This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 611: Dispelling All Gloom

Chapter 611: Chapter 611: Dispelling All Gloom

"No retreat! Hold them back!"

"Those two-legged beasts, so weak and fragile! A single punch could knock them down! Do you want to be defeated by such things?!"

At the main gate of the Champion Biopharmaceutical Research Institute.

A mutant thousands of leaders, three meters tall, was roaring furiously like an enraged dog, urging his underlings to step forward.

His name was Hogg, a warrior personally named by Jia En, and the most loyal and valiant warrior under that great person’s command.

In the Qi Tribe, where the strong are revered, he was being groomed by Jia En as the successor to the next chief, and it was for this reason he was entrusted with guarding this institute.

This was the bond that sustained the covenant between the Qi Tribe and the Torch Church, and also the center of the Qi Tribe’s prosthetic modifications.

Jia En had ordered him to lead more than a thousand under his command to defend this place to the death.

He vowed solemnly to Jia En that he would never let the institute fall into the hands of the Alliance!

If only they could hold out for another two weeks...

The eternal Heaven would remain on this land forever!

Hogg gnashed his teeth and bellowed.

"...Charge! Eat their flesh, drink their blood, mince them up! Turn them into a couch!"

His roar sounded powerful and indeed ignited the blood of many mutant soldiers, causing a number of green-skinned beasts to howl and rush forward.

Yet in the face of that violent and stormy offensive, all their struggles were so pale and powerless.

The institute’s main gate had become a bloody grinder, where the lives of mutant soldiers at the front line were reduced to sprays of blood and flesh by the second.

Under the cover of armored chariots, the Alliance’s onslaught was like an unstoppable spearhead that tore through the institute’s gate defenses with an unstoppable force.

A Chimera Armored Car that had climbed the stairs crashed directly into the hall’s wall, and its dark gun barrel sprayed a rapid burst of fire.

The sandbags stacked in the corridor and stairwell were instantly blasted away, along with the hidden mutant soldiers, crushed into a mess by the tracer rounds thick as pythons.

Following them were iron behemoths swinging chainsaws.

That whirring saw blade was like the grinding teeth of a hunting dog, its green paint already marinated red with blood plasma and minced flesh.

They looked like demons that had stepped right out of hell.

The moment they locked eyes with that menacing humanoid armor, a look of terror spread across the green faces, and the automatic rifles and shotguns in their hands trembled involuntarily.

For a moment, they couldn’t distinguish—

Who was more like a beast!

"Haha! Madness! Total madness!!"

Plowing through the mutants’ ranks, Midnight Chicken Killing excitedly swung his chainsaw, his eyes bloodshot with excitement.

This steel body suited him perfectly!

The only flaw was that the sequence level and experience were locked, and sometimes, in the heat of the moment, he couldn’t stop... but these were minor issues.

This was war between humans and mutants.

It was a war between civilization and barbarism.

This war knew nothing of prisoners.

Naturally, there was no need to hold back!

Watching as the players of the Jungle Corps and Skeleton Corps were turned into seven or eight pieces by the mutants, the group of players had no chance to strike, and one by one they turned off the safeties and lowered their guns.

It’s mainly because there’s no way to get involved.

In such a cramped building layout, Brother Chicken alone could occupy two-thirds of the corridor, and one by one, those Strength-type animals in heavy exoskeletons were completely blocking the way forward.

Firing now, over eighty percent would result in friendly fire.

Elena, leaning against the armored vehicle, watched the guy in front wielding a chainsaw with an amused expression and teased,

"Brother Chicken has gone nuts."

Soon, Brother Fu Gui’s voice came through the comm channel, joking,

"What cyber-psychotic."

Elena: "Haha."

"Let him be crazy..." popping his head out of the gun tower, Mole chuckled and quipped, "It’s not like he’s sane that often anyway."

The battle was going smoothly.

Even more smoothly than expected.

Previously, the mutants could hold their own against the Alliance frontline troops with the support of their vehicles and the element of surprise from their modified prosthetics, but as those vehicles were continually destroyed by Chimera Armored Cars and mutated cyborgs were killed, the remaining mutants couldn’t even muster a proper resistance.

In fact, they really didn’t have much fight left in them. In the earlier assaults, their living forces had already been whittled down to next to nothing, while the numbers on the Alliance side seemed almost infinite.

Suddenly remembering something she had promised Mosquito Brother on the forum, Elena looked at Gnome King Riches.

"Speaking of which, didn’t we promise Mosquito to help him find his lost prosthetic?"

"Let’s go after this is over."

"Hope we can finish before dark."

"Dark?" Brother Fu Gui laughed and curled his lips, "With these few beasts, do you think they can last till noon?"

While they were talking, a soldier in the K10 "Iron Wall" exoskeleton came over, unlocking the visor of the helmet.

Seeing Old Na and Old Wang looking quite leisurely, the Picheng Paratrooper raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey, you guys free?"

Elena asked with a smile.

"What’s up? Need a hand?"

The Picheng Paratrooper nodded reluctantly.

"The elevator to the underground lab was dismantled by those animals; it seems they’re determined to fight us to the end. We tried to attack from the fire escape, but it’s too narrow, and our guys are stuck in there."

The underground lab had the characteristics of a nuclear bunker, with the fire escape and elevator not interconnected with the above-ground buildings and accessible only through the lobby on the first floor.

The Jungle Corps had already taken control of the exits on each floor of the above-ground building and were gradually exterminating the remaining mutants. However, the attack on the underground was not going smoothly.

The mutants had destroyed the elevators and freight lifts and set up numerous traps and defenses in the only fire escape.

Hearing that people were trapped, Gnome King Riches immediately laughed out loud.

"Fuck, who’s losing face like this?"

The Picheng Paratrooper: "The Ground Model told me not to tell anyone."

"Pfft—"

"Hahaha!"

Watching Old Na and Old Wang laughing until they couldn’t breathe, Mole, trying to hold back his laughter, coughed twice and said,

"Go and help them out."

Elena gave an OK gesture and smiled as she reloaded the rifle slung across her chest.

"Okay!"

...

At the entrance to the power room of the underground research area of the Champion Biomedical Research Institute, Hogg stood vigil with his most loyal followers.

As the sounds of gunfire and explosions grew nearer, even his meaty green face finally betrayed a hint of fear.

His fear was not of his own death,

but that the situation at hand offered not the slightest sliver of hope for turning defeat into victory.

Could this be the end of their tribe?

If even the second most valiant warrior of the Qi Tribe felt this way, the others need not be mentioned; morale among the entire team had plummeted to rock bottom.

Although the boss had repeatedly ordered no whispering, the Mutants crouching behind cover couldn’t help but start murmuring quietly amongst themselves.

"Where are our allies..."

"I heard they launched an attack on the Alliance last night... that artillery fire last night was their doing."

"The commotion was huge."

"Did they win?"

"Do you even have to ask... That airship is still up there."

"I heard our chieftain was over there last night too!"

"Could it be that the chieftain is already..."

Hearing the growing chorus of murmured conversation, the already agitated Hogg instantly erupted in rage, bellowing at those whispering comrades.

"Shut up! Cowards! The Chieftain is fine, he doesn’t need your care! Keep watch on your defensive area, and if I hear anyone else discussing Lord Jia En, I’ll tear out their tongue!"

Seeing Hogg’s furious outburst, the group of green-skinned brutes immediately fell silent, not daring to whisper any further.

However, while Hogg had silenced their mouths, he couldn’t stop their wild thoughts.

With things having reached this point, even a pig could guess that their boss was likely done for, and their allies had probably abandoned them long ago.

They were simply being sent to their deaths.

This was resistance without any meaning!

With this thought, each green, oily face grew even more desperate.

Just then, a thunderous explosion came from the direction of the fire escape.

After a rapid succession of gunfire, it was followed by the sound of saw blades crunching through bone and a series of chilling screams.

The hearts of all Mutants unconsciously leaped to their throats as their pupils, hidden in the shadows, filled with fright and panic.

As if trying to dispel the fear in his chest, Hogg loaded his iron musket, as thick as a fist, with a clack.

"Prepare for battle!!"

Upon hearing that powerful voice, the Mutants roared, steeling themselves despite their fear.

"Ooooh!!"

...

At the entrance to the fire escape in the underground research area, dozens of bodies lay helter-skelter.

Most of them were Mutants—their green skin was easy to spot—and a small portion were left by players, mostly lodged in the wreckage of exoskeletons.

War propaganda posters clung to the alloy walls, some of which were collages cut from magazines and newspapers, mainly about victories on the front lines.

Ironically, this underground bunker, which had never felt the fires of the three-year war raging light-years away, now had its dusty alloy walls riddled with bullet holes, and the corridor flooded with blood nearly submerging the boots.

"The power room is right ahead!" Confirming the map on the VM, the Picheng Paratrooper leading the way in a heavy exoskeleton shouted back to their comrades, "Life signs detected! This is the last room!"

Elena opened the mission panel for a quick look.

"Looks like the remaining Mutants are all here, and I remember the Fake Nest is supposed to be inside the power room... The nuclear fuel should be in the backup storage."

"Let’s make it quick for them!"

As the Picheng Paratrooper said this, a sinister smile crossed his face, and the chainsaw he carried hummed to life, heating the air of the entire corridor.

Seeing the Picheng Paratrooper intending to move forward, Gnome King Riches suddenly stopped him.

"Hold on a second."

The Paratrooper halted and turned to look at him.

"What’s up?"

Gnome King Riches chuckled and pulled out a big toy, slung it over his shoulder, and said with great excitement,

"Try this baby out!"

The Paratrooper’s eyebrows rose.

Well, well!

An RPG?

"You brought that down here?"

"Hehe, and it’s a new warhead!"

As he spoke, Gnome King Riches was already fitting the thick-as-a-thigh rocket into the launcher.

The unusual-looking device caught the Paratrooper’s eye, and he turned off his chainsaw to take a closer look.

"...What’s that?"

With the loaded launcher now on his shoulder, Gnome King Riches shared with a giddy excitement.

"A thermobaric bomb!"

"Holy shit!?"

As soon as they heard it was a thermobaric bomb, the surrounding players were instantly taken aback—real or not, they all stepped back, except Old Na, who remained calm.

"Assembled after the TBG-7V thermobaric bomb... Don’t make such a big deal, but dang, Mosquito Brother really outdid himself by reproducing this thing!"

While reminiscing, Gnome King Riches couldn’t help but feel a wave of admiration.

Goblin Technology had gotten more impressive by the day.

Unlike fragmentation grenades, this type of thermobaric bomb didn’t contain preformed fragments but relied solely on a shockwave and high temperatures to kill targets.

It was ordinarily ineffective against targets in open areas but devastatingly lethal within enclosed buildings.

And the fewer the windows, the stronger its killing power!

The instantaneous formation of an environment with ten to fifteen times atmospheric pressure was enough to blast any known carbon-based organism to bits!

"Quit babbling, hurry up." Not eager to listen to his boasting, Elena had already walked to the side of the service door and grabbed the handle.

Brother Fu Gui chuckled and aimed at the door panel.

"I’ll count to three, pay attention to open the door, alright?"

Hearing this, Old Na didn’t dare play such high-risk games with him and immediately opened the service door.

Bullets whooshed out from the room, giving Brother Fu Gui a start, and he reflexively pulled the trigger.

A trail of white smoke shot up from the launcher tube, dragging an unsteady tail flame into the open service door.

Fortunately, the rocket had flown inside.

Otherwise, everyone in the corridor would have been roasted.

At the same time, inside the engine room, Hogg, who was ready for an all-out fight with the Alliance, was startled by the incoming rocket.

He was prepared to fight to the death against the Alliance, but he hadn’t expected these guys to be so unscrupulous as to bombard them with a rocket launcher.

"Get down!!"

He yelled and dropped to the ground, but soon he realized how unnecessary the move was.

The roar of the explosion and the pressure several times normal flooded his eardrums, and he lost his hearing before he could even scream.

Not just his hearing.

The intense heat instantly dried out all the fluids in his body, then his skin carbonized, followed by the underlying veins and flesh.

"Ah ah ah!!!"

Blinded, Hogg let out a heart-wrenching scream, now only hoping that his opponent would give him a quick end.

His wish was quickly fulfilled.

The excruciating pain didn’t torment him for long, and soon, like the other mutants, he was roasted into an unrecognizable char in this purgatory.

As the heavy thud echoed outside the door, a dust-coated group of players peeked their heads into the room from outside.

There were no living creatures left in the entire engine room, only charred or mutilated corpses remained.

The air was as hot as an overcooked oven, and even standing at the door would cause burns; it was impossible to enter.

The group waited until the high temperature dissipated before carefully entering the engine room.

Looking at the mess in the room, Gnome King Riches couldn’t help but cluck his tongue.

"Mama mia... this weapon is too inhumane."

When he got back to the Forum, he definitely had to criticize it properly!

Picheng Paratrooper grinned.

"What’s the point of being humane with beasts?"

Although he didn’t get a chance to enjoy himself at the end, this death was not too lenient for these beasts.

"True." Gnome King Riches walked forward and kicked open the half-hanging door at the end of the engine room.

A foul stench wafted from behind the door.

He turned on his flashlight and found a circular device inside, somewhat similar to the reactor in the shelter.

It was not the reactor that was surprising, but rather the horrifying chunks of flesh growing on the reactor.

They emitted an ominous dark green color, filling almost every corner of this machine.

This was the core of Nago!

The chief culprit behind the spore clouds that permeated the area around Brocade River City!

A pseudo-lair synthesized by biotechnology!

"Is this what a lair looks like?"

Elena, who had walked up to the door, glanced at the lair, feeling it pulsated like a heart or resembled a giant Nago.

Who knows what it tasted like.

"The technical name is Nago Core... I wonder if the one in Qingquan City looks like this, too," said Gnome King Riches, glancing at Old Na with a strange expression, "You’re not thinking of tasting it, are you?"

Elena rolled her eyes.

"Do I look like that sort of person?"

That thing, green and slimy, obviously wasn’t edible.

And more importantly, it was so big, even if he wanted to try, he wouldn’t know where to start.

However, the other players standing by didn’t believe what he said and displayed a "isn’t it obvious?" look.

Ignoring these damned people, Elena took out the dynamite she had brought along, installed it near the pseudo-lair, and then hurried everyone out of the engine room.

At that moment, a message came through the communication channel; Picheng Paratrooper listened and then turned to the others.

"The elevator has been re-powered, and the nuclear fuel and other spoils of war have been packaged and sent to the surface... we should also retreat."

The group boarded the elevator to the surface, and before the elevator doors closed, Elena pressed the detonator in her hand.

The bomb began its countdown.

Taking one last look at the blood and gore-strewn corridor, Gnome King Riches, with a hint of reluctance on his face, faced the closing elevator doors.

"Is this mission... over?"

He had heard that last night the Burning Corps had a thrilling fight on the deck, but their side had almost no real resistance.

It all felt like it ended before he’d had his fun.

Elena spoke with a complex expression.

"Pretty much... The outcome was decided last night; what follows is probably just cleanup work."

The elevator arrived quickly.

Almost at the same moment they left the elevator, a tremor from a distance transmitted up through their feet, causing the entire building to shudder.

Brother Fu Gui, who had just stepped out of the elevator, stumbled and nearly fell but managed to steady himself against the wall.

"Damn, how many seconds did you set on that blast fuse?"

Clearly not expecting the unimpressive bomb to be so powerful, Elena was equally stunned as she watched the slowly tilting ceiling and said,

"I reckoned half a minute should be enough."

Was that damn thing actually a nuclear bomb?

It then dawned on him that the Burning Corps’ brothers might have captured a batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Giant Stone City.

The smallest model was only the size of a fist but had enough power to blow up an entire street.

Maybe...

It really was that thing.

The Picheng Paratrooper felt a tingling in his scalp.

"Half a minute is indeed enough, but why do I always have this ominous premonition..."

Watching the chain reaction triggered by the explosion show no signs of stopping, the Mole sitting in the armored car’s gun turret also gradually turned pale.

He fiercely kicked the driver and shouted down to the bottom of the turret.

"Reverse! Quickly!"

Fortunately, the battle upstairs had already ended.

Almost at the same time as the players were scrambling to evacuate the research institute, that building which had stood unshaking for over two centuries eventually began to collapse slowly...

...

On the bridge of the Iron Heart.

Chu Guang stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, quietly watching in the direction of Singular Point City as the building slowly fell onto the rubble behind it.

Although the fog outside the window had not yet dispersed, the smart and sensible Xiao Qi had already considerately projected the drone aerial footage onto the floor-to-ceiling window.

This was still the best seat to watch.

Eure, strapped to a wheelchair, sat by Chu Guang’s side, looking at the rising dust clouds, his eyes somewhat vacant.

That was where everything began.

And it had also become the end of it all.

After a long moment, his Adam’s apple moved.

"...Is it over?"

Chu Guang glanced at him and said slowly,

"Far from it. The evil committed in your self-righteousness will probably take years, perhaps decades, to make amends. The suffering on this land may take a long time to completely end."

Eure chuckled bitterly, looked up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes.

Looking at the Apostle who had closed his eyes, Chu Guang continued,

"However, objectively speaking, the radiation resistance agents and radiation removal agents you researched have helped many people."

Eure shook his head.

"That’s not my credit alone."

"I know, I never said it was," said Chu Guang succinctly, "just like that building you see now. It wasn’t toppled by any single person, but by the collective will of everyone. That’s also how our history moves forward."

Eure fell silent, his face a mix of both repentance and pure agony.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, then turned slowly to Chu Guang and began to speak.

"What do you plan to do with me?"

Chu Guang replied casually.

"That depends on what method you choose to atone for your sins."

Eure looked surprised.

"...Do I still have a choice?"

"Of course, you could go to Shelter No. 79, for instance. It’s now a biological research base for the Alliance, with a group of biological experts and a lizard that has lived longer than any human. We still have mountains of problems that need to be solved, where you could use your knowledge and the rest of your life to help those who survive."

Chu Guang paused, then continued as he looked at Eure,

"Alternatively, you could say goodbye to this world with a 9mm bullet. It’s the quickest and most painless way."

Eure chuckled bitterly.

"The latter sounds much easier."

Chu Guang glanced at Lu Bei.

The loyal young man immediately understood, stepped forward to help Eure loosen his right hand, then drew his own gun, chambered a round, removed the magazine, and handed it to him.

After staring silently at the gun in his hands for a long time, Eure sighed, closed the safety he had opened.

"...I choose the former."

Perhaps death was an easy choice, but he suddenly remembered Yinyin... the little girl who he wanted to let go but ultimately failed to save.

Focusing on his eyes for a while, Chu Guang suddenly became curious.

"Are you Eure now, or Luo Gan?"

He had noticed during the previous interrogation.

Luo Gan and Eure’s personalities both existed within this man, one stored in his brain, the other in a bionic chip.

Strictly speaking, this was true for every person who had implanted a chip, whether it was Eure in front of him or Yinyin lying in the sleep cabin.

Each one of them was Luo Gan.

The Ghost had shattered himself into countless pieces, hiding in every vessel he deemed suitable. And that vessel was what people called the Ideal State—also known as the Holy Land.

Possibly recognizing himself, Eure’s answer this time was not as hesitant as last time, and he spoke with a voice of certainty.

"Both."

Slowly turning to Chu Guang, Eure continued,

"May I... ask you a question, too?"

Chu Guang responded straightforwardly,

"Go ahead."

Eure looked into his eyes.

"How can you ensure... that the path ahead of you will definitely be different from the choices I once made, and not another form of Hell?"

He didn’t know what the end of this road held; he just wanted to know why the Manager of this shelter was so confident.

But Chu Guang’s answer was completely unexpected.

"I can’t guarantee that."

Chu Guang paused, looking at the astonished Eure and continued as if it were obvious,

"I’m just a mortal, not a savior, and I don’t have the power of foresight. The only guarantee I can give is not to betray the trust of the people, to do what I can to the best of my ability. Whether or not we fall into a pit tomorrow, I don’t know either."

"But I will discuss it with them, facing our common problems, or say BUGs, together; discussing what steps to take next. Even if sometimes their opinions are immature, or even naïve, that’s fine; the Alliance wasn’t built in a day."

"If Hell awaits us ahead, that will also be our collective choice. But I believe even if one day we do find ourselves standing in Hell, our unity will enable us to walk out of there shoulder to shoulder."

Eure sighed, slowly hanging his head.

"If only I had met you twenty years earlier..."

If fate’s gears had not suffered that slight deviation, if he hadn’t met that man named Luo Gan twenty years ago...

Perhaps the fate of all the survivors on this land would have been different.