This Game Is Too Real-Chapter 799: Hell is Always Similarly the Same

In a pitch-dark tunnel,

Dozens of Vellante soldiers, dressed in protective suits and wielding flashlights, carefully searched every shadowy corner as they cautiously pushed forward.

The air was stiflingly oppressive, as if the darkness concealed covetous eyes...the covetousness of the dead toward the living.

Because the space was so quiet, every little noise seemed jarringly out of place, which made everyone consciously or unconsciously reduce their interactions, speaking to one another only when necessary.

An hour had passed since Favri and his thousand-strong team had discovered this tunnel. The exploration team had been searching the ruins for a full hour as well.

Yet, they still hadn’t reached the end of the tunnel, causing many to uncontrollably start to doubt whether they were walking in circles.

It was no wonder they felt that way.

After all, the tunnel seemed as endless as a black hole.

The deeper they ventured, the stronger the uneasy feeling grew in their hearts.

It was almost as if, once they stayed too long, they would never be able to leave...

"Damn it... where did those diggers find this cursed tunnel?"

"Who knows..."

"A settlement site from over a hundred years ago... What’s the point of exploring this thing? Could there still be living people here?"

"Enough, shut up!"

Talking about ghost stories had no benefit other than frightening oneself, and the person who was scolded by the captain sheepishly smiled and stopped talking.

The others involuntarily shut their mouths, and the eerie silence returned to this seemingly bottomless tunnel.

Finally, it was time for the routine report.

A Vellante soldier at the front of the group took a deep breath and removed the walkie-talkie from his shoulder and spoke solemnly.

"This is ’Sleigh’... Everything is normal below, no suspicious targets have been found."

After a brief crackling of static, a voice from the higher-ups came through the communication channel.

"Continue your search."

"...Yes!"

Clearly,

The superiors would not allow them to return empty-handed.

Before they found a target of sufficient value, they had no choice but to keep searching in this bottomless tunnel.

The leading Vellante captain disconnected the communication, gestured to his teammates behind him, and then led the disheartened group further into the depths of the tunnel.

After passing through a tangled mess of steel rebars, they crossed a half-collapsed ventilation shaft, and the space in front suddenly opened up.

Seeing the change in their surroundings, excitement appeared on everyone’s faces, and they quickened their pace, soon arriving at a small square approximately a hundred square meters in size.

In the center of the square stood a square-shaped stone monument, surrounded by a cluster of twisted and bent chairs.

Most of these chairs were empty, but nearby were remnants of clothing and a few completely weathered skeletons.

Suppressing the discomfort in his heart, the Vellante captain walked to the monument with his flashlight on, searching the surroundings with the beam.

"This is ’Sleigh’... We’ve discovered a square that appears to be a gathering place for local survivors."

He paused, then directed his flashlight at the monument and found it inscribed with rows of small text, so he continued.

"The very center of the square has a stone monument, and we’ve found some carved inscriptions on it, seeming to be the names of local residents... Wait, there seems to be another line of text at the bottom."

Carefully deciphering the small inscriptions, he said with some effort,

"’Our world has ended, we will start a new cycle’... I don’t understand, is this some kind of strange religion?"

The voice from the command center continued.

"Is there any geographical information about this settlement on the stele, like its name?"

"No discovery... Before confirming the place name, I’ll tentatively call this place ’Stone Monument Town’."

The captain of the Vellante people showed a curious expression and moved to the back of the stele, flashlight in hand.

Because his attention was entirely on the stele, he didn’t notice the ground beneath his feet, until a crisp "crack" transmitted through his boot’s sole made him unconsciously look down, only then belatedly realizing he had crushed a human skull.

It was at that moment that he witnessed a scene he would never forget.

Behind the stele, the open space was densely covered in bones scattered as wildly as weeds. The skull he had stepped on was just one insignificant piece among them; the human bones in this not-so-spacious area had piled up into small mounds...

This place hardly looked like any settlement.

It was more like some kind of cult’s sacrificial site.

What on earth had happened here?!

Even for someone accustomed to the gruesome sights of mountains of corpses and seas of bones on the battlefield, a hint of eerie dread involuntarily arose in his heart.

"Damn it..."

He swallowed hard and instinctively stepped back until his shoulder hit the stele behind him.

Not just him, but the other Vellante soldiers who had followed him into the tunnel also noticed the situation behind the stele and simultaneously felt a chill in their limbs.

The Command Center, sensing something amiss from the other end of the communication channel, hurriedly spoke through the headset.

"This is Command, what have you found?"

"Dead people..."

"Dead people?"

"Yes... Dead people are everywhere here. Starting from behind the plaza’s stele, stretching to the streets buried under garbage, there are at least thousands of skeletons here. It feels like..."

The Vellante captain swallowed again, his hoarse voice surveying the surrounding devastation.

"It feels just like hell..."

...

At the same time that the Vellante soldiers were delving into this hellish exploration, several kilometers away, at the refugee camp established by the Alliance, two Tiger Whale Transport Aircraft were landing slowly in the open space near the camp.

Tens of thousands of survivors were stranded there, and Haibei City, still surrounded by the Heavenly domain, was clearly not a suitable relocation spot given the logistical and sanitary challenges.

Thus, the Alliance Army Command issued new orders to the troops stationed there, instructing them to move the survivors about a hundred kilometers away to the seaside for resettlement.

This location had an Alliance temporary camp and also boasted a makeshift dock that allowed cargo ships to load and unload supplies, more than sufficient to accommodate ten thousand survivors.

However, since the Alliance’s independently developed "Overlord" transport aircraft required a runway for take-off and landing, the task of relocating the refugees had to be entrusted to the corporate aviation team.

Looking at the group of survivors lined up in long queues at the tarmac, the pilot in the driver’s seat couldn’t help but click his tongue and said to the coming Alliance Soldier for work handover.

"No offense... but did you guys pick these folks up from hell?"

People missing arms and legs were commonplace here; it was nearly impossible to find someone intact.

And there was more.

Many bore rotting wounds all over, looking twisted and ghastly, unbearable to behold.

"Pretty much, since we’ve just crawled out of hell ourselves."

Killer Dagger grinned at the startled pilot, and casually cracked a joke.

"Mutants like to eat the living; they often gnaw half and throw away the other half. The uneaten remains they toss back into the dungeons to rear... These survivors, who’ve consumed Nago, don’t have to worry about their wounds getting infected. The rotten flesh will grow in conjunction with their new flesh, and eventually, it turns into this thing you see here."

Sitting in the copilot’s seat, the pilot retched briefly, and it took him a while to raise his pale face and look at Killer Dagger standing by the cockpit, protesting.

"...Enough, stop talking!"

The description caused him physical discomfort.

Killer Dagger shrugged his shoulders, tossing the personnel list into the cockpit while patting the pilot’s shoulder with a smile.

"There are over 17,000 targets left to relocate, and it looks like we’re tasked with handling the captured Weilante People... It’s a tough mission, but we’re counting on you guys, good luck!"

Watching the soldier turn and leave, the two pilots inside the cockpit exchanged glances and couldn’t help but softly complain to each other.

"I suspect these people are not mentally stable anymore... otherwise, how could they not feel the slightest discomfort?"

"I completely agree with your view..."

After finishing up here, Killer Dagger patted the cockpit’s hatch and then turned to busy himself with other matters.

As the company’s transport plane was busy moving survivors to the coastline, two Viper transport planes carrying researchers from the Alliance Scientific Expedition Team flew in from the direction of the coastline and stopped not far from the Tiger Whale transport aircraft.

A group of researchers in white coats quickly disembarked from the aircraft and, escorted by a group of heavily armed players, swiftly headed to the entrance of Shelter No.20.

For now, Shelter No.20 was still under the control of The Burning Legion of the Alliance; not only were new surveillance devices installed on the nearby streets, but drones also patrolled the area around the clock.

Until the completion of the inspection of the data stored in the refuge, this shelter would not be opened to other members of the Sticky Community.

Not only Chu Guang, but Fang Chang, who was also deeply interested in Shelter No.20, was paying attention to the latest investigation updates of the scientific team.

While he was waiting for the results, Old White, who had just returned from patrol, brought him unexpected news.

"There’s good news and bad news; which would you like to hear first?"

Hearing this teaser, Fang Chang coughed lightly.

"Just start with the important one."

Old White grinned and said,

"Do you remember those Weilante People from before? They actually found something at that position we abandoned."

Fang Chang was stunned for a few seconds, then looked at Old White incredulously.

"Really?"

Old White nodded and said,

"It’s from Brother Battlefield; it should be accurate."

Fang Chang then asked,

"And the good news?"

Old White grinned and said,

"What you just heard was the good news. As for the bad news... unfortunately, our allies weren’t very lucky, they found nothing but corpses."

Fang Chang slightly furrowed his brow.

"...they found nothing but corpses?"

Old White nodded again and continued,

"That’s right, the tunnel they dug up seems to be the entrance to a residential area that was abandoned over a century ago, containing nothing but the corpses of local survivors."

Seeing Fang Chang deep in thought, Old White paused before continuing,

"But speaking of that settlement, it’s quite bizarre. According to the Weilante People who went down to investigate the remains, the entire settlement seemed to have been buried instantaneously."

"The bodies of numerous survivors were gathered at the entrance square of the settlement, with no signs of resistance at the scene... It was as if the survivors had accepted their fate, engraving their names on a monument, writing prophesies of doom at the end, and calmly embracing their final death."

"The whole relic site reeks of something sinister, and what’s even more eerie is that I heard from Brother Battlefield that the Weilante People soldiers who came back from below had some mental issues. They seemed to be terrified by something, becoming paranoid... It’s unusual; they’re battle-hardened soldiers who shouldn’t be so easily scared by a few corpses."

Fang Chang nodded in agreement, pondered for a moment, then suddenly proposed a possibility,

"Could it be the influence of a Mind Interference Device or some kind of bacterium?"

Old White shook his head and said,

"That’s unclear. I was actually thinking it would be nice if we could get some ’wounded’ from the Army to cooperate with our research, but the problem now is... our information was obtained through unofficial channels, and it’s difficult to approach them without them coming forth voluntarily."

Fang Chang sighed and said,

"Indeed... However, based on what the Weilante People unearthed, it can indeed corroborate some conclusions of the Scientific Expedition Team."

Old White’s heart moved, and he asked in surprise,

"Has the Scientific Expedition Team come up with results?"

Fang Chang nodded, and slowly began to speak,

"According to the investigation by the Scientific Expedition Team, the Manager’s Log at Shelter No.20 was manually deleted, and that was after some disastrous experimental result."

Old White frowned and asked,

"A disastrous experimental result?"

Fang Chang nodded again and continued,

"The main research focus of Shelter No.20 was outer space development. Based on their two technological proposals designed for ’Return to Space,’ they considered two sets of plans over twenty years after the 51st year of the Wasteland Era."

"The first plan was to use limited resources to construct an orbital-free space elevator, steadfastly retracing the paths once trodden by the United Human. The other plan was to find another path, launching thoughts onto the still-functioning space devices of the Human Alliance Era to accomplish rescue from the outside in... I suppose this could also be seen as a kind of overtaking on the turn."

"According to the conclusions of the Scientific Expedition Team, Shelter No.20 very likely abandoned the first plan during the technological feasibility assessment phase, and from the beginning, they put all their chips on the second plan... We can’t find any detailed experimental plan about the first plan on the shelter’s server simply because they never tried it."

Old White furrowed his brow,

"Does that mean... the plan for the orbital-free space elevator was not feasible?"

"Not exactly," Fang Chang shook his head, "How can you say something that was never tried is unfeasible? If that thing were truly unachievable in principle, it wouldn’t even be in the plans of this shelter."

Old White asked, puzzled,

"Then why did they give it up directly?"

Fang Chang recalled what he had just heard from the NPC and continued,

"The Scientific Expedition Team believes... at that time, the residents of Shelter No.20 judged that the material and time costs required for the first plan exceeded their capacity. If they forced the plan forward, it might take them fifty years or even longer."

Old White mused,

"Fifty years... That sounds somewhat acceptable."

"It does to us, but back then, to them, the duration seemed exceedingly long... Honestly, from their perspective, it’s not hard to understand. If returning to outer space took so long, then restoring the territories at the zenith of the United Human could take who knows how long."

Pausing, Fang Chang continued,

"The Scientific Expedition Team speculates that, due to various considerations, they most likely directly chose the second plan as their course of action... putting all their hopes on the thought projection technology, which seemed less costly but had more uncertainties."

Old White couldn’t help asking,

"So, did they... succeed?"

Fang Chang sighed softly,

"Haven’t I mentioned? The Manager’s Log was deleted after a disastrous experimental result..."

After a pause, he continued,

"What they did between the years 51 to 72 of the Wasteland Era is beyond our knowledge now, but if the corpses unearthed by the Weilante People were left by them, then the outcome of that experiment speaks for itself... The residents of Shelter No.20 rushed the process, resulting in ultimately disastrous consequences, turning the whole experiment into a collective act of despair."

Listening to this harsh conjecture, Old White’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Eventually, he shook his head, managing to squeeze out only one sentence,

"Madness indeed..."

Fang Chang nodded, and after a moment of silence said,

"Indeed, they were another group of madmen, belonging to a different era from the Torch, yet the madness of both is strikingly similar."

"It makes one inevitably wonder whether the Torch was inspired by the experiences of Shelter No.20, leading them to commit so many outrageous acts..."

-

(Thank you for the alliance master reward from the "Reader20230621171246491"!)