Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Chapter 4: Eyelids (2)
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***
The next day.
I clean myself thoroughly with the rainwater I've collected.
With a disciplined mindset, I chew and swallow the tasteless calorie bar,
Then approach the login device with a calm heart.
"...How many minutes left?"
"18 minutes and 47 seconds remaining."
"...I'll check the chat room once and time it perfectly."
Finally, this moment has arrived.
I have no idea how I survived, but the time has come for 'trash Professor'—soaked in my blood and sweat—to regain his senses.
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+ Player 'professor' has entered the 47th District chat room.
- Jokasss : !!!!!
- Deer Drug Please : !!!!!
- Highway Nacho Man : !!!!
- Hair is Sin : What? What's going on?
- Soy Sauce Gaybar : P-Prof! Professor! Our Professor is back!!!
- Holy : Wooow! Long time no see!
- professor : dd Long time no see. Everyone doing well?
"This place never changes, no matter when I come."
Now it even feels nostalgic. Looks like I've adapted to this world too.
- Jokasss : Perfect timing.
- professor : Why?
- Soy Sauce Gaybar : We were debating how to hold your funeral if you were dead.
- professor : Ugh. That's some joke.
- Holy : Um... it's true.
"What the fuck?"
Who the hell decided to treat me like I'm dead? No way sweet high school girl Holy is lying...
'No, wait. After three nights and four days with those degenerates, maybe she got corrupted?'
Ugh... my fault. I let those crazy bastards off the leash for days. As the control tower of the 47th District chat room, I feel responsible.
- professor : Anyway, greetings can wait for the stream. Any big news while I was gone?
- Speed Wagon : Ton of it.
- professor : Oh, good to see you. Been a while. I was out farming, couldn't log in for a few days.
- Speed Wagon : ㅎㅇㅎㅇ
- Soy Sauce Gaybar : Why are you formal with him but not us?
- Jokasss : Look in a mirror.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar : What do you m— KEEEEEEK!!!!
"Still having fun without me."
Looking at the chat population, most of the people who flooded in from that issue had left during the no-stream period. Well, can't be helped. Four days off stream.
- professor : So, what's the big news?
- Speed Wagon :
1. Dome took interest in Professor's character. Came to the chat room and copied all play logs and convos.
2. 47th District chat mascot 'Holy' finally succeeded in cursing at Soy Sauce Gaybar after long suffering. Intensity 8/10. Quite creative and excellent by expert standards.
3. Levit Princess visited the 47th District chat. Brought massive fandom, said she enjoyed the stream and welcomes new routes, then left. Took a while to boot out the bunny gang degenerates.
4. Intact pre-war massive underground shelter discovered in Sector 45. All the big wasteland groups rushed there, but the ones who actually looted it were some randos.
"Whoa."
1 and 3 make sense since my playstyle's so unique. 2... was bound to happen eventually.
4. Rumors spread fastest in the wasteland, but damn, this quick?
Hearing about myself from an unexpected place made me tense. How far has it spread?
- professor : What's 4? Never heard of that big event.
- Jokasss : You were offline, so yeah. Community was blowing up yesterday.
- Mukaba : Trio of rising stars who cleared the bunker full of mutants, fought off Raptor legions and Dome elites, then casually looted and left! Names were... what again?
- Speed Wagon : Hepburn, V, I. Last two look fake, so probably first one too. All three have fat bounties anyway.
- professor : Oh, how much?
- Speed Wagon : Raptors: dead or alive - V and I 1.5 mil each. Leader-ish Hepburn 3 mil. Dome: same prices, capture alive mandatory.
"Huh, huuuuh..."
- Jokasss : Don't get any funny ideas for the money, Professor. Not for normies like us. Just those feats alone make 'em Terminators. You'd get wrecked.
That's me.
I panicked for a sec, but no real worry. My alias leaked unexpectedly, but nothing else known. No bounty hunter, no matter how good, finds someone in this vast wasteland on alias alone.
'But it's weird how detailed it got. Raptors were flashy entry, but Dome... no one knew but us and the Raptors... ah.'
Reptile bastards, embarrassed.
Raptor legion entered with flashy bombardment, left looking like beggars.
To protect their tough image, they spotlighted Dome soldiers with similar damage and announced the third force that crushed them both.
'Probably leaked info to community via proxies. "Not that we're incompetent, but there was this badass who beat Dome and Raptors!" Like that.'
Rumors inflated uselessly, but whatever. If you don't get caught, it's fine. If you don't get caught.
Bleeep-! Bleeep-!
The alarm built into the login device went off. Time's up.
- professor : Stream starting soon.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar : O! Cool down over!
- Number Three : Woo-hoo~ Been waiting! Glass Body Professor!
- Speed Wagon : Tried everything to figure out how you survived. Hurry up.
"Yeah, I wanna know too. Alright, let's go?"
[Welcome, Professor. For the world beyond the world. Will you log into Gedroits's Game?]
Hearing the familiar system voice, Professor exhaled deeply.
"Logging in."
Fwoooosh-!
As dazzling light approached, Professor clenched his fist without realizing.
Now, time to return as the trash Professor full of pain and stress.
***
Beep-! Beep-! Beep-! Beep-!
Upon logging in, the first things hitting me were the insanely blaring system warnings and red lights. Nothing else visible.
'Synchronization finished fine, but body won't move, senses fully numb. Only system alerts visible and audible now.'
Below the minimized system window, countless red dots blinked, mixed with sparse blue ones.
'...Good news first.'
Professor was the type to eat dessert first.
Ding-!
[Info Update - Honor Acquired [Unyielding Commander]: You led your forces through a desperate situation and turned the tide of battle. Many witnessed it and praise your judgment and courage! / Charisma +2, Heroic Point +10]
'Nice. Stats and Heroic Point. Solid mid-tier win.'
Heroic Point was basically how much the GG world recognized the player.
GG's system wasn't one giant rule but a massive parallel complex... whatever program where every lifeform and environment had individual programs.
Simply put, NPC A wasn't following some other program; it was a computer filled solely with programs for A.
Thus, the world's environments and rules bent to NPC perceptions. Most NPCs think 'sun rises in the east,' so it does today too. They think 'ocean is salty,' so it is. Change NPC perceptions, change the world.
Heroic Point measured that for players: how heroically NPCs viewed player actions.
Builds from heroic deeds or rumors. Enough lets you wield power beyond stats—like [protagonist correction] in movies or novels.
The more believe you're a hero, the harder it is to die, for real.
'10 points does nothing, but gotta stack steadily to late game.'
First one's a strike. Perfect.
Ding-!
[Info Update: Hero Unit affinity formed with Charlotte de Agate. / 'Just survive. I had to cut down everyone who stood with me on the battlefield with my own hands. I heard your story from them. Please endure, just until we reach the temple, please!' / Current Relation: Comrade Who Shared Life and Death]
'Yeeeeeees!'
Charlotte de Agate. Lordric's 1st Knight, Sun of the Battlefield. Top preferred companion for clears.
Iron Lady—super hard to befriend—but one weakness for this bone-deep knight: camaraderie.
[Comrade Who Shared Life and Death] is highly intimate; play normal, could recruit her.
'Too perfect. Next...? No next?'
Nothing. No more blue messages.
'What about battle rewards? Command rewards! Mercenary promotion review! Where are they all!'
Got the rares, but zero basics.
Seeing the flashing red messages below made anxiety swell.
'...Gotta check eventually. All at once.'
Professor took a deep breath, then dragged all the red-flashing messages.
- Info Update:
[Warning - 'Mutation Blood' Infection Rate 94% (Delayed by trauma)]
[Warning - Right wrist, left wrist, right ankle, left ankle, right knee, left knee, waist, neck restrained]
[Warning - Blood Loss 30% (Strengthened by Mutation Blood)]
[Injury - Right foot amputated (Regenerating via Mutation Blood regen boost, 32%)]
[Injury - Spine damaged (Nerves paralyzed. Regenerating via Mutation Blood regen boost, 45%)]
[Injury - Right, left eyeball destroyed (Regenerating via Mutation Blood regen boost, L 99% R 42%)]
[Injury - Liver 45% lost (Regenerating via Mutation Blood regen boost, 88%)]
[New Trait Acquired! Dulled Nerves: Your body has been exposed to absurd pain and stimuli. Nerve threshold ridiculously raised; now you can ignore minor pains. / Skill: Pain Reduction (Weak), Perception -1]
[Forced Job Change - Mage's Test Subject: For some reason, you've been captured by an evil mage. Beware! He won't see you as a living being!]
[Mutation Trait Acquired - Extreme Regeneration (Glass Body + Mutation Blood Regen Boost + Mutation Blood Epidermal Boost): Mutation Blood invaded your fragile but quick-healing body. Recovers unbelievably fast, still breaks easily. / Durability fixed at 120 / Natural Regen +5000% / x4 Regen using blood in crisis / Death if blood not replenished after excess regen]
[Mutation Trait Acquired - Mother's Call: Mutation Blood cells invaded your brain. Deep in your subconscious, Mother's call echoes. You cannot resist.]
[Trait Conflict! Mother's Call VS Mental Fragility: 'Come to me, child. Offer your body,' 'What is this? This inexplicable emotion welling from my chest depths? Suspicious! Dangerous!' / Doubt planted deep in your soul suspects even the mute cells tempting all your nerves. 'Mother's Call' effect halved.]
.
.
.
.
Oh god.
What the hell is this.
Okay, let's sort it. Heavily injured. Bits cut, broken, burst, bound. Chaos. Related to forced job [Mage's Test Subject].
'Reality time 145 hours. Game time 725 hours. About a month. Infection held at 93% that month.'
No clue how, but infection stopped after slightly penetrating brain. Result: mutation traits. Body already under mute cell control.
'Spine damage, restraints to stop mute cells from voluntary movement. They want to move even without brain secured.'
Conclusion: I'm a mage's test subject. Subject: probably humans infected with mute. Damn it.
Ssslrk, plop crack!
"Ugh, uwaaa..."
With the weird sensation of my right eye refilling as regen finished, vision finally returned.
'Info! Anything to infer current sit—ua—'
Professor whipped around, stunned speechless by the scene.
"You crazy... bastards..."
The room, walls plastered thick with blood so dark it was black, held rusted saws, daggers, blood-soaked parchments—and mostly filled with Professor's own body parts. Still regenerating pieces covered every wall, shelf, desk.
***