This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 690 The Impending Storm

Chapter 690: Chapter 690 The Impending Storm

Along the coast of the Haiye Province.

Quite unlike the pleasant and bustling Silver Moon Bay,

the beach soaked in blood here, under the sunlight, exuded a stench fouler than that of fish, with no fertile soil flowing with milk and honey, only the appalling sight of fear and death.

Near Howl Rock, adjacent to the Death Coast, on the cold, damp leeward side, there was presently a cacophony of chirping and chattering.

A group of blue-skinned humanoid creatures with scales and gills were chanting obscure elegies, praying under the lead of a priest for the hunt that was to begin today.

Two strong monsters walked to a cage half submerged in seawater, skillfully opened it, and dragged out a man who was on his last breath.

Soaked by seawater all day, the skin on his neck was ulcerated and sore, his pulsing veins seemed about to leap from the cracked skin.

The two monsters carried him to the beach, threw him among the praying creatures, then stepped aside.

Listening to the bizarre shrieks around him, the man tried to rise from the ground, but he couldn’t muster any strength, his body parts felt as if they weren’t his own.

He had not eaten for three days and was severely dehydrated, his mind was drifting to another world, he couldn’t even muster a plea for mercy.

Seeing his dying state, the scaly monsters around him shouted excitedly and even began to dance.

This indicated that their ancestors who had entered the tide had accepted their offering, the churning waves had swept away the vitality of the prey, the weakness of the sacrifice was the best proof!

And now, only the last step remained—

"...dirty blood shall be spilled across the sand, to appease the spirits of our ancestors."

Chanting the sacrificial curse, the priest, his face smeared with mud, walked up to him and stretched out his bony yet strong hand to lift him from the ground.

Before he could react, the priest used a sharp flint stone to slit his throat and chest, letting blood spurt and spill on the dusky sand.

Those twisted figures were like the cheering imps in hell.

They lunged at the body, smearing the mud mixed with blood and sand on their foreheads and chests as a symbol of receiving their ancestors’ blessings.

If there were survivors in the Province of Yúnjiānxíng, they would certainly recognize these blue-skinned beings conducting bloody rituals.

They were the aquatic variant humans that countless fishermen and sailors dread!

These creatures, active along the coastline, were even more troublesome than their green-skinned kin, ferocious, barbaric, and cunning, tearing apart solitary Wasteland Wanderers they encounter, and running away without a word when faced with tough opponents.

Compared to terrestrial mutants, they had less human elements, and more of the beast.

That was why very few aquatic variant humans could form large tribes of thousands; most lived dispersedly in villages.

Because of their broader range of activity and diet, their craving for mammalian flesh wasn’t as intense as their green-skinned kin; their attacks on humans usually stemmed from an instinctive hatred and the needs for sacrifice and reproduction.

But if one thought they were kinder or more gentle than their green-skinned counterparts, they would be gravely mistaken. Because they didn’t consider humans as their main food source, their talent for "wasting food" even made the bloodthirsty green-skins frown.

In fact, before the Torch Church set foot on this land, there were no aquatic variant humans here.

The militia of the Iron Tower Organization would patrol along the coast, destroying each den they found, even more actively than the money-operated military contractors of Province Yúnjiānxíng, leaving hardly any aquatic variants standing in this area.

However, everything changed after the coming of the Torch Church.

The charlatans manipulated ordinary humans into captives of Nago using "Heaven," and for those variants not controlled by Nago, they used the latter’s desired objects as bait to form alliances.

In just over a decade, the coastline of the Haiye Province had completely become a breeding ground for aquatic variant humans.

Especially around Howl Rock, it had nearly become the dominion of these scaly monsters, with even cargo ships from the East Coast daring not to approach these waters closely.

The priest who had completed the ritual stood quietly on the shore, tucking the blood-stained flint stone into a dirty cloth bag.

Just then, his pupils suddenly dilated, focusing on a rocky part of the beach.

There, a golden shadow bathed in light stood, resembling a god emerging from the rising and falling waves.

The nearby variants seemed oblivious to the golden shadow’s presence, as if they couldn’t see it.

That was indeed the case.

Only those chosen ones with chips implanted could gaze into that ineffable being.

The elderly priest trembled, kneeling on one knee.

Watching that ugly guy, Alzu slowly spoke.

"Do something for me."

The mutant priest replied respectfully.

"Please give your command."

Alzu continued.

"Follow the coast down to the west, keep going south, and you will see a strait; on its northern shore lies a human village."

"Kill them all, spare none!"

A human village!

Hearing this phrase, a flash of excitement and bloodlust flickered in the priest’s eyes.

He respectfully bowed down, pressing his wrinkled, scaly forehead against the blood-stained sand.

"Yes!"

When he lifted his head again, the pale golden light had disappeared, leaving only the surging tide and waves covering the beach strewn with rocks.

He rose from the ground and looked toward the tribespeople scrambling on the beach for their ancestral grace, emitting a piercing and mournful howl.

The sound was like a battle drum, not only prompting the tribespeople sprawled on the sand to stand up straight but also revealing scaly faces from behind Howl Rock.

The blue scales converged toward the edge of the beach, and in a moment, a thousand had gathered.

Their weapons were varied - spears, nets, hooked sticks, and shields made of turtle shells. Besides these crude weapons, some of the elite also carried spear guns, short iron cannons, tubular mines, and even assault rifles.

Most of these weapons had been seized from humans, while others were DIYed from parts salvaged from shipwrecks.

Watching the number of tribespeople grow, the priest let out another mournful roar.

"Enemies! To the south!"

"Along the coastline! You can find their village!"

"March forth!"

The pairs of cloudy eyes lit up with a thirst for blood, responding to the roar with more frenzied and bloodthirsty howls.

"Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!"

Watching the excited young men, the priest’s face bore a fanatical and sick smile, his withered hands trembling with exhilaration.

Finally—

The real sacrifice was about to begin!

...

Potato Harbor.

At the edge of the golden sand beach, the lush palm leaves gently swayed with the sea breeze, presenting a tranquil and peaceful scene.

Beneath the dappled shade of the trees, a makeshift hut made of straw and coconut shells carelessly housed several black cases, strikingly out of place amidst the surroundings.

The fans inside the casing hummed, while pale blue holographic images intertwined into a continuously flickering three-dimensional display on a disc-shaped device.

Currently displayed on the holographic screen was the holographic structural design of the "Bumblebee" engineering armor formulated by Shelter No. 100.

This piece of equipment was currently the most advanced multifunctional land-based construction equipment in the Federation, even surprising the corporations that completed the grand project of Ideal City with its ingenious design, praising it as a "miracle born in the sewers."

Despite the undertone of superiority in that nickname, one thing was undeniably clear—even the engineers of Ideal City were slightly "shaken" by this device.

Evidently, the shock was mutual for the engineers of Coral City.

Watching the unfolding holographic image, the middle-aged man wearing plain glasses showed a look of surprise before he turned to Fang Chang standing next to him and asked,

"Incredible design... Did your shelter come up with this?"

His name was Zhou Zhehui, a survivor from Coral City and also one of the designers of the "Electric Eel" unmanned underwater welding drone.

Since joining the Federation some time ago, he had cloned a copy of the "Electric Eel" drone blueprint for Meng Liang and others using professional equipment and editing software provided by the scientific exploration group, and subsequently took a job in the Federation’s scientific exploration group on their recommendation.

The drone, shaped much like an actual electric eel, resembling a flat fan, could wriggle its body forward hundreds of meters underwater, use its ventral suction cup to grab building materials, and replace divers in dangerous underwater welding tasks.

Based on his designs, the automated production workshop on floor B7 of Shelter No. 404 had trial-produced ten prototypes which had already been delivered to Potato Harbor by the Bull Cow airship and put to work on the underwater freshwater pipeline construction from Potato Harbor to Ring Island.

From the construction crew’s feedback, this so-called Electric Eel unmanned drone proved to be effective, speeding up the construction process by more than three times compared to the Strength Type Bull Cows.

The manager soon approved a production plan for one hundred more Electric Eel drones, giving priority to them in the production queue, with many more to be air-shipped to Potato Harbor soon to participate in port and underwater pipeline construction.

Now, Zhou Gong’s daily job was to instruct the technicians sent by the Federation on how to use the "Electric Eel" unmanned drone, including setting work targets and paths through automated programs installed on the terminal.

Since this job did not consume much time, he often had ample free time, wandering around the settlement.

It was during one of these wanderings that he happened to see the Bumblebee engineering armor being used by the construction crew on the shores of Potato Harbor, sparking his curiosity about the uniquely shaped hulk.

After learning of his interest, the scientific exploration group generously made a copy of the blueprint and instructions for him to tinker with as he pleased.

Upon hearing about this from the exploration group, Fang Chang quickly thought about his experience in underwater engineering equipment design. He immediately approached Zhou to inquire whether it was possible to make some modifications to the Bumblebee engineering armor to design a similarly operated, amphibious version that could be used underwater.

Thus, Zhou Zhehui once again dug out the frequently reviewed blueprint and revisited it with a professional attitude.

However, no matter how many times he looked at it, he couldn’t help but marvel and be amazed.

It begged the question — what kind of harsh, severe living environment had given rise to such a concise, efficient, yet cumbersome and agile piece of engineering armor.

Hearing his inquiry, Fang Chang coughed lightly.

"No, it was designed by the residents of Shelter No. 100."

The creativity of the residents of Shelter No. 404 mainly focused on imaginative realms.

Such engineering equipment, which had ascended to the realm of science fiction, was still somewhat too advanced for players whose level of knowledge was still confined to the real world.

After listening to Fang Chang’s explanation, Zhou Gong’s expression became even more surprised.

"Have they joined you too? Shelter No. 100?"

"I suppose... Do you know them?"

Zhou Gong shook his head, saying somewhat sheepishly,

"I don’t, actually. The only shelter we’ve had dealings with is Shelter No. 117, and mostly it was the Blue Jackets from Shelter No. 70 who were in contact with them. As for us, we’ve just heard of their existence, not much else."

After a pause, he asked curiously,

"What sort of people are they? Are they like the residents of Shelter No. 70?"

Fang Chang’s expression subtly answered,

"The difference is quite significant... They’ve been through a lot, and those who survived turned themselves into bionic humans."

It took Zhou Zhehui a moment to respond with an ambiguous comment,

"That’s... truly unfortunate."

Fang Chang shrugged his shoulders,

"Every family has its own hard-to-read scripture."

Although most NPCs in "Wasteland OL" harbored reservations about AI being equivalent to humans, most players tended to be more open-minded on this topic.

He was no exception, even more open-minded than most.

After all, it was a game.

Whether they were AI or real humans, to the people in the real world they were all AI, weren’t they?

And the AI technology in this game had advanced to a highly realistic level.

Without delving into deep philosophical issues, he had grown accustomed to treating these once-lived NPCs as real beings.

Zhou Zhehui sighed softly and said,

"I’d really like a chance to interact with them, academically or perhaps about our matters... Just not sure how much human trait those who have turned into bionic humans retained, it feels odd discussing humanity’s future with AI."

"I feel like their difference from humans isn’t that great, you might get along well," Fang Chang paused and cleared his throat as a reminder, "About that retrofit..."

With that reminder, Zhou Zhehui snapped back to reality, smiled sheepishly, and quickly shifted the topic back to technology.

"I’ve checked, the basic issue isn’t big, their sealing designs are already quite good, we just need to redesign the gas exchange system... Give me a week, maybe three days will suffice, I’ll get you an improved plan as soon as possible."

Hearing how soon it could be done, Fang Chang’s face lit up with joy, smiling as he spoke.

"I’d appreciate it! Oh, and any thoughts on a good name for this improved model? I’ll need it for the budget sheets."

Clearly, this NPC wasn’t very skilled at naming, as he scratched the back of his head pondering for quite a while.

However, just at that moment, his eyes landed on the nearby beach where some players were laboriously dragging a mutated sea crab, two meters tall, onto the shore.

Inspiration burst forth from his mind – not just for the equipment’s name, but also for many details in the design.

He looked intently at Fang Chang,

"Since it’s amphibious engineering equipment."

"Let’s call it ’Crab Style’!"

...

Ever since the players at Potato Harbor had reached an agreement with the Federal patrol team, both sides had passed many peaceful days.

Although nothing particularly significant had happened during this period, the changes at Potato Harbor were not slight.

With the addition of Coral City engineers, the settlement was visibly transforming at a rapid pace.

Under the leadership of the engineer named Li Shihao, the construction team responsible for the harbor quickly immersed themselves in the port construction work.

Simultaneously, with the help of the Electric Eel unmanned boats, the undersea freshwater pipeline from Potato Harbor to Ring Island had advanced ten nautical miles.

During this period, the Niu Ma airship made another trip to City of Dawn.

It not only brought fifty newly manufactured "Electric Eel" unmanned boats but also brought a batch of port-specific equipment produced on behalf of Boulder City Factory.

Even if he was skeptical about this "small fishing village" located on the north shore of Baiyue Strait, Mr. Chaning, the governor of Ring Island, had to admit that this water pipeline could potentially serve as a substitute for the desalination device, urgently addressing the residents’ needs for domestic and industrial water.

Particularly compelling was the price offered by Baiyue Strait Development Co., Ltd.

At just 0.8 silver coins per cubic meter, a ton of freshwater cost 800 silver coins, with the pipeline’s construction and maintenance fully managed by Baiyue Strait Development Co., Ltd.

Eight hundred silver coins were only the price of four LD-47 rifles. The residents of Ring Island used about four hundred cubic meters of water a year, amounting to less than two assault rifles in cost – even cheaper than before the ocean current power station was destroyed!

Once the cost of freshwater was reduced, not only would the residents of Ring Island no longer have to endure a meager existence of bathing once a week, but a series of industries that had been shut down due to the high cost of freshwater would also resume, and even subsidized food production could turn a profit.

Calculating the costs was straightforward, and Mr. Chaning almost immediately signed a ten-year contract with Baiyue Strait Development Co., Ltd.

Although the profit from this deal seemed meager for the Baiyue Corporation, it was unquestionably a bargain from a long-term perspective.

After all, the freshwater resources in Baiyue Province were nearly infinite, and delivering this water to the islands didn’t require any particularly advanced technology; the maintenance cost for the pipelines was negligible.

In other words, once they repaired this pipeline, they could virtually make money while doing nothing.

Moreover, with this tap in their hands, Potato Harbor would be tightly bound to the islands in the southern sea area!

They would make the local survivors believe that they had come to solve problems, not to bring destruction and disaster.

Besides the projects revolving around economic activities, the Alliance had also completed a military base and logistic warehouse on the high ground northwest of Potato Harbor.

Currently, this place served as the base for the Burning Corps and the Jungle Corps, and other corps dispatched here might be stationed in the future.

Moreover, players had also set up simple watchtowers and beachhead positions equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers on the higher ground on both sides of the coast the south of Potato Harbor, to guard against any potential threats along the coastline.

The investigation of the ruins of the ocean current power station had served as a warning to the players here.

The Torch Church might have already developed some aquatic Variants, controlled by mind interference devices, capable of moving underwater.

The danger they faced was not only from the rainforest in front of them but also possibly from the beach behind them.

Today’s Potato Harbor resembled a bustling construction site.

From beneath the sea surface to the beach and the nearby rainforest, there was almost constant noise from dawn till dusk.

And for the Dolphin moored near the port and the residents of Coral City ashore, the sailors from the Federal Patrol also turned a blind eye as agreed, intentionally overlooking it.

As a payoff for turning a blind eye, Baiyue Strait Development Co., Ltd., paid them an extra ’bonus’ every month.

Initially, Muda was against accepting this money, which resembled bribery, and he refused sternly.

He had agreed to help the crew of the Dolphin escape capture, not for money but merely out of conscience and justice.

However, Fang Chang eventually persuaded him and handed over the money, which reassured both parties, into the hands of the honest patrol captain.

"...consider it as payment for helping us with the patrol. We’re busy with construction and can’t keep an eye on the surroundings. If it’s not too much trouble, could you expand the patrol area a hundred miles westward? And if any pirates or Looters approach, please let us know."

After pausing, Fang Chang continued.

"Besides, even if you don’t want this money, you have to think about your brothers. There are risks involved in what they are doing with you."

Muda silently looked at the stack of bills in his hand, and with a wry smile, said,

"Does this count as receiving two salaries?"

Fang Chang laughed and patted his shoulder.

"Why not consider it a part-time job? Maybe that would make you feel better."

Muda gave another deep look at this man who had drawn him deeper and deeper, said nothing else, and tucked the stack of bills into his chest.

Just as he was about to head back to the speedboat, he suddenly remembered something and spoke,

"There’s something I need to tell you."

Fang Chang: "What is it?"

Seemingly hesitant about whether or not to share this information, Muda paused for a moment, but eventually spoke.

"The day after tomorrow, there’s a naval patrol team exercise near North Island. The patrol teams from all the islands will participate."

Fang Chang raised an eyebrow with interest.

"And then?"

Muda, with a complex expression, said.

"There’s an unusual thing. The Ministry of Finance hasn’t arranged any duty tasks for the different patrol areas that day, nor has it mentioned if the Federal Navy will temporarily take over from the patrol teams for a day..."

Fang Chang replied with a smile,

"So you mean that even smuggling won’t get caught that day?"

Muda glanced at him.

"Don’t be like that."

"Just joking. We’re all law-abiding good people, only engaged in legitimate businesses," Fang Chang said seriously, looking at him, "Thanks, this information is very important to us."

Someone planned to divert the Federal Patrol from these waters!

It seemed something inconvenient for others to witness would occur that day.

Especially inconvenient for their own people in the Southern Islands Federation.

Turning his gaze from Fang Chang’s face, Muda looked towards the distant, tumultuous sea and spoke complexly,

"I’m just wondering whether the Federal Navy plans to conduct a surprise inspection on a certain patrol area, but this seems too deliberate. Whether or not we’re suspected, it’s best if you move that submarine farther away these next few days."

Fang Chang nodded earnestly.

"Yes, I’ll make arrangements."