[Respected Lord Administrator, by the time you read this email, our freight airship, the Niuma, will have arrived over the Baiyue Strait and established our very first base on the northern shore of the estuary leading into the Southern Sea.]
[Truth be told, conditions here are far more complicated than we anticipated. Any traces of past civilization have been completely washed away by the sea. The nearest survivor settlement lies on an island over a hundred nautical miles away, meaning we cannot rely on local survivors for guidance and must depend entirely on ourselves.]
[Furthermore, the hospitable climate has accelerated the evolution of local mutants at an astonishing pace. The rainforest is teeming with mutant species we have never seen before. On our very first day here, we encountered lizards larger than crocodiles, crocodiles the size of dinosaurs, pythons capable of swallowing a two-headed ox whole, as well as infant-sized bats, waist-high scorpions and rats... and even man-eating plants!]
[Of course, the most astonishing discovery was finding wild 'Na fruit' here—most likely the original strain! What is puzzling, however, is that our enemy never transplanted the genetically modified Na fruit into this region to turn it into another breeding ground for the Na fruit fungal colony. We cannot help but suspect there may be some ulterior secret behind this. In any case, we have sampled the strain, and it will be sent back to Dawn City on the next return flight.]
[Returning to business, this chain of troubles inflicted considerable casualties on the exploration squad we sent into the jungle to locate fresh water. Fortunately, at the cost of only twenty-two lives, we managed to scout out a ten-kilometer radius around the landing site and cleared a relatively secure clearing along the coast.]
[Next, we plan to enclose the camp with perimeter walls, clearing back the adjacent rainforest while replacing our tents with proper structures. For this, we require large quantities of building materials, more transport airships, and assistance from the Jungle Corps. If you would be willing to provide some aid to the Alliance's future port, it would mean the world to us; our forces are far too stretched, and relying on our strength alone would take an exceptionally long time to see this through.]
[Additionally, in accordance with your teachings, we have initiated peaceful contact with nearby survivor settlements, doing everything possible to avoid direct military conflict. Thanks to the crew of the Rou Rou, the Governor of Ring Island has expressed willingness to trade with us. Furthermore, should we resolve their freshwater shortage, they have agreed to help manufacture some of the tools we need.]
[I believe this serves as an excellent breakthrough. If we can prove that our methods work better than Torch's, we might be able to unite several islands under our banner. This would erode the Church of the Torch's influence across the Southern Sea, or even rally the local survivors completely behind our cause, allowing us to encircle the Church of the Torch from the south!]
[Our war with the Church of the Torch is inevitable, and I can sense that the final showdown is not far off. I am certain you believe the same and have been preparing for that day all along. I am utterly convinced that the outcome of that decisive battle will determine not only our future, but the future of our civilization!]
[To that end, we once again plead for your greater support. Beyond resources and manpower, we also need professional biologists to help us resolve the troubles we face in this land. Please believe in us—this investment will never disappoint you!]
[—Your most loyal subordinate, Fang Chang]
Not bad.
They were really making progress.
Looking at the email on the holographic screen—or rather, the giant pie of grandiose promises—a faint smile crept onto Chu Guang's face.
All this time, he had been the one acting as the trash dev, drawing pie in the sky for the players. Now, his little players had finally learned his signature skill, turning around to bake a pie of their own for him, the Alliance Administrator.
This email had been written by Fang Chang after logging off, routed to him through the quest system on the official Wasteland OL website.
Yet it had to be said, this pie looked rather appetizing.
If his little players could truly unite the survivors of the Southern Sea and purge the Church of the Torch's influence from the region, the Alliance could encircle the Church of the Torch from both north and south, sealing off every escape route for that cockroach.
At the very least, it would prevent them from fleeing southward and slipping away to stir up trouble in other corners of the wasteland...
After reading the email twice, Chu Guang tapped his index finger gently against the desk, pondering for a good while before speaking.
"Xiao Qi."
"Here, Master!" Perched atop the pen holder, Xiao Qi raised her right hand high, gazing at him with an eager, expectant look.
Amused by that energetic display, Chu Guang smiled softly. He reached out his index finger, rubbed the top of her head gently, and said, "Draft a reply for me. I'll dictate, you type."
With that, Chu Guang leaned back against the sofa, gazing up at the ceiling of the browsing room. After a moment's thought, he began:
"'It brings me great pride to witness your growth. You have learned how to proactively expand our strength and spread the light of order to distant horizons... even sooner than I anticipated. You have given me hope that our ideals may be realized within my lifetime.
"'I will grant you all necessary support. Effective immediately, the Jungle Corps will board airships to redeploy to Baiyue Province. At the same time, a research team composed of biological experts will be dispatched to garrison at your settlement when conditions permit.
"'You must ensure stable local supplies of electricity, fresh water, food, and basic necessities, all while balancing your revenues and expenditures. Furthermore, you must help the local survivors establish order, guiding them to voluntarily take part in our cause rather than waiting with open mouths for your handouts and sustenance.
"'This will not be easy, but I believe that with so much established experience to draw upon, you will certainly see this arduous and glorious mission through to completion.
"'Lastly, choose a name for this future pearl of the sea. It will accompany us into a new era, so take your time and give it serious thought!'"
The moment Chu Guang finished his dictation, Xiao Qi finished drafting the email, automatically polishing the prose for him.
"Should I send it now?"
Looking down at Xiao Qi as she asked, Chu Guang thought for a second and replied, "Send it now. Also, draft another quest in a moment and send it to the Jungle Corps and the Burning Corps, ordering them to deploy to the Baiyue Strait region.
"We need to construct a military base equipped with airfield facilities there to support the construction of the local survivor settlement and safeguard it if necessary. Once the base is built, transfer a few reliable officers from the General Staff over to act as quest-giving NPCs. For corps-scale operations, it is still better for quests to originate from our end."
Taking down Chu Guang's instructions in full, Xiao Qi nodded earnestly.
"Understood!"
...
Southern Sea, North Island, the Presidential Palace.
A man around thirty stood beside a wall hung with a nautical chart of the Southern Sea, his gaze locked intently onto the thirteen islands and the assorted colored markers dotted across it.
He was tall and wore an old-pattern aerospace corps uniform. His eyebrows knitted into a single gray line above bright, piercing gray eyes.
His name was Mengge, the first president of the Southern Archipelago Federation and the supreme commander of the Federation Navy.
Standing behind him was Zhalas, Chief of the Presidential Office and Chief of Naval Staff, as well as his most trusted aide.
The Southern Archipelago Federation had been established a mere two months ago. Its organizational framework remained rudimentary; the cabinet had just barely been formed, and the parliament was still in preparations. Although they had initially planned to establish an independent naval command hierarchy, the war with Shelter 70 would wait for no one.
Consequently, the Federation Navy was currently commanded directly by the Presidential Palace, and most officials in the palace held concurrent naval ranks.
Looking at the expressionless president, Zhalas delivered his report with a grave tone.
"...Shelter 70's submersibles continue to raid our vessels. Yesterday, another cargo ship was sunk two hundred nautical miles east of North Island. All fifteen crew members aboard perished. Upon receiving the distress signal, we immediately dispatched warships to comb the surrounding waters, but regretfully, the attackers had already fled by the time we arrived."
Mengge did not speak. He merely stared fixedly at the red circle in the upper right corner of the chart, and the tiny number fifteen beside it.
That cargo ship had been different from the others. It hadn't carried much freight, only daily necessities and tools for setting up camp.
Besides eight sailors, the ship carried five experts in geological prospecting and biology, along with two soldiers assigned to protect them.
Their original mission had been to travel to the northwestern borders of Haiya Province, run the ship aground on the coast, and find a suitable spot in the uninhabited coastal mountains to establish a research station.
They did this, on one hand, to prospect for mainland fresh water and mineral deposits in preparation for the Southern Archipelago Federation's future land settlements. On the other hand, it was to inspect the true state of Haiya Province—to see what that supposed 'paradise' really looked like, and whether it was truly as wondrous as the Church of the Torch claimed.
After all, some things could not be understood at a glance; only long-term observation could reveal their true nature.
Mengge had never put full faith in the 'paradise' depicted by the Church of the Torch, even though he had previously visited the mainland and seen with his own eyes that land where humans and nature supposedly coexisted in harmony.
Rather than having the Church of the Torch unilaterally feed them their methods for managing mutant slime mold and mutant creatures, he preferred sending experts to Haiya Province for an on-site investigation.
Even if it was only on the periphery of this paradise.
That way, the Southern Archipelago Federation could retain the initiative in adopting technology, preventing itself from being led by the nose.
Yet it seemed someone was actively stopping them.
This was already the third cargo ship to be sunk.
Though every clue pointed to Shelter 70 as the culprit behind all three attacks, Mengge could not help but harbor a sliver of doubt.
He knew the residents of Shelter 70 better than anyone.
Like all blue jackets, their defining trait was confidence—or rather, a conceit verging on sheer arrogance.
That conceit stemmed from the era preserved in their memories, along with the knowledge, experience, and methodologies handed down from that past age. While this rendered them somewhat out of place in the wasteland era, they never doubted for a second that they were the ones in the right.
In other words, their attitude toward the Church of the Torch's solutions was not fear, but disdain.
Even if they couldn't offer a better solution, they were one hundred percent certain that Torch's methods were doomed to fail.
For that reason, Shelter 70 had never opposed the Southern Sea survivors interacting with Torch; over the past two decades, the Southern Sea's settlements had never closed their ports to the northerners.
It had nothing to do with mere right or wrong; someone whose confidence bordered on delusion would never bother caring about the ramblings of those walking a different path.
For to such a person, it was nothing more than the dying ravings of a madman.
If attacking Federation cargo ships was a justifiable wartime measure, raiding research vessels felt rather flimsy by comparison.
They should have wanted nothing more than for Southern Sea survivors to see through Torch's true face as early as possible. Why would they stop the Southern Archipelago Federation's research vessel from venturing into Haiya Province to uncover the truth?
Three sinkings in a row, and all occurring when these ships had clearly deviated from regular trade routes.
To call that a coincidence was stretching credibility far too thin.
"...It seems they intend to fight this war to the bitter end."
Seeing the previously silent President Mengge suddenly speak, Zhalas, standing close behind him, chimed in immediately:
"Indeed. The radius of their attacks is growing ever wider, reaching an indiscriminate level. We must prepare for a prolonged confrontation."
Pulling his gaze from the chart, Mengge turned to face his aide and asked, "Do you have any good suggestions?"
Zhalas cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully.
"I'm afraid it will be very difficult to win this war relying on our strength alone... Their submersibles appear and vanish like ghosts. If we allow them to bleed us like this, in two months we won't have a single operational vessel left besides our warships. Meanwhile, they can hold out indefinitely inside their shelter without the burden of a massive population. The longer this war drags on, the more disadvantageous it becomes for us."
At that point, Zhalas shifted his tone and pressed on:
"Coincidentally, word came from the Church of the Torch recently that they are willing to take over the underwater settlement near Shelter 70 and establish a safe zone across the surrounding waters... We could use this opportunity to entrust Coral City to their administration. That way, the security of nearby ocean current power stations, subsea power cables, desalination facilities, and other critical infrastructure would be safeguarded.
"If we can secure our electricity and freshwater supplies, the Federation's islands will have far more confidence in our war against Shelter 70."
Coral City was the fourteenth settlement of the Southern Archipelago Federation, as well as the only underwater settlement directly administered by Shelter 70.
With a resident population of around thirty thousand, it sat right beside the entrance to Shelter 70, a mere five kilometers from the wreckage of the Tianting space station.
The settlement was inhabited by Shelter 70 residents alongside experts trained by them, dedicated primarily to marine resource development and research on the Tianting space station broodmother.
Prior to the founding of the Southern Archipelago Federation, most offshore facilities in the Southern Sea were operated by specialists from Coral City.
When the war erupted, Shelter 70 broke off relations entirely with all survivors outside the vault, including those in Coral City.
To punish what they branded 'traitors,' Shelter 70's blue jackets barbarously detonated the nearby ocean current power station and severed Coral City's power and life support systems, nearly burying all thirty thousand survivors on the ocean floor.
Fortunately, the Southern Archipelago Federation provided timely relief, restarting Coral City's entrance facilities and evacuating its survivors before their oxygen ran out, dispersing them across northern Federation islands like North Island, Bawei Island, and Anle Island.
Coral City was the settlement closest to the broodmother, boasting abundant ready-made research facilities and scientific data ripe for exploitation.
Mengge was not in the least surprised that the Church of the Torch wanted to take over the abandoned Coral City settlement; in fact, it was entirely within his expectations.
They had been eyeing the place for quite some time, well before recent events.
Long ago, they had proposed moving into Coral City to collaborate with Shelter 70 on studying the Tianting space station's broodmother, only to be rejected at the time.
Still, that they had demanded it so brazenly made Mengge raise an eyebrow, wearing a half-mocking smirk.
"They're offering that kind of charity?"
Zhalas said respectfully, "They may not harbor pure intentions, but I believe we can consider it. After all, as you know, that settlement is currently abandoned and without maintenance. Over time, should leaks or other failures occur, it will become permanently uninhabitable.
"If Torch is willing to take over that settlement, our maritime defensive pressure will ease dramatically. Should Shelter 70's submersibles attack facilities guaranteed under Torch's protection, it would be tantamount to declaring war on the Church... Whether they dare take that step or not, it brings us only benefits with no drawbacks."
Mengge replied expressionlessly, "The conflict between us and Shelter 70 will be resolved by our own hands. We won't trouble them to worry over Coral City."
Seeing that the President had no intention of budging, Zhalas, who had wanted to say more, could only yield with a helpless nod.
"As you wish. I merely wished to present a viable option... Though naturally, I still suggest you give my recommendation further thought."
"We'll see. I will keep it in mind."
Turning his eyes away from his aide, Mengge looked back toward the nautical chart on the wall and continued:
"Is there anything else to report?"
Zhalas nodded hastily. "Yes, sir."
Mengge: "Speak."
Zhalas immediately replied, "An airship from the Alliance has arrived at the eastern mouth of the Baiyue Strait to our southwest and established a base there."
The Alliance...
Mengge's eyes narrowed slightly.
He had heard of them.
Supposedly a power rising out of the southern River Valley Province, over two thousand kilometers away. Only a few merchants from Silver Moon Bay had visited the place, and rumors about it were wildly inconsistent, making it impossible to separate fact from fiction.
"What are they after?"
Zhalas hesitated a moment before answering, "It's unclear for now. The Governor of Ring Island reported that they seem intent on building a settlement in the Baiyue Strait... There were around three hundred people there yesterday, though that was yesterday's tally. How many remain today, no one knows."
Hearing this amusing remark, Mengge couldn't help but chuckle out loud, pressing a fist to his lips to clear his throat.
Zhalas smiled along and continued, "They haven't displayed any hostile behavior for now, but I get the impression their motives for coming here aren't purely innocent... This morning, they forwarded a telegram to us through Ring Island's governor's mansion."
Mengge held out a hand. "Let me see it."
Zhalas nodded, swiftly retrieved the telegram from the folder under his elbow, and presented it deferentially.
Mengge took the paper and gave it a cursory scan.
The message was brief—so brief that two sentences could sum up its entirety: first, warm and neighborly greetings; second, the proclamation of Alliance sovereignty over that territory.
Mengge didn't care much about either statement, finding them amusing more than anything.
A little over a month ago, he had proposed to the Church of the Torch that they establish a 'collaborative pilot program' on the eastern coast of Baiyue Province, given that its climate was quite similar to the Southern Sea.
However, Torch had rejected their proposal citing the intricate and treacherous conditions of Baiyue Province, insisting on conducting their research across the Southern Sea islands or underwater settlements instead.
Evidently, it was not just Shelter 70—even the Church of the Torch had no way to tame that land for now. Mengge hardly believed a faction stationed over two thousand kilometers away could fare any better.
And when his eyes fell upon the signatory line at the bottom, he couldn't help laughing out loud a second time.
"...Port French Fries."
What kind of rubbish name was that?
Were these people serious?
Zhalas chuckled along, remarking teasingly, "Sounds like an outright joke."
"Joke or not, it's only proper that we send a formal reply."
Pondering for two seconds with the telegram in hand, Mengge tossed it back into Zhalas's grasp, cleared his throat, and continued:
"Send a telegram back to them. Say... 'We wish you great joy playing in the woods. If it pleases you, go ahead and build a few more settlements in Baiyue Province—don't be shy at all.
"'When you head back, remember to send my regards to your Administrator.'"
Chapter 667