Vault 404

Chu Guang, male, twenty-six by East Asian reckoning. His parents divorced when he was young, and he had been raised by his grandfather since childhood.

His grandfather passed away during his second year of university, leaving him all alone.

Fortunately, he had been born in peaceful times. He worked part-time while studying and managed to finish school. After graduating, he found a job in sales. Thanks to his outstanding performance, he earned his boss's appreciation and was promoted from rookie to supervisor before long.

He had made it through the hardest days. Just when Chu Guang optimistically believed he could finally enjoy a few peaceful days, fate refused to follow the script.

And this time, destiny's joke was a little too big.

About five months ago.

Chu Guang still remembered it. He had been negotiating a twenty-million contract with a client. His boss had gotten carried away and drunk too much at the dinner table, then passed out without noticing.

When Chu Guang came to again, he was already lying in a desolate wilderness.

And it was no ordinary wilderness.

He walked for two li without seeing a single person, only to nearly get chewed up by a giant dog with two heads.

Though, it was thanks to that two-headed beast.

Chu Guang had been scared into a cold sweat. The moment the sweat broke out, he sobered up instantly and turned tail to run.

Perhaps the two heads were too heavy, making its gait uncoordinated. The dog chased him for a while but failed to catch him, howled twice, and gave up.

Even after he could no longer see the beast, Chu Guang did not dare go back, nor did he know where to go.

Only then did he realize that his wallet and phone were gone. Even his clothes had been replaced with a blue jacket that looked like it had been picked up from somewhere.

He found a small puddle and lowered his head beneath the moonlight to take a look. Good lord—he had not only changed outfits, he had changed heads too!

Some lunatic had apparently drugged him, given him a new face, and dumped him in this godforsaken place in the middle of nowhere.

Just as Chu Guang wandered the wilderness in a daze, a plume of cooking smoke in the distance caught his attention.

Looking back on it now, Chu Guang still felt lingering fear.

At the time, all he wanted was to call the police. He ran toward that sign of human habitation without a second thought. In hindsight, he was lucky to have encountered a legitimate survivor settlement.

Had it been one of those raiders who killed without blinking, or cannibals, mutant tribes, or the like, he would probably already have been stewing in a pot.

His leather shoes might have been cooked through too!

After coming into contact with the survivors living there, Chu Guang gradually pieced together from scattered clues that this was no longer China. It was not even the Earth he knew!

In this parallel world, a war two hundred years ago had destroyed every achievement of civilization, leaving behind nothing but a scarred wasteland and survivors barely clinging to life upon it.

And now, it was the year 2340.

The 211th year since human civilization had entered the Wasteland Era in early 2129!

Confusion.

Shock.

An indescribable terror.

Fortunately, Chu Guang was fairly adaptable. After enduring those first difficult days, he gradually began adjusting to life here.

He struggled to survive in the wasteland for five months, never knowing where his next meal would come from, while having to outwit mutated creatures and ill-intentioned raiders.

Just when Chu Guang pessimistically thought this was all his life would ever be, things took a turn a few hours ago.

Among the ruins of an abandoned sanatorium, he discovered the entrance to Vault 404.

More accurately, it was not Chu Guang who had found it, but the facility called "Vault 404" that had found Chu Guang.

A voice in his mind had guided him here.

And when Chu Guang approached the sanatorium, he suddenly realized that this was the very place where he had first awakened in this world!

If he had not run around blindly back then, or if it had been just a little brighter, he might have found this place already!

No matter what, his cheat, five months late, had finally arrived.

At the same time, a brand-new job had been placed before him.

It was as though this vault had been prepared specifically for him and had been waiting for a long time.

From the moment he stepped through the vault's doors, his identity changed from a scavenger to the sole resident and administrator of Vault 404.

And his job involved only one thing.

Using the internet on Earth to guide—or rather, fool—a group of creatures known as "players" into coming to this world to work for him.

Yes, the black technology in this vault could not only connect to the internet of parallel-world Earth, but even had its own "official website"!

Players who reserved the game would automatically receive an ID number and be registered in the vault resident directory of the administrator system.

As the administrator, Chu Guang could select specific ID numbers and grant them "game access."

Through some special method, the system would deliver game helmets to the players. All they had to do was put on the helmets to connect with the cultivation chambers in the vault and awaken as clones.

Very user-friendly.

And very convenient!

Although there was no penalty for going on strike, the rewards for completing missions were something Chu Guang could not refuse no matter what.

Take that bulletproof vest, for example.

After struggling to survive in the wasteland for five months, he knew better than anyone how important something that could save his life was.

Besides that, the reward points from missions were good stuff too. They could be exchanged for rewards called "blind boxes" on the Administrator Allowance page.

A basic blind box cost 1 reward point, an intermediate blind box cost 10, and an advanced blind box cost 100.

According to the "Vault 404 Administrator System's" explanation of the Administrator Allowance feature, the types and quantities of items obtained from blind boxes varied, but there would always be something inside. In other words, there was no such thing as "better luck next time."

Different grades of blind boxes determined the guaranteed reward.

For example, even the worst basic blind box could yield food supplies, intermediate blind boxes guaranteed medicine, and advanced blind boxes could contain weapons.

As for whether a basic blind box could yield prizes from an intermediate one, the system description did not say. Even if it could, though, the odds were probably ridiculously low.

Just as Chu Guang was wondering whether to spend all five points on basic blind boxes or save up a hundred points for a weapon, the "wastebasket" squatting in the corner spoke again.

"Master, new missions have been updated in your Administrator Log. Please remember to check them promptly."

"Got it," Chu Guang replied impatiently.

Damn it.

Who the hell was whose master?!

Throwing a glare at the corner, Chu Guang temporarily set aside the blind-box matter and silently called up the Administrator System.

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

text
--Administrator Log--

Mission: The activation requirements for Vault 404 have been met. The first batch of "contained subjects" has been confirmed for deployment. Ensure that at least one player logs into the game.

Type: Main Quest.

Reward: Active Matter Extractor.

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

Type: Side Quest.

Reward: Reward Points +100.

What the hell?

A hundred reward points?!

After reading the newly updated missions in the Administrator Log, Chu Guang's eyes went wide.

But what caught his attention even more was the reward for that main quest.

"Active Matter Extractor... What exactly is this thing for?"

Xiao Qi answered.

"Active matter is the raw material used to create clones. As for how it is used, there should be something like an instruction manual, right?"

As an AI assistant, Xiao Qi did not actually possess much information either.

At present, Chu Guang's authority only extended to B1 of the vault. Access to the other floors had to be unlocked through main quests.

Incidentally, if he forcibly damaged the vault's structural walls in an attempt to illegally enter other floors, the vault's power systems and air circulation systems would shut down.

The "Vault System" that had been loaded into his brain when he first entered the vault had already informed him of this.

But even without that warning, Chu Guang did not think he was stupid enough to tear down his own home.

Give him a break.

If he tore this place apart, where was he supposed to live afterward?

And besides, a vault like this—"the culmination of pre-war technology, designed to withstand strategic nuclear strikes"—was probably not so easy to dismantle.

Forget nuclear bombs. He did not even have a gun.

"Alright, I more or less get it now."

In other words, active matter was similar to a "revive token," a resource consumed when players needed to synthesize new clone bodies.

There were currently one hundred cultivation pods stored on B1, all in an activatable state. Presumably, each one had one unit of active matter built in, enough to cover the initial cost of synthesizing a clone.

According to the system's "one pod, one ID" rule, Chu Guang could currently summon up to one hundred "players" into this world in the form of clones.

Of course, Chu Guang knew full well that things were not as simple as they appeared.

First of all, the official website for "Wasteland OL" currently had no traffic.

When most people heard an advertisement like "a 100% realistic immersive virtual reality game," their first reaction would either be that it was a scam—or that it was definitely a scam.

After all, such technology simply did not exist in reality. Even self-media creators could not make up such outrageously absurd nonsense.

Second, even if he managed to sweet-talk or trick eleven players into pre-registering, he had no way of knowing whether all eleven would listen to him.

The initiative to enter and log out of the game was entirely in the players' own hands.

His authority only allowed him to "forcibly kick out" disruptive players, "ban their login privileges," and "revoke their game access." It could not force them to put on a helmet, log in, and work for him.

Therefore, the people selected to receive game access—especially the first batch of "closed beta" players—had to be chosen carefully.

Better to have fewer than let things descend into chaos.

Otherwise, he would just be making trouble for himself!

And then there was the most crucial point.

The conditions here in the wasteland also meant that more people was not necessarily better at this stage.

Every extra person meant another mouth to feed.

He was poor as a ghost right now and could barely support himself, let alone another hundred mouths.

Even if he had the means to activate all one hundred incubation pods right now, he would only be delivering rations to the mutants and raiders.

There was no other point to it.

Chu Guang returned to the computer and sat down again.

He stared at the screen and pondered calmly for a long while. Gradually, his thoughts became clear.

Logging back into his QQ account, Chu Guang opened the gaming group called "Ox-Horse Club" and pulled the group owner and three moderators into a discussion group.

Then he painstakingly typed out a message.

Send me the IDs that appeared on the official website when you registered for the game.

There are only four slots for the closed beta. Better to keep the benefits within our own circle. I'll apply to the company and see if I can have the closed beta slots and game helmets sent directly to you guys.

They were all teammates he used to frequently squad up with in battle royale games, so looking out for them would not seem too out of place.

More importantly, Chu Guang could not think of any acquaintances in real life he could ask for help. The only people he could rely on were these online friends who had never met him in real life, yet still shared some degree of friendship with him.

Relatives?

After his grandfather passed away, they had not kept in touch for years. If the police had not notified them, they might not even know he was already dead.

Landlord?

Right now, they were probably searching everywhere for him to collect rent.

Classmates?

They had not been in contact since graduation.

Colleagues?

Haha.

Perhaps because they found it unlucky, Chu Guang discovered that they had already deleted him.

And even if they had not, Chu Guang would never have messaged them. After all, he had collapsed at the dinner table.

A dead man messaging the living was terrifying just to think about.

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

They did not know him in real life. Even if he had been offline for five months, they would not read too much into it.

A White Colt Flits By: Boss, that's awesome!

Level 8 Gale: Damn, damn!

Fang Chang: 666!

Gets Up More Than Ten Times a Night: Deal! Bro, you're invincible! I'll wait for my game helmet! (smirk)

Chu Guang continued typing his reminders.

But there's something I need to make clear. The equipment is only being lent to you. Don't lose it, and don't take it apart, or I won't be able to explain things to the company.

Also, the equipment will be bound to the user's identity information. In principle, one device can only register one account and can only be used by one person.

Though he called it a reminder, he was not really worried that the players would disobey.

According to the system, the helmet would verify the player's identity information. Anyone other than the player themselves simply could not use it.

As for the equipment...

He was not worried about that at all.

Since the system could deliver the helmets into the players' hands, it surely had a way to handle the "after-sales service." That was not something he needed to concern himself with.

Fang Chang: Does it cost anything?

Chu Guang: There won't be any charge during the closed beta, but since funding is tight, there won't be any pay either.

Fang Chang: 6666. I sent you my ID privately. Send me one.

A White Colt Flits By: Awesome, awesome. Hahaha, get me one too. If it's really the fully immersive virtual reality you described, I'll livestream myself shitting upside down!

Level 8 Gale: Haha, I'll support it too.

Gets Up More Than Ten Times a Night: (smirk.jpg)

Although these four clearly did not believe what he said, much less that a fully immersive virtual reality game like that truly existed, they still sent over their IDs with the attitude of "playing along with him for fun."

They were just IDs generated by the official website.

It was not like they were bank card numbers and passwords.

Besides, they were also curious about what exactly this guy was up to...

After receiving the ID numbers, Chu Guang did not hesitate. He immediately summoned the Administrator System, found the Shelter Resident Directory, and checked "Issue Game Access" beside the four numbers.

It took three days for the incubation chambers to synthesize the clones.

During those three days, the system would use special means to deliver the game helmets to the players... they did not even need to provide a shipping address.

As for exactly what methods it used, whether it would attract attention in modern society, or whether it might involve troublesome issues like illegal operations, Chu Guang could not be bothered to worry about any of that.

He actually hoped more people would notice his website. It would be even better if it caused a sensation.

That would give him more options to choose from.

"Master, didn't eleven players already sign up on our website? Why are you only issuing four slots?"

Perhaps noticing the activated incubation chambers in the next room, Xiao Qi, crouched in the corner, voiced her confusion.

"Because we don't need that many for now."

He closed the Shelter Resident Directory.

Chu Guang then opened the Management Subsidy page in the system and spent all five reward points on "Basic Blind Boxes."

There was no point saving up for advanced blind boxes.

The reward for Mission 2 was a full 100 points anyway. It was not short on these five points.

Fluorescence flickered across the pale blue holographic screen. One wall of the room trembled softly again, and with a light click, the alloy door of the "delivery port" opened.

Looking at the items lying on the platform, Chu Guang froze slightly.

"This... is a blind box?"

Xiao Qi answered.

"Probably."

Chu Guang composed himself and said, "I thought the prizes would at least come in boxes."

Xiao Qi tried to offer an explanation.

"Maybe blind boxes are just part of the setting?"

But what was the point of a blind box that did not need to be unboxed?

Why not just call it a lottery draw?

Staring at the rewards in front of the conveyor belt, Chu Guang fell silent for a while.

"I understand the logic."

"But why did I redeem five, yet only four came out???"

New book uploaded, please vote, big shots! Also, if you have any memorable and distinctive IDs, feel free to leave them here—Qidian IDs, common group nicknames, or online aliases are all fine.

That's right, this is the extras casting thread, open indefinitely! (Probably)