Chapter 17: It's My Honor To Share Your Burden
Late at night, Chu Guang had a restless sleep. He woke up several times, touching the gun hidden in his sleeping bag before falling back asleep. The shelter was much safer than the settlement. He didn’t need to worry about any danger there. He had a hard time adapting to this unstable environment now that he was back.
"I’ve grown careless," Chu Guang sighed and unconsciously touched the gun inside his quilt.
The thick, long barrel gave him a strong sense of security.
He couldn’t help but wonder what happened to the players. Although he had given Little Seven instructions on what it should do while he was away, he was still a little worried.
After waking up at five in the morning, Chu Guang couldn't get back to sleep. He opened his eyes and waited quietly. He didn't get out of his sleeping bag until there was a trace of sunlight outside the window. He put on his clothes before slinging the steel pipe and the gun he just bought on his back.
When he left, he was sure he wouldn’t be back anytime soon. The town mayor's tax collection forced him to move up his plans for moving, and all preparations had to be completed before the end of the month.
If it wasn’t possible to store enough supplies for a hundred people to consume, he would have to wait until February or March of next year before proceeding to the next round of testing. He would have to wait through the entire winter if that was the case.
Opening the door after he finished packing up his equipment, Chu Guang was about to set off but happened to run into the men of the Wang family. Wang Defu, who had been trying to break into his house yesterday, glanced at him without saying a word. There was a fiery look in his eyes. It seemed to be because he was out with his father, big brother, and second brother that he had the guts to provoke Chu Guang. He also had a hunting tool on his back, which probably gave him the courage to try taunting the other party.
Of course, Chu Guang wouldn’t pay any attention to a brat's provocation. A sixteen-year-old was already a man on Baker Street, but in his eyes, he was just a bratty kid.
"Hey, don't die out there." Wang Defu sneered at Chu Guang.
Chu Guang ignored him. Feeling angry, Wang Defu gnashed his teeth to the point that his face flushed. This ignorant outsider had humiliated him, but just as he was about to say anything more, his eldest brother next to him put his hand on his shoulder. Although he was still a bit angry, Wang Defu turned quiet. Apparently, he was someone who listened to his brother.
Chu Guang glanced at the eldest son of the Wang family, a strong man with a burly figure who was looking back at him. Chu Guang felt a sense of menace from him, though it was subtle. The man's face, interestingly enough, showed a clear hint of surprise, although he hid it carefully.
Hunter's intuition… He wouldn’t be easy to deal with!
After a brief moment of eye contact, both sides quickly withdrew their gazes. There was no need to cause any unnecessary trouble and they decided to leave each other alone. After the Wang Family left, Chu Guang was also ready to head off.
A crisp voice came from behind him, catching him slightly off guard, "Be careful out there."
Chu Guang stopped and turned back to see Yu Xiaoyu hiding behind the door, peeking at him.
Smiling, Chu Guang said in a soft voice, "Mhm, thank you."
"No need." In the blink of an eye, the little girl slipped back into the house and disappeared.
...
At six in the morning, dawn had arrived. The gates of Baker Street slowly opened. The survivors carried baskets, bows, arrows, short knives, crossbows, and other equipment as they stepped onto the cracked concrete road and the weeds that had sprouted through the fissures.
They headed towards the devastated ruins in groups, but two hundred years after the war, it was no longer so easy to find anything good in the wasteland. The occasional shells dropped by mercenaries or marauders were treasures in their eyes.
Chu Guang didn't leave the settlement immediately, but spent some time at the gate. After everyone had left, he went to the recycling station.
"I need seven kilograms of green wheat. Here’s twenty one chips. I also need tobacco leaves for marinating meat... How much can I get for four chips?" Chu Guang asked.
"Fifty grams per chip."
"Then I’ll take one hundred, please."
Food was the key to development; only by preparing more food could he recruit more players to work for him. It was impossible for the survivors to eat porridge and green wheat every day. Even if they could handle it, he couldn't!
Since he had a gun, hunting would be much easier than before. Chu Guang planned to buy some tobacco leaves to process the meat he couldn't finish eating into winter reserves.
Old Charlie raised his eyes, "I remember you buying five kilograms of green wheat just a few days ago."
"Is that a problem?" Chu Guang replied casually.
Old Charlie grinned, "No. It’s not a bad thing to have money."
Chu Guang, who was planning for the future, suddenly became alert. Someone who was listening could misinterpret anything he said. He suddenly realized he had a problem.
He hadn't brought back any worthwhile loot in a while, but he bought a large number of supplies twice in short order. The mayor may not have noticed him as he was a nobody, but others would definitely start to doubt how he managed to get so much money.
Old Charlie didn't say anything, or maybe he didn't care. He helped him weigh the wheat before seeing him off.
"Too careless..."
After exiting the gate and turning a corner, Chu Guang heaved a sigh of relief. He stopped for a moment and looked around him before continuing on his way.
Having more than ten chips was a huge sum of money for scavengers. They weren’t usually able to save up. However, he took out more than twenty chips twice in a row to purchase reserves that couldn’t be consumed in a short amount of time. Old Charlie was kind to him because he was from the shelter, but he still worked for the town mayor…
Chu Guang frowned. It was a pity that Liszt only accepted grain and sold products from Boulder City. Perhaps he should try his luck at Brown Farm…
...
Seven kilograms of green wheat and ten liters of drinking water. With the bullets he brought and equipment, they weighed more than twenty kilograms. They weighed heavily on Chu Guang’s shoulders. As he moved everything around, he had to be careful and conserve his energy. He needed to beware of dangers lurking in the shadows too.
Even if he was stronger than the average man, he would only walk a short distance before stopping for a break. He would observe the condition around him before he continued on his way.
The road outside the settlement wasn’t easy to traverse, and sometimes one had to bypass the collapsed highway or pass through tall buildings that had collapsed.
A wave of envy washed over Chu Guang suddenly thought of the protagonists in The Last of Us and Dying Light. They could even do parkour in the ruins while carrying their supplies on their backs. Meanwhile, he could only walk one step at a time.
Maybe I should buy a Yak to bring all my stuff around…
He wondered if Liszt would even sell him one.
Fortunately, none of the mutants he encountered along the way noticed him. After passing through the ruins and walking along the road for some time, Chu Guang finally arrived at the nursing home before eight-thirty in the morning. To Chu Guang's surprise, when he arrived, he found that all four closed alpha players were already online. Not only that, but he noticed new additions along the walls outside.
Four earthen kilns that were half the height of an average adult male stood along the walls along with a massive hemispherical kiln that was a bit taller than the average man.
What’s this?!
He didn't remember giving them the task of building a kiln.
"Administrator! You’re finally back." Looking at the surprised administrator, Ample Time walked up and greeted him with a smile.
"I was out all night." Staring at the stoves intently, Chu Guang forgot to put down the things he was carrying on his back. "What’s going on here? Did you encounter mutants? Did you run into other survivors?"
"Everything is fine! There haven’t been any accidents." Ample Time excitedly reported their work to Chu Guang. The four smaller kilns were used to burn charcoal, and the kiln with a tuyere attached to it was used to calcinate coarse cement.
"We burned tree bark into plant ash before adding it to water and stirring. After we filtered the upper layer, the remaining paste was squeezed to obtain calcium carbonate for making cement. We then placed the rest of the material into the larger kiln to burn. When they are orange-red, we’ll mix them with the sand we picked up by the river. After mixing well with water, we’ll be able to obtain wood cement.”
To be honest, Chu Guang was surprised by how hands-on those players were. It wasn’t that he had never tried to make cement with wood ash and mud before… He used a method he learned online, but everything he made fell apart with a soft squeeze. It wasn’t useful in the slightest!
Looking at what they did, he realized that his method was wrong.
The key seemed to be the kiln and secondary calcination… As for the purity of the wood ash…
Ample Time continued, "We plan to use cement to repair the wall of the nursing home! We also collected the filtered potash water. It can be used to tan leather, which could be very useful!"
"You guys... did a good job." Chu Guang thought about it for a long time, but he couldn’t figure out how to reward the players. All he could come up with was a half-baked compliment, but Ample Time seemed to turn really excited after hearing him.
It went up! His favorability definitely went up!
Without missing this opportunity, Ample Time put on a serious face and spoke the lines he had practiced all night, "Everything is for the continuation of civilization! It is an honor for me to share your worries!"
"..."
Chu Guang didn’t know how to respond. Compared to himself, those players were far too righteous.
“Well said… After all, everything we’re doing is for the continuation of civilization and us all.” Chu Guang coughed twice and maintained a dignified expression and stared at the excited players. He continued, “I'll head down to the shelter and put away the supplies. Looks like you guys have a great plan in mind. Carry on!"
Ample Time stood ramrod straight and he yelled energetically, “Yes, Administrator!”
"Be sure to take breaks and don’t work too hard.” Chu Guang sighed. Actually, he wasn’t feeling guilty about making them work. Instead, he was afraid they would work too hard and wear their enthusiasm thin.
Ample Time didn’t seem to realize his ‘great intentions’ and he raised his head higher and declared loyally, "Serving you is my mission! This is my declaration under the banner of the Federation of People!”
Chu Guang almost didn't hold back his laughter. The declaration was fine, but did he even know what the flag of the Federation of People looked like?
"Okay, you’re full of energy… Carry on then." Watching the players trot away, Chu Guang sighed inwardly.
It seemed as though he had been worried for nothing.
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