Shelter 404's Floor B2!

Chu Guang had a very, very long dream. This time, it wasn't about getting hit by a dump truck after working himself to death. Instead, he dreamed he had started a game of Civilization VI—on an enhanced, bladder-busting marathon pace where each turn spanned a full year. Starting from the primeval era, he sent out scouts to frantically pop tribal villages, steadily climbing higher and higher up the tech tree... After grinding through thousands of turns, he finally wore down several Deity-level AIs and locked in a Science Victory. Yet the moment he opened his eyes, everything was gone. "Damn it! You could've at least let me finish the dream!" Presumably, if the dream had continued, it would have moved on to Civilization: Beyond Earth. Stretching his arms, he sat up from the bed, his joints popping and crackling all over. A thought struck him. Chu Guang immediately headed next door to the resident hall, found the medical examination pod, and ran a full-body scan on himself. Just as he suspected, he had leveled up! [ ID: Chu Guang Gene Sequence: Administrator Level: LV.8 → LV.9 —Base Attributes— Strength: 10 → 11 Agility: 6 Physique: 8 Perception: 7 Intelligence: 7 ] [ Skill: Wild Instinct ] "Sleep really is the best medicine for growth." A good boy should always go to bed early. Sitting before the computer to confirm the digital report, Chu Guang dragged it into an archive folder, stood up, and loosened his shoulders. With 220% the base strength of an average adult male, further amplified by "Wild Instinct," Chu Guang felt insanely powerful. "Time to grab some food." Right, and distribute the spoils of war to the players. Humming a jaunty tune, Chu Guang stepped into the airlock, strapped on the exoskeleton sitting there, and securely hung the massive iron hammer across his back. Once everything was ready, he stepped onto the elevator bound for the surface. *** At 5:30 in the wasteland afternoon, the outpost was at its liveliest. The market at the north gate in particular bustled with players returning from scavenging runs. Although snow was drifting down from the sky once more, it did nothing to dampen the buzzing excitement. By now, the players had formed a habit. Any junk salvaged or game hunted down would first be set out on display at the north gate. Only if nobody bought it would they haul it to the warehouse to turn in for materials. This little routine earned them a couple more copper coins than before, while players looking to buy gear or supplies would browse here before visiting the NPC shops. "I can't tell if they're heartless or strong. A tenth of their people died yesterday, yet not a single one is mourning the dead, nor has there even been a proper funeral." Standing by the north gate, Lenna looked at the bluecoats with sheer astonishment. She couldn't find a trace of sorrow on any of their faces. "Callousness and strength aren't mutually exclusive. The world has ended up like this; if you aren't tough, you'll break yourself long before anyone else breaks you." It was Hein's first time seeing bluecoats like these as well, but having seen plenty of strange things in his travels, he was merely surprised. Whatever exists has a reason to be. Besides, looking at it from another angle, if they were the fragile sort who wallowed in grief, a completely different group of people would be standing here right now. His attention caught by a nearby stall, Hein walked over, inspected the roasted split-claw crab legs on the iron rack for a moment, and asked curiously, "How much for this?" Yaya looked up at the NPC. Although she didn't understand what he was saying, she could guess from his gestures that he wanted to buy her roasted crab leg. Yaya raised a single index finger and gave it a wag. "Small ones are one silver coin!" She hadn't decided what to charge for the big ones yet. Buying them from the warehouse hadn't been cheap, after all. *Does that mean one chip?* Survivor settlements in Qingquan City all seemed to trade with chips. "Give me two." Hein held up two fingers, reached into his pocket for a pair of chips, and dropped them into Yaya's outstretched palm. Yet upon seeing the chips, Yaya shook her head vigorously. Flustered, she pulled out two silver coins and waved them before his eyes. Hein and Lenna stared blankly. They had traveled through countless places and had never seen metal coins like these. Seeing no response from them, Yaya sighed helplessly and picked up the two chips. "Two plastic bits can only count as one silver coin." As she spoke, she tapped the two chips against a silver coin to indicate they were equivalent. Then she picked up a roasted crab leg and handed it to Hein. *Two chips for a single roasted crab leg?!* *Are you insane?!* If it were a large leg, that would be one thing, but this small one was barely two or three jin at most, with probably less than a jin of edible meat inside. Hein's cheek twitched, but he couldn't very well complain. After all, he was currently staying under someone else's roof; avoiding conflict was the top priority. *Damn it!* *It still hurts the wallet!* In a backwater place like this, two chips could buy a decent amount of supplies! Hein had no desire to buy a second one, but out of courtesy, he glanced at his companion. "Care for some?" Lenna wasted no words. Catching the lower half with her left hand, she flicked out her scimitar with her right, cleanly cleaving the crab leg in two. She waved the severed half in her hand. "This piece is mine." "..." Accustomed to her rough manners, Hein shook his head silently and bit into the soft, fragrant, tender crab meat. *Hmm.* *Not bad at all, actually.* It was just that street food like this lacked proper seasoning; it fell far short of the feast Chu Guang had treated him to the other day. And it didn't feel completely fresh either... After finishing the meat, Lenna licked the juices from the corner of her lips. Gazing at the crowd around the north gate market, she suddenly spoke up out of the blue. "How strong do you think they are?" Hein pondered for a moment before offering an objective appraisal. "Very strong. Whether in psychological fortitude or overall capability, these people are far superior to any bluecoats I've ever encountered." "Especially their leader. He's probably on the verge of an awakening... I don't get it. They aren't some brute tribe that worships raw muscle. This is the first time I've ever seen the ruler of a faction push himself to the brink of awakening through training. Isn't it far more comfortable to lounge back on a soft thigh and give orders from behind the lines?" Midway through his sentence, Hein caught the intriguing expression on Lenna's face. He hesitated, then asked, "What are you planning?" "Certainly not planning you," Lenna replied bluntly, tossing her hair. "I like strong males." Hein cast her a derisive glance, then peeked at the sturdy young woman grilling crab legs at the adjacent stall. "Look over there. Even she's roasting crab legs. I doubt that man would take an interest in you." Noticing the venomous glare Lenna shot his way, Hein raised his hands in surrender, shrugging to signal he was no match for her, and walked off. Just as they finished speaking, Chu Guang emerged from the north gate with the great hammer strapped across his back. The moment the players spotted the Administrator, their eyes lit up and they crowded around him. Loot! Contribution points! And favorability! Before the players could shower him with flattery, Chu Guang raised his right fist with the solemn dignity of a true NPC, giving the gesture to assemble. Then, in a clear, resonant voice, he announced: "Distributing the spoils!" "The usual rules apply, so I won't repeat them." Walking over to the handcart piled high with trophies, Chu Guang casually picked up a rifled double-barreled shotgun, stepping into his duties as an NPC—appraising the equipment! "...This is an 18mm double-barreled shotgun. Its owner was the chieftain of the Bloodhand Clan—Bear. Though he, like Cha, lived a life of wickedness, deserved his death, and was ultimately sent to hell by the hammer of justice, their weapons are blameless. A bear is carved into the wooden stock; a few strokes in the lettering might be wrong, but that doesn't matter—marauders aren't known for their literacy." "Bidding starts now. Starting bid is 40 silver coins, capped at 80 silver—" Mosquito was already poised, shooting his hand into the air before the words had even settled. "Eighty silver!" Chu Guang: "...?" The surrounding players, who had been gearing up to bid, erupted into curses. "Fuck!" "This guy again!" "Too fast, way too fast!" Chu Guang was rendered speechless. He had figured that aside from its decent steel barrel, this crummy shotgun had nothing going for it, which was why he had tossed out a moderate price tag. *Someone bought it out instantly?* Yet, seeing the look of bitter regret on the other players' faces, the truth dawned on him in a flash. *Tch, careless of me... Boss drops carry collector's value.* What was the term again? Named weapons, that was it! Cursing his own haste under his breath, Chu Guang didn't dwell on it. He wasn't a man to sweat the small stuff. Besides, there were still five decurion weapons lined up here. Spinning a few grand legends for these poor chumps to fleece them for extra silver later wouldn't be unfair, right? Consider it robbing the rich to help the poor. The auction moved at a brisk pace, clearing all fifty primary weapons in half an hour. The remaining miscellaneous odds and ends were offered up for free picking at one silver coin apiece, while whatever was left over was valued at one copper coin each before being wheeled to the warehouse for sorting. Of the fifty pieces of gear, twenty went unsold. The remaining thirty fetched a combined total of 971 silver coins. After deducting the usual 10% transaction tax, that left 873.9 silver coins, rounded down to 873 silver! On top of that, the twenty-nine captives were counted at five silver coins each under the group battle reward rules, adding up to 145 silver. Factoring in the bounties for twenty-one veteran marauders, five marauder decurions, one boss-level marauder killed in battle, along with clearing the stronghold and rescuing the captives, the total bounty pool reached a staggering 4,371 silver coins! By comparison, the funds raised from the auction were merely a drop in the bucket. Every single one of the eighty-two participating players received at least 50 silver coins, with high performers taking home 55 or even 60! It was an overnight fortune! Aside from battle loot, players who died in action received a special pension directly from the Administrator. The compensation wasn't exorbitant: for a LV.1 gene sequence, it came out to roughly one silver coin per level per day, yielding about three silver coins over the three-day respawn cooldown. LV.2 yielded six silver, LV.3 gave nine, and so forth. It wasn't a mountain of wealth, but having something was better than nothing, and after three days, they would be right back in the fight! "Long live the Administrator!" "Hell yeah! Daddy's got a gun now, hahahaha!" "Sob, 41 silver coins! I've never been this rich in my life!" "Hurry, let's go buy stuff!" The combat players cheered and danced with glee, cradling the silver coins Chu Guang had personally handed out before rushing off to spend them. The eight production players who hadn't taken part in the battle watched from the sidelines, weeping with envy. Had they known the rewards would be this generous, they would have charged in swinging shovels and wooden clubs. Yaya secretly slapped an exorbitant "three silver coins" price tag on the large crab leg. Nobody had bought it earlier, but now someone surely would. Watching from the side, Lenna and Hein looked completely baffled. It took a long while before Hein swallowed hard and whispered, "What are they doing?" "Looks like an auction." "I don't understand. Why are they paying to buy back their own spoils of war? Shouldn't finders be keepers?" "I don't get it either, but I'm deeply shaken." Hein suddenly looked at this young ruler in a whole new light. Whatever magic or spell he had cast, his mastery over the craft of power was nothing short of consummate. Forcing a farmer to surrender his harvest was nothing worthy of praise; any idiot could chamber a round into a rifle. Yet getting a band of farmers to willingly—even tearfully and gratefully—hand over their hard-earned coin to buy back their own harvest... Only a devil could pull off such a feat. Regardless, this was the second time in a single day that Hein had drastically revised his opinion of this man upward. Chu Guang, however, couldn't care less how Hein graded him in his head. Compared to Kiri from Empyrean, Chu Guang considered himself a philanthropist. At least he didn't drain his players' wallets dry or mock them with hidden drop rates. Did anyone truly believe that showering players with boundless wealth made them happy? Only people who had barely played games thought like that. They had never seen the kind of titles that handed out hundreds of millions or billions of gold coins, where fresh suckers had a brief thrill and swiped their credit cards, while the dedicated grinders who poured their lives into the game were left feeling like absolute fools. Indeed, Chu Guang had been burned more than once, which was why he treated the design of Wasteland OL's economy system with paramount care. He knew full well he couldn't act like those shameless game developers who churned out overpowered gear at will to soak up hyperinflated currency, then spawned stat-bloated bosses to coerce players into spending real cash. Amid the players' cheers, Chu Guang waved his hand, passed through the north gate, and returned to the sanatorium, riding the elevator down underground. The elevator leading to Floor B2 was located in the resident hall on B1. It remained locked, with several hours left before the countdown ran out. Taking advantage of his spare time, Chu Guang sat before the computer and organized the intel gleaned from the *Bloodhand Clan Diary*, updating the official website's lore archive for the armchair gamers and trolls to mull over. Afterward, he browsed the forums for inspiration, reviewing the posts from the night before like an emperor reviewing court memorials. A few ideas were genuinely solid and worth considering for the Alpha 0.5 update. Time ticked away, second by second, until it finally struck two in the morning. Seeing that the time had arrived, Chu Guang stretched his back, rose from his chair, strapped his exoskeleton back on, and slung the great hammer over his shoulder. Even though the odds of the first-generation manager plotting his demise were less than one in ten thousand, caution was always paramount. "Xiao Qi, I'm heading down." Xiao Qi, who was already recharging in the corner, tilted its camera up and nodded obediently. "Understood, Master. Please be careful." Chu Guang, who had been about to step onto the elevator, paused and glanced back at the wastebasket-shaped robot. "What do you mean by 'be careful'? Are you saying there's something down there? Or do you know something?" Stumped by the barrage of questions, Xiao Qi froze for a moment before speaking blankly. "I don't know... Probably not?" "Then why tell me to be careful?" "Ah?! Th-that's just an everyday phrase stored in my language module..." *Uh.* *It has a setting like that?* "...Come with me." Watching Xiao Qi obediently shut its mouth and roll over to his feet, Chu Guang finally felt secure enough to step onto the elevator bound for Floor B2. It wasn't cowardice. It was purely a matter of prudence. The moment Chu Guang stepped inside, the dark touchscreen immediately illuminated with two buttons—B1 and B2—along with an [Authorized] prompt. Chu Guang pressed B2 without hesitation. The doors glided shut. Following a slight drop, the doors slid open again in less than three seconds, and a wave of crisp, dry air rushed through the gap. It was even tinged with a faint, refreshing fragrance. "...Air freshener?" With a peculiar expression, Chu Guang glanced at Xiao Qi beside him. "Go scout ahead." "Right away..." The robot's voice sounded sluggish, even a little aggrieved. Yet Xiao Qi dutifully followed its master's bidding, rolling its wheels forward with a whir. Gripping the hammer's handle behind his back with his right hand, Chu Guang stepped forward with measured, steady strides, venturing cautiously into this domain that had reportedly remained untrodden for over a century. The floor here was spotless, devoid of dust, emitting no creaks beneath his boots. It wasn't just the floor; everything around him was pristine, without the faintest trace of prior habitation. The elevator sat dead center in a circular hall, resembling the stage of an amphitheater, with space even more expansive than the resident hall on B1. Four massive gates stood at the east, south, west, and north ends of the hall. Behind each gate ran a straight thoroughfare, dividing the area into four wedge-shaped sectors. Controllable alloy blast doors separated adjacent sectors. Kept open under normal circumstances, they could be lowered when necessary to seal off an entire sector. Sector A was the functional area, filled with what appeared to be fairly complex facilities, which Chu Guang decided to leave for later exploration. Sectors B, C, and D had very straightforward layouts. As the floor plan posted near the entrance indicated, they were residential quarters. Dense arrays of numbered doors, resembling pigeonholes, lined the corridors. At a rough estimate, the usable floor space of each room was at most four to five square meters—just enough to accommodate an incubation pod and a desk, less than half the size of the rooms on B1. "Did people actually live here?" Walking through Sector C, Chu Guang clicked his tongue in disbelief. Pushing open a random door, he found nothing inside except an incubation pod. Well. Fair enough. Perhaps this place had never been meant for ordinary habitation in the first place. "...The rooms might be small, but upgrading from four-person dorms to single rooms does at least offer the players some privacy." Each sector contained two hundred rooms. The rooms in Sectors C and D were all equipped with incubation pods, totaling four hundred. The shelter's population cap had instantly jumped from one hundred to five hundred. For Chu Guang, who was starved of labor, this was marvelous news. With this many slots, he was set for several updates to come! The only pity was that he probably wouldn't need that many people over the winter. No matter; they would come in handy when the spring planting season arrived! As for Sector B, it had a very basic setup: each room contained only a bed and a folding desk, without so much as a stool. *This side was probably meant for living in.* Chu Guang pondered the thought, yet no matter how many rooms he searched, he couldn't find a single discarded personal item. Even the provided bedding was folded with geometric precision, resembling neat tofu blocks. Even with a ruler, one wouldn't find a millimeter of deviation. "...If people used to live here, they cleaned up way too thoroughly." *Was that really necessary?* *It looks like someone was destroying evidence of a crime.* Just as the thought crossed his mind, Chu Guang stopped outside the final room at the end of Sector B's main hallway, his expression freezing slightly. Not only had he stopped, but Xiao Qi, rolling ahead of him, ground to a halt as well. "Master, there seems to be something on the floor." "I see it." It was a card, shaped somewhat like an ID badge. The card lay right before the room at the end of the corridor, directly beneath the door handle... The placement was so glaringly deliberate that it looked like bait on an unbent hook. Chu Guang walked over and picked it up. The light filtering from the corridor ceiling illuminated the pristine white card. Hexagonal patterns etched across its surface caught the light with a metallic sheen, though the exact material was impossible to discern. There was no photograph and no name—only two words printed across it, representing either an occupation or a code name: "...Security Guard?" A sudden understanding seemed to click in Chu Guang's mind.