"By filling out the form, of course! I filled it out two or three months ago and waited forever!" Ye Jiu declared smugly, looking at her stunned older brother.
Hearing that, Ye Wei's expression turned rather bizarre.
*Two or three months counts as 'waiting forever'?*
How many people on the forums had been waiting for nearly a year without getting an invite?
Granted, the game didn't hand out beta access based on when you registered anyway.
"It looks like it's finally activated today. No need to thank me—it's yours!"
"...Thanks for the gesture, I guess."
Holding the helmet, Ye Wei looked caught between laughter and tears.
Right then, a strange thought struck him.
What would happen if he put on his little sister's helmet...?
"Have you registered an account yet?"
Ye Jiu shook her head. "Nope. I don't play games, so I'm giving it to you to play."
Ye Wei eyed her skeptically.
*Seriously?*
To be fair, anyone capable of finishing that lengthy questionnaire had to be at least mildly addicted to the internet, having played a game or two at bare minimum.
Still, now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
With a trace of nervous apprehension, Ye Wei took a deep breath and pulled the helmet over his head.
Darkness enveloped him.
In the protracted, soundless silence, not a single speck of light appeared.
Ye Wei reached up and adjusted the helmet, but quickly realized it made no difference.
"..."
Beside him, Ye Jiu had no idea what her brother was thinking and asked excitedly, "Did it connect?"
"...No."
Ye Wei took the helmet off in silence.
Now he finally understood why his college roommates had looked at him with such bizarre expressions back then.
At the end of the day, if you weren't meant to see it, you simply couldn't.
Unless you were the owner tied to the helmet, anyone else putting it on got zero response—no mysterious countdown in sight, nor any button to connect.
What surprised him, however, was that even as a closed beta player himself, he still couldn't see a thing through someone else's helmet.
This device seemed to be bound to some unknown presence.
"...Ah, you can't see anything either?" Ye Jiu looked a bit crestfallen. "Mom was the same... She actually thought it was the inner pot of an electric rice cooker."
"Jiujiu," Ye Wei said, looking at his sister with a deadpan, solemn expression. "There's something... I've been keeping from you."
Ye Jiu shot him a weird look, sizing him up from top to bottom. After a long moment, she slowly asked, "...Bro, did you actually get taken in by a sugar mommy?"
Ye Wei ignored her interruption, turning on his heel to walk back to his room. A moment later, he emerged carrying a helmet of his own.
At the sight of the helmet in her brother's hands, Ye Jiu's eyes widened in shock.
"Wait... You have one too?!"
"Yeah," Ye Wei said, nodding slowly. "I'm one of the earliest closed beta players."
Ye Jiu was struck dumb with surprise.
After a long pause, she murmured, "...I saw everyone talking about that game and wanted to surprise you. Who knew you already had one?"
Ye Wei's face was a portrait of mixed emotions.
With a sigh, he adopted the tone of a seasoned veteran. "That game pushes the envelope way too far. Even a guy my age can barely keep his composure sometimes. I never told you because I was afraid you'd fill out the reservation form... Who knew you not only filled it out, but actually won a spot?"
His pompous, worldly-wise attitude was downright infuriating.
Ye Jiu glared at him irritably and snatched her helmet back.
"Pfft! 'A guy your age'? Stop putting on airs!"
"If you won't play it, fine—I'll play it myself!"
To think she had wanted to gift the helmet to this jerk.
Talk about biting the hand that fed him.
*Pushes the envelope?*
*Can barely keep composure?*
She'd see for herself just how far this game pushed it!
Watching his sister's reaction, which was entirely within his expectations, Ye Wei continued patiently, "I wasn't finished. Don't get worked up."
"I gave it some careful thought later. You're not a kid anymore; you should take charge of your own life and be responsible for your own choices."
"Besides, this game is different from the rest. It doesn't just contain entertainment; it holds certain other things as well... For you, this might be an opportunity."
This game had already transformed the lives of quite a few players.
He himself was living proof.
"An opportunity?" Ye Jiu tilted her head, thoroughly bewildered. "What are you talking about?"
Ye Wei didn't elaborate, simply pointing at the helmet in her hands.
"Put it on and try it. You'll understand."
With a suspicious look on her face, Ye Jiu followed her brother's gesture and sat down on the sofa. Then, half-doubting, she pulled the helmet onto her head.
Where the countdown had previously been, a simple prompt had taken its place: [Enter the game?]
"See that option? Just click it."
Ye Wei offered the tip, but Jiujiu gave no response. It appeared she had already entered the game.
Barring any surprises, she was currently waking up from an incubation pod in Shelter 117.
And in all likelihood, she was beside herself with excitement, marveling at "this light, this water, this air."
Watching noobs react upon entering the game was practically a staple pastime in Wasteland OL.
Ye Wei didn't log in after her, choosing instead to sit across from her sofa.
Though he sorely wanted to snap a picture of her dumbfounded expression, his in-game character was currently stationed in Dawn City, quite a distance from Shelter 117.
Not to mention, it was currently night in the game world, which was hardly the time for travel.
Watching his sister seated opposite him, Ye Wei picked up the cup on the table and took a sip of water.
At that moment, his expression turned slightly strange.
Come to think of it...
According to the official website, wearing the helmet was equivalent to sleeping—deep sleep, at that.
Which meant that as long as nothing jolted you awake, you wouldn't wake up from the dream, right?
When he thought about it that way, playing games in the living room was actually pretty hazardous.
He wasn't the type to pull pranks, much less do something juvenile like deliberately wetting the floor to pretend someone had peed their pants.
But this girl was another story entirely.
At the thought, Ye Wei shuddered involuntarily and made a silent resolve in his heart.
From now on, whenever he played, he had to lock his door...
...
Roughly half an hour passed. Ye Wei figured it was about time for lunch and was getting ready to order takeout.
Just then, an excited exclamation suddenly came from across the sofa.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! That is insane! Is that NPC in the hall played by a real person? Or is it a virtual character? That armor looks so cool! Is that called an exoskeleton? What level do you have to be to equip one?"
Before Ye Wei could even begin sorting through her barrage of questions, Ye Jiu pressed on excitedly, "Oh, right, right! Bro, what's your ID? I took that 'Passing the Torch' quest and need to enter my mentor's ID! It gave me a huge list to choose from, but I couldn't find your name!"
"Who uses their real name as a handle?" Ye Wei said with a chuckle. "Search for 'Ye Shi.' That's my in-game name."
"Ye Shi? What does that ID mean?"
Hearing that, Ye Wei nearly choked on his own spit and coughed dryly twice.
"Nothing... Everyone just called me that, so I got used to it."
As he said it, his expression was stiff, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead.
The origin of that ID was a long story.
There was no way in hell he was going to tell his sister that in a group chat called the Beasts of Burden, his nickname used to be "Public Enemy of Maidenhood Ten Times a Night," which he later shortened to "Out of Bed Ten Times a Night."
Neither handle was something he could announce with a straight face.
Then again...
Who in their right mind would tell an acquaintance in real life the handle they used for internet flame wars?!
He was only thankful he hadn't typed out the full phrase when registering his account back then.
Otherwise, today would have been an absolute social death sentence!
Ye Jiu stared suspiciously at her brother for a while, sensing that things weren't that simple.
Still, she didn't press the matter.
The sensory impact delivered by that "fully immersive virtual reality online game" had simply been too intense.
Even after spending a long time calming her breathing, she sat on the sofa, still struggling to fully digest the shock in her heart.
Even as someone who didn't particularly care for games, she couldn't help being captivated by that fictional world so starkly different from reality, thoroughly reshaped into the mold of the helmet.
She couldn't wait to go back into the game.
She couldn't wait to experience everything it had to offer!
With eyes sparkling, Ye Jiu shoved Ye Wei's helmet into his hands without giving him any room to argue.
"Bro! Log on right now and carry me!"
Watching his sister casually pull her helmet back on, Ye Wei looked utterly dumbfounded.
*Good grief...*
*She's more hooked than I am.*
...
The wasteland world.
The Alliance Liaison Office in Boulder City.
Luka was currently directing personnel to smuggle several crates of bionic prosthetics stored at the office out of the city.
Boulder City enforced strict controls on goods entering the city, but inspections on outbound cargo were far less stringent.
With each person carrying one piece of luggage over multiple trips, it was easy enough to move them out.
Recovering high-tech gear produced by Boulder Military Industries from the black market was merely one of the Alliance's strategies regarding Boulder City.
As the castellan of Dawn City, Old Luka's primary focus remained on the trade negotiations with the city hall.
Recently, the city hall had leaked word that the New Alliance intended to import two hundred million chips' worth of goods from the industrial zone.
The factory owners and chamber of commerce bosses who had previously been stirring up trouble immediately ceased looking for faults and shifted to a wait-and-see stance.
As for the workers who had lost their jobs due to factory shutdowns, while their lives hadn't improved overnight, they temporarily lacked the momentum to riot after losing the backing of the instigators behind the scenes.
Though it was uncertain how long this tacit understanding could last, it ought to hold for a while.
...
On the coffee table in the break room, a raucous voice blared from the radio.
Mr. House was effusively praising the great castellan's magnificence, pausing only at the very end to spend two sentences praising Mr. Dulong's brilliant decision.
"...If we were to distribute chips to every single person, the price of nutrient paste would skyrocket to the heavens, and no one would benefit!"
"Lending those chips to our neighbors, however, is an entirely different story! Two hundred million chips will generate tens of thousands of jobs! It will save over a hundred thousand families! We will have work! We will have the opportunity to feed ourselves!"
"What a splendid thing this is!"
Sitting before the radio, Hal, who hailed from the Sunset Province's Lion Tribe, was curiously fiddling with the talking machine.
"Incredible... Does a person live inside this iron box?"
Sipping tea on the adjacent sofa, Shu Yu tore his gaze away from the procurement manifest and looked at him inquisitively.
"I find it rather incredible myself. You told me that in your father's court, there are over a hundred android maids... Why can you accept androids, yet struggle to accept a simple thing like a radio?"
The former was glaringly more advanced in technical sophistication than the latter.
Hal, however, argued with absolute conviction, "That's entirely different, isn't it? Androids are still people at the end of the day. Is it weird for a person to talk?"
Shu Yu froze.
The teacup in his hand halted midair.
Though he felt the statement was riddled with absurdities on every level, he momentarily didn't know how to refute it.
Seeing Shu Yu remain silent, the restlessly talkative Hal chattered on excitedly, "Say, if I bring a radio back with me, do you think my royal father would pass the throne to me?"
"...I think you'd best not do that," Shu Yu advised in a gentle tone, setting his teacup down for fear of spilling it on the table.
Last night, he had spoken with the Administrator over the phone.
Aside from coordinating the procurement manifest, he had also mentioned this fellow's situation in passing.
The Administrator's advice aligned with Old Luka's: regardless of the fellow's odds of inheriting the throne, making a few more friends was never a bad thing.
At any rate, hiring one more clerk didn't consume much of their budget.
Even if he didn't end up king, having him safely return to his tribe to live as a leisurely prince would bring nothing but benefits and no harm to the New Alliance.
The Sunset Province was several times the size of the River Valley Province. An endless sea of sand stretched for thousands of kilometers, spanning the entire central region of the Central Continent and adjoining mountain ranges and grasslands.
Scattered across the oases left behind by the Human Alliance era were several feudal kingdoms serving as transit hubs for East-West trade.
The Lion Tribe was one of the more formidable among them, as well as relatively less xenophobic.
This intelligence had also been gathered by the New Alliance from passing merchants.
"What a headache... Just what kind of item counts as priceless? Do I really have to trek all the way to Ideal City in the east?"
With a distressed look, Hal switched off the radio and turned to Shu Yu across from him.
"My friend, can you give me some advice?"
"How could I know? I've never met your father," Shu Yu said, giving him a helpless look before continuing. "Though if you ask me... rather than racking your brain over what constitutes a priceless treasure, you'd be better off looking into what your father likes."
Hal looked blank. "What he likes?"
Shu Yu nodded.
"Yes. Whether something holds value is inherently a subjective judgment. For example, if he values trade, and you return with ten times the traveling expenses you left with, he's bound to see you in a new light."
"If he values martial prowess, you only need to prove your own courage. For instance, chop off the heads of a few Deathclaws, or bring home several warriors who have braved life and death with you."
Hal took on a thoughtful expression.
"I understand... You mean cater to his tastes, right?"
Shu Yu said casually, "You can look at it that way. It'll make things simpler."
Hal sighed fretfully. "But my father likes neither merchants nor soldiers. He only likes diving into crowds of women and throwing banquets every few days."
Shu Yu sighed.
"Then abduct a pretty daughter-in-law to bring back... and prove your own charm."
*This tribe is hopeless.*
Then again, where in this world was any different?
Reproducing offspring was practically a healthy hobby by comparison.
Yet to Shu Yu's surprise, despite his offhand remark, the prince named Hal wore a look of profound enlightenment after a moment of contemplation.
"My friend... you are an absolute genius! Your words have completely opened my eyes! Come be my advisor! When I become king, you will be a minister of the Lion Tribe!"
Shu Yu looked at him with an amused smile.
"My loyalty belongs only to the great Administrator. Please don't make such jokes."
A minister?
He had no desire for that.
Even the intoxicating luxuries of Boulder City couldn't corrupt him, let alone a tribe in the middle of nowhere.
Hal held his tongue.
He had only thrown the idea out casually; he hadn't truly expected this young man to follow him back to help him fight for the throne. In fact, he hadn't even made up his mind about whether he wanted to fight for that thing himself.
Just then, the break room door opened, and Luka walked in from outside.
"The Administrator just sent word. He wants us to open a Boulder City branch of the 'Voice of the Alliance.'"
Shu Yu looked up at Luka, somewhat puzzled. "Can't the broadcast signal from the northern suburbs reach here? Why establish a separate branch?"
Luka relayed the Administrator's exact words:
"Because this branch will primarily cover local news within Boulder City, and the staff and reporters hired will mostly be locals as well. Naturally, we'll interweave our own content into those news pieces, while also correcting the biased reporting that 'Voice of Boulder City' puts out about us."
"It's just that these points aren't suitable for us to voice directly; they need to be delivered in the tone of their own people."
"And it's not just radio. We're going to produce print media as well, putting our ideas onto newspapers and selling them to the residents."
A look of surprise surfaced on Shu Yu's face. Hearing the second half of Luka's statement, he couldn't help saying, "Securing our own channel to voice our stance is certainly important, but using newspapers as a propaganda tool... Will anyone here really be willing to pay for them?"
Most residents in Boulder City had a monthly income below a hundred chips, which worked out to around three chips a day.
That money was barely enough to cover their daily living expenses.
Even if they priced the newspaper at the lowest possible rate of one chip per copy, very few people could spare the cash to buy it.
As for the mercenaries...
Though they had money, their literacy rate was even lower than that of the factory workers.
After all, poor as the factory workers were, they at least lived within the giant walls and mostly had intact families. To ensure their children could work in the factories in the future, parents would invest a little in their education.
Boulder City wasn't devoid of newspapers, but they were generally purchased only by the wealthier citizens.
Here, the market size for print media was quite limited; an outside newspaper would find it exceptionally difficult to break in.
If the goal was propaganda, this clearly didn't seem like a great idea.
Faced with Shu Yu's confusion, Luka spoke in a confident tone.
"People will buy them. Our newspaper is meant for the ordinary residents of Boulder City. The Administrator said we can adopt a subscription model. For just one chip a month, they can receive an entire month's worth of newspapers."
Shu Yu frowned.
"In that case, ordinary people could certainly afford it, but the cost pressure on us would probably be substantial..."
Paying just one chip a month was equivalent to the retail price of a single kilogram of nutrient paste.
It was practically giving them away for free.
Luka nodded.
"There will definitely be pressure at first, but once subscription numbers pick up, the situation will improve."
Shu Yu's brows remained tightly knitted, though a look of sudden realization soon washed over his face.
Hal, however, was still thoroughly baffled and couldn't resist asking, "Why would the cost pressure decrease if you sell more? Shouldn't it become even bigger?"
"...Because we can run advertisements in the newspaper. People willing to spend money on newspapers generally won't skimp on food and clothing, and they might even possess a certain taste," Shu Yu explained patiently to Hal, a hint of admiration rising in his eyes.
As expected of the Administrator.
To have considered even this!
Seeing that Shu Yu had explained on his behalf, Luka gave a faint smile and continued, "...During the initial promotion phase, we can partner with several commoner taverns frequently visited by local residents, supplying them with a month's worth of newspapers for free."
"We can also partner with reputable factories. For example... ten empty Nuka-Cola bottles in exchange for one newspaper."
Shu Yu couldn't help praising, "That's a great idea!"
Nuka-Cola was sufficiently well-known throughout the taverns of Boulder City.
And those unemployed workers had plenty of time to scour the streets for such things.
This was a win-win for both the factories and the newspaper.
"Our relationship with Boulder City has eased recently. Now is the ideal time to do this."
"Naturally, to achieve our long-term goals, we need a sharp individual who has a way with words..."
At this point, Luka paused.
The eyes of both men fell upon Hal in unison.
Having a way with words was beyond dispute.
This fellow's greatest talent was being an endless chatterbox, followed closely by his ability to compose rhyming yet vacuous doggerel in twelve different artistic fonts.
As for having a sharp mind, however...
Was that asking a bit too much of him?
"Why are you two... looking at me like that?" Hal asked nervously, unnerved by their stares.
He had a distinctly bad feeling about this.
Luka didn't keep staring at him, nor did he answer the question. Instead, he looked at Shu Yu.
"What do you think?"
"...I don't know. We're too short on talent in this area. If you had me edit the newspaper, I'd write the news with absolute rigor, but aside from our own people, I doubt many would be willing to read it to the end."
On the battlefield of public opinion, their opponent wasn't the factories of Boulder City, nor was it the city hall.
It was Mr. House with his loose tongue and runaway mouth, along with the crowd he represented.
In the face of glib silver tongues and skin as thick as a city wall, even the most immaculate truth had to yield ground.
Talents—or rather, scoundrels—who possessed both qualities were exceptionally rare in the New Alliance.
The Alliance's journalism sector had only just begun. Most reporters were merely reading scripts by rote, some having attended night school for barely half a year.
The 'wanjia' from the shelter might possess a natural gift for this, but they didn't know the Human Alliance language at all, needing translation tools even for basic everyday communication.
Strictly speaking, Hal wasn't that sort of person either; his well-bred, polite upbringing was a far cry from a shameless scoundrel.
Still, this wasn't his homeland.
Cutting loose and letting his wild side out might not be much of an issue, right?
At the very least, his eloquence and writing skills were dependable. Everything else was a matter of experience that could be honed on the job.
Facing Old Luka's apprehensive gaze, Shu Yu looked equally hesitant, but in the end, he nodded.
"The Administrator told us not to be overly rigid about a person's origins, background, or lineage... Setting aside his lack of wit and experience, he is indeed the most suitable candidate."
"I think it's worth a shot."
Chapter 358