Version 0.6 Update!

At the southern gate of the outpost. Carrying several dozen kilograms of wild boar meat and three hundred grams of coarse salt, Yu Hu and Li Niu staggered out through the main gate. Neither of them had much tolerance for alcohol. Having rarely had the opportunity to drink, they were already tipsy after less than two liang, leaving footprints in the snow that could hardly stay in a straight line. Even so, their heads remained clear. "Hu-zi, is this really okay?" "You mean leaving Xiaoyu here?" Li Niu nodded. "Yeah." Yu Hu furrowed his brows in thought, then shook his head. "I don't know either, but Brother Chu isn't a bad person." Li Niu lowered his voice. "Xiaoyu is almost at marrying age. Aren't you worried... people on the street will gossip?" "Who'd dare! If anyone dares say a word, I'll beat him up!" Yu Hu glared, but quickly realized that was unrealistic. At the end of the day, he had only two fists; how could he beat everyone up? He could only manage to pummel that little brat from the Wang family. "It's fine. It's good for her to stay there. In fact, it's best if she doesn't come back," Yu Hu said, shaking his head to clear it in the north wind, muttering, "In any case, following Brother Chu is definitely way better than staying at our place." Li Niu nodded. He agreed with those words. Though he didn't know that Brother Chu very well, having so many bluecoats working for him meant he was an important figure at least on par with the mayor. They walked on in silence. Crossing the snow and traversing through ruins, the two skirted past a pack of hyenas tearing into a giant rat, arriving safely at the entrance to Bet Street. Snow had not begun to fall yet, so the trek back was not too difficult. The gate guard, Walter, stood watch with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a shotgun in hand, not sparing the two so much as a glance. They briskly passed through the main gate and were about to head down the alley, but as they passed in front of Old Charlie's grocery store, the old man called out to them. "You two, hold on a moment." Yu Hu and Li Niu paused and looked at each other before turning toward Old Charlie. "...What is it?" Old Charlie had been the mayor's butler. After retiring, he had been arranged to run the grocery store here, and quite a few fine goods in town came through him. Toward this former butler who mingled easily with traveling merchants from north and south, the survivors in town felt a fair bit of respect—or rather, awe. After all, those wandering traders never even looked at ordinary folk, yet they could chat and laugh cordially with Old Charlie. Still, that respect was in the past. Ever since trading with Brother Chu's people, Yu Hu had felt more and more that Old Charlie was not a good sort either. He was cut from the same cloth as the mayor—shortchanging clearly priced goods and always palming off inferior items on them. In Brother Chu's words, he "didn't play by the rules." Not a good person in any case. Old Charlie glanced at the plastic bags in their hands, then at the fallen snow on their shoulders. His nose twitched slightly, and then his cloudy eyes narrowed. "Did you go north?" The two shook their heads like rattle drums. "No, not at all." Even if they had, they wouldn't admit it. What could he do about it? "Don't head north. It's not safe over there." After staring at them for a moment, Old Charlie pulled his gaze away. Saying nothing more, he waved his hand and dismissed them. Just then, the Wang family's eldest son, Wang Biao, walked over from the entrance carrying a hyena pup. He slapped his prey onto the wooden table beside them with high spirits. "Old Butler, I bagged some wild game—a pup, no less! See if His Honor the Mayor wants it. If not, I'll take it over to the slaughter stall." Even though Old Charlie was no longer a butler, everyone still addressed him that way. Charlie glanced down at the lifeless hyena pup on the table. Hyena meat had a strong gamey odor, and if it wasn't processed promptly, it would start to stink in no time. Survivors in the area would crush red-ribbed tobacco leaves—a specialty of Brown Farm—and smear them over the meat, combining that with smoke curing to mask the stench. Whether it was healthy was another matter, but it truly masked the smell. Unlike adult hyenas, hyena pups were an exception; their meat was tender and fresh, and steaks cut from the leg were top-tier delicacies. Supposedly, it was because they had only recently been weaned and had eaten very little carrion. "Leave it." Old Charlie pulled open a drawer, fished out four chips, and tossed them onto the table. Wang Biao took the chips, his face beaming with delight. Four chips! That was enough to trade for four whole liang of golden-yellow salt! Going without meat wasn't terrifying. For an experienced hunter, as long as one was patient and careful enough, game could always be caught. Running out of salt, however, was fatal. Without salt, a person had no strength; without strength, one couldn't hunt; and without game, the entire family would starve. Just as Wang Biao was about to leave, Charlie suddenly called out to him. "Come back here." Wang Biao stopped in his tracks and asked with an honest smile, "What does the Old Butler need?" Charlie asked, "Your house is next to the Yu family's, right?" Wang Biao nodded repeatedly. "Yes, we live quite close to them." "Help me keep an eye on their younger son. He's called... Yu Hu? In short, if he heads north on any day, follow him and see where he goes." Charlie pondered for a moment before continuing, "If you discover anything, don't alert him. Report straight back to me. Your reward won't be less than what you're holding in your hand." Delighted, Wang Biao tightened his grip on the chips. "Rest assured! I'll definitely keep watch for you." "Keep your voice down," Charlie scolded him. Glancing left and right to make sure no one was around, he waved his hand to send him off. "Go on." *** Yu Hu and Li Niu divided the meat and salt and returned to their respective homes. Yu Xiong was just coming out through the doorway. Seeing Yu Hu return alone, he was taken aback at first, and then the wafting smell of liquor made his nose twitch instinctively. "You drank alcohol?" Yu Hu's face flushed. Scratching the back of his head, he said sheepishly, "Uh, just a little... It's not that I tried to take advantage of them, okay? Brother Chu practically dragged me into having a drink, so I did." Yu Xiong peered behind him, seeing neither person nor that trail of small footprints, and couldn't help asking, "Where's Xiaoyu?" Yu Hu hemmed and hawed for a long while before finally saying, "She... uh, stayed there." At those words, Yu Xiong's eyes widened round. "You left her there all by herself?!" Yu Hu hastily explained, "I didn't just leave her there! Xiaoyu said herself that she wanted to do work for Brother Chu, so I put in a good word for her. Brother Chu is such a good person, there definitely won't be any trouble!" "What kind of work could Xiaoyu possibly help with?!" Yu Xiong didn't buy that nonsense at all. He had once eaten a flatbread Xiaoyu baked and nearly chipped his tooth; in the end, it had to be thrown into a pot and boiled into mush before he could finish it. Yu Hu was desperate to explain, but since he didn't really understand it himself, how could he make it clear? "I—I don't know either! Why don't you ask Brother Chu? Come on, I'll walk over with you right now." Yu Xiong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Forget it, never mind. What's the point of going at this hour? Sigh, you... how am I supposed to explain this to Dad later? Tell him you went to trade for salt and left our little sister behind as payment for the booze?" Yu Hu looked ready to cry. "Don't, Bro! Dad'll beat me to death!" Yu Xiong shook his head and sighed. "Think for yourself whether this was foolish or not." Yu Hu lowered his head and muttered, "What's foolish about it? Isn't it great? They even have grain to brew liquor... With Xiaoyu following them, could she ever go hungry? Big Brother, if you're not at ease, I'll head over every single day for the next couple of days. If Xiaoyu suffers any grievance, I'll bring her right back!" Yu Xiong looked up at the sky, letting out only a sigh. "Forget it, forget it. I won't say anything more. Do as you please." Things had already reached this point, so what else could be said? They would take it one step at a time. *** At the outpost. Players in the square looked curiously toward the sanatorium, chattering and gossiping away. "Who's that little girl next to the Administrator?" "Yu Xiaoyu, an NPC from Bet Street. It's written in the official website's lore. Veteran players all know this; there were a few story snippets about Bet Street before. The forum even discussed it earlier—you can probably find it if you search through previous threads." "Dammit! I'm a newbie, how would I know?!" "Speaking of which, did I miss another storyline?" "Klee! Okay, not Klee... but whatever, she's so cute! I can't take it!" "Hello, is this 110? I think this guy is suspicious, come take him away. What? You can't dispatch anyone? I can handle it for you!" "I'll handle the firing squad!" Inside the shelter. Floor B1, resident hall. Sitting before a wooden desk studying a foreign language, Xia Yan had been staring straight at Chu Guang with wide eyes ever since he brought Xiaoyu back from outside. Seeing that she had nothing to do and even had the leisure to stare at him like a fangirl, Chu Guang tossed two silver coins onto the desk in front of her. "Head to the east gate bazaar and buy me a jin of milk." Xiaoyu had gone down to Floor B2 to take a bath. Although the players were very curious about this new little sister, with Xiao Qi keeping her company, Chu Guang didn't need to worry too much. All day today, Xiaoyu had behaved very well and performed excellently, learning at remarkable speed. She had basically mastered everything he taught her. Especially that diligent, studious drive of hers—a certain someone ought to learn a thing or two from it. Toward hard-working, good kids, Chu Guang was never stingy with rewards, whether they were NPCs or players. Still, eating candy all the time was bad for teeth. For growing bodies, drinking some milk was best; perhaps she could seize the time to grow taller. Even if she couldn't get taller, nourishing her a bit better would do—at least so she wouldn't look like a bean sprout that would topple in a gust of wind. Speaking of which, once she officially started the job, he would need to have an easily recognizable uniform tailored for her. After all, this post was of critical importance. In fact, it might even be more important than the weapons shop and the warehouse combined. Watching the two silver coins clatter onto the table, Xia Yan's eyes widened to dinner plates, her gaze flicking back and forth between the coins and Chu Guang's face. She seemed utterly incredulous. Finally, she couldn't help saying, "You're asking a disabled person to run errands for you—don't you feel any shame at all?" Act like a decent human being! Chu Guang, who had opened his computer to edit a document, glanced at her as if looking at a fool. "I didn't tell you to go yourself. Can't you get a player to go for you? How did I teach you? Open your VM, select the quest log, click edit, and then make up any passable excuse... For instance, say you can't fall asleep without drinking milk every day. Assign it to someone specific, or post it in the public channel—either works." "Understood: 'The Administrator must drink milk every night to fall asleep...' S-sorry, my bad! It's me who wants to drink it, it's me!" The instant Chu Guang looked over, Xia Yan backed down immediately. Looking utterly dejected, she held down the backspace key, deleting the quest she had just drafted and changing it to what Chu Guang forced her to write. Very good. Seeing Xia Yan behave, Chu Guang gave a satisfied nod. Being handsome did have its perks; giving her a look was enough for her to get the hint, and she was thoroughly persuaded without him even having to speak. Actually, it didn't matter what Boss Xia wrote on the quest panel. There were two ways NPCs could post quests using a VM: one was preset and sent point-to-point, usable even outside the shelter's signal range. The other type—custom quests drafted on their own—had to be uploaded to the server first, vetted by Xiao Qi, and then dispatched to a specific player's device or posted to the public quest board visible to all players as a [Daily Quest] or [Random Quest]. In other words, Chu Guang only had to drop Xiao Qi a word, and no matter what Boss Xia typed on the quest panel, it would be modified to what he wanted her to write. "Done... A player named Yaya took it." Yaya, huh. Then he could rest easy. Once it was bought, he could let her have a taste too. "All right." Seeing that Chu Guang dropped the matter after a single phrase and resumed clattering away on the keyboard—goodness knew what he was typing—Xia Yan found herself unable to focus on her book at all amid the irritating clatter, her mind wandering. Finally, she couldn't hold back anymore. "...By the way, what's the deal with that little girl? Don't misunderstand, I'm just asking. Even if you're beast enough to—" Distracted by the noise, Chu Guang typed a wrong character. His brow twitched, and while tapping the backspace key, he offered a perfunctory reply. "It's nothing. She's your roommate from now on." "Wait, roommate?" Xia Yan grew anxious and hastily said, "Aren't there still empty rooms? Why do I have to be her roommate? I don't know how to look after people." Looking after people? Who knew who would be looking after whom when the time came. Chu Guang said offhandedly, "I plan on having you teach her the players' everyday language—the book in your hands." Xia Yan murmured softly, "B-but I haven't even mastered it myself..." Besides, if they lived together, wouldn't she have zero privacy? It wasn't as if there weren't empty rooms next door. Chu Guang lifted his hands from the keyboard and looked at her with amusement. "It doesn't matter if you haven't mastered it; you can just learn together. Whenever you finish teaching her, I'll let her move into the room next door. Just don't let it turn out that she's learned it all while you still know nothing." This fellow actually sounded so righteous about it. How long had it been, and she hadn't even learned how to curse in proper Mandarin? She cycled through the same two phrases over and over, driving the players on the forum half to death with frustration. "How could that happen?!" "Heh, we'll wait and see then." Paying no further heed to the clamoring Boss Xia, Chu Guang turned his eyes back to the computer screen and typed out the final few words and punctuation marks. "...All that's left is copy and paste." Looking at the fruits of his labor produced in under half an hour, a delighted and cheerful smile surfaced on Chu Guang's face. Version 0.6! Done!