Short on Hands

The cheers came from over by the cement kiln. Chu Guang walked over to take a look, only to see Fang Chang and Fleeting White Horse piling a mound of light-gray powder on the ground, mixing it with water and sand into a pasty slurry. By a rough estimate, this batch of cement was only about twenty kilograms. Since it was a test firing, they hadn't burned much this time. Judging from the capacity of the kiln's feed opening, processing half a ton a day shouldn't be much of a problem. While it couldn't compare to professional production equipment, it was barely serviceable. "Respected Manager!" Noticing Chu Guang walking toward them, the two players dropped the tools in their hands and enthusiastically came forward to greet him. "Cement!" "We finally made Portland cement!" This really hadn't been easy. To get the temperature inside the cement kiln above 1,450 degrees, the two of them had practically worked the blower like their lives depended on it, shoveling in charcoal scoop after scoop until their arms practically swelled into monstrous brawn. Especially Fleeting White Horse—his gene sequence was of the Strength type to begin with, and after these past three days, he was already close to leveling up again! "You did very well." Chu Guang looked at them approvingly and nodded. "With this cement, we've taken a huge step toward our Phase One plan. The shelter will remember your contributions. Each of you will receive a reward of 1,000 contribution points!" Delight washed over the faces of both players. The hard work of the past few days hadn't been in vain after all! What they didn't know, however, was that the NPC-slash-scummy game designer standing before them was already scheming in his head about how to recall this over-issued "currency" from their hands. Inflation running too fast wouldn't do—it would ruin the game's lifespan. How about... introducing a gacha mechanic? One thousand contribution points per pull? That could work. Just as Chu Guang was pondering what would be the most suitable approach, Fang Chang and Fleeting White Horse exchanged glances, then turned to him and spoke respectfully. "Respected Manager, there is a matter I must report to you!" "Speak." "Now that the cement has been successfully fired, we need more hands to begin constructing the outpost!" Chu Guang looked at the two of them. "How many people do you need?" Fleeting White Horse chimed in first. "At least ten! Of course, the more the better! Over at the cement kiln, we need manual blowing for the calcination. Two people can operate one kiln in shifts, and we'll be building a second kiln soon. That takes four people right there! Hauling stone from the construction site will take at least four, and for the rest building walls and houses, we'll need at least eight or more." Chu Guang did the math in his head. Wouldn't that take sixteen people? At present, the outpost's food reserves were only enough to feed seven people—including himself—for a week. If the population suddenly tripled, who knew if the logistics could handle it? Chu Guang hesitated again and again, but ultimately resolved to take a gamble. It was already the 9th. Nearly a third of September had passed. If they didn't push harder, it would be difficult to finish the outpost before winter arrived. "Fine! I understand." Nodding, Chu Guang looked at the two players and continued. "I will request support from superiors. In three days, a batch of new members will awaken from hibernation and come to the surface to join our cause." Hearing this, joy appeared on Fleeting White Horse's and Fang Chang's faces. With newcomers joining, their great infrastructure plans would be far easier than right now! Not only that, but Fang Chang's theory had also been validated. This NPC's authority truly wasn't as simple as being a mere NPC—he could even influence the progress of the game's closed beta. This couldn't help but remind Fang Chang of a fantasy-style trope from early web novels about virtual reality games: [The game runs on a supercomputer with infinite computing power. The game company sets the framework for the worldbuilding, while the content is generated dynamically and entirely by AI.] Could Wasteland OL actually be like that?! The more Fang Chang thought about it, the more thrilled he became. He felt he had figured it out once again. ... With a carpenter and a chef, the players' working conditions and quality of life saw noticeable improvement. With the help of "WC Really Has Mosquitoes," Fleeting White Horse and Fang Chang's construction team obtained molds for making mud bricks, and he also helped Gale Force 8 and Ye Shi improve their fishing trap. He had even used a tree stump to fashion a wooden toilet for the latrine that wouldn't scrape anyone's backside. Now, people could finally sit down to do their business. However, not everyone liked this sit-down style of toilet. Take Gale Force 8, for instance. The guy seemed to be a bit of a germaphobe. Even in a game, he couldn't stand using a toilet someone else had sat on, stubbornly digging another pit next to the original latrine and sticking up wooden planks for privacy. Thanks to this, the outpost now had a second latrine. Yet compared to these trivial matters, the most pleasant surprise came from his and Ye Shi's fishing plan. With the help of the improved trap, the two finally managed to catch their first fish before dusk fell. And it was a huge fish! Judging from its appearance, it was probably a catfish. The reason for "probably" was that its thick lips and head were freakishly massive, with white spots scattered across deep-blue markings, and its barbels were even adorned with coral-like red filaments. Clearly, this was also a mutant that had undergone radiation-induced variation. Looking at the "big fellow" thrashing in the trap, trying to escape, Gale Force 8 and Ye Shi were so excited they nearly cried, not caring in the least how ugly the thing looked. Three days! A full three days! They had finally caught one! Before the large birds circling in the sky or the beasts on the lakeshore could notice, the two promptly dragged the big fellow, along with the trap, from the lakeside onto the shore, mercilessly battering it to death with their rebar rods. Only after it was completely dead did they tie its head and tail to the rebar with rope, shouldering it one in front and one behind to carry the still-twitching dead fish back to the outpost. "Brother Scrambled Eggs, take a look—is this thing edible?" "Holy crap? What is that?" Staring at the catfish Gale Force 8 and Ye Shi dumped on the ground, "Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes," who was building a fish-smoking rack, nearly popped his eyes out of his head. He had been cooking stir-fries for half a lifetime, but this was the first time he had ever seen such an enormous catfish in person. The fish head alone could fill a washbasin. If something like this lived in the lake, could any other fish even survive??? Catfish were carnivores! "It should be a catfish," Gale Force 8 said. "No shit, of course I know it's a catfish," Scrambled Eggs said, squatting down to pry open its lip, giving it a tug, and smacking his tongue. "Good grief... this thing must weigh over a hundred jin at least!" Ye Shi hastily asked, "Can we smoke it?" "Who the hell makes smoked fish out of catfish..." Scrambled Eggs said, looking utterly exasperated. "This thing has a thick layer of fat, and its surface is coated in moisture-retaining slime. Cleaning it is a massive pain, and I don't even know if it can be dehydrated." "Then what do we do?" Gale Force 8 asked. "I haven't tried it either. Let's test it first..." Looking at the fish-smoking rack he'd spent half the day making, Scrambled Eggs fell silent. A fish weighing about a hundred jin would definitely collapse the rack if placed on it. He'd have to remake it... ... At dusk. Brother Scrambled Eggs took over the ladle from the Manager and stewed a pot of fish-head soup for the players, proving through practical experience that this creature was indeed edible. What was more, it tasted surprisingly decent. Although there was no tofu as a side dish, nor any scallions, ginger, garlic, or cooking wine to cut the fishiness, Brother Scrambled Eggs still relied on his superb culinary skills to produce a pot of fish-head soup that was remarkably savory without being greasy, seasoning it with only salt and soy sauce. The players ate until tears streamed down their faces. Brother Scrambled Eggs and Mosquito were pleasantly surprised that the game actually simulated taste, while the other four players were deeply moved to finally eat a bite of normal food. Sob, sob, sob, it really hadn't been easy... That day, they logged off at 6:00 p.m., which was exactly 6:00 a.m. in reality. The closed-beta players had barely logged off and hadn't even had time to open their QQ messengers before messages exploded in the Ox and Horse Club group chat. Quitting Smoking: [Holy crap! Go check the official website, quick!] Proud Grandpa What Can You Do: [You still haven't given up...] Spare the Life Under the Blade: [What happened to the website?] Quitting Smoking: [Alpha 0.2 major update! The official website is releasing 24 more closed-beta spots! The number of closed-beta players is expanding to 30!!!] Spare the Life Under the Blade: [What the heck?] Proud Grandpa What Can You Do: [Heh, time to harvest the leeks. Spit it out, how much is it? Let me see if it's enough to file a fraud case at the local police station downstairs. (nose-picking emoji)] Quitting Smoking: [It shouldn't cost anything, right? I checked the announcement and it didn't mention any fees! Haha, I refuse to believe I won't get picked this time!!!] Scavenger Lv99: [You're dreaming. Pre-registrations already broke a hundred long ago. Twenty-four extra slots... that's maybe a one-in-four or one-in-five chance.] Quitting Smoking: [Over a hundred?! What the heck, does our group even have that many living souls???] Scavenger Lv99: [Uh, they're not all from our group... Last night I saw plenty of other gaming groups discussing this game.] Spare the Life Under the Blade: [It actually spread outside our circle? (shocked)] Who Doesn't Understand Love: [Yeah, I just checked. The number of pre-registrations is already at 111.] Quitting Smoking: [Holy mother of crap!]