This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 511: The Unspoken Decision

Chapter 511: Chapter 511: The Unspoken Decision

Where is this?

Who am I?

Within a hazy fog, Jiang Xuezhou opened her eyes and stared blankly at the surrounding dense haze.

Suddenly, a slight sting at the brow made her lift her index finger to press on it. The moment her fingertip touched, the blurry memories gradually began to clear.

The first thing she remembered was her own name, followed by her birth date, and the surrounding environment also changed, the dense haze turning into a vast snowfall.

"It’s a girl..."

"... Brain cell activity is good, physical quality is excellent, hormone levels are normal, she’s a good seedling."

"Thank you, doctor!"

"You’re welcome, it’s what I should do."

"She looks like you."

"Then ... let’s call her Xuezhou."

"It would be great if she could pass the exam."

The silhouettes of memories flashed by like slides.

She saw two benevolent smiles, then saw those blurry outlines frosted white, subsequently watching their expressions gradually turn to worry.

"Mom... Dad..."

She murmured quietly.

She seemed to have returned to her childhood.

Back then, her family was struggling. Her father was in the Scavenger Team, her mother worked at a garment factory, the staple food was potatoes and beets that could grow in the cold, although the settlement had cows, those were livestock managed by the local authorities for the Science Committee, and most people might not get to eat meat once a week...

Her only wish at that time was to pass the Science Committee’s assessment and enter the Academy to become a Prospector.

It was the only way to change her fate other than wandering in the Wasteland, the only path of life designed by the Science Committee for all survivors.

Any family that could train an apprentice would receive a huge subsidy from the Science Committee... it was a fortune that would make everyone envious, her parents could live in a bigger house, her brothers and sisters could switch to easier jobs, striving to contribute two more good seedlings to the Science Committee.

And for the lucky one who became an apprentice, from then on, they would lead a wealthy and comfortable life, no longer needing to worry about trivial matters unrelated to scientific research.

Wait...

Hadn’t I already passed the assessment?

And even became a researcher, something countless apprentices dream of...

A hint of panic suddenly welled up in Jiang Xuezhou’s eyes.

How...

How did I come back?

Beyond everything she saw, she seemed unable to remember anything else. An unknown force had frozen a part of her memory, restricting its flow rate, only allowing it to be released bit by bit and meticulously analyzed.

’Answer me.’

The voice in the darkness rose again, carrying a power that ensnared the heart.

’Recollect carefully...’

’Besides your loved ones, who is the most important person in your life?’

The most important person besides loved ones?

A moment of confusion flashed in her eyes.

It seemed there wasn’t such a thing...

After joining the Exploration team, people would leave every now and then; she had gotten used to leaping from one step to another, slowly forgetting the people she met in different stages of life... including her parents and siblings who she hadn’t seen for many years, who perhaps still regarded her as their pride.

Thinking about it this way...

Her life seemed meaningless, just a precisely designed program that so far seemed to run quite well.

It was just like...

"NPC."

Beyond her expectations.

She thought the voice from somewhere would feel as disappointed about her life as she did, yet she didn’t expect it to seem quite pleased with her dullness.

A person on the fringe of society is undoubtedly easier to replace than one standing in the limelight.

People hardly remembered much about her, so they wouldn’t be surprised by any discord or change in her.

It was all too easy to take her place.

So easy that it made one wonder if there was even a need to do so.

At that moment, the scenery before her changed again. The cold wind passing through her neck made her tighten it and wrap her nearly frostbitten arms around herself, squatting on the ground.

It was only then that she realized she was squatting naked in the snow, with endless blizzards all around that seemed to engulf her completely.

And in the distance, tufts of eerie green light, like the eyes of mutants or the ghostly flames lighting the way to hell.

Perhaps...

This was her end.

Like the majority of prospectors who walked into relics cluelessly and died silently with utter confusion and regret, she ultimately couldn’t escape the monotonous fate.

Just as she decided to close her eyes and accept her fate, a figure suddenly approached through the heavy snow like goose feathers.

He wore a black exoskeleton, his chest plate dented from impact, and the howling wind seemed to affect him significantly, making every step forward difficult.

Who was this guy?

The mysterious voice seemed confused as well and didn’t answer her query.

The man then called out to her.

"Hey."

Panic flickered across her face, and she even forgot her body was frozen, collapsing backward onto the icy snow.

"Don’t turn away—"

"Stop talking nonsense. How long do you plan to sleep here?" The man relentlessly walked up to her, ignoring her reaction, and grabbed her arm.

Jiang Xuezhou instinctively wanted to struggle, but the man didn’t care and forcefully yanked her backward.

"Let’s go."

That was the last thing she heard there.

The surroundings swiftly shifted like the view from a train window, and the world constructed from fragments of her memory collapsed instantly.

In the blink of an eye, she seemed to enter another world, and her blocked memories rushed into her mind like a tide.

It felt like being pulled back to shore from the depths of the sea, her incomplete senses returning with deep breaths.

At that moment, a hand removed the glasses from her head.

"Ah!!!"

Jiang Xuezhou let out a startled cry and quickly scurried to the corner of the room, clutching her arms, only then realizing she was fully clothed.

Her pale face gradually turned the color of a lantern.

Fortunately, the person who had removed the neural connection device from her head wasn’t looking at her.

"This should be fine, right? Whether it’s fine or not, I’ve done my best," Night Ten said, looking towards Yun Yi.

Yun Yi put away the tablet and nodded with a smile.

"Mm, she’s successfully disconnected. You’ve done well."

"Really?" Night Ten looked doubtfully at the girl sitting in the corner with a flushed face and muttered, "But I feel like there might be something wrong with her head."

Yun Yi was taken aback.

"Maybe... it’ll be better after a while?"

According to Zhuang Lan, if one is not mentally strong, removing the glasses directly could cause schizophrenia unless it is turned off through the normal procedure.

That is, by wearing a neural connection device and a memory extraction device together, entering a dream constructed from her memory fragments, and letting her actively awaken from the dream.

Night Ten originally didn’t want to go through such trouble, but the "Holy Grandmother" from Ideal City said he couldn’t just ignore that little girl.

To not affect the subsequent plot, he had no choice but to go to the entertainment room in the living area, find a neural connection device with a universal interface, and play a copy with Student Jiang.

It seemed that this fellow had a long nightmare involving Variants, Mutants, Looters, and others...

He counted, and he had cleared at least six copies just now.

However, the last clearance was unexpectedly simple, so much so that he felt he barely did anything, just gave her a little pull.

Then she woke up.

He even thought there would be a boss fight afterward and even looked forward to it for a few seconds.

By the way, just before he put on the virtual reality device to play the copy, the time bomb stuck on the ground-to-ceiling window had already been disarmed by him and Yun Yi together.

That thing turned out to be a ten-thousand-ton miniature nuclear bomb.

Choosing to detonate it near the reactor, it seemed that people from the Enlightenment Society planned to take the data from here and then completely destroy the place.

Gradually recalling the ins and outs of the matter, Jiang Xuezhou slowly let go of his collar and said in a soft voice with blushing cheeks.

"...Thank you."

"No need to thank me, I just gave you a little pull, thank her instead."

Night Ten gestured with his chin toward Yun Yi next to him, "Much of the work was done by her; I couldn’t understand those codes."

Red-faced, Jiang Xuezhou nodded and softly thanked her.

Watching this polite little girl, the arms-crossed Yun Yi smiled charmingly and spoke in a relaxed tone.

"You’re welcome, although we haven’t been together long, we’ve become partners through life and death."

Partners...

Jiang Xuezhou silently looked at Wally lying on the ground and the broken Little Wang nearby, and bit her lip gently, wanting to say something but not knowing how to begin.

Night Ten walked over, helped Wally up, and carried this Weilante person off the ground.

Though the person was already gone, there was still the need to report back to the Army.

"Come on, let’s not keep everyone waiting too long."

...

Living area.

Su Ming, Meng Liang, and Pangolin, who had previously gone to the Manager’s Office, had already arrived here and were now sitting silently at a table covered in dust.

Especially Su Ming.

After watching the video from Lu Yang, he seemed like a different person, not saying a word from the Manager’s Office to here.

Sitting between the two, Meng Liang smiled wryly, silently praying for his partner to come back soon...

Just then, the door next to them opened.

The three from outside came in.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting." Sitting down at the table, Yun Yi apologetically glanced at the three in front of her, then turned to Jiang Xuezhou, "You sit too... The matter we are about to discuss is very important."

Having understood the ins and outs of the events on the way here, Jiang Xuezhou didn’t say a word, silently pulled a chair, and sat down.

Night Ten temporarily placed Wally in the corner, dusted his hands with a ’heave ho’, and also returned to find an empty chair at the table.

"... Let’s discuss the Torch Plan and this ’No.0 Shelter.’"

Su Ming cleared his throat, breaking the silence in the room, looked around at those present, and spoke.

"I can’t represent the corporation’s stance, but... as a citizen of Ideal City, I think we should destroy this place."

He paused, then continued.

"Destroy it in the literal sense."

The air was quiet for a moment.

"I vote in favor."

Pushing up her glasses, Yun Yi looked seriously at everyone seated here and continued,

"...Given the current level of mutual distrust among the various forces on the Wasteland where not even a channel for communication exists, once this evil weapon is unearthed, even if it’s just the blueprints... everyone will be trapped in a prisoner’s dilemma."

Night Ten was stunned.

"...What do you mean?"

Yun Yi smiled wryly, about to explain to this confused but well-meaning fool, but Jiang Xuezhou, sitting next to her, was a step ahead, speaking with a complex expression.

"It means that the person who ’presses the button’ first will reap the greatest benefits, so even those completely uninterested in the weapon will have to join this race, because no one can guarantee that others aren’t secretly planning this."

Seeing someone had already spoken for her, Yun Yi coughed lightly and said,

"...Just like she said."

In reality, the prisoner’s dilemma is not absolutely unsolvable.

The prisoners remain prisoners only because there is no channel for exchanging information; once a channel is established, many problems naturally become solvable.

However, the difference between the Wasteland and real society lies precisely here.

Here, let alone the internet, even the highest echelons of corporations and academies don’t have a single telephone line between them; there are enormous differences in the collective societal structure and the individual’s thought logic among the various parties.

Even the Alliance, an organization with not a very large managerial scale, had trouble deciding who to contact when meeting a corporation for the first time.

Not to mention academies and armies that have been focusing on a single path and have developed independently for half a century.

Once trapped in a prisoner’s dilemma, it’s almost unsolvable.

Jiang Xuezhou was staring intently at Yun Yi.

"But how can we ensure that you haven’t obtained those research data and are suggesting to destroy this shelter simply because you don’t want others to get their hands on it?"

Su Ming frowned and stood up glaring at Jiang Xuezhou.

"Are you doubting us?"

"Just a reasonable doubt, but your reaction now makes me even more suspicious." Jiang Xuezhou faced the intimidating stare; his face looked uneasy, yet he didn’t back down.

This matter wasn’t just about him.

It was about the fate of many people...

Night Ten looked at her unexpectedly.

He always felt that she had changed since coming out of that dream.

Yun Yi coughed gently, looking at the furious Su Ming, and spoke in a calm tone.

"Su Ming, Ms. Jiang from the Academy is essential here, there’s at least one representative from all parties present... So sit down."

"..." Hearing the unequivocal command, Su Ming didn’t speak and silently sat back down.

He really hadn’t thought about actually doing anything to the girl, just wanted to scare her a bit, but it turned out to be ineffective.

If a representative from the Academy died inside, their condition of destroying the shelter without any diplomatic risks would no longer hold.

Even if they could pin the researcher’s death on the Enlightenment Society, whether the other party believed it or not, they’d be forced to plan for the worst.

After all, a sudden death inside is drastically different from walking out boldly.

Yun Yi looked toward Jiang Xuezhou.

"What can we do to make you believe us."

To everyone’s surprise.

The representative from the Academy didn’t seize this opportunity to request some inconvenient conditions.

After staring into Yun Yi’s eyes for a while, she suddenly spoke.

"I believe you."

Yun Yi was stunned.

Just as she subconsciously wanted to ask why, Jiang Xuezhou seemed embarrassed as he averted his gaze and muttered to himself,

"... If you guys wanted to monopolize it, there was really no need to bother saving me, right? After all, I’m just an insignificant character."

"So, I trust you."

"And I hope... I won’t regret my decision."

"Man... just say it earlier, you made us so tense." Night Ten breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair.

Jiang Xuezhou glared at him irritably.

"Is it that outrageous for me to take a moment to think over such an important decision?"

Ignoring this "ungrateful" guy, Night Ten straightforwardly raised his hand.

"I vote yes."

The reason was simple, the alliance couldn’t possibly win this competition.

It was a matter of objective disparity.

Even if the Army’s R&D capabilities and reserves of scientific personnel were superior to theirs, the advantage of time accumulation couldn’t be bridged in just a few days or months.

Like confidence and arrogance separated only by a wall, but the outcomes are worlds apart, he was still aware of this.

Moreover, being dragged into a competition with no visible benefits had no advantage for the alliance.

It was foreseeable that, besides that final weapon to reboot the world, the plan was unlikely to yield any intermediate results that would positively affect society.

Meng Liang nodded in agreement after considering the same issue.

"My stance is the same as Night Ten’s."

Apart from Night Ten, everyone turned to look at the silent Pangolin.

Only one had yet to express their opinion.

But the latter’s response didn’t surprise many people.

"I vote yes."

Su Ming relaxed, his tense expression finally eased somewhat, and Yun Yi’s face broke into a pleased smile, gratefully glancing around at everyone.

In that moment, they had nearly accomplished a miracle on this wasteland that seemed impossible.

From the Army, corporations, academies, and the alliance, people from four different backgrounds were now casting the same vote on a topic concerning the future fate of civilization.

Just like months ago, two hundred years ago, or even further back in the past... those brave yet ordinary people did.

They made a choice that was ordinary but not simple.

...

The bomb started its countdown again.

The group withdrew from the shelter.

Before leaving, they spent a little time moving twelve sleep cabins from the X-13 Area to the shelter entrance.

The crew of the Pioneer had perished.

Now inside were the disciples of the Enlightenment Society, including a "Guide" as Zhuang Lan had confessed.

In the hierarchy of the Enlightenment Society, a "Guide" stands between elder and disciple, essentially serving as a mentor to many disciples.

Although letting them simply perish in silence was letting these people off easy, burying them along with their secrets and this shelter, which never should have come into this world, was the best choice for those still alive on the surface.

As for Zhuang Lan.

Logically, she should be handed over to the Vellante people, as she had killed one of their thousands of leaders, but both Su Ming and Yun Yi were reluctant to do that.

"... We won’t extradite anyone to the Army; that would be like selling a criminal to slave traders."

Pangolin seemed puzzled.

"That’s not a bad idea."

Before the formation of the alliance, they had also sold captured Looters to the mines in Red River Town, so this wasn’t something to be ashamed of.

He called it efficient.

But soon he remembered his role as an undercover agent, and his expression suddenly changed, glaring fiercely at Su Ming.

"What the hell do you mean?"

Daring to mock me?

Despicable East Coast People!

Su Ming simply ignored him, looking at Night Ten who was somehow holding back his laughter, and continued,

"One thing at a time, that’s our principle... at least in my view, the ones who should be punished are the leadership of the Enlightenment Society. Even though she killed people from the Army, when I think about what the Weilante people do to their prisoners, I still feel disgusted. It’s not as simple as just sending people to work in mines... Wanna hear? I’ve heard some stories from a merchant."

Night Ten coughed.

"Let’s not."

Keep the Game light-hearted, he wasn’t into dark humor.

Besides, did this need guessing?

When they had seized the Steel Heart, they had rescued many poor souls mistreated by those big-nosed men.

A feudal militaristic collective, as small as an airship or a manor could become a closed-off little kingdom, and what could constrain these Weilante people’s actions was just the moral sense of their direct superiors.

That was exactly what was most unreliable.

Even if the Army conquered half of the Central Continent, the most civilized place might only be Triumph City under their Marshal His Highness.

And even Triumph City was only relatively civilized.

It was foreseeable that she would not be subjected to trial, her fate would ultimately be tortured to death by that Governor named Cohen.

"So, I’ll leave it to you guys, we’re not handing her over to the Army, do as you please," Su Ming shrugged his shoulders, sealing that person’s fate with these words.

Night Ten felt, after all the nonsense this guy had spoken, he just wanted to throw the trouble onto the Alliance’s side.

However, this result didn’t really have any downside for the Alliance.

Even if she was just a Disciple, possessing the strength and speed of Third-stage Awakening and being sent to partake in such a mission, she was at least an "Elite Monster."

With some effort, maybe they could get something out of her.

Having wrapped up so many shelters and occupying the prime feng shui land of the Great Desert, the Enlightenment Society surely had many good things.

Thinking about the unusual memory extraction Device he had seen earlier, a malevolent smile emerged on Night Ten’s face.

Why not use that thing?

Treat them with their own methods, he thought that was reasonable.

It might be necessary to suggest this to the Manager.

"Hey..."

A voice from beside interrupted Night Ten’s train of thought.

Looking towards the direction of the sound, he saw a Class D researcher from the Academy standing there, looking like she had something to say.

This person had never shown him a good face, and Night Ten was not interested in her, asking impatiently.

"What is it?"

Jiang Xuezhou didn’t speak for a long time.

Just as he was getting impatient waiting, she finally whispered in a very soft voice.

"...Did you see?"

"Huh?" Not understanding what she was asking, Night Ten casually responded.

Watching her act dumb and stunned, Jiang Xuezhou’s face turned red, she bit her lip, and eventually swallowed the words that had reached her lips.

"...It’s nothing."

Night Ten: "???"

Damn!

"You got cat biscuits or something!"

Jiang Xuezhou quickly shifted away from the previous topic and continued to speak.

"Anyway..."

Night Ten rolled his eyes impatiently.

"What now?"

Jiang Xuezhou asked softly.

"That person... impersonated me, right?"

Night Ten: "Yes."

Jiang Xuezhou immediately asked.

"How did you recognize me?"

She had wanted to ask this question before she left the shelter, but she hadn’t figured out how to bring it up.

Seeing that "worshipful" look, Night Ten gave an embarrassed smile.

Well,

it’s a bit shameful to say, he was quite an experienced player, it was just usually hard to tell because there were so many brilliant people in his team.

Especially in terms of intuition.

Not to brag, but there was no one on the entire server better than him. Even that old granny who had lived for over two hundred years was fooled, but he identified the imposter at first glance.

"Well, it was pretty simple... she looked nothing like you."

Jiang Xuezhou was dazed for a moment.

"Completely... nothing like?"

Night Ten said bluntly.

"Yeah, maybe my intuition is particularly sharp, but the moment that person stood at the door, I knew it wasn’t you."

"...you talk like you know me quite well."

Night Ten waved his hand.

"You don’t need to be very familiar, it’s just that you are you, and she is she... they’re not the same person, how could they be alike?"

Jiang Xuezhou’s pale cheeks slowly flushed with a hint of red, she glared at him, bit her lip, and then huffed coldly before walking away.

Night Ten stared inexplicably at her retreating back.

Hey.

Weird.

I thought this would trigger some hidden quest, or maybe she’d drop some gold coins out of gratitude, but she just turned around and left.

Damn it!

When did I ever offend her?

...

Shortly after Night Ten and Su Ming’s team evacuated from the Industrial Building, a deafening explosion engulfed No.0 Shelter.

The ten-thousand-ton yield released internally was sufficient to completely destroy the unfinished shelter or at least annihilate part of the server physically.

The "plan" carried out of the shelter and the video left by Captain Lu explained everything that had happened here.

Although it was regrettable not to have taken any treasures, it was still a barely satisfactory outcome for all involved.

However, what surprised everyone was that the chain reaction from the explosion caused the surface to collapse.

Coincidently, the location of the engine room was right under the falling Adjudicator.

The Vellante people who had survived by hiding in the buffer cabins hadn’t yet recovered from their shock when a blast erupted right beneath them.

It was lucky it was only a ten-thousand-ton yield; the shelter itself absorbed most of the explosive shockwave.

If it had been just a bit more powerful, probably very few would have survived...

In the camp.

Adria found Chu Guang and angrily said,

"What was the deal with that explosion just now?"

Chu Guang looked strangely at this man.

What did it have to do with me?

But considering the other’s urgent emotions, he still coughed lightly, offering feeble consolation,

"I heard that it was an unfinished shelter, maybe it was due to wear and tear... The reactor exploded, perhaps?"

Upon hearing this, Adria burst out,

"How is a third-generation controlled fusion reactor going to explode! The critical temperature for that thing is billions of degrees!"

Maybe even tens of billions of degrees, he couldn’t remember.

But one thing he knew, it wasn’t like a gas can, the type you could ignite with a lighter.

Chu Guang shrugged nonchalantly.

"How would I know, I’m as confused as you... I just hope my people have come back from below, they might know something."

Unlike the representatives of the army, corporations, and academies, who were all mystified, he sort of knew what had happened below.

Pangolin had already logged out in a rush to report the latest developments to him.

While he was surprised by the players’ choices, he still showed respect.

The Alliance didn’t need that stuff.

He had said it.

Until the end, he would stay with his residents.

Seeing the irate Adria, Chu Guang continued with a smile.

"By the way, if your airship really can’t be fixed—"

"Forget it!"

Adria hadn’t even realized it yet when the preemptive General McCullen pulled him aside and suspiciously responded to Chu Guang,

"We’ll fix it ourselves, we don’t need your help!"

Looking at the suspicious General McCullen, Chu Guang was momentarily stunned, then said with a mix of laughter and tears,

"I haven’t even said anything yet."

McCullen grimly said,

"I don’t want to know."

Several Vellante people headed towards the direction of the Industrial Building.

Chu Guang figured they were probably going to find Wallie to understand the situation, but unfortunately, that guy had already been killed by a disciple of the Enlightenment Society.

At that moment, his Chief Guard, Lu Bei, approached him from the side.

With his right fist pressed to his chest, the young man spoke gravely,

"... Sir, the Wolf Cavalry from the Death Legion has locked on the phase gun that attacked us, but they haven’t found the enemy HQ."

Chu Guang furrowed his brows.

"They didn’t find it?"

Lu Bei nodded sheepishly.

"Yes... according to a report from one of the Wolf Cavalry, the enemy HQ isn’t nearby. He found a signal tower close to the signal source, which seems to be connected by wired links to other terminals and likely leads to a far-off place."

——

(Thanks to "Concerned Citizen Little Wang" and "Ink丶Xuan" for their leader’s reward!!!)