This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 524: The City of Dawn of ’All Nations Coming to Court

Chapter 524: Chapter 524: The City of Dawn of ’All Nations Coming to Court

In the northern part of the Brocade River Province, nestled among mountains and forests, lies an old ruin.

Its name is Brocade River City, about seven or eight hundred kilometers away from Qingquan City, which is roughly the distance from Jiang City to Mountain City in reality.

In the suburbs of Brocade River City, on a gentle slope at the edge of the forest, there sits a small settlement called Dusty Town.

Here reside two or three hundred households. The town is encircled by a meter-high low wall, and within the town is a gun tower built of granite.

This type of settlement is quite common in the Brocade River Province.

After all, unlike the Luo Xia Province with its deserts and river banks serving as natural barriers to limit the migration and hunting of Variants, this place lacks such features.

Instead, due to its subtropical location with a humid, warm, and rainy climate, a large number of Variants have migrated here from other provinces.

Here, "Mutated slime fungus" isn’t the most dangerous thing; the more perilous threats are the Mutants that have migrated from the East Coast and the scattered radioactive waste on the land.

About a month ago, while the Alliance’s Army was engaged in heated battle with the Army in the Luo Xia Province, the secluded Dusty Town was quietly making a fortune. The town’s mayor had earned quite a few silver coins by doing business with the Alliance.

Then he spent the silver coins on a bunch of LD-47s and Maxims that had been replaced from the front lines, upgrading from the old iron pipe rifles and rusted short daggers, and he hired a bunch of ruthless and brutal thugs as bodyguards. This facilitated further exploitation of the old farmers laboring in the fields and also helped him safeguard the silver coins hoarded in the gun tower.

However, the good times didn’t last.

The mayor was a man with ideas, and as it happened, those hired thugs had ideas too.

Seeing the town’s mountains and rivers and the ease of earning money by trading with the factory owners to the north, these already criminally inclined thugs quickly agreed on a course of action and returned to their old ways. Using the mayor’s guns, they slaughtered the mayor’s family.

And so, Dusty Town changed hands for the first time.

Those thugs had a great time bullying men and women, and the merchants who came by to trade turned a blind eye. If nothing changed, sooner or later, as the capable workers were killed off, and when someone got bold enough, this place would become a new Raider Camp.

However, as luck would have it, a talking lizard, a talking mouse, and a human who couldn’t talk all mistakenly came to this place.

They had only intended to ask for directions to the seaside, sending the only one of them who looked most human to inquire.

But hearing the naive newcomer’s words, the thugs laughed out loud and coveted the silver coins in his pocket, thinking about robbing and killing him.

Thinking about robbery and murder.

That would be the work of Looters.

And then what happened next was just a matter of course.

What chance did the twenty-something Looters have against these ruthless folks? Not to mention the newbie human; both Pick up trash 99 level and Difficult for the strong were seasoned Alpha version players—an expert spotter and damage dealer. They didn’t even need to use their guns to treat the whole town’s Looters like red-named mobs to be farmed.

The townspeople were indeed terrified at first, but when they saw the Claw of death speaking, they were no longer afraid.

There were all too many strange things in the Wasteland.

The fact that the Claw of death could speak was hardly surprising. And if a death claw speaking wasn’t surprising, a talking mouse was even less so.

In fact, the survivors of the town quite liked these two characters.

Compared to the oppressive mayor and the bandits who tyrannized them, the lizard who called himself Pick up trash and the mouse named Difficult for the strong, though ugly, seemed far less frightening.

To thank these three "people" who courageously came to their aid, the villagers built statues for them and even constructed shrines to worship them.

At first, the three players declined, but they couldn’t resist the intoxicating feeling of being adored and accepted with half-hearted protests amidst their chuckles.

Then the big lizard promised to ensure the villagers’ safety, and the mouse further assured them that with its presence, no other mice would dare to steal grain from the granary.

The townspeople, in turn, promised to allocate twenty percent of the grain produce to them as a tribute... which was far less than the seventy percent the old mayor and the ninety percent the ruffians had taken!

The players were astonished by the favor they received.

Twenty percent of a small town with two or three hundred households was more than Pick up trash could ever eat.

So the three "people" decided to sell the excess grain to passing merchants and use part of the income to buy tractors and fertilizers from the Alliance for the poor folks, to increase field yields. They also thought of buying tools for digging wells and repairing houses, which would eventually increase their tributes.

For management convenience, they had the survivors vote for a new mayor and found several respected individuals to oversee the militia, armaments, money, and food.

This was the second change of ownership for Dusty Town.

Although it had only been a short month, everything seemed to be improving.

Until a mysterious patient appeared in town.

His hands and feet developed sores, which oozed pus, his body ran hot, and his nose dripped without stop—a picture of someone at death’s door. However, what was strange was that these symptoms did not render him weak and wailing in bed; on the contrary, they seemed to have endowed him with abnormal strength and an astonishing appetite.

Such bizarre happenings had never occurred in this area before.

The survivors in the town felt terrified, so they locked up this healthy sick man and immediately reported the situation to the three divine protectors sheltering them.

Upon questioning, the man confessed he had a slight cold some time back and, heeding the advice of a hunter from another village, ate a green fruit rumored to cure all ills. Indeed, his condition had improved somewhat.

However, the good times were short-lived.

After some time, his minor cold showed no signs of healing; it even seemed to intensify. To suppress the agony of the illness and not affect daily work, he had to keep eating those green fruits, even secretly growing them in his yard.

Eventually, his body seemed to have reached a sort of truce with the virus: as long as he kept eating the green fruits, he could avoid the torment of the illness and become increasingly stronger amidst boundless delight... even as his body turned into a breeding ground for the virus.

But if he stopped consuming those fruits, the truce with the virus would end, and his health would plummet, slowly rotting away like a piece of decayed wood.

After understanding the situation, the three young players immediately took it seriously. Without much effort, they found the hunter mentioned by the sick man and quickly pinpointed the origins of the green fruit.

It was a place called Town Of Hope...

...

Dusty Town.

The shrine where they worshiped "gods."

"By the way, do you still remember... we were originally planning to head south to see the ocean?" I, sitting on a wooden chair in Tranquility, suddenly let out a sigh and said.

Pick up trash 99 level yawned.

"Remember."

"So when are we hitting the road?"

"emmm..."

"Damn! You’re not getting addicted to playing messiah, are you?"

Watching the noisily protesting Tranquility, Pick up trash 99 level rolled his eyes.

"Jeesh, you’re enjoying this quite a bit, too!" retorted Tranquility, caught between laughter and tears.

"Me... it’s not like I have a choice! Besides, we haven’t saved in over a month, is that really okay?"

Before entering the game, he used to boast on the forum every day about exploring the edges of the map, but once he actually got into the game, he found that it was as difficult as reaching the sky.

First off, there was the language barrier.

Even among the Alpha version veterans, only a few could speak fluently the "human language"; the VM’s translation feature was too noticeably machine-like in offline mode, leaving some things untranslatable or incomprehensible, and some things were just not translated at all.

To date, he could only manage a few phrases for daily communication.

To try to venture into the Wasteland with this half-baked grasp of language was simply to understimate those man-eating creatures out there.

Nevertheless, Mr. Trash was indifferent to his arguments.

Saving?

What use was that.

Humans are weak creatures!

"Hmph, not saving does not matter one bit; play the game long enough, and you’ll realize that level is actually just a very, very small part of all game elements, like the dragons in ’The Elder Scroll 5,’ the witches in ’Gwent Card 3,’ and the Rainbow in ’Rainbow 6.’"

"Pfft, what the hell is the ’rainbow’ in Rainbow 6 Siege!"

Pick up trash 99 level proudly said, "Same deal. What the hell is the ’Sequence Level’ in ’Wasteland OL’? Is it important? Does my low level affect my ability to show off? Are the NPCs here not realistic enough? Or is reincarnating with a different identity not exhilarating enough?"

"Ah... I’m really envious of you Variant players," I thought to myself with a look of envy.

If I were a Variant player, I’d probably be able to roam freely across the Wasteland.

After all, most Variants would steer clear of the Claw of death, and even average survivors seldom provoke them.

"Calm down, it’s like having a QQ account with consecutive numbers; that’s a treatment only Exalted players have." Watching this noob’s envious expression, Mr. Trash couldn’t help but let out a chuckling he-he, while inside he was crying.

He was strong.

Unquestionably strong.

But it was a pity, no matter how strong he was, he didn’t have a ding-ding.

At least someone who’s Difficult for the strong has a bunch of spiritual wives, but he could only expect to get snorted at by other Claws of death.

Yes.

Other Claws of death truly looked down on him, this "underdeveloped" guy, even though a White bear could win the affection of other mutt bears just because of its white fur.

Every time he thought about Nicole’s disdainful look, he’d gnash his teeth in frustration, and yet he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

Damn it...

This blasted game setting!

It’s because of this reason that when the new town mayor of Dusty Town cautiously asked him if he wanted to prepare a priestess to serve the gods for the sacrificial shrine, he almost immediately flat-out refused.

Give me a break.

I’m the one who picked the fight, why should this new guy next door have all the fun!

The tail of the feudal age had to be cut off!

At this moment, Tranquility was unaware of the exciting show he’d missed. His attention was completely caught by a mouse that had slipped in through the door.

He saw a plump big mouse, gesturing to a few of its rodent minions, lifting a burlap sack and throwing it onto the ground.

Tranquility walked over and pulled the sack open to peek inside, immediately overwhelmed by the stench that hit him, snapping the sack shut.

"Holy crap! What is this thing? It stinks so much!"

"Jade Fruit! That’s what the locals call it, grows on a tree. They say it cures all kinds of diseases," Difficult for the strong lifted up his slender arm, wiped sweat away, and with a long quivering mustache said, "To hell with curing diseases... Bringing this thing back, I’ve lost quite a few of my little brothers."

Sneaking and skulking are in a mouse’s nature, those little mice subdued by his strength didn’t completely obey him, especially when out of his sight.

Stealing food was common, and not just stealing food—his "harem" often ended up mysteriously pregnant out of the blue.

In the end, it turned out that the most obedient wasn’t actually a pure mouse, but a groundhog that had been with him for a long time.

Ever since he ordered a set of steel claws for that thing from Mosquito, it had killed quite a few traitors in his group for him.

Enduring the stench, I want tranquility opened the sack again, examined the Jade Fruit inside. He realized the actual fruit wasn’t what smelled, rather, it was a layer of dark green slime on its surface and the mud soaked in green.

Mr. Trash curiously stared at the stuff inside the sack for a while then turned to look at the fat mouse resting on a stool.

"You’ve got an Iron Stomach, right? You try eating one."

"Get lost! Just because I have an Iron Stomach doesn’t mean I’ve got high poison resistance!" Difficult for the strong rolled his eyes, "You’ve got a high Constitution. Why don’t you take a bite!"

Mr. Trash he-he’d with a laugh, his thick claw scratching his head.

"I might have a high Constitution, but that doesn’t mean I like eating shit... To be frank, the moment I saw this thing, it didn’t look like anything good!"

Looking at that greenish color.

As a Pure Love Warrior, he felt physically uncomfortable.

Difficult for the strong cleared his throat lightly.

"Anyway... the information is accurate, just as the patient confessed; this stuff popped up in Town of Hope out of the blue. At first, only a few people planted this kind of fruit, then the land that had been used to grow the fruit trees could only grow this stuff, and coupled with the greed of the local landlords for the money they could make from it, more and more people started planting it."

I want tranquility curiously asked,

"Is this thing expensive?"

Difficult for the strong continued,

"It’s definitely more expensive than food. Although there aren’t many merchants who buy it, local survivors themselves say that at first they really planted it to make money, but as they kept growing it, they started to feel that making money wasn’t important anymore... After eating it, they didn’t fear sickness or cold, didn’t need to wear clothes, and could see a paradise. In its presence, money was like dung."

Hearing this, Tranquility’s expression gradually became serious.

"Eating this stuff makes one lose all hopes... This thing is undoubtedly a poison."

"Nonsense, as if you need to say that." After patting the newbie on the back of his head, Pick up trash 99 level looked at Difficult for the strong and asked, "So this stuff originated from Town of Hope?"

To his surprise, Difficult for the strong shook his head.

"No, they got the saplings from someone else too. It is said... the very first fruit tree seedling came from a Mutant tribe called ’Qi,’ located in an abandoned urban area about twenty kilometers from here."

I want tranquility heard this and suddenly widened her eyes.

"Mutants?!"

Difficult for the strong chuckled haughtily.

"Surprised, aren’t you... But if you look at the official website’s observations and descriptions of Mutants, it’s not hard to understand. Mutants are a special group. In the First stage, they live in tribes and obtain food and procreate through ’hunting.’ By the Second stage, they acquire a sense of ’civilization’ from violence; this manifests as the birth of ’farming’ and ’breeding’ concepts. For example, planting mutated fruits as food, and keeping a certain number of human females and a small number of males as livestock, allowing them to breed autonomously and then using and slaughtering them in a planned manner. It’s said that there’s a Third stage, but for now, that’s only speculation."

"Those ’Black stone’ tribes that other players found in the Great Desert are probably in between the First and Second stages, and this ’Qi’ is likely in the late Second stage, maybe even transitioning to the Third stage..."

Pick up trash 99 level stroked his chin.

"And the evidence?"

"Evidence? Isn’t it obvious? It’s said that there are over ten thousand, even tens of thousands of Mutants there! It’s impossible to maintain a clan of ten thousand members with violence alone; they must have created some ’other thing’... like the orcs’ Gul’dan." As he spoke, excitement twinkled in the eyes of Difficult for the strong.

Perhaps he could draw some sociological experiences from it and find a way to establish a huge rat empire.

Tranquility’s expression, however, turned serious.

"...This is no small issue. A Mutant tribe of over ten thousand, and we are only twenty kilometers apart. Yet we’ve been here so long without hearing any news of it."

Pick up trash 99 level also nodded his head, saying earnestly,

"Yeah, it’s very abnormal that this group of Mutants has no interest in pillaging the nearby villages..."

Whether anyone cared or not, they had to sync this noteworthy message to the official website of Wasteland OL.

Whether it’s the story about "Qi."

Or about that peculiar "Jade Fruit"...

...

While the "Pioneers" in the south were busy figuring out how to handle the sick in the village and how to send samples of the "Jade Fruit" back to the Alliance for testing, the preparations for the Triumph celebration had entered the final countdown.

The streets were decorated with lanterns and bunting, and the streets were bustling with people. The holiday had started from yesterday, and the stores on the street had started doing discount promotions, with the market stalls more than doubling.

Among those setting up stalls were not only residents of City of Dawn but also merchants from Dawn City, Falling Leaves City, Garbage City, the Red River Alliance, and other survivor settlements.

A dazzling array of commodities and abundant business opportunities not only turned City of Dawn into a vibrant exhibition center, but it also meant silver coins were coveted by countless merchants passing through.

Those who have come and wished to return would keep silver coins as money in their pockets, looking at the warehouses and shelves stuffed with goods. No one doubted the purchasing power of silver coins would remain robust in the future.

Especially with the Residents of the refuge returning from the front lines, those people not only brought back the treasures of Luo Xia Province, but they also brought back the bustle taken from here several months ago.

Since the main force went to Luo Xia Province, City of Dawn hadn’t been as lively as it was today for a long time.

Such a bustling scene could simply be described as a "gathering of all nations"!

"This place is really lively!"

Watching the crowds coming and going, Alyssa was as excited as a bird freed from its cage, her face, which hadn’t seen sunlight for a long time and was pallid, now flushed with excitement.

Seeing his daughter’s high spirits, Melvin couldn’t help but show a relaxed smile.

"So you need to hold onto daddy’s hand tightly, okay?"

"Okay!"

Alyssa nodded vigorously and grasped her father’s hand.

This was her first time visiting the City of Dawn.

Although it was only a little over twenty kilometers away from their home, at least ten of those kilometers were quite difficult to navigate.

For those ten kilometers, her father had hired no less than fifty bodyguards, and that uncle who didn’t speak seemed to be a bionic man produced by Huge Rock Military Industry.

From the moment she stepped into the settlement, she had been curiously looking all around.

Everything here was imbued with a sense of novelty for her.

The men and women who were picky shoppers on the streets and the welcoming salespeople were actually not much older than her, mostly seventeen or eighteen years old, with few elderly faces to be seen.

When they passed by a stall, she couldn’t help but stop in her tracks, her gaze fixing on a head of beautiful hair.

More precisely, it was on the fishbone-shaped hair clip adorning that head of hair.

That little fishbone looked as if a cat had nibbled a notch into it, which was incredibly charming. She had never seen such a cute accessory in the stores of Giant Stone City.

The sister wearing the hair clip was also very pretty.

Her complexion was slightly dark, like wheat tanned by the autumn sun, exuding a wild charm, but her smile was soft, creating a vivid contrast with her skin tone.

Noticing Alyssa’s gaze, Autumn Grass immediately realized she was looking at the hair clip on her head and smiled gently at the little customer.

"Do you like it?"

Alyssa nodded.

"Yes, I like it..."

Autumn Grass blinked, looking at the lovely girl in front of her.

"Because the customer is so cute, it’s only one silver coin."

What a bargain!

And...

The way this sister spoke was really nice.

Blushing, Alyssa felt as though she would be letting the sister down if she didn’t pay, so she looked up at her father pleadingly and tugged at his sleeve.

Seeing his daughter’s fondness for the hair clip, and even though Melvin thought it was a bit undervalued, he said nothing. Smiling, he waved at one of his bodyguards.

The latter, who was taciturn, nodded and took out one silver coin from his chest to place on the stall, completing the transaction.

Melvin turned to his overjoyed daughter and admonished.

"Don’t wear it in front of your mom, okay?"

"Okay!"

Alyssa nodded obediently.

Melvin smiled and tousled her hair, took the hair clip from her hand, and personally fixed it to one side of her head.

That delicate little fishbone paired with her golden hair was quite adorable.

Of course, he was well aware that it wasn’t because the hair clip was particularly cute or that the craftsmen from "North Suburb" were exceptionally skilled, but because his daughter carried noble blood within her veins.

Their destination was the Embassy Street of City of Dawn, the most splendid and majestic area, and he had already reserved a VIP suite in the Ideal Grand Hotel located on that street.

It was the most famous hotel nearby, built by the Ideal Group and only accepting Cr for payment, primarily serving residents visiting from Ideal City, though others willing to pay in Cr could make a reservation too.

The entire hotel boasted twenty floors, standing out amid the cityscape of City of Dawn. Everything from the complete set of furniture to the cement used for repairs was transported from Ideal City. Even the waitstaff consisted of one hundred artificially created female maids produced by the Kang Mao Group.

Whether for living or business discussions, it was the top choice.

Cameras from the Alliance were wildly scuttling across the sky, but would never dare to intrude into the hotels of Ideal City; he was very clear about this.

On their way to the hotel, Alyssa gazed around curiously and suddenly blurted out a question.

"Why do they all seem so happy?"

Melvin smiled and replied,

"Because the celebration is coming soon."

"What about us?" Alyssa tilted her head to look at her father, "Why don’t we have our own celebration? There would surely be many fun things happening, right?"

"Us?" Melvin paused, then regained his smile, and gently said to his daughter, "We don’t need such things, and there will be many interesting items to come. Remember the shops I took you to?"

"Are they in the Inner City?"

"That’s right, the best things in the entire settlement are there; we can even buy synthetically crafted limbs imported from Ideal City. There’s no need to fight over items with those people at the market."

Noticing a hint of disappointment on his daughter’s face, Melvin affectionately stroked her head.

"My child, why would you envy those people... A mere hair clip—if you like, I can have someone make you any kind of hair clip you want, and it would be a unique design. You should know that your life is much better than theirs."

Alyssa muttered discontentedly,

"But in Giant Stone City, people always lower their heads when they look at us."

Melvin sighed and explained patiently,

"That’s because they respect us."

Alyssa looked at her father, puzzled.

"But... if you can’t see their eyes, how do you know whether it’s respect or hatred in them?"

Hatred?

Melvin furrowed his brows.

"Who taught you these things?"

He was truly getting angry now.

He had always been careful to maintain that beautiful, idyllic world in his daughter’s heart. He didn’t expect to live in that perfect world himself, but he at least hoped that his beloved little girl could spend her entire life without touching the things he had to deal with on a daily basis.

But annoying things kept finding their way into his house, blowing the curtains he had hung wide open time and time again.

Hatred?

How could that word be in his daughter’s vocabulary!

Seeing her father’s displeased face, Alyssa closed her mouth, a trace of fear appearing on her face, and she dared not speak or answer.

Realizing his expression frightened his daughter, Melvin quickly switched to a warm smile, indulgently touching her beautiful hair.

"My precious daughter... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. Please forgive Daddy for occasionally bringing negativity from work back home, and please believe me, Daddy would never hurt you."

After a pause, he continued patiently,

"Your shoes, dresses, and the lovely dolls didn’t just appear out of thin air. The world has been destroyed a long time ago. Those lowly fellows tirelessly bring all the beauty to you, not because they love you like Daddy but because of the collective efforts of your daddy, Uncle Duron, and those shareholders who support us... all of us together. You don’t need to feel sympathy for those gray, failed lives. If you truly understood them, you would know they are not worth your sympathy... Starting tomorrow, you shouldn’t read the ’Survivor’s Daily’ anymore."

Perhaps after returning, he should give Duron a heads-up.

He supported those newspapers, radio broadcasts, and other forms of entertainment. For example, Mr. Hauser’s channel was quite good. While making fun of the ugly Wasteland Wanderers to alleviate boredom, he would teach the surrounding Survivor Settlements to plant some economic crops... But the premise was that these things had to be solely for entertainment.

However, looking at it now, Survivor’s Daily was clearly not that sort of thing.

Although Playboy’s supplements were all about teasing fantasies with risqué content, he felt offended after laughing at those seemingly harmless jokes. Were the nobles of the Inner City that lustful? What beauties hadn’t they seen? How could they possibly get so angry because they couldn’t tear stockings made of Devil Silk!

Even worse was Worker Report, which serialized stories of impoverished grassroots rising up. Didn’t those guys, whose brains were swollen with beer, know that was totally illogical? No matter how awesome a Mercenary was, at the end of the day, they were just a lackey, and what about Awakeners? Could they punch it out with power armor?

Thinking of the workers, each holding a copy of the same newspaper, a slight chill suddenly surged in Melvin’s heart.

Perhaps his daughter was right.

How could he know whether the hidden gazes of those people harbored love or hatred? Humans were much more complex than Mutants.

But this could wait.

The pressing matter he needed to solve was the circulation issue of chips.

They had already earned too much "Base currency."

This wouldn’t do!

The nature of trade was mutual benefit, but it seemed that only the Alliance got to enjoy the beer they traded for, gulping down a belly full of foam.

There had to be a stable channel to exchange the surplus chips for Silver Coins, or better yet, exchange them directly for Cr!

If he could solve this problem, all the nobles of the Inner City would thank him, even if they were not his core customers!

Life in the Inner City, no matter what, couldn’t be more comfortable than in Ideal City.

If they could exchange a large amount of chips for Cr, they could take the Cr obtained from the chips and live a godly life in Ideal City that they never even dared to dream of before. The factories of Giant Stone City ran nonstop, with the surplus chips flowing into an inexhaustible pool.

Thank God, the Alliance had done what he had wanted to do his whole life yet never had the chance to—solve the exchange issue for Cr.

It was not the listed consignment exchange of the trading post.

The soup and water splashed out by those peddlers when they shook their bottles and cans weren’t enough to go around, he even had to be cautious about controlling the board to scrape together tuition fees for his son.

But businesses were too generous towards the Alliance.

It was said that the shrewd merchants on the East Coast supported the Alliance by giving them a preferential exchange rate of 1:3! Three Silver Coins could be exchanged for one point of Cr!

It was not clear what the limit of the exchange was, but even if it was just a hundred million, it would be enough for the nobles of the Inner City to dance with joy.

Giant Stone City was also a victorious country, and he had to help the Residents of Giant Stone City get a share from this real honey pot!

The Alliance would become a bridge!

Just then, at the entrance to Embassy Street, he saw someone he didn’t expect to encounter.

That distinctive deep blue power armor, he didn’t need to ask to guess who it was!

Signaling the bodyguards behind him to stay put, Melvin immediately approached with his daughter, greeting him cheerily.

"Honored Manager, it’s such a pleasure to encounter you here!"

Hearing someone call his name, Chu Guang turned around and saw a man of great pomp leading a little girl, greeting him.

"Who might you be?"

"I am Melvin, the bank president of Giant Stone City Bank! I’ve long admired your reputation!" With an elegant noble etiquette, Melvin smiled at Chu Guang and took the opportunity to introduce his daughter, "This is my daughter, Alyssa... Alyssa, say hello to the gentleman."

"Hello, esteemed Manager," Alyssa followed her father’s lead with an elegant curtsy and looked at Chu Guang with a blink, "You look much younger than the legends say. I thought you were of my father’s generation."

Chu Guang chuckled at her words, looked at the little girl, and jokingly said,

"It seems I’m not mature enough; I should learn more from your father."

"You jest!" Melvin smoothly picked up the conversation from his daughter and said respectfully, "Among all the Settlement leaders I have met, you are the most impressive, please forgive my daughter’s impudence."

"Impudence? Youth is the morning sun, the hope that shines on the refuge’s gates; that should be the highest compliment," Chu Guang looked at the little girl’s blushing face and gently smiled, "I have a feeling you have smart eyes; you should become a very outstanding person."

Alyssa’s eyes lit up, and she said in delighted surprise,

"Really?"

"Of course," Chu Guang nodded, glanced at her hairpin, and said with a smile, "Your hairpin is very pretty."

"I actually hope that my daughter can live a safe and peaceful life," Melvin said with a smile, looking at Chu Guang before continuing, "I’ve come this time to deliver the congratulations from all shareholders of Giant Stone City Bank. Congratulations on defeating that savage Army and bringing the light of order to River Valley Province! Our future is brighter than it has ever been! A shared brightness!"

Chu Guang replied with a polite smile as well,

"Thank you, I accept your congratulations on behalf of the residents of the Alliance, and we welcome you to visit City of Dawn. We have fine wine and delicacies to welcome our friends; all who come here are guests, all are friends!"

This was Chu Guang’s first encounter with Melvin; before this, it had always been Luka communicating with him, and Chu Guang hadn’t been involved.

In fact, this chance meeting was a coincidence; he had just stopped by Embassy Street to offer his condolences to Yi Chuan, who was still mourning his brother, and took the opportunity to discuss the latest infrastructure projects with Li Changkong, the representative of Ideal Group.

He was now holding a subsidy of ten billion Cr, and all five major groups were very interested in the money allocated to him by the council.

As Chu Guang curiously examined the wealthiest man from Giant Stone City, Melvin was also carefully observing the man before him.

Young, tall, brimming with energy, this fellow had everything he coveted... especially those piercing, torch-like eyes.

He didn’t know what the man was thinking, but whenever their eyes met, he couldn’t help wanting to look away.

Sometimes he couldn’t help thinking how nice it would be if his eldest and second daughters hadn’t married yet.

Betting on both sides seemed like a good choice.

Given the "admiration" of the Inner City nobles for this powerful politician who could help them make a fortune, even if he seemed a bit indecisive, they would think he was schmoozing for the benefit of all, as marrying noble blood to the land of the barbarians required a bit of courage.

"So... I will be taking my daughter to the hotel later to settle in, and I would like to have a private talk with you later in the evening, if that would be convenient for you?" Melvin, knowing his time was valuable, felt bad for taking up too much of it.

According to procedure, he would first need to talk with Luka and then schedule a time for negotiations with Chu Guang. It was protocol as well as the proper etiquette.

Chu Guang nodded with a smile,

"Of course, but it might be difficult before the celebration... Can it wait until after the celebration?"

He couldn’t wait to stuff the bonds into the pocket of this portly man before him, but first he had to make some necessary preparations.

Preparations that could help him sell the bonds for a better price.

After all, talking about it now might give the impression that he was desperately short of money... which he couldn’t afford to show at any cost.

Melvin was taken aback for a moment.

Chu Guang’s response had indeed surprised him.

He had thought that Chu Guang would immediately fix a time, but instead he seemed in no hurry, as if he was confident about managing the ten million in chips and interest soon due.

That was ten million chips.

Spread out over every resident of the Alliance, that was at least 500 each.

This guy wasn’t planning on reneging on the debt, was he?

Doubts sprang up in Melvin’s mind, although he instinctively felt it unlikely; an ambitious person wouldn’t commit such shortsighted actions, but he couldn’t help wondering where this guy would come up with the money.

Chips weren’t just printed willy-nilly.

They were, after all, made by casinos before the war.

"Alright then, I’ll follow your lead!" Melvin gently patted his daughter’s back, smiling as he spoke, "It’s just as well, I’ve been in meetings these days and haven’t spent time with my dear daughter for a while."

Watching the father and daughter, Chu Guang smiled and nodded,

"Enjoy the celebration."

-

(Thank you "Xue Liu" for the leader’s reward!!!)

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