This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 660: Smart players not only draw their own cakes, but even take the initiative to bake them well.

Chapter 660: Chapter 660: Smart players not only draw their own cakes, but even take the initiative to bake them well.

Ring Island is the largest artificial island in the Southern Islands, located at the gateway to the Baiyue Strait in the southern sea area, with a total area of about 30 square kilometers, though less than half of it is actually the landmass of the island.

From the sky, it looks like a giant donut.

It is said that the island once belonged to a tycoon of the Era of Prosperity, who planned to turn it into a seaside tourist attraction.

However, the sad truth is that the sand-spreading vessel tasked with constructing the island had barely outlined its shape with sand when the three-year War suddenly broke out, and the construction of the island was unceremoniously halted.

After the War ended, survivors from Baiyue Province managed to restart the island-building project, using coastal construction debris and remaining equipment to expand the contours of the island.

Without any support from the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, they took nearly thirty years to complete the task that would have required only half a year before the War, and by around the fiftieth year of the Wasteland Era, all had relocated to this man-made island.

Merchants from Silver Moon Bay call this circular island settlement the jewel of the southern sea area, but the locals have named it Seagull Port.

Legend has it that it was the seagulls that led them to this sanctuary, far from the disturbances of the Variants.

Another fifty years later, around the hundredth year of the Wasteland Era, the population and standard of living here saw explosive growth, from less than a hundred individuals at the start to now over a hundred thousand.

According to data from Silver Moon Bay, the main reason for this phenomenon was the discovery of this port by their merchants, who brought them an abundance of food.

However, Si Si feels that the situation may not be as simple as it seems.

The merchants of Silver Moon Bay would not provide food to these people for free; there must be something here valuable enough to warrant their trip.

Pearls, seashells, deep-sea fish, and coastal garbage... if it were only these, they would hardly fetch a good price.

Combine this with clues from Shelter No. 70, and everything starts to make sense.

Around the hundredth year of the Wasteland Era, Shelter No. 70 lifted its lockdown, bringing the technology of the Era of Prosperity to the local fishermen.

Technological advancement not only increased fishing efficiency but also dramatically improved the livable area of the island as well as the standard of living.

Just as Shelter No. 404 has impacted the City of Dawn.

Seagull Port, now armed with advanced technology, quickly became the brightest jewel of the southern sea area, attracting merchants from Silver Moon Bay and Poluo Province.

Merchants from the Camel Hump Kingdom brought plentiful food, while the turbulent Poluo Province provided a wealth of labor.

At the same time, Seagull Port’s technology spread to both places along the trade routes.

And that is also the primary reason why the Camel Hump Kingdom, located in a corner of the desert, has more advanced production technology compared to other kingdoms in Luo Xia Province.

Just the researchers from the Pigeon Academy alone are not enough to lift a conservative feudal kingdom to the level of the Enlightenment era, even if their heads are filled with advanced black technologies...

Following closely behind two speedboats, Si Si, driving the Meat Meat, soon caught sight of the island rising abruptly above the rolling waves.

One could see boats of various sizes moored beside the docks, with white seagulls flapping their wings above the port, presenting a scene of peace and tranquility.

This was not their first time arriving here.

The last time they passed by was at the end of last year.

But at that time, there was no Federation; the islands in this sea area each governed themselves, and this look of tight security was unprecedented.

"What is that ship doing?" Standing on the edge of the gunwale, Meat Meat curiously watched a flatbed cargo ship nearby tossing spiky black metal balls into the sea.

Tail, with binoculars in hand, watched intently.

"Oh! Mines!"

Meat Meat looked at her in surprise.

"For real?"

Tail arched her eyebrows at her.

"Yikes! Since when am I the joking type?"

Meat Meat looked to the side with a nuanced expression.

Isn’t she, though?

But to be fair, those things really do look like mines.

Si Si, standing inside the bridge, watched the cargo ship transformed into a warship, her brows slightly furrowing.

From the calm, serene sea breeze, she sensed something unusual.

The cargo ship docked at the harbor.

The man who previously shouted at the ship climbed the ladder and agilely ascended to the deck, then, looking at Si Si as she came down the stairs from beside the bridge, said,

"I am the Coast Patrol Captain here, Muda."

"Si Si, helmsman of the Meat Meat cargo ship."

Without wasting any words, Muda directly posed the question,

"Where’s your captain?"

"This one." Si Si pointed to Meat Meat, answering truthfully.

The latter grinned good-naturedly, raising his massive palm, showing a shy and reserved demeanor.

"Hi."

"Hi..." Clearly taken aback by the sight of a talking bear, Muda was visibly stunned, but he still instinctively said hello.

As he was caught off-guard, Si Si took the opportunity to inquire,

"Is there a war going on here?"

"Yes..." His Adam’s apple bobbed, and Muda looked away from Meat Meat to nod at Si Si, who had asked the question.

Seeing her guess confirmed, Si Si continued to inquire.

"Who is your enemy?"

Without evasion, Muda stated directly,

"Shelter No. 70."

Meat Meat and Tail exchanged glances, then simultaneously and quickly covered each other’s mouths.

Muda looked at the pair, one human and one bear, with curiosity.

"A talking bear... it’s my first time seeing one. Are you from the Arctic?"

Si Si: "The Arctic?"

Muda gestured with his hand and explained.

"I’ve read in books that polar bears look like this."

After wriggling free from Meat Meat’s bear paw, Tail suddenly said very seriously,

"That’s not the case. Our Meat Meat is actually a brown bear with albinism."

"Is... that so?" The man paused, looking at the talking bear with a trace of apology in his eyes.

Meat Meat glared at Tail, conveying with her eyes,

"Don’t start adding some weird persona—no, bearsona for me!"

Tail stuck out her tongue sheepishly.

"What’s the difference?"

As the two joked around, Si Si had been observing the man’s facial expressions.

She keenly caught the fleeting pang of remorse and a thoughtful expression crossed her face before she suddenly spoke up.

"We would like to purchase some supplies here. What procedures are needed?"

Muda said succinctly,

"No procedures. We welcome merchant ships that come here to trade, but as you can see, it’s a special time. Please understand, we need to inspect the goods on your ship."

"No problem, follow me."

Si Si then led him straight into the ship’s hold.

Watching Muda follow Si Si towards the ship’s hold, Sesame Paste approached Tail with some concern and whispered,

"Is it okay for him to see the people below deck?"

With her index finger trailing her chin, Tail pondered seriously for a moment before speaking confidently.

"Um, Tail thinks there shouldn’t be any problems."

Meat Meat looked at her curiously.

"The reason?"

Tail gave a cunning smile.

"Pirate’s intuition!"

Meat Meat: "Damn!"

That reason was so arbitrary!

...

Following the woman named Si Si into the ship’s hold, Muda remained vigilant, observing his surroundings and the crew, who looked like mercenaries.

When he reached the lowest level of the ship next to the gangway and followed Si Si through the door into the lower hold, he was stunned by the sight before him.

The spacious hold was densely packed with people; at a rough count, there were at least several hundred.

Seeing the surprise in his eyes, Si Si, standing to the side, continued,

"There’s more below."

Muda’s Adam’s apple bobbed again.

"This is..."

Si Si continued in a lowered voice,

"The Moon Clan from Poluo Province. Have you heard about what happened there?"

Muda shook his head and inquired,

"No... what happened there?"

Si Si continued speaking softly,

"The West Winds Empire is systematically purging the Moon Clan people of Poluo Province, seizing their wealth, reducing them to slaves. If we hadn’t intervened, they might already have been shackled and sold to slavers... just like most of the unlucky Wasteland Wanderers."

Muda looked closely at the people for a moment and didn’t find any slave shackles or any obvious marks on them.

The people inside the cabin were also watching him with cautious eyes.

It seemed as if they felt that the fate of their group hinged on this man before them, and their gazes involuntarily carried a hint of pleading.

Muda felt a pang of sympathy.

However, sympathy was sympathy, and he couldn’t let a group of refugees overwhelm the order of Seagull Port for such a flimsy reason.

After all, it was just a small island of less than thirty square kilometers, and nearly one hundred thousand survivors were already living there.

"We welcome travelers," he began, but—"

Reading his thoughts, Si Si asked,

"But you haven’t considered accepting so many people, have you?"

Muda silently nodded, then after a moment, continued,

"... It would bring us trouble, and we don’t have enough extra space to take in these people."

As expected, he would say something like this.

Si Si sighed, an expression of helplessness on her face as she continued,

"I understand, we didn’t expect you to take on this trouble... But could you turn a blind eye to the people on the ship and permit us to purchase some supplies at the port? Please, we really can’t find anyone else who is willing to take us in besides you."

Muda was silent for a long time, seemingly torn, but in the end, his conscience prevailed, and he slowly nodded.

"Fine... but you have to promise us, you can only let at most ten... twenty people leave this ship if you don’t want to cause trouble."

A look of relief spread across Si Si’s face as she extended her right hand to express her thanks.

"Thank you, I assure you."

"Don’t mention it."

Shaking her hand firmly, Muda released it and cast one last glance at the people in the cabin before turning and walking towards the ship’s gangway.

...

On the "Wasteland OL" official website forum, in the player interaction section.

After logging off, Si Si quickly took a shower, carelessly rubbed her hair with a towel, and still with wet hair, sat in front of the computer updating the day’s events in the serial post.

"Breaking news! Major update suspected in the Southern Sea Area map! The Southern Islands Federation and Shelter No. 70 have been added and are currently in conflict for unknown reasons. Ships entering the area will be inspected by Federation vessels."

"We’ve secured docking permission at Seagull Port and plan to stay for a while to find the precise coordinates and entrance to Shelter No. 70."

"The port is filled with a surplus of goods affected by the war that haven’t been sold, including pearls, seashells, and other deep-sea salvaged goods. The port is in desperate need of rubber, high polymers, nitroglycerin, as well as white sugar and grain; prices are 20% to 50% above last month’s market average. We recommend trading flow players to buy deep-sea salvaged goods here and sell them at Silver Moon Bay, where the White Bear Knights’ bank offers favorable exchange rates for golden camels, silver coins, and dinars!"

"Also, does anyone have friends in Silver Moon Bay or Oasis No.4? We need to restock some dry food and 155mm, 20mm ammunition. If you can help transport it to the vicinity of the Baiyue Strait, we can offer generous compensation!"

Considering that the planner’s private message didn’t mention that information could be disclosed publicly, Si Si hesitated and then did not update the activation codes in the post.

The post was just updated, and quickly, it garnered dozens of replies.

"666!"

"Me me me!"

"Rich lady, notice me!"

"Wait, how big of a ship do you need?"

"Need any mercenaries? We have a hundred Strength-Type beasts!"

"Can it be done overland? I don’t have a ship. T.T"

"Stupid! Just rent one!"

"..."

This "excursion" thread had been updated since last year.

Back then, the White Bear Knights were still in Petra Fortress and had just recently made contact with Pigeon and his "Little Red."

Si Si realized that the content updated in the posts was automatically collected into the official setting collection and tagged with the creator’s label.

Since then, she started updating some of the data gathered along the way in her posts, including local customs, culture, and practices.

Especially in the official setting collection for the Poluo province section, the information about several large settlements and major ports was almost all written by her.

Because of this, the Alliance inadvertently created a new trade route to the Poluo province, and many lifestyle players profited handsomely by trading cheap industrial products from the Alliance for double-headed cows, leather, and spices.

After tasting the sweetness of oceanic trade, many traders bookmarked the thread.

In addition to main poster Si Si, who would regularly update the journey, occasionally other players who followed the recommended routes would contribute to the thread, adding relics clues, side quests, and interesting NPCs or monster dens that she might have missed.

When she first started the thread, she never imagined it would garner so much attention and grow into a flourishing crown of branches like a big tree.

Although the White Bear Knights weren’t an actual army, merely a commercial team registered with the Merchant Guild, this odd team—born from a joke about riding "Meat Meat"—now had a significant influence on the forum.

While there was still a gap compared to big names like Fang Chang, Mole, and Springs who could summon a throng with a single call, as a Tier 2 player, she was already quite impressive.

Debt Giant Eye: "Speaking of which, with Ah Guang suddenly updating a map thousands of kilometers away, I’ve got a bad feeling."

Elena: "+1, it’s not like him to not even make an announcement, quite unusual. (funny)"

Gnome King Riches: "Is there a chance that the next expansion is over there? (funny)"

Return to Soil & Rest in Peace: "Fuck! Dog plan has no decency!"

Ah Nie: "You’re banned."

Return to Soil & Rest in Peace: "(Awkward)"

Watching the increasingly lively discussion on the screen, and seeing people offering advice and strategies, Si Si couldn’t help but wear a gratified smile on her face.

It would be great if we could attract some players to this region.

Cooperation with other players has a much higher success rate than exploring alone, especially when it’s far from the Alliance territory.

Just then, a familiar ID suddenly popped up in the post.

Tail: "Wow! Since everyone is so interested in the world across the sea, why don’t we build our own port here! (Evil grin)"

The moment Si Si saw this message, she was stunned.

Before she could regain her composure, dozens of comments suddenly appeared below the post.

Less Nonsense: "Fuck?"

Makabazi: "For real?!"

Tail: "Wow! Of course, for real! Tail’s word is bond, a team of horses couldn’t drag it back! To show sincerity, the White Bear Knights will invest five million silver coins first!"

Meat Mountain Big Steamed Bun: "(Excited)"

Quit Smoking: "6666!"

Night Ten: "Sounds interesting, the Bull Horse Group will join in. (Funny)"

Fang Chang: "It does sound fun. The Baiyue Strait is right in the middle of the Central Continent’s east-west coast routes, it’s absurd to not have a port there. Hmm, Brother Night Ten has already raised his hand, so let’s start with investing five million to test the waters."

Night Ten: "Fuck! Are you serious?! (Shocked)"

Escaped Mole from the Canyon: "Our Skeleton Group will join too!! Five million!"

Gnome King Riches: "Fuck, when did we get so rich!"

Escaped Mole from the Canyon: "Hehe, the game on Endpoint Cloud made a small profit, I’ll share the wealth with the brothers in a few months."

Tail: "!!! Are the big shots serious? By the way, can we invest using CR? Desperately need foreign exchange! QAQ"

Fang Chang: "No problem! Keep it up, I have high hopes for you. (Sly smile)"

Crow: "Can I invest five hundred thousand? 0.0"

Tail: "Wow! No problem at all! The more, the merrier! Tail will get the Meat Port investment contract ready in a bit!

Teng Teng: "Uh, I also want to invest a little... But can we change the name? It’s not that it sounds bad, just feels weird. (Blush)"

Tail: "Eh! Is it that weird? ∑(ﾟДﾟ)"

No one knew from which floor it started, but the thread went completely off-topic.

No one was discussing the gameplay of the new map anymore; instead, they were eagerly discussing what the future gem of the sea should be named and where on the map the port should be located.

For the Alliance’s first overseas venture, the players erupted with extraordinary enthusiasm.

Seeing so many people interested, Fang Chang directly proposed purchasing a civilian inflatable airship from the City of Dawn, to airlift a batch of materials and personnel to the southern sea area.

This guy really seemed to be optimistic about the future economic potential of the region.

And some players with civil engineering backgrounds were even more eager, planning to take this flight to the site for a field survey and take some photos for research.

An overseas infrastructure project worth hundreds of millions of silver coins began to take a rough shape in this babbling atmosphere.

Watching the investment amount, which had already surpassed thirty million silver coins, and was still rapidly growing, Si Si sitting in front of the computer, was completely dumbfounded.

She had originally intended to find an opportunity to make a small hole in the ship and then use repairing it as an excuse to run aground at the Ring Island port, slowly plotting her next move, or in the worst case, she could linger for ten days or a half month, dragging it out until their mission was complete.

She had underestimated the scale of her own plans.

Ah Wei had just plonked their business right on someone else’s doorstep!

But—

It might not be a bad idea after all.

Although the Camel Hump Kingdom’s colonization plan for the Baiyue Province ended in failure, it didn’t mean they would make the same mistakes.

At the very least, in terms of biotechnology, the Alliance’s reserves were far higher than that of the Camel Hump Kingdom!

Not to mention, with the Alliance’s current immense industrial capacity, they were fully capable of supporting the construction of an overseas colonial port!

The more Si Si thought about it, the more excited she became, her eyes involuntarily shining with light.

"Nice going... you’re doing well, Ah Wei!"

At this moment, she didn’t know that in another world, some Dog plan had also blurted out a "Nice going" after seeing this astounding brainstorm.

Now the players not only imagined things for themselves, but they had even learned to actively help him bake the pie.

Was this considered getting a settlement for free with a "14-day trial card"?

This deal was insanely profitable!

---

(Thanks to "20hhhhhhhhhh" for the generous reward!!!)