Chapter 29: Life in the Wasteland Starts From Moving Bricks
The moment he spoke, everyone fell silent while staring at him with bated breaths. They were afraid to miss any detail.
Chu Guang was very satisfied with the players' reaction. He raised his head and glanced around the hall.
When he saw the lizardman standing in the corner, his expression went stiff for two seconds, and his hand almost touched the gun on his back.
Why are there mutants here?
But…
From his stupid expression, this lizard man should be a player.
Guess there’s nothing to worry about.
Whether it was combat experience or panel data, these newbies were no match for him. Chu Guang may be worried about survivors ambushing them, but he was really not afraid of these players making trouble.
It would only take less than a second to kick, ban, and confiscate their test qualification.
After deciding to study the lizardman later, Chu Guang no longer looked in his direction. Instead, he swept his gaze across the hall.
"First of all, I have good news to tell you. The war is over!"
"Bad news is, our world has changed beyond recognition. If you expect to go home with your luggage and find your mother right away, it'd obviously be impossible."
"This year marks the 200th anniversary after doomsday. Fortunately, we have successfully survived the most difficult years. To be able to stand here today, you are already more fortunate than 12 billion people before you. I now need you to recognize what situation you are in as soon as possible, and then fulfill your declaration under the banner of the Federation of People. We will rebuild our homeland!"
"This robot next to me is my assistant. You can call it Little Seven. You can ask it any questions about the shelter or other things you don't understand."
He repeated the opening speech that he had said once before.
When the next batch of players arrived, he would say it again. If there were no serious bugs or plot loopholes, he did not plan to change it.
After all, it was hard to make things up.
After a pause, Chu Guang continued, "In addition, the Shelter Resident Handbook has been updated to version 2.0, which includes the residents' convention, code of conduct and requirements for public order, good customs, and prohibitions. Please check it out promptly."
"For residents who violate the regulations, they will be forced to stay dormant or confined. For serious violations, the offenders will be sent back and permanently banned from arriving on the surface world. We hope that everyone will strictly abide by it."
A commotion immediately broke out.
Didn’t this NPC have a little too much power?!
However, everyone did not have a particularly big reaction.
Since they had chosen to be the closed alpha tester, it meant that they had accepted the game settings.
Before logging into the game, they had already seen the "Shelter Resident Handbook" on the official website, and it didn’t contain anything too strict.
The new clauses only restricted behaviors such as PK between players, harassing other players, improper transactions, and malicious destruction of in-game facilities.
Those terms were in line with the interests of most normal players, and some terms were even discussed by the players themselves in the forum and were added after being adopted by the game designer.
For example, Ample Time and Old White proposed the part where there could be no malicious destruction of in-game facilities, and a female player who had not yet obtained the test qualification proposed for there to be no improper harassment.
Those were pretty good opinions.
After all, they were in an open world game. They weren’t in some strange simulator or some R18 game.
Even if it was a game that advertised freedom and the concept of being free, it was impossible to allow a player to unscrupulously disrupt the gaming experience of other players.
In addition to adopting these suggestions, Chu Guang also made more detailed regulations on these rules.
For example, malicious destruction of facilities would be punished with compulsory labor, and sexually harassing other players would result in getting kicked out of the game.
It was very considerate for everyone.
What? Can't accept it? Then go back to playing CrossFire and give the helmet to those who need it!
After explaining the matters requiring attention, Chu Guang left the shelter with 24 players and took the elevator to the surface in two batches.
What they saw shocked them.
It wasn’t just a simple visual impact either.
Hearing, smell, touch and even taste; every cell in their bodies told them that this was a completely real world!
"This is incredible……"
"Is this... really the game world?"
"Wow, it just blew my mind!"
"This is awesome!"
Looking at the excited players, Chu Guang's mouth also curled up into a smile.
He really wanted to tell them that it was too early to get excited.
...
Chu Guang first took those new players to familiarize themselves with the outpost facilities, especially reminding them that it was forbidden to urinate and defecate near the outpost.
Then he took them all back to the nursing home and handed them to Old White and the other players from the first batch.
The construction site of the outpost definitely needed people. There was no need to worry about these players having nothing to do. The old players would tell them what to do.
Some people were called to move bricks and repair the walls.
Some others were brought away by Ample Time to the construction site in the northeast of the wetland park to carry raw materials for producing cement.
As for remuneration…
It was set at 10 contribution points per hour.
Although it was not clear what the contribution points were for, the players were very motivated and couldn't wait to start working immediately.
During the testing phase, there were many things to do.
Developers had said that they would not delete their in-game data, so they just needed to do the missions.
The energetic spirit of these players made Chu Guang a little embarrassed.
Of course, not all players were arranged to work on the construction site. Making bacon, tanning fur, fishing, hunting, and gathering… Those were tasks that needed to be completed.
For example, the female player standing at 1.8m tall with the username Yaya, was assigned to go out gathering.
Her genetic sequence was the perception type. Although the initial value of the primary attribute was 6, which was 1 point lower than Night Ten, her talent panel had an additional initial talent called Toxin Intuition.
According to the system's explanation of this talent in the player list, players who had the talent could rely solely on biological instincts to perceive toxicity, without needing knowledge and experience.
In contrast, before gaining Toxin Resistance, the Poisoning Effect itself would have stronger negative effects on her.
In addition, the positive effect of the talent was affected by perception attributes.
It was only appropriate for her to be a gatherer.
There was also the matter of the lizardman…
After arranging the work of the gatherers, Chu Guang called the player aside.
"Are you Garbage_pickup_level_99?"
What kind of troll name is this?!
Seeing the Administrator talking to himself, Garbage thought he had triggered the hidden plot, so he stood upright and nodded excitedly. "Yes, I am!"
Chu Guang nodded and was about to arrange his work. Who would have thought that Garbage would recall something as he brought out a note?
"Administrator, I found this note when I woke up. I can't understand the text on it. Can you tell me what is written here?"
"Let me see." Chu Guang took the note from him.
The strip of paper was a little wet as if it had been soaked in water, but it seemed to be made from a waterproof material; he could still read the words on it.
He was familiar with the writing, and they were written in the common language of the once-destroyed world. Chu Guang immediately knew who left it there.
"Where did you get it?"
"My ass."
Chu Guang’s hand shook, almost dropping the paper.
Seeing the Administrator's darkened expression, Garbage immediately guessed that he said something wrong and started to explain, “I mean it was in the nurturing cabin. When I woke up, it was stuck on my butt."
"Okay." Chu Guang continued to look at the content on the note.
- Congratulations, you won the lottery! This is the easter egg I left for you! The genetic sequences stored in the gene bank are not all human genes, and there are also a small number of special genetic sequences. To tell you the truth, it was me who did it. Although there are unexpected elements, I don't intend to admit my mistake. What can I say? Don’t you think this is also part of natural selection?
- Speaking of which, should we call it a special genetic sequence or a mutant? Sigh, forget it, it doesn't matter what you call it, you can decide for yourself.
- The first administrator.
This guy must be crazy.
Chu Guang was speechless. He was too lazy to complain any more.
He opened the system interface, and confirmed the data and talent of the lizardman in front of him through the player list.
Just like this guy's tall and burly physique, his strength and constitution were incredible. If he hadn't used the system reward, his strength would have even caught up with him, who was already level five.
He also had two talents, Physical Regeneration and Cold Blood, which were simply great weapons in actual combat!
Although there were debuffs, such as having difficulty leveling up and in acclimating to low temperatures, and ineptitude in operating complex machinery, they were not fatal flaws. In other words, there was no major problem with the guy!
Chu Guang was already thinking about whether to give the guy a set of steel claws.
Maybe being a tank was not a bad option either.
Being stared at by the Administrator with his look of scrutiny, Garbage felt very nervous.
Fortunately, the NPC did not stare at him for too long and soon handed him a mission different from other players.
"From today, you will hunt with me." Chu Guang said and decided not to worry about weapons for the lizardman.
These players were not necessarily more stupid than him, it was better to let them study the gameplay by themselves.
Garbage clenched his fists excitedly, and said enthusiastically, in a high voice,
"I’m happy to help you! Dear Administrator!"
"Very good, you are very brave." Chu Guang nodded approvingly, then looked at him and continued, "Go to the nursing home and wait for me. I have to arrange something else and I’ll be there soon."
"Yes!" Mr. Garbage skipped away spiritedly after giving his response.
Chu Guang then looked at another female player waiting anxiously.
Her ID was Teng Teng, and her genetic sequence belonged to the intelligence type. She looked a little petite and was about 1.5 meters tall.
The synthesis process was inherently unstable. Even if the design was perfect, there would inevitably be inaccuracies, so there was nothing Chu Guang could do.
However, not all bad things happened to her.
Like Yaya, she also had a very special initial talent, Ingenuity.
[Talent]
[Ingenuity: Stronger muscle memory, faster accumulation of proficiency for repetitive tasks.]
If he remembered correctly, her career in reality seemed to be a fashion designer. If it was true, then this talent was simply tailored for her.
"Do you know how to make clothes?"
Facing the administrator's inquiry, Teng Teng nodded nervously and muttered, "Yes! If there are materials and tools… I can try to make them."
Although her job was in design and mainly worked using computers, her hands-on skills were not completely useless, and she was still much better than ordinary people.
"The material is not a problem, but the tools… we may have to find a way to get them… You can come with me first." With that said, Chu Guang took her to the backyard of the nursing home and pointed to the rows of coarse furs that were hung on the wooden shelves to dry. He asked, "Is this enough?"
Looking at the rows of fur on the wooden shelf, Teng Teng’s eyes widened in shock.
Although she was not sure what animal the fur came from, the texture and luster of the hair showed that they were not low-quality materials.
"This, these... are they all mine?" Teng Teng’s eyes sparkled.
Chu Guang nodded slowly and said, "Mhm, if you can, you can also start processing the fur. The leather on the shelf will be handled by our chef. He doesn’t know what to do with the fur anyway."
"Yes, yes! Don't worry! Leave it to me." Teng Teng nodded vigorously. "Are there any requirements in terms of styling?" she continued excitedly.
Chu Guang thought for a moment and replied, "There is no requirement for the style. The most important thing is to keep everyone warm. Do you need any specific tools? Sewing machines may be a bit difficult to make, but there are still some basic tools such as sewing scissors..."
Teng Teng hastily responded, "Although it is better to have a sewing machine if we want to keep warm, this is enough!”
Great!
He liked players who were diligent.
Chu Guang nodded approvingly. He eventually explained, "I will leave this to you then. I should be able to hunt more in the next few days... I plan to walk along the viaduct out of the city and then to the north. I heard that there are migrating deer herds. If we are lucky, we should be able to gain a lot!"