Chapter 621: Vault 100!

Chapter 621: Vault 100!

["DLZJ-1" Naming Vote Results Released!]

[1. Death—21%]

[2. Storm—13%]

[3. Skull—11%]

[4. Cheese Snow Leopard—9%]

[5. Blaze—8%]

[...]

[Per NPC Administrator's Decision, DLZJ-1 Official Name Confirmed as: Twilight Glow]

"So what was the point of that vote anyway?"

In the Fourth New District of Xizhou City.

Standing beside a half-man-tall mutated corpse, Wo Zui Hei stared at the server announcement on his VM screen and couldn't help but grumble.

He had scrolled through the voting thread but couldn't find the word "Twilight Glow" anywhere.

What a rip-off!

Shi Quan Chao Ren raised his hand in agreement.

"+1, why not call it Storm? That sounds imposing too!"

Ka Ka Luo Te patted Wo Zui Hei on the shoulder and said with a grin.

"You just don't get it. Try reading 'Twilight Glow' as two separate words."

"Separate? Twi... light... Whoa?"

After muttering it five times, Wo Zui Hei suddenly snapped back to reality, exclaiming as if he'd discovered a new continent, "Damn, so he's using his position to hit on a girl!"

Duan Tui Kai Wen: "Reported!"

Fen Tou Zhuo Gui also wore a broad smile.

"Haha, we've got to report this to the damn devs—the NPC has no martial ethics!"

"Come on, who's hitting on who is anyone's guess."

Listening to the banter among his squad mates, Quan Shui Zhi Hui Guan also chuckled and teased, then turned his gaze to the nearby subway entrance.

The grimy signboard was draped with rotting algae leaves, like rotten vegetable scraps stuck in a beast's teeth. A nauseating stench of decay wafted from the gloomy entrance, as if it weren't the gateway to the subway but the gaping maw of a monster.

The danger inside was likely no less than in the heart of Qingshui City.

He pulled the bolt back to chamber a round, reached up to close his helmet's visor, and switched his portable deflector shield to standby mode.

Once fully prepared, he spoke.

"Enough nonsense. Time to dive the dungeon."

A unified response came through the comm channel.

"Okey!"

...

The waters of the Fourth New District had receded some time ago.

The Alliance had used an MW-class water pump designed at Camp 101 to pump continuously for nearly a week, finally draining the millions of cubic meters of water that had been pressing down on Vault 100.

Perhaps as compensation for the Storm Brigade missing the server event due to the bandit suppression operation, the devs had the administrator assign them the task of "recovering Vault 100."

As everyone knew, vault resources were the richest among all ruins, especially one sealed for two centuries and never opened!

Besides material rewards, pioneering a new vault usually granted players the honor of entering the "Hall of Fame"!

Not only that, but all participants in the pioneering could have their names permanently etched into this future newbie village!

Thus, Quan Shui didn't hesitate to accept the mission.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't really a mission.

It could be called a reward!

However, even with its rewarding nature, the task was far from easy.

Though the raiders active in this area were either dead or fled, the threat of mutants still existed.

Especially in the flooded Fourth New District.

This area still teemed with large and deadly arthropods.

To ensure foolproof execution, Quan Shui Zhi Hui Guan first called in two hundred brothers to clear out all mutants within five hundred meters of the subway entrance before diving in.

And what could have been done with ten people, this guy insisted on stuffing thirty into the dungeon, their tactical flashlight beams turning the narrow subway station almost as bright as day.

If not for the "battlefield width" being too narrow to accommodate more people firing at once, he'd probably have tried to cram a thousand in!

After clearing out a few Claw Crabs lingering below the subway stairs, Quan Shui pressed a button on his helmet and gave the order.

"Team A, advance with Wo Zui Hei. Team B, follow Ka Ka Luo Te to provide fire support and protect Team A's flank. Team C, stay with me in the rear to respond and watch for mutants sneaking up on us. Move on my command."

Amid a chorus of "Roger," Wo Zui Hei interjected.

"Usually, it's 'Brothers, follow me,' isn't it?"

Quan Shui rolled his eyes and said matter-of-factly.

"Shut up. I'm the corrupt official. GKD!"

"...Tch!"

Beaten to the punch, Wo Zui Hei swallowed the word "corrupt official" that was on the tip of his tongue and grumbled as he moved to the front.

But despite his verbal complaints, considering that Old Man Quan Shui was always reliable, he obediently followed the command and signaled his team to spread out and advance.

Perception-type as the vanguard.

Not a bad choice, actually.

...

The actual situation inside the subway station was worse than it appeared from outside.

After all, it had been submerged for a century and a half, and Xizhou City itself was a paradise for mutants. It was only natural that all sorts of strange things lurked here.

In fact, the flooding of this area by Xizhou Lake hadn't happened all at once. The waters had surged back and forth several times before finally overwhelming the underground facilities of the Fourth New District completely.

From the abandoned clothes, sleeping bags, and daily necessities, it wasn't hard to tell that two centuries ago, survivors had taken shelter in this natural refuge for a time.

They trapped rats and other small animals, cultivated mushrooms on rotting planks and household waste, and hid in the subway station from the howling blizzards and the radioactive dust that fell with the snow, praying desperately for an end that never came.

Those people were clearly not residents of Vault 100, but survivors migrating toward the Northern Great Rift—since the terms "Wasteland Era" and "Wasteland" were later concepts, they couldn't yet be called wastelanders.

Perhaps they had even hoped.

That their compatriots hiding in Vault 100 would take pity on them, open the door, and take in the starving, ill-clad refugees.

But clearly...

Their expectations ultimately fell short.

They were not among those chosen to go to the future.

Until Vault 100 became nothing but a relic of history, that sealed door never opened…

Not once.

The soles of boots squelched against the damp concrete floor, a sticky sound like the whispers of ghosts lingering in an abandoned graveyard.

I, Zuì Hēi, adjusted my breathing while shifting the muzzle of my rifle, carefully inspecting every corner of the deserted station platform.

Water droplets from the ceiling fell now and then onto the ground, or onto his helmet and shoulders, sending a bone-chilling cold through him.

Especially the creaking sounds that came from the shadows from time to time, which made him unconsciously tighten his already frayed nerves.

Even though the swaying flashlight beam turned the area almost as bright as day, there were still places the light couldn’t reach, hiding unknown threats.

The flashlight’s beam inadvertently swept over a toppled vending machine, where a patch of rotting seaweed shimmered with iridescent oil stains, immediately catching Zuì Hēi’s attention.

“Something’s up!”

He raised his right hand, forming a fist to signal the teammates following behind to stop, then shouldered his rifle and cautiously stepped closer.

Just as Zuì Hēi was about to see what that thing was, he came face to face with a pattern of colors like a demon’s mask.

The bug stared back at him without blinking.

A dense cluster of eyes crowded together on its face, and a slowly opening slit revealed rings of tiny, jagged teeth.

Then, it lifted the arched carapace on its back, and its paper-thin wings made a sound that set one’s teeth on edge.

“Chirp chirp chirp—”

“Shit!”

Startled, Zuì Hēi pulled the trigger almost instinctively.

In a burst of muzzle flashes, the basketball-sized beetle was hit by over a dozen rounds, instantly splattering into a pool of dark green liquid.

Hearing the sudden gunfire, the members of Team A immediately moved to support, and soon the voice of Quán Shuǐ came through the comm channel.

“Old Black, what’s going on over there?”

“An unknown mutant, sort of looks like… a beetle?”

Fiddling with the action recorder on his tactical helmet, his heart pounding, Zuì Hēi tried to pull up the footage from a few seconds ago, suppressing his nausea to share it with the other brothers in the squad.

But their reactions surprised him—not only was no one disgusted enough to throw up, they actually started critiquing and admiring it.

“That bug’s ugly in a unique way.”

“+1”

“The damn devs put in effort—the new map’s monsters aren’t just reskinned textures; they actually came up with some new stuff we haven’t seen.”

Listening to those bastards talk, Zuì Hēi couldn’t help asking,

“Damn, aren’t you guys disgusted?”

Seeing his serious expression, a few young squad members carrying rifles exchanged glances, their faces showing subtle smiles.

“Now that you mention it, it is pretty disgusting.”

“+1, if I ran into that in real life, it’d probably scare me to death.”

“But this is a game, right?”

“Updating the mutant bestiary might even earn us contribution points!”

“…”

Watching these excited chatterboxes, Zuì Hēi was stunned for a moment.

Maybe…

There was some logic to that?

Indeed, what was there to fear about bugs in a game? Sure, they looked weird, but in terms of lethality, they were nothing compared to mutants!

Comforting himself like this, Zuì Hēi took a deep breath, calming his restless mind.

Just as he settled down, Quán Shuǐ’s voice came through the comm channel.

“Old Black, collecting the sample is on you.”

Zuì Hēi immediately lost his composure.

“Seriously, why don’t you do it?!”

Quán Shuǐ coughed.

“You’re closer… you handle it.”

“%￥#@!”

Taking a plastic tube from his tactical vest, Zuì Hēi suppressed his nausea and crouched down, scooping some tissue remnants from the corpse into the test tube.

That dark green liquid looked strange.

Come to think of it, they’d been active around West City for so long and never seen this mutant—had it migrated here from somewhere recently?

Quán Shuǐ’s voice came through the comm channel.

“You discovered it first, so give it a name.”

“Call it Your Grandpa Zuì Hēi!”

“Haha, I doubt that’ll pass. Think again—we only get one nomination.”

Zuì Hēi thought seriously for a moment.

“Ghostface Bug?”

Quán Shuǐ: “OK, that’s it!”

Generally, as long as the name wasn’t too immersion-breaking, the damn devs wouldn’t veto it.

As the namer of a newly discovered mutant, the player’s ID would be recorded alongside the mutant in the official setting guide, becoming part of the game’s lore.

Reaching ten and a hundred naming milestones would unlock specific titles.

Thus, unlocking the monster bestiary was one of the gameplay elements in *Wasteland OL*, and many collectors were passionate about it.

This also provided the Alliance’s biological research institute with abundant study samples.

With that little episode over,

Team A continued onward, advancing deep into the subway sealed by lake water for nearly a century and a half, while the scurrying ghostface bugs caused no small trouble for those leading the charge.

Though these creatures weren’t large, their aggression was absurdly high, and their attack methods were downright bizarre.

They usually lay motionless, waiting for prey to enter their range, then vibrated their wings and lunged, stabbing with a dagger-like needle hidden in their abdomen to drain the prey’s bodily fluids for sustenance.

While their abdominal needles often couldn’t pierce the chest plates of exoskeleton armor, hitting vital spots like the neck could still be dangerous.

Especially since these small arthropod mutants typically had high stealth attributes, blending perfectly into their surroundings, and could suddenly burst out from unexpected corners, giving tense players a surprise.

Though they managed to handle the trouble several times without serious incident, Zuì Hēi’s face still looked pale, tinged with green.

He felt his sanity points were almost completely drained by those tiny bugs.

Walking up beside Wo Zui Hei, Ten Fist Superman, holding an LD-47 assault rifle, chuckled and teased.

“Bro, you’re not scared, are you?”

From earlier, he’d felt something off about this guy—like a completely different person from when they were on the surface.

Wo Zui Hei’s brow twitched.

“Scared? How could I be... I just feel physically sick seeing bugs, that’s not being scared.”

As soon as he said that, the comm channel erupted with retching sounds.

“Pfft!”

“Are you fucking tsundere?”

“I’m gonna puke.”

Grave Ghost Catcher didn’t join the others in teasing him; he just chuckled and patted the guy on the shoulder.

“So that’s not being scared?”

Wo Zui Hei snapped, embarrassed and angry.

“Screw off! You’re the one scared, your whole family’s scared.”

Laughter rang out in the comm channel.

“Man, if only Battlefield Guy were here.”

“+1, that dude charges fast, heh.”

“This little black guy’s too chicken!”

Seeing he couldn’t explain himself, Wo Zui Hei gave up and rolled his eyes at the two bastards, Grave Ghost Catcher and Ten Fist Superman.

“Less talk, get back to your positions, shut up and work!”

Battlefield Guy was probably already in Triumph City by now. Who knows where he’s having fun—would he have time to run this dungeon with you?

And charging fast was from how many versions ago.

Ever since he left the save point, that guy’s been more cowardly than Dog Fountain!

“Roger.”

Accepting the eye roll Wo Zui Hei threw his way, Ten Fist Superman grinned and made a mock salute, then went back to his combat position with Grave Ghost Catcher.

The brief banter slightly lightened the eerie atmosphere around them.

Though alien creatures still occasionally fluttered out of the darkness with a flash of wings, Wo Zui Hei was gradually getting used to the jumpy rhythm.

If unsure about a spot, fire a shot first; if there’s movement, unload a magazine; if it’s big, toss a grenade; if nothing, keep moving forward.

After all, on their own turf, ammo was more than plentiful.

After a few short but intense firefights, the group passed through the security checkpoint safely and pushed all the way to the platform.

The tunnel beneath the platform was pitch black, with residual water not fully drained in the pit, about knee-deep.

A broken-down carriage was stuck in the middle of the tunnel not far ahead; they needed to cross through that spot to reach the entrance of Vault 100.

Glancing at the stalled carriage, Fountain Commander gave the order over the comm.

“A-Team, enter the tunnel. B and C Teams, support from the platform edge.”

“Roger!” Wo Zui Hei looked at his teammate and gave Ten Fist Superman a nod.

The latter understood, stepped to the platform edge, fired a few shots at the abandoned carriage, and seeing no alien activity, unloaded a magazine into the water before jumping down into the tunnel.

The others followed, leaping off the platform into the knee-deep water.

The filthy water soaked through their pants, and the biting cold crawled from their ankles up to their knees. Even with helmets blocking the pain, most players couldn’t help but shiver.

Feeling the sludge swirling around his feet, Grave Ghost Catcher wrinkled his nose and sniffed, muttering over the comm.

“Damn, this water fucking stinks!”

Already used to the smell, Ten Fist Superman teased.

“When we get back, we’ll make that dog Fountain wash our pants!”

Wo Zui Hei also looked disgusted.

But thinking the end was near and the mission would be done if they just held on a little longer, he didn’t waste words on the comm and said simply.

“The vault entrance is ahead, keep moving!”

The others shouted with renewed vigor.

“Roger!”

The ten-man squad advanced deeper into the subway tunnel, pushing ripples across the knee-deep sewage surface.

Wo Zui Hei felt his heart beating fast.

The icy sewage didn’t just bring cold; it also stirred a restless unease.

How to put it?

It was way too quiet here!

Then he suddenly saw, on the shimmering water surface lit by flashlight beams, floating pieces of rotten wood.

They were tangled with decaying algae, mixed among floating plastic trash and abandoned wreckage—impossible to see from the platform.

Wo Zui Hei froze for a moment.

Wood?

There wasn’t even a tree nearby—how could there be wood?

Just then, the “wood” floating on the shimmering water vanished, as if teleporting a large distance toward them.

Catching this change sharply, Wo Zui Hei’s pupils contracted instantly as he raised his rifle toward that direction.

“Stop!” he shouted.

Almost at the same moment everyone halted, he finally saw how those “planks” moved—

They weren’t planks at all!

They were water striders the size of wolfhounds!

Their slender three pairs of long legs pressed flat against the water, so the group hadn’t noticed them.

They lurked patiently in trash piles and water weeds, waiting until prey entered their domain, then kicked off with their powerful hind legs.

Their light bodies made almost no sound, and their tube-like mouthparts, like spears hidden in reeds, exuded a chilling murderous intent.

This time, it wasn’t just Wo Zui Hei.

Finally seeing the hidden danger on the water, even Ten Fist Superman, the bravest of them, couldn’t help but change expression.

“Holy shit! Mutant water striders!?”

These weren’t rare in West Continent City—their numbers were second only to battleship shrimp and split-claw crabs.

Most mutant water striders live along lake shores, typically reaching a meter in length, with their robust limbs spanning up to two meters when fully extended.

They carry almost no excess fat, their skin coated in a chitin-rich exoskeleton, and they attack by lunging at prey with a kick, piercing it with mutated fangs before using their forelimbs to dismember and devour it.

A few mutant water striders possess such explosive force that they can even flip an adult monster onto its back, so despite the abundant water resources in the Four New Districts, forest mutants rarely build nests in this area.

Most players are reluctant to tangle with these creatures.

On one hand, they’re too fast to hit; on the other, they offer little meat and that meat is inedible. Unless there’s a mutant control quest involved, almost no one bothers to provoke these troublesome beasts.

“Aren’t these things supposed to live in shallow water… Why are they roaming here?!”

“Who knows! Their pumps have been running for a whole week!”

“Maybe those ghost-faced bugs lured them… I heard water striders love eating small insects—mutant ones probably do too—”

“Forget what it eats! You’re on its menu right now! Open fire!”

Shouting loudly, I, Zuihei, was the first to pull the trigger, bracing the stock against my shoulder as I sprayed the water ahead with a rattling burst.

The dense gunfire suddenly exploded through the tunnel, and everyone poured a fierce torrent of bullets at the mutants charging straight at them.

Retreat was impossible.

That thing moved across the water like lightning, while their feet felt like blocks of ice tied to them—they couldn’t run in this godforsaken place.

If they chickened out and exposed their fragile backs to those mutant mouthparts, they’d only end up as prey!

“A Squad engaged! B and C Squads, move up and support them!”

Hearing the gunfire from ahead in the tunnel, Commander Quanshui immediately issued orders while deploying the fixed mount of his Destroyer Type I exoskeleton, leveling the 120mm heavy mortar.

Silently calculating the distance, Quanshui called out again over the comm channel.

“Lao Hei! Spread out to the sides!”

Zuihei, still squeezing the trigger for dear life, gritted his teeth and signaled his nearby teammates.

“Spread out to the sides!”

Just as A Squad cleared the center of the tunnel, Kakarot had already led B Squad up to join them.

With a splash, he jumped into the tunnel where water reached past his knees, Kakarot was the first to set up the squad machine gun with its drum magazine, shouting as he pulled the trigger.

“Open fire—”

“Ratta-tatta-tatta—!”

The relentless gunfire instantly drowned out his command.

The support group’s sudden burst of fire turned into a flickering rain of light through the tunnel, crossing the central area and kicking up waist-high splashes on the water ahead of A Squad.

But the gunfire didn’t last long.

B Squad had barely unloaded a few rounds when A Squad collided with the mutant water striders rushing at them, locking into close-quarters combat.

Losing the firing window, Kakarot made a snap decision, slung the machine gun onto his back, and drew the short blade at his hip.

“Charge in and help!”

The rest of the brothers also grabbed their melee weapons, letting out a fierce roar toward A Squad as they wrestled with the mutant water striders.

“Oorah!”

Meanwhile, A Squad was locked in a bitter struggle.

Though they’d detected the hunters lurking in the dark, the sheer number of mutant water striders had broken through their fire net.

Zuihei felt as if a bull had rammed his chest; he toppled backward into the water, nearly swallowing a bellyful of filth.

Seeing its prey fall, the mutant water strider excitedly waved its two forelegs, lifted its mouthpart, and stabbed down fiercely.

Almost by instinct, he dodged the sharp tube aimed at his throat, then yanked out his dagger and drove it into the mutant water strider’s head.

A dull tearing sound, and pale yellow fluid splattered.

Fighting back nausea, Zuihei stabbed twice more until the thrashing forelegs went limp, then kicked the twitching corpse aside and struggled to his feet.

At almost the same moment, a shell landed thirty meters ahead of him, and the shockwave from the blast slammed him back into the water just as he stood.

It was an incendiary round.

The explosion’s flames weren’t drowned by the tunnel’s standing water; instead, they spread rapidly across the surface.

One by one, the mutant water striders just awakened from hibernation were engulfed by the fire.

They writhed and flailed their limbs in the smoke, as if screaming silently, then quietly turned to ash and sank into the water.

With B Squad’s reinforcements arriving, the players quickly finished off the remaining mutant water striders, and the tunnel battle came to an end.

Kakarot hauled Zuihei out of the water; Zuihei coughed violently twice, then immediately cursed over the comm channel.

“Holy shit! Quanshui, you bastard, are you crazy?! Using a mortar in this hellhole?!”

“Alright, alright, you did good, brother—it’s over, nice work!” Kakarot laughed, patting his back to comfort him, then turned his gaze forward. “Look, Vault 100 is right ahead. We’ve made it.”

Zuihei instinctively followed his line of sight.

There, beyond the blazing sea of fire, on one side of the tunnel draped with algae and grime, stood a colossal metal gear.

Even after being submerged for over a century, its surface remained as pristine as ever, showing no trace of time’s passage.

The roaring flames polished its surface to a gleaming shine, and a prominent number was stamped at the gear’s center.

Staring at that gear-shaped giant door, Zuihei’s expression couldn’t help but shift.

Vault 100!

They had arrived!