This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 332: Even if it’s twenty thousand pigs, it would take a while to catch them, right?

Chapter 332: Chapter 332: Even if it’s twenty thousand pigs, it would take a while to catch them, right?

Even 20,000 pigs running into the city would take a while to round up.

Moreover, what about people?

Red River Town and the Snake Tribe had been fighting up north for nearly half a year, and the amount spent on mercenaries and military purchases could have bought a mine.

Yet, even so, they had gained no advantage over the looters.

The news reached more than just Sim, it also reached other business leaders and mine owners in Red River Town.

Soon, this significant news spread throughout Red River Town...

In the Mining Association’s meeting hall.

It had been several minutes since the Association’s President announced the meeting’s topic.

The individuals seated at the meeting table looked at each other, and for a long time, no one spoke.

Unable to stand the eerie atmosphere in the meeting room, a mine owner hooked his index finger around his collar, loosening it, and broke the silence with a hesitant voice.

"...Is the news reliable?"

The President of the Association nodded complexly.

"...It should be reliable, as they would hardly smack their own faces with a lie that could be easily exposed."

Validating the truth of this news is too easy—sending someone to check if West State City has indeed been taken over will suffice.

Moreover, there’s no need to falsify information.

Announcing a victory in the war early would not bring any tangible advantages to the New Alliance.

Whispers began to fill the meeting room, and people started discussing quietly.

"...I think we need to reconsider our relationship with the New Alliance."

"Should we establish an office there?"

"But under whose name... Should each of us do it individually, or should it be under the Mining Association?"

"I think both are necessary, even if we don’t consider their military power, they are an important trading partner."

The war had deeply shaken them.

From the lightning attack on Qingstone County to the battle in Pine Forest... Given the intelligence currently have, every battle the New Alliance fought against the Chewing Bone Tribe, whether offensive or defensive, ended in crushing victory.

Although it was possible they exaggerated their victories and hid their own casualties, the power they demonstrated was impressive enough.

A nascent survivor force with no more than ten thousand people.

In just two months, they managed to defeat the Looter Tribe with 30000 soldiers and 27 tanks!

Such terrifying power made them very daunting!

Moreover, unlike Giant Stone City, an old survivor force that had ceased expanding.

This newly sprung New Alliance didn’t just possess enormous potential for warfare, but indeed expanded its territory.

Initially, they owned only a park, then northern "North Suburb" of Clear Spring City, and now they had expanded to the shore of West State Lake over a hundred kilometers north of Clear Spring City.

Where would they head next?

Continue north?

Or to the east...

While everyone was discussing how to handle their relationship with the New Alliance, someone suddenly stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if my memory serves right, today’s topic is supposed to be about our future relations with the New Alliance. Yet until now, what I have heard is all about how we should appease our neighbor... Do you truly believe that we can coexist peacefully with the New Alliance?"

Seeing everyone looking towards him, Sim paused, then continued.

"You must not forget, the first thing they did after taking down West State City was to announce the liberation of the looters’ slaves!"

Faces filled with surprise, while those, like Sim, who were privy to more detailed information remained silent.

The meeting table soon buzzed with noisy discussions.

Liberating slaves...

This was a sensitive topic indeed for Red River Town.

The "mines" of Red River Town were not traditional mines, but rather mountains of tightly packed, buried garbage. Since the landfill data was lost in the war, it’s unknown what might be dug up next, leading to frequent mining accidents.

They could not hire free people to mine these hills—it wasn’t a matter of how much it cost, but rather that the return was not worth the investment.

Red River Town could not function without slaves; that was a consensus among all mine owners and business leaders.

If the Blue Note was for coordinating mining capacities to help miners get better prices for their ore, then the Red Note issued for buying slaves was to facilitate all major mining fields to get a stable labor supply...

A business leader raised his hand to object.

"...Your information isn’t accurate; I heard they gave those slaves the status of ’wards’, which clearly does not mean they were entirely freed."

His name was Andrew, the leader of the Gray Rhino Chamber of Commerce, mainly dealing in imports—be it weapons, food, or feed for slaves.

Sim knew the same tidbit of information as he had set up an office in City of Dawn, but he wasn’t particularly concerned.

The only business involving slaves in Gray Rhino’s operations was just nutritional paste.

Andrew raising an objection was completely expected, and Sim confidently continued.

"Does nitpicking over terminology matter? Whether they’re called wards, managers, or any other new term they come up with... it can’t mask what they’re actually doing."

"Now they’ve liberated the slaves of West State City. What if one day they come to liberate the slaves we have? Mr. Mudis, from the Foggy Mountain Mine, would you be willing to grant freedom to the slaves in your mine?"

The bald man shifted his gaze away.

Sim no longer looked at him, instead turning to another man—his strategic ally, Dennis from Black Stone Mine.

"...Is it still you, my dear Mr. Dennis?"

"I don’t think it’s necessary... Some slaves are originally Looters or Clones, or synthetic beings about to be scrapped. Moreover, even on their own territories, they just buy the slaves from the Slave Owners, without forcing them to hand over the slaves."

Dennis spoke with slight hesitation, but his tense expression betrayed his inner anxiety.

Seeing through his thoughts, Sim continued forcefully.

"All your assumptions are based on what you think ’isn’t necessary’. Just a year ago, the Chewing Bone Tribe was still trading with us, and didn’t they turn their backs on us just like that?"

A business association executive couldn’t help but speak out.

"What should we do then? Are we supposed to oppose them?"

Sim immediately responded.

"Of course not, with our current strength, opposing them is of no benefit, but we must recognize one thing—getting too close to these Blue Jackets is extremely dangerous, we should at least remain vigilant."

"We need to first unite and establish an organization more centralized than the Mining Association. It should take on more responsibilities, not just issue Red and Blue Tickets, but also manage the creation of a standing army, handle relations with other Survivor Settlements, decide who to do business with, how to conduct it, and how to manage our own settlements."

"After that, we should strengthen ties with neighboring Survivor Settlements and lessen our dependence on the New Alliance... both in terms of weapons and military."

Pausing for a moment, Sim raised his voice and forcefully knocked on the Table twice.

"Gentlemen, the alarm has been rung, and River Valley Province is facing a transformation unseen in a century, the old methods no longer apply."

"Whether you like it or not, if we don’t want to be eliminated by this world, we must look forward."

"I’m done speaking."

As Sim’s last words fell, the conference table erupted into noise.

Some people supported it, others opposed.

However, oddly enough, the ones supporting "the establishment of a more centralized management institution" were mostly the mine owners.

Conversely, it was the business association executives, Sim’s peers, who opposed him this time.

The assembly held steadfastly to their own opinions, moving from initial debate to nearly coming to blows.

"A more centralized institution? How much more centralization is needed? Do we find someone to take over and manage all our businesses?"

"I think Sim makes sense!"

"That makes sense my ass! Isn’t it good for everyone to handle their own affairs?"

"Of course it’s not good! You don’t care who those pieces of junk are sold to, but I need to ensure that the junk I sell doesn’t come back as bullets!"

"So who should lead this new institution? I only care about this!"

The president of the Mining Association was banging on the table; however, everyone was arguing so fiercely, no one paid attention to what he was saying.

The meeting was forced to pause.

After the meeting, a few business association executives gathered together, whispering.

"What’s gotten into Sim? Why is he suddenly representing the interests of mine owners?"

"He must have taken a heavy loss. I heard he had stockpiled a batch of copper ore... thousands of tons all stuck in hand."

At this moment, Andrew, the executive of the Gray Rhino Chamber of Commerce, suddenly spoke.

"I have a rumor here, but it’s not necessarily reliable."

The other executives immediately looked at him with interest.

They might not care about other people’s news, but news from Mr. Andrew always brought them business opportunities.

"What’s the rumor?"

Andrew lowered his voice.

"The New Alliance has discovered a copper mine in Qingstone County, and it looks like they’ve been mining it for a while."

This news was huge.

Surprise and even shock appeared on everyone’s faces.

"A copper mine?!"

"How did you know?"

Faced with everyone’s questions, Andrew spoke softly.

"It’s not hard to guess... The trains heading to Qingstone County aren’t coming back empty, you can always find some copper-bearing slag near the tracks. Moreover, according to my salesperson’s assessment, the grade of that copper mine is not low."

Hearing this, everyone’s faces changed significantly.

The New Alliance had found a copper mine!

No wonder they suddenly announced a northern expedition!

No wonder this war has been going on for two months with almost no fluctuation in the prices of copper and sulfur!

No wonder Sim’s reaction was so intense, both wanting to establish a more centralized institution and seeking to rally neighbors to guard against the threat of the New Alliance’s rise.

Thinking of the thousands of tons of copper stored in Horseshoe Iron Business Group’s warehouse, the fellow business association executives mourned for their peer in silence for a second.

This was truly too tragic.

...

As for how to handle relations with the New Alliance, the business association executives and mine owners in Red River Town were at odds.

A similar scene was also unfolding in the council hall of Garbage City.

The council members were furiously debating whether to establish diplomatic relations with the New Alliance and what kind of diplomatic relations to establish.

Everything happened too suddenly.

A month ago, they were discussing increasing armaments, how to handle the crisis of the Chewing Bone Tribe moving south, and most importantly, how to persuade Giant Stone City to join the war.

Now suddenly, someone told them that Lord Jin Ya had died and the war was over.

This was undoubtedly a joyous occasion...

Yet the powerful war potential shown by the New Alliance made them apprehensive while they were pleased...

...

Outside of Giant Stone City.

City Hall.

Looking at the report jointly submitted by several major business owners, the Mayor of City Hall pinched his brow with a slight headache.

"It seems that the situation in the ’North Suburb’ might have exceeded our expectations... Although they were responding to the Chewing Bone Tribe, the speed of their military expansion is worrisome."

The secretary standing beside him said softly.

"Indeed—airplanes, artillery, and rockets... Although they lack tactical nuclear bombs, the power is not much less."

The destructive effect does not necessarily have to involve high technology.

A pound of iron and a pound of cotton weigh the same, and a sufficient quantity of black powder—even flour—can produce a formidable force.

Of course, he could see that what truly worried the factory owners in the city was not the guns and cannons of the New Alliance but that the burgeoning productivity of the ’North Suburb’ was taking away their profits.

In Giant Stone City, the retail price of nutritional paste was 1-2 chips per kilogram, the wholesale price was 300-400 chips per ton, and the production cost was about 450.

But in City of Dawn, the figure was only 200 silver coins, even the exchange rate between silver coins and chips had been tightly locked at 2:1 by the New Alliance Bank.

Other products might be okay, but nutritional paste has no technical content, no brand effect, no quality difference—it’s purely feed.

Now, the entire nutritional paste market in Giant Stone City had almost been taken over by Didiwei brand nutritional paste.

The New Alliance not only manipulated the exchange rate but even used fiscal subsidies to support industry and trade.

That’s what the factory owners in Giant Stone City detested the most!

The Mayor of City Hall pondered for a long time.

"...We really should discuss security issues with them, especially now that their war has just ended."

The secretary said softly.

"What we can do is limited... I suggest reporting this matter to Lord Mayor."

"Lord Mayor..."

The mayor of the City Hall gave a bitter smile.

That person didn’t care about these things.

Unless those unpredictable Blue Jackets intervened in the affairs of Qingquan City Center or got involved in corporate or military-related issues.

But such a possibility was too small...

...

The news of the New Alliance liberating West State City stirred the entire Southern River Province.

At this moment, the man caught in the storm followed Rock Tooth to Lord Jin Ya’s "palace."

Actually, from Chu Guang’s perspective, this place was more like a pigsty rather than a palace.

A five-story villa ruin reinforced with wood and concrete, the enclosing wall and gate decorated with parts from humans or Variants, and even the head of a death creature hung on the main wall of the hall.

Inside that head was a human skull.

Even standing here, even clad in power armor, Chu Guang could feel his SAN points rapidly decreasing.

On the other hand, Rock Tooth appeared entirely unfazed.

This also affirmed Chu Guang’s thought that these Looters were certainly not human.

It would be better not to use the methods of a Manager on them...

"Lord Jin Ya lived here?"

Rock Tooth’s face had a flattering smile.

"This is his living room; his treasures are all upstairs. Please follow me, my lord!"

Saying this, he led Chu Guang and a group of close guards upstairs to a door.

Apparently to accommodate Jin Ya’s size, the door had been widened.

From the moment he crossed the threshold, Chu Guang smelled a pungent odor and couldn’t help frowning.

Before him was a massive bed, about 5 meters wide, and a dozen pale bodies were tied there.

They were beautiful, curvaceous, fair-skinned, and their hair didn’t show any signs of dryness—they didn’t look like survivors from the Wasteland nor like people from shelters.

From the bruises, scars, and stains on the floor, it wasn’t hard to imagine the torment they had previously endured.

And the experiences of those slaves locked in the dungeons were even more imaginable.

Seeing the people at the door, a flicker of fear passed through the girls’ eyes and the iron chains on their ankles clinked.

"...These are high-quality goods that Lord Jin Ya bought from the Bugra Free State, nothing like those foul-smelling slaves. Hehe, now they are all yours—" Feeling the killing intent from the side, Rock Tooth immediately shut his mouth.

Chu Guang looked at him meaningfully but didn’t blame Jin Ya’s deeds on him.

Turning to the close guards beside him, Chu Guang said.

"Find them some clothes to wear."

The close guards standing beside him saluted.

"Yes!"

A task was issued, and several female players nearby were called to help. Chu Guang instructed Rock Tooth to continue searching in the villa.

According to information disclosed by other captives, Golden Tooth had previously acquired 2 million dinars from the Army, and the money wasn’t entirely spent on weapons.

Buying a dozen clone slaves couldn’t cost that much. Chu Guang wanted to find out what else this guy had purchased.

They reached the villa’s basement, which had been converted into a warehouse.

Chu Guang forcefully wrenched the lock off the door and pushed open the half-hanging iron door to enter.

The warehouse was not very large, only about fifty or sixty square meters, and it was filled with assorted items.

To Chu Guang’s surprise, among the miscellaneous items was a device that looked like high-tech equipment.

After studying it for a long time without understanding what the device was for, Chu Guang could only take a few photos and return to the surface to call Yin Fang.

"I’ve discovered some interesting things here in West State City; I’ve sent you the photos..."

"Check them for me right now, help me figure out what that device is."

...

In the eastern part of West State City, on streets piled with concrete debris and car wrecks,

Under the protection of the third Army soldiers, Ma Ban, Wu Chengyi, and other high-ranking members of the Resistance organization slowly emerged from the abandoned subway station entrance.

With sunlight hitting his face, Wu Chengyi instinctively raised his hand, squinting his eyes.

Looking at the familiar streets, this rugged man’s tear ducts suddenly loosened.

When was the last time he had basked in the sunlight?

He almost couldn’t remember.

Standing next to him, Yang Duo felt the same, his voice choked up.

"The Ya Clan... those Looters, have they really been driven away?"

Ma Ban replied,

"To be precise, they were captured."

After a long silence, Yang Duo bowed his head and spoke softly,

"Thank you..."

"If you should thank anyone, it should be those who deserve it... I was also saved by them."

Saying this, Ma Ban smiled reassuringly and patted his arm, "Don’t keep your head down, go call everyone else up."

"The war is over."

Yang Duo returned to the subway

It wasn’t long before the residents of Town of Hope began streaming gradually out of the subway station, carrying large and small bundles.

Some came empty-handed, seemingly intending to leave those dark days behind underground.

Of course, it might also be because they had nothing left to carry.

Facing the long-absent sunlight, people breathed deeply, many even weeping and embracing each other, crying out loud.

Watching this scene, Ma Ban felt a stirring in his heart but didn’t forget the task the Manager had assigned to him.

There were still many tasks waiting for him to handle, and now was not the time for sentimentality.

After they had finished counting everyone to make sure no one was left behind, Ma Ban led these survivors, under the protection of the third Army, to the southern suburbs of West State City.

Beside the remnants of an overpass, there was a relatively open and level open space, which, being less infested with rats than the urban area, was more suitable for a new residential area for the survivor settlement.

The New Alliance’s trenches and positions were nearby, manned by soldiers from the first Army.

Although the Ya Clan was already defeated, the threats on the Wasteland went beyond the Looters, and the Variants that roamed the area also needed to be guarded against.

Seeing the flag of the New Alliance, the residents of Town of Hope immediately swarmed up, surrounding the patrolling sentries at the positions, anxiously asking,

"What about those captured by the Chewing Bone Tribe? Are they here?"

"My father, he was captured by the Ya Clan, possibly kept in the Looter’s dungeon... can I go check? He must still be alive!"

"I got separated from my wife, let me take a look in the dungeon... please!"

The surrounded sentry was at a loss for what to do.

Seeing the chaotic scene, Ma Ban and Wu Chengyi felt their scalps tingle and wanted to maintain order, but the scene was too chaotic, and no one could hear their shouts.

Seeing the situation about to spiral out of control, Wrench immediately stepped forward, turned on the loudspeaker on his helmet, and shouted to the crowd.

"Quiet!"

The noisy voices died down a bit.

People instinctively stopped their commotion and looked towards the man in the exoskeleton.

Seeing the Army leader come out to take charge, the surrounded sentry finally breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing his tense nerves.

Surveying the gathered survivors, Wrench spoke in a loud voice,

"I know many of you have been separated from your loved ones in the chaos a year ago, and I understand your urgent desire to reunite with them, but things need to proceed step by step."

"The resistance of the Ya Clan is mostly subdued, but there are still a few stubborn elements resisting in the city. I believe none of you wish to fall at the last moment before dawn, becoming a target for those gangsters, or even their food."

The emotions of the survivors finally stabilized.

Wrench paused, and continued in a more soothing tone,

"...As long as your loved ones are still alive, they’ll soon be back with you. What you need to do now is follow the arrangements, wait patiently, and build your homes."

"How you celebrate your reunion is up to you. But before that, you should at least prepare a place for you and your family, somewhere to shelter from the wind and rain."