This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 122: Mission: Liberate Bet Street

Chapter 122: Chapter 122: Mission: Liberate Bet Street

Sanatorium, 3rd floor.

Chu Guang’s face showed a satisfied smile as he watched the re-equipped Ox-Horse Squad, now with long weapons and hunter gear, ready to set off once again.

Good.

These young players were becoming more and more capable.

And it was thanks to their understanding that he was spared a great deal of effort, allowing Chu Guang to devote the micromanagement time to the planning that needed to be done.

Like playing a couple more games for inspiration.

"...Now that I think about it, the players from the Alpha 0.6 version should be coming online tomorrow."

The Outpost Base had an abundance of raw materials nearly bursting the stores, urgently needing lifestyle profession players to step up their game to catch up with the pace of combat professional players.

Especially the Devil Moth’s Cocoons, of which several small hills had been piled up beside the warehouse. Once the Ox-Horse Squad took down the first level of the Greenhouse Ruins, they’d probably have to pile up another mound next to it.

Even the baseline profit of 200 silver coins seemed a bit much.

But it didn’t matter, silver coins were just numbers to Chu Guang. With electronic accounts, he could dispense as many as he wished.

The key was to enrich the goods on the shop shelves, to increase the variety of items players could buy. Only then would the dispersed money have significance.

Otherwise, what use was it to credit a billion to your account in a dungeon loot?

Today you get a billion, tomorrow someone else gets twenty billion, and eventually, everyone’s happy to pay for potatoes with a dozen zeros?

By then, those little pufferfish who complain about low quest rewards would probably miss the good old days when a single sheep’s horn potato cost just a few copper coins.

Fortunately, even if such people were not sober, their planners were, and such events were very unlikely to happen.

To increase the production capacity of the Outpost Base, most of the 50 players recruited for the version update were drawn randomly from a pool labeled "lifestyle professions."

And how this label was applied naturally depended on the survey questionnaire they filled out when pre-ordering the game.

For instance, in answering the question "What is your favorite single-player game?" their answers frequently included titles like Stardew Valley, European Truck Simulator, RimWorld, Don’t Starve, The Sims, and other leisurely retirement games.

This meant that upon entering Wasteland OL, they would be more inclined towards lifestyle profession gameplay.

Such as production, transportation, farming, building houses, and so on.

I believe these creative-minded young players would be able to make something valuable out of those raw materials.

Indeed.

By the way, the users from version 0.4 were entirely different since Chu Guang pilfered them from the pool of Paradox Interactive users.

These players were not only experts in the manufacturing of seamless steel pipes but also had in-depth research into gunpowder formulas, cleared elderly populations with precision using disaster DLC in City Skylines, and made canned meat from alien flesh in Stars.

One could say they were all average war criminals.

"250 players are still not enough; there are 250 more cultivation chambers left."

"If only we could get more food."

After conquering the Blood Hand Clan’s base, the Outpost Base’s food reserves were theoretically enough for 300 people to last till the end of winter.

However, there’s a problem: the actual consumption of food often far exceeded expectations.

Were it not for the expensive condiments and limited cooking conditions, Chu Guang would bet that these players could eat five meals a day, each one until they were completely stuffed.

Plus, there were the nomads who had come to join them, as well as survivors working at the brick factory, so Chu Guang didn’t dare to make his plans too inflexible.

players were already tight; it was safer to have a food reserve at over twice the actual consumption.

"Speaking of which...maybe I should go to Brown Farm to ask for some benefits?"

Those looters’ warehouses showed that Brown Farm hadn’t been cheap with their protection money.

Anyway, I had solved such a big problem for the survivors of the North Suburb of Qingquan City once and for all. It wouldn’t be right not to get a thank-you gift, right?

Asking outright wouldn’t be good, as it’s not appropriate for civilized people to do a bandit’s work; we must find a way to make them offer willingly.

Chu Guang stroked his chin, beginning to scheme.

But just then, Xiao Qi, who had been squatting at the side playing with the drone, suddenly raised the camera.

"Master, we have visitors."

...

Outside the South Gate.

Braving the wind and snow, Yu Hu hurried toward the Outpost Base.

When he arrived at the south gate, he coincidentally saw Chu Guang standing at the entrance. His eyes instantly lit up, and waving the clenched fist holding an envelope, he yelled from a distance,

"Brother Chu!"

Watching Yu Hu, with a look of urgency, jogging over, Chu Guang asked,

"What’s the matter? You look so rushed."

Could something have happened at home?

Out of breath, hands on his knees, Yu Hu said,

"Charlie... I mean the old butler of the general store, he told me to bring you a letter!"

Truth be told, when Charlie handed him the letter and instructed him to bring it here, Yu Hu was scared to death—his heart almost stopped.

After all, there were rules on Bet Street, and private dealings with foreign commercial teams were forbidden. If discovered, one would face severe punishment!

So Yu Hu had always been very cautious, avoiding Old Charlie, but to his surprise, he was still found out!

Whether Brother Chu counted as an outsider was a separate question, what perplexed Yu Hu was that Old Charlie neither reprimanded him nor reported him to the mayor or the guards. Instead, he handed him this envelope marked with the Blood Handprint.

Yu Hu was illiterate and didn’t know what was written on the envelope, but seeing that Blood Handprint, he had an ominous premonition.

So without a moment’s hesitation, he took the letter from Bet Street and rushed over here to deliver it.

"Let’s go inside to talk."

Taking Yu Hu to the 1st-floor reception room of the sanatorium, Chu Guang casually lit the brazier and sat down in a chair next to it, opened the envelope with the Blood Handprint, and glanced through it.

There were two pieces of paper inside.

One was from the old mayor... oh no, it should be said from Old Leech.

It basically informed the looters of the Blood Hand Clan that there was a group of survivors at the Linghu Wetland Park. Skipping over the glorified reasons and respectful phrases, the full page of black and white text could be summarized in four words—borrowing a knife to kill.

The other piece was in Charlie’s handwriting.

And by the looks of the ink, it seemed it was written not long before.

""

"Dear Manager,

my name is Charlie, a survivor living on Bet Street.

I believe you have read the other letter in the envelope and must be furious about its content at this moment.

No offense intended, but I truly understand how you feel. In fact, I felt the same way when I heard that our respected town mayor was actually colluding with the Looters and trying to incite them to attack our neighbors; I could hardly believe my ears and eyes.

I tried to persuade him, telling him that it wasn’t a good choice, but to no avail. Despite my light words, he insisted on sending this letter to the Looters.

Such behavior has crossed the moral line—no matter the disagreement, I believe we can’t, or at least shouldn’t, let a group of thugs who don’t spit out the bones they pick clean arbitrate the matter.

We have had enough of the brute oppression; the people of Bet Street crave civilization! If you are willing, we are ready to make every effort to cooperate with your actions to drive that Vampire out of his castle! Every Hunter from Bet Street will be grateful for your favor!"

That’s rough.

Sending a knife for oneself to be stabbed with, huh?

A spark from the charcoal in the brazier floated up.

Chu Guang slightly lowered the two letters in his hand and looked at Yu Hu, who was sitting opposite him. After pondering for a moment, he said,

"Do you know what’s written in this letter from the old butler?"

Yu Hu was startled and shook his head.

"The old butler didn’t tell me... He just said it was something very important, concerning your safety."

Concerning our safety, huh.

Chu Guang smiled.

It was certain that Old Leech did not know the Blood Hand Clan was gone, or he wouldn’t have come up with such a foolish idea as delivering a letter to a dead clan.

This was quite understandable. Bet Street was far from that abandoned tire factory, and the Scavengers would not explore north along the city’s elevated roads unless absolutely necessary. The area was known to be unsafe—who would willingly approach the Looters’ lair?

Now, the only suspense left was how many truths were in the letter written by Old Charlie.

There were two possibilities.

One was that Old Charlie sent someone out with a letter first and upon finding out the Blood Hand Clan’s base had been taken out, then delivered the mayor’s letter here.

The other possibility, just as Old Charlie wrote in the letter, was that he decided to take a stand on the side of justice because the mayor’s actions crossed his bottom line, joining the survivors of Bet Street in resisting the mayor’s tyranny.

In fact, whichever version of the story you believed didn’t really matter; reasons were never important, and one could even fabricate them after everything was over.

Chu Guang’s mind stirred.

He suddenly had a brilliant idea.

Not only could he rightfully bring Bet Street into his sphere of influence, but he could also make the people from Brown Farm voluntarily present him with tributes.

"...Your mayor is really no good."

Yu Hu was taken aback by Chu Guang’s suddenly serious face. His own expression tensed.

"The m-mayor? But wasn’t the letter written by Old Charlie?"

"There are two letters inside: one written by Old Charlie, and the other... the original one stuffed in here, was personally written by your mayor to the Blood Hand Clan."

"To the Blood Hand Clan?!"

Yu Hu’s eyes widened, and his brain struggled to make sense of it.

He remembered Brother Chu mentioning that those Looters wouldn’t bother them anymore. Plus, he had seen Zhao Shu, who was kidnapped by the Looters, and heard that Yang Ergou was alive too.

Why would the mayor be writing to dead men?

And, there was correspondence between the mayor and those Looters?!

One bombshell after another.

Watching the confused Yu Hu, Chu Guang calmly continued,

"That’s right. And judging from the content of the letter, it seems your mayor was planning to incite the Looters of the Blood Hand Clan to come and plunder us."

"Incite the Looters to plunder you?! How dare he—"

Chu Guang nodded.

"In fact, after we overtook the Blood Hand Clan’s base, we indeed found some interesting things there. Various signs suggest that your mayor seems to have reached some secret pact with them. He wasn’t simply being extorted by the Looters; he was actively collaborating with them to harvest what should have been your property... Do you understand what I’m saying?"

After hearing what Chu Guang had to say, Yu Hu’s face was a picture of disbelief shocked.

There was no doubt left in his mind after the conversation had reached this point, even for someone with slower wits.

But what he couldn’t understand was, why would the mayor do this?

"I need to go back and tell the people in the town!"

Leaping to his feet from the chair, Yu Hu’s face was filled with rage, and his fists clenched tight.

"That bastard, he deceived us all!"

"Don’t act impulsively," Chu Guang stood up with him, "I’m glad you’re on my side, but you’re Little Fish’s brother, I can’t let you just throw your life away."

"...Throw my life away?"

"Do you think by going back and shouting, the other survivors of Bet Street will immediately believe what you say?"

Yu Hu’s face turned red, and he stiffly countered,

"I... I can persuade them!"

Chu Guang shook his head.

"Persuasion with words is meaningless; your mayor will convince them with guns."

Yu Hu, eager to argue, couldn’t articulate his point and hated that he was so tongue-tied.

Chu Guang wasn’t surprised by his reaction.

After all, if he had been a minutely meticulous person, Old Charlie wouldn’t have sent him with the letter in the first place.

"So I’m just supposed to watch him keep everyone in the dark!"

"Of course not."

Chu Guang placed his hand on Yu Hu’s shoulder, giving him a resolute look.

"This isn’t just about you; that old leech’s foolishness and shamelessness have gone beyond what we can tolerate."

"I’ll go with you!"

At the same time, every player carrying a VM near the Outpost Base received a mission popup simultaneously—

[Mission: Liberate Bet Street]

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