This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 212: Price Increase? It’s Just a Closed Beta, Get Used to It!

Chapter 212: Chapter 212: Price Increase? It’s Just a Closed Beta, Get Used to It!

Ssssh—

The hatch opened.

Climbing out of the cultivation chamber, "Construction Boy with Brick" looked up at the ceiling, letting out a howl as if reborn.

"Holy crap!"

"I am finally alive again!"

Three days!

An entire three days without being online!

Only he knew what he went through during those three days.

The first thing after getting out, of course, was to take a shower to clear the bad luck.

He quickly dressed, picked up the VM at the head of the chamber, and "Construction Boy with Brick" dashed into the bathroom, emerging moments later feeling refreshed.

However, when he saw the water bill, his joyful mood instantly turned to cursing.

"Damn it! I only showered for ten minutes, how is it 1 Silver Coin already!?"

He clearly remembered getting out right on the last second at 9 minutes and 59 seconds!

Coincidentally at that moment, a giant lizard crawled out of the neighboring shower.

Garbage King gave him a look, chuckled heh heh.

"Bro, how long since you were last online?"

Construction Boy with Brick glanced at him.

"Three days! Why?"

"Three days, no wonder you didn’t know, the price for showering increased yesterday, now it’s 1 Silver Coin every 10 minutes, starting from the 30th minute it’s 2 Silver per minute."

Construction Boy with Brick was instantly shocked when he heard that.

"1 Silver Coin for 10 minutes?!! Are they robbing us?"

Garbage King seemed to expect this reaction, speaking calmly.

"Calm down, although the cost for showering is up, the returns from tasks have also gone up these two days. Now by doing the tunnel cleaning task, you can do it once a day, and 40 Eaters will net you 50 Silver!"

Construction Boy with Brick looked at him in disbelief.

"50 Silver?! Are you joking?"

Garbage King laughed.

"Why would I lie to you, if you’re short on cash, I’ll take you down to the tunnels. The monsters down there are dumb as bricks, and there’s plenty of them, killing them is super satisfying!"

Inflation.

Not a bad thing!

You don’t have to shower every day, but tasks need to be done every day!

The adjustments were not just to the task rewards, but also to the types and quantity of tasks.

Before, a day’s earnings from the tunnels were just over 50 Silver; now, it’s shot up to 100+, a full double!

And it wasn’t just him whose income was buoyed; even the newbies enjoyed a wave of increased earnings.

Now by doing the "Corpse Mover" task, bringing Eaters to the recycling point next to the Active Substance Extractor, what used to be 10 for 1 Silver Coin is now 5 for 1 Silver.

Many newbies followed the convoy, specializing in this delivery work; on a good day, they could even earn 20 Silver.

This was far more comfortable than the paltry ten Silver Coins they labored for in a day in the past!

Checking the task list through the VM, Construction Boy with Brick finally understood the meaning behind Garbage Brother’s words.

The task payouts had indeed hugely increased.

Previously, the lowest reward tasks were settled in Copper Coins, but now Copper Coins seemed to have disappeared from the task list. Even the least lucrative errand tasks rewarded more than 1 Silver Coin, and if it was an errand across Survivor Settlements, the reward started from 5 Silver Coins.

Looking at it this way...

A slight increase in water rates wasn’t too preposterous, right?

"These three days offline...it feels like I’ve been away for three months," he said, putting down the VM, Construction Boy with Brick full of sentiment.

Garbage Brother patted this old guy’s shoulder.

"Closed testing, pretty normal, you’ll get used to it!"

"I remember just yesterday, Brother Mole specifically opened a thread to analyze the across-the-board increase in task profits. The signs were pretty clear, the second-generation currency system only tweaked the Silver Coins, didn’t mention the Copper at all. The operators must be planning to reduce the varieties of currency in circulation, so they simply abandoned Copper Coins!"

Construction Boy with Brick listened blankly.

After a while, he asked,

"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

Garbage King shook his head.

"Not sure, I think it has its pros and cons. Those who had a lot of money in their accounts would definitely suffer for a while, but on the other hand, starting from now, gear is easier to grind for, which for most players should be a good thing."

"Especially the 7mm bullets; they haven’t gone up in price, still at 1 Silver Coin per bullet! I’ve seen many people who used to hold a fully automatic wouldn’t dare to burst fire before, now they can afford the luxury every once in a while."

Nonetheless, this seemed to have little to do with him.

He couldn’t operate a regular rifle to save his life, and the weapons store wasn’t going to design a special weapon just for him.

So far, from the available Alien Sequences, it seems that only Rat-men didn’t come with the "Jointly Labored" debuff attached.

It wasn’t long before Edge Shoveling, Debt Giant Eye, and all the brothers were back, one by one, emerging from their rooms.

As soon as they saw Brother Shui come out of his room, Big Eyes immediately went up to him with a big grin and slapped him on the shoulder.

"Brother Shui, where are we gonna go to feed today?"

Edge Shoveling rolled his eyes.

"Get lost, you’re such a freaking jinx. You go feed if you want to— I need to farm for a few days first! Damn, I’m never charging in blindly again, waiting on the forum almost split me in half."

Debt Giant Eye chuckled.

"Got it, but you’ll still dare to do it next time!"

Edge Shoveling: "Scram, scram, scram."

Although Edge Shoveling hadn’t been in the game for three days, he kept tabs on the forum to stay updated with the latest developments.

Thanks to the brave fighting of him and his squad, the Chewing Bone Tribe’s vanguard had been forced to withdraw from Qingquan City.

For the past three days, the wind had been blowing and the snow had been falling heavily; in some places, the snow had piled up from the knee to the thigh, capable of burying a person halfway.

Due to the thick snow on the roads, the transport routes between Changjiu Farm and Elm District had all been stopped, barely maintaining the flow to and from the industrial area and the route from Outpost Base to Changjiu Farm.

It was foreseeable that the Chewing Bone Tribe would probably not continue their southward push until spring comes next year.

"By the way, does anyone know where to collect the medals?"

Edge Shoveling opened his VM and saw a message in his personal inbox.

"I saw on VM that it’s at the Manager’s Office, presented by the Manager himself..."

He was only halfway through speaking.

A new announcement suddenly popped up on VM.

[Worldwide Announcement: The war between Shelter No. 404 and the Looters has intensified. In order to ensure the supply of war materials, we are now initiating the War Time Management Regulation and regulating certain essential daily necessities. The situation is severe, and we hope everyone can work together to overcome this.]

[Duration: 60 days.]

Everyone was slightly stunned, and looks of surprise appeared on their faces.

Does this mean...

...a new expansion pack is coming??

...

War Time Regulations Article 1: Green wheat and horned potatoes are classified as controlled items and their personal purchase is suspended, to be distributed by the storehouse.

Article 2: The baseline prices of staples like corn, wheat, rice, and flour will increase by 200%; subsidiary produce such as cabbages and cabbages will increase by 150%.

Article 3: Survivor settlements and temporary shelters directly managed by shelters will provide essential nutrients for survival, with each resident entitled to two servings per day.

Article 4: Residents collecting relief food have an obligation to participate in labor. This includes, but is not limited to, production work, shelter construction, and mobilization at critical moments.

Article 5: ...

There are a total of eighteen War Time Regulations, of which about one-third are related to players, while the rest mainly target refugees.

These include arranging for them to build houses, make fuel, and work in factories.

Refugees are relatively stable as long as they are fed and have fuel for heating.

The impact on players is even smaller.

Many players even considered the Wartime regulations as the third expansion pack for Wasteland OL, a continuation of the first expansion pack "Winter is Coming."

Forum.

Chit-chat discussion area.

Right after the peak offline period passed, the topic of the War Time Regulations became a hot discussion.

Night Ten: "Any class rep to give us a breakdown? What’s Ah Guang planning now? (Emoticon)"

Elena: "Let me tag the class rep for you @Long Days Ahead@Fugitive Mole. (Emoticon)"

Fugitive Mole: "What’s the use of tagging me, tag Ah Guang. (Side-eye)"

Fang Chang: "emmm... From what I can see, the version’s favorite seems to be lifestyle occupation players, but they’re also the ones who got nerfed the hardest. Whoever can figure out how to feed the most people with the least food will probably gain the favor of the version, I’m just guessing."

Tomato and Egg Stir-fry: "Why don’t we stir-fry noodles? If we’re not fussy about taste, that stuff can fill you up and the ingredients are simple."

Spare people under the knife: "That’s treating the symptoms, not the cause. We lack food, not ways to eat it. I think we should develop more food sources!"

Old White: "Like what?"

Elena: "How about cockroaches? (Emoticon)"

Gnome King Riches: "Holy moly, Old Monk, you have some exotic tastes! (Shocked)"

Old White: "+1, even in the game, I absolutely won’t eat that stuff!"

Drum-type hair washer: "How about rats? Squeakers are famous in our area. (Emoticon)"

Difficult for the strong: "Shivering."

Tail: "Why don’t we eat Meat Meat!

Meat mountain big steamed bun: "Don’t do it! Even though my gene sequence is alien, I’m still human! (Scared)"

Midnight Chicken Killing: "Bear Paws! (－﹃－*)"

Meat mountain big steamed bun: "QAQ"

...

Near the new industrial area.

In front of the abandoned department store.

Stacks of unprocessed wood piled up in the open space, forming a pyramidal shape, with refugees constantly moving around them, bustling about without pause.

Some people carried axes, splitting large logs into smaller chunks of firewood. Others sawed them into planks, carrying them into the abandoned department store to repair the damaged walls and to seal the leaky doors and windows.

The ventilation in the underground parking garage was worse than imagined, and they only realized after their arrival that it couldn’t accommodate so many people. The refugees relocated here had to temporarily settle on the first floor of the department store.

Fortunately, the people from the shelter had timely sent over a truckload of wood and some bricks for building stoves.

Thanks to these woods and bricks, they were a huge help!

With stoves and chimneys built from the bricks, they could vent the burning smoke out of the building, without risking poisoning or setting fire by placing the burning charcoal next to their beds.

Because the damaged walls and windows had been sealed up, the consumption rate of fuel also decreased significantly.

Cooks set up large pots at the entrance, boiling porridge inside.

Though the air was thick with the scent of grass, those bubbling bubbles ignited a glimmer of hope for the future in the red-nosed survivors.

That manager in blue armor didn’t break his promise.

Those in blue jackets did not abandon them.

The life here might not be satisfactory, but at least they could survive.

As long as they could survive, there was hope!

...

Up to now, it had been a total of three days.

Survivors from all five survivor bases, including Super Power Battery Factory, Winter Willow Camp, and Highway Town, had completed the relocation.

The outermost perimeter of the north suburb of Qingquan City had already formed a void, and the next time those looters came, they would probably only find some useless junk.

The scorched earth plan was initially shaping up!

However, due to the recent heavy snowstorms and shortages of food and fuel, the second and third batches of relocation plans had to be put on hold.

Chu Guang made a promise to the remaining seven survivor settlements.

If they were attacked, reinforcements from the shelters would arrive within half an hour, they just needed to hold on for that half-hour, and the rest could be left to the shelter’s soldiers to handle.

But truth be told, in this ghastly weather, the possibility of being attacked was smaller than freezing to death.

Even the ten-kilometer stretch of road from Outpost Base to Changjiu Farm, though repaired and without obvious potholes, passing trucks would still occasionally break down once or twice, not to mention marching in the wasteland.

Considering the pitted conditions of the Wasteland roads, a large force probably couldn’t travel a few kilometers before getting stuck in the snow and waiting to die.

Moreover, the Chewing Bone Tribe was situated even further north, facing no less severe conditions at the moment. The temperature in North Suburb was far below minus ten degrees. It could very well reach minus twenty or thirty.

Even if they ate other humans.

They would still need to cook the meat...

This year’s harsh winter was not just severe compared to previous years, but could only be described as brutal.

Chu Guang had visited Bet Street before, and while inspecting the situation there, he also had a chat with Old Charlie.

Old Charlie had then stated that he had been living here for a few years.

And such bad conditions as this year had only appeared twice in his memory...

...

On the second day of the War Time Regulations.

The sudden strain on food supply, although it made life a bit worse than before, did not bring an unbearable impact on the players’ gaming experience.

The items mainly restricted from purchase were green wheat and goat’s horn potatoes, while items like rice, potatoes, wheat, corn, and various types of flour were not limited.

With the income of the players, they could afford the latter.

However, a doubled base selling price still put a lot of pressure on the life-profession players who were vendors.

At the market near the north gate.

It was mealtime.

Players sitting in front of Zhang Hai’s noodle stall clamored.

"Boss Zhang, why did your noodle prices go up again?"

"Exactly! The meat is cut thinner than paper already, but now even plain noodles are 2 Silver Coins a bowl!"

"It’s doubled in price! This is too much!"

Annoyed by the complaints, Zhang Hai banged the noodle pot with his ladle, impatiently saying,

"What are you complaining about, go ask the warehouse that sells flour! A kilogram of corn flour is already selling for 5 Silver Coins! 2 liang of noodles, I charge you 2 Silver Coins, is that so outrageous? Huh?"

Keep complaining.

Tomorrow it’ll be 3 Silver Coins!

Unexpectedly to Zhang Hai, the patrons sitting in front of the stall did not accept this, and continued to make a fuss.

"Damn it! I knew these noodles seemed too little, turns out it’s only two liang!"

"It can’t be said to be outrageous, this is way too much!"

"Where is the market supervision bureau? I want to call the police; there is a dishonest business skimping on materials!"

Zhang Hai: "@#%!"

Damn it!

I’m charging three silver coins per bowl tomorrow!

It’s not just the noodle sellers who are raising their prices, but the barbecue and bun vendors too.

It’s only at times like these that players start to miss Crow Boss’s mushrooms.

That mushroom soup for one silver coin per bowl was like a ray of hope in the cold winter.

It used to seem expensive, but now it seems too cheap to be true.

Hopefully, when the mushrooms fields reopen next spring, Crow Boss will keep some good memories for them and won’t raise the prices...

Walking through the market at the North Gate, Chu Guang pondered what to have for dinner tonight while listening to the players’ chatter.

Understanding the will of the people is also part of a manager’s job.

After all, it’s easy to fall into the trap of being an "armchair strategist" if you only look at spreadsheets.

Overall, this round of price increases was controllable, and the effect had met Chu Guang’s expectations.

Players’ daily earnings increased by 50% to 100%, while the prices of food, clothing, and other necessities rose by 100% to 150%. Industrial products like weapons and ammunition prices remained the same, which was effectively a price cut.

In a word, the living conditions of career players weren’t really weakened, combat professional players got an epic enhancement!

Currently, the only thing in the market that hasn’t gone up in price is probably the milk bought by nomads and some dried meat made from game.

The herders from the Frost Spear Tribe brought with them the technique of making air-dried meat from afar, which had a unique flavor, and it became popular with some players who need provisions for the wilderness, because even though the taste might be slightly inferior, the cost-effectiveness as a dry food was extremely high.

After all, green wheat has now become a "controlled commodity," and green wheat cakes have disappeared from the market.

Without wheat cakes, the smaller players could only use dried meat as their dried food supply.

Walking next to Chu Guang, Xia Yan muttered quietly.

"Is it my imagination, or does it feel like my salary isn’t stretching as far as it used to?"

She had spent seven silver coins on dinner today!

This was the first time she felt a sense of crisis that her salary wasn’t enough.

Chu Guang wasn’t too concerned and replied in a relaxed tone,

"Think of it this way, if players buy more guns from you, your performance will rise, and soon you’ll find that your salary is more than double what it was before."

Xia Yan replied, "But a gun can be used for a long time, right? Your players can’t possibly buy guns every day."

Chu Guang patiently explained,

"You can’t think of it that way. If they buy guns, they need to buy bullets, right? If they have guns, they need to upgrade a few components, right? Sights, bulletproof vests, helmets, fragmentation grenades, more durable backpacks, bandages, and so on... these all cost money."

Previously, when Shelter No.117’s production capacity was not sufficient, Chu Guang had to be very cautious when setting task rewards to avoid players’ savings data experiencing an overflow.

But now, the shelter’s production capabilities had reached a new stage, and Chu Guang needed players to consume, to buy the weapons and armor produced by the factory so that it could expand production and further reduce costs.

Only by doing so in a cycle could a balanced and healthy supply-and-demand loop be formed.

Watching Xia Yan’s puzzled face, Chu Guang smiled faintly,

"If you can’t understand it, then don’t worry about it; this stuff is too difficult for you."

Xia Yan glanced at Chu Guang, sensing something, and said,

"I feel like you’re making fun of me."

Of course, Chu Guang wouldn’t admit it and casually replied,

"I never said that."

After a stroll through the market, Chu Guang ended up buying three meat buns and, on a whim, bought two bottles of milk from the Autumn Grass Autumn Leaf sisters’ stall as his dinner for tonight.

The weather was too cold, and he didn’t have much of an appetite.

Besides, with everyone tightening their belts, it wouldn’t look good for him as a manager to be wasteful.

He headed towards the sanatorium.

Just as Chu Guang approached the entrance, he saw Yin Fang coming out of the elevator.

He was holding a small metallic object, about the size of a basketball, box-shaped, resembling a mini octopus, with four mechanical legs underneath its base.

After taking a bite of his bun, Chu Guang curiously asked him,

"What’s that you’re holding?"

Upon seeing Chu Guang, Yin Fang’s eyes lit up, and he said excitedly,

"It’s a four-legged robot made with neural connectivity technology! Remember the Black Box you found at Shelter No.117? Based on the neural connection device it generated, I tweaked it with some VM and other parts, and now we have this. Isn’t it amazing? I made it myself!"

Holy cow!

Is that really possible?

Forgetting all about dinner, Chu Guang looked at the object in his hand and quickly asked,

"How does this thing work?"

"It’s simple! As long as you put on the specific connecting device... It just so happens I planned to test its performance!"

As he said this, Yin Fang pulled out a wireless earpiece about the size of a thumb from his pocket, tossed it to Chu Guang, and said with excitement,

"Just put it on and you’ll understand!"

-

(Tomorrow will resume with two updates!)

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