This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 193: Inconceivable Slime

Chapter 193: Chapter 193: Inconceivable Slime

Floor B3’s Planting Area.

The last row of the soilless planting units.

Standing in front of a transparent display case, Chu Guang touched his chin with his right hand, his handsome face revealing sudden surprise.

"Potatoes, corn, tomatoes, baby bok choy, cabbage... I didn’t expect to find so many good things hidden here."

Originally, he had planned to check out the planting area, but after walking around the planting units, he found unexpected treasures.

Behind the transparent window, there were boxes labeled with various crop seeds.

These seeds were soaked in a special solution, preserved at very low temperatures.

Chu Guang carefully counted, finding a total of 12 pre-war crop varieties stored in the freezer, with growth cycles ranging from short to long, and suitable climates from tropical to polar, almost completely covered.

No matter what the climate outside, once the doors of the refuge opened, residents could find at least one variety suitable for the current climate to sow.

Moreover, these seeds were genetically modified improved varieties, largely similar to the β-712 cotton seeds he had previously obtained from the blind box.

Quietly following beside the Manager, Macabazi excitedly said with an interested look on Chu Guang’s face.

"Manager, I think we should make use of these idle facilities!"

Chu Guang nodded and said,

"You’re right, I indeed have that intention."

Hearing this, Macabazi looked eager, but when the Manager turned and walked away, he didn’t hear the expected words.

Confused, he blinked and quickly lowered his head to check the VM.

Huh?

Why didn’t it trigger a mission?

Could it be the posture of triggering the dialogue was wrong?

...

The soilless planting units in the planting area could complete sowing, watering, fertilizing, and final harvesting through preset programs.

In a sense, similar to the black box’s production method, the demand for manpower and planting experience was very low.

With such a high degree of automation, there was no need to involve players in managing it; Chu Guang planned to assign Xiao Qi to handle it.

Too much human involvement would only drag down the efficiency of the facility.

In terms of production plans, Chu Guang planned to focus on breeding staple crops with longer growth cycles and supplement them with short-cycle crops like baby bok choy.

By next spring, the seeds of those staple crops would come into play.

"50 planting units, with a theoretical planting area of only 50 acres... that’s still too little."

Even if one carefully cultivated acre could sustain five people, the yield from 50 acres could only sustain 250 people, not even enough to cover the players added in the Alpha 0.9 version.

Whenever he thought about this, Chu Guang was puzzled.

"It’s really unreasonable. The plantation area of the refuge can’t even sustain the people on this floor; are the people here living off nutritional pastes?"

That’d be too miserable.

Or is there...

Something hidden?

Regardless, food was a big issue.

Besides food, his players also needed fur coats to withstand the severe cold. Blue Jackets had thermal features, but those were for ordinary cold. The winter this year in Qingquan City was so severe that the lake surface had even begun to show signs of freezing, which clearly couldn’t be described as ordinary cold.

Compared to the cultivation chamber, supplying resources for a player had become a more urgent issue.

The tricky part was that it was already December, and deep winter was setting in, with everyone likely running low on food supplies.

Brown farm had already been squeezed dry, and there wasn’t any nearby survivor settlement with a significantly high food yield.

The only hope was the Greenhouse Ruins.

Hopefully, Macabazi Brother would put in some extra effort.

It had been some time since he had last checked, and he wasn’t sure how his cornfield was doing.

After leaving the planting area, Chu Guang took a turn and went next door to the medical room to see what the newly recruited bioengineering expert was busy with.

Due to frequent onlookers and disturbances from the players, she seemed to have locked the door.

Even though for Chu Guang the doors from B1 to B3 felt more like decorations, the high EQ him politely pressed the doorbell anyway.

The doorbell rang.

And quickly opened.

Passing through the medical office, Chu Guang went straight to the room inside.

From the equipment and layout of the room, it appeared to be a medical laboratory.

As he passed through the moving door, Heya, wearing a blue jacket, stood in front of an electron microscope, her eyes fixated on the viewing port, her right hand skillfully manipulating the buttons on the touch screen.

Standing by, Chu Guang observed with great interest and then asked,

"This is?"

Hand still at work, eyes glued to the microscope, Heya replied excitedly,

"Mutated slime fungus! A sample collected from the Eaters! Thanks to your residents... that’s how you pronounce it, right? Anyway, please thank them for me!"

It seemed she had now fully grasped the usage of the term "residents," even though she was not yet accustomed to their enthusiasm.

Chu Guang was very pleased by this.

If all his NPCs were as perceptive, his micromanagement could be reduced by more than half.

"I will convey your gratitude. How is it going? Have you discerned anything?"

Unlike the residents who had lived in the Wasteland for some time, Heya had previously stayed inside Shelter No. 117 and, although she knew of the dangerous species outside, she had never actually come into contact with them.

The manager of Shelter No. 117 was a relatively conservative leader who did not support the risk of unbalancing the internal ecological environment of the shelter by bringing samples from the Wasteland inside.

Chu Guang, however, had fewer reservations. Shelter No. 404 had already been opened, and he had no plans to seal its doors completely; bringing in a few samples hardly mattered.

Thus, when he heard that Heya was planning to list the variants from the Wasteland as research subjects, he immediately agreed without hesitation, even allocating a budget of 2000 silver coins for her.

Even if it meant understanding more about the weaknesses of these variants, the money would be well spent.

"It’s not just about discerning something; these samples have completely overturned my initial impression of them! At first, I thought the mutated slime fungus and what you call Eaters and Crawlers were in a parasitic relationship, but then I realized it wasn’t so."

Hearing this, Chu Guang paused slightly.

That was completely different from the rumors he knew.

"...Really?"

Staring at the microscope, Heya replied without hesitation,

"Of course not! The Eaters, Crawlers, and the Martyrs... Based on the samples collected so far, these creatures you call Mucor species variants are actually sporophores of the mutated slime fungus, and not separate species!"

Hearing words he did not completely understand, Chu Guang asked,

"Sporophores? What are those?"

"A type of structure that produces spores! You might not be familiar with slime fungi; their habits are quite peculiar. Sometimes they crawl on the ground like amoebas, and sometimes they stand up like mushrooms to release spores. But the habits of this mutated slime fungus are even more unusual. The sporophores they form differ from other fungi in both shape and behavior, showing a high degree of similarity to higher animals with complex body structures and highly differentiated organ functions!"

Science fanaticism was written all over that beautiful face.

Even with the microscope blocking her eyes, Chu Guang could clearly feel a completely different aura emanating from her.

Chu Guang cautiously said,

"Could you elaborate on that? I mean, in terms that even a layman could understand."

"Putting it in layman’s terms, these slime fungi exhibit a form of sociality similar to ants or bees! They have clear divisions of labor; some form toes, others heads, some tissues necrotize and harden voluntarily, while others form nerve tissues and the muscles needed for movement! It’s almost as if a unified consciousness has decided the selective expression of each segment of genes in the slime fungus cells."

Her eyes moved away from the microscope, and Heya looked at Chu Guang with an excited expression,

"Did you not notice? The Eaters are basically a replica of humans, and the Crawlers look like a hybrid of some quadruped beast and human. They not only mimic the appearance of other creatures but also their hunting habits!"

"And the Martyrs are more peculiar, seeming to contain features of multiple animals and some plants, mimicking explosives in their methods of attack, using self-sacrifice to assist their kind in capturing prey... This is simply incredible! Are these slime fungi really creatures from this planet?"

Watching the tirelessly babbling Heya, Chu Guang’s face was filled with an odd expression.

Originally, he meant for her to simply look after the crops next door, as those hydroponic units were highly automated and only needed occasional monitoring.

And yet, unexpectedly, he had learned something profound from her.

"You mean to say... the Eaters, Crawlers, and Martyrs are sporophores of the mutated slime fungus meant to release spores?"

Chu Guang pressed his temple with his index finger, trying to comprehend and then frowned, "That doesn’t sound right, I heard they are produced by the lair."

"The lair? What is that!"

Heya suddenly grabbed Chu Guang’s arm, her eyes blazing, "Can you get a sample? Oh right, you taught me, we can use VM..."

Halfway through her words, she seemed to remember something, letting go of Chu Guang’s arm and lifting her VM ready to "place an order."

Chu Guang was startled by her actions and quickly stopped her.

"Calm down, the lair is not something current players can handle; you’re sending them to their death."

Good grief.

Was she treating the VM like a wishing machine now?!

Even if his residents were highly useful, they weren’t supposed to be used like that!

Heya, momentarily bewildered by being stopped, ceased her movements.

"That lair... is it that difficult to deal with?"

"It’s not about whether it’s difficult or not; it’s simply unmanageable."

Although according to the standards he had set, this kind of task wouldn’t even pass Xiao Qi’s review, Chu Guang felt it was necessary to help this outlier, ignorant of the Wasteland’s common knowledge, understand what the world had become.

Watching the stunned Heya, Chu Guang paused for a moment and began to relay the information he had compiled from the official website and terms related to the setting, including Luo Hua on his journey and the "Tide" that broke out in Qingquan City intermittently.

After hearing these astonishing revelations, Heya finally gained a rough understanding of the danger posed by the Lair.

This thing was extremely dangerous!

It was like a heaven disaster.

Even a well-established survivor force like Giant Stone City, with some industrial capabilities, would struggle against the tide unleashed by the Lair.

As for collecting samples from the Lair, given the current capabilities of the refuge, it was an almost impossible task.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t know...that this was such a dangerous matter." Heya’s face showed a look of shame.

Chu Guang shook his head.

"It’s okay, I was just as surprised the first time I heard about the Lair. The research on the Variants can be taken step by step, when we’re capable of handling the troubles in the city center, I promise you’ll get the samples you want."

Although they currently lacked the means, Chu Guang had no doubt in his mind that he and his small players would one day completely eradicate the trouble at the city center.

Regardless, he had obtained some interesting intelligence from Heya.

Chu Guang planned to selectively update this intelligence on the official website as a reference for his small players later.

...

The busy day came to an end.

Carrying lances, spears, and axes, the small players emerged from the deep tunnels of Floor B3, still eager for more.

In one day, they had successfully advanced the front line both south and north by 500 meters, killing nearly two thousand Eaters, over a hundred Martyrs, and almost twenty Crawlers!

The number of Variants in the tunnels was greater than imagined, especially towards the north, where swarms of Eaters even created waves of corpse tides!

However, the experienced small players were clever, setting up wooden barricades along the way that slowed the advance of the Eaters while stretching out their ranks.

Once unable to form density, the Eaters weren’t so frightening.

For dealing with this type of Variant, which had a singular attack method and relied on numbers to win, even players not skilled in combat could easily handle them if not surrounded.

Not to mention those high-level players in the tunnels with an average level above LV6!

At the refuge, long queues had already formed at the entrances of the bathrooms on Floors B2 and B3, with chattering noises filling the air.

"Damn! Hurry up with the shower in front!"

"Exactly! Dilly-dallying like a dreidel! It’s been ten minutes!"

"!!! Are you all dogs? Don’t you need more than ten minutes for a shower?!"

"I strongly suggest raising the price of water!"

"Don’t raise it anymore, if it goes up again, the Crow Boss won’t be able to afford his showers!"

"Get lost!"

Yin Fang, who had intended to freshen up before dinner, was so intimidated by the crowd that he didn’t dare eat and instead hid back in his temporary laboratory.

The laundry room was no different.

Especially those small players who emerged from the tunnels looked like they had come out of a coal mine, their bodies more covered in dust than blood!

Finally squeezing out of the crowd.

Planning to go back to his room and log off, Night Ten just happened to see Brother Mosquito, and seeing him all dusty, went up to greet him with a grin.

"Yo! Brother Mosquito, feeling up for a dungeon raid today?"

"Raid what? I got this testing new equipment."

"Did it explode again?"

Hearing this teasing banter, Mosquito couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

"What do you mean ’explode again’! If it doesn’t explode, can it even be called a weapon? Anyway, the testing today went pretty well, just that the propellant mix had a little problem, it sprayed my face with soot after discharge, damn, I need to make the barrel longer."

Pausing for a moment, Mosquito continued speaking to Night Ten.

"Enough bullshitting, have you seen that dumb lizard? I haven’t seen him around the corner doing push-ups today."

At the mention of the lizard, Night Ten immediately laughed.

"That guy? Hahahaha, he’s gone berserk killing in the tunnel at the exit of B3! He’s probably not had enough yet."

Thinking back to the early versions, Garbage Brother was so impressive, the only one capable of operating at night, living off raw flesh, tearing Variants apart with his hands, all players envied him immensely.

Yet, who could have guessed, not even a month later, winter arrived and as a cold-blooded animal, Garbage Brother was frozen solid offline, unable even to go out the doors of the shelter.

Really, every version has its star players, you only see the newcomers laughing, not the old crying.

Mosquito clucked his tongue.

"Feeling sorry for Garbage Brother, he’s been obsolete for at least three versions now, right?"

Night Ten also sighed.

"Be confident, drop the ’right’!"

The night in the Wasteland deepened gradually, as the real sun began to rise.

Every time players went offline during peak hours, the traffic on the "Wasteland OL" official forum experienced a small surge.

Chu Guang briefly browsed the forum.

He found that players were quite enthusiastic about the new version he had released.

In less than 72 hours, over a hundred strategy guides had been created.

"A Monster Hunter’s Self-Improvement! Solo Strategy for Crack Claw Crabs!"

"Scavenger’s Handbook! The host is spitting blood to summarize twenty high cost-performance materials for recycling! Just for one like!"

"The Son of the Version is Born! Strength Type Scavengers tell you what it means to miracurously gain power! Starting with two hands, all equipment picked up!"

"Floor B3 of Shelter No. 404 Tunnel Strategy! Four Body Constitution System Perpetual Machines will lead you to wipe out the monsters!"

"..."

Chu Guang briefly read a few and couldn’t help but marvel at the wisdom and creativity of these players.

What defines high-quality human players?

Just the average level inside the Wasteland OL closed beta!

The guide writers were passionate, and so were the spectators, backseat drivers, and sand sculpture netizens.

In these hundred-plus guides, those that received over ten thousand likes and a thousand replies made up a full twenty percent!

By BBS standards, that was quite exaggerated.

However, what interested Chu Guang the most were not those strategy posts, but a few high-temperature threads in the discussion area.

Brother Mosquito: "Damn! The twelve-tube rocket’s power is enough, but the muzzle velocity is still too low! Can’t hit high-speed targets at all! Though unexpectedly effective against ground targets?"

Old White: "How much?"

Brother Mosquito: "80 silver coins!"

Night Ten: "Tsk, you’re selling it for more than what Iron Fist costs at the NPC store, why wouldn’t I just buy an Iron Fist? One shot could befuddle even a Crack Claw Crab. (amused)"

Brother Mosquito: "Damn! That’s already at cost price!"

Fang Chang: "Bro, try to reduce the cost, otherwise ’practicality’ will always be a dream. By the way, with the players coming in, it’s time to increase the production scale."

Brother Mosquito: "Headache! I’ll think of something!"

Old White: "In my opinion, don’t bother with an anti-aircraft rocket launcher, let alone guidance, you haven’t even got a proximity fuse, you can’t defend shit. Better to develop an SPG-9 recoilless gun, might even be more reliable than your so-called Thorn Fist for anti-air. (skeptical)"

Night Ten: "+1, give me an elevation angle, I could even use the tank’s main cannon to take down a plane. (amused)"

Brother Mosquito: "Nonsense! Thinking this is Battlefield?"

Chu Guang didn’t quite understand the violent aesthetics in Mosquito’s heart, either.

This guy was actually quite capable, the rapid production of chemical products, as well as explosives like nitrocellulose and TNT at the Outpost Base, owed at least half of the credit to him.

However...

The weapons he made always had a strange style, with few being practical.

Although that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, Chu Guang felt that hoping to fill the gap in anti-aircraft weapons from him would likely be in vain.

In another slightly less heated thread, "I Want to Go to Brother Ciso" and "Who’s Levin with Foot Fungus" were having technical exchanges with some special backseat drivers.

Brother Ciso: "Imitating the 88 gun still poses some challenges, although I can find the blueprints and videos and even cut out parts using the refuge’s black technology, many problems remain unsolved. Especially the barrel, to increase the muzzle velocity of the shell, I must increase the charge, making the barrel withstand greater chamber pressure!"

Brother Levin: "Exactly, and developing new equipment is freaking expensive! 500 silver coins aren’t even enough to cover the development cost, it needs an extra zero!"

The high cost of R&D was indeed a problem.

Chu Guang, staring at his computer screen, considered for a moment, switched to the desktop, and opened the budget spreadsheet.

"For producing high-barrier, high-cost large equipment, it’s not entirely appropriate for players to bear the entire development cost."

Chu Guang thought for a while and came up with an idea.

He planned to set up a special fund to support the development of new equipment. As long as it passed the review, it could receive funding.

As for the anti-aircraft weapons project at Steel Plant No. 81...

Chu Guang pondered for a moment and made a decision.

"A budget of 5000 silver coins seems too deliberate, let’s change it to... 5500 silver coins. If it’s not sufficient later, we can increase it."

"The original task remains unchanged, the new task to be reissued in the form of ’exclusive orders.’"

As for Mosquito...

Let him figure it out on his own for now.

If Brother Mosquito came up with a reliable design plan, Chu Guang would, of course, support him with a research budget.

But until now, Chu Guang still couldn’t see clearly what exactly he intends to create...

-

(Day X of return to daily life, feeling a bit disorganized in my routine, I’m adjusting, sorry for only one update today. But this Chapter is 6K, equivalent to two Chapters of 3K? Shouldn’t be considered a degeneration.)