This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 120: The Feeling of Overnight Wealth

Chapter 120: Chapter 120: The Feeling of Overnight Wealth

When the hot topic on the official forum shifted from "Alpha0.61 version" to "how much silver did the Cow and Horse squads earn," a sneaky figure took advantage of the dusk, crossed the snow-covered streets, and arrived near the abandoned tire factory.

Gazing at the gate not far away, with an envelope tucked in his chest, Wang Biao swallowed his saliva as a bad premonition gradually rose in his heart.

"...Why is the gate open?"

It wasn’t just the gate being open.

The dark appearance looked as if it had been burned by fire.

No guards could be seen on the enclosing wall.

What Wang Biao found most unbelievable was that he had come all this way and hadn’t encountered a single patrol.

He swallowed his saliva again.

Brushing the snow off his collar, his hands trembling, Wang Biao pulled an envelope from his chest and held it high over his head. Like surrendering, he walked out from the shadows at the base of the wall and headed towards the gate.

"I, I come from Bet Street! Delivering a message for our town’s mayor!"

To be honest, Wang Biao was very reluctant to take on this job.

After all, this place was filled with folks who’d eat you without spitting out your bones.

If it weren’t for Old Charlie stressing repeatedly that the looters wouldn’t trouble him after seeing this envelope, and promising him a reward of five chips, he would never have taken on this dangerous job.

This was literally risking life for money!

With every step forward, Wang Biao felt his heartbeat skip a beat.

When he finally reached the entrance, just as he leaned forward, about to peek inside the half-open gate, a pair of antennae suddenly quivered through the crack, nearly hitting his nose.

"Shit!"

A mutant cockroach!

Seeing the cockroach, about the size of a wolfhound, poking its head through the gap, the already nervous Wang Biao got so scared his soul nearly flew away.

He threw the letter aside, and almost reflexively, pulled out the club tied to his waist and started smashing wildly.

Mutant cockroaches of the wasteland were not that terrifying, as long as you didn’t walk into a nest and get surrounded by a swarm. Even the weakest survivor could easily kill a few.

Two hits to the head—brain splashed!

Watching the cockroach turn belly-up on the ground, Wang Biao nervously squatted down, picked up the letter that had fallen in the chaos, fearing it’d get wet from the snow.

Then, he yelled into the door:

"Is, is anyone there?"

No response.

His adam’s apple moved, and Wang Biao, suppressing the nervousness and fear in his heart, carefully walked through the charred gate.

Indeed, the outpost was deserted.

The looters who should have been stationed here had vanished as if into thin air.

Only the severed limbs on wooden stakes and the bloodstains on the wall remained, indicating that they had once been there.

"Damn..."

It’s not like the looters were eaten by cockroaches, right?!

Part of Wang Biao’s heart was shocked, but more of it was joy.

Not a single survivor in the North suburb of Qingquan city didn’t hate and fear the looters from the Blood Hand Clan.

He didn’t dare stay a second longer.

Once he confirmed that there was no one inside, Wang Biao ran off.

Braving the wind and snow, he finally made it back to Bet Street, several kilometers away, before it got completely dark. Gasping for breath, he stood in front of Old Charlie with his hands bracing his knees.

Old Charlie frowned as he saw the letter crumpled in Wang Biao’s fist.

Before he could even ask, the breathless Wang Biao took a deep breath and said excitedly,

"Blood Hand! The looters at the tire factory! They’re gone!"

"What did you say?!" Charlie was startled, glancing around subconsciously. Seeing no one around, he immediately pulled the bewildered giant into the house.

After closing the door, Charlie stared intently and demanded, "Explain clearly, what do you mean by ’gone’?"

"The outpost! The whole outpost is empty! There’s not a soul!" Wang Biao’s face showed both shock and joy as he panted, "I took a peek inside, there was no one... The looters, it’s like they just disappeared!"

After hearing Wang Biao’s account, Charlie’s expression was a bit elusive.

People don’t just vanish.

The Blood Hand Clan wouldn’t just up and move either.

But this did sort of make sense.

Charlie pondered for a moment.

Counting out five dirty chips from a drawer, he flipped them in his hand, suddenly as if deciding something, and gently placed them on the table.

"Let’s leave it here, as if you have delivered it. These chips are the reward the mayor promised you, take them."

"Thank you, Old Butler!"

Setting the letter he was holding down, Wang Biao didn’t overthink it, happily grabbing the chips from the table.

Five chips!

That could be exchanged for a lot of good stuff!

Charlie gave him a look and silently folded the letter on the table, stuffing it into his pocket. He then spoke in an unhurried tone.

"Keep the Blood Hand Clan issue to yourself, you understand me?"

Hearing this, Wang Biao was startled and asked cautiously,

"Um, Old Butler, my head’s a bit slow, could you clarify a bit?"

He didn’t understand why the old butler was so serious.

The looters are gone...

Wasn’t that great news?

He couldn’t wait to bring this good news back home to share with his family.

But then again, why did the mayor write a letter to the looters in the first place?

He had never considered this before, but now he began to get curious about what exactly was written in that letter.

Looking at this clueless giant, Charlie sighed and patiently explained,

"I’m telling you to keep your mouth shut."

"You’ve already received the reward for delivering the letter. If the mayor finds out that the Blood Hand Clan people are gone and that this letter wasn’t actually delivered, you know what the consequences would be, right?"

Did that even need to be stressed?

He was resigned to the fact.

Finally understanding, Wang Biao’s heart trembled as he nervously nodded,

"Yes! You’re right, I won’t mention a word about the Blood Hand Clan. But, but what if the mayor finds out on his own?"

He was ecstatic when he first got the chips, but now that he thought about it, these chips felt kind of hot in his hand.

Just as the old butler said.

He hadn’t actually delivered the letter.

If the mayor knew he had deceived him, he would definitely flay him and hang him at the gate to feed the rats.

"Winter is a time when anything can happen," Old Charlie said carelessly, "as long as you do as I tell you, everything will be fine."

Even though he was full of confusion, Wang Biao still nodded stiffly.

"Alright... I’ll listen to you!"

It wasn’t so much out of trust for the old butler as it was a reluctance to give back the chips he held in his hands.

However, this meant that the good news the Blood Hand Clan once had could only be temporarily held back.

"Good to remember, you can leave now, there is nothing more for you to do here," Old Charlie waved his hand, signaling that he could go.

Wang Biao, holding the chips in his hand, walked to the door, just about to pull open the curtain to exit when suddenly he remembered something and hesitated, stopping in his tracks.

Old Charlie glanced at him.

"What is it now?"

Heh-heh, Wang Biao chuckled softly.

"That matter, about the kid from the Yu Family..."

"Get out."

After being inexplicably scolded, Wang Biao, though confused, didn’t dare talk back and silently slipped away.

Old Charlie sat in his chair, cursing under his breath, and massaged his temples.

To be honest, he was old. Seeing the world as it had become, he had no more ambitions in this life, and he never thought of pursuing "glory and riches." He just wanted to live out the second half of his life peacefully in a world that had fallen into dystopia.

But now, he no longer had a choice in the matter.

He pulled a wrinkled paper from the drawer and, after pondering for a moment, picked up a fountain pen and began to write on it.

"I hope my judgment is correct."

Though, in his life, he hadn’t been right many times...

...

It was deep into the night.

As the last batch of supplies arrived at the storage of the Outpost Base, Chu Guang had finished counting the treasure unearthed by the cattle team right before ten in the evening.

First were the metal materials, the most stored in that shelter were clearly labeled steel ingots, totaling 2200 kilograms.

These steel ingots were coated with a gel-like antioxidant layer that physically isolated them from oxygen and moisture, thus, even after two centuries, they were well preserved.

Besides that, there were 1000 kilograms of aluminum ingots, 1000 kilograms of lead ingots, 1000 kilograms of copper ingots, 500 kilograms of chromium, tungsten ingots, etc., as well as 5 kilograms of gold and 10 kilograms of silver.

These quantities were nearly double of what was bought from the merchants in Red River Town!

And it wasn’t just metal materials—some non-metal materials had pleasantly surprised Chu Guang as well.

These included 200 kilograms of fiberglass, 200 kilograms of graphite, 200 kilograms of oxidation-resistant synthetic rubber, 20 one-liter bottles of hydraulic oil, 30 300ml bottles of lubricant, 50 bottles of special adhesive, along with a few other consumable materials.

Of course, what surprised Chu Guang the most was that workbench.

If Xia Yan’s DIY workbench could barely count as Black Iron Rank, then this workbench was at least at a Platinum Level.

It might even barely reach Diamond!

Other than that, the fact that the two-century-old cutting tools and various devices did not oxidize or deform, and the newly-looking guide rails and replaceable modules, was enough to demonstrate how impressive this piece of equipment was.

The entire workbench did not show a speck of rust.

At least, that was how it looked from the outside.

"...The motor won’t start, probably an issue with the circuit, perhaps a part inside has aged. But it’s no big problem, a little fixing should make it workable."

Inside the weapon shop.

Having studied this brand-new workbench for a while, Xia Yan closed the electrical box on the side of the workbench and curiously asked Chu Guang, who was standing by.

"Where did you get such great stuff?"

Chu Guang’s face bore a brilliant and sunny smile.

"Where it comes from isn’t important. What’s important is that I have a group of hardworking and brave little players. With them, I can always get my hands on some good stuff."

The boastful tone made Xia Yan involuntarily bow her head to further examine the device in front of her.

It wasn’t because she was particularly diligent.

She simply didn’t want to let her dear boss see her eye-rolling gesture.

"If I could fix this workbench, the bullet production speed would probably be much faster. Plus, this workbench is pretty versatile; besides the cutting tools, it even has punching modules and drill bits ... Speaking of which, what is this drill bit made of? Why does it feel harder than diamond? Hmm, with this thing, processing a few seamless steel tubes shouldn’t be a big problem."

When Chu Guang heard the words "seamless steel tubes," his mind stirred, and he immediately asked,

"So does that mean we can make guns?"

The technical stuff was beyond him, but he had heard from players that the main reason the No. 81 Steel Factory couldn’t produce guns was their inability to manage seamless steel tubes.

If they could produce that, at least half of the problem would be solved.

Hearing Chu Guang’s question, Xia Yan naturally replied,

"Although it’s not as simple as you think, with the right tools, it’s not too difficult. Let me put it this way, if we heat the steel ingots to form steel rods, we get the gun barrel blanks. Then we just need to drill and rifle the bore, and that pretty much completes a gun barrel."

"The challenging parts are the drilling and rifling. As for the earlier stages... if we have the raw materials, making the gun barrel blanks isn’t that hard. I think your steel plant should be able to handle it."

Chu Guang looked at Xia Yan somewhat surprised.

Seems like this guy has some skills.

Just a bit lazy.

"I’ll find someone to manage the gun barrel blanks. What about the receiver parts? Can you make those?"

"That’s easy. Wait till I fix this workbench and show you—it’ll just take a couple of days... If it goes well," Xia Yan said, yawning involuntarily, looking at Chu Guang to propose, "You see, it’s too dark to fix anything... can I head back now? I have to get up early tomorrow."

"You go ahead."

"What about you? Aren’t you going back?"

Chu Guang glanced at the time on his VM and replied casually,

"I still have some things to take care of. I should be done before midnight."

"Midnight? Alright, then I won’t wait for you."

After extinguishing the lantern on the table, Xia Yan closed the door of the weapon shop, tucked his crutch under his arm, and walked towards the hospital.

Chu Guang didn’t linger here but returned to the storage area, watching Old Luka and two storekeepers sort and store the materials.

This batch of supplies should keep the Outpost Base going for a while.

Even if his lifestyle players were wasteful, letting them squander until next spring shouldn’t pose a big problem!

With the inventory checked and this windfall thoroughly delighting Chu Guang, it was now time to let his little players have some fun too.

"The earnings from the instance... let me think."

Purely in terms of value, this batch was worth at least 2000 silver coins or more. But considering game balance, anything above 1000 silver coins would be disruptive.

The Ox-Horse squad had found and cleared the entire instance in just four days. If the total earnings were 1000 silver coins, it meant their average daily per person income was 62.5 silver coins.

Emmm...

Okay, that’s not too outrageous.

Equipment wear and tear, spent ammunition and supplies... These all have costs, and it seems they even picked up a random player along the way.

So it’s actually five people sharing?

After wrestling for five minutes between actual value and balance, Chu Guang finally arrived at a reasonable figure—1500 silver coins!

As for how they divided the money internally,

Chu Guang really couldn’t be bothered with that.

Let them handle it.

These silver coins would keep them happy for a while.

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