Chapter 289.1: Awakening Serum

When the Tide broke out before, in order to deal with the plague caused by the decay of corpses, the red brick building next to the outpost guard's quarters was used as a temporary rescue station, and it temporarily took in nearby residents suffering from fever symptoms.

After the end of the Tide, the problems of plague and spore clouds were resolved, and this place became a health center for local residents as a matter of course.

The medical staff currently working here were mostly temporary workers trained by Hyrja, recruited mainly from literate refugees. Their responsibilities were to cooperate with Hyrja to carry out some necessary experiments, as well as medical rescue work.

If those medical staff were evaluated according to the standards of the federation, they were obviously not professional. But even so, those who knew how to bandage and stop the bleeding were much better than those tribal witch doctors who used folk remedies to treat diseases.

Wastelanders generally had very low requirements for doctors. Not to mention the cure, it would be good if they could guarantee that the patient would not die.

There were more than 50 wooden single beds in the spacious room, which was full at the moment.

These people were the backbone of the guards, many of them were veterans who had experienced more than 2 great battles, and some of them had even been following Chu Guang since several versions ago.

The reason why they were lying there was naturally not because of injury or illness, but because they voluntarily participated in Shelter 404’s medical laboratory experiment. They were injected with the Inducing Serum.

Nurses in long white gowns were walking around asking everyone about their clinical response and recording key information and characteristics on the VM.

"Clinical studies have shown that there is a higher probability of awakening between the ages of 15 and 30, and the probability of awakening will gradually decrease thereafter... These serums for inducing differentiation have answered many of my puzzles." Standing next to Chu Guang, Hyrja, as before, handed over a tablet to Chu Guang, and talked about her discovery with joy.

Chu Guang couldn't understand her thesis and those colorful charts like before, but he still politely browsed the content on the tablet before getting straight to the point. "I'm not interested in things that are too professional. You can tell me the conclusion. Tell me stuff like what the probability is or the increase or stuff like that.”

Hyrja quickly rattled on, "The probability of awakening on the first injection is 27%, the probability for the second injection is 15%. The probability of the third injection causing an awakening is 9%, and the probability of the fourth injection is 3%... Of course, this is only a theoretical calculation value, which is different from statistical probability. The experimental samples are too few at the moment, and there are too many uncertainties in the selective expression of genes, so I can't give you absolutely accurate data."

You can still get a second injection if you don't awaken your ability after the first injection?

A slightly surprised expression appeared on Chu Guang's face. "What about the side effects?"

Hyrja continued, "Your fever will last for 2 to 3 days after the injection, accompanied by symptoms such as muscle weakness and lethargy, but it is generally safe. As for other side effects... Other than some fertility difficulties, others have not been found for the time being. But it cannot be ruled out that it won't have any more side effects in the future. So I don’t recommend that you promote it on a large scale in the whole society. After all, I have never heard of the Prosperity Era having anything like it. It is probably a semi-finished product that the researchers themselves can’t make up their minds about.”

Chu Guang coughed lightly, "I don't need you to tell me this."

The output of induced expression serum was very small, only about 20 tubes were produced a day, and it seemed that it could only be produced through black boxes at present.

Considering that the cold fusion battery used in the black box was a non-renewable resource, the hidden cost of this needle may be far more expensive than it actually looked.

No matter in terms of yield, production cost, or deeper social aspects, the serum was not suitable for large-scale promotion.

"By the way, what about the residents of the shelter? Did they react after the injection?" Chu Guang remembered that the first batch of the experimenters who were injected with the serum seemed to be the 20 lucky players who won the special prize in the celebration event. Some of them had not yet awakened, but some had already awakened.

After all, players could be resurrected, and even if something went wrong, it could be explained with stuff like there being bugs in the game. At most, some compensation would be given later, and no players would complain about it if they received compensation while the game was still in the Beta test.

Hyrja thought for a moment and concluded, "According to clinical observations, the effect of this serum on the first batch of lab rats is very limited, so limited that it can even be ignored. "Personally, I think this may be related to the particularity of your shelter residents' DNA. The expression level of your DNA itself is very high, and there is a set of stable and rigorous evolutionary routes... This is what I am most curious about."

After listening to Hyrja's statement, Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully.

He tried to understand using her words with his limited IQ.

The effect of the Induction Serum was probably similar to a catalyst, allowing people who had the potential to awaken themselves to awaken more quickly, but it had almost no effect on those who had already awakened.

The clones produced by Shelter 404 was very special. Clones already had genes that had been specifically enhanced, so their compatibility with the serum was very low.

To put it simply, this serum was mainly used to improve the physical functions of wastelanders. However, the improvement was quite random.

Some people would feel increased strength, others would just feel faster reflexes, or both, but neither would make them broken characters.

"Understood." Chu Guang returned the tablet in his hand to Hyrja, walked into the ward, and strolled over to the bed closest to the door.

A young teenager was lying there. He was staring straight at the ceiling, as if in a daze.

Chu Guang recognized the kid. He was a 14 year old boy who had been following him since he was rescued from the Bloodhand Clan's dungeon. He was also the youngest member of the guard.

If they were on Earth, the kid wouldn’t even be old enough to enter high school!

But in a world of wastelands where human life was worthless, many kids of his age already became fathers.

"How does it feel?" Chu Guang asked.

Hearing the voice from the side, the boy turned his face. When he saw Chu Guang, his dazed eyes suddenly became clear. "Master administrator?! Why are you here?"

Hearing his voice, other people in the ward also cast surprised glances in his direction.

Lu Bei was overjoyed and wanted to get out of bed, but was stopped by Chu Guang. "You don't need to get up, just tell me how you feel."

After saying this, Chu Guang glanced at the other people in the ward, signaling that they didn't need to get up to greet him either, and then continued to look at Lu Bei.

Seeing the administrator who came to visit him, Lu Bei blushed excitedly and said energetically. "Sir, I feel very good!"

Chu Guang nodded, looked at him who was resting on the bed and said seriously. "Thank you for your contribution to the New Alliance. If you experience any physical discomfort in the future, the Alliance will take care of you for the rest of your life."

Lu Bei who was sitting on the bed nodded slightly. "Please don't say that, it is my honor to share your worries! What's more, I feel that I am much stronger now than before! If I face marauders again... I will definitely not be as battered as before."

The sneak attack on New Year's Eve cost the guards a lot, and he also lost his old friend who had always taken care of him in that battle.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Chu Guang put his hand on his shoulder, patted him lightly, and comforted him. "You have already done a good job, so you don't need to be too strict with yourself. And even if you get a stronger ability, you still can't lower your guard. Moreover, don't use it to do evil."

After a pause, Chu Guang continued. "I plan to set up a special unit, which is independent of the guards. It will be called the Guardian Corps. This team will be composed of ability users. Are you willing to join it?"

Lu Bei straightened his back, placed his right fist against his left chest, and said with piercing eyes. "I am willing! My life was saved by you. Even if you send me to death, I will never hesitate!"

Chu Guang looked at him and nodded slightly, speaking in a gentle voice, "I will remember your loyalty. You may continue to rest now."

The first batch of serum had all been used, but among the 50 participants participating in the experiment, only 16 people awakened their abilities.

The remaining 34 people still had 3 injection opportunities. They could decide whether to continue to participate in the experiment, but none of them wanted to give up.

It was their opportunity to become stronger. If there was no dose limit, they would like to increase the dose and finish the 4 injections at the same time.

Counting the 4 experienced veterans selected from the awakened guards, Chu Guang planned to form them into an independent corps.

In fact, building a unit composed entirely of ability users was not a temporary idea of Chu Guang, but a plan he had long before creating the Beta version.

Awakening was not common in the wasteland, but it was by no means rare. Before obtaining the serum, there were already around a dozen natural ability users in the guard.

However, natural ability users were different from players who had accumulated development progress to awaken their abilities. Most of the awakened abilities they had had no rules to follow, and their abilities' quality was relatively average. They rarely appeared to specialize in a single attribute growth as players did.

But one thing was certain was that the ability user had a natural combat power and battlefield survivability that were stronger than ordinary people.

They could basically be considered super soldiers!

Chu Guang intended to select the most loyal warriors from the guards, inject them with serum, and equip them with 10 sets of Heavy Cavalry exoskeletons, 100 sets of Light Cavalry exoskeletons, and matching small drones. He would give them half of the equipment on level B4, and form a Guardian Corps composed of wastelander ability users!

As for the remaining half of the equipment on level B4, Chu Guang placed them in the NPC shop and asked Boss Xia to help sell them to players who reached the level requirements.

Chu Guang would try his best to control the size of this guardian corps between 100 and 120 people, which was equivalent to the size of a standard company.

As the standing troops of the New Alliance, they would assume different responsibilities from the players on the battlefield, and would be responsible for handling missions that players found inconvenient to participate in or had no interest in participating in.

For his army, Chu Guang had only one requirement.

They had to be completely loyal!

In addition to the Guardian Corps, Chu Guang also intended to form the First and Second Corps of the New Alliance.

At present, Wrench was the head of the First Corps, and Liu Ding was the head of the Second Corps. Most of the grassroots officers were veterans who had participated in more than two battles in the guards and had received guidance and training from Vanus.

NPCs weren’t the only ones who could join. Players could also enter the First and Second Corps.

After all, not all players liked the social content of MMORPG. Many casual players liked to do missions and deal with NPCs to experience immersive role-playing. The presence of other retarded players would only affect their sense of immersion.

If those people were asked to lead a team, they would feel annoyed instead.

There were quite a few players of this type in the server, and many of them had leveled up their combat and shooting proficiency to 5, but their command skill proficiency was still 0.

As for why that was the case...

For players who hated to command others, they would naturally not try.

Just memorizing every ID in the team was already not easy, let alone building a good relationship with everyone so that everyone in the team could do their own thing well.

In addition to the obligations and responsibilities of the standing troops, the First Corps and the Second Corps also needed to undertake the obligation to absorb casual players and newcomers.

When Chu Guang came to the ward in person to comfort the experimenters who were injected with the Awakening Serum, 20 fully armed players had already arrived at the eastern district of Clearspring City.

They were divided into 2 10-member teams, all of whom were ability users.

A military operation jointly planned by the Burning Corps and the Jungle Corps was quietly kicking off...

...