Global Fog Survival

[Due to the impact of the recent emergency, the system’s operational capacity has fallen below the baseline. To better maintain basic system functions, a new round of adjustments will be made.]

[To relieve the pressure of insufficient computational power, the system will impose a 95% fee on the polluted blood collected from all deployed personnel, to ensure the core sectors are safely protected.]

“Ninety-five percent?!”

Upon seeing this message, Colin blurted out, “What the hell!”

“Can you even call this a fee? This is basically draining blood straight from the main artery.”

Colin finally understood why the five-meter-tall “Mourning Watcher” had only bled a few milliliters—this was all because of that outrageous extraction rate. It was absurdly high.

However, realizing that the system was making a compromise for their safety, he could only let it go in the end.

[The system will scramble all current personnel serial numbers, assigning them randomly to ensure no connection between the serial numbers and the survivors, preventing any unknown infection from spreading through the numbers.]

“And I randomly got 123456,” Colin grumbled. He had always been curious about why the numbers seemed so arbitrary. Now, it turned out to be part of the plan.

[According to the logs of the previous system, the system will change “Survival in the Fog” to “Global Fog Survival Game,” introducing the concept of a game to all survivors.]

[Note: This measure reduced feelings of despair and depression among survivors by 40%, preventing the majority from falling into “absolute despair” at the final moment. This action has been proven highly successful.]

“So that’s why… Russell never mentioned it was a game?” Colin mused. Because of this “game” concept, everyone was able to “calmly” accept death, clinging to the last bit of hope—hoping that it was all just a game, that after dying, they would return to reality and their normal lives. Otherwise, the “great relay” might not have occurred, and human civilization would have perished in this event.

Colin didn’t have much to say about this “deception” and continued reading silently.

[Detected: The “Sanction” has reactivated and will attempt annihilation.]

[Annihilation attempt failed.]

[0.1% of the computational power will be allocated to resist if necessary.]

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“So the ‘Sanction’ is directed at us, huh? And it’s because of this 0.1% protection that the ‘Sanction’ has been delayed by seven days?”

Colin realized that whenever the system’s text turned red, it meant it was using “polluted blood.” So, back then, the system had already started fighting back.

“It seems like the ‘polluted blood’ has other functions we haven’t discovered yet, such as helping us maintain our sanity in the face of higher-dimensional threats.”

The system, seemingly unconcerned now, began flashing a flood of new information in front of his eyes.

As Colin read through the logs, all he could think was how miserable it all was. So many abnormal behaviors had been explained, and all the contradictions now made sense—especially the random punishments. Now, the “Sanction” function had been seized by that big eye, or rather, stolen by that dog-like creature. It used the “Sanction” system to hunt highly sensitive individuals.

The lantern incident was most likely related to it.

Overall, it seemed the system had been issued “critical condition” notices countless times, enough to stack into a thick pile.

Then, during all of this, someone had sneakily cut off the system’s fingers, unlocked the invasion, snipped its oxygen tube, injected cancer cells into it, punched and kicked it, poured cement dust into its oxygen tank, and forged its will.

Compared to all of this, Colin actually felt guilty.

He had just “entered” the ICU.

One was an ICU regular, while the other had just arrived, lying on the same hospital bed, competing to see who was worse off.

“You’re definitely worse,” Colin sighed.

Just then, the system logs finally caught up to the present, and Colin saw information related to himself.

[Detected: A survivor has triggered a special quest created by the previous system through unique means. Accepting…]

“A specialQuest? ‘Twisted Soul’? A task from the previous system?”

Colin was surprised again.

[Hint: You realize that the current system lacks the capacity to issue high-value quests. Some tasks may not necessarily originate from the system itself.]

“So it can work like that? No wonder the rewards for ‘triggered tasks’ and ‘issued tasks’ are so high.”

“It turns out they have nothing to do with you.”

“Hmm, it seems that tasks from the previous system are likely to be contaminated, which means when we take them, we’ll definitely encounter ‘Lord-class aberrations.’”

How can one tell if a task is issued by the current system?

Colin wondered for a moment but quickly figured out the answer without needing a hint.

“Stale, hard black bread.”

The current system could only issue such poor rewards.

[Hint: You realize it’s not just that. The system can also sneak the black bread into the rewards after you accept a task, disguising it as one of its own tasks.]

“What a clever little trickster,” Colin couldn’t help but mutter.

[Attempting to reclaim task rewards from the previous system.]

[Attempt failed. Versions incompatible. Can only be retrieved through normal means.]

“Your specs are too low. They can run your black bread, but you can’t run their content,” Colin muttered.

At this moment, another system log related to him appeared.

[Detected: Survivor serial number 654321 has completed the triggered quest. System evaluation in progress.]

[Quest evaluation in progress. Evaluated as SS rank (failure to kill the “Mourning Watcher” before completing the task).]

SS?

I thought it was an S?

Colin blinked in surprise. He distinctly remembered his first triggered task being evaluated as “S” rank.

The most important reward was a “recovery card.” Without it, he might not have survived the subsequent explorations.

But soon, as new system information appeared, Colin’s expression became strange, and whatever sense of gratitude he had disappeared.

[Reward distribution failed.]

[System storage database suffered massive data loss, unable to distribute corresponding rewards.]

[Evaluation criteria will be adjusted.]

[Detected: Survivor serial number 654321 has completed the triggered quest. Quest re-evaluated as S rank (failure to kill the “Mourning Watcher” before completing the task).]

[Reward distribution successful.]

“Well, then.”

Colin hadn’t expected this system to pull off such a sly trick.

Simply raise the standards, lower the evaluation rank, and voila, no worries about not being able to issue rewards.

[The system has no further computational power to issue additional “evaluation bonuses.” Attempting to unload the “evaluation” feature.]

[Attempt failed.]

[Survivors capable of completing contaminated tasks from the previous system possess significant value.]

[This attempt has been canceled.]

“Well, at least it’s got a bit of a conscience.”

Colin muttered, watching as the system refreshed its information once again.