Clearing the Game at the End of the World

“I think…..this might be more dangerous than we thought.”

“Y, yeah…. Everyone’s reactions are very…. um….extreme?”

For the next 10 minutes, after I made the big announcement, the chatroom was in actual chaos.

- Jokass : Press F for respects~~

- Noru_is_druig : Our savior and Lord Jesus Christ! Please save our professor from this evil! Oh my god!!!!! This is too cruel a fate!!!

- takealook : I’m very sorry to tell you this miss, but…. It seems Professor is already set on this.

- Noru_is_druig : I’ve seen that kid since he was a baby! When he first came into this chatroom and asked ‘How do you control the output of the protection field on the shelter?’ I was there to teach him, and then I taught him one by one how to survive this harsh world! Please stop it Professor! I can’t just send you like thisss!!!

From the people I knew for years…

+ Player ‘korekorekorekore’ has entered the chatroom.

+ Player ‘朝樂氣多際’ has entered the chatroom.

+ Player ….. has…

+ Player ….. has…

…to the people in other areas curious about what was happening in this chatroom.

- korekorekorekore : Woah, what’s happening here. Whys there so many people in this area chatroom. Is there some party going on?

- Soygaybar : no, it’s a funeral

- takealook : Our son we are oh so proud of! Sir professor has announced at around 1302 o’clock today that he is willing to do a restricted RP for GG!

- korekorekorekore : ???!!!!

- 朝樂氣多際 : Ayooo! Didn’t know there was still a manly man like that around!!

- Numb3rtree : Hey stop. That’s the way towards hell!

- takealook :*insert coffin dance meme*

- Noru_is_druig : Professoooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

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My goodness.

“Just how many people is this?” “Looking at how fast the chat’s going up, it looks about 3, no, 4 times the usual.”

Days with sandstorms like today do mean there are more people in the Community, but still, how is it even possible for this many people to join in just 10 minutes?

No one here seems to have anything else to do. The speed of the chat is not slowing down at all.

“So… Am I supposed to do something about this?”

“Of course! This all happened because of you, Master! At least try and organize this mess! It’s actually a good thing, though, that there are so many people, since we need to find someone to sponsor us. Hurry, do something!” “Ok, fine.”

Rushed by Koduro, Professor quickly thought of something to say, then started typing again.

- professor : Y’all are overexaggerating. I’m just trying to stream to make cash.

- Speedwagon : L opinion

- professor : ?

- Speedwagon : You know what an RP is right?

…I thought I knew, but this person, of all people, is making me question myself.

- professor : Yeah. You get money to play on a hardcore mode….. no?

- Speedwagon :

Then have you heard about the effects GG has on players’ minds the Dome reported recently?

- professor : ?

“Koduro, what’s this guy talking about?”

“Umm… I don’t know. My database only has information up to before the Great Disaster, so I don’t really know…”

“You useless piece of scrap.”

I ignored the complaints arising behind my back and concentrated on the chatroom. I don’t know who Speedwagon is in real life, but he often spreads new information like this in the chatroom, and from my experience so far, the credibility of that information is very high. After I waited for a little while, a message that sounded exasperated started to come up.

- Speedwagon : You saw it too, right? The person that was playing the Old Cannibal.

Of course I did. It was one of the most popular streams on the GG Livestream homepage for a while.

- professor : Yeah I did

- Holli : It was popular, so I watched it once too….. I couldn’t bear to watch it.

- Soygaybar : Why? I thought it was pretty cool.

- Holli : …..

- Numb3rtree : Wow, there are some wacko people here too.

- takealook : gaybar go kys

It was understandable why people reacted like that. The stream was definitely not something enjoyable, even if you’re not soft-hearted. Like in the game GG, which strives for peak detail, even graphic scenes like cannibals eating were made just like reality. And those scenes were streamed straight to the audience. My personal opinion about it was that seeing how popular that stream was, you could see how crazy the world was becoming.

- professor : Everyone shut up, Speedwagon is sharing info.

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- Speedwagon : Thx. Anyway, that player died a month ago.

- professor : Why?

- Speedwagon : Starved to death.

- takealook : ???

- Jokasss : Didn’t that guy play on that account for over 6 months? I heard he got a crazy amount of donations from that.

Exactly. GG is the main source of entertainment for everyone in the world. If they were the hottest stream for multiple months, they would have had incredible amounts of Shillings, so how did he starve to death?

- Speedwagon : Long story short, the guy played the game nonstop for the contracted month, and after that, when he was eating in real life, he would feel nauseous when he looked at vegetables or normal food. And weirdly, he would feel hungry when people walked by, especially little kids…..

Disgust towards vegetables and normal foods, and hunger towards humans. It was exactly like the character he played in the game.

- Highwaynachoman : Wow

- Noru_is_druig : Don’t tell me..

- Speedwagon : Yep it’s what you guys are thinking. The contract just happened to be a high-ranking official in the Underdome, so he couldn’t take it back. After he filled the 1 month, his brain had more than too many screws loose, so he voluntarily continued to play the game because of his need to cannibalize. And he starved to death because his body rejected the nutrition shots he was taking.

- Speedwagon : As you all know, the Dome people are infatuated with modern technology, so they are all over information about GG. So they did some research about this case, and they said that when a person receives a big mental shock or influence while playing GG, it also influences the actual person’s mind too. They don’t know how it happens, though.

- professor : What the f—

- Speedwagon : So, simply put, if you go crazy in the game, you’ll start to merge with the character’s mind. But this game isn’t some peaceful farming game. It has berserker potions and data drugs like Euphoria. Unless you’re doing some vanilla gameplay, you’ll definitely go crazy. It’s no wonder why people choose ‘Strong Mentality’ as the number 1 best trait to have.

- Highwaynachoman : Wow……

- Holli : So that’s why rich people that can afford accounts don’t play GG …..

- Speedwagon :

The higher-up must’ve already known since they know much more information.

- Soygaybar : Aha! So the reason I’m this way must be because of the game!

- Noru_is_druig : Me too…..

- Speedwagon : No, you guys are just mentally insane.

“……” “……”

I was at a loss for words.

“…..Hey. Koduro.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Let’s quit this.”

“A very wise choice, sir.”

I was willing to put up with some suffering, but with this new information, it was not worth it. What? It affects your brain? What the heck did Gedroits make? Did this guy go evil from the 2 years of hate comments and lawsuits?

I turned off the community screen without any hesitation.

The ‘Gaming Stream Career’ plan is a no-go. What use is it to get money if I’m going to be no better than a mutated monster?

I need to cancel this plan and quickly think of a better, more stable way to earn Shillings.

From my experience, something usually pops into my mind when I am out doing something.

You could get at least a penny more from simple labor compared to just sitting in the shelter and trying to think of something.

I had gained the resolve, so now it was time to move it into action.

“Koduro, I’m going out. How’s the weather?”

“Umm….Not very good. It’s a Lv.2 sandstorm with….not very high radiation.”

“I’ll be able to see in front of my feet then. Try and figure out a new plan to get us money while I’m out.”

“Yes! Will do! Be safe out there~!”

I let out a sigh while I stepped into the decompression chamber. Yeah, who am I to be a streamer? I’ll just live off of scraps.

Pshh—

As the shelter’s door opened, a familiar wasteland appeared in my eyes. If push comes to shove, I’ll just steal from the Psycho psychos’ shelter.

Beeep—! Beeep—!

“Master! Wake up, Master! Master!!!!”

“Ugh…..Shut up, Koduro….I came in this morning…..”

“You might never see the morning again if you don’t wake up now, so just wake up!!!! Emergency! Emergency!!!”

“….!”

The word “emergency” sent a chill through my spine, and with that, I woke up. Even though Koduro is an autonomous thinking AI, he was still a machine that was programmed, and according to settings, an AI never used the word “emergency” unless it was a really bad situation.

K-chunk!

As I got up from the bed, I simultaneously loaded the shotgun from under my pillow and rolled onto my stomach. The main entrance and the decompression chamber are all clear. No sign of the external switchgear being activated. That red light is… the emergency lights?

Looking at the dim blinking emergency lights immediately explained the situation I was in. I thought this day would come in about a month or two. Those emergency lights meant the shelter didn’t have enough power. Damn it. The electricity went out all of a sudden?

I crawled towards the system panel with my shotgun in hand, just in case. The area where the handle was had messy weld marks on it. Right. F***.

“Koduro? Why are we out of power already? I know the main generator is broken, but the amount we had charged should have been enough for another month! Was there… a raid?”

“If it was a raid, it would have been, Master, not the power that’s dead! There was a strong sandstorm yesterday… And that storm just happened to shoot debris straight at the main generator! And, of course, the electricity saved in it was all drained.”

The generator. Was hit. By debris?

My head blanked as if I had just got hit in the head.

“What about the motion sensor turret? What about the shield?!”

“Master told me yesterday to turn off everything that’s useless and set the power usage to the minimum!”

“For f***’s sake!!!!!”

I remember now. I spent all afternoon yesterday dragging myself around and found nothing, so on a whim, I told him to turn everything off to save every last bit of energy.

Professor’s tired face fell into despair. They said there was only a way to go up when you hit rock bottom, but he just drilled his way down even deeper into the ground.

The dimly blinking emergency lights felt like his heartbeat, telling him he didn’t have much time left, and his heart sank down.

“…..Hey. Koduro.” “Sniff. Yes?”

“That battery. How much power do we have left?”

“About 3 days at minimum usage.”

“What if we turn off the shield, protection field, turret, and everything, and leave just the greenhouse and pod on?”

“Then…..About a week?”

That’ll do it. It will take one day to find someone selling gasoline on the GG trading market. If the package is being sent within the same area, it is guaranteed to arrive in at most 5 days.

Quick decisions. Even quicker action. I quietly said the motto I had lived by for the last 5 years and got up from my seat.

“Koduro. Turn on the chatroom.”

“Master….Don’t tell me..?”

“Yeah. We can’t be choosing beggars right now.”

With no spare time now, my heart instead calmed down.

‘Right, this is how the Wastelands roll. It was too easy recently.’

A white screen popped up, and I sighed before heading into the loud and rowdy Community.

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- professor : Restricted gamemode. No limits. Looking for someone right now. Minimum sponsor 700 thousand Shilling required.

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