"...You’ve been frozen for too long, your hematopoietic function hasn’t fully recovered yet, and a blood transfusion might do you so good."
Outside Shelter No. 0.
In a tent of the base, a doctor in a white coat looked at Yi Hai lying on the hospital bed and said.
"No need, I feel quite good," Yi Hai declined the doctor’s kindness with weary eyes, he looked at his younger brother standing beside his bed and said in a gentle voice, "Can I rest for a while?"
Concernedly watching his older brother lying on the bed, Yi Chuan nodded.
"...Take care and rest."
Although he had many things he wanted to tell his brother, considering that the latter had just been rescued from the sleep cabin, what he needed most at the mont was rest.
Yi Chuan stood up from the chair and walked toward the door.
However, just as he was about to lift the curtain to leave, he happened to encounter Chu Guang coming in from the outside.
"Chu Guang?" Yi Chuan asked in surprise, thinking he had co to see him, "Is there sothing you need?"
Looking at the representative of the Silver Wing Group, Chu Guang smiled friendly and said.
"There’s sothing I’d like to talk to your brother about, can I borrow a little bit of his ti?"
Seeing that Chu Guang was not there to see him, Yi Chuan was montarily taken aback and looked troubled after hearing his request.
"But he needs to rest right now—"
Before Yi Chuan could finish his sentence, a voice from behind him cut him off.
"It’s fine, let Mr. Chu Guang in."
Yi Chuan instantly turned his head and looked at his brother, who had just ntioned needing rest, with a puzzled expression, but ultimately he didn’t say anything and stepped aside.
Chu Guang gave him a grateful look.
"Thank you, I’ll take it from here, you go ahead with your business... Don’t worry, I won’t keep your brother for too long."
Yi Chuan nodded.
"Alright... then you two have your chat."
"Mhm."
Chu Guang nodded, passed by Yi Chuan, and walked directly to the bedside, casually picking up an iron chair to sit on.
Looking at the azure armor on his body, Yi Hai lying on the hospital bed managed a weak smile and said.
"You’re still the sa, always wearing that set of armor no matter the occasion."
Chu Guang smiled faintly.
"After all, this is the Wasteland where anything can happen... I’m honored that I’ve left such a deep impression on you."
"Of course, that’s a special place, unlike any other I’ve been to, not just you, but many of you... You and your team mbers left a profound impression on us."
The pale face showed weakness, but the man on the bed still mustered a friendly smile.
"It’s a pity we had a mission and couldn’t stay long, otherwise I really would have liked to spend more ti there... see what delicacies you all had hidden away in the shelter."
Hearing him bring up their shared mories, Chu Guang laughed, then suddenly sighed lightly, sowhat somberly saying.
"That night, I said... when you’ve recovered a little, we could sit down and have a proper chat about what happened on our side after you guys left."
Yi Hai’s voice also carried a hint of regret as he looked back at those mories.
"I am curious... what exactly happened to you, to change so drastically in just six months."
Chu Guang remained silent, just staring at him for a while.
Those deep black pupils were inscrutable; Yi Hai, locked in Chu Guang’s gaze, gradually showed a hint of confusion.
"Is there sothing on my face?"
"Nothing," Chu Guang shook his head, then suddenly softened the sharpness in his eyes, continuing in a gentle tone, "Let’s start with... what happened to us before we t you."
Yi Hai didn’t speak, quietly waiting for him to continue.
Chu Guang pondered for a mont, then resud.
"A long ti ago, I had a very long dream, in which... I was killed by Wasteland Wanderers, killed by Mutants, betrayed to death by the residents I trusted the most. In the most desperate monts, I touched the edge of the dream over and over again, yet each ti I was about to pierce through that layer of fog, I would wake up from the dream again. Sotis I couldn’t help thinking, could this be the start of another cycle?"
Yi Hai paused, seeing his serious expression, it took him a while before he sighed lightly, picking up on his story.
"That sounds like a terrible mory."
"Yes," Chu Guang nodded, "I rarely talk about the details of my dreams, even with the people I trust the most."
He paused, then he continued.
"Although it may sound strange, I was surprised myself... I don’t hate the people I t in my dreams."
A laugh played across Yi Hai’s face as he struggled not to laugh out loud.
"That does sound pretty weird... Dreams and reality are two separate things after all. It wouldn’t be normal to hate soone in real life for a nightmare."
Chu Guang also smiled and said.
"Right? Not to ntion dreams and reality, even people in reality are different from one another. So Waste Land Wanderers are full of malice, but not all of them are like that. I constantly remind myself to use the power in my hands prudently, including the authority granted to by the Shelter, to set aside the pride and prejudice of civilized people, to treat everyone as equal as possible, and to constrain others with rules; only by doing so can we unite more people."
"Whether the residents within the Shelter or the survivors outside, they all have an equal right to live in this world, instead of being born to serve soone, to satisfy soone’s comfort and ambition, or to beco soone’s slave... Do you think I’m doing the right thing?"
Yi Hai fell silent for a mont before sincerely exclaiming,
"You are an excellent Manager, no wonder you have managed your Shelter so well."
Though these words sounded like sincere praise, and indeed they were, they carried a different significance in Chu Guang’s ears,
especially since he had already sensed sothing amiss.
The praise now carried a hint of sarcasm.
Chu Guang also had no intention of continuing the act with him and, staring into those eyes that masked deceit with frailty, spoke in a very light voice,
"My managent skills weren’t so proficient from the start, I only gradually learned a little after spending ti with the survivors. So I really don’t understand, if it’s slavers, that’s one thing... They can still use the circumstances and ignorance as their excuses. However, you, as inheritors of a civilized legacy, why do you also stoop to mingle with those people? Hasn’t the United Human given you enough?"
"Mingle with... those people?" Yi Hai was slightly startled, and his expression progressively turned serious, "What do you an? Are you saying... there are traitors in the corporation trading with Mutants?!"
The fellow was still playing dumb until the very end.
Chu Guang had to admit, he was quite convincing.
If this guy had been so attentive from the beginning, or rather, if he hadn’t made his delight so obvious, he might have actually fooled Chu Guang.
After all, when dealing with the injured, people are instinctively lenient, not demanding every detail be clearly explained, even if sotis they notice inconsistencies in the records, they would generously understand it as a normal reaction to trauma.
However—
So things could be attributed to a confusion of mory, but others could not.
People might mix up the order of events due to mory confusion, might get confused about key figures in an event, but couldn’t inexplicably predict sothing that hadn’t happened.
Almost at the sa ti, Xiao Qi’s voice ca from beside his ear, reporting discoveries made by his little "players" within No.0 Shelter.
Even if the walls of the Shelter could block electromagnetic waves, they couldn’t stop the connection built on the "Morphogenesis Field".
"Stop pretending... The real Yi Hai is already dead in that shelter, isn’t he?"
Seeing that Chu Guang had made it clear, the man lying in the bed finally stopped acting.
He completely tore off the mask of frailty, his pale face twisted due to emotional fluctuations, and a creepy, cackling laugh ca from his dry mouth.
He looked like a corpse gone mad.
Chu Guang watched him calmly.
He knew this guy must have been holding back for a long ti, perhaps since the mont he woke up, he had been holding back his laughter.
It seed he had laughed enough.
The distorted face returned to normal, the man took a deep breath contentedly, looking at Chu Guang with a cheerful expression,
"Phew... Holding back laughter is not easy, did you know? The foolish looks on your faces bustling about is just so hilarious, haha!"
He paused for a mont, curiously examining the man in power armor before him.
"Chu Guang, right... I am still a bit curious, how did you find out? Those guys shouldn’t have left the shelter yet, right?"
Chu Guang said in a calm voice,
"Although you played it very convincingly, even acting out the surprise when you saw , the feelings for your brother, the emotion when you saw the rescuers... You displayed it all, but you know too much."
"The Weilante People, Mutants, the Enlightennt Society, and the final betrayal by the Enlightennt Society, you know all of it."
"Isn’t that strange? It’s as if you were involved in everything, including the conflicts with the Weilante People and Mutants, including the cooperation with the Enlightennt Society and ultimately being betrayed by them... And then you ca back unscathed to the starting point of everything."
"Clever," the man looked at Chu Guang appreciatively, "I’m more and more impressed by you... Indeed, I am from the Enlightennt Society."
"But there’s still sothing I don’t understand," Chu Guang stared at him, his voice carrying a hint of curiosity, "How did you manage to impersonate Yi Hai?"
"Ah... Is that difficult?" The man’s face was filled with a pleasant smile, and his reaction was beyond Chu Guang’s expectations.
He didn’t hide anything and confessed readily,
"Have you heard of the Mind Interference Device?"
Chu Guang nodded.
"I’ve heard of it. So people like you have mastered the sa technology, though if I rember correctly... the higher the ntal capacity, the more specific the information absorbed, but the less impact it has. The lower the ntal capacity, the less information it can accept, but the impact is larger."
This technology originated from the colonies, inspired by the "Unified Consciousness" of exoplanetary lifeforms, and was developed as a substitute for the "Infrasound Fence" technology. Later, so unscrupulous corporations used it on visitors to ecological parks, selling commodities worth less than a bottle of water at sky-high prices, almost overturning the advertising industry.
The Mind Interference Instrunt could control so immature Variants, but for mature humans, the impact was limited to giving them a push when the thought "buy it" erged, not to ntion the more advanced version of ntal domination.
"Resonance theory, indeed," the man continued with a smile, "Theoretically, controlling higher lifeforms using resonance theory is impossible, as the complexity of a higher lifeform’s mind is tens of thousands of tis more intricate than that of lower creatures. However, exceptions do exist."
Chu Guang watched him for a while, then a look of surprise suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"... Clones?"
"Exactly, especially the kind with a mind as blank as a sheet," the man nodded approvingly, "Thanks to those Weilante People, I now have at least a thousand ready-made clones at my disposal. Just pick one of a similar height, give him plastic surgery along with a chip implant, and that’s enough."
"As for the mories, even easier. While the guy is still not quite dead, throw his consciousness into virtual space for a slow interrogation. With fabricated dreams and subconscious manipulation, there’s always a way to extract what we don’t know."
At this point, he intentionally paused, slowing his speech.
"However, speaking of which, I must comnd you," he said with a mocking laugh. "Your shelter really made a deep impression on this fellow... Out of 1700 dreams, at least 320 were scenes about you guys. Perhaps his last wish before dying was to take one more look at your place, heh heh."
Chu Guang didn’t let the provocation rile him up and took a deep breath before continuing to inquire.
"So, all the crew mbers of the Pioneer are dead?"
The man chuckled and said, "How could that be? If I hadn’t deliberately let one escape, would you have co all this way here?"
"From the mont the Pioneer entered this domain, all of you... whether you were inside or outside, were within my calculations."
"It seems you are quite pleased with your plan." Chu Guang slightly raised his chin, looking down at that ugly and twisted personality.
As if he were looking down on a maggot.
However, the man was undisturbed by this, seemingly taking pleasure from that gaze, and nodded in happy acknowledgnt.
"Of course, initially I expected only corporations and armies to co here, and now there’s an unexpected addition of an Academy... it couldn’t be more perfect!"
He suddenly paused, as if rembering sothing.
"Ah, perhaps four, but regrettably, I have no interest in you. A triple-digit shelter—in our sphere, double-digit numbered shelter Managers are quite common."
Chu Guang stared at him.
"The Enlightennt Society, is it?"
"Exactly," the man crisply replied, "being chosen as a resident of a shelter ans, without exception, you are from the elite of United Human society, or at the very least a descendant of the elite. This world should rightfully be ruled by us... But unfortunately, this cake is now crawling with cockroaches, so before we slice this cake, we plan to clear away those cockroaches first."
As he said this, his tone suddenly shifted, his eyes rolling as he focused on Chu Guang.
"But on second thought, although I’m not interested in your shelter, I am quite interested in you. Normally, managing a triple-digit shelter, even if you joined us, you would have to start as a Disciple, but I could make an exception and let you beco an Elder."
Chu Guang laughed.
"Your system of ranks is quite interesting, even using shelter numbers to determine seating order."
The man stated matter-of-factly.
"Of course, the shelter’s ranking represents priority in funding. The higher the rank, the higher the societal status before the war."
His first statent was indeed a fact, but the latter part was clearly his own interpretation, at least it differed from what Chu Guang himself had understood from the intelligence.
"And what number are you?"
"?" The man was slightly taken aback and then laughed heartily, "I am naturally 0."
"Right, I haven’t told you my na... but never mind, a na is just a code, and such a thing isn’t important, anyway."
He paused, looking at Chu Guang cheerfully.
"You can address the sa as my Disciples."
"Call ’Gui Xu’!"
The smile that spread across his face was downright devilish.
There he lay, watching the people from the corporations, armies, and academies run back and forth in the maze he had personally crafted.
And his true body should be sowhere not too far from here.
The only thing Chu Guang could be sure of now was that the technology he used was not the sa Morphogenesis Field as Shelter No. 404 but was based on the Resonance Theory that erged in 2111. Hence, the transmission of information could be affected by interfering factors.
Otherwise, he should have known everything that happened underground like the back of his hand.
"But I heard that No.0 Shelter was never completed."
"That shows you and those little darlings aboard the Pioneer know nothing about the Torch Plan."
Gui Xu continued carelessly.
"But that’s also normal, the No.0 Shelter is an existence outside the Sequence... It’s not a shelter that exists in reality, but a building composed of multiple parts. Each component has been carefully designed for the ultimate plan - to eliminate all organic life outside the shelters on this planet before the heritage is completely depleted, and to restart civilization."
As he said this, Gui Xu smiled.
"The shelter underground is just one of many facilities. We ca here to retrieve sothing originally, but unfortunately, we didn’t find the key to enter. Thanks to the little darlings on the Pioneer, they helped us out."
"Do you know? I thought they knew what they were looking for, given how knowledgeable they were. To my surprise, they hadn’t even heard of the Torch Plan; it’s pitiful how they relied on a pile of data to find this place... Hahahaha, such a sha."
Shaking his head with a laugh, he continued.
"I was thinking of recruiting them. The descendants of Shelter No. 6 aren’t out of the question. For that, I spoke to them patiently and at length, just like now."
"However, after listening to my explanation, that guy nad Lu Yang stupidly refused and betrayed under the guise of compliance. He threw the maternal specin hidden on the Pioneer into the mix, causing quite a few of my n to get trapped inside."
He glanced up at the wall clock as he said this, his smile growing even more pleasant.
"Thank you for chatting with for so long. The thunderstorm should have reached this area by now; it must be starting to thunder outside... From now on, no ssage can be sent out from here. But don’t worry, whether it’s the crew of the Pioneer, the Weilante People, or those from the Academy, they will all return ho safely... And we’ll send your families’ regards."
At that mont, the one who called himself Gui Xu had finally laid bare all his plans.
What he wanted was not just sothing hidden within the underground shelter; he planned to take the place of all those here!
Just like he had usurped the identity of Yi Hai.
As long as they controlled everyone here, by extracting their mories through virtual reality devices, they could use the cloned soldiers, plastic surgery, and mind interference technology from the army to impersonate those who had already died. At the sa ti, they could have their Disciples live as servants or in other roles next to the puppets, thus completing the infiltration of the army, corporations, and academy.
Chu Guang had to admit, this guy and his Enlightennt Society were especially audacious.
At the sa ti, he declared war on three degenerate empires, along with a newly ford alliance.
Normally, this behavior would commonly be called having a death wish.
"No wonder you weren’t at all worried about telling everything." Looking at the guy lying in the bed, Chu Guang said with so emotion.
Gui Xu gave a faint smile.
"Yes, your only chance to survive is to join us. Frankly speaking, taking control of the Manager’s authority is a thankless task without the person’s cooperation, and we have no interest in snatching their powers from the hands of their disciples. As long as you cooperate with our work, you and your residents will be able to earn the right to survive in the new world."
"So my status has been downgraded from elder to disciple? However, it’s a pity that I have not the slightest interest in your so-called new world."
Chu Guang chuckled.
As he spoke, he had already closed the visor of his helt.
"If you want my life, co and try."
The man lying in bed just yawned indifferently, as if he had anticipated this response.
"Then let’s try."
The storm clouds were already brewing.
In this unique climate, flyers simply couldn’t take off, and the range of signal transmission was severely limited.
To avoid the unnecessary depletion of shield energy, the two airships hovering overhead began to descend.
However, just then, a shrill alarm bell rang out in the sky.
Chu Guang’s brows furrowed slightly, and he imdiately pulled out the nitrogen-powered hamr from behind his back. A raging torrent of air spread in an instant, shattering the ceiling of the barracks completely and blowing the contents of the room into disarray.
"You want to kill ? It doesn’t matter, although it’s a pity to be kicked out of the VIP seats, but I’ll be watching you from sowhere else." Gui Xu laughed, looking at the murderous Chu Guang, and continued, "But before that, I suggest you watch your head."
He didn’t need the reminder.
Chu Guang was already looking up at the sky.
The two airships floating directly above the camp were sinking uncontrollably, their side propellers spinning furiously, but the limited thrust obviously couldn’t support their heavy hulls.
It wasn’t just Steel Heart that was falling.
The Judicator nearby was falling too!
Chu Guang narrowed his eyes slightly.
Phase energy rectifiers!
Only this could cause the airships’ deflection shields and anti-gravity systems to fail simultaneously.
At that mont, Yi Chuan, who had left the tent earlier, ca rushing back in from outside.
"The airships are falling?! What the hell happened—"
He suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Looking at Chu Guang, who was holding the warhamr, then at the ceiling blown away, and then to his brother lying on the sick bed, Yi Chuan’s face was a mix of shock and confusion.
The smile on the face of the person on the bed suddenly gave him a strange feeling as if sothing had crawled beneath his brother’s skin.
And that was not all.
That detached smile sent a chilling cold deep into his bones.
Without even glancing at Yi Chuan standing at the entrance of the barracks, Gui Xu looked at Chu Guang with a smile and said in a casual tone,
"The Alliance, under the guidance of the corporations, opened fire on the Judicator, and Captain Adria requested reinforcents from Triumph City... What do you think of this script?"
Chu Guang answered expressionlessly.
"Not very good."
"Indeed, I forgot about the Academy," the man nodded thoughtfully, "Let think about it so more."
"Brother..." Yi Chuan looked at him, dazed, wanting to step forward, but a steel-covered large hand fell on his shoulder.
"That’s not your brother lying there."
Grabbing Yi Chuan, who wanted to move forward, Chu Guang didn’t look at the falling airships but gazed sharply out of the camp.
There were at least a thousand clones that this guy had gotten his hands on...
And possibly even more.
Remotely controlled through ntal connections by the disciples of the Enlightennt Society... This scenario sounded all too familiar.
"Aren’t you going to run?" The man looked curiously at Chu Guang, who hadn’t moved, and kindly reminded him, "It’ll be too late if you don’t run now."
"Run?"
Chu Guang raised an eyebrow and suddenly laughed.
"Why should I run?"
One phase gun shot thought to deal with him.
That was seriously underestimating him...
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