This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 141: Why Can’t Our Kitchen Make Some Mortal World Food?

Chapter 141: Chapter 141: Why Can’t Our Kitchen Make Some Mortal World Food?

[Mission: Head to the Action Camp]

[Introduction: Heartfelt thanks to all of you, volunteers from Outpost No. 404! The reinforcement escorting you to the Action Camp has arrived at the North Gate of Wetland Park, and we have prepared a warm barracks for you ten kilometers away. Please follow us now!]

[Requirement: Follow the staff of "Pioneer" to reach the Action Camp and trigger the subsequent missions.]

[Reward: 10 Activity Points]

Frontline Base North entrance.

Fully equipped players had assembled, looking not at all like laborers heading to a construction site but more like people on a picnic.

Players who hadn’t qualified looked on enviously, especially when they heard about the 10 points awaiting at the destination, nearly crying out of jealousy and resentment!

"Ten points just for opening a map, is that reasonable?"

"The expansion just started, and they are already forcefully widening the gap, is that reasonable?"

"It’s unreasonable! Totally unreasonable!"

"Calling the Game Planner Daddy!"

However, it was all to no avail.

The majority were lined up; the minority were not.

Standing in the team of the lucky ones, Fang Chang chuckled and said, "Don’t panic, brothers. We’ll scout ahead for you! I’ll update any good finds on the forum right away! That way, you won’t have to cross the river by feeling the stones!"

Hearing this, the players who didn’t make the lineup started complaining.

"Damn! Aren’t you ashamed? You’ve hogged all the good stuff! And what about your dungeon run? You’ve only got seven days of priority exploration!"

Fang Chang smirked: "Why bother with dungeons? New maps smell better! Why don’t you take over and run it for three days for me?"

"Get lost!"

In the distance, a dark power armor appeared through the snow-covered forest, heading towards the North Gate of the Outpost Base.

Reaching outside the North Gate Market, Chu Guang shook hands with Captain Lu Yang, smiling after a brief shake.

"I entrust my residents to you."

Captain Lu Yang, with a serious and solemn face, promised earnestly.

"I swear on my honor and credit score, I will ensure the safety of each and every one of them!"

What Chu Guang actually wanted to say was that it wasn’t necessary to take it so seriously—if someone accidentally died, it wouldn’t be a big deal; just provide them with compensation.

Not much.

1000CR would suffice.

But what exactly is a credit score?

At that moment, the young players around noticed that their manager’s shabby armor was gone, replaced by an expensive-looking exoskeleton. A hammer still hung on his back, but next to it was a stylishly shaped rifle.

It was an overload of elements, but it was so Wasteland!

Of course, what surprised them most was that their manager had changed his equipment again!

"Holy moly! Look at the manager’s exoskeleton!"

"Eh? When did he change his gear?!"

"Man, this is like going from ’Radiation 2077’ to ’Cyber 2077’!"

"Look at you all, acting like you’ve never seen the world. Didn’t Brother Mole analyze it on the forum before? The NPCs in this game grow stronger with players’ actions! Logically analyzing, it’s definitely because of our task efforts that made the manager upgrade!"

"That’s realism for you in this game!"

"Guys, let’s push harder, try to get the manager into power armor!"

"Let’s go for it!"

As the captain and manager talked, standing beside them and waiting to send them off, Luo Hua looked at the unresponsive VM and lamented.

"This translation function is so unreliable sometimes."

Ais: "..."

Luo Hua: "Hey, what do you think they are all talking about?"

Ais: "..."

Luo Hua: "You’re not curious at all? Okay, never mind... I’ll go make some hot water, we can soak the freeze-dried food soon."

Ais: "I want the corn one."

Luo Hua: "..."

After sending off Captain Lu Yang and the players, Chu Guang waved at their departing figures, then suddenly noticed Luo Hua nearby, who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

This guy was clearly the type who couldn’t keep secrets.

A thought suddenly struck Chu Guang, bringing him an idea.

However, it was still too early to eat. He had things to do later, and he decided it was best to discuss dinner when he returned in the evening.

...

Marching across the wilderness, a ten-kilometer journey took about 200 minutes, which was slightly easier to traverse compared to the city streets.

To clear the snow for the residents of Shelter No. 404, when Lu Yang arrived, he had brought an off-road vehicle with a snowplow attached to the front bumper, leading the way to clear the snow from the road.

The morale of these shelter residents was considerably high, and their physical condition was strong. Initially, Lu Yang was worried they might get tired, but he soon found his concerns were entirely unnecessary.

A journey that should have taken 200 minutes was completed in only two hours.

Before ten in the morning, the group arrived near the "Pioneer" model mobile fortress.

Looking at the four interconnected steel fortresses, resembling mountains, many players showed faces filled with surprise and even excitement.

The broad and massive body sat on the plain, its majestic tracks followed by trenches stretching towards the horizon, endless at first glance.

Whether it was vegetation, towering trees, shattered highways, or abandoned rural houses, everything became rubble beneath its feet.

There were no roads ahead of it.

Where it walked, the road was made.

Looking up at the grand fortress, "Spare people under the knife," like other players around, also craned his neck and widened his eyes.

In the face of such a monumental engineering marvel, he felt like a minuscule primitive man gazing at an unheard-of wonder.

Although people kept reminding him that it was just a game, the immersive shock was absolutely genuine.

After a long pause, he managed to squeeze out two words,

"Holy..."

It was overwhelming!

Standing not far beside him, Night Ten also raised his head and said, "Holy." However, the shock he felt was entirely different in meaning from what "Spare people under the knife" experienced.

"... This expansion pack is so damn conscientious!"

It’s rare for a game to bring out the good stuff in a beta phase.

Players continued to advance with the NPC.

When they reached the campsite next to the "Pioneer," they saw the huge mobile fortress unfold a structure like a gantry crane, using a mechanical arm to detach a container-like module from itself and placing it about five meters from the steel platform on the open ground.

Dust billowed.

Workers dressed in gray coats approached, pulled out a thick pipeline from the side of the fortress platform, and connected it to the newly deployed module on the ground, then proceeded to input parameters on the touch screen.

Electrical input.

The device started operating, buzzing sounds were heard, but it was uncertain what was being produced inside.

Following Old Luka, two survivors acting as assistants widened their eyes, exchanging looks of astonishment.

"What is that?"

"A production workshop," Captain Lu Yang, who happened to hear their conversation, smiled and said, "That should be a carbon dioxide trap, producing starch and glucose. Later, we will deploy one that produces long-chain alkanes and alkenes. The last one to be put down is for alloy smelting and a machining production workshop."

"But there’s no rush on this; we can continue deploying after your people are rested and have set off!"

Deploying such modular production workshops kicked up a lot of dust, so they tried to choose times when there were fewer people around the campsite to construct.

Two locals looked at each other, utterly confused, not understanding what this man, dressed like an armored can, was talking about, nor why it was necessary to wait for them to depart before continuing with the deployment.

Old Luka only understood a bit, but only the latter part.

As for carbon dioxide traps, long-chain alkanes, alkenes...

He assumed those were just some complicated types of trash.

...

The players’ action camp was adjacent to the mobile fortress, less than a hundred meters away.

All the camp’s buildings were constructed using thermally activated polymers "sprayed" out, so the construction was completed in just one night.

From afar, these buildings looked like concrete, felt like plastic to the touch, albeit lightweight, they were quite sturdy, highly insulating, and soundproofed.

There were five rows of camp buildings, resembling those movable panel houses typically seen on construction sites, structured into two floors, with 22 single rooms on each floor, dimensions of 3×4 meters, comfortably housing a single bed and a folding table, slightly more spacious than the rooms at the shelter.

In addition, in the center of the camp, there was a gender-segregated public bathhouse and toilet, with the second floor housing water tanks.

Including the common areas, the entire campsite covered an area of 15 acres, comparable to a 400-meter track field, with a reasonable volume ratio, even appearing a bit more spacious than the players’ Outpost Base.

Two quad-rotor drones and two remote-controlled all-terrain track vehicles patrolled the periphery of the camp, responsible for eliminating approaching Eaters or other threats.

Meeting Li De at the door of the camp building, Lu Yang wore a slightly constrained expression, but, thinking of representing the Manager, he straightened his back.

"Good day, sir. I’m Luca, from Shelter No. 404, conveying the sincerest greetings on behalf of my master. During our cooperation, I will be responsible for communications between you and the residents of the shelter, and you can relay any needs through me."

Although referring to someone as "master" was somewhat unusual in the context of the shelter, Li De didn’t comment on it.

Slave labor wasn’t unheard of on the East Coast; some corporate junior employees were nominally employed but hardly different from slaves, quickly removed from employee dormitories if they didn’t work, and being removed usually meant death.

Of course, the benefits for the mid-level employees were still good, and it goes without saying that his level was even better.

To prepare this First Pioneer Corps, the Silver Wing Group had spent a lot of money. Their living standards were almost the same as when they were on the East Coast, even better, in fact.

The only downside was that it was far from home.

Looking at Old Luka, Li De nodded his head.

"I have already learned about the situation from the liaison," he said, "and the next work arrangements will be coordinated with you by my colleague."

As he spoke, the man standing next to Li De connected with a smile and extended his right hand.

"Hello, my name is Vite! I’m looking forward to working with you!"

Old Luka quickly shook his hand.

"Hello! My name is Luka..."

"I heard just now. Relax a bit, I also came from the shelter, though it’s been some years. You can think of this place as your own home, and if you have any problems, you can contact me," Vite said with a squeeze of his eyebrows, looking like a humorous person.

"That’s fine, I’ll leave this place to you then. I need to hurry our engineers."

Li De patted Vite’s shoulder, nodded again toward Old Luka, and then left with Captain Lu Yang, who was beside him.

Old Luka looked a bit reserved.

He wanted to say that although he was wearing the VM, he was actually not from the shelter, but it seemed somewhat superfluous to say so.

Vite, however, didn’t mind and deftly took out a folding computer from his pocket, pulled out the flexible screen in the middle, and began to transfer the newly completed Action Camp to him.

"To cut a long story short, this action camp is now yours. During the cooperation period, we will be responsible for your safety, and our water truck will deliver water to you for free. Inside the camp, there are water pipes connected to the camp’s central boiler facility, which is very efficient. Just boil the water; the residual heat can also be used to heat the water for bathing. However, we only deliver water, as for burning wood or coal to boil it, that you’ll need to figure out for yourselves."

"But this can also be solved easily, there’s no shortage of wood around here. If you walk westward, there’s even a forest. But I’d recommend you still try to gather from the east. Our fortress flattened many trees on the way here earlier. You can recycle those."

"Also, concerning today’s work. Our scouts found an underground garage in the community hospital of the northern abandoned town, containing about 2000 vehicles with high recycling value. We need to dismantle their frames, doors, hubs, hood, and suspension... in short, all the recyclable metal."

"Our marines have cleared the Variants there, so your job is to use the equipment we provided to cut and dismantle the recyclable parts of the vehicles and then compress these dismantled parts into blocks using a compactor, to be loaded onto our transport."

"Due to terrain limits, our transport vehicles can’t reach deep into the city as the roads are too bad—you will see when you get there. In short, it’s about 800 meters from the community hospital to the resource spot, and you’ll likely need to use handcarts for this stretch."

"That’s all for work matters. I’ll notify you if there are new arrangements. It’s now ten fifteen; you can start settling your people in. We leave on time at twelve noon and gather back here at six in the evening. There won’t be time for meals in-between, so you better prepare some dry food."

"If you need to purchase supplies, you can list them for me. You have a budget of 600 CR now, and today’s compensation will be settled at midnight."

Luka nodded.

"No problem."

...

The players quickly allotted the rooms.

After the cooking utensils were delivered, Luka immediately issued a mission via VM, recruiting a few players with domestic skills, and set up a large pot in the middle of the camp to start cooking.

Just then, the water truck responsible for delivering water arrived, using a pressure pump and hose to fill the central water tank of the camp.

While filling the water tank, two logistics drivers took two buckets of freeze-dried food from the truck, pouring boiling water into them.

This type of food was convenient, edible with just the addition of boiling water, containing carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins, ensuring it was sanitary, nutritious, and available in five flavors.

Generally, if they had work in the afternoon and were too lazy to take the elevator back inside the fortress, they’d make do with these meals.

Actually, they had heard before that the logistics department had intended to deploy a mobile kitchen on the ground, but the residents of the refuge had refused, suggesting they’d rather be given money directly.

The drivers couldn’t understand what those Blue Jackets were thinking!

Eventually, hearing that the allies wanted to cook for themselves, their frugal superior canceled the plan to deploy the mobile kitchen.

After all, most of the time, their personnel ate inside the fortress, with only rare instances of coming out on duty.

To set up a big contraption just to cook lunch for a few seemed hardly worth it; better to distribute some money instead.

Leaning against the door of the water truck.

The two drivers watched the residents of the refuge setting up the big pot to cook, waiting for the freeze-dried food to rehydrate, idly chatting together.

"What are they doing?"

"Looks like they’re peeling potatoes? Is that a potato?"

"I heard they call it a ’Horn Potato,’ probably a variant of the potato... Look, they’ve started boiling water."

"Using firewood for cooking? That’s pretty primitive, at least use an electric stove. But then again, why don’t they throw the potatoes directly into the pot, instead of putting them on top of it?"

"Maybe they want to steam the potatoes with the steam... I’m suddenly curious, does food prepared this way taste good?"

The two suddenly looked at each other and said in unison.

"I’ll go and trade with them."

...

A long queue formed at the camp.

The tomato and egg stir-fry cook, standing in front of the pot, called out loudly.

"One for each person, everybody gets one, no cutting in line, no panicking! We’re all Exalted players who got to experience the expansion pack first! Let’s not become a joke for the sand sculptures on the forum, haha."

Finally, it was Mosquito’s turn as he held the lunch box in his hands, his face streaming with tears of joy.

"I’ve missed this so much! It’s been ages since I’ve had a pot of scrambled eggs and tomatoes!"

Night Ten, who just got his own portion, also sighed.

"Yeah, +1 on the nostalgia. When did our esteemed Manager stop providing food again?"

Mosquito, holding his lunch box, said,

"I remember! After version Alpha0.3 introduced the money system, you had to pay for food! Ah, the nostalgia. Back then nobody knew how to cook, we just bought potatoes and crouched in the square, hugging them and nibbling away!"

"Right, right, right, haha, I remember now! It was only after the North gate market was established that lifestyle players started to go there to sell stew."

"Unfortunately, Crow Boss wouldn’t sell the mushrooms that let you see tiny people."

"Speaking of Crow Boss, where is she?"

"She probably missed out, as usual; she never catches a break."

At that moment, two NPCs wearing grey coats walked over, seemingly the ones who were driving the water truck earlier.

"Hey."

One of them raised a hand, greeting them in a friendly manner.

Mosquito and Night Ten exchanged glances and looked at the two men.

"What’s up?"

One of the NPCs pointed at the untouched box of food in Night Ten’s hand and then at the "instant noodles" in his own, chattering something incoherently.

Although they couldn’t understand it, the body language was clear enough that even a monkey would get it, combined with their expressions and tone, one could mostly guess what was going on without any issues.

Mosquito: "It seems like he wants to trade?"

Night Ten: "Should we trade?"

Mosquito: "Duh, why not? Let’s see what their food tastes like."

Night Ten’s eyes lit up: "Great idea!"

The two players excitedly handed over their boxed meals to the water truck NPCs and received their instant noodles in return.

They exchanged thanks in their respective languages, and the two NPCs quickly scooted off.

Mosquito and Night Ten didn’t bother about them and eagerly lifted the lids of the instant noodles.

"Let’s see what’s inside?"

"Instant noodles? Or maybe not?"

"Damn! How many dried vegetables did they put in here? What’s all this?"

"I seriously suspect that they mixed noodles into freeze-dried vegetables!"

"But it does smell pretty good."

"It’s not as tasty as Mashed Potato Bro’s scrambled eggs, though! Ah, too bad. Teng Teng isn’t here. Ever since Scrambled Egg Bro stopped cooking to become a butcher, she hasn’t had it in a long time, huh?"

As the two residents of the refuge took the boxed meals, the NPCs unwrapped them like treasures and clumsily dug in with wooden spoons, stuffing a lump of mashed potato into their mouths, their faces instantly lighting up with pleasure.

"This is good!"

"Really good!"

"Smashed horned potatoes mixed with soy sauce and minced meat? The texture is kind of like potatoes, but not quite, amazing."

"This braised meat is fantastic too! What kind of meat is it?"

"Who cares! At least it’s way more satisfying than plant-based meat!"

The two NPCs wolfed down their meals, their faces a picture of lingering satisfaction.

After returning the lunch boxes to the refuge residents, they exchanged a look, immediately agreed upon a plan, and quickly went to fetch two more buckets of instant noodles, excitedly locating the recently fed refuge residents. With gestures and motions similar to before, they tried to coax the boxed meals out of their hands.

The players were seeing something this bizarre for the first time and didn’t think to refuse, decisively handing over their boxed meals to the NPCs.

After wolfing down the meals once again, the two NPCs finally, with satisfaction, returned to their water truck, which was already empty, and drove it back to the machine shop beside the "Pioneer" at the outskirts of the camp.

"Having left the East Coast for so long, this was the first time I tasted something so delicious!"

"Me too! Compared to that horned potato mash, those dried vegetables are just garbage! Tui!"

"Agree! Why can’t our kitchen cook some real food from the land of the living? Is upgrading the program that hard? We can totally grow potatoes!"

While tallying up the supplies to be delivered to Shelter No. 404, Li De happened to overhear the conversation of the two men walking out of the garage, his expression suddenly stiffening.

Horned potato mash?

Calling dried vegetables garbage?

What nonsense are these two idiots talking about?

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