What... what is this smell?!

So sweet!

With little stars sparkling in her eyes, she happily looked up, wanting to say thank you.

However, the person who gave her the candy had already walked away.

Chapter 5 The Fourth Calamity

Cattle and Horse Management Discussion Group.

This is a small group with only four people.

The group owner is Fleet Passage, and the members are three "cattle and horses" from the neighboring group—in other words, the dog admins: Up All Night, Gale Force, Long Days Ahead.

Ethan Reed: [Did you all get the helmets???]

Old White: [Got it... this thing is pretty weird, it was just thrown right at my doorstep.]

Long: [I found mine at the garage door...]

Gale: [Mine was on my desk at work... I thought it belonged to a coworker.]

Ethan Reed: [None of you have it as weird as I do. The package was delivered straight to my dorm! All three of my roommates were there, and not one of them saw how it got in! And the weirdest part—I don't know if you noticed—when you put on the helmet, you can see a countdown, but no one else can see anything.]

The group went eerily quiet for a moment.

The first to break the silence was the group owner, Fleet Passage.

Old White: [...Now that you mention it, it really is kind of creepy.]

Long: [Who do you think is behind this game company? Not only do they know our addresses, but they can deliver the package right into our hands without anyone noticing?]

Gale: [Yeah, that's what bothers me most. The address is one thing—if they used the IP address from when we clicked the link, theoretically they could figure out our real-world location. But the logistics... I just don't get it. I'm in Jinling, and Ethan Reed, I remember you're studying in Jiangcheng, that's a 500-kilometer distance, but we both got the helmets at almost the same time.]

Ethan Reed: [Yeah... and it was not long after clicking the link.]

Old White: [Damn, should we call the police?]

Long: [There's no property loss, so the police probably can't do much. And what would you even tell them? Wrong delivery? Problem with the helmet? Besides, only the person who uses it can see anything—anyone else puts it on and sees nothing.]

Gale: [Yeah, that's the biggest problem. It's hard to explain to others what this thing even is. I even tried putting my phone inside the helmet while wearing it, but even though I could see things, the phone couldn't capture anything.]

Gale is a teacher in real life, probably teaches science, and tends to speak logically. Long and Old White both agreed with what he said.

Ethan Reed: [How about... we take the helmet apart and see what's inside?]

Gale: [It's not impossible, but it's risky. At least, I couldn't find any place to disassemble it. If we force it open, it's unlikely we'll be able to put it back together.]

Long: [True, and we can't screw over Brian.]

Being able to mysteriously place the helmet at his garage door, he was starting to believe what that guy with the ID Brian said.

Maybe this company is some mysterious research institute supported by a government agency?

Whatever it is, at least for now, they haven't suffered any losses. And he himself is quite interested in a fully immersive VR game.

That countdown had definitely piqued his interest.

Gale: [I messaged Mr. Carter privately on Penguin, but he hasn't replied yet. The official website doesn't look like a domestic site, and the domain doesn't even seem like a normal one. I couldn't find any registration info.]

Ethan Reed: [The dark web?!]

Gale: [Not sure.]

Old White: [Let's just leave it for now, no point in discussing it further. Anyway, in three days, we'll know what this helmet is all about!]

...

While the players were discussing, Brian Carter, who was in the wasteland, was still busy making the final preparations.

5 kilograms of green wheat and some iron tools.

Brian Carter had to put in quite a bit of effort to move these things from Better Street to the wetland park three kilometers away without drawing attention.

Vault 404 is hidden underground in this park, with the entrance inside an unremarkable sanatorium.

There’s a lot of vegetation here, and it’s near a lake, so in theory, there should be plenty of wild animals in the area.

After getting close, Brian Carter became very cautious, on guard for any possible dangers nearby.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened.

He checked the mark he’d made at the sanatorium entrance to make sure no mutants or raiders had snuck in while he was gone. Then Brian Carter used the pointed pipe in his hand to pry open the door and carefully went inside.

The entrance to Vault 404 is at the innermost elevator in the sanatorium lobby, and only that elevator’s panel has a B1 level label.

Brian Carter first went down, tossing the food into the corridor between the elevator base and the outer airlock of the buffer room.

It’s an open space, about forty or fifty meters below ground.

Honestly, it’s not the best place to store food, but it’s better than leaving it in the sanatorium, where passing rats or mutant cockroaches might get to it.

Passing through the two airlocks of the buffer room.

Brian Carter walked into the lobby and said to Little Henry, who was squatting in the corner.

“Is the forum function on the official website ready yet?”