Chapter 99 [The End of the Altruist] [VIP]

Players Lin Chen and Oda Sakunosuke arrived near the abandoned warehouse No. 3 in the old port area in a leisurely manner, almost like they were going on a picnic.

The air was filled with the salty sea breeze and the smell of rust, which was in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the food court just now.

The huge abandoned warehouse crouched in the dusk like a silent steel behemoth. The surroundings were desolate, with only the sound of the whistle from the distant port and the sound of waves crashing against the shore.

"Is this the place?" The player licked the last bit of cream from his fingers, his tone as relaxed as if he was confirming the location of a convenience store.

She completely ignored the GSS members patrolling the warehouse perimeter with obvious ill intentions, armed and vigilant. On the minimap, they were orderly, constantly shifting red dots.

Oda Sakunosuke nodded silently, his eyes swept over the guards with a calm expression, but his body naturally adjusted to a position where he could attack or defend.

The player didn't take the guards seriously at all. She was thinking, "Tightly guarded?" Hmm... a few more red dots than expected. Just think of it as a little after-dinner game to digest the food.

The subsequent "battle" process is more like the player's unilateral "clearing of the field" than a battle.

The player didn't even pause. She continued walking toward the warehouse door, casually raising her hand as if clearing obstacles in a tower defense game.

Vector manipulation

An invisible but precise force instantly acted on every GSS member.

They didn't even have time to pull the trigger, and didn't even let out a scream. It was as if they were hit head-on by a speeding truck. Their bodies flew backwards uncontrollably, and the weapons in their hands flew out of their hands and scatter to the ground with clanging sounds.

Everyone collapsed to the ground like harvested wheat, unconscious, their health bars precisely emptied to a mere sliver. While they wouldn't die, they were completely powerless to resist. The entire process was astonishingly fast. Even the reinforcements who heard the noise and rushed out to investigate were toppled to the ground by the same force the moment they emerged.

Oda Sakunosuke was used to this and just followed the player silently, stepping over the "obstacles" that were scattered on the ground.

【Space Folding】

The weapons scattered on the ground are gathered together by [Vector Manipulation] and folded into the player's backpack.

The warehouse door was tightly shut. Without even a glance, the player walked over and gave it a gentle push. The heavy iron door groaned under the weight, and with a teeth-grinding sound of metal twisting, it collapsed inward like a piece of paper being crumpled by a giant, raising a cloud of dust.

The warehouse was brightly lit, clearly having been renovated by the GSS. More members were gathered inside, along with some equipment that looked like instruments.

The intrusion of the player and Oda Sakunosuke was like a huge rock crashing into the calm water.

"Enemy attack--!" A roar of shock and anger rang out.

What greeted them was the players waving even more impatiently.

Vector manipulation

This time, the invisible force field slapped down like a giant palm.

All the GSS members standing in the warehouse, no matter they were big or small leaders or ordinary minions, felt an irresistible pressure descending from the sky, as if a ten-thousand-ton ship was pressing down on their chests, and even breathing became a luxury.

They were slammed to the ground by this force without any resistance, making a dull thud.

Struggle? Resistance? It's all futile in the face of absolute power.

Seconds later, only the player and Oda Sakunosuke remained standing in the warehouse, along with a pile of bodies, unable to move due to momentary unconsciousness or immense pain. Blood oozed from the mouths and noses of some, and the scene was a mess. However, due to the game's fundamental settings, no NPCs were truly dead.

Just as the player was about to "clean" the entire warehouse for the second time like plowing the land to confirm that nothing had slipped through the net, a sharp alarm and roar caught her attention.

In front of a thick metal safe at the deepest part of the warehouse, there was a man in a researcher's uniform (his panel was unremarkable except for a weakened ability on the left and right, as he worked diligently in [Insight]).

He was manipulating a device that looked like an operating table like a madman, tightly grasping a gleaming, high-tech object in his hand - it was the rare thing she was looking for!

However, this strange object seemed to have become very small, only the size of a fingernail, and was shrouded in a layer of unstable supernatural power halo.

"Stop! Monster!" the researcher screamed, his face twisted with a mixture of fear and fanaticism. "If you come any closer, I'll activate it! If I withdraw the power that weakens it, even for a second! Even if I only send a speck of dust! The area within a radius of several kilometers will be completely flattened! Everyone will die together!"

He obviously became so crazy because he knew the information about the Qiwu Cadre.

The player tilted his head, staring at the small, strange object. The researcher's vision blurred, and the object in his hand vanished in an instant. When it reappeared, it lay quietly in the player's open palm. At the same time, he felt a gentle tap on the side of his neck, and then he lost consciousness.

[Get the strange

This is a circular structure made of technological and mysterious metal, surrounded by long golden trims. At the core is a Mang energy core, and a soft halo pulsates slightly from the upper half of the core.

It looks like an engine or some kind of detection device. The overall design is full of futuristic feeling, as if it contains some kind of

The player couldn't put this exquisite "toy" down, fondly playing with it. She read the brief yet tragic backstory in the item's description—"The End of a Genius," "The Despair of a Pacifist," "The Weapon Patent Purchased by a Company"...

This is the work of Genius Club #77, which can be used as an engine to instantly teleport any object to its destination. However, the object that appears out of thin air expands outward at a high speed.

"You can't just play around." Lin Chen sighed with some regret, and then briefly told Oda Sakunosuke the background story of the strange object in the puzzled look of his eyes.

"You might not have a realistic idea of ​​this so-called violent explosion," the player said with a smile. "To put it simply, it transports a one-gram object to any location. The second that object appears, it can trigger an explosion with a power of approximately 100 million to 10 billion tons of TNT, comparable to a large nuclear bomb."

"If we teleport a one-ton object, the explosion would have the force of over 10 billion tons of TNT, triggering a dry-bulb catastrophe. If it were an asteroid, its power would exceed that of a supernova, easily destroying an entire star system."

She tossed the strange object, which had returned to normal size after the psychic fainted, up and down. "It's not very good as a teleportation item, but it's okay for AOE damage, right?"

Hmm...but the explosion would destroy everything in that place, including props, materials, machines, etc. Wouldn't that mean we'd fight for a long time and gain nothing?!

When you think about it this way, this item is really useless, unless the player is destined to be destroyed, then it will be quite useful.

Dust drifted slowly in the warehouse's tilted beam of light. Lin Chen weighed the warm metal artifact in his hand. The End of the Altruist shone a soft orange-gold light in the dim warehouse, forming an eerie contrast with the GSS members stumbling around him in a mess.

Oda Sakunosuke's eyelashes fluttered beside him as he struggled to digest the simple number he had just heard: "1 gram... 100 million tons of TNT?"

He gazed at the exquisite object in the player's hand, his eyes rarely filled with a hint of solemnity. This power was beyond the scope of his combat experience. It was an object close to the concept of "natural disaster" held in the hands of someone who treated it with a "casual" attitude.

"Tsk, what a wasted trip." Lin Chen finally complained and put "The End of the Altruist" into the system backpack with a lack of interest, his movements as casual as putting away a freshly opened express box.

"I should have watched their match longer. Chuuya's expression as he gritted his teeth and persevered was so funny."

She looked around the silent warehouse, confirmed that the NPCs lying on the ground had no ability to fight back, and began to search the NPCs' bodies for items with great interest.

Oda Sakunosuke followed her closely, and very naturally swept through the base with Lin Chen until there was no bright spot in the eyes of the players.

"Let's go, Oda," the player said, his tone light and cheerful, as if he had just cleared a leaf that blocked his path. "We're done here. Let's go back to the farm. The others should have gone home by now. I wonder if they won the game console in the eating contest."

Oda Sakunosuke nodded silently, following the player over the prostrate body. He took one last glance at the researcher and the empty safe. The slight ripple of anxiety stirred by the power of the artifact quickly subsided when the player said, "Go home and look after the farm."

The broken door of the warehouse stood open behind them, and the last rays of dusk shone through the blood-red ground and the distorted reflections of the metal.

But player Lin Chen did not pause or hesitate at all. She walked out of this place filled with the afterglow of violence and set foot on the road leading to Leibo Street Farm again, as if she had just completed an ordinary shopping trip.

And deep in her consciousness, in the system backpack, [The End of the Altruist] was quietly floating in the backpack grid.

If nothing unexpected happens, it will probably be left here forever, gathering dust. What if something unexpected happens? (laughs)

Then get rid of the creature that caused the accident.

The player quickly put it out of her mind. Her attention had quickly shifted elsewhere. Everything on the farm was under system control, eliminating the need for the player to bother arranging tasks. Most of the short-term tasks had already been completed, leaving only [Simulate Universe: Earth], [Save the Lost Years], [Help Oda Sakunosuke Complete His First Book], and a sudden new quest, [Spread Your Faith].

After opening the log, it seems that due to Grappa's diligent work, the faith module automatically entered the next stage.

It's nice to have an employee who works hard without any encouragement, so players can just sit back and reap the rewards.

If you look back, you will find that [Mysterious Crystal Sea], [The Source of the Enemy], [The Woman with Ulterior Motives], etc. were all completed by the players while they were indulging in fishing on the farm.

—Grappa played a particularly significant role in the mission involving that mysterious organization. Somehow, she managed to trick her boss into accepting a large sum of research funding and even turning the organization's attitude towards players into a [friendly] one...

Lin Chen couldn't help but feel confused. Would she be encouraging others to join the sect?

She opened the [Faith Module] with half belief and took a look - wow... the number of people was increasing rapidly. Even Dazai would go to fool around with her during his break to spread the faith.

However, what do the [Dizzy], [Bewitched], and [Drug Control] in the status bar of some newly joined believers mean...

We are a serious sect!

The player was shocked and quickly poked Grappa in the head, conveying his order: "Don't use illegal means to recruit followers!"

Grappa's reply was also very quick: "You didn't use any illegal means to recruit followers, my Lord. The experimental subjects were deeply attracted by your majestic figure during the drug testing and joined voluntarily. OVO."

She then added, "These aren't life-threatening experiments, but rather experiments involving gene therapy. The test subjects are either traitors within the organization—I'll treat them better if they're undercover—or other fugitives. We're not using ordinary people anymore."

Lin Chen, the player, listened to Grappa's reply in her mind, a pink text bubble with a deliberately used OVO emoji floating by. She admitted that Grappa's efficiency was astonishing, but her explanation of "being attracted by his imposing figure during the drug testing" was full of flaws...

"Voluntarily joining... in a state of [dizziness] and [bewitched]?" Lin Chen's thoughts poked back with a hint of questioning.

Grappa's message was almost instantly replied: "Alas, as the experimental subject experiences 'evolution', it's inevitable that they will develop a deep respect for you, the person who provided the opportunity and the source of power~ OVO. This is just a minor side effect of the initial fusion reagent. I guarantee it's safe and manageable!"

I wouldn't believe you.

Lin Chen rolled her eyes internally. The more cheerful and cute Grappa's tone was, the more outrageous his actions were. She wouldn't easily believe the one-sided statements of a mad scientist, even if that scientist was loyal to her.

Compared to the explanations of NPCs, players trust the "eyes" of their own "system" more.

Without hesitation, she commanded in her mind: [System, call up the list of believers, filter out cadre believers with abnormal statuses such as 'dizzy', 'bewitched', and 'drug-controlled', and display detailed identity information and the source log of the status.]

A cold system prompt sounded, and then a suspended light screen unfolded in her mind, neatly arranged with hundreds of believers' information.

Oda Sakunosuke, who was standing next to him, only saw the player pause for a moment, his eyes becoming somewhat unfocused, as if he was staring intently at somewhere in the void.

The player's mind quickly scanned every piece of information:

【Takashima Kenji】

[Identity Background: Former member of the "Skeleton Society" organization, captured for attempting to steal the organization's secrets and escape (Status: Traitor within the organization)]

Current Status: Bewitched (moderate), controlled by medication (psychoactive therapeutic drugs, used for side effect management of gene therapy projects)

[Conversion Record: Deacon Grappa recommended the "Miracle Projection" to him. While his mind was hazy due to the effects of drugs, he expounded upon the Lord's power and teachings, and he voluntarily accepted spiritual guidance to seek "ultimate peace." He signed an informed consent form (scan attached). Mental Status Assessment Report: Currently experiencing profound induced cognitive changes, reversibility pending evaluation.]

【Location: Laboratory】

【Serizawa Yuichi】

[Identity Background: An undercover agent sent by the hostile force "Blood Snake" to infiltrate Grappa's laboratory. His identity has been exposed.]

[Current Status: Dizziness (frequent attacks), controlled by medication (neurotropic drugs to suppress its destructive attack tendencies)]

Conversion Record: Within the interrogation room, he received "peaceful counseling" from Deacon Grappa, watched a projection of a specific miracle (targeting his psychological weaknesses), and took medication to stabilize his hyperactive state. After several earnest discussions, he expressed a preliminary willingness to "lay down his sword in order to understand the true God." He signed a dual agreement as both a test subject and a believer (scan attached). Mental status assessment: Moderate obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

【Location: Laboratory】

…

The player flipped through the documents quickly, focusing on "Identity Background" and "Scanned Copy of Informed Consent Form".

Just as Grappa said, these believers who were in the states of [dizziness], [bewitched], and [drug control] were all "problematic figures" of the major organizations—traitors, undercover agents, and wanted desperadoes.

Their "conversion" process almost entirely took place within Grappa's research institute or related facilities, replete with descriptions like "guidance," "experimental incidental," and "alternative interrogation protocol." While those informed consent forms may have been signed unconsciously (especially under the influence of drugs), they were formally valid, and the system determined them to be "illegal coercive dissemination methods not targeting the general public."

"Hmm...it's true." The player concluded the system and felt a little relieved.

Although the player did not support human experimentation, Grappa had reported to her and asked to stay in the organization for a while longer. The player had no restrictions on his subordinates working anywhere and respected everyone's interests and hobbies.

Therefore, Grapa is still working diligently in the Black Organization, so the research institutes she runs must not be shut down and the experiments will continue.

Well... she has no moral baggage about using criminals and traitors as experimental subjects. As long as the sources of these experimental subjects comply with the "rules" she has set - that is, not involving ordinary people, it doesn't matter.

As for the interpretation of the term "ordinary people"? Of course, the right of interpretation belongs to the players.

Grappa is now indeed very obedient in observing this bottom line.

As for those abnormal states… the player's mouth twitched. Grappa's "voluntary" obviously meant "not physically forcing them into worship." But to talk about "voluntary" under the influence of mental induction and drug control… this operation was very Grappa, full of the madness and dark undertones of an organizational scientist.

Okay...

The player muttered something in his mind, and the light screen disappeared.

While the process was a bit wild and the operation a bit shady, the result was exactly what she wanted and significantly advanced the progress of the "Spread Your Faith" quest. With such capable (and self-sufficient) subordinates, what else could she say?

Even a little... satisfied? After all, she didn't have to worry about anything.

He sent a thought to Grappa: "You can be more... gentle with your manipulations. Keep it steady. Don't cause a mental breakdown or any other subsequent trouble. Faith must be voluntary and sustainable. Understand?"

The player symbolically made a suggestion - she understood best what sustainability meant by exhausting all resources!

Grappa's cheerful voice immediately echoed, "As you command! My Lord, I will ensure that all believers, physically, mentally, and spiritually, gradually move towards a harmonious and bright future! (＞ω＜)/☆"

Lin Chen shook his head and completely put the matter behind him.

Anyway, the system was watching, so if an ordinary person accidentally sneaked in, she would be the first to know and ask Grapa to release them. Right now, she was more concerned about things in reality.

The setting sun completely sank below the sea level, and the abandoned old port area returned to desolate silence. Only the sound of waves crashing on the shore in the distance was heard, like a long, unnoticed sigh.

Lin Chen hummed a little tune and did not summon the teleportation channel. Instead, he skipped onto the path leading to the farm. Their backs were elongated and looked as relaxed as if they had just returned from a walk.

The outline of the farm appears in the distance. The well-organized buildings and roads are regular and neat while also being dotted with many everyday things, adding a touch of leisure to it.

At this moment, in the afterglow of the sunset, it is like a tamed beast, maintaining absolute "calmness" and "order, a perfect utopia" under the will of the player - there will be no new variables here, and there is no need for them to disturb her "farm".