From the moment he spoke, all the players fell silent, holding their breath and watching him intently, terrified of missing a single detail.
Chu Guang was very pleased with the players' reaction. He raised his head and swept his gaze across the hall.
However, when he caught sight of the lizardman standing in the corner, his expression froze for two seconds, and his hand almost reached for the gun slung over his back.
Why the hell is there a mutant in here???
Still...
Judging by that foolish look on its face, underneath that skin was probably a player.
Then there was nothing to worry about.
Whether in combat experience or stat sheet values, these little rookies were thoroughly outclassed by him in every aspect. Chu Guang might worry about survivors lurking in the shadows, but he truly didn't fear these players making trouble.
Kicking them, banning accounts, confiscating access—it wouldn't even take a second. And what could they accomplish in a single second?
Deciding to investigate what was going on with the lizardman later, Chu Guang shifted his gaze away from it, looked levelly at the players in the hall, and continued speaking.
"First, I have some good news to share: the war has ended."
"The bad news, however, is that our world is unrecognizable. If you're hoping to pack your bags and run home to your mothers right away, that is obviously out of the question."
"We are now in the two-hundredth year after the apocalypse. Fortunately, we have survived the hardest years. The fact that you can stand here makes you luckier than twelve billion people. And now, I need you to grasp the reality as quickly as possible and fulfill the pledge you made under the flag of the Human Alliance—to rebuild our home!"
"Beside me is my assistant, whose name is Xiao Qi. If you have any questions about the shelter or anything you don't understand, feel free to ask it."
He had delivered this routine opening once before, word for word.
When the next batch of players arrived, he would give it again. Unless there was a severe bug or plot hole, he had no intention of changing it.
After all, he had racked his brains to make it up.
Pausing for a moment, Chu Guang continued:
"In addition, the Shelter Resident Handbook has been updated to version 2.0. It includes the resident convention, code of conduct, and requirements regarding public order, good morals, and prohibited matters. Residents are asked to review it promptly."
"Residents who violate the regulations will face forced hibernation or confinement at the lightest, and repatriation underground or permanent expulsion at the most severe. I hope everyone strictly abides by them."
A stir rippled through the players.
Doesn't this NPC have a bit too much power?
Still, no one had any particularly strong reaction to it.
Since they had chosen to pre-register, it meant they had already accepted the game's premise.
And before logging in, they had already read through the Resident Handbook on the official website; there weren't any harsh or unreasonable rules in it.
The newly added clauses merely placed restrictions on behaviors such as "PvP between players," "harassing other players," "illicit trading," and "malicious destruction of in-game facilities."
These terms aligned with the interests of the vast majority of "normal" players. In fact, some clauses were proposed by the players themselves in forum discussions, which the damn devs had adopted and incorporated.
For instance, "malicious destruction of in-game facilities" had been proposed by Ample Time Ahead and Old Bai, and "prohibition of non-consensual sexual acts" had been brought up in a discussion thread by a player who hadn't even secured a beta slot yet.
These suggestions were all quite sound.
After all, this was a brick-moving game, not a nuclear bomb simulator, let alone an eroge.
Even games championing freedom and sandbox mechanics couldn't allow a player to run rampant and ruin everyone else's gaming experience.
Not only did Chu Guang adopt these suggestions, but he also fleshed out the rules with more specific details.
For example, malicious sabotage of facilities would be penalized with "forced hard labor," and certain offenses, depending on the severity, would be punished with "permanent confiscation of the tools used in the crime," or even a "permanent ban."
Wonderfully humane.
What?
Can't take it?
Hurry back to CrossFire and hand over the helmet to someone who needs it.
After explaining the points to keep in mind, Chu Guang led the twenty-four players out of the shelter, taking the elevator to the surface in two batches.
The visual impact rushing over them left the new players stunned into silence.
It wasn't even just visual.
Hearing, smell, touch, and even taste—every single cell in their bodies told them that this was a completely real world!
"Insane..."
"Is this... really a game world?"
"Whoa, holy crap, this is God-tier!"
"Awesome!"
Watching the players dancing with excitement, the corner of Chu Guang's mouth curled into a faint smile.
He really wanted to tell them that it was far too early to celebrate.
...
After familiarizing these rookie players with the outpost's facilities—and especially emphasizing the strict ban on defecating or urinating anywhere near the outpost—Chu Guang brought them all back inside the sanatorium and handed them over to Old Bai and the others, who had long been rubbing their hands in anticipation.
The outpost's construction site was in dire need of extra hands, so there was no need to worry about these players having nothing to do; the veteran players would show them the ropes.
Some were called over to haul bricks and build walls.
Another group was led by Fang Chang toward the worksite northeast of the wetland park to haul raw materials for firing cement.
As for compensation, it was 10 contribution points per hour.
Though none of them knew exactly what contribution points were good for yet, each and every player was bursting with enthusiasm, itching to get to work right this second.
Why sweat the details during closed beta?
The developers said there would be no data wipes—just get cracking and that was that!
The players' roaring vigor made even Chu Guang feel a little sheepish.
Of course, not all players were assigned to the construction site. Tasks like making smoked jerky, tanning hides, fishing, hunting, and foraging all required hands as well.
For example, the female player standing 1.8 meters tall with the ID [Yaya] was assigned to foraging.
Her gene sequence was Perception-type. Although her primary attribute (Perception) started at 6—one point lower than Ye Shi's—her talent list featured an extra initial talent: "Toxin Intuition."
According to the system's explanation on the player roster, a player possessing this talent could sense toxicity purely through biological instinct, without relying on prior knowledge or experience.
Conversely, until she acquired "Toxin Resistance," any "poisoning effect" would inflict more severe debuffs on her.
Additionally, the positive benefits of this talent scaled with her Perception attribute.
Assigning her as a gatherer couldn't have been more fitting.
Aside from her, there was also the lizardman.
After assigning the gatherer's work, Chu Guang called this player aside.
"You are Scavenger Lv99?"
What a ridiculous name!
Seeing the esteemed Manager speaking to him, Scavenger thought he had triggered a hidden questline. He snapped to attention at once and nodded excitedly.
"That would be me, sir!"
Chu Guang nodded. Just as he was about to assign him a job, Scavenger suddenly seemed to remember something and took the initiative to offer a slip of paper.
"Respected Manager, I found this slip of paper when I woke up, but I can't read the writing on it. Could you tell me what's written here?"
"Let me see."
Chu Guang took the slip of paper from his hand.
The paper felt somewhat damp, as if soaked in water, yet it wasn't drenched through; it appeared to be made of waterproof material.
The handwriting on it was very familiar and written in the script of this world. Chu Guang immediately guessed who had left it behind.
"Where did you get this?"
"Off my butt."
Chu Guang's hand twitched, nearly dropping it.
Seeing the Manager's face darken with black lines, Scavenger immediately realized how that sounded and hastily explained, caught between laughter and tears:
"I mean it was inside the incubation pod! When I woke up, it was stuck right there."
"Never mind, I was just asking offhand."
Chu Guang looked back at the note's contents.
[Congratulations, you won the prize! This is an Easter egg I left for you! The gene sequences stored in the gene bank aren't all human genes; there is also a small number of special sequences. Frankly speaking, I did it. While there was an element of accident involved, I don't intend to admit fault. How should I put it? Don't you think this is also a part of natural selection?]
[Speaking of which, should we call it an anomaly or a mutant? Whatever, the name doesn't matter; you decide for yourself.]
[—The First-Generation Manager.]
This guy is definitely insane.
Chu Guang was rendered completely speechless.
Not bothering to gripe about a dead man, he opened the system interface and checked the five core attributes and talents of the lizardman before him via the player roster.
Just like his tall, burly build, his Strength and Constitution were absurdly high. Had Chu Guang not taken that injection, the lizardman's Strength would have almost caught up to his own at LV5.
On top of that, he had two talents: Physical Regeneration and Cold-Blooded. They were practically made for combat!
Though he carried debuffs like difficulty leveling up, vulnerability to low temperatures, and trouble operating complex machinery, none of them were fatal flaws.
In short: not a big problem.
Chu Guang was already pondering whether to equip this guy with spiked knuckles or steel claws.
Or maybe turning him into an iron-clad tank to anchor the front line would be nice too?
Under the Manager's scrutinizing gaze, [Scavenger Lv99] couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy.
However, this NPC didn't stare at him for long, quickly assigning him a mission distinct from the other players'.
"Starting today, you hunt with me."
Chu Guang decided not to stress over weapons for now.
These players weren't necessarily any dumber than he was; he might as well let them figure out their own playstyles.
Clenching his fists in excitement, Scavenger declared in a high, thrilled voice:
"At your service, respected Manager!"
"Very good, full of spirit."
Chu Guang nodded approvingly and continued, looking at him, "Go wait for me at the sanatorium entrance."
"I have a few more matters to arrange, and I'll be right over."
"Understood!"
Scavenger scurried off happily.
Chu Guang turned his gaze toward another female player waiting uneasily nearby.
Her ID was Tengteng, and her gene sequence belonged to the Intelligence-type. She had a petite build, standing around 1.5 meters tall.
Gene expression was inherently unstable to begin with; even with the most flawless design, discrepancies were inevitable, and Chu Guang was helpless to do anything about how she had turned out.
However, what happened to her wasn't entirely bad.
Like Yaya, her talent list featured an extremely unique initial talent: "Dexterous."
[Talent: Dexterous (Superior muscle memory; accumulates proficiency much faster for repetitive tasks.)]
If he remembered correctly, wasn't her real-life profession a fashion designer?
If true, this talent was practically tailor-made for her.
"Can you make clothes?"
Faced with the Manager's question, Tengteng nodded nervously.
"I can! If there are materials and tools... I can give it a try."
Though her day job was design and primarily done on a computer, she wasn't completely devoid of practical skills and was still significantly better at them than the average person.
"Materials aren't an issue. We might have to figure something out for tools... Come with me first."
With that, Chu Guang led her to the sanatorium's backyard and pointed to the rows of raw furs stretched out to dry on wooden racks.
"Are these enough?"
Looking at the rows of pelts on the wooden racks, Tengteng stared wide-eyed.
Although she couldn't tell which animals these furs had been skinned from, the texture and luster of the coats made it immediately obvious they weren't cheap goods.
"Th-these... are all mine?" Tengteng's eyes sparkled.
Chu Guang nodded.
"Yes. If you're up for it, you can take charge starting from pelt processing. The leather on these racks was treated by our cook, and he doesn't really know much about it."
"Uh-huh! Don't worry! Leave it to me!" Nodding vigorously, Tengteng said excitedly, "Are there any requirements? For styling?"
Chu Guang: "I don't have any requirements for styling, as long as it keeps people warm... Do you need any specific tools? A sewing machine might be tough to come by, but we do have basic tools like needles, thread, and scissors."
Tengteng: "While a sewing machine would be better, if the only requirement is warmth... having those is more than enough!"
Splendid!
He loved players who were diligent and low-maintenance.
Chu Guang gave an approving nod.
"Then I leave it to you."
"I should be able to hunt more game over the next few days... I plan to head further north along the elevated highway leaving the city. I heard there are migrating deer herds up there."
"With any luck, we should get quite a haul!"
Chapter 29