Chapter 901: The Natives

So several major nations proposed providing some resources and manpower, leaving those willing to go out and establish secure bases to do the work themselves. They would be responsible for the bases they built, which would thereafter operate independently of the nations. In fact, once the entire region had fallen, the very concept of a “nation” no longer existed here.

Before it was besieged by Mutants, W37 Base was a District with fairly advanced technology and a relatively high level of evolution. In theory, with so many players, intercepting the Mutants shouldn’t have been too difficult. Manpower was certainly limited, but there was no shortage of powerful conventional weapons.

The problem was that the nations kept undermining one another. Some wanted to use the crisis to swallow up other nations and seize their resources, while the Mutant herds became natural weapons they could manipulate and exploit. In turn, players whose nations faced the threat of annihilation began taking revenge.

For players capable of moving at high speed, armories, weapons bases, and even entire armies were all targets. With the mindset that if they were going to die, they’d take their enemies with them, they figured blowing up one arms base was worth it, and blowing up two was a huge win. They might not even have to sacrifice their lives.

After the nations had slaughtered one another for a while, opportunists showed up.

That’s right, players from other Game Partitions came to raid them. This was another reason W37 had collapsed so quickly.

However, the move away from secure bases to find new places to live wasn’t, as the dungeon’s background story claimed, a mission to search for food-producing areas. Most people were the losers of factional struggles, along with some elderly and infirm people who were of no value.

The original thirty-seven bases had been built, destroyed, and rebuilt. Their number had remained the same, but the people in charge of them had changed long ago.

Still, several of the larger, better-resourced secure bases were controlled by player alliances that had emerged from the old nations.

The players in these bases outnumbered those in other bases and were also of higher quality.

But the bases that had grown unchecked weren’t all worthless. When one base city could no longer hold out, someone else would naturally take over. A few exceptionally powerful bases had emerged this way, including W06 Base, where the virus had first broken out.

According to the Library’s records, the person in charge of W06 Base had discovered a child who was immune to Mutant viruses. Of the people killed by Mutants, perhaps two-thirds died in direct attacks, but a third succumbed to infections after being wounded. Medicines targeting Mutant viruses weren’t always effective, nor did they work against every type of Mutant toxin. But as long as someone hadn’t transformed due to a buildup of virus inside their body caused by evolution, there was still a chance of saving them.

W06 Base probably had the same idea, which was why it began conducting human experiments on the immune child. In the end, they failed to discover the reason for the child’s immunity. Instead, pathogens that infected the researchers from the child brought down the entire base.

Although W06 Base sealed off the city immediately, the virus still spread, wiping out fifteen secure bases in one fell swoop.

Because of the epidemic, as well as the Mutants, the bases destroyed during this period were never rebuilt. The small number of survivors were seen as Mutants by everyone else. No one was willing to send aid; they wouldn’t even leave a little food behind when passing through. If they couldn’t deal with the virus, then they would deal with its source.

Once everyone was dead, the epidemic would naturally disappear.

It seemed that only W11 Base hadn’t given up. It had kept searching for a way to overcome the virus.

The destruction of half a dozen base cities was explained here. But from the perspective of the other bases, their destruction had also given them some breathing room, because afterward, the other bases divided up all the resources left behind. That included stored food, excavated groundwater sources, and mineral resources they could trade with other Districts.

The fall of fifteen base cities didn’t necessarily have to be viewed as a conspiracy, but with resources limited, competition between these bases was inevitable.

The records Xu Huo found in the Under-Dimension Hall included information about the dealings between some of the bases. Clashes between search teams were commonplace, and so were threats made from afar. All in all, the situation wasn’t good.

Besides this basic information, Xu Huo also obtained a complete map of W37 Base Station, showing the locations of base cities, changes to the natural terrain, and the habitats of some Mutant herds. One thing worth noting was that the climate throughout the Base Station had changed drastically. Sometimes the temperature reached forty degrees Celsius at noon, then snow fell heavily at night and plummeted to twenty degrees below zero, or even lower.

It would be hard for ordinary people to endure the harsh conditions outdoors.

It seemed that places where secure cities could be built had relatively stable climates to begin with. At least Xu Huo, wearing a Protective Suit, didn’t feel too cold.

After making a copy of the map, he also left a comment beneath the fake map seller’s post on Under Dimension. To his surprise, someone replied as soon as he posted: “Brother, is what you said true? If this map’s fake, do you have a real one? I’ll pay a high price for it.”

Xu Huo stared at the username “Lord of All Gods” in silence for a second, then sold him a copy for fifty thousand White Bills.

When he left the Library, Ding Wei was still nearby, though farther away than before. Pretending not to have noticed her, he returned to the rooftop they had been on earlier. Shangguan Xi, who had been crouching in the corner, came over beaming. “Brother Xu, I bought a map. It was updated three days ago, so it’s definitely accurate!”

“How can you tell it’s real?” Xu Huo asked.

“The weather,” Shangguan Xi said. “The map shows heavy snow in W37 Base. Someone mentioned earlier that it had suddenly snowed heavily in W37. It’s usually hot around here, and heavy snow is rare. So it checks out!”

Xu Huo nodded and prepared to set out again.

A protective fence encircled the center of the base. Fifty meters tall, it looked somewhat dilapidated, and several sections had been patched. It didn’t seem capable of stopping large Mutants.

However, instruments resembling loudspeakers were spaced out at intervals inside the fence. Those were probably the main equipment used to deal with Mutants.

“Don’t make too much noise.” The Teenager led them around to the side of a building and entered the enclosed area through a passage in the basement.

The area enclosed by the fence was a school. The path from the dormitories to the teaching buildings had a roof made of partitions, and the nearby sports field was covered with tarpaulins. When Xu Huo and the other two entered, people were still exercising on the field. They spoke cautiously, making sure not to raise their voices, but when they saw the newcomers, their eyes filled with longing.

Two children ran over. Their faces were covered in unsightly spots. They didn’t say anything when they reached Xu Huo and the others, only gazing at them with drool running down their chins.

The Teenager patted their heads, then led Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi into the dormitory building.

More people lived in the dormitory building. As they went upstairs, a middle-aged woman silently came out to meet them. The Teenager said softly, “I’m taking them to find Teacher Ai. They’re going to Base 19.”

The middle-aged woman silently stepped aside. Most of the other natives also stood by the doors or along the corridors, watching them wordlessly. They looked like bodies on the verge of death, lingering on only because they could not let go of their last breath until everything inside them had completely rotted away.