Countering the Tide!

"Big bro, save me!" "Holy crap, this gnawer has zero gaming etiquette! Why the hell is it reaching out to steal my gear?!" "Get lost! Stop chewing on my shield!" "My clothes! My clothes!" "Pardon the silly question, but is this game rated PG-13???" "Rally on me! Dammit! Stop running, you idiots!" Uproarious shouting from the players echoed through the subway tunnel. Strength-type Corner Camper was still trying to rally his squadmates, but Agility-type Bai Gei with Sniper had already sprinted out of sight, leaving Perception-type Lost Newbie shivering in fear and Intelligence-type Item Master staging an impromptu game of tag with the monsters. Watching the four greenhorns running around like headless chickens with gnawers on their heels, Jieyan felt a massive headache coming on. He felt that even if he chain-smoked for an entire night, he would never figure out how these clowns had managed to pass the closed-beta screening. Dammit! This was infuriating! Judging by their user IDs, he had assumed they were hotshots. Seeing that the veteran hadn't moved an inch, Item Master frantically cried for help. "Big bro! Shoot, hurry!" Jieyan couldn't help but snap back. "Damn it, who the hell uses a gun on gnawers?!" Still, if he didn't step in, these rookies probably wouldn't live to see tomorrow's sunrise. In the end, Jieyan flicked off the safety, raised the Scythe assault rifle in his hands, and fired two crisp shots, putting down the gnawers cornering Item Master. Next, he drew a hatchet and charged forward, hacking and slashing with a flurry of heavy blows, carving a bloody path out of the gnawers' encirclement alongside his bumbling disciples. Leaning against the tunnel wall to catch his breath, Jieyan gave his axe a vigorous flick, shedding the black slime clinging to the blade. Credit where credit was due—these gnawers had definitely gotten stronger! Whether in speed or strength, they were noticeably different from the ones he had encountered in the tunnels back during winter. Even a battle-hardened veteran like him found them a bit tricky. Of course, that didn't stop him from acting cool in front of the rookies. Taking a deep breath to steady his breathing, Jieyan spoke with an aloof, collected expression. "Gnawers only have a few attack patterns: clawing and lunging in to bite. Never panic when they get in your face. Remember, don't get tangled up in a wrestling match. Just hit them with a shield bash to knock them off balance, then bash their heads in with whatever weapon you've got... Run through it a few times and you'll get the hang of it." Panting heavily against the tunnel wall, the four rookie players listened to Jieyan's tactical breakdown with sparkling eyes, basking in the euphoria of survival. "Big bro is awesome!" "Too strong!" "Is this the power of a Tier 0 build?!" "Unbeatable!" Listening to their shameless flattery, Jieyan coughed awkwardly. "Ahem... It's not as exaggerated as you make it sound. By the way, didn't any of you read the guides?" "Of course we did! We studied for ages!" Corner Camper chuckled, puffing out his chest. "I'm Strength-type! The frontline DPS!" The other three raised their hands in unison. Lost Newbie: "M-Me! Perception! Professional scout!" Bai Gei with Sniper: "Agility-type here, I just need a sniper rifle!" Item Master: "Intelligence-type! Once I Awaken, I'm going brainwave-machinery style! Late-game carry!" Jieyan: "..." He seemed to understand where the problem lay. ... All four hundred players had vacated Shelter 117, following the veteran players out into the world above. Through the VM devices linked to the "Passing the Torch" quest, Chu Guang could easily track where every rookie went, what quests they were doing, and who was leading them. Combined with the aerial patrols of the "Hummingbird" drones, he could even hover camera perspectives right above the players' heads to spectate their screens. Naturally, there were also a stubborn few who chose to take the five silver coins from their starter packs and venture out onto the wasteland alone. A sandbox game, after all. High player freedom was part of the experience. As an outstanding game planner, Chu Guang had no intention of micromanaging each player's playstyle. He focused solely on macro-level decisions and system rules, ensuring that the majority remained on the right track. A handful of outliers would not affect the overall situation. The value of rules would become clear to them once they acquired in-game property. Once the newcomers geared up with top-tier equipment and built tight-knit bonds with in-game brothers and sisters stronger than their real-world friendships, they would naturally understand that following rules wasn't for others—it was for themselves. ... Shelter 404. Having just delivered his briefing to the rookies at the neighboring shelter, Chu Guang stepped out of his power armor and headed straight to the Medical Lab on Floor B3. When he arrived, Baki, encased in his iron suit, happened to be there as well. Ever since settling down in the shelter, Baki would wander over to the Medical Lab whenever he had free time, checking for the latest research developments on the mutant slime mold. Heya had not yet emerged from the analysis room. Looking at Baki seated on a chair, Chu Guang asked curiously, "Are there no mutant slime molds in Yunjian Province?" "Of course there are," Baki replied. "Whether in Upper Cloud City or Lower Cloud City, eradicating them completely is practically impossible." Chu Guang said, "I heard the Legion restricts their habitat by demolishing cities." A chuckle drifted out from inside the iron can. "Heh, stop listening to those Legion idiots brag. Demolishing all those high-rises? The entire People's Federation couldn't achieve that even by exhausting their full nuclear stockpile. You think they have that kind of capability?" Chu Guang gave him an odd look. "Why would the People's Federation demolish its own buildings?" "Who knows what happened two centuries ago," Baki shrugged. "I heard there were plenty of corporations back in the Era of Prosperity, too." As they spoke, the alloy door of the sample analysis room slid open. Heya, dressed in a white lab coat, stepped out from behind the door and handed a tablet modified from a wrist-mounted computer to Chu Guang, who had just returned from outside. Chu Guang glanced at the dense clusters of data on the screen. Although he recognized every letter and number, putting them together rendered it entirely incomprehensible. Not that it mattered. If he could understand it all, what did he need her for? "What's this?" With undisguised excitement lighting up her features, Heya said animatedly, "A detailed analysis report on the juvenile broodmother! Thanks to the sample your residents retrieved earlier, we now have a much more comprehensive understanding of how broodmothers form. This further corroborates my hypothesis—this slime mold is governed by some kind of collective hive-mind, and information transmission is very likely achieved through spores!" Which meant... Spores were not just reproductive cells, but also the medium for communication among mutant slime molds? Similar to insect pheromones? Staring at the tablet, Chu Guang fell silent. What a remarkably convenient biological design. At that moment, Baki, standing nearby, suddenly grew tense. "Wait, so... the broodmother gives orders through spores? Then could the slime mold in my body be hijacked by the spores released by the broodmother?" Heya turned to him and asked, "You were infected outside Qingquan City, correct?" Baki nodded anxiously. "...After getting infected, I traveled five or six hundred kilometers west and north before reaching Qingquan City." Chu Guang chimed in, "Five or six hundred kilometers should put you well beyond the borders of River Valley Province." Heya replied in a relaxed tone, "Then there's no need to worry. These mutant slime molds have strong regional characteristics. They recognize their own kind through RNA-transcribed proteins. A unified collective consciousness only coordinates between matching strains, and slime molds from different regions have distinct 'identification codes.'" Hearing that, Baki finally breathed a sigh of relief. Chu Guang looked at Heya and brought up the question he cared about most. "Does this broodmother have any weaknesses?" Heya answered bluntly, "Its weakness is the same weakness all living things have: if you kill it, it dies." Chu Guang: "..." That was as good as saying nothing. Heya continued straightforwardly, "If you want to kill them completely, fire is undoubtedly the most effective tool, followed by explosives. Strong acids are also a viable approach, but prohibitively expensive. If you're asking whether there's any shortcut, I'm sorry to say there isn't at the moment—unless..." Chu Guang pressed immediately, "Unless?" "Unless we can find a way to obtain a sample from the broodmother located in the city center," Heya stated with certainty. "According to projections from the model I constructed, over eighty percent of the spores throughout the entire city originate from the broodmother downtown. All other sub-entities—including gnawers, incubation chambers, and even newly sprouted broodmothers—ultimately trace their roots back to that oldest broodmother in the city center!" Chu Guang: "..." How was that any different from stating the obvious? Blunt and honest as ever, Baki voiced the complaint in Chu Guang's heart. "...I feel like you wouldn't even need model analysis to reach that conclusion; anyone could see it with their own eyes." Heya shot him a glance. "Eyes can deceive, but data doesn't." Chu Guang cleared his throat lightly. "You're right, data doesn't lie. But what we need right now is a way to break the Tide. We don't have much time left." Even so, Chu Guang was surprised to find that these slime molds had indeed formed a highly organized hive society, exactly as Heya had theorized. They didn't just mimic the forms and hunting behaviors of other organisms in nature; they had evolved into far more complex social structures. Some fruiting bodies handled reproduction, some oversaw development, and some hunted. When necessary, the gnawers acting as "worker bees" would even sacrifice themselves, dissolving into nutrients to help the incubation chambers expand their fungal mats. The citywide spore cloud acted almost like a local area network, providing information services to slime mold mutants across the metropolis, while the mutants themselves served as routers, releasing spores without pause. To destroy them, there were no shortcuts. Pausing for a moment, Chu Guang added, "As for a sample from that broodmother... your request is extremely difficult, but I'll do what I can to find a way." Boulder City, situated on the edge of the Third Ring Road, might have a solution. Chu Guang remembered Xia Yan mentioning that certain powerful mercenary groups were capable of venturing deep into the city center to scavenge pre-war ruins. As long as he held enough bargaining chips, this problem could perhaps be resolved with money. While Chu Guang sank into thought, Baki slumped in his chair, clutching his iron-encased head in agony. "Damn it... Why did I ever embark on this long trip?" Regret was eating him alive. Perhaps he should have done what his other graduating classmates did—take a leisure tour through Yunjian Province and call it a day. There had been no need to wander this far, let alone set his sights so absurdly high from the start. The thought of his handsome, dashing face being reduced to this grotesque state made him want to die on the spot. No matter how he looked at it, ending up like this was all Luo Hua's fault! Chu Guang threw an odd look at this visitor from afar and offered a kind reminder. "Actually, it wouldn't matter if you took off your helmet. I think... the folks in the shelter wouldn't mind your appearance." If anything... Wouldn't an NPC with an unusual appearance be even more popular? Upon hearing Chu Guang's suggestion, however, Baki shook his head violently, the metal clanking in vehement protest. "Over my dead body!" ... Toward dusk. Having been thoroughly put through the wringer by the game all day, the newcomers trudged back to the outpost, dragging exhausted bodies and battered gear. When setting out from Shelter 117, many had been wielding entrenching shovels and axes produced by No. 81 Steel Mill, or shields, javelins, bows, and spears crafted by the carpentry shed. Now, almost everyone's equipment had been replaced by rebar, wooden clubs, or even bricks salvaged from who-knew-where. Some players hadn't even returned in one piece. After spending months as armchair players on the forums, they had finally experienced firsthand just how real a "one hundred percent realistic" virtual reality game could truly be. Tossing a splintered club onto the dirt, a rookie named Painter collapsed onto the ground near the south gate, cursing vehemently. "Damn it, these gnawers are way too overpowered! It grabbed my shield and started gnawing like crazy—nearly bit my whole nose off!" Beside him, his good buddy Illustrator chimed in immediately. "Exactly! Didn't they say gnawers were starter mobs? This tuning is completely ridiculous!" The two rookies' ordeal was far from an isolated incident. In truth, it wasn't just the greenhorns who found them troublesome; even the Awakened players could clearly feel that the gnawers were noticeably stronger than before. This enhancement wasn't merely an upgrade to "monster AI"—their stat sheets had visibly gained a point or two across the board. Once swarmed, even Strength-type and Constitution-type Awakened players could easily end up in dire straits. Let alone newcomers whose attributes had barely begun to grow. Yet despite the grumbling, no one showed signs of discouragement. Anyone who couldn't stomach this level of challenge would never have made it through the increasingly absurd survey questionnaire in the first place, let alone earned the fortune of becoming a closed-beta tester. The bustling activity was not limited to the unloading zone at the south gate or the bazaar at the north gate. The open space before the Hunters Guild's wooden cabin was equally packed. Staring at the line of marauders with bound hands and feet, Yu Hu wore a thoroughly bewildered expression. If his memory served him right, the missions he had posted were to scout for slime mold mutants in the area, clear out the incubation chambers producing gnawers, and eliminate spore dispersal sources. And yet... Why had these "players" dragged back a whole horde of living people? A rough headcount put the total at around a hundred. His Hunters Guild didn't even have a slave-hunting bounty on the board. Seeing the guild master's confusion, Commander Spring chuckled. "We couldn't find any incubation chambers, but we did find the marauders' hideout." Battlefield Atmosphere Group marveled, "These guys are seriously something else—living under a bridge culvert!" I'm the Darkest: "Stank to high heaven!" Next Door Old Wang: "Heh, the ones I bagged were even crazier. Their nest was perched up on a construction crane!" Kakarot: "Holy crap, sleeping that high up—weren't they afraid of falling off?!" Next Door Old Wang shook his head, prodding a nearby marauder with his rifle barrel. "Beats me. Why don't you ask him?" Poked by the gun, the marauder shivered, terrified yet not daring to step aside. The other marauders looked much the same. Beyond sheer terror, utter bewilderment dominated their faces. They hadn't even planned to mess with these broke paupers who couldn't even afford a two-headed ox; their targets were supposed to be the merchant caravans dripping with wealth. Yet the moment these lunatics spotted them, their eyes had practically lit up with a green glow, and they had charged straight in without a second word. From the players' perspective, it was entirely justified. After all, the mutants had noticeably leveled up, while these marauders remained as squishy as ever. When it came to handling marauders, the veteran players had ample experience. From Bloodhand to Bone Chewers, which one hadn't ended up defeated at their hands? Not to mention marauders were vastly more lucrative than gnawers. Raiding their lair yielded silver coins and boosted contribution points. Who would say no to walking sacks of EXP? Alongside the captured marauders, there were also slaves whom the players had rescued from the hideouts. Among them were men and women, whole of limb or missing arms and legs, some lingering on the brink of death. A few women were visibly pregnant. Having never dealt with marauders before, Yu Hu was completely at a loss as to what to do. Fortunately, the Administrator arrived just in time. After taking in the situation, Chu Guang immediately summoned Guo Niu, who oversaw the outpost's warehouse, and issued his orders. "Send the people to the prisoner camp first. The guards there know how to weed out the marauders. Once interrogations are done, keep the marauders in the camp and send the other rescued survivors to Changjiu Farm." "If they have somewhere else to go, let them leave. If they wish to stay, settle them in the refugee village and have Jiu Li find work for them." There were vast stretches of farmland west of Changjiu Farm in dire need of tilling. Beyond field labor, numerous inns and taverns catering to traveling merchants had recently opened around the farm, currently hiring bookkeepers, accountants, cooks, cleaners, and servers. Regardless of whether one possessed specialized skills, as long as they were willing to work, there was no shortage of employment opportunities. Guo Niu nodded solemnly. "Understood, my Lord!" Chu Guang settled the players' quest rewards at a rate of 50 silver coins and 50 contribution points per rescued captive, and 80 silver coins and 80 contribution points per captured marauder. Watching the players stream excitedly toward the north gate, Yu Hu lowered his head in shame and muttered sheepishly, "I'm sorry, my Lord. I couldn't even handle a small matter like this properly." Chu Guang offered an encouraging tone. "Don't say that. You've already done very well. You'll gain experience with things like this after handling them a few times. If you ever hit an impasse, just contact me or Xiao Qi." In truth, never mind Yu Hu—even Chu Guang was rather taken aback. His original intention in establishing the Hunters Guild was to prepare for the looming Tide while adding variety to hunter playstyles. He hadn't anticipated that the hunter players, having failed to track down many incubation chambers, would instead bust up a string of marauder dens. The vast swathes of land in the northern suburbs were starved for hands to farm them. Reeling in this many captives turned out to be an unexpected windfall. Clearing his throat, Chu Guang looked at Yu Hu and continued, "Let's get down to business. How did the investigation I assigned you go?" Yu Hu nodded quickly and answered at once. "We have results! I was just about to report to you!" Pausing for a second, he went on, "According to clues gathered by the hunter squads we dispatched to the fringes of the Fifth and Fourth Ring Roads, a massive horde of gnawers is moving outward from the city center toward the suburbs along several expressways." "Their movement isn't fast, but their march is relentless. At night in particular, their marching speed is nearly double that of daytime... If they maintain their current pace, the vanguard will likely hit the northern suburbs within two days. The scale is estimated at no less than one hundred thousand!" One hundred thousand?! Chu Guang's expression turned grave. "Has anything like this ever happened in the northern suburbs before?" If the Tide was truly of such immense scale, the meager forces in the northern suburbs would stand no chance. Never mind the bolt-action rifles sitting in Old Leech's warehouse—even combining Brown Farm and the Bloodhand Clan wouldn't have been enough. Yu Hu furrowed his brows and pondered hard for a moment before shaking his head. "I've never heard of the Tide pushing north before. Dense fog has rolled in a few times... but even that doesn't happen every year." The difficulty of this year's Tide had risen markedly. Could it be because of the population? With a solemn face, Chu Guang commanded at once, "I need to know the Tide's exact route of advance. Do you have a map here?" Yu Hu nodded vigorously. "Yes! I was just about to bring it over to you!" With that, he ducked back into the Hunters Guild's cabin and quickly emerged holding a map. Returning to Chu Guang's side, Yu Hu unfolded the map before him and pointed at the markings he had drawn. "Right here!" Drawn in marker across the paper map were one red line and four yellow lines. The two colors represented the primary advance route of the Tide and the secondary corridors cutting through various city streets. Huayuan Street Subway Station, situated between Bet Street and Brown Farm, lay directly along that red line! Without a moment's delay, Chu Guang took the map straight to the garrison post, recalling Guard Captain Wrench from all the way out at Changjiu Farm along with his core officers. The war council convened. Chu Guang spread the map out across the table. "...If the Tide continues its advance, not only will our neighbors suffer, but Shelter 117, the outpost, and the new industrial zone will all be in deep trouble." "Near the ring road interchange south of Huayuan Street Subway Station, there is a relatively open area. I plan to construct a defensive line centered around that sector, deploying over five hundred troops along with heavy firepower." "If any of you have good recommendations, speak up now!" Staring at the map, Vannus thought for a brief moment before suddenly speaking up. "I would like to know whether our opposition consists solely of gnawers, or if Crawlers and Tyrants are included as well." Chu Guang: "Likely both!" Everyone in the briefing room collectively held their breath. If it were only gnawers, it would be manageable. Aberrations that knew only how to sprint and bite were mere cannon fodder before firearms and artillery; a few heavy machine guns would be enough to grind them into the dirt. However, if "all-terrain mobile" terrors like Crawlers and "bottomless health pool" Tyrants were present, the situation would be far from optimistic. Add to that the Detonators, who completely defied conventional rules of engagement, and this battle promised to be a catastrophe. Vannus took barely half a minute of deliberation before arriving at an immediate assessment. "A single defensive line will not suffice! Building upon that position, we need at least three kilometers of strategic depth, checking their advance through multi-tiered fallback lines!" Wrench's brow furrowed tightly. "Three kilometers won't be ready in time. Digging just that one defensive line before they arrive is already cutting it razor-thin!" Vannus said nothing, turning his gaze toward Chu Guang instead. The others did the same. It was as though he were their sole beacon of hope. Under the weight of their collective gaze, Chu Guang gave a slow, deliberate nod, speaking only three words. "There's time!" There was always time. It would just demand a small sacrifice... Meanwhile, on an elevated highway a dozen kilometers away. Amidst the surging, river-like ranks marching forward, a pair of scarlet pupils stared unblinkingly at the northern sky. Within that gaze lingered a terrifying aura of pressure so overwhelming that even a Deathclaw would not dare lock eyes with it. Its jaws parted. A raspy voice groaned like the weeping of a specter. "The children..." "Are burning..." "Necessary... purification..." Etched across those crimson eyes was a ravenous thirst for slaughter and blood!