Hunter and Hunter

Early the next morning. In the tailor shop, Tengteng, who had just reported for work, peeled a slip of paper off the wooden board. "Quest... Make a set of clothes for the weapons shop lady boss, reward: 5–10 silver coins?" Reading the order from start to finish, Tengteng's eyes gradually lit up. In just one second, a flawless design concept had already taken shape in her mind. "Awesome! Leave it to me!" Stuffing the slip into her pocket, she immediately set off in high spirits toward the weapons shop. *** Meanwhile, inside the shelter. Chu Guang stood in the resident hall, facing the twenty little newbies who had just climbed out of their incubation pods, and finished delivering the lines he had painstakingly cobbled together. Perhaps because they had waited so long, or perhaps because this batch had one more female player than the last, these newbies were far better behaved than the previous group. At the very least, no one did anything as eye-searing as dropping their pants in public. It seemed that gradually raising the pre-registration threshold, employing a bit of hunger marketing, increasing the waiting time cost, and filtering for high-quality human players had actually yielded results. Of course, it might also be that the game was simply too realistic, and with alts completely out of the question, the thought of a whole gang of developers "watching from the shadows" overhead compelled everyone to maintain at least some sense of decency. After having Xiao Qi explain the game's mechanics to the beginners, Chu Guang herded them onto the elevator to the surface, driving them outside like a flock of ducks. Standing on the ground before the sanatorium, these novices felt that breathtaking immersion for the very first time. "Holy crap... Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!" "Th-this is the world of Wasteland OL?!" "The sunlight hitting my face feels identical to reality! The wind is kissing my cheek! This place is like a dream—no, it *is* a dream!" "I'm crying, bro! Technology these days is insane!" "Why isn't this in open beta yet?! Damn it! What else does the dev team need to test? Just launch the open beta and take my money already! Give me a ticker code, I'll buy all the stock!" "One word: incredible!" The initial reaction of every new player entering the game was almost universally the same. Chu Guang could certainly empathize. From the moment they received the helmet, half-joking amusement turned to tentative belief. They tossed and turned through seventy-two agonizing hours, watching the seconds tick away. Then, as their second pair of eyes opened, every ounce of anticipation transformed into reality the instant all five senses connected. It felt just like a rebirth. The sheer impact of that moment could not be summarized in words. Planting both feet on the soil of an alien world, catching the fragrant scent of earth, chasing butterflies through the grass, embarking on an unknown adventure... How many gamers had dreamed of this? Not just them—even Chu Guang had daydreamed more than once about standing on the soil of a virtual world one day. It was only a pity... Knowing the entire truth, he was fated never to enjoy the game the way they did. Perhaps for him, the unreachable reality was what felt virtual. "Go forth, warriors." "Go and change this decaying world!" "With your own two hands." Amidst his inner sentimentality, Chu Guang ad-libbed three dramatic lines for himself on the spot. Afterward, he lingered no longer, leaving the stage to the players themselves. Carrying Xiao Qi, he went up to the third floor and set the robot down in front of the window with the best vantage point—the premier seat overlooking all the players. At the same time, in the open space before the sanatorium. Before the newbies taking their first steps into the game world could even draw two breaths of wasteland air, they were surrounded by the veteran players who had arrived at the surface ahead of them. "Any brothers with special talents? Raise your hands... What? You've got one? Holy crap, awesome! What is it, tell us... What the hell is 'Calm and Collected'? Why does that sound so useless?" "Any Strength-type newbies? Let's go punch trees and grind stats together! It's super fun!" "Big bro, I'm Strength-type! How do you play this game?" Seeing that a newbie was finally engaging with him, the veteran beamed with delight. "You're Strength-type? What's your tag?" "Construction Boy and Bricks!" "Damn, bro, you've already figured this game out! Take my advice: Strength-type players need to chop more trees and move more bricks. Roll up your sleeves and just get to it! Fell a hundred trees and you'll hit LV1 in no time! Seven or eight points of Strength will make you invincible across the wasteland. Run into a mutant? Just swing your axe and smash it!" "Th-then what if I run into someone with a gun?" "Just smash them, that's what!" "???" Standing before the third-floor window of the sanatorium, Chu Guang looked down and observed the players below for a while. Seeing those little novices gradually getting the hang of the game under the veterans' guidance, he nodded in satisfaction. Very good. Extremely dependable. These closed-beta players truly had not let him down. The only slight pity Chu Guang felt was that although this batch of newcomers was very obedient, none seemed to carry the Easter egg left by the first-generation manager—the special gene sequence known as "mutant." However, two special talents did catch his interest. One was "Calm and Collected," which granted a 50% boost to base resistance against negative mental states such as "Fear" and "Despair," along with faster recovery from mental afflictions. On the surface, this talent might seem useless, but anyone with real combat experience knew how crucial this quality was in a fight. The other talent was "Thermal Vision," possessed by an Agility-type player named [Elven King Fugui]. Judging from the system description alone, this talent was practically a godsend for night battles! When triggered intentionally in a focused state, the player's retinas became significantly more sensitive to infrared light. In practice, it allowed them to spot heat sources in the dark within a certain range! Of course, it was largely useless against cold-blooded creatures. Chu Guang silently made a mental note of this [Elven King Fugui]. If a night operation ever came up, he would bring this guy along. Besides those, there were several odd talents. For example, "Temperature Intuition," which could sense the heat of a target without physical contact; "Plant Whisperer," which offered insight into plant growth; and "Insect Hunter," which could smell insect pheromones. These talents held little combat value, but in production and exploration, their utility would not be small. Chu Guang believed he would not even need to drop hints; the players would figure out the optimal playstyles on their own. *** In the apartment district north of Wetland Park. A four-man squad was cautiously closing in on their quarry. The urban terrain was exceedingly complex. From the dilapidated ruins of the tower greenhouses, one could tell that people in pre-war society must have lived quite comfortably. Gale Force 8 remarked, "People in the pre-war era really knew how to enjoy life... Let me brainstorm a bit. The residents living in this community probably grew fruits and vegetables inside the tower. It was their produce market and their garden all in one." Fleeting White Horse asked, "Who maintained it, then?" "There was bound to be property management, or outsourcing the site to a specialized firm would work too. This kind of ecological community has a lot of reference value. Whoever designed this game is a real pro." Gale Force 8 gave high praise; he was quite fascinated by the area's design. "You guys better keep your eyes on our prey. I feel like we're already very, very close to it." Ye Shi immersed his senses into his surroundings. From the shifting drafts, he seemed to hear the prey's heartbeats... one strong, one weak. Wait, two? "Up ahead." Fang Chang had already spotted the reindeer lying on the ground, brought down by an arrow. Yet just as he stepped forward, he suddenly noticed another arrow sticking out of the prey's neck. The neck? He froze for a moment. If he remembered correctly, hadn't his arrow hit its rump? While he was still stunned, his gaze locked with that of a youth directly opposite him. Both stiffened for an instant. In the next second, their hands moved in unison, drawing their bows and aiming straight at each other. "Who are you?" "An NPC?" Both blurted out a string of gibberish, neither understanding a word the other said. Gale Force 8 and Fleeting White Horse reacted swiftly. The moment they realized Fang Chang's situation, they flanked the youth from both sides, maneuvering to his flanks. The youth backed away nervously until his back pressed against a concrete wall, protecting his rear. Fang Chang could feel the killing intent radiating from the cold arrow tip, but he felt no fear as he closed the distance step by step. After all, if he stayed too far away, he wouldn't hit his target either. "Don't come any closer!" "Drop your weapon! You're surrounded!" *What is this guy saying?* *Marauders?!* Watching the three men close in on him, the youth thought of the horrific ways captives of marauders died. Gritting his teeth, he let go of the bowstring. *Whoosh—* The arrow tore through the air like a gust of wind. Fang Chang instinctively dodged sideways, evading the arrowhead as it grazed his cheek, the fletching nearly brushing the tip of his nose. If he hadn't dodged that, he would've been sent straight back to spawn! "Fuck! Grab him!" Cursing loudly, Fang Chang dropped his wooden bow in a mix of fury and panic. Pulling out a length of rebar, he charged forward alongside Fleeting White Horse and Gale Force 8. The youth drew a short blade from his waist, an expression of grim resolve on his face as he prepared to fight to the death. Just then, a pebble whizzed through the air and slammed squarely into his forehead, jarring his consciousness into a daze. "Get him!" Slingshot in hand, Ye Shi shouted, and the three men swarmed forward instantly. A single strike knocked the short blade from the youth's hand, and they pinned him to the ground. "Let me go!" The youth roared, struggling with every ounce of strength he had, but the one pinning him was Fleeting White Horse. A tech-bro beefcake's strength was no laughing matter. "Stay still! Damn, this kid's surprisingly strong! Fang Chang, what do we do with him now?" Looking down at the squirming youth, Fleeting White Horse bound him securely before glancing at Fang Chang beside him. In Wasteland OL, simply killing a person or a monster yielded no experience; progress in gene sequences grew naturally through combat or physical exertion. In other words, capturing a target gave the exact same experience as killing them. Gale Force 8 searched the youth's pack and found that aside from a flatbread, there were only a few arrows and an exquisitely crafted small knife. Shaking his head, he stood up and said, "He's dirt-poor." Staring down at the youth glaring daggers at them from the ground, Fang Chang fell into contemplation. "I can't guess what he's saying either." "Keep him tied up for now. Let's take him back and turn him in for cash."