Official Forum.
[Update Announcement: The New Alliance Logistics Department will be reorganized into twelve departments, including Industry, Economy, Transportation, Energy, Trade, Diplomacy, Education, and Military.]
[Some NPC positions have been adjusted. Players, please take note!]
Tail: "Whoa whoa whoa, is an expansion coming out? Lemme see, lemme see!"
Jieyan: "Wait a minute, does this have anything to do with us?"
Brother Edge: "Doesn't look like it!"
Commander Spring: "NPCs never included players in the first place, did they?"
Commander Spring: "...Uh, guess I stated the obvious."
Brother Mole: "So what did this update actually update??"
In Debt Big Eye: "Fuck! That guy phoned in another update!"
Construction Site Youth and Brick: "Open the Silver Exchange, aaaaaah!!"
Makabazi: "Seconded! I wanna sell silver!!"
Tengteng: "Pfft..."
Another day of crushed hopes.
Four days after the expansion ended, the silver coin trading platform remained closed. The mythical Beta 0.3 version was still brewing, without a peep of news so far.
Rumors swirled on the forum.
Some said Brother Guang had harvested a batch of leeks and skipped town, the trading platform wouldn't reopen, and the forum would be shut down soon.
Others said that was absolutely impossible. Why would Brother Guang run after harvesting leeks? He'd definitely keep harvesting!
Ye Wei felt their arguments were all completely off base.
Anyone who had actually been in the game knew that Brother Guang never harvested leeks. He was wholly dedicated to making the game, didn't make a dime off players, and even gave them perks. It was just that the AI was a bit too crafty sometimes, and NPCs didn't always follow the playbook.
Still, that minor issue was nothing to complain about; in fact, it was one of the defining features of Wasteland OL.
If the NPCs were like brainless idiots, that would be truly boring.
The silver coin trading platform would definitely reopen.
And most likely in the next few days.
Speaking of which, whenever Ye Wei thought about the matter, a wave of lingering fear washed over him.
Right after he had cashed out his silver coins, the price continued to climb. At the time, he had felt a twinge of regret, thinking he should have waited a bit longer to earn tens or even hundreds of thousands more.
Yet the moment he saw trading halted on the platform, all his regret vanished into thin air, leaving behind only sheer relief.
Thank goodness he had sold early.
A few hours later, and he wouldn't have been able to sell even if he wanted to.
Thinking of the five million sitting in his bank account, his heart couldn't help racing.
Five million!
He had never seen so much money in his entire life!
"Ah Wei, what good stuff are you looking at?" His roommate's voice came from behind. Sun Qian, who had just returned from playing ball, leaned over curiously.
"Browsing the forum."
"Damn! What year is it, still browsing forums? Can't you get into something young people actually do?"
"Better to watch short videos," Old Liu chimed in.
"+1," the dorm head agreed.
Ye Wei rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone.
"You guys don't know jack."
Old Liu couldn't help saying, "Ah Wei, honestly... if there really was a completely realistic VR game like you claim, why haven't I seen a single short video about it?"
The dorm head raised his hand as well. "+1, I can't find anything on Weibo either."
Ye Wei answered without hesitation, "It's probably traffic-throttled. After all, even with filters, that trailer is R18-rated."
This had been discussed in their group before.
The promotional videos could be posted on Moments, Qzone, or group chats, but not on media platforms like short-video apps or Weibo—at least not on the major ones.
You could see them using a VPN, but discussion on foreign sites wasn't very lively. It was mainly because the official website was entirely in Chinese and packed with obscure internet memes that machine translation couldn't handle, making it too difficult for foreign friends to understand.
Of course, while foreign players were rare, they weren't nonexistent.
However, Ye Wei hadn't expected that his casual remark would instantly set the entire dorm buzzing!
"R18? Holy crap!"
"666!"
"Damn, bro, so you hiding under your covers every night was to look at pervy stuff!"
Seeing everyone teasing and jeering, Ye Wei flushed red and retorted, "Fuck off! I meant R18 for blood and violence! What does that have to do with being lewd... or that kind of crap?!"
Sun Qian patted his shoulder with a cheeky grin. "It's fine, it's fine, we all get it. Completely understandable for young guys. Don't worry, we'll keep your secret!"
Ye Wei rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap, I'm logging on in a bit. By the way, did you check out that link I sent you earlier?"
Sun Qian looked baffled. "Link?"
Ye Wei: "The game pre-registration page!"
Sun Qian realized. "Oh, oh, that one. I looked at it... what the hell is that thing? Asking about this and that like checking water meters."
Old Liu chimed in, "+1, that site didn't look legit at all, so I closed it right away!"
Ye Wei said impatiently, "Don't worry about all that. If it tells you to fill it out, just fill it out! Would your bro ever lead you astray?"
Though filling it out now probably meant quite a wait.
Back when the number of pre-registered players was still visible, Ye Wei had taken a look and found that the number was already higher than his bank balance.
Paying no more attention to the animals in his dorm, he tossed his phone on the desk to charge, climbed into bed, put on his helmet, and logged into the game as Ye Shi.
The three in the dorm looked at each other in bewilderment.
"...I'm kinda starting to believe him. What do we do?"
"This guy puts on his helmet at six on the dot every evening, and if he doesn't have morning classes, he sleeps until noon. It's hard not to believe him."
"A fully immersive R18 game actually sounds pretty good..."
"Cough, I'm gonna go fill out the form... mainly to critique it."
"I almost fucking believed you!"
...
North Street, in southern Dawn City.
Today was bustling early in the morning as always.
After the northern expedition ended, large numbers of players left the frontline and returned to the area surrounding Dawn City. Every day, fresh game and catches, or freshly picked mushrooms, could be seen before the meat stalls.
Especially recently.
With the opening of the north-south railway line, Dawn City's market had also gained plenty of battleship prawns shipped in from Xizhou Lake.
These freshwater prawns, whose shells were harder than steel and bodies longer than an arm, were something ordinary survivors would never eat.
Yet these clever little players had managed to develop four distinct preparations: braised in brown sauce, steamed, oil-braised, and roasted with garlic, turning what once went uneaten into mouthwatering delicacies.
They hadn't even spared the battleship prawn "fry," which lifestyle players turned into fist-sized crawfish that earned glowing praise from NPCs.
With the skyrocketing price of silver coins, everyone's enthusiasm for making money surged along with it.
Endgame gear in NPC shops too cheap?
Public save points too convenient to bother buying a house?
Too many silver coins with nowhere to spend them?
Not a problem at all!
There were so many little leeks lined up outside to buy them; at the thought that every silver coin earned was real cash, players hauled bricks with even greater vigor!
Outside Haiji Ramen.
Standing beside a large pot, Zhang Hai belted at the top of his lungs:
"Ramen for sale, four silver a bowl!"
Silver Dad, who happened to be walking in, heard this and couldn't help griping, "Damn! A thousand bucks a bowl, you robbing people?"
Zhang Hai's eyes widened. "Holy shit, that's out of line, bro! Who calculates it like that?"
Calculating it using the peak price? At least use the average price!
"Doesn't matter!" Silver Dad chuckled, tossing four silver coins onto the table. "Business is booming on North Street, bro, you must've made a killing."
While dropping noodles into the pot, Zhang Hai said breezily, "Talking about money is too vulgar! Mainly, I just love the feeling of kneading dough."
Construction Site Youth and Brick, who sat nearby eating noodles, almost gagged upon hearing that. He tossed his chopsticks down with a curse.
"Fuck! You just ruined my entire appetite."
"Refund my money!"
Zhang Hai rolled his eyes and fired back bluntly, "Dream on!"
Just then, a pleasant voice drifted over.
"Old man, six bowls of noodles!"
Seeing Tail slap a handful of silver coins onto the table, the players eating nearby were instantly stunned.
"Holy shit!"
"Six... six bowls!?"
"Sugar mommy!!!"
"Coming right up!" Seeing business arrive, Zhang Hai perked up immediately. Ceasing his banter with the patrons, he pulled a lump of dough from the prep board and began his performance.
Pai looked around curiously.
When her gaze fell upon the flying noodles, her eyes lit up.
"Whoa whoa whoa, what is that!"
"Ramen!" Tail said proudly. "Heh heh, when it comes to New Alliance delicacies, you definitely can't leave this out!"
Pai stared intently at the noodles, her eyes sparkling. "Lamian? So amazing!"
The big white bear looked in surprise at Tail, then at Pai.
"Huh? You can understand what the NPC is saying?"
"I think it's just a coincidence..." Staring at the translation on her VM, Sisi remarked with a subtle expression, "Is there a possibility they're each just talking to themselves and neither actually understands what the other is saying?"
With cat ears atop her head twitching gently, Sesame Paste said with some envy, "In a way, that's quite an impressive talent too."
Tail puffed out her chest and said proudly, "Mhm! Exactly! Please praise me more!"
At six o'clock game time, right after the three girls and one bear logged in, they received a quest issued personally by the Administrator, asking them to serve as escorts for the Camp 101 visiting delegation and accompany Xiao Yu and Pai on a tour of Dawn City.
Regarding the identity of Pai, this new NPC, there had been discussions on the forum earlier.
According to intel from the Ox and Horse Squad, she was supposedly an extraordinary "puppet master" skilled at crafting exquisite figurines.
On top of that, she was the representative of the Camp 101 visiting delegation!
A mission of such great significance, along with the chance to build a deep friendship with a special NPC, was something no player would pass up.
Especially upon learning that Xiao Yu was also in the party, Tail had accepted the quest on behalf of the White Bear Knights without hesitation.
Six bowls of ramen were soon served.
Xiao Yu patiently taught Pai how to use chopsticks.
She thought it would take quite a while, but unexpectedly, Pai picked it up instantly, even handling them more skillfully than Xiao Yu did.
"I see! What a convenient tool!" Looking at the two wooden sticks in her hand, Pai said excitedly, "How did you come up with this?"
"Big Brother Chu brought it out from the vault." Xiao Yu looked at Pai with envy as the latter mastered it immediately.
Back then, it had taken her a long time to get used to this unique utensil.
"Your vault is truly amazing, having so many interesting things." Pai wore an envious expression as well, though for an entirely different reason.
"Of course! Big Brother Chu is incredible." Xiao Yu smiled happily, the corners of her mouth curving up. Suddenly remembering something, she continued, "By the way, where do you want to visit later?"
"The industrial zone!" Pai's eyes sparkled.
"The industrial zone?"
Pai nodded vigorously. "Yes! Can we not?"
It wasn't that they couldn't...
But didn't people usually visit commercial streets and the like when sightseeing?
Though a bit puzzled, Xiao Yu remembered Big Brother Chu's instructions to her and nodded without objecting.
"Alright, if you want to see it."
...
The group arrived at the industrial zone.
The first thing that caught their eye was the "notorious" Goblin Technology.
According to reports from other lifestyle players, explosions were heard from inside from time to time, occasionally accompanied by a scream or two.
While there was certainly exaggeration involved, and perhaps even some smearing by competitors, that didn't stop rumors from spreading like wildfire.
Later, the rumor somehow reached the ears of NPCs, such that almost no wastelanders were willing to work here.
Most of those working here were players, especially newcomers who had just joined the game, for whom sacrificing their lives for technology was routine.
Considering the New Alliance's glorious image, Sisi intended to quietly bypass this "sweatshop," but before she knew it, Pai had already slipped inside out of curiosity on her own.
In the open yard at the center of the factory.
Mosquito and several apprentices were gathered around a blackboard, muttering in discussion.
Not far beside them sat two disassembled W-1 and W-2 gliders, along with a large pile of parts custom-ordered from other factories.
In the previous battle at Pine Valley, the W-series attack planes had performed quite well on the battlefield, but they had also exposed many problems.
One was poor maneuverability, and the other was a paper-thin fuselage.
During ground dive-bombing runs, even small seven-millimeter pea-shooters could turn the planes into sieves. Those marauders had managed to trade one-for-one with their cobbled-together anti-aircraft machine guns.
For bullying marauders, gliders were clearly sufficient, but against a survivor faction like Boulder City, sending any number of these ultra-low-speed planes might not amount to anything.
Therefore, the Administrator had placed a new order with Goblin Technology.
He required them to produce a fighter that was sturdier, faster, and had superior air combat performance to lower pilot casualty rates.
To be honest, Mosquito felt it was completely unnecessary.
Why would manned missiles need defense?
With that payload capacity, why not carry two more aerial bombs?
What? The opponent had black-tech aircraft from Boulder City?
And they didn't even know their propulsion principles or mounted weapons?
Then what the hell was the point of fighting?
Might as well just surrender!
Staring at the sketch on the blackboard, Quan Jia scratched his head, saying, "Propeller planes can't get high speeds. Why don't we just build a jet plane?"
"Better yet, let's just make a steel shell!" Duo Ming's eyes lit up. "If we can't beat them, we can ram them! Chop them with the tail!"
Zhui Hun: "Pardon my ignorance, but are you talking about the MiG-25?"
Sha Shen: "Hahaha, with enough thrust, even a brick can fly! I like it!"
Standing beside them, Mosquito rolled his eyes.
"You guys sure know how to dream."
A jet plane?
Still trying to build a MiG?
How could it be that simple!
It wasn't even a question of whether they had the technology; the supporting industry simply couldn't support it. It wasn't like they could grind every single plane part using a high-precision plasma cutting machine tool.
Not to mention how many man-hours and materials that would consume, even if they actually ground them out, the cost would be utterly unacceptable to them.
What they needed to consider was how to maximize their limited advantages as much as possible.
Looking at the sketchy concept diagram on the blackboard, Mosquito said with a headache, "...How about we just stick with what I said: make a human-guided AA missile. Saves the trouble of worrying about EMPs and signal hijacking."
Just as he was feeling irritable, an unfamiliar voice suddenly came from beside him.
"Whoa! Is this your airplane? It looks so vintage!" Examining the aircraft fuselage sitting in the open area, Pai spoke with curiosity.
Mosquito turned his head and saw a young girl with light blonde hair standing next to his disassembled W-2 ground-attack aircraft.
Normally, he wouldn't mind wasting time bragging.
But right now, he obviously wasn't in the mood.
"Shoo, shoo, go play somewhere else, kid. Don't bother adults working."
Though his Human Alliance language wasn't fluent, thanks to dealing with NPCs frequently, everyday communication was no problem.
Most lifestyle players were like that.
Pai glared at him unhappily.
"Who says I'm a kid! I'm already sixteen this year!"
Mosquito dug his ear and chuckled.
"Sixteen? You haven't even graduated middle school then."
Pai tilted her head.
"Chuzhong?"
These people always mixed in difficult words.
"Anyway, this isn't a place for kids. Hurry back to your mom. Go on, if you don't leave I'm calling the guards." Mosquito waved a hand as if shooing a fly.
This guy...
Seeing herself looked down upon, Pai's brows knitted.
Just as she was about to leave, her gaze fell upon the blackboard beside him, and her expression suddenly turned intrigued.
"Are you planning to atomize kerosene, spray it out, and ignite it?"
"What else?" Mosquito said without thinking.
"Heh heh, no—thing—at—all—"
Dragging out her tone, Pai stared at the blackboard for a couple of seconds, memorizing the dense contents on it, then turned and walked away.
Mosquito looked at the young girl's retreating back in bewilderment, somewhat baffled by her parting remark.
Just then, Quan Jia beside him suddenly spoke up.
"That NPC... seems to be Pai?"
Zhui Hun looked at him strangely.
"Pi?"
Quan Jia shook his head.
"Haven't you read the forum discussions? She seems to be from Camp 101."
...
[Quest: Into Hell]
[Briefing: Mutant slime mold is one of the core threats faced by survivors on the wasteland. In order to understand their origin and countermeasures, the vault's Medical Lab requires more samples. Note: Strong electromagnetic interference has been detected in this area; electronic equipment may malfunction. Air support is unavailable for this mission.]
[Primary Objective: Head to the area between the Second and Third Ring Roads in the city center to collect slime mold samples from Sampling Points 1, 2, and 3 on the map.]
[Secondary Objective: We lost a reconnaissance aircraft in the city center area. If conditions permit, please retrieve the pilot's VM. (Player ID: Luo Yu).]
[Quest Giver: Heya]
[Minimum Level Requirement: Lv. 20]
[Required Party Size: 4–8 players]
[Quest Threat Level: ?]
[Recommended Equipment: Gas masks, protective suits, compasses, paper maps, and other low-electronic equipment.]
"A question mark for threat level? That's wild."
They were definitely looking to stir up trouble.
At the save point north of Dawn City, standing before a storage locker, Ye Shi looked at the quest pop-up on his VM in astonishment.
A few minutes ago, Lao Bai had formed a team and shared this Medical Lab quest to their VMs.
Quickly grabbing the necessary gear, Ye Shi confirmed the rendezvous coordinates on the map and immediately rushed to meet up with his teammates.
The meeting point was the airfield beside the military camp north of the city.
Due to the complex road conditions within the urban area and heavy mutant activity along the way, to save time and ammunition, the New Alliance's "Dragonfly" transport aircraft would drop them along with airdropped supplies at the edge of the Fifth Ring Road, parachuting them into the target area.
Just like back in Xizhou City.
Arriving at the rendezvous point, Ye Shi found that his four teammates had already been waiting for a while.
Including Lao Bai, who served as the frontline vanguard, everyone tacitly refrained from bringing exoskeletons, carrying only cheap, durable light equipment.
Everyone's expression was relaxed, even casual.
After all, none of the people standing here were skydiving for the first time.
Although the situation in Qingquan City was far more complex than in Xizhou City, and the mission's danger rating was highly suspicious, the quest didn't require fighting a boss—just gathering a few samples.
For the strongest combat squad on the entire server, this clearly wasn't a big deal.
"...The business license for the registered company has already come through. Registered in Shanghai."
"In the future, transactions can go through the company's accounts, and the company can then pay individuals in the form of technical service fees. I consulted a gaming studio boss I know; that's basically how they do it. Saves a lot of hassle."
Leaning against the side of the hangar, Fang Chang talked with his teammates about real-world matters.
Funds obtained through the silver coin trading platform would go directly into the company account, deduct personal income tax and five percent operating costs, and then be disbursed to the players.
The contracts signed between the enterprise and players were cooperation contracts, not labor contracts.
Since the portion paid to players counted as corporate operating costs, the five percent retained by the company would only be considered profit after deducting a series of other expenses, avoiding the issue of double taxation on the same money.
Considering different regional policies, although this series of operations added an intermediate step, the cost wasn't much higher than person-to-person transfers.
And it saved the trouble of having to explain the income.
Everyone held a share of equity, making them both shareholders and workers.
Considering more players would join in the future, they could also promote this service to other interested players, charging a nominal five percent service fee or something.
In any case, their core business was in the game.
They weren't expecting to make big bucks off this Ox and Horse company anyway.
Hearing Fang Chang's explanation, Ye Shi said in surprise, "That fast?"
Fang Chang smiled. "I used an agency accounting firm. There are tons of firms doing that kind of business in Shanghai, and they can even provide registered virtual office addresses. But later on, I'll still rent an office and hire a professional accountant. After all, with large amounts of capital, using someone else's financial system doesn't sit entirely well with me."
The most crucial issue was security—both financial security and information security.
Jieyan said with admiration, "Awesome, bro!"
"What's awesome about it? It's not that complicated," Fang Chang chuckled, paused for a moment, and continued, "Actually, I've been thinking about a question these past few days."
Jieyan asked curiously, "What question?"
Fang Chang said seriously, "That auction earlier... what exactly was that sky-high auction item that sold for four million silver coins?"
Four million silver coins.
At the average exchange rate of one silver coin to eighty RMB before the trading halt, that was over three hundred million!
Such a massive move couldn't possibly be the action of an individual player in the game. After all, even for the Niuma Brick Factory, producing that much "cash" all at once would be extremely difficult.
Even more baffling was that after that mysterious buyer won the item, they vanished into silence—neither bragging on the forum nor boasting to anyone.
From beginning to end, the officials never announced what had been sold. The onlooker crowd just watched the bidding price surge upward, and then once the hammer fell, nothing.
This series of abnormal moves made it impossible not to think deeply.
No wonder Mosquito was interested.
To be honest, even he was starting to get curious.
Ye Shi asked with great interest, "What do you think that thing could be?"
Fang Chang pondered for two seconds and gave an ambiguous reply:
"Maybe something more valuable than money."
He wasn't sure if his guess was correct either; he had been following the news closely these past few days.
"?" Ye Shi looked at his good bro in complete bewilderment.
What does "more valuable than money" mean?
Just then, a shout came from the runway nearby:
"Damn it! How much longer are you guys gonna dawdle? Are we going or not?"
Seeing the pilot start nagging, Lao Bai relaxed his thoughtful expression and slapped his teammates' shoulders with a smile.
"Let's go. We'll talk on the plane."
Chapter 343