Captured by Marauders?

All men must die, some deaths weightier than Mount Tai, others lighter than swan down. If this were reality, Lao Bai knew he would have hesitated for a long time before making such a decision. After all, it meant giving up far too much. Fortunately, this was a game world. And in a game, one could die many times. Without hesitating for even a second, his body had already made the choice— "Run!" Bellowing that word at the top of his lungs, Lao Bai raised the Sickle assault rifle in his hands and squeezed the trigger at the Deathclaw that was glaring toward Kuang Feng. *Rat-tat-tat—!* Tongues of fire spat from the muzzle as bullets whistled through the emerald vegetation, hurtling straight toward the beast. Blood splattered across black scales, and the Deathclaw let out an enraged roar of pain. Pushing off powerfully with its muscular hind legs, it sidestepped the volley of bullets and lunged toward Lao Bai, sweeping its lethal claws in a vicious swipe. Lao Bai didn't panic in the slightest. Cranking the exoskeleton's power output to maximum, his seemingly clumsy frame dodged the fatal blow with the agility of a hare. Weaving around a palm tree trunk as thick as a thigh, he darted into the dense woods behind him. The stationary palm tree was not nearly so lucky. As if struck head-on by a bulldozer, it shattered into splinters. Seeing its prey evade the killing blow, the Deathclaw let out a low, furious growl. Its amber eyes scanned the surroundings with alert precision, and without a half-second's hesitation, it locked onto the direction in which its prey was fleeing and gave chase at blinding speed. Seeing Lao Bai dodge in the opposite direction from the rest of them, Fang Chang was startled. Before he could ask what Lao Bai was planning, he heard Lao Bai's booming shout. "Get to the elevator! Don't worry about me!" Ye Shi exclaimed in shock, "Holy crap?! Lao Bai, what are you doing?" "Something big!" Kuang Feng's right hand, Fang Chang's bow, and the sniper rifle Ye Shi had looted from that Boulder City mercenary—while the exoskeleton on Lao Bai wasn't cheap either, he could still rely on his Strength-type talents to deal damage even without it. They couldn't. Lao Bai had never expected to survive all the way to the end on a single life. What kind of MMORPG player never died once? Since he stood on the front line, he had long prepared himself to lay down his life for his teammates. *Come to think of it, I haven't died once in this game yet.* He wondered what dying in the game felt like. According to the guys on the forum, it was basically just closing your eyes and opening them again— *Roar—!* The roar echoing from behind snapped Lao Bai out of his reverie, forcing him to focus all his attention on running for his life. Frustratingly enough, the Deathclaw was far too agile! If Lao Bai was a hare slipping into the woods, that beast was practically a Gundam tearing through everything in its path. Ordinary underbrush couldn't slow it down at all. Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past. Before Lao Bai could react, a dull *thud* slammed into his back, knocking him and his exoskeleton forward into a stumble that nearly sent him sprawling. The ear-grating screech of grinding metal made his heart leap into his throat. Fortunately, the exoskeleton's adaptive gait stabilization helped him regain his footing before he fell. Feeling the wind rushing through the tear in his back, Lao Bai didn't dare look back. He poured every ounce of strength into sprinting forward. That single claw swipe had gouged three clean gashes right through the steel plate on his back! Thank goodness the steel plate had blocked it! Otherwise, that single strike would have killed him on the spot! Seeing that he couldn't reach Lao Bai in time to help, Fang Chang gritted his teeth, raised his mechanical compound bow, drew the string to full power, and released an arrow straight at the light fixture on the ceiling. The arrowhead dug deep into the ceiling, the firing pin triggered, and the charge detonated with a boom! *Crash—* Shards of transparent polymer showered down alongside electric sparks, and the illumination in the ecological park dropped sharply. Inside the rainforest, the gloom deepened even more. The charging Deathclaw noticeably paused. Its amber pupils dilated instantly, quickly adjusting to the sudden darkness. Although the pause lasted only a split second, it bought enough time for Lao Bai to burst past the edge of the rainforest and crash right into the marauders, his shoulder sending the nearest unlucky bastard flying. Faced with this human-shaped "tank" bursting out of the woods, the surrounding marauders shrieked in alarm and raised their weapons. "Stop him!" Muzzles flared with fire, and a rain of bullets whipped through the air. The unlucky fellow Lao Bai had rammed into was turned into a sieve by his own comrades. Immediately after, the bullets converged on Lao Bai. At point-blank range, the steel plate took excessive damage, riddled with dents until its welded joints snapped and fell away from the exoskeleton. However— None of that mattered anymore. Listening to the thunderous footsteps drawing closer from behind, the heavy weight in Lao Bai's chest finally lifted. He drew the hatchet hung at his waist, a bloody grin tugging at the corner of his lips. Come on, then. Let's have a good fight! "Limit—" "Break!" *** On the other side of the jungle— "We have to go save him!" Fang Chang grabbed Ye Shi, staring at him and shaking his head. "It's too late." Kuang Feng also looked at Ye Shi, speaking calmly, "Staying here will only make Lao Bai's sacrifice meaningless... Let's go." Judging by the gunfire, there were at least a dozen or two dozen enemies, with no shortage of automatic weapons. If there were cover nearby to maneuver around, they might still have put up a fight. In this flat rainforest terrain, there wasn't a single reliable piece of cover to be found. The side with superior numbers held every advantage. Coincidentally, Lao Bai had just hit Level 10 and had been reluctant to upgrade his gear. Later, everyone could pool their money and buy him a brand-new Miner Type I. The three dashed into the elevator, and Fang Chang slammed his fist onto the call button. The elevator began its slow ascent. Lao Bai was no longer visible at the corridor entrance. All they could see was the Deathclaw clashing with the marauders like a tiger among sheep, every sweep of its talons bringing a storm of blood and gore. Still, those marauders didn't seem to be pushovers either. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass, Ye Shi watched a marauder near the emergency exit shoulder a tube-shaped launcher and pull the trigger at the Deathclaw. Three rockets blasted out simultaneously from three different angles, their orange exhaust trails tracing intersecting lines through the air. Two went wide, grazing the Deathclaw's tail and plunging into the bushes, but the third struck the beast squarely on its left shoulder. The explosion of flame and shrapnel ripped its flesh wide open. *Roar—!* Howling in agony, the Deathclaw turned, stumbled, and fled into the woods. At the same moment, the fire suppression system at the top of the ecological park triggered, showering rain across the rainforest. The marauders didn't dare pursue. Grabbing their fallen comrades who were still breathing, they retreated toward the emergency exit while laying down covering fire into the dim woods. Staring at the flames outside the glass, Ye Shi couldn't help but murmur, "What a monster..." Tanking a direct hit from a rocket with its bare body! That was utterly absurd! Just then, the marauder leader retreating toward the emergency exit suddenly looked up. Through narrowed eyes, he spotted the ascending elevator. Despite the dim lighting, he still caught sight of the three figures inside. Barking a string of gibberish at his men, he directed his squad toward the exit while unleashing a burst from his weapon toward the elevator. Bullets zipped through the air, clattering violently against the elevator's glass wall and giving Ye Shi quite a scare. Fortunately, the elevator was sturdy enough; the bullets merely left a spiderweb of fine cracks across the glass without penetrating. The elevator reached its destination. Before the doors had fully opened, the three scrambled out and sprinted north along the hallway. Taking a wide detour, they exited past the perimeter wall behind Building No. 3. Only then did they realize that more than forty or fifty people were gathered right at the front entrance of Building No. 3! In an open space nearby, two trucks were being unloaded. Several marauders, leading mutant hyenas on leashes, rushed into the building to reinforce their comrades on the front line. The three vaulted over a half-collapsed wall, hugging the outer wall of the research base as they skirted around to the west side of Building No. 3, observing from roughly five hundred meters away. Fang Chang said, "Fuck, that's got to be half a company." Ye Shi couldn't help cursing as well. "Damn it, where did these sons of bitches come from? Did they come to snatch the fuel rods too?!" "That's what I thought at first, but now it's hard to say," Fang Chang said, crouching behind a shattered concrete wall, brow furrowed as he bit his thumb in thought. "They're clearly planning to set up camp here... Look at those two trucks. Don't they look familiar?" Ye Shi squinted, and his eyes went wide. "The same model as the Legion's? Holy shit? Are they with the Legion?!" "Bone Chewers," Kuang Feng, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly chimed in. "Remember what was mentioned in the Alpha 0.9 update patch notes? Following the Legion's defeat, a massive marauder power has been rising in the central region of River Valley Province. Looking at it now, they must have gotten their hands on some of the Legion's equipment." Earlier, a group of marauders had come to Changjiu Farm. Their leader seemed to be named Tu, and he was currently repairing roads alongside the decurions, undergoing reform through labor. The weapons they had used, and even their greatcoats, were the exact same style as the Legion's. If even scattered stragglers like that could get Legion gear... Then organized marauders like these would surely have acquired even more weapons from the Legion. The expressions on Ye Shi's and Fang Chang's faces turned grave. Fang Chang made an immediate call. "We need to report this to the Administrator as soon as possible!" "Yeah," Kuang Feng nodded. "My thoughts exactly." Lao Bai was probably already offline by now. Once they got back, they could hop offline and keep him company on the official forum. *** To be honest, Lao Bai himself had been convinced that charging into the marauders' faces meant certain death. An exoskeleton wasn't power armor, after all, and his was only the base-model KV-1. While the steel plating could stop bullets, it couldn't withstand the metal fatigue caused by sustained fire and crossfire from multiple angles. The "rogue juggernaut" style from Battlefield only belonged in Battlefield. After hacking down three marauders in a row and injuring four or five more, two bullets caught him in the gut, his vision went black, and he collapsed. Yet to Lao Bai's astonishment, when he put on his helmet again, he discovered that his character hadn't died! Lao Bai looked around and found himself lying in a room. This was no longer the underground ecological park. It looked like a room somewhere inside Research Building No. 3 on the surface. His wounds had been roughly bandaged, his VM and equipment had been confiscated, and his wrists and ankles were cuffed, restricting his movements. Lao Bai tested the cuffs and found he couldn't break free. Seeing the bloodstains on his bandages spreading, he quickly halted his reckless struggling. Although he was ready to meet a heroic end, he wanted to figure out his current situation first. Just then, the door opened. A tanned man with tattoos across his face walked in. Lao Bai looked him up and down. The man wore a tattered fur coat over ragged trousers with holes, and around his neck hung a collection of bizarre little trinkets, from teeth to stones. The look was thoroughly punk. Behind him stood a burly man with a lip ring, likely acting as a bodyguard. If the tape-wrapped pipe submachine gun in his hands were swapped for a guitar or bass, anyone seeing him on the street might mistake him for a member of some heavy metal band... The tattooed man walked over to him. Just as Lao Bai was wondering what the guy wanted, the man suddenly crouched down, his eyes fixed on him. His hawkish nose leaned in close, almost poking Lao Bai in the face. A wave of revulsion washed over Lao Bai. *Fuck.* *No way, right?* Sure, shelter residents were fair-skinned and tender, but surely they wouldn't go after guys too... "Are you survivors from Qingquan City?" Lao Bai didn't understand what he was saying and had no desire to know, putting on an expression of unyielding defiance. The man seemed to understand the look on his face, gave a mocking smirk, and stood up. "My name is Ka." "You are strong, and you are brave. A true warrior." "A warrior like you deserves status and wealth befitting your caliber, not ending up as mutant dung in some cowardly ditch." "Either join us and enjoy glory and wealth, or become a lowly slave worked to death in the mines." "I'll give you time to think it over." Leaving those words behind, the man turned and left. To the very end, Lao Bai didn't understand a single word, hearing only a stream of unintelligible gibberish. Facing the empty room, Lao Bai fell silent. Come to think of it... What was his current status supposed to be? A hostage? A captive? Dammit! Was he dead or not?! *** Shelter 404, Floor B3. Standing in the cultivation zone, Chu Guang looked at the bean-sprout-sized green specks inside the soilless cultivation units, an affectionate, fatherly smile spreading across his face. The bok choy sprouted fast, putting out seedlings just three days after being planted. The Chinese chives next to them would take a bit longer, requiring about a week to sprout. These leafy greens were meant to improve meal variety; the real treasures lay in the cultivation units several rows over. By next spring, the corn, rice, wheat, and sorghum planted there would mature right on schedule. He planned to keep the entire first harvest as seeds. Not just the greenhouse ruins. Chu Guang intended to utilize all the land stretching from northern Ling Lake to southern Yumu District. A plot ten kilometers long and wide—as long as there were enough refugees, cultivating tens of thousands of mu of prime farmland would be no problem at all. If things went well, they might even hit twenty thousand mu in the first year. When efficiency was lacking, sheer volume had to make up for it. No matter how efficient the shelter's theoretical fifty mu of cultivation area was, one mu could only feed five people, which wasn't even enough for a thousand. Even if traditional farming had lower yields, feeding only one or two people per mu, that still meant provisions for tens of thousands. Compared to incubation pods, food was the true foundation for building an army. He couldn't seriously expect players to eat rotten meat and cockroaches forever, could he? That would simply be too hardcore. Just as Chu Guang was admiring his bok choy, Xiao Qi's voice suddenly crackled through the speaker in the cultivation zone. "Master." Chu Guang replied casually, "What's up?" "It seems your players have run into trouble!" "Trouble is trouble. Consider it a learning experience. Don't worry, my players are very clever. They'll solve whatever trouble they run into on their own." Hearing Xiao Qi's voice, Chu Guang wasn't alarmed at all, even offering a word of comfort. After unlocking Floor B3, more and more players had joined the shelter, and Chu Guang could no longer look after every single one of them. Back when people were few and work was plentiful, losing a single player would make his heart ache for hours. Now, they lacked food, electricity, ore, and production capacity, but people and resurrection coins were the two things they had in abundance. His job was simply to set the rules and let the players mess around within those boundaries. He couldn't manage the troubles of one or two individual players, nor did he care to. Since when did a daddy have to baby his sons their whole lives? The joy of this game lay in exploration; players were encouraged to discover their own ways to raise NPC favorability and trigger hidden quests. Xiao Qi said, "B-but, the ones in trouble are the Ox and Horse Squad you sent to the northeastern ecological park to search for fuel rods... Do you really not want to step in?" "*Cough, cough*—What did you say?! The Ox and Horse Squad?" Choking on his breath, Chu Guang coughed twice and quickly opened the system interface, only to find that all their clones were still alive. Only Lao Bai had gone offline, but his life was not in danger. Breathing a sigh of relief, Chu Guang asked, "What kind of trouble did they run into?" While he didn't want to micromanage his players' troubles, the issue was that the Ox and Horse Squad was on the fuel rod quest. Even if he didn't care about the players, Chu Guang had to care about his fuel rods. Xiao Qi continued, "The player named Fleeting White Horse seems to have been captured by marauders. The other three just escaped from the marauders' encirclement and are currently on a truck heading back." *Lao Bai was captured by marauders???* Chu Guang was utterly baffled. Wait, what was with the marauders? "Weren't they looking for fuel rods? How did they get tangled up with marauders?" Xiao Qi replied in a small voice, "That's what they were doing, but while searching for the reactor in Mid-Continent Aerospace's ecological lab, they ran into a group of marauders numbering over fifty, with exact numbers unknown. They reportedly encountered a Deathclaw as well. The situation is very complicated, Master. Why don't you check the official website yourself?" With a critical project in jeopardy, Chu Guang didn't hesitate. Without another word, he hurried back to Floor B1 and entered his office. He booted up the computer. Logged into the official website. Without much effort, Chu Guang quickly found Lao Bai's post on the forum homepage. The thread title got straight to the point, summing up his predicament in a single sentence— *"I Think I Got Captured by Marauders??"* In the post: Lao Bai started with a brief summary of the quest he and his three teammates had undertaken in the ecological lab and the sequence of events that had unfolded. From the tropical rainforest inside the ecological park to the Deathclaw that had ambushed them, to the marauders who had suddenly barged in, and how he had suffered severe injuries while covering his teammates' retreat, ending up captured by the marauders... "These marauders are a bit different from the ones we've run into before. Their equipment is a mixed bag, but they aren't nearly as ragged as they look on the surface. Not only do they have automatic weapons, but they even have anti-armor stuff like rocket launchers! One of them looked a bit like the Legion's Iron Fist, and two others looked like pipe launchers, but they packed quite a punch." "Then there's the Deathclaw. Real talk, this monster is so broken it ruins game balance! A giant lizard taller than two men standing upright is just ridiculous, and it runs insanely fast too. One swipe of its claws tears clean through steel plates!" "We were cursed with the worst luck in eight lifetimes, getting pinched right between that beast and the marauders! I gave it everything I had, pushing my exoskeleton until it was completely wrecked, before I finally managed to kite the Deathclaw into the marauders' faces." "After that, it was an all-out brawl. I found that the talent unlocked in Stage Two is seriously awesome; in actual combat, it feels even stronger than the stat sheet shows. Hard to describe in detail, but you'll know once you hit LV10." Not long after the post went up, the replies had already crossed a hundred. However, because most players were in-game at this hour, the thread was mostly populated by cloud players who had signed up for the reservation but hadn't gotten a spot yet. Although these players had never entered the game, between forum discussions and the updated lore on the official site, they had a decent grasp of the basic gameplay and setting. Many fresh recruits were chosen from among their ranks. Lightning King Professor Yang: "Captured by marauders???" Only Morgana Won't Do: "Something's wrong with me. Why did several gigabytes of plot suddenly flash through my head?" Riding a Donkey to the Market: "Holy shit, you bunch of dirty old degenerates!" Lao Bai: "Piss off! I'm being serious here. What are you guys thinking? (Anger)" Who Doesn't Understand Love: "Come to think of it, hearing you describe that Deathclaw, why does it sound identical to Brother Scavenger..." Lao Bai: "Holy crap, now that you mention it, it really does sound a bit like him. If Brother Scavenger actually grinds to Level 99, will he promote straight into a Deathclaw?" Elaina: "Too bad Brother Scavenger is busy going on a rampage in the tunnels, otherwise we might have run into him on the forum right now. (Funny)" Lao Bai: "Huh? Elaina, why aren't you online?" Elaina: "Sigh, that's not convenient to explain. Gotta dash, I'll hop on later." Lao Bai: "666" Elven King Fugui: "Pardon my ignorance, but why make taking a flight sound so mysterious? If I hadn't seen your social media feed, I would've thought you were about to treat yourself. (Funny)" Elaina: "Get lost! (`Д′*)9" Right then. Someone suddenly piped up. Lightning King Professor Yang: "Speaking of which, if someone gets first blood on this kind of elite mob, is there a chance of a server-wide announcement?" The thread went quiet for a few seconds. Suddenly, several lurkers surfaced. "Holy shit!" "Holy shit?!" "Skipping my night shift, logging in right now!"