This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 140: Salute to You, the Residents of Shelter No. 404

Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Salute to You, the Residents of Shelter No. 404

Luo Hua and Ais continued building the barracks, but the players gathered around were getting impatient, whispering hurriedly to each other.

"Damn, these NPCs move so slowly!"

"Exactly! It’s like they’re dragging their feet just to put up a simple shelter."

"Can’t they just set up a table and get the work done first? They’re so inflexible!"

"How much longer before these NPCs start working? Can’t we get a progress bar or something? I’m wondering if I should go chop a couple of trees in the meantime."

"Too slow! I can’t take it anymore, I’m opening up the New Map, I wanna go work there!"

If Luo Hua and Ais knew that the residents of the shelter were complaining about their efficiency, it’s hard to guess what expressions they would show.

Happy?

After all, people were eager to get to work.

Speechless?

There was a reason for that too; nobody likes to be rushed.

But the two of them couldn’t understand.

Just as the players around couldn’t understand what that NPC named Luo Hua was incessantly muttering about.

"What’s with these Blue Jackets? Have they got nothing better to do than to hang around and look busy? If they’re so free, they might as well come and give us a hand."

Ais: "..."

Luo Hua: "Speaking of which, what are we eating for lunch?"

Ais: "Freeze-dried food."

Luo Hua: "Ah, figured as much. Just the thought of those folks sitting in an air-conditioned room sipping on hot cocoa and playing poker, while I’m here yapping with a bunch of Blue Jackets, makes me question, is this fair? I’d rather not have that daily allowance of 50 CR! I mean, what good is money in this godforsaken place? The locals don’t even want this useless paper, how many times has it been now?"

Ais: "..."

Perhaps realizing he was getting a bit too annoying, Luo Hua sighed.

"Alright... I admit I talk too much, let’s just get back to work."

Ais: "Agreed."

They had to get the barracks up before any snowfall.

From the boxes Ais had brought earlier, they took out folding brackets, and with meticulous care, Luo Hua used an angle finder to mark four points on the ground. He inserted the brackets securely, then wrapped plastic cloth around to form four walls.

Thus, the framework of a model house was set up.

Of course, that wasn’t the end.

Luo Hua continued by using a marker and ruler to outline doors and windows on the plastic film, while Ais held a metal can with a nozzle, spritzing out a gray foam onto the transparent plastic film.

The foam was light, highly adhesive, with a fine and uniform texture that was invisible to the naked eye, and it had a matte finish on its surface.

Luo Hua took out a folding shovel-knife and expertly spread the foam sprayed on the plastic film evenly.

The whole process looked as easy as spreading cream on cling wrap.

The light gray foam quickly smeared over the plastic film, and once it solidified completely, the foam darkened in color, transforming into a wall that looked pretty much like concrete.

Of course, it only looked like it.

Touching it, one could tell the difference between polymer and silicate materials.

Spare people under the knife, standing by, was staring wide-eyed, constantly babbling.

"Holy shit, what’s this material? Polyurethane? Doesn’t seem like it... Directly spraying it on the plastic film? Can this thing really pass as an exterior wall?"

Night Ten said with a cheeky grin, "Use your imagination, we’re set in the future, is it so strange to build houses with foam?"

Spare people under the knife brooded for a while, eventually convincing himself.

"You’re right, after all, it’s a game."

As a game setting, it wasn’t unacceptable.

The first foam wall was quickly completed, and the second wall was made by the same token. When the two NPCs had finished the second wall’s construction, the first wall had already dried completely.

In less than 30 minutes, a temporary camp that was windproof, waterproof, and insulated was ready.

Although its shelf life was less than a year and its quality couldn’t compare to the reliability of proper "silicate material," it was more than enough for a temporary facility!

Chu Guang, watching from the third floor of the sanatorium, was green with envy.

These guys have so many good things.

I’ve got to find a way to get some...

At that moment, Old Luka, who had just returned from outside, approached the visitors who had come from afar and handed a VM to Luo Hua.

Luo Hua looked at the old man strangely and did not reach out to take it.

"We don’t carry that thing."

Old Luka said respectfully.

"This is something Manager has instructed me to give you. It can help you conduct some basic communication with the residents of the shelter."

Only then did Luo Hua remember the language barrier, and he no longer declined, taking the VM from Luka’s hand.

"Alright, thank you."

Luka nodded slightly.

"Don’t mention it."

...

After the camp was set up, two signs, one large and one small, were erected at the entrance, with the characters for ["Pioneer" Stationed at Outpost 404 Office] and [Volunteer Registration Office] respectively written in Chinese.

That’s right.

Chu Guang wrote these words, and they looked quite neat.

At the same time, almost all the players nearby the Outpost Base received a message on their VMs, and players without VMs heard the broadcast echoing throughout the base.

[Server Announcement: Quartermaster NPC now online! New building added to Outpost Base—"Pioneer" Stationed at Outpost 404 Office!]

[Quartermaster Luo Hua: Greetings, residents of Shelter No. 404! I am the Quartermaster from the "Pioneer," and our land fortress has run into a bit of trouble. This may be a bit presumptuous to ask, but we need your help!]

[Tip 1: The Quartermaster from the Pioneer seems to have some trouble. An exclamation mark has appeared on the map. Why not go and have a chat with him?]

[Tip 2: VM character page now updated with exclusive event score for the expansion pack. Head to the new area to complete tasks and earn event points! Characters without VMs can check their scores with NPC Luka or Manager Assistant Xiao Qi, or after logging out, view them on the official website!]

A ring of people had formed at the entrance of the camp.

Almost the instant the announcement went out, players ran so fast they nearly knocked over the tables at the entrance.

"Me, me, me! Tail wants to sign up!"

"Pick me! I’m a Strength Type! I’m super good at hauling bricks!"

"Damn! Are your muscles just for hauling bricks? Stop pushing; I’m going to die here!"

"How can we squeeze in?" Crow, unable to push her way through, was stomping her feet in frustration on the edge of the crowd. She stood on tiptoes to look inside, and just one glance left her completely despondent.

The collision volume in this game is so annoying!

It would be great if we could just pass through other players like in other MMORPGs.

"Just give up," Teng Teng sighed after glancing at her and looked skyward, "This feels like a popular milk tea shop suddenly opening downstairs—I never manage to line up for it anyway, so I might as well wait for them to cool down before trying."

Crow suddenly snapped back to reality.

"That makes sense... anyway, it rotates every three days; we can wait for the first batch of players’ strategies."

Teng Teng nodded in agreement.

"Right?"

Unbelievably, the residents here were so enthusiastic that Luo Hua was somewhat caught off guard with the registration list.

Standing beside him, Ais was also stunned.

In the crowd, she actually saw a bear?

And it was a white bear.

"...Why is there a bear?"

The sweaty Luo Hua had no time to worry about such things, frantically taking photos with the tablet for registration and clumsily handing out numbered work ID bands.

"Who knows, maybe it’s their pet... Come help me!"

Ais: "..."

It was her first time seeing such an obedient bear, looking all fluffy.

Hmm.

Kind of wanted to pet it.

The entrance of the office was in chaos.

Fortunately, the Manager had anticipated this situation and sent an assistant to help complete the registration work.

After finishing the personnel registration,

Luo Hua set up a big pot and antenna over the barracks, and after brief tuning, finally received the communication signal from the "Pioneer."

The voice of a colleague from logistics came through the radio.

"...How’s the situation on your side?"

Luo Hua, "Extremely smooth, so smooth it’s beyond my imagination! These Blue Jackets are too enthusiastic; as soon as we opened the office, they swarmed up... To be honest, I’m quite touched. I didn’t expect such a kind group of people to live in the distant Inland Area!"

There was a moment of silence on the communication channel.

Li De cleared his throat and continued speaking.

"...It is quite surprising."

Luo Hua, "Let’s not talk about my side for now. How much longer before you arrive? They look like they can hardly wait."

Li De, "We’re almost there; our captain is just 2 kilometers away from you guys."

Luo Hua, "Captain?"

Li De, "Yes, he’s leading the team personally, escorting our reinforcements."

...

Leaning on the doorway of the weapon shop, chewing on a wilted foxtail, Xia Yan watched the bustling scene at the office entrance from a distance.

Today, no players were bothering her; they’d all gone to queue up at the new "NPC."

Working here for so long, she’d come to accept her status as an "NPC."

However, sometimes she was baffled by this identity because Chu Guang always emphasized the difference between NPCs and players, yet pointed out that NPCs rarely refer to themselves as NPCs, just as players rarely call themselves players.

So what was the meaning of this identity, after all?

This role-playing was truly weird.

At that moment, Chu Guang, carrying a long spindle-shaped weapon, approached her.

"I need you to make something for me; here’s a sample. Use tungsten steel or other metals with a higher melting point if possible, and replicate it at a one-to-one scale."

"Okay, I’ll check it out for you in a bit."

Taking the strangely shaped shuttle in hand, Xia Yan curiously glanced at Chu Guang’s exoskeleton and asked, "Where did you get this exoskeleton?"

Seeing someone finally noticing the difference from yesterday, a smile appeared on Chu Guang’s face.

"Looks cool, right?"

"Not bad," Xia Yan couldn’t hold back an internal eye roll at this guy’s smugness, "So where exactly did you get it?"

"Picked it up."

Xia Yan: "..."

Chu Guang said with a smile, "Just kidding, found it in the shelter."

Xia Yan said helplessly, "I was just asking casually, if it’s not convenient for you to answer, just forget it. Speaking of which, how did you end up dealing with corporate people?"

"They came yesterday and even helped us deal with the mutants on Street No.76... Is there a problem?"

Noticing Xia Yan’s peculiar expression, Chu Guang couldn’t help but send an inquiring look her way.

"No, it just seems a bit unbelievable," Xia Yan said, looking at the two people not too far away with a meaningful expression. "A long, long time ago, the corporate expeditionary force came to Qingquan City."

"The expeditionary force?"

"Yeah, but that’s ancient history. Plus, I hear the ’corporation’ is huge with divisions as numerous as cow hairs, mostly gathered around the East Coast. I’ve heard they weren’t originally called ’corporation,’ but since they changed names so often, people just started calling them that. Later, they must have gotten used to it, or maybe they felt that name had the most clout, and they started calling themselves ’corporation.’"

Chu Guang looked at her in surprise.

"You know about this?"

Xia Yan replied nonchalantly, "It’s hardly a secret, though the stuff about the expeditionary army is pretty outdated; I wasn’t even born yet."

Chu Guang: "Then do you know what they came for?"

"What else could it be? It’s an expeditionary army, so obviously they were here to fight, right?" Xia Yan glanced at him oddly, "Anyway, all I know is they eventually lost. After that, you could hardly see any of their people in Qingquan City, though their commercial teams would often come to trade."

It seemed Qingquan City’s residents were quite tough.

But thinking about it, it made sense, with thousands of kilometers in straight distance and tens of thousands of kilometers of supply lines, it would be a wonder if they hadn’t lost.

Hearing some interesting intelligence, Chu Guang nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, we’ll chat more when I get back. I’m planning a trip out. If you need something, contact Xiao Qi, it can find me."

Xia Yan: "Where are you planning to go? That fortress thing?"

"What for?" Chu Guang glanced at the map on his VM and set a coordinate, "There’s a signal tower on Street No. 76, which, if I’m lucky, should be near the mutants’ nest. I plan to go there to see if I can fix it."

With Luka looking after the ’Pioneer’ back home, Chu Guang didn’t need to go there himself. His players were his eyes, and whatever they saw, they would naturally share on the forum.

The priority now was to repair the signal tower.

Once the signal tower was fixed, the communication range of Shelter No. 404 could at least cover the entire North Suburb of Qingquan City, and the range of the drones’ activities would also be greatly expanded.

Then, whether it was to assign missions to players or to peek at his little players, it would all be much more convenient than now.

"Better be careful, why not take a couple of people to accompany you?"

This was definitely not out of concern; Xia Yan was purely worried about losing her meal ticket.

Even her disappeared old dad had never taken such good care of her. Whether or not he was a devil no longer mattered; she now thought that devils were pretty good too.

"That’s a good point."

Chu Guang thought about it and felt there was merit to the suggestion.

However, the players’ interests were all focused on the expansion pack right now; they probably weren’t too interested in ordinary missions.

But Chu Guang wasn’t worried; it was just a matter of waiting a little while.

Currently, there were 250 players on the server, and his contract with Captain Lu Yang only promised to dispatch two hundred laborers. This meant that, no matter what, in a little while, there would definitely be fifty little players left without qualifications, beating their chests and wallowing in despair.

As a manager with high emotional intelligence, Chu Guang felt it was his duty to comfort those with wounded hearts.

Hmm.

When the time came, he would pick a couple of high-quality Cannon Fodders to go for a stroll near the mutants’ nest.

-

(The next Chapter will be updated before 11 o’clock! I’d like to be on time too, but it’s tough for someone with clumsy hands.)

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