Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator

Chapter 10: Advance! Target Inner City District
In the early morning, before the sun rose, a hazy mist cast a dim light over the sky.

Chen Pingchuan, who had been fast asleep at his desk, suddenly sprang up from a nightmare. He had truly overworked his brain the previous night, conking out immediately after watching the simulation of him training a Black Demon. Because something was weighing on his mind, he woke up early. He stretched lazily and resumed reading the text on the simulator.

[As your personal attributes entered a period of stagnation, you started playing with firearms. You failed, discovering that guns couldn’t inflict as much damage as throwing your weapons.]

[A month later, you were forced to emerge from your seclusion. Black Demon No. 1 was now so skilled at distinguishing playing cards that there was truly no need to train it any further.]

[You were surprised by the silence within the settlement. You knew it had been bustling before you went into seclusion, but now it was the complete opposite. The few passersby you saw were all hurrying along with troubled expressions.]

[Your appearance drew Guo Yihang over. He was surprised to see you and, with reddened eyes, expressed how much he missed you.]

[Sensing that something was off with Guo Yihang, you suppressed the urge to ask questions and instead asked where Liu Yaofei was.]

[Guo Yihang’s face crumpled in grief. You released your new pet.]

[Guo Yihang instinctively reached for the weapon at his waist, only for it to be slapped away by one of Black Demon No. 1’s claws.]

[Its forked tongue flickered around Guo Yihang’s face, making his bladder ache with the urge to urinate. Seeing your grim expression, Guo Yihang finally broke under the pressure and blurted out that Liu Yaofei had been captured!]

Those few short sentences contained a wealth of information. Chen Pingchuan was quite satisfied with his number-two subordinate, whom he had only met once. Based on the simulation, the kid clearly possessed astonishing management talent.

”Damn it! Which bastard dared to touch my people?”

In his agitation, Chen Pingchuan lost control of his volume, provoking a tirade from his landlady next door.

”You ghoul, what are you yelling about so early in the morning? If you can’t sleep, does that mean no one else can? If you really can’t sleep, come over and sleep with me.”

The audacious words coming from the other side of the wall momentarily robbed Chen Pingchuan of his ability to speak. His landlady was great in every way: good-looking, kind-hearted, generous, and cheerful. Her only flaw was that she was excessively lustful.

You know, when a woman decides to be lecherous, men don’t even stand a chance!

When he had first arrived, not knowing the lay of the land, Chen Pingchuan had tried to... The memory was too painful to revisit, so Chen Pingchuan quickly collected himself and pushed the thought away.

[Three months ago, a group of strangers suddenly paid a visit.]

[It was obvious they came with ill intentions. Guo Yihang learned that they were looking for a gaunt-looking young man and demanded that he cease all resistance and allow them to search the premises.]

[Guo Yihang decisively refused their unreasonable demand. Relying on his gene-enhanced attributes and the weapon in his hand, he fiercely humiliated them.]

[They spewed threats and fled.]

[A week later, a group of fully-armed special operations forces suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the cement factory.]

[The commanding officer of the special forces was adamant, demanding that Guo Yihang immediately cease resistance and cooperate with their investigation. Otherwise, they would wash the cement factory in blood, leaving not even bones behind.]

[With their uniform combat fatigues, light assault rifles, armored vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns, and rocket launchers and small artillery hidden in their rear compartments, their firepower was overwhelming—far beyond anything the cement factory could resist.]

[Having absorbed the gene-enhancement serum, Guo Yihang easily sensed the terrifying power a athing beneath their surface.]

[At the critical moment, just as Guo Yihang was about to send someone to inform you, Liu Yaofei stopped him.]

[Liu Yaofei stepping forward voluntarily prevented a bloody incident, at the cost of himself.]

[The cement factory was spared a disaster, but Liu Yaofei’s departure had a severe, negative impact on the settlement, leading to all sorts of chaos.]

[With no other choice, Guo Yihang took out the backup plans Liu Yaofei had previously prepared and was forced to order their execution.]

[Emergency camp-wide management was enacted: no one was to go outside unless absolutely necessary, and all food was to be distributed centrally by the settlement.]

This is giving me a headache, Chen Pingchuan thought. Being a loner has its perks, and so does being a leader. While the simulated version of me was having a blast, the real me is stuck here struggling to organize this chaotic mess of information.

The timing of the red rain, the Black Demon mutations, the location of the gene enhancers, the location of the Energy Crystals, and so on.

Great. Now I have to worry about talent acquisition, too.

Ordinarily, malnourished boys like Liu Yaofei were a common sight in the Outer City District, and most of them came from welfare orphanages. But according to the simulation, this kid’s background was far from simple.

”That’s right,” he murmured to himself, deliberately lowering his voice. ”Anyone who could survive that orphanage wouldn’t be some naive kid who doesn’t understand the unwritten rules. He wouldn’t be the type to just desperately hawk his labor at the market gate.”

[Liu Yaofei’s capture brought you shame.]

[As the King of the Cement Factory, the Lord of Black Demons, the Doomsday Prophet, and the almighty Weapon Master, you could not tolerate someone raiding your territory while you were in seclusion.]

[You once again started up your recently purchased second-hand pickup truck and, with your precious pet in tow, sped toward Spring City like the wind.]

[You didn’t drive the truck into the city. Instead, you hid it by the side of an inconspicuous country road on the outskirts.]

[In your memory, not much time had passed, yet the Outer City District had become utterly desolate. Ruins and rubble stretched as far as the eye could see, and a rotten stench permeated the streets. The city was eerily silent, as if someone had pressed pause.]

[You sensed dozens of pairs of eyes watching you from the shadows.]

[It was obviously that pack of mutated Black Demons. Based on No. 1’s habits, you knew that while sunlight didn’t harm them, they rarely moved about in the day unless they were starving.]

[You walked unguarded into a long-abandoned shopping mall. Inside, the light was dim, and you saw dozens of pairs of scarlet, bloodshot eyes. This was just as you had expected.]

[You gave Black Demon No. 1 the command to attack.]

[Dozens of Black Demons charged you, and you opened your black box once more.]

[Each of your thrown weapons pinned an enemy to the ground, venting your fury.]

[After dissecting over twenty Black Demon corpses, you discovered that their brains occasionally contained a very hard black stone. You were thrilled. Although you didn’t know its use, you had finally gotten a drop!]

[Your precious pet stared covetously at the black stone, wagging its tail frantically. You kicked it away, but it immediately scurried back.]

[You cursed Black Demon No. 1 for being so shameless, but it had no effect.]

[You then swept through a community hospital, obtaining two more black stones.]

[You fed the black stones to Black Demon No. 1, only to find that it dared to bare its fangs at you again.]

[You gave your precious pet a thrashing until it went back to wagging its tail pitifully.]

[In the blink of an eye, the sky grew darker. The ceaseless howling of monsters echoed around you, and you didn’t want to waste any more time here.]

[Sprinting at full speed through the streets, you soon arrived at the gates of the Inner City District.]

[Faced with the towering, cloud-piercing walls and the enormous steel gate, you found yourself in a dilemma.]