This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 327: Cheers to the Victory of the Alliance!

Chapter 327: Chapter 327: Cheers to the Victory of the Alliance!

"Let’s toast to victory!"

"Hahaha, cheers!"

"Long live the Alliance!!"

North Street of Dawn City, situated next to a trade station, a highway inn.

Outside, the sky had not completely darkened yet, but inside the inn’s ground floor, filled with tables and chairs, the aroma of beer and the boisterous noise had already begun to swell.

Victory news spread its wings and flew back from the frontline to Dawn City, located far in the north suburb of Qingquan City.

Thanks to the square’s loudspeaker and the small screen behind the counter, the drunkards sitting here were not the last to hear the news.

Whether merchants, travelers, caravan guards, or mercenaries, upon hearing that the army of the New Alliance had defeated the Chewing Bone Tribe on the frontlines, everyone could not help but inwardly cheer for the Manager clad in powered armor.

For a long time, the Chewing Bone Tribe had been a name that made numerous Wasteland Wanderers’ faces pale with fear.

Spreading from the northern center to the south, they marched like a plague, scorching the earth wherever they went, erasing hundreds of Survivor Bases from the map without anyone being able to stop them.

But now, they had finally met their match and been decked by the Alliance’s Iron Fist, knocking their teeth out.

"One battle wiped out twenty-seven tanks! Great Antler God above, how many soldiers did they mobilize?!"

"I don’t really understand, that thing... the tank... *hic*, is it powerful?" a drunken mercenary asked as he leaned over the counter, belching.

"Powerful? Haha, are you kidding me? That thing is a monster, a fortress moving on land! It’s not something ordinary people can deal with! I’d rather face a Death Claw, at least my gun would give me a bit of a safety net."

The mercenary sitting next to him started to boast about his experiences while working for the people of the Grand Canyon in the north, attracting the attention of many.

Naturally, this included Sun Shiqi who was sitting in the tavern.

Three days ago, he had transported 6 tons of copper ingots, 2 tons of chromium, 1 ton of cobalt and nickel... and a hefty load of sulfur and phosphorus from Red River Town.

However, what surprised Sun Shiqi was that the copper and sulfur, the stocks he was most optimistic about, nearly made him lose all the money he had earned from the other goods.

It seemed like the New Alliance really had discovered a copper mine. Overnight, the second largest copper importer from the Southern River Province had become an exporter?

Although they had not started exporting the ore yet, it was clear they had already halted major imports of copper ingots.

Plus, with the price of platinum metals, used as industrial catalysts, quickly dropping, it seemed to indicate that the war was drawing to an end.

His intuition told him that the market in Dawn City might be changing.

As per tradition, after the war, the New Alliance would swiftly convert some of the military production lines to civilian use, changing lines producing dynamite into ones producing fertilizer and soap, with the most prominent indicator being the cessation of capacity expansion for basic industrial raw materials like nitric and sulfuric acid.

Not rushing into his next deal, these days Sun Shiqi spent every evening sitting on the ground floor of the highway inn, ordering a plate of fried potato fries and a beer, although he had already bought his own property in Dawn City.

"To have defeated the Chewing Bone Tribe on the frontlines... It seems there’s nothing that can stop the rise of the New Alliance now."

Sitting across from Sun Shiqi, Zhou Nan, staring at the small screen on the counter with a reflective expression, spoke.

Hearing this, Sun Shiqi chuckled.

"Isn’t that inevitable?"

Inevitable?

Zhou Nan gave him a sidelong glance.

Stop fucking boasting!

When the New Alliance had just announced their northern campaign two months ago, you damn well didn’t say that!

But actually, it was inevitable.

Back then, no one thought the New Alliance could win, except the Blue Jackets themselves and the residents who viewed the Manager as a deity.

One side had 30,000 troops inheriting the equipment and even the command structure of the Army Expeditionary Forces, and the other was a burgeoning survivor settlement with a total population of barely 5,000 and only one harvest of crops under their belt.

No one could have imagined the New Alliance would actually win.

And win so thoroughly.

An armored hundred-man team composed of twenty-seven tanks, and a large number of anti-aircraft cannons, commanded by Dylon.

With those small planes dropping bombs in dives, how could they win?

But, talking about this now was after the fact.

Considering he had treated to this round of drinks, Zhou Nan held back from criticizing Sun Shiqi and silently sipped his flavorful beer.

As for Sun Shiqi, he continued to chatter non-stop, dreaming about the future.

"...In the future, River Valley Province will be divided into three parts, Giant Stone City will occupy the south, Grand Canyon will occupy the north, and New Alliance will fill the central region’s void."

"This place is literally covered in gold! No, this place is worth more than gold!"

Unlike most survivor settlements, the New Alliance had a peculiar fixation with land.

Although the total permanent population of Dawn City was barely five to six thousand, they had already pushed the boundary to West State City.

Yes, the war had not even ended yet, those Blue Jackets had already included Hope Town of West State City into their territory, they even provided food aid to the residents there.

In Sun Shiqi’s view, this was simply too strange.

However, it was a good thing for him.

If the New Alliance was willing to undertake the development of the uninhabited areas up north and provide refuge for those displaced migrants and herders, he was more than happy to provide them with shovels or other tools.

At this moment, Sun Shiqi suddenly thought of something and said to his drinking buddy sitting across him,

"I remember you once said you also came from Town of Hope, right?"

Zhou Nan was momentarily stunned, then he couldn’t help but laugh,

"My friend, there are more survivor settlements named ’Town of Hope’ than those named after the four seasons or rivers and mountains, I did indeed come from a Town of Hope ... but the one in Brocade River Province. We don’t have Chewing Bone Tribe over there, the only headaches are the mutants and countless mutant insects."

Apart from that, there were Cult Members on the southern Death Coast and pirates who had scattered inland from the southern coastal provinces.

But these weren’t really big problems.

After all, the locals had long found a balance between chaos and death over the years.

Speaking of this, Zhou Nan couldn’t help feeling sentimental.

"... Anyway, thanks to the New Alliance standing in the way, otherwise next year at this time we would be having headaches dodging the Chewing Bone Tribe heading south past Giant Stone City."

"Indeed, thanks to them," watching the beer bubbles in his glass, Sun Shiqi also sighed mixed with emotions, "otherwise, I would probably still be a small-time peddler..."

It wasn’t just him who should be thankful for this victory.

The whole Red River Town’s merchants, mine owners, and Business Association owed that Manager a word of thanks.

The inability of the Snake Tribe to commit their full strength against Red River Town was largely due to the restraint by the New Alliance.

Now that West State City had been taken by the New Alliance, even if the Snake Tribe didn’t want to save their own people, they had to end the siege of Red River Town.

The war was finally about to end.

The two laughed and clinked their glasses, offering heartfelt toasts,

"To the great Alliance!"

"To the wise and mighty Manager!"

"May he live long!"

...

Outside the roadside inn.

In a corner of the neighboring street market, an old man wrapped in a scarf and cloak sat at a street corner stall. The faded, old pipe he smoked added a touch of mystery to his wrinkled face.

In front of him lay a carpet made from camel skin, upon which were placed some strange little wooden pieces.

A mutant camel with two humps merged into one dozed off to the side, its features crammed together in a frightening array.

However, on the Wasteland, this appearance as a Variant was rather common.

"... Just two silver coins, write down his name on the tag, and the Spirit of the Sand Sea will ensure his safe return."

Lifting half-lowered eyelids, the old man glanced at the girl standing in front of his stall with a face full of worry, quietly thinking that his dinner was secured.

"... But can it work without sand here?" the girl asked quietly.

The old man solemnly assured her,

"Of course, it’s not a problem. Long, long ago, the boundless Desert Sea covered the entire central part of the Central Continent, spreading over thousands of kilometers. Including the plains you mentioned, nearby mountains, and lakes were all territories of the Spirit of the Sand Sea... At that time, there was no Great Antler God, only the vast yellow sands that galloped across this land."

Watching the babbling old man, Frost Snow hesitated for a moment at the stall, and thinking it was only a matter of two silver coins, she reached for her wallet.

Unlike other residents celebrating the victory,

she was more worried about the safety of the Manager.

Since half a month ago, she had rarely seen that official sitting in the library to work; the occasional documents or reclaimed books sent by the Merchant Guild were handled by that stump-like little robot.

She later learned from colleagues that the Manager had gone to the front lines.

Although there were continuous good news from the front lines, bullets were blind, and the commander named Dylon on the opposing side was killed by a stray bullet on the battlefield.

She hoped he would be more cautious for his safety...

Watching the girl pull out her wallet, the old man’s eyes nearly closed with a smile, but just then, a fair arm reached out from the side.

"Hey... you don’t really believe that, do you?" Frost River looked at her sister, who had already pulled out her wallet, in surprise, "Just writing a name guarantees safety, there’s no such good deal."

Facing her sister’s surprised gaze, Frost Snow’s face turned red, and she murmured softly,

"It’s just two silver coins..."

"This young lady, some words should not be spoken carelessly," seeing his cooked duck ready to fly away, the old man glared at the woman who had disrupted his business, saying ominously, "It’s better to believe something exists rather than not. If something happens, don’t blame me for not warning you."

Seeing the old man actually threaten her, Frost River looked at him with a smiling expression,

"Don’t try that with me; our Manager has said, materialist warriors don’t worship supernatural beings, it’s better to use the money to support people instead of worshipping spirits."

With that, she ignored the old man whose eyes bulged like lamps and turned to her sister.

"If you have a sweetheart on the front lines, instead of praying for his safety here, you’d better buy him a bouquet of flowers when he returns triumphant from the front lines."

Frost Snow’s face was flushed with embarrassment, not because of what her sister had said, but because the crowd of onlookers around them was growing.

It made her quite uncomfortable.

She reached out and tugged at her sister’s sleeve, whispering,

"Okay, okay, I know it’s no use, and you don’t need to argue with others... I just won’t buy it."

After that, she pulled on her sister’s sleeve and dashed out of the crowd, only stopping at the other end of the market.

Stopping in her tracks, before Frost Snow could catch her breath, her sister poked her waist excitedly from behind.

"Come clean, whose name were you planning to write? Let me see which lucky guy it is."

With her face still flushed from running, Frost Snow hesitated for a long time, but finally couldn’t resist her sister’s persistent questioning and said softly,

"...I said you can’t make fun of me."

With eyes sparkling with a gossip-hungry gleam, Frost River, who had just been declaring herself a "materialist warrior who does not believe in ghosts," immediately raised three fingers and swore earnestly,

"I, Frost River, swear to heaven! I absolutely won’t laugh at my smart, cute, beautiful, and generous sister, and I absolutely won’t tell a third person!"

"..."

Frost Snow gave her sister an annoyed look.

Hesitating for a moment, the secret-bearer in her finally leaned in close to her sister’s ear and quietly revealed the name she had intended to write.

Frost River blinked after hearing it, then stared at her sister with wide eyes,

Her expression was even more exaggerated than when she saw her sister giving money to a charlatan.

"You haven’t given up?"

Frost Snow blushed and said,

"You, you promised you wouldn’t make fun of me."

"I’m not making fun of you..." Frost River sighed, shaking her head like a rattling drum, "It’s a lost cause."

Frost Snow looked at her sister with a complicated expression and then let out a soft sigh after a moment.

"I didn’t say it had to lead to anything... I just hope that he, being so far at the frontlines, remains safe. Don’t you wish for that too?"

Frost River nodded thoughtfully.

"Indeed..."

She couldn’t imagine what the City of Dawn would be like without that person; perhaps the oasis itself wouldn’t have existed from the start.

The Blue Jackets, who were loyal only to the Manager, would likely leave, either returning underground or moving elsewhere.

The displaced people surely wouldn’t just stay put in their collective dormitories waiting for an uncertain resettlement; they would do everything they could to move to the nearby city. The prisoners of war would not stay quiet either; they would seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to break their chains.

The various armies would probably continue to adhere to loyalty, even inheriting the Manager’s legacy of reviving the United Human with a strong military leader, using harsher measures to quell the chaos... but that often lays the groundwork for even greater disorder.

As for those merchants with no loyalty at all, they never truly belonged here. They would do everything possible under the guise of a free market to extract all the value from the residents, until even the silver coins themselves became worthless.

Working at the trading station, she knew very well what sort of character these Wasteland Wanderers had. They had not only flexible moral standards and professional ethics but flexible identities too.

Perhaps elsewhere they were slave hunters or even bandits, but here, regardless of their past, they behaved in strict compliance with the law.

It was practically a miracle.

After much thought, Frost River nodded.

"...If something were to happen to him, everyone would be heartbroken."

Upon hearing this, Frost Snow suddenly reacted as if someone had stepped on her tail, quickly covering her sister’s mouth with her hands.

"Tch, tch, tch, what a bad omen you’re speaking of! If father heard this, he would spank your butt so hard!"

"Mmm—hmm! What does it matter, I’m not speaking recklessly in front of father."

Breaking free from her sister’s hands, Frost River dodged playfully while grinning cheekily,

"Besides, the Manager himself said if someone mentions his name behind his back, one shouldn’t make the atmosphere so serious—names are meant to be used by others."

"You sound like a parrot, always ’the Manager this, the Manager that,’" Frost Snow said breathlessly, her cheeks red.

She, who did clerical work at the Merchant Guild, naturally couldn’t outrun her sister who worked at the trading station, and soon had to support herself on her knees, gasping for breath.

Frost River paused to look at her, blinking.

"Huh? Are you jealous? Don’t worry, your sister is someone who prefers to live a peaceful life. I won’t daydream, my future husband should simply be—"

"Ghost, I’m not jealous at all!!"

Watching the playful and laughing sisters, Crow, sitting on the stairs outside the branch of Vine Cottage, rested her cheeks in her hands with an envious expression,

"I wish I had a sister too."

Or a brother would do.

Although it would be a pity not to buy him cute dresses, having someone to play games with wouldn’t be bad either. For someone who usually stayed indoors all year round like her, finding someone to communicate with in real life was too difficult.

Damn...

She actually started to envy the NPCs in the game!

Sitting beside her and sipping sparkling water, Teng Teng had a completely different sentiment.

"Recently, there aren’t many familiar faces in the City of Dawn."

Most of the customers in the store these past two months have been NPCs.

Although business wasn’t affected much, and she designed plenty of regular clothing styles, the lack of those peculiar custom orders made her feel as if her creativity and talent had lost their purpose.

Compared to the conservatively dressed NPCs, it was indeed the players’ bizarre and quirky ideas that really caught her eye.

Of course, it would be nice if they were a bit more serious.

Crow comforted her friend and said,

"After all, everyone is on the front lines."

Teng Teng glanced at her.

"Speaking of which, aren’t you supposed to be a combat professional player? Why are you so free?"

She had thought Crow would join tail and the others at the front lines, but this time, she hadn’t joined the fray.

It seemed the fall she took last time was a lesson learned.

"Humph, don’t be fooled by my seemingly idle appearance," Crow smirked proudly, "I’ve recently made a small fortune."

"Oh?" Teng Teng curiously looked at Crow as she released the straw she was biting, "What quest?"

Crow boasted.

"I had discovered that greenish-blue mushroom before, right? Later, I sent it to the refuge’s medical lab for testing, and that white-haired NPC miss discovered it contained a substance similar to penicillin."

Teng Teng nodded, realizing,

"Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember... It was updated in the official encyclopedia afterward, called Penicillinium and Green Pine Mushroom? So it was you who discovered it."

"What do you mean ’so it was me?’ There was a Worldwide Announcement, okay!" Crow protested dissatisfiedly, cleared her throat, and continued excitedly, "Anyway, later I took on a hidden quest from the refuge for collecting 20 tons of Green Pine Mushrooms for the survivor settlements in West State City."

"20 tons?!" Teng Teng looked at her in astonishment, "Is there even that much?"

"Of course, duck," Crow said with an upturned lip,

"Everyone thought that kind of mushroom was poisonous before and didn’t pick it. But with so many orders, I definitely couldn’t handle it alone. Luckily, the Merchant Guild’s miss was thoughtful enough to help me with registering a company, and I hired about ten Indigenous People. Finally, I completed the quest."

"Not bad, not bad, our Crow has finally walked this path; no need to pick mushrooms yourself to earn Silver coins," Teng Teng said approvingly, nodding.

Crow thought for a moment and said,

"Emmm... that’s true, but compared to worrying about a bunch of things, I still prefer the feeling of exploring alone."

This game always uncovered new things she hadn’t seen before.

As for Silver coins, she didn’t care about them as much anymore.

"Are you flaunting in Versailles now?"

Teng Teng gave her a look and stretched lazily, looking up at the sky,

"Everyone’s working so hard; looks like I also need to step it up for the new version."

Crow playfully slapped her friend’s shoulder.

"Don’t be too competitive; playing games isn’t about becoming anything; the experience itself is quite fun. Oh, by the way, there’s a fireworks show in the square later to celebrate the victory, and I heard they’re bringing sugarcane from Luo Xia Province."

"Sugarcane?" Teng Teng asked curiously, "Isn’t that already available?"

There was a time, before the trade routes were open, when sugar was cheaper than salt. After all, the Brown Farm grew sugar beets, and with a little improvement in the process, they could produce pure sugar, but salt in the Inland Area still mainly relied on imports.

Crow laughed,

"No, it’s not that sugarcane, it’s sugarcane sand, as in the sand from the desert, probably a local delicacy from Luo Xia Province. I saw it on the Forum... they said Little Fish discovered it."

As they were speaking, fireworks began to rise into the sky.

Time had crept up on them silently.

Hearing of an unseen snack, Teng Teng’s face instantly showed interest, and she jumped up from the step.

"Come on, take me to see it."

Among the brilliant fireworks, the people living in the rear sent their blessings to the distant front lines.

Sun Shiqi staggered out of the tavern, looked up at the splendid fireworks, paused for a few seconds, then muttered quietly,

"Green... it must be copper sulfate."

Zhou Nan, who was supporting him, also muttered quietly,

"What a waste... Are these people so wealthy now that they use surplus Dynamite for fireworks?"

"It seems the war is truly ending."

As the people of the City of Dawn celebrated the victory at the front, the Looters in distant West State City were enduring a torment as bitter as fire...