North of Ling Lake Wetland Park.
The abandoned tire factory stood among the ruins.
This had once been the lair of the Bloodhand Clan, and after their destruction, it was overrun for a time by cockroaches and rats.
Recently, as the residents of Shelter 404 expanded their operational territory, this structurally intact factory compound was put back into service.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of countless novice players, the mutants nesting here were thoroughly wiped out, and NPCs set up guard outposts in the surrounding high-rises. Today, it had become the outpost's northern industrial zone, absorbing all the light and heavy industries previously packed tightly south of the sanatorium.
This included No. 81 Steel Mill, run by players with proper technical backgrounds.
It also included Goblin Technology, born of unorthodox ingenuity.
Although the generous Administrator had finally agreed to let Brother Mosquito keep his shack south of the outpost after much wheedling and pestering, all production activities involving chemicals, flammables, and explosives had to be moved far away from the respawn point and relocated here.
Not that Chu Guang had a personal grudge against him; there were simply too many complaints.
That guy had been test-firing weapons recklessly in the forest outside the base, either scaring all the fish out of the lake or accidentally setting the pines and cypresses ablaze. Over the past month, more than one person had come to Chu Guang to protest, begging him to rein Mosquito in.
Chu Guang believed Mosquito hadn't caused trouble intentionally, but letting him keep fooling around like that honestly made Chu Guang a little uneasy himself.
None of those issues existed at the abandoned tire factory. For starters, it was a full five kilometers from the outpost, surrounded on all sides by abandoned, uninhabited urban ruins.
There were plenty of mutants there for him to test his weapons' firepower.
From now on, Brother Mosquito would never again have to risk getting thrown into the lake by furious anglers just to sneak in some rocket and cannon tests over the water!
All in all, under the brilliant planning of the wise and mighty Administrator, the northern industrial zone would center around steel and coal as its pillar industries. It would produce seamless steel tubes of various calibers, ammunition, stamped receivers, and other manufactured goods, while encouraging players to unleash their creativity on that foundation to craft more cheap, practical equipment.
Scavengers rarely ventured near marauder lairs, so the surrounding area held abundant recyclable resources. Even if stockpiles occasionally ran low, they could hire scavengers to gather materials on the spot.
Best of all, the site sat right next to the elevated highway leading out of the city. As long as obstacles and encroaching vegetation along the path were cleared away and minor road repairs made, trucks could drive directly along the service road beneath the overpass right up to the factory gates!
Whether in transport or resources, it blew the outpost in the wetland park out of the water.
A true blessing for industrial-playstyle players!
The drive-in workshop that had once hung with air-dried meat of dubious origin had now been converted into the new home of No. 81 Steel Mill.
A circular hole had been knocked through the roof, and a tall red-brick chimney rose straight through the opening into the sky.
Like a torch,
it ignited a tiny yet steadfast glimmer of light upon the ruins of civilization.
***
Inside the workshop of No. 81 Steel Mill.
The blast furnace was filled with glowing molten iron.
Sweat dripped down his neck from the sweltering heat. Li Niu had unbuttoned his coat completely, fanning his hand to scoop air toward his collar.
"Does the fire in the furnace feel twice as hot as yesterday, or is it just me?"
If the two foremen wearing VMs hadn't forbidden it, he would have loved to take off the wool-padded steel helmet on his head as well.
Standing beside him was Wu Dahe from the neighboring Wu family in their home settlement. His family were blacksmiths, though business was slow in winter and they rarely fired up the forge.
During the recent recruitment drive, both of Old Wu's sons had been hired. The elder worked alongside Li Niu as a furnace tender while doing odd jobs on the side, while the younger was chosen as a rolling mill operator, running hot-rolling equipment under the guidance of the bluecoats. Occasionally he also had to take a hammer to shape smaller parts, though that didn't happen often.
"The foreman said new funding just arrived, and the mill master plans to add boron to the furnace to test-produce 50B steel... Supposedly it's for cannon barrels."
Li Niu looked intrigued.
"What's boron?"
Wu Dahe pulled a small dark stone from his pocket, waved it before Li Niu's eyes, and slipped it back away.
"Just this little black rock. They say adding just a tiny bit greatly increases the steel's strength, but the amount has to be controlled strictly—not a speck too much... I don't really get it either. Anyway, the bluecoats handle the complicated stuff. We just do what they tell us."
Li Niu nodded half-comprehendingly, then asked a moment later, "What's 50B steel?"
Wu Dahe shook his head like a rattle-drum and repeated his earlier line.
"No idea. We just do what they tell us."
Li Niu was rendered speechless.
Even though he hadn't gotten the answer he wanted, he tucked the tip away in his mind as useful experience.
Adding boron made steel more durable, but only a tiny bit could be added, never too much.
Soon, however, more questions popped up in his head.
How much was "a tiny bit," exactly?
And did this work for all steel, or only certain types?
After all, the steelmaking methods here were bizarre. Sometimes they added tungsten, sometimes chromium and nickel, and other times silicon. Different recipes produced steel for completely different uses—some went to gun barrels, some to receivers, and some to bicycle frames.
The blacksmiths on Bet Street never went through such hassle. At most, they blended in some carbon, and the forged tools came out just as handy, sturdy, and durable.
Rumor had it that clever blacksmiths specifically salvaged steel from scrap car frames, especially vehicles parked inside indoor garages.
Steel melted down and reforged from those materials was far more durable than ordinary scrap.
Li Niu was no blacksmith. Before coming here, he had just been a scavenger living on Bet Street, occasionally heading out to hunt with the Yu family's second son, Yu Hu, because he could always find wild boar dens... even if he couldn't explain how he did it.
As for why he was here now,
that was a long story.
A week ago, during the relocation of the outpost's industrial zone, Old Charlie posted a notice in the plaza recruiting five to ten able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and thirty-five to help out. It offered two meals a day plus a daily wage of one silver coin.
At Bet Street's neighborhood office store, one silver coin could buy a full kilogram of green wheat or ram horn potatoes, plus fifty grams of salt.
Where else could someone find a deal like that under normal circumstances?
In this biting cold, there was little to do anyway, and hearing that he could save his family some food, Li Niu signed up without a second thought.
As for whether payment was in chips or silver coins, hardly anyone cared anymore.
Boulder City caravans hadn't visited since winter set in. To the survivors here, anything that could be traded for food and supplies was real money.
The relocation work wasn't too strenuous. It only required hauling crates and equipment out of the forest on carts, loading them onto trucks at the park's north gate, riding along to the abandoned tire factory up north, and unloading under the foremen's direction.
That abandoned tire factory had once been a Bloodhand Clan stronghold, and many Bet Street residents feared going anywhere near it, but Li Niu wasn't afraid.
The Bloodhand Clan was gone, and flying above the factory roof was the flag of Shelter 404.
Having frequently visited the outpost base with Yu Hu, he knew very well that the bluecoats were good people.
And indeed they were. The relocation lasted three full days, during which every single meal included meat, and everyone ate their fill.
If the work hadn't run out, Li Niu would have loved to stay indefinitely.
It was right then that the steel mill foremen stepped forward and extended an olive branch.
No. 81 Steel Mill wanted to hire a batch of contract workers at sixty silver coins a month, room and board included. They would get four days off each month on whatever dates they chose, plus performance bonuses.
Aside from the age bracket, there were only two requirements: physical strength and literacy—with preference given to those who could read and write more.
According to the foremen, the factory would open evening literacy classes to teach workers writing, arithmetic, and drafting. But because contracts had to be signed, applicants had to at least know how to write their own names to register, and having someone else sign for them was strictly forbidden.
That was the first time in Li Niu's life he realized how wonderful it was to be literate.
He had previously attended Old Charlie's evening literacy classes. Though he only went a few times, he had managed to learn how to write his name.
Those with three-character names drew the short end of the stick; some could only write two characters, while others struggled for ages only to manage their surname.
In the end, fifteen men were kept. The foremen handed them hard hats and warm fur coats, assigned them to a shared dormitory, and announced that from that moment on, they were workers of No. 81 Steel Mill.
As long as they worked hard, they could even bring their families over to settle down in the future.
Li Niu hadn't thought that far ahead yet; his present life was already enough to overwhelm him with happiness.
Wearing the fur coat issued by the factory and standing inside the workshop, he felt warm enough to break a sweat, often stepping outside during shift breaks to catch the cool breeze.
Such a wonderful life was something he hadn't dared dream of before!
Gazing at the molten iron churning in the blast furnace, Li Niu couldn't help musing to himself,
*Yu Hu that kid never takes studying seriously. I've gotta find a way to talk some sense into him...*
Break time ended.
As the molten iron reached the target temperature,
Li Niu worked the control joysticks alongside another worker under the foreman's orders, tilting the suspended furnace to pour the metal into casting molds, producing rod-shaped billets.
The electric motor whirred to life.
The roller conveyor beneath the steel billet began to turn.
Carried along the row of rollers, the cylindrical billet was fed into a piercing mill, where a specialized heat-resistant drill bit stamped and bored through its center.
"The billet's temperature is dropping too fast."
"Yeah... We need to figure out hot stamping—stamp it directly inside the die to preserve the quench state."
"Do you think the barrel walls can be thinned down any further? Otherwise it's way too heavy, has zero mobility, and wastes tons of material."
"We'll try, but with a caliber this big, I'm worried making it too thin will cause a barrel burst."
Standing in front of the machinery, Brother Toilet Cable and Brother Levin gestured at the operating equipment, conversing in low murmurs.
Why were the two of them so full of drive?
Because just this morning, right after logging in, they had suddenly received an R&D fund of 5,500 silver coins!
Perhaps the Administrator had been moved by their diligent work. From now on, so long as they submitted blueprints and budget proposals through proper channels, new equipment development would receive dedicated financial backing. No longer did they have to pay out of their own pockets out of pure passion!
Beyond resolving their pressing financial woes, the esteemed Administrator had also allocated them two hibernation pods as a reward for their hard work.
Those pods were pure gold!
From now on, they wouldn't need to run back to the shelter; they could log in and out right here in the factory.
If the other players found out, they'd go mad with jealousy!
Happiness had arrived so suddenly.
Yet Brother Toilet Cable and Brother Levin didn't let the windfall go to their heads.
They knew the sour lemons on the forums all too well. If the rest of the community knew they'd received such perks, people would instantly start clamoring for the nerf hammer.
Therefore, the two kept their mouths shut, quietly raking in the benefits. They hired scavengers to bring in quality scrap and steel from the wasteland, leased the shelter's machine tools to cut necessary parts, and poured all their energy into expanding the mill's capacity, steadily building up their steel empire in secret.
They were determined to pull out real results to show those armchair critics who spent all day sipping lemon juice and yelling "I could do that too!"
They'd show them what a true war machine looked like!
And show them that "I could do that too" was pure hot air!
***
[Server Announcement: Outpost Base Northern Industrial Zone is officially open for production. In addition to facility upgrades, 37 wastelanders have chosen to become workers and join our great cause. (Industrial Index +100, Prosperity +50)]
[Settlement Name: Outpost Base]
[Settlement Tier: Village (Lv. 1)]
[Prosperity: 100 → 150]
[Industrial Index: 250 → 350]
[Commercial Index: 150]
[Demands: Food, Weapons, Building Materials]
[Affinities: Exploration (+10% Scavenger quest yield), Industrialization (+10% Factory order & production quest yield)]
On the fourth day of the new version, production in the outpost base's northern industrial zone hummed along at full tilt.
Meanwhile, down on Floor B3 of the shelter beneath the base, a lively scene was unfolding.
The helmets had finally completed activation. Three hundred players entered the game simultaneously, following broadcast instructions to gather in the central plaza and packing the hall before Floor B3's elevator shaft until not a drop could squeeze through.
"There are so many newbies this wave!"
"And the quality looks pretty solid too. Fewer weirdos making a scene than last time!"
"Nice, looks like the reservation quiz weeded more people out."
"Speaking of which, anyone spot any lucky bastards who rolled mutant units?"
"Not yet. The Administrator hasn't started his speech, so they're probably not all here yet—still dawdling in their rooms. Let's wait and see!"
Standing in a corner of the plaza, Commander Spring scanned the crowd, scouting for high-potential recruits among the newcomers. As soon as the Administrator finished speaking, he planned to start passing the torch.
While he didn't particularly want to train beginners from scratch, he had no choice—his two teammates were utter deadweights!
One was "I'm the Darkest" and the other was "Battlefield Atmosphere Group." Both turtled like cowards during dungeon runs and boss fights, constantly making him, an Intelligence-type, tank in the frontline while constantly eyeing his gear.
For his grand plan of climbing into the T0 tier, Commander Spring decided to nurture a few obedient, reliable novices as frontline tanks.
Ideally, a bold Strength-type, or a durable Constitution-type.
Even better if he could land a mutant player like Meat Mountain Steamed Bun!
After all, only with someone absorbing damage up front could he unleash hell in his pseudo-power armor.
Just then, a commotion stirred among the crowd.
A newly arrived player walked into the hall, hands groping clumsily at the top of her head in confusion.
Her display name was Aoao Sesame Paste.
For some reason, her in-game avatar looked a bit different from everyone else's.
A pair of fluffy animal ears poked through her hair, replacing human ears and looking almost like a hair accessory.
"Huh? Huh? Why are my ears on top of my head?"
"Didn't you notice while you were still in your room?"
"I—I had no idea! There weren't any mirrors in the room, so I thought my hair was just sticking up after sleep!" Her expression was an awkward mix of bewilderment and pleasant surprise.
Was this an SSSR pull?
Though there didn't seem to be any stat bonuses...
The surrounding players, however, grew excited.
Were they testing paid skins?
Awesome.
Looks like open beta is actually on the horizon!
Tail's eyes sparkled. "Cat ears! Dammit, the lucky bastards are multiplying!"
Sisi: "Ooh, looks like our mutant circle is growing."
Tail: "Si! Let's pass the torch!"
Sisi: "Yeah! Charge!"
Before one wave subsided, another crested. Soon, another stir rippled through the crowd.
Only this time, it was panic rather than delight.
"Aaaah! A mutant!"
"Fuck! Why is there a rat here?!"
"Call the guards!"
"Fetch me my spear!"
The players along the edge of the plaza were the first to jump in fright, and the commotion quickly rippled inward.
"I'm not a rat... Dammit, I'm a player, alright?!"
Watching everyone scatter away from him, the petite player—or rather, ratman—standing in the center wore a look of utter helplessness.
Could this be considered an SSSR?
Probably?
Though the cost was pretty brutal: instant forfeiture of all mating rights.
While he was actually fairly pleased with the look, the other players—especially the women—clearly didn't share his enthusiasm.
He had stood there waiting, but not a single soul came over to pet him.
Damn it!
You superficial lookists!
Does it have to be this realistic?!
Standing before the elevator tower, Chu Guang was just as bewildered.
Cat ears were one thing...
Most likely a quirky joke from the first-generation manager.
But what on earth was this one-meter-tall rat?
Before popping the pods open, he couldn't see the specific data of the clones inside the incubation chambers, so "summoning mishaps" like this happened from time to time.
[ID: Qiangren Suonan]
[Gene Sequence: Mutant · Ratman]
[Level: Lv. 0]
—Base Attributes—
[Strength: 3]
[Agility: 3]
[Constitution: 3]
[Perception: 5]
[Intelligence: 3]
[Talents:
Rapid Synthesis: The active substance cost to synthesize clone bodies is reduced to 50% of the standard value, and synthesis time is shortened to 24 hours.
Iron Stomach: A powerful digestive system capable of handling spoiled food.]
Opening the system interface, Chu Guang checked the player roster.
Studying the latest scan data from this player's incubation pod, a flicker of intrigue crossed his face.
"Surprisingly, there's no debuff for calloused hands and feet or difficult sequence progression."
On the flip side, the ratman's base stats were quite pathetic. Aside from a Perception of 5, all other attributes were sitting at 3—roughly sixty percent of a normal adult male.
"The primary attribute must be Perception."
Chu Guang had assumed Agility would at least be higher, but that wasn't the case.
The sole advantage of this gene sequence was probably the buffs provided by [Rapid Synthesis] and [Iron Stomach].
"A respawn cost of just 0.5 units of active substance and a 24-hour synthesis time... That's pretty wild.
"And the Iron Stomach talent... If he can get past the psychological hurdle, that's going to save a massive amount of food."
Beyond that, another upside was his small frame, allowing him to scurry freely through rubble and ruins.
As for the weak base attributes... If the first awakening couldn't bridge the gap, he would probably have to rely on cybernetic modification.
Or perhaps biological and pharmaceutical enhancement paths?
For some reason, Chu Guang thought of the Skaven from Warhammer.
A plague horde swarming across hills and valleys was the ultimate nightmare for the human empire.
Unfortunately,
this ratman was all alone...
Chu Guang pondered whether he should hand the fellow a "hidden class quest"—grant him an incubation pod once he hit level 3 and let him loose in the wild.
As for the girl who had grown cat ears, to Chu Guang's surprise, her gene sequence carried no mutant prefix. She was an ordinary Agility-type player.
The only distinction lay in the talent column:
[Animal Ears: I originally intended to create a leopard-person; the fact that only the ears were expressed was an accident. Still, aside from making phone calls slightly inconvenient, there don't seem to be any downsides. Whether to keep them is up to you. —First-Generation Manager]
Chu Guang: "..."
That description wasn't really suitable for a player's stat panel. He'd have to edit it later.
Beside Chu Guang, Yin Fang stared unblinkingly at the talking rat. After holding back for a long time, he finally couldn't help speaking up.
"Before the war... whether splicing animal DNA fragments into human embryos or grafting human DNA into animals, it was the ultimate taboo. How on earth did the person who developed this technology pull it off without anyone noticing and without any external funding?"
Indeed.
How did he do it?
Chu Guang was curious about that as well.
Including that morphogenetic field which even a former Academy Class-D prospector had never heard of.
"Maybe it was developed inside the shelter."
Yin Fang looked at Chu Guang with a bizarre expression.
"Are you joking? In the shelter? With that half-baked medical lab?"
Chu Guang's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Now that's an interesting line of thought. It might actually be possible."
To be honest, he didn't find the creation of new species all that shocking.
Weren't mutants already living proof?
To borrow the words of a certain corporate employee with terrible alcohol tolerance: out-of-control technologies were running rampant across this land, so no bizarre occurrence was truly surprising.
Yin Fang: "..."
Unlike Yin Fang's astonishment over the technical background, Heya, standing on Chu Guang's other side, was simply amazed by the fact that a rat could talk.
Even though it was a language she couldn't understand at all, she was certain it was speaking!
This was simply unbelievable!
"Bears, lizards, and now a rat with human consciousness... How was this achieved?"
Suddenly, Heya looked eagerly toward Chu Guang, clasping her hands in a prayer-like gesture.
"Could you spare me a sample? No tissue slices needed, just a tiny drop of blood!"
"I've already authorized you to access the DNA data of the shelter's residents. You can view it directly on the infirmary terminal."
Though Chu Guang didn't expect her to crack the secrets hidden inside the gene sequences, running it alongside her mutant research wouldn't hurt.
After all, there were only so many mutant varieties active in the northern suburbs, and his players couldn't always bring back fresh specimens.
Heya said excitedly,
"You've already collected it? Wonderful!"
If the crowd hadn't blocked the corridor, she would have sprinted straight back to the lab right then and there.
Standing nearby, Yin Fang rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Was it just him?
He couldn't shake the feeling that besides himself, not a single person in this entire shelter was normal...
Chapter 194