P-205 Shelter

Nature is slightly influenced by technology and generally not controlled by human will, but civilization is. Under the control of both, civilization will undergo earth-shattering changes.

Traditional human ethics and morality are rapidly collapsing and changing due to the tremendous changes brought about by technology. The duet of human subjective consciousness and the rapid advancement of technology will push civilization into an unknown path.

Li Aoz walked on the frost-covered sand sea. To his left lay the buried glory of the past. The statue of a former leader, with its left hand raised, was physically half-buried in the ground, its marble face covered with bullet holes and erosion.

His right side was relatively not so bad. The raging sandstorm mixed with ice particles would quickly rob people of heat and stamina. If one did not adopt a low center of gravity and crawl, even a fellow weighing two hundred jin would be knocked to the ground by the raging ice and sandstorm.

It's hard to imagine, but the place where Li Aoz was located was less than 30 kilometers away from the human settlement, but within this 30-kilometer radius, it could be described as barren.

Black and red smoke slowly drifted overhead. Li Aoz raised his hand, wiped away the snow and mud from the back of his hand, and glanced at his electronic watch.

9:11.

"Huff..."

Through the face mask, he exhaled a puff of white mist, his gray eyes narrowed into slits.

It is difficult to describe the environment of Outland in words. Brightness is out of the question, but to call it dark is a bit of an exaggeration.

The black and red twilight was like blood on a battlefield, and the heavy clouds overhead made it difficult to bear the depression. No one could say the word 'easy' at this time.

Dull, primordial chaos—this was the most direct description that Li Aoz could think of.

He didn't activate any lighting tools. In Outland, exposing a light source was tantamount to courting death. The seemingly silent and uninhabited forbidden zone of life actually concealed countless hunters.

Although Li Aoz was confident that he could take down one or two unarmed, low-level Law Enforcement Division Four agents, that was just bullying them because they were ordinary people. There wouldn't be many transcendents on the border of the county.

But those who survive in Outland are all vicious people who lick blood from the edge of a knife.

Even the truck driver who had just taken him away from Frostplate, who had been running long-distance transport for many years, if you observed carefully, you would find that the thick double-layered bulletproof glass and the non-removable car doors were already covered with scars. All the drivers of the Four Nations only dared to turn on their fog lights when there was thick fog, and dared not emit any light otherwise.

"That guy dropped me off course. The entrance to the shelter is to the west."

Li Aoz was a little depressed, but he didn't blame the other party. Under normal circumstances, the drivers of the Four Nations did not dare to stop, and it was normal to misidentify the location.

He was wearing a thick coat, but even though Frostplate was a northern country and everyday clothes were already very thick, they still seemed thin compared to the cold of Outland. Sweat and clothes were frozen together, stiff like ice, and any action became slow.

Li Aoz did not carry any special exploration and detection equipment, but according to his experience, it was now about minus forty degrees Celsius, which was not considered cold. In the depths of Outland, such as Purgatory Valley, it could reach minus two hundred and seventy degrees Celsius, and even the best protective clothing could not last for 30 seconds there.

He groped around, feeling that the surrounding environment was somewhat similar to what he remembered, so he switched to a half-kneeling, half-crawling posture and moved slowly. Li Aoz kept groping between the snow and sand. The shelter was buried underground, with only a thick metal shell on the outside. As long as he found the metal shell, he could find the entrance.

Chī.

The low temperature made the metal brittle. Even with protective gloves on, his fingertips were still pierced by some brittle steel. Facing the wounds that were about to freeze, Li Aoz was instead delighted.

Found it.

He quickly and carefully stepped forward, digging with his bare hands. His gloves were worn out, and the wounds on his fingertips were soon covered with frost and sand. Li Aoz didn't care.

As long as he could get in, according to this time, becoming a [Mutant] and getting that extremely rare specialization was inevitable!

Time passed by, and finally, when a long, narrow wound was torn on the back of his hand, and the panel popped up

Wound Infection

, a negative status where his constitution decreased by one point every 4 hours, his fingers touched a solid obstacle.

Ding—

An extremely clear low hum sounded. Li Aoz was overjoyed and quicklyPried open the nearby sand, revealing the heavy alloy door cover below. Li Aoz's fingers brushed over the etched imprints on it, identifying the rusty characters above:

'Nethermark'Humanitarian aid corridor——P-205 Shelter"Found it."

Li Aoz used all his strength, his veins bulging, to laboriously turn the handwheel on the door.

After the Final War, this entrance was abandoned. It had not been started or maintained for too long, and the erosion of ice and sand had caused the bolts to rust almost completely. The handwheel, wet with snow, could not be gripped tightly, which greatly affected the exertion of force.

"Ugh—"

Li Aoz's face was stiff, and the joints of his fingers were white from excessive force. He sat down to rest for a moment, and after realizing that he was no longer a player, he took off the headscarf from his head and wrapped it around the handwheel and his palm to increase the contact area so that he could grip it tighter.

Hiss...

After a long while, the door cover lifted up a cloud of dust, and the handwheel on the door was slowly turned. Li Aoz continued to exert force, and despite the negative effect of [Frozen Stiff], he managed to turn it three times. With a 'bang', the hinge finally released, revealing a section of the ladder's handrail inside.

"Ha... huff huff huff!"

Li Aoz breathed on his hands, stomped his feet continuously, turned around tremblingly, and stepped down the ladder little by little.

Creak, creak—

Each step down the dilapidated ladder creaked with a teeth-aching sound. He pushed up the hatch above his head, pulled the scarf away from his mouth and nose, and was immediately assaulted by a strong, rusty smell. He staggered slightly, feeling nauseous, then frowned and continued climbing down.

The shelter's passage was very dark, and some parts were broken. He carefully tested each step as he descended, taking five minutes to reach the bottom safely.

Thump.

The suitcase was thrown down first. Li Aoz raised his wrist and glanced at the time on his electronic watch.

10:12 AM.

"I thought a whole day had passed."

Li Aoz shook his head; painful times always felt longer. He didn't rush to explore the shelter, first recalling the mission flow and background.

"The P-205 Shelter is a very long series of missions, but it's also the only way to advance into the Overlord class within the Frostplate faction. It can basically be regarded as a main quest. Therefore, its difficulty and rewards are on par with the main quests."

Li Aoz wasn't sure if there would still be players after he transmigrated into the game... but preparing to welcome their arrival wouldn't hurt him. Besides, if the players really came, that would be very interesting. Maybe he could use his NPC identity to get them to handle some tricky problems for him.

Planning ahead, even if the players didn't arrive, he could just treat it as doing a few extra missions? As long as it wasn't something opportunistic, nothing would be done in vain.

"However, I don't want to make Frostplate my main base of operations in the future. The best place for the Overlord class to really shine is Red Arrow, followed by Heavenly Ring. To ensure that more players can be tricked—ahem, attracted—to embark on the Starcaller path, I can't let anyone else take the P-205 Shelter mission."

The P-205 Shelter series of missions had generous rewards, enough for an Overlord class player to declare 'graduation'—but if the Overlord class players in Frostplate could become self-sufficient, Li Aoz, who planned to develop in Red Arrow or Heavenly Ring, would miss a great opportunity for promotion.

For Li Aoz, who had experience from over a dozen versions, guiding players was something that required careful planning and wasn't easy.

"I'm confident that I can make the Overlord class shine in the early stages, attracting a large number of players to join the Overlord class. Red Arrow and Heavenly Ring don't have main quests for the Overlord class, but the experience and leveling environments are very mature—most importantly, I know better than anyone what resources Overlord class players need most in the early stages. That way, after the players finish fighting monsters, they can come to me to spend their money."

With his consumption services tailored specifically for Overlord class players, he could greatly reduce their grinding experience, and if the effect was good, he could even stimulate other players to switch to the Overlord class.

Li Aoz had absolute confidence in attracting players.

In his previous life, he was the only one on the entire internet who had gone the furthest, the earliest, the most popular, and the most influential on the Starcaller path.

If he were a few years younger, he might have entered the professional arena, played esports, and made the Starcaller shine on the world stage.

In other words, it wouldn't be an exaggeration for him to call himself the founding father of Starcaller players.

Therefore, Li Aoz not only wanted to complete the P-205 Shelter series of missions, but also to completely end the mission, so that no one else could accept it.

It was easy to be scolded for hogging all the good stuff, but based on Li Aoz's understanding of the players, they were the most practical people.

They would scold when they needed to, play when they needed to, and still remember to buy after scolding, and continue to scold after buying.

Very principled.

When his market opened up, all Overlord class players would definitely want to cut out their virtual kidneys to exchange for his items.

To this end, Li Aoz decided not to bandage his wounds.

Not only that, but he took out a camping knife from his bag, tossed it in his hand, and then unhesitatingly stabbed it into his own thigh!