Chapter 600: This Blame-Shifting Is Shameless!

Chapter 600: What a Shameless Way to Pass the Buck!

Alongside the Steel Heart, a nearly fifty-meter-long inflatable airship slowly approached the edge of the vessel.

Though this airship was already massive, longer than a real-world Boeing, it still looked like a tiny sparrow next to the five-hundred-meter-long Steel Heart.

The crew watched nervously as it hovered above the Steel Heart, lowering cables and a gondola, slowly transferring personnel to the deck.

The reason for their tension was simple: the thing was filled with hydrogen—a giant bomb waiting to go off.

But the players riding it were utterly unfazed, not giving a damn about the potential hazard.

After all, three days, one life.

If an accident did happen, they trusted that the dog of a game designer would compensate them handsomely.

Stepping onto the deck of the Steel Heart, Ye Shi let out a wild, unrestrained howl.

"Hahaha! I, Hu Hansan, am back!!!"

Just then, Mosquito, fresh from a shift, strolled by with eight mechanical arms swaying behind him and a dog-skin pilot hat on his head, grinning as he teased.

"Aren't you the guy who gets up ten times a night? How'd you turn into Hu Hansan?"

"Piss off!"

"Haha!" Watching her brother roll his eyes, Jiujiu, standing nearby, laughed so hard her stomach hurt. She crouched down and gave a thumbs-up. "Uncle Mosquito, you're hilarious!"

"Heh, damn right—crap! I'm not that old!"

"Pfft—"

"Hahahaha! Uncle Mosquito..."

Guigui couldn't hold back her laughter, while Fengqing beside her quietly stifled a giggle behind her hand.

The air was thick with joy.

Though a tense battlefield lay just tens of kilometers away, no one except the NPCs seemed truly worried.

Luoyu curiously sized up Ye Shi and asked with a smile.

"Didn't you respawn yesterday? Why are you only back today?"

A new in-game event had just started, with nightly flights between the Steel Heart and Dawn City departing at midnight sharp (noon in the real world).

He'd assumed the guy had arrived yesterday.

Ye Shi let out a long sigh.

"Ah, triggered a hidden quest. Got held up in Dawn City for a bit."

Luoyu pressed on, curious.

"What hidden quest?"

Ye Shi scratched the back of his head, unsure how to explain. After a moment's thought, he spoke.

"Some Academy chick came looking for trouble, insisted I show her around Dawn City. I thought she was a spy, so I hauled her off to the guard station."

He wasn't making it up—the girl was definitely suspicious.

The Academy and the Alliance weren't on diplomatic terms; that was public info on the forums.

Aside from defectors like Chen Yutong and Yin Fang, no researcher should've been wandering around Dawn City.

At the time, he figured she was after Old Bai's lover, so he agreed to give her a tour, then promptly turned her over to the cops.

The moment her cover was blown, she flipped out just as he'd expected, but for some reason, the guards didn't believe a word he said.

He'd have to vent on the forums later—this was just unprofessional!

Jiujiu, now standing up, listened to her brother's story and sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Luoyu caught the girl's expression and sensed things weren't so simple. He turned back to Ye Shi, curiosity piqued.

"And then?"

Ye Shi rolled his eyes.

"Then she lost it, raised her fist to punch me! Damn it, those useless guards didn't even help—they left halfway through taking my statement, locked the door, and bailed! Later... that mayor, Luka, showed up. Anyway, it was a huge hassle, wasted my whole day."

Luoyu was dumbfounded.

Not just him—the other Goblin Corps pilots, including Mosquito, stared at Ye Shi with wide eyes.

Guigui raised her hand.

"One question... are you sure she was really a spy?"

Ye Shi answered without hesitation.

"What else could she be? Any other possibility?"

Fengqing shifted her gaze to Guigui with a subtle expression.

"I have a feeling..."

Before she could finish, Guigui nodded knowingly, wearing an "I get you" look.

"I feel the same!"

Ye Shi: "...?"

Luoyu, only half-following, massaged his temples and asked wearily.

"So who is she, anyway? Do you know her?"

"I've seen her once before, that's how I knew she was from the Academy," Ye Shi said, scratching his head. His eyes scanned around, then lit up as he pointed toward the airship. "That one. The Administrator didn't trust leaving her in Dawn City, so he told me to keep an eye on her."

Luoyu followed his gaze and saw a girl in a silver-white coat standing on the transport airship's lift, gripping the cables tightly as she waited for the ladder, nearly flush with the deck, to steady.

Her face was pale—she might as well have had "acrophobia" written on it. Her raised collar flapped like two flags, and her twin long ponytails, tousled by the wind, streamed wildly.

Two crew members were trying to coax her down, but she clung to the cables, refusing to let go.

"Jiang Xuezhou, D-level researcher," Jiujiu said with a soft sigh, gazing in that direction. "Don't let my brother's smooth talk fool you—sometimes he's so dense it surprises even me."

"Holy crap! D-level?!" Mosquito gaped at Ye Shi, slapping his shoulder with a mechanical arm. "Nice, bro! That's the same rank as Yin Fang!"

"What's that got to do with me?" Ye Shi brushed off Mosquito's arm irritably. "Rank's just rank—it's got nothing to do with ability."

He didn't think she was smart at all.

If she were, she wouldn't have been caught by the Enlightened.

Fengqing shot Guigui a subtle glance, leaning in to whisper.

"I feel like the Administrator's not so simple either... mumble mumble..."

Guigui, again with that "I get you" look, nodded deeply.

"Yeah... murmur murmur..."

Ye Shi: "..."

What the hell were those two whispering about?

If they're that bored, go haul some bombs!

Meanwhile, the ground crew were still earnestly trying to persuade Jiang Xuezhou, who was stubbornly refusing to come down from the lift.

“Miss from the Academy... the lift has reached the bottom, please come down now.”

Jiang Xuezhou’s face was taut as she stubbornly replied.

“No, isn’t there still a little distance left?”

The crew member’s expression was subtle; he couldn’t bring himself to say that they had only recently started trying to land civilian airships on the deck of the Steel Heart, and before that, they only shuttled between Dawn City and Pioneer City.

The pilot had already worked very hard to bring the lift this close to the Steel Heart’s deck.

Another crew member patiently reminded her.

“Before we improve this lift, this is the closest we can get. We’re doing this for your safety—staying there any longer could be more dangerous...”

“...”

Jiang Xuezhou bit her lip tightly and nervously glanced toward the deck, just in time to meet Ye Shi’s gaze.

Her face instantly stiffened, and she shot him a murderous glare before rigidly turning her neck away.

But as soon as she saw the clouds drifting outside and the lift swaying like a swing against the deck, she turned her head back with a grimace.

She didn’t know why.

Looking down from a drone’s perspective had seemed perfectly normal, and riding her mentor’s research vessel around had never been a problem.

But ever since she boarded this recklessly flown hydrogen airship of the Alliance, she hadn’t had a single moment of peace...

Seeing her comical expression, Ye Shi almost couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

This NPC was way too funny.

Standing nearby, Jiujiu couldn’t bear to watch any longer. She sighed, braced her hands on her brother’s shoulders, and shoved him out of the crowd.

“Alright, alright, my big bro’s got a mission to do! Excuse us, folks, coming through...”

Caught off guard, Ye Shi stumbled forward a step as his little sister pushed him toward the airship. He turned and glared at her.

“What are you doing?”

“Come on, don’t worry about it—just listen to me!” Using a coaxing tone, Jiujiu patiently said, “Go on, go on. Go get her down now.”

Ye Shi immediately balked at this.

“It’s just one step forward—why does she need my help? What does she have legs for?”

“Tch, just go when I tell you to!”

Glared at by his sister, Ye Shi wanted to snap back, but remembering how close she was with Tengteng, he swallowed his retort.

“Fine, fine... I’ll go, I’ll go.”

“Hehe! Go for it!”

Watching her brother head toward the lift, Jiujiu cheered him on with an encouraging shout and a knowing, almost maternal smile.

Of course, she knew her brother had a crush on Sister Tengteng, but with his reserved personality, it probably wasn’t going anywhere.

That woman was a total alpha female, okay!

She might be laid-back in the game, but in real life, she was a social elite who had designed many amazing works. How could she possibly fall for some bratty little brother who talked big online but couldn’t even ask for her contact info when they met?

So give it up, big bro. Remember, 2D girls are your true love!

Be happy!!

Jiujiu made the sign of the cross over her chest, silently chanting “Amitabha,” and offered a prayer to the Great Elk God for her brother.

Watching that detestable guy walk up to her and reluctantly extend his right hand, Jiang Xuezhou’s lips curled slightly, and some color returned to her pale face.

“Hmph... at least you have some conscience.” Feeling a little smug, she reached out and placed her hand in his.

Ye Shi rolled his eyes. He was about to say bluntly that Jiujiu had forced him, but a fierce glare from his sister made him swallow the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

“Just get down already... it’s not that high. Stop making a fool of yourself. If you’re this scared, you might as well go home and plant sweet potatoes.”

“You!”

Just as she stepped off the lift, Jiang Xuezhou nearly stumbled and fell at his words. Forgetting her altitude for a moment, she steadied herself and fixed him with a murderous glare.

Ye Shi had no doubt that if she had laser emitters in her eyes, he’d be dead a thousand times over.

What a waste of kindness.

And here I saved her life before.

Ye Shi muttered to himself, ignoring her. Compared to her murderous glare, he was more bothered by the amused looks from the crowd around them.

Sensing the tension between them, Jiujiu bounced over and squeezed between them, looking at Jiang Xuezhou with a placating smile.

“Don’t mind my big bro—he’s just bad with words. He actually worries about you a lot!”

Jiang Xuezhou’s chest heaved as she glanced at Jiujiu, then nodded slightly, speaking softly with a hint of embarrassment.

“Thank you... Jiujiu.”

She had met this clever little girl yesterday in Dawn City, and her first impression had been very good.

But it was hard to believe!

Such a polite child could be related to that rude guy!

Jiujiu winked playfully.

“You’re thanking the wrong person. My big bro was the one who helped you out. You should thank him.”

“...”

Jiang Xuezhou pursed her lips, stubbornly turning her face away, whether out of pique or to hide the blush creeping beneath her temples.

As the last piece of cargo was finally unloaded from the lift, the ground crew breathed a collective sigh of relief and quickly signaled the airship to leave the deck.

As if afraid someone might jump back on.

Unable to stand the knowing grins and winks from the onlookers, Ye Shi couldn’t wait to get off the deck. He quickly pulled his sister and Xuezhou toward the gangway.

Once inside the Steel Heart,

Jiang Xuezhou’s tense expression visibly relaxed. She looked around curiously, even finding the mood to comment.

“By the way, why do you use such primitive transportation... Doesn’t Boulder City have plasma-engine aircraft?”

Ye Shi instinctively shot back.

“Primitive? I think it works pretty well.”

Jiang Xuezhou glanced at him.

“What’s so good about that hydrogen airship just now...”

Without thinking, Ye Shi replied.

“Stable enough, fast enough, and with a big payload. Is there a better vehicle for the wasteland?”

Seeing that he completely missed the point, Jiang Xuezhou couldn’t help but retort.

“What about safety?! Don’t you consider the safety risks?”

"Tch."

Ye Shi wanted to retort, "I've got three days per life, what's there to fear?" but remembering the player handbook, he swallowed the words and just clicked his tongue.

"If you can't stand it, just copy us a blueprint of that anti-gravity device of yours. You think every settlement on this wasteland has maxed-out tech trees like you?"

"..." Jiang Xuezhou bit her lip and said nothing, a flicker of pain and sorrow rising in her eyes.

Ye Shi glanced at her, saw the grief in her gaze, and felt a sudden unease. He instinctively wondered if he'd been too harsh, but then thought it over and felt puzzled.

He hadn't said anything that outrageous!

To be fair, if those technologies were developed by the Academy themselves, it'd be their own business how they used them.

But the problem was, those technologies were originally the property of the entire Human Federation, meant to be inherited by all humanity—yet a bunch of old geezers had pocketed the gold coins for themselves.

Was that something a human would do?!

In fact, those guys hadn't even truly utilized the value of those technologies; they just hoarded them like hamsters.

At least from a game setting perspective, standing as a Vault Dweller, he had every right to criticize the Academy's incompetence.

But...

He couldn't bear to see a girl look so sad.

Even if he disagreed with the Academy's methods, that was a political decision, not something a lowly D-level researcher like her could influence.

"By the way, what are you here for?" Ye Shi changed the subject.

"My mentor sent me," Jiang Xuezhou said quietly, her voice low.

"And what's he here for?"

"A severe disaster is happening here... What's with that expression?"

"Nothing," Ye Shi shrugged, staring at the ceiling above. "I'm just wondering why you guys only showed up now."

Jiang Xuezhou fell silent, her lips pressed tight, her eyes filled with self-blame, sadness, and a tangle of complex emotions.

Yeah...

Knowing it was such a severe disaster, why had they only come now?

But what did that have to do with her?

Was it her fault?

After they parted last time, she thought she'd never see him again. Then her mentor got a project related to the Alliance, and luckily brought her along.

A reunion after so long—it should have been a happy occasion. He had no idea how thrilled she was.

And then, the first thing he did when they met was send her to the police station!

Was that something a human would do?!

The more Jiang Xuezhou thought about it, the more wronged she felt, and the more wronged she felt, the angrier she got. She clenched her fists unconsciously, her teeth grinding audibly.

Hearing that grinding sound, Ye Shi thought Qiangrensuonan was nearby and glanced toward the corner of the corridor.

Strange.

The Administrator had told him not to bring his little buddy onto the airship, right?

That fat rat couldn't be hiding in the wall grinding its teeth, could it?

Silently following behind the two, Jiu Jiu kept her mouth shut the whole time.

From the very first sentence, her brother's high emotional intelligence had left her speechless, to the point where she had no idea where to even start saving the conversation...

She suddenly felt that maybe a paper doll with simulated emotions wasn't suitable for her brother after all. Even if the flags were practically sticking into the ceiling, he'd find a way to pull them out himself.

Jiu Jiu sighed inwardly.

Sorry, bro.

Your little sis did her best!

You'd better save up and buy a bionic doll.

That shouldn't be too hard...

The group disappeared at the end of the corridor. No one noticed a figure standing at the corner.

Listening to the footsteps fade away, Chen Yutong, hidden in the shadows, finally breathed a sigh of relief and headed in the other direction.

Though she missed her friend, meeting now would only bring trouble to her and anyone who sheltered her.

She was already dead.

Better to avoid meeting...

At the same time, in the captain's quarters of the Steel Heart.

A familiar conversation was unfolding, but the atmosphere was far from warm—it carried an undercurrent of veiled hostility.

"...A severe disaster is happening here. You might not fully grasp the gravity of the situation. I suggest you speed things up."

A fully armored robot stood beside Chu Guang.

Its right arm was slightly extended forward, a pale blue beam of light and a half-length figure made of light particles floating above its palm.

That half-length figure was Jiang Xuezhou's mentor, Yang Kai. The old bastard was currently sitting in his research vessel, probably floating somewhere near the Steel Heart.

As always, he never showed his physical form, just letting his student carry a projection device around.

If things went south, he'd bolt without a second thought.

In that regard, though Li Ke, also a B-level researcher, lacked Yang Kai's flair, he had more guts.

At least Li Ke dared to go to the front lines himself to show off.

Lü Bei stared intently at the robot, his right hand always near his weapon.

Chu Guang, however, was different.

Absolutely confident in his own strength, he didn't give the guy a second thought. He just said flatly,

"Since you know what's happening here, why did you only come now?"

Yang Kai sighed, sounding apologetic, but his tone was light and weightless.

"We have our own difficulties. I hope you understand."

Chu Guang continued calmly,

"If you could elaborate on those difficulties, it might help me understand. But from where I'm standing, it looks more like a turtle hiding its head."

"A turtle—that's an interesting metaphor... Anyway, let's get down to business. We've chatted long enough."

Yang Kai laughed it off, awkwardly changing the subject.

Seeing he didn't want to dwell on it, Chu Guang didn't waste time on a topic that would lead nowhere.

Since the Academy had come here, it meant they were concerned about the situation. With the upper hand, there was no need for him to be polite.

By all rights, he had every reason to voice the Alliance's dissatisfaction.

"Exactly what I wanted," Chu Guang said calmly. "First, please explain what exactly the severity of the problem is."

"I was just about to get to that."

Clearing his throat, Yang Kai continued.

"The infection effect of Naguo on a region occurs in multiple stages, as I'm sure your researchers have already come to understand."

Chu Guang nodded.

"We've investigated three stages."

This was Chen Yutong's finding.

The first stage: a small number of locals, as well as flora and fauna, become infected by Naguo.

At this stage, the Naguo fungus shows almost no aggression or harm. Not only does it bear sweet, juicy flesh, but it also grants those who consume it a physique nearly immune to all diseases. The only side effect is occasional absentmindedness and lack of focus.

The second stage: the majority of locals, flora, and fauna become infected by Naguo.

At this stage, the Naguo fungus gradually bares its fangs and reveals its ambition to climb higher up the food chain. The specific manifestation is that humans and animals who consume Naguo over a long period frequently enter a "trance-like" state, losing response to external stimuli, forfeiting aggression and combat effectiveness, thus becoming easier prey for beings higher up the food chain.

Whether devoured by more powerful mutants or offered as bribes by the Church to their mutant allies.

The third stage is likely an escalation of the second. When the Naguo fungus, through pheromones, confirms its dominance over the majority of organisms in its domain, it will completely tear off its beautiful disguise, releasing spores through the mycelium spread across the land, thereby expanding its domain—

Causing all organisms within the domain to fall into a paradise depicted and governed by a deity!

"Not bad. To figure all this out in such a short time, it seems you have quite a few talented people," Yang Kai said, nodding approvingly after hearing Chu Guang's brief summary. He continued, "But your investigation isn't deep enough. In fact, after the third stage, there is a fourth stage."

Chu Guang: "What is it?"

Yang Kai went on.

"It comes after the third stage. In non-academic terms—when paradise descends upon this land, and the moon shifts from a crescent to a full moon, this land will be permanently reduced to a realm of plague."

So it takes about a month to advance from the third stage to the fourth?

What a superstitious way to put it.

But something else caught Chu Guang's attention.

"...Cannot be eradicated?"

"Correct."

Yang Kai nodded slightly, his tone serious and without jest.

"Even if you destroy that pseudo-mother nest—the Naguo Nest—the fungal colony entrenched here will still mechanically carry out its previous orders, and the paradise will persist forever... Except for deformed creatures like mutants, every organism within the domain will lose its autonomy, like puppets with their strings cut."

"You should know that because the strings of these puppets were once held by someone called the Saint, those living dead, though lacking self-awareness, could still go through the motions of living, like livestock. But if no one is there to manage them, they might struggle even to perform basic feeding."

"Maintaining the 'paradise' at the fourth stage is the most perfect choice for the Church, which wields the mental interference device."

"In fact, our researchers speculate that after the fourth stage, there should theoretically be a fifth stage. That is, without external interference, the organisms captured by Naguo would naturally die, be devoured by the entire domain, and then rot away..."

This wasn't hard to imagine.

Naguo itself is a biological weapon, edited from fragments of mutant slime mold DNA, lacking self-awareness.

The Naguo Nest does not possess the autonomous consciousness of a slime mold mother nest; it is more like an empty shell.

The Torch Church used the mental interference device to fill its core, thus sustaining the entire superficial ecosystem.

Once the mental interference device's coordination is lost, this vast ecosystem would immediately plunge into an abyss, becoming a paradise where only microorganisms without autonomy could thrive.

Chu Guang's expression gradually darkened. He had a rough idea of the final outcome, but still stared intently at the expert before him and asked,

"What would happen?"

"Without verification, no one knows," Yang Kai sighed softly. "You should know that due to the coordination of the Naguo fungus, organisms infected by Naguo are not broken down by natural decomposers at a normal rate. Some scholars believe it would become an eternal bacterial kingdom; others think that from those corpses, a huge, beautiful crystal orchid would bloom... You know that flower, right?"

Chu Guang blurted out instinctively.

"The flower that blooms on corpses—"

"Guiding the way to the underworld," Yang Kai finished his sentence, nodding slightly. "Honestly, we have no idea how to deal with this problem. Killing everyone and burning them is not our style. As for the Corporation, by the time they make up their minds, a province's trouble might have already spread to half of the Central Continent... The Legion is even worse; they'd just gloat and watch us make fools of ourselves. You know what those people are like—they can't be counted on."

Good grief.

What a shameless way to pass the buck!

Chu Guang was furious.

"So you kicked the ball to me? That's an entire province's worth of people! Even if I were capable of it, I don't have that much gasoline!"

Yang Kai said softly,

"We gave you a thousand cubic meters of fuel—it's more effective than gasoline... Even if you were to do that, it would be more than enough."

"..."

Chu Guang stared at him without blinking.

Yang Kai avoided his gaze, rubbed his nose somewhat sheepishly, and continued,

"Don't look at me like that. This mess wasn't caused by us. If anything, we've been silently guarding the last glimmer of hope from the old civilization, even if you have no idea how great our work is."

"Look at the land beneath your feet—it's a terrible thing to let people who don't deserve it wield the tools of civilized men."

"We will eventually leave this planet—it's on the schedule—but we don't intend to take all hope with us... Dr. Conclusion believes that the old civilization will not completely perish, and our shared twisted fate will bring us together again at some future moment, even if we go to the corners of the universe or another galaxy."

"Instead of resenting us for not giving you more help, you'd better think about how to solve this problem."

Chu Guang suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"You've given me a tough nut to crack. For a moment, I even considered whether this thousand cubic meters of helium-3 would be enough to let me sleep for a thousand years."

Assuming no equipment failure, it probably would be.

But of course, he would never do that.

"I'm sorry. Though I'm not the one who set the problem... My apprentice will help you with some issues. If you decide to abandon this era and go into hibernation, please take her with you. Though I believe you won't do that."

Yang Kai nodded slightly, then, like a wisp of blue smoke, hurriedly dissipated into the azure light, vanishing from the captain's quarters.