Inherited Clearance

High above in the sky. Aboard the airship *Heart of Steel*. The gun barrels beneath the gondola slowly adjusted their angle, locking onto the vast blanket of white fog. Inside the gondola, the master gunner held a slip of paper delivered by an orderly and barked orders to the secondary gunner. "Adjusting firing parameters..." "Firing data set!" "High-explosive shells loaded." "Ready—" "Fire!" The lanyards were pulled simultaneously. Three orderly concussions echoed through the air as flames and dense smoke billowed into the blinding fog. Standing beside an observation port with binoculars slung around his neck, a sergeant peered outside, completely unable to see where the shells landed. Only three muffled rolls of thunder drifted back; not even the flash of an explosion could be seen. "...The fog's too thick here. Can't see a damn thing." The master gunner tapped the intercom on his shoulder and, after a long pause, called out to the crew. "Hits confirmed! Cease fire." "Copy that." Smoking shell casings ejected from the breeches. A sergeant hauled them away on a handcart, dumping them into a wooden crate in the corner. The spotter walked over to the master gunner and asked, "Sir, is there an operation scheduled today?" "None," the master gunner replied. Puzzled, the spotter pressed further. "Then what are we shooting at?" The master gunner glanced at the slip of paper in his hand and tossed it casually into a nearby trash bin. "General Macklen's target of interest." The secondary gunner chimed in with interest. "That big brute two stories tall?" "What else?" The master gunner chuckled. "Besides that monster, what else is worth our commander obsessing over?" The spotter glanced outside and let out a dry laugh. "In fog this thick, he sure picked a great day." It was common knowledge that rainy and foggy days were terrible for hunting. Visibility was compromised, scopes fogged up, environmental awareness was severely hindered, and weapon accuracy and reliability took a hit. Yet for mutants long accustomed to the jungle, none of that was an issue. Especially a deathclaw. A damp, murky environment only made it far deadlier. "That native claimed the most dangerous place is the safest place... Whatever. Our job for today is done anyway." The master gunner spoke dismissively as he took off his gloves and tossed them aside. Three rounds of 100mm artillery fire were the only support promised to the hunting team. Whether it did the trick was none of their concern. All they needed to do was fire at the coordinates provided by the frontline, and their part was over. *** Meanwhile, over a dozen kilometers away in the city ruins, the street struck by the three 100mm shells lay in utter shambles. The fractured concrete road looked as though it had been churned up by a giant plow, littered with jagged debris and pulverized stone. Flames and tendrils of heat rose together as the Deathclaw standing at the center of the blast let out an agonizing, ferocious roar. Its eye had been blinded by shrapnel, its spine penetrated by an armor-piercing round, and its flesh scorched black... Though every one of these wounds was regenerating at a breakneck pace, the unrelenting bombardment had driven it into an absolute fury. The serums had been blasted to smithereens in the artillery fire... Still, that no longer mattered. The path from the shelter to the research sector was already open. Depleted serums could always be brewed again; it could manipulate other pawns to fetch more from that laboratory. As for the people standing before it... No, these mere ants. It only wanted them dead! "I will tear you to pieces!" "I will rip out your eyes and intestines... and feed them to the dogs!" Vicious curses echoed through the thick fog alongside that shrill howl, and more than a dozen hunched figures emerged from the mist. Some stood in the street, while others perched on rooftops or crumbling ruins. They ground their razor-sharp claws and fangs together, amber pupils burning with an insatiable hunger for flesh and blood, steadily advancing toward the White Bear Knights on the other side of the road. These were all its offspring. Though significantly smaller than the mother, they were still slightly larger than Scavenger at level ten-plus. "*Giao*... We're surrounded by a pack of Scavengers!" Far from showing any fear, Tail's face flushed with excitement. Rourou didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Why are you suddenly getting so hyped up?" "Fighting a powerful enemy... Don't you think it's thrilling?!" Tail said enthusiastically. "Don't worry, Rourou, we called for backup too!" They were clearly not alone. Long before the trio had set out for the rendezvous, the Death Corps had already mobilized and set up an ambush near the target. Almost the very moment the deathclaws revealed themselves, two to three hundred figures surged through the dense fog. Gas masks hung from their chests, entrenching shovels were strapped to their waists, and bayonets were fixed onto their assault rifles. Yong Shi's eyes narrowed slightly. *Two hundred and seventy men...* *More than half are Awakened...* A flicker of wariness flashed across its amber pupils, but it was quickly snuffed out by a disdainful snort from its nostrils. So what! It had already transcended the limits of mortal life. Every single cell in its body embodied the pinnacle of pre-war life sciences. It was an immortal monarch, an existence capable of reigning at the apex of the food chain by brute flesh alone, and it would ultimately become the hegemon of this planet! Whether humans, mutants, or those foul-smelling slimes... all would eventually bow at its feet! "Insignificant ants..." Grinding the claws on its feet, it let out a roar from its blood-dripping maw. "Tear them apart!!" A shrill howl crashed toward the players like a tidal wave. Watching the deathclaws charge, every player's face brimmed with fierce fighting spirit, the blood in their veins roaring like fire. Not a single person showed fear. Not a single person took a step back. A sharp whistle pierced the fog, applying an indomitable charge buff to every player on the field. For the Death Corps, charging was the supreme tactic. It was also the tactic they excelled at most! "Brothers! Charge!" "Demacia!" "*Awoooo—!*" Searing metal collided with savage flesh, and gunfire erupted across the street. There was no need to aim. Emptying their magazines in wild sprays, the charging players didn't slow down for an instant. They lowered their bayonets and drove forward into the oncoming deathclaws. The two waves collided like twin rotors in a meat grinder, blood and flesh churning into a gory blur where friend and foe could scarcely be told apart. Shock filled those amber pupils. Even disbelief. Not long ago, it had clashed with a Legion century. Back then, it had only casually claimed a handful of lives before the soldiers retreated in panic. Yet these people before it... They acted as if they had no concept of death, showing no intention of taking a single step back. When their ammunition ran dry, they used bayonets, entrenching shovels, and even jagged stones and rebar scooped from the ground... Such barbaric ferocity sowed dread even in the eyes of a beast, making it hesitate in trembling uncertainty. These people... They were absolute madmen! As more and more of its offspring fell in the slaughter, Yong Shi finally could no longer hold back. With a deafening roar, it slammed directly into the fearless swarm of ants. An even bloodier slaughter... Had only just begun. *** When silence finally returned to the street, an hour had passed. The rising morning glow illuminated the horizon; before long, the fog blanketing the streets would fully disperse... Yong Shi lay sprawled in the middle of the street, clinging to its last breath. Heavy iron chains bound its body, drenched in blood, looking like Prometheus chained to the rock. Though its ambition had never been to bring light and fire to the world, but pure malice and darkness. Just as it had proclaimed, half of the chaos across this land stemmed from this place, and it was the very person who had flung Pandora's box wide open. Its lacerations were no longer healing. Just as the players had deduced on the forums, there was a hard limit to its regenerative capacity. Sustained damage rapidly depleted the biomass energy within its body. Without feeding to replenish itself, it would quickly cross the threshold of its endurance. As the players drove volley after volley of searing metal fragments into its flesh, it had ultimately collapsed. Naturally, the players had suffered heavy casualties as well. But what raid didn't cost lives? According to the agreed terms, every player who died would receive a compensation of at least 300 silver coins—equivalent to three days of dungeon grinding income. The brothers who had fallen were probably already on the forums bragging their heads off. And it was indeed worth bragging about. A two-story-tall Deathclaw... In all the time the closed beta had run, this was the very first one anyone had ever seen. "Come to think of it... I forgot to ask, what was Plan B anyway?" Panting heavily, Indebted Big Eye leaned back against an abandoned car, wiped the blood from his forehead, and looked toward Construction Site Youth and Brick beside him. Before Brick could answer, Brother Edge, sitting nearby, chimed in with a laugh. "Plan B... is having no plan." Brick nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Who needs a plan? Just rush in and smash it!" If Washing Machine Drum had been here, he surely would have agreed, but unfortunately his head had gone flying off to parts unknown. According to what they had discussed with Tail earlier, if the sneak attack failed to take down Yong Shi, everyone would swarm it together... That was their Plan B. In fact, Brick felt Plan A had been entirely redundant from the start. Before a boss fight officially triggered, a dungeon boss like this was bound to have locked health. How could it possibly die to an ambush? Since they had to brawl in the end anyway, they might as well have charged in from the very beginning. Indebted Big Eye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "That's way too reckless." Brother Edge grinned and patted his shoulder. "What else could we do? We exhausted every trick in the book... When you want to settle the score, you've got to let fists do the talking." Saying that, he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked toward the distant sky smothered in thick mist. That was where the *Heart of Steel* hovered. Before that colossal behemoth, even a two-story-tall Mother Deathclaw was nothing more than a slightly larger grasshopper. The savagery sweeping across the wasteland from the desert was the true threat they had to face... Watching Tail, Sesame Paste, and the blood-soaked polar bear approach, panic finally surfaced in Yong Shi's eyes. Sprawled on the ground on the verge of death, the arrogance and ferocity had vanished entirely from its gaze, replaced by a trace of pleading in its raspy voice. "Spare me... I can help you become stronger... Don't you crave greater power?" Just then, a familiar voice called out from the side. "Strength comes in many forms... We simply have different definitions of it." Straining its stiff neck, Yong Shi turned toward the sound. The moment its eyes locked onto the figure, its amber pupils dilated violently. "Aren't you dead?!" Yong Shi cried out in shock. Three days ago, it had watched with its own eyes as this woman finished reading the last experimental log, pressed a gun to her temple, and pulled the trigger. A flash of fire, brains and blood plastered all over the wall—it had even felt a second or two of regret back then. Yet now, the person who should have been dead was standing right before it... Yong Shi stared blankly. Sisi had no intention of wasting time explaining, merely offering a faint smile. "Sorry to disappoint you, but you won't need to trouble yourself thinking about such things anymore... It's over." After parachuting down, she had trekked more than twenty kilometers. The long-distance sprint had utterly exhausted her. Fortunately, she had made it in time. "Oh! Over to you, Sisi!" Tail gave a thumbs-up, her eyes shining brightly. "Give it the final blow!" Sisi smiled and flashed an appreciative hand sign. "Thanks, Tail." Tail tilted her chin proudly and said generously, "You're welcome! Just don't ruin the head! I promised Battlefield Guy we'd leave this bastard's head for him!" It was their trade for the three rounds of 100mm artillery support. Thanks to that barrage, at least half the boss's health bar had been shaved off. "Don't worry... I'll take the head off clean." Watching Sisi approach step by step with an ax in hand, terror flooded Yong Shi's eyes as its massive frame struggled desperately to break free. However, the chains anchored around scrapped cars and lampposts held it firmly in place. "Please... don't..." "No need to thank me... This ax was prepared especially for you!" With a grunt, she raised the ax high above her head and brought it down hard against the serpent-thick neck—blow after blow. At first, Yong Shi shrieked and begged for mercy, but soon no sounds remained, only the dull thuds of the blunt blade hacking through muscle and bone. Hot blood sprayed across the street. The scene resembled an outright slaughterhouse. Watching from afar, Indebted Big Eye shrank his neck back slightly. "Damn, does it have to be that gory?" Brick stared with wide eyes, suddenly blurting out, "I love it." Brother Edge: "..." Indebted Big Eye: "???" *** [Quest: Slay Yong Shi (Completed)] [Quest: Obtain Clearance for Shelter 79 (In Progress)] [Quest: ...] A soft blue notification popped up on the VM screen indicating quest completion. Looking down at the finally severed head, Sisi tossed the grease-stained ax aside and shook her aching right hand. "This guy's neck was ridiculously tough." Tail, standing beside her, nodded solemnly. "Mhm, took forever to chop through." Rourou and Sesame Paste wore wry smiles, offering a few silent seconds of mourning for the unfortunate creature. Still, no one felt any real sympathy for it. It might have done a few decent deeds, but compared to the atrocities it had committed over the past century, they weren't worth mentioning. Moreover, the creature could hardly be considered human anymore, and their empathy didn't extend to enemies who targeted their companions. That said, while Yong Shi had deceitfully exploited them, the materials harvested from its corpse were undeniably valuable. Deathclaw hide, for instance, was prime material for crafting backpacks and leather gear. Paired with devil silk, it could produce top-tier armor that was tougher than Kevlar! The only downside was the difficulty of mass production. However, once they obtained clearance for Shelter 79, that obstacle would vanish. As long as they secured enough psychic interrupters, crafting deathclaw leather bags would be trivial—they could even field a "Deathclaw Cavalry"! The players began cleaning up the battlefield. At that moment, Battlefield Atmosphere Group ambled over from the distance. After calling in the Legion's artillery strike, he had remained at a safe distance observing the fight. Now that the battle had ended, it was finally his turn to make an entrance. Glancing across the blood-soaked street and spotting Brother Edge dragging a half-severed corpse toward the curb, he clicked his tongue in awe. "Damn, how many people did you guys lose?" Brother Edge replied offhandedly, "Haven't tallied it yet. Around a hundred, give or take... Why?" "Nothing, just impressed," Battlefield Guy said with genuine admiration. "Your casualty rates are as crazy high as ever..." Brother Edge scratched his head sheepishly. "Ahem, the boys are a bit reckless... But no harm done, as long as we win." Players who cared about survival rates wouldn't join the Death Corps in the first place, just as a patron craving steak wouldn't walk into a hot pot restaurant. Although the Death Corps players were generally modest in level, with only a handful of Tier 1 players reaching Level 20, even Brother Spring had praised their urban combat capabilities. Even if dropped into the real world, these players would make a terrifying urban combat squad. The combat instincts honed through countless deaths couldn't be quantified by stat points, but no one could doubt their lethality. "Where's the head?" Battlefield Guy extended a hand. "Don't worry, kept it for you." Brother Edge pointed toward a trash can by the curb, where a bundled burlap sack rested, containing Yong Shi's severed head. The deathclaw head, along with the neck stump, was the size of a bull. Even drained of blood, it weighed a hundred kilograms. Battlefield Atmosphere Group walked over, untied the hemp rope, and took a look inside, grinning with satisfaction. "Nice, nice! Searching far and wide only to find it effortlessly." "Figure out a way to haul it back yourself; we're not helping," Brother Edge chuckled. "By the way, can bringing this guy's head back earn you a promotion to centurion?" Battlefield Guy grinned broadly. "You bet!" More than just a centurion! There would be plenty of other rewards too! The only pity was that the quest rewarded dinars. Currently, there was no official exchange rate between dinars and silver coins; a stable conversion would likely have to wait until the Legion map officially opened. "By the way, where's your squad?" "Them? I shook them off halfway here... Having them around would make it hard to spin my story." Battlefield Atmosphere Group's eyes darted around, and he grinned playfully. "Hey, why don't you guys head back with me? Just say you're fellow townsfolk from Bet Street." "Taking this many people back at once? Do you take the NPCs for idiots?" Brother Edge rolled his eyes. "Let's take it slow. Tomorrow I'll send a few scouts over to your side to test the waters. If everything looks good, we'll bring more people in." "Sounds like a plan. I won't waste any more time here, then." Hoisting the deathclaw head onto his shoulder, Battlefield Guy offered a farewell and turned to vanish into the thinning mist. Brother Edge surveyed the cleared battlefield in the distance and called out to his teammates. "Brothers, time to pull out!" Indebted Big Eye, having packed his gear, walked over. "Where are we heading?" Brother Edge pondered for a moment. "Xiangling Town first." Before the fog lifted, they needed a place to stash their trophies to support Battlefield Guy's story once he returned. If the airship spotted a street carpeted with corpses and carnage, no tale Battlefield Guy spun would explain how he managed to claim that head alone... *** Xiangling Town. In the central courtyard of the Municipal Library, the corpses of the deathclaws were arranged in neat rows, including the massive headless beast... A complete family reunion. Standing nearby, Wu Tao and Wang Xu stared with sheer astonishment. They weren't the only ones. Every survivor in Xiangling Town held their breath, their eyes wide in disbelief. Seventeen deathclaws! And the two-story-tall mother! Staring at the headless carcass for a long time, Wu Tao swallowed hard and managed to croak, "That deathclaw... is dead?" Knowing which one he meant, Sisi, browsing her VM, nodded nonchalantly. "Yep, dead." At this moment, she was drenched in blood from head to toe, an alarming crimson silhouette that looked like a creature made entirely of blood. When she first arrived back here, she had terrified several local children into tears. The surrounding survivors exchanged glances, their expressions a conflicted blend of emotions. "Dead... Well, good riddance," Wu Tao sighed, his brow furrowed with worry. "The Legion will probably return before long." He had never expected a man-eating beast to act as their guardian deity and protect the village forever. Still, he had harbored faint hopes that the savage soldiers would be deterred by the monster's presence and refrain from disturbing them again. Feeling a twinge of guilt, Sesame Paste whispered, "This place will turn into a battlefield soon. I suggest you pack up and relocate as soon as possible." "That's right!" Tail nodded vigorously. "You can come to Dawn City! The folks there are wonderful, and the esteemed Administrator will definitely take you in!" "Is that so? Thank you for your kindness," Wu Tao sighed, clutching his temples. "But this is our home, after all. We've lived here for over a century... To ask us to uproot everything so suddenly..." Just then, Sisi, who had been tinkering with her VM, suddenly spoke up. "Actually, there is another way..." Though Wu Tao still felt uneasy around this blood-drenched madwoman, his gut told him she might genuinely have a sound idea. Gathering his courage, he braced himself and asked, "W-what way?" "Move into Shelter 79. We've cleared out several high-rises; accommodating two or three hundred people will be more than easy. If you truly don't want to leave your homeland behind, you can take shelter there temporarily and return to rebuild once the war ends." "Oh, right! You can hide in Shelter 79 first!" Tail's face lit up with realization, rubbing her chin as she nodded. "...Besides, we'll probably build a new survivor settlement here eventually anyway, so moving all the way to Dawn City might not even be necessary." Sesame Paste hesitated. "Wait... don't we lack clearance for Shelter 79?" Hearing that, a strange, subtle expression crossed Sisi's blood-smeared face. "Uh, about that... I was just about to mention it. I don't quite know how it happened, but I seem to have inherited part of that guy's clearance." Saying that, she turned her VM screen toward them. Displayed on the monitor was a surveillance feed from a room within Shelter 79. In the corner of that room lay a corpse with its head blown apart. The corpse belonged to none other... Than herself.