Fight the Tide with the Tide!

As time went on, the fungal variants launched ever more ferocious assaults. Eventually, "new species" never before seen on the Weifu Wasteland began to emerge. The monsters seemed limitless, pouring ceaselessly from the grayish-green fog, their combat prowess steadily climbing. However— The Alliance players felt no fear. If anything, they grew more and more excited. A three-day spectating penalty was inevitable anyway, so they might as well go out in a blaze of glory! Driven by that mindset, the players' morale was just as endless as the horde. No matter what casualties they suffered, there was not a trace of terror or retreat. Leading his squad, Fawai Kuangtu fell back from position to position while firing, managing to hold out against the surging fungal variants thanks to their abundant ammunition. It was well known that the territory of Heaven was governed by psychic interference devices. Somewhere inside the domain lay hidden research facilities, and within those facilities were apostles of the Church of the Torch. Whether to conceal themselves or preserve their strength, the figures lurking in the shadows would never allow this battle of attrition to drag on indefinitely. As the corpses piled higher and higher across the wasteland, the gray fog gradually revealed several unusual advanced variants—perhaps because the enemy could no longer stomach the continuous losses, or perhaps because they wanted to teach the Alliance a lesson. Following an ear-splitting roar, a machine-gun nest in the front line was suddenly sent "flying" into the air. "Aaaagh!" Crack! Watching the two players crash screaming to the ground, Fawai Kuangtu's face betrayed a hint of shock. Right then, heavy footsteps echoed through the dense fog, and a massive horn came into view. The creature resembled nothing found on Earth, looking somewhat like a prehistoric ceratopsian. Rotting flesh was stitched together by dark green hyphae, while layered plates of chitinous material looked as tough as heavy armor. Its single horn was as long as a one-story building, and its body stood three stories high. It was like a moving mountain! It was hard to imagine how this thing had erupted from beneath the ground, or whether it had simply hidden somewhere beyond the drones' line of sight. None of that mattered anymore. The crux was that this towering, strategic-grade bio-weapon was far beyond the scope of infantry weaponry... Even a tank would struggle against it. Fawai Kuangtu could not help thinking that if this monstrosity charged at full sprint, it might crack a chunk right out of Boulder City's massive concrete walls... "Holy crap... Did a boss just spawn?" The player beside him swallowed hard. "So the question is... what's this thing called?" "Standard rule: whoever spots it names it. If nobody names it, the system auto-generates a name..." "How about 'Siege Beast'?" Even at this critical juncture, the rookies present still had the leisure to name the monster. Meanwhile, the only veteran player on the field had already resigned himself to his fate. "We're totally screwed this time..." Fawai Kuangtu smiled wryly. He shoved an incendiary shell into his shotgun while barking at the brothers beside him to pull out their RPGs and blast everything right at the creature's head. Yet combat proved that it was utterly futile. The flames spewed by the shotgun merely left a scorch mark on its horn armor. The RPG's shaped-charge warhead did pierce its defense, but the splash-like jet of molten metal was nowhere near enough to burn it to death. Ultimately, it was not an ordinary living creature. It was even more absurd than those mutants capable of regrowing severed heads; it lacked anything resembling a central nervous system. What drove its movement were the Na fruit hyphae, which in turn were commanded by the psychic interference devices. The consciousness radiating from "Heaven" controlled every puppet in the domain. That was the essence of the "Heaven" depicted by the Church of the Torch. It was also its most formidable, terrifying aspect! Perhaps enraged by the scorching fire, the Siege Beast let out a muffled bellow and churned its heavy limbs, charging straight into the players' defensive perimeter. The twisted, elongated horn plowed a terrifying trench through the black earth, shearing the players' position directly in two. Two more machine-gun positions were silenced. A gap finally opened in the dense crossfire, giving the endlessly surging walking corpses and corpse hounds an opportunity to pour through the breach and breach the players' final line of defense. Tackled to the ground by a swarm of walking corpses, High-End Ingredients fired his last round. With the final ounce of his strength, he shouted toward the blood-soaked Fawai Kuangtu. "Captain! See you... in three days!" Wiping away the blood blurring his left eye, Fawai Kuangtu flashed him a grin. "Yeah. See you in three days!" With that, he raised his shotgun and fired an incendiary shell. Blinding, incandescent white phosphorus engulfed the rookie along with the walking corpses mauling him. Not long after, surrounded by walking corpses, Fawai Kuangtu detonated the explosives strapped to his body, disintegrating into a shower of blood amid a cloud of smoke and debris... At the same time, coordinates for artillery strikes were transmitted to Mount Lai, more than a dozen kilometers away. From the start until the fall of the last player, the battle had lasted a full hour. Over three thousand fungal variants had been eliminated! That meant an average of nearly a hundred kills per player. For Beta 0.7 rookies who had just finished the "Passing the Torch" quest, received their VMs, and officially set foot on the wasteland, this was an extraordinary achievement. Facing the scarred, ruined landscape, the fungal variants lost their targets and turned their attention to the corpses beneath their feet. Their biological processes required nutrients. Not a shred of organic matter could go to waste—neither the enemies' nor their own. Dark green slime flowing underground began converging beneath the area. Tiny threads branched out from the thick trunk, entwining with corpse after corpse. Like blood vessels, they siphoned every usable nutrient from the dead. Although the bodies carried foul-smelling contaminants, those parts could simply be deactivated first before being digested. And it was not just the corpses. The walking corpses, the corpse hounds... and even the Siege Beast collapsed to the ground, letting the dark green vines crawl over their bodies. Merciful Heaven did not consume its children outright, however. After establishing a connection, it slowly pulled them down beneath the surface... The transformation of matter always carried losses; the more complex the synthetic pathway, the greater the waste. If every batch of synthesized fungal variants was broken down and recycled via primitive methods, Heaven's nutrients would soon run dry, causing it to swell to its limit like slime mold and collapse on itself. Thus, they opted for a "smarter" method of recycling— Burying the temporarily unneeded organs into the soil. Just as they began to do so, a piercing shriek split the sky. The sound was like the whisper of the Grim Reaper, descending over their heads in an instant. The Siege Beast had barely lifted its ponderous head and opened its closed eyes when a blinding white glare robbed it of its vision. In its dazed consciousness, it seemed to glimpse a rising mushroom cloud and a heatwave sweeping across the earth. The deafening roar was far louder than its own voice, collapsing the very ground beneath its feet. Before it could react, the searing shockwave tore its flesh to shreds... ... In the distance, a slender trail of white smoke from the airship Loyalty's main gun streaked up into the clouds. The 400mm main gun had fired rocket-assisted projectiles, delivering solid-fuel thermobaric warheads straight onto the target battlefield. This was the final phase of the operation: sanitizing the zone once the fighting was over. The execution of this step meant that no friendly forces remained alive in that sector... "Impact confirmed." "Direct hit." At the summit of Mount Lai. The Wilante soldiers spotting targets for the rear reported the results of the bombardment to the airship, then fell into silence after hanging up communications. Several minutes earlier, they had received the artillery coordinates from friendly forces precisely according to plan. Though they did not know what high command's exact intentions were, they understood perfectly what a transmission containing those coordinates signified. Even as warriors with battle etched into their genes and blood, they would never undertake a suicide mission, nor would their commanders issue such an order. Even if they were rivals, the Wilante soldiers could not help feeling a measure of respect, silently offering a military salute. Those guys... were truly ruthless! At that moment, gazing across the burning battlefield, the Human Sovereign wore a stunned expression. After a moment, he regained his composure and muttered thoughtfully to himself. "...Fighting a war of attrition against me?" Even with well-preserved corpses, the recovery efficiency of nutrients never reached one hundred percent; fifty percent was already remarkably high. This was especially true for advanced variants whose tissue structures were heavily mutated. Decomposing their remains required vast amounts of nutritional energy, leaving a net yield of less than ten percent. By contrast, smaller fruiting bodies were relatively easy to recycle—what the coalition soldiers called "fungal variants." Yet even for those, conversion efficiency lingered around thirty to forty percent. Recycling roughly three bodies was needed to synthesize a single new one. If the coalition chose a war of attrition, it was indeed a viable strategy. After all, he could not leave those units alone and let them roam freely through his territory, hunting down the buried psychic interference devices and research facilities. The latter were essential components for executing their final plan, while the former was vital to maintaining dominance over this heavenly domain. It was a vast, intricate system that had taken them over a decade to perfect into its current staggering state. "An intriguing idea..." Having seen through the Administrator's plan, the Human Sovereign clicked his tongue softly, a meaningful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I admit your abilities are formidable, your Excellency. But what if my pawns number in the hundreds of millions? How will you counter that?" Three thousand fungal variants were nothing more than a flake of dandruff on a giant's head compared to the parish under his rule, yet the enemy had to sacrifice forty elites just to scratch that flake off. Even factoring in the loss of an advanced variant, such casualties were a drop in the bucket to him. Pitting mortal flesh and blood against a natural catastrophe—that fellow was truly presumptuous to think it could work. Very well. He would grant them their wish, and they would see who was the truly endless tide! ... On the official Wasteland Online forum, discussions were booming. Many players who had just experienced their first deaths in the game were posting their post-mortem impressions. I'll Form the Head: "That was insane! The Death Corps is awesome!" Retreating Dwarf: "It really was thrilling, but how am I gonna survive these next few days? TaT" Stay Up Late and Die: "Zero pain feedback, so it's still a bit different from reality. Feels like they toned down the realism to cater to mainstream tastes, can only say it's so-so... Still, watching my own guts get dragged out while fully conscious was quite a novel experience." Jieyan: "Holy crap, have you actually experienced that in real life??" Elaina: "This new batch of rookies is wild. I suggest an investigation. (Doge)" Tail: "Scary! Sisi looked and thought it was perverted too! (⊙x⊙;)" Sisi: "...?" While the players were bantering, the final wave of disconnected players triggered a new announcement on the forum. [Northern Front · Haiya Province Intel Update! Fungal Variant: A general term for organisms stitched together by Na fruit hyphae, distinct from the 'addicts' corrupted and controlled by the Na fruit. Possesses few typical biological characteristics, with no central nervous system and no fatal weak points. Deemed dead when tissue damage reaches between 10% and 50%. Features higher resilience (HP) than slime mold fruiting bodies, but relatively weaker regenerative capability. Strong resistance to piercing damage; weak resistance to explosive and fire damage. Walking Corpse: The most common fungal variant. Possesses a humanoid form, attacking primarily through tearing and biting. First observed on the Weifu Wasteland, suspected to have been tested at Pinecone Wood Farm. Weak individually, but exceptionally dangerous in swarms. Threat Level: 1. Corpse Hound: The second most common fungal variant. Resembles man's best friend in form, also attacking mainly by tearing and biting, but smaller in size and faster in movement. Threat Level: 1. Crawler: Similar in form to the 'crawlers' birthed by the Qingquan City broodmother, though slightly smaller, with burn-like skin. Attacks like a walking corpse, but boasts more than three times its speed and strength. Threat Level: 2. Spitter: Visually distinct from the 'spitters' born from the Qingquan City broodmother, resembling a gigantic worm capable of concealing itself in narrow terrain. Attacks primarily by spewing highly corrosive organic acids and toxins. Threat Level: 1–3. ... Incubator: Nest of fungal variants, the 'barracks' of the Church of the Torch, and the incubation organ of Heaven. When local apostles (or forerunners) determine that Threat Level 1–3 fungal variants are insufficient to eliminate a threat, they deploy higher-efficiency incubators on the surface, utilizing locally stored nutrients to synthesize advanced fungal variants above Threat Level 3, or even incubate 'advanced variants.' ... Siege Beast: A type of advanced variant among fungal variants. Massive as a mountain, shaking the ground as it charges. Possesses extraordinarily hard horn armor capable of easily flipping tanks and armored vehicles. Typically appears on heavily corrupted ground, entering hibernation beneath the soil after leaving combat. ... Concept of 'Regional Corrosion Level': Correlates to the concentration of Na fruit hyphae in the local soil, measurable using test strips developed by the Alliance Institute of Biological Research. Generally speaking, the deeper one advances into the Church of the Torch's parishes, the higher the regional corrosion level, the faster monsters spawn, and the higher the maximum threat level. ] [Recommended Gameplay: 1. Construct Purification Stations: Players may delve into corrupted zones in corps or squads to establish large 'purification bases' or small 'purification stations.' By farming monsters or completing objectives, players earn 'purification points.' During combat, points can be exchanged for battlefield support, including airdropped supplies, artillery strikes, close air support, and fruiting body reinforcements. The session is cleared once the purification station falls or the local corrosion is completely eradicated. Remaining points will automatically be converted and added to the 'Final Holdout Time.' Quest rewards will be calculated based on 'Holdout Time' and the beacon's 'Regional Corrosion Level.' Completely clearing corrosion in an area alongside fruiting body reinforcements grants an additional bonus! 2. Search and Destroy Church of the Torch Control Facilities: To conduct nefarious experiments, the Church of the Torch seduced researchers in despair to carry out secret projects. Clearing the corrosion in Haiya Province treats the symptoms; destroying the research facilities controlled by the Church of the Torch strikes at the root! These facilities are primarily situated in opened (or abandoned) shelters and other underground research sites. Because most shelter facilities were engineered to withstand strategic weapons, destroying them directly from the surface is extremely difficult. Coalition High Command has authorized necessary breaches into shelters held by Torch forces. If the occupying force refuses surrender, all available means may be used to disable the facility. Beyond research facilities, certain processing sites are suspected of housing black boxes. If a black box left behind from the Era of Prosperity is discovered, Shelter 404 residents are obligated to preserve its integrity and retrieve it as a tool to rebuild civilization. (Note: Combat recording must remain active throughout this mission. Quest rewards will be judged based on players' overall conduct.) ] The moment the announcement went live, the rookies who had been recounting their death experiences were immediately drawn to it. Jieyan: "Holy shit! Did an endless mode just drop?" Brother Edge: "Infinite mob farming!!" Construction Site Boy and Bricks: "Brothers!! Assemble!" In Debt God: "Awoooo!" Commander Spring: "It's not really an endless mode. Once the soil's corrosion level hits zero, as long as Strain B maintains occupation, the area counts as restored, and monsters won't keep spawning... probably? (Just guessing)" WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "So as long as we never spend points to summon Luo Yu's son, and only spend them on ammo and air support, we can keep farming points forever, right? (Smirk)" Luo Yu: "??? Where are your manners?" Commander Spring: "Well, theoretically yes, but that loophole is so glaringly obvious that I'm inclined to think it's 'tacitly permitted.'" Jieyan: "How so? (Confused)" Commander Spring: "First off, aside from supplies bought with points, ammunition consumed during the quest comes out of the players' own pockets. Furthermore, quest rewards aren't calculated by body count, but by a composite of 'holdout time' and 'corrosion level.' Based on the Death Corps' test run, the dungeon difficulty ramps up continuously." "Assume the payout is y and time is x. The game designer only needs to set an S-shaped non-linear curve for player rewards and establish a time threshold, t. When time x is less than threshold t, time carries the main weight. When time x exceeds threshold t, accumulated time impacts payout y less and less, leaving the other parameter—corrosion level—as the primary weight. Once that happens, lingering just to stall yields negligible returns." Brother Edge: "Stalling without finishing the dungeon gives zero benefit while chewing through ammo. To maximize returns, you want to clear around the 'threshold,' cash out the max reward, and willingly push deeper into the map to tackle harder dungeons... I see." Commander Spring: "That's just basic numerical balance design. In detail, you could set tiered thresholds, or even scale the time threshold with difficulty—meaning the corrosion parameter. Looking at it through game logic, it makes total sense: stalling depletes the nutrients the Church of the Torch needs to mass-produce units, while clearing dungeons expands coalition territory. Whichever path players choose, the coalition profits." Midnight Chicken Slaughter: "Way too complicated! If I were on the northern front, I'd probably just pick Option 2. (Bitter laugh)" Commander Spring: "What's complicated about it? When you can't farm anymore, call in Xiao Yu's fruiting bodies and clear the dungeon. Option 2 is actually more annoying: you have to gather local intel while scouring for traces of the Church of the Torch... Crucially, don't expect living NPCs to trigger dialogue with you out there; a sweep probably requires clearing the regional corrosion first anyway." WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Looking at it another way though, grabbing a black box would be an absolute jackpot! (Evil grin)" Ye Shi: "@Fang Chang, can you do it or not? Do we still need Ah Guang to post the updates himself? (Smirk)" Fang Chang: "Currently on the southern front, don't rush me. I'll tag the guy up north for you. @Mole" Mole: "Passing the buck, huh? I'm not that trash dev's lackey—wait, spit, I'm not the game designer's lapdog!" Ye Shi: "Ah Guang: 'Posted it, didn't you? Your account's gone.' (Smirk)" Mole: "Brother Guang, I was wrong! You're my real big brother!! (Terrified)" Makabazi: "Hahaha! Coward! (Smirk)" ... On the bridge of the Heart of Steel. Standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, Chu Guang browsed the forum threads via a holographic screen, a faint smile on his lips. As the game designer and "hidden player" of Wasteland Online, his understanding of the "Administrator" role had always been crystal clear. His duty was not to figure out how to raid a specific monster or dungeon; that was the job of the server's hardcore players. Using the resources at his disposal to craft rules featuring carrots and sticks, encouraging those top players to pull in the "right direction"—that was his true responsibility. As long as the rules were set, the players would weigh the pros and cons on their own, carefully selecting locations for large purification bases or small purification stations, calculating how to use limited ammo and Xiao Yu's fruiting bodies to purge regional corrosion with maximum efficiency. No one on the front lines understood their limits better than they did. Whether failed attempts or successful experiences, all would be synthesized on the forum into guide after guide. When distributing helmets back then, the reason Chu Guang had weighted forum activity was precisely to bring as many players who enjoyed sharing and cooperating into the game as possible. Of course, not every single person had to be like that, so long as they formed the majority. As for the specific behavior of individual players, that was their own business. Unless it became widespread, it fell outside his concern; micromanaging led to missing the forest for the trees, whereas giving them free rein often yielded unexpected harvests. Just like right now. Even without dropping hints, his little players performed admirably, even working out the numerical tuning strategies that he had not yet fully refined. When configuring the quest rewards later, he would have Xiao Qi reference Brother Spring's input and incorporate it into the reward settlement process. Now that the Alliance Institute of Biological Research had concluded its soil sample analysis and the Death Corps had finished "stress-testing" Heaven, the work schedule for the coming month was set. Judging by forum reactions, player enthusiasm for the new event was running high. Especially the fresh batch of Beta 0.7 rookies—several were already eagerly forming parties on the forum, brainstorming where to deploy their purification stations. In truth, the coalition's operational framework in Haiya Province matched what was laid out in the announcement. Namely: purging the corrosion across Haiya Province on one hand, and hunting down Torch facilities within cleansed sectors on the other. He had merely translated it into game terminology and assigned it to the players. Not just the Alliance, but soon the Legion, Enterprise, Academy, and other survivor factions would draft operations suited to their own capabilities, carving out their respective battle sectors. Before long, purification stations and bases would blossom across Haiya Province. He hoped the fellow calling himself the "Human Sovereign" would not be too caught off guard by what was to come. "I admit your Excellency holds countless pawns, but what if my players are running cheats?" Chu Guang smiled faintly. He swiped his index finger across the holographic screen, gathering the azure glow onto the tip of his finger. It was only early August. The coalition had crossed the Ten Peaks Mountain into Haiya Province earlier than planned, and the problem that had troubled every faction had now been cracked open. Fight technology with technology; fight the tide with the tide. This war might very well conclude sooner than he had anticipated...