Chapter 415.1: The Ember

By the time the door opened again, all the ‘patients’ had returned to their beds. They lay there like frostbitten eggplants with none of the vigor they had shown earlier.

Standing next to Yunyi, Yu Feng massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming on, but as a mere apprentice, he didn't feel it was his place to comment.

Having put his shirt back on, Shen Rui walked out of the room with an embarrassed look on his face. He intended to say something to change the subject, but Yunyi spoke before he could. "What was that?"

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Chinese poker..." Shen Rui chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he explained, "It's a card game invented by those blue coats. It’s quite popular in the local taverns."

Yunyi frowned slightly, her glasses reflecting a sharp glint. "Taverns?"

"Uh, alcohol doesn't affect the treatment, and it also helps prevent the spread of the mutant Slime Mold... that's what the doctors and we were told." Shen Rui glanced nervously around, hoping no doctors were passing by as he was scrutinized by her piercing gaze.

Yunyi was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Before coming, I heard about your situation and was quite worried about your safety... It seems I was overthinking it."

Hearing her sigh, Shen Rui hurriedly explained, "It's not our fault, life outside the city is so monotonous, we need to find some...

Uh...

Ways to entertain ourselves to pass the time."

"So your way of passing time is by gambling?" Yunyi snapped suddenly.

Feeling guilty, Shen Rui fell silent.

Maintaining discipline wasn't her role, so Yunyi didn't pursue the topic further, but after a short pause, she started to mention their arrangements. "In two days, you will be transferred to West Continent Municipality to take the return flight to the Among Clouds Province ."

Hearing that he could go home, Shen Rui's face finally lit up with joy.

Although life in the New Alliance was interesting, it was only suitable for a temporary stay, not for long-term. They lacked access to Endpoint Cloud and immersive virtual entertainment spaces, which made it boring over time. Otherwise, they wouldn't resort to playing cards.

"You've been living here for a while now, tell me about this place."

Hearing Yunyi's inquiry, Shen Rui snapped back to his senses and quickly asked, "Which aspect would you like to know about?"

Yunyi thought for a moment before speaking again. "For example, what exactly is the New Alliance?"

Her question was a little too abstract.

Shen Rui scratched his head. After arranging his thoughts, he replied, "Well... In their words, they’re a survivor alliance led by shelter residents. They named themselves the Humanity Revitalization United Front, also named the New Alliance."

Humanity Revitalization...

Yunyi slightly raised her left eyebrow, her expression a little strange, but she said nothing in the end.

Survivor settlements with odd names were plentiful in the wasteland, including kingdoms made up of only three people, tribes of ten thousand, and federations formed from ten small villages.

An alliance claiming to revive human civilization didn't seem odd at all.

Seeing her quiet, Shen Rui continued, "No matter what they call themselves, the people here are quite kind, though it's true that the local customs are rather fierce. Occasionally, confused wastelanders would cause trouble here. However, they would be quickly controlled by the shelter residents.”

He suddenly remembered something and continued, "Oh right, those in blue coats... Many of them are awakeners. Even their administrator is one. They have extremely advanced biotechnology as well, and they probably mastered the technology to stably cultivate awakeners."

Yunyi nodded, not finding it surprising.

Such technology was also present in the Enterprise, but like cloning technology, it was a taboo technology seldom used.

After all, awakening was not necessarily a good thing. The cost of awakening was their chance of giving birth, which, in terms of the overall societal birth rate, was not suitable for widespread adoption in a stable society.

Ideal City, to some extent, continued the laws and moral views of the Federation Era, recognizing the identity of the awakeners but not extolling them like the desperate wastelanders.

Becoming ‘superhuman’ through mechanical exoskeletons and bionic organs was not only more stable and controllable, but also didn't require sacrificing their personal happiness.

However, transforming the residents of the shelter into awakeners was one thing. It was surprising that administrator had awakened.

It seemed she had underestimated that person's ambition.

"I understand the basic situation now," Yunyi said after listening to Shen Rui's account and thought to herself. "It seems the situation here is more complicated than I imagined... Even that administrator isn’t someone easy to deal with. He’s a complicated fellow..."

Shen Rui frowned. "Complicated?"

"Yes." Yunyi nodded and spoke in a neutral tone, "Ambitious, cunning, and a good leader... He has all the qualities a person with ambition needs, and he is more adept at disguising and hiding than the average ambitious person. He makes himself appear harmless, obscure in his true intentions."

Shen Rui scratched his head and a look of confusion appeared on his face.

"But I feel he's quite upright, and the residents here really like him... Maybe you're overthinking?"

It wasn't just him who felt that way.

Anyone who had interacted with Chu Guang could tell he was easy to get along with, and the residents' opinions didn't seem like mere flattery or sycophancy.

This was a stark contrast to the survivor settlements they had encountered along the way.

He had seen cannibal tribes that devoured people whole, survivor communities that concocted reasons to consume humans, and village chiefs who called themselves civilized proposing to hand over eleven or twelve-year-old girls as slaves to trade for tools. Of course, when he was approached, Shen Rui would never accept such a thing.

Rather than seeing him as an ambitious person, Shen Rui felt that this man was more like Lu Yang, the captain of the Pioneer... He was more of an idealist.

But that was just his personal view.

For instance, a guy who called himself Mr. House often cursed him on the radio.

"It's not that I'm overthinking things, but you're too trusting," Yunyi said calmly, "I don't deny he is an upright person, but that doesn't mean what I said isn't valid."

After some time, she continued, "This isn't just my opinion. According to the 'Brain', there's a 37% chance this war was instigated by the New Alliance."

The Brain was Ideal City's main server, the core of the Endpoint Cloud, and also the business core of the Endpoint Group.

While other major corporations rarely relied on AI for decision-making, the Endpoint Group's degree of automation was very high, even higher than the Health Luxury Corporate Group, which extensively used android staff.

Shen Rui looked surprised as he glanced around the corridor. He cautiously looked back at Yunyi before speaking again. "I think... Judgments based on limited intelligence might not be reliable, even if it's from the Brain. Honestly, I don't trust that thing much, and we'd better not discuss this on someone else's turf... After all, they are the victims. A lot of people died that day."

Yunyi's expression didn't change. "It's just a reasonable suspicion. The initial attack on the Pioneer by the Army happened north of Clearspring City, and shortly after they left, they encountered the Army's blockade again... There are too many coincidences make me think it's not that simple."

"Of course, this is just suspicion. I wouldn't submit unverified guesses as evidence for the council’s deliberation. Unless we have sufficient clues to prove that he instigated this war for our aid or for his personal desires, I won’t say anything."

It wasn’t just her point of view.

In the Endpoint Group, many shared similar opinions.

To go deeper, unlike the Silver Wing Corporate Group and Long Axe Group, the Endpoint Group's business was mainly within Ideal City. Most survivor settlements couldn't use their AI technology and cloud computing services. Expanding overseas markets had no benefit.

Thus, even disregarding personal emotional factors, they couldn't possibly support the war from a purely interest-driven perspective, even if they ultimately voted in agreement.

Shen Rui opened his mouth, then helplessly shrugged. "Okay, I can't guarantee he's definitely a good person. I'm just sharing my view... I personally think highly of him."

"Understood, let's not talk about this," Yunyi switched to a more conciliatory tone, "By the way, I almost forgot to ask, how much are your treatment costs?"

Shen Rui was slightly taken aback. He hadn't really paid attention to that.

After thinking for a moment, he raised an eyebrow and muttered, "It seems to be... 500?”

"That cheap?" Yunyi looked at him in surprise.

Shen Rui lowered his head and spoke even more softly. "

Uh...

It should be 500 per day.”

Noticing the increasingly unfriendly expression on Yunyi's face, Yu Feng, who had been silent, coughed and quickly explained, "They’re speaking in terms of silver coins, not CR.”

...

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.

Dressed in casual clothes, Lone Wolf, yawning, walked out of the shelter and found Gale waiting in Resurrection Plaza.

As a lifestyle gamer and a laid-back player, unless it was a major event, he rarely appeared directly on the front lines and seldom teamed up for dungeons.

After all, he was well aware of his own tendency to hold others back.

Normally, he would either discuss professional issues with a few players at the industrial zone and Steel Plant 81, or he would go fishing at the lake with Quit Bullshit.

Although he was dragged into filling out a form by Gale, due to the significant difference in game style, the two didn't interact much.

They mostly did their own things, occasionally getting together for a chat.

It was like what was happening at the moment. Teaming up so early in the morning was a first in several months.

"What's up? Had to talk in the game?" Lone Wolf looked at Gale, trying to glean some clues from his expression.

However, though his game ID was wildly adventurous, his personality was quite reserved. His expressions hardly changed, whether on the wasteland or on Earth.

"It's about the game, so of course, we’ll talk here." Gale said seriously, "Follow me, I'll show you something cool."

Lone Wolf asked instinctively, "What is it?"

However, Gale didn't explain. "You'll know when we get there!"

Well, great.

This little shit learned how to build the suspense...