This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 250: Planting a Corn Can Make a Worldwide Announcement?!

Chapter 250: Chapter 250: Planting a Corn Can Make a Worldwide Announcement?!

Greenhouse Ruins.

Ground floor.

The place where players once fought and bled has now transformed into a lush garden. No-soil cultivation boxes filled with corn are stacked like containers, arranged layer upon layer.

The situation here was truly tragic at the time.

The first to enter, Paddle Brother, only had his VM returned. The second wave was nearly wiped out until Mole Old Brother developed the "Shield Wall Tactic," which finally broke the deadlock.

But later on, as everyone’s equipment improved, farming this dungeon became much easier.

Wearing heavy armor, Old White led from the front while the players in the back held submachine guns and fired a burst of 9mm rounds.

Hit anyone?

What does it matter?

9mm pistol bullets can’t penetrate steel plates, at most, they’d leave a few dents.

This type of large-caliber, low-speed ammunition was incredibly effective against unarmored insect-type Variants.

Their bellies held nothing but water and gel. A 7mm might just make a hole, but a 9mm could blow them apart.

After the first floor was cleared, Chu Guang immediately issued a task for players to plant corn.

Now, after three months, more than ninety days in total, stalks of vibrant green were adorned with husks of golden yellow.

Looking at the mature cornfield in front of him, Chu Guang’s face bore a smile like that of a proud father, and he approvingly nodded.

"Well done!"

The seeds provided by the Shelter had been genetically modified to grow quickly.

Even the early maturing varieties of corn in reality take a hundred days to ripen, but here they were almost ready in ninety days.

Right.

I almost forgot about the main matter.

Sensing the expectant gazes behind him, Chu Guang covertly raised his index finger and swiped on the VM.

Quickly.

The task settlement list was sent to Makabazi’s VM.

[Task: Day of Harvest (Completed)]

[Reward: 1000 Silver Coins, 500 Contribution Points, 2000 Regional Reputation Points.]

"Holy shit! Awesome!"

"Four-digit rewards!!!"

Watching the string of rewards pop up, Makabazi was moved to tears.

contribution points, not to mention.

Contribution to the faction is always valuable, whether for buying equipment, undertaking missions, or managing properties, all linked with it.

The only regret was, the regional reputation earned was for the Outpost Base, not Long Endurance Farm.

His reputation at Long Endurance Farm had already reached "Friendly"; he was just a little short of surpassing the 10,000 threshold to reach "Respected."

Just as Makabazi was riding the high of excitement, another line that popped up on the VM nearly made him faint with happiness.

[Congratulations to the player "Makabazi" for being the first to harvest corn.]

[Choose whether to make a Worldwide Announcement: Yes/No]

Seeing the sudden surprise pop up, Makabazi almost reflexively shouted out loud.

"Yes! Yes!"

Although Chu Guang wanted to remind him that it wasn’t necessary to shout, as just a touch on the VM screen would suffice,

seeing the player so thrilled, Chu Guang didn’t want to dampen his spirits.

Three months.

It indeed wasn’t easy to hold on.

From sowing to the final harvest, each step involved a corresponding task, with a series of tasks forming an entire task chain.

Since Greenhouse Ruins’ automatic watering and harvesting systems were damaged, many jobs that could be done by machines now needed to be done manually.

Including watering and fertilizing.

Although these tasks also came with rewards, they were somewhat more monotonous compared to hunting or scavenging.

A three-month-long task cycle, staying until the crops matured, Makabazi was indeed a unique character.

At least in Chu Guang’s eyes, comparable to that fisherman who, no matter the weather, went to the lake every day!

[Worldwide Announcement: Player "Makabazi" has successfully harvested the first batch of corn.]

Looking at the window that appeared on the VM, Makabazi was so excited he wished he could roll around in the cornfield.

If it weren’t for the Manager standing nearby, he probably would have.

"Ha ha ha ha! I’m also someone with a first kill on the Worldwide Announcement!"

Chu Guang watched this excited young player with a smile.

"Can I entrust you with the harvesting job?"

"Don’t worry, Manager!"

Makabazi patted his chest and continued animatedly.

"I can even help you transport them to the granary!"

Chu Guang said,

"That’s not necessary, the workload is too big, I’ll arrange people to help you."

Moving his gaze from Makabazi, Chu Guang continued looking at the cornfield before him, his face involuntarily revealing a faint joy.

Is this what harvest feels like?

Quite nice.

...

After assigning a new task to Makabazi, Chu Guang immediately left the Greenhouse Ruins and returned to the Outpost Base to find Guo Ma and delegated the task of gathering the harvest.

With so many crops, relying on Makabazi alone, even if it killed him, he probably couldn’t handle it all.

Moreover, harvesting isn’t just about plucking corn from stalks; it also required threshing, drying, and storing.

Doing these tasks in the ruins might even be more troublesome than planting the seeds.

The first floor’s tower-style no-soil cultivation boxes were few, having a slightly smaller actual planting area compared to other floors, but still, it amounted to nearly fifty acres.

Based on the planting area and density experience, the estimated yield was about twenty-five tons, with a margin of error within two tons.

Even with inexperienced planting and management, insufficient fertilization, it still reached nearly five hundred kilograms per acre.

Besides the first floor, the Greenhouse Ruins had other floors.

Excluding the ninth floor’s reactor and the tenth floor’s Devil Moth Lair, the five aboveground floors and eight belowground floors totaled thirteen floors, with a total theoretical planting area reaching 870 acres!

As of now, the first five surface floors and four underground floors had been developed into farmland.

Half of the fields were planted with potatoes, and half with corn, altogether covering 600 acres.

These yields would gradually be released over the next month, with an estimated total production of 300 to 400 tons.

Together with hunting and breeding among other food sources, it was enough to feed three thousand people for a year!

Of course, the actual food consumption of the players couldn’t simply be calculated per person.

Especially Awakeners, who not only had physical endurance and metabolism levels far exceeding ordinary people but also had appetites two to three times that of ordinary people.

Even Chu Guang himself had noticed it.

At the beginning, he could eat a can of food across two meals, but now he could barely get through a meal without opening two cans.

In some sense, could this also be considered a conservation of energy?

If based on the actual speed of food consumption, these 300 to 400 tons of food might only last half a year.

Nevertheless, it was enough.

He had reclaimed 30,000 acres of wasteland, and even if the first year’s production efficiency was only half that of the Greenhouse Ruins’, the harvested crops would be more than sufficient for several versions.

The upper levels above B4 of the Greenhouse Ruins were used for farming.

As for levels B5 to B9, Chu Guang hadn’t planted all crops but instead planned to "breed pests," harvesting them every few months for the players to repeatedly farm Devil Moths.

For Spirit Leaves, one could harvest half and leave half.

After one round of harvesting, he would open all the gates from B5 to B9, letting moths come in to lay their larvae.

This way, he could achieve a streamlined production line.

Once the 10,000 acres of good farmland on the north side of Rhombus Lake were reclaimed, it would be no problem to use the entire greenhouse to breed Devil Moths!

Both Spirit Leaves and Devil Silk were definitely scarce commodities out in the Wasteland. Being able to stably produce these two items, likely he was the only supplier within a hundred miles.

...

"Holy shit? Even planting corn gets a Worldwide Announcement?"

"Scandal! A true scandal!"

"Damn it, I could forgive Crow Boss but has Makabazi also sold his soul and ass to the game designers?"

"Sigh! If I had known, I would have found a plot of land and scattered some seeds myself!"

"However, look at it this way, the identity of a player with a life skills version is well established. If planting corn can trigger a Worldwide Announcement, then one for potatoes should also make sense, right?"

"!!!"

On the west side of Changjiu Farm.

The small-time players, farming with pickaxes and shovels on the wasteland, were making a noisy chatter. Nearby, a tractor pulling a harrow rattled along.

Looking back at the almost invisible enclosing wall, Silver Daddy, breathless, threw his rake aside and sat by the ridge, grimacing as he braced himself.

"How long do we have to do this?"

Silver Sword, silently wielding a hoe, didn’t look up as he replied.

"Depends on how many activity points you want."

Silver Daddy: "Holy shit! There’s no limit to this activity?"

Silver Sword: "Nope."

Silver Daddy: "???"

Isn’t this gonna roll all the way to heaven?!

It’s well known that most games set limits on the rewards and points that can be obtained during activities, except for spending real money, to prevent players from boosting the numbers extravagantly.

However, this game seemed not to follow that tradition.

As long as you’re willing, you can keep grinding until your character runs out of stamina and you physically disconnect due to the "Anti-addiction Mechanism".

Silver Hand, who had been quiet, couldn’t hold back and criticized. "You’re supposed to be of the Body Constitution System, how come you’re working slower than us two?"

Silver Daddy rolled his eyes. "Who knows! In this game, body constitution only adds resistance to debuffs and recovery speed, nothing to do with stamina! And you two, didn’t we agree that one would choose Strength and the other Agility? How come both ended up choosing Strength?!"

"Got the nerve to talk about us!"

"Exactly! Weren’t you the one who said you would choose the Intelligence System?"

Seeing his two buddies glaring at him, Silver Daddy awkwardly coughed, grinned and said.

"I heard the content in this game is quite rich, high constitution, fast recovery, and later on if we have online romances... you know."

Silver Hand and Silver Sword exchanged glances.

They understood.

But...

"I think that idea is a bit superfluous."

"Indeed, I think so too."

"Damn! What do you two mean?"

Silver Sword shrugged.

"Nothing much, just feel with that lousy ID, dating online might be a bit difficult for you."

Silver Hand nodded.

"+1, not even a tranny would date with your crappy ID."

Silver Daddy: "%￥#@!"

...

While the rookies were toiling in the fields, located at the edge of the third ring road, Giant Stone City welcomed a group of special visitors.

"Is this Giant Stone City?"

"The wall’s built like a dam..."

"Mommy... how much concrete did this use?"

"I don’t know..."

A concrete wall as tall as a 20-story building.

Considering the steel structures inside, the amount of cement and steel it consumed must have been astronomical.

Descending from the overpass, Old White, Night Ten, and Wild Wind couldn’t take their eyes off the wall.

Having already been surprised once, Fang Chang appeared calmer and cleared his throat.

"Act normal, guys."

Night Ten swallowed before finally diverting his gaze from the massive wall.

"I think I’m acting normal, it’s this game that’s abnormal!"

Standing beside, Wild Wind nodded.

"+1."

While idealistic to say, if they were able to build such a colossal wall, there was no reason they should be trapped by the Eaters.

This didn’t make sense at all.

Unless the wall had fallen from heaven.

"These country bumpkins."

Looking at these inexperienced folk, a mercenary walking beside the team sneered softly, but was quickly glared at by the leader of the mercenaries.

"Shut your mouth."

Seeing his boss speak up, that mercenary immediately shut his mouth, not daring to say another word.

After taking his gaze off his subordinates, the leader glanced in the group’s direction, saw they hadn’t noticed anything, and slightly relaxed.

These people were strong.

Whether it was the man carrying a bow or the one with the machine gun on his back.

Although it sounded far-fetched, his intuition told him both these men could be Awakeners!

He did not want to mess with a force that could domesticate the Claw of Death as pets.

The goods were almost delivered, and causing trouble at this point wouldn’t be good for anyone.

They descended from the overpass.

Just ahead was the Hotel Wind From Afar, opposite the slums.

As the group headed towards the entrance, many people sized them up, particularly eyeing the goods carried on the back of the double-headed cow.

A few kids sitting at the entrance of the slums saw this, whispered amongst themselves after seemingly realizing something, and quickly ran back into the slums.

Soon after, a few men with skulls tattooed on their faces stepped out from the slums.

Seeing these men, Xu Shun calmly placed his hand on his waist, Fang Chang and Old White exchanged glances and also instinctively touched their weapons.

The players showed no fear on their faces; instead, a hint of excitement appeared in their eyes.

Was this triggering a storyline?

Get on with it!

Sensing the tense atmosphere in the air, Shu Yu’s heart raced.

However, thinking of representing Shelter No. 404, he tried hard not to look nervous.

"Tommy, where did you get all these good things?" The bald man tattooed with daggers, walking at the front, gave the mercenary leader a playful look.

The mercenary leader’s face tightened, expressionlessly he said,

"These aren’t my goods, but I’d advise you not to think about touching them unless you’re looking for more trouble."

"Ha, who’s your employer?"

Before the mercenary leader could reply, a voice floated out from the group.

"List."

Walking out from the group, Qian Lai continued to speak to the tattooed bald man.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

Hearing the name List, the bald man’s face shifted slightly, the mocking expression subdued a bit.

"Of course not, I was just wondering...with so many herbs, do you need help selling them? We could offer our services."

Qian Lai said impatiently,

"One kilogram for 100 chips, if you buy everything, I’ll give you a 10% discount."

Buying all would probably cost several tens of thousands of chips.

But...

If he could make a deal with these goods and turn them into Spiritual Water, doubling or tripling the profit wouldn’t be an issue.

The bald man’s expression turned strained as he said in a low voice,

"... I need to ask my boss."

Qian Lai said concisely,

"I can wait until 8 o’clock tonight, you know how to contact me."

After a setback, the small henchmen returned to the slums.

Watching their retreating figures, Shu Yu looked at Qian Lai and asked,

"Who are they?"

"Dagger Gang, sometimes they tattoo daggers on their faces, sometimes on their arms. Don’t worry about them, you shouldn’t deal with these people."

Qian Lai then turned to Tommy’s mercenary leader, urging him, "Let’s go, if we stay here too long, more flies will come buzzing."

The group continued on their way, lining up at the city gate for inspection.

The militia responsible for the inspection saw the goods on the cow’s back and all showed surprised expressions.

"Another shipment? Where do you keep getting these from?"

He remembered this person from a week ago, seemingly the same guy.

Qian Lai lied without blinking, "From a plantation down south, survivors there have quite a bit of stock."

The militiaman clearly didn’t believe him but said nothing more, merely hinting,

"This will probably incur a hefty tax."

"Of course, we are law-abiding citizens."

Qian Lai kept a friendly smile on his face, just like his last visit, discreetly slipping a bag of chips into their hands.

The militiaman who took the money opened the bag, peeked inside, smiled knowingly, pulled out two and pocketed them, then headed toward the table at the entrance.

"Just some vegetables."

The officer in charge of registration glanced at the bag of chips on the table, casually making a couple of marks in his book.

"Let them in."

Shu Yu looked at Qian Lai with a bit of surprise.

That’s all it took?

Noticing his stare, Qian Lai chuckled softly, lowering his voice to say,

"Food doesn’t get taxed; this way it’s cheaper... so you see, we do have costs after all."

Shu Yu asked,

"So you don’t need to be inspected if you pay?"

Qian Lai thought for a moment and replied,

"It depends on the situation and the person. If you’re trying to bring in contraband, it might still be difficult."

Shu Yu nodded thoughtfully.

Although he wasn’t new to trading, he felt that things here were much more complex than in his hometown...

After paying the city entrance tax.

The group entered the city successfully.

According to the contract, the mercenaries escorted them to the warehouse area and then settled their pay with Qian Lai.

List’s rented warehouse was not far from the entrance of the warehouse area; there was still some space inside, enough to accommodate a ton of goods.

After several people unloaded the goods together, Qian Lai had the guard with a bandaged arm move the Double-headed Cow to the shed at the entrance of the warehouse area and then looked towards Book Yu and the others, smiling as he spoke.

"If you don’t want to rent a warehouse, you can also store your goods with us, as there isn’t much stuff anyway."

Book Yu shook his head, declining.

"No need, we’re actually planning to rent a storefront."

Qian Lai courteously said,

"Are you in such a hurry? Giant Stone City is big; you could look around more and pick a better location."

Book Yu shook his head.

"The Manager told me to find a place near the warehouse."

The warehouse area of Giant Stone City was close to the city gate, just past a street was the trade station, and further down was the local market, making transportation quite convenient.

The office only needed to be convenient; it didn’t have to be in a particularly busy area and could even be a bit smaller. The monthly rent should ideally be controlled to be under 1000 chips.

They would buy a building when conditions allowed in the future.

This was the instruction the Manager had given him before he set out.

Qian Lai said no more but still enthusiastically led them to an area outside the warehouse where properties could be rented.

There were many vacant houses around here; the rent was not expensive. A 120 square-meter storefront only cost 800 chips per month, averaging 20 chips per day.

If they added 200 more chips, the landlord indicated that he could rent them the two empty floors upstairs as well.

But to buy it outright, the building would cost nearly 300,000 chips, plus a monthly charge of 50 chips for management fees and property tax.

Watching the captions jump on the VM, Night Ten crunched the numbers and then, confused, turned to Fang Chang.

"1666 chips per square meter, is this considered cheap or expensive?"

Fang Chang pondered for a while and then said,

"It’s cheap considering the rent-to-price ratio, but pricey in terms of price and income. I remember the textile factory in the nearby industrial area pays two nutrition pastes, daily wage seems to be 3~4 chips?"

That comes to a monthly salary of only 90 to 120 chips, not even enough to buy a rifle.

For child labor, most factories pay only 1 chip per day, some merely provide meals, and wages are settled weekly or directly with the products produced.

Since the smallest unit is one chip, even the hourly wage of locals can’t be calculated.

However, engineers are paid a bit better, with wages typically over ten times more than ordinary workers, and if working outside the city or in nearby survivor settlements, pays may double.

Some technicians with scarce skills can even earn wages in the triple digits.

But these "pandas" usually don’t go out of the city; they typically live in upscale apartments near the Inner City, some even move into the well-off Inner City entirely.

As for the mercenaries?

They mostly earn just enough for today; discussing their incomes is meaningless.

The NPCs were still bargaining over the rent.

Book Yu fully utilized his bargaining skills and had already cut the rent down to 900 chips a month.

This price had already touched the landlord’s bottom line, but given that properties here were not as coveted as those in bustling districts, he had no choice but to patiently haggle with these people in front of him.

After calculating for quite a while, Night Ten suddenly raised his head abruptly.

"Damn, I should have saved up those chips!"

Old White looked at him oddly.

"Why save that stuff?"

"Buy a set!" Night Ten’s eyes lit up, "When the new map is fully open, there will definitely be people coming, right? We could rent it out to them! Isn’t that way cooler than directly exchanging for silver coins?"

"Rent it out to Teng Teng!

silver coins a month!

The rich lady Teng Teng can definitely afford it!"

Wild Wind: "..."

Fang Chang said speechlessly, "Have you even handled 10 chips altogether?"

Night Ten: "Er, that’s true."

Old White: "And what’s the use of buying here, so far from the respawn point! It’s better to build one near the base ourselves."

"But speaking of which, there should also be shops in Giant Stone City, right?" Wild Wind looked around from the street, "Did you check the price of this kind of equipment?"

"A Bumblebee X-2 Assault Rifle for 150 chips, seems to be a replica of the G9 Assault Rifle. Tubing rifles are cheaper; they seem to be sold by weight."

Wild Wind immediately asked: "And synthetic limbs?"

Fang Chang was slightly stunned.

"That... I haven’t seen any; I visited several weapon shops and didn’t see any, but there are exoskeletons for sale."

Hearing this, the expressions on the faces of the three instantly became excited.

"Fuck, an exoskeleton?!"

"Are you sure?"

"Stop blabbering, hurry and take us there!"

"What’s the use of you going? Can you afford it?"

Watching his teammates’ eyes gleam, Fang Chang helplessly sighed.

"...Fine, you’ll see when you get there."

Night Ten had already picked up the package from the ground, chuckling.

"Let’s bring this too! Maybe we can sell it for some money!"

Fang Chang said speechlessly,

"That would still be someone else’s chips..."

Night Ten: "It’s okay! Before we set out, we agreed that half of the chips from sales are ours!"

Fang Chang was stunned.

Was that so?

But seeing his three teammates, it didn’t seem like a joke.

Noticing these country folks picking up the packages from the ground, the landlord, thinking they weren’t renting anymore, panicked and hurriedly shouted,

"800! 800 is fine! But you have to pay three months’ rent in advance, and also a month’s deposit! This is the lowest price already, it’s impossible to find anything cheaper!"

Not missing this opportunity, Book Yu immediately said,

"Deal!"

Standing by, Qian Lai looked at the man in front of him, slightly stunned.

Good lord.

Snagged two floors...

This guy might just be talented.

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