This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 659: Manager’s Daily Routine

Chapter 659: Chapter 659: Manager’s Daily Routine

Morning.

Chu Guang had slept in for the first time in a while, and it wasn’t until nine in the morning that he left Resurrection Square and strolled leisurely to the food street north of the Outpost Base. He ordered two baskets of soup dumplings, two baskets of Shanghai steamed buns, and three cups of soy milk before finding an inconspicuous booth at Zhang Hai’s noodle stall.

Although the meal was a carb and calorie bomb, it was nothing but a sprinkle of water for someone with his metabolic level and digestive capacity.

"One bowl of noodles, thank you."

A milky mist hovered over the large pot, and there was an endless stream of diners at the stall.

Today’s noodle chef, Zhang Hai, was as busy and fulfilled as ever. His head was almost buried in the pot, and he definitely didn’t have time to look up. He shouted across the large pot.

"Got it! Do you want it sliced thin or thick?"

Chu Guang said with a smile,

"Thin, I want to see how thin you can make it."

It was the first time Zhang Hai heard someone actively ask for thinner slices, and he couldn’t help but be amused.

"Hey, you must be joking. The thinnest here—" He had just raised his head to see who it was, but as his gaze penetrated the fog, he suddenly froze. "Fuck, the Manager?!"

Many people didn’t recognize Chu Guang since he wasn’t wearing his power armor. Zhang Hai was no exception, until he saw that spring-breeze smile and was dumbfounded.

The two were communicating in Mandarin, which didn’t attract the attention of other NPC customers. Chu Guang gave him a look to keep it low-key, and then began to enjoy the steamed buns he had brought.

After a short while, a bowl of beef noodles arrived at the table, and the slices of beef were even thicker than silver coins. The smaller players, seeing this, immediately became unhappy and started to protest.

"Damn it!"

"Son of a bitch, Zhang Hai, that’s not fair play!"

"Why is there so little beef in my bowl!"

"Is this a river?!"

Seeing the rowdy bunch, Zhang Hai’s face turned red. Normally, he would have just bantered back cheekily, but he had been caught red-handed giving someone special treatment.

"Enough talk! Are you the Manager? I... I care about how he’s put his heart and soul into the Alliance, worried he won’t be full, so what’s wrong with offering him more food?"

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Well, now.

That was acceptable?

Watching the clever big shot feel pleased with himself, Chu Guang chuckled and shook his head. He took out fifteen silver coins and placed them on the table, settling the bill in advance.

"Thanks for your kindness, but there’s no need to treat me. I prefer cash transactions... no need for change."

Considering the portion size of the noodles, thrice the price should certainly be enough, right?

That much money could buy two pounds of beef.

He didn’t want to owe anyone for a few silver coins.

"Thank you!" Boss Zhang took the silver coins with a pained look on his face, but inside he was thinking that the deal was a terrible loss.

If he could have earned the Manager’s favor, any amount of silver coins would have been well spent. Yet these two ounces of beef had only got him the money for three bowls of noodles; what a loss!

Earn less, that’s a loss, right?

After adding some chili and vinegar to the noodle soup, Chu Guang ate slowly and leisurely, watching the buzz of newbies shuttling up and down the street, reminiscing about the past.

Two years ago, this used to be the busiest street in the Alliance and was only separated from Resurrection Square by a crooked concrete wall.

Now, two years later, although this street had developed, it still couldn’t match the sprawling sparseness of Changjiu Farm.

With the establishment of the City of Dawn, Outpost Base and Changjiu Farm were both preserved as part of the new settlement’s names, while the economic status of North Street of the Outpost Base was gradually being replaced by North Street of Dawn City, which was predominantly NPC-operated.

Some nostalgic old players still kept their stalls here and their houses by Rhombus Lake, but most had moved their shops to the more bustling center of the City of Dawn.

Nonetheless, Chu Guang still had a soft spot for this place.

His favorite hometown dishes could mostly be found here, and the chattering newbies in front of Resurrection Square never failed to entertain him.

For him and the vast majority of Wasteland OL players, this place could be regarded as where the dream began.

Suddenly, Chu Guang had a whimsical thought: maybe he would set up a stall here after he retired.

Like, making pancakes or something.

However, this thought lasted only a brief two seconds before Chu Guang found himself amused by his own idea.

By the time he had laid down all his responsibilities...

That would probably be a long, long time from now.

...

Having eaten to about seventy or eighty percent full, Chu Guang went to buy six more baskets of buns to take to Nicole and feed to her as a snack.

That girl, like Xiaoyu, had a special fondness for human food, especially junk food laden with salt, oil, and sugar.

He remembered last time when he gave her cola to drink, she stomped excitedly on the spot, nearly flipping over the shed she was sleeping in.

After walking Nicole around the lake, Chu Guang tied her back in the shed and then headed in the direction of the shelter.

As he was going down on the elevator, he happened to see a Guardsman carrying a plastic crate full of letters and asked curiously,

"What’s this?"

The Guardsman immediately stood up straight and replied.

"These are letters from the residents of the City of Dawn to you, sir."

Chu Guang immediately perked up at the news, spontaneously responding.

"My letters? Let me see."

He seemed to recall Xiao Qi mentioning that since the Alliance Building was completed, there had been a steady stream of letters from all over the Alliance, with a large portion addressed to him.

Due to the sheer volume, the staff at the Alliance Building didn’t know what to do with them and handed them all over to the Guards Corps.

Following behind Chu Guang, Lu Bei hesitated slightly before stepping forward with a word of caution.

"Sir, please allow me to check them first to ensure that there are no dangerous items inside."

Though the letters had already been scanned with X-rays and treated with ultraviolet sterilization, only by opening them could they guarantee complete safety.

Chu Guang chuckled heartily, jokingly saying,

"Are you worried about a blade being hidden inside, afraid that it might scratch me?"

Lu Bei said softly,

"Not exactly, but it’s better to be cautious all the same."

Seeing that his concern remained, Chu Guang subsequently instructed,

"Then, how about this, you read them for me, and I’ll also take this opportunity to test you to see how well you’ve been studying."

Hearing that the Manager wanted to test him, the young man immediately perked up, placing his right fist on his left chest, he said spiritedly,

"Yes, sir!"

Chu Guang nodded in satisfaction, taking Lu Bei with the basket of letters down to Floor B4, motioned for him to sit, and then casually handed him pen and paper.

"Perfect, you can also write the replies for me as I dictate."

Lu Bei was all too eager to nod his head, then he reached into the plastic basket, picked out a letter, opened it up, and began to read aloud emphatically.

"Respected Manager sir, I am a bricklayer, and on this day to be celebrated, I salute you and also share my joy with you! In a month’s time, my wife and I will be welcoming our first child. We have already purchased all the clothing for him up to the age of five, as well as a baby cradle and toys... Now we count the days, waiting for our little darling to come into our lives. Once again, I extend to you the highest respect and thanks for enabling us to have a roof over our heads and a job that allows us to buy so many things."

Lu Bei read with such dramatic admiration that it was unlikely even the person who wrote the letter expressed as much emotion.

Watching the diligent young man, Chu Guang smiled involuntarily. When Lu Bei finished reading, Chu Guang cleared his throat and began to respond softly,

"No need for formalities... I will do my best to ensure that every hardworking person in the Alliance has the dignified job and life they deserve, and that every child in the Alliance can grow up under the sun. Of course, this requires our joint effort."

While Chu Guang was dictating his response, Lu Bei was frantically writing, and soon finished the letter, copying the address and setting it aside.

He then picked up the second letter, took a deep breath, and read,

"... like the Sun at noon, your grace and majesty dispelled the cold night, restoring glory to this land! Please forgive my exaggerated words, but they are in no way flattery. You might think of Dr. Edmond as an insignificant criminal, but I can never forget what happened at the Golden Dune Cinema. My children and I were caged, nobody cared for our lives or deaths, only you and your warriors cared. I offer you my everlasting loyalty!"

Golden Dune Cinema? Where was that?

It took Chu Guang quite a while, but he could not recall such a place or the unfamiliar name mentioned in the letter.

However, from the content of the letter, it was clear that the writer must be a survivor who had been rescued from the Looters by his players.

Although it might have been just an ordinary daily task for the players, it could have meant a life-changing event for that survivor.

Chu Guang couldn’t help but smile.

He decided to have Xiao Qi post this letter on the Forum later.

He believed someone would claim this Easter egg.

If it was stumbled upon unintentionally, that kind-hearted player would surely be pleased with the continuation of this story.

"Leave that letter here with me, I’ll later pass it on to the one who truly deserves thanks and let them decide whether to write a reply."

"Understood, sir." Lu Bei nodded loyally, setting his pen down temporarily and picking up the next letter.

The contents of this letter were straightforward and to the point.

Even the opening sentenced revealed the entire message.

"March north, sir! At your command, all of us are willing to offer our hearts! The Bugra merchants are the most unruly scoundrels, corrupting us with their tricks. It’s time to punish those sneaky villains!"

As he read the letter, Lu Bei adopted a tone of passionate conviction and sneakily glanced at Chu Guang sitting opposite him.

Clearly, the young man shared the same sentiment.

Chu Guang pondered for a moment, then spoke gently,

"The greatest insult to a jester is not to throw them into the fire, but to let them watch us live better than them, more united, more confident, more powerful... Then they will live in constant regret over their past. I understand your concerns about the North, but they are not our main problem, at least not now."

Though somewhat disappointed, the loyal young man believed that the respected Manager must possess a far-reaching vision that he did not, so he did not feel out of place.

After finishing the reply, he quickly picked up another letter and opened it, but as soon as he saw the salutation and the delicate handwriting, he immediately sensed something amiss.

"Dear Manager sir, I have long admired you. I hear you don’t have any children of your own, and this knowledge has left me restless for a long time..."

Halfway through, Lu Bei abruptly stopped, stammering and unable to proceed with the words.

Without guessing, it was clear what the letter contained, another attempt to prod him into starting a family. Chu Guang couldn’t help but shake his head with laughter.

These folks.

Always fussing about with unnecessary worries, they’d do better to raise some extra pigs.

"Go ahead, I don’t mind."

"But if... alright, if you insist," Lu Bei continued, embarrassedly bowing his head and persisting with a tough read, "If possible, I would like to bear you a child, as many as you want, this is the wish of a young lady from the City of Dawn, I live at—"

Chu Guang, who was sipping tea to soothe his throat, almost spat it out coughing as he interrupted Lu Bei, who had been reading halfway through a letter.

"Alright, alright, that’s enough already."

Lu Bei obediently closed the letter and asked in a low voice.

"Sir... uh, should we reply to this letter?"

Glancing hurriedly at the time on his VM, Chu Guang quickly cut off his foolish words.

"We can’t possibly respond to everyone’s feedback. By the way, we need a Manager’s Office to handle the correspondence from Alliance citizens uniformly and to select some meaningful questions to be answered publicly in newspapers and broadcasts."

"Additionally, each department needs to have a dedicated office to deal with citizens’ letters, and when necessary, to hold press conferences to clarify public confusion. Don’t just dump all the letters here on me... I need to talk to someone about this matter; my break time is over for today, let’s stop here."

He almost forgot about this.

Just after the printing plant fire incident, Chu Guang had been considering creating a more official channel for public statements. He couldn’t always rely on journalists from newspapers coming over for interviews.

The Representative Assembly is currently improving the relevant legislation.

The Alliance authorities also need to do something in coordination.

Gazing blankly at the Manager who had spoken a lot and was now getting up to leave, Lu Bei held the envelope in his hand and took quite a while to come back to his senses.

So this letter...

What should be done with it?

Yin Fang, standing next to the coffee machine, had witnessed the whole scene and teased in a joking tone.

"No offense, but this guy can be unexpectedly shy sometimes."

Although only at certain times...

...

On the boundary between the Poluo Sea and the Southern Sea Area, a cargo ship with a towering chimney was slowly passing through a wide strait.

Dense jungles flanked both sides, and rugged rocks lined the shore, from the ruined concrete port it was evident that there had once been a bustling port and city here, but now only the chirping of insects and the occasional cry of monkeys remained.

Standing on the deck, a woman wrapped in a cloak had a look of unease on her face.

Her name was Misa, only in her early twenties, with brown hair. Before the disaster, she was a teacher at Jinjaron Harbor.

Although she had been born in a port city, she had never been to such a distant place.

"Where is this..."

"Baiyue Province."

A pleasant voice came from behind her.

Misa turned around and saw a pair of lively cat ears swaying gently in the sea breeze, and a bright and cute face smiling at her.

Dressed in a way that some mercenaries and sailors called her the messenger of the Silver Moon Goddess.

Misa couldn’t help but feel a bit reserved, but her curiosity couldn’t help but raise a quiet question.

"...What place is that?"

Approaching the ship’s rail, Sesame Paste squinted her eyes towards the tropical strait, brushing the hair off her cheek behind her ear, and began to tell in a gentle voice.

"...To its northeast is Haiye Province, to the east the Southern Sea Area, to the northwest lies the Luo Xia Province, and just over the Jubar Mountains are Oasis No.4 and Silver Moon Bay. On the map, it looks like two teeth, one on top of the other, with a strait between them."

This place was once a tourist and vacation destination of the United Human, and some economically prosperous tourist cities used to be situated here.

But during the fifty years following the three-year War, traces of human life gradually vanished with the passage of time.

Listening intently, Misa curiously continued to ask.

"Will we dock here?"

Sesame Paste replied somewhat vexedly.

"Um, there’s no need. We did go take a look, but didn’t find any survivors there, only dangerous Variants and deadly poisonous insects."

Maybe the game designer hasn’t finished this part of the map yet.

They had taken a small boat along the coast to have a look and, finding no suitable harbors, left without exploring further.

It was said that the Camel Hump Kingdom had once planned to include this area in their territory, even attempting to build a colony on the shore, but ultimately lost to Variants, poisonous insects, strange contagious diseases, and huge financial pressures, and had to abandon their settlements there.

As this Lady Messenger talked about this land, Misa satisfied her curiosity but also felt a sense of loss.

Just now, she had been thinking about moving the Moon people of the Poluo Province to build a new homeland here, but now it seemed things were not as simple as she had thought.

"You know so much." After hearing the story about this land, Misa couldn’t help but express her sincere admiration.

Sesame Paste, seeing the envy and admiration reflected in those eyes, scratched the back of her head in embarrassment and shyly smiled.

"After all, we travel a lot."

Maybe because in reality she was a teacher too, she quite liked this NPC ’little sister.’

Even though there was no show-off intention when saying this, Misa felt even more envious after hearing it.

Traveling...

That was something she had never dared to dream of.

Travel is for people with homes. For someone like her who had nowhere to go, going to an unseen place was just wandering.

"So where will we disembark?"

Sesame Paste whispered softly.

"In the Southern sea area, there’s an artificial island where quite a few survivors assisted by the Residents of the refuge live. We plan to head there first to try our luck, at least to purchase some supplies. If they’re not willing to take us in, we’ll continue to lead you to the easternmost part of the Province of Yúnjiānxíng on the mainland."

Misa looked at her with a face full of gratitude, her eyes brimming with mist.

"I... really don’t know how to thank you enough."

Sesame Paste smiled awkwardly and said.

"Don’t mention it, we don’t really have a specific place to go anyway."

While the two were casually chatting, a warning bell suddenly sounded on the ship.

Sesame Paste, who was chatting with Misa, was slightly startled, immediately took her back to the cabin, and instructed her not to come up at all costs.

After that, she picked up her equipment and joined the others on the deck, where they found Tail with one foot on the ship’s rail.

"What’s happening?"

With a serious expression, Tail narrowed her eyes slightly, gazing out at the distant horizon.

"It’s sea pirates."

Sesame Paste was taken aback.

Standing nearby, Meat Meat made a helpless gesture and couldn’t help but complain.

"There can’t be that many sea pirates."

As they spoke, two speedboats bearing flags turned out from behind the reefs and approached their cargo ship.

Compared to Meat Meat’s ship, they were so tiny they looked like bathtub toys, but technically speaking, it was clear the electrically-driven ones had the upper hand.

Si Si, standing inside the bridge, narrowed her eyes.

She noticed that the two speedboats did not have the Black Iron Wood used to repel sea beasts, suggesting they must have used some other thing or technique.

One of the speedboats arrived ahead, and a man resembling a Soldier stood at the bow, shouting at the people on the deck of the cargo ship.

"This is the Federation’s territorial waters! Who are you?"

The Federation?

Meat Meat and Sesame Paste exchanged a look, confusion written all over their faces.

’When did a Federation pop up here?’

’I don’t know...’

Last year when they came here, it seemed there were only a few sea island settlements.

Had the map’s power dynamics refreshed?

Both the bear and the person were baffled.

However, Tail, standing at the ship’s rail, was not at all confused; in fact, he seemed to tune into the right frequency and shouted back at the man.

"Oh! Friends from the Federation! We are from the White Bear Knights!"

The man on the speedboat was clearly taken aback and blurted out without thinking.

"What is that?"

Si Si, who had arrived on deck at some point, took Tail back with her hand and cleared her throat before shouting.

"We are merchants from Silver Moon Bay. We plan to pass through the strait to the ports on the eastern side of the Central Continent. Please allow us to dock here to replenish fresh water and supplies."

The man looked at her suspiciously, but since he couldn’t find any flaws in her words, he continued.

"... You may, but I must make it clear, we only accept Dinars and Cr here, not those coins with animals on them."

Coins with camels on them probably referred to the currency of the Luo Xia Province.

Due to the gold content, size, and overall national strength, those coins were usually only circulated locally, and nobody outside Silver Moon Bay would recognize them.

Si Si nodded in understanding.

"No problem."

"Follow us, being careful to avoid reefs and mines." Leaving these words, the man turned around and went back inside the cabin, maneuvering the speedboat to turn around on the sea.

Meat Meat cast a puzzled look at Si Si and quietly asked in Mandarin.

"Why don’t we just tell them the truth?"

"Do you suggest that we tell them there are nearly a thousand refugees on board? I’m not sure if they would drive us back." Watching the direction in which the two speedboats were leaving, Si Si narrowed her eyes slightly.

Something about this place seemed off.

She had a feeling that this trip to Shelter No. 70 wouldn’t be as peaceful as she had imagined...

Meat Meat scratched the back of his head.

Tail, standing beside them, earnestly said to Meat Meat.

"The human world is very perilous, Meat Meat; if they knew we were pirates wanted by the West Winds Empire, they might just turn us in for that 36 Belli bounty!"

"The currency unit is wrong, and our bounty isn’t that high!" Meat Meat couldn’t help but quip with a mixture of laughter and tears, yet she understood Si Si’s intention.

After all, this was not a familiar settlement to them.

Better safe than sorry...

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