This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 673: Brother Fang Chang’s Grand Scheme

Chapter 673: Chapter 673: Brother Fang Chang’s Grand Scheme

It turned out that swinging people around under an airship like cargo really wasn’t a good idea.

At first, there were more than ten tons of cargo dangling below, and the swaying of the towing rope wasn’t too exaggerated.

But after the cargo was unloaded onto the deck, the rope immediately began to swing unrulily, and the Bull Horse airship had no sooner lifted the Green Lantern off the deck than it made the latter experience the sensation of flying.

Fortunately, the airship pilot was quite skilled. After several attempts, they finally managed it without causing any fatalities, putting Green Lantern with his briefcase safely back on the ground at camp.

Once his feet finally touched the ground, the first thing he did was squat down and retch violently.

Walking over to the man next to him, Fang Chang asked with a smile,

"Brother, how do you feel?"

"Not bad..."

It took quite a while for Green Lantern to regain his composure, sitting on the ground before he couldn’t help but continue to express his feelings.

"This ’Game’...the physics system is...pretty realistic."

"Haha, as long as you’re happy," Fang Chang said with a laugh, "let’s settle the transport fee."

"Oh right, I almost forgot," Green Lantern slapped his forehead, took out ten hundred-dollar paper bills from his briefcase, and handed them over with an embarrassed smile, "Thanks, brother."

"Don’t mention it." Fang Chang took the money and stuffed it into his pocket, squinting his eyes with a smile as he watched the cargo ship sail away, "Pleasant cooperation."

One thing at a time.

Even though it was just a small effort, starting and stopping an airship did indeed involve fuel expenses.

Even if he didn’t care about the small amount of money, he had to think about the interests of Bull Horse Group’s biggest shareholder—the collective interests of Shelter No. 404.

Currently, the net assets of Bull Horse Group ranked top on the server, surpassing even the second and third combined when counting the operations in Ideal City. Correspondingly, its financial auditing was among the most rigorous on the server.

Casual game behaviors without economic benefits were fine, but once it generated economic benefits, it became a business operation. It was not worth bending the rules for a thousand silver coins. Therefore, he had to take the money, and he would later have to record it in the VM ledger.

Turning his gaze from the distance, Fang Chang looked at Spare people under the knife who was following him.

"...Speaking of which, this airship loading and unloading method doesn’t seem very reliable; a slight mistake could lead to a total loss. We should really get a dock built as soon as possible."

Spare people under the knife sighed.

"I’ve been considering that, but building a dock is much more complicated than those construction sites onshore, and the sea Variants in the shallow areas are a problem, too. Those things aren’t like the ones on shore; you can’t just fence them in, and they’ll definitely be trouble during construction."

In River Valley Province, there were only so many types of Variants. The larger ones had been driven by players into deep forests, and for the usual top three—Mutant Cockroaches, rats, Hyenas—just set up the Mind Interference Device, and that was that.

But Baiyue Province was different.

There were a multitude of marine Variants, especially since the Baiyue Strait had a shallow sea bed, many active shallow-water marine Variants liked to congregate in this area.

The range of frequencies that the Mind Interference Device could set was limited; it was impossible to drive away all Variants.

In fact, the Southern Islands Federation only equipped their ships with Mind Interference Devices to drive away some Variants that could easily overturn the vessels.

Although it was a good method to soak large amounts of Black Iron Wood in water, like they did at Silver Moon Bay, the loss of materials was too great.

Black Iron Wood is a temperate plant and cannot be introduced for cultivation in the tropics. If they were to follow Silver Moon Bay’s technique, they could only import large quantities from Oasis No.4.

From an economic standpoint, this was clearly not a good idea.

Fang Chang frowned slightly.

"What about a net?"

Spare people under the knife replied with a wry smile,

"You think these are the small fish and shrimps of reality? What net could possibly stop Variants..."

Overhearing the two men’s conversation, Green Lantern Old Wine, who had stood up after patting his pants, chimed in casually,

"How about Devil Silk? I see they use that at West State City for farming Crack Claw Crabs and Battleship Shrimp, and the nets made of that stuff are better than wire and won’t rust. Oh, and those fishermen used to use it for their lines, too. They said rods would break, but the lines held firm. Even if the boat capsized, the nets were fine."

At this, Spare people under the knife was startled.

Right.

Devil Silk was a specialty of the City of Dawn!

Rubbing his chin and pondering, the more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes shone as he muttered,

"I’ll think about it... damn, this might actually work! At the very least, it should be no problem to stop those Mutant turtles and crabs!"

"Don’t just think about it. Once we log off, I’ll ask Night Ten to place an order at the City of Dawn; let’s order a batch of nets made of Devil Silk. When the next flight comes back, we’ll test it out directly! If it works, even if we don’t build a dock, just securing the safety of the area nearby would still be great."

Dropping this suggestion, Fang Chang laughed and patted Green Lantern Old Wine’s arm.

"Not bad at all, brother, your idea is great! Next time you have any good suggestions, remember to post them on the Forum, and if they’re good, we’ll implement them straight away!"

Seeing his suggestion taken so seriously, Green Lantern Old Wine also looked pleasantly surprised and shyly laughed as he said,

"Really?! Then I won’t hold back, haha."

Fang Chang laughed and said,

"Hold back what? We’re all family here."

Silver Coins might be a small amount, and 140,000 Silver Coins might also be considered small change, but the economic value of a "port with a daily cargo throughput of tens of millions of silver coins" was certainly no small figure.

Baiyue Strait Development Co., Ltd. was in the "platform economy"—keeping the clients comfortable was essential for future opportunities to profit, right?

Like port fees, loading and unloading fees, handling charges, storage fees, leveling fees, barge fees... all could be directly transferred from reality.

Wouldn’t that mean money just lying there to be earned?

Right.

Considering the hardened killers who trade on the Wasteland, there was going to be a need for a couple of shore defense cannons to keep order on the banks in the future.

For some reason, looking at this older brother with a refined and amiable smile, Green Lantern Old Wine always felt a bit creeped out.

It was probably just an illusion...

He coughed and diverted the conversation.

"By the way...speaking of which, isn’t Ideal City also on the coast? I remember it’s at the outlet to the sea in Tianshui, right? Do they have any construction ships for harbors or anything like that? If the price is right, we could subcontract the work to them. It’d seem like a lot less trouble than airlifting equipment from the City of Dawn."

Fang Chang stroked his chin thoughtfully and nodded.

"That’s a good idea; I’ll inquire about it later."

It was rather embarrassing to admit, but he, who had been one of the first players to reach Ideal City, had almost forgotten that Ideal City was by the sea!

Not everything they needed had to be purchased from the City of Dawn.

The Alliance had signed a currency swap agreement with the companies, and the Bull Horse Group also had some unsettled foreign exchange to use. It was not impossible to tender a port construction project directly in Ideal City for French Fries Harbor.

Speaking of which, wasn’t Li Shuyue’s Ruyue Group a subsidiary of the largest "property" in Ideal City—the Ideal Group?

Fang Chang had heard a long time ago that the identity of that person was not simple; it seemed to have ties to the board of the Ideal Group.

Perhaps...

He could ask her for a favor to look into it.

...

While Fang Chang was hesitating whether to make a special trip to Ideal City for this matter, at the entrance and exit of the French Fries Harbor North Section enclosing wall, two tracked vehicles with bulldozer blades hanging on their bumpers, were advancing into the depths of the jungle under the escort of a hundred fully armed players.

These hundred players were among the top combatants on the server, half of whom were brothers from the Burning Corps and the other half from the Jungle Corps.

Most players were armed to the teeth with the K-10 "Iron Wall" exoskeleton, and a few leading the way were donned in power armors like "Xiaguang," "Dragon Cavalry," and other models.

And those two tracked vehicles with the bulldozer blades were no ordinary ones; they were replicas of the "Reindeer" tracked vehicle, standard equipment of the elite teams of the Academy!

The Burning Corps had previously intercepted this "mobile scientific research station" from the Beacon team of the Academy and replicated it to the extent allowed by their technology.

However, due to the limited technical conditions of the Alliance, the design units involved in the reverse engineering could only resort to a rough-and-ready version.

Not only was the height reduced to 3.5 meters and the length to 6 meters, the original variety of weapon platforms were also scaled down to a remote-controlled weapons station "integrated with a 20mm cannon, a short-barrel grenade launcher, and the same smoke dischargers used in tanks."

On the proposal of the Prospector team leader, Yin Fang, this "armed scientific research vehicle" assigned for the Prospector team’s use was ultimately named "Husky."

From this somewhat ill-intentioned name, it wasn’t hard to tell that the researchers of the Prospector team weren’t holding much hope for its reliability.

Even so, although this simplified version of the "Reindeer" couldn’t hold a candle to the real deal, the scientific equipment on this tracked vehicle was nothing to scoff at.

For example, a sample storage that could provide a near absolute zero temperature environment, a cryogenic Sleep Cabin that could operate in harsh conditions for at least twenty years, a mobile workstation with a quantum processor and various precision sensors, and so on.

Any one of these pieces of equipment was worth hundreds of thousands of silver coins.

And that was thanks to the scientific research cooperation agreement Chu Guang negotiated with the Academy’s representatives, which allowed the Alliance to procure a batch of research equipment at agreed prices with silver coins from the Research Department of the Academy. Otherwise, much of this stuff wouldn’t be available even if you had the money.

Though the Alliance always found ways to save on arms and equipment, they never skimped on scientific research.

As long as there was something good, Chu Guang would do everything possible to make sure the researchers of the Alliance got to use it, offering them the utmost support.

As a result, not wanting to fail the Manager’s expectations, the Alliance’s research institutions, from the ground up, were filled with high work enthusiasm.

The airship "Explorer" carrying the research equipment had barely docked at French Fries Harbor when the staff from the Biological Institute and the prospecting teams immediately laid out their action plans.

Two "Husky" tracked vehicles were successively stationed on the north side of the camp; once the security personnel were in place, the two teams dashed into the dense rainforest as if they were racing.

The dispatch team leader from the Alliance Biological Research Institute here was Chen Yutong, whose outstanding performance on related subjects in the Jinchuan Province had won Heya’s approval.

On the prospecting team’s side, the team leader was Meng Liang, a former resident of Shelter No. 401, who also had an impressive resume. He had served as an explorer aboard the Iron Heart and had been involved in the investigation of the No.0 Shelter.

It’s worth mentioning that both captains were "cross-disciplinary talents."

During her time at the Academy as an E-level Explorer, Chen Yutong primarily specialized in AI, and biotechnology was a hobby for her. It wasn’t until joining the Alliance that she truly began to focus on biological engineering.

Meng Liang, who was previously with Shelter No. 401, researched Mind Interference Technology, and most of his work was related to the biological field.

It was only after being rescued by the Alliance from the hands of the Looters that he developed an interest in archaeology, working with Yin Fang in the business of grave-digging.

At this moment, on the tracked vehicle at the tail of the convoy.

Sitting next to the biological analyzer, Chen Yutong was staring intently at the leaf pinched between her fingers, deep in thought.

She had picked the leaf from a nearby tree when she got off the airship.

At first glance, it seemed no different from the common tropical vegetation, but intuition told her that there was more to it than met the eye.

Especially since just minutes earlier, the local construction team had reported some unusual phenomena in this area to her.

The local forests appeared to possess some sort of peculiar self-healing ability, capable of recovering from "damage" at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Moreover, this extraordinary self-healing was not limited to a single species but was a collective display across different species.

For instance, if you cut down a palm tree, the next day what grows might be neighboring bamboos or hemp vines...

Watching the leaf at her fingertips, a hint of intrigue surfaced in Chen Yutong’s eyes.

Although her primary reason for coming here was to avoid the increasing number of Academy individuals in Qingquan City, her curiosity about the secrets of this land had grown since learning about the local conditions.

"... The analysis result is in." The voice of a colleague came from the direction of the biological analyzer, interrupting Chen Yutong’s train of thought.

After setting the leaf aside, Chen Yutong immediately stood up and walked over to the nearby terminal, gazing at the data on the screen and asking,

"What’s the result?"

"It’s strange..." The researcher seated in front of the terminal said with a puzzled look, "The Nago Strains we collected in Jinchuan Province can’t infect the vegetation in this area. We tried seven different samples and all failed, even after adjusting the temperature to suit the growth of those strains."

"But the experiments conducted in Qingquan City were successful," Chen Yutong said thoughtfully. "All twelve samples were infected by Strand J of Naugus Fungi."

"Yes..." The researcher nodded slightly, wearing a perplexed expression on his face.

The so-called Strand J of Nago fungi was a strain collected near Jinhe City in the Jinchuan Province, characterized by its suitability for growth in the subtropical to temperate, humid regions.

Compared to the primitive fungi "Strand B" collected from the Baiyue Province, "Strand J," which had fused with the genome of the lair in Qingquan City, exhibited extreme invasiveness—this was the true nature behind "Heaven" permeating throughout Haiya Province.

Shelter No. 79 had simulated the climatic environments of both Jinchuan Province and Baiyue Province, introducing the plants collected from Baiyue Province and the Strand J Nago fungus into different-sized petri dishes for co-cultivation. In the end, the results showed that the plants collected from Baiyue Province were corroded and assimilated by the Nago fungus.

Later, the Alliance’s researchers conducted further observation and found that when Strand B was present in a petri dish, the growth rate of Strand J was significantly inhibited. However, this inhibitory effect only lasted 48 hours before it disappeared.

Previous speculation by the Alliance Biological Research Institute suggested that the primitive fungus from Baiyue Province—Strand B—could suppress the growth of the artificially cultured Strand J by the Torch Church.

Yet, perplexingly, they could not observe anything in the lab that would corroborate this hypothesis.

In order to clarify why the Torch Church’s Nago strain had not spread to the Baiyue Province, the Alliance Biological Research Institute approved experiments in the region.

Unexpectedly, they even observed the incredible inhibitory effect without adding Strand B to the petri dish, merely setting up a few control groups that co-cultivated the Baiyue Province plants with Strand J.

The same experiment yielded completely different results in Baiyue Province.

Even the introduction of Strand B into the petri dish not only failed to erode the plants within, but also caused the plants to wither—as if they were not suited to the local conditions.

The researchers inside the carriage began to whisper among themselves.

"Could it be an issue with the soil?"

"Clearly not, several of our experiments at Shelter No. 79 used soil collected from Baiyue Province."

"Could it be that the original Strand B is not what’s inhibiting the growth of Strand J?"

"That possibility cannot be ruled out..."

"How strange."

Chen Yutong did not speak, but stared at the screen, deep in thought.

She actually agreed with another point raised by her colleagues, that something other than the original Strand B was suppressing the growth of Strand J.

Something that existed only in this land...

What could it be?

Just then, a voice from Car No.1’s team came through her headset.

Meng Liang: "...This is the prospecting team. We are planning to search for an underground ruin in the old site of Shilong City next. How about you guys?"

Roused from her thoughts, Chen Yutong glanced at the map hanging inside the carriage and raised her index finger to her ear as she spoke.

"We plan to move three kilometers further north... There are some unusual signals detected by the life signal detection device in that area, which could mean samples we need are present."

Meng Liang spoke with a laugh: "Looks like we’ll be splitting up then. Good luck to you guys."

Chen Yutong’s mouth curved in a small smile.

"Same to you."

With that, the two teams parted ways.

The vehicle group from the Alliance Biological Research Institute, escorted by the Burning Corps, continued to head north, while the prospecting team’s vehicle group, under the escort of the Jungle Corps, moved towards the ruins of Shilong City.

Players from the Jungle Corps cast envious glances toward their comrades advancing to the north.

Just an hour before, the vast majority of players nearby had received a notification for a regional mission to search for the lair.

Finding that creature not only unlocked an exclusive title but also an award of one million silver coins and ten thousand contribution points!

What did one million silver coins mean?

It was more than enough to buy a house in a first-tier city!

Clearly.

Following the people from the Biological Institute meant a higher chance of completing the mission, while tagging along with the prospecting team might only lead to digging up old relics from a bygone era.

"Brother Chicken, can we switch with them?" Turning his head to look at Midnight Chicken Killing, the diligent worker spoke with a longing tone.

Midnight Chicken Killing made a helpless gesture.

"I can’t do anything about it; it’s specific to them that the Biological Institute requested."

He did not dare say that initially, the Burning Corps had been specifically requested by the prospecting team, but Old White had turned down the mission to cater to their gaming experience, and that was how the mission had ended up with them.

It was an unavoidable situation.

Those tough players were indeed formidable; whether it was their war records or sequence levels, they were incomparable—as made clear by a glance at the Steel Heart floating above the City of Dawn.

But understanding aside, the strength-oriented creatures couldn’t help but make a fuss.

"I bet there’s some shady transaction behind all this."

"Brother Chicken, you go make a deal too."

"Please Brother Chicken!"

As he listened to the cacophony from the group, Midnight Chicken Killing rolled his eyes.

"Get lost, if you want to go, go yourself!"

The diligent worker: "Damn!"

...

While the prospecting team’s convoy was still on its way to the ruins of Shilong City, "Husky" from the Alliance Biological Research Institute had already reached their destination.

"All squads, spread out and stand guard!"

"Received!"

Watching teammates making OK gestures, Old White, clad in Dragon Rider Power Armor, waved his hand to signal the team to spread out around the track vehicle at the center, guarding against any potential threats from the jungle.

There are quite a few Variants in this jungle.

Just on their way here, they had encountered four or five waves of attacks.

The task of specimen collection is the responsibility of the researchers from the Biological Institute; during this time, they must ensure the safety of these NPCs.

At that moment, Chen Yutong, secured in a protective suit, jumped down from the open vehicle door with a toolbox in her right hand.

Seeing that the person who jumped down was an acquaintance, Old White couldn’t help but step forward to ask,

"How come you’re down here?"

Detecting the concern in his tone, Chen Yutong couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile, but she had no intention of getting back in the vehicle. She said as a matter of course,

"I’ve been here the longest, and I’m in charge of the whole project, so if not me, who else?"

Old White sighed and said patiently,

"The situation here is a bit special; the Variants in the entire forest haven’t stopped attacking us. I think... you should still be careful."

"I know, it’ll be over soon." As she spoke, she had already spread out the toolbox on the ground and took out sampling tools and test tubes.

Old White originally didn’t want to disturb Chen Yutong, who was engrossed in her work on the ground, but seeing that she had been busy for quite a while without result, he couldn’t help but ask,

"How much longer will it take?"

"No more than fifteen minutes... What’s wrong? You scared?"

"I’m worried about you."

"I’ve even been to Jinchuan Province; surely this place can’t be more dangerous than there."

Old White made a helpless expression.

"Can’t really say that."

There are no Mutants here, nor Looters, but the relative number of Variants is myriad, and each more ferocious than the last. He couldn’t be sure what they might encounter next.

Chen Yutong, squatting on the ground, suddenly looked up and blinked at him.

"But I trust you."

"..." Old White stared at her, dumbfounded, and for a moment, was at a loss for words.

While he was lost in his daze, one specimen collection had already been completed.

Carefully inserting the test tube into a groove in the toolbox, Chen Yutong snapped the box shut and stood up, looking at him with a beaming smile,

"Let’s go, on to the next location."

"... Don’t run off; send me the coordinates, and stay behind me."

Hearing that serious voice, Chen Yutong couldn’t help but smile.

"I know, don’t worry, I won’t make trouble for your job."

As she spoke, she tapped twice on her VM with her index finger, and the coordinates were quickly synchronized to Old White’s VM.

Checking through the tactical goggles in his helmet and confirming the coordinates were about twenty meters from their current location, Old White gestured to his teammates to flank him on both sides, while he took the lead.

The rustling in the jungle couldn’t help but make him tense up, but Chen Yutong behind him seemed not the least bit afraid, still sharing discoveries from the journey with him over the communication channel.

"I’ve heard that the forest here has self-healing properties... This aligns almost exactly with results analyzed at our Biological Institute. It turns out, as we predicted, that this tropical rainforest is not a simple forest, but rather a biosphere created by the melding of Gaia Planet species with Earth species."

Old White: "Melding?"

"Exactly."

Looking at the dense forest on either side and the sunlight filtering through the gaps, Chen Yutong slightly narrowed her curious eyes and continued in a buoyant tone,

"...We can’t find a similar example in Earth’s ecosystems, and we speculate this is a unique ecological phenomenon on Gaia Planet, where species share the fruits of their evolutionary journey, rather than the competition that is widespread in Earth’s systems. This may be because they evolved from the same primordial cell, and it’s not ruled out that this may be the doing of an extremely advanced civilization that achieved a form of ascension on a species level based on their own civilizational principles and understanding of life."

Old White looked back at her, not understanding,

These concepts in her speech were again beyond his knowledge.

However, Chen Yutong didn’t stop to explain, only continuing in her light-hearted manner,

"We are only uncertain now whether this tropical rainforest has its own consciousness, similar to the Lair in Qingquan City."

"Ever since entering this forest, I’ve had a premonition that the key to solving the Nago crisis is here. I disagree with burning down the whole Haiye Province. Since it’s a biological field problem, we should look for a solution from a biological perspective... Trust me, I can find that key, just give me some time."

Old White tried to comprehend the meaning of these words but after a long thought, ended up giving up and shook his head,

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but let me know if you need help... Also, just like when we were in Jinchuan Province, you must stick close to me while on duty, and not act on your own."

Chen Yutong curled her lips,

"I know, I’ll stick close... By the way, did you record what I just said?"

Old White was momentarily startled.

"The action recorder? It’s always on."

Nodding happily, Chen Yutong broke into a smile and said,

"Good, I’m afraid I might forget, so you keep it for me."

Understanding that carefree smile, Old White shook his head and turned to continue leading the way,

"Keep it in mind yourself."

"I will."