At the exact moment the Southern Archipelago Federation's patrol boat departed, an exploration team led by Elaina and Elven King Fugui set out from camp, pushing deep into the jungle.
Numbering only ten members, this makeshift team had just two leaders, while another four were players who had barely crossed LV 10, equipped with basic miner exoskeletons and light or heavy armor attachments.
The fires sparked by the incendiary bombs had burned out. The rustling chorus of insects resumed all around them, as if nothing had ever happened.
No one dared let their guard down.
The locals chose to live on islands rather than mainland soil, and it certainly wasn't out of an aesthetic passion for island scenery.
Though most players had set foot on this strange land brimming with excitement for a new map, nobody actually wanted to end up as mutant dung—especially on their very first day, before they had even earned back the cost of their airship tickets.
"This is the Binhai Port District of Shilong City. One kilometer northwest is the Binhai Residential District, featuring clusters of villas and scenic coastal parks..."
Checking the tourist brochure in her hand, Elaina glanced at the lush tropical vegetation surrounding them. Her expression grew subtle.
Calling this place identical to the illustrations in the brochure would be a stretch; in truth, they had nothing to do with each other.
While vast swathes of Qingquan City were also swallowed by overgrowth, that was an entirely different situation.
Here, though remnants of reinforced concrete still lingered, most belonged to municipal drainage systems and highway infrastructure—and nearly all were fractured beyond recognition, stripped of their original forms.
As for the towering skyscrapers and coastal villa estates, they had vanished without a trace, leaving behind not the slightest sign of their former existence.
After studying the brochure's map for a while, Elven King Fugui pulled out a pencil, drew a circle north of the port, and tapped the lead against it.
"The underground parking lots in the residential area north of the harbor might have flooded into stagnant pools... just like in Qingquan City."
Elaina gave him an amused, sideways look. "And just like Qingquan City, they've turned into nests for mutants?"
Stroking his chin, Elven King Fugui pondered. "Quite likely!"
Elaina smirked. "Not bad. We can knock out two quests at once."
"To be safe, let's split into groups first."
Elven King Fugui ordered the team into three squads, advancing in a triangular formation. That way, even if they ran into an emergency, they wouldn't suffer a total wipeout in one go. If one squad ran into trouble, the other two could rapidly provide support from the flanks.
This was hard-won tactical wisdom the veteran players had forged in battle, and it was the perfect opportunity to teach the newcomers.
Yet despite their meticulous planning, the squad's progress remained frustratingly slow.
In less than three kilometers of cross-country trekking, they suffered at least ten attacks by mutants.
During the two hairiest encounters, they crossed paths with a mutated giant python thick as a water bucket, and a flock of mutated bulldog bats that resembled pterosaurs.
If Fugui hadn't reacted with lightning speed and fired an explosive arrow into the bat swarm before it could scatter, their ragtag party would have wiped out right then and there!
Aside from those bizarre mutants, the rainforest's dense vegetation proved a massive obstacle in its own right.
Vines lurking in the underbrush could trip an unwary traveler in a heartbeat, while thick, web-like creepers formed natural walls across their path.
"Holy crap... The brush here is ridiculous." Hacking through a blocking creeper with a billhook, a heavy-armored Strength-type player clicked his tongue. "Why don't we just burn our way through?"
Trailing close behind with his rifle raised, an Agility-type player grumbled softly under his breath, keeping vigilant watch over the surrounding jungle and the shadows rustling with movement.
Bringing up the rear, a Constitution-type player chuckled.
"Incendiary bombs? Are you joking, brother? This is a tropical rainforest..."
Historical records showed that while a single napalm bomb could blanket two thousand five hundred square meters of terrain, on average it burned away only about fifty square meters of tropical rainforest.
Living timber in a humid climate was completely different from dehydrated lumber used for construction. Clearing an entire rainforest would devour an astronomical quantity of fuel—an expense far greater than purging the Na fruit mycelium around Jinhe City.
"...By the way, was this godforsaken place really a city?"
Wiping sweat from his brow and grimacing at the nick in his billhook, the Strength-type grunt in the lead couldn't help venting.
"According to the pre-war map, yes. We're supposed to be near a highway right now." The Constitution-type player in the rear pulled a pamphlet from his exoskeleton, checked it, and shoved it back.
"A highway? Here?"
The Agility-type player glanced back in disbelief.
The other nodded, keeping his reply brief. "Two centuries have passed, after all. Typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, and rampant plant growth... With no one maintaining it, it's hardly surprising that all traces of civilization were erased."
The three shared the in-game handles Squirtle, Blastoise, and Hanbagui—the Constitution-type brother.
Their naming scheme made it obvious they were buddies in real life, likely even college roommates sharing a dorm.
Such setups were far from rare in Wasteland Online. The closed beta invitations had never been truly random; they followed clear systemic biases.
According to an analysis by an Alpha-test veteran on the forums, Wasteland Online appeared to be a game on the surface, but in reality aimed to build a virtual community where humans and AI coexisted harmoniously. Theoretically, if two players met the operator's screening criteria and were close acquaintances in reality, the probability of both receiving closed beta invitations was relatively high.
Of course, that was merely one weighting factor in the algorithm.
After their brief banter, the three fell silent, focusing on their surroundings as they pushed onward cautiously.
Parting a thick cluster of bushes, Squirtle in the lead immediately spotted a collapsed concrete structure.
Lush green creepers clung to concrete walls webbed with fissures. On one side of the wall lay wild, overgrown brush, while on the other yawned a bottomless pit over ten meters wide.
"I'll go take a look... Cover me." Squirtle swallowed hard, hung the billhook onto his exoskeleton, switched to his assault rifle, and approached with measured steps.
No mutant noises.
After thoroughly inspecting the vine-choked wall and confirming no signs of danger, he clicked on his flashlight, drew closer, and shone the beam down into the abyss.
The brilliant cone of light pierced deep into the chasm, reflecting the shimmering ripples of water into his vision.
Listening to the steady drip-drop of water echoing from below, Squirtle's face lit up with delight. He turned his head and called to his teammates behind him.
"There's a water source here—"
Before the words had completely left his lips, he caught the look of sheer terror on the faces of his two companions.
"Behind you!"
"Get back!"
Almost in the very instant their screams tore through the air, Squirtle, standing at the edge of the pit, felt a colossal force whip into his ribs.
It was a creeper as thick as an arm!
Like a steel tape measure snapping back, the moment it struck, it wrapped twice around his exoskeleton's chest armor and dragged him backward with immense power.
"Ugh!"
Air was crushed from his lungs. Gasping for breath, Squirtle's eyes bulged so hard they nearly popped from their sockets.
He felt like an insect trapped inside a pitcher plant.
Driven by raw survival instinct, he reached out and clamped both hands onto the edge of the pit.
Yet the crushing force against his chest grew heavier, bending the polymer inserts on his exoskeleton inward.
"Squirtle! Hang on!"
With quick reflexes, Blastoise flipped off the safety on his underslung grenade launcher and fired a high-explosive round at the half-collapsed concrete wall.
A burst of flame erupted against the structure, but the flying shrapnel merely peeled away a layer of mortar and severed a few green fronds. It did nothing to stop the thick, sinewy creeper from tightening its grip and pulling him down.
"My... VM..."
With the last ounce of his strength, his eyes rolling back, Squirtle gritted his teeth, tore the VM from his arm, and hurled it toward his squadmates.
Almost at that very moment, his vision went black. Unable to hold on any longer, he was dragged with a violent whoosh into the bottomless abyss.
"Squirtle!"
"Brother!"
Watching their squadmate get swallowed whole by an unknown plant, the remaining two let out a furious, grief-stricken roar.
Yet their shouts were quickly swallowed by the dark green rainforest, drowned beneath the rustling foliage and the incessant drone of insects.
Picking up the mud-stained VM from the dirt, Blastoise pressed a hand to his helmet with a heavy heart, took a deep breath, and spoke into the comms.
"This is Squad B. We've discovered a concrete structure with abundant freshwater resources below, but there seems to be a monster nesting inside..."
A reply came swiftly through the channel.
Elven King Fugui: "A monster?!"
"To be precise... it's probably a plant." Looking at the dark abyss with lingering dread, Blastoise swallowed hard. "Squirtle was wiped out in an instant. We didn't even have time to call for backup."
The comm channel went quiet for a moment.
Amid static, Elven King Fugui resumed. "...Copy that. Wait there. We're on our way."
Blastoise nodded quickly. "Roger!"
After signing off, he tucked Squirtle's VM into his backpack and cast another wary glance at the concrete structure, which had returned to utter stillness.
From the outside, nothing suggested it was a deadly trap.
"Poor Squirtle. Gone in a flash."
Hanbagui let out a sigh. His gaze drifted toward the adjacent rainforest, where he noticed a tree as thick as a water barrel, its base clustered with dense rows of green berries.
The things looked eerily familiar.
Letting out a soft grunt of surprise, he crouched down, plucked one from the tree root, and turned it over in his palm.
Seeing this, Blastoise asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
Rising to his feet, Hanbagui tossed the green berry to him. "Does this look familiar to you?"
Blastoise caught it, took one look, and his eyes snapped wide open.
"A bit... Wait, holy shit! It's that!"
"Which that?"
Drawn by his dramatic reaction, Hanbagui gave him a curious look.
Without skipping a beat, Blastoise stared back in shock. "Na fruit! This damn thing is Na fruit!"
Hanbagui froze, his mind catching up instantly.
"Holy shit?!"
...
The sun dipped from mid-sky toward the west. Half a day had passed since the Alliance's cargo airship arrived at the Baiyue Strait.
In this brief span, the new map had already claimed ten casualties.
Five occurred in the forest bordering the camp, and five along the beach—distributed with remarkable symmetry.
In addition, twelve players sustained injuries too severe to heal in the field. Rather than waste precious game time, they recorded their progress in hibernation pods and opted to forgo treatment.
The Niuma Group airship would carry those warriors' save data, VMs, and recovered active substances back into Alliance territory free of charge.
For a camp of just over three hundred people, losing more than twenty was a serious blow.
Only now did Fang Chang truly understand the parting words of that patrol NPC.
As it turned out, the man hadn't believed they could survive here at all.
It made sense.
If this land had been easy to tame, the locals wouldn't have abandoned a mainland rich in resources just to hunker down on isolated islands.
Yet while such a steep casualty rate was intolerable for NPCs, to players it was par for the course.
Opening up a new map always cost lives. A few deaths were completely acceptable.
"...Clearing rainforest plots is still too slow. We should have hired the Jungle Corps," Fang Chang thought to himself, gazing at the camp bathed in twilight.
Just then, an incoming call icon flashed across his VM screen.
Seeing Elaina's ID, Fang Chang slipped on his earpiece and tapped the accept button with his index finger. "Hello?"
"It's me, Elaina."
"What's up?"
"We found freshwater, but the situation is tricky. Looks like a giant carnivorous plant has taken up residence. It'll take some time to clear it out. Also, we found some Na fruit nearby. Wild, it seems."
Fang Chang froze. "Wild Na fruit?!"
Elaina: "Ummm... how should I put it? It's different from the cultivated strain we saw in Jinchuan Province. It doesn't reproduce nearly as fast. It grows on specific trees like wood ear fungus, just forming a thin layer along the base of the roots. If you don't look closely, you'd easily mistake it for ordinary berries in the brush."
Fang Chang frowned, asking at once, "What about the surrounding soil? Is it contaminated?"
Elaina: "Didn't see any contaminated soil... As for whether you'd see anything under a microscope, I couldn't say; I only have a magnifying glass. I'm wondering if these naturally growing Na fruits might be their original form, while the ones in Jinchuan Province were an engineered variety spliced with mutant slime mold DNA."
The official website's lore compendium seemed to describe something similar.
Na fruit had originally spread into Haiya Province from the southern seas. Before the Church of the Torch spliced mutant slime mold genes into it to use as the foundation for their paradise, it was merely an unusual tropical fungus.
Just like wood ear mushrooms.
Fang Chang thought for a moment, then said, "Harvest some samples for me."
Elaina gave a sly chuckle. "No problem! Oh, by the way, we sacrificed a teammate to secure those samples, and his gear wasn't cheap. So, about that..."
Fang Chang rolled his eyes. "Will ten thousand silver coins cover it?"
A satisfied grin spread across Elaina's face. "Deal!"
...
Meanwhile, at the port of Ring Island.
A man dressed in sumptuous finery stepped onto the deck of the cargo ship Rou Rou, flanked by coastal patrol officer Muda and two Federation soldiers.
Seeing the party board from afar, Sesame Paste quietly shepherded Misa and the group of children who had come out for fresh air back into the cabin.
Pushing open the wheelhouse door, Sisi descended the ladder. She looked at the leading man, then shifted her gaze to Muda—the only one she recognized—and asked warmly, "And this is?"
Muda turned toward the nobleman and introduced him with deep respect. "This is the Governor of Ring Island, Mr. Channing. This port and the settlement behind it fall under his jurisdiction."
Governor?
A subtle flicker of surprise crossed Sisi's face upon hearing Muda's introduction. She offered the governor a polite smile. "Greetings, Governor. May I ask what brings you aboard our ship?"
Channing maintained a stony expression. "You have been docked here for three days. If your intention was to purchase supplies, you should have finished long ago."
Sisi replied apologetically, "Our sincere apologies. Our ship suffered a minor mechanical malfunction, and we may need to remain in your port for a few more days. Naturally, we will cover the layover fees... I inquired with the harbor master, and it was one thousand dinars a day, correct?"
Channing studied her for several seconds before speaking abruptly. "You are from the Alliance."
Sisi blinked, raising an eyebrow slightly. "How did you figure that out?"
"We made a few inquiries in Silver Moon Bay. The White Bear Knights, yes?" Channing glanced up at the pennant hanging above the cabin.
Seeing that he was already certain of their identity, Sisi knew denying it would be pointless and only make them look deceitful. She owned up to it openly.
"Indeed. I am a citizen of the Alliance. However, this vessel is no Alliance warship—merely a freighter we bought in Silver Moon Bay—"
Channing waved a hand, cutting her short.
"I have no desire to waste time talking in circles. Let us be direct. What exactly are you after? You, those people, and that airship anchored to the west!"
Sisi had initially intended to deny knowing the airship party, just as the players had agreed on the forums to avoid needless complications.
Yet right then, she caught a fleeting glimmer of wariness in the governor's eyes.
She was certain she hadn't imagined it. That guarded expression had surfaced only after he confirmed their identity and origins.
Then she recalled the clues from the investigation quest issued by the Administrator: the Southern Archipelago Federation had been founded under the leadership of Church of the Torch supporters, whereas these settlements had previously fallen under the jurisdiction of Shelter 70.
If the Federation's upper ranks harbored Church of the Torch sympathizers, or even Apostles of the Torch, it was easy to see why they were so sensitive to Alliance movements.
However—
Upon discovering they were Alliance, they hadn't launched an immediate attack. Instead, they had chosen to probe.
Clearly, these people were not diehard allies of the Church of the Torch; they had simply formed a united front regarding Shelter 70.
In other words, they could be won over.
Her thoughts shifted, and Sisi nimbly pivoted, putting on the air of someone fully briefed on the airship's operations—as though the freighter Rou Rou were part of the very same plan.
"Please, don't be so tense. As you've seen, we've merely pitched a few tents over there. That spot is more than a hundred nautical miles from you. It hardly infringes on your interests, does it?"
"Do you take me for a fool?" Channing sneered, his eyes boring into hers. "You crossed thousands of kilometers to come all the way here just to pitch a few tents?"
Sisi shrugged, wearing the expression of someone caught red-handed.
"Fine, I'll be blunt... We plan to build a settlement there to shelter survivors who fled the Xilan Empire—the Moon people."
Channing still looked unconvinced. "Why care about them? What does their life or death have to do with you?"
Meeting his probing stare, Sisi smiled faintly. "Nothing, yet everything. They are survivors of the wasteland, and ending the wasteland is our duty. Any potential threat to the civilized world is our concern. So long as you have a clear conscience, there is no need to worry about us. Unless we witness atrocities we cannot bear, we rarely interfere in the affairs of other survivor settlements."
Her tone took on a pointed edge during the latter half of the sentence.
Catching the unspoken implication, Governor Channing's expression stiffened. He glared at her. "What are you implying?"
Smiling, Sisi laid her cards on the table. "We heard a rumor that someone intends to cooperate with those madmen in Haiya Province to introduce Na fruit mycelium from the mainland into the ocean."
Channing narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flickering within them. "...What does that have to do with you?"
Ignoring the threat in his posture, Sisi gave a matter-of-fact nod. "Everything, actually. The plague on land gives us headaches enough. If those lunatics drag it into the sea and plunge this planet into chaos, all our hard work will be for nothing."
"This planet?"
Channing let out a cold laugh, eyeing her intently. "Our sights aren't set as far as yours. But how can you be so sure introducing that organism into the ocean will plunge the planet into chaos, rather than making it more normal?"
Sisi arched an eyebrow. "Oh? You believe that would make things more normal?"
"Do you think things are normal right now?" Channing scoffed in counter. "Before those madmen transferred their psychic interference technology to us, our fishermen and merchants had to risk their lives every time they put to sea, all because of the mutants lurking in those waters!
"And now, the experiments conducted by those madmen in Haiya Province have borne fruit. Both the mutants and the slime mold have become as docile as sunfish! If we introduce that into the southern seas, not only will we secure a vast, safe fishing ground, but we can also completely eradicate the broodmother infesting the wreckage of the Tianting space station!
"That thing is the root of all evil, the source of every mutant... For two centuries, its DNA has polluted the entire ocean! Do you call that 'normal'? Now that we have a chance to solve this once and for all, tell me: what reason do we have not to do it?"
Sisi looked at him. "Does Shelter 70 share that view?"
Channing curled his lip in contempt.
"Those fools have gone soft in the head rotting inside their bunker. They think the entire world must run according to their rules, that only their decrees are sound, swift, and righteous. As if obeying them would return the world to how it was two centuries ago, letting them restore a utopia scribbled on toilet paper... Even now, they can't even explain how that utopia collapsed in the first place."
Sisi fell into thought.
Initially, she had assumed these people were like the survivors of Singularity City, blindly led by the nose by church zealots. She hadn't realized their choice was calculated and deliberate.
"Have you ever considered that what the Torch gave you... that Na fruit, might not be as wonderful as you imagine?"
Channing replied bluntly, "Indeed, it is far from perfect, much like the psychic interference devices. But at least they have produced tangible results. As long as we employ it properly and minimize its negative side effects, the outcome will be vastly better than our current reality. Or do you possess a superior alternative?"
"Yes," Sisi said, looking at him squarely. "We have already eliminated the broodmother in Qingquan City... You should know of it. Researchers from Shelter 70 used to make regular trips there to collect samples."
Surprise flickered across Channing's face. Evidently, he had not heard about recent developments in Qingquan City.
Yet soon, his eyes narrowed once more.
For the second time, a dangerous light flared within them.
"I wondered earlier how you knew so much about us... Have you been in contact with Shelter 70 recently?"
Not only did his demeanor turn hostile, but the two soldiers behind him also took on menacing postures.
"To be precise, our Administrator spoke with theirs. However, simply because we are fellow vault dwellers does not mean we accepted their claims unconditionally. Just as we are doing right now, we are consulting your views."
Unfazed by the unspoken threat, Sisi met his gaze evenly, enunciating each word with calm conviction.
"I ask for your opinion once more: if we possess a better method to eliminate the broodmother nested upon the Tianting space station, would the survivors of Ring Island grant us an opportunity to prove ourselves?"
Channing gave a dry chuckle.
"Those people are far more generous than you. They promised not only to resolve the Tianting broodmother, but to pacify the mutants across this entire sea..."
He paused mid-sentence.
Perhaps sensing that her tactful phrasing was not merely an inquiry, but also a final lifeline extended to him and his island, the governor swallowed the polite refusal on the tip of his tongue.
"...If you wish to try, then try. The survivors of Ring Island have no reason to refuse you. But the Federation authorities are another story. Some among them are Apostles of the Torch."
Hearing this, Sisi breathed an inward sigh of relief, a pleasant smile breaking across her face.
Her assessment had been spot on.
Just as she had surmised, this fledgling federation had only united around their shared grievance against Shelter 70; the Church of the Torch had not tied them completely to its war chariot.
The local survivors could still be brought around!
"I will keep that in mind. In addition, I wish to speak with Shelter 70. If you could agree to a ceasefire first, our work would proceed far more smoothly."
Channing laughed dismissively. "I cannot help you there. War is federal business; you'd have to negotiate with the Federation president on North Island. And I'd advise against wasting your breath. Our feud with those dwellers isn't just about whether to let the Torch handle the Tianting broodmother. They must pay for their ceaseless arrogance."
Sisi pressed on. "Could you tell me why you're fighting? There must have been a spark."
Channing replied impatiently, "Freshwater."
Sisi blinked. "Freshwater?"
Channing nodded. "The artificial islands in the southern seas have no freshwater lakes. Nearly a million survivors live here, and we can't rely entirely on rainfall. The islands depend primarily on desalination plants for their water."
Sisi asked, "Did they seize the plants?"
Channing waved his hand bitterly.
"Far worse. To force our compliance, they shut down the facilities first. Then, once we seized them, they blew them sky-high! And that wasn't all... They also destroyed twelve of our tidal turbine generators and offshore mining platforms. We're scraping by on solar and wind power, but life is still stretched to the limit."
Sisi mulled this over. "I see... By the way, regarding freshwater, before your power grid is restored, we might be able to help."
Channing stared at her, an odd look in his eyes. "You? This is a settlement of a hundred thousand people. How do you plan to help? Ship it from Silver Moon Bay?"
That sounded like an absurd boast.
Especially considering that just three days ago, these people had paid an exorbitant sum to purchase a dozen cubic meters of water from their port. If they truly possessed a solution for freshwater, why squander that money?
Ignoring his skeptical look, Sisi continued smoothly.
"Didn't I just say? We plan to establish a new settlement beside the Baiyue Strait to resolve the broodmother in the southern seas and shelter the displaced Moon people. That is mainland territory, blessed with abundant freshwater. It's more than enough for a hundred thousand people—it could sustain ten million. And the cost would be far cheaper than desalinating seawater."
"Spare me the fairy tales," Channing chuckled, brushing it aside. "A settlement? If you can hold out there for two months, I'll admit I was blind."
Her eyes narrowing with amusement, Sisi smiled softly.
"Then let's see, shall we?"
Chapter 666