This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 161 The Name of This Gun is Sickle

Chapter 161: Chapter 161 The Name of This Gun is Sickle

[Worldwide Announcement: Outpost Base acquires a "Magnetic confinement plasma processing machine tool," durability 99%, industrial index +100]

[Note 1: This machine tool can produce metal parts of any geometric shape. Players can now submit related drawings and explanations of use to the manager’s assistant to get a quote and find out the required material amount. Drawings can be made within the game or submitted electronically via the official website’s personal page.]

[Note 2: The processing device can only change the geometric shape of the material, not the material properties itself, and the cutting process will generate waste. To process steel ingots into steel pipes, please pre-treat them by forming them into rod-like or near-rod-like shapes. To process copper ingots into copper wire, use a wire drawing machine, and do not occupy the valuable machine tool resources.]

[Note 3: The specification for input materials is limited to 1X1X1m, materials exceeding this specification cannot be processed.]

The announcement was made at 6 p.m.

This time coincided with the peak period of players logging in or out.

Whether it was brick-moving players going to the northern towns to pick up trash or hunter players hunting in Elm District, most had returned to the Action Camp.

Seeing the announcement pop up on their VMs, players’ faces showed an expression of surprise simultaneously.

"A magnetic confinement plasma machine table?"

"And it’s CNC?"

"What kind of Frankenstein device is this, I’ve never heard of it before?"

"If you had heard of it, that would be something, in reality, one minute could be considered ’high confinement’ and ’long pulse.’ Get what I mean? Nevermind, you wouldn’t understand."

"Ah, these game developers sure do have wild imaginations, they start boasting without needing a draft!"

Though Chu Guang wanted to share their joy, joy and sorrow are not the same for everyone.

Most players didn’t know how hard it was to get this machine tool, let alone those who couldn’t log in due to bugs, and the sacrifices they had made for it.

They just thought maybe Boss Xia had an additional workbench now, not only could he pierce weapons but now also inscribe them?

It was all just redundant functions anyway!

The more astute players speculated about the update to Alpha0.8 version.

The industrial index of Outpost Base had gone up by 100 points, from 150 to 250... that meant an increase of 166%?

Didn’t that mean new products would soon be in the weapon shop!?

Some particularly smart and well-positioned players excitedly took their steel ingots as described in the announcement to the manager’s assistant to get quotes.

Some wanted to make an axe, others wanted to shape steel ingots into the form of a rifle, but most eventually walked away cursing.

Why?

Because it just wasn’t worth it!

Turning on the machine alone cost 100 silver, and the quoted price for processing a single axe was another 100 silver, totaling 200 silver.

With that money, you could buy twenty axes! Probably even save some if purchased wholesale from Steel Factory No. 81.

As for the rifle, processing a gun barrel with rifling would cost 200 silver, and the player had to provide the rod-shaped steel themselves.

If not, plasma arc welding would have to be used in the process, doubling the quoted price.

With that money, you could buy two rifles from the weapon shop!

But on second thought, a regular rifle wasn’t worth using such an advanced machine tool. It was not cost-effective at all.

At this time, within Steel Factory No. 81.

[Yeah, I Need to Visit the Bathroom Brother] was sitting on a small stool, one hand on his chin and the other holding a steel ingot, staring intently and finally squeezing out a phrase after a long contemplation.

"I speculate this machine tool is meant for producing manufacturing tools!"

His good friend [Who the Hell Wants to Smell Ward’s Athlete’s Foot]rolled his eyes.

"Do you really need to tell me that? Imagine using a multimillion-dollar CNC machine in the lab to mill seamless steel tubes, you think your boss wouldn’t hammer you to death?"

Brother Ciso: "Uh... I have a feeling he’d freak out, call the cops, and get me locked up."

Brother Levin: "The operational cost of that machine really is quite high, I feel it’s not intended for individual players at all. Just the start-up fee is 100 silver coins, unless it’s a company sponsored by Shelter No. 404, an ordinary individual can hardly afford it!"

Brother Ciso: "Maybe not necessarily, Mosquito Brother definitely can!"

Brother Levin: "Let’s not talk about him, he is a ruthless guy. By the way, how much money do we still have in our account?"

Brother Ciso: "4000 silver coins... Earlier, a bunch of newbies came in and bought quite a few axes and arrowheads. What? Ready to share the profits?"

Brother Levin: "Share what? This amount of money isn’t enough to distribute anything. I’m planning to get the thermal perforator up and running. Those parts we couldn’t make earlier, with this machine we should be able to process them. Once we have the perforator, we can start manufacturing seamless steel pipes!"

Hearing this, Brother Ciso’s eyes suddenly lit up.

"Awesome, brother! We’re on the same page!"

Brother Levin rolled his eyes, "Don’t get too excited. Once we log off, you go upload the blueprints. Let’s keep it simple; I reckon it shouldn’t be too expensive."

Brother Ciso chuckled.

"Alright, bro, my graduation project was actually on this!"

...

While Brother Levin and Brother Ciso were busy discussing their grand plans for expanding the seamless steel pipe industry and creating brilliance in the Wasteland, on the third floor of the nearby sanatorium, Xiao Qi lifted the camera towards Chu Guang standing beside it, whispering.

"Master, don’t you think the price you set might be a bit too expensive?"

At least a dozen people had asked for the price just now, but as soon as they heard the startup fee was 100 silver coins, they were scared off immediately.

silver just to start? It’s like robbery!

Hearing Xiao Qi’s suggestion, Chu Guang wasn’t convinced.

"Not expensive at all; I even think it’s cheap. They find it expensive only because they don’t understand the version deeply enough, which shows they’re not our target customers. If there were no barriers, who knows what kind of blueprints they’d bring, you want them making a bunch of poor quality spears and shabby axes?"

Leave that kind of job to Boss Xia!

The two workbenches at her place, one DIY and the other scavenged, can handle that stuff.

Xiao Qi nodded the camera somewhat understandingly, as if it got it but also as if it didn’t. In its view, if those items aren’t to be produced, why not just directly say they’re not allowed?

Why go in circles with a "barrier" to limit?

Chu Guang wasn’t planning to explain to the AI his reasons or the differences between human behavioral logic and AI algorithms.

Well.

Chu Guang wasn’t against players coming up with peculiar and odd ideas, but he needed to control it via rules, making players think twice whether their creativity was worth it before proceeding.

Just as Xiao Qi itself said, this machine isn’t meant to produce those crude items.

Take the previous AK47 Chu Guang made as an example, 6 kg of steel turned into 3 kg of workpieces, half of which were oddly shaped steel scraps that were likely only good for recycling in a steel plant.

Besides, there were costs like consumed electricity and the natural wear of inert gases used during the process—visible costs, not to mention the invisible and hidden costs.

Its real purpose was to produce "tools for production," or to process some "high-tech, high-value" precision equipment when materials were available.

The latter could be ignored for now; the former was the current main target.

Chu Guang planned to move step by step, starting with players making a thermal perforator to address the barrel issue.

For now, ignoring complex techniques like three-roll continuous rolling and mandrel straightening, a single perforating machine would suffice for producing seamless steel pipes.

Whether it could be mass-produced efficiently and with quality was a matter for later; first, one needed the capability to produce.

Seamless steel pipes would be one of Shelter No. 404’s most vital industries for a considerable time to come.

As for the machining of the receiver.

Chu Guang hesitated between milling and stamping the receiver for a while, eventually choosing the latter.

Though milling the receiver was more modern and precise, its downsides were clear: it wasted material, had high personnel and equipment requirements, and was inefficient.

Like the AK47 he had previously made with the machine, which was technically a milled receiver, even the barrel and rifling inside were cut with a single atom cutter.

However, the stamped receiver was different. Aside from the mold-making process being somewhat laborious, the rest of the production steps had little technical content, making mass production particularly efficient.

The only drawback was its lower precision, but compared to its advantages of being cheap and durable, this drawback wasn’t much of a drawback at all, at most a minor flaw.

After all, in the Wasteland environment, the average combat distance is less than 100 meters; precision matters less than speed and stability in shooting.

Adopting the stamping process, Chu Guang planned to directly emulate the AK’s receiver and design a 7mm caliber rifle.

Compared to the upper and lower receiver design and seven-lug bolt of the AR rifle series, the AK’s U-shaped receiver and two-lug bolt design were more than twice as simple to produce, with molds potentially allowing the whole piece to be stamped out of a single block of steel.

What does it mean to be able to punch out entire steel blocks?

Like ink on paper coming out of a printer, these could be mass-produced and fitted with gun barrels and solid wooden stocks, making them perfectly suitable for combat in the Wasteland.

There’s a good reason they sell well in the third world.

Especially in places where life is cheap, guns definitely need to be as affordable as possible.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste when someone dies?

...

The next day.

A crowd gathered in front of the weapons shop; many young players had rushed back from the Action Camp last night, all waiting for the weapon shop to open.

Yawning, Boss Xia had long grown accustomed to this.

She opened the store on time as usual, moving the two sample pieces Chu Guang had asked her to make yesterday and hanging them in the semi-open display window.

These were two solid wooden, pure steel rifles.

One had a compact layout, with the stock and magazine in the standard assault rifle design, a top rail that could mount scopes, and a grip that could be installed under the barrel.

The other had a significantly longer barrel and a casing, with the magazine embedded in the body, revealing only a triangular outline, looking somewhat broad.

Both shared a rugged outward appearance and grand lines, and they looked incredibly similar, like good brothers from the same production line. Not only did their appearances resemble each other, the names of the rifles were also quite similar; the longer one was called LD-47s, and the shorter one LD-47.

Beyond that, they had a slightly saucy nickname —

Sickle!

"Damn, the weapon shop really did have new stock today! Brother Fang Chang is awesome!"

"I get it! The LD-47s must be a sniper!"

"Right! It’s a 98K!"

"98K my ass! It’s obviously a semi-automatic!"

"Wait, the shorter one...does it look more like an AK to me?"

"Be confident, remove the doubt, the operator is just being lazy again, must have just copied the CF skins!"

Both guns were very affordable, the longer one at 250 silver coins, and the shorter one at 200 silver coins, only twice as expensive as the iron pipe rifle!

Now, which old player doesn’t have 200 silver coins in their pocket, especially after that battle with the Army, with a basic income of 150 silver coins?

While many were still hesitating, the quick-handed tail had already made a move.

"Lady boss! Give me one! Tail wants the long one! The short one for Si Si."

Boss Xia glanced at the short-haired female player, yawned, and let out a few words.

"Sample, not for sale. If you want to buy, wait two days."

Hearing this neither fluent nor standard Mandarin, the surrounding players were instantly stunned.

What?!

Not only did the boss lady change her leg, but her voice pack was updated too!

Epic Enhancement!

Just as there was a commotion at the entrance of the weapon shop, the industrial area in the south was also bustling.

Many small players who had registered as sole proprietors logged online, about to get on trucks heading to the Action Camp for the market, when their VM taskbars suddenly filled with a slew of orders.

Some requested production of wooden stocks, others for grips; these were not difficult tasks, one could say you just needed hands.

There were slightly more challenging tasks too, like polishing lenses or making optical scopes, with a variety of types.

These tasks had one thing in common; the rewards were quite generous, and due to the Alpha 0.8 update, the orders even had an additional 10% bonus on rewards!

Beyond that, the first 100 orders for each item also had extra Contribution Points rewards and regional reputation.

How could anyone miss out on this and still call themselves human?

With such generous rewards, many small players who focus on livelihood professions became instantly exalted. Each picked up their tools and rushed to their workshops to work as if they wished to weld their buttocks to the stool.

Of course, compared to those individual artisans, the truly exhilarating ones were certain investors in Shelter No. 404 known as "major producers."

Early in the morning, the 81st Steel Mill of Outpost Base received a special order—[Produce 100 gun slides and 100 gun barrels for the Outpost Base]

This order had clear requirements for the material, specifications, dimensions, and even the precision of processing, making production quite challenging.

However, that didn’t matter!

What was important was that the wise and mighty Manager not only offered a generous price of 4000 silver coins but also paid 50% in advance as a deposit.

This unexpected "windfall" left Brother Ciso and Brother Levin dizzy.

Though this money was kept in the company account, it was still money!

Under the stimulus of the order, the somewhat hesitant duo, without a second thought, took the 4000 silver coins they had and the ample steel in stock, and went to the Manager’s assistant to custom order a batch of parts, preparing to make a big impact by producing the drilling machine for gun barrels and stamping dies for the slides.

In addition to this, the just-received and still-warm 2000 silver coin advance was also invested by the two into posting scavenging tasks and ordering raw materials required for production.

Although the steel mill’s account was emptied, the two felt nothing inappropriate; instead, they felt hopeful about the future.

On the surface, it seemed they not only didn’t earn any money from this order but even invested their own money.

But should issues be looked at only superficially?

Of course not!

The money they spent didn’t disappear; it just transformed into a higher form, staying by their side forever.

With the drilling machine and stamping dies for the slides, they could fulfill more orders, further reduce the production costs, increase efficiency, and get the ball really rolling.

This was far from a loss.

It was a total win, honestly!

Incidentally, as the steel mill’s major shareholder, the wise and mighty Manager also felt the same way.

For Chu Guang, money was a minor issue; the key was that this whole operation not only significantly enhanced the steel mill’s production capacity but also greatly reduced the logistical pressure on Outpost Base.

And what he invested was merely a few thousand enjoyment points.

This was probably not simply winning big.

It should be called a win-win!

After all, he won twice.

Besides the guns themselves, he planned to also produce wooden stocks, triangular bayonets, magazines and drums, bipods, optical sights, and other accessories.

In the future, just by selling accessories and bullets, he would be able to recoup quite a bit of silver coins and even sell the excess capacity to the surrounding survivors or even export it to Red River Town and Giant Stone City.

Chu Guang was sure that as long as his weapons were cheap enough, those mercenaries and caravan guards who couldn’t afford expensive weapons would definitely adore him.

"But... by that time, using game currency as money definitely won’t work."

This pre-war era game currency, while robustly crafted with some anti-forgery properties, had a glaring downside—its limited quantity.

Players could use digital money, but those Waste Land Wanderers would not recognize something they couldn’t see; they wouldn’t even trust paper currency.

Moreover, Chu Guang wasn’t sure if the traveling merchant named Sun Shiqi hadn’t held back, like secretly keeping a bag of coins without selling it to him.

Such a thing was not impossible.

Watching the bustling and revived Industrial Zone of Outpost Base, Chu Guang silently made up his mind.

"I must launch the second generation currency soon!"

This task had to be completed before winter’s end.

After winter, the trade in the north suburb of Qingquan City would rejuvenate. By then, players would also face a more open, broader, and challenging world.

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind, pulling Chu Guang’s thoughts back to the present.

Fully armed, Fang Chang nodded slightly and respectfully said, "Respected Manager, we are ready. When shall we depart?"

Standing up from his chair, Chu Guang grabbed the warhammer placed beside him and casually hung it on his back.

"Now."