Chapter 573.1: We Never Shortchange Anyone Who Helps Us

Back on the Wasteland Online forums.

Players active in Hope Town had started a dedicated thread, sharing the intelligence they had gathered in the settlement and chatting noisily about it.

Since most of the hot threads on the forum were focused on the recently liberated Boulder Town and the coming Tide, their post had little traction. Basically, it was just a few players from the Burning Corps talking among themselves.

Still, having fewer people had its advantages.

The conversation was mostly about strategy and storyline, with little derailment.

Ample Time: In the 44th year of the Wasteland Era, the Production Department signed the Among Cloud Province Revival Act, confiscating all research institutions owned by the Technological Department in the Among Cloud Province, including facilities related to Project ‘Complete Human’.

- Because the conflicts had piled up for too long, the negotiations were crude and heavy-handed. What was supposed to be a peaceful takeover turned into armed conflict, leading to the escape of unstable DNA experimental subjects. Some fled inland, some moved along the coast... This is all documented in detail in the Great Rift Valley’s library. I remember it was added to the official lore archive a few months ago.

- If we have to make a reasonable guess, the researchers who escaped into the wasteland didn’t abandon their mission. They trekked into the Brocade River Province, and after the disbanding of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee in the 45th year of the Wasteland Era, they found Singularity City. There they cooperated with the locals, continuing Complete Human research and transforming a portion, or even most, of the survivors into Mutant Humans.

- And today’s Qi Tribe are the descendants of those survivors from 150 years ago.

Ample Time gave this conjecture after organizing the intel Old White had collected from the priest. After hearing it, several players were stunned.

Night Ten: Holy shit... Were Singularity City’s residents insane?!

Peepo: Voluntarily turning into Mutant Humans? Wow...

Gale: It’s not necessarily insanity. Put yourself in their shoes. Say you’re a billionaire, and standing before you is... or rather, a group of top scholars with every possible credential. They tell you they’re researching a technology that can reverse cellular aging, but now some dark forces are after their unfinished results. If only you shelter them and sponsor their work, not only you but all humanity could benefit from this wondrous technology.

Ample Time: Your example isn’t accurate enough. Project Complete Human was a far bigger promise than anti-aging. And remember, those survivors had just lost the Committee’s protection, facing brutal survival challenges. What you had in front of you wasn’t just top scholars, it was persecuted scholars, branded as traitors, maybe carrying secret knowledge. Supporting them would not only bring material rewards, but morally put you on the high ground. Everyone would support you, even if you stumbled a little. (¬_¬)

- Even if the true root of the crisis was the imbalance of duty and reality, the Production Department’s plan was only a preemptive judgment of that crisis. Still, the Among Cloud Province military operation was the match that lit the fuse.

- To most survivors at the time, those under the Production Department were traitors, and Ideal City itself had betrayed its ideals.

- A group of persecuted researchers who still clung to their mission carried the aura of tragic heroes.

- When the committee collapsed, whether they went to Singularity City or Boulder Town, the locals would have welcomed them.

- In that desperate age, those who still led people forward often held a sliver of idealism.

Night Ten: But Mutant Humans... That’s clearly not the kind of tech they promised! (ᗒᗣᗕ)

Ample Time: Not yet, anyway. Don’t forget, Mutant Humans and rapid-growth clones were both byproducts of Project Complete Human. Imperfect as these byproducts were, they were already much more perfect than the planet’s original lifeform. With a certain investment opportunity laid before you, what reason would you have to refuse? (¬_¬)

Gale: In fact, Singularity City’s starting conditions were better than Boulder Town’s. Brocade Lake Municipality had no Mutant Slime Mold, no nuclear waste. Industrialization wasn’t as advanced, but survival wasn’t as dire, and food was plentiful. That might be why the researchers chose Singularity City as their new base.

Old White: And some residents, tempted by the promises of Project Complete Human, offered themselves to become Mutant Humans?

Ample Time: Based on what you learned from the pastor, most likely. And later, for some reason, they eliminated the original residents, and even grafted reproductive organs back onto the Mutant Humans who didn’t have them.

Gale: I heard the earliest Mutant Humans had no reproductive organs, to prevent DNA spread. Restoring what was removed wouldn’t be hard for those researchers.

Quit Smoking: But why would they do that...

Gale: Who knows? Maybe the residents of Singularity City lacked foresight. (¬_¬")

Ample Time: Actually, it’s not hard to understand. Imagine someone promised your grandfather they’d finish Project Complete Human in 20 years, transforming everyone into perfected new humans. He believed it wholeheartedly. Then you inherit his role, and you’re growing old yourself, and the promise still hasn’t come true.

- Meanwhile, a bunch of eunuch-like Mutant Humans with immense strength rage daily in your settlement. They insist their sacrifice was for nothing and demand restoration. But you and your scholars can’t deliver, it’s an unfinished technology, and no one knows how far from completion it is. So you make compromises, at least give them back what you took away.

- Everyone keeps saying the technology is almost complete. Say it often enough and you believe it yourself. When the last piece is done, everything will be fine.

- But new problems arise. One day, your settlement suddenly has a generation of Mutant Humans who’ve never been human. They realize one punch can knock out those feeble stick-figure intellectuals. They live longer, rarely fall sick, and are only uglier. Imagine what that means in the wasteland.

- When 99% of the settlement consists of second-generation Mutant Humans and old humans who joined them in worship of strength, the era of old humanity is over.

- A few radicals still remember where they came from, still cling to the plan to complete Project Complete Human someday. But most Mutant Humans will see themselves as already perfect. Their goal will be to expand their living space, and reduce the old humans to livestock.

- Some humans will serve them, or collaborate, seeking the chance to become Mutant Humans themselves and survive in the new world.

Gale: From that angle, the Mutant Humans’ route and the Torch Church’s doctrine align almost perfectly...

Night Ten: No wonder they get along so well...

Old White: By the way, Ample Time, how did your talk with the Pinewood Ranch caravan leader go?

Ample Time: That’s settled... He agreed to cooperate with our investigation inside the settlement. All he asked was that we take his family along when we leave.

Quit Smoking: 666!

Kidney Warrior: Awesome! Ample Time is the most realistic man in the whole server! (￣▽￣)

Ample Time: Shut up!

Night Ten: But seriously, why are all these merchants running away?

Gale: Isn’t it obvious? Before, they smelled smoke. Now, the fire’s already at their eyebrows. (¬_¬)

...

In the library of Shelter 404.

Chu Guang leaned back on the sofa, finishing the forum thread. He reorganized the intelligence gathered by the frontline players.

Just then, the New Alliance Biological Research Institution completed the analysis of the cybernetic Mutant Human corpse. Hyrja personally brought the report.

"The results are out. The Mutant Humans in Brocade Lake Municipality have genetic links with those around Clearspring City... Most likely, the ones here came from there."

She sat on the sofa opposite Chu Guang, extended a finger, and slid a pale-blue window across the air toward him. "Here are the detailed results."

Chu Guang tapped the holographic window open and skimmed.

The dense data and charts were far beyond his expertise, but he trusted Hyrja’s professionalism.

"What about the Great Desert?" he asked.

Hyrja replied concisely, "Based on samples from Pioneer City... the correlation is very low. I lean toward them being branches of different origin."

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Different origin meaning...?" Chu Guang raised an eyebrow.

"In simple terms, their ancestors came from different research facilities. Each made its own modifications. I recall the West Coast had research institutes on Project Complete Humans. The Army’s clones were byproducts of those, weren’t they?"

At that, Hyrja’s face softened with a trace of emotion. "Honestly... I’m surprised. In such a time of scarcity, those technicians could still produce results this impressive with such limited equipment."

Project Complete Human had always been a singularity technology beyond the horizon of human civilization. Even during the Prosperity Era, it was an academic peak that no one could conquer. Even with colonized planets providing vast DNA libraries, progress was slow.

The difficulty of such a colossal project was unimaginable. Yet in the early Wasteland Era, the most despairing of times, settlements somehow retained the ability to develop new technology, even making surprising improvements on existing results.

It was no small feat.

"Indeed. Leaving aside the negative side effects of unfinished tech, their accomplishments themselves are astonishing." Looking at the emotional Hyrja, Chu Guang suddenly thought of something and said, "By the way, New Alliance forces found some interesting clues in the south, possibly connected to Shelter 117."

Before he finished, Hyrja shot up from the sofa, planting both hands on the coffee table. "Where is she?!"

Caught off guard by her sudden reaction, Chu Guang froze. "She...?"

"Karen!" Hyrja’s eyes locked onto him, burning with intensity. "My mentor! Where is she!?"

"

Ahem...

don’t get too worked up."

Seeing her nose almost touch his, Chu Guang coughed softly, gesturing for her to calm down.

Realizing her outburst, Hyrja’s cheeks flushed red. She quickly sat back down, pressing her fist to her lips with a light cough. "Sorry."

"It’s fine. I understand."