This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 666: Crisis-ridden Rainforest

Chapter 666: Chapter 666: Crisis-ridden Rainforest

At the same time the Southern Islands Federation patrol team left, Elena and Gnome King Riches led their exploration team deep into the jungle from their camp.

This makeshift team comprised only ten members, including two leaders; the other four were just players who had surpassed Level 10, equipped with basic miner’s exoskeletons and both light and heavy armor plugins.

The flames ignited by the incendiary bomb had extinguished, and the rustling of insects around them resumed as if nothing had happened.

No one dared to take it lightly.

The locals would rather live on the islands than dwell on the mainland, and not because they had a particular fondness for the island scenery.

Though most players were fueled by a passion for the new map as they stepped onto this unfamiliar land, none wanted to literally end up as Variant fertilizer.

Especially not on their first day, when they hadn’t even earned back their plane ticket money.

"This is the Seaside Port Area of Shilong City. A kilometer further northwest is the Seaside Residential Area, with groups of villas and a scenic seaside park..."

Elena glanced at the lush tropical vegetation around her while checking the tourist brochure in her hand, her expression gradually taking on a hint of subtlety.

It couldn’t be said that it was identical to the illustrations in the brochure, but rather completely irrelevant.

Qingquan City also had large urban areas covered in vegetation, but it was an entirely different situation from here.

Here, although there were some remnants of reinforced concrete, most were ruins of the city’s drainage system and road facilities.

And most were shattered into pieces, to the extent that their original form was unrecognizable.

As for the skyscrapers and coastal villas, they had completely disappeared without a trace of having existed.

Staring at the map in the booklet for a while, Gnome King Riches took out a pencil and circled an area in the north part of the port, tapping on it with the pencil tip.

"The underground parking lot in the north residential area of the bay might form water pits... just like in Qingquan City."

Elena gave him a funny look.

"Turn into a lair of Variants like Qingquan City?"

Gnome King Riches stroked his chin and pondered.

"It’s quite possible!"

Elena chuckled and said,

"Great, two tasks can be done together."

"For safety, let’s split into groups first."

Gnome King Riches ordered his team to divide into three groups, advancing in a triangular formation. This way, even if an emergency occurred, they wouldn’t be wiped out in one fell swoop.

And if one group ran into danger, the other two groups could quickly support from both flanks.

This was the experience summed up by these veteran players on the battlefield, which was a good opportunity to pass on to the newbies.

However, even though the plan was meticulous, the speed at which the group advanced was far from ideal.

In less than three kilometers of cross-country, they encountered at least ten Variant attacks.

The two most dangerous encounters involved a mutated python as thick as a bucket and a group of pterodactyl-like mutated dog-nosed bats.

If Riches hadn’t acted quickly by shooting an explosive arrow into the not yet dispersed mutated dog-nosed bat flock, the hastily assembled motorcade almost turned over!

Apart from those oddly shaped Variants, the dense vegetation in the rainforest itself posed a significant obstacle.

Vines hidden in the bushes could easily trip someone up if not careful, and those network-like vines were like natural low walls.

"Damn... the vegetation here is just too freaking dense." A strength-type player in heavy armor, who had cut through a blocking vine with a machete, couldn’t help clicking his tongue.

"Why don’t we just set fire and burn through?"

Carrying a rifle closely behind, an Agility system player murmured quietly, warily guarding against the surrounding jungle and the rustling shadows.

Walking at the very end, a Constitution system player chuckled and said,

"Incendiary bomb? Are you joking, brother? This is a tropical rainforest..."

According to historical data, a piece of napalm can cover 2,500 square meters of land but would generally burn only about 50 square meters of a tropical rainforest.

Trees in a humid environment and dehydrated construction timber are two completely different things; the fuel needed to completely clear a whole rainforest would be astronomical.

That expense might be even higher than clearing the Nago mycelium around Brocade River City.

"...Was this place really a city before?"

Wiping the sweat from his brow and looking at the nicked machete, the lead Strength-type player couldn’t help but complain.

"From the pre-war maps it was, we should be near a highway now," said the Constitution system player from the back, pulling out a booklet from the exoskeleton, checking it, and then stuffing it back.

"A highway? Here?"

The Agility system player looked back in surprise.

The latter nodded his head, continuing succinctly,

"After all, two centuries have passed. Typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, and wildly growing vegetation... Without maintenance, it’s not surprising that traces of civilization have been erased."

The game nicknames of the three of them are Genie Turtle, Squirtle, and Fool Turtle, revealing that they are close buddies who know each other in real life, and might even share a dorm room.

Such cases are not particularly rare in Wasteland OL, as the game’s beta testing qualifications are never truly random but rather somewhat directed.

According to an analysis from an alpha tester on the forum, on the surface, Wasteland OL is about gaming, but it’s actually aimed at creating a virtual community where AI and humans can coexist. If both players meet the operator’s screening criteria and are familiar with each other, getting beta testing qualifications together is quite likely.

Of course, this is just one of the factors that influence the selection weight.

After a bit of idle talk, the three stopped chatting, focusing intently on observing their surroundings and carefully continuing their exploration.

Pushing aside a dense thicket, a collapsed concrete structure appeared before the eyes of the leading Genie Turtle.

Emerald green vines entwined around the cracked concrete walls, and one side of the wall led to a weed-infested land, the other to a pit tens of meters wide, its depths unseen.

"I’ll go take a look... cover me." Genie Turtle swallowed, hung his machete on the exoskeleton, and switched to an assault rifle, cautiously approaching.

No sound from Variants.

Carefully checking the vine-covered walls and confirming it was safe, he then took out a flashlight and lit up the seemingly bottomless pit.

The bright beam of light reached deep into the pit, the shimmering glimmer catching his eyes.

Listening to the drip-drop sounds of water falling into the pit, a smile of relief appeared on Genie Turtle’s face as he turned back to call to his teammates.

"There’s water here—"

Before he could finish, he suddenly saw panic on the faces of the two teammates.

"Behind you!"

"Come back!"

Almost at the same moment as his teammates’ cries of alarm, Genie Turtle standing beside the pit felt a massive force hit his ribs.

It was a vine as thick as an arm!

The thing wrapped around him like a tape measure, winding tightly twice around the exoskeleton breastplate and yanked him harshly backwards.

"Ugh!!"

His chest cavity was completely squeezed of air, and Genie Turtle’s eyes bulged, nearly popping out of their sockets.

He felt like an insect trapped in a pitcher plant.

Driven by survival instincts, he grabbed for the edge of the pit.

However, the pressure on his chest increased, even bending the polymer padding attached to the exoskeleton inward.

"Bro Genie, hang in there!"

Squirtle quickly flipped off the safety of the grenade launcher mounted beneath the barrel and fired a high-explosive bomb toward the partially collapsed concrete wall.

The blast ignited on the wall, but the flying debris only scraped off a layer of wall plaster and a few shards of green debris, still not stopping the sturdy vine from tightening further and pulling downward.

"My... VM..."

Using the last of his strength, Genie Turtle, with eyes rolled back, gritted his teeth and pulled the VM from his arm, throwing it towards his teammates.

Almost at the same time, his eyes rolled upward and he could no longer hold on, getting swiftly pulled by the vine into the seemingly bottomless abyss.

"Genie!"

"Bro Genie!!"

Watching their teammate being swallowed by the unknown plant, the two teammates let out a mournful roar.

But the roar was quickly swallowed by the dark green jungle, leaving only the rustling of leaves and the subtle sounds of bugs.

Picking up the dirt-covered VM from the ground, Squirtle pressed his helmet solemnly, took a deep breath, and said.

"This is Team B, we’ve discovered a concrete structure storing a rich freshwater resource, but there seems to be a monster living inside..."

The reply came quickly through the communication channel.

Gnome King Riches: "A monster?!"

"More precisely... it seems to be a plant," Squirtle, still shaken, glanced at the deep pit again, swallowed, and continued, "Bro Genie was instantly killed, we couldn’t even call for support in time."

The communication channel fell silent for a moment.

With the rustling sound of the electric current, Gnome King Riches continued.

"...Received, stay there, we’re coming right now."

Squirtle nodded quickly.

"Alright!"

After the communication ended, he tucked Genie Turtle’s VM into his backpack and glanced nervously at the now-quiet concrete structure.

From the outside, you would never guess it was a trap.

"Poor Bro Genie, gone in an instant."

Fool Turtle sighed, his gaze drifting towards the jungle but caught sight of a large tree thick as a bucket, its base covered with a row of dense green berries.

That thing looked oddly familiar.

He couldn’t help but utter a slight "huh," bent over, and plucked a berry from the tree’s base, examining it in his palm.

Seeing his actions, Squirtle, curious, asked.

"What are you doing?"

Standing up from the ground, Fool Turtle tossed the green berry he held to him.

"Don’t they look familiar?"

Squirtle caught it, and with just one glance, his eyes rounded in shock.

"A bit... wait, damn! This is that!"

"Which one?"

Drawn by his astonished expression, Fool Turtle looked at him curiously.

Squirtle, breathlessly shocked, said.

"Nago! This thing is Nago!"

Hearing his answer, Fool Turtle also snapped back to reality.

"Damn?!"

...

The Sun moved from mid-sky to the west, and half a day had passed since the Alliance’s cargo airship arrived at Baiyue Strait.

In just this short half-day, ten casualties had already occurred on the New Map.

Five occurred in the forest surrounding the camp, and the other five by the beach, quite evenly distributed.

Moreover, twelve players had sustained serious injuries during exploration missions that were difficult to heal.

To not waste precious game time, these players, after saving their progress in the Sleep Cabin, decisively chose to abandon treatment.

The Bull Horse Group’s airship would carry the saved data, VMs, and recovered active substances back for those warriors within Alliance territory.

And this service was offered for free.

For a camp of over three hundred people, a reduction of more than twenty was a considerable loss.

At this moment, Fang Chang finally understood what that NPC meant by the cryptic words he left when departing.

It turned out he never really believed they could stay here permanently.

Think about it.

If the land was so easy to cultivate, they wouldn’t have forsaken the resource-rich mainland and clung to survival on an island.

However, although this high rate of loss was hard for the NPC to accept, it was nothing but a trifle to the players.

After all, opening a new map.

A slight loss of life was perfectly acceptable.

"...We should speed up removing the jungle blocks, maybe hire the Jungle Corps," Fang Chang thought, looking at the camp shrouded in dusk.

Just then, the VM screen suddenly displayed an icon for an incoming communication request.

Seeing Old Na’s ID appear on the screen, Fang Chang put on the headset and extended his index finger to press the answer button.

"Hello?"

"It’s me, Elena."

"What’s happened?"

"We found fresh water here, but the situation doesn’t look optimistic, there seems to be a large carnivorous plant occupying the area, it might take some time to clear it out. Additionally, we discovered some Nago nearby, they appear to be wild,"

Hearing this intelligence, Fang Chang was immediately stunned.

"Wild Nago?!"

Elena: "emmm... How should I put this? They are somewhat different from the artificially cultivated ones we saw in Brocade River Province. These grow slowly, just like wood ear mushrooms on specific trees, and they only form a thin layer along the roots, easily confused with other berries in the bushes if not looked at closely."

Fang Chang furrowed his brow and immediately asked.

"What about the soil nearby? Is it contaminated?"

Elena: "I haven’t seen any contaminated soil... as for seeing under a microscope, I’m not sure, I only have a magnifying glass here. I’m wondering if these naturally grown Nago are the original form of Nago, whereas the ones we encountered in Brocade River Province had Mutated slime fungus DNA implanted into them."

According to the official website settings, it seems to be described this way too.

The Nago originally came from the Southern sea area to Haiya Province, and they were just a special type of tropical fungus before the Torch Church genetically infused them with Mutated slime fungus DNA as a cornerstone for building Heaven.

Just like wood ear mushrooms.

After pondering for a moment, Fang Chang immediately said,

"Help me bring back some samples."

Elena chuckled.

"No problem! Oh, by the way, we sacrificed a team member to retrieve the samples, and that guy’s equipment cost quite a bit of money, so about that..."

Fang Chang rolled his eyes.

"Would ten thousand silver coins be enough?"

With a satisfied smile appearing on her face, Elena replied joyously.

"Deal!"

...

Meanwhile, at the port of Ring Island.

A man dressed in luxurious clothing stepped onto the deck of the Meat Meat cargo ship, accompanied by Muda, the coast patrol captain, and two federal soldiers.

Seeing the group step onto the deck from afar, Sesame Paste quietly returned to the cabin with Misa and a group of children who had been out for air.

After pushing open the door to the captain’s quarters and descending the gangway, Si Si glanced at the leading man, then looked at Muda, the only person she recognized, and asked warmly,

"Who is this?"

Muda looked towards the man beside him and introduced respectfully,

"This is Mr. Chaning, the governor of Ring Island. He is in charge of this port and the residential area behind it."

The governor?

After listening to Muda’s introduction, a barely noticeable look of surprise crossed Si Si’s face. She then turned towards the governor with a smile and politely said,

"Hello, esteemed governor sir, may I ask what brings you to our ship?"

Mr. Chaning responded expressionlessly,

"You’ve already been here for three days. If you were planning on purchasing supplies, you should have replenished them by now."

With an apologetic tone, Si Si replied,

"I’m very sorry, our ship has encountered some minor issues, and we might need to stay at your port for a few more days. Of course, we will pay the fees for the delay... I’ve consulted the port’s manager, it’s 1000 dinars per day, right?"

Mr. Chaning stared at her for a while, then suddenly spoke.

"You are from the Alliance."

Si Si slightly froze and gently raised her eyebrows.

"How did you know?"

"We did a little investigation in Silver Moon Bay, the White Bear Knights, right?" As he spoke, Mr. Chaning glanced at the flag hanging above the cabin.

Seeing that the other party was certain of their identity, Si Si knew denying it would be meaningless and even suggest insincerity on her part, so she straightforwardly admitted.

"Yes, I indeed am a citizen of the Alliance, but this ship isn’t an Alliance warship, it’s just a cargo ship we bought in Silver Moon Bay—"

Mr. Chaning waved his hand, cutting off her words.

"I don’t want to waste time beating around the bush, let’s get straight to the point. What exactly are you up to? You and those people, that airship docked to the west!"

Si Si was just about to deny knowing those people, as they had agreed beforehand on the forum to avoid unnecessary trouble.

However, just at that moment, she suddenly caught a flicker of apprehension in the governor’s eyes.

She was sure she had not mistaken it; that apprehensive expression had appeared after confirming their identity and background.

Upon recollection, Si Si remembered the clues obtained from the investigation mission published by the Manager—the Southern Islands Federation was formed under the leadership of supporters of the Torch Church, and before that, these settlements were under the jurisdiction of Shelter No. 70.

If there were supporters of the Torch Church, even apostles, within the Southern Islands Federation, it would be understandable why they were so sensitive to the actions of the Alliance.

However—

Upon discovering they were people from the Alliance, they did not immediately show any hostile behavior but instead chose to probe.

Evidently, these people were not staunch allies of the Torch Church, simply aligned on their stance towards Shelter No. 70.

In other words, these people could be swayed.

With a slight shift in her thoughts, Si Si immediately altered her approach, pretending to be well informed about the airship.

As if the "Meat Meat" cargo ship was also part of some plan.

"Please don’t be so tense. As you can see, we just set up a few tents over there. It’s over a hundred miles away from you, that shouldn’t bother you, right?"

"Do you think I would believe that?" Mr. Chaning glared at her, scoffing, "You come all this way, thousands of kilometers, just to set up a few tents?"

Si Si shrugged her shoulders, giving a look as if she had been seen through.

"Alright, to be completely honest...we plan to build a settlement there, to take in survivors who escape from the West Winds Empire, those Moon Clan people."

Mr. Chaning still looked incredulous.

"Why do you care about those people? What do they matter to you?"

Facing those probing eyes, Si Si smiled faintly and said.

"It’s not directly our concern, but it isn’t completely unrelated either. They are all survivors from the Wasteland, and ending the Wasteland is our duty. Any potential threats to the civilized world, we take action. If you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t need to worry about us. We rarely interfere with other survivor settlements unless it becomes untenable."

As she spoke the latter part of her statement, her tone took on a significant implication.

Clearly catching the undertone of her suggestion, Governor Chaning’s face stiffened as he stared intently at her.

"What do you mean."

Looking at him with a smile, Si Si said straightforwardly.

"We’ve heard a rumor that someone intends to collaborate with the lunatics of Haiya Province, to introduce Nago mycelium from the land into the ocean."

Mr. Chaning narrowed his eyes, a dangerous gleam reflecting from within.

"...Does this concern you?"

He didn’t take the implied threat in those eyes seriously. Si Si simply nodded directly, stating matter-of-factly.

"Of course, it does, and significantly so. The plague on land is headache enough, and if those maniacs are thinking about spreading it into the sea, turning this planet into a complete mess, then all our efforts will have been for nothing."

"This planet?"

Mr. Chaning chuckled softly, looking at her and continuing.

"We don’t see as far as you do, but how do you know that getting that stuff into the sea will mess up this planet rather than make it more normal?"

Si Si slightly raised her eyebrows.

"Oh? Do you think that would be more normal?"

"Do you think it’s normal now?" Mr. Chaning retorted with a cold laugh, "Before those maniacs passed the Mind Interference Technology onto us, our fishermen and merchants had to risk their lives heading out to sea because of those Variants in the water!"

"And now, these experiments conducted by those maniacs in Haiya Province have already yielded enough success that both the Variants and the slime fungus have become as docile as flatfish! If we could introduce that stuff to the Southern sea area, not only would we obtain a huge, safe fishing ground, but we could also completely eliminate the Lair parasitizing on the wreckage of the Tiangong Space Station!"

"That thing is the root of all evil, the origin of all Variants... Its DNA has been contaminating the ocean for two hundred years! Do you think that’s ’normal’? Now we have a chance to solve this problem once and for all, tell me, why shouldn’t we do it!"

Si Si looked at him and asked.

"Does Shelter No. 70 think this way as well?"

Mr. Chaning dismissively curled his lip.

"Those folks have gone stupid staying in the refuge. They think the whole world should operate according to their methods, and that only by following their orders can things be good, quick, and right. It’s like if we just obey, the world will return to how it was two hundred years ago, and they can bring back the Utopia they drew on toilet paper... Even now they can’t explain how that Utopia disappeared."

Si Si fell into deep thought.

Initially, she thought these people were just like the survivors of Singular Point City, simply misled by the charlatans of The Church. However, it turns out they made their choices after careful consideration.

"Have you ever considered that what the Torch gave you...the Nago...might not be as wonderful as you imagine?"

Mr. Chaning candidly said,

"Yes, that thing isn’t perfect yet, just like the Mind Interference Device. But at least those people have shown some results. We just need to use it properly, minimize its negative impacts, and the situation will be much better than it is now. Or do you have a better method?"

"Yes," Si Si looked at him earnestly, "We’ve already dealt with the Lair in Qingquan City... You must know about it, right? Researchers from Shelter No. 70 used to go there regularly to collect samples."

Hearing this, Mr. Chaning’s face revealed a hint of surprise; clearly, he was not aware of the recent events in Qingquan City.

But soon, his eyes narrowed slightly.

This was the second time.

Dangerous light flickered in the governor’s eyes.

"I was just wondering why you know so much about us... Have you recently been in contact with the people from Shelter No. 70?"

Not just his expression was gradually turning unfriendly.

The two soldiers standing behind him also began to show a menacing glare.

"To be precise, our Manager has been in contact with their Manager. However, we didn’t just take their word for it because we are all refuge residents. Just like now, we are seeking your opinion."

Unfazed by his threat, Si Si stared at his eyes unflinchingly, continuing her words slowly and deliberately.

"I ask again for your opinion, if we have a better way to deal with the Lair residing on the Tiangong Space Station, would the survivors of the Ring Island be willing to give us a chance to prove ourselves?"

Mr. Chaning chuckled.

"Those people are much more generous than you, they promise not just to deal with the Lair at the Tiangong Space Station, but also the Variants across the entire sea area..."

At this point, he suddenly stopped.

Perhaps realizing that his polite wording was not just seeking his own opinion but was also giving him and the island under his feet a last opportunity, Mr. Governor eventually held back the refusal that was on his lips.

"...If you want to try, go ahead. The survivors of Ring Island have no reason to refuse you, but it will be difficult with the federal authorities, as some of them are apostles of the Torch."

Hearing this response, Si Si relaxed and a pleased smile appeared on her face.

Her judgement was correct.

Just as she had initially guessed, this newly-formed federation had only reached a consensus on the issue of Shelter No. 70, and the Torch Church hadn’t completely pulled them over to its side.

The local survivors could be rallied!

"I’ll be careful, and also, I’d like to talk to Shelter No. 70, if you could hold fire first, our work will go much more smoothly."

Mr. Chaning chuckled softly as he spoke.

"I can’t help you with that, the war is a matter of the federation, you have to go to North Island and discuss it with the president of the federation. And I’d advise you not to waste your time, our disagreement with those guys isn’t just about whether or not to let the people of Torch deal with the Lair of the Tiangong Space Station, they must pay for their arrogance all this time."

Si Si continued to ask.

"Can you tell me the reason for your battle? There must be a trigger."

Chaning replied impatiently.

"Freshwater."

Si Si paused.

"Freshwater?"

Chaning nodded.

"In the southern sea area, the artificial islands have no freshwater lakes, nearly a million survivors live here, we can’t just rely on rainwater, the freshwater for the islands mainly comes from desalination plants."

Si Si asked, "They’ve taken over there?"

Chaning waved his hand.

"It’s much worse than that, to make us comply, they first shut down the facility, then after we took over the facility, they blew it up, and that’s not all...they also destroyed twelve of our ocean current generators and sea mining wells. Thankfully we still have solar and wind power to get by, but it’s still very tight."

Si Si pondered for a moment and said.

"I understand... By the way, regarding freshwater, we might be able to help before you restore electricity."

Chaning looked at her strangely.

"You? It’s a settlement of 100,000 people, how do you plan to help? Bring it from Silver Moon Bay?"

That boast was a bit too big.

Especially since just three days ago, these people had spent a high price to buy several trucks of freshwater from their port. If there was really a way to solve the freshwater issue, would they need to waste that money?

Unperturbed by the doubtful look, Si Si continued to speak.

"Didn’t I just say? We plan to build a new settlement next to the Baiyue Strait, solve the Lair in the southern sea area at the same time, and by the way shelter those fleeing Moon people. There is land there with abundant freshwater resources. Not to mention 100,000, even ten million would be enough, and the cost is definitely much cheaper than desalinating seawater."

"Stop kidding," Chaning waved his hand and chuckled, "A settlement? If you can last two months there, I’ll admit I was wrong."

Si Si narrowed her eyes slightly, smiling.

"Then let’s give it a try."

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