This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 358: The Alliance Should Have Its Own Channels of Communication

Chapter 358: Chapter 358: The Alliance Should Have Its Own Channels of Communication

"Of course I filled out the form! I did it two or three months ago and have been waiting for a long time!" Ye Wei said proudly, looking at his shocked brother.

Hearing this, Ye Jiu’s expression turned a bit weird.

Two or three months and calling it a long time...

So many people on the forum have been waiting nearly a year without getting in.

Though, the game didn’t distribute qualifications based on the reservation time anyway.

"It seems like it can be used today, no need to thank me, it’s a gift!"

"...A gift works."

Ye Wei held the helmet in his hands, his face a mixture of laughter and tears.

Just then, a strange thought suddenly crossed his mind.

What if he wore his little sister’s helmet...

"Have you registered an account?"

Ye Jiu shook her head and said,

"No, I don’t play games; this is for you to enjoy."

Ye Wei looked at her strangely.

Really?

Logically, anyone who could complete that form must be somewhat internet-addicted and have played at least a game or two.

But now was not the time to discuss this.

With a bit of trepidation, Ye Wei took a deep breath and strapped the helmet onto his head.

Darkness enveloped him.

In the prolonged silence where no light could be seen,

Ye Wei moved his hand to adjust the helmet, but quickly realized it was pointless.

"..."

Ye Jiu, oblivious to her brother’s thoughts, asked excitedly,

"Did you connect?"

"...No."

Ye Wei silently removed the helmet.

He now finally understood why his roommates looked at him with weird gazes.

After all, what you can’t see, you can’t see.

Unless you’re the owner of the helmet, no one else wearing it would see anything – not the mysterious countdown, nor the connect button.

What surprised him, though, was that even as a beta tester, using someone else’s helmet resulted in nothing visible.

The device seemed to be bound to some unknown entity.

"...Ah, you can’t see it either," Ye Jiu’s face fell a bit, "Mom thought this thing was a rice cooker inner pot."

"Jiujiu," Ye Wei looked at his sister seriously, "there’s something I’ve actually... been hiding from you."

Ye Jiu looked at him strangely for a while before slowly speaking.

"...Bro, have you really been kept by a rich woman?"

Ignoring her interruption, Ye Wei turned and went back to his room, returning shortly with another helmet.

Seeing the helmet in her brother’s hands, Ye Jiu’s eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait... you have a helmet too?!"

"Yeah," Ye Wei nodded slowly, "I was one of the earliest beta testers."

Ye Jiu was speechless from surprise.

After a long while, she said quietly,

"...I saw everyone discussing that game and wanted to surprise you. I didn’t expect that you’d already have one."

Ye Wei’s face was a mixture of emotions.

He sighed and said with an experienced tone,

"That game is too vast, even at my age, I sometimes can’t control myself. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d go fill out the reservation form... I didn’t expect you to fill it out and even get selected."

That pretentious look was too annoying.

Ye Jiu glared at him and snatched her helmet back.

"Cut it out with the ’my age’ thing, stop being so pretentious!"

"If I can’t play, fine, I’ll play by myself!"

She had even thought of giving the helmet to this guy.

A good deed gone wrong.

Too vast? Can’t control oneself?

She wanted to see just how vast this game was!

Expecting his sister’s reaction, Ye Wei continued patiently,

"I haven’t finished talking, don’t get agitated yet."

"Later on, I thought about it more, you’re not a child anymore. You should take charge of your own life and be responsible for your decisions."

"Moreover, this game is different from others. It doesn’t just contain elements of entertainment, but other things as well... It might be an opportunity for you."

This game had already changed the lives of many players.

He himself was a living example.

"Opportunity?" Ye Jiu tilted her head, confused, "What are you talking about?"

Ye Wei did not elaborate further on the topic but pointed to the helmet in her hand.

"Just try it on and you’ll see."

Ye Jiu sat down on the sofa with a skeptical look on his face, following his older brother’s gesture. He then doubtfully fastened the helmet on his head.

The countdown that was there originally had now been replaced with a simple option, "Enter the Game."

"Do you see that option? Just click it."

Ye Wei gave him a prompt, but Jiujiu didn’t respond. It looked like he was already in the game.

As expected, he was probably waking up from the cultivation chamber in Shelter No.117.

And odds were, he was too excited, marveling at "this light, this water, this air."

Watching newbies’ reactions after entering the game was a staple of Wasteland OL.

Ye Wei didn’t join the game but sat opposite him on the sofa.

He really wanted to capture the dumbfounded look on his buddy’s face, but his game character was currently in the City of Dawn, quite a distance from Shelter No.117.

Not to mention, it was night in the game world now, not a good time to travel.

Watching his sister sitting across, Ye Wei picked up a cup from the table and took a sip of water.

At this moment, his expression suddenly turned weird.

Speaking of...

According to the game’s official site, wearing the helmet equated to sleep, deep sleep to be exact.

That meant, unless something wakeful happened, you wouldn’t wake from the dream, right?

Thinking about it, playing games in the living room was really a risky affair.

He wasn’t someone who loved pranks, especially not those juvenile ones like ’make the floor wet to look like someone peed their pants.’

But this guy, well, he might.

With that thought, Ye Wei shivered involuntarily and silently made up his mind.

From now on, he’d definitely lock the door when playing games...

...

About half an hour had passed, around lunchtime, and Ye Wei was about to order some take-out.

That’s when an excited shout came from the opposite sofa.

"Oh oh oh! It’s incredible! Is that NPC in the hall a real person or a virtual character? That armor looks cool! Is it called an exoskeleton? What level do I have to be to equip it?"

Before Ye Wei could sort out the questions, Ye Jiu eagerly continued.

"Right, right, what’s your ID, big bro? I need to enter the master’s ID for that Flame Transmission task! He gave me a long list to pick from, but I can’t find your name!"

"Who uses their real name as a screen name," Ye Wei said with a smile, "look up Night Ten, that’s what I use in the game."

"Night Ten? What does that ID mean?"

Hearing this, Ye Wei nearly choked on his spit and coughed twice.

"It’s nothing... Everyone calls me that, I just got used to it."

While saying this, his expression was stiff and he broke out in a cold sweat.

The origin of that ID was a long story.

Of course, he couldn’t tell his sister that it came from a group chat known as ’Cattle and Horses,’ where the nickname used to be "Public Enemy of Girls Night Ten" and now it was "Get Up Ten Times a Night".

No matter which ID it was, neither was appropriate to openly discuss.

But then again...

Who would tell real-life acquaintances about their online aliases!

He was just grateful that he hadn’t fully used his real name when registering his account.

Otherwise, he would have been absolutely ruined socially today!

Ye Jiu stared at her brother suspiciously for a while, feeling that things weren’t that simple.

But she didn’t ask further.

After all, the "fully immersive virtual reality game" had given her such a strong sensorial impact that even after taking a long time to catch her breath, she was still sitting on the sofa, hardly able to shake off the astonishment.

Even though she wasn’t particularly fond of games, she couldn’t help but immerse herself in that entirely different fictional world and completely transformed into the shape of the helmet.

She was eager to return to the game.

Eager to experience all of the game’s content!

Ye Jiu’s eyes sparkled as she thrust the helmet into Ye Wei’s hands without another word.

"Big bro! Hurry and log in and guide me!"

Seeing his little sister who had already put on the helmet by herself, Ye Wei’s face was stunned.

Goodness...

Her addiction was even greater than his.

...

The Waste World.

Alliance Office in Boulder City.

Luka was organizing manpower to move several boxes containing biomechanical prostheses out of Boulder City.

Boulder City had strict controls on goods entering the city, but was less stringent about checks leaving the city.

Having each person carry one piece of luggage and making multiple trips, it was easy to get the goods out.

Recycling Huge Rock Military Industry’s high-tech equipment from the black market was just one of the Alliance’s strategies against Boulder City.

As the lord of the City of Dawn, Old Luka’s primary focus was still on trade negotiations with the city hall.

Recently, the city hall hinted that the New Alliance planned to import goods worth 200 million chips from the industrial district.

Factory owners and business association bosses, who were previously causing trouble, immediately stopped their quarrels and started to wait and see.

And those workers who had lost their jobs due to the factory shutdown, although their lives hadn’t improved immediately, with the loss of backstage support, were temporarily unable to cause any disturbances.

Although I didn’t know how long this tacit agreement could last, it should continue for some time.

...

The radio on the coffee table in the lounge was emitting a noisy sound.

Mr. Hauser eloquently praised the greatness of the lord of the city and took the opportunity to commend the wise decision of Mr. Dulon at the end.

"... If we distribute the chips to everyone, the price of nutrient paste would skyrocket, and nobody would benefit!"

"But if we lend the chips to our neighbors, it’s different—two hundred million chips will create tens of thousands of job opportunities! It will save hundreds of thousands of families! We’ll get jobs and the chance to provide for ourselves!"

"What a wonderful thing!"

Sitting in front of the radio.

Hal from the Lion Tribe in Luo Xia Province was curiously fiddling with this speaking machine.

"It’s incredible... Is there a person living inside this metal box?"

Sitting on the sofa nearby sipping tea, Shu Yu shifted his gaze from the procurement list he had been studying and curiously looked towards him.

"I also find it incredible. You told me that in your father’s palace, there are hundreds of bionic maid servants... Why can you accept bionic beings but not a simple thing like a radio?"

The technology involved in the former was clearly much higher than that of the latter, which was an obvious fact.

However, Hal confidently asserted.

"That’s different, isn’t it? Bionic people are still people, and it’s not strange for people to talk."

Shu Yu paused.

He even stopped moving the teacup in his hand.

Although he felt that there was something wrong with that statement, he momentarily didn’t know how to refute it.

Seeing Shu Yu not speaking, the ever-talkative Hal excitedly continued.

"Do you think my father would pass the throne to me if I brought a radio home?"

"... I think it would be best if you didn’t do that," Shu Yu cautiously advised in a soft voice, concerned about staining the table as he set down his teacup.

He had called the Manager last night.

Apart from discussing the procurement list, he also casually mentioned this fellow.

The advice from the Manager, similar to Old Luka’s, was that no matter how likely this fellow was to inherit the throne, making a few more friends was always a good thing.

Anyway, hiring an extra clerk wouldn’t cost much of the budget.

Even if he didn’t end up becoming the king, returning to his tribe to be a carefree royal was only beneficial and had no downsides for the New Alliance.

The area of Luo Xia Province was several times larger than that of River Valley Province, stretching for thousands of kilometers across the central part of the Central Plains Continent, connected to mountains and grasslands.

The oases left from the Human Alliance Era housed several feudal kingdoms and were the transportation hubs for east-west trade.

The Lion Tribe was one of the relatively less xenophobic and strong tribes among them.

These details were also gathered by the New Alliance from past merchants.

"Headache... What kinds of things are truly priceless? Must I really go to the eastern Ideal City?"

Hal turned off the radio with a distressed face and looked across at Shu Yu.

"My friend, can you give me some advice?"

"How could I possibly know? I’ve never met your father," Shu Yu gave him a helpless look and continued, "But if you ask me...Instead of figuring out what is priceless, why not consider what your father likes?"

Hal asked blankly.

"Likes?"

Shu Yu nodded.

"Yes, whether something is valuable is a subjective judgment, after all. For example, if he values trade, you could take ten times the usual amount of money you carry when you leave home and bring it back; he’d surely respect you for that."

"If he values the military, you just need to prove your bravery, like by decapitating a few more Death Claws and bringing home some warriors who have shared life and death experiences with you."

Hal’s expression showed he was deep in thought.

"I understand... so you mean, cater to his preferences?"

Shu Yu casually said, "You could see it that way; it would be easier."

Hal, looking distressed, said, "But my father doesn’t like merchants or soldiers; he just loves to lurk among women and throws parties every few days."

Shu Yu sighed.

"Then bring home a beautiful daughter-in-law... prove your charm."

This tribe was beyond saving.

But when he thought about it, where in the world wasn’t this the case?

In fact, procreating was comparatively a healthier hobby.

However, what Shu Yu didn’t expect was that, after a round of thinking, this prince named Hal showed a look of sudden enlightenment.

"My friend... you are a genius! Your words have opened my eyes. Come be my advisor! When I become king, you’ll be a minister of the Lion Tribe!"

Shu Yu smiled as he watched him.

"My loyalty belongs only to the great Manager; please don’t joke about such things."

Minister?

He wasn’t interested.

Not even the glittering temptations of Boulder City could corrupt him, let alone a tribe in a remote area.

Hal closed his mouth.

He had merely spoken casually, not really hoping to persuade this young man to return with him and help him vie for the throne; in fact, he hadn’t even made up his mind about wanting it.

At that moment, the door of the lounge opened, and Luka entered from outside.

"The Manager just sent a message, hoping we would start a branch of ’Voice of the Alliance’ in Boulder City."

Shu Yu looked up at Luka, somewhat puzzled.

"Doesn’t the broadcast signal from ’North Suburb’ cover here? Why start a separate branch?"

Luka relayed the Manager’s words verbatim.

"Because this branch mainly reports local news from Boulder City, the staff and journalists we hire are primarily locals. Of course, we’ll sprinkle in some of our own content amid these reports while subtly correcting the biased coverage from the Voice of Boulder City,"

"However, these are not convenient for us to speak about directly, they need to be voiced in their own local tone."

"It’s not just broadcasting, we also want to do print media and sell our ideas through the newspapers to them."

A look of surprise appeared on Shu Yu’s face, especially after hearing Luka’s last remark. He couldn’t help but speak out,

"Having control over our own channels of communication is indeed important, but using newspapers as a propaganda tool... would people here really be willing to pay for that?"

Most of Boulder City’s residents earn less than 100 chips a month, which equates to about three chips a day.

That money is just enough for them to cover their daily expenses.

Even if we set the price of the newspapers at the lowest, one chip per copy, few people could afford to buy them.

As for the mercenaries,

although they have money, their literacy rates are even lower than those of factory workers.

After all, the latter, though poor, usually live within the Giant Wall, most of them have complete families and are somewhat invested in education to ensure their children can work in factories in the future.

There are newspapers in Boulder City, but usually only the relatively affluent citizens buy them.

Here, the market for print media is quite limited, and it’s tough for an external newspaper to break into it.

If it’s for propaganda purposes, this clearly isn’t a good idea.

Facing Shu Yu’s puzzled look, Luka confidently said,

"People will buy it, our newspaper is geared towards the ordinary residents of Boulder City. The Manager suggests we can employ a subscription model, where they only need to pay one chip per month to receive a full month’s newspapers."

Shu Yu frowned,

"In that case, ordinary people could certainly afford it, but the cost pressure on us would be rather significant, wouldn’t it?"

Paying just one chip per month is equivalent to the retail price of one kilogram of nutrient paste.

That’s almost like giving it away.

Luka nodded,

"There will definitely be pressure at the beginning, but it will improve once the subscription numbers rise."

Shu Yu furrowed his brow, but soon a look of realization dawned on his face.

However, sitting next to him, Hal was still confused and curiously asked,

"Why would having more sales lessen the cost pressure? Shouldn’t it be greater?"

"...Because we can publish advertisements in the newspaper. Those who can afford to buy newspapers usually wouldn’t stint on spending on bread and clothing and might even seek better quality," Shu Yu patiently explained to Hal, admiration rising in his eyes.

The Manager sure thought of everything!

Seeing Shu Yu explain for him, Luka smiled slightly and continued,

"...At the initial stage of promotion, we could cooperate with local civilian taverns frequented by residents and supply them with free newspapers for a month."

"We can also collaborate with some top-notch factories, like, trade ten empty nuclear cola bottles for one newspaper."

Shu Yu couldn’t help but praise,

"That’s a great idea!"

Nuclear cola is well-known in the taverns of Boulder City.

And those unemployed workers have enough time to collect those items.

It’s a win-win for both the factories and the newspaper.

"Our relations with Boulder City have recently eased, it’s the perfect time to do this."

"Of course, to achieve our long-term goals, we need a brilliant mind that excels in the use of words..."

At this, Luka paused.

Both men’s gazes fell on Hal spontaneously.

Being skilled with words was unquestionable.

His main talent lied in chatting, and secondly in using twelve different artistic fonts to write rhymed but insubstantial verse.

But being brilliant-minded...

Might the requirements be too high for him?

"Why are you guys... looking at me like that?" Hal asked nervously, feeling a tad guilty.

He had an ominous premonition.

Luka didn’t keep looking at him or even responded to his question but instead turned to Shu Yu.

"What do you think?"

"...I don’t know, our talent in this area is scarce. If I were to write the newspaper, I would make the news very precise, but apart from our own people, I doubt many would want to read through it."

In the realm of public opinion, their rivals weren’t the factories of Boulder City, nor the city council.

But rather that blustering Hauser and the group he represented.

In front of slick rhetoric and shamelessly thick-skinned tactics, even the most flawless truth made concessions.

Likewise, individuals with those two qualities, or rather the rascals, were remarkably rare in the New Alliance.

The alliance’s news industry was just starting; most news personnel were still strictly reading from scripts, some only having attended night school for six months.

The "wanjia" from the shelter might have this talent, but they don’t speak the language of United Human, even basic communication requires translation tools.

Strictly speaking, Hal wasn’t like that either, as his polite upbringing was far from the image of a scoundrel.

But this wasn’t his home after all.

Perhaps letting go a little wouldn’t be a problem?

At least his eloquence and writing skills were trustworthy; the rest were matters of experience, which could be honed on the job.

Faced with Old Luka’s concerned look, Shu Yu’s expression was also hesitant, but ultimately, he nodded.

"The Manager told us not to be overly concerned with a person’s origin, background, or lineage... Setting aside his lack of brilliance and experience, he truly is the most suitable candidate."

"I think it’s worth a try."