This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 334: Infrastructure Maniac

Chapter 334: Chapter 334: Infrastructure Maniac

As the Oxen and Horses Squad followed Terri’s lead, heading towards Camp 101 located deep underground, the construction of the new settlement was also in full swing.

With a wooden board inscribed with "Dawn City" hung on a half-collapsed concrete bridge pier, the construction plan for the second survivor settlement of the New Alliance was officially announced!

Well before the battle at Pine Forest Pass had started, the logistics department of the New Alliance had prepared a contingency plan for the expansion of the new settlement under the Manager’s instruction.

A large amount of construction materials had been sent to the warehouses in Qingstone County by rail beforehand, and almost as soon as Chu Guang announced the victory in the war, these materials were loaded onto trucks, which set off to the front lines before dawn had fully broken.

The materials included two thousand steel axes, sixteen hundred spades, and a vast number of human-powered transportation tools such as trolley carts, tricycles, and two-wheeled hand carts.

Accompanying these materials, more than three hundred construction workers also arrived.

Many of these people were NPCs who had participated in the construction of Outpost Base in the early days, and others were life-profession players with relevant work experience.

They had rich construction experience and had been tested in practice, contributing their sweat and toil to the construction of City of Dawn.

Although pioneering was hard work, when the Alliance needed them, they still appeared here without hesitation.

Either due to loyalty

Or the guidance of a mission...

...

The truck stopped at the entrance of the camp.

Before the truck had even stopped moving, Spare people under the knife jumped down from the vehicle, loudly calling out and saying,

"Get off, get off, brothers, it’s time to work!"

"The expansion pack will end tonight, now’s the chance to earn some points, hurry up and seize the time!"

"Ollie give!" responded the crowd energetically. Strength Type players were the first to jump off the truck, heading to the trucks transporting materials.

Under Brother Knife’s leadership, they unloaded the cargo from the trucks, methodically stacking it in preparation to distribute tools shortly.

Although in reality, no one even wanted to sweep the ground, in the Game, every single one transformed into Aryan supermen, each person wishing they could do the work of two oxen.

Especially upon hearing that the construction tasks also had achievements that could be unlocked, satisfying the requirements could even allow players to be commemorated on the city monument, as heroes of Dawn City alongside those players who had performed outstandingly on the battlefield, the Strength Type energizer bunnies immediately got hyped.

Tired?

That just didn’t exist.

This damn Game might include sweating, panting, arm stiffness, or even clumsiness, but it never felt "uncomfortable."

Extreme pain sensations would be blocked, and fatigue was nothing if it didn’t reach the point of fainting.

Under Brother Knife’s orders, a group of players was bustling and having a blast.

Seeing this scene, the NPCs nearby couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration, which also inspired them.

If even those "pampered" Blue Jackets were working so hard, what reason did they have to slack off? How could they face themselves if they slacked off?

With this thought, everyone spontaneously rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

Fifty trucks, with everyone working together, unloaded all the materials in less than half an hour.

The trucks continued towards Qingstone County, ready for their second trip.

At the same time, on another side of the construction site.

Substituting as the Governor of Dawn City, Ma Ban met with the leader of the construction team by the remnants of a highway bridge and explained the situation here.

"...There are 5,731 residents on the register, and nearly ten thousand freed slaves will be arriving gradually."

"What’s urgent now is that we need to prepare enough housing for these people."

This construction team leader was named Rudi, who had been a Centurion under Vanus and had been released early due to good behavior during rehabilitation labor.

After regaining his freedom, this former Army junior officer did not embark on the journey home but chose to stay, fighting for a greater cause and ideal, beginning another life as a resident of the New Alliance.

Rudi: "What about the POWs?"

Ma Ban: "They’re still in the city."

There were more than twenty thousand prisoners of war, and it would take time to process these people, plus organizing them to build the POW camps meant that they might not be needed in the short term.

After understanding the situation, Rudi stared at the map for a moment before immediately saying,

"I’ve got a general understanding of the situation here, and construction materials will arrive before noon. What we need to do now is to clear a construction site as soon as possible. How many available hands do we have now?"

Ma Ban replied precisely,

"Excluding the wounded, the sick, pregnant women, and children under 12... we can mobilize roughly more than 4,000 people."

Rudi nodded and said,

"That’s enough. I need them to gather here immediately, and I will arrange specific tasks for them."

"Leave it to me!"

Leaving behind this phrase, Ma Ban immediately found Wu Chengyi and others, and with the help of the former leadership of the Resistance organization, mobilized the survivors.

The crowd slowly gathered on the clearing next to the remnants of the highway bridge, including soldiers from The Third Army of the Alliance, young people carrying their baggage, and even children with immature faces, and frail, bent old people.

Almost everyone’s face bore the pallor of malnutrition, which had improved a lot compared to a month ago. They may not be brimming with energy, but at least there were no signs of bewilderment and confusion.

Looking at the crowd of people before him, Rudi picked up the megaphone and spoke in a loud voice,

"Time is precious, so I’ll keep this short. We need to prepare 1,000 sets of emergency housing before nightfall!"

"I need you to lend me your strength!"

Hearing this, the people looked at each other.

Prepare 1,000 sets of housing before nightfall?

Was this guy serious?

Among the survivors, almost everyone harbored doubt in their hearts about this whimsical idea as they began murmuring to one another.

Without explaining anything, Rudi simply rallied the crowd and then immediately assigned tasks to everyone.

The 4,000 people were divided into over 300 groups of varying sizes, each led by a foreman, who got straight to work on the construction of the settlement.

With the concerted effort of everyone, the survivors of Dawn City soon cleared the land around the trenches and transported concrete debris and large chunks of waste outside the camp using tippers, tricycles, flatbeds, and other transport tools.

As the open space was cleared, aluminum sheets and aluminum alloy frames were dragged over by tricycles and flatbeds.

Looking at the materials and tools piled up in the open space, the thin man’s face was full of confusion.

"What is this stuff?"

His name was Liu Dali, a farmer before joining the Chewing Bone Tribe.

After his home burned down, and his wife and children were gone, he joined a guerrilla team and was now a soldier in the New Alliance Third Corps.

Not just he, but several other survivors standing next to him were equally clueless, exchanging puzzled glances.

At that moment, a foreman from the reconstruction team approached them and cleared their confusion.

"All these are building materials for constructing houses. Assemble them, and you’ve got a place to live. We have four tasks in our group; I’ll teach you how to do it soon, and you’ll learn quickly."

"Building materials?" Liu Dali was startled.

A fellow villager standing beside him was equally puzzled and commented,

"Can these things really be used to build houses?"

Even if they were making a shack, just having aluminum alloy sheets wouldn’t be enough.

In the face of everyone’s doubtful gazes, the foreman smiled slightly proudly and said,

"These things can not only build houses, they have many other uses. Quit talking and come help."

While speaking, he tossed gloves to everyone, instructing carefully, "Remember to wear these when you work. Don’t hurt yourself."

"We have four tasks in our group. Let’s work hard and strive to finish by 6 PM! Our team leader said that if we complete all tasks before 6 PM, everyone in the group will get a reward!"

The moment they heard there were rewards, everyone’s curiosity was immediately piqued.

"What reward?"

"Crabmeat patties! One for each person!"

Meat!

Upon hearing about the reward, everyone was instantly excited, and without a second thought, they put on gloves and began to work under the foreman’s direction.

The same incentive might not stir many hearts in City of Dawn,

but here in the famine-stricken Western Province, even a piece of green barley cake could be considered a delicacy.

Hearing that there was meat to eat, people’s eyes nearly glowed green with desire, wishing they had more hands than they were born with.

Two aluminum sheets stood upright on the ground with a strut in between, the connection secured with screws and nuts.

Then came the third, the fourth...

As the aluminum panels were pieced together one by one, Liu Dali was surprised to find that without his realizing it, a large box-like structure had emerged before everyone’s eyes.

The "box" wasn’t small in area, covering a full 20 square meters, with a ceiling height just over three meters.

The bunk beds were stacked, with doors and windows; one room had six beds and did not feel crowded at all. In fact, the space was almost too generous.

Looking at the fruits of their labor before him, Liu Dali felt something stir within himself.

Ever since his home was destroyed and he lost his loved ones, he had been living in a daze, taking life one day at a time.

But now, looking at the house before him, a sense of feeling he had not experienced for a long time emerged within him.

He did not know how to describe that feeling or where it came from, but he could feel its real presence.

It was as if...

A flicker of light had ignited in the darkness.

"Don’t just stand there," the foreman patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "We still have three tasks left. Let’s push on and try to finish another one before lunch!"

Hearing the foreman’s voice, Liu Dali snapped back to reality, subdued his excitement, and nodded vigorously.

"You got it!"

It wasn’t just Liu Dali’s group that completed their first set of tasks.

Nearly all construction crews on the site were working their hardest.

After the initial 300 sets of prefabricated pieces were assembled, the second batch of materials was quickly delivered to the camp storage area by truck.

By noon, the previously barren land was now lined with nearly 500 container-style houses.

Although these houses were simple, they had all the bare essentials and there were no issues of sheltering from wind and rain.

As for insulation, it was only the end of May.

The River Valley Province was about to enter the hottest three months of the year, so it was too early to worry about that problem.

Looking at the impressive scene before them, many couldn’t believe their own eyes.

Especially Yang Duo, who had once served as the warehouse manager in Town Of Hope, felt more than just surprise.

It was astonishment!

In his mind, even emergency shacks needed to be started by gathering metal sheets, steel bars, and concrete blocks from the city. Without three to five days, it was impossible to house 5,000 people under a roof.

However, the construction scheme of the New Alliance completely overturned his understanding.

Prefabricated housing parts produced on assembly lines were delivered to the front lines by trucks, then assembled on-site by workers.

Even ordinary people with no construction experience could complete the assembly of an entire house under the guidance of base-level construction personnel.

The whole process took less than three hours.

For those skilled, it even took just two hours.

It was as fast as copy-paste.

With such immense infrastructure, industrial, and mobilization capabilities, it was no wonder they had won the war!

"These houses... how much do they cost?" Wu Chengyi, who stood to one side, couldn’t help but ask softly.

Ma Ban pondered for a moment before giving a rough estimate.

"I’m not exactly sure, but I’ve heard that the average cost is about 300 silver coins, and the external selling price is 500 silver coins... which is equivalent to 2.5 automatic rifles."

Upon hearing this, the people around them all let out exclamations of astonishment.

It was said that the average monthly income of the people of the New Alliance was about 400 silver coins; didn’t that mean one could buy a house with just a month’s salary?

This was outrageously cheap.

Watching everyone’s expressions, a hint of pride surfaced on Ma Ban’s face.

Although he had joined the New Alliance only a few months ago, this did not prevent him from feeling proud of the Alliance’s achievements.

"A house for 300 silver coins means 1000 would cost 300,000... Isn’t it a bit too wasteful to have only six people living in such a large house?" Yang Duo’s expression was somewhat uneasy.

Although everyone was now part of one family, after all, they had just joined this large family.

Coming in and immediately spending so much of someone else’s money made him somewhat uneasy.

Seeing his thoughts, Ma Ban didn’t make any elaboration but simply smiled and spoke softly.

"This is mainly for sanitary considerations; too high a living density can easily lead to infectious diseases. The Manager directly instructed me that even during special periods, we must ensure that the living space per person is above two square meters and each dormitory cannot exceed six people."

"Not only that, but that person also instructed me emergency houses can only be used as a transition and should not be depended upon in the long term. Within three months, we have to make sure every family in Dawn City gets their own house!"

Wu Chengyi and Yang Duo exchanged glances, seeing excitement in each other’s eyes.

If it were before, when they were still living in underground tunnels, if Ma Ban said this to them, no one would take it to heart and would think he was just daydreaming.

But now...

Almost no one doubted whether it could be done.

Not far away, in a tent that had been temporarily set up, large pots were erected. The enticing smell of food wafted out from the pots, and almost everyone could not help but swallow their saliva.

While various construction crews were busy, the old, weak, women, and children who could not engage in heavy physical labor also kept busy, preparing lunch under the guidance of logistics personnel. Kids carrying lunch boxes and water bottles shuttled around the construction site, delivering lunch to each crew.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.

By six o’clock in the evening, not only did the construction crews miraculously complete 1000 emergency houses, but they even exceeded their task, constructing public facilities like toilets and water storage tanks, which were originally planned for the next day.

The camp was bustling with activity.

People gathered together, sitting around fire pits made of stones.

The firelight reflected the smiling faces of everyone, as they ate bowls of food, chit-chatting, boasting, or discussing future plans.

Tonight’s dinner was exceptionally delicious.

Especially the tasty, juicy crab cakes.

The survivors from the Town of Hope had never eaten such delicious food!

Watching his men devour their food, the foreman chuckled and boastfully said,

"Wait until you have a chance to go see Dawn City; after going there, you’ll know what paradise on earth is like."

One of the hardworking survivors looked up, his mouth still full of food, and mumbled,

"I’ve heard there, you can eat as many crab cakes as you want!"

The foreman laughed.

"Crab cakes? There are far more delicious things than crab cakes!"

Liu Dali swallowed saliva.

"Like what?"

Watching the anticipatory and hopeful eyes surrounding him, the foreman’s vanity swelled greatly as he continued, languidly,

"Like the noodles that cost 4 silver coins a bowl, the spicy rice that’s 3 silver coins a bowl, 2 silver coin buns, various skewers on sticks, vegetables fried in a big wok, and more expensive are the charcoal-grilled monster ribs..."

As he talked, he cursed under his breath and with a longing look said, "Damn it, let’s stop talking about it, I just got full and now I’m hungry again!"

Seeing the boss stop talking, the crowd immediately grew anxious.

"Don’t stop now."

"Keep talking, will you?"

"What exactly are these noodles?"

"And buns."

"It’s too much trouble to explain, I could talk for days and it wouldn’t compare to seeing it with your own eyes."

Packing away his bowl, the foreman patted his pants, stood up from the ground, and encouraged the brothers sitting by the fire,

"Keep up the good work."

"City of Dawn wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Dawn City. Whatever they have there, we’ll eventually have here too!"

Nearby, by the fire pit.

The one known as Spare people under the knife, sitting cross-legged on the ground, looked at the pop-up window that appeared on the VM screen, showing a relieved smile as he finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Mission accomplished!"

[Task: Complete 1000 emergency buildings (Completed)]

[Achievement Challenge "Construction Maniac": Complete the task by 6 PM (Achieved)]

Although the task had been completed half an hour ago, inspection took a little more time.

This game always manages to be surprisingly realistic in strange places.

"...heard the prize pool is fat this time, hope to draw some good stuff," Makabazi said expectantly, sitting next to Spare people under the knife.

He didn’t have any flying missions these past couple of days, and there wasn’t much work at the farm, so he simply came to the front to grind for points.

"What’s the grand prize again?"

"They haven’t announced it yet, don’t they always reveal it after the expansion pack settlement?" Putting away his VM, Makabazi suddenly thought of something and turned to ask Spare people under the knife next to him, "By the way, are you also in construction in real life?"

He remembered this guy had been a construction team leader for quite some time now, and seemed to have unlocked the title "Chief Architect of the New Alliance".

Spare people under the knife replied casually, "Kind of."

Makabazi cupped his hands in admiration.

"The big boss!"

No doubt about it, those who build houses are big bosses!

Spare people under the knife responded with an amused and frustrated look, "Big boss my ass, I’m just an idle guy at my workplace. Otherwise, how could I spend all day in the game?"

Makabazi curiously continued, "But speaking of which, don’t you get tired of doing the same work in the game?"

Spare people under the knife thought for a moment, then smiled and said.

"Tired... I don’t feel it. To tell the truth, even though I do this in real life, it’s not like they would let me design a whole city, right? And some of the crazy ideas I can’t use in real life actually have a market here. Anyway, I’m quite enjoying myself."

Makabazi couldn’t help but admire him deeply.

"Awesome! That’s what makes a big boss – a different level altogether!"

Spare people under the knife coughed lightly.

"I’ve already said, I’m not a big boss."

"Such humility from the big boss!"

Makabazi glanced up at the sky, got up from the ground, patted the dirt off his pants, and sighed, "This corporate slave has to go to work now. Gotta leave first."

Spare people under the knife said with a smile.

"Go ahead, I’ll be logging off soon too. See you on the official website."

"See you on the official website!"

Saying so, Makabazi looked at Spare people under the knife with envy.

"Ah, I wish I could afford to be as idle as you."

Spare people under the knife: "..."

...

At the military camp next to Dawn City.

Chu Guang, sitting inside the barracks, was browsing through the logistics department’s report via his VM.

The construction of Dawn City was going smoothly; the construction team had completed a thousand emergency houses in just one day.

The New Alliance was highly electrified, with many tools relying on the power grid.

Although they had seized a batch of wood-burning trucks from the Looters, the majority of the New Alliance’s trucks were their own "electric donkeys."

This electric truck was handy, but it couldn’t work for long periods away from the power grid.

The players’ save points were also major electricity consumers. Without generators on the front lines, power supply still depended on the truck batteries.

"If only we could get the reactor fixed quickly."

After reading the logistics department’s report from start to finish, Chu Guang pondered for a moment, reached out to put on his headset, and said.

"Xiao Qi."

An energetic voice came through.

"I’m here, master."

Chu Guang said, "Inform Luka to ready five wood-powered generators to be sent over here as soon as possible, they should be over 100KW of power each."

Xiao Qi enthusiastically responded, "Received! Leave it to me!"

Communication ended.

Chu Guang was about to stand up to grab something to eat outside.

Just then, a communication request popup window suddenly appeared at the top of the VM screen.

Seeing that it was a call from Lu Bei, Chu Guang didn’t hesitate, immediately hit the answer button, and skipped the pleasantries to get straight to the point.

"How are things on your end?"

"Have you met the residents of Shelter 101?"