This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 656: Free Gift?

Chapter 656: Chapter 656: Free Gift?

Before today, the representative sent by the Bugra Free State to meet with the Alliance had been Xavier, a businessman from the Firestone Group. This time, however, a man claiming to be the Foreign Minister had suddenly appeared. Chu Guang didn’t know whether his identity was real or fake; after exchanging pleasantries, he had left him to one side.

Frankly, he was not particularly fond of those fellows from the north.

Especially during the cleanup of the slums outside Giant Stone City, the Alliance’s guards had discovered that many gangs were backed by the Firestone Group.

Those fellows did many unsavory deeds under the guise of private enterprises and would sordidly hide behind the Free State whenever trouble arose.

Since the Free State was a "protected country" of the Grand Canyon, which possessed military forces not belonging to any Legion or Corporate entity, no one could touch those guys.

The Alliance’s guards certainly couldn’t enforce the law in the Free State under the watchful eyes of the Grand Canyon.

The Firestone Group was also quite cunning, never provoking powerful entities like the Academy, the Legion, or Corporates, only doing business in their affiliated or indirectly controlled communities.

For instance, communities governed by the Science Committee, the various countries of Luo Xia Province, or the more prosperous settlements of the Eastern Provinces, and so on.

The man was like an annoying fly; those capable of swatting him had no interest, and those who tried couldn’t reach him.

What puzzled Chu Guang was, even if this Noreg truly was the Foreign Minister of the Free State, why had the minister come instead of a representative of the Firestone Group?

The Firestone Group was the true controller of the Free State, and the other party surely understood that the Alliance knew this.

Dressed formally for the occasion to make contact, Chu Guang couldn’t help but suspect there was something behind the scenes he didn’t know.

Could it be...

Had the Grand Canyon given them some "advice" again?

Thinking of this, Chu Guang’s expression became playful. He decided to leave that "Mr. Minister" hanging until he chose to speak up, choosing to observe him first.

If he could figure out their weakness, controlling the narrative would undoubtedly be in the Alliance’s hands...

Having understood this, Chu Guang put Noreg aside for the moment and went to greet his real old friends in the Alliance.

It was to his great surprise that he actually met Luo Yong, a member of the Corporate Council and major shareholder of the Silver Wing Group.

This distinguished middle-aged man first thanked Chu Guang for his handling of the Luo Hua incident and then revealed some significant news—

"The Council isn’t opposed to joining a cross-regional cooperation organization with the Academy, particularly in solving the ’Mutated slime fungus’ issue. We had, in fact, let go of a grudge that dates half a century back earlier than they have, and if you can convince them, we have no objections and might even take on more responsibilities and obligations."

After hearing this, although Chu Guang was incredibly surprised, he didn’t let it show on his face, merely nodding with a smile.

"I am pleased to hear that the Council holds this stance. I will do my best to persuade them."

Luo Yong raised his glass with a smile.

Following a brief exchange, Chu Guang excused himself to explore other places.

As he was about to wander around the banquet hall, the Master of Ceremonies quickly approached him and whispered,

"Respected Manager, a guest claims to be the Manager of Shelter No. 70 and wishes to meet with you... We cannot confirm his identity. How do you think we should handle this?"

Shelter No. 70?

Hearing this, Chu Guang was momentarily stunned.

Although residents from shelters wandering the Wasteland had occasionally joined the Alliance before, they mostly came from shelters abandoned many years ago.

A visit to the Alliance by someone claiming to be a Manager of a shelter was also a first.

Not just the Master of ceremonies was uncertain; a look of surprise crossed his face.

"What’s his name?" he asked.

"He claims to be called Sun Yuechi."

He had never heard of this name.

But that was to be expected.

The Alliance had never discovered Shelter No. 70.

Chu Guang pondered for a moment before he spoke.

"Please have him wait in the lounge, I’ll be there shortly."

The master of ceremonies nodded.

"As you command."

...

The spacious lounge.

Sitting on the sofa, Sun Yuechi frequently glanced at the wall clock and occasionally looked at the VM on his arm, his expression somewhat uneasy.

Although he was prepared to meet with the Alliance Manager, he wasn’t entirely sure what kind of person the other party was, and he was uncertain about the stance of other shelters.

For now, they appeared to be the most reliable in the area.

As he sat restlessly, a quarter of an hour passed by, and then heavy footsteps came from outside the lounge.

Sun Yuechi instinctively straightened up, and just then, the door to the lounge opened and a man wearing power armor walked in.

Seeing the azure power armor, Sun Yuechi was slightly surprised, and as he rose from the sofa, he involuntarily blurted out,

"Is this... Sven Vilard’s power armor?"

Earlier in the square, he had only caught a distant glimpse and hadn’t clearly seen the details of the azure power armor.

Seeing that the newcomer recognized the power armor he was wearing, Chu Guang also looked at him with surprise.

"Are you familiar with him?"

"Of course...ah, but not in the way you think; I’m just aware of some of his affairs on my own."

Seeing the surprised expression on Chu Guang’s face, Sun Yuechi immediately realized the misunderstanding and then reached out his hand with a smile, "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Sun Yuechi, the manager of Shelter No. 70."

"Manager of Shelter No. 404, Chu Guang. There’s no need for such formalities; we are friends on the same front. Let’s sit and talk."

After shaking hands, Chu Guang invited him to sit down, and curiously scanned the man who claimed to be from Shelter No. 70.

"Could you tell me how you came to know about Sven?"

"Well, that’s a long story."

Seemingly pondering where to start, Sun Yuechi paused for a moment, then slowly began to speak.

"You should know, most shelters have the duty not only to house survivors but also to carry on the task of rebuilding civilization."

Chu Guang nodded but was unclear why he brought this up.

Seeing Chu Guang’s puzzled expression, Sun Yuechi did not explain immediately, but continued,

"Shelter No. 117 housed a large number of biological experts and their descendants. Besides their mission to rebuild the surface after the unsealing date, they were also tasked with researching the mucosal entity at the center of Qingquan City... after all, people at that time believed that ’Mutated slime fungus’ was a main cause of the Wasteland, and only by addressing this could there be hope for ending the Wasteland."

Mutated creatures, Looters, mutants, and the backward-driving Waste Land Wanderers... those were problems that arose during the Wasteland Era.

Only ’Mutated slime fungus’ and nuclear radiation were true historical issues.

Chu Guang nodded slightly.

"I have heard that residents from Shelter No. 117 are within the Alliance, and that she is our chief biologist. The research on ’Mutated slime fungus’ is led by her."

Sun Yuechi smiled.

"Is that so? Mr. Sven Vilard would be gratified to hear that. Anyway, our mission is similar to that of Shelter No. 117, aside from fulfilling our reconstruction tasks after the unsealing date, we too have the mission to study a nearby Lair."

"Thus, after discovering that the Post-War Reconstruction Committee had already withdrawn from Qingquan City, we made contact with the only mission-dedicated Shelter No. 117 still there, as collaboration usually speeds up the process much more than working in isolation."

"Since we opened our doors a hundred years before them, and Sven Vilard strictly implemented the containment strategy of Shelter No. 117, usually our people replace theirs in conducting land-based surveys, while they engage more in sample research and data processing."

"This project has been ongoing for nearly a century, almost every year we send people to Qingquan City to regularly communicate and exchange information with Shelter No. 117, to observe the mucosal entity at the center of Qingquan City and discuss the next steps of the research plan."

When he mentioned this, Sun Yuechi’s expression revealed a slight regret, much like one reminiscing about a departed old friend.

It was also as though he was reminiscing about a bygone era.

"I took over the managerial rights from the previous Manager ten years ago, and exactly ten years before I took over, all communication with Shelter No. 117 came to an abrupt end... That was in year 191 of the Wasteland Era; you should know, right?"

Chu Guang replied with a solemn expression.

"Torch."

Sun Yuechi nodded and said in a complex tone.

"Yes, when our people arrived there again... there was nothing left but a deserted shelter. We were unable to take over a shelter thousands of kilometers away, so we copied some data, left it there, and believed that other nearby shelters would find it after the lockdown was lifted."

At this point, Sun Yuechi smiled at Chu Guang.

"It seems my predecessors’ judgment was correct; not only did you make good use of the resources of that shelter, but you even fulfilled their lifelong wish... by completely dealing with the Lair in the center of Qingquan City."

Hearing this heartfelt praise, Chu Guang smiled heartily, though he quickly noticed another detail in his words.

"Do you also have a Lair there?"

"Yes." Sun Yuechi nodded gently and took out a holographic computer pen, placing it on the coffee table in front of the sofa and gently touching a button.

Pale blue holographic lights intertwined above the coffee table, forming a giant silver disk.

Chu Guang initially thought he was showing the structure of Shelter No. 70 until a blue planet appeared next to that silver disk.

It was actually a space station!

And considering the Earth and the space elevator next to it as references, this circular space station was not small in scale!

It floated next to the end of the space elevator, orbiting like a carousel, just like the satellite city to that elevator.

"This is what the Tiangong Space Station looked like before... as for now, it has become this."

Sun Yuechi lightly slid his index finger.

The blue planet and the space elevator turned into pale blue light particles and dissipated, while the giant silver disk seemed to fall into a bottomless water tank, immediately becoming entwined with scarlet tentacles stretching out from the darkness, filling every inch of its interior.

Watching a dumbfounded Chu Guang, Sun Yuechi continued in a soft voice.

"Our refuge is at the bottom of the sea, where there are abundant untapped resources. Our original plan was to build a settlement at the bottom of the sea housing one hundred thousand survivors, and then gradually expand to the surface and ashore to revive Haiya Province and the Southern sea area."

"However, plans never keep up with changes. During the three-year war, as the space elevator collapsed, Tiangong Space Station crashed alongside it, falling right near us. The massive impact was almost as powerful as a strategic nuclear weapon. Although our shelter survived the injury, our underwater engineering equipment placed outside the shelter and the production units yet to be deployed were almost entirely destroyed..."

"Damn it!"

Hearing this, Chu Guang couldn’t help but blurt out, noticing Sun Yuechi’s stunned look and hastily coughing to cover his own indiscretion.

"Sorry, I’m just a bit surprised, your luck is really..."

He couldn’t find the right words.

Such a huge space station, just happened to fall right at the doorstep of the shelter.

Although shelters are built to withstand nuclear strikes, Chu Guang had never heard of one that actually experienced a nuclear strike.

They might be the only shelter that literally took a "strategic nuclear weapon" to the face.

Sun Yuechi made a helpless face and shrugged.

"There’s more than one refuge in the deep sea, it just happened to fall on us; there’s nothing we could do about that. Maybe like you said, our luck isn’t great... especially since there’s a Lair that was still hatching on the station."

"By the time we left the refuge, the three-year war had been over for a century, and that Lair had been propagating at the bottom of the sea for a century, turning most of the space station into its nest. In an effort to build the underwater settlement, we tried to recover some materials from it, but the amount we could recover was quite limited. Even though we were careful, the mucosal entities it hatched still caused us a lot of trouble."

Having heard his story, Chu Guang guessed the purpose of his visit: he probably hoped to get help dealing with the Lair entangling the space station.

Since Chu Guang was also very interested in that space station, he immediately said with a serious expression.

"No problem! Fighting for the future of humanity is our unavoidable responsibility, and neutralizing "Mutated slime fungus" is exactly our specialty; we will help you sort out that trouble!"

"Thank you, I indeed didn’t misjudge you," Sun Yuechi looked at him gratefully, but quickly showed an embarrassed expression, "However... the help I want to request is not just that, before we resolve the Lair around Tiangong Space Station, we face even more pressing troubles."

Without waiting for Chu Guang to ask, he paused and continued.

"Like Shelter No. 117, we are also facing a situation of disintegration."

Chu Guang was stunned and looked at him with a peculiar expression.

"You... haven’t you already come out of the shelter?"

"That’s true, but the debatable issue isn’t just about whether to come out of the shelter. We have disagreements on many issues... Especially when our people saw the situation in Haiya Province, some began to think that evolving humans into higher beings could also be a way to end the Wasteland Era, even if the methods of the Church are a bit extreme."

Seeing the astonished Chu Guang, Sun Yuechi’s face showed a mix of bitterness and embarrassment that was difficult to speak of.

After all, this wasn’t something to be proud of.

Nevertheless, he still tried to defend himself a bit.

"It’s inevitable, after all, our cooperation with Shelter No. 117 has lasted nearly a century, our people naturally have a favorable impression of those who broke free..."

"Do you... know what those lunatics in Haiya Province did?" Chu Guang’s Adam’s apple moved as he asked.

"I know," Sun Yuechi said with a wry smile, "but what use is there in only me knowing? Unlike you, you can make people believe in you unconditionally, but I can only try to convince those who disagree. I think the Torch Church’s methods are too extreme, even though we were once friends, but there are also those who think this is a necessary price to pay, even fantasizing about using Torch’s technology to turn themselves into oceanic spirits... What good can I say?"

He paused, then continued.

"Before I took over Shelter No. 70, the mistakes were already there. Although most of the residents still in the shelter stand by me, the disagreements come from our marine settlement built on the man-made islands in the Southern sea area."

"They have formed a federation under the leadership of some Torch supporters, and in fact, have already escaped our control, planning to seek refuge with the Torch Church."

"I’ve almost used every means I could, but still couldn’t stop them from gravitating towards the Torch Church. If they only planned to destroy themselves, that would be one thing, but the problem is that they are not satisfied with that; they even plan to introduce Nago’s mycelia into the sea."

After a pause, Sun Yuechi looked at Chu Guang, speaking with a solemn tone.

"I had originally planned to go to the Grand Canyon for help, where the War Construction Committee still has people, and perhaps, considering the urgency, they might intervene. However, on my way here, I heard many legends about you and the Alliance, which made me change my destination."

"Those Waste Land Wanderers hold no hope for anything left by the War Construction Committee; they even regard those guys as one of the reasons this world turned out this way, yet only when talking about you and the Alliance do they give a very high evaluation... even though not everyone likes you."

Caught off-guard by such flattering words, Chu Guang coughed softly and modestly said.

"Rumors are always more exaggerated than the facts... Compared to those ancient Survivor Forces, we are still too young."

"But haven’t you accomplished what they haven’t? Also, I didn’t just rely on hearsay; I actually spent some time observing this settlement, and you indeed have something we lack... not just technologically."

Confidently, looking intently at Chu Guang, Sun Yuechi continued in a serious tone.

"Therefore, I hope to transfer the management authority of Shelter No. 70 to you, including our settlement on the sea."

Chu Guang: "...?"

Dropping that statement, Sun Yuechi didn’t wait for Chu Guang to respond, and lifted the VM worn on his left arm, pressing his index finger on the screen.

As a row of pale blue pop-up windows appeared on the VM screen, he clicked the confirmation button twice, completing the transfer of managerial authority.

Watching the relieved Sun Yuechi, Chu Guang’s face bore an expression of utter astonishment.

Is this guy serious??

Just as Chu Guang snapped back to reality, the man had already completed all the procedures and casually threw the key to Shelter No. 70 at him.

The entire authority transfer process had been much simpler than imagined, rows of pale blue pop-up windows quickly flashed before Chu Guang’s eyes.

[Authority of manager of Shelter No. 70 has been revoked...]

[Please, the new manager, proceed to Shelter No. 70 and import the password into any terminal device connected to the main server of the refuge, and update the biometric data to complete the final confirmation procedures of manager authority transfer.]

Watching the stunned Chu Guang, a much-relieved Sun Yuechi smiled and said in a much lighter tone.

"I’m ashamed to hand over this mess to you, but this is the only thing I can do now... since you’ve said you wanted to unite everyone, I’d like to ask you to take care of our future too!"

——

(Thanks to "Life without Meaning" for the grand reward!!!)