This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 603: The Old Site of Singular Point City

Chapter 603: Chapter 603: The Old Site of Singular Point City

Due to the frontline collapse of the Mutant Corps, Mole led the vehicle team and arrived at the rendezvous point earlier than expected.

They stopped at a crossroads to wait for a bit, and two Chimera armored vehicles, one after the other, approached from a nearby block.

A player climbed out of the gun turret and shouted in Mole’s direction,

"This is Chimera-2, we encountered a retreating Mutant Corps on the road and got delayed a bit."

The one behind, naturally, was Chimera-4.

Mole nodded and shouted at the two armored vehicles,

"Hurry up and catch up, don’t keep our allies waiting too long!"

As he said this, he knocked on the gun turret and spoke to the driver inside,

"Let’s go."

The engine started.

Chimera-1, parked in the middle of the road, began to push forward, leading the two armored vehicles into the area that had been tended by the bomber squadron.

This area was already a communication jamming zone, even under relatively close conditions, the communication channels were still filled with strong static.

So far, the brothers from the Burning Corps hadn’t taken down the jamming station, suggesting they must have been encountering significant troubles.

In the thick fog, the sounds of distant explosions and gunshots reached them, causing Mole, who was sticking his head out of the gun turret, to furrow his brow.

The visibility here was too low.

"Big Eyes! Get out and start working!"

"Okay!"

Several members of the Death Legion jumped out from the back of the armored vehicle.

The two other armored vehicles did the same; aside from the human radio left inside, infantry in exoskeleton armor emerged one by one, grabbing their gear and dispersing around the vehicles to keep watch.

Leading the brothers from the Death Legion at the front of the convoy, Debt Giant Eye’s gaze drifted along the sides of the street and finally stopped on an abandoned truck.

The angular shape and urban camouflage paint made it clear that this transport vehicle had once belonged to the United Human Regular Army.

However, the emblem on the truck doors was not of the United Human but that of Singular Point City.

Before bearing the emblem of Singular Point City, it might have carried the symbol of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee... but none of that mattered anymore.

Similar historical relics were everywhere on the streets, and no matter who had once owned it, it was now abandoned here for quite some years.

Not far behind the truck, there were rows of sandbag walls that made up a checkpoint; behind the checkpoint, at first glance, it looked just like the nearby urban area, but a careful examination revealed some unusual clues.

For instance, some buildings that appeared to be office buildings clearly had metal supports outside the windows, on which hung some torn clothes and sheets.

The ground was littered with household garbage, paint cans filled with unburned coal, and some shop fronts still bore highly temporal slogans —

With phrases like "The harsh winter will eventually pass", "The world belongs to us", "No more wars only peace", "We rely on ourselves not the War Construction Committee" that uplifted spirits.

Debt Giant Eye soon thought of the information aggregated on the official website.

The "War" here probably didn’t refer to the Three-Year War two centuries ago, but to a series of military operations that the Production Department launched in the Province of Yunjianxing against the Technology Department a century and a half ago.

That man-made disaster was the spark that led to the disintegration of the War Construction Committee.

For the survivors of that era, that event was much closer to their lives than the much older war...

"This place feels like people have lived here," Debt Giant Eye muttered quietly as he meticulously searched the corners, "and quite a few of them."

Mole casually replied from the armored vehicle’s gun turret.

"No doubt about it, this place is Singular Point City."

The brothers from the Death Legion heard it, their faces showing surprised expressions as they exchanged unexpected glances.

"Singular Point City? Here?"

"I thought the settlement was in the old residential area!"

Mole chuckled and started to show off the little gossip he knew.

"You guys don’t understand; the old residential area was a settlement point during the Three-Year War, which is where the Mutants live now."

"It’s space is vast; the subway and parking garages are natural nuclear shelters. The only downside is the poor living conditions, problematic ventilation, and sanitation... This city wasn’t graced by nuclear weapons, I surmise the locals endured the first few years and then moved back to the surface to rebuild a new settlement, that’s the urban area where we are now."

Singular Point City had no Lair, so naturally, it didn’t have towering walls like those of Giant Stone City. The local survivors just used some of the taller buildings as shelters and then put up sandbag walls and barbed wire as roadblocks in the streets and alleys to separate the orderly from the disorderly areas.

Until the 50th year of the Wasteland Era, for the survivors on the Wasteland, Variants weren’t their main threat, the cold and scarcity of resources were.

From the latter stemmed not only poverty, famine, and plagues but also the Looters roaming the Wasteland...

Not everyone is a disciple of order; some were adherents of chaos.

Once a person awakens their animal instincts in a savage environment, they become capable of anything. Particularly in the years after the Wasteland Era, many were born on the Wasteland, and they were naturally beasts of the wild.

The bullet holes on the sandbag walls were clearly not made today.

That all happened many years ago.

The group passed the abandoned checkpoint and soon saw graffiti blurred with rust marks on a collapsed iron wall.

The leading infantry unconsciously stopped in their tracks.

The construction worker boy craned his neck to look, feeling out of place at the colorful painting amidst the cold concrete grey, and curiously blurted out,

"What does it say up there?"

Likewise filled with a hint of curiosity, Debt Giant Eye stepped forward, wiped the dust and rust off the surface, and tried to make out the few words that were visible.

"Lies... Betrayal... Monsters... That’s all I can tell, does anyone understand United Human language better?"

"I can guess what it says without even looking," Mole said, recalling the official data published on the website, and spoke simply, "Just think about how Singular Point City met its doom."

Construction Youth and Brick: "What do you mean?"

Mole: "Monsters obviously refer to the Mutants. Betrayal and lies are likely directed at the authorities of Singular Point City... Do you remember the information Fang Chang and the others collected in the Town of Hope? Initially, Mutants were not capable of reproduction."

Constructor and Big Eyes exchanged glances.

Seeing that both clearly didn’t remember, Mole continued.

"A long time ago, the Mutants who fled from the East Coast to this place were incapable of reproduction, but Singular Point City accepted them and supported their research. A small portion of residents even voluntarily became Mutants... whether it was for a stronger body, to support the researchers, or simply as a show of contempt for the old order and the War Construction Committee."

"Then after a while, the mutants gained citizenship and reproductive capabilities. Although the setting collection doesn’t elaborate on this history, considering that the descendants of Mutants are also Mutants and that they have stronger physiques... guess what happened?"

Construction Youth and Brick swallowed hard.

"What happened..."

"As the number of mutants increased and power continually shifted to them, the Old Humans eventually became the minority," Mole narrowed his eyes slightly and continued, "The authorities probably promised the residents something like the Mutants being harmless or that violence could be controlled through civilization, but what could not change is that Mutants have only one gender and need to mate with humans to produce offspring... However, the numbers of Old Humans themselves were decreasing, whether men or women."

Construction Youth and Brick scratched their heads.

"Why not create a female variant and let them mingle among themselves?"

"Because the initial intention of castrating the Mutants was to prevent the spread of unperfected experimental DNA. Giving Mutants genitalia was already a compromise from the Singular Point City authorities to the Mutant community. Designing a female would totally reverse the original intent. Plus, I personally speculate that the aesthetic preferences of Mutants actually inherited those of the Old Humans, considering they initially were humans."

"Moreover, the Singular Point City authorities likely didn’t want to create a new race to split their own society. Their original intention might have been to make Mutants dependent on humans for existence. They don’t need medication and can enter radioactive areas without any protective gear to collect materials... Unfortunately, it all backfired."

"Mutants certainly could not do without the Old Humans, but just as humans rely on chickens, ducks, cows, and sheep for protein, it does not mean that humans would become vassals to livestock... The balance of power shifted at that moment, and the Mutants of Singular Point City began using force to subjugate the Old Humans, then herded them like livestock."

Looking at the engraving on the wall of "Lies" and "Betrayal," Mole continued as if talking to himself.

"Initially almost harmless, gradually revealing its fangs, and ultimately opening its gaping maw to swallow everyone... This sounds exactly like the plague that ravages this land and Nago."

Debt Giant Eye sighed softly and stepped back from the graffiti.

"The law of nature..."

Has remained unchanged for tens of thousands of years.

Although it’s a game oriented towards joy, the past buried beneath the modeling textures is heavier than they imagined.

The entire city is a tombstone.

And that remaining graffiti is its epitaph.

It’s impossible to know from which day Singular Point City truly fell. It’s hard to find a survivor from that era on the Wasteland, where the average lifespan is less than thirty years—most of the old popsicles came to this land from an era even before Singular Point City existed.

Mole tended to believe that when Singular Point City fell, humanity had not been extinguited but had struggled against the majority of Mutants.

In the end, those people lost.

The survivors either became slaves or were banished beyond the city limits to places like Pinecone Wood Farm and Town of Hope.

In fact, human dwellings were not suitable for the physiques of Mutants, who, not long after occupying Singular Point City, abandoned this human-built settlement to move to the city’s original site—near the "Old Residents’ Settlement Point" next to the Champion Biomedical Research Institute.

There, with a subway station and a large underground parking lot...essentially, there was ample space, staying warm was not an issue, and it was possible to avoid ambushes from the guerrilla teams.

After some time, Mutants had completely adapted to life in the Wasteland and developed their own civilization—

which is now known as the Qi Tribe.

Perhaps that tribe had originally been known as the Singular Point Tribe, but the syllable-heavy name was too cumbersome for the Mutants, so it was modified to its current name.

Mole always had an indescribable feeling.

If the past of Giant Stone City left him with a sense of unfulfilled ambitions, Singular Point City gave him more of a feeling that he didn’t know where to start, yet was hesitant to speak.

From the beginning, the people here had prepared for the worst and the ideal of saving everyone had never changed.

Only as they walked, they suddenly realized that their destination was never where they intended to go...

The group continued forward.

The fog ahead grew denser.

That gray-green fog emitted an indescribable eeriness, mixed with a hint of mustiness.

It was like the stench of decay from the dead.

The players here all knew that this was not normal fog, but spores exhaled by mycelium buried in the ground and flesh.

Clearly, something abnormal lay ahead.

Everyone heightened their alertness, unlocked the safeties on their rifles, and carefully searched every potentially dangerous corner.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectation, the danger did not come from some filthy corner but rather brazenly blocked their path.

Three mounds of dark green flesh formed a small mountain in the center of the foggy highway, their corpulent bodies akin to artificial hills.

Big Eyes, walking in front, first noticed something amiss and immediately yelled back to the armored vehicle.

"Variants! Prepare for battle!"

The monsters evidently noticed them too, emitting a dull growl and rushing toward them with heavy steps.

The construction site youth and Brick immediately lay on the ground, deploying the bipod of the machine gun, and began firing a stream of bullets.

Gunfire erupted all around the street.

Yet the bullets that hit the three monsters only splattered a series of blood sprays, and couldn’t stop their advance at all.

The foreman saw the situation and immediately panicked, turning back to shout toward the direction of the armored vehicle.

"Don’t just stand there, open fire!"

Mole was just about to say they couldn’t see from there when an idea struck him, and he shouted towards the two vehicles behind him.

"Aim at the trajectory of the tracer bullets!"

It must be said, this method was incredibly effective.

Although the armored vehicles in the back couldn’t see directly, they could roughly make out the backs of a few players in front of them, and their rifle and light machine-gun bullets had indicated the general direction of the target.

The three Chimera Armored Vehicles immediately opened fire, sweeping down the closest monster and quickly turning it into a sieve as it fell to the ground.

However, surprisingly, the creature that should have been dead did not stop.

Even with both legs broken and several dark holes pierced through its body, that twisted life still crawled forward, emitting a piercing roar from its gaping maw.

The foreman, pulled aside by Big Eyes, grabbed the machine gun and started to retreat as the other two monsters closed in to within thirty meters of the infantry.

Finally seeing the ferocious appearance of those two monsters, Mole was totally shocked.

"Holy crap! How thick is their blood?!"

That’s a 37mm armor-piercing incendiary!

Wouldn’t this distance shatter a concrete wall too?

"Bring in the missiles!"

With no time to hesitate, Mole who had shouted this immediately slipped back under the turret hatch.

Almost simultaneously, a Dove-type missile launched from the top of the turret, igniting and shooting forth a white smoke trail towards the closest monster.

The missile hit the creature squarely in the chest, and before it could cry out in pain, it was engulfed by the explosive flames.

It turned out, it wasn’t that the armor couldn’t be breached; the payload just hadn’t been enough.

The monster hit by the Dove-type missile was blown apart, missing half its body, the other half trailing smoke that smelled of char, and it toppled to the ground, motionless.

Seeing this, the other players quickly reacted, grabbing RPG Rocket Launchers from the armored vehicle and loading armor-piercing rounds before pulling the triggers.

White smoke streaked like arrows across the street, quickly sparking brilliant explosions on the remaining two monsters.

Although the RPG Rocket Launchers were less powerful than the Dove-type missile, they were just as effective in sufficient quantities.

Already heavily damaged by the 37mm armor-piercing incendiary, the two monsters could not even cry out before falling heavily under the players’ combined fire.

After putting down the launcher, Big Eyes wiped his brow, cursing.

"What the hell are these things?"

Wasn’t the bombardment area just cleared?

How is such a big thing still alive?

The bold foreman approached and prodded the inert mountain of flesh on the ground with his smoking gun barrel, muttering under his breath.

"Goliath..."

Debt Giant Eye, "Goliath?"

"Didn’t Fang Chang post on the forum... about that BOSS they encountered at the Pine Wood Farm?" the foreman swallowed hard, "Damn, we actually encountered three here."

The group exchanged looks, each sensing a bad omen.

Just then, a missile suddenly whooshed from the sky and struck a nearby high-rise.

Everyone instinctively ducked, but the anticipated explosion did not occur; there wasn’t even a flash of fire.

Those wearing earphones only heard a harsh electrical noise.

Covering his ears, Debt Giant Eye straightened up and peered in the direction where the missile vanished.

"What the hell was that?"

The young workers and the bricklayer were bewildered.

"Our missile?"

"Doesn’t look like it... it’s a model I’ve never seen."

Just then, a player walking by the roadside suddenly shouted.

"Wait... what?! My communications seem to be restored!"

"???"

Hearing that voice, Mole immediately looked at the VM on his arm, tapped open the map, and his face registered surprise.

One by one, green dots marking the position of his teammates reappeared on the map, and the communication icon lit up again, indicating a clear channel.

At that moment, Fang Chang’s communication request came in.

"...Mole! Can you see my position? I’m just around the left turn ahead in that street, come help me!"

The intermittent voice came with hurried gasps accompanied by occasional gunshots and explosions.

No longer pondering where that missile had come from, Mole turned solemn and immediately spoke.

"I’m on my way!"

With that, he switched the communication channel and shouted on the squad channel.

"Everyone advance! Friendly forces ahead!"

The communication channel soon filled with energetic responses.

"Awawaw!"

...

Escorted by the infantry, three Chimera armored vehicles rapidly advanced down the street where the Burning Corps was located.

At the same time, three figures stood on the wind-swept rooftop of an office building not far from the street everyone was on.

Jiang Xuezhou, wearing a gas mask, looked triumphantly at the stunned Night Ten beside her and patted the big guy next to her.

"How’s that? I’m still pretty awesome, right?"

To her right stood a four-legged robot that was blocky and square, almost a clone of the "Little Wang" she had brought with her from the No.0 Shelter.

The only difference was that this guy was more than a circle larger than the previous one, and the weapons it carried were even bulkier.

It even had a missile launcher installed.

According to its owner, the current Little Wang was invincible, whether it was dealing with pesky molds or EMP tricks as mild as scratching an itch.

The firepower that this battle robot burst out with was enough to rival an enhanced platoon!

However, what shocked Night Ten at the moment was not the size or firepower parameters of the thing, which he had already complained about before boarding the helicopter.

Staring straight at the vaguely visible building in the distance, he didn’t even see clearly what she was doing before he saw a missile fly out.

Swallowing saliva, Night Ten looked towards Jiang Xuezhou.

"That was..."

"Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb!"

Flipping her ponytail from her shoulder, Jiang Xuezhou continued with a hint of bragging,

"But that’s nothing special. The real tech is in locking onto the real source of interference among a field of false signals and firing the EMP weapon before it can react, destroying it in one strike—hey, are you listening to me?"

Seeing Night Ten still dazed, Jiang Xuezhou’s voice took on a hint of displeasure.

Hearing the question, Night Ten immediately snapped back to reality and replied with a grin,

"I am, I am... the source of interference has been taken out, right? That’s great!"

Saying that, he sheepishly scratched the back of his head and continued timidly,

"By the way, that electromagnetic pulse... uh, the missile you just fired, where did you buy it?"

Let’s not beat around the bush; that thing was indeed impressive.

He wanted to get a few himself.

After waiting in vain for a compliment, Jiang Xuezhou rolled her eyes and said irritably,

"Not for sale."

Night Ten: "..."

Damn!

...

Supported by three Chimera armored vehicles and over ten light infantry, Fang Chang finally dealt with the mutant covered in wriggling flesh.

The stench of rotting flesh permeated the entire street.

However, to everyone’s regret, the Apostle who had been taking potshots from the sidelines ultimately got away.

Fang Chang’s face couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

The Mole didn’t give him any break and mocked him mercilessly, as the enemy slipped right under their noses.

As the battle concluded, a "Viper" transport plane landed nearby. While dropping off supplies, it also took tissue samples extracted from that "meat mountain."

The Alliance’s Biological Institute would help them figure out exactly what those monstrous things were.

Although there was a slight hiccup in the side mission, the main battlefield continued to reap results, which were successively reported to the Steel Heart.

The main forces of the Alliance’s Corps had already assembled near the old residential settlement, less than a kilometer away from the Champion Biopharmaceutical Research Institute and the Qi Tribe’s lair.

Finally realizing that their firepower was completely outclassed by their opponents, those green-skinned beasts simply abandoned the surface.

Some mutants retreated to the subway stations below, while others moved to the "Champion" Biomedical Research Institute building.

The beasts that had dominated this land for over a century were finally beginning to feel despair...

At the same time, on the bridge of the Steel Heart.

An officer from the Army Command walked up to Chu Guang, right fist touching his chest, and crisply reported,

"The mutants have taken refuge in the subway station, and our ground forces have occupied their surface lair... Saving quite a few survivors."

Turning his gaze from the window, Chu Guang looked at the officer and asked,

"How many exactly."

The officer spoke with a heavy tone,

"Still uncounted, but according to frontline reports, at least ten thousand..."

Chu Guang hesitated for a moment and then frowned.

Ten thousand...

How could there be so many?

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