This Game Is Too Real -
Chapter 343: Pai, with a Photographic Memory
Chapter 343: Chapter 343: Pai, with a Photographic Memory
Official Forum.
[Update Announcement: The New Alliance Logistics Department will be restructured into 12 departments: industry, economy, transportation, energy, trade, diplomacy, education, military, etc.]
[Some NPC positions will be adjusted, players please be aware and identify correctly!]
Tail: "Ooooh, is this a sign of a new expansion pack coming? Let me have a look!
Quit smoking: "Wait a second, does this have anything to do with us?"
Edge Shoveling: "Seems like it doesn’t!"
Spring Water Commander: "NPCs don’t seem to have been players to begin with, have they?"
Spring Water Commander: "...uh, I think I just said something pointless."
Canyon Escaping Mole: "So what exactly did this update change??"
Debt Giant Eye: "Damn it! This guy made another useless update!"
Construction Site Boy and Bricks: "Open up the Silver Exchange alreadyyyy!!"
Makabazi: "Seconded! I want to sell silver!!"
Teng Teng: "Pfft..."
Another day of dashed hopes.
Four days after the expansion pack ended, the silver coin trading platform was still not open. The Beta0.3 version of Heaven was still brewing, without a single piece of news up to now.
Rumors were rife on the forum.
Some said Ah Guang had cashed in on the crowd and fled, that the silver coin trading platform would never open again, and that even the forum would shut down after a while.
Others said that couldn’t possibly be true, how could Ah Guang run after cashing in on the crowd?
Of course, he’d continue cashing in!
Ye Wei felt that there was something very wrong with what they were saying.
Anyone who’d really been in the game would know, Brother Guang never ripped off the players. He was dedicated to developing the game, not only didn’t he profit from the players, but he even looked out for their welfare.
It’s just that sometimes the AI was too cunning, and NPCs might not play by the book.
But such trivial matters weren’t really significant, in fact, they were one of the features of Wasteland OL.
If NPCs were like simpletons, now that would be boring.
The silver coin trading platform would definitely open.
And it should be within the next few days.
However, every time Ye Wei thought about this, he felt a chill in his heart.
Just after he had sold his silver coins, when their price continued to rise, he actually felt a bit of regret, thinking he should have waited to sell, which might have earned him tens or even hundreds of thousands more.
But the moment he saw the silver coin trading platform suspended, all regrets vanished like smoke, replaced by relief.
Good thing I sold early.
A few hours later and I wouldn’t have been able to sell at all.
Thinking of the 5 million lying in his bank account made his heartbeat quicken uncontrollably.
million!
He had never seen so much money in his life!
"Ah Wei, what cool things are you looking at?" The voice of his roommate came from behind, Sun Gan who had just come back from playing basketball outside, curiously leaned over.
"Browsing the forum."
"Damn! What year is it, and you’re still on BBS, can’t you get into something for young people?"
"You should just watch short videos." Old Liu interjected.
"+1." The dorm head agreed as well.
Ye Wei rolled his eyes and put his phone away.
"You guys don’t know jack."
Old Liu couldn’t help but say,
"Ah Wei, no offense... but if there really was such a thing as a fully immersive virtual reality game, why can’t I find anything about it on short video platforms?"
The dorm head also raised his hand.
"+1, I can’t find it on Weibo either."
Ye Wei replied without hesitation: "Maybe it’s being throttled, after all, the PV, even with filters, is R18."
This topic had been discussed in the group before.
They could share the PV in WeChat moments, in QQ zone, in chat groups, but it could not be posted on short video or Weibo platforms, at least not on the larger platforms.
You could find it if you used a VPN, but it didn’t generate much buzz on foreign networks.
Mainly because the official website was all in Chinese, and it was filled with a lot of bad jokes that translators just couldn’t translate, making it very hard for international friends to understand.
Of course, although there were very few international fans, there were still some.
However, what Ye Wei hadn’t expected was that the whole dormitory would erupt in excitement when he casually mentioned it!
"R18? Awesome!"
"666!"
"Damn, so you’ve been lurking under the covers every night getting freaky!"
Seeing everyone teasing and joking around, Ye Wei blushed and retorted,
"Get lost, I’m talking about the R18 stuff like gore and violence, what does that have to do with... with that!"
Sun Gan playfully patted his shoulder,
"It’s fine, we all get it, it’s understandable for young people. Don’t worry, we’ll keep your secret!"
Ye Wei rolled his eyes.
"Cut the crap, I’m logging in soon, by the way, have you checked the link I sent you?"
Sun Gan was confused: "Link?"
Ye Wei: "The game reservation page!"
Sun Gan suddenly remembered: "Oh, that, I took a look... that thing, asking a bunch of questions, it was like they were checking for leaks or something."
Old Liu interjected: "+1, that site didn’t look like a legit site at all, I closed it in a hurry!"
Ye Wei said impatiently: "Don’t worry about that, just fill it out if it’s asking you to, would I lead you astray?"
But it’s probably too late to fill it out now.
Back when he could still see the number of reserved players, Ye Wei specifically took a look and found that the figure was already higher than the balance in his bank account.
Ignoring the clowns in his dorm, he tossed his phone on the table to charge, climbed into bed, put on his helmet, and logged into the game as Night Ten.
The three guys in the dorm looked at each other, bewildered.
"...I’m kind of believing him now, what do we do?"
"Every day, at six in the evening, he puts on his helmet on time, and if he doesn’t have class in the morning, he can sleep until noon. It’s hard not to believe him."
"An immersive R18 Game is okay..."
"Cough, I’m going to fill out a form... mainly to criticize it."
"I almost believed that crap!"
...
North Street in Southern Dawn City.
Today, as always, is bustling early in the morning.
After the Northern Expedition ended, a large number of players left the front lines and returned to the area around Dawn City. Every day in front of the meat stalls, you could see fresh game, catches of fish, or newly picked mushrooms.
Especially recently.
With the opening of the north-south railway transport routes, the markets of Dawn City have been flooded with Battleship Shrimp from the Western Province lakes.
This kind of freshwater shrimp that has a shell harder than steel and a body longer than an arm is generally something no survivor would eat.
But these clever players developed four ways to cook them: braised, steamed, stir-fried, and garlic flavored, turning something no one ate into a delicacy.
They even didn’t spare the "baby" Battleship Shrimp, which the Life Profession players turned into crawfish the size of fists, earning rave reviews from the NPCs.
Due to the skyrocketing price of silver coins, everyone’s enthusiasm for making money also rose with the tide.
NPC shop equipment too cheap?
Don’t want to buy a house because the public save points are too convenient?
Too many silver coins and nowhere to spend them?
Not a problem at all!
There are so many little leeks lining up outside to buy, and when players think about how the earned silver coins translate into money, they work even harder at their jobs!
At the entrance of Hai Ji Ramen House.
Zhang Hai, standing beside a large pot, was shouting loudly.
"Selling ramen here, 4 silver coins a bowl!"
Just as Silver Daddy, who had just entered, heard this, he couldn’t help but complain.
"Damn! A thousand bucks a bowl, are you robbing people?"
Zhang Hai glared.
"Damn, that’s too much, brother. Who calculates it like that?"
What kind of logic is it to calculate by the highest price?
At least average it out!
"It’s not important!" Silver Daddy chuckled and threw four silver coins on the table, "North Street business is booming, you must have made quite a bit, brother."
Zhang Hai, while lowering the noodles into the pot, said nonchalantly.
"Talking about money is so vulgar! Mainly, I just love the feel of kneading dough."
The young worker from the construction site who happened to hear this almost spat out his food and angrily threw down his chopsticks.
"Damn! You’ve just ruined my appetite."
"I want a refund!"
Zhang Hai rolled his eyes and retorted without courtesy.
"Dream on!"
Just then, a pleasant voice floated over.
"Old man, six bowls of noodles!"
Seeing Tails slap a bunch of silver coins on the table, the players sitting nearby eating noodles were instantly shocked.
"Holy crap!"
"Si... Six bowls!?"
"Rich lady!!!"
"Alright!" Seeing the business coming, Zhang Hai immediately got spirited and stopped bickering with the customers. He tore a chunk of dough from the work surface and began his performance.
Pai curiously looked around.
Her gaze landed on the flying noodles, and her eyes immediately sparkled.
"Wow, what’s that!"
"Ramen!" Tails said proudly, "Hmm-hmm, when it comes to the delicacies of the New Alliance, you can’t miss this!"
Pai stared intently at the noodles, her eyes shining brightly.
"Lamian? Impressive!"
Big Eyes, surprised, glanced between Tails and Pai.
"Eh? Can you understand what the NPC is saying?"
"I think it’s just a coincidence..." Staring at the translation on the VM, Si Si said with a subtle expression, "Is it possible that they’re both talking about their own thing and actually don’t understand what the other is saying?"
The cat ears atop her head gently swayed as Sesame Paste said enviously, "In some sense, that’s a pretty impressive ability too."
Tails puffed out her chest and said with pride.
"Oh yes! That’s right! Please continue to praise me!"
Game time, six in the morning.
The trio and one bear had just logged on when they received a commission from the Manager himself, hoping they could act as a guard for the delegation from Camp 101 and accompany Little Fish and Pai on a tour in the City of Dawn.
The identity of Pai, the new NPC, had been discussed on the forum before.
According to the Bull Horse team’s information, she was said to be a very remarkable "Puppet Master," skilled at creating exquisite figurines.
And she was also the representative of Camp 101’s delegation!
A mission of such significance, and an opportunity to establish a deep friendship with a special NPC – no player would miss that.
Especially knowing that Little Fish was also in the team, Tails agreed without a second thought, immediately taking the mission on behalf of the White Bear Knights.
The six bowls of ramen were quickly served on the table.
Little Fish patiently taught Pai how to use chopsticks.
She thought it would take a lot of time, but unexpectedly, the other person learned it instantly and even used them more skilled than she did.
"So this is it! What a convenient tool!" Looking at the two sticks in her hands, Pai exclaimed excitedly, "How did you come up with this?"
"It’s something Brother Chu brought from the Refuge." Little Fish looked on enviously as Pai got the hang of it right away.
She had spent a long time getting used to this unique eating utensil.
"Your Refuge is amazing to have so many interesting things." Pai’s face showed envy as well, but for entirely different reasons.
"Of course! Brother Chu is awesome," Little Fish unconsciously smiled proudly, and then something occurred to her, continuing, "By the way, where are you planning to go after this?"
"The industrial district!" Pai’s eyes gleamed brightly.
"Industrial zone?"
Pai nodded vigorously.
"Yeah! Is that not okay?"
It wasn’t that it wasn’t okay...
But isn’t shopping usually done in commercial districts or the like?
Little Fish, although somewhat puzzled in her mind, remembered Brother Chu’s previous instructions and didn’t say much, just nodded.
"Alright, if you want to see it."
...
The group arrived at the industrial zone.
The first thing that caught their eye was the "infamous" Goblin Technology.
According to other life profession players, there were always explosions coming from inside now and then, and occasionally one could even hear a scream or two.
Although there was definitely some exaggeration involved, and maybe even some smearing by competitors, it didn’t stop gossip from spreading.
Later, somehow these rumors reached the ears of the NPCs, so that almost no Waste Land Wanderers were willing to come here to work.
Most of those who worked here were players, especially rookie players new to the game, who were no strangers to sacrificing themselves for the sake of technology.
Considering the shining image of the New Alliance, Si Si planned to quietly skirt around this "Blood and Sweat Factory," but before she knew it, Pai had already snuck in out of curiosity.
In the center of the open space in the factory.
Mosquito and several apprentices were huddled around a blackboard, muttering and discussing something.
Not far from them, two dismantled W-1 and W-2 gliders and a heap of parts custom-ordered from other factories were parked.
The earlier battle in Pine Forest had seen the W series attack aircraft perform spectacularly in the battlefield, yet it also revealed many issues.
One was poor maneuverability, and the other was that the shell was too fragile.
During ground dives, a 7mm pipe could turn the aircraft into a sieve, and the Looters managed to trade one for one with their makeshift anti-aircraft machine guns.
Bullying the Looters with gliders might be sufficient, but facing a survivor force like Giant Stone City, such low-speed planes wouldn’t even be worth watching no matter how many there were.
Therefore, the Manager had placed a new order with Goblin Technology.
They were asked to produce a more sturdy, faster, and better air combat fighter plane, to reduce pilot casualty rates.
Honestly, Mosquito didn’t see the need.
Why bother with defenses for human-shaped missiles?
Better to carry a couple more air-to-air missiles with that load.
What? You’re up against Giant Stone City’s black-tech planes?
And you don’t even know their power principle or what weapons they carry?
Then why fight at all?
Might as well surrender!
Staring at the sketch on the blackboard, Soul Chaser scratched his head and said, "Propeller planes just can’t get the speed up, why don’t we go straight to jet planes?"
"Or just build one with a steel shell!" Death’s Eyes brightened up, "If we can’t win, we can go ram them! Shave them with the tail!"
"Soul Chaser, "Don’t understand, just asking, are you talking about the MiG-25?"
"Kill God," "Hahaha, the mighty flying brick! I like it!"
Mosquito rolled his eyes standing aside.
"You guys are really dreamers."
Jet planes?
Thinking of making a MiG?
It’s not that simple!
It’s not a question of whether we have the technology, but the supporting industry simply isn’t up to the task. It’s not like every single part of the aircraft can be ground using high-precision plasma cutting machines.
Not to mention how much time and material that’d require, even if you really did grind them out, the cost would be something they could never afford.
What they needed to consider was how to maximize use of the limited advantages they had.
Looking at the rough concept diagram on the blackboard, Mosquito said with a headache.
"...How about we just do what I said and make a human-shaped AA round, and skip worrying about EMP and signal hijacking?"
Just as he was feeling irritated, a stranger’s voice came from the side.
"Oh! Is this your plane? It looks so retro!" Examining the airplane hull laid out in the open space, Pai said with a face full of curiosity.
Mosquito turned and saw a young girl with light golden hair standing next to his dismantled W-2 ground attack plane.
If it were any other time, he wouldn’t mind wasting time showing off.
But he clearly wasn’t in the mood now.
"Scram, scram, scram, let the adults work, don’t get in the way with your child’s play."
His United Human language was not exactly fluent, but he often dealt with NPCs, so everyday communication wasn’t a problem.
Most life players were like this.
Pai looked at him discontentedly.
"Who says I’m a child! I’m already sixteen years old this year!"
Mosquito dug his ear, laughed heh-heh, and said.
"Sixteen? You haven’t even graduated from middle school, have you?"
Pai tilted her head.
"Chuzhong?"
These people always had some difficult words in their speech.
"Anyway, this isn’t a place for children, go back and find your mother. Go on, if you don’t leave I’m calling the guard." Mosquito gestured as if shooing away a mosquito.
This guy...
Seeing herself underestimated, Pai’s eyebrows shot up.
Just as she was about to leave, her gaze fell on the blackboard next to her, and her expression suddenly became more intrigued.
"Are you planning to atomize kerosene and spray it out to ignite?"
"What else?" Mosquito responded without thinking.
"Heh, no—thing—just—that—"
Drawing out her words, Pai stared at the blackboard for a moment, memorizing the densely packed content, then turned and walked away.
Mosquito watched the girl’s back in a daze, confused by her last words.
At that moment, the Discourage who had been standing nearby suddenly spoke up.
"That NPC...seems to be Pai?"
Soul Chaser looked at him strangely.
"π?"
Discourage shook his head.
"Haven’t you seen the discussion on the official website? She seems to be from Camp 101."
...
[Quest: Delve into Hell]
[Briefing: "Mutated slime fungus" is one of the core threats faced by survivors in the Wasteland. To understand their origins and countermeasures, the Refuge Medical Laboratory needs more samples. Attention: Strong electromagnetic interference detected in the area, electronic devices may malfunction, and air support is not available for this mission.]
[Primary Objective: Head to the city center between the Second and Third Ring Roads to collect slime fungus samples at sampling points 1, 2, and 3 on the map.]
[Secondary Objective: We have lost a reconnaissance plane in the city center area. If possible, please retrieve the pilot’s VM (Player ID: Falling Feather).]
[Quest Giver: Heya]
[Minimum Level Required: L.20]
[Required Team Size: 4-8 people]
[Quest Danger Level: ?]
[Recommended Equipment: Gas mask, protective suit, compass, paper map, and other low-electronic devices.]
"Danger level with a question mark, huh?"
Looks like they’re up for some trouble.
At the save point north of the Dawn City, Night Ten stood in front of the storage box, staring in surprise at the quest pop-up on his VM.
A few minutes earlier, Old White had formed a team and shared the quest from the medical laboratory to their VMs.
Quickly gearing up with the necessary equipment, Night Ten checked the map for the rally coordinates and immediately rushed to meet up with his teammates.
The rally point was at the airport next to the military camp in the northern part of the city.
Due to the complex road conditions within the city and high Variant activity, to save time and ammunition, New Alliance’s "Dragonfly" transport plane would drop them and supplies near the Fifth Ring Road, from where they would parachute into the target area.
Just like back in West State City.
He arrived at the rally point.
Night Ten found that his four teammates had been waiting there for quite a while.
Including Old White, who was on the front line, everyone had tacitly left their exoskeletons behind and only brought affordable and durable light equipment.
Everyone’s expression was relaxed, even casual.
After all, those standing here were no strangers to parachuting.
Although the situation in Qingquan City was far more complex than in West State City and the danger level of the quest was quite dubious, the quest was not about fighting a boss but just collecting a few samples.
For the strongest squad in the entire server, this clearly wasn’t a big deal.
"...the business license for the company we registered has already come through; it’s registered in Shanghai."
"From now on, trades can go through the company’s account, which will then pay individuals in the form of a technical service fee. I’ve consulted with a game studio owner I know, and that’s basically how they operate; it saves a lot of trouble."
Leaning against the side of the hangar.
Fang Chang talked about real-world matters with his teammates.
Funds obtained through the silver coin trading platform would go directly to the company account. After deducting personal income tax and 5% operational costs, the money would then be paid to the players.
The contract signed between the enterprise and the players is one of cooperation, not labor.
Since the portion of the money paid to the players is part of the enterprise’s operating costs, the retained 5% can only be counted as profit after deducting a series of other costs; therefore, there is no issue of double taxing the same money.
Considering the different policies across regions, despite an extra intermediate link, the cost is not much higher than peer-to-peer transfers.
Plus, it avoids the hassle of explaining where the income came from.
Everyone held a share of stocks, being both shareholders and workers.
Considering the growing number of players in the future, they could also offer their services to other players in need, charging a nominal 5% service fee or so.
After all, their core business was in the game.
They never intended to rely on this ’Bull Horse Brick Factory’ to make money.
After hearing Fang Chang’s words, Night Ten expressed surprise.
"That fast?"
Fang Chang smiled and said, "I used an accounting service firm, there’s a lot of companies doing this kind of business in Shanghai, and they can also provide registered addresses. However, I’ll still rent an office later and hire a professional accountant because I’m not quite comfortable using someone else’s financial system with such a large amount of funds."
The most critical issue was safety.
Whether it was financial safety or information security.
Quit Smoking looked impressed.
"Brother, you’re awesome!"
"What’s so awesome about that? It’s not something very difficult." Fang Chang said with a wry smile, pausing for a moment before continuing, "Actually, I’ve been pondering a question these past few days."
Quit Smoking asked curiously, "What question?"
Fang Chang said seriously, "That auction... I wonder what that item, sold for 4 million silver coins, really was."
million silver coins.
According to the exchange rate of 80 RMB per silver coin before the trading halt, that’s equivalent to more than three hundred million!
Such a large sum was unlikely to come from an individual player in the game. After all, even the Bull Horse Brick Factory would have difficulty coming up with such an amount of "cash" all at once.
More puzzling was the silence of the mysterious buyer after winning the auction; there were no brags on the forums, nor had they boasted to anyone.
The officials hadn’t disclosed what the auctioned item was, leaving the spectators to just watch the bid soar and then—bang, the gavel struck, and all was silent.
This series of abnormal operations made it hard not to speculate.
No wonder Mosquito was interested.
Honestly, he was starting to get curious, too.
Night Ten asked with interest.
"What do you think it could be?"
Fang Chang pondered for two seconds and provided an ambiguous answer.
"Maybe something more valuable than money."
He was unsure if his guess was correct, but had been keeping an eye on the news for the past few days.
"?," Night Someone looked at his good buddy, confused.
What could be more valuable than money?
At that moment, a shout came from the runway nearby.
"Damn! How much longer are you guys going to dawdle? Are we going or what?"
Seeing the pilot urging them on, Old White shook off his thoughtful expression and smiled, patting his teammates on the shoulder.
"Let’s go, we can talk more on the plane."
Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report