This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 73: The Harvest before the Harsh Winter

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: The Harvest before the Harsh Winter

"3 tons of bird feces stone... calculating with an average usage of 30 jin per mu, the actual cultivated area must be well over a hundred mu, a lot larger than expected,"

On the way back, Chu Guang pondered as he wrote in his notebook.

"It seems my speculation was correct, they must have applied some no-soil cultivation techniques, and this part accounts for 15% to 30% of the total output... maybe even more."

Brown Farm itself would produce some of the manure and also purchase a little from other merchants, the actual cultivated area is probably larger than imagined.

Before the crossing, Chu Guang had heard about a type of pipe-based no-soil cultivation technology that maximized the use of space and water resources. Provided there was enough fertility, one mu could be used as if it were ten.

In the pre-war era of this world, there seemed to be similar technologies that maximized space utilization to the extreme, developing automated towers that incorporated sowing, nurturing, ripening, harvesting, conveyer belt transportation, packing, and delivery – truly capable of surpassing yields of ten thousand jin per mu.

They were known as CNC planting towers, considered the ultimate form of industrialized planting technology.

Very cyberpunk.

Brown Farm certainly didn’t have such luxurious energy resources, but since they could trade some electricity for grain, their electric power resources must not have been too scarce.

Moreover, having farmed for at least a century, they would have inherited some technology and adapted it to fit the wasteland environment.

At this moment, Chu Guang suddenly had a novel thought.

"Could it be... they are planting some kind of energy crops?"

Brown Farm didn’t just grow green wheat, which was known to mature quickly. After harvest, there was still the opportunity to grow another round of crops like ram’s horn potatoes, beans, fruits, vegetables, or other plants.

Perhaps it was the latter that required more fertility?

By the end of the 20th century, people were already using economic crops, by-products, or artificially bred special crops to produce ethanol and biodiesel. As this technology gradually matured, these types of crops were sometimes specifically classified as "energy crops" based on their usage.

Logically, the pre-war world that had mastered controlled fusion technology might have developed similar technologies beyond his expectations.

However, in an era where nuclear fusion technology made significant breakthroughs, the practical use of such energy crops wasn’t to produce alternatives to fossil fuels.

Instead, they were used as industrial raw materials.

"... Brown Farm itself does not possess industrial capabilities, so the production of some kind of economic (energy) crop is partly used as fuel and partly sold to merchants from Giant Stone City as industrial raw materials for factories in Giant Stone City."

"The products are suspected to be some kind of rubber-like substance, crude oil, or other hydrocarbons."

"And, this crop must consume a lot of fertility!"

Chu Guang wrote down these words in his notes.

The gains from this trade were greater than he had expected.

Not only the grain, tools, and the "order" for 3 tons of bird feces stone for next spring in the covered wagon, but also the information indirectly collected through the trade.

Especially this information, which would have been impossible to obtain when he was a scavenger.

After returning, he would make it publicly available in the official settings collection for players to reference.

As Chu Guang analyzed this information, the players beside him also whispered amongst themselves.

"1 kg of bird feces stone can be exchanged for 10 kg of food? Am I seeing this right?"

"You’re wrong; it’s 12 kg."

"I don’t get it; is this green wheat too cheap, or are the stones we picked up by the lake too valuable?"

"Maybe both? Maybe neither... Wait, how much is the grain we buy from the warehouse again?"

"About 1 silver coin per kg of green wheat, I know what you’re getting at, is it that we only get 2 copper coins for 1 kg of bird feces stone when we bring it back to the warehouse?"

"Exactly! Does that make sense?"

"Don’t worry, although the farming system isn’t open yet, I bet the price NPCs will pay for green wheat definitely won’t exceed 1 copper per kg. Doesn’t it seem reasonable now?"

"Pfft, it’s absolutely insane... what the hell! They sell it to us for 1 silver coin per kg!"

"Calm down, which game isn’t like this? Besides, if you’re really nitpicking, isn’t the real-life grain price fluctuating too? Just sell some to the players, and whatever you can’t move, dump it to the NPC granaries."

At this point, the player with the ID "Escaped Vole in the Canyon" sighed and spoke with a look of regret.

"If only they would open up a merchant trading system, transporting 1 kg of Bird Feces Stone to Brown Farm for grain, and bringing it back would yield 12 kg of grain. Even if you sold it to NPCs, it would be worth more than 2 copper coins, right? 12 kg would get you at least 1 silver coin, believe it or not? This game is terrifying when you ponder it."

Chu Guang didn’t look up or even pay attention to him but still glanced at the guy and chuckled inwardly.

He wasn’t wrong.

But he thought too small.

If you took Bird Feces Stone to Brown Farm for grain and then sold that grain in Giant Stone City for guns, would you believe that a hundred kilograms of Bird Feces could get you five or six guns?

Don’t worry.

Come next spring, your great Manager will trade for you, and the chips earned will be Outpost Base’s foreign reserves, and they’ll even share the profits with you.

What?

You want to be paid in Giant Stone City’s currency?

What, you want to buy a house and get married in Giant Stone City too?

Actually, Chu Guang didn’t mean to "exploit" his little players, and compared to the farm owners at Brown Farm and Old Leech on Bet Street, what he was doing hardly counted as exploitation.

Within the blueprint Chu Guang envisioned, by the time the fifth-generation currency emerged, the money issued by Shelter No. 404 would replace the currency issued by Giant Stone City, becoming the most solid common currency in Qingquan City and the surrounding areas.

Suffering now was for everyone to enjoy prosperity together in the future.

"Manager, there seems to be someone ahead."

"?"

Still coming?

He tucked his notebook back into his pocket, and Chu Guang’s right hand reflexively reached for the large hammer on his back. However, as he touched the handle, he realized the so-called people were just two individuals.

He saw the robust man who had greeted him at the door earlier holding a serf he had taken out earlier at gunpoint.

The latter, hands over his head, was shivering and kneeling on the ground.

The group stopped.

Chu Guang looked at the burly man, and the burly man stared back at him blankly.

"What’s going on?"

"Nothing."

Chu Guang glanced at the poor man who dared not move under gunpoint, then looked towards the robust man again, asking with puzzled expression,

"What’s this?"

The robust man originally didn’t want to explain, as it was his family’s private affair, but seeing that this group was not easy to provoke, he cautiously said,

"...He’s the master’s slave, old and suffering from arthritis in his legs, can’t do much work, and he even broke a plate yesterday. The master told me to take him outside and dispose of him."

After hearing the robust man’s words, Chu Guang remembered that every winter, the Brown Farm seemed to dispose of a few slaves who were no longer capable of heavy labor and whom no one would buy, only to buy new ones from slave merchants the next year.

As for where these slaves came from?

Hell knows.

Some were auctioned off by creditors due to debt, some became unfree after capture by Looters, others were simply clones, or the inhabitants of some forgotten shelter that had been unsealed.

Chu Guang had even heard that some Scavengers sold themselves or their relatives because they couldn’t survive.

In the Wasteland, a slave nearing the end of their life is worth even less than a Double-headed Cow capable of carrying goods.

At least the latter had a bit more flesh on his bones.

"Please, I beg you, spare my life."

The burly man looked impatiently at the man kneeling on the ground.

"Even if I let you go, where could you go? Let me make it quick for you, don’t make it difficult for me."

"Please, I beg you..."

The serf could no longer utter any other words.

"Wait a minute."

Chu Guang stepped forward, looking down at the old man kneeling on the ground.

"How old are you?"

"51..."

Indeed, a bit old.

As far as slaves go, he was already of advanced age.

But on the other hand, it also meant experience.

Chu Guang continued to ask.

"What can you do?"

Seeing a glimmer of hope for life, the old man shakily turned around, reaching out in an attempt to grasp that lifesaving straw.

The burly man, seeing this, kicked him away quickly with his foot and scolded.

"Don’t touch the guest of the master with your dirty hands, do you want to be hanged?"

His keen eyes could tell that these people had business dealings with the master.

Although kicked, the old serf didn’t mind at all, got up without even looking at the burly man, and raised his wrinkled face to look at Chu Guang.

"I can farm, count, do carpentry, and move things... I can do any sort of work. Please, sir, give me a chance to live."

"You can count too," the burly man sneered, "Counting a few potatoes makes you a mathematician? Sir, don’t listen to his nonsense, at his age, he can’t work anymore. Two groups of merchants dealing in slaves came this month, and none of them were interested in him."

Chu Guang took out a white chip from his pocket and flicked it into the burly man’s hand with his thumb.

"Is this enough?"

The burly man’s face brightened as he nodded eagerly.

"Enough, enough."

A mosquito is still meat, after all, and besides, the slave wasn’t his.

After securing the chip, the burly man raised his hunting gun to the sky and fired a shot, then picked up the shell from the ground, bowed to Chu Guang, and happily carried his gun back to report.

The serf was shivering on the ground, clearly frightened by the gunshot, looking as though he had lost his soul.

Chu Guang ordered a player to pull him up and bring him in front of himself, and with a commanding tone, instructed him.

"Your life is mine now, you work for me."

He finally came back to his senses.

The serf seemed ready to kneel, but Chu Guang raised his hand to stop him.

"We don’t do kneeling here, place your right fist over your left chest to show loyalty. If I find any betrayal or disloyalty in you, don’t make me do it, dig it out yourself and feed it to the dogs."

Chu Guang was just scaring him with these words, if there really were traitors, throwing them into the Active Substance Extractor to be processed would suffice, no need for such an elaborate threat.

Though Chu Guang was a civilized man himself,

after living and observing here for a while, he knew well that some issues couldn’t be dealt with using a civilized man’s thinking.

Indigenous People and players were fundamentally different creatures.

With the natives, you have to manage them using their own methods.

That’s for the best for both parties.

"Yes, sir," the old man said obediently, his head bowed and expression much more at ease, sensibly placing his right fist on his chest, "I offer you my loyalty... My name is Luka, no, I have no name, please give me one, sir."

"You’ll be Luka then."

Chu Guang didn’t want to waste time, and waved his hand at the players.

"Keep moving."

"We need to get back before noon."

...

This trading expedition could be considered a full success.

kg of Bird Feces Stone were exchanged for 3600 kg of green wheat and ram’s horn potatoes, 100 kg of smoked meat for 500 kg of green wheat and 5 tools.

Although Chu Guang wanted to argue, deer meat was different from Hyena meat; the former more rare than the latter, as not always could one encounter a deer migration. But the other party said if that was the case, Hyena meat would suffice. After all, as long as it wasn’t human, rat, fish meat, etc., it was all the same to them, so Chu Guang had to give in.

However, in respect of their relationship, Liu Zhengyue still made a small concession, allowing him to choose 5 tools or 1 pound of tobacco leaves to take away as a gift.

Of course, Chu Guang chose tools, and he picked the ones with bigger sizes like pipe wrenches and fire axes. Even if they weren’t useful, they could be taken back for steel and copper smelting.

Moreover, 25 kg of smoked fish were traded for almost 150 kg of scrap metal.

Unlike the aluminum and steel alloys commonly seen on the streets, these metals were good quality containing copper and zinc.

Originally, Liu Zhengyue didn’t really want to sell them, but perhaps he thought that since the merchants would not return for several months and keeping them on the farm was useless, he agreed after asking the master.

The noon sun shone overhead, with the shadows of trees fluttering on the road.

Aside from a Strength-type player pulling a cart, the rest of the players were scattered around the covered wagon.

If they occasionally saw a Mutant Cockroach coming close, they would rush up with shouts and beat it with sticks, more excited than the Variants themselves.

If the Variants could think, they would be dumbfounded at this moment.

Who exactly is the prey?

The only thing Chu Guang needed to do was to stop their hoarding habits, wanting to stuff any strange things they found into their pockets.

While sometimes, the stomach of a Mutant Cockroach might surrender some indigestible trinkets, with extremely good luck even a chip or bullet, the chances were slim.

Most of the time, they found cockroach eggs.

Old Luka shook with fear at the sight, probably scared by these people’s actions.

He had never seen such odd humans and comprehended nothing of what they were thinking.

But Luka knew very clearly as a servant, he didn’t need to ponder such questions, the less he knew, the longer he’d live, so he did not make a sound all the way, with a presence so low it was as if he didn’t exist.

Feeling happy enough to sing.

Leading the covered wagon team back to Outpost Base, just at the entrance, Chu Guang happened to see the Yu Brothers carrying their prey, gesturing anxiously with the players at the southern gate.

Chu Guang’s eyes lit up, and he called out from a distance.

Hearing the familiar voice, the Yu Brothers turned around immediately, waving their hands with joy.

"Brother Chu!"