This Game Is Too Realistic

Panghuang Swamp, the far north land.

The cold wind and snow, like thousands of flying shuttles, weave the endless whiteness into the endless flow of the Milky Way.

This is not only the northernmost point of the academy, but also the northernmost point of the entire Central Continent. The temperature is below minus 20 degrees all year round, and even reaches minus 100 degrees at the coldest time.

The extreme climate is a barrier of nature, just like the desert surrounding the oasis of Luoxia Province.

Only a few alien species with thick hair and fat can move in this area.

However, in this bitter cold land covered by thousands of miles of ice, there is one of the most prosperous settlements in the Wandering Swamp.

Its name is Binghai City.

As the name suggests, this settlement is located on the edge of a permanently frozen coast.

The settlement hundreds of meters high is entirely made of alloy, just like a giant ax draped on an iceberg. The metal walls exude a cold light in the wind and snow.

It is said that more than two centuries ago, this place was the seed bank of the People's League. It was not transformed into a settlement until a century and a half ago, and it was home to the first batch of technical personnel who broke away from the post-war reconstruction committee.

Later, the Science and Technology Committee was established, and this place was placed under the management of the Science and Technology Committee.

However, although it is managed by the Science and Technology Committee, due to the special nature of this settlement, the people living here do not have a difficult life.

The howling wind, snow and severe cold are blocked by the walls of the settlement. Except for the seed area embedded in the iceberg, which can feel the cold of tens of degrees below zero, several other production areas and living areas can even be said to have four seasons. Like spring.

In addition, the work of people here is not too hard.

The most common position is that of a gardener, and the "hardest" job required is nothing more than regularly tending some special crops that grow under tropical climate conditions in a hot and sweaty greenhouse, and spending most of the time watching. Monitor screen for tea.

Apart from the most common gardeners, the most sought-after positions here are undoubtedly the assistants and apprentices recruited by the academy's full-fledged researchers.

Unlike the current apprentices in the college, the apprenticeship in Binghai City is just a job, usually tied to a specific research project, mainly for young survivors aged 12 to 18 who have excellent higher education examinations.

Although the salary of this position is no different from that of a gardener, for a child who is preparing for the exam every December, it is an excellent opportunity to get in touch with tutors and scientific research work in advance.

As long as these boys and girls act a little smarter and don't act stupidly and offend their bosses, they will be taken care of to some extent.

After all, most of their bosses have also gone through that exam and understand their current situation. They also have to prepare for the exam that determines people's destiny while participating in work.

Usually, just one or two hints can save these children from several years of detours.

And when they pass the assessment and become real apprentices, a letter of recommendation or just a name on their work resume can allow them to spend their apprenticeships more easily than children in other areas of the Science and Technology Commission, and even obtain a certain degree. With the approval of the mentor, he skipped the rank of prospector and became a glorious researcher directly.

Even if he takes a step back and fails to become a formal apprentice of the academy after taking exams for N years, and has to give up his position to others at the age of 18, this apprentice from Ice Sea City can usually use his scientific research experience in the academy. Get a good job in the settlement, or even enter the management of the Science and Technology Committee and start a different kind of person.

It is precisely because of the favorable conditions here that any researcher who has some energy and a deep affection for his family will find a way to pack his family into this settlement.

Researchers who leave this settlement will take care of their hometown to some extent and help this settlement within their ability.

It is precisely because of this that although the researchers of the college do not directly participate in the management of the settlement under the Science and Technology Committee, it still gives the settlement of Binghai City a super status, and even forms an internal image among the students. A regional faction named after Ice Sea City.

It’s just that due to the relatively indifferent nature of people in the academy and the weak interpersonal relationships, factions that rely on blood and geography are not as strong as factions that have direct benefits. Therefore, this faction is not very popular, only on some insignificant issues. Be influential.

For example, the special zone jointly established by the alliance and the college.

As far as the college is concerned, this special zone can be built anywhere in the Science and Technology Committee. Anyway, the core interests of most researchers are within the college.

So, this special zone came to Binghai City.

It has been half a year since the special zone was launched, and some of the shelter residents from the alliance have indeed brought a lot of interesting stuff to the local area.

Whether it is material or spiritual, their optimism and bravery are something that people here have not seen for a long time.

Dang.

These guys who came from afar did not bring all happy things.

On the apron of the Ice Sea City dome, a long shuttle-shaped aircraft slowly landed and stopped.

A frozen sleep capsule was lifted down and placed on the snowy ground.

Two old men, a man and a woman, stood at the entrance of the apron. They were wearing thick cold-proof clothes, leaning against each other, and silently staring at the coffin sunk in the snow.

Touza's mask was covered with a layer of white frost, making it impossible to see clearly the expressions on their faces.

But from the silent atmosphere, people around could feel the pervading sadness.

A soldier wearing an exoskeleton stepped through the snow and walked in front of the two old men. He tapped his left arm twice with his index finger, unfolded a palm-sized holographic screen on his arm, and pushed it gently. in front of.

"Condolences."

The woman looking at the photo on the holographic screen swayed and seemed to have fainted.

The husband standing aside put his arm around her shoulders, looked at the soldier and said nothing, just nodded silently.

The three of them only had that one conversation.

After the soldier nodded, he turned back to the shuttle-shaped aircraft.

The silver-white fuselage rose slowly, and a faint blue flame burst out from the tail, disappearing in the endless wind and snow, as if it had never been there before...

A dozen residents of Binghai City stood at the entrance to the tarmac, leaning on each other arm in arm, and held a simple funeral for the poor child.

Afterwards, his body will be sent to the fire, part of it will be kept as a memorial, and part of it will be scattered among the wind and snow flying in the sky.

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the settlement, several players wearing exoskeletons cast interesting glances at the apron.

They recognized the soldier's equipment, especially the gas mask embedded in the helmet. There was no doubt that he was a member of Task Force Alpha.

One thing to say, this game is indeed quite realistic. Even the NPCs killed by the plot in the background have their own complete identity.

They only heard about the defeat thousands of kilometers away on the forum, but they didn't expect to see corpses dragged from the front line in the game within a few days.

In other games, this kind of inconsequential NPC would probably just appear in the cutscenes, and then be wiped out.

"...I thought the members of Task Force Alpha were poor people who couldn't afford potatoes."

A power player muttered, with a surprised expression on his face.

The agile player next to him also nodded and said with emotion.

"I didn't expect there to be guys from Binghai City."

Having stayed in this settlement for a few days, they knew the local situation quite well.

Even if we use Ideal City as a reference, the life of the local residents can definitely be regarded as prosperous, but it is just not as good as that of the academy's prospectors and researchers.

Whether the guy is seeking excitement, pursuing different people and ideals, or simply rebelling against dogma, joining "Alpha" requires courage.

Another intelligence player interrupted.

"But at least his relatives can receive the urn, but others will have to."

The strength player shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the two sides of the world."

While they were talking, a group of people came to the exit of the settlement through the elevator and got on the all-terrain crawler vehicle that was waiting there.

Their mission today is to go to the ruins of the nearby city of Molokowa, collect local fruiting body samples, and bring them to researchers from the Alliance Biological Research Institute stationed in Ice Sea City.

There is a dormant nest of clams hidden deep in the ruins, somewhere under the subway station. Due to the camouflage effect produced by a large number of spores, existing technical means cannot determine its specific location.

The fruiting bodies produced by the nest are also quite distinctive. They are extremely good at camouflage, can blend into the environment, and suddenly launch an attack when prey approaches.

The current long-term goal of the Muyang Body Special Zone is to find the specific coordinates of the slime nest and eat it with small feathers. The short- and medium-term goal is to analyze the nest and provide reference for research projects on variant slime molds in various regions of the Sticky Body. data.

Although it is only a very small task, any large plan is composed of countless such small tasks.

Just as the group of people left, a man and a woman stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window where they had stopped before.

Looking at the dormant warehouse outside the window, Jiang Xuezhou's face was filled with complex expressions.

She didn't know the couple, let alone the person lying in the sleeping cabin.

She just suddenly thought, if she had not been able to come out of Vault 0 that day, but had died in this wasteland like countless researchers who encountered accidents...

Her heart tightened slightly, she lowered her head for a moment and whispered.

"Hello……"

Seeing Jiang Xuezhou's heavy face, Ye Shi, who was standing next to him, made a helpless expression.

"What's wrong with you?"

Jiang Xuezhou continued in a low voice.

"...I want to go home."

"Go back."

Ye Shi gave her a strange look. Do you need to tell yourself something like this?

Jiang Xuezhou's lips moved, and it was hard for him to speak, but he finally spoke.

"...Can you go back with me?"

She hadn't been back for a long time since she became an apprentice, and she didn't know how to face those relatives who were both familiar and unfamiliar, so she subconsciously wanted to find a trusted partner to go back with her.

Upon hearing that it was such a trivial matter, Ye Shi didn't think much and simply agreed.

"Okay, when?"

Jiang Xuezhou was stunned for a moment.

She just mentioned it casually and didn't even plan a specific time to go back. She didn't expect that this stupid man would agree so simply and even ask when to leave.

"...Then...how about Zhitian?"

She said these words unpreparedly, and it was only then that she suddenly realized something, and her cheeks gradually became hot.

But what she didn't know was that a certain guy didn't think that much at all, he just saw an exclamation mark popping up on the NPC's head.

"no problem……"

Looking at Jiang Xuezhou, whose face suddenly turned red, Ye Shi couldn't help but have a strange expression on his face.

This guy has been distracted lately.

Could it be that he has a fever?

…

Front lines thousands of kilometers away.

The hot flames even melted the snow on the Blood Mountain.

The roar of artillery fire shook the earth, followed closely by the crackling sound of gunfire and the roar of mutants.

As if to avenge their past humiliation, Task Force Alpha formulated a more thorough combat plan based on the intelligence collected in the previous battle, and launched a more violent offensive than before.

This time, it was not just two squadrons that were pushed to the front line, but ten squadrons with a total of one thousand people!

The two sides started a fierce fight in the cave.

Under the cover of the drone attack formation, one team after another methodically filled in the abyss-like cave. Only people were seen going in, but no one was coming out.

Looking at the fierce offensive of Task Force Alpha, General Modlin, who was standing halfway up the Broken Blade Mountain, couldn't help but have a surprised expression on his face.

Even the adjutant standing next to him had a look of disbelief on his face.

"...Are these guys on drugs?" He muttered to himself as he stared in the direction of the front line.

In just three days, those lifeless guys seemed to have become a different person.

Although he couldn't see the situation in the cave, he could clearly feel the difference in those guys just by looking at their aura.

"Maybe you really guessed it right." General Modlin frowned and lowered the telescope in his hand.

The Allied High Command disclosed the characteristics of Alpha Protozoa.

If according to that standard, in the entire 310,000th team, probably only the punishment team and some awakened warriors with strong physical strength can withstand the erosion of the red mist.

As shown in the operation three days ago, Task Force Alpha is not good at physical strength.

Without changing the equipment, he could only suspect that these guys should have taken some immunity-boosting drugs, or installed some bionic plug-ins that could fight infections.

In addition, there was another thing that caught his attention.

That is to say, he only saw these people going in one after another, but no one came out.

Either they fought until the last moment and died there, or they should have acquired some kind of ability to continuously recover during the battle.

Thinking of this, General Modlin couldn't help but have a hint of interest in his eyes, and he couldn't help but have a hint of expectation for the outcome of this battle.

It was not only General Modlin who was watching the battle, but also Commander Quan Shui, the commander of the Storm Corps, and Edge, the commander of the Death Corps.

The two of them were also standing on the mountainside of Broken Edge Mountain, staring at the battlefield just around the corner.

"Oh my god... they are a bunch of ruthless people." With a shocked expression on his face, he couldn't help but sigh.

Not counting those clones without complete minds, this was the first time in this game that he saw guys who were as unafraid of death as them.

"Indeed..." Commander Quanshui nodded in agreement, holding the telescope and staring at the battle situation on the front line.

In a sense, the Torch really met its opponent this time.

Although the college's attitude towards Blue Jacket was relatively friendly, he still had to complain that these guys were not a match for ordinary people when it came to being inappropriate.

After being inoculated with a thousand biological prostheses in three days, one-third of the Alphas on the front line "changed" on the spot, transforming from mechanized soldiers into half-biological and half-mechanized warriors.

Although Xiaoyu is still quite cute after looking at her for a long time, it doesn't hurt to change her skin and play with her occasionally. All of this is based on the premise of being able to be resurrected.

If he couldn't be resurrected, or if he was resurrected, the biological prosthetic body would not be washed away. He felt that even in the game, he would have to hesitate to pretend to be this thing.

While the commanders of the coalition forces were watching the battle, the Beast King standing on the Blood Mountain also overlooked the entire battlefield.

And that expressionless face also had an expression of obvious surprise.

"What is that?"

He kept mumbling, and his eyes were full of astonishment. He couldn't believe what he saw in the eyes of those mutants, let alone understand it.

He saw with his own eyes that a soldier of Task Force Alpha was pierced through the chest by a thrust thrown by a mutant mutant, and then violently thrown out.

The hot blood even spread on it (his) head, and the hot touch could never be an illusion simulated by holographic technology.

For humans, that is undoubtedly a fatal wound.

However, he (he) had just wiped the blood on the thorns when he saw the unconscious soldier suddenly twitching. Then he lay on his side, grabbed his rifle, and pointed at it (him) with a sudden burst of chaos. Sweep.

Unprepared, several electromagnetically accelerated projectiles shattered the mutant's chest and brain.

He also lost his perception of the mutant for a moment, and returned to God's perspective with a blank look on his face.

The brutal fighting continues.

These guys wearing gas masks seem to have found a way to fight the poisonous fog.

And not only that, their recovery ability has also become stronger, as if they have transformed into another species overnight.

"Haha...hahahaha!"

The astonishment in his eyes gradually turned into enthusiasm, and he suddenly laughed while looking down at his feet.

"Interesting...so much fun!"

Is it possible to actively inoculate the fruiting bodies of benign varieties and thereby gain immunity before being infected by slime mold spores?

These old guys were not as rigid as he thought, and they knew how to adapt.

Sure enough, it would be interesting to compete with such thoughtful opponents.

Apart from getting a batch of organic matter from fighting those Valantians, he learned nothing.

Looking down at the Alpha Task Force members who were waiting at the foot of the mountain, the Beast King said in a very soft voice.

"...I want to understand the secrets of those guys. Can you please eat them?"

That is not sound transmitted through sound waves, but the flow of consciousness and consciousness.

After waiting for about a few minutes, the dull sound like an ancient bell slowly spread to the sea of ​​his consciousness.

"I think...it's best for you not to let that guy get close to me."

The Beast King was stunned for a moment and frowned slightly.

"Can't you eat it?"

The "Lord of Plague" located deep in the mountain slowly spoke.

"Generally speaking, we evolved to devour other organisms, and engulfing other slime molds is just an accident in evolution. That guy is different. Its evolutionary logic is completely opposite to ours. It exists purely to devour other slime molds. , but can coexist with the humans who raise it.”

"Just like those green-skinned guys who can tolerate my smell and even worship me, you can understand it... it is the 'mutant' among 'us'."

After a pause, the voice continued.

"I can feel from the disgusting breathing sound that that guy has devoured at least two of its kind... I already have so many lovely children, and I don't want to be the next one."

Those believers are its children.

It had never seen anything so interesting, embracing the distortions it had bestowed upon them with joy and love rather than fear of what it looked like.

The guy named the Beast King told it that this is the "belief" of humans. They regard themselves as relatives who give them life, or even gods!

It likes the name Plague Lord very much, and it also likes the believers who cheer its name even more than it loves its own fruiting body.

It is precisely for this reason that it will feed them with its own flesh and blood, and select the guy with the most pious beliefs among them as the "prophet" to cultivate the "plague", and then use that guy as a seedbed to produce spores, giving them a stronger "evolution factor".

In a sense, they are its fruiting bodies, at least part of them are.

It has high hopes for them, hoping that they can continue to expand the size of the population until they occupy the entire planet, and go to conquer more distant worlds with their belief in themselves.

One day, calling out their names, they will return to their dearest relative, Gaia, on their behalf.

Perhaps they could also bring Him a message for themselves.

The Beast King pondered for a moment and suddenly spoke.

"Then if you can devour it, wouldn't you also gain...its ability to devour other slime molds?"

He thought of the forest in the Yue Province, where Nago was born, and where Nago's weakness lies.

If they could devour the nest there, their heaven would no longer have any weaknesses.

The Plague Lord was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke.

"That's right,...its main body image is not here. So far, only its fruiting bodies have appeared. My fruiting bodies can digest them, but that is only digestion in the physical sense. If it is up to me to If you eat them, you may suffer from indigestion.”

"I see...I understand." The Beast King nodded thoughtfully.

This is indeed a problem.

However, they can use scientific methods to solve the problem, such as making the samples harmless before feeding them.

Of course.

That was what happened after taking Qingquan City.

"Don't worry about this for now... My children are begging me for help. You should have heard their cries." Looking at the beast king who seemed to be in a state of ecstasy, the Plague Lord's voice had a hint of urging.

The battle on Blood Mountain became increasingly grim for its children.

Not only its children, but itself is in danger.

It has a premonition.

If those carrying other slime mold fruiting bodies are allowed into its lair, terrible things will happen.

The Beast King nodded slowly, turned around and looked at the gray sky in the southeast.

That is the direction of Haiyia Province.

Standing on the top of Blood Mountain, you can even see the gray fog that permeates there, and the prosperous country hidden in the gray fog.

He admitted that the fruiting bodies that inhabited people were beyond his expectations.

If these guys thought they could beat him with one or two unexpected cards, they would be underestimating him.

They set foot on this desolate and chaotic land many years before these old things noticed it.

It took them more than ten years to get the seeds to take root, bloom, and bear abundant fruits.

All the land from Shifeng Mountain to Weifu Wasteland is his domain, and the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived here a long time ago.

These guys just built a few houses on it, captured a few hills, and thought it was their territory.

It has always been his territory.

He would make them remember this profound lesson.

"Don't worry."

The Beast King waved his hand gently, and the red mist wrapping around the mountain seemed to be in a daze for a moment, and then was replaced by the slowly rising gray-green thick mist.

"It's time for fog."