Mark of Blood

Ling Lake Wetland Park. Beside an unnamed river, charred earth and scorched tree trunks lay scattered all around. The raging fire had already been extinguished. A ring of torches was pitched across the clearing, encircling twenty-nine dejected captives in the center. It was well into the second half of the night, only a few hours away from dawn. Standing guard nearby, Ye Shi yawned and looked over at Old Bai. "How long until the Administrator gets back?" "No idea." "Where's Gale?" Fang Chang pointed his chin toward the half-dug cave dwelling by the riverbank. "He's got a class to teach this afternoon. He fell asleep over there." Logging out of this game was actually quite convenient. Aside from safely logging off at a respawn point, losing consciousness in any setting severed the connection. That included, but was not limited to, being knocked out cold or simply falling asleep normally. The only catch was that this method didn't save your gene sequence development progress. Hearing that Gale had actually gone to teach a class, Ye Shi asked in confusion, "Didn't he send the slides to his assistant?" "Who knows? Maybe he just couldn't leave his students hanging. The raid was over anyway, and seeing him look so distracted, I figured he might as well log off and handle his real-life business. When he wakes up, he can relieve us for our shift." As one of the earliest veterans of the group, Old Bai had interacted with Gale the longest and knew him best. "...Don't let Gale's daily bragging in the group chat fool you. In real life, he's actually a very quiet, honest guy—incredibly dedicated to his work, with no other hobbies besides gaming." Ye Shi gave a scoffing laugh. "I don't see the honest part. Closeted pervert, maybe." Old Bai chuckled. "Haha, go ahead and badmouth him while he's offline!" Ye Shi continued, "By the way... once a character's logged out, they won't react no matter what you do to them, right?" "Probably. That's why logging out outside a safe zone is pretty risky if no one's watching over you." Fang Chang glanced at Ye Shi. "What are you getting at?" Ye Shi's eyes darted around. "Nothing special! Just wondering... what if we all log off? Couldn't the NPCs do whatever they wanted to our bodies in the incubation pods?" Hearing that bizarre thought, Old Bai and Fang Chang both choked on their spit. "Pfft." "Ahem! All right, stop projecting your dirty thoughts onto other people. Besides, baseless speculation like that is completely meaningless—you can't prove it, and you can't disprove it either. Similar questions include, but aren't limited to: Are aliens living among us? Is our world actually a video game? Does our known science still apply beyond our observable universe? Endless paranoia is purely asking for trouble unless you can find solid proof." "What do you mean 'dirty'? Can't a guy just be curious? What else are we supposed to do on guard duty—stare blankly into space? And why are you sounding more and more like Gale with all this lecturing?" Ye Shi rolled his eyes in exasperation. Fang Chang shrugged. "Not lecturing. I just think anyone wondering about that has serious problems of their own." Old Bai nodded in deep agreement, twisting the knife. "Exactly. Besides, I doubt anyone would want to do anything to your body anyway." Ye Shi protested, "I said *what if*! What if! Ah, there really is a generation gap between me and you old-timers." Fang Chang: "..." Old Bai: "..." Just then, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes and three other players approached from a distance. Seizing the chance, Ye Shi immediately changed the subject. "Yo, Brother Scrambled Eggs! What brings you out here?" "Here for the shift change. Didn't the Administrator say I was on duty after two in the morning?" Brother Scrambled Eggs looked around, noticed someone missing, and asked curiously, "Where's Gale?" "Disconnected. Something came up in real life. We're carrying him back in a bit." Brother Scrambled Eggs nodded in understanding. "Gotcha, gotcha." With relief arriving, life got a lot easier. They could log off, grab a bite to eat, rest up, and jump back in later. Old Bai hoisted Gale onto his shoulder, handed over the prisoner-guarding responsibilities to Brother Scrambled Eggs and the others, and headed off with Ye Shi and Fang Chang. Now it was Scrambled Eggs and his group's turn to be bored. At first, the four players stood guard with solemn expressions. But seeing that the captives were all fast asleep, they huddled together and chatted to kill time. "Careless of us. If I'd known guard duty was this boring, I would've bought some meat and charcoal from the warehouse to have a barbecue." "Yeah. Speaking of which, Brother Scrambled Eggs, does rhino meat taste good?" "How would I know what that tastes like...?" "Aren't you a chef?" "What kind of restaurant would dare serve that?!" "I heard rhinos are listed under CITES Appendix I. In real life, that's five years in prison to start, with no upper limit. Though we don't have wild rhinos back home, you'd have to go to South Africa." "...Ahem, doing it in the game should be fine, right?" While the players were idly chatting, a rustling sound came from the nearby woods. The group instantly tensed up, gripping their firearms. But before long, they relaxed. It was one of their own. "How are the prisoners?" "All still here, esteemed Administrator." "Very good." Chu Guang nodded, turning to the players beside him to give instructions. "Take these people along." One of the players on duty asked excitedly, "Are we taking them back to hang them?" That was what they had always done before! This time, however, the Administrator seemed to have other plans. "Take them to the abandoned tire factory four kilometers away. They built a dungeon of their own there," Chu Guang said coldly, glancing at the scoundrels. "Death is too easy on them. They'll spend the rest of their lives in the mines of Red River Town." The mines of Red River Town were not actual ore deposits; most were former municipal landfills. Only the heavens knew what could be dug out of them; finding nuclear waste dumped illegally in the past would hardly be a surprise. The slaves working there were consumables. Few survived past ten years; the unlucky ones didn't even make it past two or three. But who cared? People died on the wasteland every single day. The dozing captives were all roused. Over twenty men were strung together by a single long rope, forming an extended column. A dozen armed players marched alongside them, leaving no chance for escape. Following the elevated highway out of the city for four kilometers, they cut down a side street and soon arrived at the abandoned tire factory. Seeing people already manning the walls of their former stronghold, the marauders turned ashen-faced, their expressions collapsing into despair. Inside the compound, the liberated captives stood in the open courtyard looking bewildered. Catching sight of the returning marauders, they instinctively recoiled in fear, wanting to flee. However, upon noticing the ropes binding the marauders and the armed warriors escorting them, the wretched souls gradually calmed down. Even without much wit, they could see what had happened. The compound had a new master. Issuing a garrison quest with generous rewards, Chu Guang selected the first ten players who raised their hands to stand guard here. Then, he instructed the slower-handed players to gather the spoils of war, packing the loot onto the flatbeds and handcarts brought from the base. According to his contract with Hein, all the spoils belonged to him. Once those arrangements were made, Chu Guang walked over to Hein, looking at the merchant who had rendered major service. "When do you plan to set out?" Hein replied respectfully, "I've already sent Wen back. He moves fast; he should be back with the goods you want within four days." Chu Guang asked, "Just by himself?" "Of course. Traveling alone is the fastest. He carries my token, so it makes no difference whether I accompany him or not." Perhaps struck by a sudden realization, the sly merchant quickly added, "I know what you're concerned about. Rest assured, I am willing to stay behind as your hostage. Even if you don't trust my character, you should trust that I wouldn't gamble with my own life." Chu Guang gave him an amused look. *You think you know what I'm concerned about?* *I didn't even know myself.* "Suit yourself. I never trusted your character, nor did I care whether you tried any petty tricks. I'm heading back to the outpost shortly. Do you intend to stay here, or come back with me?" He had left ten players behind to guard the stronghold, split into two shifts of five. Having two stationed in the dungeon and three on the walls and gate was more than enough to handle this handful of captives. The spoils couldn't be hauled away in a single trip; they would need multiple runs during the day. Tomorrow, the players would have plenty to keep them busy all day long. "I'll go back with you," Hein answered without hesitation, having made up his mind in a single second. "I don't want to stay in this place for another moment." Marauders were never known for hygiene. The compound reeked of rotting stench and foul filth—an environment no normal person could tolerate, suitable only for rats and roaches. Chu Guang nodded without another word and signaled to the players ready with the loaded flatbeds and handcarts. "Let's move." "Bring our spoils." "We're heading home!" *** It was already four in the morning by the time they returned to the outpost. Looking out through the gaps in the forest canopy, faint traces of pale light were already beginning to show along the horizon. Apart from the guards stationed on the perimeter wall and a few production players bustling about in the industrial zone, the base was largely deserted. In a little while, however, the place would come alive. Chu Guang found two unoccupied rooms in the main building of the sanatorium and lent them to Hein and his female bodyguard. He then instructed Luka, who had just woken up, to keep an eye on them before carrying Xiao Qi back into the shelter. Placing Xiao Qi in the corner to recharge, he told it to wake Xia Yan on time for work tomorrow while ensuring she didn't disturb his sleep, and then turned back toward his private quarters. The door clicked shut. Chu Guang sat on the soft bed and pulled a yellowed notebook from his pocket. It was a find he had scavenged from Bear's room. Because the cover bore a bloody handprint, Chu Guang had assumed it was some sort of token or symbol of the Bloodhand Clan, prompting him to slip it into his pocket out of curiosity. Yet to Chu Guang's surprise, when he opened the cover, the contents within were neither the bizarre customs nor the savage traditions he had anticipated. It was simply a personal diary. *January 2, 2129* "The war ended in late 2128. Year 2129... meaning this diary was written during the first year of the Wasteland Era?" Chu Guang was sharp with numbers and rarely forgot what he read. Come to think of it, among all the information he had gathered so far, there had not been a single detail regarding that war. Perhaps this diary could provide him with a clue. Driven by the curiosity of an explorer uncovering ancient ruins, Chu Guang leaned under the room's gentle lamplight and read the first line beneath the date. It was a deeply thought-provoking sentence. *...On that day, I survived.*