With the man sent by the Academy to hunt him down standing right here, Yin Fang knew there was no point in hiding anything anymore, so he came clean about everything without hesitation.
Six months ago, the Academy received intelligence that clues regarding Shelter 0 remained inside an abandoned pre-war research facility.
Without hesitation, the Academy immediately dispatched a scientific expedition to investigate.
Originally, this was nothing more than an ordinary "archaeological" mission. Field assignments like this happened almost daily at the Academy; this one merely happened to be linked to clues about Shelter 0.
Yet no one could have anticipated that an accident would strike on such an utterly routine mission.
A broodmother, unmentioned in the intelligence, was hiding on the research facility's first basement floor. Almost the moment they passed through the airlock door, they were swarmed by massive hordes of slime mold mutants—gnawers, Crawlers, and even Tyrants. After a desperate battle, they finally managed to pull out, but only two survived: the expedition's leader and the accompanying engineer.
"And you became the scapegoat?"
Chu Guang looked at the young man, his expression odd.
"Still, that doesn't make sense. Even if it was an error in decision-making, taking the blame wouldn't fall on an engineer like you no matter how you look at it."
Yin Fang's expression turned slightly subtle.
At that moment, the bound Eugene chuckled and chimed in.
"My lord, don't be misled by his ambiguous phrasing. The Academy hired us to hunt down a defecting Class-D prospector. An engineer? Heh, he's obviously the expedition leader."
"...?"
Chu Guang blinked in surprise. He stared at the young fellow for a good while, unable to see anything about him that looked like an expedition leader.
Catching that fleeting look of surprise, Eugene grinned slyly and continued.
"An expedition team usually only has around ten people. Most often, a Class-D or Class-C prospector or researcher leads the squad. Fieldwork isn't an enviable gig, after all... Tsk tsk, I'm not from the Academy, but I've dealt with their people plenty of times."
Furious at being exposed by a mercenary, Yin Fang argued indignantly,
"I never said I wasn't the leader! Fine, yes, I was the leader. So what if I was? The intel was faulty, but they pinned the entire loss on my head! What else was I supposed to do?"
Eugene curled his lip disdainfully.
"I'm just explaining why there's a 5,000 CR bounty on your head. As for your internal drama, that's none of my damn business. Besides, who knows what really happened? The mouth is on your face; you can spin whatever story you like. It's not like the dead can come back to life."
Yin Fang glared at him, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles whitened, fury blazing in his eyes as if about to spit fire. Yet it was evident he wasn't good at arguing. Whether everyone at the Academy was like this or just him was anyone's guess.
Who would have thought this guy was actually an expedition leader?
Risk value +1.
Chu Guang felt a bit of a headache coming on. After thinking for a moment, he looked at Yin Fang and asked,
"So what do you plan to do?"
A bitter expression surfaced on Yin Fang's face. After hesitating a moment, he replied,
"I originally planned to head to Boulder City. From there, I could find a way to reach the East Coast. Whether by airship or traveling overland with a caravan, once I'm on Enterprise territory, the Academy won't be able to touch me even if they know I'm there."
Chu Guang glanced at his right hand and said thoughtfully,
"There is another place where you can escape the Academy's pursuit."
Yin Fang seemed to guess what he meant.
"Do you mean your shelter?"
Chu Guang smiled faintly.
"You sound rather reluctant."
A fully protected shelter represented the pinnacle of civil defense technology from the Era of Prosperity; theoretically, breaching one from the outside was virtually impossible.
At the same time, staying inside meant never having to worry about being found. Unless the shelter's Administrator permitted it, not a single floating-point number of data could leak out.
In terms of safety, it was unmatched.
Yin Fang chose his words cautiously.
"Not at all, my lord. It's just... can I trust you completely?"
Chu Guang replied in a casual tone,
"Do you have any other choice?"
Yin Fang was silent for a moment.
Finally, he slumped his shoulders in defeat.
"You're right. I don't have a choice."
Seeing Chu Guang and his bounty target reach an understanding, Eugene felt a pang of panic and quickly interjected,
"My lord, you want to shelter a fugitive from the Academy? That's really not a good idea—"
"This is River Valley Province, not Academy territory."
Chu Guang cut him off dismissively, looking past Eugene to Yin Fang as he continued,
"I'm quite interested in your abilities. It seems your skills aren't limited to surgery? Tell me what else you can do."
"Surgeries related to neural links, or simple general surgeries—I can perform both." Yin Fang paused, then continued, "Strictly speaking, I'm not a doctor. A prospector's primary job at the Academy is to conduct archaeological work on pre-war ruins, recover valuable data and records, and bring them back to the Academy for researchers to analyze and restore. My area of specialization mainly involves neural links, so I know a bit about that."
"Can you manufacture bionic prosthetics?" Chu Guang asked with keen interest.
Yin Fang explained, "There are many types of bionic prosthetics. The simplest ones, driven by muscle cells, aren't very difficult to make. But if they're driven by neural currents, they require neuromimetic materials. That kind of stuff is hard to come by anywhere... and I can't conjure materials out of thin air."
He wasn't a doctor, but he was far more impressive than one. Not only could he perform surgery, but he also understood bionic prosthetics.
Most importantly, he seemed to know how to scavenge at a professional level—recovering useful technical data from the ruins of pre-war civilization.
Chu Guang's interest in him grew even stronger.
"I'd like to talk to you about the Academy. I was just about to head back to the shelter anyway, so why don't you come with me? By the way, do you need to pack your luggage first?"
Yin Fang shook his head. "I have no luggage to pack."
Chu Guang smiled and said amiably, "Fair enough. Congratulations on starting a new life."
Yin Fang returned the smile, though it was somewhat forced.
Honestly, he didn't hold high hopes for this so-called new life, but just as this Administrator had said, he had no choice.
Having finished, Chu Guang suddenly remembered there was still another person in the room. After a moment's thought, he turned to Wrench.
"Take this mercenary to the brick kiln and hand him over to the foreman there."
Releasing him was out of the question, and Chu Guang still had some use for this mercenary anyway.
For now, sending him off for some reform through labor would do nicely—it would give that chiliarch named Vannus some company, too.
Eugene turned pale.
Hearing the words "brick kiln" and "foreman," he could pretty much guess his fate: either work to death in a grim, sunless brick kiln, or be sold to slave traders to keep working to death elsewhere...
Yet Wrench had no sympathy for him, meticulously accepting the command.
"Yes, my lord."
...
Eugene was assigned to hard labor at the brick factory.
As for Yin Fang, Chu Guang intended to house him on Floor B2 of the shelter.
Area B on Floor B2 still had a hundred vacant rooms. Chu Guang had originally planned to use them to accommodate technical talent unearthed from the wasteland; he hadn't expected them to come in handy so soon.
As for whether it was appropriate to have him so close to the players?
Frankly, Chu Guang wasn't worried in the slightest.
Worrying about such things was as pointless as fretting over whether it would rain tomorrow. Cloning technology might have been a sensitive topic in the world he came from before transmigrating, but to the people of this world, it was as commonplace as cigarette butts on the street.
To this day, Boss Xia still believed some technology existed on this wasteland that could produce a clone in a single day—growing one in three days was nothing special. Yet when Chu Guang asked where she'd heard that, she scratched her head, unable to answer.
The wasteland was vast; outlandish rumors were only to be expected.
Hadn't the survivors of Qingquan City credited themselves with defeating the Enterprise expeditionary force? And that was despite Enterprise caravans frequently passing through the city.
Whatever Yin Fang might figure out, Chu Guang didn't care in the slightest. Once inside the shelter, Chu Guang had no intention of letting him back out anytime soon.
If the guy pulled any stupid stunts, he would soon experience what it felt like to have a red name in a game.
It would be quite the thrill.
A certain big lizard cooped up inside the shelter, unable to go outside, would surely relish such a hard-won opportunity to perform.
Before dusk, the returning truck arrived at the north gate of Wetland Park.
In front of the sanatorium elevator doors.
As Chu Guang pressed the down button, he glanced at Yin Fang beside him and gave a reminder:
"Have you thought it through? You still have a chance to back out now. Once you go in, you won't be able to come out for quite a while."
Yin Fang gave a soft sigh.
"Even if I wanted to come out, I'd have to wait until the Academy forgets about me."
"How long does it take them to forget a Class-D?"
Yin Fang thought for a moment before answering.
"Maybe three years, maybe five... It depends on how badly they want me dead, though I don't consider myself that important."
If clues to Shelter 0 had actually been found, the Academy might have spared no effort to drag him back. Unfortunately, they hadn't found anything of the sort.
...
Around six in the evening.
A group of cheerful players returned from the direction of Changjiu Farm, hauling a three-meter-tall split-claw crab on a wooden cart.
A gaping hole was blown into the crab's back, likely blasted open by a Panzerfaust rocket launcher.
Regardless of whether trading fifty silver coins for a split-claw crab was worth it, they had actually taken one down.
When they saw the monster being hauled over and dumped at the north gate market, the two sisters, Qiu Cao and Qiu Ye, gaped in astonishment, disbelief written all over their faces.
"Sister, is that a split-claw crab?"
Qiu Cao nodded dumbly.
"Yes..."
Her eyes sparkling, Qiu Ye looked at the shelter residents with admiration and couldn't help exclaiming,
"So amazing!"
"Yeah..."
On the wasteland, split-claw crabs were even more dangerous than deathclaws. They didn't roam around recklessly, nor did they emit dramatic roars when undisturbed. They might lie hidden in some deeper pool of water, or rest inside a damp cavern, camouflaging themselves as algae or moss-covered boulders.
In their tribe, anyone capable of defeating a split-claw crab was without exception the mightiest warrior—the kind of hero that usually only existed in the elders' tales.
She was so shocked that she even forgot to stop her little sister from looking around.
Though killing a split-claw crab didn't quite warrant a triumphal ceremony, the outpost was still as festive as a holiday.
"Crab legs are roasted! Dig in, everyone! Overnight crab won't taste good!"
The call to eat rang out, and a crowd immediately swarmed over.
"Wuwuwu, crab meat with truffles is amazing!" Yaya held half a crab leg, chewing savoringly with a blissful look on her face.
"Is it good? Tastes pretty average to me," Tengteng said, taking a bite with a furrowed brow, looking puzzled.
It was way worse than mashed potatoes, okay?
"How can you call this average! Oh right, I need to bring some to Xiaoyu!" Yaya grabbed half a crab leg and scampered off happily.
"To be fair, this game's food system is insanely well-done! Before roasting, the flaky crab meat is as tender as jelly, and once roasted, it carries a delicate hint of earthy fragrance. It's practically a work of art..." Holding half a roasted crab leg, Fang Chang took a bite while sitting on a stone block and gazed up at the sky in wistful appreciation.
Ye Shi, covered in moth fluff, grinned and patted his shoulder. "Alright, bro, stop cringe-simping. If I were Brother Guang, my toes would've cringed a whole mansion into existence on the spot."
Fang Chang's face flushed red, and he glared at the guy.
"Piss off! What do you mean simping? Since when is a closed-beta player sharing their gameplay experience considered simping?"
Kuang Feng and Lao Bai were busy discussing eighteen different ways to eat crab legs, with no time to join their banter.
Sitting before a nearby stall and feasting heartily, Elaina had his mouth stuffed full of crab meat—this was already his second crab leg.
Suddenly, his brows knitted as if he had realized something.
"Wait, I feel a warm current flowing through my body. Could this crab meat grant a buff?!"
He opened his VM at lightning speed to check.
Ew.
Nothing there.
"Buff, my ass," Elven King Fugui chimed in with a grin, holding a crab leg in both hands and scarfing down food even more aggressively. "You just agitated your fetus."
Elaina: "Fuck your mother!"
Makka Pakka: "Hahahaha!"
As it turned out, split-claw crab meat didn't grant any buffs, but eating too much really did cause diarrhea.
That warm current ultimately broke through all defenses.
Tossing aside their half-eaten crab legs, the trio dashed frantically toward the latrine, nearly brawling at the door over the single remaining stall.
How it was resolved in the end was anyone's guess.
All that was known was that when they returned to the shelter, all three had jelly legs...
That night.
After many players had logged off, an announcement was posted on the official Wasteland OL website.
[Two new NPCs have arrived at the Outpost: Yin Fang, a Class-D prospector from the Academy, and Eugene, a bounty hunter pursuing him.]
[Tip from Xiao Qi: Yin Fang's clinic is located on Floor B2. If you need to install cybernetic implants, you can find him there—provided you have one to begin with.]
[Old Luka: Eugene is undergoing reform through labor. I will turn him into a useful person.]
Tail: "What's going on?! What happened while Tail wasn't around?! ∑(°Д°ノ)ノ"
Jieyan: "!! Is the class system about to open up? The lead dev is a god! (voice cracking)"
Tengteng: "Genuine question: is this an enemies-to-lovers ship? (*／ω＼*)"
Ye Shi: "?? When I type these two question marks, it's not that I'm confused, it's that I think something is wrong with you."
Elaina: "+1 (funny)"
Tengteng: "What's wrong with it! (;｀O′)o"
Fang Chang: "A surgeon NPC added—Brother Kuang Feng never has to worry about his right arm falling off and not being able to reattach it again. Definitive child of the patch. (side-eye)"
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Sigh, you luckers. T.T"
Kuang Feng: "('ω')?"
...
Inside the shelter.
Having posted the announcement, Chu Guang didn't lurk on the forum. Instead, he stared at the text document on his screen, lost in thought.
About ten minutes ago, he had learned about the Academy from Yin Fang, and quite a few details were worth noting.
"The Academy is situated in the center of the Hesitant Marsh. Before the Era of Prosperity, it was a desert, but during the era, it was transformed into an artificial ecological reserve. In the Doomsday War, bombardment by strategic weapons permanently altered its topography into marshland, covering an area 1.5 times the size of River Valley Province."
"The origins of the Academy are unknown. The vast majority of its technology stems from 'archaeology.' Its base tier consists of researchers and prospectors. Among them, a Class-E prospector is roughly equivalent to an Enterprise Grade-E employee or a Legion decurion? Meanwhile, Class-D personnel are equivalent to mid-level cadres, suspected to correspond to a Legion centurion or chiliarch."
"In addition, the Academy seems to have taken a path distinct from both the Legion and the Enterprise. Their cybernetic implants and informatics technology are highly advanced, and their equipment primarily features energy weapons and shield technology, while their industrial capacity appears comparatively weak... Perhaps because their home is in a swamp?"
Then again, they had been excavating for two centuries and still hadn't finished. Just how staggering was the legacy left behind by pre-war civilization?
Comparing it to Earth's developmental trajectory before his transmigration, Chu Guang couldn't begin to fathom what had taken place during the years following the Era of Prosperity.
Holding his mouse, Chu Guang pondered for a moment before clipping an excerpt from the compiled intelligence and pasting it into the official website's backend.
He hit the Enter key.
"Anyway, I'll update it in the official website's database as game lore first."
Perhaps the players' wild imaginations might uncover something unexpected.
Chapter 172