True Apocalypse Game

"Seed Source?" One of Scar’s men was taken aback, and the way he looked at Shen Feng changed in an instant. "Now that you mention it, I also think this outsider doesn’t really seem mutated..."

"Give me a break, Boss Scar. You’re overthinking it. Look at Hui San—he looks fine, right? Who could tell he’s got a tail just by looking at him? And that girl, Firefly, she’s decent-looking, but who’d have known her mutation index is the highest in town? They almost didn’t let her stay," a bald man said with a wave of his hand, crushing a dried earthworm in his mouth.

"Yeah, Brother Scar. This curse stuff—you can’t see it or touch it. In all these years, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t cursed. I heard the Crow Tribe’s pure Seed Source was captured in a war with another tribe. He’s almost fifty now, old as dirt. No wonder they’re looking for a new one..."

Scar snorted coldly, ignoring his men’s pessimism. "That’s why we need to get a sample from him and take it to the Crow Tribe’s Seed Master. I hear they have a Sacred Artifact that can detect whether someone is cursed..."

"The town mayor already told us not to cause him any trouble..." the bald man beside him said, smacking his lips. "But I’m pretty friendly with Old Wang who runs the shop..."

It took Shen Feng and Firefly almost an hour to finish their food. Since they had ordered so much, the shop owner even gave them a complimentary plate of extremely tough dried rabbit meat, which made their gums bleed as they chewed.

After lunch, Firefly patted her belly in satisfaction and said to Shen Feng:

"How was it? No need to thank me. I’ll give you a tour of our town."

’This meal wasn’t as delicious as the food Shen Feng gave me,’ she thought, ’but that chili sauce was amazing. It was a perfect match for the cockroach cakes.’

Shen Feng now had a general understanding of wasteland culinary culture. He rubbed his slightly sour stomach and nodded in agreement.

’For this post-nuclear-war wasteland mission, the True Apocalypse Game hadn’t given me a time limit. This means it will likely be a long mission, and the clues won’t be easy to find.’

He was in no rush. Perhaps he’d stumble upon an important clue when he least expected it. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

For example, in a place like Nameless Town.

’Besides, in a wasteland apocalypse like this, the real danger is standing out and not fitting in. Maybe I should change my clothes into one of those woven things made of torn plastic, bark, and grass roots to avoid attracting unwanted attention.’

Lost in thought, Shen Feng began to wander around the town under Firefly’s guidance.

Nameless Town was small, but it had everything one would expect: shops, a blacksmith, restaurants, and even its own hospital.

Of course, there wasn’t any real medicine. The doctor relied on experience to mix some herbal remedies. As for anesthesia, they just knocked the person out.

Soon, Firefly led Shen Feng to the most important building in Nameless Town.

The Civilization Temple!

Judging from its exterior, it seemed to have been converted from an old bank.

At the very top of the building stood a pattern pieced together from old integrated circuit boards: a small green bird.

Through the archway, people occasionally came and went, their faces filled with piety.

Arriving at the entrance of the Civilization Temple, Shen Feng couldn’t help but be a little surprised.

On both sides of the door, two lines of a poem were scrawled in crooked Chinese characters:

On the left, "The east wind at night lets loose a thousand trees of flowers." On the right, "And blows down more, like a rain of stars."

However, it was obvious the person who wrote it didn’t know the characters at all; they had simply copied the shapes from somewhere.

Firefly piously closed her eyes, raised her hands, and wiggled her fingers, mimicking the act of typing.

Before Shen Feng could ask, Firefly opened her eyes and said to him:

"This is how we pray to the Civilization Temple. Come on, let’s go inside and pay our respects to the idols. There are lots of them in here."

The two of them stepped inside. Shen Feng immediately noticed that the layout was similar to temples he had visited before.

A large hall was surrounded by pedestals, upon which sat the worshipped idols.

On the surrounding altars were offerings like dried rats and bottle caps, clearly left by the faithful.

But what truly shocked Shen Feng were the idols placed upon the pedestals!

On the left was an old, yellowed refrigerator and a toaster oven!

On the right was a rusty train wheel and a shattered model airplane wrapped in a torn plastic bag.

On other platforms around them were a microwave, a cell phone, an electric fan, a broken air conditioner, a screenless television, and so on.

’It was all electronic junk.’

In the very center of the hall was a model of an intercontinental ballistic missile made from old artillery shell casings. The letters "DF-36" were scrawled crookedly on it.

Firefly noticed Shen Feng’s shock and, assuming he had never seen these things before, immediately began to introduce them.

"This is the statue of the God of Cold Winter, this is the Flame God, this is the symbol of Hercules, this is the Sky God, and this one is said to be the former God of Light and Shadow, who could create a world of color out of thin air... This one is..."

As she introduced the "idols" one by one, Shen Feng’s heart grew a little heavy.

’The people of this wasteland had clearly experienced a great extinction and schism of civilization, causing them to almost completely lose contact with their technological past.’

’All that remained of the old technology were legends, which, after countless years of being passed down, had evolved into the worship of these old technological creations.’

Shen Feng pointed to the strategic missile model in the middle and said:

"That must be the legendary God of the East Wind. Is he the main god?"

Firefly quickly waved her hands.

"No, no. Although the God of the East Wind is the most powerful god, there is only one true main god: the Great God Jingwei!"

she said, pointing upward with a smile.

Only then did Shen Feng see that above the strategic missile model, there was another pedestal. On it sat a broken laptop, which seemed to be just an empty shell. A pattern was drawn on its cracked screen with red paint, or perhaps blood.

The pattern was very simple and ancient in style, depicting a small bird in flight.

’Jingwei?’

’The myth of Jingwei filling the sea?’

’How could this ancient myth still be circulating in this world?’

Seeing Shen Feng’s confusion, Firefly continued:

"The Great God Jingwei commands the God of the East Wind to bring eternal vengeance upon our enemies and also blesses everyone who lives on this land. Quick, tonight is Rebirth Day! Let’s pray to the Great God Jingwei together so we can be reborn tomorrow."

When she mentioned Rebirth Day, Firefly’s expression grew much more serious, and her tone became indisputable.

Shen Feng couldn’t argue with her, so he walked over, stood before the "idol," and copied her actions, closing his eyes, raising his hands, and beginning to type on a nonexistent virtual keyboard.

"Huh?" Firefly said, puzzled. "Your form seems even more standard than mine..."

Shen Feng smiled faintly. ’Of course it is,’ he quipped internally. ’All those years of typing weren’t for nothing...’

’This ’Rebirth Day’ thing is probably a holiday, like New Year’s Eve, Halloween, or Easter.’

’After all, having experienced brutal wars and a miserable existence, people need spiritual solace more than ever.’

By now, they had eaten, toured the town, and paid respects to the gods. It was time to part ways.

Firefly grabbed a handful of bottle caps from her pocket, stuffed them into Shen Feng’s hand, and said:

"Hehe, thanks to you saving me, I was able to come back and strike it rich. And I ate so much of your good food. Take these as a thank-you gift."

Shen Feng didn’t refuse, simply taking them and putting them in his bag.

’This girl seemed carefree and simple-minded, but she was actually very considerate. If I didn’t accept, I might actually hurt her feelings.’

Firefly then gave Shen Feng a cheerful grin and said:

"I’m going to buy a big house! We’re friends now, right? Let’s celebrate Rebirth Day together tonight, okay?"

Shen Feng nodded. "Alright. See you tonight."

After Firefly had excitedly run off, Shen Feng walked behind the idol of Jingwei and abruptly yanked open the curtain beneath the shrine.

The person hiding inside was instantly revealed, along with the dark muzzle of a gun pointed at Shen Feng.

Shen Feng chuckled.

"Mr. Mayor?"