Just Get It Done

[Remaining Sentence: 232 Hours (+168 Hours)] Perhaps to accommodate the players' gaming experience, Dawn City's player-dedicated holding cells were built to be quite high-tech, even updating the remaining sentence on a palm-sized screen. However, upon seeing that three-digit remaining time, Professor Yang fell into utter despair. How did this jail time manage to get longer the more he served?! Outside the barred gate, a player dressed in rather avant-garde attire was fiddling with his VM while scratching his head, wearing an expression that defied description. "...Through a whole damn wall, sss... I'm genuinely impressed you two managed to get into a brawl." His ID was [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao], and his sequence level had just reached twenty. He had originally planned to head to the Wandering Marsh to do quests, having even bought his train ticket already, when he suddenly received a beginner-guide commission issued by the Guard. Who would have thought that he, someone who used to trail behind veteran pros, would one day become a high-level player in the eyes of the NPCs? Harboring the modest thought of "oh, you flatter me," he accepted this not-particularly-lucrative commission without a second thought. What he hadn't expected was to see two forum celebrities right here. How should he describe it? Professor Yang's in-game appearance fit the impression he had always had of the guy—a sleazy demeanor that looked spitting image of the glasses guy from CS 1.6; shaving his head into a crew cut would probably make him look even more identical. As for brother Ye Ao... uh, sister? If one looked past that vibe reminiscent of Beast-senpai, she could pass as a petite, pretty girl. Had something gone terribly wrong here? "He started it! H-h-he sexually harassed me!" The iron bars clattered loudly as if rammed by a tank. Glancing sideways at Ye Ao, who gripped the bars with both hands wishing she could squeeze her whole face through the gap, Professor Yang—who had already calmed down—clicked his tongue, the word "disgust" practically engraved across his face. [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] scratched his head and tapped his VM screen twice with his index finger. "Really? You say that, but... that's not what the surveillance shows." The detention center's surveillance was managed by an AI. As a player who just came over to help, he naturally lacked the clearance to view such footage. Nevertheless, the sequence of events was at least updated in text form on his quest interface. Simply put, Ye Ao had provoked the fight first, sticking her mouth past the edge of the cell bars to spit toward the next cell. Of course, Professor Yang throwing a punch to hit someone wasn't entirely innocent either. What followed was roughly that Professor Yang missed his punch, only for Ye Ao to grab his fist and chomp down ferociously on it. In the end, the AI probably couldn't bear to watch any longer and summoned the guards, adding 7 × 24 hours of jail time to both of their sentences. Seeing her frame job fail, Ye Ao's face turned green in an instant. "S-surveillance?! There's surveillance in here?!" [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] spread his hands helplessly. "What's so strange about that? You're not the only players on this server. What kind of outrageous stunts players can pull... surely you have some idea yourself, don't you?" A veteran player named Silver Dad had once told him that every single brick in this detention center was a historical lesson. Naturally, that included the cameras as well. Although players above Level 10 were rarely banned, there was still a certain proportion of banned players during the novice phase. Most players only gradually became normal after making it past their novice days. Even if they didn't care about other people's gaming experience, they had to care about their precious accounts. Unable to save face, Ye Ao Nai Wo He's brow twitched, and her hands gripping the barred door creaked against the metal. "You punk... pretty cocky, aren't you? What's your name? What level are you?" "Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao." "Pfft, hahahaha! Who takes such a weird name? Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao... Dao zhe nian shi zhu—'read backwards, you're a pig'?! Ptooey! You bastard! How dare you trick this great master! Believe it or not, I'll kill you!" "...That's literally my name. You're the one who insisted on reading it backwards." "@#%&!" Racked with a colossal headache from all the racket, Professor Yang let out a deep sigh and cut off their conversation. "Alright, alright, I accept my bad luck... Just spit it out. What quest did you take?" Level twenty. This level might count as a veteran pro to other newbies, but in the eyes of Professor Yang—who had backseat-gamed the title for five years—it was barely different from a toddler. It was merely touching the threshold of an "average player," hardly worthy of his respect. His ambition was to become a T0-tier powerhouse! [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] scratched his head with his index finger and stared at the quest interface on his VM screen. "Simply put, your sentence in the slammer exceeded 168 hours, so the system judged that you might misunderstand the game's rules. Thus, it dispatched me to help you integrate into the game world as soon as possible—" "Heheheh, rules? Those things are meant to be broken!" Ye Ao crossed her arms over her chest, her arrogant, defiant demeanor looking as if she wanted to aim her nostrils straight at the sky. "Once I'm out, I'm gonna kill all of you!" This punk's attitude certainly knew how to draw aggro. However, [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] got the feeling that she probably just wanted to try saying those edgy lines, so he couldn't be bothered to stoop to her level. "Yeah, yeah, sure, you'll kill us all once you're out. So, in order to get out of this place sooner... care to try working a sewing machine?" Ye Ao's eyes went wide and round. "Huh? Why the hell would I do something like that?" [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] continued reading strictly by the book: "Bugra City urgently requires relief supplies, including medical gauze for dressings and tents for refugees. You two have been assigned to the door curtain production workshop. Simply put, you just attach zippers between two pieces of cloth. Pretty simple, isn't it?" "Like I said, why the hell would I do something like—" "It reduces your sentence." "Me, me, me, I wanna pedal!" The sturdy iron bars creaked and shook as if rammed by a wild boar, Ye Ao's face as she gripped the metal rails dripping with pleading and longing. That face smeared with snot and tears gave [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] quite a startle. Was that really necessary? Hadn't she only been in jail for twenty-four hours... actually, not even twenty-four yet? In reality, detention centers were mostly communal bunk rooms; here, at least, they each got a private room. "Ahem, then I'll sign you up..." Ignoring that gaze that looked at him as if he were a savior, [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] turned toward Professor Yang crouching next door, his eyebrows twitching at the hand bearing a neat row of "dog teeth marks." She really bit him, damn... "What about you? Is your hand okay?" "Nothing serious, just a flesh wound." Seeming unwilling to admit he had lost the fight, Professor Yang tossed back a stubborn reply. He rolled his neck, stretching his arms and legs as though warming up, a wicked, confident grin appearing on his face. "I'll take it as a test from the Administrator! Whether it's sewing machines or shoveling sand at a reservoir, bring it on!" Sooner or later, he would trample all of this beneath his feet! This road to conquest— would begin with pedaling a sewing machine. "Whatever... everyone goes through that phase." [Zhu Shi Nianzhe Dao] coughed, relaxing his cringing toes, and hurriedly opened the cell doors for the two of them. "You two stick close to me and don't go running around later." Glancing at the two who looked like they were looking for an opportunity to bolt, he kindly added: "...If your sentence increases any further, you'll be transferred to an actual prison to serve your time." Having managed with great difficulty to secure closed-beta access before open beta, if they ended up getting thrown into a genuine prison right now, forget becoming a server T0—they'd probably be stuck playing Behind Bars Online for a very long time. The two goofballs instantly sobered up, dropping all thoughts of mischief. At least, for now, they had no other schemes... ... While Ye Ao Nai Wo He and Professor Yang were pedaling their sewing machines hard enough to make them smoke, the White Bear Knights, who had set off from Dawn City, had returned to the northernmost tip of the Central Continent—Molokova City, adjacent to Ice Sea City. In this bitterly cold region where the snowdrifts piled as high as a grown person, sat Earth's smallest mutant slime mold broodmother. Its name was Momo. Unlike other broodmothers on this planet, Momo, who spent long periods dormant, was completely laid back and had totally given up on striving. The great Luo Yu had once visited this place with Xiao Yu, originally intending to eliminate it, but later abandoned the idea just as they had with the broodmother in Baiyue Province. According to Momo itself, the citizens of Molokova City had already evacuated due to the climate long before its arrival; by the time it woke up, fifty years had already passed since its landing. Because of the frigid cold, it spent more than half its time lingering in a half-dream, half-awake state, pondering the "meaning of mold life." In the end, it reached a conclusion: no matter how it developed, it could never surpass its siblings who had landed in temperate zones. Ultimately, it would either end up as their nourishment or be wiped out by humans. Thus, it simply slacked off completely, leaving all world-conquering ambitions to the others. With an abundance of time to squander, it had even developed "artistic bacteria," inventing a unique musical system and dances to entertain itself through the harsh winters. This had taken everyone completely by surprise. In short, after confirming its threat level was manageable, the Alliance permitted it to continue residing in its territory, replacing the ecosystem of the Wandering Marsh that had been thoroughly destroyed. Aside from the broodmother named Momo, this place was also home to a Special District jointly established by the Academy and the Alliance, as well as "Site No. 4" right next to it. The former was the Alliance's largest spawn point in the Wandering Marsh, while the latter was an aerospace industrial base under the Science Committee. The latter in particular—this aerospace base—had played an extremely critical role in the framework of the Academy and the Science Committee for a very long time. However, that was long ago. Ever since the Academy reached an agreement with the Alliance, the engineers of Site No. 4 had gradually relocated to the south, and the aerospace base's strategic importance had steadily been supplanted by the adjacent Special District. A portion of the factories had begun supplying goods to the Lagrange Point Space Station, while the rest were abandoned during the industrial transition period. Gazing at the massive, frost-encrusted factory workshop before them and the structural materials stacked inside the warehouse like magnificent icebergs, the fluffy Rou Rou couldn't help but widen her round eyes. "All of this... is no longer needed?!" An old engineer around fifty years of age stood to one side, white vapor puffing from the grin on his lips. "Yeah, no longer needed. Our boss changed his mind and plans to construct our Doomsday Ark directly at the Lagrange point." Sesame Paste also sighed with heartfelt emotion. "Leaving it abandoned like this... really feels like such a waste." Tail nodded with solemn earnestness. "Yeah, yeah, such a waste!" Hearing the two express their regret, the old engineer merely shrugged with nonchalance. "Think whatever you like. If you think it's a pity, just hurry up and buy it all." Outsiders might think it was a pity, but he didn't feel that way in the slightest. If forced to choose between Dr. Conclusion's grand plan and keeping his entire family warm and well-fed, he would choose the latter without a second thought. After all, even if he built the Ark to resemble paradise, the ones who would ultimately board that Ark were only a small fraction of people. Word had it that the Ark's cabins weren't even enough for the Academy's own members, let alone auxiliary personnel of the Science Committee. Compared to a paradise he could never reach, the grueling march on the pilgrimage was the reality he felt most keenly. Before the Alliance's Special District was established, he, a man tasked with building paradise, hadn't even tasted beef. Of course. Now that this planet was entering a new era, it seemed not quite as many people were willing to leave anymore, and suddenly there were enough cabins on the Ark to go around. The Academy's higher-ups appeared to be nursing headaches over other matters now. Still, that was someone else's problem. As far as he was concerned, once he disposed of this factory and everything inside it, his mission would be complete. "Why not haul these things to the Lagrange Point Space Station to assemble them there?" Rou Rou asked, puzzled. The old engineer shook his head. "Beats me. Probably not cost-effective. Besides, surface-launched starships and spacecraft assembled in low Earth orbit follow two completely different design blueprints. It's not like you can just take stuff off the ground, move it to space, and carry on... Anyway, are you folks buying or not?" Gazing at the items in the warehouse, Sisi checked them carefully against the inventory list on her tablet for a long time. Stored in this warehouse were primarily hull sections for mining modules, unfinished reactors, and the like. Add to that the anti-gravity units ordered from the Eastern Empire and the plasma thrusters procured from Abu Aerospace, and they would only need a warp drive and a cabin section with basic life-support systems to assemble a starship roughly the size of a corvette, equipped with basic faster-than-light capabilities. Before coming to this warehouse, she had originally planned to purchase the parts and leave, but the situation here had exceeded her expectations. This place was practically a Lagrange Point Space Station resting right on the planet's surface! No— Not "practically"—it was! This factory was virtually a surface starport redesigned for a standard-gravity environment, modeled after the structure of the Lagrange Point Space Station on a 1:1 scale! No wonder the Academy knew the layout of the Lagrange Point Space Station like the back of their hand! "Incredible... You replicated a Lagrange Point Space Station on the surface?" Not expecting to run into someone who actually knew their stuff, the old engineer raised his eyebrows in surprise, a rare flash of pride curving the corners of his mouth. "I wouldn't say replicating a Lagrange Point Space Station, but this assembly workshop was indeed built to the station's specifications. That includes the robotic arms used for assembly, the plasma welding gear, and so forth. If you're interested, you could even use this place to build a tank the size of a starship... provided it could actually drive out, of course." "Ooh! Could we use it to build another Pioneer?!" Tail said, her eyes glowing. "Pioneer? Uh... what's that?" The old engineer blinked. He had spent his whole life at Site No. 4; his understanding of the wasteland extended roughly as far as knowing there was an Alliance down south. "An enormous land fortress. Our friend drove it all the way from the East Coast to the center of the world... Never mind that, let's talk about this factory." Putting away her tablet, Sisi turned her gaze back to the massive industrial workshop before her, a brilliant gleam shining in her eyes. "We've changed our minds. If possible, we'd like to buy this entire factory." The Lagrange Point Space Station had limited manufacturing capacity, especially since it was currently preoccupied with fulfilling massive orders for the Academy; even placing an order immediately would likely mean waiting in line until next year. In that case, they might as well do it themselves! In any case, what they wanted to build wasn't a colony ship capable of housing hundreds of thousands or millions of people and jumping across several star systems in succession, but an enlarged "research vessel" capable of faster-than-light cruising. A small civilian starship with a capacity of under a hundred people could presumably be manufactured directly on the surface without relying on the Lagrange Point Space Station's facilities! With any luck, by the time the Lagrange Point Space Station finished the Academy's orders, their civilian starship would already be completed. "Acquire the whole thing?" The old engineer stared at her in bewilderment, saying blankly, "Th-this isn't something I can decide. May I ask what your plans are?" Sisi didn't hide anything and smiled as she shared her intentions. "We intend to relocate the entire facility to Settlement No. 1 on the Death Coast, integrate it with the resources of the Southern Sea Rim Industrial Belt, and establish a new aerospace industrial park dedicated to producing small-to-medium civilian starships for mining and transport." "Just as my friends said, letting all this go to waste would be a real shame. We might as well let it serve a purpose... Who knows, it might even catch the wave of the Solar System Renaissance Project." The old engineer stared at her dumbfounded, then scratched the back of his head, unsure whether to feel gratified or sheepish. "I don't know much about that Solar System Renaissance Project... but if you're interested in the equipment here, I can discuss it with the leadership at Site No. 4. Frankly, as long as you can pay the price, I don't think it'll be much of an issue." Leaving this machinery here would only let it rust away. Selling it while someone still wanted it wasn't a loss. Since the Academy had already decided to entrust the Doomsday Ark to the Alliance's Lagrange Point Space Station and had even dispatched technical personnel there, a policy reversal was highly unlikely. At least so far, the Alliance had never gone back on its promises. Not to mention that this cooperation was tremendously beneficial to themselves. "All right, thank you." Sisi pulled a business card from her winter coat pocket and handed it to the old engineer with a smile. "By the way, we also plan to bring along the workers and administrative staff here as a package deal... If you don't mind moving your families to live by the scenic coast, we're willing to pay each employee triple their previous wages, plus a relocation bonus of at least thirty thousand silver coins." Hearing such generous terms, the old engineer was so overjoyed that he couldn't close his mouth from smiling. He could hardly wait to rush over to the plant director's house and drag him over to sign the contract right then and there. Of course, that was an exaggeration. The specific acquisition method and relocation plan would take at least several meetings to finalize. Sisi was in no rush, however. After all, she needed some time to make preparations as well. Although the White Bear Bank had deep pockets, considering the long payback period of aerospace projects and reserve requirement issues, even she had to be mindful of potential liquidity risks. The best approach was to bring more partners aboard to shoulder the venture together. For instance, the Niuma Group, the Baiyue Company, Boulder Armaments, and others. As long as she could drag that sneaky tactician Fang Chang onboard, the plan's success rate would at least double! Considering the employment and economic growth the project could drive, the local authorities of the Death Coast would surely be keenly interested in this investment as well. In addition to tax breaks and land grants, the local authorities might even arrange a loan with interest rates so low they were practically negligible! All of this was entirely possible! Shaking Sisi's hand in profuse gratitude, the old engineer immediately went off with her card to contact his plant director and the relevant officers. Having worked at his post for over twenty years, he had never felt as enthusiastic about his career as he did today. As for Sisi and her companions, they returned to their hotel in the Special District to await news. Standing before the fireplace of their snow-view suite, Rou Rou shook the frost and snow clinging to her fur, then glanced back at Sisi, who was sipping black tea on the sofa, asking puzzledly: "Come to think of it, do we actually have that much money?" Evidently, Rou Rou wasn't the only one worried about this; Sesame Paste also wore a look of concern. Although she didn't know much about business matters, she could still tell the difference between buying spare parts and buying an entire factory. It wasn't that she pinched pennies. She was mostly worried that the final quote would exceed their budget and they wouldn't be able to afford it. "Don't worry about the money." Setting her cup back onto the saucer, Sisi smiled faintly and said, "If our plan only served ourselves, naturally we'd have to foot the bill alone." "But as long as our plan benefits the Alliance's long-term growth and we can actually pull it off, we won't even need to pay out of our own pockets. Someone else will gladly pay for us." Tail's eyes lit up, and she gave a thumbs-up. "Ooh! Is this what they call staying ahead of the meta? Sounds totally Fang Chang-ish!" "I suppose... but what the heck is 'Fang Chang-ish'? It's clearly my idea." Her tone carried a hint of petty sulkiness, though it quickly smoothed over when Tail added, "As expected of my Sisi! Totally amazing!" For a moment, Sesame Paste didn't know whether to marvel at how easily Sisi was coaxed or at Tail's lightning-fast adaptability, a wry smile creeping across her face. "Truly... impressive." That compliment came from the heart; she genuinely hadn't conceived that they could get others to cover the cost. "You flatter me... It's really not that hard to figure out. Even if we didn't do it, other players coming here would definitely spot the business opportunity." Sisi smiled modestly, though the smug pride between her brows was impossible to hide. It was plain to see that she enjoyed praise from her close friends. "But what if we fail?" Rou Rou scratched her head, getting stuck in her usual overthinking loop, even if this was a valid concern. How to move all this machinery south and reassemble it, how to integrate this manufacturing capacity—which the Academy had already outgrown—with the local supply chains of the Death Coast, and so forth... A slip-up at any stage could result in total project failure and hundreds of millions of silver coins going down the drain. While Sisi was still pondering how to answer, Captain Tail, standing behind the sofa, stepped in to answer on her behalf with worldly gravitas: "Oh, Rou Rou, there's no such thing on this Earth as a plan guaranteed to succeed. Only by doing it do you even get a 1-in-777 chance of success. If you don't do it, it's zero forever." Sisi looked at Tail in amazement. "Incredible... Who would've thought Tail could drop philosophical wisdom once in a while instead of just making dirty jokes?" Tail grinned sheepishly. "Ehehe, I copied it off the forums!" "Figures." Seeing everyone in favor of going all-in on this gamble, Rou Rou finally stopped fretting, and a look of fiery determination spread across her furry face. Come to think of it, she had almost forgotten... the person she used to be a long, long time ago. Back then, she was still a newbie. Despite having a body even more massive than Scavenger's and an absurdly overpowered initial stat sheet, she had been more cowardly than Qiangren Suonan. She had originally thought that since she managed to pull an ultra-rare SSSR card, she could finally show her stuff in the game world and be the hero she never dared to be in real life, only to find that what she couldn't do in reality, she couldn't do in the game either. And the misfortune didn't stop there. A "lucky person" who wasn't "hardworking enough" would almost certainly attract the jealousy and verbal abuse of petty individuals. To the point where she had grown increasingly hesitant, even contemplating just giving her helmet to someone else... if that were possible. Although she had tried to overcome her psychological hurdles on her own and strove not to drag others down, she ended up losing to the fear in her heart again and again... until a certain reckless girl scrambled onto her back. '...If you're scared alone, let's charge together!' Later on, before she even realized it, she had become a legend across the River Valley and even Sunset Province—a nightmare that struck terror into the hearts of countless marauders throughout the wasteland. And more than that— she found that she hadn't just overcome the diluted fears within the game. Her timid real-world self, who used to be so docile she didn't even dare make eye contact with others, had gradually grown brave as well. There really was no need to overthink it. Putting aside the real world where you only had one life, if you still worried about every little thing and feared this and that inside a game, then you were truly playing for nothing. Once your mind was made up, just take the plunge and do it! "Alright, alright, I get it! Since you've all decided... let's just do it and get it done!" Looking at Rou Rou, whose motivation had suddenly ignited, surprise flashed across Tail's face. Coming to her senses, she gave a delighted thumbs-up. "Ooh! Just get it done!"