The Great Desert lay west of Sunset Province.
Though named a desert, it was not nearly as desolate as most wastelanders imagined.
The concrete structures—some collapsed, some half-buried in yellow sand—along with rust-mottled warehouses and factories, all bore witness to the region's past prosperity. Even two centuries of rolling sandstorms had failed to fully swallow this man-made wonder stretching across over a thousand kilometers.
What was more, because subterranean current transport pipelines converged here, massive amounts of desalinated seawater had seeped into the underground bedrock through fractured pipes, forming rich groundwater reservoirs.
As a result, even though the region was plagued by earthquakes, dust storms, radioactive fallout, thunderous cloud storms, and numerous other weather hazards, the species thriving here were actually more diverse and flourishing than in neighboring Sunset Province.
The blessings that bygone era had bequeathed to Sunset Province amounted to only a few oases, but here, the situation was the exact opposite.
The leftover blessings had literally overflowed...
"Damn it... what the hell is that thing?"
A colossal serpent, thick as an oil barrel, slithered slowly between two collapsed high-rises. Its chapped skin looked like cracked yellow clay, and resting in the loose quicksand, it resembled a massive fallen tree.
Watching the dozens-of-meters-long serpent squirm forward through the sand, the soldier in the exoskeleton took two steps back, his scalp tingling.
His name was Su Ming, and his role was designated marksman. The numeral "26" stenciled onto his breastplate and shoulders was the designation for him and his brothers, as well as the insignia of the Enterprise 26th Strike Team.
As one of the few Enterprise ground units deployed in the Sunset Province campaign, they had primarily carried out vanguard, guerrilla, and sabotage missions behind enemy lines.
Though most residents of Ideal City credited the war's victory entirely to their allies, the team had in fact fought in plenty of battles.
It just didn't sound quite so glamorous in press releases.
Stepping up beside Su Ming, Yun Song stared at the giant serpent. A reticle on his tactical visor locked onto it, and a progress bar traced the frame's edges.
"Nothing in the database about it... You spotted it first. Want to name it?"
Su Ming rubbed the back of his neck.
"Sandworm?"
Before Yun Song could reply, Gu Wei, clad in power armor beside them, chuckled and teased, "Too generic. Plus the desert next door already has those, and it looks nothing like this guy."
"Then... Earth Dragon? Giant Earthworm? Burrower?"
"Burrower it is... Let's not waste time."
Cutting their banter short, Yun Song tapped his index finger twice in midair, working the holographic interface to archive the imagery before switching over to the tactical map.
"The objective is about one kilometer ahead... Stay sharp, everyone. We'll be bringing our staff home soon."
"Yeah!" Su Ming let out a listless cheer.
They had been deployed for nearly a full year.
Crossing thousands of kilometers of wasteland, even getting dragged into the war in Sunset Province along the way... He couldn't help thinking their journey was enough material for a movie once they got back.
At Yun Song's order, the 26th Strike Team resumed their advance.
With bionic soldiers and drones taking point, the squad proceeded along a cracked concrete highway, carefully skirting broad patches of quicksand and several zones showing anomalous life signs.
Just then, an update came in from the communications operator. Yun Song raised his right fist, signaling the squad to halt before the entrance of an abandoned factory.
At this point, they were only three hundred meters from the mutant tribe. On a derelict high-rise in the distance, they could even spot makeshift bunker positions piled with debris, and mutant sentries on watch with binoculars around their necks.
"...Mission status update. Good news: before pulling their troops out, the Alliance decided to dispatch an airship to support our operation."
Hearing this, quite a few men breathed a sigh of relief.
They hadn't brought everyone on this sortie; over thirty logistics personnel and more than twenty soldiers had been left behind at the base camp.
With only ten suits of power armor, thirty exoskeletons, and fewer than thirty bionic soldiers, taking out a mutant tribe that outnumbered them more than tenfold would have been a tall order without heavy fire support.
Even if they won, they would have suffered significant casualties.
Mutants in the Great Desert didn't just use pipe rifles; through trade with the Legion and the Falcon Kingdom, the beasts had gotten their hands on semi-automatic and even fully automatic weapons.
To say nothing of the DIY weapons they cobbled together from pre-war junk and scrap.
Those contraptions might look crude, but underestimating them would cost dearly.
For instance, they had previously encountered a mutant carrying a thermal-melt ray gun fashioned from the head and spine of a Vanguard robot; by ambushing them, it had even taken down one of their power armor suits.
Unorthodox attacks like that were impossible to guard against completely.
Hearing that Alliance support was on the way, Su Ming said excitedly, "That 400 mm heavy gun?"
Yun Song nodded. "Yes... along with ground troops, and those questionable gliders of theirs. But we need to confirm whether any of our people are in the camp before we decide whether to use an axe or a scalpel."
With that, he glanced at the drone operator standing at the rear of the squad. "Scouting is on you."
"Copy that."
A composed man made a hand signal and tapped his fist to his shoulder. The hatch on the drone pack strapped to his back popped open.
A quadcopter drone shot out like a crossbow bolt, spiraling into the sky with a shrill whine.
The feed linked into their helmet visors.
Though reception was poor, it was good enough to work with.
Under the operator's deft control, the drone carefully skirted the mutant sentries' sightlines, slipped around the side of the skyscraper, wove through rows of twisted rebar and concrete wreckage, and glided above the mutant tribe.
The entire settlement was situated inside a dilapidated factory.
Shacks cobbled from junk blended seamlessly into the half-collapsed facility, while broad corrugated tin roofs and stretched animal hides blocked off winding alleys.
Yet through gaps in the coverings, one could still glimpse coal-black bodies, bloodthirsty fangs, and knotted sinews.
They looked just like orcs from fantasy films.
What sent chills down the spine was that these savage, flesh-eating beasts had actually mimicked humans to develop an urban settlement, complete with a division of labor...
There were residential areas reeking of excrement, a gladiatorial arena where mutants vented their violence for amusement, blacksmith workshops and tool sheds ringing with hammering, plantations growing unknown fruits, and pastures holding all manner of livestock...
Looking down upon this sprawling tribe through the drone lens, the operator felt his scalp tingle.
And when he spotted humans of his own kind caged inside a pasture that looked like a garbage dump, fury surged straight to his head.
"Son of a bitch..."
"What is it?" Hearing the curse, Yun Song cast him an inquiring glance.
The drone operator didn't answer. He simply swiped his index finger across the air, sharing his view with the teammates looking his way.
The drone lens zoomed in.
Inside rows of iron cages welded from crude rebar were human bodies—naked, bruised, and scarred.
Those with swollen bellies were comparatively "lucky"—the mutants generally wouldn't eat them. But those who failed to bear their offspring met a grim fate. Many had endured horrific torture; limbs had been hacked off, and wounds had festered with wriggling maggots.
Mutants possessed astonishing regenerative abilities and had no use for bandages or anti-inflammatories, so naturally they never bothered bandaging livestock they hadn't finished eating.
Many sat hollow-eyed on the dirt, lacking even the strength to swat away the flies swarming around them. Others lay motionless, impossible to tell if they were already dead.
Not far off, atop a butcher's block, a bare-armed mutant priest was delivering a baby from a human chained to the wood in the crudest, most primitive manner imaginable.
They didn't care if the mothers died in the process.
Followers of Chaos were never picky eaters; their stomachs were as tough as their muscles and bones.
The slaves kept like cattle might have come from the Falcon Kingdom, or perhaps Honey Badger or Lion, or even shipped in by slavers from far beyond... Few people ever bothered to track where those who went missing during wartime ultimately wound up.
Even having witnessed countless hellish scenes marching across the wasteland, Su Ming still couldn't stop his face from draining of color.
This was far more horrific than anything the copycat marauders did.
A soldier standing not far from him couldn't help dry-heaving.
"Animals!" Gu Wei clenched his heavy machine gun, wishing he could charge in right now and mow them all down.
"They always were. When did you ever think otherwise?"
Without a flicker of emotion, Yun Song manipulated his holographic interface, boxing off portions of the camp and tagging areas where living captives might be held.
Once finished, he signaled the radioman to set up the signal booster and aim it roughly in the direction of the Heart of Steel.
"This is the 26th Strike Team. We have confirmed the position of the 'Blackstone' mutant tribe. Mutant count is around two thousand, consistent with intelligence.
"Survivors spotted in the tribe... We cannot get any closer and cannot confirm whether any of our personnel are inside. I hope not."
After a burst of static, a reply came through the channel.
"Copy that... We are thirty minutes out. If feasible, please help draw them into a more open area."
Yun Song turned his gaze toward two derelict high-rises leaning close together in the distance—the very spot the "Burrower" had slithered through earlier.
It was a good spot.
Both as an artillery impact zone,
and as a grave to bury those beasts.
"Understood. Leave it to us."
Ending the transmission, he waved a hand to the soldiers behind him.
"Get ready to work."
...
Meanwhile, dozens of kilometers away at the desert's fringe, a massive iron airship was slowly parting the edge of the billowing yellow sand, pushing deeper toward the endless ruins.
If Chu Guang had been awed once before by the boundless yellow sand and rolling storm clouds upon first entering Sunset Province,
the shock in his heart right now was not one bit less.
In fact, it surpassed it!
"Unbelievable... Was this really a city before?" Standing on the bridge, Chu Guang looked down through the floor-to-ceiling windows, his face filled with wonder.
A highway a hundred meters wide stretched arrow-straight ahead, merging into clusters of high-rises along the horizon; even from an airship a thousand meters up, the eye could not find the end of it.
The ground was divided into countless grid squares by crisscrossing highways and rail ruins—half packed dense with sprawling architectural complexes, half buried in boundless desert.
Perhaps it would take another few centuries, or even a millennium, before this land fully morphed into the shape of Sunset Province...
Beside Chu Guang, Wu Changnian narrowed his eyes slightly, a touch of melancholy mingling with his awe.
"...I've heard that during the Era of Prosperity—two centuries ago—the Great Desert wasn't called the Great Desert. It was four industrial sectors of the People's Federation."
Chu Guang glanced at him, puzzled. "Four industrial sectors?"
"Yes."
Wu Changnian nodded. His gaze drifted out the window, as though recalling some video footage from an archive. After a pause, he spoke slowly.
"...The Western Industrial Sector was the origin of the entire industrial supply chain. It produced raw materials and handled preliminary processing of materials brought in by the logistics network and space elevators—things like synthetic chemicals, catalysts, alloys, and the like.
"The Northern Industrial Sector was the logistics and warehousing hub. It stored surplus freight, managed finished product distribution, and transferred intermediate goods and waste materials. It had the densest transit network of the Era of Prosperity, both railed and trackless... In theory, provided you picked the right vehicle, you could travel directly there from any corner of this planet. It also boasted the highest density of office buildings.
"The Eastern Industrial Sector was the terminus of the chain. A massive, efficient, and dense web of industries processed raw materials and intermediates, assembling them into finished products.
"As for the Southern Industrial Sector, it was primarily an energy hub. It acted like an oversized power plug, receiving energy transmitted from orbital power generation stations.
"Together with the space elevator, the four sectors encircling it formed a closed-loop industrial supply chain."
Chu Guang was surprised. "Building an industrial center in the middle of a continent?"
To someone from another world, this sounded counterintuitive.
In his former world, after all, industrial zones were heavily concentrated in the east, especially along coasts; inland centers in the west were fewer and spread thin.
Yet here, it was clearly an entirely different paradigm.
Wu Changnian nodded and continued, "Yes. It had stable climate conditions, sat far from tectonic plate boundaries, lacked active seismic and volcanic activity, and didn't face recurring typhoons like offshore or coastal areas... There was simply no better place to anchor the base of a space elevator."
As he spoke, a tinge of wistfulness crept into his tone.
"At first, it was just an elevator. Later, the dense transportation network stretched up toward low Earth orbit, gradually becoming a tower, a mountain, and then an even grander mountain. Limitless resources poured from space down to the surface in astounding abundance... The prosperity of that era is almost impossible to fathom today; even Ideal City has only recreated the tip of the iceberg."
Wu Changnian had also heard that under initial plans, the People's Federation intended to take another two centuries to radiate urban clusters to every corner of Mid-Continent, using the space elevator as the axis. Harnessing energy and alloys mined in outer space, they would have turned the entire planet into an ecumenopolis.
That blueprint was the culmination of every dream held across the Era of Prosperity—individual ideals, ambitions, and imaginations expanding infinitely on this endlessly prosperous planet, radiating outward to the far reaches of the galaxy.
Tragically, however, a war that lasted a mere three years had shattered every single one of those dreams into dust.
While Wu Changnian was lost in reminiscence, Chu Guang, beside him, had yet to recover from the sheer scale of that grand blueprint.
Even if what lay before his eyes proved it wasn't an exaggeration, he still couldn't fathom how such a monstrous industrial heart could be sustained right in the center of the continent.
"...What about industrial water? Where did the water come from?"
Wu Changnian paused, not expecting his focus to land there, then chuckled. "Weren't there subterranean ocean current pipelines? What did you think the Great Rift Valley was for?"
A flash of realization struck Chu Guang.
He seemed to recall hearing that the Great Rift Valley had been built to store surplus power from controlled fusion plants, primarily by electrolyzing seawater.
Surplus byproducts like chlorine, sodium, and various metals extracted from the seawater were then packaged and shipped off to the industrial sectors for processing.
So those subterranean ocean current pipelines hadn't just been dug for the Great Rift Valley; they had also served to funnel industrial water deep into the continent's interior!
The might of that bygone era was far more terrifying than he had ever imagined...
Awe gave way to a prickle of dread on Chu Guang's scalp.
Especially when he remembered all the grand poses he had struck, and all the ambitious promises he had fed to Yin Fang, Heya, Vannus, and the other survivors...
How in the world could they ever reclaim the greatness of the Era of Prosperity?
Even mobilizing seven billion players wouldn't be enough!
What was more, the morphogenetic field clearly couldn't accommodate that many minds... Otherwise, there would have been no reason for the first-generation manager to set up layers of constraints and dole out "activation codes" on a calculated schedule.
Unaware of Chu Guang's inner turmoil, Wu Changnian chuckled and went on, "Of course, the solid hydrogen beneath the Great Rift Valley was a strategic reserve and wasn't tapped on a daily basis. The Southern Industrial Sector supplied most of the industrial water. It wasn't just an energy hub; it also handled desalination and wastewater reclamation... The fine technical details are beyond me; I've only read overviews in the archives. If you want a deep dive into how the system worked, you'll need to consult an expert.
"In any case, the four industrial sectors accounted for over sixty percent of the People's Federation's GDP—reputedly peaking at seventy percent.
"So keep this firmly in mind: no one knows what's inside Shelter 0. We'd best proceed with caution and select our team carefully."
Hearing his cautious tone, Chu Guang nodded gravely. "I'll assign a shelter resident with exceptional Perception."
Wu Changnian nodded in approval. "That would be best."
He had heard that virtually every resident in Shelter 404 was Awakened.
While he put far more faith in AI and machines than in erratic biological factors like Awakening, the Alliance had proven in the recent conflict that humans, under certain conditions, were by no means inferior to machines—and could even pull off miracles beyond mechanical reach. Bringing along a couple of dependable experts would never hurt.
That was precisely how he had managed to persuade both Enterprise and the Legion to concede two slots to the Alliance, despite their total lack of experience in ruin excavation.
There was only one keycard.
According to the staff member named Luo Hua, the elevator they had discovered leading down to Shelter 0 wasn't very large, limiting how many people could descend at one time...
Right then, the bridge doors slid open.
Vannus walked in, snapped a crisp military salute, and spoke briskly, "Word from Enterprise's 26th Strike Team. They have confirmed the coordinates of the 'Blackstone' mutant tribe, but cannot verify whether any Enterprise employees are among the slaves held by the mutants."
"If it can't be confirmed, assume they are," Chu Guang turned to Vannus and said solemnly. "Is there a new operational plan?"
Vannus nodded. "The plan calls for a frontal assault. We informed the 26th Strike Team that fire support will arrive in thirty minutes. They intend to launch their attack then and lure the hostile units to their designated bombardment coordinates."
"Good. Proceed with that plan." Chu Guang nodded, paused briefly, and continued ordering, "Have all airship gun batteries prepare to fire, and put the Burning Corps on standby below deck, ready to support our allies."
"Sir!" Vannus saluted smartly and turned to leave the bridge.
Withdrawing his gaze from Vannus's retreating back, Wu Changnian looked at Chu Guang with gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you for treating our employees with such importance."
Chu Guang smiled faintly. "Don't mention it. The crew of the Pioneer are not only our friends, but our benefactors as well."
Without that epoch-making machine tool, their later industrialization could never have progressed so smoothly. No matter how wild the players' imaginations ran, they needed the means to turn ideas into reality.
While it had been a trade of mutual convenience, he knew full well the other side had looked out for them; otherwise, they would never have tacitly allowed the Alliance to fleece them for so much.
When parting with Captain Lu Yang, he had stated he would remember the favor. Now was the time to repay it.
"...Speaking of which, was that man just now a Wilante?" Wu Changnian brought up, as if something had just occurred to him.
"Yes, he is."
Seeing Chu Guang's calm demeanor, Wu Changnian couldn't help asking, "Is that truly safe?"
He had only recently reminded the young leader to be wary of every Wilante.
Catching the slight concern in his eyes, Chu Guang said nonchalantly, "He stayed of his own accord."
Long before departing for Sunset Province, Chu Guang had discussed this matter with Vannus: if fighting the Legion made him uncomfortable, he could stay behind in Qingquan City. Chu Guang had no intention of forcing anyone into a war they didn't want to fight.
Objectively speaking, the officers Vannus had trained for the Alliance and the efforts he had contributed toward constructing its command hierarchy in the early days had more than repaid his "debt."
Once the war ended, he could have returned to his homeland as an exchanged prisoner of war alongside the others; no one would ever have known he had served the Alliance.
Yet upon hearing the offer, Vannus had not only flatly rejected that sole opportunity to return home, but had also openly stood before Finode and MacLaren—two captives destined to be repatriated—to openly demonstrate his allegiance to the Alliance.
And the reasoning he gave had left Chu Guang silent for a long time.
"...I spent a whole year pondering the meaning of this war, but aside from hatred and death, we seem to have gained nothing. My unit was wiped out pointlessly in the south, while my superior officer and his men were turned to ash in the north. The moment we were defeated, I felt no regret—only a sliver of relief.
"I don't believe His Excellency the Marshal was wrong, nor do I think General Klaas was foolish. Perhaps by continuing along their path, we truly could reach a glorious future, one we simply cannot comprehend right now.
"Just as General Klaas often said: we are ruthless, hardened criminals, and every one of us will be pinned to the pillar of historical shame by future generations for introspection. Yet they will thank us for leaving behind a vast, borderless world. In that world, there will be only Wilantes, and Wilantes will not hate their own kind. The tragedies of the past—whether two centuries ago or in the ancient depths of time—will never recur.
"Yet with you, I saw another possibility, one we had never imagined. Perhaps this world can harbor a unity that transcends bloodlines... Just as you said, we are all survivors—whether residents of the shelters or wastelanders beyond. The thing that must be eradicated is not one of our own, but the savagery running rampant across the wasteland.
"War, to me, is a job—and unfortunately, it is the only thing I know how to do. But if, by your side, it can hold even the faintest glimmer of meaning, please allow me to keep marching at your flank."
At that same moment, beneath the flight deck, flashing indicator lamps signaled the order to mobilize.
Eager players strapped on their exoskeletons one after another, taking up top-tier gear and packing plenty of ammunition.
This time, they were bringing old friends home.
What was more, it was an open military operation under the watchful gaze of the Legion, Enterprise, and the Academy alike.
Everyone was itching to show off before those old fossils, to let the new Wilante governor see whether the Legion's defeat had really been an accident.
"Brothers! This time our targets are mutants! Back on 76th Street, our friends from the East Coast pulled us out of the fire. Now it's our turn to fish them out!"
Stepping out before his brothers, Lao Bai, clad in Dragoon power armor, looked across his roaring squad and hollered at the top of his lungs:
"Our mission has only one rule—"
"Leave none alive!"
Deafening roars erupted at the hatchway leading to the deck, and even the alloy floorboards shuddered beneath their blazing fighting spirit.
"Oorah!"
"Wipe out those beasts!"
Chapter 501