1.11 Fragments Are Equivalent to Cards

Returning to the Shelter, Day Two.

The delivery drone from Mocha Café arrived punctually.

A hearty breakfast always fills one with energy and awakens vitality.

With some free time, Wu Chen thoroughly inspected the newly upgraded AE86 inside and out. It was easy to find a spare medical kit in the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat: one capsule, one syringe, a band-aid, a roll of gauze, a mask, and a pair of gloves.

Judging by Wu Chen’s campus card, 2B pencil, and car keys, the medical kit clearly had another purpose.

Baili Yan and the player couple planned to tour the camp, and with nothing else to do, Wu Chen decided to join them.

They transferred to the player couple’s quad-wing airship and merged into traffic. The AI brain had already located the origin of this vehicle within the camp’s local network: an Emergency Firespeeder from the Star Wars narrative world.

The Emergency Firespeeder, also known as the Emergency Fireboat or Firefighting Craft, is a flying vessel used for firefighting. Equipped with an anti-gravity generator and jet engine, it features an ablative cockpit canopy that can withstand exposure to extremely high temperatures for short periods. After removing firefighting equipment such as sirens, high-pitched alarms, and police lights, the player couple had converted it into a civilian quad-wing travel airship.

Because the camp was clustered around the player base, it shared the high-dimensional spacetime properties of the Broken City. Simply put, the camp’s spacetime was folded. Combined with the three-dimensional stacking of the floating flat-plate base, the entire camp was vast and interconnected.

Fortunately, Wu Chen’s AI brain had planned the route in advance. Otherwise, unfamiliarity with the terrain would make the four of them feel lost in a needle-in-a-haystack situation. Especially with the floating flat plates stacked layer upon layer, forming a vertical “Sky Street Matrix.” Comparable to the multi-deck layout of a spaceship, there were nearly a hundred layers from top to bottom, with a density far exceeding that of skyscrapers.

All were players in the camp, but the size of the flat plates varied. Wu Chen’s was just the base model. Various medium to large plates rivaled starships in scale, equipped with astonishing functional modules. Thus, within the Broken Traveler Camp, one could find farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and even waste managers all in one. Without stepping outside, they were self-sufficient and self-sustaining.

The saying “all changes stem from the same principle” held true. As “carriers of memory,” every player who successfully reached the Broken City had to find ways to continue their own exclusive narrative branches. They fought desperately to survive.

“Where to?” Baili Yan asked with a smile.

“The talent trading market in the camp,” Wu Chen replied. This was the top recommendation from the AI brain Ai Yi.

“Hiring narrative characters?” Baili Yan asked again.

“Just taking a look first,” Wu Chen said patiently. After all, supporting oneself was the top priority. With an initial capital of less than three hundred Shelter Coins, roughly estimated from one coin daily consumption of the flat-plate base, it would last several months. That was enough time for Wu Chen to find a suitable way to survive—preferably freelance, self-sufficient. Frankly, Wu Chen had no desire to work for some big player.

Life-skill players were good, but without trading with players, they couldn’t exchange for Shelter Coins. According to the Harvester’s rules, only by harvesting narratives could one amass wealth. Especially by “intervening in the main storyline with one’s own narrative branch brought by the player,” which was the most profitable.

Of course, harvesting players was also an option.

In the past, the Shelter narrative world flourished. Players didn’t need to cluster deliberately; the vast world of narrative scenarios offered many opportunities. Now, except for a few lord-level big players, most players shattered along with the Shelter. Even VIPs had fallen to the level of novices. They could only fragment their exclusive shelters into pieces and crowd the Broken City, competing for any scrap of space.

Legend had it that the mastermind behind all this chaos was none other than the supervillain Wu Chen.

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Unfortunately, apart from the lord-level players who retained most of their memories, most VIP players had lost theirs.

Rumor also said that uploading data might partially restore the lost Shelter memories of VIP players.

As Wu Chen saw now, the Broken Traveler Camp, where low-end VIP players gathered, consisted of flat-plate bases joined side by side, staggered vertically, forming a gigantic, layered cube in the sky. From afar, it looked like an endless mosaic canopy; up close, it was like an immense 3D pixel puzzle. Various vehicles from different sci-fi narrative worlds darted among the structures. Numerous drone swarms formed dense matrices, resembling black flocks of birds weaving through an alloy jungle. They shifted unpredictably with the wind, swirling east or west. Neon light strips, LCD screens, and holographic images filled every available space. The visuals intertwined and overlapped with laser trajectories, then separated, only to be disrupted and fragmented by shortcut-taking drones, finally blending again into a dazzling, psychedelic spectacle.

The convoy entered the floating orbit and merged into the crowded traffic. The quad-wing travel airship was small and inconspicuous. The route had long been set. After turning left and right at the mid-air hub and ascending vertically, Wu Chen’s group safely arrived at the F-011A forging workshop in the Broken Traveler Camp’s talent trading market.

They disembarked on the drop-off deck, greeted by smiling reception drones. Upon entering, Wu Chen’s group’s digital DNA had already been recorded, ensuring no identity errors. The trading hall was sparsely populated with players. The variously sized disc-shaped service desks were mostly manned by robots. Judging by their appearance, they were only slightly more advanced than the old Thunderbolt No. 5 models, far less appealing than realistic androids. Since they could replace realistic androids, their sole advantage was likely cost.

The group wandered aimlessly until passing one service desk, where Baili Yan softly called out, “T800.”

“T850, natural face version,” the service robot with a titanium alloy frame nodded in greeting. “Good day, esteemed VIPs. How may I assist you?”

“Um…” Wu Chen thought for a moment. “Any recommendations?”

“Please provide keywords,” T800 requested to search the database.

Wu Chen pondered again. “Easy to use, reliable performance, easy maintenance, cost-effective, durable. That’s all for now.”

Each time Wu Chen spoke a word, T850’s crimson electronic eyes flickered instantly.

When Wu Chen finished, T850 opened a metal safe embedded in its chest and retrieved a talent card: “Bionic Robot (General Service Type).”

The talent card presented to Wu Chen looked like a collage made from an old film strip, divided into two parts. The top section featured a large half-body still occupying about four-fifths of the card. The bottom section was a normal-sized film strip with seven frames. The first two frames showed a working photo of the bionic robot and a facial close-up. The remaining five frames had three with a white background and two bordered in gold. The entire card appeared very old, with characteristic exposure marks of aged film and obvious patchwork, with craftsmanship that was far from impressive.

Wu Chen carefully examined the woman in the film and her work environment, concluding she was likely a bar waitress, an unknown narrative character by identity.

“What does this mean?” Wu Chen asked, puzzled.

“Don’t you recognize the card?” T850 retorted.

“Card Wars,” Wu Chen answered automatically. This was a memory from Dorm 208, ignited by Butterfly Dance.

“Exactly,” T850 smiled. “The few assistants recruitable in the Broken City are all contained within the card game.”

“Shards!” Wu Chen suddenly realized.

“Shards,” T850 quickly accessed the database to explain the deal: “Since the failed dimensional upgrade and the Shelter’s fragmentation, players have been saving themselves. Using the exclusive Shelter Brotherhood’s Card Wars, narrative shards are sealed into cards. As you see, this ‘two-star card’ is a narrative character rescued from fragmentation by the Brotherhood. Therefore, ‘cards are shards, and shards are cards.’”

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“I see.” Wu Chen was deeply moved.

“According to Shelter rules, ‘cards are a unique way for Guardians to remember narrative characters.’” With the store about to open, T850 became even more enthusiastic.

“Looking at the card, it seems to be just a service-type bio-android,” Baili Yan bargained on Wu Chen’s behalf. “Not very useful.”

“Comes with the ‘Broken Traveler General Database Elite Edition’ as a bonus,” T850 was prepared. “As you know, by uploading to the corresponding database, a service robot can instantly become a professional killer.”

“How many Shelter Coins?” Wu Chen casually inquired.

“A gratitude discount of 80 coins. As you know, two-star cards fetch up to 100 coins in the market,” T850 replied with growing reverence.

“I’d say that’s a depreciated price,” Baili Yan still found it expensive.

Considering the one-coin camp entry fee and ten-coin flat-plate fee, an ordinary unknown narrative character card costing 80 coins was exorbitant.

“How do you know it’s two stars?” Wu Chen asked first.

“Please look at the attribute section at the bottom of the card,” T850 patiently explained. The so-called attribute section was a film strip with seven frames. The first two showed stills, marking it as two stars since only a few frames were developed.

“What’s the first attribute?” Wu Chen asked again.

“My understanding is ‘specialized in hospitality,’” T850 answered.

“And the second, the facial close-up?” Baili Yan pressed on.

“My understanding is ‘exceptional beauty,’” T850 responded.

“Appearance counts as an attribute?” Baili Yan was skeptical.

Before Wu Chen could reply, the male player emphatically declared, “It does!”