Chapter 969 - This Game Is Too Realistic

## Chapter 969: Tentative Skirmishes Edge Drifter led a group of players away from the camp, armed themselves and climbed into the truck parked at the camp's entrance, heading toward the northern part of Avent City. Although Big-Eyes, who used to hand out chocolate, had left, the delightful tales about the devoted admirer, along with his towering presence, lingered in the hearts of many young girls. Eventually, word reached some jokers' ears, who gleefully jumped at the opportunity to mimic the charitable acts like they'd discovered a new continent. Consequently, several save points saw their chocolate supplies, originally meant to replenish the frontline soldiers with sugar and energy, completely sold out. The tale of the devoted admirer, amidst the jokers' mischief, gradually deviated from the original narrative… Just then, Old Nana and the Elven King Fu Gui returned from their patrol. As soon as they stepped off the vehicle, they were surrounded by a group of adorable children. With a cheeky grin, the Elven King Fu Gui was about to greet them, but what they said next took him by surprise, leaving him dumbfounded. "Loser! Candy!" "Loser, loser, hand over the candy!" "Loser, loser!" Hearing their not-so-perfect Mandarin, the Elven King Fu Gui almost choked on his own laughter. "Cough, which rascal… I mean, who taught you that?" The girls, about eleven or twelve years old, glanced at each other. The younger one whispered. "Uncle Mosquito told us not to say his name!" No sooner had she finished speaking, a girl with a ponytail hurriedly covered her mouth. "Shh! You let it slip!" "Mosquito, huh… I'm not surprised at all," Elena said with a gleeful expression, handing a piece of chocolate to a demure-looking girl with glasses. Smiling, she continued, "What else did Uncle Mosquito say? Tell us secretly, we won't tell him." The shy girl, blushing and holding the chocolate, hesitated for a moment before eventually selling out Mosquito. "He said it's a Halloween tradition. Kids in the Alliance just need to chant this spell to the residents of the shelter on this day to get candy…" Elven King Fu Gui: "Pfft, this guy really doesn't do anything normal." "Hahaha! But don't you think it's fun? It's not that expensive anyway." Elena laughed so hard her stomach hurt. In the bewildered gaze of the children, she distributed the remaining chocolate, "Remember, this spell only works on nice people like me, not on mean ones." "Nice person?" The demure girl tilted her head. Elena patted her head with a smile. "Emmm… It means those who can play along. If someone has no candy, or gets scared, or is mean to you, just say 'sorry' and run to find another resident." Life in the wasteland is dismal enough, so a little joy wouldn't hurt. Avent City originally didn't celebrate Halloween. But now it does. ... In the northern part of Avent City, in the alley beside the logistics building, soldiers of the Death Corps gathered around a body clad in exoskeleton armor. The well-crafted gear seemed unlike the crude industrial products of the Southern Legion. Thanks to Big-Eyes' chocolates and the local children's help, Edge Drifter's team easily located the body beside the trash bin. Perhaps due to their war-ravaged environment, these kids weren't scared of the corpse at all. One boy, around twelve, even gestured, telling Edge Drifter. "There was a big plane parked on the logistics building's rooftop, someone shot at them, and then this guy fell down and died." Debt-Laden Big Eyes asked curiously. "Didn't anyone from the plane come to rescue him?" Another boy, two years older, shook his head. "Though well-equipped, they didn't seem too combat-savvy. Someone from afar took several shots at them, and they couldn't even figure out where the bullets were coming from, let alone fight back." "Yeah, yeah," another child replied eagerly, eyes locked on Big Eyes' remaining candies, "They just flew away." Construction Kid with a Brick asked. "Did you hear which direction the shots came from?" "This way!" The children chorused but pointed in different directions, adding to the confusion, not just for Edge Drifter and Construction Guy but among themselves as well, leading to a friendly dispute. Finally, a child standing in a corner sighed and mumbled. "Clearly it was a Gauss rifle… what you heard wasn’t gunfire." His father had told him about Gauss rifles, some made noise when bullets were fired, some created sonic booms mid-air, and others were silent until they hit the target. Edge Drifter and Construction Guy exchanged glances. "The attacker has advanced tech… That's a lead." "Could it be infighting within the Academy?" "Not so much infighting; this isn't the Boro Province." "Just a thought, though I doubt it…" Assuming it's the work of the Enlightenment Society. Looking up at the logistics building's roof, Edge Drifter furrowed his brow. "… The bullet likely came from the other side. I need a few people to come with me and check it out." "I'll go with you," Construction Guy volunteered, dutifully following behind the captain. Debt-Laden Big Eyes distributed the remaining candies to the kids, who were bickering over the direction of the gunshots. "Alright, stop arguing about the gunshots… which way did the plane fly?" The children looked at each other, this time reaching a consensus, pointing their fingers towards the sky. "It flew straight up!" "Yes! Like an airship, it climbed up and then vanished." A vertical takeoff, really? Debt-Laden Big Eyes held his forehead, feeling a headache. The Washing Machine Smiled, patting his shoulder. "Don't lose heart; maybe it escaped into outer space. It’s also a lead." Meanwhile, Edge Drifter and Construction Guy circled to the building’s other side, glancing to the northeast outskirts of Avent City. There lay abandoned apartment buildings, resembling the Alliance’s low-rent housing. From the dismantled scaffolding, it seemed these had been incomplete for a long while. Resources on the wasteland were limited, not just mineral resources but industrial, architectural, and human resources too. Even the Southern Legion, with 2.7 million square kilometers of colonies, struggled to balance war and development. Choosing one meant halting the other. After all, they didn’t have undying players. Sometimes Edge Drifter wondered, what would the Alliance look like without players, or perhaps, would it exist at all? Such thinking wasn’t about his perceived importance, demanding gratitude from Alliance citizens, but worrying about the potential future challenges the people would face if they ever departed. Over time, treating this world merely as a game became impossible for him. Or put another way: He'd developed feelings for this game. "… Any findings?" Construction Kid and the Brick broke his thought process. Edge Drifter shook his head, putting down the binoculars. "The buildings are too dense; the shot could've come from anywhere… Wonder why those researchers chose this building, making for an easy target." "I guess it’s because the building provides a view of the 'World Tower,'" Construction Kid and the Brick looked toward the city's direction, "Probably the researchers didn’t expect to get attacked with the war coming to an end." Pausing, he continued as if struck by a thought. "I wonder if they were investigating the World Tower's 'suspected Mother Nest lifeform,' and the Enlightenment Society or other organizations targeted them." Edge Drifter shook his head. "Regardless of the scenario, finding them will be incredibly challenging… Let’s recover that unfortunate guy's body first." About to turn away, a sudden premonition clawed at him. Time slowed instantly— Or more accurately, his brain's information processing speed skyrocketed suddenly! It was his perception skill unlocked at Level 30! When sensing danger, adrenaline surges, passively triggering a "bullet time" effect! Edge Drifter suddenly turned around, raising his binoculars to focus on a specific unfinished window in the building complex. Almost simultaneously, a man wielding a Gauss rifle was caught off guard, hurriedly retracting his weapon and making a swift exit from his sniping position. He caught a clear glimpse of the man's bewildered face, evidently shocked at being discovered. Wasting no time, Edge Drifter immediately activated his communications module, contacting the rear command post. “…This is the Death Corps. We've identified a suspicious target and request a drone for support.” After a brief pause, a response came swiftly from the other end of the communication channel. “Command unit has acknowledged. Drone deployment is underway.” “Received!” Hanging up the call, Edge Drifter tossed the binoculars to the puzzled Construction Guy, then on his VM screen, selected the map icon and marked a large area. “Attention, all Death Corps units. Block off all exits of the marked area. The target may have optical camouflage gear, so remember to use infrared recognition devices.” Responses quickly echoed through the communications channel. “Understood!” Meanwhile, the man who had just retreated from the sniper position was still visibly shaken. His name was Flynn, a disciple of the Enlightenment Society and an undercover operative planted in Avent City. The upper echelons of the Southern Legion had long been in cahoots with the Enlightenment Society, which was why Martin and his "Death Potion" received considerable support from Thiel. However, very few within the Southern Legion were aware of these dealings, not even General Augustus knew the full details, let alone the other officers. Despite the public disruption at Eternal Night Harbor bringing the Enlightenment Society to public attention, the lack of solid evidence and leads reduced it to an overblown urban legend rather than a serious issue. In reality, over half of the researchers in the "World Tower" complex, housing Thiel's "ultimate weapon," were either provided by or trained by the Enlightenment Society. Besides researchers, the Enlightenment Society also supplied the Southern Legion with several operationally beneficial technologies. For instance, the "Gaia Seed" they acquired from the "Celestial Beings." Although Flynn wasn't a professional researcher, he understood little about the "Gaia Seed" other than knowing that their leaders were highly interested in its operational data. Meanwhile, the Celestial Beings wanted them to acquire an Academy research vessel for direct material exchanges with the Lagrange Space Station. Based on their calculations, the Academy, holding partial information about "Gaia-like organisms" and intent on keeping it confidential, would undoubtedly observe and collect data secretly, somewhere the Alliance wouldn't know. Thus today's operation was initiated. Everything went according to plan up to this point. His partner "Roy" successfully infiltrated the research vessel under Flynn's cover, neutralized the entire research team, and hacked the ship's server, gaining control of it. Flynn had initially planned to wrap up and retreat immediately. However, curiosity got the better of him, causing him to glance twice at the two individuals in gas masks, which led to one noticing him. He had never encountered such a bizarre situation; even considering the special talents of awakened individuals, detecting from such a distance was excessively far-fetched. Perhaps the world still harbored "singularities" they couldn't comprehend. Watching a low-flying fixed-wing drone, Flynn carefully concealed himself in the shadows, warily eyeing the nearby streets. The entire city district simmered with activity. Trucks and jeeps raced down the streets, raising clouds of dust that suggested significant commotion. Clearly, they were serious, be it for the research vessel or their deceased ally. Inhaling the chilly air, Flynn pressed on his helmet side. "I'm encountering an issue… unable to reach the extraction point for now. You guys wait outside the settlement. I'll find my way out." After a pause, he added as a warning. "The Alliance soldiers seem peculiar. I don't know if it's intuition, but one of them pinpointed my position immediately… So be careful." "If you don't have a sure hit, avoid aiming at them." … The Academy lost a research vessel. Upon hearing the news, Chu Guang's first thought was that the old scoundrel in the Mired Marsh struck gold again. And, fortuitously so. With the gravity well set and the "seal" on this planet soon to be lifted, the Alliance desperately needed a spacecraft for outer space activities. Though the Expedition Corps recovered several technological materials from pre-war relics, those pale compared to a ready-made product. However, after listening to a description by Li Ke, a Grade B researcher from the Academy's Foreign Affairs Special Planning Group, Chu Guang quickly realized that the underlying issue might be more complicated than imagined. A report that once landed on his desk long ago was dug up from the archives. It harkens back to the Torch War era. Through investigations and intelligence shared by the Academy, the Alliance first learned of descendants of the Human Union Expeditionary Force residing near the Lagrange Point during a Prosperous Age. These individuals, for some reason, inherited the Torch Church's legacies and allegedly backed some actions of the Enlightenment Society. The Academy referred to them as "Celestial Beings." Given the lack of direct contact, Chu Guang had largely shelved this matter aside, until the Academy lost the research vessel, prompting fresh thoughts about it. What entity was so desperate to traverse between the sky and the earth? Surely not the Eastern Empire. "I've already informed the frontline combatants about this. They reported they are investigating," said Li Ke in earnest, sitting up as Chu Guang returned to the lounge, waiting for any leads. "Any clues?" Chu Guang gestured for patience as he sat opposite Li Ke, later explaining. "When we arrived, the battle was over. According to locals, the research vessel flew straight into the sky. The materials for your vessels are too unique, leaving no signals on our radar." Despite Li Ke's disappointment, Chu Guang continued after pondering. "But luckily, they left a loose thread on the ground. We’ve locked down the district where he might be hiding. If we catch that fellow, perhaps we can uncover something." Avent City's main inhabitants were the Velantians, which might simplify identifying an outsider if their infiltrator was non-native. Of course, nothing is ever straightforward. They're all descendants of the Human Union; who doesn’t hold a few cards close to their chest? Including Chu Guang himself. Upon this, Li Ke sighed. "Apologies for the trouble." "You certainly did," Chu Guang stated unapologetically, seeing Li Ke's awkwardness, "We're already searching for that person. Now, I need to know what your people were doing there." Li Ke nervously avoided eye contact, hesitant. "We…" Chu Guang raised his hand, signaling not to feign ignorance. "I understand you have difficulties, but you need to realize—it's because you didn't notify us of your actions in Avent City that led to this predicament." "Moreover, assuming they've accessed the data from your vessel, maintaining secrecy only hinders your ally—us—in investigating. Do you understand my point?" Li Ke wiped the sweat from his forehead, nodded with a wry smile. "I… understand, but the project's security classification is too high for me to disclose to you without authorization. I need to consult with my superiors." Chu Guang nodded. "Glad you understand. I trust you’ll convey my message properly to your superiors." After speaking, he stood up from the couch. "No need to waste time here. Go contact your superiors." "Or better yet, have them come speak with me directly!" Suffering from a lingering illness debuff and dealing with a headache… Additionally, I'm unsure if I can finish by March or April, but overall, I'm aiming to wrap up within seven million words. If I end up surpassing that, then so be it. To be honest, writing a long novel is both mentally and physically taxing. For my next work, I plan not to make it as lengthy. I'm considering a more relaxed story, perhaps exploring Cyberpunk (a storyline hinted at in the Free States) or a Fantasy Side Player (focusing on levels and attributes that weren't detailed in this book due to length). However, I haven't decided yet. I may need a few months' rest… So, take this sick man's ramblings with a grain of salt, and don't hold me to it if these plans don't pan out. To be continued...