"I swear... these are the most delicious noodles I've eaten since leaving home!"
"So good!! Are these really made from our noodles?!"
"It's a flavor that isn't even in the seasoning packets! Incredible—how did they do this?"
"What on earth did they put in the broth? Damn it, why does this soup taste so heavenly... I want another bowl!"
"Hot, hot, hot! Hiss... it's burning my tongue!"
"Where are you going?"
"To get in line!"
"Aren't you taking your truck out?!"
"No rush! Let me grab another bowl first, hehe!"
A group of NPCs in gray overcoats crouched by the camp, slurping down noodles. The scene was as comical as could be, leaving the nearby players completely dumbfounded.
"Are they really that good?"
"Seems... pretty decent?"
"It's Brother Scrambled Eggs's cooking, after all. His baseline performance is solid as a rock!"
"Smells so good~~ I'm starting to miss Boss Crow's grilled mushrooms."
Seeing how enthusiastically the NPCs ate, the players felt the noodles in their own bowls tasted even better.
Old Luka counted the money—80 CR in total—and a massive grin spread across his wrinkled face.
Selling twenty combo meals had not only covered the players' food, but also turned a neat profit. Two more people were already walking over to join the queue; they might very well hit 100 CR from breakfast alone.
If the master found out, he would surely be thrilled!
He could hardly wait to report the good news to his master!
Just then, Lu Yang in power armor and Section Chief Li from the Logistics Division came down from the Pioneer's elevator.
Seeing the crew members squatting outside the bluecoats' camp, loudly slurping noodles, both men froze in disbelief.
Lu Yang walked over and inquired, "What are you eating?"
A marine crouching on the ground immediately scrambled to his feet, holding his bowl in his right hand, and snapped to attention to report.
"Captain, we're eating noodles!"
"What kind of noodles?"
"I'm not sure, but they're delicious! I recommend you try some too, sir. Only four CR—dirt cheap, and the portion is huge!"
Four CR a bowl?
Lu Yang was bewildered, not quite grasping what was happening. Beside him, Li De caught on and his brow twitched violently.
Still, he said nothing.
Running a small side business was harmless enough. He wasn't so petty as to restrict what his employees spent their money on.
As long as it didn't interfere with serious business.
That said, these bastards were truly shameless... Usually, none of them were eager for field assignments, but today, every single one of them had lined up beside the elevator.
Li De glared daggers at a few familiar faces from the Logistics Division crouching on the ground, then walked away in silence.
...
Around nine in the morning, a sudden blizzard struck the outpost.
The north wind howled, nearly tearing the roof off the granary.
Fortunately, Chu Guang borrowed a can of expanding foam spray from Luo Hua and reinforced the roof, narrowly rescuing the tottering granary.
Watching Chu Guang step into the barracks covered in so much snow that he looked like a snowman, Luo Hua spoke with a helpless, sympathetic expression.
"To be honest... your conditions here are far too primitive. Didn't your shelter leave behind any production tools or equipment?"
Chu Guang patted the caked snow off his coat, placed the foam spray by the door, and replied casually, "I suppose they ran out of budget halfway through building the shelter... Feeling any better?"
"Much better... By the way, did I say anything weird last night?" Luo Hua asked nervously.
He was self-aware enough to know he had a loose tongue, rarely keeping it in check even on normal days—and when alcohol was involved, all bets were off.
Naturally, Chu Guang wasn't about to tell him he had highlighted over two hundred key points on his VM. Instead, he made up a story on the fly to brush it off.
"Nah, you just told me about your android partner back home—"
"All right, all right, please don't say another word!" Luo Hua flusteredly cut him off, casting a quick, wary glance toward Ai Si.
Seeing that she wasn't looking in their direction at all, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The Pioneer was only so big. He definitely didn't want his private affairs leaking back home and turning him into the laughingstock of his colleagues.
Huh?
Chu Guang shot him a surprised look.
Wait, there really was one?
Chu Guang hadn't taken it seriously at first, but now his curiosity was genuinely piqued.
Just then, Ai Si looked up.
"The captain will be visiting shortly. When I made contact earlier, I told him you got drunk. You'd better think about how to explain yourself to him."
"What do you mean, drunk? That was professional socializing!" Luo Hua tried to argue, pulling out the exact excuse Chu Guang had taught him.
Ai Si blinked, composed herself, and said expressionlessly, "You can explain that to the captain."
Hearing that, Luo Hua instantly deflated like a punctured tire and clamped his mouth shut.
Chu Guang gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder along with a friendly smile.
"Don't worry, my friend. I'll explain it for you!"
Luo Hua looked back, visibly touched. "Thank you. You really are a good person!"
Chu Guang chuckled. "Don't mention it. You've helped me plenty, after all... Ahem, I mean, I'll still have to rely on you to liaise with your section chief in the future."
It was truly wonderful working with such a simple-minded young man.
Completely oblivious, Luo Hua smiled and said, "No trouble at all, that's my job! If you ever run into any difficulties, as long as it's something I can help with, don't hesitate to ask!"
Chu Guang said, "I certainly will!"
Ai Si: "..."
...
The blizzard raged for over an hour before finally easing up just before ten-thirty. Right around that time, a group arrived at the north gate of Wetland Park.
Clad in power armor, Lu Yang led four marines up to the outpost's north gate, followed by a four-legged robotic dog carrying a massive crate on its back.
Their loadout differed from their previous visit.
Aside from Captain Lu's own power armor, only two of the four marines he brought were clad in power armor, wielding ferocious Gauss rifles.
As for the other two, they wore lightweight mechanical exoskeletons. One carried a compact assault rifle, while the other cradled a light machine gun.
In addition to the supplies loaded on the mechanical dog, each soldier carried a large, heavy rucksack, evidently prepared for a long trek.
Through the VM, Chu Guang issued a quest and brought four players armed with pipe rifles out to greet their allies.
Watching Chu Guang approach, Lu Yang said with a smile, "...We ran into two mutated brown bears on our way here, which held us up for a bit."
"You're quite lucky to encounter two at once."
Where are the bears?
Don't these people harvest their kills?
Chu Guang glanced over them, seeing no sign of any bear carcasses.
At the thought, he tapped on his VM and sent Xiao Qi a message, instructing the AI to draft a quest sending two Perception-type players north along the group's tracks to see if they could recover the two mutated brown bears.
A mutated brown bear could weigh over a thousand kilograms. In Chu Guang's eyes, that was a mountain of meat.
A blizzard had just swept through.
With any luck, they should be able to find them.
"Perhaps a male and a female," Lu Yang laughed heartily. Looking at the fully armed Chu Guang, he asked, "Looks like you're all ready?"
Chu Guang gave a faint smile. "We're ready whenever you are."
Lu Yang said, "Likewise! We'll be counting on you to lead the way!"
Chu Guang nodded, then signaled to the four players behind him, who were already itching for action.
"Move out!"
...
The players had never been to the edge of the Fifth Ring Road. Chu Guang had visited a few times, but that was back in autumn; navigating it in the snow was an entirely different story.
No matter. Bet Street was crawling with scavengers who survived off the resources around the Fifth Ring Road.
Chu Guang took his party to Bet Street and sought out Yu Xiong, who served as the captain of the guard corps, intending to borrow a sharp young fellow to help.
Upon hearing Chu Guang's request, Yu Xiong immediately said, "A heavy blizzard just passed, and that boy Yu Hu happens to be at home. How about I call him over to assist you? He knows the Fifth Ring Road area well."
"No need. We only need a guide. In this dreadful weather, let him stay warm at home. There's no easy work around the Fifth Ring Road anyway."
Yu Xiong smiled. "Understood. If you need anything at all, just say the word and I'll see it done!"
After bidding farewell to Yu Xiong, Chu Guang led the young guard outside. As they walked out of the settlement, he asked offhandedly, "What's your name?"
The young man had clearly seen him enter the castle back then. With a reverent expression, he answered respectfully, "Zhao Yang, my lord."
An interesting name.
"What's your relation to Zhao Shu?"
Zhao Yang blinked, then hastily said, "He's my younger brother!"
Chu Guang nodded, ending the pleasantries to talk business.
"Your job today will be acting as our guide. Do a good job, and once it's done, I'll pay you five silver coins."
NPC wages were far lower than players' earnings. A Bet Street guard made only sixty silver coins a month, which averaged out to just two silver coins a day.
Hearing that a single trip to the Fifth Ring Road would earn him a reward of five silver coins, Zhao Yang grew ecstatic, immediately beating his chest in promise.
"Rest assured, my lord! Whatever task you assign me, I will carry it out with utmost dedication!"
Chu Guang smiled. "Then I look forward to your performance."
When they rendezvoused with Captain Lu's squad, Zhao Yang was so stunned by the three suits of power armor and the two gleaming mechanical exoskeletons that he could barely speak.
He had no idea what the Pioneer was, nor did he know anything about the Enterprise. All he knew was that the neighbors from Wetland Park actually possessed power armor?!
Amidst his awe, he couldn't help reflecting.
It seemed the old mayor hadn't lost unfairly.
With equipment like this, let alone the Bloodhand Clan, probably nobody in the entire northern suburbs of Qingquan City could stand against them.
He'd definitely have to share this massive piece of news with everyone later!
With a guide's help, the party entered the Fifth Ring Road smoothly, wasting little time navigating the ruins.
Skyscrapers soared into the clouds like towering tombstones, their stories stretching beyond count at a glance. The streets were littered with downed maglev vehicles and construction rubble. Fractured roadways exposed the conduits and maglev track beds buried beneath. East-west avenues had even overgrown into dense forests, their shadows teeming with vegetation and moss... though right now, everything was blanketed in snow and ice.
The four players stared at the sight, their faces etched with shock.
Makka Pakka: "Holy crap... Have you guys played The Last of Us?"
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "To be honest, this is way more breathtaking than that."
Midnight Chicken Slaughter: "Cyberpunk 2077 meets The Last of Us?"
Elven King Fugui: "Not bad, it really has that vibe."
The Pioneer expedition team had a clear objective. Guided by Zhao Yang, they swiftly maneuvered through a rugged alley to reach the marked coordinate on their map.
The ground floor of the office tower had once been a bank, its entrance bearing a sign where a few words could still be faintly made out. Chu Guang grew curious about whether gold could still be found in the bank vault, so he discreetly posted a side quest to the four players via his VM.
[Side Quest: Locate the Bank Vault]
[Reward: 10 Silver Coins]
"It's right here."
Comparing the AR overlay in his vision, Lu Yang tapped the side of his helmet with his index finger, then turned to Chu Guang beside him.
"Based on our calculations, the carbon dioxide scrubber should be somewhere between the twentieth and thirtieth floors."
Chu Guang asked, "How do you plan to get up there?"
"Take the emergency stairwell to the twentieth floor, then sweep upward floor by floor. With any luck, we should find it."
"Is there no way to scout from the outside? I have a drone."
"It's not that simple. That thing isn't an outdoor air conditioning unit," one of the marines chimed in with a chuckle. "Once we're inside, we'll have our work cut out for us searching for it."
"Indeed," Lu Yang agreed, nodding. He looked at Chu Guang. "Would you like to come along? Or you can wait for us down here."
"I'll wait down here for you... By the way, if it's convenient, could you help us clear out the mutants on the ground floor? We'd like to look for floor plans or building blueprints."
"No problem, though I wouldn't pin too much hope on finding those."
Captain Lu smiled and gave a hand signal to his teammates.
The large crate on the mechanical dog's back sprang open, and two quadcopter drones with slung gun barrels zipped out with deadly intent, breaching inside alongside the three power-armored soldiers and the two light infantrymen.
Dense gunfire erupted, orange-yellow tracer lines nearly illuminating the entire ground floor lobby. Before the Gnawers roaming the ruins could even react, they were torn to shreds.
It was a one-sided slaughter!
The four players watched in utter envy, the pipe rifles in their hands suddenly feeling hopelessly pathetic.
"Those drones are absurdly strong."
"Just rat-tat-tat and a whole mob of Gnawers hits the dirt."
"I want a set so bad."
Listening to the four players chat, Chu Guang smiled knowingly.
You want one? I want one too.
Be patient.
Work hard, and maybe in two major patches, we'll have it all.
...
Chu Guang noticed that these marines from the Pioneer weren't just formidable at urban street combat—they were ridiculously proficient at clearing buildings as well.
Of course, a large part of that was due to their equipment.
An exoskeleton alone could eliminate weapon recoil, the power armor likely possessed assisted aiming, and with the fire support from the drones, Chu Guang felt that if he were handed a full set, he wouldn't do half bad either.
Even with overwhelming firepower, however, pushing from the twentieth to the thirtieth floor still took the better part of the day.
The mutants inside the Fifth Ring Road weren't just Gnawers.
Starting from the twentieth floor, they came under attack from Crawlers.
In addition, there was a mutant species called the "Detonator." Its back bore flesh sacs packed with spores. Normally it remained motionless like a plant, with mediocre sight and hearing, but once it locked onto a target, it would immediately charge forward to self-destruct.
Anyone with a Constitution below 10 had a high probability of being poisoned, knocked unconscious, or even corrupted by the slime mold upon inhaling the spores. Even for those with a Constitution above 10, inhaling too much was ill-advised—after all, the poison was in the dose.
Of course, wearing a gas mask prevented any issues.
So long as one wasn't caught dead center in the blast.
Meanwhile, in the deepest recess of the ground floor lobby, Chu Guang's players did indeed discover a facility that appeared to be a bank vault.
However, the alloy door was already wide open, containing nothing but a pile of worthless banknotes nobody cared to touch—not a speck of gold in sight.
Evidently, during the early years of the Wasteland Era, precious metals like gold had still retained some value. Only later, when people realized you couldn't eat it and that it wasn't particularly rare in the ruined world, was it gradually phased out.
The players wandered aimlessly around the lobby, somewhat disheartened at failing to scavenge anything worthwhile. Chu Guang, on the other hand, found a sturdy spot to sit, quietly waiting for the battle upstairs to conclude.
Waiting from midday until three in the afternoon, Lu Yang finally led his squad back down.
Regrettably, the building did not house the carbon dioxide scrubber they were looking for. Although the tower's air filtration system contained a spare fusion battery, neither its model nor its specifications matched the fuel rods they required.
Furthermore, the battery barely had any charge left—a mere eight percent.
Lu Yang was disheartened, but not discouraged.
In truth, he hadn't expected to find it on the very first day. At the very least, they had familiarized themselves with the surrounding terrain, which was still a gain in his eyes.
Though Chu Guang had faintly guessed the outcome, he still asked, "How did it go?"
"Not ideal, but my gut tells me it can be found somewhere nearby."
Lu Yang let out a sigh, looking at Chu Guang apologetically. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long, only to come back empty-handed. Ah, right—we found this battery upstairs. Though its charge is nearly depleted... take it if you have a use for it."
Such a windfall?
Chu Guang accepted it without hesitation, taking the battery into his hands.
"No problem at all. What I promised, I will certainly help you find."
Please, by all means, keep searching!
If they could find good stuff like this every time, Chu Guang wouldn't mind them coming up empty a few more times.
Lu Yang was just about to express his thanks when a shrill shriek suddenly echoed from one side of the lobby.
A Detonator!
Lu Yang's heart leaped into his throat. He spun around to offer support, but he was a step too late.
*BOOM!* A deafening blast erupted!
There was no time to react whatsoever!
The group rushed over immediately, barging into the archive room where the explosion had occurred.
The room had been thoroughly ransacked, all the filing cabinets thrown open, with hardly a single door left shut.
And before the very last upright cabinet, a shelter resident lay contorted on the floor, his entire body a mangled mass of blood and flesh, his facial features unrecognizable.
The room fell dead silent.
No one had expected a casualty to occur at this very moment.
The marine in the exoskeleton clutched his light machine gun, his face beneath the visor pale with shock. "A Detonator... fuck!"
"Impossible, I swept this area myself!"
Looking at the mangled corpse on the ground and the cabinet whose door had been blasted off, Lu Yang's Adam's apple bobbed.
"Evidently, it was hiding inside the cabinet... The moment he pulled the door open, it detonated."
Another heavy silence fell.
Guilt was written across the squad's faces.
Especially Captain Lu.
Turning toward Chu Guang, he lowered his head slightly and said in a heavy tone, "I'm sorry... I gave you my word that I would guarantee your safety."
Chu Guang said nothing, sinking into a prolonged silence.
After a long while, he let out a soft sigh, his expression laced with weary sorrow.
"Everyone dies eventually. From the moment he stepped out of the shelter, he was prepared to offer his life and loyalty to rebuilding our civilization. Still, I never imagined... why did it have to be him?"
Lu Yang asked, "He...?"
"He was a bright, optimistic young man, married just last month," Chu Guang murmured, looking off to the side with melancholy eyes. "I promised his wife I would bring him back."
The marines exchanged glances, silently averting their eyes.
Lu Yang said, "...May I see her? I will apologize to her in person."
"In what capacity? I doubt she'd want to see you. Your apology won't make her feel any better; it will only deepen her grief. Besides, I was the one who made that promise to her. In the end, this is something I must face... This is the fate of an Administrator. You should understand."
"I understand. I, too, promised their families that I would bring them home with victory and honor..."
Placing a hand on Chu Guang's shoulder, Lu Yang remained silent for a moment before continuing, "While I know this won't make up for our mistake, please at least allow us to pay his condolence compensation."
"At the very least, materially, I hope his family can live a better life."
Chu Guang stayed silent.
Naming an amount right now would be too vulgar and ruin the atmosphere.
He knew full well that even if he said nothing, this captain of his word would certainly contact his logistics chief upon returning, sending Li De to negotiate the condolence package with him.
When that time came, as long as he didn't make outrageous demands, everything would be negotiable.
Money, for instance.
Or perhaps...
Opening up more trade categories.
Chu Guang knew it wasn't realistic to buy their means of production outright, but having their modular workshop mill a few decent machine tools for him shouldn't be a problem, right?
They clearly had the capability; it was just a bit tedious.
Or better yet, they could dispatch an engineer to help set up two production lines.
Nothing extravagant—just sorting out cement and steel, those two major staples, would resolve at least sixty percent of his problems.
No, better save those thoughts for after they returned.
Right now, he needed to think more sad thoughts.
Watching their heavy-hearted Administrator and the solemn NPCs around them, the three soot-faced players looked at one another, puzzled.
"What are they mourning?"
"Isn't it just three days in spectator mode?... It's not like Makka Pakka hasn't died before. Last time was way worse than this; at least he left behind a complete corpse this time. Well, sort of complete."
"Speaking of which, though... being on spectator mode now means he's going to perfectly miss the next shift change."
"Holy crap! Now that you mention it, I actually kind of feel bad for him."
Chapter 145