On the official *Wasteland OL* website, posts bombarded the entire forum at a blistering speed of ten pages per second!
Aside from a tiny handful of "geniuses" who had accidentally hit upon the truth through sheer blind luck, almost everyone was utterly stunned by this astonishing reality.
The wasteland world was actually real?!
This game was way too realistic... No, to be precise, this thing hadn't been a game from the very beginning, had it?!
A substantial portion of the player base suffered an outright mental crash.
And those whose brains hadn't crashed finally understood why NPCs in *Wasteland OL* had only one life, and why the *Player Manual* had so many harsh, even bizarre rules...
Jieyan: "Holy shit! Holy shit holy shit holy shit!"
Ye Shi: "Aaaah—???"
Gale: "So that's how it is... It was a real world all along. That being said, the calculation error in the Planck constant probably stemmed from the 'fundamental particle size.' What an eye-opener. (wry smile)"
Canyon Escaped Mole: "Can you speak human, please? (sweating)"
Gale: "In plain human terms... this game is way too realistic."
Brother Edge: "Pfft—"
Tail: "*Giao!* Does that mean Tail really saved the world?! (shocked)"
Fang Chang: "Strictly speaking, all of us saved the world."
Ye Shi: "Wait... so my girlfriend isn't actually a 2D anime girl?! (guilty conscience)"
Lao Bai: "Isn't that great? (grinning)"
Fang Chang: "You're only realizing this now? (side-eye)"
Ye Shi: "Damn it! I spent all that time agonizing over nothing!"
Fang Chang: "Not necessarily a bad thing. At least you grew during the process."
Gale: "By the way, when did you figure it out?"
Fang Chang: "Quite a while ago... Although I also thought she was an artificial intelligence for a while, she ultimately turned out not to be."
Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "...My feelings are too complicated to put into words."
I'm the Darkest: "Oh, come off it. The corners of this idiot's mouth are already curved up to the heavens, and he's still talking about complicated feelings. (eye roll)"
Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Piss off, what the hell do you know!"
In Debt God: "Wait, then what about the people we killed in the game...? (nervous)"
Fang Chang: "Obviously real. But probably due to the 'cognitive filter,' any psychological shock exceeding tolerable thresholds gets suppressed. Aside from a few players with overly rich inner worlds or extreme sensitivity, fear and aversion toward death don't manifest very prominently."
Although the vast majority of players had grown accustomed to death in the game, not everyone could face death with absolute fearlessness and serenity.
In truth, no matter which batch of newcomers arrived, there were always reckless, lawless individuals alongside extraordinarily timid ones.
This was tied to real-life personality, character, personal experience, and many other factors.
The cognitive filter could only dull sensory inputs; it could not transform a coward into a courageous person.
Even so, although the cognitive filter couldn't do that, many players had still achieved personal growth throughout their adventures. Shaking off debuffs of gloom, cowardice, and compromise, they had become braver, brighter, more confident, compassionate, and resilient versions of themselves.
Midnight Chicken Slaughterer: "Uhhh... so does that mean I have a body count of at least three digits?"
Commander Spring: "Regretting it? (smirking)"
Midnight Chicken Slaughterer: "Nah, not really. After all, most of them were marauders and mutants. (sheepish grin)"
Brother Edge: "Now that you mention it, seems like same here."
Sisi: "Mm... Considering everyone killed was either an irredeemable villain or an enemy on the battlefield, there's really nothing to get overly sentimental about."
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Praise be to the Player Manual! Praise Brother Guang! Otherwise, I'd definitely be terrified to sleep right now. (hands folded in prayer)"
Ye Shi: "As if anyone believes you!"
Roshan Steamed Bun: "Ick! If I hadn't looked at the username, I might've actually believed that!"
Scavenger: "Brother Guang: Stop licking my boots, it's boring."
Makka Pakka: "Brother Guang: Mosquito's boring; swap him for Yaya."
Stop Bullshitting: "Agility-types can't take it, but Perception-types can, huh? (???д???)"
Yaya: "Wait, what on earth are you guys talking about???"
In Debt God: "You're bullying Yaya again. (funny)"
Tengteng: "I don't get it, but seeing Big Eye's username, it's bound to be right. (*?ω?)?╰ひ╯"
In Debt God: "Holy crap, what did I do?!"
Elaina: "(shivering.jpg)"
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "By the way, the open-beta server is launching soon. Any of you planning to play? (mischievous smile)"
Fang Chang: "We'll see. I might not play regularly, but maybe I'll drop by for some nostalgia."
Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Count me out. Let the newcomers pioneer the open-beta server. The closed-beta server has way more kick! (grinning)"
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Not necessarily. The open beta has its own fun. (funny)"
Tail: "Dolly!!! Hehehehe... (///ω///)"
Fang Chang: "...?"
Sisi: "???"
Ye Shi: "Wait, you can't do that kind of thing! (horrified)"
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Bwahahaha!!! I'm gonna blow up all of your 2D waifus! (evil grin)"
Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "@#%$!"
"..."
***
In the Wandering Marsh, a biting cold wind howled.
Even though summer had arrived in the northern hemisphere, the blistering monsoon had nothing to do with this frozen land.
Staring at the official announcement displayed on her VM screen, Ye'aonaiwohe—one foot planted on the corpse of a mutated wolf—froze for a few seconds before erupting in flustered fury.
"What the hell! The open-beta server and the closed-beta server aren't the same server?! Doesn't that mean I have to grind my levels all over again?! Trash dev, get out here and eat my spit—mph!"
Before she could finish her sentence, Professor Yang beside her jolted in panic and slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Shut the hell up! Don't let that tra—bah! Don't let our great dev hear you—Aaargh!!! Are you part dog?! Let go of me!"
His hand firmly bitten, Professor Yang let out a pig-slaughtering shriek.
Even through leather gloves, he could not block a full-force bite from a Strength-type mad dog.
Then again, wasn't there pain suppression in this game?
Was this guy's pain tolerance really that low?
Pig Is Read Backwards scratched the back of his head, watching the two comic-relief fools tussle in the snow.
"You're complaining about the weirdest thing. Shouldn't you be rejoicing that you got your hands on a closed-beta helmet before the open beta?"
Half a year had passed since Big Sis Ye'ao and Professor Yang had accepted the "Passing the Torch" quest from him.
Currently, he was a Level 27 Agility-type powerhouse, while his two apprentices had respectively advanced to a Level 12 Beast of Burden and a Level 11 Wheelchair, barely making it past their novice stage.
Over the past six months, he had been paying close attention to open-beta news and the follow-up arrangements for the closed-beta server.
According to what he had gathered, the reservation portal had closed back when the open-beta news was first announced.
From then on, gaining entry into the closed-beta server truly depended on sheer luck.
Truth be told, though...
In the past, he had merely felt that the game was realistic to a fault—stripping away the filter made it look identical to reality. He had never imagined it wasn't a game at all, but rather reality with a filter applied.
Ye'aonaiwohe blinked, releasing her right hand that had been pinning Professor Yang into the snowdrift, and looked back in utter bewilderment.
"Huh? Why? What's there to rejoice about?"
Before Brother Pig could speak, Professor Yang spat out a mouthful of snow, straightened his shivering torso, and snapped with bitter exasperation:
"You idiot! You can only earn silver coins on the closed-beta server! On the open-beta server, you only earn Y coins, okay?!"
How had this airhead managed to get a helmet in the first place?
The thought that someone as brilliantly sharp as himself had entered the game in the same batch as her made Professor Yang's fists clench involuntarily.
A waste!
An absolute waste!
Pig Is Read Backwards gave him a nuanced look.
"Uhhh... while what you're happy about is also pretty weird, that really is one of the closed-beta server's advantages."
Ye'aonaiwohe's gaze darted between the two of them, and she scratched her head messily.
"Don't get it. What are Y coins? Is there a difference?"
She knew about silver coins; fools were buying them up at auctions. But what the heck was a Y coin?
To put it bluntly, she hadn't paid any attention to the open beta at all.
Brother Pig shrugged.
"The difference is that nobody in the real world buys Y coins..."
That wasn't entirely accurate, of course. People still bought them.
After all, this was currently the only fully immersive virtual online game on the market, and potential competitors lacked even the relevant development tools.
There were always wealthy whale players looking for shortcuts to save time grinding mobs and farming gold.
It was just that Y coins were purely game currency. They couldn't be used in auctions and were strictly for entertainment.
"Exactly! *Cough, cough*... So do you understand the value of a closed-beta slot now?"
Seeing Professor Yang's beaming, smug face, Ye'aonaiwohe clicked her teeth in disdain and turned her gaze to Brother Pig.
"Oh... so that means the NPCs on the closed-beta server are actually real people, right?"
"Bingo!" Brother Pig gave a thumbs-up and grinned. "So don't go around killing people at the drop of a hat."
"Do you take me for an idiot? Why would I kill people for no reason?" Ye'aonaiwohe rolled her eyes. "Though speaking of which, your psychological resilience isn't bad at all for a newcomer. You didn't get scared? This lord right here was thoroughly shocked, you know."
"Haha, really? My mental fortitude is pretty average, honestly," Brother Pig replied with a sheepish chuckle. "It's just that I'm probably the type who gets scared alone, but if there's someone even more scared next to me, I puff out my chest instead... How do I describe it? Like an old father looking after a kid, maybe? Not sure if you can grasp that."
"I see, I see. Like an old father... Pfft! Hey! What the hell do you mean by that?! I'll kill you!" Ye'aonaiwohe, who had been nodding along, suddenly realized she had been taken advantage of. Her fangs bared in an instant of flustered indignation.
Watching the kid bare her teeth, Professor Yang, still sitting in the snow, curled his lip.
"Caring about something like that... What are you, five?"
Ye'aonaiwohe whipped her head around, glaring at her fallen foe on the ground with fangs bared.
"Say that again?!"
"..."
Professor Yang clearly remained defiant, but an Intelligence-type truly lacked the means for hand-to-hand combat.
At least before undergoing cybernetic modification.
"Alright, alright, both of you settle down. If you keep arguing, it's going to be dark."
Brother Pig didn't mind their bickering in the slightest. Smiling, he pacified Ye'ao with a few words, then reached out to pull Professor Yang up from the ground.
"We need to haul our catch back to the nearby settlement... Anyway, time to hit the road."
Their chatter and squabbles melted into the wind and snow of the Wandering Marsh as a distant rumbling echoed along the railway.
It was a train heading from Site 4 in the far north of the continent toward the southernmost Death Coast.
Heavy car after heavy car was loaded with crated heavy equipment and machinery.
With the Academy preparing to depart the old world, the equipment left behind on this planet was setting out to fulfill new missions...
The story of *Wasteland OL* had not ended with the arrival of the New Era. The tales of both the players and the NPCs continued.
***
Day after day slipped by, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Over the course of those six months, many events unfolded across both the solar system of Universe Alpha and the solar system of Universe Beta.
First was Universe Alpha—the wasteland itself.
After a year of lingering decline, Bugela City, with the assistance of the Alliance and other survivor factions, finally emerged entirely from the shadow of civil war. Reborn with a brand-new countenance and acting as defenders of the new order, it formally joined the family of the New Era.
On the other side, President Li Minghui of the South Sea Alliance also finally achieved his wish of ending wartime status. Passing the troubles of the presidential mansion off to his successor, he settled into a relaxed life of blasting fish when he felt like doing something, and drinking wine when he didn't.
At the same time, stepping off the stage of history alongside him was Chu Guang.
Yet rather than saying he was stepping off the historical stage, it was more accurate to say he was returning to the position where he had belonged all along.
Just as he had declared on more than one occasion:
"...Shelter 404 is merely a disaster-relief agency. Now that the Wasteland Era has ended, we have fulfilled our duties and obligations as such an agency.
"From this day forward, the Alliance will legally elect true, professional 'Archons' to fulfill the duties of the Alliance's governing body in the New Era within limited terms..."
It was a complex and stringent selection process, even more rigorous than that of the Wilante Alliance. The intricate details need not be recounted here.
In short, winning the recognition of the majority of Alliance residents to succeed him on the stage of history was a young man from the Death Coast named Gu Ning.
He was a vibrant, spirited young man.
A brilliant light shone in his eyes, just like so many young people living in this era.
And it was more than just light.
He also possessed rich work experience accumulated all the way from the local settlements up to Dawn City, as well as the shrewd capability expected of a mature statesman. Furthermore, while balancing the obligations shouldered by the Alliance, he remained capable of hearing the voices of everyday Alliance citizens.
Although he had never braved life and death on the battlefield for the Alliance, had achieved no illustrious military merits, and possessed neither prominent lineage nor illustrious pedigree... it was precisely because of this that he stood zero chance of usurping the fruits of victory belonging to the citizens of the Alliance.
Of course.
What truly guaranteed this was not entirely his humble origins, but rather the people who defended the dignity of the law.
The Alliance's Guards Corps and its various field armies would keep an eye on his every move on behalf of the citizens.
And not just the Guards Corps and the armies—Chu Guang and the players of Shelter 404 would do so as well.
He had merely stepped back from meddling in the Alliance's administrative affairs, handing the Alliance building over to the people who had raised it. He had not vanished from this universe.
With his personal prestige and his influence in the hearts of everyday Alliance citizens, even without holding any specific office in the Alliance or directly commanding any troops, he could still exert influence over every facet of the Alliance.
Just as Dr. Conclusion had been to the Academy.
That was the power of people's hearts.
Its might not only surpassed every weapon known to mankind, but possessed the energy to move mountains and overturn seas.
Yet unless absolutely necessary, Chu Guang did not intend to use this power lightly.
After all, barring any unforeseen accidents, his lifespan would likely exceed that of the old man from the Great Rift Valley.
Two hundred years...
God only knew what thoughts the people of that time would harbor, or what they would look like.
He couldn't very well drag someone out and give them a thrashing simply because his great-great-great-grandson didn't resemble him.
Across so many generations, it would be weird if they *did* look the same!
He wouldn't pull out the hammer slung across his back to smash everything to pieces over trivial nonsense at the drop of a hat.
Unless one circumstance arose—
If one day in the future, the people who had received the scepter from his hands failed to shoulder responsibilities commensurate with that power, swelling instead with willful arrogance into a fanged, clawed monster, using the scepter he had bestowed upon all Alliance citizens to weave a cage of enslavement.
"If one day in the future, the citizens of the Alliance call my name just as the Wilante called Julius's... I will return like lightning and smash everything here to pieces."
On the day of the administrative handover, inside the Administrator's Office of the Alliance building.
Looking at Gu Ning, the Alliance's first Archon standing respectfully before him, Chu Guang had clapped him on the shoulder with a smile, uttering those words in a completely unjoking tone.
Gu Ning had inclined his head slightly. On that clear-conscience face, there was not a trace of fear, only a meticulous, solemn response:
"I shall engrave your teachings in my heart... If that day ever comes, I will call your name alongside them."
"Hahaha!" Chu Guang laughed heartily, withdrawing his hand from the young man's shoulder. "You'd better pray that day never comes. After all, my hammer would probably smash your head first."
Gu Ning smiled faintly.
"If I truly proved incompetent to such an extent, dying by your hand would instead be an honor."
Though spoken with a smile, Chu Guang could tell he was entirely serious.
With nothing left to instruct, Chu Guang put away his joking expression and left a final word of encouragement.
"Do your job well. Don't just talk. Also, remember to pass these words on to your successor, and ensure he keeps passing them down."
Gu Ning nodded earnestly, committing the words to memory.
"I will convey them word for word. In addition... may I make a presumptuous request?"
"Speak."
Gu Ning paused for a moment, looking at Chu Guang with earnest sincerity.
"Although the Alliance administration will no longer maintain the position of Administrator, I would like to keep this 'Administrator's Office' reserved for you as part of this building's history... and also as a spur to myself and an encouragement to others. As for me, I will work elsewhere; there are plenty of vacant rooms here anyway."
This was not merely his own thought, but the sentiment shared by many.
For instance, the commander of the Guards Corps.
Whether it was merely his imagination or not, ever since learning he might be working in this office in the future, Gu Ning had felt that the young commander looked at him with a faint hint of murderous intent.
In truth, let alone Lyu Bei, Gu Ning himself felt the chair in this office was far too scalding to sit on.
Better to preserve it as a cultural relic.
Chu Guang didn't dwell on it too much. Hearing the amusing proposal, he merely smiled.
"You should ask for others' opinions, not mine. Regardless of whether you reserve this office for me, though, I won't be coming back... My work is done.
"From now on, it's in your hands."
Watching the figure wave a hand and walk out the door with easy grace, Gu Ning bowed his head slightly, whispering softly to himself:
"Yes. But as survivors who once received your aid... we wish to remember forever."
At least in his heart, he would forever be the Administrator of the Alliance.
And that gentleman alone was worthy of the title...
***
In the final month of Year 1 of the New Era, with the official removal of the post of Administrator from the roster of the Alliance building, an era drew its curtains to a close.
On the other side, Universe Beta, where the players' original bodies resided, also approached the end of the year 2026.
As if having finally completed its last assignment, the mysterious spaceship hovering in Mars's orbital plane vanished into thin air before the watchful eyes of the world, suspected of having traveled through a hyperspace corridor to Alpha Centauri five light-years away.
Discussions regarding what exactly lay hidden at Alpha Centauri stirred up an instant storm across the internet.
Meanwhile, following half a year of preparation and publicity, the *Wasteland OL* open-beta server officially went live!
Thirty million virtual reality helmets were snapped up clean, and offline experience stores operated by various distributors were crammed to bursting.
On launch day, nearly thirty million players across the globe swarmed and overwhelmed the servers in an instant.
Confronted by light and shadow that felt utterly lifelike, and tactile sensations indistinguishable from reality... everyone was profoundly, incomparably awed.
This game—
It was mind-blowingly epic!
Chapter 1070