Chapter 3

Chapter 1 Oh, Happy Day! (3)

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"Is this... more dangerous than I thought?"

"Well, yeah...? The people's reactions are... um... quite... intense?"

After I dropped the bomb in the chat room, about ten minutes later, the chat room was in utter chaos.

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- Jokass: Hey there~ Let the music play~

- NoruDrug: Oh my~ God, Dad! Please, someone, do something about our professor~ Oh my God, the sky is so heartless!!!

- takealook: You must be strong, ma'am. The professor... seems to have made up his mind.

- NoruDrug: I've been teaching him step by step ever since he came into the chat room saying 'How do I adjust the output of the shelter's hidden room?' I can't let you go, professor! I can't let you go, aahhhh!!!

From people I've known for a long time,

+ Player 'WhaleIsComing' has entered the chat room.

+ Player '朝樂氣多際' has entered the chat room.

+ Player ... has...

+ Player ... has...

The sudden increase in people in the chat room piqued the curiosity of new people from other areas.

- WhaleIsComing: What's going on here? Why are there so many people in the local chat room all of a sudden? Is there some kind of festival?

- SoySauceGayBar: No, it's a funeral.

- takealook: Ah, our proud son of the wasteland! The great revolutionary comrade Professor announced his strong ambition for conditional concept play today at 13:02!

- WhaleIsComing: ???!!!!

- 朝樂氣多際: Whoa~! I didn't know there were still men with such spirit left~!

- NamBathri: Stop it, you. That way is hell!

- takealook: (meme of swinging a coffin)

- NoruDrug: Professor, aaaaah!!!!

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Good grief.

"How many people are there?"

"Judging by the speed of the chat, it's three... no, four times the usual?"

Even on days like today, when sandstorms keep people indoors, the community gets a bit crowded, but still, for so many people to gather in just ten minutes?

Everyone seems to have nothing to do, as messages about people entering the chat room keep coming non-stop.

"What... what should I do?"

"Of course! This chaos is because of what you said! At the very least, you need to manage the situation! Actually, for us who need to find a good conditional play, this influx of people is a good thing! Do something quickly!"

"Ah, I see."

At Corduro's urging, the professor, scratching his head, tapped the console of the access device again.

- professor: Aren't you guys overreacting? I just need some money to play the game.

- SpeedWagon: Bullshit.

- professor: ?

- SpeedWagon: Do you know what concept play is?

...I thought I did, but now that this guy is asking, I'm not sure if I really understand it.

- professor: Yeah. Getting paid to do hardcore play... right?

- SpeedWagon: Have you heard about the recent study on the effects of GG on players' mental health?

- professor: ?

"Hey, Corduro. What's he talking about?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure. My database only has information up to before the Great Disaster, so I'm not really..."

"Damn useless thing."

Leaving the whining Corduro behind, I focused on the chat room. I don't know what SpeedWagon does, but he often drops various pieces of information in the chat room, and from past experience, his information is usually very reliable. After a moment, a sigh-filled message appeared in the chat room.

- SpeedWagon: You saw it, right? The cannibal monster play.

There's no way I didn't. It was a broadcast that had been on the GG platform's homepage for a while.

- professor: Yeah.

- Holy: It was quite famous, so I watched it once... I couldn't bear to watch it with my eyes open.

- SoySauceGayBar: Why? I found it quite entertaining.

- Holy: ....

- NamBathri: Wow, the people in this town are quite spicy.

- takealook: GayBar, please just die.

I understand people's reactions. It wasn't just a scene that could be enjoyed casually. As expected of GG, which strives for extreme realism, scenes like cannibalism were experienced without a single filter. And those scenes were broadcast live. Personally, the fact that such broadcasts have so much demand shows how crazy the world has become.

- professor: Shut up, SpeedWagon. Just give me the information.

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- SpeedWagon: Managing the situation. Anyway, that player died about a month ago.

- professor: Why?

- SpeedWagon: Starved to death.

- takealook: ???

- Jokasss: Didn't he do concept play for over six months? He got a lot of sponsorships, right?

Exactly. GG, which receives the attention of the world's surviving population, would have given him a huge amount of shillings in sponsorships if his broadcast had been the top one for several months. How could someone with so much money starve to death?

- SpeedWagon: Simply put, during the one-month contract period of the concept play, he never stopped the madness. Strangely, when he came out, he couldn't stand the sight of grass or normal food and would vomit. Strangely, he felt hungry when he saw people, especially children...

Feeling a repulsion towards vegetables and normal food, and feeling hunger when seeing people, it was exactly the same as the character he played in the broadcast.

- HighWayNachoman: Wow.

- NoruDrug: No way.

- SpeedWagon: Yeah, it's exactly what you're imagining. Unfortunately, the contract was with a high-ranking official in the Underdome, so it couldn't be covered up. After the month, his brain was fried, and he couldn't control his cannibalistic urges, so he kept playing. Eventually, his body rejected even the IVs, and he starved to death.

- SpeedWagon: As you know, the dome kids are tech geeks and go crazy over anything related to GG. They did some research and found that if a player experiences strong mental shock or is deeply moved in GG, it significantly affects their real mental state. I don't know the mechanism, but...

- professor: No way.

- SpeedWagon: Simply put, if you lose your sanity in the game, the assimilation begins. And this game isn't one you can play calmly; it's filled with things like Berserk Potions and Euphoria data drugs. If you don't play it sanely, you're bound to lose your mind. It's not for nothing that people choose 'Strong Will' as the top irreplaceable trait.

- HighWayNachoman: Wow...

- Holy: That's why people who don't need to worry about account fees don't play GG well...

- SpeedWagon: The higher-ups have a bit more foresight. They see and hear a lot.

- SoySauceGayBar: Ah! So that's why I'm like this?

- NoruDrug: I see...

- SpeedWagon: You guys are just idiots.

"......"

I was speechless.

"......Hey, Corduro."

"Yes, master."

"Let's quit this."

"It's an extremely wise decision."

I was going to try and tough it out, but after hearing this, it really seemed like a bad idea. What? Changing people's minds? What the hell did Gedroyts create? Did he turn into a dark person after two years of harassment and hate comments?

Without a second thought, I turned off the community screen.

The 'Surviving by Game Broadcasting' project is canceled. There's no reason to do something that has a 99.9% chance of driving me insane just to make a living.

I need to cancel the existing plan and find a way to secure shillings more stably and quickly.

From experience, when I can't think of anything, going outside and doing something usually helps me come up with ideas.

It's better to do some manual labor and earn a little more than to sit and think.

Now that I've made up my mind, it's time to take action.

"Corduro, I'm going out. How's the weather?"

"Hmm... not very good. It's a Level 2 sandstorm, but the radiation levels aren't too high."

"That's good enough to see. Find a way to secure shillings and prepare dinner while I'm gone."

"Got it! I'll do my best! Be careful~!"

As I stood in the decompression chamber, listening to Corduro's farewell, a sigh escaped me. Yeah, what was I thinking about broadcasting? I should just eat dirt and survive.

Whoosh—

The shelter door opened, revealing the familiar wasteland. If things get really bad, I might even raid the psychos' warehouse.

***

Beep—! Beep—!

"Master! Wake up, master! Master—!!!"

"Ugh... shut up, Corduro... I came in at dawn yesterday..."

"If you don't wake up now, you might never see dawn again! Emergency! Emergency!!!"

"....!"

The word 'emergency' instantly woke me up with a chill. No matter how much Corduro, an autonomous learning AI, might act, as a machine, it follows its programming and only uses the word 'emergency' in truly urgent situations.

Click!

As I got up, I loaded the shotgun under my pillow and rolled out of bed, lying flat. Front door, decompression chamber. No issues. No signs of external tampering. The red light... is it the emergency light?

Seeing the faintly blinking emergency light, I instantly understood the situation. I thought this would only be a concern a month or two from now. The emergency light turns on when the shelter's power is insufficient due to a power outage. Damn. The power is out?

I approached the system panel on the floor, shotgun in hand, in case of any unexpected situations. There were messy welding marks where the handle used to be. Ah, right. Shit.

"Corduro, why is the stored power already depleted? The main generator was broken, but the amount I charged before should have lasted a month! Could there have been an attack?"

"If there had been an attack, your head would have flown off, not the power! There was a sandstorm last night... and a fragment hit the already struggling main generator! Naturally, all the stored power was lost to a short circuit!"

The generator... was hit by a fragment?

My head felt like it had been hit hard.

"What about the motion sensors and the shield?"

"You told me to set everything to minimum output last night because you came back empty-handed and said it was a waste!"

"Damn it!!!!!"

I remembered. After struggling all afternoon and coming back empty-handed, I was so angry that I told the system to lower all outputs to the minimum and only keep the essentials!

Despair settled on the professor's face, already worn out from fatigue. Even if the sky falls, there's a way out, but if your lower body is crushed when it falls, you can't escape.

The faintly blinking emergency light felt like the last few beats of his heart, and the professor's heart sank.

"Hey, Corduro."

"Sniff. Yes?"

"How much power is left in the battery?"

"About three days at minimum output."

"What if we turn off the shield and hidden room, and only maintain the greenhouse and access device?"

"Then... about a week?"

That's it. It takes a day to find a seller of gasoline on the GG exchange, and the exchange's drone delivery service guarantees delivery within five days in the same area.

Quick judgment. Faster action. The professor, who had been saying this habitually for the past five years of surviving alone, got up.

"Corduro, turn on the chat room."

"Master... you can't be serious?"

"Yeah. No time to be picky."

The lack of time made his mind more calm.

'Right, this is the wasteland. I've been too relaxed lately.'

The white screen appeared, and the professor, taking a deep breath, entered the excited community.

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- professor: Conditional play. No restrictions. Looking for someone to sponsor me right now. Minimum support of 700,000 shillings required.

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