Chapter 619.2: If It's You, You Can Use This Legacy Well.

“I’m surprised.” As Chu Guang entered, Dr. Methods, sitting by the window, set down his newspaper and sighed softly.

In Shelter 101’s virtual world, a plain cafe sat on a bustling street corner.

Taking a seat across, Chu Guang joked, “Surprised at what?”

“The changes outside,” Methods smiled faintly. “The seed I planted out of curiosity... I never thought it would sprout in your hands.”

Though Camp 101 wasn’t a settlement itself, but a strategic district like Bist Town, its growth rivaled any of the New Alliance’s five settlements.

At present, nearly 3,000 technicians and trainees studied there, full-time or part-time, assisting scholars in the research of physics, engineering, sociology, and more.

It was no longer a research outpost hiding in the sewers.

With New Alliance support in supplies, manpower, and security, Camp 101 had quickly transformed Shelter 101’s stored knowledge into visible results, erecting new research facilities on the surface.

Labs recycling data from damaged carbon boards, satellite tracking stations hunting data from orbit...

The New Alliance’s survey teams kept stations there, sending Pioneer City’s high-tech wreckage for classification.

Many facilities partnered with Daybreak City’s industries, from transformers for HV grids to armor steel for Tank No.1, Camp 101 researchers left their mark.

Just like the Production Department, the Technological Department, and the Defense Department once rallied under the banner of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, everyone was full of drive.

And all of it, Methods saw clearly.

Being recognized by a senior, Chu Guang couldn’t help but feel pleased, though he only revealed a calm smile, showing no pride or shame.

Thinking it might be a good opportunity, a thought stirred in him, and he spoke casually. “I found a technology on the Enterprise side that allows transplanting thought into an AI core. The process is as simple as plugging in a USB drive. We used it to save a little girl named Zhao Yinyin and she’s now in Singularity City, helping androids improve the lives of the locals.”

“If you change your mind, you can come out of here anytime.”

Though Chu Guang offered this olive branch without much expectation, he was still surprised by the man’s stubborn refusal to budge.

Not a flicker of interest appeared in his eyes, it was as if he had already accepted the day the Camp 101 reactor shut down as the end of his life.

Yet what did surprise Chu Guang was that while the man showed no interest in the offer, his expression shifted at the mention of Singularity City.

It was the look of someone remembering something long ago, tinged with faint melancholy.

“Singularity City...” Murmuring the words, he suddenly gripped the armrest and looked at Chu Guang.

“Did you meet someone there named Zhao Feiyu?”

Chu Guang blinked, searching his memory, then frowned. “That man seemed to have died a century ago. I saw him once, in the memories of a researcher called Yore.”

Methods fell silent for a long while. Then his hands slackened from the armrest, his shoulders relaxed, and even the smile on his face softened. “I see... sorry, that was a foolish question. Live too long in peace and you forget how much time has passed outside.”

Chu Guang didn’t mind, only raised a curious brow. “He was an acquaintance of yours?”

Methods didn’t hide it. He nodded lightly and spoke casually. “We met once. His work on biological pathways for dealing with radioactive materials was outstanding. Many at the Academy admired his research. I invited him to the Great Rift Valley twice, once in the early years of the Wasteland Era, once in the waning years of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee.”

Here, the Academy referred not to today’s organization under Dr. Conclusions, but the loose academic collective of the past.

Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully. “And he refused both times.”

Methods chuckled, slightly embarrassed. “Yes. He preferred to stay in Singularity City to help survivors. I knew his choice already, but sometimes I indulge in doomed gestures, like inviting you to come here and keep me company.”

The meaning was plain. The invitation to Chu Guang was still open, though he had no hope of it.

Meeting the same eyes of a man who knew he would decline the offer, Chu Guang smiled faintly. “Even the founding of the Academy?”

Methods paused, then laughed freely.

“I did some small work with my brothers, like establishing the technology recovery system for the Post-War Reconstruction Committee. But you misunderstand, the Academy wasn’t founded by me. Strictly speaking, it was my mentor’s legacy.”

Chu Guang suspected there was more to it, but didn’t press. It wasn’t relevant to what was happening in the wasteland anymore.

What he wanted to know was about Torch Church and the Sanctuary

.

Only by knowing the enemy could he defeat them.

All the calamities in the South traced back to one place, Shelter 117.

That was where the Torch Church took shape.

Seeing the man avoid the subject, rambling instead, Chu Guang stopped wasting time and asked directly, “What was Shelter 117’s mission?”

Dr. Methods raised his brows, surprised at the sudden mention of something so distant.

“Didn’t you recover Seven Villard’s administrator logs? Didn’t they say?”

“I want to know what wasn’t written in them.” Chu Guang fixed him with a steady gaze. “Those rebels uploaded their minds into the Sanctuary

,

spread plague across the South with the hands of wastelanders, slaughtered without restraint, calling it glorious evolution. If it were one madman, I’d say it was just his broken mind. But for so many to be so utterly insane, I can only suspect Shelter 117 itself was an asylum. Either it gathered lunatics, or it deliberately cultivated them.”

Methods stared, stunned for a long moment.

His expression was equal parts astonishment at Shelter 117’s heirs and shock at Chu Guang’s radical inference.

Yet, it couldn’t be dismissed.

“Many years ago someone drew a similar conclusion. He believed the Shelter Project had two versions.” Methods finally started his explanation.

Chu Guang said nothing. He had suspected the same, pondering it since seeing what happened in the Brocade River Province.

Seeing him silent, Method continued calmly, “Yes. On one hand, certain shelters executed set shelter protocols, sending part of humanity from a dire present into the future. On the other, all shelters collectively bore responsibility to safeguard civilization as a whole, the project’s true purpose.”

“These two duties rarely conflict. People are civilization’s vessel, sending bright minds to the future helps rebuild the Wasteland. But what if... the survivors went astray? Say, turned to cannibalism to live, and we handed them powerful knowledge? Then the project would lose meaning, even backfire.”

“Indeed,” Chu Guang nodded.

Such missteps weren’t rare, they were common. The wastelanders weren’t the only ones either. Even those in the shelters couldn’t guarantee a straight path.

The Torch Church and the Enlightenment Society proved that.

However, things still felt a little excessive.

Methods sipped his coffee before he spoke again. “But that man’s view differed slightly. He agreed there were two versions, but thought the second wasn’t sabotage, it was a correction mechanism

.

”

Chu Guang frowned. “Correction mechanism?”

Methods didn’t answer directly. His gaze turned to the flowerbed outside the window.

Lush green filled the bed, illusory, but lifelike.

“When you scatter seeds, theoretically a rainstorm will let a few sprout. But that alone doesn’t guarantee a harvest. What emerges might not be seedlings, but weeds, and our seeds may even nourish them instead. So maybe there really was a second mechanism. One that rooted out rot and barbarity, reclaimed nutrients meant for civilization, so that the seeds we sowed can sprout properly.”

Setting down his cup, Methods turned back to Chu Guang, smiling faintly.

“That man was Dr. Principles. You must have met that naive fellow. I didn’t believe him then. But in you and your companions, I’ve seen something new.”

“Our age has ended. Perhaps you will be different.”

Chu Guang was dumbstruck. He had come seeking a solution, only to be told, he was the solution.

He bit back the urge to curse.

After all, the man before him wasn’t just lazy, he was, in truth, already dead.

Shelter 101 housed no living humans. The person lingering there was a ghost from 150 years ago.

That he’d crack open his coffin lid even a sliver to help was already generous.

Still, Chu Guang couldn’t resist a sarcastic quip. “Should I thank you then?”

“No need.” Catching the irritation in his eyes, Methods only laughed.

At that moment, a slip of paper fluttered down like a feather, landing gently on the table.

Chu Guang immediately noticed, asking instinctively, “What’s this?”

“The password to Shelter 100.”

As Chu Guang picked it up, Methods spoke softly. “Years ago, survivors at Camp 101 tried to enter Shelter 100 to continue the reconstruction of West Continent Municipality. But they were too weak, they couldn’t drain the flooded tunnels or open the water-sealed gate. I convinced them to abandon the attempt and kept the key for them.”

“Now the time is ripe. You’ve repaired the dam, and established a new order there.”

“I believe if it’s you, you can use this legacy well.”