Chapter 666: The Players' Port

Chapter 666: The Players' Harbor

At the junction of the Southern Sea and the Baiyue Strait.

The rolling waves rustled softly, and as far as the eye could see, the blue expanse stretched in a scene of tranquil serenity.

Yet the survivors living in this area knew all too well that beneath that seemingly peaceful and pleasant vista lurked fierce undercurrents.

To the northeast, the Sea Cliff Province was ravaged by plague, while to the due east, the Southern Sea was far from quiet.

The war between the Southern Islands Federation and Vault 70 had already dragged on for over two months.

The former's underwater forces had seized Vault 70's seabed settlement and taken control of the vault's entrance.

However, that vault was a permanent bunker capable of withstanding nuclear blasts—not even the crash of the Heavenly Palace space station could destroy it, let alone the Southern Islands Federation, which still used picric acid for naval mines.

Against that turtle-shell-like fortified facility, the Southern Islands Federation's navy was helpless, able only to blockade the entrance.

But though they had lost control of the main entrance, the residents of Vault 70 did not surrender. Instead, relying on advanced diving equipment, they waged a guerrilla war against the Federation at sea, ambushing fishing boats, cargo ships, patrol boats, and even offshore mining stations, seizing supplies while weakening the Federation's naval power.

The two sides had been deadlocked for a full month, neither able to overcome the other, and it was foreseeable that the stalemate would continue...

As usual, a patrol speedboat of the Southern Islands Federation sailed to the eastern exit of the Baiyue Strait, searching for Vault 70's submersibles to prevent them from reaching the survivor settlements and ports along the coast of the Bharata Province for supplies.

Muda, carrying an assault rifle, stood at the bow. He raised his binoculars and glanced westward, saw no trace of ships, and waved to the driver in the cabin.

"Move forward a bit more!"

"Got it!" The bare-armed driver replied, deftly shifting into forward gear.

Feeling the hot wind blowing from the sea, Muda fixed his gaze on the dense rainforest along the shore, squinting slightly.

He had heard that two centuries ago, this place had been a steel jungle. Rows of hundred-meter-long cargo ships lined the concrete docks, and countless containers were stacked on the port, stretching beyond sight like the towering gantry cranes.

Not entirely hearsay.

He had once seen that image on posters and pamphlets left over from the pre-war era.

But he didn't believe it was real.

If that era had truly been so prosperous, why would they have fled from the shore to that lonely island?

Wouldn't it have been better to live there?

Just then, a voice came over the comm channel from his teammate.

"There's something due north!"

Due north?

Muda was taken aback, for he was already looking due north, where there was nothing but dense forest and scattered concrete rubble.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over the thick jungle. He instinctively looked up at the sky, and his pupils contracted.

A colossal object emerged from the clouds and descended. Its color blended with the thin clouds, yet it seemed utterly out of place against the blue sky.

"...An airship?!"

Before the sailors on the speedboat could recover from their shock, a string of black dots dropped from the airship, parachutes opening in midair.

Seeing what hung beneath the parachutes, Muda's face changed. He grabbed the radio and shouted into the channel.

"Get away from the shore!"

His judgment proved correct.

Just as the two speedboats moved away from the coast, the parachutes neared the edge of the jungle, then suddenly burst into balls of flame.

Those descending tongues of fire fell like a sudden rain of fire, turning the coastal rainforest into a blazing inferno.

Tusked mutant apes howled as they fled deeper into the jungle; mutant lizards and crocodiles lurking near abandoned drainage pipes screeched in agony, reduced to ash in the burning flames.

The fire still raged...

Feeling the hot wind blowing from the shore, the Federation sailors on the speedboats stared dumbfounded at the scene that had unfolded in an instant.

In just over ten minutes, the lush coastline had been cleared into a stretch of charred earth and dead wood.

"Were those incendiary bombs?"

"What happened..."

Muda stared blankly in that direction, unsure how to handle the situation.

The gunner standing atop the cabin nervously raised a heavy machine gun fitted with a gun shield, aiming skyward in vigilance, yet he had no confidence that it could threaten the airship.

At the same time, the captain of the other speedboat came over the comm.

"Damn... What the hell are those guys? Church people?"

Muda swallowed hard.

"Doesn't seem like it..."

Just as he finished speaking, another string of black dots with parachutes descended even faster toward the coast, where the flames had not yet fully died out.

This time, there was no explosion.

Those dark shapes crashed straight into the blackened shoreline, kicking up clouds of dust.

Muda instinctively raised his binoculars and looked toward the coast, soon witnessing a sight he would never forget.

One by one, pitch-black exoskeletons stepped out of the dust.

Stern steel and polymer materials covered every inch of their skin; sleek assault rifles were held in their hands; their black visors completely concealed their expressions.

Such sophisticated ground combat gear was something Muda had never seen before. He couldn't help but wonder who these people were and what they were doing here.

As he watched the group on the shore, the group on the shore also noticed them drifting far out at sea.

Raising a fist to signal his team to be on alert, KillDagger walked to the water's edge and tapped the side of his helmet.

"Unidentified NPCs spotted at sea, requesting instructions."

After a brief wait, Brother Fang's voice came over the comm.

"...We didn't accidentally hit them just now, did we?"

KillDagger took out his binoculars and glanced at the sea, then chuckled.

"Probably not, but it looks like we scared them. The two machine guns on the speedboats are aimed at you."

Those little water pipes, no more than 20mm, couldn't dream of shooting down their airship. So he paid the threat no mind.

Fang, standing in the airship's bridge, had also noticed the situation at sea but didn't say much.

"Understood. Ignore them. Continue the mission."

"Roger."

KillDagger tapped the side of his helmet and ended the call.

He took one last look at the two speedboats on the sea, then turned away, signaling his brothers to advance toward the edge of the rainforest...

...

The first thirty players deployed on the coast as the vanguard were all brothers from the Burning Legion.

Their mission was to establish a temporary beachhead on the shoreline with the support of incendiary bomb airdrops, suppressing the local mutants while ensuring that the supplies and machinery from the airship could be deployed smoothly.

After confirming the safety of the area around the landing site, the leader, Murderous Dagger, reported the ground conditions to Fang Chang.

Once the airship steadied, ropes and a gondola were lowered, and then wave after wave of players, laden with large packs, descended to the surface alongside construction supplies.

Compared to the players of the Burning Legion, who wore exoskeletons, these folks presented a completely different picture.

Their chattering and squawking made them seem less like survivors of the wasteland and more like a flock of free-range ducks—a noisy bunch of tourists.

“The sea!”

“Damn, the devs are awesome!”

“Hahaha, I’m seeing the sea in the game!” one player rushed to the beach, excited as a two-hundred-pound child.

Another, in his thrill, plunged headfirst into the water, as if to test whether the sea was just a texture or a real, modeled entity.

No surprises there.

The beach in *Wasteland OL* was so realistic it was almost identical to the real thing—except for the crabs that could tear off your nose and all sorts of bizarre mutant creatures.

Within less than an hour of the first wave of players landing, the first casualty had already occurred: an intelligence-based player was dragged into the sea by a mutant sea snake as thick as a calf, its coils wrapped around his ankle.

But this didn’t dampen the players’ enthusiasm for the new map at all.

Clutching the chunk missing from his nose, a player with less than three months of game time shouted ecstatically.

“Holy crap! The light! The water! This is absolutely insane!”

Watching the chaotic beach and the newcomers brawling with isolated mutants, Elf King Fugui sighed with emotion.

“Sometimes I envy these newbies. I don’t even get surprised by new maps anymore.”

Strictly speaking, reaching a sequence level of LV10 was hardly newbie territory.

But compared to the veteran players who’d been roaming the wasteland since the Alpha test, these folks, still riding their excitement, were indeed no different from rookies.

Irena shot Fugui a wry glance.

“That means you’re getting used to this cruel wasteland.”

“Haha, maybe!”

Elf King Fugui laughed, took the mechanical compound bow hanging from his backpack, and turned his gaze toward the rainforest where the flames were slowly dying out.

“Let’s go. We should get moving too.”

“OK.”

Seeing Fugui was ready, Irena expertly chambered a round in his assault rifle and added with a grin,

“Let’s start with the task of finding a water source. We can also prep some ingredients for dinner along the way.”

Hearing the latter part of Irena’s words, the once-high-spirited Fugui couldn’t help but shiver, silently praying in his heart.

*Hope we don’t run into anything weird…*

As the initial thrill of unlocking the new map faded, the players who had just set foot on it gradually calmed down and threw themselves into building the camp.

Some were tasked with clearing dead branches and charcoal from the ground, others with organizing the supplies and building materials unloaded from the airship, and still others were assigned to set up tents and construct simple defensive fortifications.

None of this work was for free—each task came with a corresponding reward in silver coins.

It was just like when the outpost by Lake Linghu was first established.

Only now, the players who once collected silver coins from the administrator had become the ones editing tasks and distributing rewards to other players.

Aside from the life-skill players, the combat-skill players weren’t idle either.

Shortly after the airship had steadied, the Ox-Horse Group released an exploration task to find a water source, offering rewards of 50 to 1,000 silver coins for locating a safe, reliable freshwater source.

And it wasn’t just about finding water—discovering the lairs of dangerous mutants also came with rewards.

If someone managed to wipe out a mutant nest, the reward started at four figures!

Just as the posters plastered at the airship inflation station in Dawn City promised, opportunities were everywhere here! Silver coins were everywhere!

As long as you worked hard, at least earning back the cost of your ticket was no problem!

While the players on shore were bustling with activity, the federal sailors on the two speedboats were utterly dumbfounded.

Especially Mu Da, the commander of the coastal patrol.

The bewildering behavior of these people left him uncertain about what they were planning.

After a moment of thought, he ordered over the comm channel,

“Boat One, return to Ring Island port and report the situation to the port commander… Tell them an airship has arrived in the eastern area of the Baiyue Strait, with about two to three hundred people disembarked. We can’t confirm their identity or intentions.”

A response came quickly through the channel.

“Roger!”

Pausing, Mu Da continued,

“Boat Two, follow me in closer.”

The helmsman in the cabin acknowledged,

“Yes, sir!”

The two speedboats split up—one headed east, while the other pulled up to the shallow waters near the shore, and three men disembarked.

The players on the beach soon noticed them and cast curious glances at the three NPCs.

Acting on Fang Chang’s orders, Murderous Dagger, clad in black exoskeleton armor, approached the trio with another teammate.

“Who are you?”

Looking at the soldier walking toward him, Mu Da replied cautiously,

“The Federation. And you?”

“The Alliance!” Murderous Dagger lifted his helmet’s faceplate and said with a hearty laugh, “Our names are pretty similar, huh.”

Hearing “Alliance,” Mu Da was momentarily taken aback.

He had heard the name from merchants in Silver Moon Bay—a survivor faction that had risen in the southern part of the Hegu Province, at least two to three thousand kilometers away.

What were these people doing here?

While he was still puzzled, Murderous Dagger continued with a smile,

“By the way, we’ll be staying here for a while. That shouldn’t be a problem for you, should it?”

The two sailors behind Mu Da exchanged odd glances.

Staying in this godforsaken place for a while?

Were these people crazy?

Like his two subordinates, Mu Da was thrown off by the soldier’s answer and remained silent for a long time.

The Baiyue Province was a no-man’s land, and this beach was no exception. Though Federation speedboats often patrolled these waters, this wasn’t Federation territory, and the island’s residents generally avoided this dangerous area.

At least, he hadn’t heard of any Federation plans to build new facilities on this land.

Eyeing the weapons these people carried, Mu Da finally spoke slowly.

"I have no objections. You can stay as long as you like, as long as you don't interfere with our work... But don't say I didn't warn you: the mutants here are dangerous. Even if your gear is decent, camping here is definitely not a good idea."

A smile of delight once again spread across Killer's Dagger's face.

"Great! I hope we get along! By the way, where is your settlement? Or the nearest port? If it's convenient, we could trade some supplies."

Muda raised his arm with a subtle expression, pointing toward the southern sea.

"Over there..."

"Over there?" Killer's Dagger glanced in the direction he pointed, intrigued. "Where? I can't see anything."

"...Of course you can't see it from here. It's about a hundred nautical miles to the southeast." Looking at this not-so-bright fellow, Muda said with a speechless expression.

Killer's Dagger gave an embarrassed smile.

"That's quite far."

"You're welcome to come to our port for trade. If you hunt some game, you can sell it to us. But don't even think about bringing that thing to our place—not if you want to avoid trouble."

Not wanting to stay a second longer in this dangerous place, Muda pointed at the blimp floating in the sky and tossed out a warning before hastily ending the brief exchange.

"That's all I have to say. We need to go. Have fun here... I hope I'll still see you in a few days."

"You definitely will!"

Taking that as a blessing, Killer's Dagger laughed heartily and waved at the three NPCs who had returned to the speedboat.

"Safe travels! Come visit anytime!"

Watching the man waving goodbye from the shore, Muda chuckled inwardly.

Hope you're still laughing in a few days...