Method

"Sell the parts that were swapped out?" Fang Chang was completely stunned after listening to Elaina's suggestion over the phone. What kind of northern Myanmar organ trafficking operation was this?? "...That's right! If we don't sell them, we'd just dig a hole and bury them anyway. What a waste! Think about it—they're Awakened organs. Asking three times the price of a normal human's wouldn't be unreasonable, right?" On the phone, Elaina vividly described the business plan he had stolen from some newbie. Leaning back on the sofa, Fang Chang pressed his index finger between his eyebrows, pondering for a good while before saying, "But... organ transplants require matching, don't they?" Elaina chuckled and said, "I know, but this is a game, not reality. They even made bionic organs; it wouldn't make sense if they couldn't solve immune rejection, right?" Fang Chang: "..." Holy shit. Put that way... It did seem to make some sense? He had reflexively applied his real-world assumptions. Yet this was, after all, a game world, and the setting was 2341. A future even further out than 2077... Maybe organ matching really wasn't an issue? Respawn once every three days. Make twenty or thirty thousand silver coins a pop. What kind of business could be this lucrative? The only limitation was probably that there weren't enough rich folks in Boulder City. The more Fang Chang thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He decided to chat about this with the black-market merchant who had sold him his bionic prostheses. He said into the phone right away, "I'll go ask and see." Elaina said eagerly, "Awesome! I'll have them freeze the kidney first!" The call ended. Fang Chang got up from the sofa and left the Alliance's Boulder City Liaison Office without another word, heading toward the residential district at the edge of the industrial zone. The familiar alleyway. The mannequin lurking in the shadows of the display window spooked the unlucky passersby who weren't paying attention, just as always. But Fang Chang was long used to its tricks; ignoring it completely, he walked straight into that suspicious clinic. Parting the door curtain and stepping into the innermost room, Fang Chang saw the balding middle-aged doctor pacing back and forth, seemingly troubled by something. When he saw Fang Chang, Gracie's eyes lit up immediately. He strode forward to greet him with unusual warmth. "You're just in time! My friend." Fang Chang looked at him strangely. "What's wrong?" "Nothing, just saying hello," Gracie smiled sheepishly, glanced behind Fang Chang, and asked, "Where's that girl named Duo-whatever? Why didn't she come with you?" "It's working hours; she has her own job to do..." Seeing that Gracie clearly had something on his mind, Fang Chang asked bluntly, "Just tell me what's on your mind." Seeing that his thoughts had been seen through, Gracie stopped beating around the bush and chuckled. "I have an awkward favor to ask of you." Suspecting this might trigger a quest, Fang Chang asked, "What kind of favor?" "Didn't the Enterprise delegation arrive in the northern suburbs recently? One of my big clients wants a bionic kidney produced in Ideal City, but he has no channel to get one." As he spoke, an eager gleam rose in Gracie's eyes. "Do you have a way to get your hands on one?" "An Ideal City bionic prosthesis... That stuff doesn't come cheap." Fang Chang remembered checking the price: a single kidney cost 600,000 silver coins. Strictly in terms of cost-effectiveness, it wasn't worth it at all; at least fifty percent of that was "brand premium." Yet Gracie didn't care in the slightest, his eyes still burning with anticipation. "I know, but aren't you a shelter resident? Don't you guys get an internal discount?" "How could there be such a thing?" Fang Chang rolled his eyes. A discount? Dream on. They should thank the heavens if the damn game devs didn't hike up the price! To tackle late-game stat inflation and prevent excessive economic disparity among players, the species known as devs would resort to every trick in the book. Though objectively speaking, that wasn't entirely a bad thing. After all, if they didn't do that, having everyone sitting on tens of millions of silver coins in their warehouses wouldn't make the game any more fun—it would only render silver coins completely meaningless. "Alright... Even if it's not cheap, name your price." "1,000,000 silver coins," Fang Chang said without blinking. "One million?!" Gracie's eyes widened instantly, staring at him in disbelief. "Are you joking?" Expecting this reaction, Fang Chang continued, "Don't get worked up. I said silver coins. You only need to pay me 500,000 chips." Gracie calmed down. Five hundred thousand chips... Put that way, it wasn't unacceptable. After all, a bionic liver produced in Boulder City cost ten to twenty thousand chips. A bionic liver produced in Ideal City... Brought all the way across vast stretches of wasteland, fifty times the price actually seemed cheap. Even at one million chips, someone would probably be interested. With that thought, he hesitated no longer and nodded without another word. "Deal!" "I have one condition, though: cash on delivery. I want to see the goods before I pay!" Seeing him agree so readily, Fang Chang couldn't help wondering if he had priced it too cheaply. Still, having agreed, he couldn't go back on his word. Worst case, he'd just raise the price next time. "No problem. By the way, I have another proposal. Not sure if you'd be interested," Fang Chang asked. "What proposal?" Gracie looked at him. A smile appeared on Fang Chang's face as he explained the real reason for his visit. "Bionic prostheses from Ideal City are pricey; not everyone can afford them. I happen to have a batch of... uh, Awakened organs on hand. Would you be interested?" "Awakened organs?" Gracie froze, giving the man before him an odd look. "That's right. Whether it's eyes, livers, kidneys... or anything else, there's a way to get them. They might not compare to bionic prostheses, but they're completely all-natural." Gracie sighed, interrupting Fang Chang's pitch. "You won't get much for that stuff." Fang Chang frowned. "Why?" Gracie explained succinctly, "While solving immune rejection isn't difficult, anyone who can afford a bionic prosthesis wouldn't even consider using living parts. A human being is a precision machine, but the parts on this machine don't serve efficiency. "Besides, living organs are far easier to produce than bionic prostheses. Just make a mentally castrated clone and harvest whatever you want; disposing of them isn't much trouble either." Gracie spoke in a nonchalant tone, dropping bombshells as if discussing the weather. In fact, it wasn't anything novel. Whatever was forbidden in the Prosperity Era could be done in the Wasteland Era. Cloning itself wasn't complicated technology, and the slave trade and organ trafficking had long formed a mature industry chain in Boulder City. Fang Chang stared at him blankly. He suddenly realized something. It wasn't just the players in this game who were borderline criminals. The NPCs were pretty hardcore outlaws too. Seeing Fang Chang remain silent, Gracie paused and added, "...Still, if you can get kidneys with high metabolic capacity or eyes with outstanding optical capabilities, I might buy them. Some mercenaries might be interested... though the price will probably disappoint you." Fang Chang asked immediately, "How much can you offer?" "For kidneys..." Gracie held up two fingers. "2,000 chips would be reasonable." "Two thousand?!" Fang Chang looked at him in shock, his eyes turning wary. "You're not ripping me off, are you?" Gracie laughed out loud. "Ripping you off? Go sell them to someone else then, and see if anyone wants them." He was visibly less enthusiastic about Awakened parts than before. Seeing that the man didn't seem to be lying, Fang Chang said nothing more. Mainly because, besides him, Fang Chang didn't know anyone else who bought this stuff. Whatever. Even mosquito legs were meat. Two thousand chips could be exchanged for four thousand silver coins, which would easily add another zero when converted to RMB. Make 4,000 silver just by logging off for three days. There had to be some Constitution-type brothers willing to cooperate. "I'll get you the bionic liver from Ideal City, as well as the Awakened organs. Have the chips ready. In one week, cash on delivery." "No problem. By the way, how many Awakened parts do you have?" Gracie asked briskly. Fang Chang smiled faintly. "As many as you want. This will be a long-term partnership." Gracie froze, staring dumbfounded at the man in front of him with an indescribably bizarre look. He had assumed there were only one or two, so he hadn't taken it seriously. He never expected this guy to say 'as many as you want.' And he was planning on a long-term partnership? Did Awakened grow like leeks in a field? Where the hell was he going to find that many Awakened?! "Then prepare twenty kidneys for me first," Gracie said jokingly. He thought the man would look troubled, but to his surprise, the man agreed without hesitation. "No problem." "Just twenty? That's easy!" ... "Isn't this a bit too felonious?" Browsing the forum on his VM, Chu Guang wore an expression between laughter and tears. Good grief. These guys were already posting on the forum looking to buy "parts." In-game parts, of course. Transactions violating the laws and regulations of the users' jurisdictions were strictly prohibited from discussion on the forum. "Master, should I take the post down? (°口°)" A small window popped up at the top of the VM screen; the message was from Xiao Qi. Chu Guang thought for a moment and replied, "No need." The handbook he had issued to the players didn't have rules against this. Although he didn't approve of them running this trade, they weren't harming anyone else, and anyone incapable of distinguishing virtual reality from real life wouldn't have gotten closed-beta access in the first place. For players who could respawn, at least they weren't genuinely losing anything. The only moral blemish was probably not donating them for free. The shelter had long ceased to be short on active substances; ten gnawers could provide one unit of active substance, and past Level 10 it only doubled. However, while Chu Guang rarely interfered directly with the players' progression, focusing instead on setting rules, he still took time to keep an eye on what the players were doing. On one hand, it was to satisfy his curiosity. On the other, it was to spot loopholes in the rules so he could patch exploits in time. He might not know what the NPCs were doing, but he knew what the players were up to like the back of his hand. Even without using the "backdoors" in the VMs and various peripherals, he could trace clues from posts on the official website. Though not every player browsed the forum, few players with any real presence could resist showing off there. "Rather than dictating how they should play the game, I'm more interested in seeing what choices they will make." Reaching out to turn off the screen, Chu Guang turned his gaze forward. They had arrived at their destination. The gate of Shelter 101 was right ahead, its massive gear-shaped door identical to Shelter 404's. At this moment, accompanying Chu Guang were ten soldiers of the Guards Corps. Along with Horn, the mayor of Camp 101. However, Horn didn't lead him to that massive gate. Instead, he led him to a tent not far from the gate and placed a pair of glasses into his hands. The design looked somewhat like AR glasses, but the dark lenses didn't let any light through. Taking the glasses, Chu Guang looked them over, then turned to the old man named Horn and asked, "Just putting these on will do?" Horn nodded respectfully. "Yes, esteemed Administrator." Chu Guang looked at Lü Bei, who was standing close by his side. "Wait for me at the entrance." Lü Bei was slightly taken aback, a hesitant look on his face. "But, my Lord..." Sitting down on a nearby chair, Chu Guang had no intention of explaining. "That's an order." Lü Bei remained silent for a moment before giving a military salute and turning to leave the tent. Leaving the room with him, Horn glanced at the young man and said softly, "Rest assured, that is merely VR glasses. We would never do anything to threaten your Administrator's safety." Lü Bei didn't speak. He also felt these people were unlikely to do anything harmful to his Lord. He simply couldn't trust someone he had never even laid eyes on—the Administrator of Shelter 101. The other soldier standing next to him felt the same way. With a taut face, the man said in a stiff tone, "It had better be." If anything happened to the Administrator, he swore he would raze this place to the ground. So what if it was a shelter? Can't blow the door open? Then blow up the entire tunnel and plaster it shut with cement! ... After the door closed, Chu Guang fiddled with the glasses for a moment, then set them on the bridge of his nose. Surprisingly, no images appeared on the dark lenses. Instead, the moment he closed his eyes, multicolored ripples rippled outward from between his brows, pulling his five senses into harmony with an immense stream of data. After just a momentary trance, when Chu Guang opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in an entirely different world. The surrounding air was fragrant with birdsong and blossoming flowers, shaded by lush green trees. People walked along a red-brick road, chatting and laughing. In the distance stood a statue, but because its back was to him, he couldn't see its face. This seemed to be a park. Chu Guang stared blankly at everything before him, muttering as if in a dream, "...What is this?" Just then, a voice came from behind him. "Welcome to Shelter 101." Hearing this, Chu Guang turned around immediately and saw an unfamiliar man standing there. He was neither tall nor short, somewhat lean, with features that would blend into any crowd, yet his smile carried a unique affinity. Most striking were his eyes, deep like an ocean, seeming to possess a penetrating insight that saw through everything. He was holding a girl's hand; she appeared to be his daughter. However, she had only inherited his eye color, not his glossy black hair. Chu Guang suddenly felt the girl looked somewhat familiar, though only faintly. "Daddy?" The girl looked up at the man beside her, speaking in a crisp voice, "Is he your friend?" "Sort of." The man patted the girl's hand gently, saying in a soft voice, "Go to your mother first. Tell her I'll be over in a moment." The girl nodded and sensibly let go of her father's hand, turning and running into the crowd. Watching her figure vanish into the crowd, Chu Guang subconsciously frowned. "Is it safe to let a child go alone?" As if hearing something amusing, the man chuckled. "No need to worry. There is no crime here." A thoughtful expression crossed Chu Guang's face. He suddenly stamped his right foot. The tingling sensation from the sole of his foot and the unyielding red bricks all felt completely real. Yet he could still sense a touch of dissonance. Because if this were reality, given his strength, that brick should have shattered. "This is a virtual world?" An appreciative smile appeared on the man's face. "As expected of you. I was just wondering how many seconds it would take for you to notice." Hearing this loaded remark, Chu Guang raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know me?" The man nodded and said pleasantly, "Mm... Although we've only known each other for a few seconds, it really is wonderful to meet you." Chu Guang didn't understand what was wonderful about it. And the man clearly had no intention of explaining his words, continuing on his own: "Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me... Method. That's the signature I used most often in my papers, and my friends always called me that." Method? Chu Guang frowned, a hint of astonishment suddenly surfacing in his eyes. Wait... Could it be the "Method" from the Academy? He remembered Yin Fang telling him long ago that the three founders of the Academy were Principle, Method, and Conclusion. Earlier, in that lost holographic recording, he had already seen Dr. Principle. In his impression, that man had been an optimistic idealist who later headed north in River Valley Province to take part in establishing the Post-War Reconstruction Committee... Good grief. He hadn't even set foot in Wandering Marsh yet, and he had already met two founders of the Academy. Yet what baffled Chu Guang most was... "Why is a founder of the Academy here?" "The Academy... What a nostalgic name." Those azure pupils seemed to sink into memories of the past, though they were soon submerged in a faint smile. "However, I am not that great. I didn't found the Academy; it existed back in the distant Prosperity Era. I merely spent a little time helping my friends rebuild it in the new world. "As for why I am here..." Dr. Method paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating how to answer. "It's a somewhat strange question, but I can sense what you're asking. To put it simply, not all shelters were activated during the Three-Year War; some began operating after the war ended." Chu Guang said thoughtfully, "In other words... you came here after establishing the Academy?" "You could say that. But that was a very long time ago; if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have nearly forgotten." At this point, the man adopted a cheerful tone. "Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to indulge the curiosity of an insignificant person like me. The moment I saw you, my doubts were answered. "I've already given my VM to Horn. He will hand it to you shortly." Chu Guang watched him silently, then spoke up: "I'm quite the opposite. After seeing you, I have even more doubts." Dr. Method smiled warmly and said politely, "It would be my honor to clear your doubts. You may ask me whatever you wish." Chu Guang smiled. "Really? Then there are far too many things I want to ask. For instance... who was our enemy?" He had pondered this question for over a year, puzzled ever since he first awoke. "Our enemy..." Dr. Method considered the question for a moment. "Two centuries ago, we indeed had some disputes with our compatriots at Alpha Centauri, but I do not consider them our enemies." Indeed. A look of understanding dawned in Chu Guang's eyes. The books recovered from Shelter 117 mentioned methods for "spacecraft jumping between massive celestial bodies," clearly showing that the People's Federation of the Prosperity Era had already mastered FTL engine technology. The mental interference technology preserved in Shelter 117 also originated from communications with the colonies. All signs pointed to the fact that as early as the Prosperity Era, the People's Federation had already expanded beyond the solar system and established at least one colony. Dr. Method's words confirmed part of his conjectures. What surprised him, however, was that this war had actually broken out between the homeworld and its colonies? He had assumed it would involve extraterrestrial civilizations, like overexpansion alerting some "Fallen Empire." Yet what surprised Chu Guang most was not any of this, but the reaction of the man before him. Allowing a war to destroy an era... Chu Guang couldn't help feeling that he was perhaps a bit too calm. "...Even when your world ended up like this?" Dr. Method nodded and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Yes. War was merely the final showdown; the seeds of discord and division had been planted long before. Whether they sprouted today or tomorrow made no difference. There were many complex reasons involved, none of which can be explained in a few words. "We tried to prevent it. Many people, including my respected mentor, made immense efforts in their lifetimes. "Yet before the wheels of history, the strength of one or two individuals is simply too insignificant. "Once we realized it was all irreversible, the only thing we could do was preserve as many sparks as possible while everything was collapsing, leaving behind a sliver of hope for future generations. "...Or rather, leaving behind a bit of possibility for the future." His voice was soft. Though he stood right before him, it felt as if it drifted from very far away. Seeing his "defeatist" attitude, Chu Guang couldn't help saying, "Did you never think of making a difference?" As if anticipating Chu Guang's question, Dr. Method smiled. "How do you know I haven't done anything?"