Who Is Our Enemy, Anyway?

Official website forum. Yaya, who had just logged off, immediately rushed in. "Breaking news!!! That slip of paper with 100 CR on it can actually be exchanged for money! Guess how much I got! (*≧▽≦)" Ye Shi: "Huh? Speak of the devil and she appears? (Smug)" Elaina: "(Smug)" Yaya: "Hey! Don't interrupt! Do you guys want to know or not! (;｀O′)o" Sisi: "My guess is 10 silver coins." Fang Chang: "Just tell us already." Stop Bullshitting: "Yeah! Stop keeping us in suspense!" Tail: "Hurry up! (｀▽′)Ψ" Yaya: "Hehe, listen up. I was selling mushroom soup when suddenly a sneaky NPC rushed over, pulled out a slip of paper, and tried to take my whole pot away again! And then, just when I didn't know what to do, the Administrator showed up! By the way, the Administrator's new armor is so handsome! I wonder if that skin is up for purchase." Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Damn it! Get to the point!" Tengteng: "??? (╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻" Yaya: "A hundred! A hundred silver coins! The Administrator took the slip of paper and gave me a hundred silver coins! I was just getting to it, stop rushing me! QAQ" The entire thread fell silent for a moment. Then, dozens of replies flooded in within seconds! Old Bai: "?!" Gale: "..." Ye Shi: "Holy shit?!" Fang Chang: "A hundred???" Yaya: "Stop spamming! To be exact, it was actually two hundred... Because of that 100 CR note from yesterday, I chased after the Administrator and exchanged that one too. The Administrator even praised me, saying I was a good kid, hehe. (=′ω｀=)" Elaina: "#%*&!" Two pots of mushroom soup swapped for two hundred silver coins! This kind of luck couldn't even be described as merely being a lucky bastard! The players on the forum were so envious they felt their souls leaving their bodies; even the tickets to early access the expansion pack suddenly didn't feel so enticing anymore... ... Meanwhile, in the outpost's reception room. "*Burp*~ This wine is fantastic. The fruity scent of grapes mingled with the delicate aroma of oak... Even in Enterprise, this would probably be a rare treasure." "You actually know your wine?" "Of course. My father owns a wine cellar filled with quite a few of his collections. He spends some time down there every day. He doesn't drink them, just soaks in the atmosphere. I suspect if he keeps that up, all those bottles will turn to vinegar... Sigh, I really miss home." Several empty wine bottles sat on the table. Luo Hua was dead drunk, slumping in his chair, burping continuously and rambling on without pause. Chu Guang gave a perfunctory nod, taking a moment to glance at his VM, where Xiao Qi had organized a list of extracted information for him. [155. Subject comes from an affluent family and holds a mid-level position in the First Pioneer Corps. Speculated that crew members of the Pioneer are all mid-to-high-level personnel within 'Enterprise' and hold respectable status.] All of this intel had been coaxed out of him with a table of barbecue, a pot of soup, and a full six bottles of wine. Under normal circumstances, Chu Guang would never have indulged in such extravagance. However, the investment had paid off. By subtly probing the head of this liaison office, Chu Guang had gleaned a great deal of interesting information. First, Enterprise was located in Yunjian Province at the easternmost edge of the Central Continent. It was situated at the estuary where a major river met two tributaries, and prior to the Era of Prosperity, it had been a center of politics, economy, and culture, boasting four strategic districts, three metropolitan zones, two industrial centers, and a sprawling cluster of historic, ancient cities. As for Enterprise's headquarters, it was situated in an industrial ruins district between Yunshang City and Yunxia City, right above Shelter 6, at a place called "Ideal City." There were towering walls as massive as dams and sky-piercing spires touching the clouds. Flying vehicles zipped between the streets, though they couldn't travel very far. People were crammed into a "city" spanning less than five hundred square kilometers, where the vast majority lived in windowless underground quarters, and only a fortunate few could gaze out of floor-to-ceiling windows at the clouds. As Chu Guang listened, he couldn't help but feel that this "Ideal City" had the distinct flavor of a cyberpunk Night City. There was no telling how much of what this fellow said was true. Furthermore, contrary to the hearsay Xia Yan had gathered, Enterprise was not rife with factional infighting and severe internal friction; rather, it simply wasn't the kind of organization Boulder City's mercenaries assumed it to be. For instance, Enterprise had no supreme ruler in the strict sense. Instead, it was governed by an Enterprise Board of Directors with a rigorous organizational hierarchy and well-defined division of power. Most members of the board were chairmen of branch companies, which in turn oversaw smaller subsidiaries, nesting layer upon layer like Russian dolls. Among these subsidiaries, some produced steel, some produced cement, some manufactured guns, artillery, and drones, while others traded in clones or android companions. Silverwing Group was merely one with a relatively large "market capitalization," but market cap fluctuated daily, making it difficult to say who was truly on top. Ten years ago, Enterprise had indeed sent an expeditionary force into the interior, but their target had not been Qingquan City in the south of River Valley Province—it had been the Great Rift Valley in the north. People always liked to claim credit for themselves. Once an event passed through two different mouths, it could spawn more than three different versions. In the end, what got passed down was rarely the actual truth; it was simply the version people found most captivating, the one they preferred to believe. However, according to Luo Hua, that expeditionary force had indeed met with defeat. For a period, victory dispatches had frequently arrived from the front through various channels. Then, one day out of nowhere, no one ever spoke of it again. Aside from the investors who had purchased "war bonds" lining up on rooftops, many people simply never returned, and everything went on as though nothing had ever happened. In a sense, the Pioneer was an endeavor similar to that expeditionary force. To construct this magnificent land fortress, Silverwing Group had likewise issued a considerable amount of "bonds," most likely promising certain benefits to the wealthy patrons who bought them. That last part, however, was merely Chu Guang's conjecture. Perhaps it was because his philosophical outlook was not high-minded enough, but Chu Guang felt that if he lived in such an environment and happened to have pockets full of cash, he would never throw his money away on something like that. Additionally, from Luo Hua's mouth, Chu Guang learned that the objective of their current journey was to head west in search of a place called Shelter 0. Legend had it that this was the cradle of a magnificent grand plan, where the founder of the Era of Prosperity, the pioneer of the Great Navigation, and the immortal being draped in countless glories once lay in slumber. Some regarded that place as humanity's final hope. "...Since your technology is so advanced, why place your hopes on a legendary existence? In truth, you don't even know where it is, do you?" Chu Guang poured Luo Hua another cup of wine and asked, "Besides, from your description, if you're capable of raising a fortress from the ruins, why haven't you... well, thought about starting anew?" Luo Hua sighed and waved a drunken hand. "I've heard that argument far too many times... My friend, how far have you ever traveled? The farthest road you've walked is probably at most from the north of Qingquan City to somewhere near the Fifth Ring Road. It's not as simple as wishfully putting up a few buildings." Chu Guang smiled faintly. "After all, I've only been out from underground for a few months... I'm also curious about what this world has become." "It's awful," Luo Hua said, shaking his head. "What's the most terrifying mutant you've seen? Gnawers? Crawlers? We collectively refer to them as slime mold parasites. But do you know where they come from? Have you ever seen their broodmother?" Luo Hua continued, "I've seen them all. I've even seen a broodmother as huge as an entire skyscraper, where runaway slime mold fused seamlessly with reinforced concrete, blanketing half a district. The survivors there fought back, but they failed, and then they were swallowed up in swaths... We were powerless. All we could do was take the few dozen poor souls who survived and drop them off by a lake fifty kilometers away." Chu Guang's expression shifted slightly. He had heard that downtown Qingquan City seemed to harbor a broodmother, and every so often, mutants like Gnawers would spread outward from the city center. The survivors of Boulder City called this phenomenon the "Tide." All of this had been told to him by Xia Yan. "And you just... left that broodmother alone?" "No need to worry about that thing," Luo Hua waved his hand dismissively. "You underestimate the power of nature. When anything on this planet swells beyond a certain threshold, it rapidly falls into decline. Those slime molds are no exception. In extremely rare instances, they mutate and go berserk, losing their fear of sunlight, madly devouring surrounding living creatures, and using their flesh to propagate at blinding speed. It sounds terrifying, but once they expand to a certain scale, they soon retreat right back to where they came from... We call it the self-limiting expansion of mutant slime mold colonies." Hearing this, Chu Guang's expression relaxed slightly. That made sense. If they could expand without limit, this planet would have been overrun by them long ago. Furthermore, from an energy balance standpoint, probably no ecosystem could sustain such horrifying organisms indefinitely. Pausing for a moment, Luo Hua burped and continued to ramble on. "Those mutant slime molds are only one part of the problem. As you know, this world has far more than just Gnawers and those creepy crawlers. Even mutant cockroaches, which have nothing to do with the slime molds, are a major nuisance. Oh, and mutants—I don't know if you've ever seen a 'Super Mutant' three stories tall? I suspect that thing was basically a giant, walking tumor. We had to use two tactical nukes just to finish it off for good... So you guys were really lucky. Those dozens of mutants back there? We took care of them with just five suits of power armor." Chu Guang's Adam's apple bobbed. He had originally wanted to ask where these abominations had come from, but the question on the tip of his tongue shifted into the query he had been pondering all along. "Who exactly is our enemy?" Hearing that, Luo Hua let out a chuckle. "Our? Enemy? You mean... that apocalyptic war? Haha, who the hell knows what happened two centuries ago? I've met plenty of people who came out of cryosleep from the twenty-second century. Some really did it to take shelter, while others purely thought going to the future sounded like fun. Haha, either way, they couldn't even explain what went down themselves. Some even thought they were standing on the set of a variety show and kept yelling that they were going to sue us." As he spoke, Luo Hua's gaze grew unfocused, and the hand holding his wine glass trembled constantly. Sensing he was thoroughly drunk, Chu Guang topped off his glass again... It was part of his "official duties" anyway, and there wasn't much left in the bottle. "Those poor wretches... *burp*, all we could do was hand them over to nearby survivors. Maybe their knowledge would come in handy, though I doubt it." Not refusing the refill, Luo Hua tilted his head back and downed another gulp. He let out a long, shuddering burp, his tongue now completely slurred. "They say the answer lies in Shelter 0. We're not the only ones looking for it. The Academy, the Legion... plenty of people are searching, but after all these years, no one's found a damn thing. Maybe it's not in the west at all, or like you said, maybe it doesn't even exist. But who knows? Someone's got to try." Mid-sentence, Luo Hua's head thumped down onto the table. Seeing his head about to flop right into the nearby brazier, Chu Guang quickly caught him and shifted his head to the other side. Luo Hua was still muttering, "I'm going to write a memoir... If we succeed, it'll become the bestselling book in Ideal City." "That might be a bit tough. Your names are too clunky for word of mouth. If you change 'First Pioneer Corps' to the 'Knights Templar,' rename the Pioneer to the Zheng He, and give your captain a fierce name... like Lubyanka, and frame it as a journey to the West to retrieve sacred scriptures, I bet it'd become the bestselling adult fairy tale on the East Coast." Chu Guang had merely been talking nonsense, but to his surprise, Luo Hua's eyes lit up upon hearing it. "Great id—" Before he could finish the word "idea," the young man went limp with a dull thud, completely knocked out. The wine glass in his hand dropped beside the brazier with a clatter. Chu Guang paid the drunkard no further mind and fixed his eyes on his VM screen. Looking at the final line of recorded intelligence, he raised an eyebrow slightly. "The Legion and the Academy..." It seemed this world was far vaster than he had imagined. Splendid. That meant more pies in the sky he could paint for the players. ... Early the next morning. The moment the clock struck six, the hardworking little players logged in right on time and jogged over to the washbasins by the public restroom in the center of the camp. After a quick wash, they gathered in small groups, carrying their lunchboxes toward the open ground in the middle of the camp. Yet the moment they arrived, they were stunned. About twenty NPCs in gray coats stood holding bowls, already lined up in front of the giant iron pot. Noticing the bluecoats looking over, the crew of the Pioneer felt a bit embarrassed. They smiled sheepishly at their allies, waved in a friendly manner, and pointed at the bowls in their hands. Their expressions seemed to say— "Don't panic, buddies! We're just bumming some breakfast, then we'll be on our way." The players holding bowls were utterly dumbfounded. "Damn! These NPCs are getting bolder and bolder about mooching off our food!" "The pot hasn't even boiled yet! Is that really necessary?!" "Huh? Where's Brother Scrambled Eggs? I saw him by the faucet a minute ago. Where'd he go?" Not far off, Brother Scrambled Eggs was walking over behind Old Luka, carrying a large basket of noodles in his arms. Reaching the iron pot, he slammed the basket heavily onto the table. Other ingredients and seasonings were already laid out across the tabletop. Wiping his forehead with his forearm, Brother Scrambled Eggs pulled on his over-sleeves and apron, tapping the rim of the pot with a ladle. "Plant-based meat, artificial starch noodles, and Boss Crow's chanterelle mushrooms... Today we're cooking up some high-tech ingredients for a taste test. Fair warning, I haven't tried this before either, but I'll do my best. If it doesn't taste good, I'll rethink the recipe next meal." Brother Scrambled Eggs had originally planned to just whip up a pot of porridge to get by, since time in the morning wasn't as plentiful as in the evening; they still had to go haul bricks on the new map soon. Just then, however, a mission had popped up on his VM—instructing him to cook a pot of delicious food that would bring happiness to the players in the camp. What on earth was food that brings happiness? Brother Scrambled Eggs had been totally bewildered, but the three question marks in the reward column and the exclusive expansion tag affixed to the header had fired up his competitive spirit. Hearing that Brother Scrambled Eggs was about to show off his culinary skills, the players waiting in line cheered enthusiastically. "Big shot is awesome!" "Give me an extra egg!" "Pass it down! Brother Scrambled Eggs is making noodles for us!" "Gross, I'm not passing that down. Pass it yourself!" Though the surrounding Pioneer crew members couldn't understand what was being said, seeing the bluecoats so excited made them look forward to it all the same. Brother Scrambled Eggs paid them no heed, pouring his full attention into the task before him. He rubbed a chunk of wild boar fat against the bottom of the pot to render a rich, fragrant oil, then deftly dumped the plant-based meat—previously marinated in his "secret cooking wine"—into the pot with a loud whoosh. *Sizzle—!* A savory, meaty aroma wafted into the air. Stir-frying rapidly, he added soy sauce for color, sprinkled in salt and black pepper to enhance the flavor, and once the minced meat began bubbling, he smoothly lifted a pot of boiling water, poured it into the wok, gave it a few stirs, and slapped the lid on to simmer. The bubbling sounds and mouthwatering scent were sealed beneath the lid. With the savory meat sauce simmering away, the stewed chanterelle mushroom broth on the side began releasing its fragrance as well. Their taste buds continually teased, the NPCs waiting in line swallowed hard one after another, shifting their bowls from their left hands to their right and back again, practically polishing the metal to a shine. Finally, the lid was lifted. Brother Scrambled Eggs scooped up batches of noodles in a strainer, scalded them in boiling water for a few shakes, and dropped them into the bowls held out to him, topping each serving with an even ladle of mushroom broth and a hearty scoop of minced meat sauce. "Four CR per serving! There's enough for everyone, don't rush!" Old Luka collected the payment and handed a brimming bowl of noodles to a truck driver, who was beaming with smiles and offering profuse thanks. Then, Luka turned toward the queue of graycoats and called out warmly, "Next!"