Settling the Refugees

[Quest: Nomads from the Wilderness] [Briefing: A group of unidentified nomads has arrived from the north. Whatever their intentions may be, we must remain on high alert.] [Details: Players within 30 meters of the Administrator automatically trigger the quest. Carrying a "weapon" and following the Administrator will place you in a conscripted state.] [Reward: 1 silver coin.] …… North of Wetland Park. A ragged band of refugees came to a halt. A burly man stepped to the front of the crowd, looking up at Chu Guang before the park's north gate, his gaze neither servile nor haughty. "We mean no offense. We only wish to draw some water from the lake." From the way those around him stepped aside with respectful glances, it was clear he was their leader. Chu Guang cast a brief eye over the crowd behind him. There were roughly sixty or seventy people... perhaps seventy or eighty, including children, the elderly, pregnant women, and even infants. Unlikely to be marauders. In terms of property, they possessed two cows, a bull, two calves, and eight camels laden with baggage and supplies. In terms of weapons, only five firearms were visible; the rest were bows, crossbows, shovels, axes, hoes, and even wooden clubs. Shattering this motley rabble would take only a single charge, and all these supplies would undoubtedly become his spoils of war. The only question was whether to continue being a decent human being. Behind him stood nearly fifty vigilant players armed with guns. Chu Guang did not order an attack. Instead, he looked at these refugees who had traveled from afar. "Ahead of you is my territory. You may continue south along the elevated highway out of the city, or leave heading north." A stir ran through the crowd. A troubled look appeared on the man's face. "We need fresh water. Without it, our livestock will die of thirst." "The city has everything you need, and the ground here is covered with snow. Split-claw crabs are currently active along the eastern and southern shores of Ling Lake; that is no good place to fetch water." "The water in the city is frozen solid, and we do not have enough fuel to melt snow. As for the split-claw crabs, they cannot be more terrifying than the monsters in the city." An elder beside the man took a step forward, lowering his eyes in plea. "We beg for your mercy. We will not disturb you." If everyone told the truth, the world would never have fallen into this state. Chu Guang's expression remained impassive as he weighed the pros and cons in his mind. If he allowed this group to camp by the lake, there was no telling whether he could easily drive them away later. Perhaps their next step would be logging trees to build an encampment, raising earthworks, and even bringing over their distant relatives. Eventually, as more and more refugees arrived, the original settlers would be the ones driven out. Such occurrences were not uncommon on the wasteland—in fact, they were quite frequent—and they often ended in bloody conflict. Looking at it from another angle, however... These people were laborers. They could fill roles that players were unwilling or too lazy to do. Moreover, they possessed rich hunting experience and wasteland survival knowledge, which might allow his players to learn some interesting things. On the whole, the opportunities outweighed the risks. Chu Guang raised his chin and looked at the man before him. "My words stand: the land before you is our territory. Every tree and every clump of soil here belongs to us." "However, out of mercy, I will give you two choices. Either accept our resettlement, abide by our laws, and camp at a designated site." "Or leave this place." The man cast a wary glance at the fully armed warriors behind Chu Guang and spoke cautiously. "I need to discuss this with my people." Chu Guang nodded. "I'll give you ten minutes." In fact, it didn't even take ten minutes. After several ragged refugees huddled together for a brief discussion, the man stood before Chu Guang once more, presenting his hunting rifle with both hands. "We are willing to accept your resettlement." Chu Guang had not expected him to surrender his weapon voluntarily. Then again, it made sense. After all, he had stated that the park ahead was his territory. To enter someone else's territory and ask for shelter, surrendering firearms was only reasonable. They were permitted to keep their hunting bows and crossbows. Chu Guang settled the group a hundred meters outside the outpost's east gate, demarcating a plot of land roughly the size of a basketball court, allowing them to fell trees within that area and establish their home there. With a trench, a wall, and a hundred-meter buffer zone separating them, Chu Guang was not worried that they could stir up any trouble. Besides, Xiao Qi was perched on the roof. If anything happened, he would know immediately. "What is your name?" The man answered in a deep, heavy voice. "Iron Axe, my Lord." "Iron Axe?" "Yes, my Lord. That is what my people call me. When I was six, I used an axe to smash in the skull of a marauder." Chu Guang's expression turned slightly subtle. "Your name is quite unique, but it's inconvenient for our communication and could easily cause misunderstandings. How about this: from now on, your family name is 'Wu', and 'Tiefu' is your given name. Put together, it's Wu Tiefu." Though it still sounded somewhat strange, it wouldn't be an issue in practice. These nomads were uneducated, even inferior in that regard to survivors in the settlements; one couldn't expect them to recite doggerel poetry. If he gave him an overly cultured name, the man might not even understand what it meant. "Thank you, my Lord, for bestowing a name upon me! From now on, I am Wu Tiefu!" The burly man raised no objection to the lord bestowing a name upon him; in fact, he was somewhat flattered. In their tribal tradition, only elders could name their juniors. Now that their group was living under someone else's roof, dependent on another's goodwill, this lord granting him a surname was undoubtedly a sign of acceptance and protection. At least in his understanding, it was a good thing! Seeing Wu Tiefu nod, Chu Guang continued. "Our laws are simple: fighting, stealing, murder, coercion, intimidation, and any actions that harm others are strictly forbidden. You may freely fetch water from the lake, but you must not disturb anyone fishing there. Aside from your campsite, no trees in the woods may be felled without my permission; if you need more timber, gather it outside the park." "In addition, any useful components or scrap metal scavenged, as well as game hunted or other useful items, can be exchanged for goods at our warehouse." "Remember, however, you may only send people to deliver trade goods to our warehouse between six and seven o'clock every evening. At all other times, you are not permitted to cross our gates." "I will have my servant deliver the rest of the specific regulations to you later. By the way, is anyone among your people literate?" Wu Tiefu nodded hurriedly. "A few elders in the clan know a little, and I know a tiny bit as well." "Very good." Looking at the broad-shouldered, thickset man, Chu Guang nodded. "When you have time, you can learn more. It will do you good." …… After settling the displaced wanderers from outside, Chu Guang dismissed the conscripted players, sending each off with a silver coin so they could return to their own tasks. The refugees were well-behaved. They caused no trouble for Chu Guang; once the boundary was marked, they focused on chopping wood with their axes and setting up camp. Regarding the standards for their encampment, Chu Guang did not impose strict requirements, emphasizing only two aspects: hygiene and security. Specifically, defecating or urinating wherever they pleased was forbidden, as that created breeding grounds for bacteria. All waste had to be collected centrally and transported to designated disposal sites. Chu Guang had enforced the exact same rule on the survivors living by the brick kiln. In addition, the perimeter wall of their compound could not exceed two meters in height, and if they built houses in the future, the structures could not exceed the height of the outpost's east wall. To these refugees, however, such regulations were practically superfluous. Never mind perimeter walls or latrines; as long as they had a draft-free place to curl up and sleep without freezing the children, they were already more than satisfied. Thus, both sides passed a peaceful night without incident. Early the next morning, the refugees emerged from their makeshift shanties to resume working. The men conscientiously grabbed their gear to fetch water from the lake, dig wells with shovels, chop wood with axes, and continue constructing shanties with gathered materials. The women and the elderly remained in the camp, tending to livestock, mending clothes, repairing damaged tools, or setting up large cauldrons to prepare lunch. The players watched curiously from the sidelines for a long time before their curiosity finally got the better of them, and they took the initiative to approach the natives for conversation. At first, the natives were somewhat apprehensive, but as they gradually realized these people meant no harm, their wariness faded. Although neither side spoke the other's language, with a few hand gestures, they could still understand each other's meaning. For instance, a gesture even a monkey could understand: I want to trade "this" for "that." Speaking of which, there was a minor episode. Combining the posts and comments on the official website with his own secret observations, Chu Guang had discovered an intriguing phenomenon. These players were actually very clever. After discovering that Wasteland OL had genuinely created a whole new language, they had long since mastered the two most basic pronouns: "you" and "I." Next, high-frequency words frequently appearing in quests—such as "hyena," "air-dried meat," "wood," "prey," and "fish"—were hardly difficult to pick up either. When some veteran players heard NPCs speak, they could roughly guess what the NPCs meant. As for harder verbs, less frequent adjectives, modal particles in specific contexts, and obscure, intricate grammar, those were rarely used in daily conversation anyway. Even among the lore-enthusiasts, there was no consensus on how certain pronunciations should be translated. Truly mastering an unfamiliar language was in reality a very lengthy process; it wasn't something that could be resolved simply by some veteran player conjuring up a few papers out of nowhere. Systematic mastery, in particular, usually required two civilizations to reach a consensus on certain objective things, actions, and even deeper philosophical concepts through prolonged contact and interaction. The more developed a civilization was materially and spiritually, the broader its vocabulary, and the more flexible and diverse its grammar. Their languages would even contain numerous nouns, verbs, and adjectives that lower-tier civilizations had no concept of, naturally making decipherment all the more difficult. However, for mere day-to-day communication, it wasn't quite as difficult as one might imagine. Perhaps in a few years or a decade, there might genuinely emerge players who could converse fluently with the natives without translation tools... assuming someone was truly bored enough to skip studying for their CET-4 and CET-6 exams just to learn some gibberish in a game. Chu Guang had not decided whether to lend them a hand yet, so he chose to observe during the closed beta before making a decision. Once they understood the players' trading intentions, the refugees brought out their good stuff as well. They had air-dried meat, which included hunted hyena meat as well as beef and camel meat from slaughtered livestock. In addition, they had various animal pelts and handmade leather goods like slings and scabbards. What surprised the players most, however, was that these natives actually had luxury goods like cow milk and camel milk! Unlocking two recipes at once—this was simply awesome! "Brothers! We can trade with them for pelts! And cow milk and camel milk too!" "Three kilos of ram horn potatoes for one kilo of air-dried hyena meat!" "Three kilos of ram horn potatoes only cost 3 silver coins... Holy shit?! That means 3 silver coins gets you a kilo of air-dried hyena meat! Buying from the NPC warehouse, 3 silver coins only gets you 600 grams, right?!" "Who the hell wants hyena meat! Haven't you eaten enough of that crap? Damn it, I've never even eaten camel meat in real life! Wait for me to trade some stuff at the warehouse, I'm grabbing two cuts to taste!" "This whole pot of camel milk is only a few points... Smells so gamey, though. Is it even drinkable?" "Alpha 0.5 is awesome! Dev daddy is invincible!!!" "These natives also sell leather goods and ironware! But... the quality seems pretty mediocre." The natives stared at these bluecoats in utter bewilderment. Although they couldn't understand what was being said, the newcomers seemed awfully excited. In that case, marking up the prices a little bit... Shouldn't be a problem, right? …… The players quickly brought the news to the official website. Before long, Brother Fang Chang, who never disappointed, compiled a guide. Using coarse salt to trade for air-dried meat was the most cost-effective deal: 100 grams of coarse salt could fetch one kilogram of air-dried hyena meat. The former cost only 2 silver coins at the NPC warehouse, whereas the latter cost 5 silver coins! However, this method could only be used to farm supplies, not to farm money. First, the NPC warehouse had different buy and sell prices; the spread on the same item could even reach 1:10. The acquired air-dried meat had to be eaten by oneself or sold cheaply to other players; dumping massive quantities onto the warehouse for cash was impossible. Selling to other players wasn't really viable either. Once the news spread, the information asymmetry would vanish, and profiting from an information gap would naturally become impossible. Who would want to be the sucker? Another unrealistic aspect was that in-game prices shifted with supply and demand. Not long after Brother Fang Chang's post went live, this item-farming "exploit" was patched by an invisible hand. Later, when players brought 100 grams of coarse salt hoping to trade for meat with the nomads from afar, the other party flatly refused. They were no longer short on salt; being full was their primary need. As for the camel milk and cow milk, they needed to keep some to feed the infants in the settlement; at least for now, they were not selling. All they had left to trade were some pelts, leather goods, and purely cosmetic knickknacks that offered no stat bonuses. The players didn't have many silver coins in their pockets either—far from enough to squander casually. Besides, the leather goods and clothing crafted by these natives weren't nearly as nice as those made at Tengteng Cottage. For "skins" that added no stats, appearance was naturally what mattered most! And so, the newly sparked trading craze came to a temporary close.