Chapter 559.2: The Twisted Lives And Fate

Having already confessed so much, Zhang Zhengyang stopped hesitating and continued, "He said the time had come. The Blessing of Na Fruit has spread across the land, and he ordered us to incorporate the survivor settlements of Brocade Lake Municipality into the church’s territory. Right now, Dust Town is the only one left that hasn’t submitted to the Apostle."

Night Ten couldn’t help but speak up. "So you planned to wipe everyone here out?"

Zhang Zhengyang stammered, unable to get a full sentence out, but he didn’t dare stay silent either. All he could do was respond meekly in a low voice, "I-I was planning to talk them out of it..."

Ignoring his attempt at an excuse, Old White stared at him and continued, "Let me ask you another question. What’s the deal with these people?"

As he spoke, Old White glanced at a nearby cultist who had lost an arm in the blast and was writhing on the ground like a worm.

The expression on the man’s face didn’t look painful at all, if anything, it looked... euphoric.

In fact, he was even using the stump of his remaining arm to rub at the dirt, trying to stop the bleeding that way, completely unconcerned with the risk of infection.

"They ate Na Fruit..." Zhang Zhengyang swallowed hard and said.

Withdrawing his gaze from the cultist, Old White turned to the preacher again. "Just eating Na Fruit turns them into that?"

Zhang Zhengyang quickly shook his head.

"Of c-course not. Just eating Na Fruit at most puts you in a state of Divine Trance. You don’t feel pain, but you also don’t have sensation. We inject them with Holy Water afterward, then they exist in a half-awake, half-dreaming state inside the Kingdom of Heaven, fully obedient to our commands. They won’t feel pain or fatigue whether they’re fighting or working."

Night Ten froze for a moment. "Holy crap, Holy Water? Wasn’t that what Mosquito was calling what Pai gave him?"

Gale coughed lightly. "... Pretty sure they’re two different things."

"And where is it?" Ample Time stared at the preacher and continued, "Do you still have any of your Holy Water?"

"Y-yes, yes I do!" Under Ample Time’s piercing gaze, Zhang Zhengyang nervously stretched out a trembling hand and pulled out a small metal box from his pocket, offering it to Ample Time.

Ample Time reached out and took it, opened it for a look, inside was a syringe and six ampoules about the size of a thumb.

"Is this all you got?"

"This is all I brought... I don’t use it that often," Zhang Zhengyang said nervously.

Of course, he had taken Na Fruit himself.

Otherwise, never mind preaching, he wouldn’t have survived among all those infection sources.

But he kept his dosage under control, used it sparingly, entering the Divine Trance only three to four times a month, and regularly injected antibiotics to purge the bacteria from his body.

That way, the negative side effects of Na Fruit could be minimized such that even a human body could endure it.

"So these lunatics need injections to keep fighting?" Night Ten scratched his chin and frowned. "Man, that’s gotta be expensive."

"Mass-produced medicine aren’t as costly as you think, and..." Ample Time turned to the preacher. "The Qi Mutant Human tribe, they’re with you, aren’t they?"

Zhang Zhengyang nodded stiffly, replying cautiously, "That Mutant Human tribe... was actually the first in the Brocade Lake Municipality to join us."

Ample Time let out a dry laugh. "And that miracle cure, Na Fruit... It was their help that you used to spread it around, wasn’t it?"

Zhang Zhengyang silently nodded again. "Yes..."

Ample Time stopped looking at him, closed the box containing the Holy Water, and turned his gaze to Old White, switching to standard Mandarin. "Now we’ve got a clearer picture. We have two leads, one is that so-called bishop hiding out in the Sanctuary, the other is that Mutant Human tribe with more than 10,000 members... But just the few of us probably aren’t enough. We’ll need to call in more of the brothers."

Considering the Torch Church’s power in the Brocade River Province likely extended far beyond just Brocade Lake Municipality, even the Burning Corps alone might not be enough.

Especially since they had only dispatched a 100-man team.

Old White nodded, frowning as he said, "The problem is the Tide... We probably won’t have many people to spare."

According to the official website’s announcement, the Tide that year was expected to be bigger than ever. Especially now that Boulder Town had joined the New Alliance, the pressure on the frontlines would be immense.

It was unlikely they’d be able to deploy more troops to the Brocade River Province until after the Tide ended.

As they spoke, changes began to occur among the cultists lying on the ground, some began sweating heavily, and their blissful expressions gradually twisted into pain.

Some of the more gravely injured ones went into shock.

Seeing the man in exoframe glance toward him, Zhang Zhengyang hurried to explain. "The effects of the Na Fruit... are wearing off..."

Na Fruit didn’t heal injuries, it merely made the body come to terms with the damage it suffered, allowing temporary coexistence under the bonding action of the mycelium.

Once the drug wore off, the once-docile bacteria would reveal their savage nature. And what awaited them... was death.

"We need to keep a few alive."

Old White looked at Ample Time and Gale. "See if they’re carrying any Na Fruit. If they are, stuff it in their mouths."

Ample Time nodded solemnly. "Got it."

Several players fanned out across the battlefield and soon found some Na Fruit fruit on the cultists.

They then approached the ones still alive, regardless of whether their intestines were spilling out, and shoved the Na Fruit into their mouths.

It actually worked.

A few whose faces were contorted in pain immediately relaxed after a few chews. Others who were too gravely injured didn’t react even after the fruit was stuffed in. They were left to die on their own.

After confirming the area was secure, a Viper transport plane landed in the farmland east of Dust Town.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Chen Yutong soon jumped down from the aircraft, carrying a toolbox, and walked to one of the cultists lying paralyzed on the ground.

The man was in critical condition. He had half his abdomen torn open and intestines spilling out.

Even though she had seen many gruesome deaths on the wasteland, Chen Yutong couldn’t help but feel her scalp tingle. Still, she held her breath, injected him with a sedative, shoved his intestines back in, and sprayed some coagulant to do a simple patch-up.

"This guy’s beyond saving. Might as well give him a quick death," said Old White, walking over and glancing down at the man.

Getting clawed by Garbage wasn’t something they could just shrug off.

"I’m not a real doctor. I don’t expect to save him... This is just emergency restoration," she paused, then added, "I need him as research material."

Old White nodded. "Anything I can help with?"

Chen Yutong glanced toward the town. "If you can get me a quiet room, that’d be great. I need to perform a small surgery."

"Mm, leave it to me." Old White nodded, tapped his helmet twice with his index finger, and relayed the researcher’s request to Garbage.

Soon, the giant lizard swaggered over wagging his tail, gave an OK gesture with his claws. "Room’s ready."

Old White grinned. "Thanks."

"

Pshh

, no need to be polite, brother. I should be thanking you all," Garbage replied with a toothy grin, then noticed the female researcher beside him. "And this is?"

"Chen Yutong," Old White introduced her in the Federation’s language then Mandarin before looking at her and speaking in the Federation’s language again. "He’s a friend of mine... Name’s a bit weird, just call him Garbage."

Chen Yutong blinked at Garbage and gave a small nod. "Hello..."

More than the name, she found his appearance far stranger.

"Hello to you too, honorable lady." Garbage grinned back, then looked at the barely-breathing prisoner on the ground. "Need help moving this guy to the operating table?"

Old White cleared his throat. "Don’t mess around. One squeeze from those claws of yours and whatever breath he has left will be gone."

"

Tsk

!" Garbage rolled his eyes but couldn’t help feeling a little envious.

Damn it!

All these bastard human players had partners now while he was still single. Even Neeko wouldn’t give him a second look.

Heh, just you wait!

Once he trained himself to be like Yong, or even reach the size of the Mother of Deathclaws, he would have every Deathclaw in the world kneeling to him in awe!

"Um... He can talk?" Watching Garbage walk off into the distance, Chen Yutong finally couldn’t contain her curiosity and looked at Old White.

She had heard rumors. Some said the New Alliance had tamed certain mutants that could speak.

At first, she dismissed it as common folk mythologizing their charismatic leaders. But to think a Deathclaw could actually talk... It was the first time she had seen one in person!

"He can talk, and he’s also a resident of the Shelter," Old White said with a smile. "You’ll get used to weird stuff like that on the wasteland."

Chen Yutong nodded as she fell into a daze.

She had long heard that some Shelters in the South were researching transferring human consciousness into other organic bodies.

So they really pulled it off?

From a rational standpoint, rather than lizards learning to speak, she figured it was more likely a human wrapped in lizard skin.

Her eyes gradually lit up with curiosity. Things were getting more and more interesting...

...

In Boulder Town’s City Hall.

Sitting in his office, Chu Guang received a battlefield report from the south via Little Seven.

The Burning Corps had arrived in Dust Town at 2:00 in the afternoon and engaged in a fierce firefight with cultists from the Torch Church.

In the operation, the players had killed 92 cultists and captured 11. The only allied casualties were nine villagers, six of whom were no longer in critical condition. No player casualties were reported.

Among the 11 captives was a prophet of the Torch Church.

From interrogation, they learned that the Torch Church was expanding its influence in Brocade River Province while the specific reasons remained unclear.

According to the prophet’s testimony, the Torch Church had also formed some sort of alliance with local Mutant Human factions.

Apart from the 2,000 to 3,000 households of Dust Town, the entirety of Brocade Lake Municipality had already fallen under the Torch Church’s control.

Since the prophet attempt failed, it was likely that Mutant Human troops would be dispatched next time.

To prepare for retaliation, the Burning Corps had mobilized local residents to construct more defenses and traps around the town.

Meanwhile, Old White had formally requested reinforcements in his report.

Brocade Lake Municipality had become the front line in the New Alliance’s conflict with the Torch Church.

Currently, the Torch Church’s control in the region was still fragile, propped up by drugs and transactional benefits. It was without a doubt the best time to root them out.

If they could find a way to reverse the effects of Na Fruit, eliminate the local Mutant Human tribes, and guide the populace back to a normal life, planting safe crops and returning to human ways, there was still hope for the survivors of Brocade Lake Municipality.

And Na Fruit contaminated soil wasn’t beyond saving. According to Hyrja’s research, fire was enough to cleanse it.

After reading the report from start to finish, Chu Guang furrowed his brows in thought.

Everything in the report checked out. He also agreed it was the best opportunity, but the problem was the Tide that was just two months away.

At that rate, they might be forced to fight on two fronts...

"The timing really couldn’t be worse."