"All right, quit playing with the water in there. Everybody out."
Walking into the public shower rooms of Floor B2, Sector A, Chu Guang knocked on the doors one by one, herding the endlessly washing players out like ducks.
"Wait, wait, wait! Wait a sec, I just got in!"
"Put your clothes on and get out, now."
"Okay, okay, okay, just don't open the door!"
"You have one minute."
"!!!"
Driving these little players out, Chu Guang suddenly felt just like the Landlady in *Kung Fu Hustle*.
Still, he had no choice. He had to kick them out.
Expecting these players to be self-disciplined was out of the question; the queue outside the public shower rooms was already snaking down the hall.
Practically every player in the entire shelter had run over here to queue up, to the point that almost no one was working on the surface. It was utterly absurd.
Herding the players who had crammed into the Sector A shower rooms to gather in the lobby, Chu Guang swept a majestic gaze over them and spoke in a solemn tone.
"I have good news for everyone. Just half a day ago, our outstanding performance prompted the organization to increase its investment in us.
"Effective immediately, Floor B2 of the shelter has been opened to our vanguard unit. Going forward, your hibernation pods will also be relocated to Sector B down here, where you will live alongside the next wave of reinforcements.
"This floor features nearly complete living amenities, far superior to Floor B1. However, I still hope you won't lose yourselves in these comfortable surroundings. Keep your sights on the future.
"Rebuilding a utopia in the mortal world is our ideal and our vow.
"To conserve the shelter's precious energy and water resources, the water dispensers, shower rooms, and public restrooms will now require payment to use.
"Restroom use costs 1 copper coin per visit; exceeding half an hour costs an extra 1 copper coin per 10 minutes. Showers cost 3 copper coins per use; exceeding half an hour costs an extra 3 copper coins per 10 minutes. Water dispensers cost 1 copper coin per 200 ml of purified water, with no restrictions on cold or hot.
"Before using the facilities, fees must be deposited in advance with the Administrator's Assistant, and permissions will be tied to your VM devices. Cameras will log each user's identity and duration of use. Entering a single cubicle with two or more people is strictly prohibited; anomalous usage will cause the device to lock down, and violators will be penalized. In addition, any overdrafts must be settled within 24 hours, or future use will be suspended."
The camera access permissions had already been granted to Xiao Qi.
It could accurately identify every player's usage time and manage everything directly in the background, deducting pre-deposited fees in accordance with the rules.
Having an AI handle management was far more efficient than human administration.
In the red?
Then don't use it.
In his territory, hardworking and capable players would never lack money to spend.
Upon hearing the Administrator's announcement, although the players looked disappointed, it wasn't unacceptable.
As everyone knew, distinguished VIP value-added services cost money. Taking a shower in the shelter was indeed far more comfortable than washing outside, with no worries about running out of water midway through.
At the very least, their generous Administrator hadn't taken a page out of the Emperor Penguin's playbook by cooking up some underworld VIP subscription tier, charging once to open the door, charging again to turn on the faucet, and letting paying customers cut the line.
"Damn! I was only halfway done washing when I got kicked out. Feels like a massive loss, waaaah."
"Loss your ass! At least you got to try it! I didn't even make it past the queue!"
"Three copper coins for a shower? That's triple the price outside! I'll just go wash by the lake."
"Are you insane? It's almost below freezing out there, and you're going to the lake? You're just baiting fish at that point!"
"Wait, you guys can finish washing in half an hour?! Honestly, this is so unfair! Why does it cost an extra three coppers every ten minutes past thirty minutes?"
"You could always step out and go back in. Though if there's no one around, fine, but with a crowd, you'd probably have to queue up all over again."
"I think it's unfair too. I'm done washing in ten minutes, so why should I pay three coppers? Can't I just pay one?"
Watching the chattering, noisy players, Chu Guang clapped his hands and herded them toward the elevator.
"Now, head upstairs and drag your incubation pods down.
"Rooms 1 through 100 in Floor B2, Sector B are currently unlocked. Room selection will begin with the players with the highest contribution points. Everyone can have a room of their own to serve as your respawn point.
"Go on, don't just stand here like idiots. Anyone late gets assigned randomly."
Under the Administrator's prodding, the players finally dispersed, running upstairs to huff and puff away at work, carrying down the incubation pods one by one.
Soon, the lobby on Floor B2 was filled with row after row of incubation pods.
Including the 10 players who had just entered the game, almost all 81 players without active missions were gathered here.
Each incubation pod had a specific serial number corresponding to the player's UID, so there was no danger of mixing them up.
Next was the seating arrangement phase.
As veteran players who had entered the game first, the four members of the Cow and Horse Squad undoubtedly had the highest contribution rates, smoothly claiming Rooms 001 through 004.
Next were Mosquito and Tengteng, one taking Room 6 and the other Room 8.
Then came Brother Scrambled Eggs, who had spent two patches as a chef and one as a butcher, and Yaya, who had struck it rich off the leech nest.
When the two walked up to look, holy crap—all the single-digit lucky numbers were gone! So they decisively snatched up 66 and 88.
The numbers were further back, but the digits were awesome!
As for everything else, it didn't matter!
In less than half an hour, nearly all the rooms had been divvied up. As for the players on duty at the outpost and the abandoned tire factory, their rooms were assigned through random allotment.
The players happily hauled their incubation pods to their respective rooms to clear out the existing beds.
As for the cleared beds, Chu Guang had the players carry them upstairs.
From now on, Floor B1 would be reserved for himself and core NPCs who frequently needed to head to the surface.
As for the remaining 100 rooms in Floor B2's Sector B, he could consider taking in technicians or specialized talents salvaged from the wasteland in the future.
Preferably those who had come through cryogenic hibernation, so their "pedigree" would be purer and their knowledge systems relatively more complete.
After settling the players, Chu Guang returned to the surface and found Hein pacing back and forth in the open space in front of the sanatorium.
Spotting Chu Guang, the merchant from Red River Town's eyes instantly lit up, and he hurried over with a beaming smile.
"My friend, you've finally adjusted your schedule! I was almost tempted to go down and look for you."
Chu Guang smiled faintly.
"I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to use that elevator."
"I know, which is why I didn't even try," Hein chuckled, continuing, "Just now, good news came from Wen, my most capable assistant. The caravan from Red River City has set out and is expected to arrive within three days. We plan to complete the transaction over at the tire factory!"
Chu Guang didn't ask how Hein received the message.
Radio wasn't high-end technology, and besides radio, this world clearly possessed many communication methods he had never even heard of.
For example, the signal transmission between the players' helmets, clones, and incubation pods clearly didn't rely on radio waves.
Otherwise, achieving zero latency would have been impossible.
"I hope you brought what I wanted," Chu Guang said, looking at him.
"Naturally, as we agreed." Hein tipped his hat and bowed, his face full of devotion and deference. "Honesty and reliability are my motto."
Having long experienced his acting chops, Chu Guang merely offered a faint smile, offering no comment.
Believe your nonsense?
The grass on my grave would be twenty feet tall by now!
With worse luck, there wouldn't even be a grave.
...
With the Bloodhand Clan crushed, the largest marauder group in the northern suburbs had been wiped out once and for all.
Atop the roof of the abandoned tire factory fluttered the flag of 404, while bluecoats holding pipe rifles stood guard along the perimeter walls.
Until a new marauder faction set its sights on this juicy prize, the survivors in this region could enjoy a brief respite of peace.
In gaming terms: thanks to the players' heroic combat, the local area's "Pillage Level" had dropped by three tiers, and Prosperity had risen by one tier.
Simultaneously, Shelter 404's regional reputation increased by 100, relations with neutral survivor factions rose by 10, caravan frequency increased by 10%, and the probability of neutral NPCs defecting increased by 10%...
All of this had been posted on the official website by Chu Guang, purely for the players and armchair spectators to brag about and take pride in.
In fact, he had also noticed that not everyone on the forum believed the game actually existed; quite a few thought everyone was simply roleplaying a "worldbuilding game."
Even so, watching so many people roleplay and banter so earnestly was rather entertaining in its own right, reminiscent of early text-based MUD games where over ninety percent of the content was sustained by the players' own imaginations.
Still, as one of the most widely circulated urban legends in the gaming sphere today, despite reservations requiring extensive personal information, numerous new players enthusiastically signed up.
Their motive was quite simple.
A closed beta qualification meant having a player badge next to their forum account. Even when bragging and bullshitting, it carried far more weight than unbadged armchair gamers.
Yet when the helmets actually showed up on their doorsteps, their expressions would surely be magnificent to behold.
Putting matters of the parallel world aside, with the release of the "VM" gear, the players' enthusiasm for exploration had nearly peaked.
Even as the snowfall outside grew heavier, it couldn't dampen their desire to uncover the map. After all, watching the fog of war peel away from the screen bit by bit was deeply satisfying in itself.
Most importantly, it was remarkably easy to do: all they had to do was walk alongside the walls.
If Chu Guang hadn't delimited the exploration boundaries—forbidding them from venturing deep north into the wilderness and barring them from pushing deep into the urban ruins—they might well have dared to hike all the way to Boulder City on their own two feet and hands.
Of course, a far greater likelihood was dying midway.
There was practically no main road leading from here to Boulder City. One either had to detour west along the remnants of the elevated ring expressway or navigate vast stretches of ruins and collapsed skyscrapers.
And the bitter winter made all of it far more hazardous.
A player dying was a small matter; the real annoyance was that he would have to issue corpse-retrieval quests to recover their bodies and VM devices.
Especially the VMs—those were worth far more than the players' bodies. Buying one cost 40 silver coins!
Aside from the players, the outpost's only two native "NPCs"—the weapon shop proprietress and the warehouse manager—had also been talked into using the NPC-exclusive edition of the VM by Chu Guang.
With the teleprompter's help, their work efficiency had improved dramatically. At the very least, when trading goods, they no longer had to ask players to repeat themselves because they couldn't understand what the players were saying.
"The snow is really coming down harder and harder."
Astride the perimeter wall of the abandoned tire factory.
Gazing out at the streets, lampposts, vehicle wreckage, and buildings coated in silver frost, the fully armed Chu Guang gave a soft sigh.
Snow this heavy would definitely impact the outpost's industrial production.
Even if the players feared no cold, felt no pain, and could conquer the bitter chill with the sheer will of the working class, they could still suffer frostbite, pass out from the cold, or even go into shock.
He couldn't exactly have them smelt steel inside the shelter.
Hein, standing beside him, couldn't guess what was on Chu Guang's mind, merely offering a fawning smile.
"It'll probably be colder this year than last. Life is going to be tough for the surrounding survivors. But you shouldn't have to worry—it's like spring all year round inside the shelter."
Chu Guang didn't take up the conversational bait, keeping his eyes fixed on the north.
The biting north wind howled, whipping swirling snow like blades across the sky.
Behind the hazy curtain of snow, silhouettes suddenly emerged.
Hein reacted even faster than Chu Guang. Delight sparked in his eyes, and he pointed excitedly toward the snowy mist ahead.
"My lord! Our caravan has arrived!"
Chapter 100