20: Chapter 20 Alienation

One player stared blankly at his hands, then suddenly gave himself an incredibly loud slap.

"Smack!"

The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the hall.

"Hiss—it hurts! This sensation of pain! This tactile friction of the skin!"

Wang Shouyi 13-Spice was so excited that tears were almost bursting out. He even lay flat on the ground and licked the cold metal floor with his tongue.

"The icy feel of this metal! And this faint smell of disinfectant! It's incredible!"

"This life is worth it, brothers!"

Another player beat his chest excitedly.

"Can such awesome technology actually be played for free?! What kind of charitable military-industrial enterprise is this?!"

"Holy crap, it can even simulate Warp whispers?!"

The fifty people in the hall were in a chaotic mess; some were frantically feeling their abs, while others were doing high-knee lifts on the spot to test physical gravity.

Right in the middle of this eyesore of a chaotic dance...

"Ah—!"

Two incredibly sharp female screams suddenly rang out, instantly drowning out everyone's noise.

Everyone looked toward the sound.

By the two incubation pods in the corner, two female players were clutching their chests tightly, squatting on the ground with faces flushed red.

"Holy crap!"

Now it was the veteran players' turn to lose their cool. Flash's eyes were nearly bulging out.

"This game... actually has female players?! And these initial models... these bodies are incredible!"

"See no evil, see no evil."

Walker muttered while staring intently without blinking.

"No, this scene is too stimulating. I'm going offline to take some blood pressure meds first. See you guys in the Western Server."

However, before everyone could move their gaze away from the female players...

A cry of alarm, even more distorted in tone, suddenly erupted from the crowd.

"Holy crap!!! Look over there! What on earth is that thing?!"

Following that player's trembling finger, everyone's gaze, including Lin Li's, froze dead on an oversized incubation pod at the deepest part of the hall.

There stood a terrifying, massive behemoth.

It was a terrifying giant of a man, standing over two meters and thirty centimeters tall!

But he couldn't be considered a normal human at all.

His lower body consisted of incredibly thick, digitigrade bull legs covered in dense black hair, and his feet were a pair of heavy, hard black cloven hooves!

And on his massive head, two sharp, thick bull horns were actually growing outward in a curve!

"Holy crap, a Minotaur?!"

"Isn't this a sci-fi wasteland game?! How did a Pure Love War God from high fantasy spawn in here?!"

The players were all dumbfounded.

The player himself was also dazed.

He felt the horns on his head, then looked down at his bull hooves, and suddenly burst into a fit of ecstatic laughter.

"Hahaha! I rolled a hidden race! This muscle! This power! I feel like I could punch an elephant to death right now!"

Lin Li, leaning against the wall, was no less shocked than the players at this moment.

"73, what the hell is going on?"

Lin Li was frantically calling the AI.

"Aren't we a pure-blood human Shelter? How did we end up with a bull-man?!"

Floating in mid-air, STC-73 flickered with a red light and replied in a disdainful tone that suggested Lin Li was making a fuss over nothing.

"Creator, please put away your meager understanding of genetics; this is very normal."

"In the Golden Age, to adapt to the environments of different extreme star systems, this level of genetic fine-tuning was extremely common. As biological weapons by design, during the embryo cultivation stage, the Master Brain will randomly perform some experimental genetic atavism and fusion modifications based on underlying probability."

"Of course, these modifications are all based on the original species genes of Ancient Terra, though they did start to spiral out of control later. Well, that is not important."

"In the current organization of the Empire, these sub-human mutants are called Beastmen. Although they look like beasts, their soul projection and genetic foundation still belong absolutely to humanity. Furthermore, they are the most perfect heavy cannon fodder."

After hearing 73's explanation, Lin Li secretly gave a thumbs up in his heart.

This game's background setting was truly being smoothed over seamlessly by this neurotic AI!

"Ahem."

Lin Li adjusted his expression, putting back on that cold, poker-faced mask of an officer.

He strode into the center of the crowd, the butt of his halberd striking the metal floor heavily.

"Clang!"

The deafening sound of metal clashing instantly suppressed all the noise in the hall.

The fifty new players, plus the four veteran players, all involuntarily stood up straight, looking with awe at this NPC who radiated an overwhelming aura.

Lin Li's cold gaze swept over the players who were still naked, his brow furrowing slightly.

"At the bottom of the hibernation pods, there are basic protective work clothes, shoes, and gloves. Now, put on your clothes immediately. The Shelter has no need for naked savages."

As if waking from a dream, the players hurriedly scrambled to pull out the sets of dusty grey coveralls from the hidden compartments at the bottom of the incubation pods and put them on.

The two female players also finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly dressed themselves.

After confirming that everyone was dressed, Lin Li took a deep breath.

His gaze was sharp as a blade, slowly sweeping across these fifty-four souls filled with curiosity and fanaticism.

He had rehearsed the following passage in his mind countless times.

He even planned that for every new batch of players that arrived in the future, he would recite this grand, cult-like script verbatim.

"Seeds."

Lin Li's voice was low and raspy, yet it possessed a soul-piercing power that echoed for a long time in the empty hall.

"I must tell you, what you are in now is a desperate, dark universe."

"The Milky Way here has long been torn apart by the fires of a mad war."

With every sentence Lin Li spoke, the new players' eyes brightened a bit more.

This epic opening monologue was exactly what they wanted!

"Ruling over trillions of humans is a massive, decaying, and extremely xenophobic Ecclesiarchy. They view great science as heresy and uphold ignorant superstition as truth! They worship a weak mutant, eternally imprisoned upon the Golden Throne—the Emperor!"

"And among those stars, beyond the ignorant gaze of humanity..."

Lin Li suddenly raised his volume, his halberd pointing directly at the ceiling above.

"There are the arrogant and cruel Eldar! There are the Necrons awakening from ancient tombs! There are the Orks who multiply like a green plague! And... those evil, indescribable Chaos Daemons of the Warp hiding within dimensional rifts!"

The entire underground hall was silent.

The fifty-four players even stopped breathing.

They felt as if they truly saw that desperate universe ravaged by war and dark gods. That sense of epic scale, so grand it was suffocating, instantly pierced through their skulls!

"And us."

Lin Li thrust his halberd heavily back into the ground, an incredibly fanatical light erupting from his eyes.

"We are the only remaining pure-blood human seeds in this vast galaxy who possess untainted genes and have not been corrupted by the Warp!"

"Here, the Fire Seed Shelter is the starting point for the great restoration of humanity!"

"And you are the cornerstones of that restoration!"

Lin Li suddenly spread his arms, as if to embrace the entire wasteland.

"My vision, or rather, the ultimate goal hardcoded into the depths of your genes, is to use the most brutal warfare and the most unstoppable iron tide in this dark 41st Millennium..."

"...to carve out a great path of restoration for humanity!"

"Tell me! Are you prepared to embrace death?!"

There was a full three seconds of silence.

Then, the entire second underground floor erupted in a violent roar that could almost blow the ceiling off!

"Holy crap!!! I'm fired up!!!"

"For pure-blood humanity! For the Seed!"

"Kill! Kill all those mutants! Flatten the galaxy!"

The one with bull horns was even more excited, roaring toward the sky as his massive bull hooves made the metal floor thud loudly.

"WAAAGH!!! I'm going to take on ten of them!!!"

The players had been completely brainwashed by this highly inflammatory speech. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they were howling, wishing they could charge up to the surface right now to engage in melee combat with aliens.

Looking at this group of free laborers who had been successfully duped, a faint, imperceptible cold smile curled at the corner of Lin Li's mouth.

"73, distribute the pv terminals to them."

Leaving behind these words, Lin Li turned and walked into the elevator without a hint of lingering.

The NPC's posturing was done; as for the subsequent newbie guidance, he'd let that emotionless AI deal with the headache.

"Pshhh—"

The elevator doors closed, and Lin Li made his escape.

Left behind, STC-73 lowered its height, its crimson optical lens coldly sweeping across the still-howling players.

"A bunch of manic-depressives with missing brainstems."

73's cold and malicious mechanical voice was like a bucket of cold water poured over the players' heads.

"If your nervous systems, which are simpler than a paramecium's, have finished venting, then line up and come collect your identity dog tags. Without them, you wouldn't even qualify as a proper corpse on this wasteland."

While insulting them, 73 controlled a miniature conveyor belt to spit out fifty already-prepared pv terminals.

The new players were long used to this hardcore setting; instead of getting angry, they lined up and happily went to collect the silver-white metal plates.

"Beep—Binding successful."

The moment the last new player put on their pv terminal...

...almost at the same instant!

A dense cluster of task boxes popped up!

It was a list of tasks that was dizzying to behold!

[Fire Seed Shelter Server-wide Bounty Order!]

[Challenge Mission (Core): Blood for Blood!]

[Objective: Completely annihilate the Ork tribe to the northwest and kill the Orc Warboss!]

[Mission Reward: 1000 Core Points! Limited Title: Ork Butcher!]

[Recommended Level: LV 10]

[Challenge Mission (Regional): Cleanse the Green Tide!]

[Objective: Kill any adult Ork on the wasteland (Non-Squig/Gretchin).]

[Mission Reward: 100 points for each kill! (Infinitely repeatable)]

[Recommended Level: LV 5]

[Challenge Mission (Regional): Clear the Greenies!]

[Objective: Kill Squigs and Gretchin.]

[Mission Reward: 20 points for each kill! (Infinitely repeatable)]

[Recommended Level: None]

[Challenge Mission (Exploration): Relics of the Golden Age!]

[Objective: Deeply explore the Ruins Hollow—the underground core area of Gaobo Food Factory.]

[Mission Reward: Floating point rewards based on materials brought back (ranging from 100-500 points).]

[Level Requirement: None]

And below these incredibly tempting combat missions that reeked of blood, there was a long string of green daily tasks:

[Daily Task: Logging and Weeding. Reward: 1 point for every three meters of standard timber cut.]

[Daily Task: Wasteland Hunting. Reward: 2 points for every kilogram of non-toxic mutant beast meat turned in.]

[Daily Task: Metal Scavenging. Reward: 1 point for every kilogram of usable scrap metal turned in.]

[Daily Task: Chemical Collection. Reward: 1 point for every kilogram of waste plastic/rubber/glass turned in.]

[Daily Task: Biomass Collection. Reward: 2 points for every 100 units.]

[Shelter Store is now online; basic supplies can be exchanged here.]

[Note: Injury or death will automatically deduct points...]

...

Looking at this dense list of tasks, the players completely boiled over!

"Holy crap!!! 1000 points?!"

Makabazi's eyes turned green with greed.

"Killing an Orc Warboss gives a thousand? Killing a small mob gives a hundred?! This is a total giveaway!"

"Brothers! Daily tasks are for suckers! Who wants to do manual labor or pick up trash!"

The bull-man waved his thick arms and roared, "With this physique of mine, I'm going straight to the northwest to steamroll that Black Claw Clan! Who's teaming up with me?!"

"Me, me, me! I'll be responsible for pulling aggro!"

"Count me in!"

The new players were all blinded by the incredibly generous combat rewards. Each one was impassioned and immediately wanted to form teams to go to the northwest and throw their lives away.

Just as this bunch of new leeks was about to go wild...

"Everyone, quiet down!!!"

An incredibly stern shout suddenly came from the veteran players' side.

Ming Shen walked out with a grim face.

As an Alpha tester, the work clothes he wore, already covered in bloodstains and engine oil, gave him a natural air of veteran authority.

"Are you bunch of noobs who haven't even left the village blind?!"

Ming Shen's gaze swept over everyone with extreme severity as he said coldly,

"Open your eyes and look clearly! That 1000-point mission—what's the level requirement? It's freaking LV 10!"

"The mission to kill ordinary Orks—what's the level requirement? It's LV 5!"

"The four of us Alpha veterans have been chased by monsters for three days, fighting for our lives against ants the size of water buffaloes in the sewers, and we've only just reached LV 3!"

"You bunch of LV 1 naked noobs who don't even have a scrap of iron want to go fight an LV 10 Orc Warboss?"

"Do you even know what an Ork is?"

"They can split you and your bones in half with a single blade! Going there is just delivering takeout to the Orks, and it's the 'extra portion at no charge' kind!"

The new players were stunned by Ming Shen's blistering scolding, and their fanatical emotions cooled down slightly.

"Then... then what does the Big Boss mean?"

Makabazi asked cautiously.

He pointed to the seemingly insignificant, low-reward green daily tasks at the very bottom of the panel.

"This is the true purpose behind the developers releasing this massive pile of tasks!"

A light of wisdom flashed in Ming Shen's eyes.

"The system is using the level threshold to warn us that at this stage, we are not at all capable of contending with that upcoming Ork war!"

"That group of Orks is a threat hanging over our heads! And these daily tasks of cutting trees, picking up trash, and mining are the preparation period the system has given us!"

The more Ming Shen spoke, the more excited he became. He suddenly waved his hand:

"We are playing a real war game! To win this war, we must ramp up production capacity as fast as possible!"

"Go pick up trash! Go mine! Go cut trees! Cram all the resources into the Constructor! We need to build an insurmountable iron wall over this Shelter!"

"We need to hand-craft countless rifles and artillery pieces from scrap metal!"

"Only when we have armed the base to the teeth—and I believe our levels will be high enough by then—will it be the moment we truly go and accept that 1000-point decapitation mission!"

After hearing Ming Shen's flawless strategic analysis, all fifty players suddenly realized the truth!

"Holy crap, so that's how it is! Old Ming is awesome!"

"Understood! This is a hardcore RTS game wearing an RPG skin!"

"Brothers, what are you still standing around for? For the rifles! For the cannons! Let's go move some bricks!!!"

The new players perked up again. Like a swarm of locusts that had caught the scent of blood, they howled and rushed toward the elevator.

And at this time...

Lin Li, sitting in the main control room on the first floor, looked at the group of players on the surveillance screen who were frantically picking up trash for points, and took a satisfied sip of high-purity plain water.

"The self-cultivation of these leeks is getting better and better. This foreman is doing a qualified job."