This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 63 Big Fish Eats Little Fish, Little Fish Eats Shrimp (1/4)

Chapter 63: Chapter 63 Big Fish Eats Little Fish, Little Fish Eats Shrimp (1/4)

While Chu Guang was talking with the head of the Yu Family, the players watching on the side were whispering quietly among themselves.

"Did you understand what the Manager just said?"

"No!"

"Well, I kind of got it. Basically, he traded a kilogram of coarse salt for ten beast skins?"

"Looks like that kilogram of salt was exchanged for three kilograms of smoked meat!"

"Three kilograms of smoked meat for ten skins? Damn! That’s a steal! Ten skins could fetch two guns, right? That’s seriously taking advantage of the locals!"

"You’re thinking too small! By the way... how many silver coins are the coats and leather goods that the Manager sells to us?"

"...?"

"What?!"

"What the hell???"

These adorable little players seemed to have stumbled upon a serious problem, but Chu Guang, who had scored big, wasn’t bothered by it.

Does it matter?

Clearly not.

If he didn’t buy low and sell high, would he even be an NPC?

You think you’ve passed into a different world!

Can’t stand private servers, where silver coin stats could be modified as much as one liked, as abundantly as the waters in the river.

Yu Hu, the Yu Family’s second son, was still there, counting on his fingers; addition and subtraction within a hundred was still somewhat challenging for him.

One hyena skin exchanged for 150g of coarse salt, and 150g of salt at Bet Street went for 3 chips, which means... one hyena skin was exchanged for 3 chips?

That’s one more chip than selling to Old Charlie.

But the quality of this coarse salt was much better compared to what Old Charlie sold...

No sand mixed in!

Finally understanding, Yu Hu turned to Chu Guang with unease and said,

"How can that be? You’re losing out with this trade. Let’s just make it 100g like this time."

Watching this naive child, Chu Guang suddenly didn’t know how to face him, so he looked up to the sky and patted him on the shoulder.

"Have you ever heard of a term called ’win-win’?"

"Win-win?"

This foreigner always spoke in confusing terms. Yu Hu had just figured out how much one skin was worth and then got muddled by this word he had never heard before.

He just felt...

Brother Chu’s expression looked mysterious.

"That’s right," Chu Guang nodded and continued, "You made a profit, and so did I. We’re in a win-win situation now."

Yu Hu looked joyfully towards his father.

"Dad! Let’s sell all our furs to Brother Chu from now on! That way, we’ll both win!"

"Shut up."

The head of the Yu Family clearly thought more deeply,

but obviously, it wasn’t because of the price—his son had inherited his way of thinking.

Looking at Chu Guang, the old man still had reservations.

"I get your point, but the mayor doesn’t allow us to do business with outsiders. If we’re discovered..."

Once or twice might be okay.

But in the long run, it would definitely come to light.

Since the slaughtering and tanning both occur on Bet Street, and if the fur disappears without being sold to Old Charlie, suspicions would definitely arise.

Hearing this, Chu Guang laughed nonchalantly.

"Am I a merchant? Obviously not. My home is right here! We’re neighbors, and more importantly, friends. Is there a problem visiting a friend’s house? Clearly, there’s no problem."

"As for Old Leech... ahem, I mean the Mayor of Bet Street, if he forbids you to contact us, it’s fine. You don’t need to bring anything from home. Just bring the prey you’ve hunted directly to me."

"Our people can even help you skin and butcher the animal for free, processing it right in front of you to ensure no shortage or cheating!"

"When the time comes, keep the skin, take the meat and the salt you’ve exchanged and go back. Or, you could simply sell the hunting game to me. Not only can you exchange it for salt here, but also for grain and smoked dried meat, which is definitely more cost-effective than buying with tokens at Old Charlie’s!"

Hearing Chu Guang’s promises, the old man’s brows finally relaxed, and he excitedly murmured.

"That won’t do... We can’t allow you to butcher the meat for us without something in return. According to the rules of Bet Street, the slaughterhouse takes thirty percent from the proceeds; we should give you thirty percent too!"

What the fuck?

Is it so profitable to run a slaughterhouse in Bet Street?

But it does make sense, slaughtering is skilled work.

Chu Guang sighed.

Indeed, he was still too kind.

"You are too polite."

"Thirty percent is too much. Twenty percent will do!"

...

Chu Guang didn’t want to quibble too much about the difference between twenty percent or thirty percent.

Anyway, no matter how it was calculated, he still benefited more.

Of course, for these scavengers of Bet Street, doing business with him surely wouldn’t be a loss.

After all, he was different from merchants.

Those merchants were more ruthless than leeches; they conducted business brutally, wanting to suck even the marrow out of bones. After all, nobody knew if they would be alive tomorrow, who would care about the day after?

As for himself.

He aimed for more than just a few skins and pieces of meat.

If handled correctly, Bet Street might soon see a new Mayor.

At the very least, once there was enough mutual trust built up, a group of people might choose to leave their homeland and come over to join him.

He needed an opportunity.

The Yu Family, old and young, thanked Chu Guang and finally accepted the one kilogram of coarse salt they had been given and prepared to leave.

However, at that moment, Little Fish, who had been hiding behind Yu Hu, suddenly emerged and looked up at Chu Guang with her big round eyes, speaking crisply.

"Will you come back?"

Come back?

It had only been less than two weeks, yet, when Chu Guang heard this, he suddenly felt as if it had been ages.

Seeing Chu Guang not responding, Little Fish continued.

"Second Brother said, you weren’t taken away by the hyenas and are still alive, but you won’t return. However, he said I could come to see you, so I came. Little Fish just wants to ask, do you still need that shed?"

This kid spoke just as she used to, cramming everything into a sentence, wanting to say it all at once.

However, Chu Guang roughly understood, feeling somewhat touched.

Originally, in his plans, the shack on Bet Street was just an escape route, and it could be useful for exchanging some supplies during the pioneering period. It would be enough if Little Fish watched it for a couple of days.

If three days went by without him returning.

It meant that he didn’t need to go back.

"Have you been watching it for me?"

"Yes!"

Nodding vigorously like pounding garlic, Little Fish proudly raised her little nose, looking very smug and no longer shy or afraid.

"Little Fish promised to watch it for you and will never go back on her word. Second Brother said your door had gathered dust, so you definitely wouldn’t come back. I even swept the dust away for you."

"Even though that little jerk from the Wang Family always has his eye on your doorframe, always trying to pry the door open when I’m not looking, Little Fish has sharp ears, you know, I can hear the slightest sound! He doesn’t dare to mess with me since Second Brother used to beat him up."

The more Chu Guang listened, the more he felt guilty.

Although he had never cheated people when he was in sales, he had certainly smooth-talked plenty, not to mention exploiting people’s greed. However, facing such honest, innocent, and kind customers, he really couldn’t bring himself to exploit them.

How do I put this?

Ah!

Nevermind.

Maybe that’s why he has a face as handsome as Yan Zu’s, but he can never become a top seller, nor can he marry into a rich family.

"Thank you for watching over my home for so long! But you won’t need to anymore..."

"That shed, consider it my gift for your coming of age—if there’s anything useful inside, feel free to tear it down, no need to ask me."

Little Fish nodded, not fully understanding.

"Aren’t you coming back?"

That was all she really wanted to ask.

"Yeah, my companions need me, I’ll be staying here now," Chu Guang said in a roundabout way.

"Alright."

Thinking that she wouldn’t have any candy to eat in the future, Little Fish felt a little sad, but she perked up anyway.

"Thank you for the gift! So, can Little Fish give it to her brother? My burrow is pretty good, but my elder brother still needs a bigger one to get married. That way, he won’t have to marry too far away, and he can come back to visit often."

"Cough, your brother... that’d be marrying. Anyway, it’s up to you, as it’s yours now," Chu Guang replied.

Chu Guang patted her little head and then pulled out all three lollipops from his pocket and stuffed them into her small hands.

"Hold these and eat them, they’re all yours... remember to tear off the wrapper."

He added, concerned,

"Also, don’t stuff them all in your mouth at once, only eat one at a time, or they’ll blend together and become cloying."

"Wow, thanks!"

Finally, getting her long-awaited lollipops, although somewhat reluctantly, Little Fish sensibly followed her family home.

Soon, it was going to be dark, and monsters would crawl out of those tall, big buildings and scavenge the streets for food.

She had heard this since she was little...

...

Evening.

It was bustling in front of the northern gate of the Outpost Base.

A market seemed to have naturally formed here.

Players were sticking wooden boards into the ground, carving their identity numbers and IDs as they demarcated a modestly sized area indicating it was their reserved spot.

The people from yesterday were still here today, and nobody bothered to mess with anyone else’s setup.

Now, since there were fewer people in the game, and most came by word of mouth, everyone was more or less nice and behaved decently.

After all, what good does hindering others do?

Most people here were the future top tier, even if the next best was a secondary fighter, a disgrace at least was a third-tier boss.

Not considering one’s face now, how would one manage in the future?

Seeing that the players maintained order, Chu Guang, the Manager, was more than happy to relax, and simply went along with the "public opinion" by posting a notice in front of the northern gate:

[From today onward, within a hundred meters outside the northern gate will be the "Market," where residents of the refuge are free to set up stalls and trade.]

[Consignment shelf space is located in the Refuge Resident Hall, and a rental fee of 1 Silver Coin is required to consign items. If unclaimed by anyone, items will be removed after seven days. Fees must be replenished for renewal.]

Once the notice was posted, players flocked to read it, and cheers and jubilation followed.

"Manager, you’re awesome!"

"Great! Is this an update in the game? The market function is finally here! Yes!"

"Anyone buying mutated hyena fangs? Now that the market function is here, enchanting, gem socketing, and inscriptions can’t be far behind, right? Why wait to stock up on materials and get stronger?"

"Anyone buying mushrooms? Fresh Big Mushrooms! Ooh, please buy them, I guarantee I won’t raise the price again. From now on, just 4 Copper Coins, really!"

"Mr. Crow, did your mushrooms go to college?"

"Can they lay eggs?"

"Can we buy it and set it free?"

"Can Diona spit in my drink?"

"Damn, you’re a freak!"

Watching the noisy players, Chu Guang wore a smile like that of an old father.

Life was getting better by the day.

But it was darkening earlier every day.

...

Before it got dark, the Yu Family returned to Bet Street, but the atmosphere here was somewhat different than usual.

A cart was parked in front of the gates of Bet Street, beside which stood two men wearing beast skin coats and carrying iron pipe rifles, and a disheveled, ragged slave whose gender was indiscernible due to torment.

Old Charlie was negotiating with the leading man at the doorway, his face adorned with a servile smile.

The latter, visibly impatient, flicked cigarette ash onto Old Charlie’s face, while the other burly man urged him to hurry up.

Soon, Old Walter led a woman out from inside.

She was wrapped in a robe, with shackles on her wrists and ankles, her ankle marked with a barcode, the faint whiteness of her skin would appeal to anyone, man or woman.

Little Fish had never seen such a beautiful "sister" before, her shiny eyes blinking with curiosity and envy.

"Bro, who is she?"

Yu Hu whispered.

"I don’t know, the old town chief probably bought her from outside, something to do with clones?"

"A clone. Look at her eyes, they’re soulless. Don’t stare!" The old man, evidently more experienced, quickly pulled his son and daughter aside and whispered, "Keep quiet and don’t make eye contact with those people. Let’s wait here for a bit."

The two obediently followed their father, hiding in the shadows at the street corner.

The man in the beast skin checked the "goods," chuckled, and slapped Old Charlie’s shoulder, giving him a thumbs-up.

Then Little Fish saw the rude man tie the "sister’s" hand to the cart and waved his companions to leave.

"Bro, where will they take her?"

Yu Hu didn’t know how to explain, being a man, he could guess, but didn’t know how to put it.

Each year as winter approached, every household on Bet Street responded to the town chief’s mobilization by giving up supplies, but did the old town chief not have to pay tribute to others?

Obviously not.

It was like big fish eating small fish, and small fish eating shrimp.

"You’re still too young, don’t ask so much."

"I’m not young anymore," Little Fish muttered sullenly.

Hearing this, Yu Hu chuckled and ruffled his little sister’s hair.

"Good, if you’re not small, eat more meat to grow taller... What’s that plastic stick, is it tasty? Do you have more, let me try one."

"No! Go ask Brother Chu yourself." Little Fish dodged like a little fish.

"It’s time to go."

The old man carefully concealed something in his chest, then reached out, took the plastic stick from Little Fish’s mouth that she had been biting all along, and threw it to the corner of the wall, ignoring her dissatisfaction, pulling the two towards Bet Street.

Old Charlie glanced at the three, said nothing, just chatted with Old Walter next to him in a relaxed tone, as if nothing had happened.

"Did your previous refuge have such beautiful chicks?"

"No, the people living in my refuge were all normal."

"That woman isn’t normal?"

"Clones come in two types, one develops from a baby, grows naturally, and is almost indistinguishable from normal people. The other type is fast-tracked, stays in a cultivation chamber until fully developed, and is not much different from a commodity... There are all sorts of uses and development periods, with varying technological content, it’s too complicated for you to understand."

Old Walter chuckled and handed a cigarette to Charlie.

"There is still some time before dark, tell me about it."

Old Charlie sighed, started to recount what was an evidently brief yet delightful period in his life, like he was telling a story.

Little Fish also wanted to stop and listen, but her father didn’t want to. Without further explanation, he hurriedly pulled her and Yu Hu back home.