"Giao?! Great Horned Deer God?!"
Walking down the corridor outside the serum sample repository, Tail, her headset dangling from one ear, couldn't help yelping in shock.
At this moment, Rourou and Sesame Paste wore equally astonished expressions, though Rourou's facial cues were less pronounced.
Because Brother Edge's microphone had remained live and the signal was not blocked, the translated subtitles had instantly synchronized across all the nearby VMs.
Not just theirs, either.
That included the good brothers of the Death Corps as well.
Every player operating in the surrounding area had just experienced the entire plot sequence triggered by Brother Edge.
"No wonder... that guy said half the chaos in these lands originated from here," Rourou muttered under her breath.
Using genetic engineering to artificially accelerate natural selection, breeding mutants far stronger than the ordinary standard...
And not just mutants.
Even the marauders clinging to tribal life.
Not all of them were descendants of the clones produced by Shelter 79's experiments, but some had clearly incorporated genetic material that leaked out from here.
They possessed robust physiques, organs developed abnormally compared to ordinary humans, and under certain conditions, even displayed beast-like characteristics...
That wasn't an awakening at all.
It was—
"Genetic pollution...?" Sesame Paste whispered, clutching the radio.
Tail suddenly noticed a blind spot and spoke up.
"Wait... if that Mother Deathclaw claimed she's the Administrator of Shelter 79, then who's the guy in the radio?"
Rourou: "Yong Shi?"
Tail tilted her head.
"But didn't that plan fail?"
Sesame Paste pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Maybe... Shelter 79's Administrator only considered it a failure, while someone else didn't? After all, didn't the Mother Deathclaw say that some experimental subjects escaped outside...?"
In terms of results, they truly hadn't created an immortal and morally flawless "Emperor," but they hadn't come away empty-handed either.
They had successfully broken past the barrier of twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, transplanting human consciousness into a far more formidable entity to surpass the limits of what a human could achieve.
And that was precisely what they meant by "strength unconstrained by life forms."
The fellow calling himself "Yong Shi" clearly believed in his heart of hearts that the experiment was a resounding success.
Not only had he fully embraced evolution and accepted his current self, he believed he was the ultimate form of Plan 79.
Almost instinctively, all three thought of the deathclaw outside.
That deathclaw regarded Xiangling Town as its territory, keeping the survivors there penned inside the library to guard the legacy of pre-war civilization and the entrance to Shelter 79 on its behalf.
On the way to the research sector, they had discovered the corpses of mercenaries and bounty hunters.
Judging by their gear and weapons, they clearly didn't belong here; they looked like ordinary wastelanders from the outside.
Evidently, over the past century, they weren't the first batch of survivors "bamboozled" into coming here, nor were they the first to fetch the serum for that creature.
All the clues linked together, and the truth finally surfaced.
Rourou muttered to herself with sudden realization, "No wonder he needed someone else to help him get the serum... With a body that massive, there's no way he could squeeze in here."
The entire shelter was designed for human habitation, with no passages or chambers built to accommodate a deathclaw.
The Mother Deathclaw calling herself the "Great Horned Deer God" was the prime example—with her infinitely swollen bulk, she could only sprawl there completely immobile.
She couldn't even procure food for herself, having to rely on the smaller youngsters for help... It was hard to say who was keeping whom in captivity.
For some reason, an eye-searing image popped into Rourou's head, and she promptly shook her head to drive the thought away.
Tail furrowed her brows and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Still... the Administrator is alive, right? How did he get administrator clearance?"
Sesame Paste shook her head.
"No idea. Maybe through deception, maybe coercion, or maybe there's some mechanism for transferring administrative clearance that we don't understand... In any case, no matter how he pulled it off, he obviously managed to flee the shelter only after acquiring clearance for the main gate."
And not just the main gate.
He had clearance for all the rooms along the route from the research sector to the shelter's entrance.
The shelter's administrative clearance seemed to be fractured, not entirely held in the Administrator's hands.
Pausing for a moment, Sesame Paste gazed at the repository housing the serums before her and continued with a complex expression, "I even have a feeling that maybe the experiment here never actually ended. Natural selection is still underway. Even us... and those mercenaries who died long ago, we're all part of the ongoing trial.
"And the reason 'Yong Shi' is so desperate for the serum isn't just to prolong his life—he also needs the fruits of the experiments here... He needs the serum that crystallized countless experimental conclusions to become even stronger."
Rourou hissed through her teeth. "Hiss... honestly, that might actually be true."
"Whoa!" Tail's eyes sparkled. "Amazing! Sesame Paste, are you a detective in real life?"
Faced with two pairs of admiring eyes, Sesame Paste's cheeks flushed slightly, and the cat ears atop her head twitched self-consciously.
"I... I'm just an ordinary teacher, really."
With so many clues already available, anyone under normal circumstances would have figured it out...
The two girls and one bear chatted openly right outside the laboratory door.
Though Sesame Paste held the radio in her arms, Yong Shi couldn't understand a single word they were saying due to the language barrier.
Besides, the voice on the other end had gone silent a while ago; even the metallic clanging and banging could no longer be heard.
"What should we do now? Take the serum out?" Tail asked, stroking her chin.
Rourou mumbled, "That two-story-tall deathclaw is definitely waiting for us outside... Earlier, even a hundred-man squad from the Legion got driven off by it. If we run into it, we're probably done for."
That monster was virtually unkillable.
Even after taking a 100mm artillery shell at close range, it had bounded around as if completely unfazed. Even when its head was peppered with concentrated rifle fire, its formidable regenerative ability and toughness let it cheat death.
Just then, Sesame Paste's eyes shifted slightly.
"...I have an idea."
Without even asking, Tail gave her an immediate thumbs-up.
"Oh! Then we'll do whatever you say!"
Rourou: "...?"
...
A full case of serum was stored in the laboratory, totaling twenty-six vials, seemingly produced by some automated equipment.
Just as Sesame Paste had deduced, the research facility was still operational, chugging along through its pre-programmed experimental cycle for an entire century.
Under the observation of intelligent automated systems, evolutionary factors were extracted from the victors of natural selection, then refined and synthesized into serums that induced further mutation.
Through Edge's conversation with Shelter 79's Administrator, the players had already learned the true purpose of these serums.
They were not meant to reverse existing evolution, but rather to push already mutated individuals toward more extreme adaptations, ultimately giving birth to terrifying beings that transcended the natural world.
Namely—
The King of Deathclaws!
The dog game developers hadn't named the boss wandering outside, leaving the players to unleash their imaginations and name it themselves.
At that moment, Indebted Big Eye suddenly had a whimsical thought.
"Say... what would happen if we gave Scavenger a shot of this?"
Washing Machine Hairwash froze.
"No idea. Want to trick him into coming over to try it?"
Construction Site Youth and Brick chimed in eagerly, "Great idea! I'll call him out on the forums later!"
Edge Slacker coughed lightly and patted his brothers on the shoulder.
"We've got the serum... Time to pull out."
With the serum secured, the players withdrew from Shelter 79 one after another, returning to the Municipal Library located at 79 Xiangling Street.
Placing the radio on the table, Tail, Rourou, and Sesame Paste exchanged glances. Tail cleared her throat loudly, adopted a solemn expression, and reached out to flip the power switch.
It was as if they were performing a sacred religious rite.
"Respected Mr. Yong Shi, we have successfully acquired the serum!"
After a brief burst of static, a raspy, low voice came from the speaker.
"Really?!"
Though weighted with exhaustion, the voice couldn't hide the thread of almost overflowing delight.
"Oh! Really!"
Tail nodded vigorously in response to that delight before continuing, "By the way, how are we supposed to use this serum? Do we just catch a mutant and inject it?"
"Cough, cough... Of course that's not how it works. This serum is only effective on deathclaws." Perhaps worried that they would squander the serum, the voice on the other end responded immediately.
"Huh? Is that so?" Tail put on a disappointed face. "But... how are we supposed to catch a deathclaw?"
The voice in the radio explained patiently, "Deathclaws... are indeed difficult to deal with, but you needn't worry. I know a specialist in this field who knows how to make wild deathclaws compliant and accept treatment willingly."
Sesame Paste chimed in thoughtfully, "However, if the existing mutations are reversed... won't the regressed deathclaw quickly be eliminated by natural selection? How do you ensure the traits are passed down?"
"No need to worry about that. The phenotypic changes won't happen instantly; they will accumulate gradually through generations... It will be a slow process."
Seemingly running out of lies, Yong Shi fumbled through a brief explanation before bluntly changing the subject.
"The technology involved is far too complex to explain in a few words... You don't need to understand that much; simply do as I say. Please... do it for the sake of those still living in this world."
Those words again.
Tail, Sesame Paste, and Rourou exchanged glances.
Though it was the exact same line, they clearly felt the shift in his attitude.
Now that he knew the serum had been brought out of the shelter, the creature couldn't even be bothered to craft careful excuses.
Perhaps in his eyes, snatching the case of serum from their hands was child's play.
Still, likely wary of damaging the fragile serum, he continued trying to con it out of them.
If Sisi hadn't uploaded the research log to the official forums, they really might have been kept in the dark...
"Oh, no problem! What should we do?" Tail blinked and asked.
The voice from the radio continued, "I will give you a set of coordinates... Go there and you will find the person I mentioned. He will teach you how to use the serum."
Remembering Sesame Paste's earlier plan, Tail eagerly asked, "Right now?"
Yong Shi replied patiently, "Of course not right now. My friend doesn't want to risk stepping outside while that airship is around. Better to wait until the day after tomorrow.
"There should be heavy fog the morning after next... Take the serum there when the time comes."
...
Knowing the serum had been successfully brought out of the shelter, Yong Shi—who had previously been urging them to hurry—was suddenly in no rush at all.
Two days passed quickly.
When the appointed time arrived, the White Bear Knights brought the serum to the agreed location according to the radio's directions.
To everyone's surprise, however, what awaited them was not a human, but a deathclaw that had only just passed its juvenile stage.
Its four limbs had been brutally severed, and only half of its tail remained. It crawled on the ground, its raspy wheezing sounding like a mournful wail.
Tail instinctively tightened her grip on her assault rifle, raising her barrel to aim at the wild beast.
Right at that moment, the radio cradled in Sesame Paste's arms spoke up.
"Don't worry, that creature is harmless. In such a state, it has no strength left to bite you..."
Accompanied by a grating, bone-chilling chuckle, the voice no longer concealed the excitement and cruelty in its tone.
Pretending not to notice anything amiss, Sesame Paste took a deep breath of the freezing air and asked in a sincere tone, "Where is your friend?"
"Him...? Some matters came up and he might not make it, but no matter. It's the same with you here," Yong Shi brushed off pleasantly.
As expected, shelter residents were far easier to deceive than cunning wastelanders.
In the past, to trick mercenaries and bounty hunters into retrieving the serum from the shelter, he had resorted to kidnapping, death threats, and hollow promises of riches.
Yet now, all it took was a flimsy excuse about "saving the world."
Expecting to save the world with a few vials of serum...
Only sheltered vault dwellers would believe such a fairy tale.
Sesame Paste asked earnestly, "What next, then? What do you need us to do?"
"Hmm... let me think. First, walk over with the case, take out the vial of serum in the upper left corner, and give that beast an injection. Any spot will do."
An ordinary needle couldn't pierce a deathclaw's scales.
Clearly, that didn't apply to the wretched creature sprawled in the middle of the street.
The unfortunate beast had had its eyes gouged out and its limbs and tail bitten off. It was clinging to life by a thread, its faint breathing like a candle in the wind, as if it could draw its last breath at any second.
Evidently, Yong Shi didn't fully trust them.
Perhaps obtaining the serum so easily had aroused his suspicion, prompting him to procure a small subject from somewhere to test for poison.
Then again, Sesame Paste had never planned on using poison in the first place.
With the all-around absurd immunity and regenerative abilities of a deathclaw, it would take a lethal dose large enough to burst its stomach to poison it to death.
"...Let me do it."
Giving Tail and Rourou a resolute glance, Sesame Paste pretended to know nothing as she set the radio on the ground, picked up the case, and walked forward.
She withdrew a vial of serum from the silver-white case, aimed at the bloody stump of the beast's shoulder, summoned her courage, and drove the syringe in.
As she depressed the plunger, a raspy screech erupted almost simultaneously.
The injected deathclaw suddenly bounced off the ground as if jolted by high voltage, then lost its balance and slammed back down heavily.
Like a final burst of life, it squirmed across the pavement like an earthworm in agony, splattering blood in every direction.
In less than a minute, the deathclaw stiffened, curled into a tight ball, and completely lost its breathing and heartbeat, never to move again.
Witnessing the gory scene before her, Sesame Paste felt her heart leap into her throat and took an instinctive step backward.
"W-What happened?"
"Hahaha... Nothing. Excellent!"
Leaving behind those abrupt words, the voice vanished from the radio.
Almost at the exact same moment, a towering silhouette emerged from the morning mist in the distance, draped in heavy iron chains as it advanced with deliberate, thunderous steps.
Feeling the suffocating pressure rolling toward them, the two girls and the bear widened their eyes in shock.
"Holy giao... An extra-large Scavenger," Tail muttered under her breath, stealing a quick glance at a distant high-rise before snapping her gaze back.
Beside her, Rourou went on high alert, dropping into a defensive stance.
"I-Is that another matriarch?"
"Eh?! How can you tell it's a matriarch?"
Rourou's face flushed faintly. "Just look for yourself..."
The two-story-tall deathclaw paid no heed to her guarded stance, merely glancing her way with cold indifference.
Suddenly, it spoke in human tongue.
"...Not all living beings can endure the blessing of evolution. That little creature had already depleted all its potential; it is only natural for it to perish."
It looked down upon the two girls and the bear standing in the center of the street, its rotten-wood-like lips parting into a cruel grin.
"No need to panic... I won't harm you. After all, you have done me a tremendous favor."
Sesame Paste swallowed hard, her voice trembling slightly. "You are... Yong Shi?"
Though she had already guessed it, watching such a massive behemoth speak fluent human words was still deeply unsettling.
"You appear surprised."
Savoring the look on the girl's face with satisfaction, Yong Shi no longer bothered to concoct clumsy lies, shifting to a commanding tone. "Now, administer the serum to me. Afterward, I will trouble you with one more task: help me slay the beast inside Shelter 79. It lies right below the room at the entrance of the research sector... Once it is done, I will reward you handsomely."
His administrative clearance remained incomplete.
A portion was still held by Shelter 79's Administrator. Only by slaying that creature could he obtain full authority and achieve complete dominion over every inch of Shelter 79.
Gazing up at the colossal monster, Sesame Paste swallowed again. "The reward being...?"
"Evolution."
Speaking with nonchalance, Yong Shi looked down at her with a grin, his exhalations rustling the weeds pushing through cracks in the concrete.
"Do you not wish to become like me? To possess transcendent, godlike might? You will retain your will and become the mightiest beings on this planet. You may even breed your own kin and reign as their progenitors..."
Sesame Paste remained frozen, silent.
Standing nearby, Tail suddenly shivered.
"Uh, sorry... I still think bears are cuter."
Rourou nodded with a strange expression. "Mm... I suddenly feel being a bear is pretty nice too."
By ordinary RPG logic, a branching choice should appear here; choosing to embrace evolution might unlock an entirely different main questline.
However, in a closed-beta game, venturing into an unfinished side quest might just crash the client with a bug...
"How should I inject you?" Sesame Paste asked cautiously. "The syringe needle... can't possibly pierce your scales, can it?"
"That is simple."
Pleased with the young girl's submissive demeanor, it lowered its massive head, bringing it close to her.
Then, it slowly parted its gaping maw.
A wave of foul, rank air washed over her—clearly, it hadn't brushed its teeth once since turning into a mutant.
Looking at the forked, squirming tongue and the pulsating capillaries, Sesame Paste gripped the serum, every hair on her body standing on end, her blood running cold.
However...
There would never be a better opportunity than this.
The instant Yong Shi lowered his guard, her hands moved like lightning, whipping out two short-fuse grenades and hurling them straight down his open throat.
The moment the foreign objects tumbled into its gullet, those washbasin-sized pupils flared with shock and terror.
Without waiting to watch the blast, Sesame Paste ducked nimbly and dove behind a rusted scrap car.
Almost instantaneously, a thunderous boom ripped through the air.
A violent flash of fire tore outward, sending shredded flesh and splintered fangs splashing against the street walls and abandoned wrecks, sizzling with a scorched stench.
Sesame Paste carefully poked her head out from behind cover.
The creature's rotten-wood head had its entire lower jaw blown to ribbons, dripping with gore...
"Did it work?"
A flicker of excitement lit her eyes, but before it could last two seconds, it hardened into grim dread as the colossal frame began to shift.
The mangled, bloody wounds seemed to crawl with squirming earthworms, knitting together at a speed visible to the naked eye.
While she had considered that hoping two grenades would finish off a boss of this caliber was overly optimistic, she never expected its regeneration speed to surpass all comprehension. Even after suffering fatal trauma to the head, with shrapnel embedded in its skull, it could still mend itself entirely—leaving her no time for a follow-up strike...
Was this thing even a carbon-based organism?!
"Very well..."
As the last inch of wound sealed shut, Yong Shi shook his head lightly, the iron chains across his body clanking together. He turned his gaze toward Sesame Paste hiding behind the scrap car.
He spoke in a measured drawl.
"The path to transcendence was laid before you. I granted you a chance, yet in your folly, you chose to refuse..."
It extended its talons.
Half-meter-long blades curved like five reaping scythes, radiating palpable bloodlust that cut through the dense morning fog, instantly smothering the entire street.
At the same time, shrill, chaotic roars erupted in the distance.
The howling of deathclaws.
As everyone knew, summoning minions was a standard boss mechanic; it had clearly not arrived alone.
The surrounding area was its nesting ground, and nearby lurked the kin it had spawned.
"I will slaughter you in the most excruciating way imaginable... along with the rest of your kind."
"Farewell—"
Before the words could fade, a flash of fire ignited the fog, and a boom rolled across the distance like thunder over the plains.
A 37mm armor-piercing incendiary shell fired from a Heavy Lance crossed a distance of one kilometer, slamming heavily into its rear. The impact jolted the colossal bulk as if it had been kicked hard from behind.
It tore an agonized roar from its throat.
"Oh! Sisi! Beautiful shot!" Tail pumped her fist excitedly.
Visibility was less than a hundred meters.
Taking a shot calculated purely from a teammate's coordinates had actually hit!
Though what a pity it hadn't struck a vital spot...
Carrying a faint gasp, a cool voice came over the headset at that exact moment.
"Plan B—"
"Get clear!"
Chapter 392