This Game Is Too Real

"Bang——!"

The deafening gunfire echoed through the forest, and Night Ten weighed the pros and cons before finally choosing to strike first.

The opponent seemed to have made the same choice.

At the exact moment the bullet was fired, a two-meter-tall shadow burst out of the forest.

It was a four-legged beast.

Its body was low, equipped with sharp front claws, strong hind legs, and dagger-like canines!

This creature didn't resemble a mammal; it had more in common with a reptile.

The beastly figure was reminiscent of a crouching wild wolf, yet its body was devoid of fur, replaced instead by glistening scales!

What startled Night Ten was the creature's uncanny ability to sense danger.

As if predicting his attack, it dodged his bullet path just a microsecond before he pulled the trigger.

It seemed like a coincidence.

But as a perception specialist, Night Ten understood exactly what it was!

"Watch out!"

A belated shout came from the communication channel as the distance between them rapidly closed from twenty meters to under ten meters.

Without overconfidence due to his power armor, Night Ten swiftly adjusted his aim to follow the variant's movements, switching to full-auto mode and firing two bursts.

His experience in the Wasteland taught him that wearing power armor didn't mean being invulnerable.

Especially against "dangerous species" like the Claw of Death, which could still overpower inexperienced power armor wearers!

"I see you!"

The barrage of bullets suppressed the variant's movements, which dodged left and right until it was finally hit.

The 7mm bullets pierced its keratinous scales, leaving bloody bullet holes in its body.

"Roar——!"

The variant howled in pain, a flash of fear in its pea-sized eyes.

However——

It didn't turn to flee; instead, it gathered the courage for a desperate charge, using all its strength for one last attack, opening its bloody maw to bite Night Ten's face.

The ferocious bite was like a truck coming straight at him; Night Ten even smelled the foul breath rushing at him.

Yet, as a seasoned player, even though he didn't excel in strength and agility, he wouldn't be defeated by such a wild creature.

Sidestepping the monstrous mouth, he raised his rifle to block the swipe of its claws, then drew the clearing knife from his waist, slashing at the beast's neck with remarkable speed.

Driven by both the power armor and his muscles, the sharp blade sliced through like lightning, chopping its head right off.

Dark red blood spurted from the neck wound, splashing onto the green grass with a "hissing" sound.

Night Ten looked at the hot blood he instinctively dodged, an expression of surprise flickering on his face.

At that moment, anxious concern echoed from the communication channel.

"Are you alright?"

"Small matters, no big deal."

Night Ten shook his head, glanced at the clearing knife in his hand, wiped the blood off on a broad leaf nearby, and returned the knife to its sheath.

This place had something eerie about it.

Unable to resist taking another look at the misty grass, he muttered and continued.

"Goodness… Is this blood acidic?"

Even stranger, the blood-soaked grass seemed to thrive under the faint mist, growing even more vigorously.

Absolutely bizarre.

Jiang Xuezhou's voice came through from the communication channel.

"It might not be acidic; it could be some dehydrating substance we're unaware of… There are samplers and test tubes on the spaceship; if possible, could you collect some samples for me?"

"No need for politeness; I was already planning to do that."

Wasteland OL had always had the task of collecting variant illustrations, with lots of Contribution Points and silver coins to be rewarded.

This creature was surely a variant from another planet, far more impressive than an Arctic polar bear, right?

Night Ten returned to the spaceship, gathered professional sampling tools, and collected the variant's blood, saliva, and tissue cells from various parts, labeling them and placing them in a low-temperature sample box.

While he was busy working, the smell of blood emanating from the beast's corpse had already attracted a bunch of strange little creatures.

Among them were flying insects with straw-like proboscises, round beetles, a group of small reptiles that were somewhat like ants but not quite, and four-legged small beasts lurking at the edge of the trees, wanting to approach but not daring to.

Wearing power armor, Night Ten wasn't afraid of these bugs crawling on him, but he found them annoying.

"Shoo, shoo, go play somewhere else."

Seeing more and more bugs gathering, he had no choice but to pull out an incendiary bomb, pull the ring, and toss it aside.

With the dazzling white light shining, acrid smoke spread around, finally driving those insects away.

Seizing the opportunity while the insects fled, Night Ten hurriedly completed the sampling work.

Then, after he returned from the research ship in the meantime, the head that had fallen in the grass nearby had already been gnawed down to white bones.

Night Ten suddenly had the feeling that this place was like a magnified version of Baiyue Strait.

But unlike the latter, he didn't find anything similar to the Nago Primitive Fungus Strain around here.

It seemed like the species here were merely in a simple food chain relationship, without deeper DNA exchange.

"...Has Gaia already died?"

He wasn't sure if Gaia had a concept of death, but the thought spontaneously emerged in his mind.

Especially since he landed, the only threat he had encountered was a Variant.

He initially thought his adversary would be the entire planet.

In fact, the confusion wasn't only his; it was also shared by Jiang Xuezhou.

This place couldn't be said to be very safe, but it also wasn't as dangerous as they imagined.

Of course, it might be because they hadn't landed for long; this huge planet hadn't realized their presence yet...

"...We'd better hurry. Maybe we can leave before Gaia realizes we're here."

"I'll try my best."

After replying to Jiang Xuezhou, Night Ten moved the dead beast's body a bit farther away for burial, then returned to the vicinity of the spaceship and scattered some dung that he had extracted from the beast's intestines around.

This was Jiang Xuezhou's suggestion.

It's said that carnivore dung can repel other beasts.

Although Night Ten didn't know whether this Earth survival tactic would work on the alien planet, he endured the discomfort and followed suit.

Having completed these tasks, he rubbed the armored glove against the tree trunk until he almost ripped the bark off before stopping, and then dragged out large and small equipment from the research ship.

These devices were fabricated by Jiang Xuezhou using materials from the engineering repair room of the Orion Missile Cruiser.

They included a temporary base station supporting medium-range signal reception, a ground meteorological observation station, drone charging docks, solar panels, and metallic hydrogen batteries, among others.

With these devices, he could ensure a "continuous network" within a 50-kilometer radius around the research ship.

It was evident that Jiang Xuezhou was very concerned about his safety; Night Ten himself hadn't worried about his safety to this extent.

Previously, when he was doing tasks around the City of Dawn, he and his brothers from the Burning Corps used to explore the bushes with their faces, considering death as an early trip back to the city.

Finally, having finished all preparations, Night Ten shouldered the supply box, which was almost half his height, and, accompanied by a quadcopter drone, proceeded toward the signal sent by the black box of the wreckage of the missile cruiser of Gemini.

According to the background information on the official website, the United Human had built road networks and orbital transportation systems connecting colonies on Gaia planet, and the largest human community had even reached a population of a million.

However, for some reason, Jiang Xuezhou's drone flew several laps in the sky but saw nothing but lush tropical rainforests.

The traces of civilization's existence seemed erased, leaving only the wild, exotic plants growing abundantly.

Night Ten could only proceed like a pioneer from the classical era, wielding a machete while striving to pass through the gaps among tree trunks and vines, praying not to encounter any strange Variant along the way.

Honestly, he had more than once thought of simply throwing an incendiary bomb and burning it all.

But considering the planet was alive, he held back the impulse.

Gaia might not have noticed his existence yet, but if he started a fire, it might be a different story.

Fortunately, perhaps because the beasts around also deemed the depths of the forest dangerous, he didn't encounter the fierce carnivorous animals he had seen earlier.

As for the venomous insects occasionally attacking him, the power armor's shell kept them at bay.

Only one thing startled him.

That was when he passed through a relatively extensive broadleaf forest.

Deep brown branches intertwined among the 20 to 30-meter-tall trees, resembling dried vines.

Initially, Night Ten thought it was just vines; without much thought, he raised the machete and struck.

Yet, as soon as he hit that ten-meter-tall vine-like net, dark green blood splashed all over him.

Then the entire "dying large net" seemed to come alive, splitting into brown pythons thick as wrists, falling from the sky like rain.

The snakes, seemingly in a frenzy, writhed on the ground and lunged at him, as if they intended to kill him here.

Facing the densely packed snake swarm, Night Ten felt his sanity plummeting; in desperation, he drew out his burning stick and waved it wildly, using the pungent smoke and flickering flames to break through the encirclement.

After stumbling and running through the forest for a while, ensuring the writhing snake swarm had not caught up, Night Ten finally breathed a sigh of relief and discarded the extinguished burning stick in his hand.

A quadrotor drone wobbled behind him, with Xiao Jiang's voice coming through the communication channel.

"I analyzed the photos taken earlier... They should be some type of snake creatures from the vertebrate class of reptiles, forming a net by connecting head to tail between tree trunks. Evidence suggests they are toothless and unlikely to be interested in prey larger than their mouths... You could have just circumvented them."

"Damn it, lunatics..." Night Ten, gasping for breath, supported his knees with his hands and cursed, "Hanging in mid-air pretending to be dead, I thought it was a vine..."

"Uh, actually, they might..." Jiang Xuezhou started speaking but then suddenly went silent, leaving Night Ten curious.

"Might what?"

Jiang Xuezhou hesitated for a while before speaking reluctantly.

"They... might be mating."

"Pff!"

Night Ten almost choked on his own saliva upon hearing the voice from the communication channel.

Alright.

Seems like he was the one who intruded.

"...Okay, okay, let's not dwell on these trivial matters; the valley I captured from above is right ahead. The vegetation there is dense and tall, the signal may not be strong, so you must be extra cautious."

Embarrassed to discuss the topic further, Jiang Xuezhou quickly steered the conversation back on track.

"Understood."

Night Ten, too, did not wish to linger here; after resting for a while, he continued onward carrying the box.

As he entered the surrounding area of the valley, the terrain noticeably became more rugged, and the wildlife activity increased significantly.

Especially after passing through a thicket, he discovered a series of indentations on the ground about half a meter wide and several centimeters deep, resembling footprints of some large creature.

"...Some big guy might be around here."

Seems like there's a water source nearby.

Taking a few photos of the marks on the ground, Night Ten grew more alert.

Just as he had predicted, as soon as he traversed some grass, the sound of trickling water indeed emerged ahead.

The quadrotor drone following him flew ahead first, and Night Ten quickened his pace to follow closely behind.

Soon, a winding stream came into view, and along with it, an unprecedented spectacle unfolded before him.

Tree trunks thick as towers stood around the winding stream, covered in multi-colored moss and wide leaves as tall as one or two people.

Minute light particles hovered between the trees and leaves, like dancing elves, forming a glistening star river in the air.

And by the shade of the green trees beside the stream, a dozen gigantic mammals about four or five meters high lowered their triangular heads quietly drinking water by the riverbank.

The enchanting scene mesmerized Night Ten for a moment, so much so that he almost forgot the lurking dangers hidden within it.

Apparently noticing his gaze, the triangular heads drinking water raised up.

Perhaps due to not sensing any threat from him, they soon buried their heads again, ignoring his presence as they continued lapping the sweet stream water.

"So beautiful..."

Xiao Jiang's voice came through the communication channel, evidently captivated by the breathtaking scenery before them as well.

"Indeed, even compared to the forests of Baiyue Province, this place has an unmatched charm... my only confusion is where Gaia went."

Snapping back to reality, Night Ten murmured softly as he searched along the stream for a crossing.

At that moment, he suddenly noticed a dark green crystal formation lying across the higher terrain upstream.

"Is this... a crystal deposit?"

Night Ten's face showed a surprised expression as he walked toward the transparent rock formation.

Rows of dark green crystals seemed to grow on the rock wall, extending deep into the rock along the cracks.

Is there a copper ore vein nearby?

As he thought this, he moved closer and was shocked to find beetle-like bugs crawling under the diamond-like crystals.

Dark green crystals formed on their backs as they moved back and forth along the rock crevices and surface.

From time to time, dark green crystals fell from their backs, apparently being the source of these dark green crystals!

"This is actually some kind of organic material?!"

Night Ten was greatly surprised in his heart, taking out a palm-sized awl and tapping it on the ground.

This thing is pretty hard, and it might even be harder than diamonds, actually leaving scratches on the surface of the awl!

At this moment, Jiang Xuezhou's excited voice came through the communication channel.

"Collect more of it!"

"Got it... I'm working on it." Night Ten hurriedly replied, knocking a whole piece of rock off the wall.

It seems that women really do love shiny things.

Of course, it's also possible it's for scientific research purposes.

Actually, not to mention Jiang Xuezhou, Night Ten himself was also very curious about what this thing was and how many Silver coins it could fetch back on Earth.

Speaking of which, it's unclear whether this thing appeared in recent years or had been around for over 200 years.

If it appeared recently, he might just be the first person to discover this piece of dark green crystal.

According to the conventions of Wasteland OL, the first discoverer has the priority naming rights.

Should he call it "Ye Crystal" or "Night Crystal"? he wondered to himself gleefully.

Just as Night Ten was secretly enjoying this thought, a rustling sound suddenly came from the nearby bushes.

Hearing the sound, Night Ten instinctively looked up but was momentarily stunned.

He saw a figure with pale green skin standing there.

The person held a javelin about half as tall as a human, with its tip made from that dark green crystal.

Those deep blue eyes stared unblinkingly at him, as though baffled by the iron clumps he wore, standing still.

Seeing the pale green skin, Night Ten's heart instantly leapt to his throat.

"What the hell?"

Mutants?!

But—

How could this be?!

He clearly remembered how mutants were born, in an incident at the Biological Institute in the Province of Yúnjiānxíng during Wasteland Era 44.

No matter how fast mutants reproduce or how resilient they are, they couldn't possibly have spread all the way to Gaia Planet, could they?!

At this moment, he didn't have time to think more, his index finger already flicking open the rifle's safety, finger resting on the trigger.

But just then, an urgent shout came from the other end of the communication channel.

"Wait, Night Ten! This guy might not be a mutant! Don't act rashly!"

As the voice sounded, rustling came from the bushes, and in a flash, dozens of figures appeared under the trees.

Upon seeing the group of "little green men," the "triangular faces" originally lying by the river for a drink howled and then turned to flee.

It was obvious they had suffered quite a bit at the hands of these "little green men."

And at the same moment, Night Ten saw something even more jaw-dropping—

A pterosaur flapped its wings and flew by in the air!

Unlike the pterosaurs he had seen in the Dinosaur Museum, this one also had dark green crystals growing on its body, and it seemed the spear tips on these little green men's lances were gouged from that giant creature.

This is a hunting party!

Night Ten's mind raced.

Feeling unsure of what to do, an elder suddenly stepped out from the twenty or thirty figures.

The old man's skin was wrinkled, with a ragged beard hanging from his mouth, tears glistening in his eyes as he babbled words Night Ten couldn't understand before suddenly kneeling on the ground.

This action startled Night Ten, and seemed to have frightened the group of little green men behind him as well.

But soon enough, the elder turned and said a few words, and those sturdy young men all set down their weapons, devoutly prostrating themselves on the ground.

"What are you doing? Get up!"

Night Ten said with a mix of laughter and tears, but then remembered they might not understand what he was saying.

Just as he thought this, the elder suddenly sputtered out a stuttering phrase in United Human language.

"Greetings... Ancestor... Lord."