Chapter 45: Red River Town That Doesn't Know How To Grow Crops
Chu Guang didn't expect that there was a ton of good shit on the bull’s back.
For example, the 5 Rider Revolver Rifles on top.
The rifle had a caliber of 7mm, with two simple rifling in the barrel which could keep the ballistic distribution of the shot bullets basically stable within 50 meters.
In particular, the simple spring-loaded receiver structure was not only very convenient for maintenance but also very reliable in battle. Even if there were accidents such as jammed cartridges, duds, etc., there was no need to worry about it. With a simple flip of the wheel, he would be able to continue using it.
It could be used as a pistol even if the barrel was removed, but the accuracy would be reduced a whole lot.
Of course, what made Chu Guang most satisfied was the rate of fire.
Although it was a semi-automatic design, as long as the trigger was pulled fast enough, it was not a problem to shoot six bullets in a single burst in order to suppress their enemy!
It could be said to be a very good weapon.
Just as Chu Guang wondered whether to grab it as Sun Shiqi’s apology, his gaze fell onto a sack that was tied to both sides of the bull.
Opening the sack, he noticed that it was filled with coins.
Those coins were brass-colored and silver-white. Chu Guang didn't know what material they were made of, but they didn’t show any signs of rust at all. The brass-colored coins looked a little smaller, and the silver-white ones were a little larger. The denominations were written 1 and 10 respectively, corresponding to the currency value.
"Pre-war currency? No..."
Picking up a coin, Chu Guang flipped it to the back and quickly recognized the small characters of the Federation of People printed on it.
“Galaxy Video Game City.”
I see… It’s a game currency.
"Where did you get this stuff?" Throwing the coin back into the sack, Chu Guang glanced up and down at merchant Sun Shiqi while asking. He also took in the nervous expression on his face.
Hearing Chu Guang's inquiry, Sun Shiqi answered honestly. "I found these coins in the basement of a game arcade. I thought I should be able to smelt some copper and steel from them, so I picked them up.”
Generally, caravans rarely stopped to search for treasures, and they usually traded with local scavengers. It was a great system put in place for both parties and allowed them to avoid potential conflicts.
But nothing was absolute. Just like how poor mercenaries would occasionally become marauders to rob caravans, poor merchants would take the risk of picking up trash by themselves.
For example, the merchant in front of him obviously just started his business not too long ago. He might even have bought the two-headed bull recently.
"Are there any more of these where you found them?" Chu Guang asked.
Sun Shiqi was dazed and nodded subconsciously. "It seems that there are still two cabinets... There are probably four to five more sacks like this."
"Very well, I’ll take them all," Chu Guang unloaded the two sacks from the bull's back and looked at Sun Shiqi and said.
"These two sacks and the coins in them will be our compensation. Next time you come here, remember to bring the remaining coins. Let me see... for every one hundred kilograms of coins, I will give you four kilograms of dried meat, what do you think?"
One hundred kilograms of coins, which was about a sack full, could hold about thirty to forty thousand coins.
Doing business is always about returning customers, so Chu Guang didn't want to rip this man off too hard. Thus, he picked those two sacks, which happened to be useful for him.
Besides…
Since he was going to let Sun Shiqi go, Chu Guang didn't want to make the demand for weapons too obvious.
Sun Shiqi obviously didn't expect the person in front of him to be interested in scraps. He was completely shocked, but he didn’t dare to show it too obviously. He simply nodded and replied, "No problem! As long as you need it, I will bring them all next time!"
He didn't care why the man in front of him needed those coins. Maybe it was to commemorate the old days or something else, but no matter, those coins weren't that valuable.
He originally planned to drag those coins to Boulder City to sell them as copper and steel scraps, but in actuality, they wouldn’t be worth much.
If he could use them to establish a friendly relationship with a shelter and open up a new market, it would be a great deal for him! It would also allow him to lighten his load, making the following trip a lot easier.
In addition to the two sacks of coins, the five revolving rifles Chu Guang fancied were also bought from the merchant. He also purchased an extra two hundred rounds of 7mm bullets.
In exchange, he provided a total of 50 kilograms of dried meat and 10 kilograms of smoked fish.
Although there were many misunderstandings during the initial contact between both parties, in general, the results were satisfactory.
Chu Guang got what he wanted, and Sun Shiqi got trading rights to Shelter 404 and the food he wanted.
For survivors living in Clearspring City, it was difficult to imagine the situation in Red River Town. Although the two places were less than 100 kilometers apart, the ecological environment was completely different.
According to Sun Shiqi, there was a large-scale chemical industry base and a landfill in the area around Red River Town.
Since those facilities were not maintained after the war, the inventory leaked, so the local soil was heavily polluted. The content of heavy metals in the land exceeded the standard value, and large areas of desertification and compaction have not been completely repaired by nature even until their present time.
More than that, due to the fragile ecosystem, local mutants were predominantly scavengers that ate decaying meat and arthropods.
In extreme situations like that, local survivors had almost no fertile land to use, and it was difficult for them to survive through hunting.
What was interesting was the fact that the landfill, which received heavy protests by locals before the war, became the greatest asset of local survivors in the centuries after the end of the nuclear war.
Garbage had been buried in the region for nearly half a century, and a large part of it hadn’t started to degrade.
In the Wasteland Era, rubbish buried there has formed another sense of non-natural mineral deposits and has contributed to the prosperity of local mining, archaeology, and trade.
"But what do you eat?" After listening to Sun Shiqi's description, Chu Guang couldn't help but ask, "Does it all come from outside the region?"
That would definitely make food prices astronomically high.
"Of course, it is impossible to rely entirely on imports. Although there are no reindeer and hyenas, many mutant moles and mice can also be eaten. In addition, we will also catch some less dangerous insects, use them to make protein extracts and feed them to livestock, or something made into a nutrient cream… like this stuff."
While speaking, Sun Shiqi took out a sealed glass jar from the package slung on the back of the two-headed bull, which contained a black gel-like material.
It looks a bit like medicinal paste.
When looking through the package before, Chu Guang saw the jar, but he didn’t understand what it was. That was why he ignored it.
He didn't expect it to be food!
"What is this made of?"
Sun Shiqi smiled and replied, "Mutated cockroach."
"..."
He felt that he could no longer look directly at it.
"Although it is protein and oil extracted from mutant cockroaches, after repeated processes such as boiling, filtering, drying, grinding, soaking, and collecting, the gel has nothing to do with cockroaches. It's full of proteins… Would you like some?"
Chu Guang said sternly, "Nope."
He'd rather starve to death than eat something like that.
But……
According to this guy, the cost of this kind of food seemed to be very low…
Mutant cockroaches were common everywhere, and the cockroaches in Clearspring City would definitely contain much less heavy metals than Red River Town.
When necessary, using the nutritional cream as an emergency ration for players seemed to be a good choice.
Thinking about whether he should do it, Chu Guang fell into deep contemplation. Who would have thought that he would think about something all of a sudden?
"It sounds like you know your insects well?"
Sun Shiqi nodded immediately. "Of course, we have to deal with those things every day."
Chu Guang then asked, "Then do you have a way to deal with leeches?"
"Leeches?" Sun Shiqi was stunned. "You mean... Mutant leeches?"
"Mhm."
Seeing Chu Guang nod, Sun Shiqi thought for a moment while revealing a look of embarrassment.
"That kind of stuff... It's quite rare in Red River Town. It’s probably because we have more ants…"
Chu Guang frowned and continued asking, "Ants?"
Sun Shiqi nodded and continued, "Mhm, we have a kind of mutant called Ironback Ants. They are about the size of a thumb and can grow up to the size of a fist. Its carapace is very hard, and it is corrosion-resistant. They eat almost anything. Most mollusks are not their opponents."
"Can you show me a few of them in the future?” Chu Guang raised an eyebrow in interest.
A smile appeared on Sun Shiqi’s face. "No problem! Leave it to me!"
After the transaction was completed, Sun Shiqi did not stay here for too long, but chose to continue on his way.
Chu Guang did not make him stay any longer, but he gave a good reminder about the mutant human camp near 76th Street and the traces of marauder activities in the north of the wetland park before wishing him a smooth journey.
The figure of the two-headed bull gradually disappeared into the woods.
The players who watched him leave started talking among themselves.
"That guy was really a merchant!"
"Fortunately, I didn't beat him!"
"It should be fine if you beat him. It would be great if he dies and everything is left behind…”
"That's right, but what if the merchant dies and he doesn't respawn?"
“It’s unlikely that will happen, but maybe the merchant only appeared because of the expansion. Didn't you hear the game designer say that Wasteland Online wants to build a full economic system? If this is not an empty promise, then this should be the prototype!"
"... It seems to make sense."
Regardless of the players' comments, Chu Guang was focused on the two sacks of game coins.
He had a bold idea.
Since plastic chips could be used as a currency, why not metal ones?
These two sacks had roughly sixty to seventy thousand coins, and it wouldn't be long before Sun Shiqi brought him another batch.
With a scale of less than five hundred people, these coins were definitely enough!
A brass-colored coin would be considered a copper coin, and a silver-white coin would be considered a silver coin. The difference in value would be 10 to 1!
The original contribution points would be incorporated into the new honor system, which could be used to purchase identities, titles, and even private land.
At the same time, the mercenaries, caravans, guilds, and legion systems that would be launched in the future would also be linked to contribution points. Only players who contributed enough were qualified to lead other players.
That would not only strengthen management but also greatly limit those players messing around.
After all, the higher the value of the player's account, the more they would cherish it. They would be more inclined to play more seriously and maintain order in the game.
Messing around was fun, and it was human nature, but Chu Guang needed a way to restrain them!
Dragging two sacks weighing nearly a hundred kilograms back to the shelter alone, Chu Guang then found an empty room without active nurturing cabins and leaned the sacks against the corner of the wall.
When he was done, he turned around and returned to the lobby before turning on the computer. He logged into the backend of the official website and started editing the title of his next post.
[Wasteland Online Closes Test Alpha 0.3 Version Update Announcement: Major adjustments to the economic system!]
Chu Guang opened his document where he copied a lot of brilliant ideas from the forum before. Who would have thought that they would come in handy?!
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