This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 104: More NPCs and a Richer Interaction System

Chapter 104: Chapter 104: More NPCs and a Richer Interaction System

After the order was issued, the survivors quickly dismantled their shanties and made their way to the brick factory in the northwest direction.

Although they had come from that area previously, being sent back there caused no complaints about the Manager’s arrangement.

Having survived the Looter’s dungeon was fortunate in itself, not to mention being able to enjoy warm clothing and full bellies.

Fang Chang and Old White, who were measuring land at the brick kiln, saw this procession and stopped their work in confusion, approaching the Manager to inquire.

"Respected Manager, may I ask who these people are..." Chu Guang didn’t hesitate to respond.

"These are survivors we have rescued. To repay us for saving their lives, they are willing to support our construction!"

Joy immediately lit up the faces of Fang Chang and Old White.

Now that the players were doing novice tasks, they were worried about the lack of manpower, so these laborers were indeed solving a pressing need.

"Then how much do we need to pay them in wages?" Actually, there was no need to pay them any wages.

However, since the players had asked, Chu Guang, considering authenticity, pondered for a moment before responding, "One silver coin per person per day. I will directly deduct this expense from your accounts; you only need to ensure that they don’t go hungry or freeze to death."

"Additionally, pay attention to construction safety. I do not want poor working conditions to reduce our workforce. This would not only affect our regional reputation but also delay production."

"If there are any casualties, a hundred silver coins will be deducted per person as compensation."

Of course, this compensation would never actually be paid to NPCs; it was merely a concept at the setting level.

Moreover, these indigenous people didn’t care about these metal pieces, which for them had no recycling value—a chunk of meat was more valuable.

While speaking, Chu Guang sent over a pre-edited task to Old White through his VM.

Although it was a bit far from Outpost Base, it didn’t affect the point-to-point data transfer between the two VM devices.

After triggering the task to hire NPC workers, the Bull Horse Brick Factory would automatically spend twenty-three silver coins daily from the account as these hired workers’ "wages."

Compared to the players’ wages of at least ten silver coins per day, hiring these NPCs was indeed very cheap.

After discussing it, Fang Chang and Old White immediately agreed, overjoyed.

Of course, to prevent these players from behaving worse than actual humans, Chu Guang quickly added another line, "The minimum daily food standard per person is one jin of green wheat—of course, that’s just the minimum nutritional requirement. If you want them to work even harder, consider buying more meat and fish, or even hunt some wild game in the city for them."

The ability to feed NPCs!

Well, this game incorporated not only management elements but also elements of nurturing.

Fang Chang and Old White’s eyes lit up, and they swore solemnly, "Rest assured, Manager, we will certainly keep the workers well-fed!"

"That’s right! Even if I go hungry myself, I won’t let them starve!"

Emmm...

That might be a bit excessive.

Eating too much can actually be counterproductive to work—an example of this was already evident at Outpost Base.

However, Chu Guang didn’t say anything.

Exploration itself was also part of the fun of the game.

The players would naturally figure out a suitable path; Chu Guang only needed to steer the overall direction.

It was neither realistic nor necessary to control every aspect of a person’s life.

...

Twenty-three survivors settled down at the brick factory, their status changing from refugees to brick burners of the Outpost Base.

They set up camp quickly, taking less than an hour to replicate the shanty they had built by the south gate here.

Although it looked simple, it was sufficient to provide shelter from wind and rain.

For the survivors in the Wasteland, building a shelter that could shield them from wind and rain was almost an essential talent.

However, players were not very good at it.

Even the player who called himself "Pick up trash 99 level" had never actually picked trash in reality, at most he had just taken the trash downstairs.

Watching these survivors building their shacks, Chu Guang found Zhao Shu and another survivor from outside Qingquan City, and issued each of them an NPC-specific VM, appointing them as foremen responsible for communicating with players.

If other survivors had any issues, they were to report to the players immediately, and in special cases, they could use the "Task System" to ask players for help.

However, the task rewards for different NPCs were fixed and could not arbitrarily throw money at the players.

This was similar to other MMORPG games.

Chu Guang set the highest reward tier for the foremen at 2 Silver Coins, which could only be issued once every 72 hours. The lowest tier was 5 Copper Coins, with a CD time of 24 hours.

If there were difficulties in life, such as a leaky shelter or need for fuel, they could release the lowest tier task. If somebody got sick or injured, they could use the highest reward tier to issue a task.

Of course, Chu Guang did not tell these NPCs the actual name and meaning of the "Task System"; he simply abstractly instructed them on how to cautiously use these features to seek reasonable help from those all-capable Blue Jackets.

Like other NPCs, every task they posted and every conversation they had with players was recorded in the VM.

Every once in a while, Chu Guang would have Luka come over, collect this data with the VM, bring it back to Outpost Base to archive, and audit the data with the aid of AI.

Just by reviewing this data, Chu Guang could easily keep track of what kind of interactions and communications had happened between the players and the indigenous people, and he could also conveniently check if these NPCs were issuing any tasks that were "inconsistent with their character and identity."

If so, Chu Guang would eradicate that "BUG."

"New rules always have some loopholes; it’s good that we have fewer people during the closed beta stage, and we can slowly find and fix these errors."

Watching the retreating figure, Chu Guang stroked his chin, pondering.

"... By the internal testing phase, we should have developed a relatively complete NPC-player interaction system."

Indeed.

I am indeed impressive!

After arranging everything here, Chu Guang walked away satisfied.

...

Wasteland time, 6 PM.

After logging off, Old White immediately went to the forum to start a thread.

"Extra, extra! Bull Horse Brick Factory officially opens tomorrow! There’s a grand opening discount campaign, all orders tomorrow get a 10% discount! Players who need to buy housing, what are you waiting for? Hurry and place your orders!"

Meanwhile, it was 6 AM in the real world.

Typically, forums are quiet at this time, but the official website for Wasteland OL was the opposite, usually busiest around this time.

Tomato and Egg Stir-fry: "How much can you produce per day?"

Old White: "Not much, not much, currently we can produce a thousand or two blocks per day, and we aim to reach ten thousand per day by the end of the month! (grinning teeth)"

Tomato and Egg Stir-fry: "Awesome!!"

Thunder Mage Professor Yang: "Boss, give me a ton!"

Wild Wind: "Our bricks aren’t sold by the ton, haha, they’re of fixed size and sold by the piece, 100 standard bricks for 1 Silver Coin."

Night Ten: "Bro Wind is a genuinely honest man, what nonsense are you talking with Professor Yang, he doesn’t even have closed beta qualifications. (joking)"

Grandpa Ao: "Laughable, 100 bricks for 1 Silver Coin? Could you please work out the math? Building a house would take at least a billion bricks, wouldn’t it? Not to mention, our two-story Western-style house used 500 million bricks, building one would cost millions of Silver Coins? I heard you guys get single-digit Silver Coins for a task? Haha, your game is really realistic."

Elena: "Big brother, is your home’s name the Forbidden City? And then you still need a ticket to return? (joking)"

Spare people under the knife: "Hahaha, just arguing a point, the Forbidden City didn’t use that much, only about eighty million bricks. But those types of bricks are indeed much larger."

Elena: "I was just kidding around. (joking)"

A toilet with an interior area of 2.5m*2m and a height of 3m, the wall area at most is 27 square meters. A wall of 18 cm uses 96 bricks, and 2600 bricks are more than enough.

Even if most players choose to combine resources and build bigger, taller row houses, the per capita wouldn’t exceed 5000 bricks.

bricks for 1 Silver Coin, a per capita cost of 50 Silver Coins, was quite reasonable.

Later on, as the demand for bricks increases, the price might go up, but any change is capped at 100%, unless the NPC in charge of prices adjusts the base value, otherwise, it could only rise to 2 Silver Coins.

After all, if it were any more expensive, everyone would start considering building with wood instead, which would be counterproductive.

Grandpa Ao was still the same, as unrestrained and unruly as his ID suggests, always showing off and then leaving without responding to anyone who mentioned him.

After all, he was everyone’s favorite character, so everyone simply continued smoothly with their previous topic.

Pick Up Trash 99 Level: "Boss Bai, I’m a newbie, can I have a tab since I have no money?"

Old White: "No can do, bro, we’re just workers too, with most of the shares held by the refuge community. But being broke is okay, welcome to come play at the brick factory, haha, we suddenly have a bunch of NPCs here, quite interesting."

Night Ten: "Indeed, if you hunt something and give it to them, they not only thank you but they will immediately set up a large pot to stew the game and then give you the best leg meat and the first bowl of broth. These NPCs act like living beings. Man, I’ve played so many games, but only this one makes player and NPC interaction the most comfortable and meticulous I’ve ever seen!"

Pick Up Trash 99 Level: "What the fuck? That’s sick! Wait, are your NPCs the ones we rescued from the Looters?"

Fang Chang: "Yes."

Construction Site Lad with Bricks: "Niubi! It all connects now!"

Escaped Mole of the Ravine: "I’m crying with envy! We are still running tasks for NPCs while you guys are already commanding them!"

Ward’s Foot Odor, Who is Levin: "This is so rigged! I don’t care, our steel factory needs NPCs too! If not, it’s unfair! (going crazy)"

WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Rigged! Goblin Technology also needs NPCs!"

Night Ten: "Yeah right, what do you want useless NPCs for, to use them as human bombs? I advise you to just be a good person."

Fang Chang: "Cough, it’s actually not as exaggerated as you think, most of these NPCs can’t interact much, they only say ’Thank you,’ ’Yes,’ ’As you command,’ and stuff about ’Brick burners.’ I’ve observed carefully, only NPCs wearing the VM devices can truly interact, the rest don’t seem that smart."

Escaped Mole of the Ravine: "Hmm, that’s what I thought, it’s more reasonable that way. If all NPCs could interact, the game servers would be incredible."

Right now, there are fewer people, just the Bull Horse Brick Factory.

Once more players join later on, even if the ratio of NPCs to players is 1:10, it would be enough to blow up the servers.

Wild Wind: "...I think the virtual reality technology alone is powerful enough."

Escaped Mole of the Ravine: "Let’s not talk about that for now. Have you guys tried interacting with the able NPCs yet? Triggered any special dialogues or hidden tasks?"

Fang Chang: "...Hidden tasks?"

Escaped Mole of the Ravine: "Yeah! Normally, those NPCs with a lot of script usually have hidden tasks, right? Isn’t that how it’s written in those virtual reality gaming novels? Haven’t you guys tried?"

After a long silence, Fang Chang replied with a post.

"...Well, I’ve tried it, but it doesn’t seem to trigger any tasks? They just make bricks, and the Manager’s task given to us is to have them repair the kilns."

Escaped Mole of the Ravine: "Ai, you guys lack imagination! In the MMORPG world, not to mention a foreman role, even a non-descript old hen at the entrance of Novice Village, if it clucks differently than the others, it could possibly be a hidden boss! Forget it, no use talking so much to you, I’ll go online later and try it myself."

Fang Chang: "...I’m warning you, don’t mess around and disrupt our brick factory’s production that would be a big problem!"

Escaped Mole of the Ravine: "Hehe, no worries, I’ll just chat a bit! Won’t touch your NPCs!"

Tail: "Oh, sounds fun, count Tail in!"

Si Si: "Oh, let’s go!"

...

Ever since that day the Looters threw Zhao Mouse into the dungeon, he had never thought that he would ever live to walk out of that dungeon.

Honestly, his life now felt like a dream.

Comfortable bedding, warm fire pits, abundant food, he only had to work 16 hours a day, and the rest of the time was his.

Moreover, those skilled Blue Jackets would occasionally bag some game to provide them with a savory treat.

To be honest, every time he received game from the hands of the residents of the refuge, Zhao Mouse felt unbelievably privileged.

He had seen how ruthless these people could be.

Even the Looters, before these residents, behaved as meek as chicks, not daring to breathe heavily. It was the first time Zhao Mouse saw such fearsome villains wear such scared expressions.

In his understanding, the Looters were at the top of the food chain.

"Hey, what’s your name?"

Hearing a resident of the refuge speak to him, Zhao Mouse immediately stopped in his tracks, expertly glanced at the VM on his left arm, and with imperfect pronunciation, said.

"Hello, my name is Zhao Mouse, I’m the foreman here, how can I assist you?"

These strange pinyins were what Old Luka had taught them some days ago. Learning each phonetic symbol wasn’t hard, but using them was a bit awkward.

Hearing him speak, the surrounding residents of the refuge immediately got excited.

"He can speak!"

"Indeed, he can interact!"

"Hey, can you shout ’Ollie gave it’ for me? Please?"

"Get lost! Don’t listen to him, buddy. Do you have any troubles you can’t talk about? Tell us, and we will definitely help you solve them!"

Zhao Shu looked bewildered.

His VM had no response; it neither told him what these people were saying nor how to answer them.

As requested by the Manager, he kept silent; yet these residents of the refuge wouldn’t stop bothering him, incessantly murmuring around him.

Zhao Shu started to panic.

He was worried that ignoring their behavior could provoke them and possibly bring about fatal consequences.

After all, this was an era where human life was cheaper than paper.

He didn’t believe his life was more precious than that of the people before him.

Just then, Zhao Shu suddenly remembered another phrase the Manager had told him before leaving.

If these residents of the refuge didn’t leave him alone, he was to press the grey circle button on the top right corner of the screen and read aloud the pinyin that appeared.

Without hesitation, Zhao Shu did exactly that.

Swallowing his saliva, he said with a stiff expression,

"My worker brothers are starved, we need a fish, can you help us?"

Upon hearing this, the players nearby instantly became excited, almost bursting into cheers.

"Wow, it worked!"

"The keyword is ’task’, huh? Hmm, next time try a different syntax to see if it can trigger a similar effect."

"The task requires a fish, right? Okay!"

"It showed up on my VM! I’ll take it—damn! Why is the reward only 5 bronze coins?"

"Maybe it’s a part of goodwill? Is 5 bronze coins a loss for a fish? Who here has sold fish?"

"Never mind, I’ll accept the task. Any fish will do, right? Let’s sneak one from the fisherman by the lake!"

"gogogo!"

Zhao Shu didn’t understand what his own words meant, nor did he understand the player’s response; however, not long after, he received a fish.

And it was not a small fish, being almost as long as an arm, its powerful tail ceaselessly slapping, splashing water everywhere.

Zhao Shu swallowed his saliva again.

This time out of craving.

Nevertheless, despite this, he did not forget the Manager’s teachings and quickly pressed the green check mark on the VM, reading out the words displayed on the screen.

"On behalf of my worker brothers, thank you all, have a pleasant day, generous sir, this fish has been a great help!"

"We have no more troubles needing your help, or perhaps you could come back tomorrow?"

Upon hearing this, the players around him walked away disappointed.

That evening,

Holding a bowl of steaming fish soup and eating with his coworkers, Zhao Shu pondered long and hard but couldn’t figure out exactly what he had said to make those in Blue Jackets so disappointed.

But he didn’t dare to ask more.

Those in Blue Jackets were all influential people.

The only one who could control them was the Manager, who always carried a hammer.

The Manager had expressly forbidden them from revealing any clues about the Task system or interacting about this matter with the residents of the refuge.

Zhao Shu wouldn’t dare disobey such orders, he swore he’d die before he let slip a single word.

Regardless, the fish soup was delicious; just a few pine nuts and a bit of salt cooked together made it incredibly tasty.

With this bowl of fish soup, everyone had more energy to work!

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.