Screenshots Cost Money in This Game?!

Outpost, West Gate. Inside the wooden barn. A colossal beast lay sprawled on the ground, its massive tail coiled in a heap, its amber pupils roving about lazily. Any wasteland wanderer native to this continent, whether an Awakened or an ordinary person, would feel an instinctive dread upon seeing this creature, along with an involuntary, heartfelt awe toward the powerhouse capable of subduing and taming such a monster. As an apex predator on the wasteland's food chain, a Deathclaw was an absolute Tier 1 or even Tier 0 powerhouse in strength, speed, stealth, and sheer build. To bind a monster like this with merely a few iron chains and a collar was truly formidable! However... This Deathclaw had clearly been fed into something of a salted fish. The ferocity in its gaze had been largely supplanted by indolence, and its temper was nowhere near as foul as before it arrived here. What was the point of being vicious? Most of the people here didn't fear it much at all. Especially that human bundled up like a lump of iron. Every time he fed it, an overwhelming aura radiated from him, filling it with a deep, heartfelt... dread? A Deathclaw's intelligence wasn't particularly high, but that was only relative to humans. Compared to smaller beasts like hyenas, jackals, or brown bears, it was considerably sharper, possessing the mental capacity of a young primate. Because of that, the sensation of dread felt particularly acute. Whenever it displayed hostile behavior or even an unfriendly look, that brain-freezing sensation would leave its limbs rigid and its whole body shivering. Conversely, if it behaved obediently and submissively enough, that man would toss it a few extra rats or hyenas. Over time, it had figured out a brand-new way to survive. Recently, that human had introduced some new tricks, calling out "Neeko" whenever he fed it. Though it had no idea what that sound meant, as long as it showed some response, the lizard-frightening tin can would happily reward it. Who cared? Maybe it was that human's name. Neeko didn't trouble itself over things it couldn't understand. For a beast that had cast aside its wild nature, eating its fill and taking an afternoon nap were the sum total of its desires. Sprawled on the ground, it closed its eyes, intending to doze until lunch. Just then, however, a noisy clamor disturbed its rest. Neeko cracked its eyes open and saw a little bug followed by several blue jackets noisily strolling toward it. Walking forward, Scavenger bragged to his fellow group members from the Cattle and Horses squad: "...No hype, no bias, I feel like an absolute powerhouse right now! Never mind some measly death worm—I could slap a broodmother to death with one hand!" Ye Shi suddenly chimed in, "Speaking of which, when do lizards go into heat?" Lao Bai thought for a moment. "Seems to be spring." Jieyan asked curiously, "Do you think that deathclaw will try to mate with Scavenger?" Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes stroked his chin and pondered. "Might happen. After all, this guy's got cheat codes now." Everyone was in unanimous agreement about the match, leaving Scavenger clicking his tongue. "You guys have filthy minds! All you do is look for gamer romance every damn day. Can't you be a little pure-minded for once?!" Ye Shi grinned mischievously. "Sure, sure. When you don't have a little brother down there, you can talk all the tough game you want." Struck right where it hurt, Scavenger glared at him in indignant fury. "Get lost!" Scavenger certainly hadn't come here to look for a mate. Although he had the body of a lizard, mentally he was still human. Getting romantic with a reptile was a bit too hardcore even for him. Besides, he didn't even have the equipment. In the mutant branch, whether lizard or rat, everyone's sex was universally classified as "eunuch." The developers had probably found it too bizarre and simply skipped modeling what should have been there. Still, in Scavenger's view, that had never been important. It was just a game. Being overpowered was all that mattered; nothing else counted! And how does one prove their strength? For a lizard, the most direct method was naturally to win the acknowledgment of its own kind—especially a female of the species. Amber pupils peered out from the wooden shed. Seeing that the beast had noticed him, Scavenger held his breath and glared back with fierce intensity, projecting his "aura." One large pair of eyes and one small pair stared each other down for roughly half a minute. Whether Neeko, lying in the wooden shed, understood what he meant or not, it let out a derisive snort from its nostrils, puffing a few strands of straw onto Scavenger's feet. Its massive tail coiled in the opposite direction, and its amber eyes lazily slid shut, paying him no further mind. "Pfft—hahahaha!" Jieyan couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. Though the others didn't laugh out loud, awkward, knowing smirks spread across their faces just the same. Scavenger's face flushed crimson as he stammered an excuse. "It's probably just sleepy." "All right, all right, let it go, Scavenger," Fang Chang patted his tail with mock sympathy. "Let's go farm mats in Yuanxi Town, okay? Be good." With the help of food taster Lao Na, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes had recently developed a method to prepare yaoguai meat. Dusting it with a bit of buffalo grass powder during marination stripped away that foul bloody odor, making the meat far more palatable. Pan-seared to a golden brown and sprinkled with pinecone wine and diced ram horn potato, it was not only a delicacy, but also granted a buff of '+5% Metabolism, +7% Constitution.' Because its texture resembled beef and it provided valuable buffs, the Hunters Guild had recently seen a surge in hunting requests for yaoguai. Kuang Feng, who hadn't spoken up until now, suddenly chimed in. "I heard that female lizards raise their tails when they want to mate." Jieyan: "So that means she wasn't into him?" Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes asked with great interest, "What about male lizards?" Kuang Feng: "I recall they wag their tails." Professor Feng was the most educated among them. Ye Shi smirked slyly and looked at Scavenger. "Bro... how about you give it a shot?" Scavenger: "Screw off! Get lost!" If it worked, it would be humiliating. If it failed, wouldn't it be even more embarrassing?! Although his stat was only 3, he wasn't an idiot! Kuang Feng rubbed his chin thoughtfully and suddenly said, "By the way, there's actually something that's been bugging me." He had spent several hours yesterday looking up data on lizards and still hadn't figured it out. Being targeted by Professor Kuang Feng gave Scavenger an ominous foreboding. This guy seemed to have it out for him today... "...Bugging you about what?" "I remember before... didn't you tell me you had four Intelligence? That was before you awakened, right?" Kuang Feng asked, puzzled. "How did it drop after you awakened?" Jieyan looked at Scavenger in surprise. "Wait, really?" Scavenger gave a dry cough and shifted his gaze away subtly. "Don't sweat the small stuff... Aren't we going to Yuanxi Town? Let's hurry, or we'll miss the transport." "Nine attribute points from Level 0 to Level 9, and not a single point went into Intelligence. If I were him, I'd be too embarrassed to mention it either," Fang Chang patted Kuang Feng's shoulder and sighed. "Cut him some slack." Scavenger: "&@%￥!" *** Three days had passed since the Tide subsided. The spore clouds gathered over the northern suburbs were thinning at a visible rate, and the morale of the northern survivors had reached unprecedented heights. This morale boost wasn't particularly obvious among the players. After all, across Azeroth, Skyrim, Hyrule, and countless other worlds, they had saved the realm times without number. A single city was simply too small a stage for them. Broodmothers? Evolved variants? Nothing more than Level 10 to 20 main-story bosses. Yet for the survivors living in Qingquan City—especially in the northern suburbs—vanquishing the Tide held an entirely different significance. In the eyes of the vast majority of Qingquan City's survivors, the Tide was a catastrophe that only Boulder City could withstand. Whenever the greyish-green fog descended, most had no choice but to stay clear of the perilous urban ruins or huddle inside their shelters, praying for the Tide to pass swiftly. Those blue jackets from Shelter 404 had achieved what the locals had never dared dream of, ending the Tide even faster than Boulder City! Those arrogant snobs living behind fortress walls? Nothing special after all! *** Inside the Outpost, colorful lanterns and banners hung everywhere, creating an atmosphere as festive as a major holiday. With the Spring Festival and the new version update fast approaching, and because they hadn't yet properly celebrated their recent victory, Chu Guang decided to roll all three occasions into one grand celebration, setting the festivities for the first day Phase B closed beta went live. Cooking delicious food was a cherished Shelter 404 tradition, and this celebration was no exception. Culinary creations recognized by players, NPCs, or the Administrator would not only earn their creators and teammates induction into the chefs' Hall of Fame, but also grant them a chance to see their dishes stocked in NPC shops, along with generous event points. Early in the morning, plenty of combat-class players had already dashed off to Changjiu Farm, lining up for the shuttle bus to Yuanxi Town, itching to haul back some exotic beasts. The lifestyle players weren't sitting idle either; some went fishing, others went mushroom foraging, and some even took to the fields to catch toads, giving the entire forum a thoroughly rustic flavor. Especially now that the supply of ear-hook camera headsets had steadily grown, with Shelter 404's inventory reaching two hundred units, Chu Guang had made them available for player purchase. Any player who attained the contribution rank of Intermediate Citizen and paid 500 silver coins could unlock the "In-Game Screenshot" and "Instant Messaging" functions through the Administrator's assistant, Xiao Qi. With this headset, players could not only conduct remote voice chats with people on their VM friends list, but also sync "compliant" photos directly to their forum accounts. Many spectator-gamers on the forum got to feast their eyes, catching glimpses of fantastical creatures that didn't exist in reality. Beyond the players who hunted and gathered their own ingredients, others turned their attention to Changjiu Farm's trading post and the traveling merchants passing through. Merchants from distant lands occasionally brought specialties from neighboring provinces, such as dried lizard, canned fruit, and sugar from Jinchuan Province to the south, or saber-toothed tiger meat, yak milk, and multicolored mineral salts from the north. These merchants were immensely pleased with the goods at Changjiu Farm, particularly the finely crafted brass-cased ammunition; just two or three magazines of rounds were often enough to trade for an entire crate of goods weighing over a hundred kilograms. Yet those cartridges were merely mass-produced off assembly lines; revealing the true production cost would scare the daylights out of those wastelanders. Aside from food, players hadn't forgotten to give their home base a New Year's makeover. Lifestyle players whose primary activities centered around the Outpost took the initiative to decorate the buildings around Spawn Plaza with festive paper-cuttings. Furthermore, they posted remarkably creative spring couplets on the doorways of NPC hubs such as the sanatorium, weapons shop, warehouse, bank, and Hunters Guild. Standing before the weapons shop and staring at the red paper hung beside the door, Boss Xia wore a profoundly strange expression. "What does this say?" she asked Chu Guang beside her. "'Noodles rise, meat rises, mushrooms rise again and again; thank heavens, at least weapons don't rise.' Horizontal scroll: 'Conscience of the Version'... Haha, these guys are something else." Reading it aloud, Chu Guang couldn't help but chuckle. The meter and tones weren't strictly matched, but it certainly bore the quintessential player flair. If these goofy netizen clowns had produced a proper, classical couplet, Chu Guang would have found it weird instead. "...?" Xia Yan was thoroughly baffled. Chu Guang, however, could tell that the players were taking a sarcastic swipe at the dog of a developer for handing out silver coins too freely and inflating the currency. Then again... what did that have to do with him? The one you're roasting is 'Ah Guang,' what does that have to do with 'Dawn'? As everyone knew, to ensure a decent experience for new arrivals, online games always featured catch-up mechanics, and "stat inflation" was just one of countless cards in a game designer's deck. Chu Guang's motive for printing money, however, differed from ordinary game planners; he issued currency systematically based on the gross domestic product of players and NPCs, balancing income among different demographics. Thanks to the supercomputer of unknown computational power buried beneath the shelter and the endless VM production from the black box, he could pull this off. Without those two pieces of black technology and Xiao Qi's assistance, managing all this would be far easier said than done. Chu Guang had estimated that at least ten to twenty percent of the workforce would have had to become civil servants just to keep such an administrative system barely afloat. In simulation game terms: Shelter 404's "Civic Future" technology allowed the Administrator to keep the "happiness smiles" of nearly two thousand residents and fifteen hundred players green with fewer than 150 grassroots administrators who had only received secondary—or even primary—education. Who dared claim Shelter 404 lacked black tech? The only drawback of this particular technology compared to controlled fusion was that its sheer overpowered nature wasn't as visually flashy, lacking a bit of sci-fi grandeur. Standing by, Xiao Yu curiously sounded out the characters on the couplet. Chu Guang glanced down at her and smiled. "Speaking of which, don't you celebrate Spring Festival?" Xiao Yu shook her head like a little windmill. "Nope!" Chu Guang vaguely recalled Xiao Yu mentioning this before. In Bet Street, celebrations were held only for the birthdays of the former mayor and his children, and they mostly amounted to forcing townsfolk into unpaid labor and collecting gift money, so nobody liked celebrations. Gathering together like this, celebrating a joyous occasion shared by everyone, felt like a dream to Xiao Yu. "...Around this time in past years, there'd always be bang-bang-bang sounds coming from the south, sometimes all night long," Xiao Yu tilted her head, thought for a moment, and said brightly, "Just like thunder!" The south... she was probably referring to the vicinity of the West Third Ring Road. While it couldn't be heard here at Ling Lake Wetland Park, Bet Street would indeed pick up the thunderous artillery fire from that direction. Curious, Chu Guang asked, "How long does it usually last?" "If it's quick, a week. If it's slow, maybe a month," Xiao Yu thought carefully before nodding firmly. "It should be later this year, though. Xiao Yu has never seen such a thick fog in the northern suburbs before!" For the past few days, whenever she stepped outside the shelter, she had to wear a gas mask. It had suffocated her terribly. It had never been that bad in the past. Chu Guang nodded, lost in thought. "So spore dispersal is regional..." *** Although the Tide in the northern suburbs had receded early, a mountain of tasks still awaited Chu Guang's attention. Because the northern suburbs had miraculously resolved the crisis ahead of Boulder City, and thanks to the energetic promotional efforts of Shu Yu, whom Chu Guang had dispatched to Boulder City, numerous Boulder City merchants had been drawn north, driving two-headed oxen toward the northern outskirts. Qingquan City's North Gate, facing the untamed wilderness, had never seen such bustle. Especially when those merchants discovered that the "artworks" sold at the Queen of the Night Bar were actually produced right here, they went wild. Aside from the three treasures catering to degenerates' "thirst for knowledge"—artworks, devil silk, and spirit leaves—there were plenty of other valuable goods here. For instance, Didiwei nutrient paste had practically been bought out of stock by Boulder City merchants! A wholesale price of 299 silver coins per ton converted to under 150 chips at the current exchange rate. Compared to the ex-factory price of 300 chips per ton from Vega Trading Company, buying here was practically highway robbery in reverse! What was more, not only was it cheap, but the quality was also not a step behind. Dietrich, the factory manager, had originally intended to organize a caravan of his own to haul cargo to Boulder City for sale, but he soon realized that was utterly unnecessary. His production cost had dropped to roughly 140 silver coins per ton, and orders swarming in had already backed up three months. Producing at full capacity netted over a hundred percent profit margin, so why bother with the hassle of hauling? With those silver coins, it was far better to fund several hunting squads to sweep through buildings along the outer Fifth Ring Road; scavenging yields easily offset ammunition costs. Just grind and get it done! Such fat margins made even Liszt envious. The KV-1 exoskeleton and solid-state hydrogen batteries were profitable, but their gross margins couldn't hold a candle to humble commodities like nutrient paste. Gangs in the slums outside Boulder City bought it up, and plantation owners to the south purchased it in bulk. Two hundred grams kept hunger at bay; double the dose and a person was full—making it ideal for feeding slaves and livestock. Beyond the sold-out artworks and nutrient paste, there were Mosquito's gas masks, No. 81 Steel Mill's bicycles and steel helmets, the chemical plant's disinfectant, and a variety of cheap, practical sundries. The LD-47 Scythe assault rifle didn't appeal much to the Boulder City merchants, but that didn't stop mercenaries from falling in love with it. Low failure rate, easy maintenance, and monstrous stopping power. Coupled with its greatest perk—dirt cheap—it was more than enough to coax open their wallets, trade their chips for silver coins, and take those silver coins straight to Boss Xia's shop. Aside from the big bosses who ran the factories and made a killing, the ones enjoying themselves the most were undoubtedly the lifestyle players on North Street. Back when mercenaries accompanied Liszt's caravan from Boulder City, hardly any of them spent money at player stalls. Recently, however, these Boulder City mercenaries seemed to have suddenly struck it rich, spending with surprising generosity. Even with ramen rising from 5 to 6 silver coins, patrons eagerly paid. The 4-silver mushroom soup was especially well-received—rich, savory, cleansing, and delicious. Best of all, the proprietress was pretty and charming in speech, drawing endless queues of customers. These merchants and mercenaries arriving from afar didn't just stimulate consumption; they also brought along plenty of quality goods produced in Boulder City. The wares hawked by these merchants were varied and plentiful, ranging from weaponry to daily necessities. In truth, as an established large-scale survivor settlement that had completed industrialization long ago, Boulder City possessed far greater industrial capacity than Shelter 404. Its development model drew heavily from Enterprise's Ideal City, as reflected in the inner-city upper crust's cargo cult devotion toward Ideal City across culture and commerce. The KV-1 exoskeleton's design borrowed from the Miner series, and the Drone X-2 assault rifle was copied from the Black Swan G9; Boulder City emulated the "Inheritors of Legacy" on the east coast across numerous fields. Boulder City's factories couldn't produce metallic hydrogen, but they could produce two tiers down: solid-state hydrogen. They couldn't produce fusion engines capable of driving land fortresses, but they could build steam-driven engines that were compact and dirt cheap. Chu Guang acknowledged that whether in population or industrial power, a considerable gap remained between the northern outskirts' settlement and Boulder City. Once exchanges and familiarity deepened, friction would be hard to avoid. But even if relations soured into full-scale war, it wouldn't happen overnight. And even if war broke out tomorrow, that wouldn't stop him from shearing their sheep today. To protect local industry and boost exports, back when Chu Guang first allowed Liszt to set up his factory, he had already adjusted the exchange rate of silver coins to chips from 1:2 to 2:1, while instituting distinct foreign exchange quotas for individuals versus enterprises. As a result, players found that purchasing a KV-1 exoskeleton from the NPC shop was vastly cheaper than buying an imported one from Boulder City. By the same token, exporting goods from the northern outskirts to Boulder City yielded far fatter profits than merely dumping them on the local market. "I have never seen so many chips in my life." Inside the Outpost warehouse. Looking at the colorful mountain of chips piled inside the chest, Old Charlie sighed with heartfelt wonder. Though he was also a blue jacket from a vault, he had lived in Qingquan City for so many years that he had long grown accustomed to local life. To see such an immense hoard of wealth stacked right before his eyes—it was impossible not to feel a tremor of shock. Chu Guang smiled faintly. "Didn't that old leech have this much?" Charlie knew whom Chu Guang meant and murmured, "He was only ordinary-rich." Boulder City chips came in numerous denominations. The most common was white, which also saw the widest circulation outside Boulder City. Besides white, there were bright red 5-value chips, green 25-value chips, and black 100-value chips. Higher denominations could generally only be seen inside the inner city, though folks there mostly paid by swiping cards, rarely strutting around with chips exceeding 100 in their pockets. They couldn't be used as pocket change, and few merchants could break them anyway. Charlie had seen the former mayor's vault; the man had three chests of identical size, but they held mostly the cheapest white chips. Unlike this chest, which even held black ones. Chu Guang asked with a chuckle, "Is this enough money to rank among the wealthy in Boulder City?" Charlie pondered for a moment and gave a measured response. "...I've only visited a few times, but if we're talking about the extravagant life as I understand it, this should be more than enough." Chu Guang chuckled and said nothing. After a brief pause, he cleared his throat. "I intend to establish a Merchant Guild to organize caravans to trade with other survivor settlements. Beyond expanding our sphere of influence, it will also give my players... I mean, my residents, something to do." Old Charlie nodded. "That's a good idea." Though the latter half of the sentence sounded odd, he agreed with the premise. Now that the northern outskirts had developed to this stage, merely claiming physical land was insufficient, nor were there enough people to develop those tracts. It was not just an economic matter; only by securing sufficient regional influence could the northern sector attract the population and resources needed for future growth. Chu Guang looked at Old Charlie and continued, "Of everyone I know, your experience and the places you've traveled are probably second to none." "This job..." "I plan to entrust to you!"