This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 512: Open Strategy

Chapter 512: Chapter 512: Open Strategy

The ruins next to the camp.

Looking at the signal tower camouflaged with a concrete-colored net, Chu Guang, riding on the back of Nicole, didn’t know how to comment for a moment and ended up chuckling.

"...It seems they’ve been preparing this plan for quite a long time."

They had even laid a signal line from outside the influence area of the thundercloud storm...

Because the thundercloud storm interfered with the wireless signals outside the field, the Steel Heart had not detected any long-distance communication from outside the battlefield.

The wireless devices used by the Enlightenment Society on the battlefield all originated from the signal tower in front of him.

Standing beside him, Lu Bei whispered.

"My lord... Shall we follow this line further down?"

"No point, they’ve been too cautious. They wouldn’t extend this signal line to their own homes... Even if we follow it, we might just find a pile of junk or even traps."

After giving the signal tower a final look, Chu Guang patted Nicole’s neck. Understanding his hint, she hummed softly, flicked her tail, and turned around.

"Get some people to dismantle this thing... I’ll go check out the Industrial Building."

Standing nearby, Lu Bei responded loyally.

"Yes!"

...

Although it was regrettable that they hadn’t caught the mastermind, the vast amount of high-tech equipment left behind by the Enlightenment Society was conserved.

It had to be acknowledged that the shelter had many valuable items, which the Enlightenment Society had concentrated.

Now they all benefited the Alliance.

According to the logistics department’s statistics, the biggest acquisition of the battle was undoubtedly a phase gun.

This device, not small in size, resembled a five-meter-long oil pipeline carried on the back of an all-terrain tracked vehicle, powered by a one-kilogram cold fusion battery, looking from a distance like a missile vehicle from before the Prosperity Epoch.

Capable of taking down two airships modified from escort ship’s cores, this phase gun either was a part taken from a starship or hadn’t been mounted yet.

Chu Guang planned to hand it over to the Alliance’s research institutions for analysis to see if any useful technology could be recovered.

He didn’t expect Yin Fang and others to reverse engineer the anti-gravity device technology, as its production difficulty was greater than its technical complexity.

However, even if just the capacitor technology inside could be recovered, it would be excellent, useful for railguns and electric cars alike.

Besides the phase gun, a strategic weapon, there were also over two hundred sets of Type Five "Light Cavalry" exoskeletons, both police-use and over two hundred sets originally belonging to the Human Alliance Army’s Type Ten "Oath" exoskeletons, as well as sixty various magnetic rail accelerated rifles, and over two hundred ammunition-free assault rifles and other basic light weapons.

Including the anti-armor rocket launchers, grenades, and other military equipment captured during the firefight, the equipment seized from this battle was enough to arm half a special combat brigade!

Near the Industrial Building.

Frost, with arms crossed, looked at the mechanical dog lying nearby and sneered.

"I told you those things are unreliable."

Solar Eclipse’s pupils flickered slightly, and after a while, he said.

"It was damaged by an EMP."

"EMP, huh, hehe, I’m not afraid of that."

"But your firepower isn’t as strong as its, right?"

"Hehe, that might not be the case."

Standing beside Little Wang’s wreckage, Jiang Xuezhou didn’t hear the bionic beings’ murmured conversation. If she had, she would have gone up to argue with them.

Glancing at the tablet in her hand and then at the nearby tent, she hesitated for a while before finally walking towards it.

The Administrator’s Log of Shelter No. 0 along with backups of the original Torch Plan documents had been recovered; her mentor had just instructed her to return and report the details of the incident.

Next, her mentor would probably take her back to Wandering Swamp to archive the recovered data and participate in a seminar of the Research Department.

The busy days were still ahead.

Thinking about the upcoming tasks made her scalp tingle.

The next time she would come out of the Wandering Swamp was uncertain... It might well be on the battlefield again.

As a final farewell, she wanted to at least greet those companions.

Although their time together was brief, it was still a precious experience for her.

Her gains were not just the K points and merits from the mission but also finding herself...

...

Inside the tent now.

Night Ten was vividly describing the events that had occurred in the refuge to Chu Guang and handed over to him both Captain Lu’s video and the seized memory extractor.

"...This is how it all happened, respected Manager, I recommend you use this memory extractor to thoroughly interrogate this person."

As he spoke, Night Ten fiercely glared at Zhuang Lan who was tied up nearby, a person who had made him suffer a lot.

Seeing the memory extractor, Zhuang Lan’s face turned slightly pale.

She knew better than anyone how terrifying that device was.

Even with specialized training, she was not confident she could withstand its meticulous interrogation and would rather confess everything before being put through that ordeal.

The most terrifying thing about that device wasn’t the retrieval of memories, but that as the retrieval process deepened, it would gradually wake a person from their dreams and use the fears unearthed from the depths of their memory to torment the user repeatedly until it completely destroyed a person’s psyche and extracted the last remaining clues from those fragmented shards of memory.

She didn’t even know what she might remember...

Watching Night Ten’s puzzled face, Chu Guang nodded and spoke in a calming tone.

"I’ll consider your suggestion and will do so if necessary."

He then placed the Memory Extractor aside on the table.

Chu Guang was about to assign Night Ten a new task when he suddenly noticed someone peering towards them from not far outside the door.

The Guards’ soldiers had already noticed the person and had stopped her by standing in front of her, asking questions.

Chu Guang had a slight impression of the person, though he didn’t know the name, he remembered that she seemed to be a Level D researcher from the Academy. Her hesitant and apprehensive expression seemed to indicate she had something to say but was too embarrassed to come closer.

His gaze fell on the Memory Extractor, and Chu Guang vaguely guessed something, a smile unconsciously spreading across his face.

He looked back at Night Ten and said,

"You’ve done well and worked hard. I’ll take care of the rest; you go and rest."

"Aw, I wasn’t really that tired... but alright."

Although he was slightly disappointed not to have a follow-up task, remembering the secret mission Old White had mentioned to him, Night Ten hesitated a bit before heading excitedly towards the door.

As Night Ten left, only Chu Guang, Lu Bei, and a few members of the Personal Body Guard were left inside the spacious tent both with Enlightenment Society agent who was tied up hand and foot.

With a serene smile gone, Chu Guang looked at her and asked,

"Name?"

The several pairs of eyes around her made Zhuang Lan’s scalp tingle.

Especially since before entering the tent, the Claw of Death at the entrance had scrutinized her with its amber pupils, instilling a bone-deep fear in her.

Nervously glancing at the Memory Extractor on the table, she swallowed and said with a trembling voice, lowering her head,

"...Zhuang Lan."

Chu Guang stared at her for a while.

"I don’t want to waste time, so you’d better not waste mine either. Now, you’ll answer whatever I ask, and if I think you’re lying, I’ll use this."

Saying so, Chu Guang pointed his index finger at the glasses on the table.

The sight of those black pupils instilled a fear deep in her soul, causing Zhuang Lan’s shoulders to tremble involuntarily as she nodded nervously.

"Speak."

"Yes!!"

She didn’t understand; she was someone who was not even afraid of death, yet why was she so afraid now?

Was it a talent brought about by awakening?

But how could there be such a strange ability...

Looking at the Memory Extractor placed on the table, she didn’t dare delve into deeper thoughts, only keeping her head down and not even daring to look directly into those eyes.

"Which shelter are you from?"

"6, Shelter No. 68..."

"How many people are there."

"Two thousand."

Two thousand people.

That was quite a large shelter indeed.

Thinking of the underground city in Shelter No. 79, Chu Guang wasn’t too surprised and continued to ask.

"Where is your manager now?"

"...Dead."

Chu Guang raised his eyebrows.

"Before joining the Enlightenment Society?"

Zhuang Lan silently nodded.

"Yes."

Chu Guang continued to press on.

"How did you join the Enlightenment Society?"

"...Waste Land Wanderers took over our outpost constructed on the surface, occupied our refuge using our kindness, killed our manager, and caged us. Later, people from the Enlightenment Society found us. They saved everyone who was still alive, executed those Wasteland Wanderers; they were our own people, so we started working with them."

Knowing it was pointless to conceal the truth, she frankly revealed everything.

And her statement exactly corroborated Chu Guang’s suspicions.

The Enlightenment Society had indeed grown by recruiting from shelters like Shelter No. 401, which had been persecuted, even occupied, by Raiders.

However, instead of building settlements with those from Blue Jacket after finding other refuges, they incited hatred in people’s hearts, directing all grievances towards the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, and even the entirety of the Wasteland.

This narrative logic was actually quite coherent.

The Post-War Reconstruction Committee did accomplish some tasks, but it’s a fact that they failed to successfully handle every issue and let down many Waste Land Wanderers and residents of the Survivor Settlement.

But to attribute all errors to the failure of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee would undeniably be akin to blaming all the problems of the Wasteland on the Mutants, which seems correct at a glance and many would believe, but a deeper consideration reveals the absurdity of it.

Chu Guang was actually more curious about another matter.

That was whether the Enlightenment Society had actively interfered, or even hastened this process.

According to his own observations and judgment, the attitude of most Survivor Settlements towards the Residents of the refuge was generally neutral.

Those regular Waste Land Wanderers neither worshipped nor despised "Blue Jacket", careless of who had abandoned whom two hundred years ago, whose ancestors had debts with other ancestors, nor why there had been a war. Most had long forgotten the Prosperity Epoch and the United Human, only wanting to focus on living well in the present.

Even the family of "Little Fish" pitied him, squeezed out their scant food supplies to provide him with a meal, and taught him which scrap could be exchanged for money from the traders.

Leaving aside the refuges targeted by the Raiders, most shelters under normal circumstances, provided they maintained basic vigilance, limited contact, and neutral or better Cooperation, would generally evolve into the "Model 101"... Turning into the extreme case of "Model 401" wasn’t really common.

Chu Guang tended to believe that people from the Enlightenment Society might have actively done something, accelerating the deterioration of relations between the shelter and nearby survivors.

For instance, intentionally revealing the location of shelters to nearby Raider Camps and Mutant Nests or bribing unsteady Waste Land Wanderers to betray their collaborators in "Blue Jacket"...

Chu Guang found it hard to believe that an organization committed to the destruction of the world would exercise restraint in achieving its goals, sparing those refuges and their Managers who were unwilling to cooperate with them.

As long as they could arrive as saviors to rescue the inhabitants from the abyss after those non-cooperative shelters had fallen, and instill in them the notion that the enemy is the entire Wasteland, the Enlightenment Society could easily harvest a large number of loyal and reliable disciples.

In his conversation with "Gui Xu", Chu Guang distinctly felt that although the goals of the upper and lower levels of the Enlightenment Society were aligned, their stances actually differed.

The former purely aimed to create a new world dominated entirely by the Elite.

While the latter mostly didn’t care about who would govern the new world, they were simply desperate about the current state.

"Have you ever met that guy called ’Gui Xu’?"

Zhuang Lan was silent for a long time.

"No."

Chu Guang continued.

"You haven’t even met him, why do you believe everything he says is true?"

Zhuang Lan was silent again for a long time, then slowly spoke.

"I don’t care whether he has hidden anything, that’s irrelevant to me. All I know is what those Waste Land Wanderers did to me—"

"And that made you do the same thing as them?"

"I ... I didn’t, I was just saying—"

"You say you didn’t, but the compatriots you spoke of have never been short of wrongdoing."

Watching Zhuang Lan’s flushed face trying to justify herself, Chu Guang pointed with his chin toward the direction of the camp outside, and said pointedly.

"Look at those tents. They house the victims of your atrocities. Are you trying to say that because they weren’t abducted by you personally, you have no connection to it?"

Watching the silent Zhuang Lan, Chu Guang continued.

"I don’t expect to generate sympathy in someone cold-blooded, but I am quite curious about something. Do you genuinely believe that your home—that is, Shelter No. 68, was destroyed by the hands of Waste Land Wanderers?"

"Of course! I watched with my own eyes as they—"

Staring at the assured face of Zhuang Lan, Chu Guang, recalling a discussion post he had read on an official website, continued in an even tone.

"You saw them behead your parents, saw them throw you into a cage, saw people from the Enlightenment Society save you. Every one of you repeats the same story, including the prisoners we’ve captured on the battlefield... Haven’t you ever doubted, even a little, that it all might be too coincidental?"

"What was the nature of the Waste Land Wanderers’ betrayal, when and how did the Enlightenment Society find you, how did your Manager die, where is his log? Waste Land Wanderers shouldn’t be interested in that kind of thing, right. Have you checked his log? Can you answer any of these questions?"

Zhuang Lan was stunned.

"I..."

Chu Guang, watching her, continued methodically.

"You don’t know. You believe whatever they tell you, you do whatever they ask you to do. Even with such a deadly mission, that ’Gui Xu’ didn’t have the courage to meet you face to face, did he?"

Looking at the pallid, speechless Zhuang Lan, Chu Guang’s face suddenly showed a hint of interest.

"Let’s make a bet."

"A bet...?" Zhuang Lan looked at him bewildered, "Bet what?"

"Your freedom," Chu Guang looked at her and continued, "The log of the Manager of Shelter No. 68. That document would have a backup in the shelter, and even if it was destroyed, it can be recovered. This log can address your confusion and also satisfy my curiosity. Find it for me."

Zhuang Lan looked at him in shock.

"You plan to release me?!"

"Just lending you your freedom temporarily," Chu Guang said lightly, "If the disaster at Shelter No. 68 doesn’t have the Enlightenment Society’s fingerprints behind it, you are free. But if the clues in the log match my speculation, you’ll come back, remember to bring it to me."

Every shelter’s Manager’s log is an important record; it is every Manager’s duty to recover it as much as possible after the shutdown of a shelter.

Even if there’s only a single punctuation mark, it’s worth retrieving.

These are all valuable sociological experiences.

Including the logs stored in Shelter No. 0 and the related documents of the "Torch Plan," Chu Guang had also retrieved them.

"Aren’t you worried I might run?" Zhuang Lan took a deep breath, asking incredulously.

Chu Guang smiled faintly.

"Your expression tells me you would, but if you have any sense at all, you’d realize how foolish that would be."

"The true enemy who killed your parents deceived not just you but also those comrades you hold most dear."

"Find that thing for me; it’s your only chance for redemption."

"The Post-War Reconstruction Committee and his three sons don’t care about you, we will take care of you."

...

Staring at the figure disappearing at the entrance of the barracks, Lu Bei hesitated for a moment before speaking softly.

"Sir, is it really okay to let her go?"

He didn’t doubt the Manager’s decision, he just doubted whether that sly person would keep such a non-binding promise.

Unlike the worried Lu Bei, Chu Guang didn’t care much, casually replying.

"If she finds something, it might help us dismantle the Enlightenment Society from the inside. At the very least, she could help us locate their headquarters."

Not find anything?

That’s impossible.

Chu Guang absolutely didn’t believe that the person, sly as they were, could resist the temptation of taking shortcuts.

If he was wrong, then so be it, it didn’t matter.

One small fry more or less wouldn’t affect the overall situation.

After a pause, Chu Guang continued.

"Of course, if she doesn’t look into it and comes back unscathed, what would you think if you were a high-ranking member of the Enlightenment Society?"

Lu Bei pondered for a moment, scratching his head.

"If I were a high-ranking member... but sir, I don’t have that kind of perspective."

Seeing this unambitious young man, Chu Guang shook his head and harshly criticized.

"Thinking that those in power must have three heads and six arms is slave mentality; people are just people, how many times have I told you!"

Lu Bei was still young and bright. Startled by Chu Guang’s glare, he immediately realized.

"They would suspect! They would wonder why she came back alive!"

Chu Guang nodded in approval.

"Clever."

Especially that guy called Gui Xu, who seemed like a combination of arrogance and pride.

That guy might have something, but not much; in theory over practice, and his subconscious inferiority and urgency made him eager to prove his strength, even flaunting it in front of his enemies.

In contrast, the Army’s Marshal, the Academy’s Dr. Jie, and even the Lord of Giant Stone City, preferred to "hide themselves."

These ancient creatures never revealed how many cards they held, and their minds were hard to fathom.

"But... is she safe on her own?" Lu Bei asked, looking puzzledly at Chu Guang.

Chu Guang said indifferently.

"That’s her own business now; I never put all my hope on a fleeting idea."

Those who killed the crew of the Pioneer had died in the nuclear blast, this guy had nothing to do with that and hadn’t even accessed that data. The Army wasn’t his ally; he had no obligation to avenge the Weilante People, and killing him would be pointless.

And if, like other prisoners of war, he were confined for labor reformation, the Army would surely pressure him relentlessly, demanding extradition. Once there is one such instance, there would be a second, purely a nuisance.

If Cohen wants to avenge his confidants, he should pursue them himself; it would be good for them, closer to the Great Desert, to keep an eye out for small movements by the Enlightenment Society.

At this point, Chu Guang paused.

"Oh, and, notify Captain Adria later, just say that the Enlightenment Society agent who murdered Walley has escaped and let them handle it."

Lu Bei, with his right fist to his chest, looked at the Manager with admiration.

"Yes! Sir!"

"Go now."

Smiling as he watched the young man vanish at the door, Chu Guang turned his gaze to the Memory Extractor on the Table.

He heard this thing was quite wicked, not only could it extract memories, but it could also help recall things even the person themselves had forgotten.

When he had first come out of the Shelter, Old Soldier had secretly tried it on, but unfortunately, it was no use for players; he made a post and then gave up trying to figure it out.

It wouldn’t have been useful anyway.

A clone’s brain is like a blank sheet, merely a signal relay at most with a cache; it does not store long-term memories itself. As for the players’ memories, they’re stored in their own brains—in their brains in a Different World.

Suddenly, a thought surged in Chu Guang’s mind.

What would he see if he wore it himself?

The deepest fears in his memories...

As he thought this, Chu Guang’s hand already lay on the glasses. Yet just a few seconds later, he shook his head and dismissed the idea.

An eerie sense of déjà vu reminded him that it wouldn’t end well...

—

(Thanks to the leader of "Liu Jing Guan Sheng Ren" for the reward!!! I updated too much a few days ago, feeling a bit overwhelmed T.T)