Chapter 4: Light Chu and Lollipop

Two hundred years ago.

In the year 2125, precisely, there was a great war on this prosperous planet.

In this great war, two sides were dedicated to absolutely destroying each other, as they utilized everything, every tactic they could use.

The great war only lasted three years.

But it only took three years, everything on the surface of the planet perished.

The long-lasting nuclear winter almost extinguished the final tinder of human civilizations, both sides had successfully sent each other to hell, and also, had successfully buried themselves.

From then on, launched the Era of Wastelands, which was even more depressing than the Great Depression.

Although it was only two centuries from the war of apocalypse, and the nuclear winter had ceased before more than a century, humans had not yet returned to the top of the food chain, to the place they used to be.

The abuse of nuclear weapons, bioweapons, and even genetic weapons had caused a false but extreme evolution of the entire ecosystem on the planet.

Those so-called "mutants", are the main threats to the survivors who struggled to live in the ruins.

That two-headed dog that Light Chu firstly met, is one of them.

However, even the "mutants" are distinguished in the level of threats.

The deformed two-headed dog, originally created by exposure to gamma radiation, is usually weak in combat, except for some lucky ones, their threats even became lower after mutating.

On the contrary, Biters and Crawlers, created from bioweapons, which had mutated to an untraceable degree, are the real monsters only born for killing.

Their nervous systems were heavily infected by mutated fungi, they usually hide in dark places like ruins, sewers, or metros during daylight, and start searching for food after night falls.

The situation in suburbs is often much better than in the cities.

Especially the far outskirts.

In the past five months, the most dangerous mutant that Light Chu ever met, was nothing but a mutant grizzly. That thing is superior in strength but slow in reaction on another side.

Before being discovered by it, Light Chu carefully avoided it.

The glimmer of dawn breaks passes through the damaged concrete walls, along with the shadows of the steel residues, falling on a street full of the vehicle remains and broken rocks.

The time now is 8:00 AM.

It's about 12 hours of the time difference between here and another world.

Watching two mutant hyenas wandering on the street, Light Chu grips a sharpened pipe in his hands, carefully hiding at the back of a ruin.

Although he is confident of taking both of them down, there is no need of seeking trouble for himself.

Besides, those beasts are smart, they even know to lure you out with a few companions, nobody knows how many of them are hiding in the shadows of that ruins.

Following the trail through the wasted neighbourhood.

When seeing the sign of Bette Street Children's Park, Light Chu finally feels relieved.

Ahead is the "Bette Street" ————A relatively large-scale survivor camp, with about a hundred family of survivors.

Before the war outbreak, it used to be a children's amusement park, which has a decent amount of amusement facilities as well as a big wide lawn.

After the war outbreak, the military marked this place as a temporary refuge site, housing many citizens who escaped from Springvale City.

Don't know how did those refugees go in the end, but after two hundred years until now, this place had become a small "town" almost.

People utilized waste plastic boards, canopies, lumber and metal frames, to build simple shacks and sheds on the muddy land.

Just like those seen in the [Frostpunk].

The walls of the amusement part are natural barriers, also fortified with some barbwires and nailed wood panels after rough renovations.

In the centre of the amusement park is a five-story classic castle, fairy-tale-like. However, the paint had fallen off, and the wall facing the city had also collapsed, leaving only half the wall still standing on the northern side, as well as a shaky lone tower.

If it's a fairy-tale, then it's definitely a dark one.

But despite this dilapidated building, it's still the most luxurious building on Bette Street.

Oh, it's also the mayor's house.

Although he lived about five months here, Light Chu had never met that mayor once. That man is mysterious and rarely exposes himself to others.

"Oh-hoy, back so early."

Watching Light Chu coming around the street corner, Old Wott squints his eyes while smoking tobaccos, breathing out a muddy smoke from his nose.

In his hands, there is a double-barrel shotgun.

Although it might look old, no one will dare to question its power.

Light Chu once saw it with his eyes, that this old man only took two rounds to put down a mutant grizzly that was charging towards the gate of Bette Street.

Since then, he has always wanted to own one.

"Spent a night out there."

"Out there?"

The old man sees that sharpened pipe on the back of Light Chu, showing a little surprise.

Nobody knows how dangerous the night is better than him.

Every time on the night shift, he couldn't dare to put his finger away from the trigger. Any tiny movement would cause his nerve to strain.

Mutants from the far outskirts are not as dangerous as those in the city zone, but there are too many marauders eyeing their place.

It's no better falling to their hands than dying from the mutants.

Old Wott does not believe that this guy could survive safely for a night on the wasteland only by a single water pipe.

"Some accidents happened."

Light Chu chooses not to explain, but only gives a tired-looking to let Old Wott think himself, then he passed straightly through the gate.

There is only one recycling station on Bette Street, at a convenient location, right beside the front gate.

Below the shutter door, there is a vintage electronic scale which never measures accurately, beside it is a sign that says "Fair deal, no lying".

This shop is the property of the mayor, also it's the only place in town for scavengers to sell old parts, gears, and mutant moleskin.

To monopolize the trash-picking business, this bossy dictator even created a rule.

That is, without permission, nobody shall sell their captured games and scavenged parts to the pass-by traders.

With the reason of ensuring a reasonable price for any merchandise that sells from Bette Street, and, not to be oppressed by those sly traders.

How could the survivors let this outrageous and unreasonable rule pass? To some extent, it's because of their own ignorance.

Also, regular traders will choose not to take risk of offending this dictator, to buy only a pitiful amount of materials from the scavengers.

They like only big deals.

And they only deal with those who they trust.

"Sell? Or buy?"

The station owner is a fifty-year-old man, named's Charlie, it is said that he used to be a resident of a sanctuary from another province, then captured to be a slave, till the mayor bought him from a slave owner, and gave him the task of dealing with scavengers.

Here, most residents are natural-born "Wastelanders", with no education, bad at math, so bad that they cannot even do addition and subtraction within a hundred correctly.

But Charlie is different.

He came out from a sanctuary.

Although there is no single sanctuary that is completely the same, one thing is always in common.

Those who can live inside a sanctuary are all elites from pre-war society, their children had not only inherited smart brains from their parents but also received good education since their age of enlightenment.

If not this world is complete trash, he would probably become an engineer, doctor, or scholar, just like his parents and those from their era.

But not doing bookkeeping here.

"Sell."

No talking, Light Chu grabs six pairs of old batteries and five tubes of adhesives, putting them on the plate of the digital scale.

These were his loots, scavenged from nearby ruins before he discovered Sanctuary 404.

Old Charlie picks up the old batteries, simply checks their models, types, and if any flatulence damage or not, then casually throws them onto the scale.

Those are definitely scrapped, but it's fine to recycle materials inside.

"Not bad quality, there should be no loots left in the surroundings, where did you find this good stuff?"

These are good stuff?

"Luck."

"Hehe, just ask. Emm, nice batteries, but the quality of adhesives is not that good, the seal is broken, inside is probably a mess, so I can only offer a fifty-percent discount...Everything together is three chips, in total."

Light Chu does not bargain with him, accepting three white chips from his hand.

This plastic coin with a metallic feel, is the official "currency" issued from Boulder City, the largest survivor camp in Springvale, which can be used to exchange food and supplies from most of the survivor camps in Springvale.

The face value is printed on the front, and on the back are anti-counterfeiting code and printing, which will shine with special lustre under sunlight.

The chips are heat resistant, easy to store, and with a high degree of recognition, but the most important advantage is they cannot be counterfeited using post-war technology.

Mid-small survivor camps like Bette Street, with relatively low population and no industry, primarily trade with Boulder City, exchanging daily necessities and even weapons with their agriculture products, hunted games, and scavenged loots.

Naturally, this currency becomes circulated in the local economy of Bette Street.

Of course, it does not work well in every situation, if traders don't come for a month, the whole commodity price in the camp will go outrageous.

The mayor used to try issuing Bette Street's own currency ————A billing ticket, but nobody recognized it.

Even survivors who live at Bette Street know, that this ticket is not even good at whipping their asses, no different than scrap paper.

"Wanna buy something? New stuff from Boulder City is here."

Planning to leave, Light Chu stops and asks.

"Any gun?"

"Nope, but you won't afford it."

Old Charlie grins and keeps talking to Light Chu.

"But I do have food and fuels. If I was you, I would definitely stock up a lot before the prices go up."

Things like guns, even the cheapest, are hard to buy at places like Bette Street.

It is because even, occasionally, a firearm trader passed by, often the mayor purchased those weapons and stored them inside his warehouse, that weapons could rarely appear on the shelves for sale.

In addition, just like Old Charlie said, even if they are for sale, scavengers like them could hardly afford to buy one.

Light Chu is clear about why he said that.

As a pre-resident at the sanctuary who received a good education, it's impossible that Charlie does not discover the fact that, everyone that lives at Bette Street, no matter whether they are scavengers or hunters, their surplus values are totally exploited by the mayor's family.

Even the mayor has never ever reached out with his own hands, to collect one single chip from their pockets.

"Prices for food and fuels are going up?"

Seeing Light Chu's surprise, Charlie smiles and talks.

"Haven't noticed yet? It's cooling down out there, but mutants are becoming active."

Light Chu frowns and thinks, suddenly he realizes something and asks.

"Winter is coming?"

"I remember that you came here five months ago, so you might not have experienced it, usually it started cooling down at this time. This year, however...Winter may come a bit earlier, it probably will start snowing in October."

Speaking of which, Charlie pauses for a moment and says with some meaning hidden inside his words.

"Winter is approaching."

"No matter humans or mutants, have to start preparing."

When Light Chu first came to Bette Street, he wore a blue coat, so Charlie subconsciously thought of him as a resident of the sanctuary, taking fair care of him.

Although this care has never appeared during trading, this old man indeed helped Light Chu when it came to experience.

Otherwise, he could never adapt to the living style on wastelands that fast.

Light Chu nods seriously.

"I know, thanks."

"Welcome," Charlie smiles lightly, "don't die."

It's already early July, if it's really going to snow in October, only one month is left for Light Chu.

As for survivors who live in this area, snowing is definitely not pleasant at all. It means that except for food, they have to pay an extra cost of fuel.

Most people here survive by scavenging and hunting, a nearby farm only needs extra labour during busy seasons.

When the winter arrives, the difficulty of scavenging will multiply, and nobody can anticipate what's buried under the snow, is that recyclable parts, or the fangs of a mutant rat.

Games like deers and hares that provide meat will also decrease activities, even might just hide to bear through the winter.

The most terrifying is, that once the winter arrives, no traders will come to their place. Even if survivors may find some good valuables, they cannot sell them until next year's spring.

Or, risking themselves to travel to Boulder City which is ten kilometres away.

As the largest survivor camp in Springvale, the market there will not stop functioning even during the wintertime.

However, it is located at the edge of Springvale Highway 03, right next to the northern city area, with countless dangers on the way.

For a normal person to travel to Boulder City just by foot, and during the winter when the temperature can drop beyond minus ten degrees Celsius, is no different than suicide.

...

After leaving the recycling station, Light Chu visits back his own residence.

Actually, instead of calling it a residence, it's no more but a small shed that barely resists rains, even without a proper window or door.

Until yesterday, he still thought about collecting some materials like cement and PVC panels, to repair his broken wall before the winter comes.

But now, there is no need for that.

Unfolding his mouldy sleeping bag to find a rusted aluminum box, Light Chu puts some effort to open it, splashing the stored chips on a wood table without one leg.

A total of 47 chips with a face value of 1.

Plus extra 3 chips in his pocket, totally there are 50 chips!

He lived frugally to slowly collect this amount of money, just for someday he could move out from this ugly place, to Boulder City which has better living conditions.

But now...

He has a new plan on how to use these "belongings".

Why live under others, when you can run your own place.

"We can utilize the asylum's ruins above the sanctuary, as well as the surrounding walls, which are all concrete structures...If I give missions to gamers, to have them collect materials from the surroundings, it won't be difficult to repair those structures."

"There is a wetland park beside the asylum, not very convenient to collect metal scraps, but it has lush vegetation, that we should be able to obtain sufficient fuel for heating. Besides, wood can also be used as materials to repair buildings and fabricate furniture...Hatchet! Yes, we need to buy four hatchets."

Level up by beating creeps?

No existence!

It's a 100% real hardcore game, they have to work from the very bottom basic because it is hardcore!

"We can't go without shovels and saws!" Light Chu has already come up with plans on how to arrange tasks for gamers to do even before they log on.

Oh, apart from tasking tools, food is the most critical.

Soon as the cultivation module activates, it will immediately start consuming the stored living substance, to synthesize the clones for gamers.

And these clones must eat!

Although clones can hibernate inside the cultivation module with a low metabolism rate when gamers go offline, they can't just stay there forever.

People live so they must eat, this is the eternal rule!

"We need to store sufficient rations for five grown-ups for a week at least...If 2 meals a day, 1 wheat cake per meal, we need as many as 70 wheat cakes."

Wheat cakes are the most common food at Bette Street, with 1 chip for one cake.

This thing has the size of a palm, probably mixed with tree bark or some other fibres, the mouthfeel is hard and rough, like a dirt-sand mixture, but it can fill up your belly, plus a little replenishment of salt.

Boil it in a pot, can cook a gooey soup.

70 wheat cakes, if purchase we need 70 chips, even after bargaining, still need more than 60 chips. But he will run out of his budget.

Light Chu frowns, but back to normal quickly.

He thought it too complicated.

After all, it's not necessary for him to feed them too well.

If replacing wheat cake with its raw materials————that is, the green barley from the nearby farm, it only takes 3 chips to buy a whole kilo!

Stock up about 5 kilos, that's enough for several days!

If at worst, he can still try to blend in some tree bark and plant roots, just what survivors at Bette Street do.

As for others, we'll come back to them later.

"Temporarily, I only need to prepare these..."

After allocating the use of chips, Light Chu slides them into his backpack, and carries the backpack on his back again.

Despite not sleeping at all, he still feels excited, as if rediscovering the meaning of life, not a single bit of drowsiness.

When he pushes the door open and steps outside, seeing the little girl next door standing by her door, looking at him with curiosity.

Light Chu knows her name, Fishie Yu, the little daughter of Yu's family.

Most survivors of wastelands are yellowish skinny due to the lack of nutrition, the little daughter of Yu's family is not excluded, either. Her little arms and legs are as thin as reed sticks, making it hard to believe she is already at the age of marrying.

Noticing Light Chu, she isn't shy, walking out of the shed.

"I spotted noise in your place, so I checked it out."

Every morning, men at Bette Street are out scavenging or hunting, leaving women, elders, and children to guard their places or do some earning tasks.

Although everybody is poor, can hardly ensure stable rations and save money, and has no valuables, nobody likes someone to come to take advantage of them when the house is empty.

This man, named Light Chu, came from outside, usually left early in the morning and returned late at night, and rarely socialized with neighbours at the camp.

She doesn't know much about him, either, only thinks of him who cannot endure hardship.

At first, everyone kind of watched out for him, her mother also told her to pay additional attention to this outsider.

However, Little Fishie doesn't think he is a bad guy, because one day when he was boiling soup outside, he shared one bowl with her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, when your house is empty, I can help watch over it." She blinks, pleasantly, and adds more words, "I'm idling anyway."

Poor kid.

if She is in that world, at her age, she should be still at school studying.

Don't want to let her feel offended, Light Chu hides his pity, without any expression, he hands out a lollipop and gives it to that little girl.

"Take and eat it."

"Don't tell anyone that I gave you."

"Or there will be no more in future."

She has never seen this kind of food.

Fishie Yu first bites on the wrapping paper, but it doesn't work, then she realizes that she needs to remove the outer part.

With her big black eyes staring at the red candy ball on the little plastic stick, she carefully lets her tongue out, taking a small lick on it.

What, what is this taste!?

So sweet!

Her eyes are now sparkling, as she lifts up her head happily, wanna says "thank you".

But that guy who just gave her candy has already walked away.