Simans Chamber of Commerce

The three of them selectively ignored that fatal question.

Wang Zhong, Tax Brother, and Xue Brother sat huddled in a corner of the workshop, staring at their respective Imperial Credit balances, reason triumphing over impulse.

"Pistol 20 credits, hunting knife 5 credits, but what we need most right now is this."

Wang Zhong pointed to the top of the shop list, "Synthetic nutrient paste 0.3 credits, purified water 0.3 credits, basic medical kit 1.5 credits. Xue Brother, you need to tend to your wound."

Only then did he remember his own injured leg, immediately clutching it and shouting, "Holy shit, my leg hurts like hell!"

Schrodinger's Loyalist grimaced, the makeshift bandage on his thigh already soaked through with blood.

The three of them quickly completed the exchange.

As a faint white light flashed—likely the only thing in this broken system that resembled a game effect—three gray, thin tubes, three sealed bags of water, and a crude canvas bag appeared in their hands.

The taste of the nutrient paste was indescribable, like a paste mixed with starch, protein, and some kind of industrial flavoring; the texture was coarse, but once swallowed, the sense of fullness in the stomach was incredibly real.

[Mild hunger status removed]

The purified water had a faint metallic tang, but it was enough to soothe their parched throats.

[Mild thirst status removed]

Opening the medical kit, they found a few rolls of sterile bandages, a small jar of suspected antibiotic ointment, and a few painkillers, with no written instructions whatsoever.

Xue Brother treated his wound according to common sense; the stinging sensation of the ointment made him gasp, but it soon turned cooling, and the bleeding status finally changed to [Wound being treated, recovery slow].

"This pain feedback... it's insane."

Xue Brother swallowed a painkiller, "I believe now that this game uses some kind of neural-link technology."

"No shit, how else would we feel hunger and thirst?"

Tax Brother licked the last bit of residue from the edge of the nutrient paste tube, still wanting more, "It's just the portion is too small, like feeding a bird."

"Be content, it cost 0.3 credits."

Wang Zhong glanced at his stamina bar; sure enough, it had started to slowly recover from 51%. Although the speed wasn't fast, at least it wasn't continuing to drop.

The commotion on their side attracted the attention of nearby players.

Seeing Wang Zhong and his two companions eating, drinking, and treating their wounds, the eyes of those who hadn't yet scraped together 1 credit turned green.

"Holy shit, they can afford food!"

"The 10-credit reward from the newbie quest! Hurry, I'm only 0.2 credits away from 1 credit!"

"Brothers, push harder! Once we turn in the quest, we'll have money for food!"

"For the nutrient paste! Charge!"

The effect of "gazing at plums to quench thirst" was immediate.

The group of players, previously listless from exhaustion, seemed to have been injected with a stimulant.

Throughout the mine, the sounds of footsteps carrying loads, the rhythmic striking of excavation, and the creaking of metal being dismantled grew dense once more, merging into a noisy, vibrant symphony of life.

An hour or two later, as the sky gradually stained a deeper dusk, the vast majority of players had completed the [Laborer's First Step] quest.

Inside and outside the workshop, white flashes of light from exchanges lit up from time to time, followed by various exclamations:

"This nutrient paste tastes absolutely goddamn awful! It's even worse than the compressed rations I ate in the army!"

"Water! Give me water! After eating this stuff, it feels like my mouth is coated in cement!"

"Be glad there's food at all! My stamina dropped to 30% earlier, I was swaying when I walked!"

"Who bought the medical kit? Lend it to me! I got a cut on my finger from some sheet metal!"

"Get lost! It cost 1.5 credits! Go buy your own!"

Wang Zhong paid the deadly 0.3-credit survival tax. The system deducted it directly from his account without even a receipt. Watching his balance drop to 32.8 Imperial Credits, he finally felt a bit more at ease.

At least he wouldn't be punished by the system today.

The sky turned completely dark.

Night on the planet Aurelian IV arrived quickly. As the star sank behind the silhouettes of distant hive cities, the sky shifted from gray-yellow to deep purple, finally sinking into an ink-blue diluted by industrial light pollution.

There was no moon, only a few dim stars barely visible through the gaps in the clouds.

The fluorescent tubes in the workshop had limited brightness, illuminating only the central area.

Most players who had finished their tasks chose not to stay in the crowded interior, instead scattering in twos and threes to the platforms outside the workshop and various parts of the mine, sitting or lying down, looking for a place to rest on the cold metal ground.

Across the entire mining area, there were now over four thousand players, with nearly a thousand choosing to remain inside the workshop.

Wang Zhong's small group—people from the "Terra Underground Network Tavern (Non-Heretical)" in reality—had over a dozen or twenty members who had entered the game, and they naturally gathered in a relatively flat area at the edge of the mine.

Everyone sprawled on the cold ground, leaning against discarded mechanical wreckage or piles of ore, too tired to move, yet their spirits were exceptionally high.

"It's truly exhausting..." the player with the ID [Did White Scars speed today] said weakly. He had worked the hardest at hauling today; excluding the quest reward, he had earned nearly 2.5 credits, "But this realism... I still find it unbelievable."

"What kind of technology do you think this is?"

[Mechanicus Oil-Lover on the Run] was a programmer in reality, his voice filled with professional confusion.

"VR? AR? Brain-computer interface? Which one could possibly achieve this level of immersion?"

"Even the sensations of hunger and pain are simulated so realistically; this has already gone beyond the scope of entertainment, hasn't it?"

[Wanting the Crown of Tranquility but Can't Afford It] rubbed his aching arms. "I feel like I've actually been working on a construction site for eight hours."

"Could it be that our country discovered some alien technology on the far side of the moon?" [Soul of Cadian] lowered his voice, carrying the excitement of a conspiracy theorist. "Are they using us as lab rats for testing?"

"Give it a rest, 'alien technology'."

[Tau-kun You Are Right But the Bolter Is More Right] sneered. "If they really had that kind of technology, they'd give it to the military first. Would it ever be our turn to play a game?"

"Maybe it's a training system developed by the military, testing the waters for civilian use?"

[I Am Not the Regent I Am Just a Passing Guilliman] speculated. "Look, this game encourages cooperation, survival, resource management, and even has combat elements..."

"But what about the mechs? What happened to the promised mechs?"

[The Emperor's Sword but Very Dull] remained fixated. "I came in here to pilot a mech, not to be a miner!"

"Maybe mechs are late-game content?" Wang Zhong joined the discussion. "Those genetic enhancements in the shop are clearly prepared for combat."

"100 credits each—expensive as hell, but they definitely have their uses."

"Speaking of which..." [Schrodinger's Loyalist] suddenly sat up straight, his expression turning strange. "Did you guys notice? After finishing the newbie quest, something new appeared at the bottom of the panel."

Hearing this, everyone focused their minds to pull up the interface.

Sure enough, below the line [Today's Survival Tax: Paid (0.3/0.3)], there was an option that hadn't been there before:

[Safe Logout (Current Status: Operable)]

Next to it was a small line of fine print:

[Note: After logging out, your vessel will enter an unconscious maintenance state. The system is not responsible for the care or protection of the vessel during your offline period. Losses caused by damage, disappearance, looting, or other force majeure to the vessel are to be borne by yourself.]

[It is recommended to log out in an absolutely safe environment or entrust your vessel to a trusted unit.]

"Does this mean... we just leave our bodies here?"

Tax Brother widened his eyes. "So if we log off, someone can just strip us bare?"

"Looks like it."

[Mechanicus Oil-Lover on the Run] remarked, "A very hardcore setting."

"Either find someone to watch your corpse, hide it well, or just don't log off."

"What if we actually die?" [Soul of Cadian] asked.

"That's why we have to save money, or try our best not to die."

Wang Zhong summarized, "This game is forcing you to keep playing at every turn—either grind or pay-to-win, though they haven't opened up top-ups yet."

"This developer is definitely Grandet reincarnated, and a Warhammer 40k version of Grandet at that."

[Wanting the Crown of Tranquility but Can't Afford It] lamented, "I currently owe the system 0.3 credits—oh wait, it already deducted it."

"But I have to pay another 0.3 tomorrow, day after day, never-ending... isn't this just life in the depths of a Hive City?"

"Don't say it..."

[Tau-kun You Are Right But the Bolter Is More Right] covered his face. "I'm increasingly feeling like the background setting of this game isn't right..."

"The Emperor protect us, please don't mention that word!"

Wang Zhong interrupted almost reflexively. "It's just a game! Borrowed elements! Parallel universe! An 'IF' scenario!"

His voice was a bit loud, and several players from other groups nearby looked over.

Wang Zhong coughed dryly and lowered his voice: "In short... don't guess wildly until there is concrete evidence."

"If we happen to guess right, how much psychological pressure would we be under?"

"What if it really is that universe?"

Xue Brother asked gloomily, "What are we now? Chaos cultists? Heretics? Or some kind of new Warp contamination?"

"Shut up!"

Tax Brother joined in the suppression. "I reckon... er, I mean, I believe we are just ordinary players! Don't scare yourselves playing a game!"

The topic drifted away with a strange, tacit understanding.

Everyone began discussing how to make more money tomorrow, whether to form a fixed team, whether to continue mining or explore and hunt, and which items in the shop had the best value...

The night grew deeper.

In the night sky far away, a speck of light, different from the illumination of the Hive City, glided silently above the clouds.

It was a reconnaissance aircraft, its fuselage painted in matte black, with the emblem of the Alu Pharmaceutical Group sprayed on the side:

A genetic helix entwined by a snake. And below the emblem, there were two lines of nearly invisible fine print:

"Alu Pharmaceutical Group."

"Wholly owned by the Simans Chamber of Commerce."