Chapter 744.1: Trump Card
Chapter 744.1: Trump Card
In the Wandering Swamp, in the distant far north.
The frigid blizzard swept across the land like countless flying shuttles, weaving the endless white expanse into an unceasing silver river.
Not only was that the Academy's northernmost frontier, it was also the northernmost point of the entire Central Continent. Temperatures remained below -20 degrees year-round, plunging to as low as -100 degrees during the coldest periods.
The extreme climate formed a natural barrier, much like the deserts surrounding the oasis of Sunset Province.
Only a handful of mutated species with thick fur and heavy layers of fat could survive in this region.
Yet amidst this frozen wasteland lay one of the Wandering Swamp's most prosperous settlements.
Its name was Ice Sea City. True to its name, the settlement stood along the coast of a permanently frozen sea.
The settlement itself rose several hundred meters tall, forged entirely from alloy. It resembled a gigantic axe draped across an iceberg, its metallic walls reflecting an icy gleam amid the howling snowstorm.
According to legend, more than two centuries ago, the place had served as a seed vault for the Federation. It wasn't until a century and a half ago that it was converted into a settlement, becoming home to the first group of technicians who had left the Post-War Reconstruction Committee.
Later, when the Scientific Committee was established, the settlement was placed under its administration.
Despite being managed by the Scientific Committee, the unique nature of Ice Sea City meant its residents lived relatively comfortable lives.
The roaring blizzards and bitter cold were kept outside by the settlement's immense walls. Apart from the Seed District embedded deep within the iceberg, where temperatures still lingered dozens of degrees below zero, the production districts and residential areas were practically enjoying spring year round.
The work there wasn't especially demanding either.
The most common occupation was that of a gardener. Even the hardest work involved little more than tending specialized tropical crops inside warm greenhouses until one was sweating, while spending most of the day sipping tea in front of monitoring screens.
Aside from gardeners, the most sought-after positions were assistantships and apprenticeships under officially appointed Academy researchers.
Unlike the Academy's enrolled apprentices, apprentices in Ice Sea City were simply employees assigned to specific research projects. These positions were primarily offered to young survivors between the ages of 12 and 18 who had excelled in higher education evaluations.
Although the pay wasn't much different from that of a gardener, for children preparing for the Academy entrance examination held every December, the positions offered an invaluable opportunity to meet mentors and gain firsthand experience in scientific research.
As long as these boys and girls were reasonably capable and not foolish enough to offend their supervisors, they would usually receive some degree of guidance.
After all, most of their supervisors had gone through the same examination themselves and understood the pressure of balancing research work with preparing for the exam that would determine the course of one's life.
Often, just a sentence or two of advice could save those children years of unnecessary detours. Then, after successfully becoming official apprentices, a single recommendation letter, or even just a prominent name on their work history, would allow them to progress through their apprenticeship far more smoothly than children from other Scientific Committee settlements.
Some might even earn the recognition of a distinguished mentor and skip the Prospector rank altogether, advancing directly to become full-fledged Researchers.
Even in the worst-case scenario, if someone spent years failing the Academy examination and eventually had to vacate their apprenticeship at 18, they could still secure respectable positions within Ice Sea City thanks to their research experience, perhaps even entering the Scientific Committee's administrative ranks and beginning an entirely different life.
Precisely because of those exceptional conditions, any researcher with sufficient influence and strong family ties would do everything possible to bring their loved ones to Ice Sea City. Researchers who originated from Ice Sea City also tended to look after their hometown, helping the settlement whenever they were able.
As a result, although Academy researchers did not directly participate in governing Scientific Committee settlements, Ice Sea City nevertheless enjoyed an extraordinary status. Within the Academy itself, it had even given rise to a regional faction known as the Ice Sea City Faction.
That said, interpersonal relationships within the Academy were generally distant, and bonds based on family or hometown were nowhere near as strong as alliances built upon shared interests.
Consequently, the Ice Sea City Faction never wielded significant influence, possessing only modest sway over relatively unimportant matters.
For example, the Special Zone jointly established by the New Alliance and the Academy.
From the Academy's perspective, the Special Zone could have been built anywhere within Scientific Committee territory. After all, most researchers' true interests remained inside the Academy itself.
In the end, the Special Zone ended up being established in Ice Sea City.
Half a year had passed since its completion. The Shelter residents who had arrived from the New Alliance had indeed brought many fascinating new things to the local population.
Whether materially or spiritually, their optimism and courage were qualities Ice Sea City's people had not witnessed in a very long time.
Of course, not everything these distant visitors brought was a source of joy.
A spindle-shaped aircraft slowly descended onto the landing pad beneath Ice Sea City's dome before gently coming to rest. A cryogenically frozen stasis pod was unloaded and placed upon the snow-covered ground.
An elderly man and woman stood quietly at the entrance to the landing platform. Wrapped in thick winter clothing, they leaned against one another as they silently gazed at the coffin slowly sinking into the snow.
A layer of frost covered the transparent visors of their helmets, obscuring their expressions, yet the overwhelming sorrow hanging in the air was unmistakable to everyone nearby.
A soldier wearing an exoframe trudged across the snow toward the elderly couple. He tapped his left forearm twice with his index finger, projecting a palm-sized holographic display, which he gently pushed toward them. "My condolences."
The woman staggered the instant she saw the photograph displayed on the holographic screen, seemingly on the verge of fainting.
Her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Looking at the soldier, he said nothing. He merely nodded silently.
That single was the entirety of their exchange.
The soldier nodded in return before turning around and boarding the spindle-shaped aircraft once more as the silver-white craft slowly lifted into the air. A faint blue flame burst from its rear as it disappeared into the endless snowstorm, as though it had never been there at all...
More than a dozen Ice Sea City residents stood arm in arm at the Sideline Slacking of the landing pad, holding a simple funeral for the unfortunate young man. When they were done, his body would be cremated and part of his ashes would be preserved as a memorial. The rest would be scattered into the endless swirling snow.
Standing beside the settlement's floor-to-ceiling windows, several players wearing exoframes watched the landing pad with curious expressions. They recognized the soldier's equipment, especially the gas mask integrated into his helmet.
Without question, he had been a member of Alpha Mobile Task Force.
To be fair, the game really was remarkably realistic. Even NPCs who died as background characters for the sake of the story had complete lives of their own.
The players had only heard about the defeat thousands of kilometers away through the forums. They hadn't expected to see bodies brought back from the front lines only a few days later.
In any other game, such insignificant NPCs would probably appear briefly in a cutscene before disappearing forever.
"... I always thought Alpha Mobile Task Force members were poor schmucks who couldn't even afford potatoes." a strength type player muttered, clearly surprised.
The agility type player beside him nodded in agreement with a sigh. "Never thought there'd be people from Ice Sea City among them."
Having stayed in the settlement for quite some time, they had become fairly familiar with local life. Even using Ideal City as a benchmark, the residents here were undeniably well-off.
The only people living significantly better were the Academy's Prospectors and Researchers.
Whether that man had joined the Alpha Mobile Task Force in search of excitement, to pursue a different kind of life or ideal, or simply out of rebellion against established doctrine, it had taken courage.
Another intelligence type player chimed in. "At least his family got his ashes back. Plenty of others probably won't."
The strength type player shrugged. "That's just the two sides of the world."
As they chatted, the group rode an elevator down to the settlement's exit and boarded an all-terrain tracked vehicle that had already been waiting for them.
Their mission for the day was to travel to the nearby ruins of Molokova City, collect local sub-entity samples, and deliver them to researchers at the New Alliance Biological Research Institution stationed in Ice Sea City.
Hidden deep beneath those ruins was a dormant Hive somewhere beneath the subway station. Because of the camouflage created by vast quantities of sporocarps, existing technology was unable to pinpoint its exact location.
The sub-entities produced by that Hive were also highly unusual. They excelled at camouflage, blending seamlessly into their surroundings before suddenly attacking unsuspecting prey.
The Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee Special Zone's long-term objective was to locate the Hive's precise coordinates and have Little Feather consume it.
Its short and medium-term objective was to analyze the Hive itself and provide reference data for Mutant Slime Mold research projects across the committee’s various regions. Though each task seemed insignificant on its own, every great undertaking was built from countless small tasks like those.
Just as the group departed, a man and a woman walked up to the same floor-to-ceiling window where the players had been standing moments earlier.
Looking out at the stasis pod below, Jiang Xuezhou wore a deeply conflicted expression. She didn't know the grieving parents, nor could she possibly have known the person lying inside the pod.
She simply found herself wondering what would have happened if she hadn’t escaped Shelter 0 that day? What if, like countless Researchers before her, she had died somewhere in this wasteland?
Her chest tightened slightly.
Lowering her head for a moment, she quietly murmured, "Hey..."
Seeing the heavy expression on Jiang Xuezhou's face, Night Ten gave a helpless look. "What's wrong with you now?"
She continued softly, "... I want to go home."
"Then go." Night Ten shot her a strange look while speaking.
Do you really need to tell me something like that?
Her lips parted slightly and somewhat embarrassed, Jiang Xuezhou hesitated before finally speaking. "... Could you... come with me?"
Ever since becoming an apprentice, she hadn't returned home once. She didn't even know how to face those relatives who felt both familiar and strangely distant.
Without thinking, she found herself wanting a trusted companion to accompany her.
Hearing that it was only such a small request, Night Ten didn't think much of it and readily agreed. "Sure. When?"