This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 612: Surrender? Did I Declare War on Them?

Chapter 612: Chapter 612: Surrender? Did I Declare War on Them?

The building standing in the thick fog slowly toppled, crushed into rubble like a block of tofu, and shards flew hundreds of meters into the air, while the dust swept up by the airflow reached a kilometer away...

Staring blankly at the slowly collapsing building, Chimo’s eyes first flickered with disbelief, then gradually turned to fear.

It took a long time before he managed to force a word through his clenched teeth.

"Damn..."

The Champion Biomedical Research Institute...

The Nago Core of the underground research area!

The Church’s years of hard work!

Those ignorant Waste Land Wanderers actually blew it up!

With the Nago Mushroom in the entire Brocade River City area losing its core heart, Heaven’s collapse was inevitable, and they had no time to create a new nest for this land—it was not a project that could be completed quickly.

Since Heaven’s collapse was inevitable, The Church could only give up this parish until the time was ripe to return.

The biological soldiers deployed in the city area were retreating south through the cover of the gray fog, among them Goliath and some of the Batwing People that had not died.

Most of them were mindless monsters synthesized from the larvae of Mutants, deformed from head to toe—yet deformed just right.

Apart from assisting with experiments, another major use of the Qi Tribe for The Church was to provide newborns that could be used as raw materials.

But now, they had lost even this last use.

Even with the Church-supported prosthetic modifications, the Qi Tribe still failed to hold back the Alliance’s assault, nearly all of their robust warriors died on the frontline, leaving only the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled hiding in Brocade River City’s underground traffic network.

Whether as soldiers or as tools for breeding, they were not the best choice, especially with many lame and deficient "Ancestor Faction" members among them.

Although it was regrettable to lose this near-perfect pastureland, the Qi Tribe has now lost even its last value.

However, Chimo was filled with bitterness.

It wasn’t out of sympathy for his allies; he didn’t like those ugly green-skinned beasts at all, having always regarded them as an "inconvenient but temporarily irreplaceable" tool.

What truly made him feel bitter was that for the eternal Heaven to descend upon this land, both The Church and the Tribunal had sacrificed far too many people.

Yet the result was this...

He couldn’t accept it!

That traitor...

If Luo Gan hadn’t disappeared just before Heaven arrived, they would never have lost so miserably!

If Luo Gan had attacked that airship the moment Heaven arrived, the Alliance would never have had the chance to hold out for so long!

The angrier he became, the more Chimo felt like he could crush his own teeth.

Just as his emotions were about to peak, a familiar voice came from not far away.

"Do you think this is my fault?"

"Who?!"

Chimo turned sharply, only to see an old man emitting a faint golden light standing two steps behind him, his fierce eyes squeezing into a slit.

"...Luo Gan!"

Luo Gan looked at him calmly.

Those void-like eyes seemed to pierce through his body, staring straight at the collapsed skyscraper not far away.

After a long pause, he started to speak as if to himself.

"Sometimes I wonder, too, whether there might indeed be a slight deviation between ideals and reality... To ensure that the ultimate plan is realized, we indeed made some mistakes."

"Perhaps we should discuss it with our followers, ask for their opinions, and at least ask if they are truly willing to go to the Heaven we envision; otherwise, even if we are at the end of the sea of suffering, they will unite and try to bring us down at all costs."

Watching Chimo raise his gun, Luo Gan smiled with a hint of self-mockery and continued in a light tone.

"Shoot."

"If you can manage to kill me, perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad thing."

Thinking about it, that Manager was indeed extraordinary.

From the first moment he saw me, he saw exactly what I was.

Yet ironically, these servants loyal to The Church had no idea about it... even though they were the ones closest to Heaven.

Chimo looked at him with contempt, spat out, and the muzzle didn’t waver.

"Stop fucking pretending! Heaven is just a chip in the brain, don’t think I don’t know! Just take—"

"Just kill every person who has a chip implanted, just extract and crush every chip, and ’Luo Gan’ would disappear from this world... Is that what you think?" Luo Gan looked at him pityingly and continued.

"Too bad, even I can’t remember how many of me I’ve buried in this land, and the real me died twenty years ago."

All the Pioneers who entered Heaven are already dead.

That’s the prerequisite for entering Heaven.

In order to ensure the will of the Torch is carried out unwaveringly, they sacrificed themselves before sacrificing everyone else.

Watching the astonishment on Chimo’s face, Luo Gan slowly left a profound statement.

"Every me is me, yet every me is not me. I divided the soul granted by the creator into countless pieces in exchange for time that isn’t mine, and the price is that I can never close my eyes—perhaps this is the creator’s punishment for me."

"Fortunately, at least in the end, I did one thing right."

Chimo stared intently at him.

"...What thing?"

However, Luo Gan had no intention of telling him. He simply turned around, showing his back.

"You don’t need to know; it has nothing to do with you."

"My mission is over now. I can’t walk this road to a new world with you all. Tell the other Pioneers for me."

"We won’t meet again."

"Wait! Stop!!" Chimo roared in fury as he watched that figure beginning to fade from this place.

But the old man paid no heed to his plea, his form slowly turning transparent, his presence quickly vanishing too.

His eyes crazed with madness, Chimo’s index finger trembled, and he finally pulled the trigger.

"Bang—!"

The jarring gunshot echoed through the streets.

However, it was not the old man, fading into a ghostly apparition, who fell, but his partner, Tang He—the sniper with the sparse crew cut and an electronic eye in place of his left.

The 9mm bullet entered through his right eye, exited through the back of his skull, taking with it a string of blood plasma and brain matter that sprayed against the broken shop window on the street side.

With a look of shock and madness on his face, the man heavily fell to the ground, as if he never imagined that his long-time partner would point a gun at him, let alone fire.

The man whose left half of his head had been blown away by a Waste Land Wanderer, now had the right side of his brain blown apart by a comrade.

This time, there was nothing left.

Staring at the motionless Tang He lying in a pool of blood, Chimo’s expression went from shock to numbness, then from numbness to horror.

"No..."

"Tang He?!"

"It must... something must be wrong! Yes, I’m starting to see, it was that Luo Gan who possessed your body... I, I just wanted to force him out of you."

He stumbled back with trembling lips, the muscles on his face twisting into a grotesque mask, his hands clutching his head, and he let out a soul-tearing scream.

"Ah ah ah ah!!"

He suddenly remembered.

The Holy Land had never been on Earth. Only the chosen could see it—in other words, that guy hadn’t taken over his partner’s body, but was inside his own head.

In a daze, he saw his reflection in the blood-stained mirror nearby, but the face was not his; it was Luo Gan, who had just disappeared.

"I’ll kill you!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, pointing the muzzle of his gun under his chin, his breathing grew more rapid.

His face flushed the color of liver, he finally closed his eyes decisively and pulled the trigger.

A loud bang almost shattered his jaw yet the bullet didn’t penetrate his underside, instead grazing his cheek and flying up into the sky.

"Hehe... Hahahaha!"

He burst into manic laughter, holding the gun up and firing into the sky, his eyes hollow with crazed distortion.

The gunshots drew the attention of people nearby.

He saw at the end of the street, an armored vehicle with a cannon mounted, advancing toward him surrounded by a group of fully armed soldiers.

The helmets obscured most of the faces, but he could tell, every face hidden under those helmets was Luo Gan’s.

"Hey..."

A tiny, sinister laugh escaped his lips. He raised his pistol toward the crowd at the end of the street, and as he pulled the trigger, he thought he saw a flash of gunfire.

Then—

His consciousness plunged into an abyss without end...

"We’ve found another cyberpsycho."

Sitting in the gun turret of the armored vehicle, Mole watched the shattered corpse lying in the center of the street, speaking tersely into his earpiece.

"Old Na, go take a look."

"Roger that."

Standing next to the wheel, Elena walked up with her rifle.

The guy standing in the middle of the road earlier had been firing blindly into the sky, and they thought someone here needed help.

But as soon as they approached, the guy pointed the gun at them and was taken down by a burst of gunfire.

Looking at the flesh and blood embedded in the exoskeleton, Elena clicked her tongue, squatting down to search his relics and soon found a blood-stained silver dog tag.

Two inverted triangles were engraved on it—the symbol of the Torch.

On the back, there was the emblem of the Tribunal.

"He’s an Executioner, and the guy next to him likely is too... They have markings of the Tribunal on them and dog tags inscribed with their names and blood types, equipped with exoskeletons with optical camouflage plugins, a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, a couple of handguns, some ammo, EMP grenades, and so on... No disguised explosives detected."

Rising from beside the other man who had been shot in the head, Elena continued speaking over the comms channel.

"They seem to have had a falling out, that Chimo guy shot his associate then tried to shoot himself, but failed... Of course, this is just my guess."

Gnome King Riches smacked his tongue.

"That’s outrageous."

Suddenly remembering yesterday’s events, a player following beside him spoke up.

"Isn’t this the same sniper we encountered before?"

Another player rubbed the back of his head.

"It should be, I heard that the Burning Corps got a nasty surprise from them... but it’s really strange."

"Strange?"

"Goliath, I mean, those huge guys... In terms of combat power, their skills are much better than those winged creatures."

Listening to the whispers over the comm channel, Mole thought for a moment and said,

"They probably gave up."

Gnome King Riches said with a smile,

"They gave up just like that?"

"Yeah, after all, the nest has been destroyed, and this gray fog is bound to dissipate soon."

Mole looked up at the sky above and saw a sliver of sunlight elongated by the gray mist had already pierced through the thick clouds, casting its light on the ruins.

"Besides the Qi Tribe... The Church seems to have no reason to persist."

After a pause, he looked towards Old Na, who was still searching the corpses up ahead, and shouted,

"Get the bodies onto the truck for now, we can search them later, there’s more work up ahead!"

The mutants from the Champion Biomedical Research Institute had all been wiped out, and the Torch Church had already retreated from the area.

Now, it was the turn of those creatures hiding in the subway...

...

The deck of the Steel Heart.

A Viper transport plane with faint blue plasma trails slowly landed.

Two crew members in exoskeletons carefully carried out a squarish metal stand from the cabin and cautiously placed it on a trolley.

In the center of this metal stand was a container shaped like a water droplet, approximately the size of a gas canister.

However, what was stored inside wasn’t gas but superfluid helium-3!

Although it was only a neutron short, the technological sophistication of this stuff far exceeded that of ordinary liquid helium superfluid.

As is widely known, shortly after the successful preparation of liquid helium, its superfluid state was discovered.

However, its isotope didn’t enjoy such treatment.

Due to the absence of a neutron, helium-3 became akin to fermions that follow the Pauli Exclusion Principle and cannot clump together.

This was why the existence of superfluid helium-3 was a long-unsolved mystery in physics.

Later, people discovered that at low enough temperatures, helium-3 could form Cooper pairs through the interaction of atomic nuclear spins, leading to the superfluidity that won Osheroff, Lee, and Richardson the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996 for finally realizing superfluid helium-3 at exceedingly tiny fractions above absolute zero.

Although it’s unclear why these nuclear fuels were stored in the form of superfluids, the immense technical reserves of this world were indeed astonishingly advanced compared to that of the world where the players came from.

To store one liter of superfluid helium-3, a "gas canister" only about thirty or forty liters in volume was enough.

Even two people could carry it.

To say the least, the "helium-3 storage technology" contained within this gas canister alone was an amazing acquisition for the nascent Alliance.

Not to mention the staggering amount of nuclear fuel.

Similar containers were stored in the underground research area’s warehouses with as many as a million units, all preserved on container-like shelving, with a total volume reaching one thousand cubic meters!

Before the collapse of that building, these nuclear fuels had already been moved to a safe location.

It was not clear why Torch didn’t transfer this batch of fuel to Haiye Province, but whatever their intentions, the fuel was now in the hands of the Alliance.

For a long time to come, the Alliance would not have to worry about energy problems!

Beyond nuclear fuel, the players also recovered a batch of mechanical prostheses and modification equipment from the Champion Biomedical Research Institute.

Many of these were legacies of the War Construction Committee.

Just like Huge Rock Military Industry that was inherited by Giant Stone City, the "Champion" Biological Pharmaceutical Research Institute, which formerly belonged to the Central War Research Institute of United Human, was also one of the legacies left to Singular Point City by the War Construction Committee.

Regrettably, they hadn’t made proper use of the facility and eventually walked the path of self-destruction.

Yibers was very interested in these devices, and they would be packed up and sent to Huge Rock Military Industry for disassembly and reverse engineering.

Although it was a pity they couldn’t catch those Torch researchers, the experienced technicians and engineers within Stone City would be more than capable of uncovering the secrets hidden within those devices...

The deck of the Steel Heart was bustling with activity, and the bridge, serving as the command center of the entire ship, was no less busy.

Vanus and other officers were directing ground troops in their operations.

Chu Guang remained in his usual unobstructive spot, watching the pale blue holographic window in front of him and listening to Heya report on the latest research progress at the Alliance Biology Research Institute.

"... the biotechnology mastered by the Torch has exceeded my initial expectations. They held equipment not entirely taken from Shelter No.117. For instance, the biomaterial armor contains DNA fragments that bear similarities to the ’mutated slime fungus.’"

After listening to Heya’s statement, Chu Guang frowned slightly.

"I remember that the Nago was the same."

"Yes," Heya nodded gently and continued, "Including that mutant with bat wings, as well as that gigantic mutant called Goliath... Their chromosomes contain a large amount of DNA fragments related to the ’mutated slime fungus’. Not to mention the Nago you mentioned, the entire system composed of Nago, from the Nago Core to the fungal colony, and then to the spores released by the mycelium, is designed to imitate the ’mutated slime fungus’."

At this point, Heya paused, speaking with an uncertain tone.

"It’s hard to imagine that this is the result of research completed in just twenty years... Do you think there’s a possibility that those people got hold of the legacy technologies from an ancient battlefield or relic in the south during the three years of war?"

Chu Guang’s mind stirred.

"You mean... the biotechnology of the colonial rebels?"

Heya nodded gravely.

"That’s what I am thinking... Although it’s just a guess."

Chu Guang fell into contemplation.

Indeed, he couldn’t rule out this possibility.

In fact, not just the Nago related to the ’mutated slime fungus’, but the Mind Interference Technology held by the Torch Church was similar.

They were not using the version from Shelter No. 401 but seemed more like a model with higher power and a wider coverage area.

If he remembered correctly, the Mind Interference Device was a joint research project between the Ecological Park No. 3 above Qingquan City and the colonial research institution on an "alternative to the Infrasound Fence Device."

Due to the scandal that broke out later, the research on the Mind Interference Device was halted by the regulatory agency in 2113.

However, the information left in Shelter No. 401 did not mention whether this project was completely terminated or if it’s just that no continued research was done on the part of the mother planet, while the colonies were still looking for an "efficient alternative to the Infrasound Fence" without any oversight from regulatory bodies.

If it’s the latter case...

This kind of Mind Interference Device could very well have been applied militarily.

Could it even be that the Mutant mucor mother nest as a biological weapon itself was a type of hive creature born from the Mind Interference Field?

The more Chu Guang thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

"...The technical sources of the Torch Church are worth looking into deeply. I will have my subordinates pay attention, and if you have any new clues on your side, please let me know immediately."

"Mm, leave it to me... Oh, right." Just as she was about to end the communication, Heya suddenly remembered something and continued speaking, "What’s the situation with the person you sent to Shelter No. 79?"

Hearing her inquire about Eure, Chu Guang thought for a moment and said offhandedly,

"That guy is a former researcher from the Champion Biomedical Research Institute. He was involved in the development of radiation antidotes and radiation neutralizers."

The Great Antler God should be interested in that guy, considering Shelter No. 79 even had Champion brand coffee and cookies.

Many people there were probably fans of the Champion Group, and it might be interested in talking to him about the past.

Heya was stunned, looking at him with disbelief.

"You managed to scoop up even this kind of talent."

Chu Guang smiled faintly.

"To be precise, he’s a war criminal. If he doesn’t make any significant contributions, he’ll have to spend the rest of his life in Shelter No. 79. I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on him."

Heya nodded seriously.

"I’ll pay attention."

After the communication ended, Chu Guang turned off the holographic device and looked out at the mist-enshrouded Earth through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

With the conquest of the fake nest, the warfare in Brocade River City had come to an end.

What followed was cleaning up the battlefield and tidying up the aftermath, and considering how to handle Haiya Province, which had entered its fourth stage.

However, before that, the Alliance had an impending "Tide" to face, and tomorrow he planned to take the Steel Heart back to the City of Dawn.

As for Brocade River City,

Leaving it in the hands of Frost and the Kang Mao Group behind it should be no issue.

Chu Guang had very low demands of it; as long as it could hold on for a while, it would be enough until the Alliance could spare the effort from its affairs.

At this moment, the sound of a door opening and footsteps came from behind.

An officer walked up behind him, stood to attention, and saluted with his right fist to his chest.

"Reporting!"

Chu Guang turned and said,

"What is it?"

"A mutant who claims to be a priest of the Qi Tribe wishes to discuss a surrender with you. It claims it is willing to offer its loyalty to the Alliance."

"Surrender?"

Tasting the word with a hint of amusement, Chu Guang gave the officer a cursory glance.

"Did I declare war on them?"

Although those creatures were naturally suited for labor, after seeing that "ranch," he had lost all interest in transforming them.

That such things could breathe was an error in itself.

He didn’t care whether the remaining mutants were the main warring faction or the main peace faction, eradicating them completely would be better for the Alliance and the world.

The officer hesitated for a moment before understanding the intent in the Manager’s gaze and saluted sternly.

"Yes!"

...

(Thanks to "Oppa Likes You" and "Emperor of the Dark Stars" for their Dominion rewards!!! I shouldn’t have shown off earlier, stepping out and coming back feels like I’ve been hit with a weakness debuff, but at least I won’t have to worry about food for the next few days... T.T)