This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 85 The Correct Usage of Crow

Chapter 85: Chapter 85 The Correct Usage of Crow

Action speaks louder than hesitation.

Chu Guang immediately found an ax and chopped the joint of the Crack Claw Crab’s hind leg, severing a piece almost as long as a baseball bat.

And really, this crab leg looked pretty solid—heavy and long, weighing at least six or seven pounds, enough to stuff two or three people.

The white crabmeat in the shell looked tender like tofu, filled with high-quality protein and fats.

Despite its ugliness and muddy exterior, which seemed impossible to clean, the meat inside was surprisingly delightful.

Hungry because he hadn’t had lunch, Chu Guang randomly picked a passing player and had him summon Crow to the room at the sanatorium.

Before Crow could even ask why she was there, Chu Guang handed her the crab leg and showed her the meat.

"Can it be eaten?"

Crow looked dumbfounded and hesitantly nodded.

"Uh, maybe?"

There was no sign of it being green.

Still, verbal assurance wouldn’t cut it.

Being his usual cautious self, Chu Guang commanded in his stern voice,

"Take a bite."

His demeanor was almost like a gracious offering.

Just like the NPCs who stand by the respawn points in other games.

However, the player being bestowed did not see it that way.

Seeing Manager trying to stuff the raw crab leg into her mouth, Crow quickly backed away, waving her hands and said with a laugh,

"Wait, wait! It’s raw, for smokes sake! Can you at least cook it first?" She didn’t really mind Manager’s forcefulness—after all, he wasn’t a real person.

Shoot!

Why bother with details in a game?

Just eat it if you’re told to eat, and bite it off.

Unexpectedly, this player was quite picky. But thinking it over, Chu Guang felt she might have a point.

Freshwater crabs differ from deep-sea crabs; they harbor more parasites, making it risky to eat them raw.

After all, non-toxic doesn’t mean it won’t give you diarrhea—it just means it won’t kill you right away. Like, even if you have high constitution, why would you specifically pick unclean food to eat, right?

With this in mind, Chu Guang didn’t insist anymore but changed his approach,

"I have a task for you."

"What, what task?"

Suspicion and wariness spread across Crow’s face, sensing something scheming about the word "task."

However, Chu Guang couldn’t care less about explaining as he forcefully handed her the long crab leg.

"The task is simple; first step, go cook this crab leg... here are 2 copper coins, use them to buy some charcoal from the warehouse."

It seemed this task required a step-by-step approach.

Though it felt like a trap, being a player, Crow couldn’t resist the temptation of a "unique task" and, giddy with excitement, took the 2 copper coins, which were "task props," and ran off to the warehouse to buy charcoal.

Soon, Crow returned with the newly purchased charcoal.

She carefully found a wind-free empty room on the first floor of the sanatorium and squatted in a corner, forming a small circle with stones.

Then she placed the charcoal inside, lit a fire, and began to sing as she roasted the crab leg.

While Crow busied herself roasting the crab leg, Chu Guang, bored and waiting at the door, let his thoughts drift.

He pondered why, if both were scavengers, cockroaches weren’t edible but crabs were.

Could it be...

They were actually edible too?

No one had tried before.

Having no solution to his puzzle, his gaze involuntarily drifted towards Crow’s back.

Just then, a loud "pop" cracked through the air as the shell of the crab leg on the fire split open.

Startled by the sudden noise, Crow jerked her neck and shoulders back, unaware of someone’s malevolent intention.

Chu Guang walked into the room and looked towards the crab legs in her hand.

The mud-green shell had turned to a wrapped circle of black wax-red, with a crack in the center that was neither too large nor too small.

Wisps of white steam and bubbles ebbed out of the slit, carrying with them a long-stifled fragrance that quickly filled the entire room.

"Wow... it smells so good."

Crow sniffed and involuntarily swallowed her saliva.

It seemed even more delicious than King Crab.

The key was, she had eaten King Crab before, but never this!

"Is it ready?"

Hearing the prompting from behind, Crow realized she was still on a mission and quickly stood up with the crab legs.

"Respected Manager, I have completed the task you assigned!"

"Very well."

Taking the cooked crab leg from Crow’s hands, Chu Guang waited until it cooled down a bit before breaking it in two and gave her half.

"Eat it."

"Yes!"

Who would refuse cooked delicacies?

Crow obediently took the crab leg with both hands, cautiously nibbled it ensuring it wasn’t too hot, then wolfed down the entire piece, before looking up expectantly at the Manager.

Chu Guang said nothing, instead quietly waiting a while to see if there was any toxic reaction, then finally tasted the half he held.

The fragrance of the crab meat unfolded between his lips and teeth.

Although there was a tad of raw fishiness, it didn’t detract from the tender, smooth texture with a bit of a bite. It rightly fit Mr. Tree Man’s statement that high-end ingredients often required only the simplest cooking methods.

In a word, utterly delicious!

Especially for Chu Guang, who had been eating dried meat and grains for too long, this crab meat reignited his passion for fine food.

The only disappointment was that when he collected the crab legs, he found out that the Crack Claw Crab was male and had no roe.

What a pity to only nibble on the crab legs.

"Not bad."

Chu Guang chewed slowly, nodding his head, then took another impassive bite, and another... bite after bite.

Really, the more he ate, the more addictive it became.

If there were some cooking wine to eliminate the fishy smell and some garlic sauce for extra flavor, it would have been perfect...

Crow watched with wide eyes, holding a half piece of rapidly cooling crab leg shell, waiting a long time without hearing any further instructions.

Seeing that the Manager had finished his crab leg, she finally couldn’t help but add a hint of impatience to her tone and quietly asked.

"Respected Manager, may I ask... any further instructions?"

Chu Guang wiped his mouth and handed her the crab leg shell.

"No, just find a place where it won’t be in the way and dispose of it."

Crow looked at the crab leg shell in her hand, then at the Manager, hesitated a long time, and finally managed to squeeze out a question.

"What about... the reward?"

Chu Guang blankly looked at her.

"What reward?"

Seeing the Manager’s clueless expression, Crow immediately became anxious and quickly reminded him.

"Just, just the task reward... Wasn’t it the task for grilling crab legs? I’ve already finished it, haven’t I?"

Chu Guang stayed silent for a while, looking at her with a strange expression, and slowly nodded.

"Yeah, you could say it’s finished."

Hearing this, hope reignited on Crow’s face, her eyes reflecting a gleam of expectancy.

"So—"

Chu Guang, "...but you ate some too, didn’t you?"

Crow, "???"

What the heck!

That works?!

...

One shouldn’t be too greedy.

Could dining with the great Manager, enjoying delicacies even more esteemed than King Crab, not be considered a reward?

No matter how much this little player argued, the taciturn Chu Guang kept giving her the "I am an NPC" look.

He was starting to understand Xiao Qi.

Pretending not to be smart seemed to save a lot of trouble.

In the end, Crow didn’t manage to get the reward she had hoped for from the revered Manager and left this sad place.

However, the resilient Crow was only distressed for two seconds before quickly regaining her spirits.

Rationally analyzing it, there couldn’t be a mission without rewards because that would contradict the logic of game design!

Especially such a core NPC’s "personal invitation" for a "special mission," the mission was neither failed, nor could it possibly have no reward at all.

The reward must’ve already been given!

But not through money or Contribution Points, it was settled in another way.

Crow suddenly recalled a conversation she had with the planner via in-game messaging, her eyes gradually lighting up as she muttered to herself.

"Exactly, NPCs all have a favorability rating, how could I forget such important information!"

If it’s not experience or money, it must be favorability!

Ah, how could I be so dumb!

Actually asking an NPC for a reward!

Good thing the NPC didn’t give in, otherwise exchanging favorability for Silver Coins would have been regrettable!

Thinking this, Crow felt relieved, thankful that she hadn’t insisted too much and that the NPC hadn’t relented.

The only pity was that favorability couldn’t be checked. It was said to be a hidden attribute, and who knew how much this mission had added?

But that’s the way these neuro-connection online games are written, aren’t they?

The Protagonist makes a simple meal for the NPC, the NPC doesn’t pay but gives a thumbs up. Then as time passes and both the protagonist and the readers have forgotten about it, the NPC suddenly emerges, plop, a great big sword lands in the protagonist’s lap, plop, and then a secret manual, not for men or women but only for you, making the protagonist and readers slap their thighs in amazement.

Goodness, that meal was foreshadowing!

She definitely had read something like this in some book, it absolutely exists! Just that she had read too many to recall which one it was.

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Initially a bit dejected, Crow couldn’t help but smile foolishly, as if she had grasped the future.

Favorability.

Hehehe.

Hidden mission!

Hehehehehehehe.

All of a sudden, the vast drifting snow outside the house and the cool breeze that blew past her ears and around her ankles didn’t feel so cold anymore.

Carrying a basket of furs, Teng Teng was just coming out of the warehouse.

She happened to see Crow passing by the door and was caught by his silly smile, so she couldn’t help but give him a second glance.

Speaking of which...

Is this guy really okay?

That expression made it seem like he had eaten the wrong mushroom.

However, Teng Teng only looked twice before she stopped paying attention to him and, with great enthusiasm, hummed a cheerful tune as she continued toward the tailor’s stall not far from the warehouse.

This evening, the great and wise Manager was going to allocate her the land for building her tailor’s cottage.

By then, she’d go from little tailor Teng Teng to Boss Teng Teng!

Teng Teng had already planned it out.

It didn’t matter whether she became a rich lady or not; what mattered was her love for making clothes. She wanted those clothes, printed with her meticulously designed logo, to sell well across the entire Wasteland!

Then not only players but even the NPCs in the game would wear the clothes she designed.

A completely real Virtual Reality Game.

How wonderful!!

In the afternoon.

The snow continued to fall heavier.

To prevent the trenches from being buried by snow, Chu Guang instructed the players on duty at the door to report to him immediately if they noticed any waterlogging or snow accumulation in the trenches.

At the same time, to prevent Looters from approaching in the heavy snow, he dispatched two players from the Perception system and two from the Agile system to form teams and start scouting cautiously along the main road from the north and east gates of the Wetland Park.

They were to return and report immediately if they encountered any situations.

After finishing these preparations, Chu Guang, now wearing a deerskin coat, went to the industrial area south of the sanatorium.

He brought four pieces of wood, placing two at the entrance and two against the sanatorium’s building—a straight line measuring a 5-meter wide main road.

The total area of the Outpost Base wasn’t very large; counting the enclosing walls, it was just over a hundred meters in length and width.

A five-meter wide main road seemed somewhat excessive, but for future planning, Chu Guang still decided to widen the road surrounding the "respawn point."

Once the main road was delineated, Chu Guang, like drawing a grid, marked spots with tree branches at intervals along the main road and indicated corresponding positions on the sketch of the Outpost Base, placing numbers in the areas in front of the marked positions.

He still needed to install signs on the marked plots, corresponding to the squares drawn on the map.

"Phew, I didn’t anticipate this surveying to be such a technical job."

Had he known, he would have asked a PE teacher for help.

The area inside the walls was only slightly larger than a sports field.

He remembered back in school, without a laser surveyor, the PE teacher could walk along the sports field with a spoon and draw a straighter line than the math teachers could on the blackboard.

Noticing the late hour, Chu Guang shook the snow off his notebook and returned in front of the sanatorium, gathering the players who had been approved for industrial land.

Actually, there weren’t many related personnel; considering the late submissions, he had only approved five projects in total.

However, the players who gathered were far more numerous.

Most were there just to watch the commotion.

"Land distribution time!"

"Land reform!"

"I hope my steel workshop is close to the respawn point."

"That’s unrealistic, you’ve marked such a large area, how could it be next to the respawn point, forget about it!"

The noisy chatter continued.

With a stern seriousness on his face and holding his notebook, Chu Guang cleared his throat and loudly announced his arrangements.

"Approved industrial land has been marked on the map."

"Players whose projects have been approved, please come forward to claim your plots."

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