"I'm terribly sorry about your friend... If only I had inherited full administrative clearance, I could have helped you find her."
The low, raspy voice emerging from the old radio remained unchanged, yet the intermittent gasps sounded as though he had suffered fresh injuries.
More than that.
Amidst the buzzing static, there were subtle clangs and clatters of shifting metal that had not been there before.
According to Yong Shi, many incidents had occurred during the transfer of Shelter 79's administrative authority. Compounded by decades of disrepair, the security systems in many rooms were malfunctioning.
In short, trespassing into unauthorized areas could trigger alarm systems, causing doors to lock automatically.
Having gone missing for so long without a trace, she was almost certainly dead.
If the players had not read the post Sisi made on the forums, they might have actually bought into his nonsense.
"Setting our friend's situation aside for a moment... are you really alright?" Sesame Paste whispered, clutching the radio in her arms.
"I'm fine... A few little rats got into my office, but I've already dealt with them."
That strained voice sounded less than sincere.
With two dry coughs, he seemed to realize something and continued.
"...Wait, what do you mean, setting your friend's situation aside? Did you not hear what I just said? She may have met with an untimely end..."
"We heard," Tail said, having kept silent until now. She put on a look of profound grief, miraculously squeezing out a pair of tear droplets from the corners of her eyes. "We will miss Sisi!"
"Me too!" Rou Rou raised a hand, her face deadpan and solemn.
Rather than mourning, she looked more like she was swearing an oath.
Sesame Paste wore a troubled expression, nodding between tears and laughter.
"I will... miss Miss Sisi too."
Being unable to log in for three days was certainly miserable, but to call it grief... it didn't even come close.
If a good friend went AFK from the game, she would naturally feel a little lonely and sad.
Yet every time she logged off, she saw Sisi furiously serializing Shelter 79's research logs—scraped straight from the game—on the official forums. At this moment, far from feeling any sorrow, she had to struggle not to burst out laughing.
"..."
Static hummed quietly through the radio. She could practically feel the stunned, speechless confusion flowing in that silence.
For a moment, she actually felt a pang of pity for this NPC.
He was just like a DM in a murder mystery shop.
Even though they put their heart and soul into playing their roles, expecting players to act the same way was completely out of the question...
Amidst the quiet silence, the three arrived at the end of the tunnel, which served as the entrance to the dungeon.
The ceaseless gunfire was already far, far away. The Death Corps had pushed their clearing progress to the final stage.
The high-rise blocking the front of the research sector had been turned entirely into a deathclaw nest. Shed scales and droppings littered every corner; the place had been thoroughly molded into their domain.
Before the players arrived, the underground city of Shelter 79 had maintained an ecological dynamic equilibrium.
As creatures sitting at the very apex of the food chain, no organism had ever managed to breach the deathclaws' nest.
Now, however, that equilibrium had been torn to shreds.
Strength-type players clad in KV-1 armor welded with steel plates held the front line, revving chainsaws in their hands to block any deathclaws trying to flank them.
Players wielding assault rifles followed close behind, their ferocious firepower pinning the deathclaws down hard.
Orange tracer rounds wove impenetrable nets across the narrow corridors; only snarls and agonized howls could slip through that fiery mesh.
Players in the back row mounted 20mm light Lances, seizing every opening to send armor-piercing incendiary rounds tearing down the hall.
Under the players' seamless coordination, the roles of hunter and prey had been entirely reversed.
"Brothers, keep pushing!"
"Charge!"
"Give 'em hell!"
"Uh, can we switch to a slogan with a bit more flavor?"
"? What slogan has more flavor than these two?"
"??? Two?!"
Blood splattered across the corridor as the air filled with the stench of charred flesh and acrid gunpowder.
Exhausted players hauled the wounded back from the frontline, only for another wave of eager, fresh players to immediately step up and fill the gaps.
In a corridor less than twenty meters behind the front line, a group of players who had just rotated out sat on the floor.
Looking at the two deep gashes across his chest that nearly exposed bone, Construction Site Youth and Brick cursed as he wrapped bandages around himself.
"Fuck... I almost bought the farm."
Sitting beside him, Drum Hair Dryer wiped away sweat and grumbled, "Just how many deathclaws are in this damn place?"
"Ghost knows..." Construction Site Youth and Brick muttered. "Good thing the space here is cramped. Big monsters can't spread their wings. If they could clip through walls like in other games, this would be unplayable! Besides, compared to deathclaws, I honestly think those savages are way more annoying!"
Fighting them here was completely different from encountering them in the open wasteland.
In these tight quarters, adult deathclaws were sitting ducks on a chopping block, whereas juvenile deathclaws were actually more dangerous.
Based on his countless hunting expeditions, multi-legged beasts would probably be even nastier in this environment.
Those soft-bodied creatures covered in tentacles had absurd vitality; even if they took a full rifle magazine to the face, they could still crawl forward with shocking vigor.
'All-rounder' beasts like deathclaws were truly suited for wilderness and urban terrain.
Especially ruined cities.
An adult deathclaw there was a terrifying terror capable of hunting evolved organisms and wiping out entire Awakened squads...
Panting on the ground, Indebted Big Eye suddenly spoke up.
"I just realized... this place is pretty great for a fishpond."
Construction Site Youth and Brick blinked. "Fishpond? What do you mean?"
"I mean fishing! Taming!"
Seeing his buddy still looking clueless, Indebted Big Eye caught his breath and elaborated.
"Doesn't the respawn point sell psychic interrupters? Those things can be used to tame alien species. Whenever we ran into deathclaws outside before, we either couldn't beat them, or if we did, they ran away. Here, that's not a problem at all. A corridor only has two ends—they have nowhere to run... hehe."
Hearing this, the surrounding players were stunned.
"Holy shit?! You treating this like Pokémon?"
"Goddamn... is the Intelligence-type about to rise up again?"
"Sigh, so unfair," Edge Paddler sighed. "Every sequence keeps getting buffed, but Perception-type hasn't been touched once... Is that even reasonable?!"
Drum Hair Dryer couldn't help chiming in.
"Agreed. Ever since the Switchblade came out, Intelligence-types have been absurd. Whether the rest of us use guns or blades, at least we have to charge in and fight. Those bastards never step onto the front line, just camping in the back dealing dirty DPS, and their damage isn't even low."
"Hit 'em with the nerf bat!"
Seeing everyone clamoring for a nerf, Indebted Big Eye rolled his eyes.
"Do you guys have any shame? Throughout the entire Alpha version, which sequence was the bottom feeder? We've only been strong for a couple of patches... what's wrong with letting me have some fun?"
Couldn't brothers wish each other well for once?
Construction Site Youth and Brick stared at the ceiling, chanting like a madman, "Nerf them, please, Dev Daddy, I beg you."
Indebted Big Eye: "@#%@!"
Though it had started as a casual joke, thinking about it seriously, turning this place into a deathclaw breeding farm did sound pretty fun.
Pet-focused builds had existed for a while, but they had never become mainstream.
The main reason was that raising a pet cost far too much, and dead pets couldn't respawn.
Raising a deathclaw wasn't as cost-effective as raising a Strength-type brute; the latter was cheap, and nobody cared if they died—they'd be hopping around alive and kicking three days later anyway.
However, if there was a reliable 'pond' to farm SSSR-tier pets, the situation would be completely different.
A deathclaw possessing autonomous combat instincts was vastly superior to a drone that required real-time manual control.
While these wounded players resting behind the front lines threw out one ridiculous idea after another, the members of the White Bear Knights strode through the cleared corridor.
Perched on Rou Rou's shoulders, Tail waved from a distance.
"Yo, boys! How's the clearing going?"
Edge Paddler looked up and answered, "Just a tiny bit left. Probably won't even take until evening; we should wrap it up before noon."
"Nice, nice!" Tail nodded in satisfaction. "Keep it up, boys! Once we get the serum, we'll feed it to Rou Rou first!"
"Eh?! Wait a minute, why do I have to drink it?"
Tail's eyes sparkled. "Doesn't Rou Rou want to become human? Don't worry, Rou Rou, you're already so pretty as a bear. Once you turn into a human, you'll definitely be a gorgeous babe!"
"Maybe she'll even have white hair!" a player chimed in.
Drum Hair Dryer, who was in the middle of drinking water, spat it out with a loud spray.
"Holy crap, now that you mention it... I suddenly think Rou Rou looks kinda delicate and pretty too."
"Right?" Tail said smugly. "Our Rou Rou is super pretty. I have her photo!"
At these words, the crowd of rascals instantly got worked up.
"Holy shit!"
"In real life? For real?"
"Share it, brother!"
"Wait, is that the point?! Besides, we don't even know what that serum does! And shouldn't serum be injected...?" Rou Rou protested, caught between tears and laughter.
Tail pondered for a moment, then let out a sigh.
"Damn it! With Sisi gone... Rou Rou's comebacks aren't on the same level at all."
Rou Rou: "Are you an M or something...?"
Holding the radio, Sesame Paste let out a weary laugh.
"Ha... haha... I feel like I can barely keep up with the young folks nowadays."
Because the players were conversing in Mandarin the entire time, Yong Shi on the other end of the radio couldn't understand a single word. He merely felt these people were far too optimistic.
This was a deathclaw nest.
Could they show a shred of seriousness?!
Still...
He couldn't fault their combat effectiveness. The few mercenaries and wastelanders he had tricked into coming here before hadn't even breached the mutated spider nest at the entrance, let alone pushed all the way down here.
Right then, a shrill, piercing howl echoed from the direction of the stairwell.
Everyone stopped talking and turned toward the stairs.
At that moment, the raspy voice came through the long-silent radio once more.
"The Mother Deathclaw..."
A trace of wariness lingered in his tone.
Barely catching the meaning, Sesame Paste immediately asked, "What is that?"
"...Deathclaws live in a matriarchal society. Female deathclaws are often vastly larger than males and live much longer. Several rooms downstairs have been taken over by the Mother Deathclaw as an incubation nest. But don't worry... those massive beasts can't get out. Even the widest corridors down here cannot accommodate their bulk."
"Then how did they get in?" Tail asked curiously.
"Naturally, they crawled in before they grew that large..." A cough sounded from the radio. "Pay them no mind. You don't need to go downstairs. Cross the corridor ahead, and you'll find the entrance to the research sector. The doors there are open; you can go straight in. I will guide you on how to retrieve the serum!"
The players exchanged glances.
Everyone standing here had read the forum spoilers; they already knew this guy was lying.
He didn't want them going downstairs...
Was it because something was hidden down there?
"...Rather than something being there, could it be because that area is beyond his control?" Sesame Paste suddenly remarked. "I actually don't think he was lying earlier—it felt more like he was hiding part of the truth..."
Rou Rou blinked. "You mean... his administrative clearance really isn't complete?"
Placing an index finger against her chin, Sesame Paste gave a slight nod.
"Mhm. Either his clearance isn't complete, or the areas occupied by the alien species were truly damaged by years of neglect. Otherwise, he could have easily locked those sections off, couldn't he? Most of the doors we passed along the way... were closed, right?"
That included the corridor where Sisi had vanished.
When they went back, the doors that had originally been open were all shut tight.
The biggest difference between that corridor and the other areas was that it had not been overrun by alien creatures.
A possibility suddenly occurred to Sesame Paste.
Could it be that because Yong Shi, as the Administrator, lost control over that sector, the alien species were able to take it over in the first place?
In that case, that area might be the only place in the entire shelter where one could escape his oversight...
"Hiss..."
As soon as Sesame Paste said this, Tail glanced at Brother Edge and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Downstairs is all yours!"
Edge Paddler caught on immediately. Slapping his rifle over his shoulder, he flashed a bright grin.
"OK."
"...What are you saying?" the raspy voice came through the radio. He vaguely sensed something was amiss, but couldn't put his finger on what.
These people were constantly speaking in a tongue he couldn't comprehend, leaving him completely bewildered.
Just what dialect was this?
In all his years, he had never heard it once.
Tail said, "We're discussing our battle plan!"
"A plan... fine. Having a plan is wise. But the most dangerous area has already been cleared by your forces. There shouldn't be much danger ahead. Go quickly... retrieve the serum and leave this treacherous place as soon as possible."
The voice from the radio carried a subtle undercurrent of urgency.
The treasure he had dreamed of was right before his eyes.
He could wait no longer...
...
The White Bear Knights crossed the cleared corridor and headed toward the research sector.
The Death Corps players fanned out near the main entrance of the research sector to prevent alien creatures from spilling over from other sectors.
Approaching the stairwell seemingly by accident, Edge Paddler extended the sensory feelers of his Perception toward the pitch-black staircase. He allowed his consciousness to merge into the dark, catching the faintest disturbances within the subtle drafts of air.
"...The sound of a heartbeat."
Muttering under his breath, he pinpointed the target's location, chambered a round into his raised assault rifle, and walked down the stairs.
Below lay a pitch-black hall. Sturdy load-bearing pillars rose like silent sentinels, devoid of any illumination.
The moment his foot touched the final step, he immediately sensed that the gaze that had been fixed on the back of his head had vanished.
Yet as Edge Paddler followed the faint clue of his Perception and pushed deeper into the hall, that sensation of being watched suddenly surged back.
He halted his steps.
Sensing a powerful presence drawing near, Edge Paddler tightened his grip on his assault rifle, his eyes meticulously scanning every inch of the darkness.
Right then, his gaze locked onto a pair of amber pupils.
It was a deathclaw as colossal as a dragon.
A body over ten meters long lay crouched against the floor, its shoulders pressed tight against the ceiling. Its most striking feature was the pair of absurdly massive horns crowning its head... In River Valley Province, ordinary deathclaws lacked such a trait.
The air froze for a full half-minute.
Carrying a scorching, foul breath, a deep and raspy voice drifted from the maw large enough to swallow an ox whole.
"Curious. A living human can still be seen down here... How did you get in? Did that fellow let you through?"
Hearing the deathclaw speak in human words, the blank look on Edge Paddler's face instantly shifted to sheer astonishment.
"Holy crap, Scavenger?!"
"'Scavenger'?"
The amber pupils stared intently at him.
It clearly did not understand what he had said, but it read the expression on his face.
"...Have you seen other deathclaws that can speak?"
Edge Paddler nodded briskly.
Though he didn't know why this beast could speak human tongue, had he stumbled upon a hidden story branch for this dungeon?
Taking a deep breath, he attempted to speak in broken Human Alliance language.
"...Our shelter has one too."
This deathclaw seemed very familiar with shelter affairs and slowly spoke.
"Which shelter are you from?"
"Shelter 404."
"404..."
The amber pupils contracted slightly. The deathclaw fell into thought for a moment.
Edge Paddler thought its gaze looked somewhat lost. Seeing it remain silent for so long, he followed up with a question.
"Are you that Yong Shi?"
"Yong Shi... What is that? Though the name does sound somewhat familiar."
Suddenly, as if recalling something, the deathclaw snorted a puff of air through its nostrils.
"I remember now. That experiment... Heh, after all these years, someone still remembers that thing."
Edge Paddler: "Experiment?"
The deathclaw spoke slowly, continuing.
"The Immortal Emperor... His name—or rather, his code name—was Yong Shi. But that mad plan has already failed. You can see for yourself what a wretched state the outside world has fallen into."
Edge Paddler had already read about this plan in the research logs Sisi had uploaded to the forums, so it was not entirely unfamiliar to him.
Yet what puzzled him was the identity of the figure before him.
It wasn't Yong Shi, and it clearly wasn't the Administrator either, yet it seemed intimately familiar with everything.
"What should I call you?"
After a long silence, it spoke slowly.
"A name? It has been too long since I used such a thing; I have forgotten it myself... Since I have already become like this, call me a deathclaw or the Mother Deathclaw, whichever you prefer."
Unable to tell whether it had genuinely forgotten or simply didn't wish to mention it, Edge Paddler dropped the inquiry. Taking a deep breath, he continued.
"Then let me ask another question... Can you tell me what happened here?"
"What happened... That is a good question. Since you know of 'Yong Shi,' you must be aware of the experiments conducted in Shelter 79."
Seeing the human before it nod, the Mother Deathclaw slowly resumed.
"Very well, then I need not start from the very beginning..."
"After the first-generation manager died, we adjusted our experimental approach and adopted a more radical strategy. We designated the outer sectors of the shelter as research zones, captured mutated creatures from the wasteland for genetic modification, and released them into the research sector to simulate an even harsher wasteland environment."
"This place was a natural testing ground. Surveillance cameras could theoretically cover every corner of the shelter, allowing us to observe the entire progression of the experiment. After completing those preparations, we began mass-cloning incomplete test subjects and deploying them into the research sector, recording their survival rates, lifespans, and various other metrics, screening the optimal individuals for further improvement, and then repeating the cycle..."
"Throughout this process, it wasn't just the clones evolving. The mutated creatures we captured from the outside accelerated their evolution under natural selection just the same..."
Standing to the side and reading the subtitles on his VM, Edge Paddler couldn't help gulping down saliva.
What kind of battle royale was this?
The Mother Deathclaw did not stop, continuing.
"We obtained many exceptional specimens... Yet frustratingly, while their physical faculties approached perfection, a significant gap remained between them and the 'eternity' we envisioned. Moreover, an increasing volume of experimental data indicated that as this planet entered a new era, humanity's performance under natural selection fell short compared to several other alternative candidates... Let alone giving birth to a new civilization, in a few thousand years, there might not even be a trace of man left on this planet."
"We heard that certain shelters were researching human subspecies. Supposedly, the conceived 'new humans' possessed environmental tolerance exceeding even that of cockroaches. Though we did not know if they succeeded, their line of inquiry truly inspired us. If we did not cling rigidly to the form of life, our civilization could actually continue in another guise... within intelligent beings of a different shape."
"Later, we adjusted our experimental approach a second time. No longer confining ourselves to clones, we expanded our candidates to all species across the entire research sector. Soon, an outstanding specimen stood out..."
Edge Paddler swallowed hard.
"...The deathclaw?"
"Correct," the heavy eyelids blinked as the Mother Deathclaw continued. "It possessed formidable vitality and peerless physical faculties. Even powered armor appeared somewhat inferior before a fully grown deathclaw... And most importantly, with regular injections of a specialized serum, it could theoretically live forever in the truest sense."
"Though viewed from our contemporary perspective, this may seem difficult to accept, decades later it would be another matter. When our civilization entered a new era, when all had embraced evolution, the 'people' of that time would likely not care what their Emperor looked like. Our mission would be fulfilled in another form... The new era would sing praises of our achievements."
"Three years into the plan, we successfully bred a near-perfect specimen capable of serving as a new vessel for our consciousness. Through neural transplantation surgery, we successfully transplanted the consciousness of a portion of our residents into immortal vessels."
"Regrettably, a slight error occurred in our experiment. Those specimens were too clever—so clever that telling them apart became difficult. Though we had accepted them, they were not particularly eager to accept us."
"Due to a blunder, a portion of the test subjects breached containment, and some even escaped into the outside world. Among them were mutated creatures, as well as the marginalized clones... You must have seen those things on the wasteland."
The origin of the wasteland's alien species was right here?!
This was an incredible discovery.
Edge Paddler immediately pressed, "The deathclaws outside... all escaped from here?"
The Mother Deathclaw continued.
"Most of them. In truth, it wasn't just deathclaws. Early on, most alien species across the wasteland had frail physical faculties. Once the modified specimens escaped this place, it did not take long for them to displace the naturally mutated species... including the byproducts of those experiments, and the clones we initially produced."
"Clones?" Edge Paddler was momentarily taken aback. "You mean... the savages in this shelter?"
The Mother Deathclaw said in a calm tone.
"Indeed. They carried the genetics of this place out into the world, along with the tribal culture forged during the trials. After more than a century, you might not see pureblood 'savages,' but you should be able to find individuals who stand apart from ordinary men in some primitive tribes—especially their chieftains."
"They often possess extraordinary physiques, and to some degree, even exhibit traits of alien species... Did you think those were gifts bestowed upon them by nature?"
The Mother Deathclaw bared its teeth, the upward curve of its maw resembling self-mockery.
"Still, that they could become leaders, carrying forward their powerful genetics in the cruel jungle... that too can be considered an outcome of natural selection."
Edge Paddler held his breath.
He suddenly thought of several bosses encountered in earlier patches.
Including "Bear" of the Bloodhand Clan.
And "Golden Fang" of the Bone Chewer tribe.
Their bloodlines and the culture flowing through their veins—the source of it all lay right here.
"I thought that was an awakening..."
The Mother Deathclaw let out a low, rumbling chuckle.
"Awakening? Heh, is that what you call that phenomenon?"
Edge Paddler stared at it, then blurted out, "Were you a researcher here?"
"A researcher... I suppose you could say that. I did take part in the experiments."
After a long silence, the Mother Deathclaw shook the long horns atop its head and suddenly spoke in a half-joking tone.
"I won't pretend anymore. Having said all this, you've probably guessed it... I am the Administrator here."
"Of course... some also call me the Great Horned Deer God."
Chapter 391