Chapter 448 One Hundred Years of Solitude
Chapter 448: One Hundred Years of Solitude
[Lieutenant Colonel, our operations in the center of Qingquan City have reached a stalemate. The soldiers fought bravely and our enemies suffered heavy losses, but unfortunately, we have not been able to get close to the mother nest until now. ]
[Although the Prowler tanks have excellent mobility and reliable armor, they have to be overhauled every time they come back from duty, and the parts that need to be replaced are simply not found here. ]
[Especially when facing the siege of slime mold fruiting bodies, our equipment has no advantage. They fall in groups and rush up in groups… It’s like a wave. Before we kill them all, I’m afraid we will be dragged down by the poor logistics. ] [
The most worrying thing is those “evolved bodies”… This is the name given by the technicians who followed us into the city center. We found that some slime mold fruiting bodies have undergone secondary mutations based on the mutations, and have even begun to imitate us, evolving structures similar to power armor and exoskeletons, and even corroding our drones and tanks. 】
【This is not my nonsense. I know it sounds incredible, but if we continue to treat them as beasts fighting with teeth and claws, or biological weapons thrown by the enemy on the battlefield, we will probably pay a heavy price… In fact, our casualties are already heavy enough. 】
【Compared to advanced weapons, we need equipment that is easy to maintain and sufficient in quantity. Instead of using precious equipment and manpower to fill the battle line that can never be filled like now. 】
【Finally, some good news, the outer wall of the giant stone building has been completed, and the brothers in the production department are as reliable as ever. This magnificent project can at least shelter 100,000 people through the most difficult winter. The refugees in the south do not have to continue to migrate northward, and can be resettled in the western suburbs of Qingquan City. At least our first stage goal has been achieved. We will immediately launch the second stage of the operation after a short rest. 】
【I heard that the technical department is looking for a way to solve the slime mold from the genetic level. 】 【I
have an idea here. Why not use the genes in the gene bank to “produce” a group of super soldiers who are not afraid of death? 】
【Even if they are useless on the battlefield, they can at least help us move some things. Those bionic people and robots are too troublesome to maintain. We may have to deploy an additional maintenance company. 】
【——Telegram from the front line (III), March 21, 2150. 】
On the Iron Heart.
Chu Guang, who was resting in the captain’s room, was browsing the official forum of “Wasteland OL” through a holographic computer.
This information was collected by the players of the Death Corps and synchronized to the server of the shelter with the help of the mission’s communication radio.
Looking at the information uploaded to the official website by the players, he touched his chin thoughtfully and leaned back in his chair.
”2150… should be the 21st year of the Wasteland Era.”
He was very sensitive to numbers and remembered clearly that the first year of the Wasteland Era was 2129.
”But attacking the center of Qingquan City in March… that’s really unrealistic.”
Spring is the outbreak period of the wave. At this time, the reproduction rate of the mutant slime mold will reach its peak, and the spore density in the air will also reach its peak.
Of course, this is looking at the problem from the perspective of the latecomers.
Perhaps the survivors at that time had not yet realized the concept of the wave. As indicated in this telegram, the post-war reconstruction committee underestimated the threat of those mutant slime molds.
And
…
it should have been a nuclear winter at that time?
But these are not the main points. What Chu Guang cares more about is the last line of the telegram.
”… A group of soldiers who are not afraid of death, are you referring to the Weyland people?”
Seeing this sentence, Chu Guang was puzzled.
Those big noses are not as fearless as imagined…
Maybe it’s because the average awakener of the players, or maybe his attribute panel is outrageous enough, anyway, he didn’t think those big noses were very strong in combat.
Maybe they are stronger than ordinary people.
”Xiao Qi.”
A full-hearted voice soon came to my ears, and it was still a rare queen voice today.
”I’m here, master.”
After a moment of silence, Chu Guang spoke.
”…Search all the information collected by the players of the Death Corps, not just the Weilants. I need all the information about the Corps, the Enterprise, and the Academy.”
”Okay!”
After hearing the enthusiastic answer, Chu Guang waited for a moment. In less than a minute, Xiao Qi quickly completed the search of all the pictures.
Whether they were uploaded by the players or saved in personal albums.
All the information was sorted into a text document and a directory was made for his convenience.
Although most of the clues collected by the players were fragmentary, a lot of incredible information was accidentally pieced together.
Just as he guessed.
The Weilants were indeed a race created by genetic modification technology.
Although this project was initially opposed by the technical department of the committee, the continued heavy casualties on the front line and the large amount of unprocessed work forced the defense department of the committee to put pressure on the technical department.
In 2150, the 21st year of the Wasteland Era, the super soldier project named “Villant Project” was finally passed despite numerous pressures from all sides, taking the heavy casualties of the “Operation Qingquan City” as an opportunity. The
Defense Department of the Committee, the predecessor of the Legion, is inextricably linked to the chaos of a century and a half ago.
Chu Guang couldn’t help but feel a little curious, and continued to read along the clues sorted out by Xiao Qi.
The 23 pairs of chromosomes of the Villant were completely designed by gene modification technology, and the materials were extracted from an incomplete gene bank called “Villant”. The
first thousand gene originals did have extraordinary combat power.
They have a fighting instinct that is almost like that of beasts while retaining their humanity. Even without systematic training, they can still defeat more than five well-trained veterans in combat.
However, this is also the chicken ribs.
Even on the battlefield after the prosperous era, there are still not many opportunities for hand-to-hand combat.
Their strong bodies make them more suitable for dangerous missions with the highest casualty rates. Although their super reflexes and athletic ability allow them to kill enemies more efficiently, their numbers are too small.
These super soldiers ultimately failed to play a big role on the battlefield, which led to their further political marginalization.
After several battles against mutant slime molds, the Weylanders were organized into a rapid reaction brigade, led by a young commander named Julius, using cheap equipment with relatively low logistical requirements to support the regular army’s battles.
The life of Julius is also full of legends. He was born almost in the same year as the “Villant Project”, and because his father was a senior officer of the 111th Orbital Airborne Division of the Human Union, he received military education since he could remember.
As an “old human”, he almost grew up with those “new humans”, and fifteen years later, he followed those new humans as a commander to the battlefield against mutant slime mold.
Chu Guang used the search function to search for the name “Julius” and found that in the document of less than 500,000 words, this seemingly ordinary name unexpectedly appeared hundreds of times in the following text.
”…Speaking of which, the marshal of the legion seems to be called this name.” Chu Guang vaguely remembered hearing Vanus mention the name of their marshal.
However, on the West Coast, few people would call that person by his name, usually using the title of marshal.
”If the marshal of the legion and Julius in the document are the same person, then this guy must have lived for at least 150 years!”
Chu Guang smacked his lips in surprise, unable to imagine what that felt like.
In Stellaris, an officer who has lived for 150 years would have reached the highest level even if he was thrown into the “patrol fleet” to suppress pirates. His
index finger continued to slide on the holographic screen, and he quickly turned the page.
Skipping the lengthy description, time quickly came to the 41st year of the Wasteland Era.
The committee’s work to eliminate slime molds was quite difficult, and the endless winter made the problems of resource scarcity and low productivity even more serious.
Some climatologists even expressed despair that this planet might not be transforming into a “wasteland planet”, but evolving into a “polar planet” with a more fragile ecosystem, and one-third of the land would eventually be buried under a 240-meter-thick ice layer.
That war may have set the world back 18,000 years.
However, even so, eliminating the slime mold on this planet is still the most important problem. Various research signs show that this “simple” organism is more cold-resistant than other native carbon-based organisms on this planet.
If this trouble cannot be solved before the situation gets worse, the future trouble will exceed everyone’s expectations.
So far, the survivors have not yet discovered the “self-limitation” of slime molds, and are simply afraid of those monsters that cannot be completely eliminated even with nuclear bombs.
If the survivors at that time knew that, in fact, as long as they abandoned the urban circles of the Human Union era and retreated to the suburbs with lower building density, the slime mold would enter a period of decline after expanding to a certain extent, and there would probably not be so many troubles.
Of course, this is considering the problem from the perspective of latecomers. Many research results on slime molds were discovered in the war against slime molds.
In short, in order to reduce the loss of manpower, the Defense Department of the Committee put forward further requirements on the basis of the “Villant Project”-they need a clone soldier who can “both quickly mass-produce and play a role on the battlefield.”
They don’t have to be very powerful, and they don’t even have to have normal human minds, but they must complete the cycle from the assembly line to the battlefield in the shortest time.
Compared with the defense department in the 21st year of the Wasteland Era, the defense department in the 41st year has obviously gradually gone to extremes.
The Post-War Reconstruction Committee held a meeting to discuss the relevant legislation, and the three major departments of production, defense, and technology all participated in the debate.
This meeting was recorded in the documents as a “three-party meeting”.
This was also the second major disagreement encountered by the Post-War Reconstruction Committee since its establishment.
The long-accumulated contradictions had reached their peak before the meeting began, and the public debate meeting was more like an outlet for venting.
The defense department, which continued to suffer casualties, asked the production and technology departments to provide a “clone soldier who can play a sufficient role on the battlefield” to replace the casualties of the Human Alliance soldiers.
From the perspective of the Ministry of Defense, this is a completely reasonable request.
After all, their soldiers are not only responsible for maintaining the security and order of the settlement, but also responsible for protecting the explorers of the technology department to enter the ruins to recover the technology of the pre-war civilization.
The war has ended for 41 years, but their war has never ended. According to the twenty-year generation, their sacrifice has even spanned two generations, affecting at least four generations.
The technology department, like twenty years ago, still expressed strong opposition, claiming that this will not only bring technical risks such as “DNA pollution”, but is more likely to lead to the collapse of civilization.
This concern is not without reason.
The Weyland people, who were bred through genetic technology and do not have basic political rights, have become de facto “slave soldiers”. The historical reversal has even reached the slave society of the feudal period, which is older than the prosperous era.
This idea was wrong from the beginning. They clearly have better options.
For example, robots and AI.
However, this proposal was objected to by the production department.
Without the support of a complete industrial chain, the cost of producing a sufficiently reliable robot is not a matter of several times or dozens of times, but a geometric increase.
The expensive production and maintenance costs are not something that the current “Post-War Reconstruction Committee” can afford.
Unless the expenditure on each survivor settlement is completely cut off, leaving the survivor settlements including Boulder City to fend for themselves.
Even so, the cost that can be saved is far from meeting the defense department’s demand for manpower.
What’s more, cutting the budget of each survivor settlement means that the Post-War Reconstruction Committee will lose a huge pool of manpower, which is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst.
In order to appease the Technology Department and the Defense Department, the Production Department put forward many compromise suggestions.
For example, the Weilants can be given limited political rights, such as the right to have children, and some Weilants can be appropriately accepted into the big family of the Human Union, as long as they can establish outstanding merits on the battlefield.
As for the clones with higher production, there is no need to limit their lives to the profession of cannon fodder. They can be allowed to freely enter factories or farms to engage in resource production.
This high-quality labor force is not only needed by the defense department, but also by the production department.
This meeting did not discuss any results in the end, but instead laid the hidden
danger for the disintegration of the post-war reconstruction committee. The year after the end of the tripartite meeting, in the year 2171, that is, the 42nd year of the Wasteland Era, the Weilants Laboratory recovered by the Academy Exploration Team on the West Coast became the fuse that ignited the powder keg.
There is a complete gene bank of the Weilants, as well as the “singularity” technology that was not completed before the end of the prosperous era-the adjustable life cycle technology.
Under the leadership of General Julius, the rapid response brigade composed of Weilants occupied the laboratory and detained all the explorers of the technical department exploration team.
Faced with strong protests and negotiations from the technical department, the Ministry of Defense simply claimed that it was Julius’ personal behavior, and was extremely passive in arresting the “out-of-control senior officer”, and even “accidentally” sent nuclear fusion batteries to the occupied laboratory.
Obviously, they tried to complete the research, or to use some of the sub-technologies in the research to create a “clone army that can grow eight times faster”.
Objectively speaking, the people in the Ministry of Defense have been quite restrained. After all, they could have just robbed directly, but they still made up a lame excuse to pretend.
The committee’s control over the various departments has declined to the bottom, and the contradiction between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Technology has reached its peak. In
the year 2172, the 43rd year of the Wasteland Era, after several “accidental” incidents, the Ministry of Technology completely lost its trust in the Ministry of Defense.
Under the leadership of Dr. “Conclusion”, the then Minister of the Ministry of Technology and Dean of the Academy, the Ministry of Technology transferred a large number of core technical personnel to the northern swamps in the name of exploring large ruins, and established its own armed exploration force under the framework of the pre-war academic organization “Academy”.
The Ministry of Defense was indifferent to this. Their focus had already shifted to the west of the Great Desert, and the Triumph City and most of the military facilities on the west coast were actually under the control of the “out-of-control senior officer”.
Although the production department of the committee is low-key, it is also not a pushover.
Even before the fuse of the tripartite meeting, they had secretly prioritized the construction of settlements on the east coast by tilting resources and other means.
Ideal City was born in this context.
Not only that, they even joined forces with the managers of Shelter No. 6 and the then captain of the colony ship to jointly promote the “enterprise” plan, set up a regional “Supreme Council”, and proposed the general line of “industrial salvation”.
Perhaps in the eyes of the then Minister of Production, the colonists who stranded the colony ship on the surface to save the mother planet and the residents of Shelter No. 6 who bravely opened the door to save more survivors were more trustworthy than those “colleagues” who argued fiercely at the negotiation table.
Although idealists rarely produce visible results immediately, every progress of civilization is inseparable from the exploration of idealists.
They decided to replace the committee and become explorers of the new era.
In the year 2173, the 44th year of the Wasteland Era, the second fuse event occurred. The Production Department felt that the disintegration of the post-war reconstruction committee was inevitable, so it unilaterally announced the “Yunjian Province Revitalization Act” through the already fully-fledged Ideal City.
The Act stipulates that the four strategic defense areas of the mountains and seas, archipelagos, inner lakes, and estuaries of Yunjian Province, the three urban circles of Beiyun, Shangyun, and Xiayun, and the two industrial zones No. 1 and No. 2, all pre-war civilization relics belong to all the survivor settlements in Yunjian Province.
This sounds like a very mild initiative and it makes sense.
But in fact, there is a conspiracy.
On the night of the promulgation of the bill, more than a dozen armed forces set out from Ideal City in the name of the enterprise and quickly took over all the research institutes of the technical department of the committee on the east coast, as well as the pre-war civilization relics under development.
Fierce exchanges of fire broke out between the two sides in some research facilities.
The armed forces of the academy were established in a short time and their combat effectiveness was not strong, but due to the investment of a large amount of high-tech equipment and war weapons controlled by AI, they still caused considerable trouble to the troops of the enterprise.
Although the enterprise still won in the end, many research facilities were destroyed.
For example, the experimental facilities engaged in the research of singularity technology – “perfect life form” were reduced to ashes in that conflict.
This result not only led to the complete loss of the original components of the “perfect life form” technology, but also caused some experimental subjects with unstable DNA to flee to the wasteland, some of which moved along the coastline and some migrated to the direction of the Great Desert.
These experimental subjects who drifted to the wasteland were the later mutants.
Although this conflict was in the name of the enterprise and the ideal city, and there was no participation from the production department, the researchers in the technical department were not stupid.
Taking this incident as an opportunity, Dr. Conclusion immediately announced the dissolution of the technical department. Not only did he take over all the survivor settlements in the Wandering Swamp in the name of the academy, he also permanently cut off all technical support outside the Wandering Swamp and even deleted the database in the Great Rift Valley.
Especially the part about the coordinates of the pre-war civilization ruins.
So far, the Legion, the enterprise, and the academy have stepped onto the stage of history.
And the defense department, production department, and technical department that completed the “asset transfer”. They successively threw away their historical baggage and happily announced their dissolution.
After losing three important departments, the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, which had been in operation for 44 years, was already in name only and unable to support the survivor settlements in various places.
In the year 2174, the 45th year of the Wasteland Era.
Facing the empty conference table, the Post-War Reconstruction Committee finally took the last step – officially announcing its dissolution.
From now on, the settlements no longer need to abide by the temporary constitution formulated by the committee, nor do they need to accept the management of the committee.
In contrast, the settlements need to find their own way out and solve their own survival problems in the endless winter and the invasion of alien species.
In the final statement, the chief of the committee still expressed the hope that the management of each settlement would not forget their mission and try their best to rescue their compatriots within their capacity.
No one knew it at the time.
In the fifth year after the Post-War Reconstruction Committee was announced to be disbanded, the atmospheric environment began to show signs of recovery.
The long nuclear winter also came to an end amid people’s astonishment, and the declining species began to reproduce again on this land.
So far, the legions, colleges and enterprises have entered the development period one after another, and the wasteland era has entered the half-century-long “shelter era” from the “committee era”.
As the climate has reached the preset standard for ending dormancy, the shelters have opened their doors one after another, and the old popsicles who have walked out of the shelters have also stepped onto this stage that has become a wasteland.
Although the plan deviated from the expected track at the beginning, most shelters have neither found the disbanded post-war reconstruction committee nor managed things on the surface as well as in the shelter.
But they, who are incompatible with this era, have injected a shot of adrenaline into this declining world in a short period of time, and used the knowledge of the prosperous era and the mysterious black box and other objects to help some wastelanders survive the dark age when they first lost the reconstruction committee. What
surprised Chu Guang was that these unknown secrets were actually placed on the bookshelf in the Great Rift Valley lounge, available for people to browse at will.
What he didn’t expect was that the old neighbor to the north of the alliance was once the headquarters of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee.
”No… I can’t say I didn’t expect it at all.”
Chu Guang carefully recalled the holographic image left by Dr. Principle that he and Yin Fang had seen before, and connected it with the clues collected by the Death Corps.
”…In the second year of the Wasteland Era, Dr. Principle, who had been awakened two years later, was escorted by Battalion Commander Zhao Weisheng of the 111th Orbital Airborne Division, and went to the Great Rift Valley with more than a thousand survivors who were not planned to meet up with the comrades of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee.”
”According to the description in the holographic image, the Great Rift Valley was already controlled by the 111th Orbital Airborne Division at that time… In other words, the predecessor of the Legion’s predecessor was actually the 111th Orbital Airborne Division deployed in the River Valley Province?”
And he also saved one of the three founders of the Academy? !
Looking at these data recovered by the players and the past hundred years, Chu Guang couldn’t help but feel mixed emotions.
When Shelter 404 was closed, so many things happened outside…
And at this moment, he finally understood Dr. Method’s feelings, why did that guy run to Shelter 101 and shut himself up.
If I were stabbed twice in the back by my teammates, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be in a good mood, especially since the second stab was completely inexplicable.
However, standing on the standpoint of the disbanded Defense Department and Production Department, they certainly have their own reasons –
’I shed blood and sweat to help you open the ruins, and you didn’t even bother to learn the cloning technology, I’ll do it myself! ‘
’Anyway, you will definitely split up in the future. Since it is an expected high probability event, why can’t I be the first to take action? ‘
Looking at the last page in the holographic image, Chu Guang couldn’t help but think of his alliance.
Both he and the alliance are very young, but he will grow old one day, and human ability has its limits after all, and he can’t always keep up with the changes of the times.
The world of players is also moving forward, and even because of the technical support of the shelter, they will progress faster than normal, and even enter the prosperous era ahead of time.
At that time, “Wasteland OL” will face new challenges.
”… In any case, the alliance will not follow the footsteps of the “Committee.”
After a quiet silence, Chu Guang stretched out his index finger and drew a line in the air, closing the window floating in front of him.
He always has a strong sense of déjà vu. He
seems to have said something similar before.
And at this moment, a light blue pop-up window suddenly flashed in front of him without warning.
[Emergency mission triggered! ]
[Description: The morphogenetic field device detects an abnormal individual, triggering the “flag6” judgment, and the login permission of player ID: “Luo Yu” is temporarily frozen. 】
【Requirement: This task has been noted as the highest priority, and the coordinates have been updated to the map file of the shelter server. Please ask the administrator to recover the abnormal individual as soon as possible and place it on the conveyor belt on the B1 floor after anesthetizing it. 】
【Task reward: Unlock the B6 floor】
This task pop-up window has not appeared for a long time. Chu Guang almost didn’t recognize it
when it suddenly popped up. And when he saw the task reward, he was even more stunned.
B6 floor?
Wait…
Isn’t the B5 floor not unlocked yet?
How did it skip directly?
But what made him more concerned was the description of the urgent task.
”…Abnormal individual?!”
What the hell?
Chu Guang was stunned for a few seconds, and when he came to his senses, he immediately reopened the holographic computer and instructed his cute little assistant.
”Xiao Qi, immediately synchronize the latest coordinates received on the shelter server to my holographic computer.”
Xiao Qi: “Received!”
The coordinates soon appeared on the map.
It was exactly in the southern part of Luoxia Province, the location of the Lost Valley.
Seeing this coordinate, Chu Guang was even more confused.
He clearly remembered that a nuclear bomb had exploded there a few hours ago.
Even if some players were determined to get close to try out what it felt like to be bombed by a nuclear bomb, it would be impossible for them to survive a nuclear bomb, right?
Could this game be cheated?
Just as Chu Guang was wondering what happened, a miserable wail was heard on the official forum.
”Zhao!”
”I was counting, why didn’t the resurrection countdown start!!!”
(Thanks to the “11 of 11” leader for the reward!!!)
(End of this chapter)
