This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 75: The Warehouse Manager Who Can Do Farm Work

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: The Warehouse Manager Who Can Do Farm Work

"Bro, why isn’t this electric stove working well?"

"...It might be a power issue. I’ll take a look and see if I can use these copper wires to build a bigger generator."

"Steady, bro!"

As Chu Guang left the carpenter’s cabin, he passed through the industrial area and saw a few players in front of a steel furnace, figuring out how to improve the steelmaking technology.

It seemed the improvised electric furnace had failed, apparently due to insufficient power. Two players were discussing how to create a more powerful generator.

It would be great if it worked.

Silently cheering them on, Chu Guang, with a hammer slung over his shoulder, walked over to the brick kiln where "Spare people under the knife" was directing other players in brick firing.

Ever since Old White switched to being a Hunter Player, the role of construction team leader had fallen to "Spare people under the knife," who had a civil engineering background.

"The three-meter-high enclosing wall is too low. We don’t know when the Looters’ second wave of attacks will come. I plan to strengthen the defenses of Outpost Base. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Unexpectedly, the Manager was seeking his opinion on such a critical matter.

"Spare people under the knife" was initially surprised and then started thinking seriously.

"Judging by the Looters’ weapons, they use Molotov cocktails, throwing objects, and light weapons a lot. The wall can physically prevent them from breaching our defenses, but it doesn’t actually give us much advantage in a real firefight!"

"My suggestion is that we concentrate building materials to construct 3 to 4 meters high pillboxes outside the enclosing wall and connect these pillboxes with a ’Z’ shaped trench!"

Hearing this player’s suggestion, Chu Guang’s eyes lit up.

That was indeed a good idea.

Looters were a bit like goblins from fantasy films; their firepower and close combat abilities were weak. Their advantage lay in intimidation and harassment.

Intimidation was useless against players—it only made these lunatics more excited. The only thing needed to be curbed was their ability to harass.

A pillbox provided frontal suppression, and the trenches stretching out from the flanks perfectly limited the mobility of the Looters.

Were they still Looters if they lost their mobility?

They were just walking "experience packs"!

Even if they gritted their teeth and breached the defense gap, jumping into the trenches, a cruel and bloody massacre awaited them.

Missing in shooting was a matter of skill.

Was there still a need to worry about that in trench bayonet combat?

In the minds of these players, there was no concept of retreat. Blinded by fury, they’d take a few down with them even if it meant catching themselves in friendly fire.

With this in mind, Chu Guang immediately made a decision.

"Let’s do that. How many people do you need?"

"Spare people under the knife" quickly calculated in his mind and replied.

"Give me 20 people, and I can get it done in three days! 30 people, and at most two days!"

Digging trenches wasn’t a difficult task. With shovels and some Strength-type players, it probably wouldn’t even take a full day.

First, excavate the main structure, then gradually fortify it with wood.

As for the pillboxes.

The kind made from concrete casting was overkill. Dragging over some hardened cement blocks from an abandoned construction site, using wood and scrap rebar for beams, building an earthen pillbox wouldn’t be a problem.

Chu Guang nodded.

"I’ll give you 40 people!"

"40? Isn’t that too many?" "Spare people under the knife" was momentarily stunned.

Chu Guang shook his head.

"We’re not short on people; we’re short on time. Tomorrow a group of reinforcements will reach the surface, and I’ll hand all the newcomers over to you."

This batch of players who had obtained the closed beta qualifications was the largest in history, totaling 40 people.

With so many newcomers flooding into the game, they had to have something to do, lest they ran around the base like headless flies.

It would also help them get acquainted with the working culture of Shelter No. 404.

To emphasize the importance of this task to "Spare people under the knife", Chu Guang paused after explaining and continued in a serious tone.

"This task is crucial, and I hope you take it seriously. Moreover, your Contribution Points and rewards will depend on the quality of the defense works."

"If the defenses you design perform excellently in the next battle, there will be additional rewards."

Although the Manager didn’t tell him how much the reward was, seeing the NPC’s serious demeanor, "Spare people under the knife" immediately took it as a hidden quest.

He stood up excitedly, pressed his right fist against his left chest, and said spiritedly,

"Mission guaranteed to be accomplished!"

"Good."

Chu Guang nodded in satisfaction.

"With the remaining time today, get the plan ready and mark the spots outside the enclosing wall. Start working first thing tomorrow morning."

"Go."

...

Last night, they captured a scout, and throughout today, there was no activity from the Looters’ side, leaving everyone unsure of what the Blood Hand Clan was planning.

Were they waiting to make their move?

The raiding parties and scouts who came for the harvest had not returned, and even the dullest of enemies should have realized by now that those men were never coming back.

The Hunter Squads roaming the north and east sides of the Wetland Park were not only hunting; they were also coordinating with observation posts to track Looters’ scouts.

Wearing the Exoskeleton constantly was rather troublesome, especially with a massive hammer weighing twenty or thirty kilograms strapped to his back.

Chu Guang went over to the generator, removed his gear, found a cable to connect his KV-1 Exoskeleton to the power source, began charging it, and then started patrolling inside the Outpost Base.

At that moment, he noticed two players crouching by the corner wall of the granary, muttering something to each other, so he walked over to take a closer look.

"What are you doing?"

The two crouched players stood up.

"Respected Manager, we think this looks very familiar, similar to the green wheat we ate before,"

Saying this, one of the players pointed with a forefinger towards a few swaying green wheat stalks by the granary.

In fact, rather than wheat stalks, their shape was more like foxtails. Thin stems topped with bunches of unopened husks, under the fine hairs on the edges there nestled tiny green seeds the size of sesame seeds.

Chu Guang had never farmed this crop before, having only tried planting horned potatoes, and never successfully.

Although a lot of green wheat had been imported before, its origins remained unseen, and he was momentarily undecided.

Recalling there was an expert in the Outpost Base, Chu Guang went to the warehouse, where he summoned Old Luka, who was familiar with his post, and brought him to the granary.

Luka barely glanced at it before nodding confidently without even crouching down to check.

"Sir, this is indeed green wheat, and it looks like it has been growing for half a month. However, it’s not the right season for it, and it looks like it’s about to fall over. Moreover, with frost earlier this morning and impending snow in the next two days, I fear these seedlings won’t last much longer."

Fuck?

Is it really green wheat?

After staring at the wavering seedlings on the ground for a while, Chu Guang guessed they must have been accidentally spilled during food transportation.

"Can you cultivate this?"

"Sir, you jest. I’ve been farming for decades... Besides, green wheat isn’t really wheat, it originally evolved from foxtail. It’s not hard to grow. Unlike horned potatoes, which have to sprout before being cut and plastered, green wheat skips even the seeding step. Just scatter some on a plot of land, and in two or three months, it grows just like grass," Luka whispered.

"That’s miraculous?" Chu Guang remarked, stunned.

"Not really miraculous, mainly because... this grain isn’t anything special, typically reserved for us lower servants. If you had seen how it was right after cutting, you’d understand why I say this. The sour stench it emits is just like grass, only improving slightly after being sun-dried."

Chu Guang: "..."

Luka cautiously looked at Chu Guang and continued hesitantly.

"However, this thing has its benefits< it grows fast, has deep roots, can absorb water, is drought-resistant, and can survive if the temperature is not too low< it doesn’t require much care. The only drawback is that you can’t harvest much from each planting; the yield isn’t very high."

"You can slice off the ears to fill stomachs and even feed livestock. Burning the stalks to ashes and tilling them into the soil can serve as potassium fertilizer, or you could ferment them into compost as well... We usually intercrop it with other plants in rotation."

"If there’s some residual fertilizer in the soil, for instance, after just planting something else, sowing the seeds could easily produce four to five hundred pounds per acre. But if you plant it alone, the harvest is just average< the ears are small, about the size of this root growing by your wall, yielding only a few dozen pounds per acre."

"... In my experience, merchants from the north buy some of this food, and nearby survivor bases purchase some too, but those further south buy far less."

Previously, Chu Guang had been curious about what exactly this green wheat was a variant of, and now the case was broken.

It turned out to be a mutation from foxtail grass?

No wonder the survivors on Bet Street milled this stuff into pancake flour or cooked it into porridge, likely to evaporate some of the oxalic acid.

Had he been making players eat grass all this time?

Chu Guang’s expression became somewhat intricate.

Anyway, this piece of information was better not updated on the official website.

"So what crops did you normally plant before?" Chu Guang changed the subject and continued asking.

"Many things; green wheat and sheep’s horn potatoes are the cheapest and available all seasons. Vegetables and fruits fetch a higher price, mostly grown in greenhouses. A crop that brings good profits and is easy to sell is the red-ribbed leaves, which can be used as tobacco when dried. Both scavengers and merchants can afford these, and I’ve seen some use them as alternatives to spices to cover up some of the gamey tastes. Besides, there’s another crop called the Cam Tree that bears a yellow-green fruit."

"What is that?" Chu Guang immediately asked.

Luka shook his head and said,

"Sir, farm owners don’t discuss these matters with us underlings; I’ve only seen merchants from Giant Stone City come and buy loads of it. Honestly, it’s not tasty, feels like chewing on tires. However, if you cut open the bark, you can extract a lot of oil, which we use for our generators after a bit of refining."

Chu Guang pondered for a moment.

"Perhaps that Kamu fruit isn’t meant for eating."

With Luka’s level of knowledge, he couldn’t comprehend this statement, but he smartly kept quiet, waiting obediently and only answering the questions asked.

Chu Guang took out his notebook and jotted down a few notes.

[1. Wasteland Tip: Brown Farm cultivates an economic crop called the Cam Tree, whose fruit is suspected to be refinable into rubber. The tree oil can be used as fuel.]

[2. Power Information: Brown Farm closely engages in trade with outside parties, harbors serfs, and stockpiles a significant number of weapons, intentionally concealing their power level. Their true economic conditions and combat capability might be slightly stronger than they appear; adjust threat level from C- to C, maintain neutral (0) favorability.]

[3. Power Information: Shelter No. 404’s Outpost has a good relationship with the scavengers on Bet Street; maintain threat level at E-, raise favorability from neutral (30) to friendly (50).]

[4. New NPC at Outpost Base: Warehouse Manager Luka. Old Luka is a tragically born serf, sworn to serve the shelter after being saved from gunfire by the manager. His aspiration is to rid the wasteland of hunger.

His legs suffer from severe arthritis, preventing him from working too hard. Helping him carry items might be a good way to improve favorability, but be aware that theft and similar actions will lower his opinion of you. Moreover, his experience with various wasteland plants is a valuable treasure that might come in handy during the planting season.]

Today’s official website update.

That should be it for now!

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