"...Forget it, I'll just treat it like candy."
The gunfire echoing in the distance was gradually dying down. Overlooking the battlefield through a mini-drone, Chu Guang tossed the unwrapped anti-radiation pill into his mouth.
Even with his constitution making it unnecessary, he never felt quite at ease without taking one.
Because the players had performed so exceptionally, Chu Guang hadn't found a single opportunity to enter the fray right up to the very end.
Still, that was a good thing.
He felt genuinely gratified by the growth of his little players.
Fighting mutants and engaging in team battles were entirely different ballgames.
Once this battle was over, even the players who had joined in Alpha 0.6 would shed their recruit tags, while many veteran players would be promoted to battle-hardened veterans of three campaigns.
On top of that, they could all "survive."
He was confident that with this experience under their belts, they would be even fiercer next time.
That said, giving credit where credit was due, the Legion's combat power was genuinely formidable.
Anti-tank rockets had been whizzing across the positions, accompanied by grenade dischargers lobbing fragmentation rounds, while a machine gun was mounted behind the fortifications.
It was fortunate that Scavenger had led the charge into their lines; otherwise, ten or twenty more people might have died.
Once the machine gun ceased fire, the battle was essentially over.
The players quickly tore an opening on the eastern flank of the Legion's second defensive line, helping their ally's power armor smash through the enemy defenses.
The only flaw in an otherwise stellar performance was that Scavenger hadn't survived. He had been blown sky-high in the trenches by a bundle of stick grenades.
His steam boiler exploded as well, spraying scalding water into the air, where the cloud of snowy vapor dispersed like fireworks.
It had been a truly spectacular sight.
Observing from outside the battlefield, Chu Guang had been left utterly dumbfounded and quickly recorded the footage.
Giving that a one-second clip in the promotional PV wouldn't be asking for too much, right?
Whether it was effective or not was beside the point—it looked cool, and that was all that mattered!
***
The fighting on the front lines drew to a close.
Beside a burning trench.
A player stepped forward, intending to pick up a pipe rifle lying on the ground.
Just then, a clone lying on his back suddenly opened his eyes. Struggling up from the dirt, he wrapped his arms around the player's thigh and bit down with open jaws, startling the player into violently kicking him away.
"Damn it! What are you, a dog?! Put your hands up! Move again and I'll shoot—"
*Bang!*
A gunshot rang out from nearby, blowing the head off the clone whose face was half-charred.
The player stared in complete bewilderment. A soldier in an exoskeleton walked past him and patted his shoulder.
"They're all pitiable wretches. Giving them a quick end is a mercy."
The player stared blankly at the receding back, having entirely failed to understand what the man was saying. Then he glanced down at the corpse on the ground and cursed under his breath.
*Damn it!*
*Five silver coins just turned into five copper coins!*
*What an absolute ripoff!*
The battlefield cleanup proceeded fairly smoothly.
These clone light infantry had never intended to survive. Some who had been stunned by explosions would wake up, howl, and pounce forward, only to be finished off with a single shot.
At first, the players had planned to take prisoners alive.
After all, living captives were worth more, and slaughtering those who had surrendered their weapons felt somewhat distasteful—acceptable, but unnecessary.
Soon, however, the players realized that these people weren't normal at all.
Whether the AI wasn't finished or that was just how the lore went, these clones were practically gnawers with guns. Seeing this, the players stopped holding back. Dead or alive, moving or still, they walked up and added a stab or an axe chop to prevent any nasty surprises while looting.
As for the Legion decurions and centurions wearing navy-blue greatcoats, although many put on a display of desperate resistance, once they realized the battle was lost, those surrounded in the trenches ultimately threw down their weapons, raised their hands, and surrendered.
Compared to the junior officers' stubborn last stand before surrendering, Vannus, the chiliarch serving as commander, gave up far more decisively.
He didn't run at all. Instead, he sat quietly in his makeshift command post, poured himself half a cup of murky wine, and waited for the Pioneer's power armor to sweep through.
In this swirling snowstorm, where could he possibly run?
Without supplies or an escort, crossing hundreds of kilometers to return to the expeditionary force's headquarters was completely impossible.
Not to mention the drone hovering directly overhead. Without the protection of thermal insulation, even the vapor exhaled from his mouth and nose would be plain to see, let alone a grown man.
The moment he stepped out the door of the temporary command post, he would shine as brightly as a lantern.
Rather than having his head shoved into a snowbank by pursuers, it was better to wait here and surrender with dignity.
As senior officers with a complete military education, their value far exceeded that of ordinary clone soldiers or the petty slaveholders who led them into battle. The Legion permitted them to surrender to the enemy once casualties exceeded ninety percent.
Although he would be demoted by one rank afterward, as long as he stayed alive, there was still hope.
The Enterprise rarely slaughtered prisoners of war, and Lu Yang indeed did nothing to harm him. He merely had him handcuffed and escorted back alongside the decurions who had surrendered.
In an open patch of snow, the logistics personnel used foam materials to construct a temporary prison for them. The facility was even fitted with plastic radiant heating pipes connected to a small wood-fired boiler.
If they couldn't stand the cold, they could go outside and gather firewood to burn themselves.
In return, however, once they were locked inside, the Enterprise personnel confiscated their greatcoats, leaving them with only an undershirt and trousers.
With heavy snow falling outside, taking a leak risked freezing mid-stream, let alone escaping.
Without a winter coat, anyone would freeze to death in the snow before making it even a single kilometer.
Compared to the prisoners, Chu Guang was far more interested in the gear they had left behind.
These clone light infantry had poor equipment, with few assault rifles; most carried semi-automatic or even bolt-action rifles.
Commendably, however, they had managed to standardize weapon models and ammunition calibers.
They weren't like Chu Guang's players, where some wielded 9mm, others used 7mm, and some carried 5mm revolver pea-shooters whose rounds scattered wildly at any distance.
It seemed these marauders calling themselves the Legion possessed decent logistical capabilities and were likely backed by domestic industry, though determining their exact technical level remained difficult.
Besides conventional arms, the players scavenged ten 12mm machine guns and nearly a hundred unused anti-tank rocket launchers that strongly resembled "Panzerfausts."
These anti-tank rockets were very light, weighing under five kilograms in total. Their slender iron tubes were packed with nearly two hundred grams of propellant, designed as disposable, single-use weapons.
The forward warhead featured a cylindrical canister 155mm in diameter fitted with a sharp aerodynamic cap to reduce drag. Packed with nearly a kilogram of mixed TNT and RDX, it could penetrate 200mm of rolled homogeneous armor—assuming a direct hit.
Whether for anti-infantry or light armor destruction, this weapon was both cheap and effective, vastly superior to the mutants' crude black powder bombs.
The only drawback was its low muzzle velocity, dismal effective range of just fifty meters, and poor accuracy. Lacking proper sights, it had to be aimed by feel using the warhead's silhouette.
Even with those shortcomings, Chu Guang was overjoyed.
A rocket launcher far more reliable than the Goblin Rocket—selling it for fifty silver coins in the weapons shop wouldn't be unreasonable, right?
If they ever encountered split-claw crabs again, it would definitely come in handy!
In addition to the rocket launchers, there were grenade dischargers. Truth be told, those were rather underwhelming—essentially hand grenade launchers with mediocre power. The remaining fragmentation mines, however, were prime goods, and Chu Guang intended to hand them all over to Boss Xia to handle.
By rights, a share of these spoils belonged to the Pioneer.
Yet the Enterprise employees aboard the Pioneer didn't care for this outdated gear in the slightest. Taking it would only yield scrap metal, and hauling it wasn't worth the effort. Consequently, they generously left everything to Chu Guang and his men.
Apart from the weapons, what thrilled Chu Guang most were the five light trucks.
The engines of these trucks were fitted with wood gasifiers; thrusting a log into the feeder chute was all it took to start them up. They were practically tailor-made for wasteland conditions.
Furthermore, to navigate rough terrain, the five trucks were equipped with oversized tires. While massive tires couldn't easily navigate dense urban ruins, running through the wild backcountry was no problem at all.
At the very least, players would no longer have to trek on foot between the outpost and the operational camp.
Clearing the battlefield took some time.
Chu Guang found several players who knew how to drive, let them familiarize themselves with the controls, and then drove the light trucks to an open clearing with sparse vegetation, waiting for the others to load up the spoils and the bodies of their fallen teammates.
Fortunately, he had exercised foresight by telling the players to bring woven sacks; otherwise, the little players would have had to make over a dozen extra trips just to haul their loot onto the trucks.
Watching the players hoist their salvage onto the truck beds, Chu Guang felt a sudden surge of wealth.
Deep down, however, he knew that laughing out loud right now would be in poor taste.
Even if only for the sake of the bereavement payout, he needed to maintain a somber expression.
Or at least remain stoic.
Just then, Lu Yang walked over in his power armor.
Coated in mud and blood, he looked quite battered, though he was uninjured.
Opening his faceplate, Lu Yang looked at Chu Guang and spoke in an earnest tone.
"Brother, thank you. If you hadn't brought reinforcements, this battle wouldn't have ended so smoothly."
"We are allies. Looking out for one another is only natural. Besides, they killed our people—we had to settle that score personally."
Pausing, Chu Guang looked at him and continued, "How are your casualties?"
At the mention of casualties, Lu Yang's expression darkened, and he said in a low voice, "Three dead, four severely wounded..."
The Pioneer carried fewer than a hundred crew members in total; losing three was a severe attrition.
The last time they had suffered such grievous losses was right after leaving Yunjian Province, during an engagement with a mutant tribe.
No one had anticipated that the mutant chieftain would be a Super Mutant. They had been forced to expend two tactical nukes just to wipe it out.
Inhaling the freezing air deeply, Lu Yang fixed his gaze on Chu Guang and asked, "What about you?"
"One hundred and seventeen dead. Severely wounded haven't been tallied yet."
Hearing that number, Lu Yang felt his heart skip a beat. What little joy of victory he had clung to as solace was instantly blown away by the crushing figure.
He didn't know how many people resided in Shelter 404, but he estimated it couldn't exceed a thousand.
Such staggering losses would be a catastrophic blow to any small- or medium-sized survivor settlement.
Lu Yang couldn't fathom the pressure weighing on the man before him, nor how he would face the families of the fallen residents afterward.
Behind that number lay one hundred and seventeen households...
"We will do everything in our power to treat your wounded... As for the dead, I am deeply sorry."
Chu Guang remained silent.
To tell the truth, he felt a little guilty deceiving the man.
If an NPC had died, he might have felt genuine heartache, but players... they would respawn in three days.
The players themselves felt nothing of the sort; while scavenging loot, they were practically singing with excitement.
Yet the man before him had taken it completely to heart.
"Before coming here, they were prepared. Before setting out, I told them to bring their guns and woven sacks—if they couldn't pack the enemy's corpses, they'd pack their own."
Pausing, Chu Guang added, "So there's no need to grieve for us. All men must die. Before coming here, they were ready."
Chu Guang's intention had merely been to comfort this champion of justice.
To his surprise, once he finished speaking, the big man's expression grew even heavier, almost sorrowful.
Taking a deep breath to steady his emotions, Lu Yang looked at Chu Guang and said, "There is something I'd like to consult you about."
Chu Guang looked at him. "What is it?"
Lu Yang said solemnly, "I plan to submit an application to the Silverwing Group board of directors to grant you the title of 'Permanent Enterprise Partner'... This is not just my personal intention, but the collective wish of the entire crew aboard the Pioneer."
Chu Guang was slightly taken aback, hesitating for a moment. "What does 'Permanent Enterprise Partner' mean?"
Lu Yang explained, "It is both a credential and a recognition... Naturally, this requires your consent."
Consent?
Chu Guang certainly had no objections.
Even separated by thousands of kilometers, who would ever complain about having too many friends?
Without hesitation, Chu Guang gladly accepted Captain Lu's proposal.
"I have no objections. From the moment you helped us deal with that mutant tribe, you were already our partners."
Hearing those words, a genuine smile finally spread across Lu Yang's face.
"I'm glad you see it that way."
"Still, this title isn't merely symbolic; it carries tangible benefits... Let's talk as we walk."
***
Five trucks rolled slowly across the wilderness.
An off-road vehicle fitted with a snowplow and a welded machine gun led the way, escorting their allies back toward the outpost with their spoils.
Although the crew of the Pioneer disliked field assignments, when Li De stood before them and asked, "Is anyone willing to escort our heroes home?", nearly every single one volunteered on the spot, eagerly offering to take part in the mission.
Even the wounded marine soldiers stepped forward.
In this battle, the vault dwellers had earned the respect of the entire Pioneer crew through their sheer bravery.
They might be poor and backward, but they were by no means weak.
They were warriors who could defend their dignity with weapons in hand!
Such people commanded respect anywhere.
Instead of returning directly to the outpost, Chu Guang first accompanied Lu Yang to the operational camp, where he met Li De, who had been waiting for some time.
The two had previously communicated only through holographic projections. Meeting face-to-face again after so many days, Chu Guang unexpectedly felt a strange warmth of familiarity.
Of course, what surprised Chu Guang even more was the man's complete about-face in attitude.
When Chu Guang had visited previously, the section chief hadn't even bothered coming down to greet him, merely instructing his subordinates to entertain him.
Now, however, the chief actively came forward and gripped his hand.
"I apologize for my earlier mistrust and prejudice. You are true warriors, and your courage is deeply impressive. Thank you for everything you've done for us. Without you, the outcome of this battle would have been uncertain."
Having observed the engagement via drone, Li De held an entirely different perspective on the situation. In his view, had the Legion surrounded their armored units, it would have been Lu Yang and his squad who were cut off and annihilated.
Aside from the power armor cutting a bloody path out, it was hard to say how many light infantry protected only by exoskeletons would have survived.
This battle also hardened his resolve: he had to more than double their artillery shell stockpiles and design a light fixed-wing aircraft capable of carrying heavier payloads.
If they continued west, another clash with the Legion was only a matter of time.
Shaking his hand before letting go, Chu Guang nodded. "I will convey your praise to my residents. In addition, regarding the title of Permanent Enterprise Partner, there are a few specifics I'd like to understand."
Knowing Chu Guang would ask, Li De nodded and gestured invitingly.
"I was just about to discuss that with you. Let's head inside!"
***
Inside the barracks.
From Li De's explanation, Chu Guang gained a general understanding of the title "Permanent Enterprise Partner."
The so-called "Permanent Enterprise Partner" was essentially an enhanced version of the "trade whitelist."
As was widely known, although the Enterprise was based far away in Yunjian Province, its trade footprint extended well beyond that single region. Merchants flying their banner could be found even on the West Coast of the Central Continent.
If disputes arose, the Enterprise could hardly fly across thousands of kilometers to seek revenge.
To prevent such problems before they began, the Enterprise had established the "trade whitelist" system.
When trading with survivor settlements on the whitelist, if a caravan was plundered by locals, insurance companies would compensate the caravan for its losses after dispatching an agent to verify the facts. For settlements not on the whitelist, no compensation would be provided.
Consequently, the vast majority of Enterprise caravans—especially those carrying genuinely valuable goods—strongly preferred doing business with legitimate survivor outposts on the whitelist. Only a handful of small caravans, looking to gamble, would take the risk of trading with unaccredited survivor settlements.
Boulder City, for instance, was on the trade whitelist.
For decades, Enterprise caravans had conducted business in Boulder City with their legal rights fully protected, which was why the city could purchase high-tech merchandise.
By contrast, places like Bet Street and Brown Farm were only patronized by slave traders from Red River Town or third- and fourth-tier caravans from Boulder City. Caravans from the Enterprise would never consider trading with them or staying at their posts.
After all, if something went wrong, their insurance wouldn't pay out a single cent!
To get onto the whitelist, an employee of Rank A or higher had to submit an application to Enterprise headquarters and guarantee it using their own credit score.
In addition, they had to provide an inspection report of over thirty pages and remain on-site for at least sixty days to verify the accuracy of the investigation.
The Enterprise employed staff who specialized in this line of work. Their earnings were typically substantial, because successfully opening a new market entitled them to a commission based on transaction volume over the next ten years, alongside commendations for outstanding service and potential promotion into management.
At the same time, an endorsed survivor settlement would be recognized by the Enterprise as civilized people, prompting more caravans to incorporate it into their trade routes.
Many caravans outside the Enterprise also referenced this list to gauge whether a trading partner was trustworthy.
After all, no one wanted to walk into a marauder's cage or test someone's moral baseline with a cargo hold full of goods.
Trading with low-risk survivor settlements also made securing bank loans much easier.
As for the title "Permanent Enterprise Strategic Partner," its significance was on another level entirely. Both its prestige and difficulty of attainment far surpassed an A-rank employee's endorsement for the trade whitelist.
First, the applicant had to be at least a senior executive of a subsidiary, a major shareholder, or even the subsidiary's board chairman.
Second, that subsidiary could not be some negligible entity within the Enterprise; it had to hold at least one seat on the headquarters' board of directors!
If the trade whitelist merely vouched for a trading partner's credit and safety, the title of "Permanent Enterprise Strategic Partner" was more akin to a ringing endorsement:
[These are premium clients we have encountered in the field, and we introduce them to you. They extended a helping hand to us in our hour of need and are wholly trustworthy. You may safely lodge within their territory, where they will provide food and shelter.]
[Furthermore, Enterprise-affiliated caravans are prohibited from taking hostile action against them, and armed mercenary firms are forbidden from listing them as operational targets. Class E and F technology authorizations and associated trade restrictions are lifted.]
Boulder City had traded with the Enterprise for decades and was still only on the whitelist. In all of Qingquan City, not a single survivor settlement had ever attained the title of Permanent Enterprise Partner.
After all, the bar was simply too high.
In principle, as a "scientific expedition team," the Pioneer had no authority to grant such a title to a survivor settlement so far from Yunjian Province.
Yet this particular "expedition team" boasted a staggering roster.
Even the driver of the water truck was a Rank-C Enterprise employee, while the personnel on duty in the offices included numerous Rank-Bs and Rank-As. Li De, who served as section chief, and Lu Yang, captain of the marines, were senior executives of the Silverwing Group.
Among ordinary caravans venturing into other provinces, even the caravan leader was lucky to reach Rank B. Few who managed to hit Rank A were willing to leave Ideal City to rough it in the wilderness.
With the influence held by the Pioneer's crew, they were genuinely qualified to submit this application, though a few procedural details still needed ironing out.
Chu Guang was intensely intrigued by the final clause Li De had mentioned.
"What exactly do Class E and F technologies encompass? Does that include power armor?"
Chu Guang hadn't harbored high hopes, but to his surprise, Li De actually nodded.
"Of course... but I wouldn't recommend it. Class E power armor relies on chemical battery power, making it essentially an upgraded exoskeleton. Very few caravans haul around something so heavy, and most survivor settlements prefer to purchase power sources and fabricate the rest themselves."
Pausing, Li De continued, "I genuinely want to help you secure this title. Thousands of Enterprise caravans pass through River Valley Province each year, and of the two corridors leading west, one runs across the plains in the northern suburbs of Qingquan City. If this goes through, it will be of immense help to your future."
"However, there is a major problem right now: your strength still needs improvement. Afterward, I'll have someone help you repair that machine tool, but even then... you'll find it difficult to produce anything that interests other caravans. Even if you become a Permanent Enterprise Partner, I cannot guarantee you will be more appealing than settlements on the trade whitelist."
To put it bluntly, a machine tool was like a "magic staff." Its power didn't depend on the staff itself, but on the "materials" and the "caster" wielding it.
After hearing Li De's words, Chu Guang didn't take the problem to heart at all; instead, his interest grew even keener.
"No problem at all—they can invest and build factories here! Products under Class E and F can easily be manufactured on our grounds and sold throughout Qingquan City."
"We have abundant raw materials—vast swathes of untouched scrap just waiting to be processed. We also have a high-quality labor force, and we can even provide logistical security for their intra-provincial transactions... That's bound to be far easier than shipping finished goods all the way from the East Coast!"
Listening to Chu Guang, Li De was visibly stunned.
*Wait...*
*You can even do that?*
Chapter 154