This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 272: The Person Who Brings Pillows is Here

Chapter 272: Chapter 272: The Person Who Brings Pillows is Here

"Damn!"

"This thing is too handy."

At the edge of the North Fourth Ring.

Inside a partially collapsed building,

Night Ten, squatting by the window, was excitedly fiddling with the tablet in his hands.

Just a short distance in front of him, a quadrotor drone equipped with a camera was buzzing as it hovered outside the window.

This was the latest equipment released by the scientifical research group after the quadruped robots — the "Y-1 Firefly" quadrotor drone.

This drone used A3 aerospace aluminum produced by the Bachi Aluminum Factory; the batteries were solid hydrogen batteries produced by the List Factory; the neural access components were produced by the Black Box at Shelter No. 117; carbon nanocircuit and operating devices were all modified by the versatile wrist-mounted computer "VM."

The price wasn’t too expensive, just 1000 silver coins, roughly equivalent to half of a Miner I Exoskeleton.

Since this equipment was independently developed by Shelter No. 404, there was no need to rely on imports, so the purchase threshold was very low, requiring only Contribution Points to reach "Citizen" status.

Thanks to the use of lightweight materials, the drone weighed only 73% of a real-world drone of the same size, yet its protection had increased by 50~70%. Not just that, the long endurance of the solid hydrogen battery allowed it to hover in the air for up to 12 hours.

If obsessed about battery life, users could also choose to add another set of batteries in series to the original battery pack.

This equipment was positioned as a close-range tactical reconnaissance drone, and given that it hinged on neural access equipment, it was recommended for Intelligence System users.

The camera component was made of recycled materials from pre-war surveillance devices, with high resolution that could still clearly see the pebbles on the ground hundreds of meters away.

To sum it all up in one sentence.

This is too cool!

"Awesome, right?" Discourage, standing beside him, wore a proud smile and discussed animatedly.

Night Ten couldn’t stop praising it.

"Cool cool!"

That was really awesome!

Proudly, Discourage said,

"Not just this, if you’re an Intelligence System user, you can directly control the drone’s flight with brain-machine connection, which is much more flexible than manual control and auto-cruise!"

"Damn! Neural access too?" Night Ten looked at him in surprise, "Dude, what do you do in real life?"

Wild Wind, who was standing beside them wearing headphones, said,

"I remember he’s an auto mechanic?"

He had heard from Mosquito in the group chat that recently Goblin Technology had hired a few mechanics to work on developing engines.

"That’s death-defying in auto mechanic; I’m actually from the electromechanical field." Discourage said with a shy smile.

Night Ten remarked,

"I feel no matter the field, being able to make this thing is already freaking cool."

Laughing, Discourage said,

"It’s actually alright; this isn’t as exaggerated as you think, besides, I do this for a living in real life."

Wild Wind asked, "Did you write the control program?"

Shaking his head, Discourage answered,

"How could I? I don’t know how to code, and besides, the game’s programming language is total gibberish, I suspect the game’s developers didn’t seriously work on this part."

"So, how did you..."

"The control program and the carbon nanocircuit were provided by the group leader of the scientifical research group, Yin Fang!"

Curiously, Night Ten quickly asked,

"What about the battery?"

"The battery uses the solid hydrogen batteries from List Factory! The casing and main structure are made of A3 aerospace aluminum!"

Discourage answered all of Night Ten’s curious questions in one go, and as he spoke, he couldn’t help expressing his own wonder.

"In the game world, making airplanes is much easier, 24 hours ultra-long endurance, direct control with brain-machine link... I wouldn’t even dare to think about it in reality."

In real life, rotor drones mostly use lithium batteries, with normal flight durations around 30 minutes, although they can be made to hover for 2~5 hours, but that would make the battery very bulky.

Or like Perimeter 8 with a "hybrid of oil and electricity," equipped with eight propellers and two fuel tanks, it can also achieve 13 hours.

Usually, for more than 2 hours hovering requirements, they directly switch to gasoline engines, opting for fixed-wing, which is basically out of the category of small drones.

To achieve a 24-hour hover time for a small quadrotor drone is likely only possible in the game world.

Hearing this newcomer’s reflections, Wild Wind and Night Ten exchanged glances.

Nice job.

No wonder this equipment was displayed in the NPC store without the brand name of Goblin Technology.

So did Goblin Technology only design the appearance?

Wild Wind: "...So your role was?"

With a slight smile, Discourage’s expression was quite proud.

"I copied our company’s drone in and modified it!"

Night Ten was stunned.

"Uh... is that really not infringing?"

Grinning, Discourage said, "No worries! Quadrotor drones all look like this, as long as there’s no LOGO, it’s fine, it might even serve as an advertisement for our company when the game is officially tested."

Even I’m not afraid of losing my job, Night Ten and Wild Wind didn’t know what to say._

Night Ten handed the drone control and tablet back to Wild Wind, who already had the neural access device on his head.

The ultimate use of this thing was for reconnaissance.

For example, Perception System users report approximate positions, Intelligence System users operate the drone to pinpoint exact coordinates.

The two tried it a few times, and their coordination was quite seamless, actively extending the scouting range by at least twice.

Seeing his designed drone being so useful, Discourage was visibly pleased, already deep in thoughts about designing an improved version.

"How about adding a bomb dropper underneath? Remote control dropping bombs!"

Night Ten’s eyes lit up,

"Sure! I’m in for it!"

Even Wild Wind, wearing his headphones, nodded.

"Indeed, it can also dive and drop bombs... but wouldn’t adding a bomb dropper affect the drone’s maneuverability?"

Discourage laughed and waved his hand, "Adding just a kilo or two of load won’t interfere with anything! Don’t worry, leave this to me!"

Night Ten raised his thumb in excitement.

"Brother, you’re solid!"

"Hehe, solid as a rock!"

The three were excitedly discussing how to make the drone more formidable when Old White, carrying an ammunition box, came over from the stairwell.

He set the ammunition box down on the ground and looked towards Night Ten and Wild Wind.

"The mission is here, get ready; we’re setting out in three minutes."

Upon hearing about the mission, Night Ten immediately stood up in excitement.

"A job?"

Old White said with a smile.

"Our commercial team that was sent to Giant Stone City has returned. Besides six players, the team also includes five office workers and one guard. Our mission is to protect the VIP as they move through the Variant-active area from West Fourth Ring to North Fifth Ring, where a large number of Variants are suspected to be active."

"Protecting the commercial team on their return trip?"

The previously excited Night Ten suddenly shivered and said awkwardly,

"Uh, can I request a temporary leave from the team?"

Fang Chang teased him.

"Scared?"

Night Ten blushed and responded,

"What does this have to do with being scared?"

"Don’t worry. According to my observation, Teng Teng isn’t that petty. I saw her liking Fang Chang’s guide yesterday," Old White patted Night Ten’s shoulder and winked, "this is an opportunity for you to show off."

"Get lost, get lost, get lost."

Quit smoking looked around confused, not knowing what was going on.

Discourage, standing nearby, looked towards Wild Wind.

"You guys are heading out on a mission, so I’ll take my leave."

Wild Wind, retrieving the drone, took off the headphones he was wearing on his head.

"Do you need me to walk you out?"

"No need, it’s just a short walk. Besides, all the monsters on the way have been cleared by you guys, I’ll just walk back myself!" Discourage continued with a smile, "But you guys, be careful on your way."

Wild Wind nodded.

"Yeah, you too."

...

Three days had passed since the outbreak of the Tide.

Over these three days, large and small battles continued relentlessly, with players and Variants fighting over the ruins from Street No. 65 to Street No. 68, street by street, building by building.

Perhaps due to the death of the "Decaying Knight", the "Queen" hiding in the ruins was being cautious. Although the Tide’s attacks had been continuous, both in intensity and numbers, they had decreased significantly from the first day.

The frontline had reached a stalemate.

Chu Guang could feel that the Tide was trying to wear down his live forces and ammunition through a war of attrition.

Meanwhile, a large number of Crawlers were crossing the ruins and infiltrating towards the flanks of his position.

Of course, Chu Guang wouldn’t just watch them get behind him; he decisively dispatched Hunter Squads to clear out those Crawlers trying to breach the defense line.

In this battle, the performance of the Hunter Guild could be described as fruitful. In just three days, they had killed more than two hundred Crawlers and nearly twenty Tyrants!

The Cow and Horse Squad alone had killed 27 Crawlers and 4 Tyrants.

And undoubtedly, the strongest individual player was Garbage King. In such uneven and complex street fighting environments, guns weren’t necessarily better than claws.

Especially when dealing with agile Crawlers.

According to VM’s statistics, Garbage King, acting alone, had killed 9 Crawlers, seizing the MVP title for the entire field!

Aside from him, other players who had returned from Far Creek Town to support also achieved remarkable combat results.

According to Xiao Qi’s statistics, over these three days, players above Level 10 had their average level increased by 0.7, and mid-tier players between Levels 5 and 10 had their levels increased by 1.5.

Even Chu Guang, who was commanding from the rear, had managed to level up.

[

ID: Chu Guang

Gene Sequence: Manager (Stage 2)

Level: LV.18→LV.19

——Basic Attributes——

Strength: 17→18

Agility: 13

Constitution: 16

Perception: 14

Intelligence: 15

]

"What would happen if the development progress of the Gene Sequence reached 20%?"

Putting down the tablet in his hand, Chu Guang looked up at Heya, who was sitting across the scanning bed.

However, Heya’s response was disappointing.

"I don’t know."

Chu Guang frowned, "Is there no way to predict?"

Heya made a helpless gesture.

"The selective expression of DNA touches on the most mysterious areas of life science. Even during the Prosperity Epoch, this was a frontier area of research."

"So we just have to take it step by step?"

Heya nodded.

"Right now, that’s the best we can do."

Although it was a tone of regret, Chu Guang always sensed a thrill of excitement in the guy’s eyes. It felt like he was used to one strange thing after another, remained unshaken by anything new, and even wanted to press on the accelerator to see what would eventually happen.

Was this guy a guinea pig or what?

But that strength filling his body wasn’t too bad either.

Chu Guang stretched his shoulders, put on his shoes, rose from the scanning bed, and handed the tablet back to Heya.

"If there are any new discoveries, let me know at once."

Previously worried about players leveling up faster than him, Chu Guang now wished to level up a bit more slowly.

Letting one or two outstanding players lead and scout ahead would make it easier for him to feel his way as if crossing a river by feeling the stones.

But now, he turned out to be the stepping stone in an unanticipated path, raging forward.

It was just that he couldn’t control his own leveling up even if he wanted to.

Chu Guang had recently discovered that sharing experience from players wasn’t affected by distance; as long as the overall strength of the players increased, he would grow accordingly.

Even if he stayed inside Shelter No. 117.

Heya, who was oblivious to Chu Guang’s thoughts and didn’t really care, smiled slightly as she took the tablet.

"No problem!"

"Leave it to me!"

Though he couldn’t be fully at ease, Chu Guang had to trust her professionalism.

...

The morning sun rose.

Stepping on the morning dew, the commercial team from Giant Stone City finally arrived at Outpost Base.

The players’ emotions were relatively calm, Xu Shun also looked okay, but the few new employees who had returned with them were not as composed and wore expressions of having survived a calamity.

It was truly a close call.

They had almost failed to return...

The world beyond the giant walls was terrifying.

Looking at the paradise before them, several people couldn’t understand how these country folks managed to survive in the suburbs.

It was ridiculous!

Seeing Crow appear at the south gate brought joyous expressions to many players’ faces.

"Crow Boss is back!"

"Great! We’ll have mushroom soup again!"

"Wuu, the price of ramen has risen to 6 silver coins!"

"Barbecue too! From two silver coins for three skewers to three silver coins for two skewers!"

"We can’t afford this!"

Ramen and barbecue prices went up?

Crow’s eyes lit up.

Fantastic!

Maybe she could raise the price of her mushroom soup too?

Hearing the crowd’s remarks, Tail, with a bandage on his head, suddenly patted his belly.

"Ugh, I’m suddenly hungry again."

Right hand bandaged, Sisi looked at Tail helplessly.

"The Tail in the game and the real-world Tail are completely different people."

Tail, with a smug smile, said indifferently,

"What’s the difference! The food you eat in the game doesn’t fill the stomach in reality, and I’ve heard that eating more can speed up healing."

Sisi: "I only heard that blood sugar could hinder healing."

Sesame Paste, worried, looked at the chattering two.

"You guys should head to the medical room right away."

Teng Teng nodded in concern.

"You lost a lot of blood last night... it’s better not to push yourselves."

"It’s no big deal, just a minor injury," Sisi gave them a charming, reliable look and a thumbs-up, "It’ll be healed by tomorrow!"

Coincidentally stepping out from the south gate, Midnight Chicken Killing glanced at everyone and curiously asked.

"What about the bear?"

"You mean Meat Meat?"

Fang Chang shifted his gaze away and said meaningfully,

"This time, it finally showed some courage."

On their way back, the party encountered a minor mishap; the number of Variants around the North Fifth Ring was higher than expected. It wasn’t just Crawlers, but also Tyrants and Butchers.

Dealing with a Tyrant, Tail, and Sisi sustained minor injuries, but it wasn’t serious; a day’s rest in the Cultivation Chamber would suffice.

However, the mission exposed a serious issue:

The shelter’s capacity for individual anti-armor was still lacking.

The portable rocket launchers, mainly captured and replicated "Iron Fists" from the Army, were being utilized by the players.

These launchers were effective against lighter targets and posed some threat to lighter power armor.

But when facing a Tyrant with "high armor and high health," they still struggled, usually requiring two to three shots to take down one.

Not to mention dealing with monsters like the Decaying Knight.

This served as a reminder to the players with lifestyle jobs—"The shelter needed a portable rocket launcher with greater penetration capacity."

For instance, an RPG.

Mosquito, who had already developed a recoilless gun and armor-piercing bullets, said the problem wasn’t big; he had obtained "critical" blueprints and formulas, and Goblin Technology would soon produce a more reliable single soldier anti-armor weapon than the 37mm Heavy Cavalry Gun!

Considering 81 Steel Factory as a competitor, Mosquito Brother, had already set up a FLAG on the Forum, swearing to show the real power of Goblin Technology to those who doubted.

Besides that, Teng Teng and his group’s experience last night had served as a warning to the players.

As time progresses, Variants in the Tide would leave the main force and gradually spread to areas outside the battlefield, which Heya referred to as "dispersion effect."

Thanks to Meat Meat’s sacrifice, the research on Variants at Shelter No. 404 increased by one.

After learning about last night’s events from Xu Shun, Chu Guang ordered him to bring the new employees to Changjiu Farm, handed them over to Luka for settlement, and then headed to the front lines.

Starting from last night, the intense battles between the front lines and the Tide had escalated, with 125 players who died on the first night just being resurrected, only for another 66 to be sent back to the forum.

Some had been resurrected for only a few hours, which was indeed tragic!

The sounds of cannons lasted all night, and the gunfire persisted from dusk ’til dawn.

Chu Guang was fully aware that the key to winning this war did not lie at the front lines but in logistics.

To meet ammunition supplies, he even shut down the production lines for fertilizers.

The sudden Tide completely disrupted his plans.

Chu Guang had originally planned to gradually shift part of the industrial area’s capacity to civilian use by the end of spring but who could have anticipated that the spring planting would be disrupted by a sudden outbreak of the Tide?

If the opponent had been the Looters, it would have been another story.

Fighting the Looters not only replenished their prisoners of war but also captured a batch of spoils.

Synchronizing social labor and social wealth, it was truly a win-win.

However, the opponent was the Tide.

The bullets fired left nothing but heaps of corpses, neither prisoners nor booty—utterly a loss-making deal.

This truly gave Chu Guang a headache.

The financial deficit was unresolved.

Even if he won this war, he would end up poor...

...

The war continued.

On the sixth day of the Tide, the battlefield had become unbearably stinky; mutant flies, rats, and cockroaches had become the new trouble.

The players’ physical condition was quite good, aside from those specialized in Intelligence and Perception, there was little impact, but the NPCs were suffering.

Some guards with weak immunity even contracted the plague.

Yin Fang had to temporarily abandon the scientific research team’s work and set up a mobile medical station at Brown Farm, not far from the front lines, to accommodate those sick coming from the front lines.

Chu Guang converted all his accumulated points into intermediate blind boxes and fortunately drew some antibiotics and antivirals, which helped control the epidemic.

However, this was merely a temporary solution.

To prevent the corpses from continuing to decay and causing a larger-scale epidemic, Chu Guang had no choice but to assign fifty newcomers of the Constitution System and Strength System, dressed in protective suits and gas masks, to transport the corpses from the North Fourth Ring to locations beyond the Fifth Ring for more distant disposal.

Frontline command post.

Chu Guang had summoned the owner of Brown Farm, Brown.

Although Old Brown had no desire to leave the farm and didn’t want to see Chu Guang’s face, he was clear that he had no authority to refuse.

Without wasting time on pleasantries, Chu Guang, looking at Old Brown, cut straight to the point.

"I heard that Giant Stone City has a way to turn the Eaters into nutrient paste."

"Having traded with Giant Stone City for so long, haven’t you thought about making use of the Eaters’ corpses?"

Hearing Chu Guang’s words, a bitter smile surfaced on Brown’s trembling face.

Make use of them?

It was not that simple.

Bowing his head, Brown timidly said.

"My lord, making use of the Eaters’ corpses isn’t just about setting up a device; it also requires a huge amount of electricity."

"Besides... we have never faced such a massive Tide before."

Even though Eaters were the least prestigious Variants, it’s still dangerous to mess with them in numbers; very few survivors would bother them without a pressing need.

Most would only shoot at them when absolutely necessary.

To consider Eaters as industrial raw materials, setting aside technical issues, one must first have enough cheap bullets and electricity.

The former implies sufficient labor and a stable supply chain, the latter a relatively complete industrial setup.

If these two issues were solved, Brown Farm would have been industrialized long ago, and wouldn’t need to endure their current predicaments.

Otherwise, it’s not worth producing something that costs N tokens to produce a single token, better to just buy from Giant Stone City directly.

Just nutrient paste, it wouldn’t justify subsidizing with money.

Brown Farm neither had a sufficiently large market nor the capability to export their products to even more distant places.

Frankly speaking, it was merely a small-scale survivor settlement with just over a hundred people.

Even now, with two to three thousand people gathered in the North Suburb, supported by a massive base technology and "unlimited QE," they had merely managed to ignite the spark of industrialization.

Chu Guang stroked his chin, deep in thought.

"That is a problem."

Perhaps he should have a chat with List.

But that guy was currently entirely focused on replicating the KV-1 Exoskeleton and exploring new markets.

To invest in factories and support his own war, he had already indebted himself heavily to the bank in Giant Stone City.

Chu Guang felt reluctant to press him further.

You can’t keep harvesting from the same patch of leeks, nor can you keep shearing the same sheep.

It’s beneficial to have a win-win situation, but to keep winning, you needed to nurture them as well.

While Chu Guang was lost in thought and Old Brown trembled, the captain of the guard, Wrench, walked in from outside.

"My lord!"

Chu Guang looked at him.

"What is it?"

Wrench stood at attention and saluted, loyally reporting, "A group of merchants from Giant Stone City is outside. They claim to be your guests and request an audience with you."

Thinking of the call he had received from Book Yu earlier, Chu Guang’s eyes suddenly lit up and he said immediately.

"Please show them in!"

Wrench: "Yes, sir!"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.