To Fang Chang's surprise, he had guessed the ending, but not the beginning.
It didn't even take two patches. The moment Beta 0.1 launched, hibernation pods were placed directly on the shelves of the NPC shop.
As long as a player reached the contribution rank of Intermediate Citizen, they could pre-order one through their VM, complete with home delivery.
Indeed.
To purchase a hibernation pod, one first needed a plot of land.
Since all the land within the restoration zone was collectively owned by the New Alliance, simply cordoning off a random patch and declaring it one's own was obviously out of the question.
However, this was an easy hurdle for an Intermediate Citizen. The vast majority of players, upon reaching that rank, would buy a fifty-square-meter plot to build a cozy home or open a small shop.
Players in production professions who had registered commercial enterprises could likewise install hibernation pods on designated commercial or industrial land.
There was plenty of room for choice.
Less than half an hour after the new patch notes went live, someone noticed the change, and clamorous shouts quickly broke out across the plaza.
"A hibernation pod... holy crap! Two thousand silver coins?!"
"That's as much as a Miner I exoskeleton!"
"You need to be an Intermediate Citizen to order it... *Hiss*, ten thousand contribution points! Count me out. I'm sticking to the public save point."
"Good lord... how long will it take to save that much?"
"Without server events or faction wars, an average Level 10 player earns about a hundred silver a day playing normally. Sure, some hardcore grinders pull in two or three hundred plus... but those are god-tier pros."
"Don't panic! Just grind, and it's done!"
Two thousand silver coins sounded steep, but for players who had legitimately reached Level 10, it wasn't out of reach.
With the founding of the Hunters' Guild, the share of total player earnings derived strictly from system quests had dropped from an initial ninety percent down to sixty-six percent.
Many mutant-hunting or building-clearing commissions issued by non-core NPCs offered lump-sum payouts exceeding a thousand coins.
These NPCs typically represented manufacturing enterprises like the Ditwei Food Processing Plant, Lister Factory, and Bucky's Factory, though some were farmers from the estates or traveling merchants from outside.
Unlike the major factories, the latter had limited financial resources and paid little in coin, instead offering regional reputation or physical goods as rewards.
The Hunters' Guild served to verify commission terms and rewards before centralizing their distribution to players. This was infinitely more efficient than having players harass NPCs one by one in broken Human Alliance language.
Having announced the start of the festival, Chu Guang didn't head downstairs immediately. Instead, like a resident NPC, he stood by the third-floor window, watching the players below with a smile.
Xiao Qi, following beside his calf, discreetly tilted up its camera.
"Master."
Chu Guang, in high spirits, smiled down at it. "What is it?"
Xiao Qi lowered its voice. "I hear a lot of players complaining that the hibernation pods are too expensive."
Chu Guang replied calmly, "That's normal. They're supposed to be expensive."
There were only two black boxes producing hibernation pods, with a maximum daily output of forty to forty-eight units. Giving everyone their own pod was impossible.
His primary responsibility was the collective interest: ensuring the public save points had enough pods so the vast majority of players—especially newcomers—could save and log off normally.
As for the pods sold privately, the profits would subsidize the production of incubation pods, allowing him to recruit more new players.
In fact, it wasn't just hibernation pods; Chu Guang had also listed the incubation pods that served as spawn points in the NPC shop.
However, unlike hibernation pods, an incubation pod was the device that synthesized a clone body, and each game account could possess only one.
Therefore, "purchasing" one didn't mean manufacturing an extra unit for the player, but merely granting permission to take their assigned incubation pod out of the shelter.
At the same time, an incubation pod served as the equivalent of a MOBA game's "nexus crystal." If it was destroyed, no matter how powerful the player's character was, it was game over.
Whether to carry your respawn point outside the safe zone—
The choice was yours!
Staring at the price tag of the incubation pod on his VM, Brother Mole drew in a sharp breath.
"Ten thousand silver coins..."
That was utterly insane!
That was worth a Hussar exoskeleton!
It could buy five Miner I units, or twelve and a half KV-1s!
Zhang Hai leaned over to glance at Mole's VM, then checked his own, his eyes instantly widening. "Wait, why can't I see it on mine?"
Elven King Fugui scratched the back of his head. "I can see it on mine too. Looks like it only shows up for Intermediate Citizens and above... though you need to be a Senior Citizen to actually buy it."
Elaina chimed in, "Isn't the ten-thousand price tag the real point here? Only a lunatic would buy that... *manual doge face*."
Zhang Hai said nothing, silently counting on his fingers.
A bowl of ramen cost six silver coins, netting him about four silver in profit. Which meant... twenty-five hundred bowls?!
*Holy crap!*
Once the math clicked, Zhang Hai's eyes went even wider.
He'd rub his rolling pin down to a toothpick before he made that much!
Rubbing his chin, Brother Mole analyzed the situation.
"It's not just the ten thousand silver; there are maintenance costs too. Unlike hibernation pods, incubation pods have to run twenty-four hours a day. They draw one kilowatt on standby and ten kilowatts when active... In the shelter, you don't pay for electricity, but if you haul it outside, you'll probably have to foot the bill yourself."
The incubation pod's onboard battery could only hold a seventy-two-hour charge.
Elaina asked curiously, "What happens if the power cuts out?"
"It says right here: the character falls into a coma." Brother Mole pointed at his VM, thought for a moment, and continued, "Actually, you can't say only fools would buy it. I feel like its real purpose is for relocating."
Zhang Hai paused. "Relocating?"
Mole nodded.
"Yeah. Didn't Beta 0.1 introduce the Merchant Guild and the Corps System? Going forward, the players' operational area definitely won't be limited to Qingquan City. As the game expands, new shelters and even new restoration zones will surely unlock. You can't expect someone to die, wait three days, and then trek hundreds of kilometers back on foot."
The game had no invisible walls, but players couldn't travel too far. For one thing, venturing beyond communication range made language comprehension impossible; for another, they got too far from their respawn points.
The latter created a severe dilemma for pioneers.
Bring top-tier gear, and you might lose it forever if you died; leave it behind, and you couldn't push far into the wasteland.
No matter how strong a player was, they couldn't stay online twenty-four hours a day. Without a safe zone to log off in, the moment you took off your helmet and logged back in, you might find yourself staring at a respawn cooldown. That would be completely devastating!
Being able to purchase your own respawn point solved that problem entirely. For ten thousand silver coins, you could carry your resurrection coffin right along with you.
Expensive?
Compared to the profits of opening up new territory, were ten thousand silver coins and a ten-kilowatt generator really that big a deal?
Mole felt he had grasped the developers' true intentions.
If you merely wanted a convenient place to log off, there was no need to keep an incubation pod at home; buying a hibernation pod to use as a bed was more than enough.
This ten-thousand-coin incubation pod was intended for trailblazers heading out to pioneer new maps—or even establish permanent outposts!
Zhang Hai shook his head and walked away.
"Forget it, forget it, can't afford that!"
Looks like he hadn't priced his ramen high enough.
After fiddling with his VM for a bit, Elven King Fugui noticed the plate Elaina was holding and peered into it curiously.
"What good stuff are you eating?"
River snails?
It smelled surprisingly appetizing.
Who knew Elaina would occasionally eat normal food?
"Want a bite?" Elaina speared one with a toothpick and generously held it out.
Elven King Fugui took it, flicked the toothpick to pry the meat from the shell, and brought it close for a look.
The milky-white meat looked rather tender, dusted with odd seasonings, but the aroma was enticing.
"Taste is a bit weird."
Chewing the meat for a moment, Fugui furrowed his brows in thought before offering an objective verdict.
"Not bad, though."
A pleased smile spread across Elaina's face.
"Of course! Would your brother ever steer you wrong?"
Curious, Fugui asked, "So what is this stuff anyway? The texture doesn't quite feel like river snail."
Elaina gave a dry cough.
"I never said it was river snail... Don't get hung up on the details."
Fugui pressed, "No, no, no, I think it's very necessary to clear this up."
"You really want to know?"
"Spill it, cut the crap!"
Seeing Fugui's insistence, Elaina offered an apologetic grin.
"Strictly speaking, it's a land snail."
Elven King Fugui: "???"
...
The celebration continued late into the night.
Beyond the talent performances, the main highlight of the festival was the time-honored culinary contest!
This time, native wastelanders were allowed to enter alongside players. However, compared to the players' wild imaginations, the locals—who had only recently achieved full bellies—mostly served as background participants, with very few even working up the courage to register.
When the winners of the three contest categories were announced, the title for "Most Popular Dish Among Players" went once again to Brother Scrambled Eggs, the chef who best understood player palates.
Two hundred grams of black-ringed snake meat boiled to remove the gaminess, drained, and stir-fried with salt, pepper, and minced garlic until fragrant, simmered in half a liter of water over low heat for half an hour, and finished with fifty grams of minced deer-tail grass for aroma.
Just as he had done with the Yao Guai ribs previously, Brother Scrambled Eggs didn't keep his recipe secret. He shared it openly and even published a tutorial on the official forums.
As for the "Most Popular Dish Among Wastelanders," the crown went to Boss Yaya's finger biscuits.
She wrapped flour in handmade butter and white sugar, baked them into the shape of bullets, and dusted the tips with chocolate purchased from the Administrator.
Though dismissed by many players as "too rich, not as good as mushroom soup," the treats were adored by Xiao Yu, Boss Xia, the sisters Qiu Cao and Qiu Ye, and various other female NPCs, as well as the mutant NPC Bucky.
Shoving a biscuit beneath his helmet, the walking tin can let out an emotional whimper.
"Only at times like this do I feel truly alive!"
That, and whenever he got drunk!
Without hesitation, he awarded the dish a perfect score of ten out of ten!
Heya cast a sidelong glance at this "living specimen."
"Have you ever considered that it's not you craving sugar, but the slime mold parasitizing your body?"
The blissful whimpering cut off abruptly.
The tin can went dead silent, an agonizing sight.
Unable to watch any longer, Yin Fang, who sat beside them, let out a helpless sigh.
"Don't be like that... Brother Bucky worked hard to find a shred of vitality."
"Am I the only one who thinks this is sickeningly sweet? It feels like my blood is turning into sludge..." Heya muttered, shaking her head. She had eaten only a single piece and left the rest untouched.
She was perhaps the only NPC present who couldn't stomach sweets, particularly carbohydrates baked with fat and slathered in thick chocolate sauce.
Chu Guang gave her an odd look. "Is it really that exaggerated?"
Heya said helplessly, "Perhaps I'm just more sensitive to sugar. I prefer food with a lower metabolic load, higher vitamin content, and healthier ingredients."
Chu Guang asked, "Such as?"
Heya replied, "Animal offal."
Chu Guang was speechless.
*Did cholesterol and protein not require metabolic processing?*
*How on earth was that healthy?*
Sitting at the judges' table, Xiao Yu gazed longingly at the biscuits on Heya's plate, but was too shy to ask for them.
Big Brother Chu had told her to eat less sugar, warning that it might stunt her growth. Her sugar intake had already pushed the limit today, so she couldn't have any more.
Xia Yan didn't bother with formalities. After asking Heya's permission, she happily traded plates and began shoving biscuits into her mouth with an expression of sheer bliss.
She carried no such mental burdens.
She never gained weight no matter what she ate anyway—something she had long grown used to over the years.
As for the "Administrator's Favorite Food," the outcome caught every player off guard.
It turned out to be nothing more than a simple bottle of sparkling water mixed with sugar and a supposed "secret formula."
Gamer fuel?
What was so special about that?!
The locals, on the other hand, weren't surprised at all. They merely wondered what kind of magic resided in that bottle to earn the esteemed Administrator's favor.
Dressed in deep-blue power armor, the Administrator stood before the crowd, pointing to the glass bottle from which he had taken only a single sip.
"Nuka-Cola!"
"This is the finest drink I have ever tasted!"
Because the audience included both players and NPCs, Chu Guang deliberately raised his voice and repeated the endorsement in the Human Alliance language.
Only then did the players in the crowd suddenly realize what was happening.
*Holy hell!*
*The Administrator is doing live product placement?!*
*Isn't this ad a little too shameless?*
Mosquito wore a look of utter regret.
"I was careless! I should have known... something this cheap that brings instant joy would sell like hotcakes on the wasteland!"
The industrial zone already had a sugar refinery. By boiling, drying, and processing red beets imported from Brown Farm, they could extract refined white sugar at a remarkably low cost.
A single bottle of soda couldn't cost more than 0.5 silver coins to produce!
If he were the one selling it, he could easily clear a profit of at least three silver a bottle!
Gale, who had remained quiet all this time, suddenly asked, "By the way, who actually won that award?"
The members of the Ox and Horse Squad exchanged glances.
"No idea."
"Ask on the forums later?"
Nobody had mentioned plans to recreate gamer fuel on the wasteland, nor had anyone stepped forward to claim the prize.
Could it be an Easter egg planted by the devs?
If a player hadn't made it, that was the only logical explanation.
The festivities lasted well past midnight. Only after claiming all their event points did the players gradually return to the shelter or surface save points to log off.
No matter how wild things got in the game, their real-world bodies still needed nourishment.
The wastelanders, however, were fully prepared to pull an all-nighter.
Even after all the official festival programs concluded, many continued celebrating this momentous day of their own accord, lingering until the first light of dawn before slowly dispersing.
As of today, the New Alliance was officially established!
Its first restoration zone stretched north to Yuanxi Town, south to Qingquan City's Fifth Ring Road, west to the edge of Yumu District, and east to the former site of Highway Town.
It encompassed nearly a thousand square kilometers of territory!
At the same time, a brand-new city-state was rising across this savage wasteland under the name "Shuguang." And true to its name, this rising morning sun radiated the brilliant light of daybreak.
The northern suburbs had never been this lively.
Nor had the people living here ever felt so energized and thrilled.
"A toast to the founding of the New Alliance!"
"A toast to the great Administrator!"
"Cheers!"
In the northern district of Shuguang City, the people residing at Changjiu Farm also stayed awake all night.
Inside the Highway Town Inn, the air buzzed with noise and laughter. The clinking of glasses and foaming beer seemed ready to blow the roof off.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, Old Hook generously declared that beer would be free all night and barbecue would be twenty percent off.
All the way until dawn!
Exclusive to hotel guests!
Naturally, no one held back; the innkeeper had already earned plenty of silver coins from these wastelanders.
Many guests had even hurried back from the park after watching the festival festivities, specifically for the complimentary beer.
The hall was packed with traveling merchants and mercenaries, every single one of them thoroughly hammered and sprawled haphazardly across the first-floor lobby.
With so many drunks around, the inn's servers couldn't possibly manage them all. They simply barred the front doors, left one person behind the counter to keep watch, and let the crowd sleep in the lobby until they woke up naturally.
The following afternoon.
Sun Shiqi shook his head, which felt as heavy as a block of iron, and pushed himself up from the table.
Whether it was his imagination or not, today's beer seemed to hit far harder than usual. He had barely visited the restroom twice before passing out cold.
"I'd bet my boots... he watered that stuff down with something else," a guest at the neighboring table grumbled, clearly sharing the sentiment.
Sun Shiqi took the bill from the server, glanced over it, and his face instantly turned green.
"Weren't drinks free?"
The server said politely, "Yes, sir. But yesterday you consumed six skewers of charcoal-grilled squirrel meat, twelve skewers of two-headed beef... and an order of Yao Guai ribs."
Sun Shiqi squinted, reading the fine print at the bottom of the bill before the reality slowly registered.
He had indeed ordered those dishes.
Especially the Yao Guai ribs at the end—he had never heard of anyone eating Yao Guai meat before.
What he hadn't expected was that a single portion cost thirty silver coins! Converted at current exchange rates, that was fifteen chips!
*Highway robbery!*
He had never eaten such expensive food in his life!
Yet, perhaps because he had made a small fortune on his last deal, his mentality had shifted slightly, and the sting wasn't quite as painful as it once would have been.
He had endured hard times long enough.
Back when he first started trading, he had lived entirely on nutrient paste to pinch pennies, eating worse than the mercenary he hired.
Now that he finally had money, it was time to treat himself better.
"Put it on my tab."
A broad smile broke across the server's face. "Right away, sir. Please sign here."
Sun Shiqi picked up the pen, casually signed his name, and tossed over a single silver coin as a tip.
Amid the server's thanks and blessings, Sun Shiqi squinted against the brilliant sunlight and strode out the front door with his head held high.
The shipment pickup had been pushed back repeatedly, but the day of handover had finally arrived.
As compensation, the trading post had granted him two months of free storage across a hundred square meters in the warehouse area adjacent to the post.
Sun Shiqi was quite satisfied with this arrangement.
These people were reasonable—far more reasonable than the factories in Boulder City. If an unexpected disaster prevented a Boulder City factory from delivering goods, they wouldn't offer a single scrap of compensation.
No one could help a Tide.
It was understandable.
Looking at the youth handling the cargo transfer paperwork, Sun Shiqi asked out of curiosity, "Why is someone else at the booth today?"
"Shuanghe has the day off today. We get one rest day a week and can negotiate which day to take," the youth said with a smile.
"I see. Wish her a happy holiday for me. I truly envy you guys; we work year-round without a break," Sun Shiqi flattered casually. Then, he noticed construction going on outside the trading post.
Under the watchful eyes of guards, a group of raggedly dressed workers, working in pairs, were hauling heavy steel beams and laying them across wooden ties, hammering and fastening them into place.
They were likely prisoners of war.
Sun Shiqi clicked his tongue and asked casually, "What are they building over there?"
The youth glanced over and replied cheerfully, "Oh, that! I think it's called a railway! They've been building it from the industrial zone toward here recently. Word is, cargo will all be transported on that in the future."
A railway?!
Sun Shiqi's expression turned to pure astonishment.
The wasteland had plenty of abandoned vehicles, and rebar and steel beams were common enough, but rusted scrap metal couldn't simply be reused as-is. It had to be melted down in a furnace and put through a series of metallurgical processes before it could be turned into anything useful.
It sounded simple, but in reality, it was a test of a settlement's entire industrial capacity.
If he remembered correctly, a single kilometer of railway required well over a hundred tons of steel.
Did these people's steel output really have enough surplus to build a railway?
How had he failed to notice this over the past few days?!
The youth thought the merchant was making a fuss over nothing. Back when the industrial zone had first relocated, the steel mill had already begun producing those rails.
Though he still didn't understand what practical purpose the tracks served, he had absolute faith that the Administrator's decisions were never wrong.
"Did you scavenge all that steel from the ruins?"
"About half and half. Look over there, for example."
The youth pointed toward a nearby stall where over twenty two-headed oxen were clustered. Before the staff member's sales pitch, the caravan manager stood in deep contemplation, clearly tempted.
"An Electric Mule is only fifty thousand silver coins, currently ten percent off. With a more advanced, more reliable vehicle, you can travel between Red River Town and Shuguang City much faster. Demand for steel is booming right now; are you sure you won't reconsider?"
Sun Shiqi remained silent, his gaze falling upon the brand seared into the hides of the two-headed oxen, a flicker of vigilance rising in his eyes.
The Horseshoe Chamber of Commerce!
He recognized that insignia.
A third of the iron ore and a fifth of the slave trade in Red River Town were controlled by them. Although they didn't own their own iron mines, their ability to supply steady "labor" earned them solid relationships with many slave owners, and their agents were scattered across the entire southern River Valley Province.
At the thought, the relaxed mood Sun Shiqi had maintained suddenly gave way to a surge of urgency.
Nearly a month and a half had passed since trade routes were restored, and he was obviously not the only one eyeing this choice piece of meat in the northern suburbs.
More and more merchants would flock here in the days to come!
He had to step up his pace!
...
Factoring in the holiday on the following day, the celebrations lasted two full days.
According to the report compiled by Xiao Qi, total festival expenses reached 61,231 silver coins. Aside from purchasing food and drinks, this included the rewards distributed to players through prize draws.
Additionally, because a portion of the prizes had been funded directly through Chu Guang's personal pool of points, they were not factored into the total operating cost.
Yet anyone who assumed he was operating at a loss was sorely mistaken.
Though over sixty thousand silver coins had been spent, the money was invested directly into his players and NPCs. And since both players and NPCs belonged to him, the silver had merely changed forms to remain by his side.
Furthermore, thanks to his personal endorsement at the end of the festival, traveling merchants swarmed the warehouse after the event to inquire about the "Nuka-Cola" sparkling water, nearly tearing the warehouse doors off their hinges.
The entire inventory of twenty crates sold out instantly.
After sampling a single bottle, many merchants slapped down deposits without a second thought. In just one morning, orders were backed up an entire month in advance!
As for who had come up with such a stroke of genius?
Chu Guang himself, naturally.
He had concocted sparkling water long ago, but only recently, plagued by budget headaches, had it crossed his mind that it could serve as a prime export to rake in foreign currency.
The product was currently manufactured by the shelter-owned Nuka Soda Factory. Had it not reminded him of a certain arrogant riddler, Chu Guang would have praised himself as an outright genius.
Of course, these were all minor details.
To fundamentally resolve his budgetary constraints, relying on one or two bestselling commodities was far from enough.
The scientific expedition team led by Yin Fang had already pinpointed a shelter located in the eastern district.
According to historical records, that facility had opened fifty years ago, bearing the designation Shelter 401.
Given the total absence of news regarding that shelter, Chu Guang had reason to believe it had long been abandoned, its inhabitants vanished without a trace.
Yet abandonment didn't matter.
As long as the controlled fusion reactor remained intact, and as long as they could secure matching fuel rods, he had ways to put the facility back to work!
For instance, he could drop several hundred incubation pods right into it.
That would also expand Shelter 404's presence in eastern Qingquan City, paving the way for the restoration zone's territorial expansion.
Beyond addressing player affairs, issues concerning the native wastelanders also required resolution.
Establishing a new alliance was more than just a slogan; it was a solemn commitment.
Currently, the New Alliance's laws applied only within Shuguang City. Beyond its borders, across the northern suburbs of Qingquan City and the sprawling wasteland outside, numerous small and medium survivor settlements still suffered under the constant predations of mutant beasts and marauders.
Furthermore, certain stubborn feudal warlords within the restoration zone needed to face reality and choose between voluntary compliance and forced submission.
Chu Guang intended to take a month to settle these historical loose ends.
Yet what caught Chu Guang completely by surprise was that the very first person to read the writing on the wall and make a move was his old neighbor, Brown...
Chapter 286