Chapter 556.1: The Threat To Humanity

"Today is January 1st, Year 2342 of the Old Calendar, and January 1st of the 213th year of the Wasteland Era. Here are today's headlines from the New Alliance."

"The New Year’s Eve celebration concluded successfully. Grand festivities were held in all New Alliance settlements to welcome the new year..."

"Boulder Town City Hall has announced that the curfew will be lifted starting today. All gates of the great wall will also be officially reopened as of now. At the same time, the entrance tax levied for the construction of the wall will be abolished, and the wall will no longer be heightened."

"On another note, to cope with the instability in Clearspring City, a volunteer team of 200, including teachers, medical staff, biologists, and engineers, has arrived at the airport north of Dawn City from Ideal City."

"In his New Year’s Eve address, the administrator stated that improving residents' quality of life remains a key priority for the New Alliance this year. Registered population within the New Alliance has now surpassed a million. In addition to the ongoing affordable housing and rail transit projects, the New Alliance will also establish 12 new full-time schools and eight social welfare facilities..."

"This has been a broadcast from Survivor’s Daily!"

Firewood crackled in the fireplace. The warm temperature made one drowsy, as if even the crisp voice from the radio and the ticking of the wall clock had slowed down.

They were in Dust Town, located on the edge of the ruins of Brocade Lake Municipality in Brocade River Province, about 700 to 800 kilometers away from Springwater City, roughly the same distance as Jiangcheng City to Shancheng City on Earth.

Since Boulder Town joined the New Alliance, several new signal stations had been constructed, allowing many radio channels, including the Survivor’s Daily, to broadcast on medium and shortwave frequencies.

Although special weather phenomena like radiation clouds on the wasteland often disrupted electromagnetic signals, such interference was not absolute.

Now, even in Brocade River Province, voices from the New Alliance could occasionally be heard intermittently.

"That’s nice," murmured Me Quiet, his face tinged with longing as he listened to the broadcast.

During the New Year’s event, rumor had it that anyone who participated would receive a red envelope, with prizes ranging from a minimum of 6 silver coins to a full set of Dragon Cavalry exoframe.

Moreover, the exoframe had no level requirement!

Unfortunately... The event was only available within New Alliance territory.

There were only three players in all of Dust Town. Though the locals had been rallied into hosting a kind of ritual, the sacrificial offerings had amounted to only a meager selection of food.

After handing out the leftover offerings to the village children, he hadn’t even logged in the night before. He simply ordered takeout and enjoyed it offline.

Sighing, Me Quiet looked toward the lizard basking by the fireplace and called out. "Hey, Garbage man."

Garbage scratched his butt, shifted into a new lounging position, and lazily responded, "What?"

Me Quiet couldn’t help but blurt out, "We’ve been stuck in this godforsaken place for almost half a year now! How much longer are we staying?!"

They had agreed to head south together.

However, the other two had planted roots in the town and refused to budge.

Garbage chuckled, "No rush, no rush. The Na Fruit issue isn’t resolved yet. We can’t just abandon the villagers, can we?"

According to intelligence from the official website, it had been confirmed that Na Fruit and Jade Fruit were the same thing, suspected to originate from the South Sea Archipelago and distributed inland via ports along the Death Coast.

Brocade River Province was one of the most heavily affected regions.

Combining that with predictions for the next version on the official site, Garbage and Make Me had concluded there was likely a secret conspiracy behind the spread of Na Fruit.

As such, they decided to stay.

On one hand, it was to observe the condition of the infected villager. On the other, to send some biological samples they collected back to research institutions within the New Alliance.

They were also keeping an eye on the ‘Qi’ Mutant Human Tribe.

But months had passed, and there was still no movement from either Na Fruit or the Mutant Human Tribe. Me Quiet was growing increasingly impatient. It had been several months of zero progress!

If they weren’t going to head south, couldn’t they at least return home together and save their progress?!

Watching Garbage lounging without a care in the world, Me Quiet couldn’t help but complain, "You’re not getting addicted to playing god, are you?"

Garbage blinked, then burst out laughing. "Hahaha, of course not!"

Though... His grin looked a bit forced...

Me Quiet couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

At that moment, a knock came at the door, slow and heavy, as if made by something brushing along the floor.

Guessing who it might be, he sighed, got up from the blanket-covered chair, and went to open the door.

A fat rat, knee-high in size, scurried into the room. The cold wind that followed made Garbage instinctively hunch his shoulders.

"Something’s happened."

At those words, Me Quiet perked up, and Garbage, who had been lying drowsily by the fireplace, instantly sprang up.

"What happened?!"

"Tell us!"

Seeing their eager expressions, Make Me cleared his throat with a mysterious look and said, "I’ve been keeping watch over Hope Town, right? Yesterday, a few cultists showed up there."

Me Quiet blinked. "Cultists?"

"Yeah, priests or something. I had a bad feeling about them, so I sneaked in to eavesdrop. They were rambling on about how the light of heavenly fire would soon shine upon this land corrupted by chaos, how all sins would be cleansed, and how by embracing glorious evolution, people could join a divine kingdom free from suffering and disease... Then they demanded that a church be built for their Apostle."

Me Quiet stared at him with a blank expression, "What does ‘evolution’ even mean...?"

It was the only part he understood.

Make Me shook his head. "Not sure. Maybe it’s related to Na Fruit. I originally thought it was something the Mutant Humans made, but turns out it’s the fools in the south causing trouble..."

As he spoke, he dipped a finger into the snow on his fur and drew two inverted triangles on the floor with the moisture he collected on them. "Their robes had this symbol."

Garbage leaned in and frowned. "A torch?"

Make Me nodded. "Yeah. The Torch Church."

Me Quiet scratched the back of his head and said, puzzled, "I don’t quite get it. Why are you guys so fixated on the Torch Church? As long as they don’t cause trouble, who cares what they believe?"

The New Alliance had plenty of folks who worshipped the Great Stag God, and most survivors in Sunset Province worshipped the Spirit of the Desert.

When there were no laws to govern behavior, faith could still have some small effect.

Though Project Torch was no good, the Torch Church didn’t seem to have any real connection to it, aside from sharing a similar symbol.

He was a newcomer from the Beta test and didn’t know much about what had happened during the Alpha phase.

Make Me shot him a glance. "What if the preachers are Mutant Humans?"

Me Quiet froze. "Mutant Humans?!"

Weren’t Mutant Humans the kind who treated people as food? What kind of faith could be powerful enough to convert them?!

Garbage grinned. "Even if that weren’t the case, we still wouldn’t let them off. I haven’t forgotten, during the Bonechewer Clan’s rampage, the Army and the Bugra Free State supplied the marauders with weapons, and these cultists gave them ideology and technology. Some of the New Alliance’s earliest neural interference devices were seized from them."

The entire central region of the River Valley Province had practically been wiped out by those people. Many New Alliance residents were survivors of that catastrophe. That debt was bound to be settled sooner or later.

Make Me said grimly, “I don’t know what they’re planning, but I’ve got a bad feeling... And if all the nearby settlements start believing in the Torch Church’s nonsense, what happens to the Big Rat God and Great Stag God?”

Me Quiet was still pondering the first part when he nearly choked on his own saliva at the second. "... You guys just worried about being kicked off your throne, aren’t you?!"

Garbage cleared his throat and ignored the jab. "In any case... If the Torch Church is involved, we can’t treat this lightly. I’m gonna ask around on the official site and see what the others think."

What he truly feared was something else.

Maybe the Torch Church hadn’t converted Mutant Humans, but rather, those fanatics had figured out how to turn people into Mutant Humans. And they were reshaping the land to suit mutant biology.

In humans and animals, prolonged consumption of Na Fruit caused hallucinations and a state referred to as the Divine Trance.

But for mutants, Na Fruit only seemed to amplify their strengths, making them stronger, more aggressive, and more capable of reproduction!

Most Mutant Human tribes never exceeded a few hundred in size. Only those in the Great Desert who had learned agriculture, animal husbandry, and social division of labor managed to reach populations over a thousand.

However... The Qi Tribe had over 10,000 members! Such a massive group couldn’t survive on primitive farming methods alone.

His gut told him that something massive and sinister was brewing in the wasteland...

Closing his amber eyes, the Lizard God of Dust Town logged off and hurried to the official forums.

Me Quiet opened his mouth to say something when a sudden, urgent knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

He went to open it. The village chief stood outside, visibly anxious. "Sir, apologies for disturbing you... but a visitor has arrived at the village gate."

Me Quiet frowned. "A visitor? What kind of visitor?"

It was winter. Wandering traders were rare. Most went straight to their destinations, only stopping when they ran low on supplies, and rarely at poor-looking settlements like this one.

The village chief bowed his head and said respectfully, "He claims to be a servant of some Apostle and spouted nonsense about how we’ve been blinded by savagery, that he’s come to save us from suffering..."

He clenched his fists, muttering in anger. "I told them already, we have our own faith! We don’t need their heresy, and we definitely don’t need their Na Fruit!"

Me Quiet exchanged a glance with the fat rat behind him.

Hot damn. They made it here already?

That was fast!

...

Wasteland Online’s Official Website

The forum was, as always, cheerful and bustling.

[Event Announcement]

[New Year’s Eve Event Successfully Concluded!]

[Boulder Town Regional Results]

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Most popular dish among players: Creamy Leeches and Mushroom Soup

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Wastelander Favorite: Cotton Candy

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Administrator’s Favorite: Pan-Seared Corned Beef Cake

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[Update:

New "Mercenary Guild" System Added

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[Notice:

Some commissions from the Merchant Guild have been migrated to the Mercenary Guild. Players can now register as mercenaries and accept missions through the VM.

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