The letter read:
"My dear friend Bucky,
I have wonderful news. Thanks to the generous assistance of our allies, we've successfully repaired the damaged components and will soon be back on the road!
It’s been half a month since I last wrote to you. The reason you haven't heard from me isn't because I forgot you, but because I was assigned a very important task: serving as a liaison with our allies... It's crucial work. Think of it like being a diplomat—plenty of socializing, though none of it unpleasant.
I remember you telling me how you longed to climb over those towering walls into the world beyond—to see distant mountains and lakes, endless deserts and swamps, to cross snowy peaks and dense jungles in search of lost ruins. You told me you were utterly sick of a boring life, and that you envied how I could find a group of kindred spirits, cast off worldly ties, and venture deep into the wilderness claimed by chaos and barbarism.
What I mean is, if that's truly how you feel... why not give it a shot? The road is right beneath your feet. As I write this, we have already traveled thousands of kilometers, and soon we will be venturing even farther.
If you don't know where to turn, I wholeheartedly recommend the friends we met in Qingquan City. They're a hardworking, brave, and remarkably optimistic group living in Shelter 404. They possess an unforgettable culture, and every single day spent with them has been a delight.
It's a fantastic place. When you arrive, you'll understand why I say this."
Aboard the Pioneer.
Lying in a comfortable single room with his hands tucked behind his head, Luo Hua dictated the letter to the holographic interface hovering before his eyes.
Come to think of it, he had already been away from home for more than a year.
The cramped, noisy environment he had once despised now felt oddly endearing in hindsight.
"Guess I'll write one to the old man in a bit too."
Luo Hua sighed softly. Just as he was about to hit send, he realized he had forgotten to sign off, so he flicked his forefinger beside the holographic window and added the closing line:
"—Your dearest friend, Luo Hua."
***
Two days later.
An ordinary morning.
Without any grand ceremony, almost as if simply punching a clock, the steel fortress crouched upon the wasteland deployed gantry-crane-like steel frameworks from its flanks.
Mechanical articulating arms lowered from the overhead gantry like giant hands, scooping up the modular production units previously deployed across the open ground one after another and returning them to the fortress's back.
This incredible spectacle seemed as natural to it as breathing.
Standing before the porthole of his office, Li De watched the production modules steadily ascend, his face brimming with ambitious pride.
"Finally, we're hitting the road again."
He had waited far too long for this moment.
"Indeed. We've been delayed here for nearly half a month."
Standing behind Chief Li, Wang Jie nodded in agreement, though his feelings were decidedly mixed.
On one hand, he had wanted to stay here a few more days.
On the other, his pockets were now cleaner than a freshly scrubbed face.
In fact, he wasn't the only one suffering from this problem. Ever since a certain water tanker driver had returned with a bag of steamed buns, it seemed a magic spell had been cast on everyone's wallets.
Fortunately, credit cards didn't work here, and the bulk of their pay was deposited straight into their accounts. Otherwise, they might have lost every last cent of their savings...
If Wang Jie was merely vexed, then Chief Li, standing right ahead of him, had a splitting headache.
In just shy of half a month, those bluecoats had somehow managed to rake in a staggering 210,000 CR from them!
Li De engaged in some profound soul-searching regarding his own missteps.
When signing the labor contract, he had never imagined these bluecoats would set up shop right outside their doorstep, let alone that these dirt-poor bluecoats would actually squeeze so much hard cash from their pockets.
Consequently, when pricing their trade goods, Li De had factored in only the baseline labor expenditure, projecting around 2,000 CR a day—pegging their total payout before departure at fifty or sixty thousand at most.
He couldn't really be blamed.
Who could have predicted that those people would concoct "value-added services" and hawk merchandise, blowing his budget wide open by an entire order of magnitude?
Those items on the catalog should never have been sold to them at cost price!
Of course, after thinking it over, Li De realized it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Even though 210,000 CR had been drained from them, a rational assessment showed that their trade deficit was still essentially zero. Every single credit taken had ultimately been spent right back with him by Chu Guang.
The money had simply made a round trip, flowing straight back aboard the Pioneer. Right now, the Logistics Department’s financial reserves were flush, and the cafeteria's refrigerators were stuffed with the bluecoats' steamed buns, dumplings, wontons, and a whole assortment of morale-boosting delicacies.
Looking at it that way...
Could they really call it a loss?
Taking a sip of rich coffee, Li De gazed out the porthole and spoke slowly.
"By the way, what did they actually buy from us?"
Wang Jie replied, "Some metallic hydrogen batteries and exoskeletons... The rest was all exchanged for grain and pre-war crop seeds."
The exoskeletons made sense; lacking power armor, they were the perfect alternative.
As for the metallic hydrogen batteries, however...
Li De asked in bewilderment, "What do they need metallic hydrogen batteries for?"
Wang Jie was equally clueless. "No idea... Maybe they plan to build exoskeletons or drones?"
Li De: "..."
They have that kind of technology?
Now that would be a miracle!
***
Naturally, the outpost didn't possess that technology, but they would eventually.
While the Pioneer was packing up, Chu Guang, accompanied by Old Luka, was busy taking inventory of their "wool" inside the operational camp's storehouse.
A total of 213,420 CR, minus the 117,000 CR allocated for casualties' pensions, left 96,420 CR.
What did 96,000 CR represent?
It meant that, on average, his little players had generated nearly 9,000 CR of daily income for him! And at least half of that had come from trade outside of labor dispatch.
With such a shocking surplus, it wasn't just shearing wool—his little players had practically skinned the sheep alive!
Deducting the 10,000 CR spent on replacing Boss Xia's leg, 203,420 CR remained.
This hard-won fortune was bought with endless sweat—and even blood—from his little players. Chu Guang had no intention of squandering it carelessly.
After careful consideration, Chu Guang had first taken 100,000 CR to purchase fifty standard-model metallic hydrogen batteries at an average of 2,000 CR each.
The rationale was simple: they offered the highest value for money and were nearly impossible to acquire in Qingquan City.
Based on Chu Guang's study of the KV-1 exoskeleton manufactured by Boulder City, the only part that could truly qualify as high-tech was its solid hydrogen battery.
As for its mechanical structure and engineering design, while serviceable, they were hardly anything to marvel at.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise's metallic hydrogen batteries boasted an energy density an entire tier above standard solid hydrogen batteries.
This was genuine black tech, extraordinarily dependable whether used for drones or exoskeletons. In fact, even if he simply bought a batch of KV-1s and swapped out their batteries, their operational runtime would see an immense boost.
A price of 2,000 CR was an absolute steal!
Chu Guang estimated that in the Qingquan City region, a strategic resource like this could easily fetch 4,000 CR or an equivalent trade value.
With 100,000 CR spent on batteries, 103,420 CR remained.
Weighing his options, Chu Guang allocated half to grain and select pre-war crop seeds, and used the other half to purchase ten sets of "Miner Type I exoskeletons," priced at 5,000 CR each.
As the name suggested, the original purpose of this exoskeleton was obvious.
Not that it mattered.
The KV-1 had originally been made for hauling bricks too, but weld some rebar and steel plates onto it, and it could serve as pseudo-power armor just the same.
More importantly, the Miner Type I’s design was vastly superior to the junk bought from Boulder City.
For starters, the metallic hydrogen battery it came equipped with was far more capable than anything on the KV-1. Furthermore, its superb electronic control systems and motor design not only ensured prolonged endurance, but also provided stronger, more consistent power output. If extensively modified, it could theoretically support far thicker and heavier armor plating!
Within the Enterprise, the Miner Type I exoskeleton was classified as Category E trade goods, representing the most advanced mechanical exoskeleton model Chu Guang could currently purchase.
Of course, it wasn't without its flaws.
Metallic hydrogen boasted an explosive yield thirty-five times that of conventional explosives, with a detonation velocity far surpassing RDX; in theory, just a single liter could blow apart a main battle tank. Consequently, in the later Type II and Type III models, the Enterprise had reverted to the somewhat safer solid hydrogen batteries, downgrading their export classification to Category F.
Curiously, though the Type II and Type III were safer, the original first-generation model remained the wasteland's hottest seller.
Even when Victor strongly advised Chu Guang to purchase the safer Type II, Chu Guang had stuck to his guns without hesitation.
"Now that I have these, I almost feel like I don't need to sell my old armor..."
Gazing at the industrial-looking exoskeletons in the warehouse, Chu Guang fell into brief contemplation. But within three seconds, he made his decision.
"Forget it, I'll sell it anyway."
"Consider it a perk for the players."
After all, it was armor once worn by the Administrator. Chu Guang decided to hold an auction for it. Only the most hardworking player would earn the right to wear this honor-laden suit!
Mhm, once he got back, he'd make sure to scratch a couple more battle scars into its chest plate.
As for the Miner Type I exoskeletons, Chu Guang planned to require citizen status for purchase, limited to one per account. Upon purchase, it would automatically bind to the player, making it impossible to trade to other players or neutral NPCs. If someone no longer wanted it, it could only be scrapped or sold back to designated warehouses or the weapons shop.
Considering the import cost was a steep 5,000 CR, a price tag of 5,000 silver coins would be reasonable.
However, setting the price that high meant his little players would probably have to pinch pennies until next year to afford one.
"Better price it at 2,000 silver coins... and add another requirement: not just citizen status, but Level 10 or above to buy!"
Leaving gear to gather dust in a warehouse was what Old Leech would do.
As long as the equipment ended up in the hands of highly active combat-class players—whether they used it to haul bricks, scavenge, hunt, or do anything else—it would maximize Chu Guang's returns.
Barring those who happened to spec into Intelligence, production occupations generally had a hard time leveling up quickly in the early game.
The most classic example was Mosquito. Because his gene sequence belonged to the Agility-type and he spent most of his time cooped up in his workshop rather than out doing quests, he was still sitting at a pitiful Level 5. Meanwhile, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, who had joined the game at the same time, had been Level 6 before the expansion and was now nearly Level 7, already a seasoned Constitution-type tank.
After instructing Old Luka to arrange trucks to haul a portion of the supplies back to the outpost, Chu Guang stepped out of the warehouse. He glanced at the Pioneer packing up outside the camp, his eyes full of reluctance.
If only they could have stayed a few days longer.
Popcorn had just started catching on aboard the Pioneer; leaving before selling much was such a painful loss...
***
Ten minutes to deploy, an hour to pack up.
Just before eight in the morning, the Pioneer finally completed its preparations.
Yet the steel leviathan didn't take everything with it. For example, the operational camp about a hundred meters away was left completely intact.
Not only that, during the period following their skirmish with the Legion, the Pioneer had assisted the local shelter residents in reinforcing the operational camp.
Now, the camp boasted not only three-meter-high reinforced concrete perimeter walls, but also five-meter-tall trapezoidal pillboxes at all four corners.
In addition, three hundred tons of unused cement were left behind in the camp by the Pioneer's crew.
Stored in separate warehouses, they sat alongside the provisions Chu Guang had purchased with credits.
"...Consider this a small token of our appreciation. We hope it proves useful to you."
Clad in power armor, Captain Lu Yang stepped before Chu Guang and the gathering of shelter residents, raising his helmet's visor.
Chu Guang looked at him and said with solemn sincerity, "Thank you. You've helped us immensely. I won't forget this favor."
Truth be told, whether in his past life or this one, Chu Guang rarely bared his heart to others.
Yet these words were spoken with complete earnestness.
Captain Lu Yang felt that such a solemn expression was a rare sight on this friend's face, but he didn't dwell on it, offering a hearty chuckle instead.
"No need to be so formal. You helped us just as much. Without your aid, there's no way we could have resumed our journey this quickly."
He paused, his boisterous smile tinged with a sudden trace of melancholy.
"Farewell, my friend. If all goes well, we shall meet again!"
When that day came, he would return in triumphant victory.
Chu Guang nodded.
"We will. May victory be yours, and your path be clear."
"From your lips to the heavens!"
They bumped fists in a final farewell. Turning away with effortless swagger, Lu Yang waved and stepped onto the lift leading up into the steel fortress.
It was the final boarding call.
The lift slowly ascended, and the heavy airlock doors slammed shut.
The earth trembled softly with a dull rumble. Driven by fusion energy, the magnificent land fortress began to stir.
Its steel treads rolled forward slowly yet unstoppably, crushing pure white snow and frozen branches, until its towering silhouette finally melted into the winter morning mist, leaving behind over a dozen trench-like ruts.
This breathtaking sight left the players standing by the camp's entrance wide-eyed with awe, their gazes glued to where the invisible fortress had vanished.
"It's gone?"
"Holy crap, that fortress really can move! I'm starting to question the realism of this game's physics engine!"
"Logically speaking, nuclear fusion really could pull it off... Of course, the materials can't be ordinary steel either, or they'd never support that massive weight."
"Alright, alright, shut up with the analysis already! All I want to know is, is the expansion over?"
"Probably? The scavenging quests in the northern district vanished yesterday. Haven't you guys been checking your VMs?"
"Wait a second, aren't there still over a hundred unlucky bastards who haven't respawned yet?"
"Damn it, these devs are ruthless. Can't fix the bug, so they just shut down the whole expansion!"
"Hahahahaha! Unbelievable! Absolutely unreal!"
Listening to his little players chatter, Chu Guang smiled faintly.
Tearing his gaze away from the fortress that had faded into the distance, Chu Guang tapped his forefinger lightly across his VM.
A pre-drafted server announcement was instantly broadcast to every player's VM and the official website.
[Server Announcement: The operational camp has reached 100 Prosperity points, evolving into a survivor settlement. It has now been officially renamed "Changjiu Farm".]
[Server Announcement: The "Land Fortress" expansion has concluded successfully. Players whose login status was locked and unable to respawn can now log into the game normally.]
[Server Announcement: Version Alpha 0.8 welcomes 100 new players who have logged into the game. Let us give them a warm welcome!]
Chapter 163