This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 215: They Will Become Your Eyes

Chapter 215: Chapter 215: They Will Become Your Eyes

"You thought I was a ’Black Box,’ too??"

Originally, Dr. Yin Fang felt quite comfortable hearing the first part of Chu Guang’s sentence, but the latter part made him involuntarily spray out his drink.

The camera is quite good.

Too bad it can’t make calls??

Listen to this, is this even human language?

However, Chu Guang clearly did not reflect.

"Can it be done?"

Seeing his serious demeanor, Dr. Yin Fang paused for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.

"Yes!"

"But I must say the truth, such low-tech tasks should be handled by someone else instead of taking up my precious time—"

"Of course, others will replicate it later, but I need something replicable to begin with, right? I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you with the design."

Seeing Dr. Yin Fang seemingly not placing much importance on the matter, Chu Guang pondered for a moment and continued in a mild tone.

"Don’t underestimate this job, imagine your scientific exploration team members with a headset on their ears, able to report new findings to you at any moment and also give feedback on the conditions inside the remnants of pre-war civilizations. And you don’t have to step out at all; just sit in an air-conditioned room, tap the screen twice with your index finger, and you can switch to their perspective ... They will become your eyes; isn’t that interesting?"

Speaking thus, Chu Guang hung the pen-like camera on his ear, gently adjusting the direction of the lens to face forward.

"I need a headset ’integrated with camera capabilities,’ just like this; when worn, the camera should face directly forward, the wider the angle, the better. This way, it can not only take photos but also record video and make calls ... These three functions are crucial, even better if it can be used with the VM."

He certainly wasn’t doing this for some online streaming; does he lack reserved players right now?

Clearly not.

Food, clothing, fuel, resources—these four items are all more of a priority than "Cultivation chamber," and reserved players are even further down the list. Chu Guang does not need all six billion people on earth to work for him, nor could he get that many Sleep Cabins.

He just needs to maintain a ratio of 1:5 to 1:10 between himself and the players in the server.

And in fact, the ratio is nearly 1:30 now, even more if you count those sand sculpture netizens who haven’t reserved; Chu Guang is not worried at all about running out of naive newcomers.

What should a planner consider?

Of course, enhancing the gaming experience for players in the game!

A headset integrated with camera and photo capabilities not only facilitates communication in regional and squad channels but also becomes your eyes, helping you screen peek and capture key elements that players often overlook.

Combining the functions of an action camera and a walkie-talkie, it could later even consider adding simultaneous interpretation capabilities, the importance of this device is really too significant!

Not to mention, at least squads would no longer have to rely solely on shouting to coordinate with each other!

Even if it’s costly and not every player can be equipped, Chu Guang still needs to make sure every squad leader gets one during combat.

Yes, even the NPC guards should have one!

After listening to Chu Guang’s speech, Dr. Yin Fang fell into deep thought.

Having the members of the scientific exploration team become his eyes—this statement indeed moved him.

To be honest, although the exploration team had been established for a while, the work efficiency was never very high.

On the one hand, this was due to objective factors like the heavy snow which made many areas inaccessible.

On the other hand, "players" sometimes lacked a clear concept of what was important and what was not, often missing critical details, and he had to reissue missions, causing the players to make repeated trips.

This back-and-forth not only wasted time but also squandered a considerable part of the budget.

Being able to control the actions of the exploration team in real-time and perform micro-managements during operations indeed sounded like a very attractive proposal.

After all, the players’ sometimes smart, sometimes dull performance, and the fluctuating levels of execution, made him, a former mid-level academy official, quite anxious.

Stroking his chin, Dr. Yin Fang contemplated.

"I’ll think of something...."

Chu Guang smiled faintly.

He knew the matter was likely settled.

"Hmm, please do!"

...

"War Time Regulations" Day 10.

Outside the concrete walls of Changjiu Farm, stretching across the vast expanse of snowy land, stood a straight line of dark figures, distinctly set apart from the snow.

They were new recruits of the guard squad.

Just yesterday, a batch of brand-new "Arbiter I" rifles and black uniforms had been transported from the new industrial zone to Changjiu Farm and issued to every one of them.

These uniforms were designed at Vine Cottage, modeled after the military uniforms of various countries in the nineteenth century, and merged with the style of the shelter’s uniforms with simple linear textures added.

As for the manufacturing, it was done by refugees from places like Winter Willow Camp, Battery Factory, and Highway Town which are survivor settlements, stitched together one thread at a time.

The fabric of these uniforms was made of Devil Silk, dyed black with glue made from insects, sewn with two layers, and stuffed with crushed banknote paper in between.

This type of "coat" had excellent warmth retention and wasn’t too heavy, it looked quite neat, the only drawback was that it couldn’t be washed.

After all, no matter how waterproof banknote paper could be, those are still broken fibers, which when soaked in water, wouldn’t immediately pulp, but would likely diminish the warming "pores," severely reducing its thermal performance.

However, no matter what, this coat was better than layering hyena skins.

The natural color variation of fur decides that although fur-crafted clothes could look pretty, they are not suitable for uniforms, at most as decoration for shawls or fur collars.

After all, a group of people in fur coats, even if carrying unified rifles on their shoulders, would somewhat resemble a look of a pseudo-army.

But now it looked much better.

The unified black uniforms, along with the heavy-barreled Arbitrator rifles, formed a hundred guards in a line in front of the enclosing wall.

The bright, gleaming white light was extensive and with flags among guns, one could sense the overwhelming sternness just from sight!

Walking ahead of the queue, Vanus, the former Centurion of the army, blew out a puff of white breath and shouted at these recruits.

"All, attention!"

The response was an orderly and unified voice.

"At ease!"

Turning his gaze away from these recruits, Vanus walked over to Wrench, the captain of the guard squad, and asked.

"How do you feel?"

Wrench, clad in "Type Five" exoskeleton, let his gaze linger on the neatly organized new recruits for a moment.

He didn’t provide a direct assessment but instead said.

"After the Manager inspects them, I will give you an answer."

Vanus said,

"And your feelings?"

Wrench replied without hesitation,

"The Manager’s feelings are my feelings."

Feeling somewhat helpless at this uninteresting response,

Vanus gave up on asking further, looked again at the neatly organized new recruits, and suddenly felt a bit nostalgic.

His eyes slightly narrowed, he spoke.

"Citizens of the legion will start school at the age of six, receiving basic education including literacy and arithmetic, and at the age of twelve, decide whether to become a technical officer studying technology or to enter the military academy for militarized education."

"If they go to the military academy, they graduate at the age of sixteen, where top performers can be promoted to Centurion and assigned to lead as deputies in thousand teams at the front line, while the rest are incorporated into the youth army, fighting alongside frontline troops at the most dangerous fronts until they earn their merits there and become a Centurion."

Wrench glanced at Vanus.

"What are you trying to say?"

Vanus continued,

"If the Chewing Bone Tribe absorbs not only the Expeditionary Army’s equipment but also some of its junior officers, your situation will be very dangerous."

Wrench gave a faint smile.

"You’re starting to worry about us?"

"After all, I have to consider my own safety as well."

Pausing for a moment, Vanus continued.

"And beyond that, you are a group of respectable opponents, your story should become a saga, not a sloppily ended tale at the hands of barbarians."

This question was actually difficult to answer, and Vanus wasn’t sure himself, so he responded vaguely.

He had no doubt that only the legion could bring true order to the chaotic Wasteland, yet on the other hand, he had to admit that these Blue Jackets and those he had seen before were indeed different.

They not only were braver but also more responsible, under their governance, even the lowest ranked brick burners and scavengers lived with dignity.

Especially since he saw loyalty on the faces of those uneducated people!

It was hard for him to imagine.

Wrench glanced at Vanus unexpectedly, but said nothing.

He was not a proud man.

But he had no doubt that victory would side with the Manager.

After all, they had defeated mighty armies like the Army before and had repelled the Looter from the north more than once.

Chewing Bone Tribe?

Come and try if you dare!

Let’s see how many teeth you’ve got to lose!

...

Greenhouse Ruins.

Bright lights illuminated rows of soil-less cultivation chambers, while the narrow corridors were packed with carcasses of Devil Moths and their scattered fibers.

Leaning against gate B8, sweaty Fang Chang lifted his sore arm to wipe his forehead, panting slightly.

"I feel... it’s coming."

Holding an LD-47c, Night Ten grinned and said,

"What’s coming? Relatives?"

He had noticed something off about Brother Fang Chang since a while ago and had stayed by his side.

Too exhausted to deal with him, Fang Chang rolled his eyes and spat out a word.

"Scram."

Wearing the modified Miner Type I Exoskeleton, Old White walked up to Fang Chang’s side, looked him over for a while, and suddenly spoke.

"Do you feel your body heating up now? And your heart beating really fast?"

Fang Chang nodded.

"Yes."

A look of delight immediately spread across Old White’s face as he patted Fang Chang’s shoulder.

"Congrats, my good brother!"

Seeing the expression on Old White’s face, Fang Chang had a hunch and asked.

"Could it be... Awakening?!"

Old White nodded with a smile.

"Exactly!"

Hearing this, a wild joy spread across Fang Chang’s face.

He looked at his hands, his voice full of excitement.

"... Is this what Awakening feels like?"

It was so tough!

Perhaps to emphasize that the "Sequence Level" was not everything in the game, this game didn’t provide experience for quests; it only gave money, Contribution Points, regional reputation, and skill proficiency.

To raise your Sequence Level, you had to either fight equally matched monsters or repeatedly train the skills related to your main attributes.

For the Strength Type, the simplest thing was chopping trees or charging forward with a rifle.

The Intelligence System could make clothes or crafts... basically, any task requiring focused thinking could accumulate some experience.

The Perception system was easy; just hang out with the team.

Although the Constitution system had different schools, leveling up wasn’t too hard overall.

There were those like Old Monk who "trained internally" by scavenging, and those who "trained externally" by taking damage in the frontline; basically, just risking your life was enough.

However, the Agile system was a bit tricky.

The main issue was quantifying training for reaction speed.

Fang Chang had only roughly figured out a method so far, which was playing darts or practicing archery.

Using firearms worked too, but random firing wouldn’t count; it had to be aimed effective shooting.

Yet, without clear standards from the game on how to judge, it was all random and chance-driven.

Seeing Fang Chang lost in thought, Old White recalled his own situation and continued.

"I was about the same as you, about to log off, when I felt something off about my in-game body, but there was no debuff alert on my VM. I thought about lying down in the Cultivation Chamber for a while, log off to eat, and then come back to see, but when I took off my helmet and wore it again, I couldn’t log back on for 5 hours."

A thought struck Fang Chang.

"And then you awoke?"

Old White nodded with a smile.

"Kind of, now my Attribute Panel shows a Stage 2 mark. I guess the Agile system is probably like the Strength Type, main attribute gets a boost of 5 points, and secondary attributes each get an increase of 1 point."

Though they already knew this, Night Ten and Wild Wind couldn’t help but show envious expressions.

"Damn! That’s too much!"

"It really is a bit ridiculous... What does double the agility of an ordinary person feel like? That must be so fast."

Fang Chang coughed lightly and said,

"In fact, it’s not that fast. What agility enhances mainly is reaction speed and visual capabilities. Enhancement of physical abilities still primarily relies on strength."

Night Ten, "Please, stop it! Stop your Versailles act!"

Wild Wind, "+1."

Old White laughed and patted Fang Chang’s shoulder.

"The benefits of Awakening aren’t just in the attributes, when you log off later, you can look forward to it, see what talents you unlock tomorrow."

Fang Chang chuckled.

"Hope it’s something awesome."

Night Ten curiously asked,

"Like what?"

"Like Gnome King Riches’ Thermal Vision, that thing is a godsend for night battles... Ah, too bad this guy totally can’t use it."

Every time this came up, Fang Chang felt quite regretful.

The game had many Exalted players. Not to mention the alien sequence "overlords" right from the start, a small portion of players were born with a talent, and the only cost was -1 from their main attribute.

Like Gnome King Riches’ Thermal Vision, Makabazi’s Plant Speaker, Crow’s Toxin Intuition, and Less Bullshit’s Insect Pheromone Perception... any of these seemed like divine skills to him!

Sadly.

The luck aspect in this game was just ridiculously realistic.

Old White consoled him.

"Don’t think too much; the planners have been pretty good to us."

Fang Chang nodded.

"They have."

No overstatements.

Ah Guang had always been pretty good to them. Extra Contribution Points from early games were never taken back, and he occasionally discussed issues in updates with them in the group chat.

Such a gentle planner was truly rare.

Way better than some other games out there!

"Let’s call it a day for the guide... just the last B9 and B10 floors left," Old White confirmed with a glance at his VM and looked towards the gate ahead, "Without surprises, the reactor is right beneath us."

"For safety, let’s go back and save first."

"Alright!" Night Ten stowed his rifle and grinned at Fang Chang leaning on the wall, "Come on, let’s carry Fang Chang back."

Old White laughed heartily.

"Good idea, brother, want to try a specific position?"

Irritated, Fang Chang gave a roll of his eyes and moved away from the wall.

"Fuck off, I can walk on my own!"

"Hahaha!"

-

(Before 11 o’clock in the next Chapter)