Quest: "Blood for Blood!"

All right. After listening to Lu Yang's explanation, Chu Guang realized it had been a false alarm. Those two thousand men were all clones, and mass-produced ones at that. According to Lu Yang, the Legion possessed black technology capable of producing clones that developed eight times faster than normal humans. Not only were they cheap to maintain and quick to decant, but they could also become combat-ready just two years after leaving their pods. Unlike other clones, who either spent six months to a year in a vat until reaching the desired physiological age or developed from infancy just like a normal baby, the Legion's clones were practically beyond reproach as cannon fodder. Their morale was far superior to that of ordinary marauders, and backed by the Legion's industry, their gear wasn't too shabby either—at least better than a marauder's. The only flaw was that two years wasn't enough time for them to develop a complete mind. Driven by fear and pain, these clones usually fought on bestial instinct. The vast majority could only serve as light infantry; only a handful of veterans could operate slightly more complex equipment, and even then, neither their efficiency nor their accuracy was anything to write home about. Consequently, the Legion usually required large numbers of junior officers to command—or rather, herd—this cannon fodder. Occasionally, they also had to enslave regular survivors to serve as coolies and construct intricate fortifications. The Legion's true backbone was precisely that vast body of junior officers. On the battlefield, they were decurions; off it, petty slaveholders. On average, every ten to twenty clone light infantrymen required one decurion to command them. Only a few legions that adhered to human wave army doctrines could push the ratio of decurions to clone infantry to 1:50 or even 1:100, relying on sheer numbers and adequate weapons to crush enemy defensive lines. Make no mistake. A thousand clones were definitely cheaper than a single suit of power armor. According to Lu Yang, even in the pre-war utopian society, no technology existed that could endow a clone with a complete, mature mind in a short period of time. And when Chu Guang asked whether it was possible for clones to be cultivated in just a month while possessing a fully functional mind, Lu Yang looked at him as if he had lost his sanity. "That's impossible! Producing a clone with a complete mind in a month? If something like that existed, wouldn't it be even more convenient than a machine? I've traveled all the way from the East Coast to here and heard plenty of bizarre tales, but I've never heard of anything like that. "A person is a cell of society. You can't create someone capable of adapting to society while completely detached from it. Even we have to put our employees through basic education and job training, and select promising talent from lower-level staff, refugees, and natives through exams. "As for technology, at best it accelerates the process, cutting it down from ten or twenty years to five or eight. A mind has to be built bit by bit while the brain develops. It's not as simple as slotting a memory stick into a computer. "If anyone tells you there's technology that can produce clones with full minds in just a month, they're either madmen or swindlers." After hearing Lu Yang's assertive declaration, Chu Guang fell silent, momentarily at a loss for words. *I get the logic.* *But then what are my players?* ... Before departing, Lu Yang solemnly promised Chu Guang that they would compensate the injured workers and the families of the deceased, and strike back hard against those self-proclaimed Legion marauders at eight o'clock tonight! The First Pioneer Corps would never tolerate anyone who dared provoke them and harm their allies! Perhaps to reassure his ally, Lu Yang had even shared the exact timing of the operation. Frankly, that did Chu Guang a huge favor. Two thousand people. They couldn't possibly be fighting with wooden sticks, could they? Even if their gear was garbage, active substances were still good stuff... After Lu Yang left, Chu Guang turned and walked back to the center of the camp. The casualties had already been carried away. Having disposed of corpses for him before, Luka knew a thing or two about the secret. He had calmly covered the faces of the dead and severely wounded to keep the Pioneer's crew from getting a clear look at them, then had the guard corps carry them back. The players were all very cooperative. Knowing that being placed on a stretcher meant they had successfully exploited the bug, they feigned their dying gasps and lay motionless on the stretchers. Eventually, their screens went black altogether. Meanwhile, the players who had failed to die stomped their feet in frustration, swearing and grumbling: "Fuck! Why does having two pieces of shrapnel stuck in your stomach count as a fatal wound? Wasn't he still able to talk! His brain wasn't even damaged!" Of the eleven injured, three had succumbed to severe wounds; counting the two killed instantly, this round of shelling had claimed a total of five lives. This was not merely a number—behind it lay five families, and everyone who knew them... The medical staff from the Logistics Division around them kept silent. They assumed the player was venting his grief, treating the rocks on the ground as those vile bastards ten kilometers away. At a time like this, it was best to leave him alone for a while. As for the other eight wounded, after receiving their treatment, their wounds were basically healed. Seeing Chu Guang approach from the camp entrance, Weite took the initiative to come over and explain that the captain had already contacted him and the pensions would be disbursed shortly. At the same time, he brought bad news: The afternoon scavenging plan had been canceled. "The scavenging plan is canceled? Why?" Seeing Weite look stunned, Chu Guang caught himself and immediately explained in a righteous tone, "What I mean is, aren't those marauders calling themselves the Legion over in the northwest? I heard our work site is to the north." The closer they were to war, the less production could afford to stop! They blew half a jin of reaction mass with a single burst—didn't they have any fucking clue how fast they burned through it? Back when they fought the mutants, Chu Guang had someone retrieve their discarded penetrators and calculated it: they fired tungsten-steel rounds weighing 9 grams each. At 30 rounds per burst, that was easily half a jin! Weite hesitated. "That may be so, but the straight-line distance between Yumu District and our resource collection point is only five kilometers. It would be hard not to draw their attention... To avoid unnecessary casualties, our division chief recommends that you pull back for now to prevent friendly fire during the fighting." As he said this, Weite's feelings were conflicted as well. Naturally, they wanted to keep production running. Yet after such an incident, they could hardly expect their allies to risk their lives picking through junk for them. People needed time to mourn and handle funeral arrangements. Driving people to work right after their companions died was something even their stingy division chief couldn't bring himself to do. Chu Guang had no objections regarding the pensions, but hearing that the afternoon scavenging was canceled and that his people were being told to pull back instantly ruined his mood. *Motherfucker!* Did they think earning foreign currency was easy? Without money, how could he upgrade the players' gameplay experience? He couldn't have them moving bricks and firing cement for the rest of their lives. If they retreated now, his meticulously planned scheme to fleece them through light industry would take a hit. That was secondary, though; the real problem was that his players wouldn't get to experience the expansion content! *Afraid of what?!* *I'm not even scared, so what the hell are you shrinking back for?* *Wouldn't it be great if the enemy came out of the forest?* *Drag them into urban street fighting, and it's anyone's guess who beats whom.* Weite, however, misinterpreted the look on Chu Guang's face, assuming he was mourning the fallen vault residents, and a hint of self-reproach crept into his expression. "We are deeply sorry about what happened. Nobody expected... that they had two howitzers hidden away." "It's not your fault. You don't need to apologize. The ones who should pay are those shameless cowards who fired on us without warning." Chu Guang's heart stirred slightly. Keeping his grim expression intact, he gave a slight shake of his head and stepped past Weite. Under the latter's astonished gaze, he walked up to the players and raised his voice, shouting: "A band of marauders calling themselves the Legion has invaded our homeland from the north! Without declaring war, they sought to force our submission through artillery fire! "This is a disgraceful sneak attack!" The players fell silent one after another, looking toward the Administrator. *A cutscene triggered?* *A quest is coming?* Meeting those expectant gazes, Chu Guang continued in a resonant, resolute voice: "The residents of Shelter 404 will not bend the knee, nor will the blood of our compatriots be shed in vain! "We will make them understand the cost of angering us!" Almost at the exact same moment, every player present who held a VM simultaneously received a quest pop-up. [Quest: Blood for Blood!] ... At the southern entrance of the operational camp. Watching the bluecoats retreating southward, two employees from the Logistics Division chatted in low voices. "The bluecoats are leaving?" "Looks like it. I heard that to avoid casualties, our chief had them step back for now." "Damn it... does that mean no steamed buns tomorrow?" "All you ever think about is food!" "Like you haven't eaten your fill! But speaking of which... why do some of them have VMs while others don't?" "Beats me. It's not like all bluecoats wear them in the first place." "Well, I just think it's weird, because the ones leaving are all the ones with VMs. The ones without VMs are all staying behind in the camp." "Hiss... now that you mention it, that really is strange." The two Logistics Division employees were utterly baffled, but after pondering it, they didn't think it was anything worth reporting, so they put it out of their minds. In reality, the bluecoats with VMs had indeed left. Yet this was no retreat. They were going back to gear up and beat the shit out of them! A twenty-kilometer round trip couldn't dampen the players' determination to complete the quest. The heavy snowfall filling the sky couldn't cool the boiling blood in their chests. *The Legion, is it?* *Whoever the fuck you are, anyone who dares bomb us dies!* *Blood for blood!* The group marched back to the vault with aggressive momentum. In addition to picking up their bound rifles, all the players who accepted the quest went to the warehouse according to the quest instructions to collect a woven sack. When searching the abandoned construction site earlier, the warehouse had stocked up on plenty of these sacks woven from high-molecular polymers. Scavenger-build players had long used them instead of backpacks to haul salvaged junk, and now they were perfect for carrying loot! And if there was no loot— Then they'd stuff themselves inside! In an instant, an unexpectedly solemn, tragic air hung over the vault. Looking over their inventories, many players hesitated about what to bring onto the battlefield. Fang Chang was caught in a similar dilemma. Without question, Daybreak was his best choice. Explosive arrowheads could take out targets behind cover, and armor-piercing arrows could even penetrate light armor. The trouble was... The difficulty of this battle was likely immense. Even with his equipment bound to him, there was no guarantee he could bring it back in one piece. Checking his gear beside him, Old Bai caught the hesitation in his companion's eyes. He clapped a hand on Fang Chang's shoulder with a grin. "Quit dragging your feet. If you want to bring it, take it." Fang Chang shook his head and said cautiously, "Everyone pitched in to buy it. To be honest, this battle will definitely be far tougher than fighting the Bloodhand Clan. I'm not confident I can bring it back." The death penalty in this game was somewhat steep. Back when their pockets were cleaner than their faces, they hadn't felt it much. But as the game progressed, Fang Chang felt more and more that compared to losing a few silver coins and waiting out a three-day revival cooldown, losing equipment was the real punishment. Thus, he had to calculate the risks and rewards carefully, choosing gear tailored to each quest. Expecting Fang Chang to say that, Old Bai grinned and patted his shoulder. "Gear is bought to be used. What's the point of playing scared? Isn't the whole point of gaming to do things you'd love to do in reality but never dared to? Don't carry so much baggage. Sure, we pooled money to buy it, but we said it was for you, so stop treating it like it's ours! If you don't take it because you think you won't need it, I've got no complaints. But if you refuse to use it just because you're scared of dropping it, you might as well go fight with basic bows and spears and call it a day." Ye Shi chuckled and leaned in as well. "Exactly, what's there to be afraid of! Are you planning on dying out there? I sure as hell don't want to! With this bug unfixed, who knows how many days I'd have to spectate if I died. Let the rookies feed—I'm surviving till the end! No matter what, I've got to bring back some loot!" Kuangfeng cleared his throat lightly. "Let's hold off on talking about dying. Don't forget, we still have to avenge Brother Quitting Smoking." Old Bai laughed heartily. "That's right, avenge Brother Quitting Smoking! If Kuangfeng hadn't brought it up, I would've almost forgotten." Ye Shi said, "Damn right! Brother Quitting Smoking finally got access to log in, experienced jack shit, and got cutscene-killed right away. We've got to fuck 'em up!" Meeting his companions' encouraging gazes, warmth touched Fang Chang's heart. A smile spread across his face, and his hesitation vanished. "Yeah, let's fuck 'em up!" ... Inside the vault. Fang Chang was no longer hesitating, but at this moment, WC Really Has Mosquitoes was still wavering. After pondering for a long while, he finally sighed and trudged down to Floor B2. Ever since the Winter Is Coming expansion ended, Scavenger hadn't stepped outside the vault. Still, he regularly logged in to do push-ups and squats in the main hall. According to him, this was a way to level up; besides, working out in the game wasn't as tiring as in reality, and since he couldn't sleep when offline anyway, he might as well find something to do. At first, nobody believed him. Then he actually gained a level. Following that level up, Scavenger was thrilled like a two-hundred-pound kid. He even made a special trip to the forum to post a guide, pioneering the fitness meta and becoming the number one iron-pumping pioneer in Wasteland OL—a match made in heaven alongside Midnight Chicken Slaughter, the "woodcutting fanatic," like the Crouching Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix of absurdity. Incidentally, because he hadn't taken any quests and eating cost money, Mosquito had been supporting him all this time. Of course, just like when buying land, the money was borrowed. Looking at the lizard squatting in the corner, Mosquito cleared his throat. "Are you planning to grind squats all the way to Level 99?" Scavenger looked up in surprise. "Huh? Why are you back?" Mosquito: "A quest. Came back to grab gear." "Oh, right, I got it too." Scavenger nodded, envy written across his face. "Must be nice rolling around in the snow. The last time I went out to fight—" "—was the last time, right?" Brother Mosquito consoled him. "Don't worry, we're all normal people. Even if we can go outside, we don't roll in the snow. At most, we run quests, eat barbecue, drink a bowl of mushroom soup when we're thirsty, listen to the proprietress talk trash, and watch cute, earnest Xiaoyu count money—" "Fuck! Did you come here just to flex?!" Scavenger said with tragic indignation, though because his lizard face was so ugly, the indignation wasn't very obvious. Mosquito chuckled. "Not at all... Actually, I'm here to bring you good news." "...No bad news?" "There is, but it's not important." "???" Ignoring Scavenger's wary expression, Mosquito cleared his throat and struck a serious face. "A while back, wasn't I helping Tengteng design a steam engine?" Scavenger nodded vigorously. "I know. I saw Tengteng roasting you guys on the forum, saying you were just messing around and what you built wasn't at all what she had in mind—" "That's not the point!" Mosquito cut him off without hesitation. "The point is, after comparing notes with Brother Toilet, we improved our steelmaking technique. We can now cast boilers that are lighter and more durable! Speaking of which, what's your Strength stat at now?" "I've trained up to Level 4... I have 14 points of Strength." Scavenger's expression faltered slightly, and then understanding dawned on him, his eyes going wide. "Wait, don't tell me you want to—" Seeing how well his brother understood him, Mosquito broke into a grin. "I need you to strap on 40 kilograms of heavy armor, a 10-kilogram boiler, and 60 liters of boiling water, charge into the forest in the most savage pose you can muster, leap into the trenches, and tear the enemies before you to shreds! Or blast boiling water straight into their faces! In short, take them out by any means you can think of!" Mosquito stared at him, eyes gleaming. "Art is an explosion! "I often reflect on how explosions aren't powerful enough, how they always fail to produce effective lethality... But now I have a new train of thought! "Are you willing to become my spark?!" ... 7:00 PM. Beside the Pioneer's steel platform, ten suits of power armor assembled. In addition, there were fifteen light infantrymen equipped with exoskeletons and five robotic dogs bearing dual-mounted drone hives. Morale was running high among everyone. Even the four-legged robotic dogs were scraping their metal paws against the ground. Standing before the formation, Lu Yang held a Gauss rifle and wore burly alloy heavy armor as he delivered the final pre-battle speech to his subordinates. This was virtually all the ground forces the Pioneer could deploy. As for four-wheel-drive off-road vehicles, they were of little use in the tangled terrain of mixed forest and ruins; getting bogged down in snowdrifts would only make them easy targets for focused fire, so it was better to leave them behind. With exoskeletons, the light infantry could carry enough ammunition to last the battle without sacrificing mobility. Though they were certainly at a numerical disadvantage against the Legion, it wasn't a major issue. Aside from the forces on the ground, a light fixed-wing drone circled in the sky on standby, armed with 600 electromagnetic-accelerated kinetic rounds, two 50-kilogram-equivalent metallic-hydrogen high-explosive bombs, and a dial-a-yield tactical nuclear bomb with a maximum yield of ten tons. Air superiority belonged entirely to them! Meanwhile, in the forest more than ten kilometers away. Sitting inside a pitch-black temporary command post, Vannus quietly faced an aged paper map. Densely packed dots were scattered across the map like pieces on a sand table. Since no light source could be used, nothing could be seen here. Yet that didn't matter. Although the communications channel was dead silent and intelligence on the enemy was an utter blank, Vannus felt not the slightest panic. This was not his first asymmetric war. During the year spent fighting the Great Rift Valley, he and his subordinates had long since experienced the power of technology. Yet what of it? They themselves were the crystallization of technology. Extreme quantity was its own form of quality. All deployments had been completed. He had faith that his subordinates would bring him the glory of victory. Just then, a flash lit up the distance. A mushroom cloud rose from the flat ground, and the blast wave even brushed faintly against the entrance of the command tent. The radio signal flickered like a candle in the wind, stuttering with noisy static under the electromagnetic pulse. A spark of fanaticism finally crept into pupils previously as tranquil as a lake. Vannus rose from his chair, bracing his fists against the map. "They're finally here!" Incessant explosions rumbled from afar as muzzle flashes and blast fire ignited the fringes of the forest and ruins. At the decurions' command, the clone light infantry prostrate in the trenches depressed the plungers of their syringes, injecting anti-radiation agents into their veins. Scorching light seared their backs and blistered their cheeks. Their skin began to slough, bone marrow necrotized, organs steadily failed, and their mouths tasted like a mouthful of rusted iron— Yet even so, it was not enough to kill them instantly. Even though hundreds had died in a single instant just now, it was still not enough to shake them. The ant-bite sting on the nape of their necks continually rekindled memories of terror in their brains. *No turning back!* *No retreating!* "Fire!!" Orange-yellow tracer lines wove a web over the forest and ruins, and the collision of steel and flesh played its prelude under the snowy night. Covered by the drone, the power armor, exoskeleton-equipped infantry, and quadcopter drones pierced like a razor-sharp armored spearhead into the Legion's flank. The defensive line tore open in an instant, toppling like a knocked-over snowman. Yet the Legion was clearly no pushover. Clone light infantry surged forward in relentless waves. Rockets streaked through the silent forest and ruins, and along with fragmentation grenades hurled from grenade dischargers, shattered rubble and debris flew everywhere. Snow was dyed red by fire. Night burned in the north wind. Grim-faced, Lu Yang switched off his helmet's night-vision function while swapping out his rifle barrel—it was no longer needed. What nobody knew was that... At this very moment, a mob of bluecoats carrying all kinds of weapons was quietly creeping closer from the eastern flank of the battlefield, cloaked in the dark of night...