This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 341: Is It Really a Game Made by Aliens?!

Chapter 341: Chapter 341: Is It Really a Game Made by Aliens?!

"Have you met that Manager?"

"Yes."

In the wilderness north of West State City, distant wolf howls could faintly be heard.

Standing beside a simply constructed tent, Xavier held a mobile phone in his hands, his expression filled with respect.

The person he was talking to at this moment was none other than the uncrowned king of Bugra Free State and the president and chairman of the Firestone Group, Sigma.

After briefly inquiring about the Manager’s situation, Sigma continued to ask about the matter that concerned him most.

"What about Dylon?"

Xavier replied with a heavy tone,

"Dylon... is dead."

A brief silence fell over the communication channel.

Sigma slowly asked,

"How did he die?"

Xavier truthfully responded,

"The people of the New Alliance said he died on the battlefield and was buried on the spot near the pine forest..."

While speaking these words, Xavier’s mood was filled with tension.

Although the Grand Canyon was the suzerain of Bugra Free State, the Army was the main trading partner of the Firestone Group.

He didn’t know what agreement the boss had reached with the Army, but his instinct told him that Dylon’s identity was not simple.

Fortunately, the boss was a reasonable man and did not vent his anger on him.

After taking a moment to calm his emotions, the voice from the other end of the communication channel continued to ask,

"... the trade agreement?"

Xavier responded with shame,

"We couldn’t reach an agreement... They only agreed to give us certain tariff concessions, and that only for non-military products. As for exploration and mining rights, they don’t plan to discuss those with us."

"How strong are they?"

That voice carried a hint of sharpness, like a blade revealing its edge.

Xavier’s heart trembled slightly, and he instinctively lowered his voice, cautiously stating,

"They have about two thousand-man teams. The number isn’t large, but their individual strength is very strong. Another point is the weapons; their equipment isn’t very advanced, but they have sufficient quantities, and the designs are quite special... The Ya Clan didn’t lose unjustly."

The other end of the communication channel fell silent for a while.

It seemed to sink into thought.

After a long while, his boss slowly began to speak.

"I understand. Come back first; I have other tasks for you."

Xavier breathed a sigh of relief and respectfully said,

"As you command."

...

Three days had passed since the auction ended.

Real World.

In a laboratory of the Huake Material Technology and Engineering Research Institute, work was occurring overtime.

"... How... how is this even possible?"

Staring at the image on the computer screen, Academician Liu Yiping’s face was filled with disbelief.

A flexible artificial SEI film, less than 100 nanometers thick, appeared like a magically constructed barrier.

Indeed.

That series of miraculous properties, it was just like magic.

Its mechanical strength was extraordinarily high, and it had high stability and a single ion channel.

The open metal sites with high electronegativity and affinity for sulfates in the coordination polymer channels could effectively improve the transfer number of Li+ in the composite material film and the conductivity of individual ion channels.

This brilliantly ingenious design allowed it to effectively suppress secondary reactions, regulate the deposition pattern of Li+ on the anode, effectively inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites, and thus maintain the stability of the battery’s anode and cathode.

It was simply unbelievable!

"... Professor, the data analysis from the charge-discharge cycle group has come out." A researcher wearing glasses approached, his face also bearing a ghostly expression.

Turning his gaze from the screen, Professor Liu Yiping looked at his student and immediately said,

"Bring it here, let me see!"

"It’s here..." The researcher handed over a USB drive.

Three days were, of course, not enough for the entire research team to go through all the documents.

However, it was enough for them to use the most advanced equipment in the laboratory to reproduce the "404 artificial SEI film" according to the method provided in the data.

After producing the film, the next step was to test the film’s performance.

The research enthusiasts in the project team quickly made a simple lithium battery model using a lithium sheet as the anode.

These materials were not hard to obtain, as the laboratory was rich in electrochemical-related stuff.

After disassembling the battery that had completed its cycles and transferring it under non-air conditions to the observation area using in-situ transfer boxes, they quickly obtained 3D images of the sample surface under the scanning electron microscope and 2D projections under the transmission electron microscope.

And all this, just to gather more information about that film.

It might sound simple to talk about all this work, but it had actually taken quite a lot of their time.

During these three days, his research team did nothing else but focus all their efforts on those 10 GB of data.

In fact, after getting such results, there was no need to continue their previous project...

"...how on earth did they achieve it?"

The researcher standing by did not speak, but it was clear that he too wanted to ask this question.

Three days ago, when they had first received the documentation, everyone on the project thought it was a joke.

An unresolved issue in the academic world.

Even at the last academic conference, they were discussing potentially viable directions and whether it was still worth pursuing lithium batteries.

Now, suddenly, someone claimed to have found the definitive answer.

And they did so using an approach that no one else had tried.

This seemed utterly implausible, too uncanny to be anything but an April Fool’s Day joke.

It wasn’t even a question of possibility anymore; logically, it simply didn’t make sense.

Using existing technology to design a product based on specific needs, be it weapons or cups, keeping it a secret wasn’t difficult.

However, frontier research was entirely different.

It wasn’t a matter of whether it was publicly disclosed or not; such work simply couldn’t be done behind closed doors.

Since the 20th century, scientific research had become a systematic endeavor.

An individual’s role within the system was less like that of a CPU, and more like a wafer on the CPU.

Except for occasional geniuses in mathematics who could draft and construct in isolation, achieving congruence upon stepping out, most research fields had become akin to "army maneuvers."

Though teams might hold back periodic results to gain a lead in their field, unleashing a major breakthrough in doing so, it was generally impossible to keep peers from knowing what each was working on.

"...On page 27 of document number 13, there is a detailed reaction mechanism described, but we haven’t observed it on our equipment."

"Is it that you can’t observe it, or that you didn’t observe it?" Old Liu asked with meticulous diction.

The researcher hesitated, then slowly said,

"To be precise... it’s the former. Our equipment can observe the deposition process of lithium dendrites in the control group, but how Li+ passes through that membrane layer... we can’t track its path and might need to design an experimental method specifically for this membrane material."

"By ourselves, this would probably take a long time... unless we can find the research team that presented these results."

"But it’s too strange, I just reviewed the records from the last two academic conferences, and I couldn’t find any discussion about this line of research; the only similarities... upon closer inspection, are vastly different."

At that moment, a researcher sitting at the neighboring table suddenly sighed.

"Wonder which mastermind unexpectedly dropped this bomb."

"Are there such masters left in the field of materials science?"

"I counted on my fingers but can’t figure out who it could be..."

"So, what do we do next? Do we continue with the previous projects?"

"I guess we’ll have to change our approach... The industrial sector will take a while to fully digest this material, let alone pose new questions."

"Ah... three years of busywork, luckily I finished my thesis years ago."

"It’s not entirely wasted effort; some of the stage achievements are quite interesting. But as for the SEI film... there really is no further path."

Listening to the students’ discussions, Professor Liu Yiping remained silent, his mind equally filled with thoughts.

At that moment, the phone on the table rang.

He picked up the mobile phone and walked outside.

As soon as the call connected, an urgent voice came from the other end.

"Old Liu, what’s the result?"

Liu Yiping responded,

"The membrane has been successfully created."

Hearing this, the voice on the other end grew visibly excited.

"Is it effective?"

Liu Yiping remarked, "It’s not just effective... it’s absolutely astonishing."

Strictly speaking, even the current mainstream lithium-ion batteries could benefit from this technology.

And designing a new battery specifically for a pure lithium anode wouldn’t be technically difficult.

The electrolyte, cathode materials, and separators, all components in the supply chain, are readily available.

Basically, it would mean modifying the cathode supply chain and adding an additional "coating" production line based on the existing supply chain to quickly implement this technology.

He could even imagine the ecstatic expressions that would appear on his industry friends’ faces upon learning about this technology.

It would definitely be spectacular.

The elderly voice continued to inquire, "What about the costs? Is industrialization difficult?"

Liu Yiping quickly replied,

"The specific cost is a matter for the industrial sector; laboratory preparation and industrial production are different. However, having looked over the process flow provided in the documents, from what I understand of the industrial sector, it shouldn’t be difficult to produce."

"That’s great! Hahaha, you really worked hard this time!" The voice on the phone expressed significant joy.

"You’re welcome, it’s my duty," Liu paused briefly before suddenly saying, "By the way... I have a request, I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to ask."

The elderly voice immediately responded,

"Please go ahead! I’ll help if I can!"

"If possible, I would like to meet the team that produced these documents, or even just their leader," Liu stalled on the complex technical details and continued, "There’s a lot I want to learn from them."

The industry is interested in the membrane, but he was intrigued by how it was created and what inspired them to think in such a manner.

To understand phenomena and their underlying principles.

Copying homework takes little time, but understanding it thoroughly and grasping the methodology is not nearly as simple.

For a scientific researcher in pursuit of truth, results, methodology, and thought process are all indispensable.

In three days, they had only understood half of the documentation.

The remainder might take three months or even three years to fully comprehend.

Academic progress is not just about accumulating outcomes but also about improving tools and methodologies while achieving results.

He wanted to have a serious talk with the person who’d defeated them.

Academically, one learns from those who excel; he believed that this meeting would be extraordinarily beneficial.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a while.

"Old Liu... if it were anything else, I’d let it go, but I’m afraid I can’t help you with this matter."

Academician Liu hesitated for a moment before speaking earnestly.

"Can you give me a reason?"

There was a sigh from the other end of the phone.

"...After reviewing those materials, how do you feel?"

Academician Liu responded directly.

"Incredible."

The old man pressed further.

"How incredible?"

Academician Liu paused for a moment and then, with a light cough, he said,

"...I hope you won’t laugh at me when I say this."

With a laugh, the old man responded.

"Go on, your opinion is very important to us."

After a brief hesitation, Academician Liu finally voiced the most genuine thought in his mind,

though in a joking tone.

"...It’s as if aliens were involved."

There was silence on the phone for a while.

Academician Liu felt a subtle embarrassment.

Just as he was about to say something to alleviate the awkwardness, a soft sigh came through the phone.

"...It’s hard to explain over the phone, and I was planning to come over anyway; wait for me for a bit."

With that, the line went dead.

Academician Liu, holding his mobile phone, was stunned for a moment, his expression gradually growing odd.

Could it really be the work of aliens?

That’s too far-fetched...

...

"...It seems we aren’t the only ones who feel this way! Academician Liu also thinks that these technologies don’t seem like they were developed by a research team on Earth."

"Come to think of it, that’s what Academician Gao said last time we consulted him."

"It looks like our initial speculation was correct."

"I never imagined that first contact would happen in this way; it’s absolutely unbelievable!"

Somewhere in an office, the discussion was fervent.

The head of the special project group had just received a call from Academician Liu and had already gone to the Huake Academy.

According to the old team leader, the "reverse engineering" of some membrane material was going smoothly, and the cost was within an acceptable range, meaning the product would be seen soon.

Hearing this news, everyone in the project group was pleased; it showed that their work was producing results.

"By the way, any news from Academician Gao?" a colleague suddenly asked.

The colleague sitting next to him joined the conversation.

"Academician Gao? Do you mean the mining expert we consulted before?"

"Yes, didn’t Old Li give him access to the website? I wonder if he’s checked it yet."

"I didn’t ask. It’s a bit difficult to inquire about such things."

At this point, one of the staff members spoke up.

"I think our strategy is still too conservative. We should propose to the higher-ups that we take control of the players."

This was indeed one of the options.

However, his proposal did not receive much support.

Someone quickly retorted.

"I oppose that—have you considered the risks?"

"What risks would there be if we do our job well?" the man argued back, "And don’t you think it would be more efficient this way?"

"I don’t think so at all. What you consider efficient is merely your assumption. Besides, the people trust their organization, and the organization trusts its people. What does it mean to control people? Do you distrust the organization, or do you distrust the people? Such a mindset is severely problematic!"

More than just problematic, it was downright reactionary!

However, considering that this comrade meant well and had spoken out of urgency, the colleague who opposed his view didn’t press the issue too hard.

Just as the office was about to dive into that often-repeated debate, a man with a square face coughed lightly, interrupting the argument.

"...Alright, let’s not revisit settled issues. The instruction from above is to be cautious and maintain the status quo. The team leader and I share this view."

"Hastily intervening in the game process not only commits the mistakes of amateurs directing experts and interfering with doctrines but also risks uncontrollable outcomes."

"Since the current rules are in our favor, our job is not to change the rules and upset our own playing field, but to uphold the rules and maintain our advantage."

After glancing at his colleagues, the square-faced man continued.

"Let’s talk about something practical. This ’technology transfer’ actually exposed our lack of preparation."

"The platform for currency exchange had opened quite a while ago, and the other side had given us plenty of preparation time, but at that time, no one took it seriously enough, leading to a last-minute rush to buy, which embarrassingly failed and allowed speculators who entered early to make a profit."

Ideally, this transaction should have been completed by a state-owned enterprise with a national backing, so that the technology could be immediately put to use after its introduction.

However, the timeline was too rushed.

In such a short time span, there was simply no way to coordinate with the specific companies.

They could only deal with the urgent matters first, acquiring the technology and then deciding how to use it, specifically which unit and who the person in charge would be.

The issues involved were too many.

The man wearing glasses nodded.

"Indeed, we can’t always be scrambling at the last minute, especially with this precedent set. Next time news is released, the speculators active on the trading platform will definitely drive up the prices."

The staff member who had earlier suggested controlling the players sighed and said,

"If it were just more expensive, that would be one thing. Money can solve problems that money can create. I’m worried about situations like the last temporary suspension. You can’t buy in even if you have the money."

The trader who had operated the transactions also nodded in agreement,

"Exactly, and with that kind of rushed increment, even a blind man could see who was buying. If I were a speculator, I would not be able to resist coming in to make a cut."

If it was a slow accumulation, no one would be able to tell who was buying.

But with the stance yesterday, they didn’t even need to use a calculator to figure out how many cards the other party had in their hands.

"We currently have a reserve of 2 million silver coins, which is still too low. My suggestion is to establish a ’Technology Import Fund’ by drawing a few professional traders from the financial system for long-term, stable increments."

"Are we establishing a foreign currency reserve?" his colleague at the next desk joked.

The trader smiled and replied,

"Why not? Although we don’t know what they need, they have the technology we require. If you think of the players as labor exports, we should also pay these workers who help us earn ’foreign currency.’"

The square-faced man’s eyes lit up.

"That makes sense. This is a good suggestion. I will include it in the report to the higher-ups!"

Seeing his opinion valued, the trader began to speak more,

"Let’s talk more about not just establishing a routine currency buying mechanism but also clarifying the methods of currency conversion. For example, the money for importing technology cannot always come from national funds. We need to encourage companies benefiting from the technology to allocate a portion of their profits to buy technology, thus creating a virtuous cycle."

On the surface, the money spent on buying silver coins was given to the players, but in fact, it was the companies acquiring the technology who benefitted.

This could be managed once or twice, but doing so in the long term would definitely pose problems.

Frequent micro-management would elicit disapprovals both from the higher-ups and the community.

The group exchanged ideas rapidly, the square-faced man meticulously took notes, soon filling several pages, his pen almost smoking from the speed.

The specific details of this "Extraterrestrial Civilization Technology Import Fund" would still need to be discussed in detail with other departments before a decision was made, but the general direction was already set.

Looking at his full notebook, the square-faced man felt a pang of appreciation, and suddenly a peculiar thought struck him.

Was Ah Guang’s work typically like this?

Monitoring the forum, taking notes, and then playing the Game.

If it really was like this, it seemed that being the planner behind Wasteland OL was no easy task...

...

While governmental departments in various countries were meeting to discuss strategies, the official forum of Wasteland OL was bustling.

"Wuwuwu, Brother Guang, when will your Silver Exchange open again?"

"Damn! It’s been locked for three days. Surely the network fluctuation can’t last this long?"

"I’m crying, if they don’t open trading soon, I won’t be able to keep the pot boiling at home! QAQ"

"Lol, I almost believed you!"

On the day just after the expansion pack ended, nearly every player who had silver coins in their pockets, as long as they weren’t too greedy to sell or too itchy to try high sell-low buy maneuvers like some simpletons, made a fortune from that wave.

Can’t keep the pot boiling?

That’s not even a concern.

Even the new players who recently joined the game with only a few hundred silver coins took advantage of the price surge to make a thousand or two.

Even though this meant they had to go back into the game and toil away, it was all worth it!

The war was over; it was time for recovery and to bolster the triumph through hard work and production—how could they spend money on pleasures?

For the Alliance!

Ollie give!

Watching the official forum, Chu Guang was gratified to see that his young players, just off the front lines, were immediately off to the construction sites.

They even bragged about their experience by sharing it on the forum.

And it was indeed something to brag about.

Back when closed testing access wasn’t valuable, now even a helmet could fetch at least a million, and much more at the higher end.

Of course, "going to the construction site" was just a metaphor.

There were still many ways to earn money in Wasteland OL.

Though many Strength-type players were literally moving bricks on construction sites, even more players took their spoils of war to places like Red River Town, trading in nearby Survivor Settlements.

To keep his players busy, Chu Guang, despite all the dissenting opinions, under the astonished gazes of Old Charlie, Luka, and other logistics officers, approved a budget of 200 million silver coins for an infrastructure plan!

This plan included the railroads of the New Alliance and the development of Dawn City. Resources would be preferentially directed to enterprises operated by the players, then to those operated by NPCs.

Surely, his players would appreciate his generosity!

As for the Silver Exchange which was closed due to "network fluctuations," Chu Guang was not rushing to reopen it.

On one hand, the players currently didn’t have spare change, and those who were