This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 164: Changjiu Farm and the Clue to Unlocking Level B3!

Chapter 164: Chapter 164: Changjiu Farm and the Clue to Unlocking Level B3!

At the same time.

VM map page, "Action Camp" sign was replaced with a new sign.

And the complete profile card was updated!

[

Settlement name: Changjiu Farm

Settlement level: Village (LV1)

Prosperity: 100

Industrial Index: 0

Commercial Index: 0

Need: Building materials (Donations can gain local reputation)

Tendencies: Exploration (Scavenging task profit +10%), Construction (Infrastructure task profit +10%)

]

Watching a series of messages pop up on VM, the small players standing on the open space exchanged surprised glances and began to talk among themselves.

"Holy shit! The expansion pack really ended!"

"What the hell do zero industrial and commercial indices mean?"

"After all, the black workshops and black brick kilns are registered at Outpost Base, so it makes sense for the industrial index to be zero. And all the NPCs left, so the commercial index is also zero... I’m just guessing."

"Changjiu Farm? Where’s the ’farm’ in that? Is there anything growing? Why can’t I see anything?"

"+1! The operator is pulling the wool over our eyes by selling one thing and delivering another!"

At the same time, on the B2 floor of a refuge ten kilometers away, over two hundred cultivation chambers opened simultaneously, with door-crashing sounds one after another.

Not just the players who had died in battle before.

But also newcomers who had just logged into the Game.

Over two hundred people logged into the Game at the same time!

As usual, let those newcomers get excited in their rooms first. After they got dressed and the broadcast in the room finished playing the beginners’ tutorial and customer notices, then the alloy doors would open.

As for those old players who had just respawned, Chu Guang also kept them confined for a while to cool down before releasing them.

After all, having been suppressed for so long, it’s almost inevitable to do something stupid when emotions are running high, and you can’t register alt accounts in this game, so it’s better to do those socially suicidal things alone when no one’s around.

It was for their own good.

However...

Chu Guang still underestimated the power of withdrawal rebound.

As soon as the alloy doors of the single rooms opened, old Makabazi, like an unleashed wild Husky, raced ahead and charged into the B2 floor hall.

He slid forward, wrapped his arms around the central elevator’s doors, and frantically jabbed the up button with his fingers, twitching like they were having a seizure, and excitedly making a weird noise while he did so.

"Hahaha! I’m back, baby! First place is mine!"

Soon, thumping footsteps flooded towards the hall from the corridors, following in old Makabazi’s footsteps.

"Damn! How can he run so fast! Is he a dog?"

"Nobody fight for it! There are only so many elevators, let’s go one by one, I’ll go up first and scout ahead for you guys, see if the snow is heavy!"

"Ah, let me up first! I want to watch Little Fish count money!"

"Frigging males, what’s so great about Little Fish! I want to see the handsome and dashing Manager!"

"It was me! I’m the one who got here first!" Makabazi, pushed out of the crowd, screeched, on the verge of crying while watching the ascending elevator.

They’d placed a bet on the official website’s forum. Wagering 1 Silver Coin on who would be the first to leave the shelter; the winner would be paid by everyone else.

Apart from the unfortunate guy who couldn’t leave due to a glitch, over a hundred little players, stuck with the bug, had joined in.

Over a hundred!

One coin each, that’s a hefty sum altogether!

The area in front of the elevators was jam-packed with people.

The new players, who were still lingering at the back, touching here and looking there, marveling at how lifelike the rendering was, turned to stone when they saw how the old players reacted.

What are these people doing?

Is this game always this wild?

Standing off to the side with her arms crossed, Xia Yan looked disdainfully at those jostling at the elevator door and couldn’t help but vent to Xiao Qi beside her.

"Have these guys’ brains gone bad? I feel like they’re not very sharp."

Like Old Luka, she seemed to have figured out some inside information, the players were similar to clones and wouldn’t really die.

When it came to clonal technology, she wasn’t particularly knowledgeable, only aware that it wasn’t a rarity in the Wasteland, so she didn’t make much of it.

Who knows, though?

Maybe there was technology that could extract brain pulp and recreate a clone, she wasn’t a specialist in this stuff after all.

Besides, considering how Chu Guang would always have someone carefully retrieve every body and toss it into some furnace whose purpose she didn’t know,

it wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Xiao Qi adjusted the camera, turned to Xia Yan beside her, and said somewhat helplessly,

"The boss said it’s ’behavioral art,’ so don’t bother with them. If someone does anything weird, just leave it to Xiao Qi to handle."

Behavioral art?

What on earth was that?

Furrowing her brow and unable to make heads or tails of it after some thought, Xia Yan decided to simply stop worrying about such vexing issues.

She walked up to the newbie players.

Dropping her arms that were crossed in front of her, she shook her fiery red hair and swept her sharp gaze across them.

"So you’re the newbies sent by the organization."

"Unfortunately, the Manager isn’t here today, and I’ll be the one training you."

"If you don’t want an uncomfortable experience, you’d best behave."

That was the entirety of the weapons shop owner’s dialogue.

The introduction for the newcomers would be conducted by the Manager’s assistant and chief repeater—little Miss Xiao Qi.

However...

It was clear that no one paid any attention to that trash-bin-like little thing.

The new players, still in shock, wore not-too-sharp expressions and gazed blankly at the striking figure of Boss Xia.

Training?

Behave?

Wait, was this content free to enjoy?

...

As new and old players logged on, the "server" once again reached its full capacity of five hundred players.

Almost simultaneously, Chu Guang’s Administrator System also finally received fresh non-daily tasks after a long hiatus.

And this time, two were triggered at once!

[

Task: Explore Shelter No.117.

Type: Main.

Requirement: Use the VM’s map data collection function to explore all areas of Shelter No.117, leaving no corner unchecked.

Reward: Unlock B3 level.

]

[

Task: Find the VM of the Manager of Shelter No.117.

Type: Side

Reward: 200 reward points.

]

"B3 level access is linked to Shelter No.117?"

In the Central Square of the Action Camp, Chu Guang, having just dispatched tasks to the players here, stroked his chin with interest while looking at the two new task cards updated in the system interface.

Neither task looked too difficult. Boss Xia knew the location of Shelter No.117, and even the magnetic card for the door was with him.

With the heavy snowfall and frozen landscapes, he didn’t have to worry about mercenaries from Giant Stone City coming to compete with him.

As long as he took care of the Variants from the metro entrance to the shelter’s door, his little players could not only explore the map, they could scrape the land clean!

As for the VM of the Manager of Shelter No.117, that would require a bit of luck since nobody could be sure if that fellow was still in the shelter.

"There’s an Iron Fist Rocket Launcher just sitting in the Armory that’s got a new use, and aren’t there about ten light machine guns too? Shouldn’t be too hard to deal with the Crawlers."

Anyway, firepower was definitely sufficient, so he might as well let the players worry about these tasks.

As for Chu Guang, he had more important matters to attend to on his own.

He headed to the east side of the Changjiu Farm, where a foam-structured barracks housed the prisoners of the Army.

Twenty-six people were crammed into one room, all sleeping on the floor with thin blankets, huddling close to the hot water pipes for warmth.

As Chu Guang arrived nearby with two Strength Type players, intonations of whispering conversations filled the barrack’s Centurions.

"The corporate people have left..."

"They didn’t take us with them."

"Are they planning on leaving us for the natives?"

Thinking of the hundreds of Residents of the refuge who had died in that battle, many faces wore expressions of panic.

God knows how those Barbarians would treat them.

Perhaps they would be thrown into the snow, left to freeze to death, or forced to fight each other and then execute the last survivor in a cruel manner.

They were afraid because they had seen, if not done, these things themselves.

In the Army, such methods were common, used not only against enemies but also occasionally as punishment for their own people.

Vanus didn’t join in the discussion, merely sitting quietly against the wall, silently awaiting his fate.

The answer was quite clear.

The corporate people had refused to sell them to the local Survivor Base and declined negotiation, clearly with no intention of letting them live.

Now it was merely a matter of how they would die.

At that moment, the barrack’s door opened, and the snowy wind blew in violently, causing those near the door to huddle together, shivering violently.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely due to the cold.

Part of the reason was the man standing at the doorway.

Here he comes!

Seeing Chu Guang’s face, Vanus felt his heart leap to his throat, hoping they would be quick with him and not prolong his suffering.

Unexpectedly, the Manager of Shelter No. 117, standing at the doorway, did not immediately order their execution.

Instead, he looked at them and said,

"From now on, you will go through reformation through labor. To live, you will Work."

With an icy gaze overlooking the inhabitants of the cell, Chu Guang continued to speak.

"Who is your commanding officer?"

Eyes hesitantly turned toward the man sitting against the wall in the cell.

Knowing it could not be hidden, Vanus sighed inwardly and stood up squarely.

"It’s me... sir."

Hearing this man calling him sir, Chu Guang found it somewhat amusing.

He had just considered the man to have some backbone, but he had given in so easily.

However, Chu Guang still maintained an expressionless face of authority, his sharp gaze fixed on the man.

"The rest of you stay here, waiting for orders. As for you, come with me."

Following Chu Guang out of the barracks, Vanus’s legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that this path led to the execution ground.

Yet he had no choice but to follow.

The north wind howled.

The snow felt like blades, slicing at him relentlessly, and Vanus, dressed only in a single layer, was frozen to the point that his lips turned purplish and his muscles shook uncontrollably.

The two younger players who followed beside Chu Guang murmured to each other.

"Damn, our Manager is quite the sadist."

"They’ll torment the man before hanging him."

"Tsk tsk tsk, that’s just brutal, too brutal."

Chu Guang ignored the two younger players’ murmuring about the mission’s plot, and led Vanus to the warehouse of Changjiu Farm. There he fetched a dead man’s clothing scavenged from the battlefield and threw it at Vanus’s hands.

"Put it on."

Taking the bullet-riddled fur coat, Vanus, who thought he was going to be executed, was surprised but quickly did as told.

The cold coat didn’t provide him a shred of warmth, but at least it prevented his body heat from escaping too quickly.

"Your subordinates will stay here to burn limestone and carry stones, building our homeland, while you will be assigned to the brick kiln ten kilometers away."

Vanus swallowed, moistening his cracked throat.

"I’d like to say something," he said, looking at Chu Guang.

"Go ahead."

With a forced smile squeezed from his frozen face, he tried to propose, "I have family in the west. I can pay my own ransom... How about a hundred thousand dinars? No, two hundred thousand! I can hand over all my possessions!"

Chu Guang: "Dinars?"

Vanus explained hurriedly, "That’s our currency, made of gold. Two hundred thousand dinars is enough to buy a hundred strong slaves, not mass-produced cannon fodder, but the kind that can do work and understand human speech, almost indistinguishable from normal people."

Seeing what appeared to be a mocking smile on the man’s face, Vanus spoke even faster, his voice now somewhat panicked, a far cry from his earlier composure.

"Of course, if you’re not interested in the labor force, this money could also buy dozens of beautiful female slaves with excellent genes, professionally trained... I assure you, I’ll pay the ransom, just please spare my life!"

It seemed that the Army used precious metals as money and primarily traded slaves.

But it made sense, after all, given their advanced cloning technology, it was unreasonable to produce only one kind.

Mass-produced clones were sent to the battlefield to charge into the fray as cannon fodder, while naturally-grown clones and survivors served as labor, sent to factories or mines to toil.

The strength of this Army was not to be underestimated.

Interrupting his plea, Chu Guang said, "When spring comes next year, if there is a Commercial Team going west, you can send a letter to your family to come with the ransom to redeem you."

"But not now."

"Like your officers, you need to undergo labor reform. This has nothing to do with ransom. Do you understand what I’m saying?"

Despite the humiliation, at least his life was spared.

Vanus moved his stiff neck and lowered his head.

"I understand..."

"I am willing to comply with your arrangements."

It didn’t matter whether he meant those words or not.

Chu Guang only needed to keep these nuisances under his watch until the situation in the north became clear.

After all, neither releasing nor executing these people was quite appropriate, and Chu Guang felt it would be a loss not to give them work to do.

He was no good-hearted soul from the Pioneer, willing to offer precious food to sustain them for free.

Apart from Vanus, who was sent to the brick kiln, the twenty-five junior officers each received a shovel and a barely warm fur garment. Under the supervision of four guards armed with rifles, they cleared snow from the Open Space and pathways inside the camp.

In the afternoon, they would be arranged to level the Land outside the farmstead.

Chu Guang planned to build a cement factory to the south of the Long Endurance Farmstead, using the produced cement to pave roads connecting the Outpost Base to the farmstead.

Once the road was completed, the commute time from Outpost Base to Long Endurance Farmstead would be cut by more than half.

Later, Chu Guang also intended to extend the road to the towns under his jurisdiction in the north, to make it easier for his players to pioneer those areas and establish new Action Camps in Tianshui City further away.

It was said that the Survivor Forces there were slightly weaker and more scattered, not as dominant as in Giant Stone City.

Since he could not expand southward, he might as well expand northward.

Chu Guang planned to seize all the land along the elevated road leading out of the northern suburbs of Qingquan City, attracting refugees fleeing from the northern part of River Valley Province.

At least, that was his plan.

Meanwhile, those small players who finally managed to resurrect received their compensation for missing the expansion pack.

The highest compensation was 300 silver, the least was 150 silver, along with 100 Activity Points and a chance at the lottery, which everyone was entitled to.

The final lottery was the climax of the entire expansion pack.

According to the rules published on the official website,

Activity Points could be exchanged for a high-level gift box, guaranteed to contain an item equivalent to 100 Silver, such as the Corps Iron Pipe Rifle from the reward pool. An Assault Rifle, the same model from Pioneer and exclusive to the expansion pack, was also up for grabs.

Activity Points could be exchanged for a medium-level gift box, guaranteed to contain weapon accessories, armor, or medical supplies such as bandages. Similarly included in the reward pool was an expansion-exclusive "Red dot sight" valued at 233 silver.

Activity Point could not be used for the lottery but could be exchanged for 1 Silver Coin—though no one actually did.

It’s absurd; the reward from the gift boxes was exclusive!

Who wouldn’t want to hit the jackpot with a red dot sight?

Only a fool would trade Activity Points for money!

Not all players possessed the VM, so the expansion pack lottery was organized to take place on the official website.

At 6:00 PM Wasteland time, 6:00 AM in reality, the announcement for exchanging gift boxes was promptly updated on the official website.

As the excited players and Backseat Drivers who camped on the Forum saw the dazzling pool of rewards, the entire server instantly erupted!