Chapter 2: Sanctuary 404

Light Chu, male, nominal age 26, because his parents divorced when he was a kid, he grew up with his grandpa.

After his second year at the university, grandpa passed away, he became alone.

Fortunately, he was born in a peaceful era, able to work-study to finish his university life, and found a sales position after graduation. Because of his excellent performance at work, the boss appreciated his talent, therefore promoting him to be a manager not long after the trial.

Bear through the hardest time, at the time when Light Chu optimistically believed that he could finally live some easy days, well, fate never followed a normal routine.

And this time, his fate made a pretty huge joke.

About five months ago.

Light Chu clearly remembered that he was dealing with a 20 million contract with the client. His boss was in a great mood, so Light Chu also drank a lot of alcohol, and then fell unconscious.

After he recovered, he found himself lying in the middle of a no man's land.

And it is not a regular no man's land.

Light Chu walked about 2 kilometres, not only did he never see even a single person but almost get chewed by a mutant dog which has two heads.

But thanks to that two-headed beast.

Light Chu was scared to sweat out the alcohol, clearing his mind, then he turned around and ran.

Probably because two heads are too heavy to maintain coordination, that dog could not catch him after a while, it barked and gave up chasing.

Even though the beast disappeared, Light Chu still did not want to turn back, and neither did he know where to go.

Now, he finally discovered that his wallet and phone were all gone, and even his clothes were changed to some kind of blue coat.

Found a puddle, observed with the moonlight, omg, not only did he swap the clothes, but even his entire head swapped to a new one.

Don't know who the hell with brain damage drugged him, changed his face, and threw him into this ugly deserted place.

As Light Chu dizzily wandered through the wildness, the smoke in the far sight attracted his attention.

Recalling that situation now, Light Chu felt both terrified and relieved.

At that time he was only thinking about calling the police, so he ran straightforwardly to that smoke without considering any other possibility. Rethink after, thankfully he arrived at an "actual" survivor settlement.

If those were savage, barbarous marauders, cannibals or mutant ex-human tribes, he might have already become a stew inside a steel pot.

Very possible that even his leather shoes were cooked already!

After making contact with the local survivors, Light Chu finally realized the truth from collected fragments of clues, that the place here was not in China anymore, not even on the same earth he was familiar with!

In this parallel universe, two hundred years ago, a war destroyed every achievement of human civilization, yet only left a devastated world of wastelands, as well as survivors who struggled to live across the wastelands.

And now, is the Year 2340.

Which means since the start of the Year 2129, this is the Year 211 after human civilization entered the era of post-apocalyptic wastelands.

Confused.

Shocked.

Indescribable fear.

Thanks to Light Chu's incredible adaptability, after struggling through the first months of pain, he gradually adapted to his new life in this world.

Five months of hardcore surviving on the wastelands, with an unstable food supply, and battling of wits and courage with mutant creatures and malicious marauders.

When Light Chu pessimistically thought that's all for his life ever after, the change happened just before a couple of hours.

In the ruins of an abandoned asylum, he discovered the entrance to a Sanctuary, with code 404.

To be more precise, Light Chu did not discover it, but this facility, named Sanctuary 404, found him.

The voice that appeared in his mind, led him here.

By the time Light Chu approached the nearby zone of the asylum, he suddenly realized that this place is indeed the place where he was just woken up in this world!

If he ever chose not to run around like an idiot, or if the skylight could be slightly brighter that day, maybe he would find this place much sooner!

No matter what, after a five-month delay, this "System" had finally arrived.

At the same time, a brand new job was offered.

Like this sanctuary is only prepared for his arrival, waited for a long time.

At the moment when he stepped into the gate of the sanctuary, his identity was immediately promoted from a scavenger to the only-one resident as well as the governor of this Sanctuary 404.

And his job only has one task.

That is, to make use of the earth's internet, to lead————or fool a bunch of magnificent creatures called "gamers", to come to this world and work for him.

Yes, the black tech of this sanctuary, can not only connect to the earth's internet of the parallel universe but also have its own "Official Site"!

Gamers who register the game will automatically receive a code, which is registered in the [Sanctuary Resident Directory] of the governor's system.

As the governor, Light Chu can select particular codes to grant "Gaming eligibility".

The system will go through some special mechanisms to deliver the Gaming Helmet to the gamer. The gamer only needs to wear the helmet to connect to the cultivation module inside the sanctuary, and wake up as a clone.

Very humane.

And very convenient!

Although there is no penalty for not following the order of the system, the reward received once completing the mission, is somewhat Light Chu can never say no to.

Like that ballistic vest.

After struggling in the wasteland for five months, he understands how important and life-saving that thing is.

Apart from that, the reward point is also good stuff, which can be used to trade a reward called the "blind box" from the [Governor's Allowance].

To obtain a beginner blind box requires 1 reward point, a moderate blind box requires 10 points, and the ultimate one requires 100 points.

According to the description of [Governor's Allowance] provided by the "Governor's System of Sanctuary 404", the prize of the blind box varies in categories and quantities, but there is at least something there, meaning it does not include the possibility that you only receive a "Thank you for participate" note.

Blind boxes with different grades decide their pity rewards.

For example, the beginner blind box offers food rewards at least, the moderate blind box offers meds at pity, and the ultimate one offers weapons.

As for the possibility of receiving a prize for the moderate blind box from opening a beginner blind box, there is no description provided, but thinking rationally, even if it's possible, the probability of winning it should definitely be extremely small.

When Light Chu is thinking about whether to use all 5 reward points on beginner blind boxes or save them till 100 points for a weapon, the "waste-bin" at the corner speaks again.

"Master, a new mission is updated on your Governor's Journal, please check it out."

"I know." Light Chu replied with impatience.

Shxt.

Who is the master of who!

Roll his eyes towards the room corner, Light Chu leaves the lottery stuff aside, summoning the Governor System in his mind.

Soon, a light blue holographic screen is projected on his retina.

——Governor's Journal——

[Mission: Activation of Sanctuary 404 completed, dispatch of the first group of "Containments" confirmed. Requirement: ensure at least one gamer login to the game.

Type: Main quest

Reward: Active Substance Extractor]

[Mission: Prepare a generator with power greater than 10 kW.

Type: Side quest

Reward: reward point +100.]

OMG?

100 reward points!?

After reading the updated message in the Governor's Journal, Light Chu's eyes are stunned by the rewards.

But the thing that catches more of his attention, is the reward of completing the main quest.

"Active Substance Extractor...What the frick is the use of this machine?"

Qi replied.

"Active substances are the raw materials for fabricating the clones, as for the operating method, there should be some kind of manuals?"

As an AI assistant, Qi actually does not know a lot of information.

Currently, Light Chu only has the authorization to access the B1 level of the sanctuary, access to other levels requires the completion of main quests to unlock.

Btw, forcibly entering other levels by breaking through the walls can cause the electricity supply and air exchange facility to shut down.

When first entering the sanctuary, the "Sanctuary System" told him this fact by the time it was loaded into his brain.

But even without this warning, Light Chu believed he could probably never want to do something as stupid as destroying his own house.

No joke.

If this place is devastated, where can he live after?

And this sanctuary is full of pre-war high-tech and intentionally designed to resist tactical nuclear attacks, it will not be easy if someone wants to destroy it.

No need to speak about nuclear bombs, he does not even have a gun.

"Okay, I got it, mostly."

This means active substances are similar to "Respawn Coins", which are the necessary resources for the gamers to re-synthesize their bodies.

Right now there are 100 cultivation modules stored on the B1 level, all in activatable condition, guessing they include a built-in 1-unit of active substances, which is able to supply the consumption of synthesizing the first clone.

According to the system setting, "one console one account", Light Chu can at most summon 100 "gamers" to come to this world as clones.

Of course, Light Chu understands, that things are not as easy as they look on the outside.

First of all, the official site of「Wastelands OL」has no trending currently.

When people hear an advertisement like "100% real full-immersion online virtual reality game", most of them will have the first impression of either "this is a fraud", or "this definitely is a fraud".

After all, there is no such technology exists in the reality, even those self-medias will not choose to make up something as bullshxt as this.

Next, despite having already convinced 11 gamers to reserve the game, he still cannot ensure that these 11 gamers will obey his words.

Even the right to login logoff the game is held in the hands of the gamers themselves.

While his authority is only limited to "Force Quit", "Ban Login", and "Cancel Game Accounts", with the purpose to kick out those troublemakers and griefers. He cannot force them to wear the Gaming Helmet, log in and work for him.

Therefore, he must be prudent in selecting specific gamers to give out eligibility————especially when selecting those first-batch beta-testers.

He would rather accept fewer gamers, which is better than everything becoming a mess.

Or else he is just finding trouble for himself.

Further, furthermore, the most crucial part is.

The condition of the wastelands decides, at now, that a high gamer population is not really a good thing.

One more person is equal to one extra consumption.

He is just a poor man now, who can even hardly sustain himself, not to mention how to feed another hundred.

Even if he has the ability and resources to activate all a hundred cultivation modules, it makes no different than providing an "all-you-can-eat" buffet to the mutants and marauders,

Aside from that, it's meaningless.

Light Chu sits back in front of the laptop.

Facing the screen, thinking for a long time, his mind gradually becomes clear.

Login to his Penguin account, Light Chu opens that gaming group chat named "Shachiko Club", and creates a separate room for the group master and three administrators.

Next, he typed.

"When you are going to reserve the game, send me the code appearing on the official site."

"Beta-testers are limited to 4 only, why save the goodies for others, so I will try to apply, if I can, to send the beta-testing eligibility as well as the Gaming Helmet to you guys directly."

They are all his old teammates from PUBG, it's not strange to give them a little benefit.

After all, Light Chu has no other familiar friends, whom he can actually rely on are only those online friends. Although they have never ever met him in reality, at least there is some relationship.

Relatives?

After grandpa passed away, it's been a long time since their last reunion, maybe they will never know he has disappeared already if polices haven't come to them.

Landlord?

Searching the ground for his rent fee, most likely.

Classmates?

Never contacted after graduation.

Colleagues?

Ha!

What a shame, Light Chu discovered they have deleted his contact.

Even if they didn't, it's impossible for Light Chu to send them a message. After all, he passed away on the dining table.

The dead message the living, which is super scary to think about.

In contrast, those troll netizens are no doubt the best choice.

They don't know him in reality, so they may hardly care if he is dead or alive, though he used to be offline for five months.

[White_horse_crossing_the_gap]: "DUDE IS AWESOME!"

[Eight-level_hurricane]: "Nice, really nice!"

[See_you_tomorrow]: "666!"

[Upbed_Ten_Times_A_Night]: "Sure! Big bro is the greatest! Waiting for your Gaming Helm! (Funny)"

Light Chu continues with more details.

"But I need to make a claim first, the gaming equipment is lent to you guys, so don't lose it, nor take it apart, or else I cannot explain to my boss."

"Moreover, the console is bound with the user's personal identification, in principle, one console can at most bound with only one account, and only one person can play with the console."

Actually, he doesn't really care if gamers will exactly listen to him.

According to the system's explanation, the gaming console will identify gamers' identities, if not the account holder, nobody else can play it.

As for the equipment...

Nay, no need to worry.

The system can deliver the Gaming Helmet right to gamers' hands, with that being said, it must be also prepared for "After-sales Services", so he doesn't need to worry about it.

[See_you_tomorrow]: "Any fee?"

[Light]: "No fee during the beta-testing stage, but due to limited budget, no salary either."

[See_you_tomorrow]: "6666, privately sent my code to ya, mail me one!"

[White_horse_crossing_the_gap]: "SICK, hahaha, mail me one too, if it really is full-immersion virtual reality like you said, I will stream myself shitting diarrhea in handstand posture!"

[Eight-level_hurricane]: "Haha, I support too!"

[Upbed_Ten_Times_A_Night]: "Funny_Face.jpg"

Although these four dudes obviously don't believe his words, or there is such a full-immersion virtual reality game that exists in this world, they still send their codes, somewhat with the attitude of joking around.

It's just a random code generated by the site.

It's neither a credit card code nor its password.

Besides, they are curious about the true intention of [Light]...

After receiving the code, without hesitation, Light Chu summoned the Governor's System immediately, locating the [Sanctuary Resident Directory], and checking the "Grant Eligibility" button for four codes.

It takes three days to synthesize the clone.

During these three days, the system will deliver the Gaming Helmet to gamers through some special mechanisms...They don't even need to fill in their addresses.

As for the true form of the mechanism, and if it may alert the modern society, or if it may be suspected of conducting any illegal operation or any other troubles, Light Chu is just too lazy to worry about.

He actually hopes more people will notice his site, it would be best if it creates a sensation.

Then he will have more options.

"Master, don't we already have 11 gamers on the reservation? Why do you only give out 4 of them?"

Maybe it notices the activation of cultivation modules in the next room, Qi at the corner has a question.

"Because we don't need that many, temporarily."

Close the [Sanctuary Resident Directory].

Light Chu opens the tab of [Governor's Allowance] next, and spends all five reward points on trading the "Beginner Blind Box".

It's meaningless to save for the ultimate box.

The reward of Mission 2 is 100 points, don't need to care about these 5 points.

With a blink from the light blue holographic screen, the wall on one side of the room slightly shakes again, after a light clink, the alloy metal gate of the "Shipping Bin" opens.

Light Chu was slightly stunned when seeing the thing.

"Is this...the blind box?"

Qi replied.

"Probably."

Light Chu calms down, said.

"I thought the prize would be put inside a box, at least."

Qi tries to give an explanation.

"Maybe the blind box is just a setting?"

But what is the meaning of the blind box without the step of opening the box?

Why don't you just call it a lottery?

Light Chu silences for a while, staring at the prize on the conveyor belt.

"I know the drills."

"But why there is only four stuff, while I just traded five of them???"