ATIGIBTC Chapter 5

«The garbage here is all precious materials»

Humans may not be individually powerful, but once they possess weapons, they have limitless potential.

The average data for the people in the police station would be higher than that of ordinary residents. From the numbers, it seemed like they had a higher growth potential compared to regular citizens. If weapons could be developed, the town’s combat strength would increase significantly.

Perhaps he could build a weapons research facility?

He Fang closed the page, feeling a bit conflicted. Though he hadn’t intended to make the town’s defense so robust, it now had basic defensive capabilities.

The game had changed its background setting—outside the city was filled with danger. He Fang realized that he needed to improve the city’s defense quickly, or else even a single Nightmare Beast seed could wipe out the entire city.

After playing for three years, He Fang didn’t want his progress to be lost in an instant.

But what kind of weapons should he create for defense?

Different games have different worldviews. Depending on the game’s theme, the type of attack power varies. For example, a magic world focuses on magic, an adventure world leans toward swords, a space-fantasy world uses guns and warships, and an action world might focus on hand-to-hand combat.

Now, in 〈〈Ruins Without Restart〉〉, the worldview is that the end of the world was caused by the planting of Nightmare Beast seeds. If He Fang created a weapons research facility and developed guns, but those guns couldn’t deal with the Nightmare Beast seeds, then all that work would be for nothing, and the entire city could be wiped out.

He Fang thought back to the shared NPCs.

He needed to find someone to learn more about these so-called Nightmare Beasts.

He Fang hesitated when typing “Radish Thief”—wait, what was the name of that Radish Thief again?

After some effort, He Fang managed to find the information on the Radish Thief at the civil affairs hall. The name listed was: Min Zhizhou, male, 37 years old, mercenary, temporary resident of the city, job: garbage sorter.

He Fang: “……”

A garbage sorter???

He Fang located Min Zhizhou’s coordinates, and indeed, he was at the garbage dump. He felt conflicted. Were temporary residents assigned by the civil affairs hall just to pick up trash?

Although He Fang had only been offline for a meal, the in-game time flowed differently. When He Fang found Min Zhizhou, he had already been working in the city for three days. Additionally, a small temporary wooden house had been set up next to the trash station.

The wooden house, though small and simple, was unexpectedly aesthetically pleasing. It blended harmoniously with the basic style of the surrounding city.

He Fang had long known that the city was overcrowded with no available housing. Now that the wooden house had been built, he felt a little impressed.

He Fang found Min Zhizhou, who had already removed his heavy armor, digging through the trash. To his surprise, beneath the tough and heavy armor, the man had a body of well-toned muscles. His skin had an unhealthy pale color, likely from long-term exposure to no sunlight. He Fang recognized the complexion—it was nearly the same as his own natural skin tone, though the man’s skin was now flushed red from the sun.

The man hummed a disjointed tune under the hot sun, with no protective gear, sitting in the trash with a cheerful demeanor as he sorted through the garbage.

He Fang’s expression was somewhat complicated.

Is sorting trash really something to be happy about?

Min Zhizhou noticed something and quickly stood up, turning around. For a brief moment, his expression showed signs of alertness and seriousness. But as soon as he saw He Fang, his face immediately broke into a bright smile. “City Lord!”

“Oh,” He Fang responded, hearing the cheerful voice and finding that this NPC’s voice acting seemed sincere. “How have you been recently?”

“I’ve been great! This place is like heaven!” Min Zhizhou’s expression was full of shining excitement.

“Heaven wouldn’t turn your skin into peeling sunburn,” He Fang observed, noticing that Min Zhizhou’s arms had already turned red and were starting to peel. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just sunburn; his skin was actually shedding.

“It’s fine. Honestly, I’m really happy to be sunburned,” Min Zhizhou said with a beaming smile, squinting up at the sunlight. “I used to be constantly locked in all kinds of unbreakable armor to protect myself from the Nightmare Beast seeds. Now, being able to face the sun without worry is incredibly liberating.”

He Fang looked up at the glaring sun. He couldn’t relate. In fact, he thought it was unbearably hot.

“So, as long as you can get some sunlight, sitting in the trash makes you feel like you’re in heaven?” He Fang remarked, looking at the mess of trash around him, none of it distinguishable from anything else. This place could hardly be called heaven.

Min Zhizhou chuckled foolishly and pointed at the pile of trash he had just sorted. “So many valuable metals! Here, they’re just tossed around like garbage. If we took these to a mobile city, they could sell for a fortune! It’s so wasteful! And over there—do you see that pile? Those are books! Books are now treasures in mobile cities. You have to spend a fortune to read them. But here, they’re just thrown away like trash…”

He Fang watched with a complex expression as the man, who seemed perfectly normal, treated all this discarded “trash” like precious treasures. Min Zhizhou eagerly and proudly talked about how valuable these discarded items were, giving He Fang a faint sense of what the outside world must be like in this post-apocalyptic world.

From another perspective, if the trash in this city could excite Min Zhizhou like a child, it meant that to the outside world, his city was a treasure trove.

Once discovered, the invasion and war would begin.

He Fang started to feel nervous. He didn’t understand the combat capabilities of the outside world. If the enemy suddenly attacked, would his city’s fragile defenses be able to hold up…?

No, no, no. The most important thing now was to understand the Nightmare Beast issue.

Otherwise, before any combat even started, his city might already be wiped out.

“Can you tell me what the Nightmare Beast Forest is?” He Fang got straight to the point. The thought of his city possibly being attacked at any time made his scalp tingle.

“Do you know about the Nightmare Beast Seeds?” Min Zhizhou’s expression darkened when he mentioned the Nightmare Beast Forest.

“I know.”

“The Nightmare Beast Forest forms when the Nightmare Beast Seeds have expanded to a certain point, to the extent that they can no longer support life or any living activity. At that point, the area stagnates and becomes the Nightmare Beast Forest. Most areas within the Nightmare Beast Forest are safe,” Min Zhizhou explained, but his face didn’t relax. “However, there are Nightmare Beast Seeds that are preserved intact within the forest. The seeds are all stored inside a plant, which we call the Revival Nightmare Plant.”

Ordinary people who enter the Nightmare Beast Forest cannot distinguish the Revival Nightmare Plant. Once they approach it, the plant will secretly plant seeds in them. By the time they realize it, it will be too late.

“My teammates… that’s how they perished. The Revival Nightmare Plant doesn’t have a fixed shape. I thought I understood them well enough, but I was still careless.”

Min Zhizhou’s voice was filled with sorrow for his own inability to save his teammates. But at this moment, He Fang was in shock.

There were such terrifying things in that black area?

If it weren’t for the lack of funds preventing expansion, he might have already entered that black zone. Wouldn’t he have already had his city destroyed by now?

He Fang broke into a cold sweat.

“How can we deal with the seeds?” Can they just run away? His city doesn’t even have long legs.

“Light is enough—strong light,” Min Zhizhou said. “As long as you use light to fully illuminate them, they will disappear.”

“Huh?” He Fang was stunned. Light?

“Yes.”

He Fang stared at Min Zhizhou. Min Zhizhou stared back at him.

“Why did you all let this happen when a simple spotlight could solve it?” He Fang was confused, shocked.

“It’s not that simple,” Min Zhizhou’s expression grew solemn. “A single seed can be made to disappear with all-encompassing light, but seeds usually gather in groups. If two seeds are close to each other, the shadow won’t disappear.”

“Seeds can be planted in artificial machines, rendering them instantly useless. If planted in a human body, they can quickly take control of a person’s thoughts and actions.”

A single ant can be crushed easily, but when there are many ants, they can kill an elephant. This is the same principle.

He Fang fell into deep thought.

He realized the seriousness of the situation.

“Is there no way to deal with them?” He Fang asked.

“There is,” Min Zhizhou replied, entering his small temporary wooden house and taking out something. “This is a weapon for dealing with Nightmare Beasts. It’s the last one I have. The rest are with the teammates I lost in the Nightmare Beast Forest.”

He Fang’s gaze shifted to the weapon in Min Zhizhou’s hand.

It was a black, rectangular object designed to be gripped in one’s hand. When He Fang held it, he felt something like a button at the tip of his fingers and instinctively pressed it.

A sudden bright light shot out from the handle, piercing straight into Min Zhizhou’s head. He Fang instinctively realized it was a long sword in his hand, but it was too late.

He Fang stared in horror at Min Zhizhou, whose head was pierced by the sword in his hand.

Min Zhizhou blinked, saw He Fang’s terrified expression, and immediately explained, “Don’t worry, this thing is harmless to people.”

He Fang finally exhaled in relief, startled to the point of shivering. He looked down and found that the weapon was actually a long, glowing sword.

It looked like something a certain merchant would make for a quirky, edgy weapon.

He Fang: “…”

Was the official game background development too rushed?

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