Chapter 584.2: Holy Shit! He's An Old Popsicle Too!

Though the devs claimed every patch fixed bugs, no one had seen one before. Now they finally had.

Chu Guang ignored the prisoner and returned alone to his quarters.

He sat, donned the VR headset on the desk, tapped the side, and said, "Little Seven, connect me to the extracted memory."

A spirited voice quickly answered in his ear. "Got it, Master!"

As soon as the words fell, pale blue particles of light spread from the center of his vision outward, reshaping everything they touched.

First the floor, then the chairs and desk, then the walls, the room beneath his feet transformed into a pure white chamber.

Chu Guang had never seen that place.

But from the nurse delivering a baby, the infant in the mother’s arms, and the man by the bedside with the look of a father, he could guess it was a maternity ward.

The people bustled about, the couple sweetly discussing what name to give their child.

No one noticed the stranger standing in the room.

After all, it was Yore’s memory. He did not belong.

Chu Guang stretched out his hand and passed through the nurse as if she were mist, then walked to the window, gazing outside.

Beyond, greenery flourished, birds sang, flowers bloomed... Even such details were perfectly rendered.

"Why did you send me here?" Chu Guang asked with a trace of helplessness.

He had no interest in the entire life story of a minor figure.

What might be important to that man was irrelevant to him and the wasteland.

If he had to watch thirty years of memories start to finish, he would have time for nothing else.

Blue particles flickered and the doll-like Little Seven dropped onto his shoulder, legs swinging, and admitted sheepishly. "Sorry, Master... I’ll fast-forward the timeline!"

Seeing its shy grin, Chu Guang suspected the little critter had done it on purpose.

When he stayed silent, Little Seven asked in a small guilty voice. "Then... should we start from when he joined the Torch Church?"

"

Mm...

wait."

Chu Guang was about to nod when something caught his eye.

Beyond the trees, skyscrapers pierced the clouds, cars surged in endless streams... Even Ideal City could not compare with it.

It was clearly not the wasteland.

This man had been born before the war?

"... Start from before he entered the cryo-pod," Chu Guang changed his order after a pause. "I want to know which Shelter he went to."

But Little Seven’s reply surprised him.

"He wasn’t a Shelter resident."

Not a Shelter resident?

Chu Guang frowned.

"Then take me right before he entered the cryo-pod... I want to know why he chose time travel, and how he reached the future."

He stepped away from the window to the nightstand, looking up at the holo-display above the digital clock.

It was the year 2100.

The 75th year of the Prosperity Era.

The golden age was in full bloom. Humanity had built a utopia on the surface, fulfilled in both material and spirit.

In just ten years, by 2110, industry and academia would again ignite dreams of a brighter future.

Graviton channels and FTL engines would open the gates to the interstellar era. Tickets beyond the light-years would no longer be one-way, but adventures anyone could return from.

Of course, not everything the future brought would be good. Each step forward revealed treasures, but also new problems.

13 years later, the Spirit Interference Device, meant to replace infrasound fences and drive off hostile alien species, would explode into scandal at Clearspring City’s Third Ecological Protection Park, accused of brainwashing and human experiments.

The uproar had shaken even the authorities. But to the citizens of utopia, it had been only a minor episode.

Chu Guang thought to himself...

Even if he could speak across time, none here would believe this newborn, Yore, would two centuries later commit deeds that would stun even Satan.

And if he told them that in 29 years everything would end, all their brilliance erased, they would only call him mad.

It was 2100.

29 years remained until the first year of the Wasteland Era, 2129.

He faintly heard the mother name the baby Yore, and then the scenery blurred and flew by as Little Seven fast-forwarded.

Like many of his era, Yore enjoyed a pleasant childhood, moved on to higher education, then found employment.

When the scene settled, the maternity ward was gone, replaced by a bright, modern office with vast windows opening to seas of clouds and skyscrapers like forests.

A young man in a suit stood before a desk, speaking to his superior seated behind it with excitement.

Chu Guang ignored the words at first, scanning instead for any hint of time.

He found it quickly. There was a holo-billboard outside the window.

13th of July, 2121.

In three days, a hit household security robot would be released, preorders at only 100,000 credits, but that wasn’t the point.

History recorded that in this year, Shelter 79 and Project Eternal began.

The end of prosperity had shown its cracks.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

People grew anxious about the future, and the shared faith in how everything would get better gave way to doomsaying.

And anxiety itself was a market. Companies selling family shelters and protection gear made fortunes. His company was no exception.

Scanning the office, Chu Guang’s eyes fell on a file, and he realized with a start. It was the headquarters of the Champion group!

Shelter 79’s researchers were diehard fans of this company, even their coffee beans bore its brand.

Though really, Chu Guang always wondered, was it fine for a pharmaceutical giant to sell coffee?

The two in the office continued speaking, voices sharpening.

"... An anti radiation drug?"

The superior rubbed his chin, expression unreadable. The staff continued in excitement, "Yes! I bet this new anti radiation drug will be our next growth engine. It will bring about explosive growth!"

Neither person was Yore. However, since that was his memory, he was nearby.

Chu Guang searched and soon guessed. At 21, he was likely just a newbie. He stepped outside the office, and there he was.

Yore stood at the door with a folder, eyes darting around nervously. His fresh-from-school manner was obvious.

Though younger, that was undeniably the same man Chu Guang had interrogated.

Yore stared intently at the office discussion. Chu Guang turned his attention there as well.

If his guess was right, they were discussing the formula for synthesizing anti radiation medicine from Blue Umbrella Mushroom.

In a sense, the formula had saved many.

At least mercenaries in Boulder Town lived on it, and Chu Guang’s first fortune had come from selling the same mushroom.

"... More precisely, DNA self-repair technology! We found an active compound in a blue fungus that repairs macromolecules damaged by neutron radiation."

"A clever thought... but forgive me, nanomedicine bots could do it better." The superior tossed the report onto the desk, spreading his hands. "We’re a technology company. Using mushrooms for medicine sounds like ancient superstition."

His subordinate pressed on passionately. "War, sir. I’m talking about wartime! I know nanobots can perfectly repair damaged nucleic acids, proteins, and enzymes, but where do you get them in wartime? Compared to an entire massive industrial chain to support nanobots, my solution is far more practical. Even if the worst happens, suppliers collapse, raw materials skyrocket, we can still provide cheap, reliable anti radiation medicine. Or pricier, if need be, we’ll have an unrivaled cost edge!"

This time, the superior did not reject the idea instantly. Stroking his chin, he looked intrigued. "Interesting."

Everyone believed a break with the colonies was near. War seemed the only solution.

Nuclear weapons still remained the swiftest way to scour life from the Earth, the only differences were delivery and scale.

In such an age, cheap anti radiation pills were far more practical than nanobots.

At last, the subordinate persuaded his boss, though it cost much persuasion.

When he emerged from the office, Yore immediately asked, "How was it?"

His senior beamed. "Done! The boss agreed to let us use the Brocade Lake Municipality lab. If we deliver results, he’ll fight for more budget at the board... No time to lose. Pack the materials tonight, we leave first thing tomorrow!"

Joy lit up Yore’s face. He clenched his fists, though after a long pause only managed to stammer, "Great!"

His senior chuckled and patted his shoulder. "Work hard."

As the two left for the elevator, Chu Guang’s eyes widened.

If he remembered right, Champion Biopharmaceutical Research Institute had only one lab in Brocade Lake Municipality, the very same institute that fell under Mutant Human control...