19: Chapter 19, Second Batch of Players

"Now that the second underground level is open, fifty new grunts are about to arrive. I must squeeze every ounce of their boundless energy into infrastructure and resource reserves!"

"Firearms, ammunition, walls... these are the keys to defending against the Orks."

Lin Li sat up straight, pulled over the keyboard, and opened a blank document.

As a former veteran game booster and half-baked planner, he knew exactly how to manipulate the psychology of players.

No goals? Then fill them up with tasks!

Think working is boring? Then package chopping wood and moving bricks as daily reputation tasks!

The surface of the Shelter is bare, without even a wall; if the Orks come, they won't even be able to find cover.

I must make them build some houses and defensive fortifications on the surface; they can't always stay holed up in this underground iron turtle.

Lin Li's fingers flew as he began to frantically type out the draft for the new version update of "warhammer 40,000 Online".

"Beep beep beep—"

Just as he was getting into the swing of things, the penguin icon in the bottom right corner of the computer screen suddenly began to Flash frantically.

At the same time, a notification for a new post popped up on the backend of the Warhammer OL official website next to it.

"What are these guys up to?"

Lin Li clicked on the forum backend and found a long post that had just been published, its popularity rising rapidly.

Poster ID: [Praise Ming Shen].

Title: "Warhammer OL Game Log 2: This is not just a game; this is a world with a soul."

Lin Li was immediately interested.

After logging off from the first day of the beta test, this kid, Praise Ming Shen, had actually posted a log as well.

But that post was full of pointless flattery, just technical bragging about things like 100% holographic immersion and pain simulation masterpieces.

But today, the tone of this title had clearly changed.

Lin Li clicked on the main text and began to read carefully.

"To all the 'cloud players' who are still watching from the sidelines or even suspecting that this game is a scam.

I am a beta tester, [Praise Ming Shen].

Today, the four of us experienced an extremely shocking day in the game.

If the experience of the past few days only made me think this was a hardcore survival game with an extremely realistic physics engine, then today, I truly realized how much ambition the development team has poured into this game!

This game has a soul.

Today, our faction leader, the NPC Officer Dawn, did not issue a system quest but instead requested in his own name that we escort him to a human settlement to conduct a trade.

Brothers, can you believe it?

The NPCs in that settlement were absolutely not the kind of wooden stakes that just stand in place and repeat two lines of dialogue!

They wore tattered hazmat suits and gas masks.

When they patrolled in the sandstorms, they would subconsciously shrink their necks due to the cold and fear!

When we were trading with the manager under the city wall, I could even see the undisguised greed for food in that NPC's eyes, as well as his probing and vigilance toward us!

That was an extremely vast, one could even say perfect, AI logic tree for human behavior!

It was as if there were really such a group of people living desperately on the wasteland!

But what really broke my defense was the plot that followed.

After the trade was completed, Officer Dawn took us to an abandoned sewer.

According to him, a group of natives who had once saved his life lived there.

He went there today specifically to deliver food to them and repay the favor.

But... when we opened the sewer manhole cover.

What we saw was a massacre.

Limbs and broken arms everywhere, torn corpses, blood everywhere.

That was the work of what appeared to be Orks from the Warhammer background.

I threw up right there in the game!

That's not an exaggeration; it really caused physical discomfort.

The development team made the texture of blood and death too realistic.

Torn-out tendons, heads with eyes wide open in death, foul-smelling corpses...

But I am writing this post not to brag about the intensity of the visuals.

I want to talk about our NPC, Dawn.

When he saw that hellish scene, he didn't do what NPCs in other games do—pop an exclamation mark over his head and stiffly toss us a revenge quest.

He didn't say a word.

He just knelt there in the pool of blood.

I was standing right behind him at the time.

I swear, I saw clearly that the veins on the back of his hand, which was gripping his weapon, were popping out one by one!

He was trembling! Not because of fear, but because of a rage that had been forcibly suppressed to the extreme!

At that moment, I felt that what was standing in front of me was not just a bunch of data code.

That was a living person! A flesh-and-blood officer who would be so furious at the tragic death of his comrades that he would want to kill!

Even the top-tier movie stars could not perform that kind of pure, suffocating despair and killing intent through micro-expressions and body language!

I don't know how the development team achieved this level of AI emotional calculation.

...

After reading this long post of over a thousand words.

Lin Li sat in front of the computer, his mouth twitching violently twice.

He touched his cheek and felt some cold sweat on his back.

"Damn... is the observational power of these players a bit too sharp?"

He had indeed lost control of his emotions in the sewer during the day because of that tragic scene.

But he never expected that his unconscious micro-expressions and body language would be picked apart frame by frame by this guy, Praise Ming Shen, and written into a thousand-word essay posted online!

"This is not a good thing."

Lin Li became secretly vigilant,

"I am a living person, not an AI. If I act too much like a human here in the future, or if my emotions fluctuate too much, one day these players with wild imaginations will spot the flaws!"

He took a deep breath and set a golden rule for himself in his heart:

"In the future, I must maintain an absolute poker face in front of the players! Speak in short sentences, never in long-winded ones. Aloof, mysterious, and cold-blooded—that is the best camouflage for an NPC!"

Closing the webpage, Lin Li clicked on the incessantly flashing QQ core test group.

As expected, the group was already in an uproar because of Praise Ming Shen's post.

The other three beta testers also jumped out to share their experiences.

[Why Panic When I Have Flash]: "Old Ming is absolutely right! The look in Boss Dawn's eyes at that time, damn, it almost scared the pee out of me! That kind of tangible killing intent could be felt even through the screen! The immersion of this game is simply a dimension-reduction strike!"

[Liver Emperor]: "And this game even requires players to move the bodies themselves! I moved over a dozen corpses today, and it's gotten to the point where I can't even eat my late-night snack now. It's too realistic, so realistic that it's uncomfortable."

[Miracle Walker]: "Praise the development team! This is the ninth art!"

The cloud players in the group without access were stunned.

Some were shocked, while others were even more suspicious.

Just then, the group's chief troll, [Devil Muscle Thor], jumped out again.

[Devil Muscle Thor]: "Keep making it up! 'Movie star-level micro-expressions'? 'Tangible killing intent'? You shills are getting better at writing essays! You're talking big, but if you have the guts, show us a screenshot! No screenshot, no proof. J8.jpg!"

Seeing this message, Lin Li grinned.

"Want screenshots, huh? Tomorrow, I'll get the recording function set up for you, and then we'll see if your faces hurt."

He ignored the argument in the group and dragged the update document he had just finished onto the desktop.

"It's time to pour another bucket of gasoline on this fire."

Lin Li used the [Group Admin - Immortal Lin] account to post this long update log on both the rudimentary official website and the QQ group.

Click, send!

[ @Everyone! "warhammer 40,000 Online" V0.14 Major Update Announcement! ]

"To all the Seeds who have been eagerly waiting:

In view of the amazing adaptability shown by the first batch of pioneers on the wasteland, the development team has decided to implement the underlying logic of the second phase in advance!

The update content for version V0.14 is as follows:

[Player Survival Manual Implemented]:

The pv terminal has officially launched the 'Seed Regulations'.

It contains extremely important faction regulations!

Special Warning: The highest faction leader NPC [Administrator - Dawn] is the core of the Shelter's operation! If Dawn dies under any circumstances, the server will trigger an irreversible punishment mechanism and be forcibly shut down for maintenance!

At the same time, players are strictly prohibited from attacking or killing any friendly or neutral native NPCs without cause. Violators will face extremely severe 'red name' status and account bans!

[Quest System Completely Restructured]:

Say goodbye to confused exploration in the dark!

Added [Daily Quests] and [Challenge Quests] systems!

Whether you are a battle maniac keen on hacking monsters, a civil engineering guy who likes to build infrastructure, or an industrialist aspiring to build a Gundam by hand, the Shelter has prepared a massive amount of exclusive quests for you! Chopping wood, mining, hunting, and forging can all earn core points!

[Squad Assembly]:

Officially opened the team-up function!

The enemies on the wasteland are far more powerful than you imagine.

Form multi-player squads to challenge impossible foes! Note: After a squad accepts a quest, rewards will be automatically split equally by the system. Solo players, please proceed with caution!

[Dungeon System Preview]:

The ruins in the mist are awakening.

The first player to discover and enter an unknown large-scale area will receive a generous [First Exploration Reward]!

The danger coefficient inside the dungeon is extremely high, and there is a level requirement for entry, so please act according to your ability.

[The most important point: Expansion Order!]

The Fire Seed Shelter [Second Underground Level] has been officially unlocked!

We will open an additional 50 test player slots!

The system will conduct an absolutely fair random draw from all player pools that have clicked 'reserve'!

The lucky ones who obtain the qualification will receive connection access tomorrow!

[Words from Planner Immortal Lin]:

This wasteland is more cruel than you imagine.

Put away the comfort you've developed in other games.

Survive, and then, tear apart this desperate night!

(Note: Some minor bugs like clipping and invisible walls have been fixed.)"

...

Once this update announcement was released.

The QQ group, which had previously been arguing fiercely, instantly fell into a deathly silence.

It paused for a full ten seconds.

Then, the entire group chat was like someone had thrown a nuclear bomb into it; the speed of the message scrolling was dazzling!

[Makabazi]: "Damn!!! 50 slots?! Finally opening new slots!!!"

[Makabazi]: "Daddy Planner! Immortal Lin! Big Daddy! Can you rig it to pick me?! I'm willing to spend money! Hundreds of thousands are no problem! Just let me go in and experience that 100% holographic immersion!"

[Nicotine Truth]: "The pay-to-win dog above, get out! If this game dares to have in-game purchases or rigged selections, I'll be the first to report it to the Administration for Industry and Commerce! The Immortal said it's absolutely fair and random!"

[Big Black Pen]: "Ahhhhhhh! I've been waiting for days! I must be in this time! I'll eat vegetarian for the rest of my life in exchange for an activation code!"

[Devil Muscle Thor]: "Heh, the scammer group has a new trick? Seeing that these shills can't keep up the act, they're preparing to expand the pool of victims for their 'pig-butchering' scam, right? 'Hundreds of thousands'—your acting as a shill is way too fake."

However, this time, no one bothered to pay attention to Muscle Suo's sour remarks.

Everyone's attention was focused on those 25 new slots.

Suddenly, a message exploded like a thunderclap.

[Wanna Sleep with Slaanesh]: "Damn!!! Old Ming! Old Liver! I got the qualification!!!"

[Wang Shouyi 13-Spice]: "Image.jpg! I have it too! I received it too! Awesome!"

[Big Black Pen]: "Why?! Why am I not in it again! I was clearly the first one to click reserve! I don't want to live anymore!"

Watching the players who got the qualification raving incoherently with excitement, and those who didn't crying and wailing, Lin Li satisfiedly turned off the computer screen.

"Tomorrow, there will be fifty free new laborers coming to work for me."

Lin Li stretched out widely, his bones popping and cracking.

He was indeed exhausted today.

From running to the Upper Ground settlement to trade with intrigue in the morning, to facing that hellish scene in the sewer in the afternoon, and then racking his brains to write quests in the evening.

Even with iron-forged pure-blood genes, he was starting to reach his limit.

However, on the bed behind him, the two girls, one big and one small, were still in a coma.

However, their originally pale complexions had regained a hint of ruddiness, and their breathing had become steady and strong.

Lin Li walked to room number three, took out a metal cup, poured some pure water, and then broke off half a high-energy protein block and threw it in.

He skillfully stirred the block into pieces with a spoon, mixing it into a thick paste that emitted a sweet, milky fragrance.

He walked to the bed, carefully pinched open Rhine's chin, and fed the half cup of paste into her bit by bit.

Then he used the same method to feed Willow.

After finishing all this, Lin Li looked at the girl's sleeping profile and sighed softly.

"On this wasteland, surviving is the greatest miracle. When you wake up, this will be your new home."

Lin Li did not linger in room number one.

He picked up his halberd and walked straight into the workshop in room number three, which was filled with parts and the smell of machine oil.

He found a few relatively flat bulletproof steel plates, pieced them together, and Lin Li lay down fully clothed.

Accompanied by the low hum of the material recycler occasionally, and the faint mechanical smell in the air.

Lin Li closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

...

The next day.

When the dark red star of the wasteland rose again, casting its faint light onto the sentry tower through the gaps in the surface.

The underground of the Fire Seed Shelter, however, welcomed an unprecedented commotion!

The second underground level.

Inside the silver-white metal hall, which was more than twice the size of the first level.

Fifty brand-new incubation pods were now blinking with green 'breathing' lights, representing stable vital signs.

And at the edge of the hall.

Lin Li, wearing a black trench coat, stood with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the wall with an expressionless face.

Beside him were the first four veteran players who had already impatiently logged on: Praise Ming Shen, Liver Emperor, Why Panic When I Have Flash, and Miracle Walker.

These four people were like onlookers waiting to watch a big show, peeking around one by one, with extremely lewd and expectant smiles on their faces.

"Hehehe, it's finally our turn to be the seniors."

Flash rubbed his hands, his eyes shining,

"Old Ming, do you think these newbies will be scared enough to pee their pants when they crawl out of the nutrient solution in a moment?"

"Peeing their pants is unlikely, but this 100% realistic tactile sensation will definitely make their brains crash for a few minutes."

Praise Ming Shen pushed up his glasses with the weathered tone of someone who had been there.

Just then.

"Hiss—!!!"

Accompanied by a uniform, extremely loud sound of air pressure release.

The bulletproof glass covers of the fifty incubation pods slowly popped open at the same time!

The pale green nutrient solution quickly drained away through the drainage holes.

"Cough, cough, cough—!"

"Damn!"

"What the hell kind of place is this?!"

Accompanied by a series of violent coughs and exclamations, fifty players of various shapes and sizes finally officially descended into this cruel universe!

The four veteran beta testers stood to the side with their arms crossed.

The reaction of the new players was a hundred times more exaggerated than theirs had been!

"Holy shit??!!"

"This is for real?!"