Chapter 252: Bionics

“Judging by the view, it’s either a bionic or a robot.”

“No rush to use the superpower yet, let’s assess the situation first.” Yang Bo decided not to use his superpower to check the situation online, opting to wait until more players appeared.

“What’s up with the humans on this planet?”

“These zombies don’t look virtual.” Yang Bo guessed this could be the disappeared planet Fat Boss had once mentioned.

It’s hard to say exactly what happened. In space, unexpected things can occur at any moment.

That’s why, whenever a passenger spaceship detects a radiation leak, all items must be destroyed. Such radiation can harm humans, and early interstellar exploration had seen disasters where half the ship’s crew died, and the rest mutated.

It’s because cosmic radiation comes in waves. If you’re unlucky enough to encounter one, you’re in trouble.

However, interstellar travel is much safer now thanks to the detectors and communication facilities scattered along the routes.

If strong radiation is detected, these devices will alert any ships along the path.

But this game follows the typical mecha game scam—you’re charged for online time, and all items are super expensive.

That guy just fired a grenade, similar to an Earth gun grenade, costing 1,000 credits each.

This kind of thing can be produced in unmanned factories set up in space.

They can make billions per hour. The game’s weapons range from the simplest cold weapons to advanced laser guns.

There’s no laser cannon, but you can call for air support.

Defeating one monster only gives you 10 credits, but charging a laser gun’s battery once costts 5,000 credits.

As for bounty items, they vary wildly. Monster blood, strange plants, and their fruits all have value.

Various ores too. Yang Bo figured there must be some value to these bounty items since the military invested so much.

“But I need skill points. If it turns out this planet has really become like this, I can max out my pharmaceutical skills by finding a mutated creature from a former pharmaceutical company.” Yang Bo observed that the zombies were indeed a type of monster, with shriveled muscles and unsettling gray skin. Their blood appeared to have mutated into a thick liquid.

The zombie’s blood is a bounty item, but it has to be the type inside their brains.

“How is anyone supposed to play this garbage game?”

“These monsters aren’t even worth anything!”

“A single bullet costs 50 credits!”

“And you can only carry 300 bullets at most.”

“On top of that, there’s an online time restriction.”

Hearing all of this, Yang Bo started piecing things together in his mind.

There were weight restrictions, which was simple enough, as every piece of machinery has a limit to how much it can handle.

The online time restriction was probably an energy issue—most likely, the bionics or robots needed to recharge.

As for item value, that’s harder to determine, but the military probably sees profit or strategic importance.

Yang Bo first surveyed the terrain—it was a mountainous area. A city lay in the river valley, built along the river, with three bridges spanning the water.

However, most of the bridges had collapsed, and overgrown vegetation covered many of the buildings, suggesting a long period of time had passed.

“How have these zombies survived? It’s been at least ten years, judging by the state of things.”

“And how do they reproduce?” A string of questions popped into Yang Bo’s mind. If this were just a game, none of it would matter.

But this was remote control. Yang Bo found it deeply unsettling. If humans were the target of this virus or mutation, who created it? And what could cause effects this severe?

The others had already begun preparing to descend the mountain. The city was about a kilometer away in a straight line.

They were on a rocky mountaintop. The rocky mountain had terraces of stone steps leading down, and there was a flat area on top—the game’s spawn point.

Several crude buildings surrounded them, matching the game’s aesthetic. There were also NPCs here where players could purchase gear before logging off.

This was a so-called safe zone. Of course, what players saw might not always be real—Yang Bo knew that from experience.

Some players were already descending along the stone steps toward the city, while Yang Bo continued to assess the terrain.

In this game, if your character dies, you can’t create a new one or log in again for a year. It’s slightly different from typical mecha games.

“It seems there’s something on this planet that the Alliance really wants. Otherwise, they could just destroy the entire thing!”

“Or is it because of the livable environment?” Yang Bo’s mind raced with possibilities.

Modern human tech could destroy entire planets, but rebuilding one after destruction was far more difficult.

For instance, using superweapons would essentially turn any irradiated area into a microwave oven, killing every cell.

But livable planets are rare in the galaxy, and the value of even one is beyond calculation.

“Could it be they’re trying to find a cure for the virus, and that’s why they’ve sent robots here to collect data?”

“Or maybe the mutated creatures here hold some special value, like the ones from Green Demon Planet?”

Yang Bo thought about buying a map, but it was priced at 10,000 credits.

On top of that, you’d need supplies like food and water to replenish energy.

“This game is just a pure money trap! What else is there?” Yang Bo wandered around, noticing hundreds of players, with more joining by the minute.

These players wandered around for a bit before heading toward the city.

“This game is such a rip-off! A single revival token costs 500,000 credits!” A player suddenly appeared, shouting curses.

Curious, Yang Bo asked, “Hey, bro, what’s a revival token?”

“When your character dies, you get two choices: the first is to exit the game, and you can’t log in again for a year. The second option is to pay 500,000 credits and revive instantly.” This player looked like a medieval warrior, wearing full plate armor yet carrying a bow and cold weapons.

“It really has that mecha game vibe!”

“There’s definitely money to be made here. A lot of people made fortunes in the early days of those mecha games.”

“I made good money in mecha games too. If you’re careful, you can make a profit.”

“You missed one guy who got himself some massive crocodiles in the mecha games. People estimated he earned millions in credits!”

“Dude, why are you dressed like that to fight monsters? Wouldn’t a gun work better?” People around him immediately started questioning him.

“5,000 credits and I’ll answer that question for you. It’ll be well worth it,” the newly revived player quickly responded.

“It’s major news,” he added.

Yang Bo was the first to make the trade—5,000 credits wasn’t too much to spend. How had this guy died so quickly?

After the trade, the player sent Yang Bo a message.

“This game really is a trap.” Yang Bo read the details, learning that noise would attract the zombies. If you fired a gun in the city, any nearby zombies would converge on you.

Even a laser gun caused trouble—the light would attract the zombies. This guy had recklessly used his gun, successfully clearing a building of zombies, only to be mobbed by over a hundred more when he tried to leave.

Anyone who can afford to play this game doesn’t mind a few thousand credits, so it was clear that many had already purchased this information.

This society thrives on fair trade; even though this newly revived player wasn’t short on money, you still had to pay to get information from him.

Forty minutes later, Yang Bo reached another mountaintop.

He glanced at the nearby respawn point, then used his Optical Ability to connect the system, transmitting the signal via computer, through network cables, then through ground-based relay stations and into quantum communication systems in space, finally reaching a distant star system.

It then relayed back through the quantum communication systems in the unknown star system, connecting to ground equipment.

“So they really are bionics.” Yang Bo finally confirmed that the players’ characters were indeed bionics.

Bionics combine biological and mechanical technology. Half of their body—muscles, blood, etc.—is organic, while the other half—bones and brain—is tech-based.

They’re not purely robots. These bionics wore various protective gear.

Looking at the safe zone on the opposite side, it was entirely built from stone, and even the so-called NPCs were bionics—no real humans were in sight.

In reality, this planet looked much like the game world, with a gray haze covering the sky.

“Whatever. I’m here to grind skills.” Now that he had a general understanding of the situation, Yang Bo returned to the game.

The gloomy atmosphere of the real world was oppressive, as if the entire world were about to collapse.

The optimized graphics in the game, by contrast, were much more pleasant to look at.

Yang Bo was relieved not to have gone down the mountain with the first wave of players. Their heavy use of high-powered weapons had drawn over 200,000 zombies to swarm the city, along with some mutated animals.

“I need to buy a map of the city first, then grind my pharmaceutical skill. Let’s find out where the pharmaceutical-related buildings are.” Yang Bo noticed that the zombies all had fixed nests, likely places they had lived or worked before.

Starting the second chapter now.