The Pioneer's Survivor

Blinding white light pierced through the slits of his eyelids. Lying flat on the hospital bed, Yi Hai twitched his brow. As his consciousness gradually returned, a burning pain surged up his throat, and he instinctively turned onto his side, dry-heaving. "Blegh! Cough, cough—" After retching up a stomachful of sour fluid, he was quickly pinned back down by two people in white coats. Thinking he had been captured by the Wilante, he reflexively tried to struggle, but upon hearing conversation nearby, his thrashing ceased. "Doctor! How is he?!" "Cryogenic sequelae... Cryosleep lasting more than six months requires a long-acting hibernation injection. Using short-term injections causes this exact condition. Fortunately, you brought him back in time; another two months and he might have genuinely turned into an ice cube." "Brother." Hearing the familiar voice, his mind finally settled into his body. Yi Hai shifted his stiff neck and looked at the young man standing beside him. "...Yi Chuan?" "It's me!" Looking at the dying man on the bed, the composure on Yi Chuan's face finally gave way to a sob. Sniffling hard, he forced a reassuring smile. "We've come to take you home!" Yi Hai's Adam's apple bobbed, and his haggard face finally softened with a wave of relief. "You're here..." "We will never abandon a single resident stranded out here. No matter the cost, we will bring them back." A solemn voice rang out alongside the rhythmic click of boot heels. Walking over to the bedside, Wu Changnian patted Yi Chuan on the shoulder and said in a gentle tone, "Your kin is out of danger. For the sake of those who haven't been rescued yet, there are a few things I'd like to ask him." Yi Chuan nodded firmly, gave his elder brother on the bed a comforting look, then stepped back and walked out of the tent. Watching his younger brother's figure disappear beyond the doorway, Yi Hai glanced at Wu Changnian beside the bed, then at Chu Guang, surprise suddenly flickering across his face. "You're... that Administrator?" "I am." Chu Guang smiled and nodded, looking at the astonished face. He knew very well that Captain Lu Yang's adjutant was bound to be brimming with questions right now. The expression on his face practically screamed, *Why are you here?* It was only natural to have such doubts. After all, Yi Hai's memories of Qingquan City were frozen a year in the past, when the Alliance hadn't even existed as a concept. In the eyes of the Pioneer's crew, they had merely passed by an inconspicuous little settlement, and both sides had done each other a small favor within their means. Meeting those bewildered eyes, Chu Guang continued in a relaxed tone, "There is more to our story than could be told in three days and three nights. I'd wager our tale is just as thrilling as your journey... But before we talk about us, I hope you can tell me: where are the rest of the crew?" Wu Changnian also stared intently at him. "Where are the other people from the Pioneer?" Resting the back of his head against the pillow, Yi Hai closed his eyes and sorted through his chaotic memories, piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle. "They... should already be inside." "Inside? Inside where?" Wu Changnian pressed hurriedly. "The shelter..." "Is it Shelter 0?" "I don't know." Uncertainty filled Yi Hai's eyes, and he continued with a hesitant voice, "Barring any accidents, it should be... We found its entrance. Lu Yang said he intended to lead the remaining survivors into the shelter to escape the pursuit of the Wilante and the mutants." A faint ache flared between his brows, and he raised a hand to press his forehead. "...The ones who attacked us weren't just Wilante and mutants. Their equipment was far more sophisticated than the Legion's, much closer to pre-war standards." *Sophisticated equipment?* Wu Changnian frowned. "Could it be the Academy?" "It doesn't seem like it..." Yi Hai shook his head, coughed, and continued, "We've never encountered people from the Academy... Those people seemed to have lived in the Great Desert for a very long time; they knew the terrain intimately. At first, we assumed they were after Shelter 0 just like us. Captain Lu Yang proposed cooperating with them. If Shelter 0 truly possessed the power to end the wasteland, having one more person to help open it wasn't a bad thing. It wasn't until later that we discovered..." Seeing him trail off, Chu Guang, who had been listening intently, immediately asked, "What did you discover?" Yi Hai fell silent for a long moment. "...The intelligence they possessed was far beyond anything we imagined. They seemed to know the location of Shelter 0 from the very start, and all along, Shelter 0 wasn't even their goal. It seemed their only purpose was to stop us from getting it." Chu Guang furrowed his brows. "Who on earth were they? Did they state their identity?" "They seemed to be..." Yi Hai pondered for a long time before a hazy memory surfaced. "They were called Enlightenment something, I think." ... In his subsequent account, Yi Hai briefly laid out the full sequence of events, including how they had discovered the location of Shelter 0, how they clashed with the Wilante, and how they fell into mortal peril... Inside the captain's office. Back aboard the airship, Chu Guang stared at the notebook in his hand, lost in thought. A blank page bore a hastily sketched symbol in pencil—two mutually inverted triangles joined at their bases, forming the shape of a torch. Yi Hai claimed they had seen this emblem on those people, yet he looked completely blank when Chu Guang mentioned the Church of the Torch. Those people claimed to belong to an organization called the Enlightenment Society, mostly made up of blue-coats—shelter residents. After all, the four major industrial zones and the space elevator at the center had once been the industrial and economic heart of the Human Alliance era. The number of shelters distributed across these regions naturally far exceeded those in Sunset Province or River Valley Province. Ever since the nuclear winter ended, groups of survivors awakened in unknown corners almost every year... This Enlightenment Society was formed by a portion of those shelter residents. The organization's philosophy matched its name: aiming to reignite declining civilization and save a world that had languished in darkness for two centuries. It was precisely because of this that Lu Yang had chosen to cooperate with them to search for Shelter 0. Finding like-minded people on the wasteland was extraordinarily rare. Yet no one had expected that those kindred spirits would choose to betray them at the final hour... Still, a suspicious question remained. If that organization calling itself the Enlightenment Society already knew the location of Shelter 0, and their goal was to prevent Enterprise from finding it, why bother pretending to cooperate with Lu Yang and his team? Even if they lacked the strength to fight openly and needed an ambush to win, there was no need to wait until the Pioneer found the entrance to Shelter 0 before striking. *"...The Enlightenment Society wanted Enterprise to find it, but a rift formed over what to do with Shelter 0."* Chu Guang closed his eyes in contemplation for a moment, then finally shook his head. There was simply too little information. He had two working hypotheses, but neither had reliable evidence to back it up. Perhaps the answer was hidden inside Shelter 0. Regardless, they had obtained the precise coordinates of Shelter 0's entrance from Yi Hai. It was an industrial skyscraper covering an area of thousands of mu—or, more descriptively, a "vertical assembly factory." Two towering achievements defined the Prosperity Era: packing farmland into thousand-meter-tall buildings, and cramming assembly lines into them as well. And doing so on a massive scale. According to the intelligence Yi Hai provided, that very skyscraper was the entrance to Shelter 0. A piece of wreckage from the fallen space elevator happened to have collapsed onto that area. Due to the presence of radioactive materials, many extremely dangerous mutant species roamed the vicinity. For now, Enterprise's 26th Strike Team had dispatched personnel to secure the skyscraper's entrance. Tomorrow, representatives from all factions would officially enter the ruins to unveil the mysterious veil of Shelter 0. Chu Guang deployed a communication relay drone carried aboard the airship. Taking advantage of the scheduled data transmission window, he compiled the newly gathered information and updated the official website. At this moment, the forum was still steeped in the joy of victory in the Sunset Province campaign. Since only a small fraction of players had accompanied the airship, the vast majority who took part in the expedition were returning overland with the NPC main force, or drifting back leisurely in groups of three to five. Most players were sharing their travel experiences on the forum, discussing discoveries in the Honey Badger Kingdom and the Lion Kingdom, or unexpected gameplay mechanics unlocked along the way. For instance, some used their expansion-pack payout rewards to buy land in an oasis and become plantation owners. Others stayed behind locally, helping the Alliance garrison fight off marauders and running odd jobs. *Wasteland Online* never dictated how players had to play the game; it merely set down things they couldn't do through the player handbook, along with the consequences of breaking the rules. Apart from several major turning points that influenced the worldline's direction, players were free to find their own fun in this open-world game most of the time. Whether it was using knowledge searchable with a flick of a finger outside the game to help wastelanders boost productivity, or getting bored and starting a romance with someone. In fact, for the vast majority of players, setting aside the massive rewards of the main questline, the side quests triggered by chance or the bizarre gameplay styles they unlocked were often far more entertaining than those "artificially designed routes." Even so, when Chu Guang logged into his forum alt, Brother Guang, and posted the latest clues regarding the main plot, it still drew the attention of countless players. Less than a minute after the post went live, replies quickly broke a thousand. Jieyan: "Enlightenment Society??? What kind of thing is that?" Tail: "Ooh! I smell a conspiracy!" Sisi: "Ooh, ooh! New expansion... Wait, is the new expansion going to keep pushing west? I already bet all my chips on heading south!" Tail: "?" Scavenger Level 99: "Hiss... isn't that the symbol of the Church of the Torch from earlier? That thing was painted on the mutant-controlling collars that showed up in the early NPC shop, wasn't it?" In Debt God: "To be completely honest, that symbol is drawn so ugly. Did Brother Guang trace it with a pencil himself? (Doge)" Construction Site Boy and Bricks: "@Mole on the Run from the Canyon, give us your review." Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Hastily sketched yet brimming with wild abandon, rugged without lacking detail, every stroke reveals artistic finesse hiding beneath a rough exterior. Verified as prime work!" In Debt God: "???" Jieyan: "Hahahaha! Top-tier brown-nosing!" Elaina: "No wonder you're unemployed. (Doge)" Ye Shi: "Brother Guang! Someone says you have a fine touch!" Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "%¥#@!" Sisi: "Speaking of which, the founder of the Church of the Torch... the guy calling himself the Holy Son, wasn't he a shelter resident too?" Tengteng: "Mmm... I think the official lore compendium said he was a wastelander adopted by a shelter? But he grew up in a shelter from childhood." Yaya: "Ahhh! Could that guy be a member of the Enlightenment Society too?" Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Whether he's a member or not isn't really important. The Enlightenment Society introduced in this update feels like just a regional faction to me. The Church of the Torch at least took part in the Legion's grand crusade and the subsequent Bone Chewer Rebellion, whereas these guys... they seemingly only managed to stall the Pioneer. Their presence is way too low." Ye Shi: "Don't people always say the truly badass bosses hide behind the scenes? (Doge)" Kuang Feng: "That's a misconception... Only those lacking strength need conspiracies. The truly badass ones lay their cards on the table. (Side-eye)" Fang Chang: "Finished reading. Found two points of suspicion so far. First, why would the Enlightenment Society, which aims to reboot civilization, stop Enterprise from approaching Shelter 0? Second, what connection exists between the Church of the Torch far to the south and the Enlightenment Society in the continent's center?" Ye Shi: "I suspect Brother Guang hasn't even figured out how to make it up himself yet. (Doge)" Fang Chang: "Then you're underestimating him. I get the feeling a grand game of chess is being played behind all this... Speaking of which, what exactly is Shelter 0?" Tengteng: "Mmm... a very, very big shelter?" Fang Chang: "How big? Or rather, how many black boxes and sets of power armor would have to be packed inside to restore this world to its original state?" Kuang Feng: "Mm... Now that you mention it, that's true. I always feel the Academy, Enterprise, and the Legion might possess intelligence we know nothing about. Even our ally, Enterprise, hasn't fully shared everything they know with us." Fang Chang: "That's inevitable. My gut tells me our line of thinking might have been wrong from the very beginning." Ye Shi: "What do you mean? (Stunned)" Fang Chang: "When a computer freezes, there are three common solutions: wait for the program to respond, terminate the current process, or directly restart the computer." "The underlying logic of most standard shelters falls under the first category: preserving personnel, resources, energy, knowledge, tools, and the rest of civilization's foundational elements until the time is right to unfreeze and rebuild... It's a relatively gentle solution, though the execution varies from shelter to shelter." "However, Shelter 0 is, after all, a 'legendary' existence. Neither Enterprise, the Academy, nor the Legion has data on it, and no one is even certain it was ever completed..." "Here's an irresponsible guess: perhaps the underlying logic of this shelter is fundamentally different from all the others." Yaya: "Ah, you mean... it might not be a shelter at all?" Fang Chang: "Don't mind me, I'm just cooking up conspiracy theories based on the Enlightenment Society lore. Maybe that place isn't nearly as wonderful as the rumors claim. (Side-eye)" As expected of the man on the forum who understood Brother Guang best, Fang Chang's speculation quickly sparked a fresh wave of discussion. Some players leaned toward believing this was just a new stunt dreamed up by the damn devs, while others thought things weren't that complicated. As for the armchair players watching from outside the game, they didn't care about any of that; all they cared about was when helmet production would ramp up again. They had already missed out on a magnificent grand expedition. Looking at the grand promises the damn devs were dangling, quite a few pre-registered players who hadn't gotten into the game yet felt a deep chill in their hearts. To see players begging the development team to slow down their updates during Early Access was truly one of a kind in gaming history... Lao Bai: "Anyway, let's stop shooting the breeze about all that. When are you coming back? A new gig just dropped. (Grin)" Fang Chang: "Cough, soon, within a few days... Don't worry, I'll definitely be back before you guys." Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Fuck! Did you bastards do some shady backroom dealing with the dev again?" Lao Bai: "No such thing. By the way, you should hurry back too. (Grin)" Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "What does that have to do with me?" Lao Bai: "Nothing, just passing along someone's reminder. You'll know whether it has anything to do with you once you get back." Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "...?" ... The next day. At the base of the abandoned industrial skyscraper. Several large hounds with grayish-yellow skin and fangs the length of a forearm prowled the debris-strewn steps, their keen noses searching for prey, completely oblivious to the danger creeping toward their throats. One mutant beast suddenly raised its head alertly and looked around. Yet before it could let out a low growl, several short *pew-pew* gunshots drilled through the beasts' skulls. Rustling stirred the sea buckthorn bushes as small animals fled in terror from the noise. Several exoskeletons emerged from the nearby shadows. Tapping his index finger against his helmet, Su Ming glanced at the drone circling in the sky, surveyed the surroundings, and spoke in a clear voice. "Five mutant beasts eliminated, visual data recovered... Skyscraper entrance secured, no other threats confirmed... Dammit, don't make me name things ever again." According to the intelligence from Yi Hai, an unknown third party had supposedly set its sights on Shelter 0... but Su Ming suspected this might just be a trick played by the Wilante. It wasn't that those fellows lacked high-tech gear, they just had it in limited numbers. Otherwise, how could one explain how the Pioneer had been ambushed by the Wilante and encircled by a massive army of clones? As for that Enlightenment Society. It might very well be a fabrication spun by the Wilante to get close to the Pioneer. What boggled his mind was that Captain Lu Yang had actually bought it. If it were him, he would never trust strangers encountered on the wasteland. "Why not upload it to the Endpoint Cloud and let the netizens vote on it?" "Good idea. When's the next migratory bird drone heading back?" "Tomorrow, I think." "Fuck..." Su Ming cursed under his breath, switched on the vertical stabilization system of his combat camera, and prepared to record some interesting footage to post on his social media account. At the same time, ten armored trucks rolled out of the camp, carrying a complement of soldiers along with the representatives about to explore the ruins, rumbling grandly toward the cleared industrial skyscraper. The wreckage of the space elevator lay not far away. A majestic, curved metal shell was embedded into the earth like the arched roof of a hangar. Rumor had it that this colossal component was merely a single "tile," a single brick from that space elevator. Looking at those broken bricks and shattered tiles, it was truly difficult to imagine just how magnificent that tower reaching to the heavens had been before it collapsed. The four factions gathered at the base of the skyscraper. The tall Wilante were clad in heavy ballistic armor, led by an officer with a prominent bridge to his nose and deep-set eyes. Standing beside him was an aide of a different style of handsome looks—none other than Pangolin, who had slain countless foes on the battlefield. Vali cast a smug glance at the Alliance soldiers, who had supposedly given his countrymen endless grief on the battlefield. Lord Cohen's specific instruction to have Pangolin serve as his guard was not without the intention of flaunting their might before the Alliance. Yet what baffled him was why those fellows were reacting so nonchalantly, not even bothering to glance in his direction. Did they not recognize this valiant warrior under his command? Or were they so terrified that they didn't even dare make eye contact? At that thought, the corners of Vali's mouth curled into a smirk. *So weak!* Standing in the front row of the formation alongside him, Battlefield Guy wore a pained expression, his toes curling tightly against the inside of his boots. *Damn it.* *This is way too cringe!* Unlike the Legion, the Academy maintained a decidedly low profile, sending only a single female researcher with long black hair. Beside her followed a waist-high, four-legged robotic dog, its broad back hung with bulging packs. Ever since stepping out of the vehicle, she hadn't spoken to a soul, standing in a spot she deemed safe with an expression that warned everyone to keep their distance. Most Academy researchers behaved like this when out in the field. Historical baggage, the exorbitant cost of their gear, and numerous other factors left nearly every Academy person afflicted with persecutory delusions. In truth, it couldn't even be called a delusion; after all, an Academy surveyor was practically a walking treasure chest, a fact well known across the wasteland. Most surveyors chose to conceal their past identities after leaving the Academy... the exact opposite of Enterprise employees, who loved to boast. Most survivor factions had to weigh the risk of being blacklisted before making a move on Enterprise personnel. Especially in Cloud Province, making too much of a ruckus and stirring up public outrage on the Endpoint Cloud could invite manhunts from Enterprise allies or direct-action strike teams. While verifying the mission assigned by her mentor through her holographic viewport, Jiang Xuezhou suddenly knitted her brows. She felt as though two gazes were staring straight at her... In fact, her intuition was spot on. However, the ones watching her weren't human, but Enterprise bionics. Staring unblinkingly at the young woman from the Academy, Frost said with an aggrieved look, "Eclipse... why won't they let us go? Strictly speaking, bionics shouldn't count as people, right? Wouldn't it be better to take more bodies down there?" Eclipse's pupils flickered slightly. "Supposedly, this was the Academy's proposal." Frost looked at him indignantly. "But didn't they bring a mechanical dog installed with an AI core themselves? What's the difference?" Eclipse remained silent for a moment. "That... probably doesn't count as a person." Frost's face was flushed with humiliation and resentment, and she clenched her fists. "Damn it... isn't it just getting down on all fours? It's not like I can't do that!" Eclipse: "...?" While everyone waited, the passage from the skyscraper's main entrance to the entrance of Shelter 0 was completely cleared. Leading his men out of the ground-floor lobby, Yun Song, captain of the 26th Strike Team, ran straight into Yun You, who had just stepped down from a vehicle. Enterprise had arranged two representatives to enter Shelter 0 this time: Yun You, and his finest scout, Su Ming. Seeing Yun You walking toward him, Yun Song's face betrayed a rare hint of hesitation and restraint. He asked in a low voice, "Are you... going to be all right?" Yun You simply nodded. "I'll be fine. We've already reached a ceasefire agreement with the Legion, and besides, there are only two of them." "I can't shake the feeling that the threat doesn't just come from the Wilante..." Glancing back at the abandoned skyscraper, Yun Song looked at Yun You again. Seeing that her expression hadn't softened in the slightest, he finally let out a defeated sigh. "Be careful down there." Yun You nodded and replied tersely, "Mm." Not far away. Watching Yun You and Yun Song standing together, Ye Shi leaned in toward the NPC teammate he was about to dungeon-crawl with, asking curiously, "Hey, buddy, what's the deal between your captain and that representative from Endpoint Group?" He had been wondering about this for a while. Both shared the surname Yun, yet their personalities and temperaments were completely different; they didn't even seem to belong to the same era. Su Ming wore a mysterious expression. "Take a guess." Ye Shi gave him a sidelong glance. "Why are you being so cryptic... I'm guessing they're definitely not brother and sister." "Smart," Su Ming gave a thumbs-up and praised. "Keep guessing." "...Mother and son?" Su Ming shook his head like a rattle-drum. "Nope, the generational gap is way bigger than that." "Way bigger? What does that even mean... Aunt and nephew? Grandfather and grandson? Dammit, what the hell are they?" Seeing the guy constantly beating around the bush, Ye Shi couldn't help letting slip a curse. Su Ming chuckled. "I told you you'd never guess it." Seeing that his teammate was about to be driven mad, he stopped teasing, leaned close to Ye Shi's ear, and whispered, "Actually... in terms of seniority, she should be considered our captain's great-to-the-nth-power grandmother..." Ye Shi froze, his worldview instantly taking heavy damage. "Holy shit?!" Su Ming shrugged. "This kind of thing isn't actually that rare in Ideal City. One day you're at work, and suddenly you learn that a sibling of one of your direct ancestors was cryogenically frozen a hundred years ago and just woke up. Now that person is sitting in a hospital searching for cameras that don't exist, convinced they're the target of a prank show and that everyone around them is in on a conspiracy... Can you imagine that feeling?" "You wake up, your incurable disease is cured, but the world you knew has gone down the drain along with your pension." Pausing for a moment, he continued, "For someone who suddenly inherits an ancestor, it's a whole other headache. You have to figure out how to help him or her accept reality, and explain... what your own deal is." Ye Shi stared blankly. "...Well, damn." He had never thought about it from that angle before; he had only ever figured that cryosleeping into the future would be pretty awesome. Maybe the bionic maid from the game could actually be bought in real life, and the savings in the bank account would probably double. But thinking about it carefully, that assumption defaulted to the premise that "tomorrow will be better." What if the future became worse? Thinking about it that way was actually pretty terrifying. "Of course... I'm just using an analogy. Our captain and Lady Yun You are a slightly different case... Anyway, she's from the Prosperity Era, and her knowledge will be immensely useful to us. Make sure you protect her well later." Spotting the captain's hand signal to assemble, Su Ming clapped Ye Shi on the shoulder and grinned. "Let's move, brother. Time to get to work."