From the Void

Since the dawn of recorded human civilization, no physics experiment had ever been aborted after initiation solely because risks existed; recognizing risks, implementing safeguards, and careful verification were how rational minds approached the unknown. This applied to the hadron collider experiments of the Old Era, which had been controversial from the moment construction began, as well as extremely hazardous fission reactors, among others. The reason the Scientific Expedition had established the Seventh Research Institute near Shelter 404—far from the urban center—and gone through the trouble of situating the laboratory deep underground with nuclear-blast-grade shielding was precisely as a countermeasure against potential risks. Under the most extreme circumstances, the Alliance could simply detonate the facility, completely burying any unstable "anomaly" beneath ten thousand tons of structural material. Every staff member on the roster was well aware of these possibilities. Anyone unwilling to shoulder the slightest risk could go grab a hoe and farm—the safest job to be had on the wasteland. Of course, the probability of worst-case scenarios actually coming to pass was extraordinarily slim, much like the rumors that the hadron collider would create a black hole and swallow the solar system. After all, this device hadn't been built directly by the Precursor civilization itself; it had been assembled with the help of an upright ape named Qiu Shiye. No matter how exaggerated the effect might be, there were limits. To make a simple analogy: under human guidance, it was entirely possible for some Doma native to concoct black powder and scare everyone else out of their wits. But blowing up the entire planet Gaia with a few kilograms of gunpowder was pure nonsense. Crushing a planet like a grape was an absurdity human civilization couldn't even pull off itself. Yet the outcome of this experiment still exceeded every researcher's wildest expectations. In all recorded history, no physics experiment had ever birthed a monster not of this world straight from the very center of the laboratory... And now, that record was shattered. "Roaaar—!" Deafening acoustic waves and an unknown behemoth crashed into the glass partition wall, which was tougher than reinforced concrete. The immense shockwave not only distorted the control room's speakers to crackling shrieks, but also caused a dense web of cracks to spider across the reinforced glass. Fortunately, Yin Fang's shout of "Evacuate!" had snapped all the researchers out of their stupor. They rushed toward the control room doorway, toggling manual mode to haul open the power-cut alloy blast doors. With everyone pulling together, the alloy door opened swiftly, and the personnel filed out in rapid succession. The situation was critical. Hidden in the darkness, the monster slammed into the barrier again and again, striving to shatter the restraints binding it, while the glass curtain wall groaned under the intolerable strain! Yet not a single person in the control room gave in to panic; everyone remained remarkably composed. The evacuation proceeded in an orderly fashion. No one trampled others in a blind rush for survival; everything followed the drill, just like a safety rehearsal. People fell into line by rank of their own accord—the lowest-ranking at the head of the line, the highest-ranking at the rear, clearing the control room as swiftly as possible before sprinting for the nearest emergency exit! Director Dai had initially tried to push Yin Fang ahead of himself, only for Yin Fang to shove him back. Seeing Dai Huai'an's stunned look, Yin Fang glared fiercely at him. "What does the safety manual say?!" Dai Huai'an turned slightly pale and hurried out, "B-but you aren't a researcher of the Seventh Institute—" Yin Fang cut him off without hesitation. "I am a resident of Shelter 404 and the Alliance's Chief Scientist! Get in your position, that's an order!" If residents of Shelter 404 were present, residents of Shelter 404 were always the last to evacuate! This was a rule he had instituted himself. Written into the safety manual from the very founding of the Scientific Expedition, placed prominently right in Chapter One! In the Scientific Expedition, rank meant responsibility: the higher the rank, the greater the burden. There was no such thing as climbing above everyone else only to shirk all accountability! That was how things had been at the Academy. The lowest-ranking prospectors performed the most hazardous tasks, only to shoulder the fallout of failed missions so researchers could advance their careers—and after being used up and discarded, they received not a sliver of compensation. He had tasted that bitterness himself, and he would never allow that rotten garbage to infect the Alliance! If he hadn't had a choice back then—the Academy was already that wretched piece of shit when he was born—now he stood in a position essentially equivalent to the Academy's Chief Technology Officer. He wanted every member of the Scientific Expedition to remember: if you said "I take responsibility," you saw that responsibility through to the very end! You did not treat your words like a fart the moment real consequences arrived! As for the claim that his death would be a catastrophic loss to the Alliance, that was the biggest load of crap of all. People weren't wine; where did this nonsense of mellowing with age come from? He had climbed up from an E-rank prospector himself; he had no doubt that another E-rank researcher could climb to where he stood today! He also firmly believed that even if he defended these rules with his life today, there would surely be younger, more visionary researchers standing on his shoulders, seeing what he never had the chance to see, and upholding the rules he had defended just as he had! The deafening roar thundered on. In an instant, the reinforced glass partition wall finally gave way, and shattered shards blasted like shrapnel against the far wall of the control room! It all unfolded in the blink of an eye! Less than half a minute had passed between the start of the third experimental phase and the explosion; Yin Fang could feel the raging blast wave rolling against his back. Fortunately, the beast lurking in the dark failed to catch him. Just as the glass shattered, he broke clear of the control room and stumbled into the hallway. "Hurry! Over here!" Dai Huai'an, running ahead, gave him a tug, and the two regained their balance before dashing toward the emergency stairwell entrance. Right then, surface personnel manually kicked on the backup generators, restoring power to the underground corridors. Under the sudden flare of lights, Lin Dong, sprinting near the front, couldn't resist glancing back, only to be struck dumb by what he saw. "Holy shit..." It was an unimaginably gigantic lizard, with countless beady eyes the size of soybeans clustered densely along both sides of its gaping maw like ruptured pustules. Its pitch-black scales exuded an aura of death, failing to reflect even the faintest glint under the incandescent lights. It was as though every wavelength of light were swallowed whole by those impossibly dark scales! Was that... A Deathclaw?! No— Before a monstrosity like this, even Neko would probably be nothing more than a snack. Perhaps calling it a "death monitor lizard" or "mouth of death" was more fitting. Just as his eyes met those clusters of soybean-sized pupils, that cavernous maw slowly parted. At the very same instant, a hand seized the back of Lin Dong's collar, yanking him into the emergency stairwell just as he froze with bated breath. A violent tempest blasted down the corridor alongside a deafening roar; merely the shockwaves funneling into the stairwell rattled his internal organs so hard he nearly choked. Dragging the reckless former prospector before him, Yarick yelled in his face, "Have you lost your damn mind?! Run!!" Lin Dong couldn't answer, nor could he hear what Yarick was saying through the ringing in his ears, but his legs moved on instinct. With heavy, frenzied strides and a writhing body, the death monitor lizard pursued them to the threshold of the emergency stairwell with unbelievable speed. Fortunately, the narrow doorway wedged it tight, allowing only the front half of its snout to wedge inside. Staring at that hideous maw, the narrowly escaped Lin Dong felt his heart pounding so violently it threatened to leap out of his throat. "What in the hell..." The other researchers wore identical expressions of shock. Seeing the lizard's gaping jaws preparing to roar again, Yin Fang reacted in a flash, smashing through the dust cover of an emergency fire button on the wall to drop the stairwell's fire partition door. The alloy accordion door slammed down from above, sealing off the lower flight of the emergency stairwell. The death monitor lizard released a deafening screech of fury that rattled the alloy door violently, but its advance appeared halted. "We're safe..." Dai Huai'an leaned against the wall, exhaling in immense relief. Their job was done. From here on, it was up to the combat personnel... While the group of researchers scrambled from the third basement level toward the second, the scene on B2 was entirely different. The moment power had cut out earlier, twenty-seven players who had been sitting around idly shaking their legs leaped up as if injected with adrenaline. Every player present was Level 30 or higher in genetic sequence. While not T0 or T1 god-tier powerhouses, they formed the solid backbone of the server. An hour earlier, they had taken a mission from the Guards Corps to deploy to the Seventh Research Institute. From the Guards Corps officers, they had requisitioned "Xiaguang" Type-III power armor, the latest K-12 heavy exoskeletons, and modified boltguns from Boulder Military Industries, hunkering down on the upper level on standby. According to veterans who had taken missions at the Seventh Institute before, all they needed to do was AFK until the mission ended without having to actually fight. Although the mission felt like doing jail time, the rewards were exceptionally generous, plus it farmed Scientific Expedition career EXP and affection points with key NPCs. Consequently, plenty of players queued for it, and slots had to be fought over. On top of that, a certain big shot who woke up multiple times a night had claimed that with these researchers putting the treasures he'd hauled back from Alpha Centauri through such intense trials every day, they were bound to forge a new DLC sooner or later. Because of this, a rumor had been circulating on the forums that the "Security Level Upgrade" mission at the Seventh Research Institute actually held a "hidden quest"! As everyone knew, hidden quests were the key to becoming a favored son of the patch in Wasteland OL. If they could trigger an expansion pack, it would practically guarantee an opportunity to advance to T1! For that very reason, aside from a crowd of mid-tier players who had barely crossed Level 30, several veteran players in their forties and fifties occasionally came to try their luck, hoping to trigger the hidden quest. "Brothers! It's time!" "Awoooo!" "Prep for battle!" Without needing any prompt from the Guards Corps officers, four Level 50 big shots clad in power armor charged forward, piling into the security personnel elevator. With a crisp snap, the drop pod shot straight down the shaft leading to the B3 laboratory, slamming into the bottom of the elevator shaft with a thud! For an ordinary person, an impact like that would shave off half their health bar before combat even began. But inside stood three Level 45 Strength-type brutes and one Intelligence-type brain! Level 45! Before Lao Bai had even reached this level, he had been soloing the broodmother on Floor B6 of the shelter. With all four veteran founders of the Chaoxiong Corps here, there was no way in hell the boss could wipe them! Leading the charge, [Da Xiong Zhi Zhao] was unfazed, steady as an old dog. While chambering a round into his boltgun, he reached over to swipe a white phosphorus grenade from his teammate's hip, holding it reverse-grip in his left hand. "Quest updated! Target: 'Death Monitor Lizard'! Sounds like a Scavenger-type mutant, get incendiaries ready!" "Careful! Ignore the lab equipment, but don't damage the relic!" "Copy that!" [Feng Xiong Hua Ji] acknowledged, slotting an incendiary round into his boltgun, locking down the corridor alongside Brother Zhao on his flank. [Xiong Duo Ji Shao] and [Bo Tao Xiong Yong] followed close behind, one shouldering a rocket launcher and the other clutching a remote terminal, deploying half-meter-tall automated ground drones and quadrotor combat drones. The four-man squad surged down the hallway like an armored juggernaut, aggressively closing on their objective. At that moment, the giant lizard that had smashed through the containment wall had its head jammed into the entrance of the escape stairwell, attempting to snap up the little mice hiding inside. Just then, the clamor echoing through the laboratory caught its attention. A mortal threat was approaching! Sensing an unmistakable threat, it instinctively yanked its head back, writhing its body as it retreated two paces, its clusters of soybean-like eyes locking onto the end of the corridor. Heavy footsteps reverberated down the hallway like the swelling beat of war drums! "Hssss—" The death monitor lizard let out a rasping snort, its amber pupils narrowing dangerously. On the other side, the players hefting boltguns brazenly sized it up, critiquing its distorted form without a shred of restraint. "Holy fuck... that is one ugly bastard." "Kinda looks like SCP-682, except balder... and a bit bigger." "Real question is, how did a bunch of physicists manage to cook this thing up?" "Maybe it wandered off-set from the Institute of Biological Research—" "Roaaar—!" A furious roar cut through their chatter. The expanding shockwave rattled the entire corridor, jolting the four hulking suits of armor! Perhaps provoked by their casual insolence, the giant lizard clad in scales as abyssal as a black hole instantly transformed into a runaway truck, writhing its massive bulk as it barreled across the rubble-strewn corridor! Recognizing the threat posed by this mutant, [Feng Xiong Hua Ji] stopped fooling around. He hurled the white phosphorus grenade with one hand while his right squeezed the trigger of his boltgun, answering its war cry with gunfire! Bang! Bang! Bang! Scorching tongues of flame erupted from the 19mm barrel, unleashing a torrent of iron rain across the wide corridor! Never mind a lizard shaped like Scavenger, even a super mutant standing here would be ground into mincemeat! Yet at that moment, the unexpected occurred. Struck by the bolt rounds, the death monitor lizard acted as if nothing had hit it. Emitting only a pained roar, it charged right through the flying sparks. As for the bursting phosphorus flames, it completely ignored them, crossing the distance in a few bounding strides! On the right, [Feng Xiong Hua Ji]'s eyes went wide. "Holy shit!" he blurted out. Charging straight through shaped-charge armor-piercing metal jets?! "Is this thing even a carbon-based lifeform?!" "How the hell should I know?!" [Xiong Duo Ji Shao], bracing his rocket launcher, squeezed the trigger. A trail of white smoke hissed toward the writhing, charging leviathan. Right on the edge of the minimum arming distance, the high-explosive rocket struck the lizard's shoulder! The explosive blast wave swept the corridor, sending shrapnel whistling through the air to gouge the alloy walls and ding against power armor breastplates. This rocket actually did some damage, blasting a palm-sized crater into the lizard's shoulder! Blood so dark red it bordered on black dripped onto the floor, hissing like concentrated mineral acid. [Feng Xiong Hua Ji] swallowed hard, eyes locked onto the lizard in disbelief. "No fucking way..." His buddy had just fired a launcher packed with a metallic hydrogen warhead! Even if HE warheads had mediocre armor penetration, that terrifying concussive yield was enough to flip a Chimera armored vehicle on its head! Yet that damned lizard acted like nothing happened! It had merely lost a patch of hide! And that wasn't all— The palm-sized wound was closing at a speed visible to the naked eye! "Is the... expansion pack live?" Staring at the horrifying scene before them, [Xiong Duo Ji Shao] choked out the words, until a roar from [Bo Tao Xiong Yong] snapped him out of it: "Switch to AP rounds! What are you standing there gaping for?!" The ground drone chattered continuously, laying down suppressive fire, while its underslung grenade launcher lobbed shell after shell at the charging death monitor lizard. The death monitor lizard seemed to have adapted to their firing tempo. Jerking its neck, it tanked the hits to its face and surged forward with terrifying crawling bursts! When half of its face was blasted apart, it tilted the other side forward, alternating its eyes to keep its vision clear. And by the time that side was torn up, the side ruined first had already regenerated to its pristine form. [Xiong Duo Ji Shao] finished reloading and quickly launched a second rocket! This time, however, the death monitor lizard seemed ready. Its elongated snout snapped forward in an impossibly fast peck and flicked upward, deflecting the high-speed armor-piercing projectile straight into the ceiling! Boom—! The armor-piercing warhead, capable of punching through tank side armor, detonated instantly, raining blazing molten metal across half the corridor like brilliant fireworks. By now, the four players had unleashed their full strength; none dared take this lightly or rely complacently on superior gear and level advantages. Yet— In the face of overwhelming might, taking things seriously was simply not enough. [Xiong Duo Ji Shao] watched in horror as the beast opened its maw, bit down, and twisted—and his squad leader, [Da Xiong Zhi Zhao], was torn in two, armor and all, one half hurled clear across the corridor. "Brother Zhao!!" [Feng Xiong Hua Ji]'s eyes went bloodshot. Tossing aside his boltgun, he drew the ceramite combat knife strapped to his arm. Bolt rounds had a minimum arming distance; at point-blank range, they were useless! A blade was better! "Roaaar—!" Bathed in scalding blood, the death monitor lizard let out an exhilarated roar and slammed a claw toward the nearby tin can. With a sickening crunch, [Feng Xiong Hua Ji] in his power armor was smashed open like an oyster, his eyeballs bursting against the inside of his helmet's tactical visor. It wasn't just speed— Before this rule-breaking combat power, the Strength stat he took the greatest pride in was crushed without mercy! Seeing two teammates wiped out in succession, [Xiong Duo Ji Shao] felt fury and grief surge within him. "I'll take you down with me, you bastard!" Running was out of the question, and at this range, escape was impossible anyway. Without a second thought, he primed the power armor's self-destruct sequence, unsheathed his combat knife, and lunged forward. Seeing its prey rush in to die, the death monitor lizard sneered, opening its monstrous jaws to snap forward! Under bite force that seemed capable of tearing space itself apart, [Xiong Duo Ji Shao] felt as if he had been slammed in a hydraulic press. In an instant, the crushing steel squeezed him into tomato paste, squirting out through the ruptured shoulder plates! This time, however, the beast had miscalculated. Unprepared for its mouthful of prey to explode, a deafening blast tore away half its skull. The nearby ground drone and combat drone were flipped through the air, crashing into the corner of the wall. Yet— Even that seemingly lethal blast failed to finish it! The bizarre lizard seemed immortal. Vast clots of flesh and blood welled from its shattered skull, and within a few short breaths, it had fully regenerated. Including every last amber eye. What a waste. While power armor was nuclear-powered, a reactor was not a nuclear weapon; detonating the conventional explosives around the core wasn't enough to trigger a tactical nuclear blast. Flung against the wall by the shockwave, [Bo Tao Xiong Yong] was scared out of his wits. He sat numbly on the ground, forgetting to stand, staring speechlessly as the monster closed in. How the fuck were they supposed to fight this?! Its regenerative factor was stronger than Mother Deathclaw's, and its combat power surpassed Scavenger on drugs. No— If Scavenger showed up, he'd probably be eaten as a snack. Perhaps demolishing the entire research institute was the only way to deal with this thing. Drenched in blood, the giant lizard grinned at him like a predator toying with its meal, glaring down at the condemned man with its amber eyes, in no hurry to take a bite. To its mind, this little mouse was as good as dead. The only thing baffling it was where that intense premonition of death had originated moments ago. Could it be— Was there a creature in this world stronger than itself? Regardless, these four little mice were clearly no match for it... Just as the death monitor lizard was sizing up its helpless prey, measured, unhurried footsteps caught its ear, coming once again from the end of the corridor. It turned its head slowly. A suit of azure-blue power armor and a square iron hammer reflected across its clusters of soybean-sized pupils. Its eyes narrowed dangerously, and a low rasping hiss rose from its throat. Yet before it could test the waters, a gale-force tempest slammed into its face. This was anti-armor power as well— And far more savage than any rocket launcher! Its gargantuan head exploded like a watermelon struck by a speeding truck, splattering countless shreds of mangled flesh and dark red gore across the entire wall. "Groaaar—" Staggering back on heavy limbs, the death monitor lizard finally let out a cry, though its voice now carried palpable panic, as if cornered by an even greater titan. Buds of fresh granulation sprouted from its shattered half-skull, knitting together at a visible speed. However— A keen eye would notice that its regeneration was a full second slower than before! "I see... It appears even a monster crawling out of the void isn't invincible. Its self-repair capabilities diminish with each cycle of regeneration." "Still, I'm quite curious what fuels this self-repair. Organic matter? Or... like your very existence, does it come from beyond the cosmic membrane?" A calm voice drifted into [Bo Tao Xiong Yong]'s ears. Lifting his dumbfounded face to make out the figure emerging from the smoke, his jaw dropped into a wide 'O'. "Holy shit—" The Administrator?! If his memory served, the last time this big boss had taken the field in person had been during the Battle of Torch?! He hadn't been present back then, only hearing players hype it up on the forums with increasingly absurd claims—how that single hammer swing tore through space and obliterated the Great Dao... Obviously, that had been total bullshit. Paying no mind to the player slumping against the wall, Chu Guang tightened his grip on the Nitrogen Power Hammer. Under the terrified gaze of the death monitor lizard's half-formed face, he took an unhurried step forward. Thump— As if spooked, the death monitor lizard swayed backward, issuing a raspy, threatening bellow. "Roaaar—!" The deafening roar, carrying waning acoustic waves, slammed toward Chu Guang. Yet just before touching his steel breastplate, it was deflected by an invisible wall of air. The compressed nitrogen was solid as steel, rippling outward in pleated waves. Yet— That wasn't even what Chu Guang took the most pride in. His genetic sequence level rose continuously alongside the players' leveling. With the server's player count ever swelling and each sequence branch continuously iterating and evolving, he had grown so formidable that even he considered himself a monster. Perhaps only an entity suspected of originating from the void was worthy of his personal intervention. Holding the hammer across his chest, he took another step forward under the death monitor lizard's petrified gaze. "Let's see—" "—how many deaths it takes before you stay dead."