Since the players were so self-aware, Chu Guang felt that he shouldn't interfere too much with them, letting them play freely seemed a better choice.
He placed the supplies next to the elevator and returned to the shelter, calling out the Administrator System. Soon, a task completion pop-up appeared before his eyes.
"Congratulations, Host, for completing the daily task: Stockpiling Wood, Reward: reward points +2"
"Congratulations, Host, for completing the daily task: Making Cement, Reward: reward points +5"
The completed daily tasks totaled seven reward points, which was not enough for an intermediate blind box.
However, Chu Guang was not concerned.
His players had already dealt with the cement, and now the stockpile of food had exceeded ten kilograms; soon he would be able to recruit a few more players as free labor.
"System, all reward points, exchange them all for basic blind boxes!"
The reward points in the Administrator's allowance instantly zeroed out.
The alloy door on the wall opened, and the conveyor belt started moving, dispensing the rewards from the opened blind boxes.
Five lollipops, a 200g block of chocolate, and a 500g bag of salt—all of them without an expiration date or a brand name.
How much did this damn first generation manager love sweets?
Looking at those lollipops and chocolate, Chu Guang was at a loss for words for a moment.
But this pure white salt was a good find.
Chu Guang reached out and picked it up, his face showing unexpected delight.
The salt available on Bet Street was coarse salt transported from Giant Stone City, wax-yellow in appearance, not only expensive, but also of low quality, with a bitterness that overshadowed its saltiness.
This type of pure white fine salt usually came at a steep price, which ordinary survivors could hardly afford.
"If only there were more of it!"
This amount was sufficient for cooking, but using it to make bacon or sausages would be somewhat wasteful.
Of course, trading it was a viable option, as this pure white fine salt could be exchanged for ten, or even twenty to thirty times the weight in coarse salt.
However, there were other risks involved.
River Valley Province was an inland province.
Salt, only second to munitions in hyper-profitability, required substantial power to handle this trade rationally.
After confirming the rewards, Chu Guang opened the player list to check the log-off time of players from yesterday and their log-in time today.
He was surprised to find that Old White had leveled up?
"Can you level up by chopping trees?"
Chu Guang was shocked.
Previously, the development progress of these players' gene sequences had all been at 0%, but Old White's gene sequence development progress had risen to 1%.
Correspondingly, his level was now LV1.
But after thinking about it, Chu Guang was relieved.
Chopping trees, a physically demanding task, also served as a form of exercise, and since Old White's gene sequence was strength type, it was not surprising that his development progress had increased.
Gaining experience didn't necessarily require combat.
Though the latter was relatively a shortcut...
He closed the system interface.
Sitting in front of the computer in the residents' hall, Chu Guang logged onto the Wasteland OL official website's backend.
Having set a reservation threshold that required filling in a shipping address and phone number and registering an account, Chu Guang was prepared for a slowdown or even a halt in the growth of reservation numbers, yet upon opening it today, he found that the number of reservations had risen from 35 to 45.
Well, well.
Do so many people actually gather at the Niubi Club?
Surprised, Chu Guang then logged into his Penguin account, opened the game group called Niubi Club, and scrolled through the chat history to catch some clues.
Just yesterday, a bunch of newcomers flooded into the group, and the number of members had skyrocketed from over a hundred to more than two hundred.
Most of these newcomers were invited by friends to watch, and many of them were group hoppers, active in various gaming groups all year round.
Now, in the PC gaming circle, a rumor about a "fully immersive virtual reality online game" was spreading.
Although most people scoffed at it, there were always one or two who believed it and went to great lengths to join "Niubi Club."
Everyone was unsure if the Dog Management was just messing around, but the official website did look quite professional.
--Historic chat record--
Quit smoking: [Why are there suddenly so many new people in the group? (confused.jpg)]
Pick up trash 99 level: [Big shots! How do I pre-order that game? Does it cost money?]
Quit smoking: [What? They're all here for Wasteland OL? (shocked.jpg)]
Up several times in one night: [Might as well change the group name to Wasteland OL Players Group. (funny)]
Grandpa Ao: [Closed beta testing is free, not sure about later, just register an account and fill out a form to queue up. As to when you'll get your turn, it's up to luck...sigh, I'm done, some people really believe it.]
Quit smoking: [Night Ten bro! Did you guys log in last night??? Tested any new content??? (excited)]
Up several times in one night: [Tested it, worked on it all night, and we managed to make some cement, haha. Ask Fang Chang, I gotta go to class, we'll talk later.]
Quit smoking: [Cement???]
Pick up trash 99 level: [Isn't it supposed to be picking trash???]
There was a lot of back-and-forth in the group.
Chu Guang directly skipped over that long string of nonsense and scrolled down to Fang Chang's message.
Long Days Ahead: [Honestly, the realism of this game exceeded my expectations! Unlike most sandbox building games, logs in Wasteland OL don't automatically turn into planks, and making charcoal isn't just a matter of throwing wood in a furnace for a one-click production; you need to build a charcoal kiln first, and the burning method is much the same as in reality. The same goes for making cement, there's no one-click crafting table, you start by burning plant ashes.]
Quit smoking: [What? It's that realistic?!]
Long Days Ahead: [Exactly, it's that realistic! Haven't tested the combat system yet, but as far as sandbox gameplay goes, so far Old White and I haven't found a limit to this game!]
Long Days Ahead: [Theoretically, all the materials we've encountered so far can be transformed according to real-world physical and chemical rules, and the environmental effects of these transformations are permanently preserved! They won't get reset! That's what amazed me the most!]
This reminded him of the "pseudo-sandbox game" Death Stranding, which involved building roads all over the world.
But this game was not just about building roads; it offered more interactive content than the pixel-style Minecraft, and the graphics were crystal clear, even more deceptive than the photorealistic racing game Horizon 4.
Especially that immersive experience.
It was unlike anything he had ever seen.
To put it simply, he was absolutely blown away by this game!
Grandpa Ao: [Ha, I laughed. If it's really that awesome, I could build a replica of Jinling City in Wasteland.]
Spare people under the knife: [I don't believe it either! It's too preposterous.]
White Horse Passing a Gap: [Cut the bull, just wait until you get into the game, you'll see it's the most grinding game I've ever played, all materials have to be manually collected, and it doesn't support idle play. In other games, you can leave the computer running overnight to level up, but in this game, just chopping a few trees will leave you too tired to lift your hands!]
Level Eight Great Gale: [Indeed, I can relate to that.]
Quit smoking: [Damn, damn, damn, you guys are making me wanna play it so bad!!! Brother Guang, I know you're lurking, I'm begging you, please give me a chance!!!]
Chu Guang continued to scroll through more chat records.
Those who got closed beta access and the group admins were basically hyping up Wasteland OL with all sorts of praise, with comments like "sandbox gameplay yyds" and "contender for game of the year."
There were also players who couldn't help but interject from time to time, "I'll pay 100,000 for beta testing eligibility" and "100,000 is too little, I bid one billion (joking)," and other such comments.
Then, the group members started talking about survival in the Wild.
Perhaps intrigued by the gameplay described in "Long Days Ahead," many players who didn't believe in "the existence of fully immersive Virtual Reality Games" also joined the conversation, chiming in and even strategizing.
Among them, Chu Guang was most interested in a group elder by the ID "WC There are Mosquitoes."
Checking his join date, this elder had recently joined the group and was new.
While everyone else was chaotically discussing the game, he seriously explained the eighteen uses of wood.
Burning charcoal, making furniture—those were the basic ones.
Additionally, he mentioned "dry distillation" of wood.
The specific principle was that, during the process of baking wood to make charcoal in a sealed container, a large amount of combustible gas and smoke containing various organic chemical components would be released.
These complex mixtures were collectively called "charwood products," which are chemical precursors to many chemical products—until the widespread use of coal tar and petroleum.
According to this group elder's description, by filtering the collected condensates, a watery solution composed of acetic acid, acetone, and methanol could be obtained, as well as a thick tar-like residue.
Both were complex mixtures, but different organic chemical components could be extracted from them using distillation.
No need to mention the acetic acid and methanol, but this acetone thing was good stuff; not only could it serve as an organic solvent, but it could also be used to make smokeless gunpowder!
When Chu Guang read this, he was utterly shocked.
"Is this guy a chemical engineer?"
He instinctively clicked on the person's profile picture and then on his space.
The space wasn't locked, so he got in easily, but there was nothing related to chemical engineering inside—just advertisements for furniture and building materials.
Well...
It looked like he was selling furniture.
His profound understanding of wood must have been out of personal interest.
Nevertheless, his knowledge might come in handy here.
After thinking for a moment, a plan formed in Chu Guang's mind, and he sent a private chat popup.
"Friend, interested in joining the beta test?"
"Wasteland" was nine in the morning, so it should be nine in the evening in Hua Nation of the parallel world—the peak time when no one would be asleep.
Sure enough, the elder whose ID was "WC There are Mosquitoes" sent a question mark.
"[?]"
"[Who are you?]" Chu Guang typed.
"[I'm the planner for Wasteland OL.]"
WC There are Mosquitoes: "[WTF? You're the planner?]"
WC There are Mosquitoes: "[Brother, how do we test? Does it cost? I don't have money.]"
Chu Guang patiently explained.
"[No need for money, just fill out a form, I'll send you the link.]"
Although full of questions, WC There are Mosquitoes still clicked on the link, filled out the address and phone number on the official website reservation page.
However, when filling out the address, he was cautious and wrote the community station instead of the door number.
WC There are Mosquitoes: "[What next? Any other procedures?]"
Light: "[That's it. Send me the reservation number, I will tag it on the backend here, and I will notify you when it goes online in three days.]"
Creating a clone took three days.
While Chu Guang pondered on what other talents the outpost still lacked, the group chat suddenly exploded.
When he opened the group chat, it turned out that the guy "WC There are Mosquitoes" who had just filled out the form had gone to the group to brag immediately after.
"[Hahahaha, brothers, Grandpa got the beta eligibility!!!]"
Quit Smoking: "[WTF? WTF WTF!]"
Quit Smoking: "[Why him! I had reserved earlier! T.T]"
The group chat instantly blew up.
Along with that, Chu Guang's private messages also exploded.
Looking at that long series of notification dots, Chu Guang's scalp tingled, knowing he couldn't stay hidden any longer and quickly came out to explain.
Light: "[Everyone, calm down. The beta testing is for everyone's gaming experience. At this stage, we need to test whether various game systems are complete, so we need some players with specialized knowledge to act as guinea pigs.]"
Quit Smoking: "[I can be a guinea pig too! I have seven years of driving experience! T.T]"
Spare People Under The Knife: "[Pssh, your seven years of driving is nothing. I can operate an excavator!]"
Grandpa Ao: "[You guys stop fighting. Didn't you notice that this 'WC There are Mosquitoes' just joined the group yesterday? Maybe it's an admin's alt! This whole fully immersive Virtual Reality Game, it's fake! All fake!]"
④Who Understands Mystery: "[Looking at his space, it doesn't seem like an alt...]"
Quit Smoking: "[Brother Guang! I'm kneeling! Give me a chance!]"
Light: "[... Wait a few days. In a few days, a hundred spots will be released, trust me, everyone will have a chance!]"
The group members went into another frenzy.
Chu Guang tried to calm their emotions, but it was useless; the other admins were all in the game and couldn't manage this side.
This couldn't go on...
Maybe, release another spot?
Chu Guang rubbed his chin pondering.
Anyway, there were about ten kilograms of rations already stored in the base, and with guns, they could start hunting soon. Adding a few more pairs of chopsticks shouldn't be a problem...
Right, food!
Chu Guang's eyes lit up as he pecked at the keyboard.
Light: "[By the way, we're still short on a chef.]"
Light: "[To test the Cooking System.]"
What Chu Guang didn't expect was that after sending this message, the quarrel in the group became even more intense.
Not everyone knew woodworking, but the threshold for being a chef was much lower.
Nowadays, who couldn't whip up a couple of dishes and a soup?
You just needed hands!
Regardless of whether they truly knew how to cook or were just bluffing, the old brothers in the group outdid each other with claims like, "I can stir-fry a plate of Kung Pao Chicken with my eyes closed" and "Lame, my dog can do that," almost boasting themselves as reincarnations of Culinary Gods descended from heaven.
For the sake of the beta testing spots, these netizens did everything they could, completely overwhelming Chu Guang.
How the hell should he choose?
The debate lasted for a full half hour until one brother revealed his New Oriental certificate, finally calming things down.
That thing certainly had more persuasive power than bragging.
Chu Guang instantly announced the ownership of the sixth beta testing spot, asked for the reservation number in private, and then logged off at warp speed.