This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 644 I Really Am the Manager!

Chapter 644: Chapter 644 I Really Am the Manager!

City of Dawn’s trading station was a hubbub of shouting voices, with a constant stream of merchants and passersby coming and going from daylight into the night.

Arrayed in a crisscross pattern on the ground were wagon ruts of varying sizes, and stalls were piled high with a myriad of rare and exotic treasures.

Among them were the Eight-unit Octopus-style Mechanical Hands produced by Huge Rock Military Industry, clocks and jewelry from the Camel Hump Kingdom, generic humanoid servant androids imported from Ideal City, and even exotic spices from the Far Sea Continent, as well as soaps manufactured by the Army.

In short, the goods here were such that you could only fail to find them if you couldn’t imagine them.

Long ago, the market in the City of Dawn had shifted its business model. Keeping the large-scale commodity trading points operated by the Alliance, they also rented out expanded trading spaces to individuals.

The tenants of the stalls included local merchants and residents of the refuge, as well as traveling traders.

Even before the Tide began, the area had gradually become bustling as winter passed.

Especially now, with the news of the Tide’s end spreading, it added a festive hue to the prosperity here.

"Has there been some good news recently?"

Stopping in front of a stall, a man in a gray long-collared coat looked up at the decorations hanging in front of the stall and asked casually.

His skin was slightly dark, his brows and eye corners deeply wrinkled, bearing the look of having endured many hardships, with a suitcase in hand.

The stall owner glanced at him and felt this man looked unfamiliar, likely a traveling merchant from afar, and he responded with a smile.

"The respected Manager led us to triumph over the Tide. In three days, we’ll hold a celebration of victory, an old tradition here. Is this your first time here?"

"That’s not the case, but the last time I came here, this place was still a wilderness." The man looked around, making a helpless expression and said, "Just now, I almost thought I had read the map wrong."

Seeing his inexperienced demeanor, the stall owner said with a laugh.

"That must have been many years ago! This area is now under the control of the Alliance, nothing like the wilderness it was years ago."

Although the man hadn’t returned here for many years, he seemed familiar with the term "Alliance," clearly having heard about this region elsewhere.

"I’ve heard that the manager of Shelter No. 404 led his residents to build a prosperous Utopia on the Wasteland. They not only aim to unite all the suffering survivors but also vow to end the Wasteland Era as their life’s ambition..."

The stall owner smiled sheepishly.

"Haha, it’s not as exaggerated as the rumors say, but it’s quite alright... By the way, my friend, where are you from?"

The man answered.

"Southern Sea Area."

The stall owner looked at him in surprise.

"Southern Sea Area? The islands down south? I heard they have beautiful scenery."

It was indeed too far, and with Haiye Province and Brocade River Province in turmoil, he really didn’t know much.

The man gave a wry smile, making a helpless expression and said.

"If you consider sea beasts capable of generating waves tens of meters high part of the scenery... then you might like that place."

The stall owner chuckled awkwardly.

"Haha, it seems every home has its own challenges... Apart from that Lair in the city center, the biggest creature we have here is the Manager’s mount."

The man paused.

"His... mount?"

"A Claw of Death," the stall owner said with a hint of pride, as if the person who rode atop the Claw of Death were himself, "Even the mighty Claw of Death cringes at his feet. There’s nothing on this planet he can’t conquer... including the Lair in the city center!"

The man couldn’t help twitching his eyebrows mirthfully, felt like laughing but thought it impolite, so he mentally noted the seller’s lack of exposure.

However, one of the stall owner’s statements caught his attention.

"You mentioned he conquered the Lair in the city center... what do you mean by that?"

The vendor spoke proudly.

"It means exactly what it sounds like, he took out the guy even the War Construction Committee couldn’t beat, and it’s not just for this year’s Tide, it will never happen again."

The man stared in disbelief, his jaw dropping slightly.

Took out...

How could you possibly take that thing out?!

He had been studying the "Mutated slime fungus" for years now, and the annoying thing about it was that if even a tiny bit remained, it would keep coming back indefinitely, and each resurrection made it more troublesome than the last.

In fact, he had come here for that very lair, but now this vendor was telling him... the lair had been taken out?

Seeing the man standing there dumbfounded and not speaking for a long time, continuously asking questions with no intention of buying, the vendor gradually lost interest in continuing the conversation.

But, after all, he was running a business and didn’t want to offend anyone, so he hesitated to just send him away and instead "kindly" suggested,

"If you want to learn more about the City of Dawn, I suggest you buy the latest newspaper and then head to the Highway Town Inn for a beer. You can sit in the lobby all day without anyone bothering you, and you’ll never lack for someone to chat with... The stories you hear from those mercenaries and traders are much more exciting than anything you’ll hear around here, especially from Old Hooke, who has been here since the City of Dawn was nothing but wilderness."

"Thank you, I’ll consider your suggestion," the man seemed to realize the vendor’s disinterest and politely replied before preparing to leave.

"You’re welcome. I’m Zhang Datong. If you need wholesale hardware tools or automatic rifles, you can find me... By the way, what do you do?"

"I am a Manager," the man honestly replied.

"Ma... Manager?!" The vendor didn’t realize at first, until he repeated the words to himself and was then shockingly surprised, his eyes widening.

"Uh... but I’m not the Manager here," noticing the vendor’s stunned expression, the man suddenly recalled something and said helplessly, "No offense, although I know ’Manager’ has a special meaning to you, there are actually more shelters in the world than you might think. By the way, if I wanted to meet your Manager... how would I go about it?"

Zhang Datong stared with his mouth agape for a good while, then steadied himself and looked intently at the man.

"...Really? Which shelter are you from?"

Guessing he would be skeptical, the man sighed, rolled up his left sleeve, and revealed his slightly faded VM.

"Shelter No. 70, Manager Sun Yuechi."

However, to his surprise, when the vendor saw him pull out the VM, instead of his jaw dropping in amazement, he quickly lost interest.

"Tsk, what does that thing prove?" Zhang Datong scoffed, his initially skeptical expression deepening into doubt, "It’s just a vital signs monitor, loads of people have them."

Sun Yuechi was struck dumb and was about to argue, but before he could speak, the vendor continued,

"Even if you are a Manager, where’s your power armor?"

"Po... power armor?"

"Yes," Zhang Datong looked at him strangely, "You said you are a Manager, at least have some power armor, right?"

Sun Yuechi looked bewildered.

Power armor and Manager...

Is there a necessary connection between the two?

Seeing his disheveled bear-like appearance which made it unlikely he could produce such an item, Zhang Datong couldn’t help showing a bit of disdain and felt embarrassed to even say that their Manager could walk around in power armor without even turning on the power.

"Forget it, I guess you can’t produce that either... But you must have a mount, right?"

"I..." Sun Yuechi’s face turned red with frustration, unable to utter a word.

Not wanting to embarrass this guy further, Zhang Datong waved his hand.

"Alright, alright, I’ve seen plenty like you. Every few days someone comes here in a blue jacket pretending to be a resident of the refuge. Hey, claiming to be a Manager, that’s a first for me. I’ll just assume you’re bragging. Go brag to someone else, I don’t have time for this."

Sun Yuechi swallowed the words he was about to say and glared at the smirking vendor, then turned and walked away, carrying his briefcase.

What’s with the residents here feeling kind of silly?

He had hoped when he first heard about the Alliance, but he didn’t expect it to be just so-so.

Suddenly, Sun Yuechi stopped at the entrance of the trade station, his mind racing as he decided against visiting the Manager directly.

Perhaps...

The not-so-intelligent guy was right.

Maybe it was better like he suggested, to buy a newspaper at the highway town tavern first, secretly observe what exactly was going on here, and then make a decision...

...

Meanwhile, at the highway town tavern not far from the trade station.

Wearing an apron, Lisa navigated through the crowded room, placing a tray full of beer on the wooden table before hastily making her way to the kitchen.

Watching the young girl bustling about, Old Hooke felt a pang of sympathy.

At first, he had merely pitied her tragic background, but as time passed, he had unconsciously come to see her as his own daughter.

It just so happened he had no children.

Taking advantage of a moment when Lisa was resting, he called over the diligent young girl and handed her a small bag of silver coins.

"I want you to take a few days off starting tomorrow. This is your pay for the month. Come back to work after the festival in three days."

Lisa paused, her voice timid with concern.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Old Hooke grinned.

"No, quite the opposite, you’ve been doing great. And that’s exactly why you need some rest. What’s the point of earning money if you can’t enjoy it? Go on and buy yourself some new clothes. The folks from Home of the Refugees are all watching me—I don’t want to be known as a boss who exploits his workers."

To prevent the rescued underprivileged from being exploited by unscrupulous employers, the Alliance’s Home of the Refugees would regularly check in on those who had obtained residences status.

This initiative was proposed by the residents of the refuge.

It was said to have started when some nosy Blue Jackets discovered a shady corporation maliciously hiring a large number of "under-surveillance" laborers, exploiting their desire to become residents of the Alliance by ruthlessly overworking them.

This included disregarding the Manager’s declarations at the victory day celebration, continuing to exploit workers using old laws, and making them work twelve consecutive hours on the production line without overtime pay.

The eventual outcome was highly satisfying—the Manager lived up to his promise and forced that villain out, an event that even made the front page of the Survivor’s Daily.

Not long after, Home of the Refugees adopted a new system of revisits.

Old Hooke wasn’t worried about the revisits from Home of the Refugees nor was he concerned about any bad rumors, as he believed he had done nothing wrong.

He simply thought that someone her age should live a bit more light-heartedly, and if he had kids, he would want his children to be like her.

Ah... to live in the sunlight.

What a luxurious wish.

Old Hooke felt a wave of emotion—this wasn’t the first time, and he had even forgotten he was living in the Wasteland.

Grateful for the old man’s kindness, Lisa clutched the bag of money in her palm and softly said,

"But... won’t the festival be busy? Are you sure it’s okay if I’m not here?"

"It’s alright," Old Hooke laughed, waving his hand to indicate she needn’t worry, "I’ll hire some temporary help."

Debt Giant Eye, sitting at the bar drinking beer, belched and raised his wobbly right hand.

"Can I sign up first? Or tell me when the task is posted so I can get ready to grab it."

Recognizing the regular, Old Hooke laughed and retorted.

"You? I can’t afford to hire you, I still need to save some money for my retirement."

Lying next to the bottle, Debt Giant Eye said with a contorted face,

"Eighty percent off... oh no, fifty percent off, someone give me some work, anything will do, as long as it makes money."

Old White patted his shoulder, laughing,

"What’s up, bro, fallen on hard times?"

Elena, munching on a lizard’s tail skewer, looked at him with a comically puzzled face.

"It can’t be that bad, how much could your hobby possibly cost?"

"Bug off."

Debt Giant Eye’s face turned red, seemingly aware that this gang probably wanted to rip him off, so he countered back before they could, but he also didn’t have the courage to admit where he wasted the money.

However, his good friend, the construction site guy, didn’t cover for him and hee-hee laughed while spilling the beans.

"This guy bought over a hundred Eaters."

Over a hundred Eaters?!

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.

"That’s something... your intelligence attribute isn’t low, huh."

"What the hell use is a hundred Eaters."

"Ten thousand silver coins..." Fang Chang stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and then said, "It doesn’t seem that expensive... it shouldn’t have bankrupted him."

The price of one piece of Light Cavalry Exoskeleton, for an old player in A measurements, really wasn’t too expensive, at most it had a moderate meaning.

The silver coin revenue in the game increases in synchronization with the contribution level and sequence level.

Elena looked suspiciously at Big Eyes, who was face-down on the table, always feeling that there was more to it.

Sure enough, the construction site guy playfully continued to reveal more.

"If it was just that, it would’ve been fine, but could my brother Big Eyes accept his subordinates being a bunch of idiots? Obviously not! So, this brother equipped each Eater with a gun, though it’s just a pipe rifle, but 7 mm bullets definitely cost money, right?"

"Uh, that’s true." Elena calculated; it indeed wasn’t a small amount.

"Right?" The construction site guy shrugged his shoulders and continued, "And as you know, Eaters usually just stand there, barely maintaining a balance of organic matter... with his startling style of play, not only does he have to keep up with the Eaters’ ammo consumption, he also needs to solve their nutrient issues."

"Enough, stop talking, I’m an idiot." Debt Giant Eye covered his face, almost crying.

The construction site guy wasn’t done having fun yet and smirked as he hooked his shoulder.

"C’mon, bro, I’m not done yet."

Debt Giant Eye pushed the guy’s hand away.

"Get lost! I don’t need a brother like you!"

Old White: "Hahaha!"

The people sitting at the bar continued to talk and laugh, watching their good fellowship, and Lisa, holding her tray, couldn’t help but curl her lips up.

However, joy in this world is always equal.

When some rejoice, others worry.

While everyone was suggesting bad ideas to Big Eyes with laughter and cheers, an astonished exclamation suddenly echoed in the luxury suite of the backyard villa.

"What?! They stopped selling?!"

-

(Sorry, bros, I was behind today, but I managed to catch up, T.T)

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