An exploration quest was not a scavenging run.
This quest differed somewhat from regular scavenging. Players entering the map could only look around; they couldn't take anything away.
After all, this place could no longer be considered the wild—it even had its own database card.
Mole guessed that the dog dev had probably set up this event just to check the map for bugs, using game currency to freeload off the players' labor.
Looked at from that angle, it was hard to say whether that easter egg even existed at all!
After depositing his beloved rifle in a storage locker, Mole followed in the footsteps of the other players, passing through the airlock between two blast gates to finally step into this long-sealed vault.
The space inside was vast, with ceilings a full five meters high. Behind the crescent-shaped lobby lay a residential plaza, with two curved corridors tracing its perimeter. Flanking the plaza were four fan-shaped sectors—which was somewhat similar to the layout of Floor B2 in Shelter 404.
However, judging by the structural diagram printed on the wall behind the front desk in the lobby, this vault differed greatly from Shelter 404 in its overall architecture.
Vault 117 had only three underground floors in total. From B1 to B3, the floor area decreased sequentially, shaping the space like an inverted pyramid.
Shelter 404, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Although players hadn't yet visited the levels below Floor B3, comparing B1 and B2 made it obvious that the lower floors were significantly larger.
After taking a quick stroll around Floor B1, Mole returned to the residential lobby and happened to bump into Brother Mosquito emerging from the right-hand area.
That fellow said with an envious look on his face, "My side seems to be the functional area! There's a cafeteria, a reading room, and an infirmary! Damn it... I even fucking saw a basketball court!"
Mole smiled and said, "Not surprising. There were only a hundred people in this vault, so it's normal for the accommodations to be higher-end. I even saw en-suite bathrooms in their rooms—every single one of them had one."
Mosquito said with sheer envy, "Honest question: can we switch vaults once open beta drops?"
Mole gave him a speechless look. "What's the point? The game isn't called 'Vault.' All the content is on the surface. Even if you changed your respawn point, it wouldn't give you any buffs."
Mosquito: "Damn, when you put it like that, it makes total sense."
It wasn't just that it made sense.
It was literally just how it was...
Just as Mole was about to banter with him, two players walked out of the emergency stairwell next to the elevator.
Elven King Fugui said excitedly, "Have you guys checked out Floor B2 yet? It's freaking insane down there!"
Mole looked at them curiously. "What did you see?"
Elaina said helplessly, "Sigh, it's just an artificial greenhouse. I have no idea why he's so hyped up."
Elven King Fugui: "Isn't being able to farm inside a vault awesome enough? And it's not just a plantation—behind it there's a water purification plant, processing workshops... and stuff I couldn't even recognize. Holy crap, it's practically a man-made ecosphere!"
As he spoke, he couldn't help sighing in lament just like Brother Mosquito.
"Man, this is what a real vault should look like! Unlike ours, which has jack shit, and charging us just to shower and use the toilet!"
Mole: "By the way, did either of you go down to Floor B3?"
Elven King Fugui: "We both did. Floor B3 has nothing much to see. It's tiny as hell. Aside from the Administrator's office, there's only an extinguished reactor. I thought there'd be radiation, but after looking inside, there was nothing at all... Wait, are you guys done exploring Floor B1? Find anything?"
Right after stepping through the entrance earlier, he and Old Na had headed straight for Floor B2, not having had time to check Floor B1 yet.
Mole shook his head and said, "Floor B1 has quite a few rooms, so I looked through them pretty thoroughly."
However, it seemed some faster players had already finished exploring Floor B1 and were heading toward Floor B2.
Mole had just seen a short-haired female player dragging another female player with a high ponytail, rushing excitedly down to Floor B2.
Trailing behind them was a white bear.
With a slight twitch of curiosity, Mole glanced at his VM and switched to the event quest page.
And right at that moment, his expression froze.
[Server Exploration Progress: 90%]
Whether it was just a hunch or not, Mole had a creeping feeling that this quest might not be as simple as he had imagined.
...
As it turned out, even though he wasn't a Perception-type, his intuition was spot-on.
Spending a full hour, Mole opened every door that could be opened and entered every accessible room.
Yet even after scouring every corner of the vault—and even tracing his way along every wall afterward—his "Personal Exploration Progress" remained stubbornly stuck at 90%.
No matter how hard he tried, that number refused to budge an inch!
"Ugh, what the hell, this makes zero sense!" Staring at the map on his VM screen, Mole looked utterly baffled after hitting a dead end.
He clearly wasn't the only one running into this problem.
The other players were facing the exact same thing.
If someone had simply missed a spot, that would be one thing, but even the "Server Exploration Progress" was stuck at 90%.
In other words, everyone was stuck in the exact same place...
After logging off that day:
Over half the posts on the official forum were discussing this issue.
Construction Boy and Bricks: "I have a bad feeling about this. Could it be another bug?"
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "+1. The progress is stuck at 90% and won't budge. I can guarantee I didn't miss a single corner. I ran through the entire vault!"
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Motherfucker, ran through it? I ran through it three whole times! I've practically rubbed the paint off the walls!"
Elven King Fugui: "Could there be a hidden passageway?"
Sisi: "Actually possible... but wouldn't that be hidden way too well?"
Tail: "Damn it, Tail ran eight laps! Found nothing at all!"
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Tomorrow I'll check that Administrator's office again. I feel like something might be hidden in there..."
Yaya: "Mmh, I have the exact opposite feeling. When I was exploring Floor B2, I kept having this weird sensation... like something was missing."
Ye Shi: "Missing some mushrooms? (funny)"
Yaya: "Drop dead! I'm being serious, okay! (`Д′* )9"
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Maybe that easter egg IS the remaining 10%!"
Midnight Chicken Slayer: "Not good. My OCD is flaring up."
Looking at the discussion on the official forum, Chu Guang was just as bewildered as the players.
Hand on heart, while it was true he had fabricated the easter egg, this OCD-triggering 90% was definitely not his doing.
The "Server Exploration Progress" the players saw was actually the progress bar displayed on his own Administrator system interface.
Could there really be a hidden area in Vault 117 that wasn't marked on the blueprints?
Surely not.
There was no rush with the event; half the players hadn't even explored it yet.
Chu Guang decided to wait a bit longer to see if the remaining players would turn up any new discoveries.
On the other side, the Ox and Horse Squad, who had gone to explore the Mid-Continent Aerospace Ecological Experimental Base, had also made new discoveries.
Based on the terminals and other electronic devices they recovered from the security gatehouse, Yin Fang restored the residual data on the storage hardware and reached a conclusion: the entire facility was actually a fully enclosed artificial biosphere built around a thermonuclear fusion reactor.
"...Currently, there are no direct leads proving exactly which project that ecological experimental base was tied to. Perhaps it served the Vault Project, or perhaps it was built to study how to establish colonies in outer space."
After listening to Yin Fang's report, Chu Guang cut straight to the question he cared about most:
"Can we find fuel rods?"
Yin Fang nodded.
"It should be possible. But according to the intel your players gathered, quite a few mutants seem to be lurking inside. Clearing out those mutants will probably take some time."
Hearing this, Chu Guang breathed a sigh of relief.
Taking time was a minor issue.
As long as they could get their hands on fuel rods, any amount of time spent was well worth it.
...
While the players were busy with their respective quests, Chu Guang wasn't idling either.
The guard team's roster was expanded from 15 men to 45. Of the 30 new recruits, fifty percent came from Bet Street, and the other fifty percent came from the refugee camp.
As his direct forces, it was impossible to wash his hands of them completely.
In addition, after holding the captured Preitt and his men for a day, Chu Guang sent them all to the brick factory to undergo reform through labor.
Watching his new coworkers, Eugene recognized at a glance that these guys shared his status—they were all prisoners of the blue coats.
Not only that, but he also caught a familiar scent on them.
Lunchtime.
The newly arrived prisoners sat in a corner eating.
Carrying his mess tin, Eugene walked over and struck up a conversation with the four of them.
"Hey, rookies, how'd you end up in here?"
Preitt glanced at him.
"Mercenary. You?"
"What a coincidence, me too." Grinning, Eugene glanced at the man with a bandage wrapped around his arm. "By the way, what happened to your arm?"
Karl kept a stiff, expressionless face.
"I slipped and fell."
Eugene whistled. "A slip and fall, huh? To snap a wrist from a fall, you must've slipped right into a vise."
The machine gunner, Lambert, took a step forward, glaring at the fellow, and said in a deep voice, "Are you looking for trouble?"
Eugene raised an eyebrow, not paying his provocation the slightest bit of mind.
Lambert grew furious and was about to get physical, but just then, a voice came from nearby:
"I advise you best not cause trouble."
"Unless you want to get hanged."
Lambert froze. The other three turned toward the voice as well, only to see a man with a prominent ridge on the bridge of his nose standing there.
Preitt looked at Lambert and shot him a warning glance. The latter reluctantly swallowed his anger and stepped back.
The tense atmosphere eased slightly.
Just then, as luck would have it, a man dressed as a guard walked in from outside. He swept his gaze across the group and said expressionlessly, "Who is Vannus?"
The man who had just defused the altercation raised his hand.
"I am."
The guard wasted no words and got straight to the point.
"Come with me."
Vannus nodded, set down his mess tin, and stood up to follow behind the guard.
The atmosphere in the room turned somewhat subtle.
Preitt looked at Eugene and asked, "Who was that guy?"
"Him?" Eugene looked toward the man following the guard out of the brick factory, clicked his tongue, and said, "He's something else."
Preitt asked, "In what sense?"
Eugene said, "In every sense. Heard of the Legion?"
Preitt nodded.
The Legion had been fighting the people of the Great Rift Valley in the north for about a year now, and the stream of refugees coming from the north had never stopped. In the taverns of Boulder City, one could constantly hear rumors about the Expeditionary Force, though most were rather unreliable.
Some said they had already won half a year ago and the Legion's forces had moved into River Valley Province. Others said they had lost completely, even having their general captured. Still others said General Klaas had died in battle at the front lines and a new general was now leading the troops. An even more outrageous rumor claimed that, seeing they couldn't crack the Great Rift Valley, the Legion had decided to march south to invade Qingquan City.
One thing was beyond question: those people were formidable!
"I heard that people from the Legion have a bone protruding in the middle of their nasal bridge..." Recalling that man's facial features, Preitt's heart stirred as he said, "He's from the Legion?"
Eugene looked at him and said in a meaningful tone, "Yes. And a chiliarch, no less."
A chiliarch!
Lambert gasped sharply. Jerry and Karl exchanged glances, visible shock washing over their faces.
Though they hadn't seen the Legion with their own eyes, they had heard plenty of rumors about them.
To capture a chiliarch, one would have to annihilate at least a thousand-man cohort of the Legion.
Preitt swallowed hard, his trigger finger trembling slightly.
Just what kind of opponent had they been fighting?
If he had harbored even a sliver of indignation before, regretting that he hadn't donned his power armor to fight his way out back then, at this moment only relief filled his heart.
The strength of these blue coats was probably far more terrifying than he had imagined!
Thank goodness he hadn't resisted to the bitter end.
It was so good to be alive...
Meanwhile, outside the brick factory.
Following behind the guard toward the northern gate of Wetland Park for a while, Vannus looked around and couldn't help asking, "Where are we going?"
The guard replied expressionlessly, "The Master wants to see you."
Vannus cautiously pointed out, "The outpost isn't in this direction."
The guard said impatiently, "The Master went to Changjiu Farm before noon... When you're told to follow, just follow. What's with all the damn questions!"
Rebuked, Vannus immediately shut his mouth, but he secretly breathed a small sigh of relief.
When he first came out, he had been a bit nervous, suspecting they were dragging him out to execute him.
Now it seemed he wouldn't have to die, at least...
...
At the same time, on Floor B2 of Vault 117.
Inside a massive artificial greenhouse.
Standing beside a hydroponic container, Yaya stroked her chin solemnly, her brows slightly furrowed.
"There really is something wrong here."
Tengteng yawned, wearing a helpless expression. "Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
About two hours ago, just as she was getting ready to start working, she had been dragged here by Yaya without so much as a word of explanation.
Honestly, she didn't believe for a second that clues missed even by the top players on the forum could be found so easily by the two of them.
As a laid-back, life-skilling player, rather than spending hours grinding over such minute details, she preferred to wait until a walkthrough guide came out before topping off that remaining 10%...
"I'm positive. I definitely didn't see wrong!" Yaya said with an earnest look. "Don't forget, I'm a Perception-type!"
Hearing this, Tengteng's expression turned slightly peculiar.
Perception-type?
Aren't you a Mushroom-type...?
Not noticing Tengteng's peculiar look, Yaya traced her index finger along the side of the hydroponic container and soon discovered what had felt unnatural to her.
On the side of the container, there was a faint, slender, pale-green streak!
"Toxin?!"
Yaya's heart leaped, and she leaned in to take a closer look.
The trace was very faint and extremely thin, like a thread of spider silk. If not for her 10 points in Perception combined with her "Toxin Intuition" talent, she really would have missed it!
Realizing this, Yaya's face instantly lit up with excitement.
No doubt about it!
It was toxin!
Tracing the intermittent traces all the way, she soon arrived beside a wall.
Following behind Yaya, Tengteng asked, completely baffled, "Is there something here?"
"My talent is Toxin Detection. There's dried venom on the ground... but the trail ends here. Could it be inside the wall?"
Yaya reached out and tapped the wall twice.
However, perhaps because the wall was too thick, just listening to the sound made it impossible to tell if something was hidden behind it.
Tengteng said suspiciously, "It's just an ordinary wall, isn't it? Could you have mistaken—"
Mid-sentence, Yaya, who was feeling around the wall with both hands, suddenly seemed to hit a mechanism, and a crisp click sounded from the surface.
Immediately afterward, the seemingly seamless alloy wall cracked open with a seam and began sliding steadily to both sides, revealing a passageway behind it.
The wall was actually a secret door!
The two players standing before the wall froze on the spot.
Tengteng swallowed hard and murmured softly to herself, "D-did we just... discover a hidden map?"
A hidden map that even the top players hadn't found had actually been discovered so easily by the two of them?!
Even though it was mostly Yaya's doing...
Still, now was clearly not the time to debate credit.
Looking at the passageway hidden behind the wall, Yaya's face beamed with sheer excitement, and she threw her arms around Tengteng.
"The easter egg! It's the easter egg!"
"Hahahaha, as expected of me! I really actually found it!"
"Guhhh—"
Her head buried in Yaya's embrace, Tengteng made sounds like she was drowning.
Before she had even laid eyes on the easter egg,
she felt her health bar was about to hit zero...
Chapter 186