This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 355: Is There a Possibility That You Actually Used the Server’s Computing Power for Free?

Chapter 355: Chapter 355: Is There a Possibility That You Actually Used the Server’s Computing Power for Free?

Sanctuary B4 Layer of Shelter No. 404.

Chu Guang, seated on the sofa in the browsing room, was flipping through the intelligence Xiao Qi had helped compile on his laptop.

Based on the information gathered by the players, he had all but confirmed that last night’s arson and the force surrounding the city hall in broad daylight were orchestrated by Giant Stone City’s largest food supplier—Vijia Commerce.

The photos and recorded content captured by Fang Chang would serve as pivotal evidence.

When to play this card, however, required careful consideration of timing.

The radio and broadcasting stations of Giant Stone City would not publicize these matters, and doing so now would not garner much sympathy for the New Alliance.

At this critical juncture, even if Duron knew that Vijia Commerce had played him, inciting those residents to surround the city hall, he would likely say nothing.

After all, they had a common threat to confront.

But after the friendly agreement was signed, the situation would be different.

Once the two billion chips were deposited, the relationship between the New Alliance and both the civilian and official sectors of Giant Stone City would mend with the surge of job opportunities, and the New Alliance would become an esteemed guest of Stone City Hall; anyone who destroyed this relationship would be shunned.

Chu Guang would choose a less sensitive time to set up a branch of the New Alliance’s newspaper in Giant Stone City and then publish those tidbits as the headline story.

By then, he could smoothly have the ambassador throw a fit, logically exclude Vijia Commerce from the procurement list, and none of Giant Stone City’s powers would object.

After all, Vijia Commerce was merely a stick stirring the pot in the overall situation—not worth too much of Chu Guang’s attention; leaving it to the NPC and players to resolve would be enough.

What truly concerned Chu Guang was that Huge Rock Military Industry.

Even though it hadn’t been involved in the negotiations from the start, and had not even shown face, that City Hall Chief Duron prioritized its interests above all.

All the gears seemed to revolve around it.

Everything else was negotiable.

But when it came to matters involving Huge Rock Military Industry and the city lord, there was absolutely no room for negotiation.

The so-called big shots in the Outer City, whether they were the chiefs of City Hall, the bank president, business tycoons, big factory owners, or the gang leaders in the slums, meant nothing before that military industrial complex.

They were like screws and gears around an engine, being swept along by an enormous force.

The only piece of intelligence Chu Guang had about that military group was that it seemed its chairman was called Yibers.

Public information about that man was scarce; he almost never appeared in public and was known only as a guest of honor of the city lord. Although he lived in the Outer City, even the nobles of the Inner City respected his power.

"They possess a certain serum that can induce awakening... It’s called Dragon Blood."

"Although the chances of awakening are higher than those made by Heya, the effects are more domineering, and the basic adverse reactions could cause vomiting or diarrhea, severe adverse reactions might even lead to disability."

"Besides that, they also have the technological capability to produce bionic prosthetics autonomously..."

Chu Guang closed his eyes, meditating and pondering in quietude.

All his plans, up to this point, had only encountered one variable.

That was the mastermind behind the attack on the New Alliance envoy—unexpectedly, it was Huge Rock Military Industry.

In his view, he had already conceded a significant share of the cake to them.

Anybody could have reason to oppose that friendly cooperation agreement, except Huge Rock Military Industry had no substantial interest.

Unless...

Their perception of interest differed from his own understanding.

Chu Guang opened his eyes and murmured contemplatively.

"...A probe?"

Just then, a call suddenly came in.

He pressed the accept button and picked up the headset from the table to wear.

On the other end of the line was Luka.

His voice carried obvious excitement but also a hint of indecision.

"...They’ve agreed to our proposal but have made an additional condition."

Chu Guang raised an eyebrow.

"What condition?"

On the other end of the communication channel, Luka continued.

"...It’s from City Hall, they’re requesting that we provide a procurement list in advance when using the loan and only after approval will they disburse the funds."

"Is that all?" Chu Guang’s brow relaxed slightly, and he leaned back on the sofa, laughing as he said, "No problem, let them add it in."

Seeing Manager Chu Guang agree so readily, Luka hesitated and then asked.

"...But is this really okay?"

Without a second thought, Chu Guang said.

"Why wouldn’t it be okay? We’re not doing anything shady."

Bulk purchases couldn’t possibly be stocked on the shelves of a store; they would obviously first place orders with factories.

When the orders are placed, if City Hall doesn’t sign off, the factories can’t get the money from the bank, and they will be the ones to ultimately incur the loss.

Chu Guang knew what Stone City Hall was worried about; they feared he would misuse the funds.

For example, buying up all the nutritional paste in town in one go, or outright purchasing those bankrupt factories.

But if they thought he would do that, then their vision was simply too limited.

Seeing Luka still seemed to have reservations, Chu Guang, intent on nurturing him, continued.

"Great endeavors are seldom achieved through sneaky tricks. Winning once or twice may work with underhanded tactics, but if we want to keep winning, we must use as many overt strategies as possible."

"When we complete the second step of our plan, the vested interests in Giant Stone City’s wealth will gradually become dependent on us."

"And the third step?" Luka, curious, asked the question he’d always wanted to ask but never had.

Regarding this last step, Chu Guang had certainly considered it.

And that was a long time ago, when the New Alliance and City of Dawn were just established.

"The third step is their residents."

Luka was slightly stunned.

"Residents?"

Chu Guang nodded.

"Yes, whether it’s the hundreds of thousands inside the giant wall or the tens of thousands outside. Those survivors who have been overlooked for a long time, we’ll let them have a good time for a while, we’ll take them to face the darkness when problems come to light, we’ll unite them, break down the invisible giant wall, and permanently end the chaos in the south of the River Valley."

Even though production methods had advanced to the point where many tasks no longer required humans, even convenient "production" of people through genetic and mechanical modification of the human body,

the main body of civilization was still people.

"...I hope you can remember and tell the people around you that the Human Revival United Front is not a survivor settlement, nor a company or an army."

"We are an alliance, one born from the ruins."

"At the same time, it is an alliance belonging to all survivors."

...

Official forum.

Today, as always, was bustling.

As the construction of Dawn City was in full swing, the restless Death Legion and Skeleton Corps continued to march eastward, reaching the nearby Tian. Water City.

The stationed Snake Tribe had already retreated, but a small number of Looter deserters remained in the area, engaging in street fights with the slaves who took advantage of the chaos to escape.

With the support of aerial firepower from the Goblin Corps, the Death Legion and Skeleton Corps effortlessly dissolved the Looter’s resistance.

Out of fear that the Chewing Bone Tribe might return and of Looter retaliation, the local survivors expressed their desire to accompany these conquerors who had defeated the Looters.

Edge Shoveling and the Escaping Moles in the canyon reported the local situation to the quartermaster NPC, and soon received tasks to set up temporary relief stations and escort survivors to West State City.

It is expected that over ten thousand survivors will arrive in Dawn City within the next month.

The originally just enough housing was suddenly not so sufficient anymore.

Edge Shoveling posted photos of the local survivors on the forum, with their LD-47 and scarves looking very much like summer interns in SyrL.

Some mischievous Mole even photoshopped the image, blurring the faces and adding a line to the photo — [Skeleton Corps hiring, 50,000 per day, no different from the usual chicken dinner, if interested, PM, working as happy as playing chicken!]

Quit smoking: "6666!"

Tail: "Whoa! Count Tail in too! (｀∀´)Ψ"

Edge Shoveling: "Damn it! You blurred my face and that’s fine, but why did you hang your corps’ emblem up there??"

Debt Giant Eye: "Hahaha, this damn Mole is too bad! (Funny)"

Rebellion Teen: "50,000 a day is decent, no clue, where do I sign up?"

Dinosaur Warrior: "I don’t want the pay, just give me a helmet, please. T.T"

"..."

Ever since the northern expedition victory and the new map opened, there have been more and more tasks to do.

Aside from armies battling Looters and hunter players pursuing large Variants, players keen on trading were also busy, running their routes with helmets at night and sharing anecdotes from their journeys on the forum during the day.

The northern expedition yielded a lot of cheap war spoils, which were of little interest to the New Alliance, but for those small survivor settlements without industrial capabilities, these were treasures.

Carrying war spoils collected from other players, commercial teams started traveling far to the east along the plains, selling these "tools of civilization" to the needy survivor settlements.

Due to the eastward collapse of the Snake Tribe, the demand for weapons in the Eastern Provinces surged, with many survivor settlements willing to exchange food, ores, or other treasures for these items.

More tradeable survivor settlements appeared on the map, with not only players interacting, but the official forum also updating in real time with information about those settlements.

And because of this, many players complained in small groups that the dog planners were too lazy.

A completed map without even a simple introduction was provided, and even the descriptions of survivor settlements were just copied and pasted from player posts.

So lazy—it’s outrageous!

Of course, the gameplay of trading and army combat was primarily aimed at higher-level hardcore players.

Few people could survive alone in the wasteland where language barriers exist, far from save points, out of reach of the supply chain and communication range, for a week.

Whether it’s for war or commerce, moving in groups is the only option.

However, those who possess the capital, business acumen, and organizational talent are indeed in the minority.

For most players, daily life still revolves around conventional tasks within the framework of the Game System.

Since the silver coin trading platform reopened, brick-moving has become a happy thing.

The Strength Type, who can work like they have two arms, with 200% efficiency in moving bricks, immediately became the top choice for countless burdened players, reclaiming the throne of the hot topic of the version.

One silver coin could be exchanged for thirty or forty bucks, and there were big buyers purchasing daily.

Wasn’t this much better than real-life brick moving!

The only pity was that there were too few helmets.

The most infuriating was that the doggy operators also engaged in "hunger marketing," releasing the last two helmets three days prior, stopping the issuance of beta access cards at 4500.

No one knew who those two lucky dogs were; they didn’t even come to the forum to show off!

Absolutely hateful!

In addition to sharing experiences in trading and brick moving, many players working on the Dawn City worksite also shared the recent progress of construction.

Thanks to the collective efforts of players and NPCs, they had dug out the framework of the entire drainage system for the survivor settlement according to the new construction plan.

The planned Dawn City could accommodate at least a hundred thousand permanent residents.

If everything went smoothly, they could finish this work before the rainy season.

Spare people under the knife: "...That NPC who came from Camp 101 was pretty awesome. That old man helped us redesign the sewage construction plan. I pondered over the construction drawing for a long time and couldn’t find a single fault! Especially compared to the one I did before, which seemed flawed no matter how I looked at it."

"Ah, I never thought that after years of civil engineering, I’d get schooled in the game, it’s just absurd!"

Night Ten, "Is there a possibility that you actually mooched off the operator’s server power and coincidentally solved a real-world problem that hadn’t been resolved? (¬‿¬)"

Spare people under the knife, "Er, I’ve been thinking, is this really a problem that computational power can solve?"

Elena, "The New Alliance leads the world in science and technology! (¬‿¬)"

Gnome King Riches, "Speaking of which, why has Night Ten been on the forum every day these past few days? (¬‿¬)"

There are actually mosquitoes in WC, "What else could it be, a free stint in jail. (smirk)"

Night Ten, "Piss off, I was heroically sacrificed! (anger)"

Makabazi, "Hahahaha, dying of laughter!"

Night Ten, "@#%&%!"

After being mocked by the forum again, Ye Wei rolled his eyes, closed the web page, and switched over to the group chat.

Today was his last day "in jail"; he’d be able to log back on tonight.

During these three days, a lot had happened both inside and outside the Game.

In the game, Fang Chang and the others had gone to Giant Stone City to participate in border and trade negotiations with the New Alliance.

As for real-life events, there were even more.

Aside from a succession of major news stories, a ton of things had happened just around him.

First off, Niubi Company was officially registered, solving the issue of large-scale Silver Coin transactions.

Then there was Ye Wei himself.

The apartment he bought by the river, the paperwork came through: a 126-square-meter medium-sized unit with a large living room window and balcony overlooking the river, furnished and fully equipped, all paid in full for 5 million.

He still remembered the dumbfounded expressions on the agent’s and the landlord’s faces when he made the payment.

Since it was a nearly new second-hand property, he hired cleaners and bought some clothes and bedding from a shopping mall. He moved in without even bringing his luggage.

Today was the weekend and he got up early, lounging on the living room sofa, browsing forums and checking messages in the group chat.

Normally, at this time, Old White and Fang Chang would have logged off, but today they took a while longer, not popping up until noon.

In the Niubi group chat.

As soon as Old White appeared, he called out.

"Fang Chang, where the hell did you go? Why didn’t you reply to me in the game?"

Killer Dagger, "And you didn’t return to the save point!"

All the good names were taken by dogs, "Fess up, did you go do something naughty?"

These two were newcomers who had recently been added to the group.

Along with the Kidney Fighter and other players from the Burning Corps, all who had joined the group during the previous expansion.

Quit smoking, "What? Fang Chang went off to do something shady? Like what? Tell us!"

There are actually mosquitoes in WC, "Hahaha, now that you mention it, I’m all excited! (smirk)"

Of course, it wasn’t just Mosquito who got excited. The whole group exploded in a frenzy of speculation.

That included Ye Wei, who also joined in the ribbing with a message.

As things got more and more ridiculous, Fang Chang, who was lurking, probably couldn’t hold back any longer and finally bubbled up in the group.

"F*ck, I just logged off to smoke a cig. What the hell are you guys blabbering about?"

Old White, "A cigarette after the deed?! (smirk)"

Fang Chang, "Scram, vulgar!"

There are actually mosquitoes in WC, "I heard your last location was the Night Queen Bar. Come clean, did you go there to do something naughty! (smirk)"

The flood of messages was overwhelming.

Fang Chang simply pretended not to see them and started talking shop in the group.

"...Enough chit-chat, this time I mainly validated three conjectures about ’Wasteland OL’."

"One is about the trigger mechanism for hidden quests. According to what the faction currently needs, actively gathering related information has a certain probability to trigger hidden quests."

"For example, the side quest I am currently on, collecting information about the warehouse district arson case and the organizers of the protest, was triggered by following a key target."

Old White, "Is the quest reward generous?"

Fang Chang, "It’s higher than standard quests, especially the regional reputation reward."

Pick up trash 99 level, "What about the second conjecture?"

Fang Chang, "...Regarding bionics, although you can buy some basic bionic prosthetics at Giant Stone City’s weapon shops, their performance is quite lousy, and their work efficiency is even worse than the original limbs."

"I saw the guard next to that NPC named List, his installed parts were clearly much more powerful. I was thinking, maybe Giant Stone City has a place akin to a black market where you can buy equipment not available on the market."

There are actually mosquitoes in WC, "Did you find where that black market is? (curious)"

Fang Chang, "Hmm, there’s a private clinic in the outer city. A new NPC I met gave me a business card, telling me to go see someone with some chips. He could get me some ’good stuff’ that’s not easy to come by. They say not only Giant Rock Military Industry-made bionics but also androids, and other items not for public sale. I plan to check it out tomorrow."

As soon as this message was sent, the group exploded.

Giant Rock Military Industry-made bionics were one thing, but androids too.

That was seriously amazing!

Quit smoking, "Holy shit, awesome!"

Old White, "6666!"

Tomato Fried Eggs, "Such a major update without an announcement, doesn’t seem like Ah Guang’s style. (surprised)"

There are actually mosquitoes in WC, "Maybe Ah Guang hasn’t finished this part of the update, and it got discovered early. You’re done for, wait for the ban. (smirk)"

Pick up trash 99 level: "Damn! Be honest, did you sell your arse to the planner?"

Fang Chang: "Scram, it’s bad enough you’re blackening my name, would Brother Guang even do something like that! (Angry) (Angry)"

As Ye Wei looked at the stream of messages on his phone screen, he couldn’t help feeling a mix of emotions.

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to admire the game’s realism, which even had something like the black market, or to admire Brother Fang Chang’s awesomeness for even finding such a thing.

"Right, weren’t there supposed to be three guesses? What’s the third one?"

Seeing this message, the other members of the chat group immediately came to the same realization.

Indeed.

They had only heard the second piece of gossip.

What about the third?

Faced with the follow-up questions from the group members, this time Fang Chang fell silent.

Just when Ye Wei thought he was organizing his thoughts, a message suddenly popped out.

Fang Chang: "Ah... I’m ashamed to say, I just realized that it might be better to leave this topic for another time."

Night Ten: "???"

What does ’another time’ mean?

Is this even something a person does?

However, this time, no matter how everyone mentioned him, Fang Chang would no longer pop up.

Hating people who only tell half a story more than anything, Ye Wei felt like a million ants were crawling inside him and couldn’t help but flip through his contacts, wanting to make a call right there and then to get the full story.

Just then, a WeChat message popped up at the top of his phone screen.

Ye Wei instinctively clicked on it and saw that it was from his younger sister.

Jiujiu loves pineapple: "Big bro, I’ve finished my exams!!"

Finished exams?

Ye Wei was stunned for a moment, glanced at the date, and only then realized that today was June 9th.

Damn!

With so much having happened these past few days, he had completely forgotten about his little sister’s high school exams!

Remembering the promise he had made, Ye Wei immediately opened up the online shopping app and paid for the smartphone he had previously placed in the shopping cart.

It was now a couple of hundred cheaper than just a few months ago.

But at that moment, Ye Wei suddenly remembered a news article he had read before.

If he waited another two months, couldn’t he buy a phone with an even more amazing battery life?

Never mind... it’s bought now.

If necessary, he could simply replace it later.

Looking at the successful payment screen, Ye Wei shook his head, closed the shopping app, switched back to WeChat, and replied to his little sister.

"How did the exams go?"

Jiujiu loves pineapple: "Hehe, I nailed it! (Proud)"

’Nailed it’ probably means there were no issues.

A relieved smile spread across Ye Wei’s face – this was the best news he had heard all day.

He was just about to tell her about the phone.

However, his recent lack of practice with typing meant that he was only halfway through typing his response when a barrage of messages came in dinging.

"By the way, big bro, since I’m on holiday and have nothing to do, why don’t I come over to Jiang City to hang out with you!"

"I also want to look around nearby to see if there’s any summer job I can do! (Proud)"

"What do you think about working in a milk tea shop? (Expectant)"

Ye Wei couldn’t help but laugh as he typed his response.

"You little rascal, why do you need a summer job? Just enjoy your holiday! You won’t have it this easy in the future!"

Jiujiu loves pineapple: "This is called accumulating life experience! What do you know, dumbass!"

"Plus, I’m already an adult, what’s with calling me little rascal, how old are you, grandpa? (Rolling eyes)"

Ye Wei replied: "I’m not going to argue with you. Oh right, your desired university is also in Jiang City, right? You might as well bring your luggage along, you can temporarily store it at my place."

Jiujiu loves pineapple: "At your place? You sure you have enough space? (Skeptical)"

Seeing this message, a smile unconsciously appeared on Ye Wei’s face.

Come to think of it, in the busy past few days, he hadn’t yet told his family about the apartment he bought.

He suddenly began to look forward to the expression on his little sister’s face...

"Just bring it over, and I’ll surprise you when you get here."

Jiujiu loves pineapple: "Really? Well, then I’ll really bring it!"

"By the way, since we’re talking surprises, I have one for you too!"

"Hehe, just wait and see! (Mischievous)"

Ye Wei froze for a moment, his expression suddenly turning strange.

He didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but when he saw the word ’surprise’, he didn’t feel any anticipation; instead, he had a bad feeling.

Hopefully, it was just in his head.

After all, real life isn’t a game.

He shouldn’t have such high perception anyway...

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