Shelter 404

Chu Guang, male, 26 years old. His parents divorced when he was young, and he was raised by his grandfather.

In his second year of university after being admitted, his grandfather passed away, leaving him all alone.

Fortunately, he was born in a peaceful era. Working part-time while studying, he managed to complete his education. After graduation, he found a sales job. Due to his outstanding performance, he was highly regarded by his boss and was promoted to manager within a short time.

The most difficult period had passed, and just when Chu Guang was optimistically thinking he could finally live a comfortable life, the heavens decided not to follow the script.

And this time, fate played quite a big joke on him.

About five months ago.

Chu Guang still remembered, he was negotiating a 20 million contract with a client. His boss was in high spirits, he drank a bit too much at the table, and passed out from the alcohol before he knew it.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself lying in the wilderness.

And this was no ordinary wilderness.

After walking for two miles, he didn’t see a single person, but was almost bitten by a large dog with two heads.

It was that two-headed beast that saved him, in a way.

Chu Guang was scared out of his wits, and the cold sweat that broke out instantly sober him up. He turned around and ran for his life.

Perhaps because the two heads made it uncoordinated, the dog chased him for a while but couldn’t catch up, letting out a couple howls before giving up.

No longer seeing the beast, Chu Guang dared not go back but didn’t know which way to go either.

It was then that he realized his wallet and phone were gone, and even his clothes had been changed into an unknown blue jacket.

He found a small puddle. He looked at his reflection in the moonlight and was shocked. Not only were his clothes changed, but even his face had been changed!

He didn’t know which lunatic had knocked him out, changed his face, and dumped him in this godforsaken place.

Just as Chu Guang was wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, a wisp of smoke in the distance caught his attention.

In retrospect, Chu Guang still felt some lingering fear.

At that time, with the single thought of reporting to the police, he rushed over without hesitation towards that trace of human presence. Thinking back, he was fortunate to have encountered a proper survivor settlement.

If he had run into those murderous marauders, cannibalistic tribes or mutant clans instead, he might have already been stewing in a pot.

His leather shoes might have even been boiled tender!

After interacting with the survivors living here, Chu Guang pieced together bits of information to realize that this was no longer China, or even the Earth he was familiar with!

In this parallel world, a war 200 years ago destroyed all the achievements of civilization, leaving behind only a desolate wasteland and the survivors struggling to survive on it.

And now, it was the year 2340.

211 years after human civilization entered the Wasteland Era in 2129!

Dazed.

Shocked.

Indescribable fear.

Fortunately, Chu Guang’s adaptability was quite strong. After getting through those initial days, he gradually began adapting to life here.

After struggling to survive on the wasteland for five months, eating one meal without knowing where the next one would come from, and having to outwit mutated creatures and ill-intentioned marauders.

Just when Chu Guang was pessimistically resigning himself to this being his life, everything changed in a matter of hours.

In the ruins of an abandoned nursing home, he discovered the entrance to Shelter 404.

To be precise, it wasn’t Chu Guang who found it, but this facility called “Shelter 404” that found Chu Guang.

A voice echoing in his mind guided him here.

When Chu Guang approached the nursing home area, he suddenly realized this was the exact same place where he had first woken up in this world!

If only he hadn’t wandered aimlessly back then, or if the daylight had been a little brighter, he might have found this place already!

Regardless, the “cheat code” that came five months late was finally activated.

At the same time, a brand-new job was presented before him.

This shelter seemed to have been prepared just for him, waiting for a long time.

From the moment he stepped through the shelter’s gates, his identity changed from a scavenger to the sole resident and manager of Shelter 404.

And he had only one task.

That was to use the Internet from parallel Earth to guide—or rather, lure a group of beings called “players” to come work for him in this world.

Yes, the black technology in this shelter could not only connect to the parallel Earth’s Internet, but even had its own “official website”!

Players who made reservations would automatically get an ID number and be registered in the manager’s system under the【Shelter Resident Directory】.

As the manager, Chu Guang could choose specific numbers to grant “game qualifications”.

The system would use some special method to deliver a game helmet to the player. The player only needed to put on the helmet to connect to the cultivation pods in the shelter and wake up in the form of a clone body.

Very user-friendly.

And very convenient!

Although there would be no penalty for going on strike, the rewards for completing missions were simply too tempting for Chu Guang to refuse.

Like that bulletproof vest.

After struggling to survive for five months in the wasteland, he was all too aware of how important such a life-saving item could be.

Additionally, the reward points from missions were great too. They could be redeemed on the【Manager Allowance】page for rewards called “loot boxes”.

Buying a Basic Loot Box required 1 reward point, an Intermediate one cost 10 points, and a Premium one cost 100 points.

According to the “Shelter 404 Manager System’s” explanation of the【Manager Allowance】feature, the contents and quantities in the loot boxes were random, but there would always be something, no “thank you for your patronage” empty boxes.

The different loot box tiers determined the base rewards.

For example, the Basic Box would at least contain food supplies, the Intermediate Box would guarantee medicine, and the Premium Box could contain weapons.

As for whether Basic Box could contain rewards from higher tiers, the system instructions didn’t mention it, but Chu Guang imagined the odds must be extremely low even if possible.

Just as Chu Guang was contemplating whether to spend all 5 of his points on Basic Loot Boxes, or save up 100 for a weapon, the “trash can” crouching in the corner spoke up again.

“Master, a new mission has been updated in your manager’s log. Please check it in a timely manner.”

“Got it.” Chu Guang replied impatiently.

Damn it.

Who was whose master?

Rolling his eyes at the corner of the wall, Chu Guang temporarily set aside the idea of opening loot boxes and silently activated the manager system.

Soon, a pale blue holographic screen was projected onto his retina.

——Manager’s Log——

【Mission: Activation conditions for Shelter 404 have been met. The first batch of “inhabitants” was confirmed for delivery. Require ensuring at least one player logs into the game.

Type: Main quest.

Reward: Biogenic Extractor.】

【Mission: Prepare a generator with an output greater than 10kW.

Type: Side quest.

Reward: +100 Reward Points.】

What?!

100 reward points?!

After reading the updated missions in the manager’s log, Chu Guang’s eyes went wide.

But what concerned him more was the reward for the main mission.

“Biogenic Extractor…what is this thing used for?”

Little Seven answered, “Biogenic material is the raw material for manufacturing clone bodies. As for how to use it, there should be some kind of instruction manual, right?”

As an AI assistant, Little Seven actually didn’t know much information either.

Currently, Chu Guang only has access privileges up to B1 level of the shelter. Access to other floors required unlocking through main line missions.

By the way, if he forcibly destroyed the shelter’s wall structure in an attempt to illegally invade other floors, it would cut off the shelter’s power facilities and air exchange systems.

The “Shelter System” uploaded to his brain when he first entered the shelter had already informed him of this.

But even without that warning, Chu Guang felt he probably wouldn’t be stupid enough to wreck his own home.

Seriously.

If he wrecked this place, where would he live afterward?

Moreover, this kind of shelter “incorporating pre-war technology and designed to withstand strategic nuclear strikes” probably wouldn’t be so easy to demolish.

Not to mention nuclear weapons, he didn’t even have a gun.

“Alright, I think I get it.”

So in other words, biogenic material is similar to “resurrection coins”, a resource players need to consume to resynthesize their clone bodies.

Currently, on B1 level there are 100 cultivation pods in an activatable state, which presumably have 1 unit of biogenic material built-in to supply the initial clone synthesis consumption.

According to the system’s “one pod, one player” setting, Chu Guang can currently summon a maximum of 100 “players” to manifest in this world in the form of clones.

Of course, Chu Guang was also clear in his mind that things were not as simple as they appeared on the surface.

First of all, the official website for《Wasteland OL》currently has no traffic.

After hearing advertising for a “100% real, immersive virtual reality game”, most people’s first reaction would be either that it’s a scam, or that it’s still a scam.

After all, such technology simply didn’t exist in reality, even self-media outlets couldn’t make up such nonsensical lies.

Secondly, even if he managed to coax and lure 11 players into making reservations, he couldn’t be sure those 11 people would listen to him.

The power to log in and out of the game resided with the players themselves.

His power could only “forcibly kick out” disruptive players, “ban login access”, and “revoke game qualifications”, but he couldn’t force them to put on the helmets and get online to work for him.

Therefore, the selection of who to grant game qualifications to—especially the first batch of “closed beta” players—had to be done carefully.

It was better to have less than to have a mess.

Otherwise, it would just be creating trouble for himself!

And then, most crucially.

The conditions in the wasteland also determined that having more people wasn’t necessarily better right now.

Each additional person meant another mouth to feed.

He was as poor as a ghost, and he could hardly support himself, let alone feed a hundred mouths.

Even if he had the means right now, activating all 100 cultivation pods would just be sending rations to the mutants and marauders.

It served no other purpose.

Chu Guang returned to the computer and sat down again.

After pondering calmly in front of the screen for a long while, his thoughts gradually became clear.

He logged back into his Penguin account, opened the “Cowboy Club” game group, and pulled the group owner and three admins into a discussion group.

Then, he typed in the group.

【Send me the reservation numbers that were refreshed on the official website page when you pre-register the game.】

【There are only 4 closed beta slots, and I don’t want the opportunity to go to outsiders. I’ll apply to the company and see if I can get the closed beta access and game helmets directly issued to you guys.】

They were all former frequent teammates for playing Battle Royale games. Giving them a bit of priority didn’t seem too abrupt.

More importantly, Chu Guang couldn’t think of any acquaintances in reality he could rely on, the only ones he could count on were these online friends he had some rapport with despite never having met in person.

Relatives?

After his grandfather passed away years ago, he hadn’t really kept in touch. Unless the police notify them, they might not even know he is gone.

Landlord?

At this point, they were probably looking everywhere for him to demand rent.

Classmates?

Hadn’t kept in touch since graduation.

Coworkers?

Haha.

Probably feeling unlucky, Chu Guang found that they had already deleted him.

Moreover, even if they hadn’t deleted him, Chu Guang couldn’t possibly send them messages, since he had passed out at the dinner table back then.

A dead man messaging the living would just be horrifying to think about.

Compared to them, these idiotic online friends were undoubtedly the best choice.

They didn’t know him in real life, so even if he didn’t get online for five months, they wouldn’t read too much into it.

White Steed Passing: 【Big brother is awesome!】

Level 8 Gale: 【Awesome!】

Long Days Ahead: 【666!】

Enemy of Maidens, Ten Times a Night: 【Got it! Brother is invincible! I’m waiting for your game helmet! (Laughing)】

Chu Guang continued typing reminders.

【But there’s one thing I need to make clear, the equipment can only be lent to you for use. Don’t lose it or take it apart, or I can’t explain it to the company.】

【Also, the equipment will be bound to the user’s identity information. In principle, one set of equipment can only register one account and can only be used by one person.】

Actually, by calling it a reminder, he wasn’t really worried that the players wouldn’t comply.

According to the system, the helmet would identify the player’s identity information, non-players simply couldn’t use it.

As for the equipment…

He couldn’t care less about that.

Since the system could deliver the helmets to the players’ hands, it must have a way to handle “after-sales service”, not something he needed to worry about.

Long Days Ahead: 【Any fees?】

Chu Guang: 【No fees during the closed beta stage, but due to the tight budget, there are no wages either.】

Long Days Ahead: 【6666, I’ve privately sent you my number, send me a copy.】

White Steed Passing: 【So cool, hahaha, get me one too. If it’s really the fully immersive VR you say, I’ll livestream doing a handstand while taking a shit!】

Level 8 Gale: 【Haha, I’ll support it too.】

Enemy of Maidens, Ten Times a Night: 【(laughing.jpg)】

Although these four buddies clearly didn’t believe what he said and didn’t think a completely immersive VR game could exist in this world, they still sent over their reservation numbers with the attitude of “just going along with his act.”

It’s just a number generated by the official website.

It’s not like it’s a bank card number and password.

Besides, they were quite curious what exactly this guy was selling…

After receiving the numbers, Chu Guang didn’t hesitate and immediately summoned the manager system, locating the【Shelter Resident Directory】. He checked the “Grant Game Access” option next to the four numbers.

Synthesizing clone bodies in the cultivation pods would take three days.

During these three days, the system will use special means to deliver the game helmets into the players’ hands…without even needing a delivery address.

As for exactly what means it uses, whether it will attract attention from modern society, or whether it involves illegal operations and other troublesome issues, Chu Guang couldn’t be bothered to care.

He only hoped more people would notice their official website, causing an uproar would be even better.

That way, he’d have more choices.

“Master, didn’t we already have 11 players pre-register on our official website? Why are you only granting 4 slots?”

Perhaps noticing the activated cultivation pods in the adjacent room, the crouching Little Seven expressed puzzlement.

“Because we don’t need that many for now.”

Closing the【Shelter Resident Directory】, Chu Guang opened the【Manager Allowance】page in the system and spent all 5 reward points on “Basic Loot Box”.

There was no point hoarding for Premium Loot Boxes.

The reward for Mission 2 was directly 100 points, so he didn’t need these 5.

The pale blue holographic screen flickered as the wall on one side of the room lightly shook, and with a soft clack, the alloy door of the “delivery port” opened.

Staring at the items lying on the platform, Chu Guang froze for a moment.

“This…is a loot box?”

Little Seven answered.

“It should be.”

Chu Guang collected himself and said.

“I thought the prizes would at least be packaged in boxes.”

Little Seven tried to explain.

“Maybe loot boxes are just a setting?”

But what’s the point of loot boxes that don’t need to be unboxed?

Why not just call it a lottery?

Staring at the rewards on the conveyor belt, Chu Guang fell silent for a moment.

“I understand the reasoning.”

“But why did I clearly redeem five, yet only four came out???”