Outpost, west gate.
In the wooden barn.
A huge monster was lying on the ground, its huge tail curled up into a ball, and its amber pupils lazily wandering around.
Any wastelander born and raised on this continent, whether awakened or ordinary, would instinctively feel fear when seeing this guy, and would spontaneously have a heartfelt admiration for the strong who could defeat and subdue this thing.
As one of the existences at the top of the food chain in the wasteland, the death claw is definitely a T1 or even T0 level existence in terms of strength, speed, stealth, or physique.
It's really powerful to be able to restrain this thing with a few chains and a collar!
However...
This death claw has obviously been fed a little salty fish, and the fierceness in its eyes has obviously been replaced by laziness, and its temper is not as irritable as before it came here.
What's the use of being fierce?
Most people here are not afraid of it.
Especially the human who is dressed like an iron lump.
Every time he feeds it, he exudes a strong aura, making it feel... fear from the bottom of its heart?
The IQ of the Death Claw is not high, but this is only relative to humans.
Compared with small animals such as hyenas, jackals, and brown bears, it is still smarter, and its mind can reach the level of primate cubs.
That is why the feeling of fear brought to it is particularly obvious.
Whenever it shows unfriendly behavior or even just an expression, the feeling of having its brain frozen will make its limbs stiff and its whole body tremble.
On the contrary, if it behaves docilely and obediently enough, the man will feed it a few more mice or hyenas.
Over time, it has figured out a new way to survive.
Recently, the human has played some new tricks. Every time he feeds it, he will call it "Nico". Although he doesn't know what this call means, as long as it responds, the tin can that scares the lizard will happily reward it.
Who cares?
Maybe it was the name of that human.
Neeko didn't care much about things she couldn't understand. For her, who had abandoned her wildness, eating and taking a nap were all she needed.
She crawled on the ground and closed her eyes, intending to take a nap before lunch.
However, at this moment, a group of noisy voices disturbed her sleep.
Neeko opened her eyes and saw a little bug followed by a few blue jackets, walking towards her noisily.
While walking forward, Trash-kun boasted to several friends in the cow and horse group.
"... No exaggeration, I feel so strong now! Not to mention a mere death bug, I can kill the mother nest with one slap!"
Ye Shi suddenly spoke.
"Speaking of which, when is the Q period of lizards?"
Lao Bai thought for a while and said.
"It seems to be spring."
Quit smoking and asked curiously.
"Do you think that Death Claw will try to woo Trash-kun?"
Tomato Scrambled Eggs touched his chin and thought.
"Maybe, after all, this guy is cheating."
Everyone was optimistic about this couple, only Trash-kun clicked his tongue.
"You guys, your thoughts are really dirty! You play games every day and CPDD, can't you be purer!"
Ye Shi said with a smirk.
"Okay, okay, no little brother, you are so tough when you talk."
Having been poked in the sore spot, Trash-kun glared at him in anger.
"Get out!"
Trash-kun certainly didn't come here to woo.
Although he has the body of a lizard, he is still a human in spirit, and it is a bit too heavy to stick with reptiles.
What's more, it doesn't have that thing.
The heterogeneous sequence, whether it is a lizard or a mouse, is "eunuch" without exception. Maybe it was too curious, so the operator simply didn't build the model that should have on him.
But in Junk's opinion, this was not an important matter.
It's just a game.
Being strong is enough, nothing else matters!
How to prove your strength?
For lizards, the most direct way is of course to get recognition from their own kind, especially females.
Amber pupils looked over from the wooden shed.
Seeing that the beast noticed him, Junk held his breath, stared at it, and released his "aura".
The two pairs of eyes, one big and one small, stared at each other for about half a minute.
Neeko, who was lying in the wooden shed, didn't know if she understood what he meant. She snorted with a sneer, and blew up a few straws and fell at Junk's feet.
The huge tail changed the direction of the wheel, and the amber pupils closed carelessly, no longer paying attention to it.
"Puff-hahahaha!"
Quit smoking couldn't help but laughed out loud.
Although the other few people did not laugh, their faces also showed subtlety.
Jun Lazi's face turned red and he defended himself.
"It may be sleepy."
"Okay, okay, forget it, Jun Lazi," Fang Chang patted his tail distressedly, "Let's go to Yuanxi Town to brush materials, be good."
With the help of taster Lao Na, Tomato Scrambled Eggs recently developed a method for processing monster meat.
As long as some buffalo grass powder is sprinkled on it during marinating, the unpleasant smell of blood can be removed, making monster meat less unpalatable.
Fry it until both sides are golden and sprinkle some pine nut wine and chopped yam stems. It is not only delicious, but also provides a BUFF bonus of "5% metabolism and 7% constitution".
Because the taste is similar to beef and can provide a BUFF bonus, the hunter's union has recently increased its demand for monster hunting.
Kuangfeng, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.
"I heard that female lizards will lift their tails when courting."
Quit smoking: "So you don't like it?"
Scrambled eggs with tomatoes asked with interest.
"What about male lizards?"
Kuangfeng: "I remember they wagged their tails."
The most educated person here is Professor Feng.
Ye Shi suddenly smiled slyly and looked at Jun Laji.
"Brother, how about... let's try?"
Jun Laji: "Get lost!"
It's embarrassing to try it.
Wouldn't it be more embarrassing if it didn't work!
Although the attribute is only 3, he is not stupid!
Kuangfeng pinched his chin and thought, and suddenly spoke.
"By the way, there is actually something I have always been concerned about."
Yesterday he looked up information about lizards for several hours, but he couldn't figure it out.
Being targeted by Professor Kuangfeng, Jun Laji always had an ominous feeling.
This guy is targeting him today...
"... What do you care about?"
"I remember before... Didn't you tell me that you had four intelligence points? You hadn't awakened at that time," Kuangfeng asked in confusion, "How come it has become less after awakening?"
Quit smoking looked at Jun Laji in surprise.
"There is such a thing?"
Jun Laji coughed dryly and subtly moved his eyes away.
"Don't care about these details... Aren't we going to Yuanxi Town? Let's go, or we will miss the bus if we are late."
"There are 9 attribute points from LV0 to LV9, and the intelligence has not increased at all. I guess I would be embarrassed to say it if it were me," Fang Chang patted Kuangfeng's shoulder and sighed, "Understand it."
Jun Laji: "&@%￥!"
...
Three days have passed since the end of the wave.
The spore cloud gathered in the northern suburbs is decreasing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the morale of the survivors in the northern suburbs has reached an unprecedented high.
This morale is not obvious in the players.
After all, they have saved the world countless times in other games such as Azeroth, Skyrim, or Hyrule.
A city is too small for them.
Mother nest?
Evolution?
It's just a main storyline boss of LV10~20.
However, for the survivors living in Qingquan City, especially in the northern suburbs, defeating the wave has a completely different meaning.
In the eyes of most survivors in Qingquan City, the wave is something that only Boulder City can deal with.
When the gray-green fog permeates, most people can only choose to avoid dangerous urban areas, or reduce travel, curl up at home and pray, praying that the wave will end soon.
Those blue jackets from Shelter No. 404 did what they had never dared to think about before, and even solved the wave faster than Boulder City!
Those arrogant people living in the wall?
That's all!
...
In the outpost, at this moment, it is decorated with lights and colors, and it is as lively as a festival.
Since the Spring Festival and the new version are coming soon, and the previous victory has not been celebrated properly, Chu Guang decided to celebrate the three things together and set the celebration on the first day of the B round test.
Cooking food is a traditional reserved project of Shelter No. 404.
This celebration is the same.
Food that is recognized by players, NPCs, and managers can not only enter the Hall of Fame for chefs with their teammates, but also have the opportunity to see their own works in the NPC store and get generous activity points.
Many combat professional players ran to Changjiu Farm early in the morning, waiting in line for the bus to Yuanxi Town, and couldn't wait to get some magical animals back.
Life professional players are not idle either. Some go fishing, some go mushroom picking, and some go to catch toads in the fields. The whole forum is full of rural atmosphere.
Especially now that the number of ear-hanging camera equipment has gradually increased, the shelter has a stock of 200 pieces, and Chu Guang has opened it to players for purchase.
As long as the contribution points reach the level of a medium citizen and 500 silver coins are paid, the functions of "game screenshot" + "instant messaging" can be unlocked from Xiaoqi, the administrator's assistant.
After having the headset, not only can you communicate remotely with players in the VM friend list, but you can also synchronize "compliant" photos to the forum account.
Many cloud players on the forum also feasted their eyes and saw many magical animals that do not exist in reality.
In addition to players who catch ingredients by themselves, some players set their sights on the trading post of Changjiu Farm and the passing merchants.
Foreign merchants occasionally bring some specialties from neighboring provinces, such as dried lizards, canned fruits and sugar from Jinchuan Province in the south, or sawtooth tiger meat, yak milk and colorful mineral salt in the north.
These merchants are very satisfied with the goods of Changjiu Farm, especially those exquisitely crafted copper shell bullets, which often only require two or three magazines to exchange for a whole box of hundreds of kilograms of goods from them.
And those bullets are just mass-produced on the assembly line. The cost is enough to scare these wastelanders to death.
In addition to food, players did not forget to change their hometowns to a new year skin.
Especially the life professional players who mainly move around the outpost base, consciously posted festive paper-cuts on the buildings around the Quality Square.
Not only that, they also posted creative couplets at the doors of NPC offices such as sanatoriums, weapon stores, warehouses, banks, hunter unions, etc.
Standing at the door of the weapon store, looking at the red paper hanging at the door, Boss Xia's face was full of strange expressions.
"What's written on it?" She looked at Chu Guang on the side and asked.
"The price of noodles has increased, the price of meat has increased, and the price of mushrooms has increased again and again. Thank God, the price of weapons has not increased. The banner reads: Version conscience... Haha, these people are a bit interesting."
As he read, Chu Guang couldn't help laughing out loud.
The couplets are not neat.
But it is quite in the style of the players.
If these stupid netizens can come up with a proper couplet, Chu Guang will find it strange.
"...?"
Xia Yan was confused, but Chu Guang read out that these players were implying that the planner was giving out silver coins randomly.
But...
What does this have to do with me?
You are implying A Guang, what does it have to do with me Shu Guang?
As we all know, in order to take care of the experience of new players, any online game has a version catching-up mechanism, and "numerical expansion" is just one of the countless cards in the hands of the planner.
However, Chu Guang's starting point for printing money is different from that of other game planners. He plans to print money based on the gross production value of players and NPCs to balance the income between different groups.
Thanks to the supercomputer with unknown computing power buried under the shelter, and the VM equipment produced in unlimited quantities by the black box.
Without these two black technologies and Xiaoqi's help, it would not be easy to complete these tasks.
Chu Guang roughly calculated that at least 10% or even 20% of the labor force needs to be converted into administrative personnel to barely maintain the operation of this management system.
To describe it in the terms of simulation management games, due to the "future municipal" technology of Shelter No. 404, the manager only needs less than 150 grassroots administrative personnel with only secondary or even primary education to maintain the "smiles" of nearly 2,000 permanent residents and 1,500 players.
Who dares to say that Shelter No. 404 has no black technology?
The only difference between this black technology and controlled fusion is that it is not very obvious and a little less impressive.
Xiaoyu, who was standing aside, curiously recognized the words on the couplet.
Chu Guang looked at her and said with a smile.
"Speaking of which, don't you have the Spring Festival?"
Xiaoyu shook her head like a windmill.
"No!"
Chu Guang vaguely remembered Xiaoyu telling him before.
Better Street only holds birthday celebrations for the former mayor and his children, and most of the time, people in the town are asked to work for free and receive gifts, so no one likes celebrations.
It seems like a dream to Xiaoyu that everyone can gather together to celebrate the same happy thing like now.
"... At this time of year in previous years, there would be constant bangs in the south, sometimes all night long," Xiaoyu tilted his head and thought for a while, then suddenly said, "Like thunder!"
South... should it be near the West Third Ring Road?
It can't be heard in Linghu Wetland Park, but if it's on Better Street, the sound of cannons should be heard from there.
Chu Guang asked curiously.
"How long will it usually last?"
"If it's fast, it will be over in a week, if it's slow, it may take a month." After thinking seriously for a while, Xiaoyu nodded vigorously and said affirmatively, "It should be later this year. Xiaoyu has never seen such a heavy fog in the northern suburbs!"
In the past few days, whenever she came out of the shelter, she wore a gas mask.
It made her feel suffocated.
It has never been so serious before.
Chu Guang nodded and said thoughtfully.
"It seems that the spread of spores is regional..."
...
Although the tide in the northern suburbs has receded ahead of time, there are still a lot of things waiting for Chu Guang to do.
Because the northern suburbs miraculously solved the crisis of the tide before the giant stone city, and the active activities of Shuyu sent by Chu Guang to the giant stone city, many merchants in the giant stone city have been attracted recently, leading two-headed cattle to the northern suburbs.
The northern gate of Qingquan City, "facing the wilderness", has never been so lively.
Especially when those merchants found out that the "artworks" in the Queen of the Night Bar were actually produced here, they all went crazy instantly.
In addition to the three treasures of artworks, devil silk and spirit leaves that satisfy the curiosity of LSPs, there are many other good things here.
For example, the Didiwei nutritional cream was almost sold out by the merchants in Boulder City!
The wholesale price of 299 silver coins per ton, according to the current exchange rate, is less than 150 chips. Compared with the ex-factory price of 300 chips per ton of Weijia Trading Company, what is the difference between buying here and picking it up for free?
And not only is the price cheap, the quality is also not bad at all.
At first, the factory manager Didiwei planned to form a caravan to take the goods to Boulder City to sell, but later found that this operation was completely unnecessary.
His cost has been reduced to around 140 silver coins per ton, and the orders that have been pouring in are scheduled for three months later. He only needs to put in all his efforts to produce and make more than double the profit, so why bother?
With that silver coin, it is better to invest in a few more hunting teams to go to the edge of the Fifth Ring Road to sweep the buildings. The income from scavenging can completely balance the cost of ammunition.
Just do it!
Such a lucrative profit, even Lister is jealous.
KV-1 exoskeleton and solid hydrogen battery are profitable, but the gross profit rate is really not as good as the inconspicuous stuff like nutritional paste.
Gangs in the slums at the gate of Boulder City will buy this stuff, and farmers in the south will also buy it in large quantities.
200g can keep people from being hungry, and double the amount can make people full. It is perfect for feeding slaves and livestock.
In addition to the artworks and nutritional paste that are sold out, there are also mosquito gas masks, bicycles and helmets from the No. 81 Steel Plant, disinfectant water from the chemical plant, and some cheap and useful gadgets.
The LD-47 sickle assault rifle is not very popular among the merchants in Boulder City, but it does not prevent the mercenaries from loving it.
Low failure rate, easy maintenance, and powerful enough.
In addition to the biggest advantage of being cheap, it is enough for them to open their wallets, exchange chips for silver coins, and then use the silver coins to spend money at Boss Xia.
In addition to the big guys who opened the factory and got the meat, the most happy ones are undoubtedly those life professional players on North Street.
Before, few of the mercenaries who came from Boulder City with Lister's caravan spent money at their stalls.
However, recently, these mercenaries from Boulder City seemed to have suddenly become rich, and their spending was surprisingly generous.
Even if the price of ramen increased from 5 silver coins to 6 silver coins, some people paid for it.
The mushroom soup at 4 silver coins a bowl is even more well-received. It is fragrant, greasy and delicious. The most important thing is that the boss lady is beautiful and speaks well, and there is an endless stream of people queuing up.
These merchants and mercenaries who came from afar not only stimulated a wave of consumption, but also brought a lot of good things produced in Boulder City.
The goods sold by these merchants are varied, ranging from weapons to daily necessities.
In fact, as a large-scale survivor settlement that completed industrialization a long time ago, the industrial capacity of Boulder City is much stronger than that of Shelter 404.
The local development model is largely inspired by the ideal city of enterprises, which can be seen from the "ship and cargo worship" of the upper class in the inner city for the ideal city in all fields from culture to commodities.
The design of the KV-1 exoskeleton is modeled after the miner series, and the drone X-2 assault rifle is modeled after the Black Swan G9 assault rifle. They have imitated the "legacy heirs" on the East Coast in many fields.
The factories in Boulder City cannot produce metallic hydrogen, but can produce second-level solid hydrogen. They cannot produce fusion engines that drive land fortresses, but can make engines that boil water compact and cheap.
Chu Guang admitted that there was a big gap between the survivor settlements in the northern suburbs and the Stone City in terms of population and industrial capacity. When the two sides had a certain degree of communication and understanding of each other, friction was probably inevitable.
However, even if the relationship deteriorated to the point of a full-scale war, it would not happen overnight.
Even if the war broke out tomorrow, it would not prevent him from fleecing them today.
In order to protect local industries and increase exports, Chu Guang had already adjusted the exchange rate of silver coins to chips from 1:2 to 2:1 when he let Lister in to set up the factory, and separately restricted the foreign exchange quotas for individuals and enterprises.
In this way, players will find that buying KV-1 exoskeletons from NPC stores will be much cheaper than buying imported goods in the Stone City.
Similarly, exporting products from the northern suburbs to the Stone City will also bring much more profit than simply dragging them to the market to sell them.
"I've never seen so many chips."
Warehouse at the outpost.
Looking at the pile of colorful chips in the box, old Charlie sighed heartfeltly.
Although he was also wearing a blue jacket in the shelter, he had lived in Qingquan City for so many years and had long been accustomed to the local life.
It was impossible to say that he was not shocked by such a large pile of valuable things in front of him.
Chu Guang smiled faintly and said.
"That old leech didn't have it?"
Charlie knew who Chu Guang was talking about and said softly.
"He is just an ordinary rich man."
There are many denominations of chips in Boulder City. The most common one is white, which is also the most widely circulated currency outside Boulder City.
In addition, there are 5-denomination red, 25-denomination green, and 100-denomination black.
Chips with larger denominations can generally only be seen in the inner city, but most people there use credit cards for transactions, and rarely put chips with a denomination greater than 100 in their pockets to show off.
They can neither be used as change nor can they be changed.
He had seen the former mayor's vault. That man had three of the same boxes, but most of them were the cheapest white chips.
Unlike this box, you can even see the black ones.
Chu Guang asked with a smile.
"Is this money enough to become a rich man in Boulder City?"
Charlie thought about it and gave a rigorous answer.
"... I've only been there a few times, but if it's the kind of luxurious life I understand, it should be more than enough."
Chu Guang smiled and said nothing.
After a pause, he cleared his throat.
"I plan to set up a merchant guild, organize some caravans to trade with other survivor settlements, expand our influence, and find something for my players... I mean the residents."
Old Charlie nodded.
"That's a good idea."
Although the second half of the sentence sounds strange, he agrees with the first part.
At this stage of the development of the northern suburbs, it is not enough to just expand the territory, and there are not so many people to open up those lands.
It's not just an economic problem. Only by gaining enough regional influence can the northern suburbs obtain population and resources for further development.
Chu Guang looked at Old Charlie and continued.
"You have probably seen and been to the most places among the people I know."
"This job."
"I plan to let you do it!"