This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 353: These Days, The Debtor is the Boss

Chapter 353: Chapter 353: These Days, The Debtor is the Boss

"Borrow some chips?"

"Sorry, I didn’t quite understand what you mean..."

Duron looked at Luka with a puzzled face, "Why would lending you some chips... solve the problem?"

Aren’t we discussing the issue of trade?

If it were as an additional condition for negotiations, he might consider it.

However, the person in front of him said that all they needed was a loan to solve this problem.

Duron even doubted if he had heard right.

With a look of bewilderment, Duron listened as Luka cleared his throat, quoting the Manager’s words.

"You’re complaining that we haven’t spent our chips in the ’right’ places, right? That’s because we have no money, we obviously have to be frugal with our spending, but if you’re willing to lend us some, that would change things."

Seeing that the man in front of him still didn’t grasp the Manager’s brilliant idea, Luka patiently continued.

"We have just liberated West State City, and we are building Dawn City to accommodate the survivors there."

"We need at least ten thousand houses, a large amount of food, cotton textiles, soap for cleaning, and other consumer goods... Aren’t these precisely the things you want us to buy?"

"Of course, we are capable of filling these gaps by ourselves, but if we only rely on ourselves, it might take a year or two, or even longer, for the people there to live a self-sufficient life. However... with your help, that would be different."

Duron’s eyes widened.

"So you mean... let us lend you the chips, and then you use our chips to buy things from us?"

"Exactly." Luka nodded as if it were the most natural thing, just as the Manager had told him.

"Do you think this is reasonable?" Duron couldn’t help asking.

"Why wouldn’t it be reasonable? Your factories would have orders, workers would have jobs, and the chips we borrow will ultimately be returned to you. The money can be kept in your accounts as you said, handled as bookkeeping transactions, the chips might not even need to leave your bank."

Luka’s logical response left Duron speechless.

So that means...

It seems flawless?

At least, he couldn’t think of a reason to object off the top of his head.

According to the residents’ requested deal, trade between them would definitely come to a halt, with neither side benefiting.

But if they could follow the plan proposed by this current Mayor of the City of Dawn, Giant Stone City would gain access to a huge market.

The factory’s profits and the workers’ jobs would be secured, and the money lent to the New Alliance wouldn’t just disappear... No one would suffer a loss; it seemed everyone would win.

But this was too strange!

After wrestling with his thoughts for a while, Duron finally found what seemed to be a point he could question.

"...But how can you assure us you will pay back the money?"

Luka asked.

"Are you questioning our ability to repay?"

Duron subtly nodded.

"I must speak frankly... so far, you’ve only existed for half a year, even the Chewing Bone Tribe has been around longer than you."

Giant Stone City Bank often charged high-interest rates on loans to merchants because, after all, many people starting businesses beyond the Giant Wall would disappear along the way.

He indeed had reason to suspect whether this suspicious-seeming alliance could last.

Luka was not surprised by Duron’s skepticism.

Before setting out, the Manager had told him that unless the other party was a complete gambler, they would certainly be concerned about the risks.

The future was unpredictable, and one’s judgment of risk wouldn’t change with a few words.

However, the fear of the unknown could be overcome.

The simplest method was to offer convincing incentives!

10% profit wouldn’t make them overlook the risks, so offer 100% profit.

Luka looked at Duron.

"But they have become history."

"What about you?"

"We defeated the Tide, defeated the Mutants, defeated the Army, defeated the Looter, won the friendship of Ideal City, and became permanent partners with corporations. In just half a year, we’ve gone from a small village to a settlement with a population in the tens of thousands. Why don’t you imagine what North Suburb will look like a year from now?"

"Hmm." Duron hummed noncommittally through his nose, yet a hint of relaxation appeared in his eyes.

Luka didn’t stop, continuing to speak fluently.

"Long ago, in North Suburb, there was an insignificant little village called Bet Street. Under the exploitation of the Slave Owners, the survivors there wouldn’t use a bar of soap even once a year. But now, beside every household’s water basin, you can see one..."

"This is just a small example, but I think it’s quite representative. Our Alliance is dedicated to improving our residents’ quality of life."

"Beyond the livelihood industry, we also value agriculture. In half a year’s time, we’ve cultivated 30,000 acres of fertile land. And in our full plans, this number will double within two years."

"Apart from agriculture, we value trade as well. We plan to connect Qingquan City with The Tributary of Tianshui by rail, securing the trade route to the Grand Canyon. We also plan to build a dock on the South Bank of Tianshui, so that in the future, merchant teams heading to the East won’t need to lead their Double-headed Cows but can instead watch the mountains on both sides, drift down by boat, and head directly to the East Coast outlets."

"Why not boldly envision what a huge market this would be."

In fact, the last comment was entirely superfluous.

Old Luka didn’t need to remind him at all.

Sitting at the table, Duron was breathlessly captivated.

From the mention of opening the trade route to the Grand Canyon, his right hand under the table clenched into a fist, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together, the tension giving way to poorly concealed excitement and agitation.

Of course, he realized there were a few too many pies in the sky in those words, and quite a bit of bluster from the fellow in front of him.

Even if he wasn’t an accountant, having served as the Mayor for so many years, he still had a keen eye.

Frankly, he was tempted.

If managed properly, he might become Giant Stone City’s most outstanding Mayor in history!

Without any hesitation, he reached over and snatched the list from the table, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the waste bin beside him.

Not only that, but his demeanor also underwent a 180-degree change, the confrontational expression on his face turning into a friendly smile.

"I was hasty, dear friend... let’s talk again, how much of a loan do you need?"

"Two hundred million."

"Two... how much?!" Hearing this staggering number, Duron’s eyes bulged.

"Two billion chips."

Luka repeated it once more, unexpectedly looking at the minister before him, murmuring as if to himself.

"I had thought, after hearing what I just said, you would be eager for me to borrow more."

"Do you even understand the concept of two billion chips?!"

Luka: "Of course I do. Every decision our Manager makes is carefully considered on the basis of our relationship. In the words of that esteemed person, this is the only win-win solution."

Duron opened his mouth, and it took him a while to recover from his surprise.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he rose from the conference table.

"...I need to discuss this with my staff."

In his tenure, he had never encountered such an odd situation.

It wasn’t just the staff; he also needed the opinions of the other factions outside the city.

Watching Minister Duron rise from his seat, Luka’s expression slightly relaxed.

The Manager had told him that as long as the other party didn’t reject the proposal outright, it meant he was already tempted.

"Remember to discuss this with your bank manager as well."

"Just say... giving us this loan could save his client’s life."

The discussion was over.

It ended sooner than anticipated.

Watching the meeting room door close, Shu Yu, who had been silent the entire time, took a deep breath and looked at Luka, who sat not far away.

"Just to be safe, let me ask first... Does the Manager truly intend to repay this money?"

"Of course," Old Luka answered without a doubt.

How could the great Manager behave like Old Lai?

In his memory, every word spoken by that person had been fulfilled.

Whether it was freeing the slaves, moving them into houses with roofs, or ensuring they were well-fed and clothed.

He had never gone back on his word.

Shu Yu was stunned for a few seconds, sitting in silence.

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe the Manager; he felt his imagination was somewhat lacking.

That was two billion...

A single assault rifle only cost 150 chips; most residents of Giant Stone City made around 100 in a month, the commercial turnover between the two sides was less than a million last month.

A loan of two billion chips...

How long would it take to repay that?

...

Shu Yu wasn’t the only one shocked.

After hearing Chu Guang’s plan, the Merchant Guild chairman, Old Charlie, too was left speechless.

He thought the two billion silver coin infrastructure project approved last time was already crazy enough.

However, to his surprise, in less than a month, the Manager had done something even more insane than printing money.

Two billion chips...

Old Charlie, the former mayor of Bet Street, had saved a lifetime’s worth of chips and had just over a hundred thousand.

By that calculation, were two billion chips the equivalent of two thousand Bet Streets?

After a long silence, Old Charlie cautiously asked almost the same question.

"Do you plan to repay this money?"

His instinct was that the Manager might default on the loan.

His rationality told him it wasn’t a good idea.

Yet the answer given by the Manager took him by surprise.

Chu Guang replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Of course, I’m going to repay it. Do I look like someone who borrows money without repaying it?"

Paying back loans is a matter of course.

Otherwise, how could one borrow more money?

Old Charlie didn’t know that Chu Guang standing before him was already thinking about borrowing another amount.

After opening his mouth for quite a while, he finally couldn’t help but ask.

"...Have you thought about how you’ll repay it?"

Chu Guang spoke unhurriedly.

"The loan will be structured over an 80-year period. I will repay them a portion every year, and this amount won’t exceed five million."

Earning five million chips within a year wasn’t very difficult for the New Alliance.

"No collateral?"

"What’s there to collateralize? We’re right here, we’re not going anywhere."

"What about the interest?"

"No more than 2%. Any higher, and I wouldn’t even bother negotiating."

Hearing this, Old Charlie involuntarily furrowed his brows.

If he initially thought Chu Guang was crazy,

Now he was gradually beginning to think maybe Giant Stone City had gone mad.

"...How could they possibly agree to these terms?"

Chu Guang confidently said.

"They will agree because lending the money to us is much safer than to those ’merchants, who might never come back’ and ’factories that could go bankrupt at any time,’ and certainly more reliable than those residents who definitely can’t repay it."

"We’re borrowing two billion because that’s all we need at this stage. Trust me, in a few months, as soon as we ask, they’ll be eager to bring us even more money."

Can sovereign debt and personal debt be the same?

Is the repayment capacity of the New Alliance comparable to that of ordinary survivors?

It wouldn’t take long for the city hall and bank of Giant Stone City to discover just how smart a decision it was to lend money to the New Alliance!

Like morphine, the stimulation of the economy by flooding it with money is significant.

Not only does it work quickly and powerfully, but its effects are almost immediate—the only downside is that it’s addictive, and overuse leads to tolerance.

It sounds like opium.

And in fact, it is.

But what’s being over-issued are chips, not silver coins, so why does it matter so much to the New Alliance?

The exchange rate will definitely be affected, but by then the purchasing power of the money will have changed too, he could just adjust the exchange rate.

When the chips depreciate, the debt he owes will also shrink, and the future’s two billion chips may only be worth twenty million now.

Although this is a win-win solution, Chu Guang had never discussed with the people of Giant Stone City how many times each of them would win.

Chu Guang didn’t tell them either.

The seemingly win-win plan actually hid a huge risk beyond the risk of the debt itself.

However, he had no obligation to proactively warn about the risk.

Who would start off by announcing the downsides when introducing their own product?

Besides, it’s not something that’s guaranteed to happen.

"...How do you plan to use this money?" Old Charlie asked after a moment of silence.

Chu Guang replied concisely.

"It’s simple, I’ll use those chips to mobilize the factories of Giant Stone City to help us build our city-state."

The first step was to get those stagnant small and medium-sized factories in Giant Stone City, plus the wealthy but low-status new merchants, to come to the City of Dawn with technology, equipment, and skilled workers to set up their factories.

Now the first step is complete.

The industrial products produced by the New Alliance not only supplied Giant Stone City in reverse but even exacerbated their own problems.

Next comes the second step.

He would offer a slice of seemingly delicious cake, while using debt, employment, and a high-growth market to tie the banks, city hall, and factories of Giant Stone City firmly to the chariot of the New Alliance.

The ideal scenario would be that by the time the people of Giant Stone City realize they were crawling from a small puddle into an invisible, bottomless pit, the cost of climbing out would be so heavy that it would be unacceptable to most.

Of course, accomplishing this task would not be easy—it had to be done subtly and carefully.

But if it succeeded.

It would achieve what guns and artillery could not...

...

On the streets of Giant Stone City.

The protest lasted until evening.

Fang Chang, who was blending in with the crowd, followed the protesting crowd in a big loop around the outer city.

Once the crowd finally dispersed, he set his sights on a few who were the loudest and carried the biggest placards, trailing them into a dark alley.

Two burly men stood to the left and right, with a well-dressed, seemingly high-status man in the middle.

Fang Chang could tell the man held some status because the previously most aggressive leaders completely changed their expressions in front of him.

Their faces wearing gratifying smiles, they thanked him profusely while accepting the fist-sized bags from the man’s hands.

Those bulging bags obviously contained chips.

"...This is your compensation, I’ll call you when needed," Alec said dismissively as he casually lit a cigarette after handing out the money.

"Thank you, sir!"

They thanked him obsequiously, with Maiken eagerly opening the money bag.

However, after counting it, his expression quickly turned unnatural.

"Why are there only twenty ..."

They had agreed on fifty.

This was too much!

"You expect more for just walking around the streets, enough to earn a week’s wages?" Alec said dismissively, gesturing for him to leave.

"Just go."

As if you’re the only ones that need money.

Doesn’t the boss need to make some too?

Thinking of the gracefully dancing girls in the Night Queen Bar, Alec felt a fiery excitement.

Having made a small fortune, maybe he could go there for a drink and relax.

With a sour expression, Maiken had no choice but to swallow his pride, cognizant of the two strongmen beside Alec. Being merely a can factory worker, he could never stand up to such a powerful figure...

Fang Chang, lurking in the shadows, captured this scene with an interesting expression on his face.

Although he was well aware of the reality of Wasteland OL, he didn’t expect such details to be crafted.

His conjecture was correct.

The protest against the New Alliance indeed had an invisible hand exacerbating things behind the scenes.

Almost at the same time as the photos were saved, a pale blue pop-up window appeared on the VM screen.

[Mission (Side Quest): Investigate the Warehouse Arson Mastermind]

"...A warehouse arson case?"

What was that about?

Confused, excitement surfaced in Fang Chang’s eyes.

He hadn’t expected to trigger a hidden mission just by following them out of curiosity.

This was an unexpected delight!

The instigators of the protest clutched their pockets and left the alley surreptitiously.

The three men who had been handing out money stayed in place for a while, chatting and laughing as if they were discussing something.

After about the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, they finally reached a consensus and left in another direction.

Fang Chang followed them unhurriedly, trailing behind them all the way to the most fashionable street near the Inner City.

As soon as they entered the street, the entire city’s style changed.

The dazzling neon lights twinkled on both sides of the street, and the pedestrians were mostly graceful ladies, mercenaries with expensive artificial bodies, or well-dressed merchants, even nobles from the Inner City.

Their aura was clearly different from ordinary people.

Compared to the outside world, this place didn’t seem like the Wasteland at all but rather like a miniature Cyberpunk Street.

Especially since recently, the New Alliance’s "cultural export" to Giant Stone City had added a few dashes of "fashion" to the originally rustic clothing style here.

Fang Chang was not unfamiliar with this place.

As a professional gamer, he was an expert when it comes to exploring maps.

However, what surprised him was that these three men did not take him to the lair of some behind-the-scenes villain but instead stopped at the entrance of the Night Queen Bar.

Fang Chang had a slightly strange expression on his face, but he still followed them inside.

Loud music poured into his ears.

Passing through the swaying lights and the crowded crowd, he quickly relocated the three men at a booth near the bar.

Beer had already been placed on the table in the middle of the sofa.

The man who had given money to those troublemakers was now holding a dancer who laughed uncontrollably.

The two men sitting on the adjacent sofa both had looks of obvious envy in their eyes.

But envy was all they could afford.

Fang Chang sat down quietly at the bar, ordered the cheapest drink, pretending to be a patron here to watch the show, yet his gaze kept unconsciously moving towards the direction of the booth.

The noise here was loud.

He couldn’t understand what those people were talking about, but he could record it and listen to it several times when he got back.

Just as he was getting into it, a strange voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Are you here for a drink..."

"Or looking for someone?"

...

Outside Giant Stone City.

Slums.

Disguised, Old White took Kill Dagger and That Dog along with him to ask around, and finally found the doorstep to Black’s home.

Unlike the surrounding shacks, the entire house was built of bricks and cement.

It seemed even in the slums, there were distinctions between the wealthy and the poor.

"...You guys need to be careful; this is Dagger Gang territory, and they don’t allow others to cause trouble on their turf," whispered the hunched old man, feeling compelled to say a bit more for the sake of those two chips.

"The gangs still have such rules?" Kill Dagger lifted his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at the translation on his VM.

The gangs in the slums seemed to be no different from the Looters, often making guest appearances with each other; this wasn’t news anymore.

That Dog said with a smile.

"Isn’t there a saying, ’If you exile a group of criminals to a deserted island, they will most likely form a new country’?"

Ignoring those two clowns running off topic, Old White nodded at the old man in front of him.

"Thanks for the warning. It’s getting late; you best head home."

The old man nodded shakily, hunched over, and turned to walk away.

Looking at the house in front of him, Old White knocked on the door, thinking there wouldn’t be anyone inside, but to his surprise, there were footsteps behind the door.

The woman who opened the door had a mature charm about her, with light-colored hair and clothing and makeup that did not match a poor woman; her expression was slightly indolent.

However, seeing the people at the door, her still-pretty face immediately became alert.

These people were clearly not residents nearby, they didn’t even look like they were from Giant Stone City.

Her first thought was that these people were here for revenge.

"...Who are you?"

Old White said politely.

"We want to inquire about someone."

The woman said nervously.

"Are you here looking for Black? He’s not here."

Old White did not answer her question but continued to ask.

"What’s your relationship with him?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, carefully responding.

"Friend... we just met last week."

Kill Dagger and That Dog, standing beside Old White, gave each other a look, and whispered to one another.

"Do you believe it?"

"I don’t!"

The woman couldn’t understand what the two were talking about, her face gradually showing signs of panic and fear.

"...Who exactly are you? What do you want with that guy?"

"It doesn’t matter who we are, just answer my questions truthfully, and we won’t trouble you," Old White continued, pulling a 100 value chip from his pocket and waved it in front of her.

"We might even pay you for it."

Seeing that chip, the eyes previously filled with panic now flashed a hint of greed.

Old White mused to himself that perhaps they truly had just met last week.

Glancing around to make sure no one was noticing them, she stepped aside to open the door, her tone considerably softer.

"...Come in and we’ll talk."