Chapter 487.1: The Monstrous Skeleton Corps

In a dimly lit hotel room, a sliver of morning light seeped through the half-drawn curtains.

Old White opened his eyes to find a blanket covering him. Shaking his groggy head, he slowly awakened from sleep.

"You really sleep like you’re dead."

Hearing the voice beside him, Old White turned his head to see Chen Yutong sitting casually on a nearby sofa. A fleece blanket was draped over her knees, with her legs curled up beneath it, still wearing the same clothes from the day before. It was already October, and the temperatures in the River Valley Province had fallen. Though forecasts predicted a warm winter, snow would likely fall by early December at the latest.

Realizing she had spent the entire night sleeping on the sofa, Old White felt slightly embarrassed and gave a light cough. “Sorry, I drank a little too much last night...”

He had no choice. It wasn’t just that girl, Lisa. Everyone in Highway Town Hotel had been waiting to hear his story.

In order to make the tale sound believable, and to protect the real identity of their super spy, Pangolin, he had no choice but to pin all the stories from players like Sideline Slacking and the others onto Pangolin instead.

And so, the newbie killer who had butchered people at sector G53-7 became the fierce warrior who had charged in and out of Hill 330 seven times alone!

If someone traveled hundreds of kilometers away to the Lion Kingdom, they would probably hear completely opposite rumors, unable to understand why Pangolin was sometimes on the New Alliance's side, and other times seemingly helping the Army attack the New Alliance.

But that didn’t matter. It actually suited his double-agent persona perfectly.

On the wasteland, anyone with a mouth could spread stories. No one really had the means to verify which rumor was true.

Sooner or later, someone bored enough would try to piece together a self-consistent version of events based on their own logic. What puzzled Old White, though, was why he ended up in the room.

Everyone knew the game suppressed sensations that could cause discomfort to players. While this improved the gameplay, it also made it harder to judge one's own physical condition based on neural feedback.

The most direct result was that, once drunk, players would basically black out.

Usually when someone got drunk, Hooke or another player would tacitly help carry their character to a guest room to rest.

But for some reason, he ended up in an NPC’s room.

"It's fine. I'm not picky about where I sleep. Always traveling for work, I’ve often made do with a car seat for the night. This sofa’s actually pretty comfortable... Is the material some kind of exotic leather?" As she spoke, Chen Yutong patted the soft armrest of the sofa.

Seeing her looking completely unbothered, Old White suddenly remembered she had also drank quite a bit the night before, and couldn’t help but ask, “Maybe it’s some sort of monster hide... Speaking of which, didn’t you feel drunk at all?”

Chen Yutong paused for a moment before giving a reply, "Me? Not really. My bionic liver has enough alcohol dehydrogenase to metabolize the alcohol. It doesn’t activate the CYP2E1 enzyme that produces reactive oxygen species, so I pretty much feel nothing..."

Crap. His head was starting to hurt again. He really should’ve picked a constitution type build...

Seeing Old White pressing a hand to his forehead, Chen Yutong chuckled and teased, "Getting me drunk isn’t that easy."

Old White quickly coughed to explain. “I didn’t mean to...”

"Just kidding, don’t take it seriously." She smiled and continued, "By the way... That drink was quite interesting. I didn’t get that buzzed feeling you mentioned, but I experienced something else, thank you."

"No problem. I said I’d buy you a drink."

Feeling awkward about lying in someone else’s bed, Old White pushed himself up with both hands, shook his head, and picked up the VM from the bedside table, strapping it onto his muscular arm.

The loading bar flashed briefly, and a soft blue glow lit up the screen.

But to his surprise, a brand-new red dot appeared on the taskbar icon this time.

[New Mission: Board the next available flight to report to the frontlines.]

His brow lifted slightly, and a spark of excitement lit up in his eyes.

Noticing the change in his expression, Chen Yutong asked curiously, “What’s up?”

"Leave’s been cut short. The administrator summoned me to the frontline." Old White grinned. "Looks like they need me again."

The next mission was to strike the royal palace of Falcon City.

The Goblin Corps would coordinate with over a hundred W-2 Mosquito attack aircraft.

Joining them would be the Storm Corps, who would ride the Heart of Steel to break through the Army's defenses behind Oasis No.2.

It would be a strategic gamble!

If done right, it would be another

Battle of Crete

. If botched, it’d turn into

Operation Market Garden

. It seemed like their central command was planning something big this time.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

With battle lust burning in his eyes, Old White threw off the blanket, got out of bed, and grabbed his coat from the side to throw over his shoulders.

Chen Yutong, guessing what his expression meant, didn’t say anything. She didn’t look worried either. She simply smiled and said casually, "Stay safe. Next time, it’ll be my treat."

Old White paused at the doorway and waved with a grin. "I’ll hold you to that."

...

Shelter 404, in the medical lab on level B3.

Falling Feather sat on a folding chair, staring with worry at the unconscious Little Feather lying on the scanner.

"Is... is it okay?"

Standing at the console, Hyrja busily recorded experiment data while replying casually, "It’s doing great, better than ever, in fact."

As the last test completed, she tapped the blue button on the screen.

Several soft metal tubes retracted from Little Feather’s forehead, chest, and strange fungal skirt, withdrawing into the silver-white apparatus on the ceiling.

Next up was compiling the data and drawing conclusions.

The research on Little Feather was top priority at the New Alliance’s Biological Research Institution. It wasn’t just about understanding the mutant slime mold, it also concerned Hyrja’s chances of getting access to the lab on level B6.

Once the data was analyzed, she would need to submit a progress report to the administrator, who was constantly buried in work.

Sometimes, she truly admired him.

His brain functioned like a multi-core CPU, handling matters from economics to military, from science to diplomacy, all in parallel.

He was full of secrets, more fascinating than even the Mother Body or Hive in Clearspring City. But every time she brought it up, he’d deflect with a vague answer like, "I’m not so sure myself."

Noticing the concern on the face of the nearby shelter resident, Hyrja remembered Chu Guang’s prior reminder and offered a bit of comfort. "Don’t worry. Everything we did today is routine. Your Little Feather is going to be fine."

Though still visibly uneasy, Falling Feather relaxed a little under the reassurance of the ‘New Alliance’s Chief Biologist’.

Seeing that he had calmed a bit, Hyrja added, "However... Its DNA is entering an unstable phase. Try not to take her to dangerous places for now. Especially not the front lines. Without protection from the Evolved Types, a lone Mother Body is very fragile."

Falling Feather nodded seriously.

But curiosity got the better of him. “What exactly is this unstable phase? Can it still evolve?”

That would be amazing.

Hyrja shook her head. "I don’t know. The research data I have isn’t enough to explain what’s happening. I can only make a rough hypothesis from limited clues."

Falling Feather swallowed and waited eagerly for her to continue.

After a moment she took to organize her thoughts, she muttered, "A Mother Body grow in cycles. The length varies, but once the cycle is complete, they transform into another kind of life form, what we call a Mother Nest. It’s like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, from pupa to adult."

Falling Feather asked urgently, “What triggers it?”

Hyrja shook her head. "No clue. But I suspect it’s a choice, a choice about the future."

"A choice?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Natural threats no longer concern it. At the top of the food chain, it’s free from typical environmental limits. That means it must choose how to evolve. It’s an instinctive gift, its mission."

"The genetic data it’s collected, the memories, experiences, and knowledge stored in its neural tissues, all of it becomes evolutionary reference material. And now that it’s accumulated those building blocks, it must decide to become an adorable mushroom, or a deadly man-eating flower."

Falling Feather blinked at both Hyrja and the still-sleeping Little Feather on the bed, half-understanding what the hell she just said. He didn’t really grasp the complex theory. He only cared about one thing,

"Once it’s all over... Will Little Feather still remember me?"

Hyrja answered without hesitation, "Of course. I told you, memory is a key evolutionary reference, and a very important one. Still, you need to be prepared."

Falling Feather tensed. "Prepared for what?"

"If it transforms into another life form, your blood bond might break. It might not be as close to you as now. It might even see you, and all humans, as prey. Even if memory carries over, even if it remembers you..." Hyrja explained as simply as she could.

Falling Feather fell into silence, his thoughts tangled like a mess of yarn.

He remembered everything, taking her to the suburbs to level up, teaching her to fight, feeding her human food for the first time...

If those memories could be replaced by something else, he would rather Little Feather stayed just the way it was. He never really needed a battle partner anyway. He could fight on his own.

At that moment, Little Feather began to stir.

Its drooping tendrils twitched slightly, and it murmured incoherently. Perhaps sensing his presence, Little Feather groggily sat up from the bed.

The moment it saw Falling Feather, it’s strange little face lit up with joy. It slid clumsily off the bed and rushed toward him.

“Yiwu!”

Maybe due to lingering anesthesia, Little Feather stumbled as it ran over.

Seeing its pitiful little face, Falling Feather couldn’t help but laugh and reached out to catch the drunken-looking creature. “Careful now... I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yiwu!” Its tendrils wrapped tightly around his arm. Rubbing its head against his head, its forlorn expression was replaced with one of contentment.

Seeing the adorable behavior of Little Feather, the clouds of confusion in his heart vanished.

Just like birth and death, the cycle of life would unfold no matter how you felt. What would come, would come.

No matter what happened in the future, the little one still relied on him. Maybe...

Maybe he should trust Little Feather more, too.

Together, sharing the same memories, they could face the unknown future.

"I understand now..." He gently patted its slippery head and looked at Hyrja with determination in his eyes. "Even if it becomes something else, I won’t regret it. I’ll take care of Little Feather until the very end."

"I’m glad to hear that." Hyrja smiled and patted his shoulder. "Keep it up."

...