This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 77 The Fifth Batch of Little Cuties

Chapter 77: Chapter 77 The Fifth Batch of Little Cuties

In the square in front of the sanatorium, the crowd buzzed, bustling and lively.

The newbies who had just entered the game, like the batch before them, stared at the lifelike world before them, rubbing their eyes over and over, wishing they could kneel on the ground and gently kiss the sand and dirt beneath their feet.

"This, this, this!"

"Damn, is this really virtual reality? Wait a second, where’s the logout button? Gotta make sure I can actually get back."

"Haha, no need for all that trouble, just find a brick and knock it on your head, and you’ll log out."

"Sob sob sob, can I take a screenshot? This is too shocking."

"A shock that lasts my dad a whole year!"

"So big."

The square was filled with chirping and chatter, but for the veteran players of Wasteland OL, this scene was nothing new and no longer surprising.

After all, their reactions were pretty similar when they first logged in.

Stepping on a virtual soil with their feet, facing the incredibly real wind, that kind of impact on their worldview and cognition was indescribable.

Entering the scene as the manager of Shelter No. 404, Chu Guang, carrying a plastic bag, walked over to these newcomers, signaled for them to be quiet, and then distributed novice gift packs to them one by one.

"Here are 5 copper coins."

"You can take them to rent tools from the warehouse, buy food from the granary, or trade with other players."

Despite the newcomers being noisy, they held a considerable amount of respect for this manager who held their "power of life and death."

"Manager, are you really an NPC? I mean, are you really AI, not a person acting? Forgive my boldness, but you look... too real!"

"Manager is so handsome, can we ship you with someone?"

"NPC, how do I check my favorability? Where can I see that, doesn’t this game have a player interface?"

"Where are my health bar and mana bar?"

"Whining, how do I play this game, can somebody guide me?"

"What’s the use of just giving out money, can you give me a novice sword instead?"

Heh.

Novice sword?

Chu Guang laughed to himself but didn’t pay it any mind.

Don’t worry, you won’t need that thing.

As a serious and responsible NPC, Chu Guang didn’t say a word in response, adeptly finished giving out the novice rewards.

After making sure no one was missed, Chu Guang looked over to the eager Knife Brother standing to the side, hands clasped behind his back, and said in a matter-of-fact tone,

"The security of the Outpost Base is in your hands now."

Knife Brother, with excitement, clasped his hands in a salute.

"At your command, Manager!"

Before the little newbies had a chance to kneel and kiss the ground at their feet, they were pulled away by this passionate foreman to dig trenches outside.

Once the trenches were dug, and they saw the fruits of their labor, they would likely have a deeper understanding of the game.

Don’t worry.

Every other player went through the same thing.

Watching the little players march towards the north gate, Chu Guang suddenly remembered an RTS game he played a very long time ago.

It was translated as Fantasy of Sovereignty, and because it was so niche, plus the sequels were lackluster, probably not many people have heard of it.

The gameplay was very interesting; unlike the mainstream RTS games that emphasized micro-management, players ruling the kingdom couldn’t "directly control every unit."

What does that mean?

Simply put, if a monster appeared in your territory, you couldn’t micro-manage the kingdom’s various professional heroes to attack it, but you could put a bounty on the monster, scattering some gold coins.

The heroes would naturally form a team to hunt it down, and whoever killed the monster would gain experience and gold coins. With their mission reward money, they would go to the kingdom’s taverns to spend, buy weapons and supplies at the prop shops, or learn skills and magic.

If the monster was too tough, the heroes would be frightened and run away...unless you increased the bounty on the monster. With enough motivation, even if the adversary was a dragon, the adventurers with their shabby equipment would bravely charge forward.

Sometimes, Chu Guang felt that what he was doing was essentially the same thing.

Although you couldn’t put a health bar above the Looters’ heads, you could sprinkle a handful of silver coins over them.

The Outpost Base’s warehouse was surrounded by a crowd of "veteran players" above level 2.

As most quests were related to resource gathering, this had become the de facto quest distribution point.

"Holy crap! 20 silver and 200 contribution points for a Looter? And it can stack with the existing 5-silver-capture reward?"

"Centurion reward is double!"

"Does anyone know how many people are in the Blood Hand Clan??? This is urgent, waiting online!"

"Folks, the chance to strike it rich overnight is here! Whether you’re charging in or not, I am! Any squads forming? I’m strength type, need perception and agility, let’s go hit and run together! We’ll split the profits!"

"I’m still 1000 points short of being a Citizen, I’d have to grind for a week, but 5 captures would be enough? Damn, this reward is good! Does it count as long as they’re left breathing?"

"Even if they aren’t breathing, it doesn’t matter! 10 silver coins, man! It takes me a whole day of bricklaying, sob sob sob."

The players who saw the reward went crazy; they even wondered if the manager had mistakenly set the bounty too high.

However, what they didn’t know was that a certain "NPC" did it on purpose.

No matter how high the bounty set on the quest seemed, it wasn’t something one person could solo. Three-player and four-player teams were the standard fare; once the reward was divided among each person, it became reasonable.

Based on intelligence, the Blood Hand Clan had about sixty to seventy people, counting several centurions, so a budget controlled within two thousand silver coins was fine.

And even if it went over budget, no big deal.

Can it be a bad thing for players to have money?

Obviously not!

Everything in this shelter was his anyway.

The forty little newbies who had just come in were enough to fill the basic labor positions at the Outpost Base.

While those who had a deeper understanding of the game could take their money to buy guns, acquire land, stimulate domestic demand, and develop new gameplay.

Chu Guang thought to himself that he might be even more of a genius than the First Generation Manager who "packaged this world as a game."

This is perfect!

At this time, someone finally noticed the level requirement written at the bottom of the task sheet.

"Damn! There’s a level requirement for the task? How can I solve this when I’m only LV1?"

"Strength-types go chop trees, Perception and Agility types should find a team to mix with... Wait, this seems to only require LV2 to take the task, doesn’t restrict teaming up with those above LV2, right?"

"Boss! Take me with you!"

"What’s your sequence?"

"Intelligence!"

"Scram."

"Damn!"

The new Warehouse Manager Luka sat in a chair in front of the door, guarding the ledger laid out on his wooden desk, deaf to the chattering noise outside the door.

Last night at dusk, his new master had explained his job duties to him.

Starting today, he no longer needed to do farm work; he just needed to move the items brought by these residents in blue jackets into the warehouse, note them in the ledger with a few simple signs, and then give them their "reward."

It was a kind of strange metal coin.

Luka didn’t understand what was so valuable about it; he had never heard of a survivor settlement trading with such things.

However, after receiving these coins, the residents in blue jackets seemed to treasure them, so it probably meant something important to them.

Luka didn’t want to think about these problems.

Years of experience taught him that knowing too much wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Seeing Chu Guang approach, he immediately trembled to his feet, clenched his right fist over his left chest, and respectfully saluted.

"Sir, do you have any orders for me?"

Ignoring the curious looks from the surrounding players, Chu Guang placed a wooden basket on the table.

"I have a few things here; I’d like you to sell them for me. Same old rules as I told you, if someone comes to buy, just point to the price tag and have them pay accordingly."

Chu Guang had earned 6 reward points the previous day and spent them all on opening blind boxes, but maybe because he’d used up his luck last time, he ended up with 6 lollipops in a row.

However, luckily two of them had attribute bonuses, so it wasn’t too bad of a loss.

Considering his drawer was nearly full, Chu Guang grabbed a handful and brought them over to the warehouse.

Each lollipop was priced at 1 Silver Coin, and those with buffs were double the price.

Such expensive candies might not sell, but since they were laying around, they might as well decorate the store shelves.

"Yes, sir."

Old Luka arranged the items from the basket on the shelf then attached the price tags written by Chu Guang.

At that moment, Chu Guang suddenly remembered something and asked.

"By the way, do they grow sugarcane at the Brown farm?"

"Sugarcane?" Old Luka looked bewildered, as if he had never heard of it.

Chu Guang explained.

"It’s a type of crop that produces sugar."

Hearing about sugar, old Luka finally understood and replied.

"Sir, I’ve been at the Brown farm for twenty years and have never heard of a crop called sugarcane... but I do know a bit about sugar. There’s a crop there called red beets, which look like radishes when pulled from the ground and can be squeezed for red sugary juice. After boiling, you can retrieve small granules from the bottom; that should be the sugar you mentioned."

Planting beets for sugar production?

Chu Guang thoughtfully nodded.

"Is that a good sell?"

"I’m not sure if it’s a good sell... but merchants from both the south and north always buy some, not much though, saying it’s not as valuable as salt."

Where sugar is produced, sugar certainly isn’t as valuable as salt.

In the Wasteland, the cost of transporting a commodity could even be higher than its production cost; this wasn’t anything new.

But sugar is good stuff.

Not only edible, but it can also be used for brewing and even making weapons.

He should find a way to get some seeds come spring next year.

Chu Guang immediately thought of Giant Stone City.

That was the most likely place nearby to buy what he needed.

"Sir, do you have any more orders?"

"No, continue with your work."

"Yes, sir."

Old Luka watched Chu Guang leave before returning to his seat.

At this time, many players had taken an interest in the new items on the shelf, gathering around.

Luka was terribly nervous inside, fearing someone might steal them.

However, these players were all of good quality, excitingly discussing around without reaching out to touch anything.

"This lollipop increases attributes?! Are you serious?!"

"Chocolate flavor boosts Strength Attribute by 10%... lasts for 10 hours. Holy shit, if you’re a Strength-type player, isn’t that amazing?"

"Strawberry flavor for Perception, apple flavor for Intelligence... currently these are the only three with attribute bonuses, twice as expensive as the others!"

"What? Only twice as expensive? That’s a steal! Here, two Silver Coins, old man, I’ll take one!"

"I’ll take one too!"

"Damn! Why is only the one for increasing Intelligence left! Forget it, I’ll buy it for Teng Teng."

In no time, the three attribute-boosting lollipops on the shelf were snatched up, leaving behind twelve unclaimed ones with no attribute bonus.

"...They actually sold out?"

Staring at the six Silver Coins on the desk, Old Luka muttered to himself in disbelief, deeply shocked.