Way Too Peaceful

A bonfire built of stacked timber blazed. Sparks drifted toward the sky along with waves of heat. Before the fire, nomadic herders beat leather drums and played bone flutes, while a young dancing girl veiled in light gauze offered a dance upon the snow to welcome the New Year. Guards, workers living near the outpost, and players eager to join the fun brought delicacies and strong spirits bought from the market, joining in the festivities. Though there was only one free glass of red wine, the warehouse held plenty of distilled liquor. Long ago, players had used smartweed to make fermentation starter and ram horn potatoes as raw ingredients to brew distilled spirits. Compared to red wine, which required time to savor, it was this fiery, head-rushing hard liquor that proved far more popular with the wastelanders. However, drinking red wine and white spirits together was something truly few could handle. Before long, the market by the north gate was strewn with people teetering and swaying. Boss Xia still wanted more to drink, but she had already slumped across a table, sound asleep and snoring away. Worried that she might catch a chill, the attentive Xiaoyu fetched a wool blanket from the bank and stood on tiptoe to drape it over her shoulders. A brazier had been placed under the table. Patting her back gently, Xiaoyu said in a coaxing tone like one would use with a child, "Don't drink so much next time, okay?" Yet the sleeping Boss Xia clearly didn't hear a word. Who knew what sweet dream she was having; the corners of her lips curved slightly upward, and her mouth smacked without stopping. "Hehe... I want more." Not far away, a certain toxicity taster was frantically looking around for a toilet with an anxious look on her face. Further out, a raspy, cracking voice wailed as if its throat were on fire. "Water! *Hic*—give me water!" Makka Pakka lay howling on the ground until Construction Site Youth and Brick shoved a clump of snow into his mouth, physically shutting the guy up. Indebted Big Eye wore an expression as if he had equipped a Mask of Pain, clutching his stomach and groaning, "Damn it, what on earth caused this? I feel a tempest roaring in my gut!" Edge Slacker looked at his already bulging belly and couldn't resist mocking, "Just how much did you eat?" "Not much, just a bit—like, a billion bits," Indebted Big Eye burped, mumbling in a slurred voice. "By the way, why do I have to eat again in reality when I already ate my fill in the game?" Edge Slacker: "..." Construction Site Youth and Brick: "..." Is that really a question an Intelligence-type could ask?! Drunk out of his mind, Fang Chang slouched in a wooden chair and began his impromptu composition. Listening to the nomad percussion that sounded like blacksmiths hammering iron and the mournful wail of the bone flute, his index finger tapped a rhythm on the table as he softly hummed a newly improvised ballad. "Hmm..." "Heaven's gears tumble into the forge." "Boiling molten steel splashes from the crucible." "The undying calamity marches ever onward." "We shall reforge the kingdom of mortals." "..." His parched, raspy voice sounded like a handsaw drawn across a violin, yet amidst that rough accompaniment, it held a surprisingly rhythmic cadence of rises and falls. Like half a bottle of liquor burning down the throat. Like the rhythmic pounding of an iron forge. Fang Chang forgot the lyrics halfway through, and the clamoring players beside him took over, making up lines on the fly. One verse followed another until they somehow cobbled together an entire song. Only, the further it went, the more absurd the style became—crusading all the way from Holy Terra to Ionia—and the slogan "For the great cause of the Human Alliance's revival" morphed into "A man lives solely for his waifu!" Though the local natives couldn't understand a single word of what the vault dwellers were singing, they babble-sang along with the tune nonetheless. The singing chased away the cold. It also dissolved the barriers between people. Even with entirely different cultures, humanity's yearning for a better life and pursuit of beautiful things remained identical. With heat and firelight reflecting off their faces, everyone gathered together was indistinguishable from one another, without division or distinction. Drunk, Zhao Shu slapped Yu Hu on the shoulder, his face glowing as red as a monkey's rump under the firelight. "Good brother, wasn't I right? Life here is bloody fantastic!" Yu Hu had also had a bit too much to drink, letting out a drunken hiccup. "You're right..." "Next year, next year I'm definitely moving here!" On the snow before the bonfire, the dance came to an end. The shy Frost Spear Clan girl gave a slight curtsy. But the crowd had no intention of letting her step down so easily. "Another one!" "Bring your sweetheart!" "Whoooo!" Spurred on by the crowd's hollering and encouragement, the young girl of the Frost Spear tribe gathered her courage. Yet instead of choosing her dream man from around the bonfire, as if guided by ghosts, she walked straight up to the deep-blue power armor. "May I have this dance with you?" Her eyes held a hint of nervous apprehension, looking just like an unlucky kid who had lost a game of Truth or Dare. Chu Guang looked at her in slight surprise, then teased in a mild tone, "I can't dance in this gear of mine. Go find someone who can keep up with your steps." The young girl's face flushed crimson, and like a startled little animal, she spun around and fled. Watching with arms crossed from the side, Heya cast Chu Guang an inquisitive glance. "Why not dance one?" Slightly annoyed by her gaze—which felt like she was watching an episode of Animal Planet—Chu Guang rolled his eyes at her. "Do you have any idea how much power it drains to dance in power armor weighing over a ton?" Leaving the power off wasn't impossible; it would be roughly equivalent to weight training. But even if seventy to eighty percent of the weight could be transferred to the suit's load-bearing frame, moving such heavy armor without electric motors still took considerable strength. What's more, it could easily injure someone. Chu Guang had good reasons for choosing to stand there as a background prop. "But this way, you can't enjoy the celebration," Heya reminded him. "You don't get it. This is how I enjoy the celebration." For an Administrator, what could bring more delight than watching his settlement singing and dancing in peace, with residents living and working in contentment? This was the highest form of enjoyment. Heya sank into thought. Her expression looked as though she was reminiscing about Vault 117. Just then, Yin Fang's teasing voice drifted from behind them. "You broke a maiden's heart." Chu Guang ignored his teasing, instead looking at him with a strange expression. "Why are you back again?" "I just went back to grab something." Yin Fang produced a small, square-headed robot wiggling four short legs from behind him. "The Academy doesn't celebrate the New Year; we only celebrate great discoveries. But you seem to have a tradition of celebrating it here... It just so happens I finished this, so consider it a New Year's gift to you." Surprise was written all over Chu Guang's face as he reached out and took the little robot. Unlike the original, this square head had an extra camera mounted on it. Now, not only could it map out nearby terrain with lasers, but a user equipped with a neural connection device could also share its vision through that camera. Though it was only a minor modification, its practical utility had more than doubled. This little robot was far more formidable than the previous version! Watching Chu Guang fiddle with the little robot in his hands with great interest, Yin Fang continued, "Crawler—that's what I call it, unless you have a better name. Compared to the original little robot, it has an extra eye, but otherwise there isn't much difference." "Thank you," Chu Guang expressed his sincere gratitude. Yin Fang gave a light cough and said, "No need to thank me. The materials were all sourced from you; I merely helped you process them." At that point, he remembered another important matter and added, "By the way, its power source is a metallic hydrogen battery... Your vault's stockpile seems rather low, only about forty or fifty of them. If you get the chance, you should stock up on more. Those are good stuff." Chu Guang wore a helpless expression. "I know that without you telling me." Manufactured by the Enterprise, metallic hydrogen batteries incorporated multiple Class A technologies and were in extremely high demand everywhere. At present, Boulder City could only produce solid-state hydrogen batteries on its own. Anyone wanting metallic hydrogen batteries could only hope that caravans from the East Coast might bring a few. Chu Guang had previously purchased several dozen from the Pioneer land fortress, intending to use them for exoskeletons. However, what his players needed most right now wasn't exoskeletons, but cheap and practical equipment, as well as the industrial machinery capable of manufacturing that equipment, so the matter had been shelved. Looking at the robot in his hands, Chu Guang suddenly recalled a very serious question. "If this thing were to explode..." Yin Fang replied in an easygoing tone, "Roughly equivalent to six kilograms of TNT. The blast should cover... er, a football field?" Chu Guang: "???" Holy shit?! Without a second word, Chu Guang shoved the robot right back into Yin Fang's hands and quietly took half a step to the side. "Hold on to it for me first." Looking at the robot thrust back into his grasp, Yin Fang froze, an expression of exasperated amusement on his face. "Don't panic... This thing doesn't explode that easily. Besides, six kilograms of TNT is just the theoretical yield. Without detonators and oxidizers, how could it ever reach that level of power? It's not a bomb." Between a metallic hydrogen battery and a metallic hydrogen artillery shell lay at least two Class B technologies; the oxygen in the air was nowhere near enough to allow metallic hydrogen to react completely. And you're wearing power armor, what the hell are you afraid of! Chu Guang, however, had no interest in listening to so many explanations; he only wanted to stay far away from this fellow. Right. He would have to add another rule in the future. Robots and exoskeletons powered by metallic hydrogen were strictly prohibited from remaining inside the vault for extended periods. ... The abandoned department store. Over a thousand beds were packed tightly across the spacious ground floor hall. The singing of the New Year could not reach here, nor was anyone singing. There was only the crackle of burning stoves and mothers coaxing their children to sleep. This was the temporary shelter for the refugees; before winter ended, they could only remain here. Thanks to the lumber delivered by the blue jackets, the survivors temporarily lodging here had patched up the broken walls and floor-to-ceiling windows and doors, finally keeping the wind out. The remaining timber had been split into firewood or turned into charcoal, thrown into red-brick stoves along with kindling. The roaring flames brought a hard-won touch of light and warmth into the cavernous hall on this winter night. Though conditions here were crude, at least they were spared from the blizzard and starvation. The refugees from the central and northern parts of River Valley Province, as well as the survivors from Winter Willow Camp and the Battery Factory, were all deeply grateful to the blue jackets. Routing stragglers from the front lines, marauders of the Bone Chewer tribe, and rampant chaos had destroyed their homes, burning their farmlands and houses to ashes. Were it not for those blue jackets, they would either have frozen to death on the road or ended up in the marauders' stewpots. Of course, they could only speak for themselves. Not everyone was grateful for their current circumstances. Among the five survivor settlements in the first relocation plan, only two had actually suffered marauder attacks. The residents of the other three settlements had never even caught a glimpse of a marauder's shadow, having moved here purely out of fear. More than a month had passed since the first blizzard. Even if no one had frozen to death, several had suffered frostbite from laboring in the cold. There was no end in sight to the dreadful weather, supplies were growing tighter by the day, and rumors that grain was running low circulated constantly. Over time, misgivings inevitably crept into some people's minds. Was it truly necessary to relocate? Those survivor settlements that hadn't relocated seemed to be doing just fine. "I keep worrying this building will collapse," a man wrapped in a tattered quilt couldn't help muttering as he watched stone dust drop from the ceiling. In truth, he didn't actually believe the building would collapse; he was merely looking for something miserable to vent his frustration with their wretched existence. Yet his words affected those around him. Looking up at the dilapidated ceiling, many wore troubled expressions, exchanging fearful glances and whispering in low tones. "How much longer do we have to stay here..." "The blue jackets said spring." "Why won't they let us move into Changjiu Farm yet? That's not what they promised at the start." "They said there aren't enough houses..." "Heh, it's not like we can't build houses ourselves. If you ask me, they just want to shove trouble as far away as possible." Most of them were residents from Scavenger's Home and Mount Hope Cooperative. Compared to Winter Willow Camp, the Battery Factory, and Highway Town, those two survivor settlements were located further south; one was tucked away at the edge of the urban area, while the other was hidden in the mountain forests. Some were now starting to feel that those marauders might not have found their homes so easily after all. Their eyes weren't in the sky, and not every survivor settlement was doomed to be pillaged... Seeing dissatisfaction spreading, Ma Zhanqiu, the village chief of Winter Willow Camp, immediately stepped forward to comfort everyone and prevent it from affecting his own people. "Don't talk nonsense! It hasn't collapsed in over two hundred years, so why on earth would it collapse right now?!" Just then, a discordant voice chimed in from the side. "That's hard to say." "The snow is so heavy this year. What if the wind blows the building down?" The speaker was Ding Tian from Scavenger's Home, one of the more influential scavengers there, and Ma Zhanqiu recognized him. Frowning at him, Ma Zhanqiu asked in a low voice, "What are you trying to say?" The man wrapped in a fur coat curled his lip. "What am I trying to say? I want to ask: what are we doing this for? To fight those marauders from the north?" "Or to serve as cheap laborers for those blue jackets?" Ma Zhanqiu froze. Before the old man could gather his thoughts, someone beside him chimed in. "Maybe the Bone Chewers won't come at all." "Exactly! Aren't there still eight survivor settlements that didn't move? They seem to be doing just fine staying in their own homes..." Though everyone received food here, staying wasn't free. They had to work in factories and receive a few coins of unknown use, which couldn't buy anything they actually needed. Even though the blue jackets promised that this money would be useful come spring, in their eyes, it was no different from drawing a pie on paper. If the blue jackets truly intended to pay them, why not use chips? If nothing else, East Coast toilet paper would do; at least someone might want it. Complaints spread through the room. This hadn't started just today or yesterday. Out of fear of the Bone Chewer tribe, they had accepted the blue jackets' resettlement and complied with the orders to relocate here. Yet a month had already gone by. Many of them had never seen a single marauder. Aside from the ever-worsening blizzard and the endless days of hardship, nothing had happened. Some even harbored malicious suspicions: had the so-called invasion of Qingquan City by the Bone Chewer tribe been a lie from the very beginning? A sleeping child was woken by the noise and began to wail. The mother flusteredly hushed the child, not daring to say a word to the bickering men. Watching the small group grow increasingly agitated, several survivors who had seen the marauders with their own eyes—some still bearing visible wounds—wanted to refute them, yet didn't dare speak up. Just then, someone stepped forward. "My eldest brother is dead." Perhaps hearing the word 'dead,' the commotion abruptly paused. Facing the countless eyes turning toward him, Ma Li fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking. "The marauders cut his belly open with a bayonet because he refused to surrender." Ma Zhanqiu sighed softly and closed his eyes in agony. That was his son. It was also the memory he least wished to recall. Ma Li paused, then continued, "I only found out later. In the end, I never even saw his body." "I haven't seen the marauders of the Bone Chewer tribe with my own eyes either, and I've only heard fragments of rumors about their cruelty." "But if you claim this is a lie, then tell me, where is my eldest brother? Where are all those people who never made it here?" "Counting on them not coming again—such thinking is not only childish, but laughable! It doesn't even qualify as self-deception." "Those vault dwellers could have stayed completely out of this. As long as they shut their doors, never mind the Bone Chewers, even if the Legion drove their tanks right over their heads, they could sleep peacefully until those bastards died of old age before coming out." Before a vault chose to open from within, no one on the outside could force its doors. On the wasteland, this was universally accepted common sense. Seeing half his supporters vanish in an instant, Ding Tian braced himself to say something, but right then, a mother cradling a child also stood up. "I saw them too." She was sitting near the group from the Battery Factory. Her voice trembled like that of an injured lioness, her eyes fixed squarely on the man as she continued, "Back then, we fell back into the warehouse with nowhere left to run. The marauders surrounding us charged wave after wave, and to protect us, they didn't take a single step back..." "...They died right in front of us." She could say no more. Silence fell over the hall. Even the loudest grumblers fell involuntarily quiet under the weight of so many staring eyes. People remembered the terror of that day. They also remembered those heroes. Ding Tian's Adam's apple bobbed, a flicker of humiliated fury flashing across his face. He knew he was in the wrong. Yet that didn't mean he enjoyed being lectured—especially by people who seemed far weaker than him. Watching the two opposing groups in a standoff, Night Owl crossed his arms and shook his head. Just as he was about to step forward and speak, Hook, standing beside him, stopped him. "What are you planning to do?" the peg-legged old man asked, staring at him. Night Owl said plainly, "Someone needs to talk some sense into them. I'm worried it'll turn into a physical brawl in a minute." This was the wasteland. No amount of words worked better than fists. Standing nearby, Ye Nan heard her son's words and gently shook her head. "This isn't our place to meddle." "But..." "Go notify the guards and let them handle it." Just at that moment, the main doors on the ground floor of the department store suddenly swung open. A gusting north wind swept in a few swirling leaves of snow. Two guards wearing black overcoats and carrying rifles walked in, carrying an iron rack between them. Inside the rack lay chunks of charcoal. Behind them followed several vault dwellers. Even without blue jackets, their radiant vitality made them instantly recognizable. "Happy New Year!" "The New Year's gifts are here! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Her cat ears twitched happily, knocking her hat off in the process. Sesame Paste let out a yelp and clumsily bent down to pick it up. Standing by the door, Tail glanced at Sisi beside her. "Tail thought it was some big quest, but it's just running errands." What happened to the promised hidden quest! She had even brought all her combat gear! "Umm... Rather than being forced offline by an upset stomach, Sisi thinks some cold wind is better for you." Everyone in the hall froze. The two confronting factions were equally stunned. They had no idea what these blue jackets were chattering about. Fortunately, the guards set down the barbecue grill and stepped in to save the situation, speaking in the Human Alliance language. "Today is the last day of Year 211!" "The Administrator ordered us to deliver New Year's gifts to everyone, thanking you for your cooperation. We have weathered the hardest days!" Murmurs rippled through the shelter. "New Year's... gifts?" "What is that?" This time they understood, but bewilderment was still written across their faces. The young guard offered no explanation, merely gesturing politely to the 'player' wearing a chef's hat to begin. The charcoal fire was lit. Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes brushed a layer of oil onto the iron grill, then set palm-sized crab patties down onto the metal grate. "Line up, everyone, one by one!" "There's plenty!" "Everyone gets a share!" The guards maintained order, guiding the crowd into a long queue. The oil sizzled and hissed, and the savory aroma of meat drifted through the hall. The tender, flavorful crab patties carried an indescribable sense of happiness. There was actually meat to eat! All rumors of food shortages collapsed without a fight. Longing shone in nearly every pair of eyes. Looking at the meat patty in his hand, Ding Tian couldn't help feeling a pang of shame. The men who had previously joined in his clamor fell silent as well, lowering their heads to eat their patties. Growing hungry just watching from the doorway, Tail swallowed hard, her eyes glued to the barbecue grill. "Does Tail get one too?" Sisi tugged at her clothes. "Time to go. Everyone at Changjiu Farm is still waiting. If you want to eat, I'll order you some takeout when we log off later." "Tail wants beef flavor!" Gah! This person—no, this Tail! Sisi looked at her in surprise. "I was just being polite." Tail: "Chicken flavor works too!" Sisi: "..." Outside the doors. On the truck bed. A large rat wearing a coat was rubbing his little paws together in the freezing wind. Beside him sat the supplies waiting to be transported to Changjiu Farm. Fearing his appearance might frighten the shelter residents, he had been left behind to watch the truck's cargo and prevent mutants from sneaking in to steal food. Before leaving, the others had repeatedly warned him not to eat the quest items. These people were truly something else! It wasn't like he was a real rat! Where had the trust between fellow humans gone?! Still... That smell was so fragrant. Was it dough drops? Feeling an overwhelming biological impulse, Qiangren Suonan decided not to look over there or think about it, turning his gaze toward the adjacent street instead. The street was quiet. Under the moonlight, the white snow appeared thoroughly peaceful. Not even the shadow of a mutant was in sight. Were it not for the damaged buildings and crumbling walls, it would be impossible to connect this place with the wasteland. Had he really joined the server at the wrong time? He had heard that during earlier versions, people fought every single day. One wave fell and the next charged in; even players with non-combat lifestyle professions picked up weapons, nearly burning through all their revival coins. If only he had joined earlier. Gazing at the quiet street, the large rat let out a soft sigh and spoke in human words. "This is way too peaceful."