This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 677: Ghost Shadows Beneath the Deep Sea

Chapter 677: Chapter 677: Ghost Shadows Beneath the Deep Sea

The moment they heard that phrase, the eyes of the surrounding players instantly lit up.

Not bad!

They had triggered a quest!

"Just waiting for you to say that, brother," Old White said with a smile as he patted him on the shoulder, "So tell me, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"Those people... they’ve gone insane... it’s impossible to communicate with them... It must be that Mind Interference Device! Yes... and those blue-skinned monsters!"

The man spoke incoherently, seemingly sharing a substantial amount of information, but the surrounding players were all confused, even Old White couldn’t help but wonder if his United Human language skills had regressed.

"Don’t panic... slow down, what exactly happened?"

Huang Guangwei swallowed his saliva, gazing longingly at the roasted meat on the fire.

"Could you... give me something to eat? I haven’t had food... for three days."

"Let’s feed him first," seeing how pitiful he looked, Old White couldn’t bear to keep questioning and turned to Brother Shabi, "Get some food for him."

People who were extremely hungry shouldn’t eat meat, as breaking down protein and fat required energy first, but this guy had already eaten a piece of bread, so he should be alright now.

"Got it."

Killer Dagger nodded and went over to the folding table in front of the bar, bringing over some leftover fries and fish, and cut him a piece of freshly roasted meat.

Seeing the food served, the man was not picky; he grabbed a handful of fries and shoved them into his mouth, so rudely that even the tavern owner, Yiren, scratched his head in wonder and muttered to himself.

"Is this NPC’s taste broken or something?"

How could he not know whether those fries were tasty or not?

After wolfing down food for a while, the man belched, leaning against the palm tree with his belly sticking out, and looking quite satisfied, he half-closed his eyes—and ended up snoring for all to see.

The surrounding players were dumbfounded.

They had waited a long time just for this guy to speak up, and now he had fallen asleep after stuffing his face?!

This was outrageous!

Several of them picked up tree branches from the ground and poked him a couple of times.

"Damn it!"

"Are you playing with us?"

"You asked for our help, so spit it out!"

Hearing the commotion around him, Huang Guangwei woke up suddenly after being poked indiscriminately. Realizing he had fallen asleep in front of everyone, he felt embarrassed and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry... I get sleepy when I’m full, almost forgot."

Old White: "..."

Killer Dagger: "..."

Midnight Chicken Killing: "..."

Can you be any more unreliable?!

It was then that Fang Chang finally arrived, spotting the man lying under the palm tree and then his gaze turned to the diving equipment near the coast.

Without rushing to question the man, he first called over a few familiar Strength-type players, clapped them on the shoulders, and pointed in the direction of the coastline.

"Drag that thing back here and hide it under a tent."

The player looked at him strangely and asked.

"Drag it onto shore?"

"Yeah."

Fang Chang nodded then took another glance farther out over the sea before walking towards the man leaning against the palm tree.

"Are you from Shelter No. 70?"

"Yes... yes," Huang Guangwei said nervously, nodding his head as he looked up at the man squatting before him.

Placing his hand on the man’s shoulder, Fang Chang locked eyes with him and continued to speak.

"Take a deep breath, don’t be nervous... tell us, what did you encounter just now?"

Listening to the man in front of him, Huang Guangwei took a deep breath, calmed his nerves, and then started to speak slowly.

"A bunch of blue-skinned guys... they looked like humans, with gills on their chins. They kept chasing me, shooting harpoon shots and torpedoes at me... and other bizarre things."

"They damaged the power system of my submersible; I could only drift along with the currents, leaving it up to fate... and then I ended up here."

"Seems like you’re pretty lucky," Old White joked from the side, "you drifted right to us."

Huang Guangwei smiled weakly and whispered a "thank you."

"But back to the point... blue-skinned guys? With gills? What are those things?" Midnight Chicken Killing looked bewildered at the man, thrown off by the description of the creatures shooting harpoons and torpedoes.

As Fang Chang, who was sitting aside, his expression gradually became more serious.

"If I’m not mistaken, they’re probably Mutants..."

Hearing his words, the players squatting around were shocked, displaying astonished expressions on their faces.

"Fuck?!"

"Mutants?!"

"Aren’t those animals green?"

"When did they learn to swim?!"

Watching the players whisper to each other in shock, Fang Chang shook his head and continued with a stern expression.

"By mutants, we mean life forms similar to humans that have been developed through incomplete research findings of the ’Perfect Life Form’ project, which altered the original 23 pairs of human chromosomes. They’re not limited to green skin and strong bodies. In the Great Desert, there are gray-black variants."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"The Province of Yúnjiānxíng has quite a few survivor settlements along the coast. Remember the official data compilation? The corporate assault teams were specifically targeting those amphibious mutants active along the coastline... They’re different from the usual mutants. Their skin is blue, and a few even have scales and fins."

Hearing this, the Ground Model involuntarily sucked in a breath of cold air, murmuring under his breath.

"Damn... So the Torch Church is in cahoots with those bastards?!"

The Picheng Paratrooper squatting to the side, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.

"Is there a possibility that the Torch Church created those blue-skinned mutants?"

Old White shook his head and said.

"It’s unlikely. The Torch Church only emerged in the last twenty years, and those blue-skinned mutants seem to have been around for a while."

"I tend to agree with that view," Fang Chang nodded then continued, "After all, with the example of Brocade River City in front of us, the Torch Church and the mutants have a natural convergence of interests. I suspect the two sides might have reached some sort of cooperation agreement, like... the church periodically providing a batch of slaves for those mutants to reproduce."

Although he tried to express himself as literarily and euphemistically as possible, everyone couldn’t help but clench their fists when they recalled the pastures they’d seen in the mall in Brocade River City.

"Those fucking animals..." Midnight Chicken Killing muttered under his breath, unconsciously gripping the barrel tighter, his eyes flashing with the urge to kill.

The Picheng Paratrooper squatting aside also said in a low voice.

"What good is making that distinction? Those bastards are all our enemies anyway, and we weren’t planning on negotiating with them."

Fang Chang calmly continued.

"It matters because it determines whether they will immediately attack us... It seems for now that the Church has a cooperative relationship with the nearby aquatic mutant tribe. They haven’t realized our situation here yet, or even if they have, they haven’t taken us seriously. This gives us some time to prepare."

Old White nodded solemnly and said in a heavy voice.

"It looks like we need to prepare not only fishing nets made of Devil Silk but also beachhead positions onshore."

Fang Chang nodded.

"Not just beachhead positions. Underwater weapons are also a must... Our assault rifles and bomb guns only work on land. If we can’t attack underwater targets, they can maneuver along the coastline and attack us from any direction, which could be more problematic than the aquatic variants."

Old White looked at him seriously and said.

"After I log off, I’ll go ask Mosquito and the others to see if we can come up with something useful."

After a brief exchange in Mandarin, Fang Chang turned his gaze back to the man who looked baffled by their conversation and continued.

"Why were those mutants chasing you?"

"I..." Huang Guangwei’s face showed a hesitant expression as if he was struggling with whether to speak up.

Fang Chang locked eyes with him and continued.

"If you don’t tell us, we can’t help you."

"...Okay, I’ll tell."

Seemingly realizing that honesty was his only recourse, Huang Guangwei struggled internally for a moment before he finally opened up and recounted in detail the circumstances that had led him to his current plight...

"You should know about it, we had some conflicts with the people on the island because of some things..."

Fang Chang nodded.

"I’ve heard that survivors in the Southern sea area wanted to introduce the Torch Church’s improved Nago Strains into the Southern sea area to deal with the rampant, dangerous aquatic variants there... Is that the version you’ve heard, or is there more?"

Huang Guangwei swallowed, then continued.

"That’s basically it... but it’s not the full story. First, we very frankly told the survivors that the Torch Church’s improved Nago Strains came with considerable risks, being an unfinished and dangerous technology..."

"But they were too confident, completely losing their reverence for nature. In part, we’re to blame for using pre-war technology which allowed them to live too comfortably over the past century, making them think they were God’s chosen ones, believing that, like using the Mind Interference Device, they could selectively harness only the good parts without any repercussions from the bad parts."

Fang Chang gazed at him thoughtfully and asked.

"How so?"

Huang Guangwei: "How so? Do I even need to say it? Haven’t you already seen for yourself? Ever since those charlatans showed up, Haiye Province has turned into this mess you see now. When the Iron Tower Organization was there, everything was decently managed despite some Looters and Variants, but it wasn’t like now, completely dehumanized."

Old White couldn’t help interjecting.

"Can’t they see it?"

Huang Guangwei shook his head.

"See it? Of course, they can. They don’t even need to see it. How many years has it been since they traded with the ports in Haiye Province? But they don’t care about the risks we talked about. They not only have absolute confidence in themselves but also in us... Guess what their response was when we told them that those madmen up north were courting death and dragging others with them?"

Old White: "What did they say?"

"They said, how can we know it won’t work without trying? What if we can perfect the imperfect technology? This way we can not only change the situation in the Southern sea area, we might even save those idiots in Haiye Province who’ve lost their sense of self, and possibly even change Baiyue Province... They aren’t just in dire straits; they’re a bunch of arrogant fools."

At this point, Huang Guangwei gave a derisive chuckle, lifting his arm to wipe off the seawater on his face.

"They talk so easily... Haven’t we tried? I’ve collaborated with Shelter No.117 for decades until they screwed themselves over. How could I not know if the technology path they proposed was viable?"

"And besides, this is no longer just a technical issue. The ultimate goal of that crazed group is to ascend humanity into a brand new species they have conjured up—’Celestial Beings’—and then turn the earth into a heaven for the Celestial Beings to inhabit. Do you understand what I’m saying? The Nago they designed was never about addressing any specific existing problems on the Wasteland from the start."

Old White frowned and asked.

"Doesn’t the Southern Islands Federation know about this? Such an obvious matter, why would they side with the Torch Church?"

Huang Guangwei shook his head.

"Didn’t I tell you? They know everything, but they are too confident. It’s undeniable that they have indeed achieved some things. For instance, they’ve managed to feed more than a hundred thousand survivors with just a dozen or so square kilometers of land, while most Wasteland Wanderers are starving. And while Poluo Province and Luo Xia Province are still doing the feudal monarchy bit, they established a relatively civilized system."

"In time, they might really be able to build a Utopia on the sea that is no less impressive than Ideal City, using methods best suited for themselves that they have discovered... Yet the fatal problem lies here too. They have had it too easy along the way to the point that for most people on those islands, success is almost seen as a natural inevitability."

"Without a doubt, the Torch Church is a ravenous wolf, and they know those guys have ill intentions. But they think it’s no big deal; they believe that they can tame those unruly Nago strains, just as they tamed the mutated sharks—swallowing the sugar-coated poison while leaving the arsenic itself untouched... Just like they turned the mind interference device provided by the Torch Church into a tool to drive away Variants."

"The president of the Southern Islands Federation once held negotiations with us for this reason. He hoped that the residents of Shelter No. 70 and thousands of experts nurtured by us in Coral City can cooperate closely, opening up Coral City’s research facilities to facilitate the Torch Church’s investigation of the Tiangong Space Station’s Lair, while working together with the apostles of the Torch—that is, the researchers—to perfect the Nago."

"Of course, we could never agree to that. It wasn’t the first time those crazies came knocking, and besides, we knew what they were like twenty years ago. If we opened up the underwater research facility to them, within minutes they could corrupt a group of our people for their use, then turn that place into their own lair... just like what they did in Haiya Province before."

After hearing what he said, the players squatting around looked at him silently.

One of them couldn’t help but ask.

"So you guys fought each other?"

At this question, Huang Guangwei’s expression became somewhat embarrassed, his index finger scratched his stubbled cheek.

"At first, there was no fight... After all, the fleet was mainly under the control of those Settlements, and we built those Settlements. Why would we attack our own people?"

Fang Chang nodded thoughtfully.

"Indeed."

Thinking about it in reverse, the idea of Shelter No. 404 suddenly going to war with City of Dawn was just preposterous.

Those were Settlements they had built with countless blood and sweat, places they would rather die a few more times for than contemplate any vandalism or destruction.

The biggest difference between this Game and other games was probably that every dwelling place where players were active had been built by the players themselves, brick by brick.

They wouldn’t just begrudge its destruction; to prevent newly arriving players from making trouble, they would not only actively participate in making laws and regulations but also voluntarily take on apprentice missions to "Pass the Torch," providing enough care to these new players and helping them integrate into the Alliance’s society.

"Right?" Seeing the pensive look on the man’s face before him, Huang Guangwei paused before continuing, "Our initial plan was to teach them a lesson. So we issued an electricity maintenance notice and then shut down the ocean current generators..."

At this point, Old White suddenly spoke up.

"I heard... that you cut off Coral City’s power and oxygen supply system, nearly causing those 30,000 survivors to perish under the sea—"

"Nonsense! How could we possibly do such a thing! Besides, many of the residents of Coral City are our students, colleagues, even family!"

Huang Guangwei’s eyes widened as if hit in a sore spot, and he vehemently retorted.

"It’s them! The so-called federal authorities! They took advantage of our experts evacuating from the ocean current power station and barbarically blew it up! Then, out of retaliation, they cut off Coral City’s power supply system! We dispatched rescue submarines, but they threw depth charges at us, and in the end, we only managed to save a few hundred people!"

Looking at the man with clenched fists, Old White spoke to soothe his emotions.

"Don’t get agitated. The residents of Coral City are all fine. I’ve heard that the federal authorities have relocated them to various islands."

Huang Guangwei stared at him in astonishment, then slowly calmed his breathing.

"Really? Then it seems they still have some humanity left... Have you been in contact with them?"

Old White nodded.

"Yes, and it’s precisely because we’ve had contact that I feel there might be some misunderstandings between you two... Why not sit down and talk?"

Huang Guangwei curled his lip.

"There’s nothing to talk about. The federal authorities want Shelter No. 70 to function as a scientific institution obedient to the federation’s leadership. I actually have no objections; we never wanted any special status. But we can’t possibly agree at this critical moment. If we give in now, they will immediately have us hand over a century’s worth of achievements to those lunatics in the north."

The Ground Model looked at him, not understanding, and asked.

"You slipped out of that shelter, wasn’t it to talk to them?"

Huang Guangwei adamantly rejected the idea.

"Of course not. My intention was to go to the Grand Canyon."

"The Grand Canyon?" Old White stared at him blankly, "What for?"

"Obviously, to find our Manager! That bastard, Sun Yuechi! With that guy missing, we can’t even utilize the full functionality of the shelter; it’s completely one-sided with those idiots from the federation pushing us around. If he were here, things wouldn’t have gotten this bad. At the very least we could use that batch of equipment from the defense stores!"

As he spoke, Huang Guangwei was gnashing his teeth with hatred, clenching his fists.

He looked like he could punch the guy... if that guy were right in front of him.

A few players exchanged glances, their faces filled with confusion.

This was the first time they had heard the unfamiliar name of Sun Yuechi. But that wasn’t the point—the question was—

"Why would your Manager... be in the Grand Canyon?"

"I’d like to know what he’s thinking," Huang Guangwei swore, "At such a critical time, that guy still talks nonsense... saying that’s the last Flame left by the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, and we should have united under its banner from the start. It might not be too late to go there now... they’ll take care of it. If those people really had such warm hearts, Haiya Province wouldn’t be in the sorry state it is now!"

Fang Chang stroked his chin, pondering for a moment, then asked,

"It’s more than 3000 kilometers from here to the Grand Canyon... and that’s the straight-line distance. How do you plan to get there?"

Huang Guangwei continued,

"My original plan was to land on the east side of Haiya Province, an uninhabited region, where I should be able to avoid the watchful eyes of the Torch Church. As long as I can circle around to Yue Ma Province on the east side of River Valley Province, there should be a way to get there... I bet that bastard Manager took this route."

Midnight Chicken Killing looked at him, puzzled, and asked.

"Why did you run all the way here?"

"I didn’t want to, either," Huang Guangwei said with a wry smile, looking at him. "I clearly avoided several main shipping routes and was planning to sneakily make my way to the eastern coast of Haiya Province, but suddenly I was chased down by those blue-skinned guys... I don’t know what they were lying in ambush for, we just ran smack into them, and then I drifted all the way here, to be picked up by you."

As he got to this point, he looked earnestly at Fang Chang, Old White, and a few others.

"You all must be residents of the shelter, right... Could you take me to your place? I seem to have heard about you. Are you located in the southern part of River Valley Province?"

Saying this, he glanced at the airship overhead and continued with an earnest tone.

"Please, I have nowhere else to go..."

Old White looked at Fang Chang with a compassionate expression and said,

"Why don’t you take him back?"

Fang Chang pondered for a moment and replied in Mandarin.

"Um, I’m considering whether it’s possible to initiate a meeting for him to sit down with the authorities of the Southern Islands Federation."

Hearing this, Old White was taken aback and said with a wry smile,

"Aren’t you overthinking it... Not to mention whether we currently have the capabilities in this area to facilitate negotiations, how can you be sure that the Federation authorities don’t have their own people from The Church?"

Fang Chang sighed and said,

"That’s exactly what I’m most hesitant about."

At present, both sides stuck to their guns, each believing that the other was to blame for the explosion of the ocean current power station.

And as for what really happened, no one had direct evidence to prove it.

Of course, he was more inclined to think that it might be The Church sabotaging from behind the scenes and then framing Shelter No. 70 to incite a war between the Southern Islands Federation and the shelters.

However, another possibility was that the explosion of the ocean current power station was precisely what the Southern Islands Federation desired.

Energy was a lever that Shelter No. 70 held in its hands, as well as an intangible deterrent.

Now that deterrent had been expended.

It was like a nuclear weapon thrown from a launch pad, and it had lost the meaning of deterrence.

Survivors from the islands of the southern sea area realized that they weren’t going to die just because they lost the ocean current power station. They could import coal from Silver Moon Bay to restart the outdated thermal power generators, and they could also employ solar and wind power in conjunction with battery storage stations.

There were still many solutions.

Although the cost of energy had increased, all the islands were highly unified under the rule of the Southern Islands Federation.

In contrast, the price they paid seemed less exorbitant than imagined.

Fang Chang pondered for a long time, sighed, and said,

"Let’s leave the decision to the Manager."

Old White nodded.

"That’s what I was thinking... leave professional matters to the professionals."

Fang Chang looked at Huang Guangwei and continued,

"We can take you to our place, and it should only be about a two-day journey to reach Qingquan City."

Upon hearing this promise, Huang Guangwei’s face showed a relieved expression as he tearfully said,

"Thank you... Thank you so much!"

Fang Chang smiled and said,

"Don’t mention it, but there’s one thing we need to trouble you with."

Huang Guangwei nodded eagerly, smiling as he said,

"Please, ask away! As long as it’s within my ability, I’ll do my utmost to help!"

Fang Chang continued,

"About your encounter with the Mutant attack along the eastern coastal area of Haiya Province, I hope you can record a detailed video explanation, and then provide us with the coordinates of where you were attacked."

Upon hearing this straightforward request, Huang Guangwei agreed without hesitation.

"No problem! I’ll cooperate whenever you need it, and I can record that video right now if you want! As for the coordinates, they’re in my submersible, you can just take and use them!"

"Let’s hold off on the video for now, I need to report the situation to our Manager. You go change into some clothes at our place first, so you don’t catch a cold."

Fang Chang smiled amicably, then looked towards the submersible that had already been dragged ashore and continued,

"And your submersible, could we borrow it to try and fix its Power System?"

Huang Guangwei waved his hand dismissively and generously said,

"Take it, you can even have it if you get me to Qingquan City."

He hadn’t planned on holding onto that thing forever. If he had successfully made it to the shores of Haiya Province, it might have been abandoned on the beach.

Now that someone had promised to take him to River Valley Province, he naturally didn’t need it anymore.

Since these people were interested, he thought he might as well let them have it!

Seeing how readily the guy waved his hand, Fang Chang’s face also showed a pleased smile.

"Then we won’t be polite!"