Chapter 1040: Echo from the Wall

Chapter 1040: Echoes on the Wall

The bizarre disappearance of the death giant lizard stunned everyone present at the scene.

Whether players, NPCs, or Chu Guang himself.

Yin Fang was the first to react, rushing at top speed to where the death giant lizard had fallen moments before, reaching out to touch the ground.

Rubbing his index finger and thumb together, his brow furrowed slightly.

The corrosive blood had vanished completely.

Yet the marks of corrosion still lingered on the synthetic material floor.

Beyond that, the human tissue devoured by the death giant lizard had also dissipated into the air along with the ethereal particles, as if assimilated by some unknown force.

What exactly was that force?

Yin Fang suddenly recalled what had happened during several previous experiments.

Researchers at the Seventh Institute had tried using the perforator to transmit simple mechanical objects like clocks to the Creator’s universe. Direct transmission yielded no response, but when attached to a monkey, it succeeded.

The gap created by the perforator in the membrane of the universe seemed to be linked to the subjective cognition of the one being transmitted. Though this understanding leaned toward idealism, the facts they observed were indeed objective.

Walking over to Yin Fang’s side, Chu Guang looked at the corrosion marks still on the ground and spoke in a low voice.

“What exactly is this thing?”

“I don’t know. We have too few clues…” Yin Fang shook his head, then paused for a moment before continuing in an uncertain tone. “However, I do have a guess.”

Chu Guang looked at him, signaling with his eyes for him to continue.

Yin Fang paused and went on.

“The Pioneer Civilization mentioned the ‘Wall’ and explained it as the existence between universes, warning us to be cautious and not to let them out.”

Chu Guang thought for a moment and said.

“You mean this lizard is something from the ‘Wall’?”

“To be precise, it’s a projection of something on the ‘Wall.’ I don’t think it has the ability to squeeze through an almost invisible hole. What we faced is probably an ‘image’ it projected through the hole using some force.” Yin Fang looked at the thoughtful Chu Guang and continued seriously. “Of course, this is just a logical inference on my part. If the membrane of the universe were so fragile that even we, who have just left our home star, could destroy it at will, this universe wouldn’t have lasted until now… unless you believe we are the only civilization in this universe.”

That was clearly impossible.

After all, not long ago, they had discovered the existence of the Pioneer Civilization, and even their understanding of the “Void” was inherited from them.

“A projection of a void creature, huh? Sounds rather chilling,” Chu Guang said with a faint smile. “But it seems the other side is also wary of us. Thinking about it that way, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Seeing the confident smile on Chu Guang’s face, Yin Fang couldn’t help but relax and smile as well, making a joke.

“Of course it’s wary of us. Remember what it said just now? It has been to many worlds similar to ours.”

“I guess this isn’t the first time it’s hit a wall.”

…

[Seventh Research Institute of the Alliance Scientific Expedition Team · Experiment Log]

[Number: TAG.7444154]

[Name: Death Giant Lizard.]

[Description: Form is a giant lizard with an indeterminate number of eyes on both sides of its mouth.

It is ferocious by nature, extremely aggressive, and can destroy nearly half-meter-thick concrete structures with just its physical strength, breaching isolation facilities with quasi-nuclear protection capabilities.

Apart from its extraordinary strength and hunting instinct, this unknown life form possesses almost unbelievable regenerative abilities and damage resistance. Even when suffering fatal injuries, it can maintain combat efficiency and recover from damage in a relatively short time.]

[Experiment Record: Four fifth-stage Awakened from the [Super Fierce Corps] launched an attack on it with “company-level firepower,” including bolters, white phosphorus grenades, and single-person rocket launchers. Only one survived.

In subsequent experiments, [The Administrator] personally intervened. By repeatedly destroying its body tissue, it was concluded that the creature’s regenerative ability has an upper limit; multiple kills could put it to death.

Five minutes after the life form was killed, its corpse vanished into thin air. The specific manifestation was that it turned ethereal and decomposed into tiny invisible particles, destination unknown.

Additionally, experiments showed that this creature possesses a certain degree of intelligence and language ability, but only displays limited communication desire when facing an unbeatable opponent.]

[Note 1: The B3 level experimental facility of the Seventh Research Institute should consider possible organic life form intrusion and add physical disinfection devices within the isolation facility.]

[Note 2: Based on information revealed by “TAG.7444154,” there appear to be multiple parallel universes. If this information is accurate, the “multi-layer nested structure of the universe” and the “Creator” hypothesis seem to have flaws.]

[…]

…

The official forum of “Wasteland OL” was as lively as ever today.

And as a group of players who participated in the “Defend the Seventh Research Institute” mission logged off one after another, a piece of news that stunned everyone quickly refreshed on the forum.

Rough Waves: “Big news!!! Researchers at the Seventh Institute used the perforator to summon a void creature! Four of our guild’s level 50 brothers went into the instance, and three were killed in an instant!”

Passionate Little Firecracker: “I can vouch! As soon as the alarm went off, those four losers rushed to grab the elevator and fed that big lizard a decent meal.”

Turn Misfortune into Good Fortune: “Screw you! We dealt damage too! (Angry)”

More Misfortune than Good Fortune: “Exactly! Without our damage as a setup, could the Administrator have one-shotted the enemy?”

Irena: “If you hadn’t added that last sentence, I might have believed you. (Squint-laugh)”

Rough Waves: “Ahem, it wasn’t that exaggerated of a one-shot. I watched the whole thing. That lizard’s health was no joke. Brother Guang smashed it twice and only took half its health bar. It died on the third or fourth hit.”

Quit Smoking: “Holy crap?! It could take three hits from Brother Guang?! That’s insane?!”

Night Ten: “Sweat, I told them to take it easy, and sure enough, they trained the new expansion pack. (Awkward)”

Tail: “!!! A new expansion pack is coming?! (⊙o⊙)”

Fang Chang: “Depends on whether there are any new surprises. (Squint-laugh)”

Rough Waves: “Speaking of which, this monster was really weird. Previously, killed monsters left their bodies behind, but this one didn’t leave a single hair after death, as if it was erased by the server.”

Fiercest Tiger in the Pond: “+1, I was there too. Not only did it not leave a single hair, but even the parts eaten off the dead players disappeared along with it. (°ー°〃)”

Old White: “A brand new game mechanic, sounds interesting. (Grin)”

Irena: “But I’d rather have loot. It’s too painful not dropping anything. (Ridiculous)”

Elf King Wealth: “You just want to taste it, don’t you? (Ridiculous)”

Irena: “You caught me. (Ridiculous)”

Fang Chang: “Actually, what bothers me more isn’t the monster disappearing after death, but the fact that in the official setting collection, the data card for the Seventh Research Institute’s TAG.7444154 entry has added a setting about ‘parallel worlds.’”

Gale: “What’s wrong with that setting?”

Fang Chang: “It’s not that there’s a problem, but the content makes me wonder. I’ve been thinking… Is it possible that the wasteland of ‘Wasteland OL’ is actually a parallel world? And the content about TAG.7444154 is some kind of hint from the game designers to us.”

The originally lively thread fell unusually silent for a while, with no one responding for a long time.

In fact, not to mention the onlookers in the thread, even Fang Chang himself, who had typed those words, felt it was a bit far-fetched, though this thought had been brewing in his mind for a long time.

This game…

Was it really just a game?

Sure enough, he wasn’t the only one who thought so.

The moment he posted this speculation in the thread, the onlookers who snapped out of it quickly chimed in with their own opinions.

And apart from the overwhelming majority of dissenters, a fair number of people expressed agreement with his conjecture.

QuitSmoke: "Holy crap? You mean Brother Guang is actually an alien? (terrified)"

LongFang: "I never said that, but whether he's an alien or not doesn't matter. Even if he's human, he could be the spokesperson for some alien civilization."

Crow: "This... how is that possible! Even if this game is super realistic, there's still some difference from reality, right?! (°ー°〃)"

JiuJiuLovesPineapple: "According to that... then those who died are really dead, everyone except us. (guilty)"

DebtBigEyes: "Sounds a bit creepy, but unexpectedly reasonable... The NPCs in this game feel no different from real people. Even if you explain it with AI, it's too realistic. Uh, a friend told me."

T-RexWarrior: "Call Professor Yang! The delusions of these internet addicts are getting worse! ∑(?Д?)"

Gale: "Hmm... I can't refute your point, but I have one question: how is this kind of thing achieved?"

LongFang: "That I don't know. After all, by analogy with the game world, our current era should be the old age before the Era of Prosperity. The technological gap is probably as far as Alpha Centauri."

LongFang: "And... doesn't that morphogenetic field theory look familiar? Transmitting information through resonance—it sounds just like a game helmet..."

...

The discussion on the forum continued.

And it had already derailed from discussions about the new expansion and game mechanics to the essence of the game itself.

To be honest, Chu Guang knew this day would come sooner or later—that the little players of *Wasteland OL* would eventually realize the world beneath their feet wasn't virtual, but truly existed in some parallel universe.

Now, it seemed that day was drawing closer...

Alliance Tower.

Administrator's Office.

Watching the heated forum discussion on the holographic screen, a smile curled at the corner of Chu Guang's mouth.

"...There are still plenty of smart people. Looks like I need to expand the 'design team'."

Little Seven, sitting on the desk, tilted her head.

"Aren't A Guang and Xiao Qi enough?"

"Of course not," Chu Guang said, patting her little head with a gentle tone. "The Wasteland Era is over. We need to design a new game so they can keep playing through the new era."

The war in the Free State was nearing its end, and the mutants in River Valley Province were almost hunted to the point of being protected animals. As the situation of "more people than monsters" worsened, this trend was spreading to other provinces.

In as little as one or two years, or at most two or three, the wild mutants beyond Baiyue Province on this planet would eventually be hunted to extinction.

After all, a Deathclaw takes five or six years from hatching to adulthood, while a player only needs three days to get back up, retaining all their death experience.

As the Alliance's snowball grew larger, the planet's order was gradually returning to normal. This was certainly good for the survivors living on this planet, but not necessarily for players joining the game later.

At this point, there were only two choices.

Either reduce or even suspend the distribution of closed beta keys, control the influx of new players, and compress the proportion of combat-class players.

Or open a new map, diverting combat-class players to a brand-new planet similar to Gaia!

Chu Guang naturally preferred the latter, after all, killing the donkey after it finished grinding wasn't his style.

Now that the Alliance had a firm foothold in the wasteland, it was time to extend a helping hand to their compatriots in another world.

Through the connection of the morphogenetic field, the two worlds could actually seek common prosperity!

Beyond that, regarding the new map, the experimental records of "TAG.7444154" provided him with an excellent idea to solve the problem—

Find a habitable or relatively habitable planet, move the Seventh Research Institute, the Tree of Life saplings, and the respawn points of some combat-class players there!

Then use the Perforator to continuously create new "Void Mutants" for the players to grind as monsters!

Though it sounded a bit suicidal, from another perspective, it was a perfect win-win solution.

This way, it solved the problem of players having no monsters to grind, improved the gaming experience, and allowed the Alliance's researchers to experiment (or court death) more freely, helping to enhance human civilization's understanding of the void.

Was there a more perfect idea than this?

Maybe there was.

But he couldn't think of a better one for now!

Just as Chu Guang was chuckling to himself, a muttering whisper suddenly came from a corner of the office.

"...Unbelievable. A young civilization that just left its home star has actually grasped the mysteries of the void."

The rustling sound was like leaves rubbing against the window—barely audible unless you listened closely, and even if heard, easily mistaken for an auditory hallucination.

But—

That faint noise did not escape Chu Guang's ears. A pair of sharp eyes quickly shot toward a certain corner of the room.

"Who?"

Seeing Chu Guang's sudden movement, Little Seven on the desk was startled. She quickly turned her head to look behind her, but saw nothing except the bookshelf.

"...Master? Is there... something there?" With a worried expression, Little Seven said nervously.

The sound wave collector was in good condition; she was sure there had been no sound at all.

Not even a decibel of vibration.

Yet Chu Guang did not shift his gaze, staring straight at the direction of the bookshelf.

The voice was silent for a while, then after a long pause, it came slowly.

"...Me? You can see me?"

The voice carried a clear note of surprise, as if witnessing something incredible.

To be honest, Chu Guang could not see the muttering figure.

But he could indeed sense a pair of eyes watching him from a certain direction.

That gaze held neither goodwill nor malice; all it seemed capable of doing was watching.

Chu Guang's eyebrows lifted slightly, and he suddenly realized who this was.

"You're the one who stole my pen?"