Chapter 563.1: It's Still A Rifle!

Back on Wasteland Online’s official website.

At peak log-off time, a freshly minted post rocketed onto the hot list and became the subject of heated debate among countless players and cloud players.

Night Ten: Big news!! Cybernetically augmented Mutant Humans spotted in Brocade Lake Municipality!!!

In the post, Night Ten exaggerated the peril of the situation and how he cleverly turned the tables to escape. In addition, the post included several restricted images which, although filtered by the system, still required age verification to view.

To Night Ten’s great disappointment, the chorus of fanboys and fangirls calling out how awesome he was did not appear in his thread.

Instead, a wave of boos did.

Tyrannosaurus Warrior: You’re wearing six god-tier items and can only fight a random mob to a draw? Dude... You’re trash!

Cheerful Netizen: Exactly!

Lightning Professor Yang: Judgment! Give the gear to me instead! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Night Ten: Damn! Easy for you to say. Try soloing one yourself!

Lightning Professor Yang: No problem. You give me a helmet and I’ll show you a trick right now. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Night Ten: Scram! Fuck off!

Old White: Haha, that cybernetic Mutant Human had something to it. It tanked a charged shot from a Gauss rifle and could still run and jump. Then it went bang bang bang with half a chainsaw and busted quite a few parts on our brother Night Ten’s exoframe.

Quit Smoking: Wait, I remember that was from the fall, wasn’t it?

Ample Time: Caught an honest man alive.

Gale: (≖⩊≖)

Teng Teng: (╯▽╰)

Night Ten: T.T

Tail: Hold up... Sisi, did we run too far south?!

Sisi: I thought south meant south of Sunset Province... If it were south of River Valley Province, wouldn’t that make the game too easy? ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭

Roshan: It’s too difficult hereeee. T.T

Sesame Paste: Ahaha... Survival on a deserted island was pretty fun, actually. Pat pat.

Yaya: Deserted island survival?! Where on earth did you all go? Σ(°△°|||)

Sisi: Boji Island. Anyway, we’re repairing the boat... By the way, there are crabs here the size of little houses. They’re probably not Crackleclaw Crabs either... Too bad we can’t upload pics of them yet. (￣～￣;)

Spring Water Commander: Sounds terrifying...

This_lord_is_arrogant_what_can_you_do: Lol, images won’t open at all, so you’re just making it up, huh? Trash!

The thread was full of cheerful vibes.

Although there was no shortage of buddies teasing Night Ten for struggling even in exoframe, most players still acknowledged his skill.

Getting face-checked as a perception type and still managing a counterkill was already impressive. In theory, Mutant Humans far outclassed humans in strength, constitution, and agility. The exoframe could provide hefty damage reduction, but it wasn’t invincible.

Aside from the ribbing, most players focused on the game itself, namely, the ridiculously strong Mutant Humans appearing in the new map!

Back when the servers first opened, the Alpha testers had already experienced how terrifying Mutant Human combat power could be.

If the crew of the Pioneer hadn’t plot-killed that herd of beasts, with the manpower and gear players had at the time, they would have had no way of dealing with the Mutant Humans on 76th Street.

Back then, everyone had discussed on the forum that, considering both intelligence and physique, Mutant Humans should match level 40 or 60 monsters.

After all, they weren’t animals like Crackleclaw Crabs that only charged when hit. They were primates capable of learning.

They could not only jury-rig pipe rifles and Molotovs, but also stuff nails and gunpowder into tins to make tripwire mines and other traps.

Now, those Mutant Humans weren’t carrying homemade pipe guns.

They not only had vehicles and cybernetics tailored to their physiques, but even radio command and simple yet effective tactical coordination.

A Mutant Human tribe numbering in the tens of thousands was likely far more outrageous than a hundred separate tribes of a hundred each.

Of course, even serious discussions inevitably went off the rails.

Falling Feather: By the way, I also saw another kind of Mutant Human here. Locals call them half-bloods. They are sort of like half-orcs? They sometimes appear in survivor settlements. Their size looks about the same as humans, but they don’t have little ding-dongs. In other words, no primary sex characteristics.

Sisi: ?

Ample Time: ??

Falling Feather: Uh, why the question marks... Is this not a discussable topic? ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

Ample Time: Ahem, it’s not that it’s not.

Sisi: It’s just... How do you know?

Tail: !!! Elaborate! PLEASE!

Falling Feather: ???

Elf Wang: As expected of Falling Feather... Even Irena says good grief. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Escaping Mole: They’re all food, but not the same kind, right? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Construction Boy: Hahahaha, Eye Owe Money likes this.

Eye Owe Money: Damn! What did I do now?

Irene: Thanks, I am offended. (limited-edition clenched-fist smirk.jpg)

...

Shelter 404.

In the library on level B4, Chu Guang sat before a computer, reading the report Old White had submitted.

In fact, before receiving it, he had already learned the whole story of what happened the night before from the forum post.

But compared to Night Ten’s brag-laden narration and the good brothers roasting him, Old White’s report was clearly much more professional.

It contained not only the overall plan and full operation record, but also a detailed account of all their contact with the Iron Tower.

According to those members of Iron Tower, after the Torch Church arrived in Brocade Lake Municipality, they did not immediately approach the local survivors, but first sought out the local Qi Mutant Human tribe.

That had happened the year before last.

And the year after that, which was Year 211 of the Wasteland Era, the year he had first awakened, the Torch Church sent members to Clearspring City, and through the Pirate's Bay Tavern’s middleman, White Shark, hired local mercenaries to search for Shelter 117 and the black box within.

At present, White Shark had already been placed under control by the Guard Corps and had become one of the New Alliance’s informants in Boulder Town, so that part of the intelligence had naturally been unlocked.

Cross-checking it with the story provided by the Iron Tower organization, things basically lined up.

Including how, later, the Torch Church used Boulder Town as a springboard to provide limited weapons and intel support to the Bonechewer Clan, not only for the black box in Shelter 117, but also as part of a plan to proselytize in both the Brocade River Province and River Valley Province.

It was just that those marauders were truly hopeless, and then came the blizzards of the harsh winter. Losing the weather, terrain, and human factors all at once, they pulled a ‘Calabash Brothers save Grandpa’ routine so badly that they not only wiped themselves out, but also managed to forcibly pound out a ‘new New Alliance’ on a stretch of wilderness.

At the time, the Iron Tower had tried to win help from Boulder Town’s nobles, but those people looked down on the bumpkins from the northern suburbs, never mind bumpkins from a different province.

According to Old White’s report, and Li Jinrong’s words, the envoys they sent to Boulder Town hadn’t even met the head of the city hall, they were dismissed at the gate by the doorman.

But perhaps because of the old nobles’ arrogance, the Torch Church hadn’t received their attention either. Instead, as Boulder Town’s interests were focused on the south, the zeal of the missionaries raised the vigilance of the noble merchants led by Vega.

Many territory in Brocade River Province were in fact remote-controlled by Boulder Town’s nobles, and that to some extent constrained the Torch Church’s expansion plan.

But with the rise of the New Alliance and the decline of Boulder Town and the old nobility, cheap agricultural products from the riverbanks of Sunset Province flowed steadily into southern River Valley Province as the front advanced, and that trivial constraint was quickly removed.

All of it had happened outside the New Alliance’s line of sight.

Now the Torch Church had brought almost all of Brocade River Province into its sphere of influence, and the Qi tribe had become the Torch Church’s staunch ally.

And that intelligence basically matched what Chu Guang had previously learned through the Guard Corps' investigations.

Not only that, but the man named Li Jinrong also offered an unexpected lead.

The very first stop the Torch Church made upon arriving in Brocade Lake Municipality was the Champion Biopharmaceutical Research Institute, and that location was exactly the set of coordinates provided by the Academy!

So what exactly had that institute been researching?

Chu Guang was increasingly certain the Academy was using his hand to accomplish something.

Did they want him to remove the Torch Church for them?

Or did they simply want to divert his attention from Sunset Province, or the Great Desert, or something else?

Those people had too many schemes... He truly couldn’t guess.

Sometimes Chu Guang even suspected that the chance encounter between the Signal Squad and the Burning Corps at the edge of the Wandering Swamp had been arranged by an invisible hand...

"Cybernetically augmented Mutant Humans, huh..." He tapped his index finger lightly on his forehead and, leaning back in his chair, pondered for a long time before speaking. "Little Seven, help me get in touch with Eberts."

Since he couldn’t decide, he might as well consult an expert.

Almost the moment he spoke, a crisp, pleasant voice floated over. "Okay, Master... Ah, Eberts is still in the operating room. His assistant told Little Seven it’ll take about 15 minutes."

It was probably a player undergoing surgery.

Chu Guang muttered, "Tell him not to rush, finish what he’s doing first."

"Roger, roger!" Perched on the desk, Little Seven shot Chu Guang a playful salute.

Hearing that lively voice, Chu Guang couldn’t help but grin. The heaviness between his brows eased a bit. He extended a finger and rubbed its little head.

"Could you get me some tea?"

Enjoying the head pat, Little Seven nodded happily. "

Mm

! Leave it to Little Seven!"

Chu Guang felt that the smile wasn’t quite so simple, but he didn’t pay it much mind.

Before long, the browsing room door opened and Yaya bustled in with a cup of black tea. "Oohoho! Honored administrator, your drowsy-time black tea is here!"