This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 143: The Answer is the Chef?!

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: The Answer is the Chef?!

After hanging up with Li De, Chu Guang felt that his life was really not easy.

Neighbors who had traveled from afar were marching westward for a grand ideal, not only radiating the confidence and faith of civilized people on their faces but also rich enough to spill their meals from bowls three times a day.

On his end, not only did he have to meticulously plan every single resource, but he also had to find ways to keep the players happy with limited supplies.

Even when times were tough, if he occasionally got ahold of something good, he’d use it to boost everyone’s morale.

At this point, there were still children on the forum eyeing the two bricks he used for building walls, analyzing how not to let the "middlemen" make a profit.

Doesn’t it hurt to touch one’s conscience?

The weak had no choices; Chu Guang was very clear that even with a shelter as a bargaining chip, the room for negotiation with those aboard the "Pioneer" was very limited.

Especially Li De, who was much harder to fool than their Captain Lu, with an even more elusive bottom line that left no opportunity for exploitation.

But there was no helping it, Chu Guang had no other choice.

Rarely encountering a group of rich tourists who recognized the blue jacket he wore, no matter how difficult, he had to grimace and shear the wool.

After all, this time it was friends who came, what if the next visitors were wolves?

By then, even if unable to win, he’d still have to fight.

If all went as expected, today’s labor should be exchanged for 1200 CR. Together with the meal allowance of 600 CR, it would total 1800 CR, which could be traded for six submachine guns.

These people were quite generous, agreeing to 600 CR for a day, and even though he hadn’t eaten breakfast at their place, they still awarded him the money.

Once the cooperation ended, the weapons store would update its inventory with new equipment priced at 300 and 400 silver coins, including automatic rifles and submachine guns, as well as sights for modifications—ideal for upgrading the gear of players who had reached levels 6 to 8.

All for a brighter tomorrow and a new version.

He hoped his players would work hard!

...

Before his call with Li De, Chu Guang, and two Perception-type players had found a signal tower near the Mutant Nest mentioned in "Guard Diary" and "Blood Hand Diary," discovering the device had merely tripped. Though some parts were aging, they weren’t completely broken.

The backup power still had half its capacity left; without a word, he flipped the circuit breaker back on, immediately restoring power to the signal tower.

Seeing the signal strength back to full on the VM, a smile spread across Chu Guang’s face.

The signal’s coverage expanded instantaneously to beyond 10 kilometers, now encompassing the entire northern suburbs of Qingquan City.

Now his players no longer had to worry about poor VM signals.

As long as they weren’t buried under debris or wandered too far, he could monitor their situations at any time and issue them tasks.

How wonderful.

After completing the call with Li De, Chu Guang next used the office’s phone to contact Old Luka.

On the other end, Old Luka respectfully reported today’s situation.

"Sir, as you instructed, I used the 600 CR meal allowance to buy 100 kilograms of potatoes, 100 kilograms of corn, and some seasonings like salt, soy sauce, and pepper. However, Li De just told me that if we use their vehicles to transport our goods, they will charge us a transport fee of 1 CR for every 100 kilograms..."

What a mess.

There seemed to be a bit of sulking.

Chu Guang chuckled and said, "No worries, we won’t use their vehicles."

The Outpost Base now had ten covered wagons and over a hundred Strength-type players; hauling a few dozen tons of goods back would be a breeze.

With shifts changing every three days, once our people got there, others would have already hauled the goods back.

As for the batch of supplies exchanged today, it was mainly intended as food for the players.

Although they had brought some emergency food like horned tubers, green wheat, and dried meat, which was only enough for a few days and wouldn’t last much longer. When other players took over their shifts, they wouldn’t need to bring more dry food.

Luka: "Sir, I found that the starch... seems cheaper? It’s only 1 CR per kilogram, and it looks like it’s edible."

Chu Guang sighed and said, "Just eating carbs will cause constipation; that stuff isn’t meant to be meals."

Old Luka didn’t quite understand, in his view, being full was a blessing, regardless of what was eaten. But since his master had spoken, he naturally wouldn’t object.

"Yes... Oh right, sir, I noticed those people coming from the east seem very interested in our food, they even offered to pay for it."

"Oh?" Chu Guang inquired with interest, "They came to buy food from you?"

Luka nodded.

"Yes. I wasn’t sure how much to charge them, but wanting to avoid trouble, I just sold them a portion; horned tuber mash and fish soup for 1 CR each."

Chu Guang stroked his chin and said.

"Estimate the cost for one serving, just the materials, not including the labor."

Luka: "Actually, it’s not expensive. A serving of mashed potatoes with corned beef costs about two or three copper coins, and the fish soup is even cheaper at just two copper coins. However, we’re almost out of fish, and I reckon we’ll cook something different tomorrow."

"If those people come back tomorrow, pitch them the 2CR and 4CR meal sets. A 2CR serving includes 200 grams of mashed potatoes, and the 4CR also comes with a serving of meat dish... You know what, I won’t settle on the menu. Let the culinary players work out what to eat each day. I’ll assign them tasks later, just price it according to the two standards I mentioned."

Luka replied respectfully.

"As you command, my lord."

...

Official website:

[Little Fish friendly reminder: The Manager has repaired the shelter’s antenna. The signal of Outpost Base now extends to ten kilometers.]

[Today’s Recommended Recipes: Savory Mashed Potatoes, Pine Nut Fish Stew.]

Whenever everyone logs off, the forum becomes incredibly lively.

Fang Chang: "I’m back! First off, the conclusion, the new area unlocked by the expansion pack is almost identical to what was shown in the promotional CG!"

Spare people under the knife: "Yes, I can testify! Other games are about finding similarities between real game graphics and promotional graphics, but here, it’s about finding the differences... and I damn well can’t find any! Can you understand what it feels like to step into the game’s CG?"

Mole on the Run: "Damn! I don’t get it!!! I want to go to the new map and earn my keep too. T.T"

Old White: "Honestly, high-tech bricklaying is kind of fun, slightly better than the experience near Outpost Base. (grins)"

Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Dude, tell us more! What’s the process like over there?"

Fang Chang: "Let me explain. First, we followed the people from the Pioneer to the action camp they built for us and moved into a two-story temporary housing. Scrambled Eggs made us a long-missed lunch, nothing much to talk about. The highlight was the afternoon! We followed two power armors to a deserted town to the north!"

Fang Chang: "It’s kind of like a suburban area, with a lower building density than around Linghu Wetland Park, mainly consisting of detached houses with a few multi-story buildings. We ventured about 800 meters deep into the city area, reaching an abandoned community hospital—brand new territory! We had never scavenged so far before!"

Fang Chang: "There was a thick layer of dust on the hospital floors. I did a quick exploration on the first floor and found that not only had it been scavenged, but it had been scavenged multiple times. Not sure if there are other survivors nearby. Our ’site’ was in the basement parking garage, filled with well-preserved car wreckage and bodies of Eaters!"

Fang Chang: "I suspect there was a battle here before! Sadly, by the time we arrived, the battle had ended. The two power armors, along with two mechanical dogs, patrolled the parking garage, and our task was to use the supplied cutting machines to dismantle valuable parts of the old vehicles!"

Fang Chang: "The whole process was quite stress-relieving. Using the construction equipment was much more straightforward than using axes and saws to dismantle cars! We crushed the car doors and hoods using a manual hydraulic press, then dragged them onto a heavy truck parked at the city entrance. There, NPC engineers using more professional equipment conducted a second hydraulic press, then loaded the pressed metal blocks onto the truck."

Fang Chang: "Right, the NPCs there would weigh our scrap, and the collection amount would be recorded in the VM taskbar—it turned out that 100 kilograms could exchange for about 1 silver coin."

Gnome King Riches: "Wait, isn’t that a ripoff? Isn’t the same rate applied to scrap recycling tasks at Outpost Base? I recall it’s 100 kilograms of scrap steel for 1 silver coin."

Old White: "It’s different. For the trash recycling task at Outpost Base, you have to pick up trash from outside the Wetland Park. Just leaving the park is at least 1 kilometer, and if you go to those residential area’s underground parking, it’s even more hassle—not to mention the distance, there are often Eaters ambushing."

Fang Chang: "Exactly, and we don’t have those kinds of cutters at the base. Removing car doors and hoods takes quite some time there. Plus, this task has some bonus activity points, about 1 point for every 100 kilograms."

Night Ten: "Epic enhancement for strength-type players! Speaking of which, I discovered something fun. Mosquito Brother and I were squatting in the camp eating boxed meals when an NPC came over and offered to trade his instant noodles for our lunch. (amused)"

Drum Washing Machine: "What?! That smart?"

Neighbor Old Wang: "What did the NPC’s noodles taste like? Were they good?"

Night Ten: "Delicious my ass, it was just a hodgepodge of boiling water, some vegetables mixed with a bit of noodles. I think it was a bad deal. But it was novel, alright. Their stuff isn’t filling, anyway; I was hungry again by four in the afternoon. (amused)"

WC Mosquito: "I must complain about this. I feel sorry for the NPCs on the Pioneer, living in such distress, unable to eat a decent hot meal."

Elena: "Maybe you two just eat too much, you absolute foodies. (amused)"

Scrambled Eggs: "Now that Night Ten mentioned it, I remembered, didn’t some NPCs from the Pioneer come over to our place for dinner tonight? I saw Old Luka taking their money, one piece of paper from each, don’t know how much it was."

Debt Giant Eye: "!? So chefs are the answer to the version?"

Scrambled Eggs: "What the hell, that paper isn’t for me to keep. (eye roll)"

Makabazi: "But seriously, what’s that paper for? Can it buy anything? I haven’t seen any NPC stores accepting that."

Night Ten: "Don’t know, seems like only Crow Boss has one so far. Did she figure it out, or should we ask her some other time? (amused)"

Elena: "Crow Boss: Are you polite? (amused)"

...

North Gate of the Outpost Base.

Watching the deserted market, Crow sighed deeply.

This was her third sigh within an hour.

Normally, by this time, her stall would have been bustling with crowds. Today, everyone had gone to explore the new map, and there were more sellers than buyers in the market.

Just moments ago, two young players were idly chatting, gradually shifting the topic to "the market is so empty today," "let’s go to the forum instead!" "Let’s go!"

And with that...

The two of them actually left.

Crow suddenly felt that those annoying ghosts who clamored to buy Wind-Touched Mushrooms, asked to watch her perform stewing herself in an iron pot, or begged her to hit them with mushrooms weren’t so annoying after all.

"Today is so quiet..."

Should she close up shop?

If she were on a quest, it wouldn’t matter, but having a stall with few people around was quite boring.

Might as well go on the official website to see the sand sculptures boasting.

At this time, it was also dawning in real life, many had logged off, and the official website was probably buzzing with activity.

Those big shots opening up the new map must have also devised their strategies, she expected to see some interesting things.

Just as Crow was thinking this, a pair of clear, large eyes appeared in front of her stall, curiously gazing at the big pot and blinking.

The pot wafted with the scent of mushrooms, deer meat, and some herbs, a very tempting aroma, making Autumn Leaves swallow her saliva ungloriously, her eyes filled with desire.

Delighted to see her first small customer of the day, Crow quickly called out.

"Do you want a bowl?"

Autumn Leaves’s face turned red, and she shyly nodded, then shook her head, stuttering in halting pronunciation.

"No, used."

Huh?

Crow’s expression became even more surprised, like she had discovered a New Continent.

This NPC could actually speak!

Seizing the opportunity, she quickly continued.

"Mushroom soup is 50% off today, wanna buy a bowl?"

Autumn Leaves blinked; she didn’t understand this sentence.

She knew only a few words, all picked up while tending a stall with her sister.

Those Blue Jacket folks always said some hard-to-understand things, but she could guess the meanings of some frequently used words by combining them with body language.

This mode of communication was somewhat like the nomads they encountered during their travels.

Some people from far, far away, even though speaking seemingly the same language, sounded quite different.

At such times, one had to rely on intuition.

Crow picked up a wooden bowl, served the little girl a hot steaming mushroom soup, and said softly with a sweet smile.

"Never mind, since there are no customers today and you are so cute, this bowl is on me."

"Drink it while it’s hot."

Looking at the bowl suddenly handed to her, the little girl was bewildered, her expression anxious as if she had done something naughty.

In her fluster, she blurted out a few more words.

"I, I don’t have money..."

Crow smiled gently, and wiggling her index finger lightly, said in a mixture of broken game language and Mandarin.

"It’s free, it’s on me."

This time, the little girl seemed to understand that the mushroom soup was free, but her face still carried a bashful expression.

Watching the steaming soup in her hands, she finally couldn’t resist the temptation of the delicacy and lifted the bowl, blowing on it and drinking it all in big gulps.

Watching her guest drinking the soup heartily, Crow’s face revealed a motherly smile.

Indeed.

Compared with silver coins or anything like that.

This was the most satisfying pursuit.

"Drink slowly, do you want another bowl? I’ll add some more meat for you."

After finishing the soup and putting down the bowl, Autumn Leaves looked embarrassed. After hesitating for a while, the young girl rummaged in her pocket and quietly placed a string of necklaces on the table.

Hanging from it were several beautiful stones.

"This is a talisman I found on my travels... it’s for you."

Leaving these incomprehensible words and the handmade necklace, the little girl didn’t wait for Crow to continue serving soup, and turned around to run away with a patter.

Crow paused slightly, placing down her soup spoon and picking up the necklace that was on the table.

Hmm...

Is it a quest prop?

It seems not to have added any attributes, just plain quartz no matter how you look at it.

Nevertheless, Crow was delighted and happily pocketed the necklace.

Just then, the market near the north gate welcomed a strange new visitor.

The guest had a sneaky expression on his face and looked around as soon as he entered the market, seeming to search for something.

When he spotted the mushroom soup stall, his eyes lit up. He approached, pointed at the pot, then pulled out a paper currency from his wallet and slapped it on the table.

"I’d like to buy a bowl, how much is it?"

Why are all the visitors today NPCs?

On closer inspection, could he be the supply officer from the office?

Looking at the 100CR note on the table and listening to the incomprehensible accent, Crow couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

What the heck?

Is he here to buy the whole pot again?

As Crow was bewildered, a towering figure suddenly appeared next to her stall and came to her rescue.

"Ha-ha, my friend, I’ve been looking for you for a long time, so here you are! I just used your phone. You see, you can’t spend this type of paper here, we only use a special coin. Let me treat you to this soup."

He gently took the paper currency from the table and swiped with his index finger on the VM.

Hearing her own VM ding, Crow hurriedly lifted her arm to look, and then she seemed as if she could stuff a goose egg in her mouth.

Silver???

Oh my!

That’s way too much!

Watching Chu Guang tuck away the currency, Luo Hua was also stunned.

Wait a second...

Didn’t he say he was treating me?

Give me back my money.

"You haven’t had lunch either, right? Come with me, I’ve prepared some good liquor and food," Chu Guang said as he picked up the entire pot of mushroom soup.

It smelled quite appetizing.

It should make it easier to get a couple more bottles in him.

"Liquor? You have liquor here?" Luo Hua asked, a look of delight crossing his face, instantly forgetting about the money.

Chu Guang looked at him curiously.

"Don’t you have any?"

Luo Hua’s expression turned a bit awkward as he chuckled and said,

"We do have alcohol, but it’s not like we can just drink alcohol, and besides, the captain says drinking causes issues..."

Chu Guang looked thoughtful.

"So by inviting you to drink, I’m violating your regulations..."

Luo Hua quickly glanced around, saw that no problematic people were around, and waved his hands.

"No worries, no worries, I’d be happy to join you for a couple of drinks. It’s part of my duties!"

Seeing the eager expression on his face, Chu Guang understood and grinned, patting his not-so-strong shoulder.

"My friend, how can this be merely for duties? It’s after hours, let’s say... let’s drink to friendship!"

Luo Hua’s brows lifted in joy as he nodded vigorously.

"Yes, yes! Let’s drink to friendship!"

Watching the two men walking away, the baffled Crow finally snapped out of her shock over the 100 silver coins and sprang up from her chair.

"Wait, wait a second!"

"Manager, sir, I still have a duck here!!!"

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