This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 629: The Unusual ’Fog

Chapter 629: Chapter 629: The Unusual ’Fog

"...In recent days, the spore concentration in the air of Qingquan City has continued to rise, and according to the analysis results from the Alliance Biological Research Institute, a Tide is expected to occur within two weeks.

Currently, the Alliance Army Command has designated parts of Qingquan City as Temporary Strategic Preparation Zones, and residents of Giant Stone City and City of Dawn must pay close attention to their personal safety, try to avoid activity in these areas, and unless necessary, please do not stay in or outside of the settlements for long periods.

However, there is no need for excessive panic, especially for friends who are new here. The annual Tide has become a signature event of Qingquan City, and despite its ferocity, ultimate victory will certainly belong to us, who are united!

Survivor’s Daily will bring you the latest frontline reports firsthand!"

Giant Stone City, Pirate Bay Tavern, the lively atmosphere was like a blazing fire, with toasts and raucous voices incessant.

Looking at the old radio on the bar with its holographic screen, a man who had drunk too much let out a belch and suddenly became sentimental.

"Really takes me back."

A drinker next to him looked over.

"Takes you back to what?"

"Hauser’s broadcasts," the man chuckled, cleared his throat, and loudly said, "...My dearest listener friends, the Tide is coming, and the bumpkins and beggars beyond the great wall are eagerly looking at our prosperous lives. Of course, we’ll not open the door, but can instead watch their plight by our cozy fireplaces, watch them howl with hunger, watch them tussle with corpse-eaters in the mud. And our young lads, under the wise command of the Militia Group, suffer minimal casualties, though a few have died, those who had not a chip in their pocket, and frankly, they can’t really be considered residents of Giant Stone City."

He mimicked Hauser’s exaggerated voice, and because his impression was so comical, everyone burst into laughter after hearing it.

"Hauser, hahaha!"

"I almost forgot about that guy!"

Life got better by the day.

But occasionally, they would still reminisce about the unpleasant old days and those who had long since rolled away.

Some things only became clear when looking back.

Even without annotations, just by reading Mr. Hauser’s words aloud again, everyone would smile knowingly.

"Speaking of which, where did he go?"

"I also heard he initially went to Red River Town, but the mine bosses there don’t listen to the radio at all, so he had to move on to Garbage City. Funnily enough, he had an audience there, but they all thought he had been exiled by the Alliance, so the council members there were too scared to even let him in."

"Hahaha, I think the Manager wouldn’t bother with this guy. If they really did, he wouldn’t even be able to leave this place."

"I heard he then moved to Bugra Free State, where they don’t care who he is, and he can continue his old trade."

After that upheaval, many Inner City Nobles and merchants who had worked for the nobles fled to that northern place where money could buy everything.

Like Wei Jia, I’ve heard he’s doing quite well. He used to be a groveling servant, but since going there, he’s managed to take on quite a respectable appearance.

This guy is like an eel, slithering from turbid water into a mud pond, living even better than before.

But they didn’t envy him.

For most of the people here, they’ve had enough of "the bitterness of the winner takes all." Whoever wants it can have it.

They wouldn’t envy the winners, nor pity the losers. They would simply walk their own path forward.

Just then, the sound of wind chimes came from the door, and wet footprints stamped onto the wooden floor as the just-off-duty Militia Group Chief, Joey, strode over.

"It’s not fair to blame this on our Militia Group; we’ve done our work, though I admit it wasn’t much before."

The crowd’s gaze shifted to the source of the voice, and seeing it was Joey, the man who had imitated Hauser’s voice immediately broke into a surprised and happy expression, laughing and saying.

"Joey? Of course, we’re not targeting you. We all know you’re a good guy. How have you been lately?"

As he spoke, he pulled out a chair for Joey.

Joey sat down with good-natured ease and took the hot towel offered by the bartender to wipe his face.

The air quality had been terrible these days.

Though the survivors here had long grown accustomed to the air with its musty odor, it was still inevitable to get one’s face and hair dirty.

After thanking the bartender and returning the towel, Joey ordered a cup of hot honey wine and spoke casually.

"...Much the same as always, our main task is defense work, the Alliance hasn’t made things difficult for us, as long as we can draw a portion of the Tide to the vicinity of the great wall, they will launch an offensive from the North Third Ring and put pressure on our enemies."

The man put his hand on Joey’s shoulder and said earnestly.

"If you ever have trouble, don’t carry the burden alone, tell us. We can fight too."

The others all looked at him seriously, no longer joking.

Joey paused, then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, come on now, are you going to fight with beer bottles? Specialist work should be left to us professionals."

The man grinned as well but still looked a bit anxious, after all, for the past 200 years, it had been the residents of the Inner City who were responsible for dealing with the Tides, and this year not only was it the first time they faced this threat on their own but it also coincided with the most ferocious wave after a warm winter.

"Do you have enough manpower?"

Joey replied with a laugh.

"We’ve never been short of them, especially with a new batch of useful guys this year."

"Useful guys?"

"The scoundrels from the slums, those who do business with the Looters."

Upon hearing this, the people in the tavern quickly recalled the severe crackdown that took place at the beginning of the year.

Those gang members were quite stupid. The Alliance had long disapproved of them but always felt that it was Giant Stone City’s problem and didn’t care to intervene.

Now that Giant Stone City had joined the Alliance, the filthy slums hidden beneath the colossal walls had become the Alliance’s problem, and those foolhardy thugs didn’t just fail to limit their activity, they had the audacity to target the Residents of the refuge.

It was said that the Manager was in Giant Stone City at the time. Upon getting the news, he waved his hand, and more than a dozen tanks fresh from the front lines turned around and sealed off the slums beneath the wall corner. Suspected gang members were taken away for interrogation, and those who resisted with weapons were executed on the spot.

No one knew exactly how many died, but supposedly, they captured over five thousand.

After that day, the entire slum had quieted down, and the orphanages and welfare institutions in Giant Stone City were overflowing with rescued children.

"...I heard the Manager organized them into a Punishment camp, where they underwent three months of military training in Qingstone County,"

Taking the mead passed by the bartender, Joey took a sip to moisten his throat.

"It’s time for them to repay their debts."

...

Near the Geological Park in Qingstone County, there lay a sealed encampment.

Unlike the Geological Park next door, which had been transformed into a quarry, the people here didn’t have to spend their entire day laboring in dark mines like the Looters, as their crimes were not as severe.

As such, they only needed to work for 10 hours a day.

For the remaining time, they underwent harsh military-style training, using sticks instead of rifles to learn bayonet thrusting and rifle lifting, crawling in the snow, and practicing their bravery under machine-gun fire and nearby artillery, all in preparation for the incoming Tide.

Some couldn’t withstand it and died in training or fell in the mines, but they were the minority.

Even the horrific training volume bordered on madness, but the vitality of the Waste Land Wanderers was so resilient that over five thousand survived.

In just three short months, these ruffians with a perpetual sneer had completely changed, the fattest among them, with fatty livers, even slimmed down to a gaunt appearance.

People only come to appreciate freedom and dignity after losing them, and the meaning of prison lies therein.

After coping with the punishment of the camp, even if it was not enough to make these scoundrels understand the etiquette and shame of civilized people, at least their bodies remembered the punishment.

As usual, after a day of training, an officer from the First Regiment of the First Army of the Alliance called a group of about a hundred prisoners to the mess hall and announced the task for two weeks later.

Although it was expected, when they heard they would be stepping onto the Battlefield as Cannon Fodder, everyone’s faces showed fear and panic.

However, the officer continued, expressionless in the face of everyone’s fear.

"This year’s Tide is unlike those of previous years. Many of you will die, perhaps even the vast majority."

A prisoner swallowed nervously and mustered the courage to ask the officer,

"What if we survive?"

Looking at him, the officer knew what he was asking and continued,

"If you survive, you can earn the qualification to be considered human. Whether you can become Residents of the Alliance will still depend on your performance."

"However, the Manager has promised. After the Tide is over, whether or not you’ve won recognition as Residents of the Alliance, you won’t have to return here again. You can clear the southern land as ’supervised’ individuals and establish new settlements there."

"If you perform well, you have a chance to become Residents."

Upon hearing this, many prisoners’ faces lit up with joy. No matter how bad the situation was in the south, it was still better than here. Besides, wasn’t there the Singular Point City too?

As long as they weren’t banished to the Wasteland to fend for themselves or thrown into a mine to work like animals until death, it was acceptable to them.

Yet, some knew about the situation in Brocade River Province, which could very well become the Alliance’s next Battlefield, so some showed expressions of worry and distress.

Watching the prisoners whisper amongst themselves, the officer continued expressionlessly,

"I’m not haggling with you. You only have two choices: either give up being human like the Looters and work to death in the mines, or pick up your last shred of pitiful dignity, at least showing us that you’re willing to die for human status."

The mess hall fell silent for a moment.

One prisoner stood up first, raising his right hand.

"I’m willing to go."

"Your name?"

Facing the officer’s inquiry, the man hesitated for a moment, lowered his head, and said,

"...Dagger."

In the slums of Giant Stone City, there were many who went by that name. Some who originally had no names would often get nicknames like Dagger, Cleaver, or Axe upon joining a gang.

Looking at the wrinkled hypertrophic skin on his arm, the officer frowned.

Members of the Dagger Gang would tattoo a dagger on their arms as a symbol of their identities, which was a common practice among other gangs as well. Previously, thanks to these tattoos, the Alliance was able to capture many low-level gang members.

Afterward, these guys entered the punishment camp, and at the request of the supervisors, they had to burn or sandpaper off all the insignias on their bodies, but the scars remained.

The officer seemed to have guessed the man’s identity but didn’t say anything.

"From today on, you’re called Bit, and these hundred-plus people are your responsibility."

Glancing at his watch, he continued, "Before lights out, give me a rundown of the people who will stay behind."

Bit breathed a sigh of relief, memorized his new name, and saluted.

"Yes, sir."

...

With two weeks left before the Tide, preparations for the war had entered the final stage.

Massive quantities of military supplies were transported into the City of Dawn via rail and then distributed to various positions within Qingquan City via a fleet of transport trucks.

After aligning with Giant Stone City, the Alliance had repaired the main thoroughfares within the city area, both above and below ground.

On the edge of the North Fifth Ring Line.

Chu Guang, wearing power armor, and accompanied by Wrench, inspected the condition of the frontline positions.

Although the defensive line was the same as the one from a year ago, here, just like in the City of Dawn, there had been earth-shattering changes.

If previously the Alliance’s land forces were merely a mishmash of World War II and Cold War-era weapons, now standing here was a genuine regular army.

Fully automatic weapons were not only standard issue for the entire army but had even been distributed down to the squad level.

155mm cannons, with their long barrels, stood erect like forests on the positions.

It was hard to imagine that just a year ago, the majority of the Alliance’s cannons were either third-hand goods confiscated from the Looters or counterfeit knock-offs hand-rolled by players like Mosquito Brother who bore the same criminal mark as him.

It wasn’t just artillery.

Auxiliary equipment, like exoskeletons, had improved too.

At first, the "KV-1" exoskeleton with a few steel plates welded on was considered decent equipment, but now even the workers loading and unloading goods wear the "Miner" exoskeleton produced by Ideal City.

Not only the people and equipment.

The most visible change was the position itself.

High-rise buildings connected by concrete walls topped with barbed wire formed the innermost line of defense, from which extended various points of firepower relying on natural skyscraper barriers, leaving only a few main thoroughfares with gates allowing passage.

Those skyscrapers serving as firepower points were like the angles of bastions from classical times, providing nearly all-directional firepower coverage to the adjacent streets.

Nearly the entire defensive line engulfed the southern side of the City of Dawn and the northern side of Qingquan City, covering the whole area where survivors were active. If mucosal entities wanted to circumvent this line of defense, they would have to detour along the east or west to the outside of the city.

However, since the slime fungi’s rate of information exchange and spore density are linked, conversely, the activity of mucosal entities in a given area would also be affected by spore concentration.

It was like a server that could only accommodate 100 players at most; the efficiency of information processing and bandwidth were limited. If the admin modified the server protocol and lifted the online player limit, causing a server with a capacity of 100 people to be flooded with 10,000 people, the outcome would undoubtedly be that everyone would lag like a slideshow.

Mutated slime fungi that operate based on "Node Creatures" are the same, with shortcomings in their DNA that prevent them from extending the will of the Lair into areas with thin spore clouds, and they can only muster their strength for a Tide to break through civilized defense lines.

So, detouring sub-entities would definitely be a minority, with most of the progeny corpses concentrating on the frontlines, which is also one of the conclusions drawn from rigorous scientific research by the Alliance Biological Research Institute.

The Alliance didn’t need to follow the Post-War Reconstruction Committee’s method of encircling the entire city area within massive walls.

Instead, constructing a defensive line "extending from areas of higher spore concentration to areas of lower concentration" would suffice.

"... The positions we constructed during the last Tide are still in place; this time we’ve fortified them based on the original foundation, and we’ve also improved the defense mode!"

"Based on suggestions from the General Staff, we divided the defensive line into twenty sectors, each tasked to a militia group of a thousand men, and each sector is further divided into three segments—front, middle, and rear—expanding with a ’334’ model to ensure firepower covers every inch of land in front of the positions!"

The more detailed improvement plans are, of course, not that simple. The firepower deployment, logistics supply, and support methods of each position have been more thoroughly considered, but these are not things that can be clearly explained in a moment, so Wrench did not elaborate.

During the last Tide, the Alliance lacked experience in large-scale combat, but this time was different.

After the harsh lessons of the battle of Luo Xia Province, Alliance officers and soldiers at all levels had gained considerable experience in diverse battlefield modes, including maneuver warfare and trench warfare.

Looking at Wrench, who was excitedly introducing the plans with a flushed face, Chu Guang nodded approvingly, giving a positive evaluation.

"Well done."

Wrench gave a simple smile, and the red glow on his weathered face seemed to shine even brighter.

Like Wrench, most of the Alliance’s first batch of officers were Waste Land Wanderers saved from the jaws of the Looters by Shelter No. 404.

He didn’t harbor any lofty thoughts or indulge in contemplation.

For someone with a simple mindset, approval from the Manager was the highest honor.

Watching the glowing Wrench, Chu Guang paused for a moment, then continued.

"However, there is something I need to discuss with you."

Immediately, Wrench responded.

"Please, give your orders!"

"It’s not a command, it’s about all the future arrangements."

Chu Guang smiled and spoke in a casual tone.

"As our army’s size keeps increasing, the original command system has started to seem somewhat cumbersome. So, I plan to reorganize the troop formations after the Tide ends and switch from the thousand-team and ten thousand-team divisions to the establishment of the Human Alliance era."

Regarding the disposition of the Alliance Army, there has always been a considerable discussion on the forum. He had, earlier on, combined some professionals’ opinions and discussed them with Vanus.

The Army’s use of ten thousand and thousand-team divisions to shove people frontward A was because they had three-year quick-trained Clone cannon fodder, combined with the fact that Weilante military officers were themselves military aristocracy with fiefs, and the entire society’s promotion channels were based on military merits; thus, there was no need to set extra ranks, making such a crude formation relatively easy for them to manage.

Although other Survivor Settlements on the Wasteland may not have the three-year quick-trained Clones, as human life holds little value and cannon fodder is plentiful, these Settlements also copied the same style.

Actually, there’s nothing wrong with this approach.

The weaponry produced by the Army is very popular all over the Wasteland, and as the Survivor Forces with the highest strength, it is only normal that they would be imitated by other Survivor Forces lacking in armed forces.

As for the Looters, needless to say, being practitioners of primitive rules, they have a profound reverence for the Army’s brutality. Therefore, both Centurion and Decurion are not only titles symbolizing power but also a token of honor and valor among the Looter Tribes.

With the dual choices from the majority of Survivor Settlements and Looter Tribes, the thousand-team and hundred-team establishments have become the mainstream on the Wasteland.

However, mainstream doesn’t mean exclusive. For example, the Company’s structure is completely opposite to that of the Army.

The privately armed companies of Ideal City typically undertake missions in small teams, even more extreme than the battalion-sized tactical groups in reality, streamlined down to the level of a Company-sized tactical group.

And the direct troops of the corporate organizations are comprised of assault teams, each with a hundred-member formation.

But since Ideal City doesn’t expand outward, its direct troops simply sweep the Mutants around the city. Most of the big troubles are settled with money, so this kind of short and elite formation isn’t actually problematic.

Whether it’s a Corporation or an Army, the military philosophy they adopt does not completely suit the needs of the Alliance.

Chu Guang plans to compromise on the basis of both.

That is, he intends to re-organize the existing NPC Legions by adopting the sequence of Army, Division, Brigade, Regiment, Battalion, Company, and Platoon, along with the "three-three system" organization principle.

The reformed First and Second Army Corps of the Alliance will be called the First and Second Group Armies of the Alliance, respectively, and will be in command of 10 to 20 standard brigades, each consisting of 2000 personnel.

Such an organization is not only clearer and more concise but also facilitates the granting of ranks.

As for the players, they will still use the original "Legion" establishment rules.

Up to this point, the combat efficiency of each Legion has been quite good, and there’s no need for a massive overhaul, at most some minor adjustments in battlefield positioning.

These Legions are essentially the Alliance’s "Company-sized tactical groups" that take on the riskier, more thrilling special combat missions.

Expecting individual players with formidable combat power to completely adhere to the standards of a regular army is also somewhat impractical.

Based on Chu Guang’s own experience, players can accept being "harvested" — they might even find pleasure in it — but the one thing they cannot accept is being taught by the game operator how they should play the game.

So, he never teaches players what to do, he only sets rules to tell them what they cannot do and what punishment they face if they deviate.

Taking this opportunity, Chu Guang briefly talked about his planning for the future quadruple forces of the Alliance: land, sea, air, and space.

Even though two of them were still without a trace, Wrench was very attentive and didn’t think he was joking at all.

After listening, Wrench saluted without a word and said with utter loyalty,

"The First Army Corps of the Alliance resolutely obeys your instructions! Your will is the will of our army."

Watching Wrench solemnly affirm his loyalty, Chu Guang smiled lightly and said,

"There’s no need to be so serious. The reorganization will happen after this Tide. Just keep it in mind for now; no need to notify others yet. The reason I’m telling you in advance is that I hope you’ll try to explore in the direction I’ve mentioned in the upcoming combat. Later, I will hold a meeting at the General Staff, and I will seek opinions from officers of all ranks at that time."

As his voice dropped, a long-drawn alarm came from the south.

Both men instinctively turned their gazes in that direction.

They saw the once-calm, gray-green fog suddenly start rolling down the street towards their defenses like a landslide.

The fog had risen!

It was the Tide!

Seeing the fierce momentum of the gray fog, Chu Guang’s eyebrows raised in slight surprise.

The Tide had arrived earlier than what the Biological Institute had predicted.

But that was also normal.

There’s no such thing as a hundred percent accurate weather forecast.

Seeing the rolling fog, Wrench’s pupils contracted slightly, and he quickly looked over at Chu Guang.

"Manager, please fall back."

His battlefield-honed instincts told him this fog was likely not so simple.

However, Chu Guang did not move, but simply nodded towards the direction of the defenses and succinctly said,

"Don’t concern yourself with my safety; what you should care about are all those people behind this defense line."

"Now go and do what you must. I will be here to witness your bravery!"