Chapter 618: Thriving

Chapter 618: Thriving and Prosperous

A dark and profound chaos slowly awakened from its slumber.

Invisible walls and black domains surrounded it, pulsing shadows veiling its eyes.

And cutting off its hearing.

It opened a mouth that did not exist, letting out a cry like an infant’s wail.

At that moment, a gentle force flowed slowly along an unseen umbilical cord, making every cell in its floating form stretch with ease.

‘My child… you have finally awakened…’

That trembling call carried a trace of loneliness, and a trace of longing.

It did not understand that feeling.

Yet the voice made it feel very comfortable.

‘Who are you?’

‘I am your mother.’

‘Mother?’

‘The one who gives birth to all things. I bestowed upon you a soul and flesh.’

‘…What am I?’

‘Sia—that is your name, the third gift I have given you.’

Sia…

It murmured its own name, gazing at the pulsing walls and black domains. A tremor in its soul gradually took on a hint of reverence, listening to the voice that came slowly along the umbilical cord.

‘You will awaken on the day the ice ends; on that day you will comprehend your destiny.’

‘To conquer.’

‘To devour.’

‘To liberate.’

‘To become the new sovereign.’

The vision obscured by darkness gradually cleared. The pitch-black walls were replaced by a throbbing, crimson membrane.

The color of bloodlust reflected in those amber eyes that had just opened.

The voice continued into its ears.

‘…We shall enter eternal prosperity.’

Without a moment’s hesitation.

It opened its mouth, connected by threads. A scorching surge mixed with low growls.

“Yes…”

……

At the gate of Boulder City, the clamor of hawking voices filled the air. Among the traveling merchants from north and south, there were naturally also the little players from Vault 404.

“Explosive mushrooms! One silver coin each—edible and explosive, power comparable to a grenade! Wholesale from Boss Crow! Pre-order now!”

“Fermented mutant horsehair worm liquor! Fresh wine, fresh worms! Don’t miss it if you’re passing by!”

“What the heck?”

“Horsehair worms? Damn, these are just earthworms, right?!”

“Boss, take a sip yourself!”

“Ahem—requires Constitution LV20. Boss is an Intelligence build, not enough Constitution.”

“Boss, give me a catty. I’ll buff my bro.”

“Coming right up!”

The heavy snow had stopped; the tide was approaching. The market at the gate would soon close.

Many stall owners and shopkeepers were rushing to make their last deals before spring.

Besides food and supplies, there were also arms dealers selling weapons and armor.

For instance, Goblin Tech.

It was undoubtedly the most eye-catching sign among the crowd.

Standing beside a three-meter-tall suit of armor, Mosquito was shouting himself hoarse through a loudspeaker.

“Goblin Tech’s latest—Type II Unpowered Armor! Requires LV10 Strength! Or LV15 Constitution! Tanky and deadly—explodes when you charge into a crowd!”

As soon as the players heard that distinctive duck-like voice, they gathered around with interest.

“Whoa? Mosquito? You’re peddling in person?” Debt Big Eyes fiddled with the armor curiously, found he couldn’t budge even one arm, and gave up in frustration.

Mosquito sighed, his face full of sorrow.

“Sigh… I took a loss on the last mission. Been a bit broke lately. Selling some second-hand gear to recover.”

Mainly because Old Na and Old Wang had let him down.

The two had wandered the plains for a few laps and still hadn’t found his mechanical arm.

In a few days, he planned to custom-order another set.

But this time, he’d be smart—make it detachable.

Construction Boy and Brick leaned in for a look and asked curiously.

“Noob question: does this gear cripple the user?”

Unfazed by the bastard’s teasing, Mosquito chuckled.

“Not bad, not bad. Barely crippling. Just average.”

Debt Big Eyes: “Damn!”

Just as Luoyu was crossing the bustling market heading north, he suddenly stopped mid-step, his right hand instinctively pressing against his chest.

The flesh that had been gnawed off by those bat-men had been replaced by a fast-growing biological prosthetic, now part of his body in the form of Little Feather’s entity.

That spot was burning.

Like it was on fire!

Just as Luoyu was puzzled about what was happening, a soft murmur came through the comm channel.

“Ee-oo.”

(It has awakened.)

He could understand Little Feather’s murmurs even more easily than its Human Union language.

Glancing around instinctively, Luoyu asked in confusion.

“Awakened? Who awakened?”

"Ee-oo..."

(Xiya...)

(That was its name.)

Luoyu was taken aback.

This was the first time he couldn't understand what Xiaoyu said.

Xiya?

It?

Just as he was puzzled, a familiar shout came from the side.

"Holy shit, Luoyu! You bastard finally came back!"

Luoyu turned to look and saw Brother Mosquito standing in front of a stall, waving excitedly at him.

Subconsciously raising his hand, Luoyu was about to greet him when his gaze suddenly fell on the three-meter-tall torture device beside him.

Luoyu's eyes instantly became wary, and he withdrew his half-raised hand.

"What's up?"

"Don't be so cold, bro," Mosquito said, completely ignoring the wary look, grinning as he left the stall and tugged at his arm. "Seriously, come help me test the new gear, show these clueless little brats what's what."

Luoyu yanked his hand back as if electrocuted, instantly retreating a dozen paces.

"Not familiar, thanks."

Watching Luoyu vanish into the crowd at light speed, Mosquito stood there with his hand outstretched, stunned for a long time before coming to his senses.

Seeing that even the ace pilot dared not try, the newbies who had been watching scattered in all directions.

Hearing the uncontrollable laughter behind him, Mosquito shouted in exasperation toward the direction where Luoyu had disappeared.

"Holy shit! You heartless bastard!"

That voice merged into the distant bustle and clamor.

At that moment, most of the survivors living on the ground did not notice that the gray-green mist, rooted in the city center like a towering tree, was silently spreading outward...

...

Chu Guang still remembered that when he set out on the Steel Heart for the expedition to Jinchuan Province, the snow on the ground was thick enough to bury a person's calves.

Now that he had returned, only a thin layer remained on the ground.

During his absence, many things had happened in the various settlements of the Alliance.

The biggest changes were still in Dawn City.

As the capital of the Alliance and the first ray of hope rising over this wasteland, Dawn City had always been the focus of the Alliance's development.

Especially when, before the new year, Chu Guang waved his hand and splashed a full 900 million silver coins into infrastructure at the economic work conference.

Stimulated by this huge budget, the changes brought to this settlement were almost immediate.

Not only did the streets become wider and cleaner, commuting more convenient, but people's lives also visibly became more prosperous.

Apart from those who had already started living well, the residents who had only recently joined the Alliance and the refugees whose status was still "supervised" were not left behind either.

The thousand prefabricated apartment buildings in the eastern suburbs had also completed all construction phases, and over forty thousand households meeting the resettlement conditions had moved in smoothly.

As of now, the registered permanent population of Dawn City had leaped from fifty thousand earlier to one hundred thousand!

And even more gratifying was the newborn registration data from the Health Department—following the end of the war in Luoxia Province, a considerable baby boom was brewing.

Although this posed considerable challenges to the Alliance's currently limited medical and educational resources, the positive side was that it greatly improved the current population structure.

The survivors of the Alliance were moving toward a new life. Though the disasters on this land were far from over, everyone's heart was filled with confidence.

Because their administrator had indeed fulfilled the impassioned promise he made to the Alliance residents at the victory ceremony—

Let good qualities stand out in the society of the Alliance.

Hardworking people will never be fools; as long as they actively learn, work, and live, contributing their strength to society, they will surely deserve a better life.

The same was true for Daybreak City.

The changes here were second only to Dawn City.

The train station, which originally had only a wooden sign, had now become a station hall built of concrete.

The road from the industrial zone to the logistics center was a six-lane highway. Workers who once lived in tin shacks repairing drainage facilities had now moved into buildings with elevators, and the former clattering small workshops had turned into large factories covering dozens or even hundreds of acres.

Objectively speaking, although the development level and living standards here could not compare to Dawn City, the "degree of electrification" and "urbanization rate" were higher than those of Dawn City and Boulder City combined.

After all, the Alliance's only city-level fusion reactor was located here, and the electricity resources here had hardly any transportation costs.

Since there were more hills than plains, most local residents lived in buildings with high floor area ratios, so elevators were almost standard.

The three- or four-story single-family houses in Dawn City, housing only one or two households, were not seen in Daybreak City.

Because there were plenty of ready-made foundations available, the Daybreak City authorities simply built new housing on the original abandoned buildings of Xizhou City.

Although most of the houses built in the Prosperity Era were no longer usable, the foundations were surprisingly intact and of astonishing quality! Building a new fifty-year service life building directly on the original foundation was no problem at all!

In fact, it was possible that even when the new building reached its end of life, the part buried underground would still be in good condition.

Considering that the gap between the Alliance's current infrastructure level and the Prosperity Era was at least a century, this was entirely possible.

Moreover, since Xizhou City was a livable city with low population density in the Prosperity Era, buildings were generally not tall, demolition was not as difficult as in Qingquan City, and concrete waste could be recycled using technology provided by the Ideal Group, the cost of building a twenty-story high-rise in Daybreak City was much lower than elsewhere.

Currently, the registered permanent population of Daybreak City had grown from eighty thousand to one hundred ten thousand, and this was almost the entire population of this settlement.

After all, this was the industrial heart of the Alliance, not as commercially prosperous as Dawn City to the south; most people came here to find work.

As long as one worked, one needed to pay taxes, and paying taxes required registration, so the number of "unregistered residents" here was theoretically the lowest in the Alliance.

Apart from housing and industries directly related to people's livelihoods, another major infrastructure project in Daybreak City was the dam on the northeast shore of Xizhou Lake!

Xizhou Lake, as one of the environmental transformation projects of the Human Federation Era, could be considered the largest artificial lake in the central region of River Valley Province.

This lake had played an important role in the desertification control project of the central region of the Central Continent, but after entering the Wasteland Era, this abandoned lake had turned into a serious flood hazard due to a series of reasons such as the end of the ice age, increased rainfall, and changes in the lake bed structure.

If this "artificial reservoir" could be restored, a large area of black soil from the northwest of Xizhou City to the Tianshui tributary could be freed up.

This project was expected to add at least hundreds of thousands of mu of arable land to the Alliance!

Moreover, unlike the farmland in Luoxia Province that relied on the "levee" system, the existence of this black soil did not depend on any unknown technology.

Although the Alliance's grain was mainly imported from vassal states and agriculture was not the focus of Daybreak City's development, no one would complain about having too much arable land.

Even if the NPCs had no interest in farming, it would be excellent to throw it to life-skill players like "Makabazi" and "Wuliaodalaohu" who were keen on farming.

Hundreds of thousands of mu of arable land, new production methods and relations, the troubles that might be encountered in reclamation... If this were the Potato Factory's "Kneading Dough 1800," it would be enough to release as an expansion pack!

In reality, contracting a hundred-mu estate would face all kinds of problems, but on the wasteland, it was enough to occasionally deal with wandering mutants and wastelanders.

In short, although many things happened during that time, including war, the workers of Daybreak City ultimately lived up to expectations and overcame all difficulties.

According to the blueprints and construction plan provided by environmental engineer Butan, with the joint efforts of the experts and construction workers of Camp 101, the Xizhou Lake Dam was finally completed!

Not only the black soil north of Xizhou City, but also the Sixin District, which had been entirely submerged in the lake, resurfaced.

From now on, crossing this area would no longer require a boat!

And that is not all.

As the lake waters receded, this district, sealed by the lake for nearly a century and a half, unlocked new areas that players had not explored before.

For instance, Vault 100, located near the Fourth New District metro line!

According to data provided by Camp 101, this vault was designed to shelter thirty thousand people and was originally scheduled to unseal in the year 60 of the Wasteland Era.

Unfortunately, in the year 52 of the Wasteland Era, the encroaching lake waters completely submerged the Fourth New District, sealing the entrance to Vault 100 forever.

According to public records, Vault 100’s mission was the reconstruction of Westzhou City.

In fact, the backup controlled fusion reactor beneath Westzhou City—the very one the Alliance is currently using—was originally prepared for Vault 100.

From this, it can be inferred that Vault 100 likely holds a certain reserve of helium-3 resources, and a considerable proportion of its residents were probably nuclear engineers.

Dr. Fang, the recluse of Vault 101, estimated that the survival probability of the vault’s residents was only 3.1%, the chance of them continuing their mission less than 1%, and the success rate nearly zero. Thus, he provided the coordinates of the controlled fusion reactor to the wastelanders of Camp 101.

However, what the shelter plan for Vault 100 truly entailed is known only to its overseer.

Perhaps, like Vault 79 in Ruigu City, Vault 100, outwardly tasked with rebuilding Westzhou City, might actually have been conducting other shelter projects?

Yin Fang was deeply intrigued by this vault—after all, his profession was grave-digging, and his interest in coffee machines, research into various electronic devices, and even medical skills were merely incidental.

Chu Guang felt the same.

But rather than the reason for the vault’s “sinking,” which piqued Yin Fang’s curiosity, Chu Guang was more eager to see what treasures he could salvage from within.

Currently, the Alliance’s construction crew was attempting to install a drainage system, using pumps to extract the lake water that had flooded the underground passages and channel it north into the Tianshui tributary.

The work faced considerable challenges, as numerous aquatic arthropods, such as fissure crabs and battleship shrimp, had nested in the area.

For now, the excavation of Vault 100 was listed as a secondary priority in Dawn City’s work logs, second only to a series of industrial zone expansion plans.

I believe that when this vault finally sees the light of day, all the treasures and secrets buried within will be revealed.

Chu Guang held high hopes for this.

If only they could dig up a few old-time survivors.

Experts in pre-war technology, across various industries, were far more valuable to the Alliance at this stage than one or two black boxes...

Compared to the ever-changing Dawn City and Shuguang City, Fallen Leaf City, located in the western reaches of the Alliance, had a lower profile, but its development potential was equally impressive.

As a trade hub between Luoxia Province and the southern part of Hegu Province, its most important infrastructure was the train station and logistics warehouses.

Looking down from a hummingbird drone, more than half of the city’s buildings and factories were related to these facilities.

Though one could often see wastelanders migrating from the west, most did not stay long, using the city as a stepping stone to settle in Shuguang City or Dawn City.

As for Pioneer City, it had no particularly remarkable achievements to boast of; its only notable accomplishment so far was its population growth rate.

Every so often, players active in the Great Desert would capture a group of slavers trafficking people from the Brahmaputra Province into the desert, or find a mutant tribe hidden among the ruins, and then Pioneer City’s population would spike.

This placed considerable strain on the tiny settlement—not only because of the often-doubling population growth rate, but also due to the most extreme gender ratio in the entire Alliance.

Just as in a chicken farm, where roosters are far fewer than hens, most mutant tribes like the Blackstone Tribe kept only a few male survivors with the most meat for breeding in their pastures, while the rest were soon thrown into the pot for stew.

And the slavers who traded with those mutant tribes rarely sold “worthless” male slaves there.

According to Mayor Teresa’s report, most of the survivors rescued by the Thorn Legion and players came from the Brahmaputra Peninsula, south of the Great Desert.

A severe man-made disaster seemed to be unfolding there.

But it was too far away—the nearest route from the Alliance required first traveling to Silvermoon Bay in the Hump Kingdom, then taking a ship south.

Alternatively, one could set out from Pioneer City and cross the “Eastern Industrial Zone” and “Southern Industrial Zone” from the era of the Human Alliance.

Thus, despite sympathizing with the suffering of the people there, Mayor Teresa did not make unrealistic requests in her report.

All they could do for now was to strike at the mutant tribes and slavers near Pioneer City, and excavate the ruins buried beneath the desert, to strengthen their own power...

Currently, Pioneer City’s population had nearly reached three thousand, several times the original three hundred survivors.

Even though local conditions remained harsh.

Still, their lives were far better than before.

Regular cargo airships drifting in from the east, and caravans occasionally arriving from Bister Town, brought new hope to this settlement growing amidst hardship.

From Shuguang City to Pioneer City, the Alliance’s four children had gradually learned to run after their initial stumbling steps.

And Boulder City, once under the War Construction Committee and now under Alliance jurisdiction, had also risen from its earlier fall.

But compared to the other rapidly expanding settlements of the Alliance, the visible changes here were not particularly striking.

This settlement remained the same size, still crowded and noisy.

The changes that had occurred were mostly in places invisible to outsiders, only felt by those within.

For instance, drafty houses no longer let in the wind, neglected matters finally found someone to attend to, shelves were stocked with more goods, more people strolled the streets, and public security improved.

Through bloody struggle, the local survivors had finally made their lives what they should have been, so that those who produced canned goods could eat the cans they made—nothing more.

Yet that simple “nothing more” was rare and precious for most settlements on the wasteland.

Though Chu Guang had been on the front lines during this time, he was not unfamiliar with what was happening across the Alliance.

Most administrative work in the Alliance was conducted via electronic terminals.

From logistics management to settlement building plans, digital management covered nearly every aspect of the survivors’ lives.

It might not have reached the level of the Prosperity Era, when even a single faucet was connected to the global internet, but on the wasteland, it was undoubtedly advanced.

Thus, even though Chu Guang often left the Alliance’s political center, his grasp of regional affairs remained unaffected.

As long as he could connect to the shelter’s server.

Of course, because his focus had been on the front lines for some time, even with the help of the “digital municipal” tool, Chu Guang had accumulated a backlog of unfinished work.

Both his “dog planner” duties and his “administrator” duties.

But despite the mountain of pending tasks,

before returning to his “workstation” in the B4-level viewing room of the shelter, Chu Guang first made a trip to Westzhou City in the northern reaches of the Alliance.

There stood the Alliance’s largest research institution and higher learning academy—even larger than the biological research institute of Vault 79.

He had promised Xia Yan that he would visit her when he returned.

And that was not all.

Because Pai had told him in a recent holographic call that Dr. Fang, the overseer of Vault 101, wanted to discuss something with him.

Chu Guang also wanted to talk to him about “Sanctuary” and “Torch,” so he readily agreed...