This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 649: You Underestimated Your Own Influence

Chapter 649: Chapter 649: You Underestimated Your Own Influence

In the southern industrial district of City of Dawn, it was now eerily silent. Most of the workers had already finished their shifts, leaving only the guardhouse lit with sporadic lights.

Ever since the railway leading to Dawn City was completed, the Alliance’s heavy industry and numerous industrial workers had shifted north, leaving behind only the lighter industries in this oldest of industrial zones.

However, this also turned out to be a blessing. As the heavy industries moved out, the remaining light industries received significant support from both the City of Dawn and Alliance authorities.

Especially last year, when the Alliance and Giant Stone City engaged in fierce competition across various fields, this light industrial district thus gave birth to a large batch of excellent large-scale factories.

One of them was the Tujia Printing Factory.

The owner of this printing factory was named Wang Tu, a survivor from Brocade River Province who was also part of the second wave of immigrants following the Bone Chewing Chaos.

Since the printing industry during the Prosperity Epoch was barely hanging on to its relevance, the industrial circles of the Alliance had no existing production lines to reference.

At that time, the war in Luo Xia Province coincided, and with the Alliance facing threats from the Army Eastward Expansion Faction, players concentrated their creativity on military matters. Printing, deemed a less popular profession among players, attracted little interest and energy for development; hence, the Alliance’s printing capabilities were very basic, with both pulp preparation and printing requiring manual labor.

Against this backdrop, the merchant from the south saw a business opportunity and cleverly modified a canning production line. Thus, the Alliance ended up with its first fully automated production line that could handle everything from pulp preparation to printing and publishing.

Yes, not only did it handle printing, but it also covered papermaking.

Later, this printing factory made further improvements to this foundation. Due to its robust market competitiveness, it secured procurement orders from multiple news agencies and publishers, including Survivor’s Daily. Gradually, it grew from a small workshop covering less than two-thirds of an acre into a large factory spanning the size of five soccer fields.

This size might not seem noticeable in reality, even perhaps somewhat small, but given the Alliance’s population which barely totaled a million, assembled from here and there, this factory was considerably large.

Currently, the Tujia Printing Factory had not only become the largest printing factory in the City of Dawn but also the largest in the entire Alliance, commanding a staggering market share of sixty-three percent. The "Awakener Bol" it printed was sold as far west as the Lion Kingdom and even to the north in the Free State.

Most factories in the Alliance had grown from nothing to strength like this. Some advanced through brilliant flashes of insight, others due to persistent efforts, either through enough fortune or inherent wealth. The strong military of the Alliance provided all competitors with a relatively stable and fair environment, enabling them to fully demonstrate their talents.

Although not every individual had the opportunity to leave their name in history, nearly everyone who had accomplished something significant had an almost legendary story behind them.

Wang Tu was quite proud of this, whether it was his initial decision to move his family north to join the Alliance, or his choice of the printing and publishing industry.

He planned, once he retired, to write his experiences into a memoir to record this miraculous era.

A canning factory worker who had just learned how to write could inspire thousands with a bestselling book, he had no doubt that he could accomplish this task if he took it seriously.

To avoid forgetting his youthful adventures when he got older, he decided to start writing now, or at the very least to record the daily happenings.

After the factory lights were turned off each day, he would pull open his desk drawer, take out the homemade potato distilled liquor brewed by residents of the refuge, and, while watching the dim night scene outside the window, draft the future best-selling memoir of the whole Alliance.

However, just as he had written the sentence "Today, nothing happened," he saw a string of bright lights outside on the street not far from his window.

A tipsy Wang Tu rose to his feet and staggered to the window, mumbling to himself.

"What is that?"

Isn’t the celebration the day after tomorrow?

As he wondered what was causing all the ruckus in the street, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside his office.

No one knocked.

The office door was pushed open directly.

His accountant ran in, looking panicked with a pale face.

"Boss! Something terrible has happened!"

Seeing the panic-stricken expression on his face, Wang Tu was momentarily stunned, not yet turning around.

"What’s gotten you so flustered—"

Seeing the boss still clueless about what had happened, the accountant, nearly in tears, hurriedly said,

"The batch of newspapers shipped out today has encountered a problem! Apparently, the Clear Spring City Daily headline slandered the Manager, and those newsstands are saying that the newspapers were printed here! Out there are citizens who have read the newspapers, including soldiers from the First Army Corps... We’ve landed ourselves in big trouble!"

"Wait, what is Clear Spring City Daily? Do we print that newspaper?"

Wang Tu stared blankly at his accountant, feeling as if a huge pot had just dropped from the sky, falling straight onto his head.

That’s not right—

"There’s a problem!"

At this moment, Wang Tu suddenly snapped back to reality. "If there’s an issue with the newspaper, you should go to the press, not him. He just runs a printing factory. What’s the use of finding him?"

His factory had a daily output of thousands of tons, and not only newspapers but also textbooks, novels, even courier boxes.

He had no idea what all his factory was printing.

"Could they have found the wrong person?" Wang Tu, dripping with sweat, grabbed the accountant’s arm, "You go and explain to them—"

Watching the boss still trying to find a reason, the accountant couldn’t help but laugh and cry.

"Hey, let’s not worry whose fault it is for now. You better hurry and follow me out the back door; don’t get caught by those people!"

Upon hearing this, cold sweat immediately squeezed out of Wang Tu’s forehead and he sobered up a bit.

Looking outside again, he saw a string of bright lights coming from flashlights.

As he gazed at the lights, a pair of eyes from the dark crowd also happened to look towards his room, following the flashlight beams.

After all, his was the only room with the lights on.

Now Wang Tu was not only fully sober, but his soul nearly flew out in fright; he hurriedly followed the accountant downstairs and scuttled out of the back door without choosing his path.

At this time, the factory’s gatekeepers finally couldn’t hold back, and the fervently excited citizens burst into the factory.

A massive tide of people surged, some heading to the office building and others to the newspaper storage warehouse.

Wang Tu, drenched in sweat and anxious, grabbed the accountant and shouted.

"Quick, call the police... call for security!"

The accountant swallowed nervously and stammered,

"It’s, it’s already been done."

Wang Tu released his grip on the accountant’s arm and paced back and forth anxiously at the back door, mumbling incessantly,

"It’s already been done?! Why haven’t they arrived?"

Just as the two were anxiously waiting, reinforcements from the security team finally arrived from the direction of the city center.

However, the reinforcements were still a step too late.

By the time they arrived at the scene, a massive fire had already arisen in the direction of the storage warehouse, lighting up the dark factory brightly.

The warehouse contained newly printed newspapers that were supposed to be loaded onto trucks in a few hours; now, they were all consumed by the fire.

Seeing the huge fire at the warehouse, Wang Tu’s face bore a weeping but tearless expression; he opened his mouth and after a long while, managed to squeeze out a phrase.

"This is really an undeserved disaster!"

...

A fire in the industrial zone was no small matter.

As soon as the crowd began to gather, Chu Guang had already instructed Xiao Qi to direct the security team to control the situation.

However, facing the enraged citizens, the dispatched security personnel were unable to be effective, retreating in the wake of accusations of "disloyalty."

Especially after hearing about the Clear Spring City Daily issue, some guards were even persuaded and took the side of the jeering citizens.

The Alliance’s earliest regular army was the security team. Whether it was the Guards Corps or the First and Second Army Corps, all originated from the security team. Known for their loyalty, they obviously wouldn’t allow anyone to insult their great Manager.

Thus, the matter escalated further until the fire broke out, and only then did people realize it had gone too far and hurriedly turned to help put out the fire.

Fortunately, the commotion didn’t result in any casualties, just the loss of a warehouse full of newspapers.

After hearing the whole ordeal, Chu Guang, who was discussing negotiation details with Old Charlie for tomorrow, was stunned.

It took him a long while to utter a sentence.

"...burn down the printing factory?"

"You underestimate your own influence and the admiration those young men have for you," Old Charlie said with a light sigh, jokingly addressing the stunned Chu Guang. "I bet everyone in the City of Dawn, except for the industrial owners, sympathizes with the rioters now."

The interests of different societal classes vary, and although the Alliance claims to unite everyone, it’s impossible to have everyone truly united.

However, it is indisputable that the soldiers, farmers, workers, clerks, and shopkeepers of the City of Dawn are staunch supporters of the Manager himself.

Unlike the technicians attracted by the ideals of the Alliance, they hardly grasp those elaborate principles and don’t care much; they merely believe in the words of the Manager of the Alliance and the Residents of the refuge he leads.

That’s why, when the gunfire erupted, everyone was up in arms.

The social cohesion reflected by this unity is unimaginable; the collective spirit can shine as brightly as nuclear fusion.

At this thought, Old Charlie couldn’t help but feel emotional.

With the Manager’s current prestige, even if he completely abandoned the ideals of the Alliance to crown himself emperor, no one would probably stop him; rather, everyone would cheer for him.

This, of course, included Old Charlie himself.

Perhaps other Residents of the refuge might object, but having lived in the Wasteland for so long, he had seen through the ugliness of human nature and lacked any pretentious reserve of the "Blue Jacket."

He had no doubt that having a wise king rule over those ignorant folks wasn’t a bad idea at all, even a mediocre king would be better than watching those foolish Waste Land Wanderers reach consensus on one stupid thing after another.

But the rarity and value lay precisely in this.

He could become the emperor of an empire at any time, yet he chose the toughest alternative path—

The almost impossible union.

At this moment, the door to the reading room opened, and Lu Bei walked in, stopping beside the sofa and giving a military salute.

Half an hour ago, Chu Guang had asked him to investigate the whole affair.

It seemed that he had found the results now.

"...The situation has been clarified; it was a group of traders from Bugra Free State. They first investigated the vendors of the newsstands, then bribed the manager of the second production workshop of the printing factory, the warehouse manager, and the transport driver to sneak in their overnight-fabricated Clear Spring City Daily. It’s not yet certain whether they were instructed by the Bugra authorities or had other motives, as per your request, we didn’t alert them by making contact."

As he said this, Lu Bei couldn’t help but add another comment.

"By the way, our investigation also revealed that the supervision at the Tujia Printing Factory is hugely flawed, almost as if there isn’t any... I think it should be considered an industrial safety accident."

Because no one carefully checked what they were printing, the warehouse was burned down by the angry citizens, which actually seemed quite reasonable.

At least he and the other young men of the Guards Corps felt the same.

Chu Guang shook his head.

"No matter what, setting a fire is not right! That’s an industrial area, and less than a kilometer away there’s a flour factory! It’s fortunate the fire was controlled; if it hadn’t been, the damage they caused would have been countless times greater than that of the destroyed newspaper."

Lu Bei said quietly.

"They didn’t intend to start a fire initially, they just planned to find the owner of the printing factory and clarify where Clear Spring City Daily really came from... but when the owner saw the crowd outside, he got scared and ran away, which made people start suspecting he had a guilty conscience."

Old Charlie looked at this young man and joked.

"Then the next day, the entire city’s Residents had no new newspapers to read?"

Lu Bei’s expression was subtle as he nodded.

Personally, he sympathized with those riled-up people, and he couldn’t help cheering for them since they did what he had wanted to but never got the chance.

Reasonably speaking, if not for the Manager, not just the industrial area, but the entire "North Suburb" would be desolate.

These guys, corrupted by money, completely blinded by it, have forgotten where the silver coins in their pockets came from!

Chu Guang could tell at a glance what Lu Bei was thinking, understanding his subconscious attempt to plead for the rioters.

And without even having to ask, he knew that other Army Corps leaders of the Alliance felt the same way.

Shortly after the incident occurred, Chu Guang heard from the security team that the commander of the First Army Corps, ’Wrench,’ personally went to the security team’s detention center to demand the release of his soldiers on the grounds that only the military court could judge them, and took away the soldiers involved in the riot.

Although Chu Guang was touched by the spontaneous loyalty and adoration of his subordinates, it was also the source of his headache.

Some couldn’t fathom the Manager’s reaction, and Lu Bei timidly asked in a low voice,

"Regarding the traders involved in the ’Clear Spring City Daily’ case, we have kept an eye on them. They are in the City of Dawn and haven’t gone anywhere... What do you plan to do with them?"

"First, arrest them all, and don’t let anyone escape!" Chu Guang said fiercely. "Interrogate them thoroughly and find out who’s behind these people!"

Damn it.

Originally, he didn’t bother with them, but unintentionally, he made a big mistake.

Lu Bei nodded and continued quietly.

"What about the troublemakers..."

After thinking for a while, Chu Guang could not suppress his compassion and asked,

"Has anyone confessed?"

At this time, it was pitch dark outside. A large crowd was squeezed inside a factory, and it was impossible to see who started the fire.

If no one confessed voluntarily, it didn’t matter much, as nearly all factories had purchased fire insurance from the Alliance Bank. Approving the compensation was just a matter for him to decide.

Fortunately, no lives were lost.

Putting the most aggressive instigators in detention for a couple of weeks to cool off, along with a few classes on general law, should mostly settle the matter—

"Some have." Lu Bei nodded, admiringly saying, "The fellow is from the First Army Corps. He said a man should own up to his actions, quite the man!"

Chu Guang: "..."

Seeing the troubled look on Chu Guang’s face, Old Charlie knew what he was thinking. Although knowing it wasn’t quite appropriate to laugh, he couldn’t help but cough lightly a few times.

"This matter is indeed tricky to handle, especially since the person involved has a military background... and I heard that among those who initially stirred up trouble, there seem to be residents from the refuge."

Of course, Chu Guang was aware of this, as Xiao Qi was the one who had given the yellow card.

"Is it widely known?"

Old Charlie shook his head.

"Not really... I’ve already reminded that innkeeper to mind his words, but I feel he would know even without saying."

Chu Guang sighed.

"Thanks for your concern."

His players were rarely worry-free; it wasn’t the first time he had to clean up after them.

Old Charlie smiled and said,

"You’re too polite, it’s what I should do. I can’t have you bothered with these trifles... Compared to that, negotiating with those ancient Survivor Forces using Qingquan’s Lair as a bargaining chip in exchange for more support is what you should really worry about."

"We won’t just win a war; we have created a miracle. I feel it’s not just businesses and academies, lately quite a few are eyeing us... They haven’t made any moves yet, but they are all watching in the dark," he paused before continuing.

"You are not in a position to handle this matter personally, and it’s not big enough to require your direct involvement... If you trust me, let me handle it."

Chu Guang certainly did not doubt Old Charlie’s capabilities and thought his reasoning was sound, so he nodded.

"Then I’ll leave it to you."

After speaking, Chu Guang looked at Lu Bei.

"You guys move as well, arrest the traders for espionage and incitement to sabotage, and I hope to see the interrogation results after the meeting tomorrow."

Lu Bei placed his right fist over his left chest and saluted loyally, responding crisply.

"Yes!"