Wasteland OL's First Bank Goes Live

Official Website: [Wasteland OL Closed Beta Server Alpha 0.6 Update Announcement.] [Major Updates: 1. Closed beta player limit increased to 250. 2. Added "Banking System"! 3. VM updated with "Property" page! ] [Optimizations: 1. Added richer routine patterns for nomads; the stall run by the sisters Qiu Cao and Qiu Ye is getting livelier and livelier. 2. Enhanced NPC personalities; if you anger Boss Xia, there is a chance she will charge higher prices next time. 3. Broader variety of food. Today's recommended recipes: mushrooms stewed in milk, salt-grilled dried fish. 4. Fixed a small number of bugs. 5. ... ] [As player numbers increase, the Player Handbook and User Agreement have been updated to version 4.0, adding guidelines regarding contact with refugees. Players with closed beta access, please review them promptly to avoid a poor gaming experience.] [Current pre-registrations: 2,333] ... Ye Shi: "Lemme see, who got in through the backdoor this time? (funny)" Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "A bank! The banking system is out!" Lightning King Professor Yang: "Fuck! Why not me again?! T.T" Silhouette Painter Master Cai: "I don't care! If I'm not in, it's rigged!" Proud Grandpa What Can You Do: "Heh, stop acting, bots. There's no way in hell I'm pre-registering. Over my dead body. Heh, just a blatant scam, it's impossible to get a spot anyway." Elaina: "Wait, bro, how do you know you can't get a spot if you've never pre-registered? Could it be... (funny)" Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Wait, none of you care about the banking system? There's actually a bank in this update!!" Old Bai: "...Isn't a bank in a game just a place to deposit money? What's there to be so excited about?" Ye Shi: "Exactly. What, did you think they'd let you take out a loan? Keep dreaming. (funny)" Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Uh, okay, fair point." Calling it just a place to deposit money was not entirely accurate. In any other game, such a feature would surely exist for the players' convenience, but in Wasteland OL, it was definitely for Chu Guang's own convenience. Silver coins were limited in quantity. By now, the players each had fifty or sixty coins stuffed in their lockers on average, which added up to no small sum. Especially for filthy-rich tycoons like Mosquito. If he hadn't just custom-ordered a cannon barrel and funneled capital into No. 81 Steel Mill's corporate account, he would probably be sitting on two hundred coins by now. What was more, currency circulation at the outpost was growing higher and higher. Not only were players using his issued currency, but even nearby refugees were gradually accepting these little coins. Reclaiming currency was imperative. And opening a bank was undoubtedly the best choice! For the players, being able to deposit money in a bank would certainly be far more convenient than how things were now. Wasteland OL's death penalty included dropping all inventory upon death, and many people had to trek all the way back to the shelter to fetch cash whenever they wanted to buy something, which was a massive hassle. Why not integrate the currency system into the VM and open a personal account for each player? That way, it would be convenient for him to "print money" and easy for players to spend it. From now on, within the outpost's signal range, transactions could be conducted directly between two VM devices. Stepping directly into the era of mobile payments—wouldn't that be splendid? As was his habit, immediately after publishing the announcement, Chu Guang updated the official website with a post he had just drafted. The update brought quite a few major changes. It was necessary to have a good chat with his little leeks. Developer Log: Alpha 0.6 Version Guang: "Hello everyone, I'm your most, most, most beloved game planner! After slaughtering twelve siege lions, the outpost finally has enough grain! So we have specially recruited 50 new players to enter the game. Let us give a round of applause to our European Emperors!" "Putting the European Emperors aside for a moment, after five consecutive days and nights of meetings, our department has finally decided to add a new sub-page to the VM called 'Property.'" "Through this page, as long as you are within the shelter's signal coverage, you can conveniently check a series of personal assets under your name, including bank account balances, land, shops, and company shares." "Naturally, this also includes your equipment!" "Yes, there are more and more players on the server now. I believe you are all good kids who follow the rules, but to avoid unnecessary disputes, we have decided to launch an equipment 'binding' service to uphold fairness and justice on a programmatic level!" "Any equipment you deem valuable can be photographed and scanned for registration with the Administrator Assistant NPC, where you can fill in a declared record price yourself. Once scanned, the equipment will be bound to your personal account and registered with pictures and text on your VM's 'Property' page. The processing fee is a minimum of 1 silver coin; if the registered price exceeds 100 silver coins, it will be charged at 1%." "Bound equipment will be protected by the shelter's laws. Even if picked up by another player, ownership cannot be altered. If equipment is unfortunately lost due to death or other reasons, the player need only pay 10% of the 'registered price' as a deposit to assert ownership. The player who picked up the equipment must return it to the shelter within a specified time limit, and will receive the deposit paid by the owner as a reward." "If the finder refuses to return it, or maliciously abandons or damages the equipment, they will be punished according to in-game rules and the User Agreement for theft or property damage. In addition, the equipment owner can set an extra bounty as appropriate, provide more details including the location where it was lost, and issue a bounty quest to seek help from other players." "Please remember, rules only define the moral baseline. Even for unbound equipment, we do not recommend taking someone else's gear for yourself. Your every word and action will affect how others perceive you. A noble character shines brightly in both the real world and the virtual world. Do not lose what is large for the sake of what is small." "Furthermore, based on player suggestions, we are developing a 'Credit Score' system on top of our existing social functions. Players with high credit scores will find it easier to trigger high-quality quests and enjoy a better gaming experience. Currently, this system is in trial operation as a hidden parameter, and is expected to be displayed on your personal profile after the closed beta phase." "In short! The change with the biggest impact on everyone this time is that you'll be able to pay directly with your VM in the future! No more headaches over counting coins!" "For the newly developed bank function, we have arranged for a special NPC to serve as Shelter 404's first bank president!" "Wishing everyone a pleasant game! I'm off to work overtime now." Once the post went live, its popularity skyrocketed instantly. Within a few refreshes, the reply count broke a hundred. All Good Names Taken by Dogs: "Wait, who is this special NPC?!" Battlefield Hype Group: "Great Planner, don't go!" Ye Shi: "Shaking with rage and cold! Ah Guang is being cryptic again!" WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Dammit! Can we see them if we log in now?" Fang Chang: "Probably not. It's still the dead of night in the game. Besides the NPCs guarding the warehouse and granary, who else is on duty on the surface?" Without replying to those posts one by one, Chu Guang closed the forum and leisurely started a campaign in Napoleon: Total War. However, after barely a few dozen turns, Chu Guang grew bored. Mainly because there was no sense of immersion. "Tsk, look at these Redcoats, how can they be so cowardly?" "A volley to their front, a charge to their flank, and their flag turns white. When they're right in your face, fix bayonets and stab them! Why the hell are you running!" "Sigh, garbage, not playing anymore." Compared to his players, they were simply useless! Closing the game, Chu Guang wondered whether he should download a morale-locking mod. That ought to feel more immersive. ... After shutting down Napoleon, Chu Guang ultimately launched Stellaris. He maxed out his tech tree and went AFK, only to end up watching the star charts all night without realizing it. Chu Guang dozed off somewhere in between. By the time he came to, the Fallen Empire's underlings had been completely devoured by the xenophobic vassal he had casually unleashed out of boredom. He spared a moment to glance at the time—good grief, it was already morning! If he went to sleep now, he could wake up just in time to visit the players' bazaar at the north gate. Chu Guang suddenly realized that Boss Xia was not the only one slacking off. Ever since the Bloodhand Clan had been wiped out, life had been too comfortable lately, making even him a little lax. This would not do. The mutant tribe on 76th Street had not been cleared yet. The harsh winter had only just begun, and once it ended, even sterner challenges would be waiting. Revitalizing his spirits, Chu Guang put on his exoskeleton, strapped his hammer across his back, and stretched his stiffened bones and muscles. Today was Xiaoyu's first official day on the job! Even if he wanted to catch up on sleep, it would have to wait. Chu Guang shook off his grogginess and headed toward the elevator. While he stepped onto the elevator to head to the surface, a dense crowd of players had already gathered before the main entrance of the sanatorium. "Is this the bank?" "The website said it's here." "Why isn't there an NPC?" "Probably not time yet!" The outpost's bank was located at the end of the first-floor hallway of the sanatorium. Since the bank was currently in its trial operation phase, with the plot of land having only just been marked on the map and ground not even broken, a vacant room on the first floor of the sanatorium had been temporarily borrowed as a storefront. The setup was indeed a bit rudimentary. The only furniture was a table and a chair, along with a vertical wooden sign hung by the doorway—bearing the two large characters for "Bank." The players gathered around, their faces full of curiosity and excitement, whispering quietly to their teammates beside them from time to time. Right at that moment, a petite, slender figure squeezed out from the crowd and, under the watchful gaze of everyone present, walked over to the wooden table in front of the bank and sat down. Being stared at by so many eyes, Xiaoyu felt as if a little fawn were thrashing around in her chest, thump-thumping relentlessly. But thinking of how she could finally help Brother Chu, she took a deep breath and secretly cheered herself on. You can do it, Xiaoyu! You can definitely do this! Recalling the lines she had memorized the night before, she bravely lifted her head. "The, the bank!" "Is open for business..." Perhaps because she was not yet familiar with the players' language, or perhaps simply out of nervousness. Xiaoyu, who had gathered all her strength, exerted a bit too much effort on the first two words, pitching them sky-high. By the time she was halfway through, she ran out of breath like a deflating balloon, growing weaker and weaker until the end was nothing more than the buzz of a mosquito. Her face flushed scarlet in an instant, as if scalded by boiling water. Seeing that the mood seemed to have gone cold, she panicked and tried to salvage the situation, only to forget her lines in her haste and bite her tongue, hurting so much she nearly squeezed out tears. So embarrassed she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into, Xiaoyu held back the tears and the pain, ultimately persevering to complete her task. "W-would you like to deposit money?" For a moment, Xiaoyu felt she had let down Brother Chu's expectations, as well as this sacred and glorious profession. Ugh... How humiliating! However, Xiaoyu, whose face was as red as an apple, never imagined that this opening line of just two sentences would instantly set the scene ablaze. "Ahhhhh so cute!" "I'm dead!" "Not good! Tail's HP bar is empty too!" "Stupid question: is this a waifu-raising game? The website said it was, right? When are they opening gacha pulls? I'm gonna whale so hard!" "Can I deposit RMB?! Nobody stop me, I'm going ALL IN!" (voice cracking) "Hehe, little sister, do you like mushrooms? Tonight big sister will treat you to mushroom soup! Slurp slurp, it's super delicious!" "Red alert! Quick, go tell Tengteng that Boss Crow is going to be stolen away by Xiaoyu!" "What nonsense are you spewing, who cares about her!" Looking at the surrounding players in bewilderment, Xiaoyu blinked. Having only learned a few lines, she could not understand what they were saying, nor did her VM translate their difficult babble. However, the eyes were the windows to the soul. Judging from their eyes, they probably accepted her, right? Thinking this, confidence rekindled in the young girl's heart, and the dejection from forgetting her lines was replaced by brimming enthusiasm. Keep it up, Xiaoyu! You can't let down Brother Chu—or the "players"! "Guests who want to deposit money, please line up." "Before heading out to adventure, please feel safe leaving your money with Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu will take good care of it for you!" "Have a safe journey!" The players lined up in an orderly fashion, placing their silver coins on the table. Gradually finding her rhythm, Xiaoyu meticulously counted the silver and copper coins on the table. She would carefully count every coin twice before sorting it into the box beside her, then use her work VM device to deposit the amount into the player's account. The bank's operations gradually fell into place. Chu Guang, who had been observing from the shadows the whole time, finally nodded in satisfaction. Not bad. It seemed his decision had been correct. In fact, Chu Guang had originally planned to have Old Luka serve as the bank president. However, while Old Luka was decent at inventorying supplies and sufficiently upright, brain-straining tasks like arithmetic were a bit too much for him. Besides, Old Luka had more important things to do. Rather than reclaiming silver coins from players, Chu Guang needed a sufficiently loyal servant to help him manage the other servants. And for that role, Old Luka, who came from a serf background, was the most suitable. It would not work with anyone else. Thinking it over, Xiaoyu was indeed the best fit for the bank president position. A bank president in a game and one in real life were two different concepts; the former was more like customer service, or a window teller. Conscientious, stubborn, honest, and true to her word—these were all Xiaoyu's strengths, qualities that one could see with one's own eyes. On top of that, she was diligent and clever enough on her own. It took her only a single day to learn Arabic numerals and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and she had memorized her lines before going to sleep. Such efficiency was enough to make a certain weapon shop owner hang her head in shame! And most important of all, Xiaoyu's image easily won the affection of the players. Those big, bright, clear eyes, like morning dew, would make even silver coins pale in comparison. With Xiaoyu serving as the bank president, the players would surely work twice as hard and willingly offer up their hard-earned silver coins with both hands. Mm, now that I've given you your little Klee as bank president, you won't still be clamoring about hanging capitalists from lampposts, will you? Would your heart allow it? Wouldn't your conscience ache? Wouldn't it be wrong not to call me Planner Daddy? This is simply too reasonable. Taking one last look at the long queue stretching from the bank's doorway all the way outside the sanatorium, Chu Guang turned and walked away, thoroughly satisfied. Meanwhile, at the weapon shop not far from the sanatorium. The shop doors had been open for a while, yet there still was not a single customer. Xia Yan sat bored at the entrance of the weapon shop, her gaze drifting toward the bank from time to time, until a certain person walked out and turned south toward the industrial zone. Unable to hold back a yawn, Boss Xia picked up her tools, straightened out the dented brass sheet, fitted it into the die, hammered it into shape, and loaded the primer. She couldn't help feeling that she had fallen out of favor. "Well, that's rare." Not a single person had come to bother her all morning. It had chased away even her drowsiness.