[Merchant Guild Front Desk Shuang Xue: Recently, copper ore trading prices in Red River Town have experienced significant volatility. Due to increased supply, the New Alliance's stockpiles of copper ore and sulfur are nearing capacity limits. Purchase prices have been lowered by 10% from the benchmark, and supply prices have been lowered by 6%. Merchant players, please manage your risks accordingly!]
[Merchant Guild President Charlie: A friendly reminder: the Merchant Guild offers hirable NPCs of Trading Level 3 and above who can negotiate better prices for you during transactions. If you lack confidence in your negotiation or language skills, we recommend hiring one to two NPC followers.]
[NPC followers equipped with a VM will be valuable assistants on your journeys. Some excel at combat, while others specialize in hunting or medical care, and their skills can grow alongside yours along the way. However, severe injury or death will cause them to leave your party permanently, so please be sure to keep them safe!]
On the official forums.
Today was as lively as ever.
The first merchant caravans returning from Red River Town had trickled back one after another. Thanks to the guide written by Brother Mole, these early trailblazers who took the plunge had all made a tidy sum.
Because they had concluded their deals early, they hadn't even felt the price fluctuations before converting the goods they hauled back into silver coins.
Tail: "Huh??? Copper ore went up?"
Sisi: "Umm... doesn't seem to have much to do with us. By the time you guys were discussing the price hike, we were already on our way back."
In fact, she had anticipated that this might happen, which was why she had kept urging Tail to set off quickly—though they had still lost some time squabbling over their team name.
Fortunately, their timing had been just right. They completed the transaction right before the copper price spiked, and when they woke up the next day, the price had already jumped.
Thinking back on it now, Sisi couldn't help but feel relieved.
It was a good thing she had insisted on spot settlement. If she had accepted vouchers or waited until the next day to settle, their trip to Red River Town would have netted at least ten to twenty percent less.
Makabazi: "Confess! How much did you make?!"
Tail: "Not much, not much, just a few hundred thousand, I guess! Mm-hmm, one big step closer to my Mercenary Guild dream! (Proud)"
As soon as the message went up, the thread instantly exploded.
Silver Daddy: "*Hiss*..."
Jieyan: "A few hundred thousand?! Are you talking about RMB or silver coins?!"
Sisi: "Ahem... Tail is talking nonsense, don't believe her."
Brother Edge: "For a moment, I honestly can't tell which one is more ridiculous."
Brother Mole: "Wait, where did Tail get so many silver coins?!"
Tail: "Ehehe, that's a girl's secret! (ゝω·)☆"
Brother Mole: "What do you mean 'ehehe'?! Confess already! (Frantic)"
Big Eyes in Debt: "There's gotta be some shady backroom under-the-table deal behind this!"
Cut the Crap: "Under-the-table deal?! Where?"
Makabazi: "Spread the word! Tail is tainted!"
Lost Noob: "Waaaah, rich lady, I'm hungry, I don't mind!"
Tail: "?! Σ(°Д°;)"
In the end, nobody managed to figure out where Tail's silver coins had actually come from.
After all, no matter how one looked at her, she was just an ordinary goofball netizen with zero aura of a pay-to-win whale.
Sisi, Sesame Paste, and Rou Rou knew some of the truth, but they didn't blab it around. As for Tail herself, after being lectured in private DMs by her bestie, she slinked out of the thread looking thoroughly aggrieved.
Compared to the first batch of players, who had practically walked away with free money, the second batch had a rougher time.
By the time many of them reached Red River Town, the price of copper had already begun riding a roller coaster. With just a single day's difference, quite a few ended up paying over a thousand more blue vouchers per ton of copper.
Yet some were remarkably lucky, arriving just as major mining districts were frantically dumping their stock.
Up until a few hours before the official website announcement, nearly every trading post except the one in Horseshoe Town was selling copper ore at dirt-cheap prices.
Investing required caution, and many fresh rookies were thoroughly schooled by the NPCs.
The economic system in Wasteland OL wasn't as simplistic as just buying low and selling high. Especially when copper prices abruptly plummeted later on, many players sensed an invisible hand shaping the entire market.
Brother Mole: "Actually, I've suspected for a while that someone was sweeping the market before the expansion launched. I knew all along that if a war was coming, copper ore and sulfur would definitely skyrocket."
Lightning King Professor Yang: "Then why didn't you buy some, bro? (Grin)"
Brother Mole: "Sigh, I wanted to, but you can't even get in on this game without tens of millions of silver coins, okay?"
Copper was almost ten times the price of iron, and because it was far more suitable for crafting into bullet casings than steel, it was exceptionally hard to come by in the wasteland.
The market rate to forge a 100-kilogram pure steel breastplate was 100 silver coins, whereas pure copper would run 1,000 silver coins—though nobody actually made armor out of copper.
By this calculation, a ton of copper cost ten thousand silver coins. NPC warehouse stockpiles started at a hundred tons at the very least, and now they were rumored to be in the thousands of tons.
Ten million silver coins!
All the silver coins in the pockets of every player on the entire server added together didn't amount to that much!
The game did feature a loan system, but loans could only be applied for under a business name for "production and operational purposes." Once the use of funds was determined to be in violation of regulations, or if books showed suspected transfers of illicit interest, fines would bankrupt you in minutes.
Unprofessional Anti-Mantou: "Holy crap, hearing you say that, did the NPCs manipulate the price?"
Elaina: "The NPCs in this game have some real tricks up their sleeves. They even know how to harvest player leeks. (Funny)"
The fluctuations in copper ore trading prices were merely a small interlude on the eve of the expansion, but the myths of sudden wealth certainly made plenty of people envious.
Especially now that the official silver coin consignment platform was live, not only could players participate in trading, but even spectator players could join in.
Looking at the entire chatter section full of threads speculating whether the price of silver would rise or fall in the new expansion, Ye Wei sat in his classroom playing with his phone, wearing a helpless expression.
Mostly, the topics these people were discussing had grown increasingly arcane, to the point where he could barely follow along.
"Don't you guys get tired of discussing this on the forum every day?"
Lightning King Professor Yang: "You don't understand! This is part of the fun! (Proud)"
Ye Wei: "..."
Good grief.
They had completely failed to realize that Brother Guang was treating them like leeks to be harvested.
Word had it that a spectator player named "Part-Time Warrior," though still unable to enter the game, already had ten thousand silver coins in his account.
What made this guy smarter than other spectator players was his nimble exploitation of the rule that "any form of virtual asset can participate in transactions."
Through the trading platform, he had contacted a player with closed-beta access to register a company. He provided the funds and technology, while the beta player held the shares as a proxy, producing DC-to-AC inverters—blatantly turning Wasteland OL into a business simulation game.
Although it wasn't particularly high-tech, it sold surprisingly well and netted a steady stream of orders from downstream manufacturers.
The official website recognized the freedom to dispose of "unbound" in-game assets, so even though he couldn't personally enter the game, his legitimate in-game rights and interests were protected.
So long as one didn't exploit loopholes in the rules to maliciously generate cash.
Ye Wei gave it some thought. Although Brother Guang was always painting pies in the sky, he was actually quite friendly toward the players.
Other game companies treated players like "family" to fleece them, but only Brother Guang treated players like brothers. Not only had he never harvested their leeks, but he had even harvested spectator players to hand out benefits to them.
Thinking of this, Ye Wei couldn't help but well up with tears of gratitude.
What a conscientious dev!
***
"Achoo!"
Chu Guang sneezed.
"Caught a cold?"
Standing beside him, Xia Yan glanced at him.
"Nah, someone's probably praising my good looks behind my back," Chu Guang rubbed his nose and muttered.
Probably pollen.
Xia Yan rolled her eyes at him. Seeing that it wasn't a cold, she didn't pursue it further.
Today was the first weekend of April, as well as her first day off this month.
With the growing number of players, work at the weapons shop had become increasingly hectic. A certain black-hearted boss had finally discovered a shred of conscience and assigned her several helpers, granting her one comp day off per week at long last.
On this day, she didn't have to work and could slack off completely out in the open.
With such rare leisure, Xia Yan had originally planned to curl up on the sofa in the reading room and spend the whole day reading novels, only to be hoodwinked out by Chu Guang with the line: "I'll take you to see a treasure."
For once in his life, this guy hadn't worn his iconic azure power armor; he hadn't even donned his blue coat, stepping outside in a very low-key manner.
Xia Yan had actually felt rather bashful at first, wondering what kind of treasure this guy was sneaking around to show her. But once they arrived at their destination, she was left utterly flabbergasted.
Next to the refugee village stood a tall red-brick mill, and not far beyond a muddy ridge in the fields, an endless expanse of emerald green swayed gently in the breeze.
Nearby residents were bustling about in the fields. Beside them were thick-waisted two-headed oxen, while several chugging tractors rumbled along the road, their cargo beds packed with bulging burlap sacks.
This was the northern part of Dawn City, on the western side of Changjiu Farm.
The scenery was nice enough, but...
*This* was the treasure he was talking about?
Xia Yan blinked, looking thoroughly dumbfounded.
All right.
She admitted that looking across this endless expanse of farmland was indeed quite magnificent.
It was just rather different from the rendezvous she had imagined.
She had assumed he would take her on a stroll by the lake, or maybe into the woods to hunt for bird eggs.
Yet right then, Xia Yan suddenly remembered that barely three months ago, this place had been nothing more than wasteland choked with shrubs and rubble.
For it to turn into this in just three short months was nothing short of miraculous.
Following behind Chu Guang, Xiao Yu, who had been curiously looking all around, lit up with the face of someone discovering a new continent and pointed ahead excitedly.
"So much green wheat!"
"Hahaha!"
Chu Guang chuckled, tousled her hair, and explained genially, "That isn't green wheat; it's regular wheat. Flatbread made from wheat flour smells way better than dry green wheat cakes!"
Xiao Yu unconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looking up at him with anticipation.
"Really?"
Chu Guang nodded.
"Of course! Not just flatbreads—wheat flour can make bread, steamed buns, stuffed buns, and noodles... In short, there are endless ways to eat it."
Entering April, wheat entered the heading and flowering stage. During this period, the young ears began differentiating and growing rapidly.
At this time, it was crucial to ensure the fields had sufficient water, apply topdressing fertilizer, and prevent pest infestations.
If these issues weren't handled properly, the wheat leaves would yellow, leaf tips would wither, and the crop might even suffer premature senescence.
Without the slightest exaggeration, whether the work during this phase was done well directly determined the grain yield for July and August.
Currently, whether for refugees or players, whether contracted plots, resettlement plots, or collective farmland, all used seeds cultivated by the shelter's plantation.
Although the genetics of these seeds were already outstanding, coaxing out higher yields still demanded attentive care.
Of the locomobiles previously purchased from Boulder City, Chu Guang had allocated at least half to irrigation canals specifically to solve the water supply problem.
Fertilizer was somewhat easier to manage: Ling Lake had vast deposits of guano and animal droppings, which served as high-quality natural fertilizer that could be used directly after minimal processing.
As for pesticides, the most widely used variety at Changjiu Farm was an organophosphate produced by a chemical plant in the nearby industrial zone.
Supposedly, large-scale plantations during the Prosperity Era had utilized integrated cultivation technology equipped with infrasonic eradication devices.
While prolonged exposure to intense infrasound would severely impair human health, farmers in that era hadn't needed to toil in the fields like the farmers of the New Alliance; they had used smart wearable devices to sow seeds with a single tap, meaning health risks simply weren't an issue.
The New Alliance lacked such luxury.
For now, they could only rely on more primitive pesticides to control pests.
"What about over there?" Xiao Yu stood on tiptoes excitedly, peering at another field nearby.
Chu Guang followed her gaze and smiled. "Over there are Chinese chives."
Chives were wonderful things. Unlike other vegetables that could only be grown for one or two seasons a year, chives could be harvested all four seasons.
More importantly, chives grew fast, maturing in twenty-odd days, and early spring chives were the tenderest and most fragrant.
Ever since chive seeds were discovered in Shelter 117, he had ordered them planted right away.
Thinking of scrambled eggs with chives, and pork and chive dumplings, Chu Guang unconsciously swallowed, already scheming tomorrow's featured recipe on the official website.
As his mind drifted, Old Luka, the manager of the farm, walked over and looked at him in surprise.
"Administrator, sir? What brings you here?"
With the recent farming rush, he had practically lived in the fields every day, stopping just short of hauling his bed out here.
Chu Guang smiled at Old Luka. "Just having a casual look, don't mind me. By the way, how are the farm's harvests looking this month?"
At the mention of this, Old Luka's face beamed with joy.
"Three thousand mu of vegetable fields and five thousand mu of early-maturing potato fields are already being harvested!"
"Thanks to the harvester your residents built, we hooked the machine to the front of the tractor and watched it chug forward—before long, all the crops were right in the bins!"
Speaking of this, he couldn't help but marvel, "That harvester is downright amazing! Not only did it gather the harvest, but it tilled the soil over in the process! We didn't even need to turn the soil again; we could just scatter the new seeds and plant right away!"
Listening to Old Luka's excited recount, Chu Guang's expression also turned joyful.
"Splendid!"
The vegetable fields had a wide variety, mainly leafy greens like cabbage and pak choi that matured relatively quickly, usually in a month or two.
Their only shortcoming was their short shelf life, serving mainly to diversify meals.
The potatoes, however, were of immense utility. Not only were they nutritious and filling enough to serve as a staple, but their yields were also quite high.
Although they had planted a 60-day early-maturing variety near the tail end of January, each mu still yielded two to three thousand jin.
Calculated across five thousand mu, that was at least five thousand tons of potatoes!
These five thousand tons of potatoes solved the New Alliance's pressing crisis.
Players ate ravenously, and the awakened Strength-type brutes ate especially heavily. A single meal for them could easily rival that of three or four adult residents, and those who completely cast aside human bounds could put away as much as five people.
With these five thousand tons of potatoes, whether his little players steamed them, stir-fried them, or invented new ways to prepare them, Chu Guang would no longer have to fret over the grain inventory ledger.
Potatoes were great in every respect; their only drawback was high water content—seventy percent of their mass was water. For large-scale, long-term storage, they either had to be dehydrated or ground into starch.
Doing that, however, meant they could no longer be used as seed.
Coupled with the debuff of declining yields from continuous cropping, few nations treated potatoes as their primary staple grain.
Still, when food ran short, relying on potatoes as a stopgap measure was fantastic.
Using high-yield potatoes and short-cycle vegetable crops to meet the nutritional needs of the New Alliance's residents through spring and summer, holding out until the bumper harvest of staples like wheat, rice, and corn in July and August—this was the highest priority task Chu Guang had assigned to the New Alliance's logistics department.
Only when the New Alliance's granaries were brimming with grain could he absorb more NPCs and recruit more players.
Only then would life truly become prosperous.
"...Be sure to remember what I told you before: do not continuously plant the same crop in the same field. Fields that have grown potatoes can be followed by spring corn, and plots that grew leafy greens can switch to paddy rice—alternate wet and dry crops."
Although Chu Guang knew Old Luka jotted down his instructions in a little notebook, he couldn't resist reminding him again.
Old Luka replied with a smile, "Rest assured, sir, I certainly won't forget what you've ordered! Actually, back when I worked at Brown Farm, after finishing a round of crops, we would usually scatter a handful of green wheat seeds—the kind that matured in a month or two. Half of what we harvested we kept to eat, and half we fed to the livestock, while the leftover straw was burned to ash and turned into the soil as fertilizer."
"I reckon that counts as crop rotation too!"
Chu Guang gave a slight cough. "Green wheat... don't plant it on a large scale in the future. Though it grows fast, its yield is too low, and it interferes with the yields of regular wheat fields. For us at this stage, it only brings downsides with no visible benefits."
Most importantly, it tasted awful.
No matter how long it was cooked, that oxalic acid flavor never went away, and the flatbreads made from it were dry and chalky. Chu Guang had always suspected that it reacted with the lye used to leaven dough, producing calcium salts or something similar.
Now that they had enough arable land, Chu Guang preferred to let his residents and players eat better food.
As for wasteland crops like green wheat and ram horn potatoes, using them for refugee relief, prison camps, and the pastures of tribesmen was quite suitable.
He had heard from the people of Shuang Mao's tribe that two-headed oxen fed on green wheat not only gained weight faster, but also produced more milk than those fed on wild grass.
Growing a small amount in pastureland remained perfectly acceptable.
Old Luka nodded earnestly. "I'll keep that in mind!"
Without disturbing Old Luka's work, allowing him to attend to his tasks, Chu Guang walked a lap along the ridge of the fields.
Admiring the lush chive shoots, the corners of Chu Guang's mouth curled up unconsciously.
This thriving scene was something he could never tire of looking at.
If only autumn would come sooner.
By then, the view along the north shore of Ling Lake would surely be even more breathtaking.
Trailing behind Chu Guang the entire time, Xia Yan asked curiously, "Is this how you spend all your days off?"
Chu Guang joked, "Where would I get a day off? Is there anyone around to take over my shift?"
Xiao Yu looked at him with concern. "Brother Chu, you need to rest too. Don't push yourself too hard."
Chu Guang smiled and said, "Don't worry. Even though I don't get vacation days, I'm not working twenty-four hours a day. I can still carve out time to rest and gather inspiration."
Still, it was true that he had been exceptionally busy lately. Coming out for this stroll was time stolen from a frantic schedule.
The day of the Northern Expedition was drawing closer.
On one hand, he had to deliberate with the general staff to formulate detailed offensive plans; on the other, he had to coordinate production in the industrial zone and expand the New Alliance's economy.
While Xiao Qi had helped him considerably, the AI couldn't do everything in his stead.
Using AI to assist in administration had been municipal practice during the Human Alliance era, but handing decision-making entirely over to an AI was an untrodden path fraught with unknown peril.
Xia Yan looked at Chu Guang in surprise without saying a word.
Seeing Boss Xia staring fixedly at his face, Chu Guang subconsciously touched the tip of his nose. "Is there something on my face?"
Xia Yan shook her head. "No, just a little surprised... Anyway, how long are we staying here?"
Guessing that she didn't have much interest in farming, Chu Guang laughed. "Stopping by here was just on the way... Let's go. The good stuff I want to show you is on the north street of Changjiu Farm."
"Speaking of which, that area has grown larger than the bazaar at our base's north gate. Let's go take a walk around."
The moment shopping was mentioned, Xia Yan's eyes lit up, and all exhaustion vanished.
"I want to buy clothes!"
"Buy whatever you want!" Chu Guang laughed heartily. "Your wages have been paid out anyway. You don't need to ask me how to spend them."
***
"...A copper mine was discovered in Yuanxi Town to our south? And it's a massive million-ton deposit?"
In the department store of Qingshi County.
Slouched in a chair, Lion Fang's thick-browed, wide-eyed face was instantly filled with astonishment upon hearing his subordinate's report.
A copper mine?
In Yuanxi Town?
Was that real?
"Are you sure this intel is accurate?"
During that heavy snow last winter, he had stayed in Yuanxi Town for months without noticing any copper mine. How could those blue coats discover one the moment they arrived?
That was too convenient!
Of course, it was also possible his men simply lacked the eye for it.
As their leader, nobody knew better than him just how stupid his subordinates could be.
Kneeling on one knee below the steps, the marauder kept his head bowed and hesitated for a moment before saying, "I... I can't be certain... but word is that all of Dawn City is talking about it, and the rumor has even spread to Red River Town."
Hearing this, Lion Fang's composure slipped.
A copper mine.
A *copper* mine.
Stupid as he might be, even he knew copper cartridges performed better than steel ones, whether in pipe rifles or automatic rifles.
More importantly, smelting copper was far easier than smelting steel.
Stagnant steel production had always been a sore spot for the Bone Chewer tribe. Though they had taken over a large shipment of weapons from the Legion, living off scraps handed down by others was unsustainable.
Equipment was sufficient for now, but at the very least, they had to produce their own ammunition, didn't they?
In truth, the Bone Chewer tribe hadn't failed to try resolving their supply issues on their own, but unfortunately, there were far too few educated people in the tribe.
Even if among the marauders, fallen mercenaries, and bounty hunters who fled neighboring provinces to join them there were some capable individuals, developing industry wasn't something a handful of people and a few blueprints could solve.
The vessel of technology was people, and the foundation of industrialization was also people—specifically, educated people. By sheer misfortune, this was inherently contradictory to the Bone Chewer tribe's "organizational doctrine."
What they sought to build was a realm of marauders, not a realm of civilized folk, and it was precisely for that reason that other marauders flocked to join them.
Because of this, whether it was the Fang clan, the Snake clan, or other clans, their industrial development took on a grotesque, deformed shape.
They managed factories the same way they managed slaves: using massive furnaces to smelt steel on one hand, while relying on primitive forging techniques to hammer away on anvils on the other, compensating for deficits in quality through sheer quantity.
Lion Fang couldn't be bothered to ponder how bullets were made, but he knew the tribe needed copper.
A copper mine with reserves of a million tons, discovered so swiftly, likely wasn't difficult to extract either.
Thinking of this, a glint of greed surfaced in Lion Fang's eyes.
Among marauders, spoils of war had always belonged to whoever took them. If he could seize that copper mine to the south, such a monumental achievement would not only earn him promotion to myriarch, but also grant him his own clan banner.
Catching the greed in Lion Fang's eyes, the military counselor Bernie standing nearby frowned and reminded him in a low voice, "This could very well be a trap."
Lion Fang frowned. "A trap?"
Bernie nodded. "The possibility cannot be ruled out... Those blue coats might have leaked the news deliberately to lure us out of Qingshi County."
Lion Fang paused, then burst out laughing. "Those blue coats? Even if they lure us out, what can they possibly do?"
Bernie shook his head. "They are clearly not the same people from a few months ago. Didn't you hear what those zealots from the Death Coast said? They even have airplanes."
Pausing briefly, he continued in a solemn tone, "A few months ago, without any of those things, they still routed Black Snake. We would do well to proceed with caution."
Hearing that, Lion Fang cooled down.
Greedy though he was, he wasn't an idiot.
Black Snake had been far better equipped than him, possessing even a formidably powerful tank, yet even then had failed to pull out that thorn pinned to the north of Qingquan City.
Even so...
That was a *copper mine*!
Seeing that Lion Fang still couldn't let go of the copper mine, Bernie spoke in a grave voice, "The immediate priority is to verify the truth of this intelligence. I suggest dispatching a scout team first to investigate."
"Whatever we do, we must first confirm whether it exists, and if so, where it is located. Only then can we formulate our next move."
"Makes sense! We gotta figure out the situation first!"
Nodding in agreement, Lion Fang glanced around at several of his men and pointed casually at a burly, round-faced, thick-waisted man to his left.
"Tong Lu, you've got 'copper' in your name, so you should know a thing or two about this. Take some men over to look around. If you discover anything, report back to me immediately!"
The man named Tong Lu froze, his face blank with confusion.
His name might have "copper" in it, but he didn't know jack shit about copper mines!
Hell, what did a copper mine even look like?
Still, this was an order issued personally by the chiliarch. He didn't dare question it, much less run his mouth, so he quickly lowered his head and said, "Yes, sir!"
Chapter 304