Chapter 855 - This Game Is Too Realistic

Chapter 855: The Western Corps That Wants to Quietly Get Rich Shelter 404. Browsing Room on Level B4. Finally having edited and uploaded the updated files, Chu Guang was browsing the feedback from players and cloud players below the post. Bypass Curious Onlooker: "Where's the version number?! When is the update coming out?! (Frustrated)" Ayanami Angel: "Dev, get to work! Where are those minor bugs? Are they ever going to be fixed?" Pig Farmer: “Dad!! Give me a test account!” Lightning King Professor Yang: “Ad time! Ergonomic gaming pod! The basic version comes with a helmet and recline stand, customizable with vital signs monitoring, nutritional maintenance, and auxiliary metabolism features. Never wake up hungry or with a full bladder again! Buy now and get two free physical check-ups! PM if interested! (Grinning)” General 雷电: “Damn, Professor Yang! Be careful when buying. This guy is just a cloud player, never even played this game.” Night Ten: “You might not believe it, but this guy is actually a veteran player. (Funny)” Fang Chang: “I think instead of worrying if he’s played the game, you should worry about him pulling tricks elsewhere. I suggest filing a report with the police. (Side-eye)” Lightning King Professor Yang: “Darn! You guys are prejudiced!” T-Rex Warrior: “Brother Guang, can you spare a helmet for me? I promise I won't cause trouble in-game—I just want to see if it’s realistic.” Authentic Water Heater: “I want to ride the mammoth!!! QAQ” Overfed: “Brother Guang, can you issue an experience card? I just want to take a look! Just one look!” Tail: “Whoa, it’s huge! (ω)” Meat Mountain Bun: “When we loaded that beast onto the ship back then, it almost tipped us over. (Sweat)” TengTeng: “This expansion is so far away, even after the train we still need to take a boat.” Crow Crow: “Dying once means playing for free for half a month; newbie village is truly safer. (=ω｀=)” Less Bullcrap: “Wow! Way too lazy there!” “……” Earlier, the White Bear Knights had brought back two mammoths from the Mammoth Nation, now housed in the zoo of Dawn City. The wastelanders of the River Valley Province were already accustomed to all sorts of mutant species, especially since their revered manager kept a Deathclaw as a pet. Nevertheless, their children were fascinated by these large, gentle creatures. After the Bonechewer Uprising ended, there was a baby boom in the Alliance, and those children can now speak. The world they see is different from that of their parents. They find the fuzzy hills enticing and cute, and they even want to climb on them to play. While some right-leaning survivors hold conservative views, believing that the misuse of genetic technology is why there are so many mutants now and that resurrected prehistoric creatures should not be exhibited in a positive light, there are also left-leaning, open-minded survivors who view the two mammoths as a symbol of friendship between the Mammoth Nation and the Alliance. For example, those comrades in the Workers' Union. Besides, the mammoths are also popular on the forum, quickly becoming new mascots following "Neeko" and "Little Feather." Previously, cloud players clamored for helmets mainly to "see just how realistic the game is," and now they have added "want to see the mammoths" as their reason. Apart from the new exhibit in the zoo, Dawn City has added many new facilities that were not there before. For example, a second museum, as well as a new art gallery, sports arena, and space station wreckage exhibition hall, among other things. Looking at the various changes brought by these small players to the game, Chu Guang felt a sense of gratification. A truly brilliant manager is not someone like Wutu—the kind who is incompetent yet obsessed, full of ideas and confidence—but rather someone who can create a complete framework for a systematic project, letting people and things in this system perform their duties and fulfill their functions. If the Alliance still relied on him to personally deploy every command despite its current scale, it would mean all his efforts were in vain. With her chin resting on her hands, Little Qi sat on a penholder, staring intently at Chu Guang. "Speaking of which, it's been a long time since you updated the version number, Master." Releasing the mouse, Chu Guang laughed heartily and said. "Isn't that a good thing? What I used to worry about the most was what would happen to the Alliance without me. But now, I'm not worried anymore; even without our intervention, the game will continue to update itself." "But Little Qi thinks it's too early to think that far… Ah, the number of registrations has exceeded 30,000! Amazing!" For some reason, Little Qi seemed reluctant to discuss this topic and abruptly changed the subject. Chu Guang didn't think much of it, smiled lightly, and said. “That figure is probably around the limit... I estimate it can go up to about 35,000.” Although there's a lot of discussion about the Province of Bo Luo on the forum recently, "Wasteland OL" isn't just confined to that area. In the north is the Ice Sea City Special Zone in the Wandering Marsh, in the east is the Cloud City Special Zone in the Province of Cloud, and in the south, there are ten planned settlements. The Alliance's players are already spread across the eastern world of the Zhongzhou continent. In addition, the Alliance's Biological Research Institute and Exploration Corps frequently dispatch research teams to the Province of Bai Yue and other provinces in the east, and players are needed to protect these personnel. Although the current online population is high, once distributed across various gathering places, the actual number of available players isn't that many. However, this war doesn't solely involve the players. Due to some players’ activity in this region, the local survivors have voluntarily united, temporarily putting aside grievances and forming a unified front. Don't even mention sending 30,000 players there. Even with only 3,000, the Southern Corps has absolutely no chance of winning! After closing the update announcement page, Chu Guang continued browsing around the forum and discovered that Fang Chang had started another thread, discussing war strategies with the mole and other players participating in the expansion. Currently, the Burning Legion has flown to Tiandu, and the armored forces of the Skeleton Corps have reached Xiangzhou, advancing toward the Niuzhou area where Tiandu is located. The show is about to begin. While Chu Guang was happily lurking around the forum, Little Qi, sitting in the penholder, suddenly spoke up. "Master, Foreign Minister Cheng Yan has something important to discuss with you in person. He's already at the entrance of the shelter." Chu Guang glanced at the clock. It was already past midnight, so he wondered what could have made Cheng Yan so anxious. He immediately said. “Let him come directly to the browsing room to see me.” With enthusiasm, Little Qi responded. “Got it!” Leaving the reception to Little Qi, Chu Guang instructed the X-16 standing by to bring two cups of coffee, then changed into casual clothes in a nearby room. Shortly after, the door to the browsing room opened, and Cheng Yan walked in with a serious look on his face. “Respected Manager, I apologize for disturbing your rest at this hour, but we just received news from the South Sea Alliance. They were intercepted by an unidentified fleet while heading to block a port on the western coast of Boro Sea, forcing a change to their original plan.” An unidentified fleet? Chu Guang was momentarily taken aback, then quickly composed himself. “Any suspects?” Cheng Yan reported truthfully. “The other side did not actively contact us; they were probing each other without much result. However, based on Li Minghui's analysis, the propulsion system they used is distinctly different from the Southern Corps’ ships… They are likely the Western Corps.” The Western Corps... Hearing this unfamiliar name, Chu Guang furrowed his brows slightly. A long time ago, he had heard from Vanus that there were four Corps Chiefs in total, divided into Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Corps. Among them, the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Corps are located on the mainland of Zhongzhou, while the Western Corps is in the distant New Continent. Due to the considerable distance, Vanus didn’t have much intelligence regarding that region, only knowing that the Western Corps was advanced in naval technology, with settlements primarily on the eastern coast of the New Continent, though there were some ports on the western coast as well. To be honest, the ancient “contract” signed between the Corporation and the Corps under the witness of the Academy and the Great Rift did indeed have some loopholes. The contract stipulated that the Corps should not expand eastward across the Great Desert, but it didn't specify how far they could expand westward. After all, this planet is round, and besides the Zhongzhou continent, there is another somewhat smaller continental plate on the planet's other side. What is additionally troublesome now is the poor orbital environment, lacking any space facilities to observe the New Continent directly. And no traders of the Alliance are known to have ventured to such a distant place. The use of psychic interference technology to repel oceanic mutants is a recent development. In earlier years, ships sailing the southern seas of the Zhongzhou continent relied on old-fashioned methods like "black ironwood" or sonar sensors from the South Sea Alliance. No one dared to venture into completely unfamiliar waters. For the Alliance, intelligence about the Western Continent is virtually nonexistent. Seeing Chu Guang deep in thought, Cheng Yan cautiously suggested. “I wonder if the Corporation might have intelligence on the Western Corps? After all, Ideal City is on the farthest east of the East Coast—at least closer to the New Continent than we are.” After a moment of contemplation, Chu Guang responded. “I’ll inquire… though I suspect that they may not be as enthusiastic as we are about matters outside the Province of Cloud.” He had already dealt with the Eastern Corps, but the Northern and Western Corps have yet to make their positions clear. In truth, so far, Bennett has only represented the views of Triumph City; the Alliance lacks any diplomatic channels for direct communication with both the Northern and Western Corps. But— Why would the Western Corps be interested in the affairs of the Province of Boro? The distance between those guys and Boro is much greater than that between the Alliance and Boro. Watching the steam rise from the coffee cup, Chu Guang quietly pondered and suddenly had an idea. "Could it be weapons?" Cheng Yan paused for a moment before his expression shifted slightly. “You mean the Western Corps is exporting arms to Western Sail Port?” “It might be more than just exporting arms; it could be ‘project subcontracting’...” Chu Guang clicked his tongue lightly, took a sip of coffee, and set the cup back on the table. “I should have foreseen this possibility.” The Southern Corps has soured relations with the civil officials of Triumph City, meaning they probably won't rely on them for logistics anymore. And since the Eastern Corps has also clearly stated they won't participate in this campaign, the temporary ports in the southwest of the Province of Sunset and the transport routes across the Great Desert will not be accessible to the Southern Corps. Under these circumstances, it's logical for the Southern Corps to seek other partners. It's easy to speculate that the higher-ups in the Southern Corps must have promised certain benefits to the higher-ups in the Western Corps. For example, a 30% share of the "new colonial" profits. Much like the cooperation between the Alliance and the Corporation on the space elevator project. Whether you want to admit it or not, survivor factions with the same interests are natural allies. Cheng Yan asked seriously. “…The Southern Alliance wants our advice on what to do next?” After pondering for a moment, Chu Guang replied. “The fact that they haven’t openly revealed themselves and are instead making moves from the shadows suggests they don’t want a direct conflict with us. As long as they feign ignorance, we’ll oblige and not expose their misdeeds.” Cheng Yan frowned and asked, “Should we just leave them be?” “How could we? Do you think our submarines and subcarriers are just for show?” Chu Guang chuckled with a hint of coldness in his voice. “I’ve heard there are quite a few sea monsters in the Boro Sea, like… the torpedo-launching Laken. We can’t be blamed if transports sunk by Laken aren’t accredited to us.” Cheng Yan’s eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up. “That’s a good idea!” Chu Guang shook his head with a smile, remaining silent. What’s a good idea about it… It’s just basic strategy. He believed Cheng Yan could have come up with this idea even without him saying it. But everyone has their own little mind, and this guy was clearly no exception. When someone’s prestige reaches a certain level, others will naturally lower their stance, whether out of respect or dependence or some other reason. The residents of the shelter are fine, but the wastelanders of the Alliance somewhat show this trait. Apart from research-related positions, the only wastelander who has fully unfolded their talent might be Little Fish. Many others, including Lü Bei, only recently started calling him "Mr." instead of "Sir" after he repeatedly requested it. Chu Guang could see the caution in Cheng Yan’s heart but didn’t expose it. He simply gave a few pointers regarding subsequent tasks, advising flexibility in handling the matter, and concluded the meeting. Sometimes doing too much becomes excessive. Cheng Yan has always done his job well, whether it was the mission to Golden Gallon Port or dealing with the Eastern Corps. Chu Guang didn’t want him to interpret this as him being dissatisfied with his work. “Master, Little Qi feels your survivors are quite reliant on you.” As she watched Cheng Yan leave, Little Qi spoke with a hint of pride, lightly swinging her dangling legs beside the penholder. Looking at the little one delighting in its proud little nose, Chu Guang extended a finger and tapped its small forehead. “I get it… but I don’t see it as something to celebrate.” “Hmm, as long as Little Qi is happy!” After straightening her tousled hair, Little Qi uncharacteristically countered him with a playful retort instead of going along with his words. However, a moment later, her proud smile drooped again, and for some reason, she adopted a cautious tone, ceasing to swing her legs. “So… could you please not leave?” Finger suspended above the little one’s head, Chu Guang paused just when he was about to push her back into the penholder. “What are you talking about?” With her head cradled, Little Qi grumbled quietly. “Hmm… Little Qi is worried that one day, you'll say something like ‘from now on, they are all mine,’ and then just up and vanish like that person did.” Seeing Little Qi suddenly downcast, Chu Guang was momentarily stunned and took a while before realizing who she was referring to. That was the designer of "Fang Ming." When the orbital weapon operation rights were delivered, an AI named Fang Ming had shared a lot with her about its designer. Perhaps being a sensitive AI, Little Qi saw a shadow of that situation in herself. Chu Guang stayed silent for a while, not playfully bantering with the little one like usual. Instead, he gently picked her up and placed her on his shoulder. “Even the computer buried under the inner city ruins, designed specifically to calculate future outcomes, can’t predict an entirely accurate future… Often, things turn out quite differently than originally imagined; surprises are the norm.” “So don’t always worry about distant matters. At least for now, I am still here, and we are both still young.” “Even if I go somewhere far away, I will take you with me.” (Thanks to "Bie Meng Han" for the alliance master's reward!!!) Real-life issues caused some delays. Sorry, everyone, it’s a bit shorter… To be continued.