one had expected that those like-minded individuals would choose to betray them at the last moment...

But there was still a doubt.

If, as Yi Hai had said, the organization that called itself "Enlightenment Society" knew the location of the No.0 Shelter and intended to prevent them from finding it, then why pretend to cooperate with Lu Yang and the others?

Even if they needed a sneak attack to win because they couldn’t win a fight, there was no need to wait until after the Pioneer had found the entrance to No.0 Shelter to take action, right?

"... The Enlightenment Society hoped that corporate personnel would find it, but they had disagreements on how to deal with the No.0 Shelter."

Chu Guang closed his eyes and thought for a while before finally shaking his head.

There was too little information.

He speculated two possibilities, but neither had reliable evidence to prove them; perhaps the answer was hidden inside No.0 Shelter.

In any case, they had obtained the precise coordinates of the entrance to No.0 Shelter from Yi Hai.

It was a huge industrial building occupying thousands of acres, or more vividly described as a "vertical assembly factory."

The two major achievements of the Prosperity Epoch were stuffing farmlands into kilometer-high buildings and inserting assembly lines into them on a large scale.

According to the information provided by Yi Hai, that building was the entrance to No.0 Shelter, with a piece of space elevator wreckage landing in that area.

Due to the presence of radioactive materials, many extremely dangerous Variants were active in the area.

The corporate Assault Team No.26 had already dispatched some personnel to control the entrance to the building, and representatives from Fang’s group would officially enter the ruins tomorrow to uncover the mysterious veil of No.0 Shelter.

Chu Guang deployed the communication relay drones carried by the airship, taking the opportunity of regular data archival back-ups to organize and update the messages gathered earlier on the official website.

At this moment, the forum was still immersed in the joy of victory in the war in Luo Xia Province.

Only a small portion of the players moved with the airship, while most of the expedition participants followed the NPC army walking back or meandered home in small groups.

Most players shared experiences from their return journey on the forum, including discoveries in the Honey Badger and Lion Kingdoms or accidentally unlocking new gameplay during the trip.

For instance, using expansion pack rewards to buy a piece of land in the Oasis to become a farm owner. Or staying locally, assisting the Alliance troops in combating Looters and running errands.

"Wasteland OL" did not dictate how players must play the game, only setting out in the Player Manual what activities were forbidden and the consequences of rule violations.

Aside from a few major nodes impacting the world’s storyline, most of the time, players could find their own enjoyment in this open-world game.

Whether it was using readily accessible knowledge outside the game to help the Waste Land Wanderers improve productivity or indulging in trivial pursuits like starting a relationship.

Even for most players, aside from the huge rewards from the main quest, accidentally triggered side quests or unlocking strange gameplay were often more fun than those "carefully designed paths."

Nevertheless, when Chu Guang, using Ah Guang’s alias, updated the main storyline’s latest clues on the forum, it still attracted the attention of countless players.

The post went up less than a minute ago.

The number of replies quickly broke a thousand.

Quit smoking: "Enlightenment Society??? What is that?"

Tail: "Oh! I smell a conspiracy.

Si Si: "Oh oh! A new expansion pack... Wait, don’t tell me the new expansion pack is still heading west? I had already bet on it going south. Σ(ﾟдﾟlll)"

Tail: "ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ?"

Pick up trash 99 level: "Hiss... Isn’t that the symbol of the Torch Church? It was on those collars for controlling the Variants that were sold early in the NPC shops, right?"

Debt Giant Eye: "Honestly, that symbol is so ugly. Could it be that Ah Guang drew it himself with a pencil? (Silly)"

Construction Site Youngster and Brick: "@Escaped Mole of the Canyon, evaluate this."

Escaped Mole of the Canyon: "Sloppy yet unrestrained, rough yet detailed, each stroke shows meticulous artistry. I deem it good work!"

Debt Giant Eye: "????"

Quit smoking: "Hahaha! So flattering!"

Elena: "No wonder you’re unemployed. (Silly)"

Night Ten: "Brother Guang! Somebody said you’re meticulous!"

Escaped Mole of the Canyon: "%￥#@!"

Si Si: "Speaking of the founders of the Torch Church... Isn’t that guy who calls himself the Saint Heir also a resident of the refuge?"

Teng Teng: "Hmm... From what the official website says, he seems to have been adopted by the refuge? Though he grew up in the refuge since he was a child."

Crow: "Ah!!! Could that guy also be a member of the Enlightenment Society?"

Escaped Mole of the Canyon: "Whether he’s part of the Enlightenment Society or not isn’t really important. This update with the Enlightenment Society just seems to be a regional force. The Torch Church at least participated in the big expedition of the Army and the later Bone Chewing Chaos, whereas they... seem to have just extinguished the Pioneer, hardly making any impression."

Night Ten: "Isn’t it said that the really powerful bosses are always hidden behind the scenes? (Silly)"

Wild Wind: "That’s a misconception... Only those lacking in strength need conspiracies, the truly powerful are straightforward. (Side-eye)"

Fang Chang: "After reading, I’ve found two suspicious points. First, why does the Enlightenment Society, which aims to restart civilization, want to prevent corporations from approaching the No.0 Shelter. Second, what is the connection between the Torch Church in the far south and the centrally located Enlightenment Society."

Night Ten: "I suspect Brother Guang himself hasn’t figured out how to write it. (Silly)"

Fang Chang: "Then you’re underestimating him. I feel like there’s a bigger game being played here... Speaking of which, what exactly is the No.0 Shelter?"

Teng Teng: "Hmm... A very, very large refuge?"

Fang Chang: "How large? Or rather, how many Black Boxes and power armors are needed inside to restore the world to its original state?"

Wild Wind: "Hmm... Now that you mention it, I always felt that the three major forces — the Academy, corporations, and the Army — might be holding onto some information we do not understand. Including our allied corporations, who haven’t fully shared what they know with us."

Fang Chang: "That’s inevitable. My instinct tells me that maybe our thinking was wrong from the start."

Night Ten: "What do you mean? (Stunned)"

Fang Chang: "When a computer freezes, there are three common solutions we usually use: wait for the program to respond, end the current process, or just restart the computer."

"Most refuge’s basic logic would fall under the first category, preserving personnel, resources, energy, knowledge, tools, and most of the components needed for civilization until the right time for reconstruction... This is a relatively moderate solution, but the execution may vary from shelter to shelter."

"However, No.0 Shelter is, after all, ’legendary’, with neither corporations, the Academy, nor the Army having data about it, nor even sure if it was ever built..."

"An irresponsible guess is that in its basic logic, this shelter could fundamentally differ from the others."

Crow: "Ah, so what you’re saying is... it might not even be a refuge at all?"

Fang Chang: "Don’t mind it, I’m just speculating based on the Enlightenment Society’s settings, it might not be as great as the rumors suggest." (sideways glance)

It’s fair to say that no one understands Ah Guang better than Fang Chang on the forum, and his speculation soon sparked new discussions.

Some players think this is a new task organized by the Dog Plan, while others believe the situation isn’t that complicated.

As for the Backseat Drivers, they don’t care about it, they just want the production of helmets to be increased.

They’ve already missed out on a grand expedition.

Looking at the unrealistic promises made by the Dog Plan, many players who hadn’t yet entered the Game felt disheartened.

There were actually players hoping the production team would slow down updates during the EA phase, a rare sentiment in game history...

Old White: "Let’s not digress, when are you coming back? There’s new work here." (shows teeth)

Fang Chang: "Cough, soon, in a few days... Don’t worry, I’ll definitely be back before you guys."

Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Damn! Did you guys cozy up to the Dog Plan again?"

Old White: "No way, you should hurry back too." (shows teeth)

Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "What does it have to do with me?"

Old White: "Nothing, I’m just urging on behalf of someone. You’ll know if it’s related once you’re back."

Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "...?"

...

The next day.

At the base of an abandoned industrial building.

Several large dogs with gray-yellow skin and long canines on their forearms were roaming on the rubble-strewn steps, using their keen noses to search for prey, oblivious to the danger that had quietly approached their throats.

One of the Variants suddenly raised its head alertly, looking around.

However, before it could growl, several short "chirps" of gunfire pierced through the skulls of those Variants.

A rustle in the seabuckthorn bushes startled the small animals, causing them to flee rapidly, as several exoskeletons appeared from the shadows not far away.

Su Ming, pressing a finger on his helmet, glanced at the drone circling above and surveyed his surroundings, said clearly,

"Five Variants killed, image data has been retrieved... Building entrance is secured, no other threats confirmed... Damn, don’t ask me to name it again."

According to intelligence from Yi Hai, it’s suspected that an unknown third party had set their sights on the No.0 Shelter... but Su Ming thought it might just be a trick by the Weilante People.

Those guys aren’t without high-tech gear, just limited in quantity.

Otherwise, how would you explain the Pioneer being targeted and surrounded by a large number of Clone Troops?

As for the Enlightenment Society.

It might just be a ruse by the Weilante People to get close to the Pioneer, and it’s ridiculous that Captain Lu Yang actually believed it.

If it were him, he wouldn’t trust strangers he met in the Wasteland.

"Why not upload it to Endpoint Cloud and let netizens vote on it."

"Good idea, when are the Migrant Birds returning?"

"I think it’s tomorrow."

"Damn..."

Su Ming cursed softly, activated the stabilizer system of his combat video, and prepared to record some interesting material to update on his social media.

Meanwhile, ten armed trucks drove out from the camp, carrying a group of Soldiers and representatives about to head to explore the relics, majestically advancing toward the now cleared-out base of the industrial building.

The debris of the space elevator was not far from here, a majestic, arc-shaped metal shell embedded in the ground like a hangar roof.

Just looking at these remnants, it was hard to imagine how majestic the tower that once reached into space was before its collapse.

The various forces gathered at the base of the building.

Tall Weilante People in thick bullet-proof armor, led by an officer with a prominent nose and deep-set eyes. Beside him stood an Attendant, different in style and handsome, none other than the Pangolin who had killed countless enemies on the battlefield.

Vellante proudly glanced at those Alliance Soldiers who, it was said, had suffered greatly on the battlefield because of his comrades.

It wasn’t without reason that Lord Cohen specifically assigned Pangolin as his guard, partly to flaunt in front of the Alliance.

However, what puzzled him was why those guys responded so indifferently, not even looking his way.

Didn’t they recognize this brave warrior under his command?

Or were they too fearful to even make eye contact?

Thinking this, a smile crept up on Vellante’s lips.

Too weak!

Old Soldier, standing in the front row of the lineup as well, now had a pained expression, toes gripping the ground.

Damn it.

This is too awkward!

Unlike the Army, the Academy was quite low-key, only sending a female researcher with long black hair.

Beside her followed a four-legged robotic dog nearly as tall as a person, its broad back hung with bulging backpacks.

Since getting off the truck, she hadn’t interacted with anyone, standing with an aloof expression in a place she deemed safe.

Researchers from the Academy tended to behave like this outside.

Historical issues and the high cost of equipment, among other reasons, made almost everyone from the Academy suspect they were being targeted.

In fact, it wasn’t paranoia, as Academy Prospectors were treasures on the Wasteland, almost common knowledge.

Most Prospectors, once they left the Academy, chose to hide their past identity... the opposite of corporate employees who loved to brag.

Most Survivor Forces, when targeting corporate employees, had to consider the risk of being blacklisted.

Especially in the Province of Yúnjiānxíng, being too ostentatious could provoke widespread anger on Endpoint Cloud, potentially attracting pursuit by corporate allies or a direct Assault Team.

Just as she was confirming the task assigned by her mentor through the holographic window, Jiang Xuezhou suddenly frowned.

She felt like two gazes were fixed on her...

In fact, her intuition was very accurate.

However, the one staring at her was not a human, but a corporate bionic person.

Staring intently at the young girl from the Academy, Frost said resentfully.

"Solar Eclipse... why won’t they let us go down? Technically, bionic persons shouldn’t count as humans, right? Wouldn’t it be better to take more people with us?"

The pupils of Solar Eclipse flickered slightly.

"It is said to be a proposal from the Academy."

Frost looked unsatisfied.

"But they also brought a mechanical dog equipped with an AI core, didn’t they? What’s the difference?"

Solar Eclipse remained silent for a while.

"That... should not count as a person."

Humiliation and unwillingness were etched on Frost’s face as he clenched his fists.

"Damn... it’s just lying down, isn’t it? It’s not like I can’t do that."

Solar Eclipse: "...?"

While everyone was waiting, the passage from the main entrance of the building to the entrance of No.0 Shelter had been completely opened.

Yun Song, the captain of the 26th Assault Team, walked out of the main lobby on the first floor and ran into Yun Yi, who had just gotten off the vehicle.

There were two representatives assigned by the corporation to enter No.0 Shelter, one was Yun Yi and the other was his best scout, Su Ming.

Looking at Yun Yi coming towards him, Yun Song’s face rarely showed hesitation and restraint, and he asked softly.

"You... are you alright?"

Yun Yi nodded simply.

"No problem, we have already reached a ceasefire agreement with the army, and besides, there are only two of them."

"I always feel that the threat is not just from the people of Vellante..."

Looking back at the abandoned building, Yun Song looked at Yun Yi again, saw no relaxation in her expression, and finally sighed resignedly.

"Be careful later."

Yun Yi nodded, her reply terse.

"Okay."

Not far away.

Seeing Yun Yi and Yun Song standing together, Night Ten approached an NPC teammate by his side who was about to go down with him, and asked curiously.

"Hey, buddy, speaking of it, what exactly is the relationship between your captain and that delegate from the Endpoint Group?"

He had been curious before.

Both surnamed Yun, yet their personalities and temperaments were starkly different, even entirely unlike individuals from the same era.

Su Ming said mysteriously.

"What do you guess?"

Night Ten glanced sideways at him.

"You’re making it so mysterious... I bet they’re definitely not siblings."

"Smart," Su Ming gave a thumbs up and said approvingly, "Keep guessing."

"...Mother and son?"

Su Ming shook his head like a Chinese tambourine.

"Nope, that generational gap is too wide."

"Generational difference is too much... Aunt and nephew? Grandfather and grandson? Damn, what is it?" Seeing that guy constantly playing coy, Night Ten couldn’t help but curse.

Su Ming chuckled cheekily.

"I told you, you’d never guess it."

Seeing that his teammate was about to go mad from curiosity, he stopped being secretive, leaned close to Night Ten’s ear, and whispered lowly.

"Actually... by generational counting, she should be considered our captain’s ancestor to the Nth grade Grandma..."

Night Ten was stupefied, his worldview immediately shattered.

"What the hell?!"

Su Ming shrugged.

"This kind of situation is actually not rare in Ideal City. One day you’re at work, suddenly you find out that one of your direct blood relatives from a hundred years ago has just woken up from cryogenic sleep to the present, now sitting in a hospital flipping through non-existent camera feeds, thinking they’ve become the target of a prank show, with everyone around plotting to deceive them... Can you understand that feeling?"

"Waking up to find your incurable disease has been cured, but the world you knew is gone along with your pension."

He paused, then continued.

"For someone who suddenly finds an ancestor, it’s a completely different matter. Now you have to worry about how to make them accept reality, and explain... what exactly your own situation is."

Night Ten was momentarily taken aback.

"...Ah, this."

He had never thought about this issue before; he just thought that cryogenic sleep into the future would be pretty cool.

Maybe in reality, you could even set up bionic maids like those in the game, and the bank account might even double.

But on second thought, this assumption seems to assume that "Tomorrow will be better."

What if the future turns out to be worse?

That thought was quite horrifying.

"Of course... I’m just making an analogy. Our captain and Miss Yun Yi have another situation... Anyway, she comes from the Prosperity Epoch, and her knowledge is very useful to us. We must make sure she is well protected later."

Seeing the captain’s signal to assemble, Su Ming patted Night Ten on the shoulder, grinned, and said.

"Let’s go, brother, time to get to work."

-

(Sorry for being a bit late today!)