Where... is this?
Who am I?
Amidst a hazy mist, Jiang Xuezhou opened her eyes, gazing blankly into the vast expanse of white smog around her.
Suddenly, a slight prickling pain flared between her eyebrows. She lifted her index finger and pressed it to her forehead, and the instant her fingertip made contact, blurred memories gradually began to clear.
The first thing she remembered was her name, followed by her date of birth. Her surroundings shifted accordingly, the white smog transforming into boundless, heavy snow.
"It's a girl..."
"...Brain cell activity looks good, physical condition is solid, hormone levels are normal. Good potential."
"Thank you, Doctor!"
"Don't mention it, just doing my job."
"She looks just like you."
"Then... let's name her Xuezhou."
"If only she can pass the exams."
Silhouettes of memory flashed by like slides in a projector.
She saw two warm, kind smiles, then watched those blurred outlines grow frosted with white, and saw those familiar voices and smiling faces slowly twist into expressions of worry.
"Mom... Dad..." she murmured under her breath.
She seemed to have returned to her early childhood.
Back then, life had been harsh. Her father worked in a scavenger team, her mother in a garment factory. Their staple diet consisted of potatoes and sugar beets, hardy crops capable of growing in cold climates. Although the settlement raised cattle, livestock belonged to the Science Committee and was merely entrusted to local management; most people couldn't eat meat even once a week...
She only remembered that her sole wish back then was to pass the Science Committee's evaluation and enter the Academy as a prospector.
Apart from wandering the wasteland, it was the only way to change one's destiny—and the only life path the Science Committee had laid out for all survivors.
If any family managed to raise an apprentice, they would receive a massive subsidy from the Science Committee... a fortune envied by all. Her parents could move into a larger house, and her older brothers and sisters could transfer to easier jobs, striving to contribute a couple more promising candidates to the Science Committee.
And for the lucky individual who became an apprentice, a life of abundance and privilege awaited, free from worry over mundane matters unrelated to research.
Wait...
Haven't I already passed the evaluation?
And become a researcher, the dream of countless apprentices...
A flicker of panic rose in Jiang Xuezhou's eyes.
How... did I end up back here?
Aside from what she could see before her, she seemed unable to recall anything. An unknown force had frozen a part of her memories, throttling its flow, permitting it to be released only trick by trick while painstakingly peeling it apart.
*Answer me.*
A voice sounded from the void once again, laden with a bewitching allure.
*Think carefully...*
*Apart from your immediate family, who is the most important person in your life?*
The most important person besides her closest kin?
A momentary confusion flashed in her eyes.
Such a person didn't seem to exist at all...
After joining the exploration team, people departed every few days. She had grown accustomed to stepping from one tier to the next, gradually forgetting the people she encountered at different stages of life... including her parents, brothers, and sisters, whom she hadn't seen in years and who perhaps still viewed her as their crowning glory.
Thinking about it this way...
Her life seemed utterly meaningless, merely a program engineered just right and running passably well up until now.
Almost like...
An "NPC."
To her surprise, she had expected the disembodied voice to share her disappointment in her life. Instead, the voice seemed rather pleased with her detachment.
Someone dwelling on the fringes of society was undoubtedly easier to replace than someone standing center stage.
People had few memories of her to begin with, and would feel no surprise at any dissonance or change in her behavior.
Replacing her was simply too easy.
So easy that it made one wonder whether doing so was even necessary.
Just then, the scene before her shifted once more. A freezing wind slicing against her neck made her hunch her shoulders; wrapping her arms tightly around herself to protect her frostbitten limbs, she crouched down on the ground.
Only then did she realize she was crouching completely naked amidst the heavy snow, the boundless blizzard threatening to drown her entirely.
Far off, clusters of eerie green lights gleamed like the eyes of alien species, or like underworld fires illuminating the road to hell.
Perhaps... this was her end.
Just like the vast majority of prospectors who stepped into ruins utterly bewildered and died in silence, filled with confusion and regret, in the end she could not escape that dull fate.
Just as she was about to close her eyes and resign herself to fate, a figure suddenly emerged from the swirling blizzard.
He wore a pitch-black exoskeleton, the ballistic plate over his chest caved in from a heavy blow. The howling gale seemed to exert considerable force on him, making every forward step an arduous struggle.
Who is this guy?
The disembodied voice seemed equally baffled and offered no answer to her question.
The man called out to her.
"Hey."
Panic flared on her face. Forgetting her frozen body, she collapsed backward onto the icy snow.
"Don't come—"
"Cut the chatter. How long do you plan to sleep here?" The man didn't pause for a second as he marched up to her, completely ignoring her reaction, and grabbed her arm.
Jiang Xuezhou instinctively struggled, but the man had no intention of entertaining it and yanked her backward without another word.
"Let's go."
That was the last sentence she heard.
The surrounding scenery flashed past like the view from a rushing train window, and the world constructed from memory fragments collapsed in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, she seemed to have arrived in another world, and her blocked memories surged back into her mind like a tidal wave.
It felt as if she had been hauled ashore from the depths of the sea. Her fragmented senses returned along with ragged, gasping breaths.
Just then, a hand lifted the goggles from her head.
"Ahhh!"
Jiang Xuezhou let out a startled cry and scrambled against the wall, clutching her arms tightly around herself, only then realizing that she was fully clothed.
Her fair face flushed crimson like a lantern.
Fortunately, the person who had removed the neural-link device from her head was not looking at her at that moment.
"That should do it, right? Whether it works or not, I gave it my all," Ye Shi said, looking toward Yun You.
Putting away her tablet, Yun You nodded and offered a slight smile. "Yes, she's successfully disengaged. You did very well."
"Seriously?" Ye Shi cast a suspicious glance at the beet-red girl curled up in the corner and muttered, "Why do I feel like something went wrong in her head?"
Yun You blinked. "Maybe... she'll be fine in a moment?"
According to Zhuang Lan, if one's mental fortitude wasn't strong enough, removing the goggles directly risked inducing schizophrenia unless shut down properly.
That meant putting on a neural-link device, connecting to the memory extraction machine, entering the dreamscape constructed from her memory fragments, and prompting her to wake up from within.
Ye Shi hadn't wanted to go through all that trouble, but the "Mother Teresa grandma" from Ideal City insisted she couldn't just abandon the young girl.
To keep the main questline moving, he had no choice but to head to the recreation room in the living quarters, scrounge up a neural-link unit with a universal interface, and link up with classmate Jiang to run a dungeon.
Come to think of it, she had been trapped in a long nightmare filled with alien species, mutants, marauders, and what have you...
He counted—he had cleared at least six dungeons just now.
Yet the final clearance had been surprisingly simple, to the point where he felt he hadn't done much at all besides giving her a yank.
And then she woke up.
He had thought there'd be a boss fight afterward; he'd even looked forward to it for a few seconds.
By the way, before he put on the VR gear to dive into the dungeon, the time bomb stuck to the floor-to-ceiling window had already been disarmed by him and Yun You working together.
It had turned out to be a micro-nuclear warhead with a ten-kiloton yield.
Setting it to detonate near the reactor meant the Enlightenment Society intended to thoroughly destroy the place after extracting the data.
Gradually recalling everything that had happened, Jiang Xuezhou loosened her grip on her collar, bowed her head with blushing cheeks, and whispered, "...Thank you."
"Don't thank me, I just pulled you along. If you want to thank someone, thank her."
Ye Shi gestured with his chin toward Yun You beside him. "She did most of the work. I don't understand any of that code."
Jiang Xuezhou nodded, still blushing, and whispered a thank-you to her as well.
Looking at the polite young woman, Yun You crossed her arms, smiled, and said in a light tone, "You're welcome. Though we haven't known each other long, we've gone through life and death together—we're comrades."
Comrades...
Jiang Xuezhou silently looked at Vali lying on the ground, and Xiao Wang wrecked beside him, biting her lip gently, wanting to say something but not knowing where to begin.
Ye Shi walked over, took Vali by the arms, and hoisted the Wilante onto his shoulders.
Though the guy was already dead and cold, they still had to account for him to the Legion.
"Let's move. Don't keep everyone waiting too long."
...
Living quarters.
Su Ming, Meng Liang, and Pangolin, who had previously gone to the Administrator's office, had already arrived and were sitting in silence around a dust-covered table.
Especially Su Ming.
After watching Lu Yang's video, he seemed like a changed man, having not uttered a single word the entire way from the Administrator's office to this room.
Sitting between the two of them, Meng Liang gave a bitter smile, silently praying for his partner to hurry back...
Just then, the door opened.
The three entered from outside.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Sitting down at the table, Yun You offered an apologetic glance to the trio, then turned to Jiang Xuezhou. "You sit too... What we're about to discuss is critical."
Having learned the full story on the way over, Jiang Xuezhou said nothing, silently pulling out a chair and sitting down.
Ye Shi propped Vali in the corner, clapped his hands with an exaggerated heave, and returned to the table to find an empty chair.
"...Let's talk. About Project Torch and this 'Shelter 0.'"
Su Ming cleared his throat, breaking the silence in the room first. Looking around at everyone present, he spoke up:
"I can't speak for the Enterprise's official stance, but... as a citizen of Ideal City, I believe we must destroy this place."
Pausing, he added, "Physical destruction."
The air fell silent for a moment.
"I vote in favor."
Pushing up her glasses, Yun You looked earnestly at everyone around the table and continued, "...Given the level of trust on the wasteland today—where factions lack even open channels of communication—once such a wicked weapon surfaces, even if it's merely blueprints... everyone will be plunged into a prisoner's dilemma."
Ye Shi stared blankly. "...What do you mean?"
Yun You smiled, about to explain it to this thick-headed but well-meaning lad, when Jiang Xuezhou beat her to it, speaking with a complicated expression.
"It means whoever pushes the button first gains the greatest advantage. Even factions with zero interest in such a weapon would be forced to enter the race, because no one can guarantee that others aren't pursuing it in secret."
Seeing that someone had explained on her behalf, Yun You gave a soft cough. "...Exactly as she said."
In reality, the prisoner's dilemma was not completely unsolvable.
Prisoners remained prisoners only because they lacked a channel to exchange information; once communication was established, many problems solved themselves.
Yet that was precisely where the wasteland differed from the pre-war world.
Let alone an internet, not even a telephone wire ran between the top brass of the Enterprise and the Academy. Massive disparities divided them, from their collective social systems to the individual thought patterns of their people.
Even an organization like the Alliance, whose leadership scale was still relatively modest, had struggled over who to contact when first meeting the Enterprise.
Let alone behemoths like the Academy and the Legion, each dedicated to a single doctrine and developing independently for a century and a half.
Once trapped in a prisoner's dilemma, there was virtually no way out.
Jiang Xuezhou looked Yun You straight in the eye. "How can we be sure you didn't already obtain the research data, and are only proposing to destroy the shelter to prevent others from getting it?"
Su Ming frowned and stood up, glaring at Jiang Xuezhou. "You're doubting us?"
"It's reasonable skepticism. Your reaction right now only makes you look more suspicious." Fixed beneath his murderous glare, Jiang Xuezhou looked pale, yet she did not back down an inch.
This was no longer about herself.
It concerned the fate of countless lives...
Ye Shi cast an astonished glance at her.
He couldn't help feeling that this girl had changed somehow since waking from that dream.
Seeing Su Ming seething, Yun You cleared her throat and spoke in a calm, measured tone. "Su Ming. Ms. Jiang from the Academy is indispensable. Each faction must have at least one representative involved here... Sit down."
"..." Hearing the brooked-no-argument order, Su Ming held his tongue and sat back down in silence.
He hadn't actually intended to do anything to a girl; he'd merely wanted to intimidate her, only to find it completely ineffective.
If the Academy's person died inside, the premise of blowing up the shelter free of diplomatic fallout would collapse.
Even if they could pin the female researcher's death on the Enlightenment Society, whether the other party believed it or not, they would be forced to assume the worst.
After all, dying mysteriously inside versus walking out openly produced entirely different outcomes.
Yun You looked at Jiang Xuezhou. "What can we do to convince you?"
To everyone's surprise, the Academy's representative did not use this opportunity to demand difficult conditions.
Staring into Yun You's eyes for a moment, she suddenly spoke:
"I believe you."
Yun You froze.
Just as she was about to ask why, Jiang Xuezhou averted her gaze as if embarrassed and murmured softly, "...If you wanted to claim it for yourselves, there was no need to go through all the trouble of saving me, right? After all, I'm just a nobody.
"So I believe you.
"And I hope... I won't regret my choice."
"Man... should've said so earlier, making us all tense." Ye Shi exhaled a breath of relief and leaned back in his chair.
Jiang Xuezhou glared at him in annoyance. "Is it unreasonable for me to think it over for a minute on such a momentous decision?"
Ignoring this "ungrateful" girl, Ye Shi raised his hand decisively. "Me, vote in favor."
The reason was simple: the Alliance could not win this race.
It was an objective disparity.
Even the Legion's R&D capabilities and pool of researchers were far superior to theirs; the advantage built over time could not be bridged in a matter of months.
Just as confidence and arrogance were separated by a paper-thin line while leading to worlds-apart outcomes, he had sufficient self-awareness.
Besides, being dragged into a race with no tangible gains offered zero benefit to the Alliance.
It was foreseeable that aside from the ultimate world-resetting weapon, this project would most likely produce no incremental milestones beneficial to society.
Having considered the same issue, Meng Liang nodded. "My stance aligns with Ye Shi's."
Except for Ye Shi, everyone turned their eyes to Pangolin, who hadn't uttered a single word from beginning to end.
Only one person had yet to declare where he stood.
However, his answer surprised no one.
"In favor."
Su Ming let out a sigh, his taut expression finally softening a notch. A delighted smile appeared on Yun You's face, and she glanced gratefully at everyone around her.
In that brief instant, they had achieved what seemed an impossible miracle on this wasteland.
People from four distinct factions—the Legion, the Enterprise, the Academy, and the Alliance—had, on a matter concerning the future fate of civilization, unanimously cast the exact same vote.
Just like those brave, ordinary people months ago, two centuries ago, or even further in the distant past...
They made a choice that was ordinary, yet far from simple.
...
The bomb resumed its countdown.
The party evacuated the shelter.
Before leaving, they took a bit of time to move the twelve hibernation pods from Sector X-13 to the shelter's entrance.
The crew of the Pioneer had already perished.
Those lying inside now were all Disciples of the Enlightenment Society; according to Zhuang Lan's confession, one of them was even a "Guide."
In the Enlightenment Society's organizational structure, a "Guide" ranked between Elders and Disciples, serving as a mentor to many Disciples.
Although letting them die quietly like this let them off easy, as personnel who had accessed the wiped data, having them buried with their secrets alongside this shelter that should never have existed in this world was the best outcome for the living on the surface.
As for Zhuang Lan.
Logically, she ought to have been handed over to the Wilante, seeing as she had slain one of their millurions. However, both Su Ming and Yun You were strongly resistant to that idea.
"...We will not extradite anyone to the Legion. That's no different from selling criminals to slave traders."
Pangolin blinked. "Sounds fine to me."
Before the Alliance was founded, they had also sold captured marauders to the mines in Red River Town; there was nothing shameful about it.
He called it efficiency.
Yet he quickly remembered his undercover role. His expression shifted abruptly, and he glared fiercely at Su Ming. "The hell do you mean by that?"
Mocking me with that snide tone? Damn East Coasters!
Su Ming ignored him completely, looking at Ye Shi—who was holding back laughter for some reason—and continued, "Principle is principle, and this is ours... At least in my view, the ones who deserve punishment are the leaders of the Enlightenment Society. Even if she killed someone from the Legion, thinking about what the Wilante do to captives makes my stomach turn. They don't just put people to work in mines... Want to hear? I've heard a few things from traveling merchants."
Ye Shi coughed. "Better not."
No need to drag a lighthearted game down with grim details; he wasn't into sick novelties.
Besides, did anyone really need to guess?
When they captured the Heart of Steel back then, they had rescued plenty of poor wretches abused by those big-nosed bastards.
A feudal warlord collective where something as small as an airship or a manor could become a self-contained fiefdom, and the only constraint on those Wilante's behavior was the moral sense of their immediate superior.
Which happened to be the least reliable thing in the world.
Even if the Legion conquered half the Mid-Continent, the most civilized place might only be Triumph City under His Marshal's rule.
And even Triumph City was civilized only in a relative sense.
It was entirely predictable that she wouldn't receive a trial; her ultimate fate would simply be tortured to death by that governor named Cohen.
"So we'll leave her to you. In any case, we won't hand her over to the Legion. Do as you like." Su Ming shrugged, deciding her fate with that single remark.
Ye Shi felt that after spewing so much nonsense, the guy simply wanted to dump the hassle onto the Alliance.
Still, this outcome carried no downside for the Alliance.
Even if she was merely a Disciple, with Stage-Three Awakening strength and speed and dispatched on a mission like this, she was at least an "elite mob."
With a little effort, they might pry some info out of her mouth.
Having coerced so many shelters and sitting on the prime real estate of the Great Desert, the Enlightenment Society surely possessed a wealth of good stuff.
Remembering that sinister memory extraction device from earlier, Ye Shi couldn't help a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
Why not use that? Giving someone a taste of their own medicine felt perfectly reasonable.
He'd definitely have to suggest it to the Administrator.
"Hey..."
A voice from the side broke Ye Shi's daydreaming.
Glancing toward the voice, he saw a certain Rank-D researcher from the Academy standing there, looking like she had something to say.
She had never given him a pleasant face, and Ye Shi had no interest in her either, so he asked impatiently, "What is it?"
Jiang Xuezhou remained silent for quite a while.
Just as his patience was running thin, she murmured in a tiny voice, "...Did you see?"
"Huh?" Not understanding what she was asking, Ye Shi gave a casual grunt.
Seeing him play dumb, Jiang Xuezhou's face turned red. She gritted her teeth and swallowed down the words on the tip of her tongue. "...Nothing."
Ye Shi: "???"
*What the hell! What's your problem!*
Hurrying to change the subject, Jiang Xuezhou continued, "By the way..."
Ye Shi rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Now what?"
Jiang Xuezhou asked softly, "That person... disguised herself as me, right?"
Ye Shi: "Yeah."
Jiang Xuezhou immediately asked, "How did you recognize it wasn't me?"
She had wanted to ask this before they left the shelter, but hadn't figured out how to bring it up.
Noticing that "admiring" look, Ye Shi offered an embarrassed chuckle.
Oh, that.
Ashamed to say, he was a top-tier player after all; it was just that there were too many badasses in his squad, so his skills didn't usually stand out.
Especially when it came to intuition.
Not to brag, but no one on the entire server was sharper than him. Even that grandma who'd lived for over two hundred years had been fooled, but he'd clocked the fake with a single glance.
"Pfft, wasn't that obvious? Didn't look like you at all."
Jiang Xuezhou went blank. "Didn't look... like me at all?"
Ye Shi said matter-of-factly, "Yeah. Maybe my instincts are just sharper. The moment she stood in the doorway, I knew she wasn't you."
"...You make it sound like we're close."
Ye Shi waved a dismissive hand. "Don't need to be close. You are you, and she is she... You aren't the same person, so how could you be alike?"
Her fair cheeks flushed with a soft rosy glow. Jiang Xuezhou glared at him, gritted her teeth, and finally let out a cold huff before storming off.
Ye Shi stared at her retreating back in utter bewilderment.
*Huh. What a weirdo.*
He'd thought he might trigger a hidden quest, or get tipped some coins out of gratitude, yet she just turned and walked away.
*Son of a bitch! When the hell did I ever provoke her?*
...
Not long after Ye Shi, Su Ming, and the others evacuated the Industrial Building, a deafening explosion engulfed Shelter 0.
The ten-kiloton yield detonated within was enough to obliterate the unfinished shelter entirely—or at the very least, physically annihilate the server sectors.
The "project proposal" retrieved from the shelter and the recording left behind by Captain Lu were sufficient to explain everything that had transpired here.
Though it was a pity no treasure had been hauled away, this remained a marginally acceptable outcome for all parties involved.
Yet to everyone's surprise, the chain reaction from the blast triggered a surface collapse.
As luck would have it, the power station lay directly beneath the crash site of the Arbiter.
The Wilante who had survived by sheltering in the buffer capsules hadn't even recovered from the shock when flames erupted right beneath their asses.
Fortunately, it was only a ten-kiloton blast, and the shelter itself absorbed most of the explosive shockwave.
Had the yield been any higher, practically none of them would have survived...
In the camp.
Adria found Chu Guang and demanded furiously, "What was that explosion just now?"
Chu Guang looked at him with an odd expression.
*What does that have to do with me?*
Considering the man's agitated state, however, he cleared his throat and offered a bland platitude. "I heard that place was an unfinished shelter to begin with. Maybe from years of neglect... the reactor blew."
Hearing this, Adria nearly choked on his rage. "How could a third-generation controlled fusion reactor explode?! The critical temperature requires billions of degrees!"
Or maybe tens of billions; he couldn't quite remember.
But one thing he knew for sure: it wasn't a barrel of gasoline you could ignite with a flick of a lighter.
Chu Guang shrugged, maintaining a look of having no answers. "How should I know? I'm just as baffled right now... I only hope my men have returned from below. They might know something."
Unlike the bewildered representatives of the Legion, Enterprise, and Academy, he actually knew a bit of what had unfolded down below.
Pangolin had already eagerly logged off to brief him on the latest plot developments.
Though surprised by the players' choice, he nonetheless respected it.
The Alliance truly had no need for such a weapon.
He had said it before:
Until the very end, he would stand together with his residents.
Watching the fuming Adria, Chu Guang smiled and continued, "By the way, if your airship really can't be repaired—"
"Forget it!"
Before Adria could react, Macklen cut in, tugging Adria's arm and answering while eyeing Chu Guang warily. "We can repair it ourselves. We don't need your help!"
Looking at the paranoid General Macklen, Chu Guang blinked, then shook his head in amusement. "I haven't even said anything yet."
Macklen said with a dark expression, "I don't care to know."
The Wilante hurried off toward the Industrial Building.
Chu Guang figured they were probably heading to find Vali to get an update, though unfortunately for them, that brother had already been slain by the Enlightenment Society's Disciple.
Just then, his captain of the guard, Lü Bei, approached from the side.
Pressing his right fist against his chest, the young man said with a solemn expression, "...Sir, the Death Corps wolf cavalry has pinpointed the phase cannon that attacked us, but they haven't found the enemy's command post."
Chu Guang frowned. "They didn't find it?"
Lü Bei nodded in shame. "Yes... According to a wolf cavalryman's report, the enemy command post is likely not in this area. He discovered a signal tower near the signal source. That tower seems to be linked to other terminals via cable, running toward somewhere very far away."
Chapter 511