Swarming the Dungeon!

On the street directly south of the library, gunshots cracked like popping firecrackers, tangled together with the agonizing screams of wounded soldiers and the guttural roars of the Deathclaw in utter chaos. The entire street had turned into a bloody meat grinder. The narrow corridor gave them no room to maneuver, forcing the Legion soldiers to funnel in wave after wave in ten-man squads and five-man fireteams. Faced with a thoroughly enraged Deathclaw, their body armor was completely useless, and the seven-millimeter rifles in their hands were no better than fire pokers. By contrast, the Deathclaw stood nearly two stories tall. A single casual swipe of its half-meter-long talons was enough to cleave a man diagonally in two, spilling organs and gore across the pavement. The hellish carnage turned the surrounding soldiers pale, their stomachs violently churning. "Suppressive fire! Don't back down!" "Dammit, didn't the artillery already blow it to pieces?!" "Fuck... our bullets aren't piercing it at all!" "They are piercing it, but its wounds heal too damn fast!" "Aaaagh!" One soldier failed to dodge in time and was instantly torn in half. Watching his men suffer non-stop casualties, Korwei, standing on a rooftop in his exoskeleton, gritted his teeth until his jaw ached, his heart bleeding. Beside Korwei, his adjutant—likewise clad in an exoskeleton—swallowed hard and spoke with great difficulty. "Sir... why don't we just use artillery to blow it sky-high?" Sending infantry against a Deathclaw... In his eyes, it was sheer madness! Hunting and warfare were two entirely different concepts. Especially when facing an unreasonably powerful monster like a Deathclaw, even battle-hardened veterans were outmatched. Korwei kept a grim expression, saying nothing. Of course he knew hunting and warfare were different. Against a monster like this, one-hundred-millimeter artillery was far more effective than rifles; three indirect artillery shells would be enough to level the entire street. However— General McLaren wanted that thing's head, not a pile of pulverized mush. At that moment, a soldier bleeding from his forehead jogged back from the front line, halted before Korwei, and threw a salute. "Sir! Our squad has taken over fifty percent casualties!" "The boys can't hold out much longer!" The adjutant beside him added his own plea. "If we keep fighting like this, even if we burn through every man we have left, we might not secure the beast's head." They had only brought a single century. Under normal circumstances, that should have been enough, but no one had expected this Deathclaw to be so monstrously resilient! A one-hundred-millimeter shell had detonated right next to it, visibly crippling it, yet in just a few minutes, its internal and external wounds had mostly healed. Was this thing even a carbon-based lifeform? Korwei clearly recognized it as well. Continuing to fight like this served no purpose other than throwing lives away. They needed infantry guns, Panzerfaust rocket launchers, anti-armor weapons capable of dealing with super mutants, and... local cannon fodder. Gritting his teeth, he barked an order. "Retreat!" ... On the top floor of the library, beside the rooftop railing, a girl and a bear were lying low behind cover, quietly observing the firefight unfolding right in front of them. "Ooh! Go, Big Scavenger!" Tail's eyes shone as she clenched her small fists, excitedly whispering cheers for the Deathclaw on the next street. Curled up beside her in a furry heap, Rou Rou looked worriedly at the besieged Deathclaw and murmured, "Should we help it?" It felt like it was on the verge of collapsing. Yet Tail flatly rejected the idea, adopting a deadpan, serious face. "Rou Rou, this is a duel between men! It's better if we don't interfere, okay?" *A mob ganging up on one is supposed to be a duel?!* Looking at Tail lying through her teeth, Rou Rou couldn't help but complain wryly in her head. Still, thinking about it carefully, helping really wasn't practical. If it were just a ten-man squad, the two of them could manage. But the enemy had brought a hundred-man unit with indirect artillery support. If the enemy went all out and swarmed them, they'd be overrun in minutes. Worst of all, if they didn't wipe out every last trace and someone slipped away to report to the Heart of Iron's command that people suspected of belonging to the Enterprise were here, what awaited them would probably be a four-hundred-millimeter bombardment leveling the area. Even if they could escape, the survivors here would suffer because of them. Though Rou Rou doubted Tail had thought that far ahead, she had to admit that spectating quietly from the sidelines was the best choice right now. So... They might as well just cheer for this "Big Scavenger" in spirit. As if answering their hopes, the massive Deathclaw let out a shrill roar that shook the leaves on the trees below the building. Unable to bring down the immortal monster, the Legion soldiers finally broke, pulling out of the cramped cover and beginning an organized withdrawal. When the last black-cloaked soldier pulled back from the street, the century waiting in reserve in the distance retreated along with them. Its amber pupils glared fiercely at the retreating backs of the black-cloaked soldiers. The "Big Scavenger" didn't give chase. Instead, swaying its blood-dripping tail, it stumbled off in the opposite direction. Watching the towering silhouette vanish into the night, Tail pumped her fist in excitement. "Way to go, Big Scavenger!" Rou Rou murmured, "If Scavenger heard that, he'd cry..." ... Fortunately, the previous night's battle had been a false alarm. The Legion and the Deathclaw outside had mauled each other, one side beating a hasty retreat while the other limped off to who knows where. Standing by a third-floor window, Wu Tao wore an expression steeped in worry. He smoked one cigarette after another, his thoughts tangled into a knot. Outside were the Legion's soldiers, while right beneath their feet lived a horde of bloodthirsty mutants—and rumors said there were even savages that ate flesh raw and drank blood... He hadn't slept a wink all night. Just then, Wang Xu walked over with a pipe rifle slung across his back. This man in his thirties was a well-known hunter in Xiangling Town, but at the moment he looked exhausted and haggard, dark bags hanging beneath his eyes. He hadn't slept at all either, having stood guard on the roof the entire night. "Old Wu." Turning toward the approaching Wang Xu, Wu Tao pinched out the cigarette and tucked it back into his patched pocket. "What is it?" Wang Xu was silent for a moment before speaking. "Maybe... we should move away." "Move?" Wu Tao let out a bitter laugh. "Where can we go?" "Anywhere is better than staying here," Wang Xu said firmly. "We can't stake our safety on a beast. Besides, nobody knows where it went now. Heaven knows when the Legion will come back, and they might take their anger out on us... What do you plan to do when that happens?" Hearing Wang Xu's words, Wu Tao fell silent, unable to answer. Perhaps it was just as Wang Xu said: leaving this troubled place early was the right choice. Yet that was far easier said than done. They had lived here for a century. No matter how harsh the conditions were, at least they had a home here. Leaving meant wandering the wasteland, and ghost only knew what even more terrifying horrors awaited them out there. It might end up far worse than their current plight. A furrow of premature aging etched into his brow, Wu Tao gazed out at the scarred, devastated street, sighing after a long pause. "Let me think about it..." Just as Wang Xu was about to speak, someone ran in from outside. It was the gatekeeper of the settlement, panic written all over his face. "Old Wu, someone's here outside!" More people?! Wu Tao felt a jolt of anxiety, but remembering what those outsiders had told him about reinforcements, he quickly composed himself. "People? Where?" The gatekeeper said nervously, "By the northern garage wall! About twenty of them... Every one of them has an automatic rifle, similar to the ones those three outsiders carry!" Wu Tao's heart leaped, and he said immediately, "Tell them to wait a few minutes!" "Right!" The gatekeeper nodded hurriedly and turned to leave the room. Wu Tao didn't linger either, heading straight out the door. However, instead of going outside the library, he went to the second floor to find the three outsiders who had arrived two days prior. He knocked three times, and upon hearing a "Come in," pushed open the door. Yet before his foot even crossed the threshold, a heavy stench of blood washed over him. On a long table dragged from who knows where lay a roll of plastic sheeting, upon which rested a gutted corpse. Beside it, an aluminum tray held bloody organs and a few bones removed from the body. Seeing Sisi holding a long, slender surgical knife, his breath instantly froze, his expression stiffening as though he had seen a ghost. Sisi casually looked up at the NPC at the door. "Is something the matter?" His Adam's apple bobbed. Wu Tao swallowed with difficulty, stammering, "Outside... a group of people arrived... Their guns look similar to yours." A glint of surprise surfaced in Sisi's eyes. *That fast?* Tossing the scalpel into the tray, Sisi removed her rubber gloves and linen mask, speaking at once. "Take me there." "O-okay..." His face pale, Wu Tao nodded like a chick pecking rice and weakly led the way out. Going down the stairs, his footing slipped, and he nearly tumbled down, only saving himself by swiftly grabbing the handrail. Following behind him, Sisi cast a bizarre glance at his back. *It's just dissecting a specimen...* *Was there any need to be this terrified?* ... North of the library, by the garage wall. Seeing Sisi appear atop the wall, Brother Big Eye, standing at the front of the group, waved his arm and chuckled playfully. "Yo, how's it hanging, rich lady?" "I already told you I'm not rich..." Sisi replied helplessly, her gaze looking past his head to the familiar faces beside him, a flash of surprise crossing her eyes. There were twenty-five players present, all from the Death Corps. The highest level among them was naturally the team leader, Brother Edge. This heavyweight had already broken through the Level 20 threshold. Though his gene sequence was Perception-type, his overall combat capabilities were top-tier, making him a solid Tier 1 player. The rest of the players were mostly Level 10 or above, predominantly Strength-type and Agility-type, supplemented by Constitution-type and Intelligence-type—every single one a pillar of the Alliance's fighting force. What surprised her wasn't that so many top players had come. It was that she had only posted the call on the forum last night, and they had already arrived first thing in the morning. "Did too many people show up?" Brother Edge asked with a smile. "Not at all," Sisi said, snapping out of her daze with a smile. "Thanks for coming to back us up." "Haha, don't mention it. We mainly came to check out the new map anyway, and we were planning to head around here in a couple days regardless," Brother Edge said cheerfully. "By the way, there are about a hundred more brothers behind us. If the convoy gets full, be sure to give me a heads-up." "No such thing—the more the merrier. Shelter 79 is practically an underground metropolis, bigger than all the shelters in Alliance territory combined. The few of us couldn't possibly finish exploring it alone." Pausing, Sisi added, "Don't just stand outside. Come on in and let's talk." The gatekeeper lowered the ladder. The twenty-some players of the Death Corps scaled the wall one after another, quickly stepping into the survivor settlement known as Xiangling Town. Facing these unexpected visitors who had arrived without warning, the local survivors wore uneasy expressions. Though these newcomers looked fairly friendly, the weapons in their hands were anything but approachable. However, the players didn't bother them, heading straight for the "dungeon" entrance on the library's second floor. Along the way, Brother Edge briefly explained to Sisi how they had gotten here. Around two or three in the morning, Brother Mantou had flown a Dragonfly transport plane and dropped them along with supply crates into the mountains twenty kilometers outside Ruigu City. Ever since the Northern Expedition, not just the Burning Corps, but the vast majority of Alliance players had learned to skydive through repeated practice. Now, across the entire New Alliance, almost every corps Tier 2 and above functioned as a rapid-reaction unit, with every player practically a "special forces operator." Whether hunting or fighting a war, they handled it with ease! Brother Edge said, "Originally, Brother Chicken Slayer and his crew planned to come too, but last night they got another assignment. Their whole corps was reassigned to the front line to reinforce Brother Spring and the others." Sisi remarked, "Ruigu City is getting livelier by the day." Brother Edge chuckled. "Yeah. And I heard Lao Bai and the guys say the developers seemed to hint in the chat group that the front line in the next version will push into neighboring Sunset Province. When that happens, this place will be our bridgehead for driving west." Sisi said, "We can worry about the next version when it gets here. Right now, the urgent priority is clearing Shelter 79. A Legion force came by last night; who knows when they'll return. If they find out a shelter is hidden here, it'll be huge trouble." Seeing Sisi's furrowed brow, Brother Edge smiled. "As for the Legion, you don't actually need to worry much about that side." Sisi looked at him in surprise. "Oh?" Brother Edge continued, "Right before logging on, Battlefield Guy told us in the chat that the Legion seems to be putting together a unit of locals from Falling Leaves Camp to hunt down that Deathclaw. They said whoever drags its head back gets rewarded with ten slaves and the title of centurion." Hearing this intelligence, Sisi looked astonished. A Deathclaw's head? Did that thing... Have some special use? And from his words, it sounded like the Legion was hell-bent on getting that Deathclaw, refusing to give up until they succeeded. How was that something not to worry about? "And then...?" "Then? Does there need to be an 'and then'?" Brother Edge said with a laugh. "The moment our friend Battlefield Guy heard about this sweet deal, he slipped right into the unit on the spot. The Legion even issued him a rifle... though it's just a bolt-action Ripper." "Wait... he's not peeling potatoes anymore?" "Nope! He said peeling potatoes by day and peeling more by night was too damn much of a rip-off from the dog dev, so he decided to do something a real man should do," Indebted Big Eye chimed in with a grin. "Yesterday we were teasing him, saying that once he works his way up to puppet commander, he should just recruit the rest of us." *You can do that?!* Sisi was completely stunned. Gathering her wits, she hesitated. "Wait, if that's the case... won't you guys end up clashing with Brother Spring and his team?" Brother Edge laughed. "No problem at all. We already talked it over with the Storm Corps. If it really comes down to crossing swords, we'll just schedule a time to spar and treat it like an exercise." Since players didn't actually die anyway, as long as they didn't lose gear, it wasn't a loss. Throw the match a little, feed some "merit" to their buddies, and before long, the enemy's puppet forces and officers would all be their own people. When that time came, how the battle was fought would be entirely up to them. "...In short, we've got our own guy on the other side. If the Legion makes any major moves, he'll notify us in advance in the group or on the website. We can just focus all our energy on raiding Shelter 79." Sisi stared at these guys, dumbfounded. *These maneuvers are way too slick...* ... Second floor of the library. Pushing the door open and stepping inside, Brother Edge was startled by the mangled corpse on the table, just as Wu Tao had been. "Holy crap... what the hell is that?" Sisi answered casually, "A savage we ran into in Shelter 79... I was a little curious at the time, so I brought it back to dissect." Construction Site Youth and Brick swallowed nervously, leaning in with equal parts cowardice and curiosity before turning back to ask Sisi, "Find anything?" Sisi's expression turned slightly subtle. "Well... how should I put it? It has two more ribs than a normal person, its leg bones are much thicker, and its muscle distribution and brain structure are quite bizarre. Rather than calling it a savage, it's more like... this guy is a hybrid between a human and some kind of animal." "Holy shit... that's creepy as hell," muttered I'm the Darkest, stunned. Brother Edge frowned slightly. "Are you sure?" "Not sure. I'm just a minor pathology doctor, don't put too much pressure on me..." Sisi sighed, then suddenly noticed Tail squatting in the corner. "Tail, what are you doing?" "I'm greeting the Administrator of Shelter 79! Hey, hello, you there, you there? Mr. NPC, we're coming to bother you again today!" Listening to the crackle of static, Tail slapped the radio, muttering in a final effort to wake it up. "Strange... it worked fine yesterday." Rou Rou scratched the back of her head with a bear paw. "Is it broken?" Standing nearby, Sesame Paste wore a troubled expression. "Should we still bring it with us?" Sisi: "I think it's better to take it along." Tail rubbed her chin and nodded sagely. "Tail thinks so too! What if the Administrator just overslept?" "Umm... that's not entirely impossible." Though the probability was miniscule... Sisi felt it was more likely he had been delayed by other matters; after all, based on this game's setting, Administrators were always very busy. Regardless, it was best to keep such a crucial quest item on hand. If an emergency came up, they could communicate promptly... ... "Brothers! Charge!" "Raaagh!" Inside Shelter 79, gunfire echoed continuously. Whether or not a charge whistle pumped them full of adrenaline, the Death Corps' combat tactics remained as ferocious and savage as ever. With the addition of over twenty brothers, their raid progression speed increased noticeably. Mutant wolf spiders taller than a person's shins surged toward the players like a tide. Yet against the dense net of firepower, they remained at a total disadvantage, dropping into the bottomless abyss like dumplings into a pot. Even when the occasional straggler broke through the overlapping fire nets, what awaited it was a rifle butt or bayonet slammed straight into its face, altering its fate not in the slightest. From the shelter entrance to the central research area, high-rises were cleared one after another with barely any major resistance. It wasn't until they covered half the distance to the central research area, where Deathclaws and other perilous mutants began to appear, that their progress gradually slowed. Yet what puzzled Sisi was that "Yong Shi," who had helped them open Shelter 79's blast doors, hadn't contacted them all day. It was as if he had vanished. Sisi didn't dwell on it, continuing to lead the players through the shelter. That night, the Legion came by once more, but they didn't approach closely, merely observing from afar before leaving. The players hauled their game out of the shelter and lit a campfire in the open space outside the library. The mouthwatering aroma of roasted meat quickly drifted across all of Xiangling Town, leaving the local survivors drooling. In the blink of an eye, three days passed. Afterward, more Death Corps players arrived one after another, pushing the number of players stationed in Xiangling Town past one hundred. Just when everyone had nearly forgotten about the radio and the self-proclaimed Administrator "Yong Shi," on the morning of the fourth day, a raspy voice suddenly crackled from the radio after a long silence. "...Just how many of you came?!" Sitting in the room gnawing on dry rations, Sisi jumped at the sudden voice, nearly dropping the flatbread in her hand. "Around a hundred... why?" Sisi was about to ask what he had been up to these past few days, but the voice from the radio gave her no chance to question him. "Was there any need for that many people?! I mean... with so many people, what if you damage the books stored in the library?" The voice sounded faintly tense. Sisi reassured him, "Don't worry, we value knowledge very much and won't damage anything here. Besides, we've already moved those books to an empty room on the third floor... and as for the survivors living up there, we'll do our utmost to ensure their safety." "..." The radio went silent for a long time, sinking into an extended pause. Sisi couldn't help finding it strange. *Isn't having more people a good thing?* Over the past three days, their clearing speed had been several times faster than on day one. By her estimate, three more days at most would be enough to successfully retrieve the serum. While she could understand the anxiety of having "a bunch of strangers enter your home," Sisi felt his worries were rather unnecessary. Furthermore... "Speaking of which, why does your voice sound a bit odd?" "Odd?" "Yeah," Sisi nodded, recalling for a moment before saying, "It feels... even raspier than before." Two dry coughs came over the radio. "Caught a slight cold these past two days... nothing serious." Sisi: "Oh, are you all right? Do you need cold medicine? Or you could tell us your location, and while searching for the serum, we can bring you out along the way—" The voice from the radio cut her off. "No need. I'm very safe here, and what happens to me doesn't matter. The serum in the research area—please, you must bring it out! For... for the people still living in this world!" "Don't get so worked up, we'll succeed very soon." Though she offered comforting words, the look on Sisi's face grew increasingly peculiar. She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination. She couldn't shake the feeling that this guy's voice... sounded rather weak. Was he really going to be all right?