This was the second snowfall Qingquan City had seen since the start of September.
Coincidentally, it fell right as players were rotating their shifts. Many pushed open the door only to find specks of silver drifting around the torches.
"It's only late September... Winter's coming way too early, isn't it?"
"It really is a bit early."
"Let's break it down rationally. Maybe orbital debris in outer space is blocking part of the sunlight, meaning the planet can't absorb enough heat. Add to that the rapid decline in human activity caused by the war, and the lush vegetation weakening the greenhouse effect..."
"Wait, can this game really be that realistic?"
"Depends on how the developers set it up. The official lore says they took the war into space, right? If they can make up crazy lore, why can't I?"
"Screw you..."
Knocking sounded from the north gate.
Confirming it was their own people, the guards on the wall called down a greeting. The players by the gate lifted the crossbar and let the newcomers in.
Chu Guang glanced toward the north gate.
A Strength-type player and a Perception-type player were briskly carrying over a man trussed up like a bundle of rice dumplings, missing an ear, before dumping him right in front of Chu Guang.
Tossed down beside him was the carcass of a mutant hyena.
"Respected Administrator, we spotted this guy near the observation point on the northern elevated highway!"
Both players bore minor injuries, but the man was in far worse shape. A broken arrow jutted straight from his kneecap, twisting his face in agony.
Sprawled on the ground, the man couldn't understand what the two behind him were saying. Terrified, he craned his neck and pleaded toward Chu Guang.
"M-My lord, I'm just a scavenger from around here! I don't know how I offended you!"
"Scavengers aren't still wandering around at this hour."
"I... I was delayed by accident..."
Ignoring the flimsy excuse, Chu Guang fished five silver coins from his pocket, tossed them to the players to split, and bent down to inspect the man. With his index finger, he hooked the necklace at the man's collar.
Strung on it was a human finger bone.
From the looks of it, an index finger.
In the Bloodhand Clan, skulls were reserved for the chieftain's personal use, while finger bones were ornaments prized by most marauders.
They would sever the index fingers of their captives, dry them, and fashion them into bracelets, necklaces, pendants, or even bone armor to flaunt their ferocity and valor.
Disgusted, Chu Guang dropped the greasy necklace and straightened up, his face devoid of expression.
Without another look at the ash-faced man, he turned to the two players.
"Marauder."
"Send him to the gallows."
The two players answered respectfully.
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood!"
They had brought him back alive only because the bounty was higher. Most players were already well aware of how the Administrator dealt with marauders.
Hearing the execution order came as no surprise at all.
For the man about to be hanged, however, it was an entirely different matter.
As if realizing his fate, his hysterical wails and pleas were dragged all the way out past the north gate, adding a fresh chill of dread and bloodshed to the bleak woods beyond.
The cries and his crimes were cut short together.
The north gate slammed shut once more, and the two players dragged the body off toward the morgue.
Standing in front of the sanatorium, Chu Guang felt no pity whatsoever. He merely yawned, and seeing the extractor furnace begin to operate, turned back toward the sanatorium elevator.
It was already midnight.
He had to be up by six tomorrow morning.
The players' enthusiasm for logging on was even higher than anticipated, and Chu Guang felt his own biological clock was about to be completely ruined.
***
The snowfall was light, but it dragged on, falling from midnight until five the next morning before tapering off.
A layer of white frost coated the ground, crunching beneath footfalls, only to vanish without a trace once the sun rose, as though it had never been there at all.
"Seems like fewer mutants roam the city at night."
"Because of the snow?"
"Probably. When it gets cold, they might all be hiding out. But those Gnawers don't seem affected. I saw them wandering out of a residential complex and shuffling through the streets until four or five before sluggishly heading back."
"Remember where they came from?"
"Roughly. I'm gonna log off and grab some food first, then mark it on the map and post it on the forum."
"Solid work, bro!"
The players returning from their scout rotation chatted with others in the base square. Standing by the sanatorium entrance, Chu Guang took in every word.
Without radios, the players often exchanged intelligence in the square, especially during peak changeover hours.
To Chu Guang, this was another prime intelligence channel alongside the official forum.
These players were his eyes and ears.
Still, he had tasks ahead today and couldn't linger here forever.
Before heavy snow blocked the roads, he needed to make another trip to Brown Farm to trade for supplies. This time, he had prepared a new trade good—some guano stone.
It ought to fetch a good price at Brown Farm.
"Administrator, the supplies you requested are ready. We can head out anytime!"
Draped in a mutant hyena pelt, Mole on the Run from the Canyon trotted over eagerly.
Slung across his back was a temporarily issued 7mm bolt-action pipe rifle. At his left hip hung a studded wooden club and a short blade, while a Molotov cocktail filled with wood tar swung at his right. He was looking more and more like a true wasteland native.
Even so, he hadn't yet grasped the true essence.
Of all the weapons Chu Guang had tested, none felt as handy as a spiked pipe.
Nodding at him, Chu Guang said, "Wait here for a moment."
With that, Chu Guang stepped back into the shelter. Before long, he emerged clad in the KV-1 power armor, the Nitrogen Power Hammer pulled from the system strapped across his back.
At the sight of the Administrator's getup, the nearby players' eyes practically bugged out.
"Holy crap, that hammer looks badass!"
"Awesome! Did I miss a questline? When did our NPC upgrade his gear?"
"Who knows, maybe it was in the shelter all along... Doesn't the lore say underground is a massive cryo-stasis facility? Maybe there's an armory?"
"Damn! I want one so bad!"
"Keep dreaming. NPC gear is just for show. But I'm real curious if that thing is actually useful in the wasteland against bullets."
"Are you dumb? Just because you haven't seen high-tier armor doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Maybe it's meant to be paired with other gear."
"The vibe suddenly got super cyberpunk."
"What cyberpunk? This is wasteland punk!"
"I know, but taking jokes this seriously just makes you look like an idiot."
As a dutiful NPC, Chu Guang neither joined in their banter nor paid mind to their excitement. Carrying out his duties, he walked over to the prepared covered wagon.
Earlier, Chu Guang had posted a task for WC Really Has Mosquitoes to design a medium-distance transport capable of hauling over five tons.
As it turned out, so long as it remained within the bounds of normal human reason, the guy's craftsmanship was remarkably solid.
The covered wagon measured 2.5 meters long and 1 meter wide, with ample interior room. The chassis used springs for rudimentary shock absorption, making it suitable for both cargo and passengers.
To keep out rain and dust, the canopy was draped with two layers of scavenged plastic sheeting, complete with front and rear flap curtains.
This ensured cargo wouldn't get soaked even in pouring rain, making it exceptionally practical.
The only drawback was that the outpost had no oxen or mules, leaving players to pull it for the time being.
"Move out!"
At Chu Guang's command, the wagon train consisting of six players and one NPC set off past the outpost's south gate under the envious gazes of the other players, heading toward Brown Farm.
Unlike last time, making such a commotion inevitably drew the attention of mutants.
Mutant cockroaches the size of small dogs and mutant flies as large as washbasins had seemingly shed all fear of humans after mutating, scurrying out from the shadows at the sound.
Yet these players were no longer wide-eyed novices. Seasoned by the previous battle, they handled enemies with practiced ease.
Chu Guang didn't lift a finger. Overseeing from the rear, he watched the players dispatch the vermin with blades, clubs, and stones.
If they ran into mutants beyond their capability or other high-threat targets, he would naturally intervene.
Interestingly, Chu Guang noticed that his gene sequence advanced not only through basic physical training, but also accumulated a small amount of development progress when leading players in combat.
This unique evolutionary mechanism intrigued him.
For now, he lacked the means to track his gene sequence's development progress in real time, so deeper research would have to wait until conditions improved.
Halting and resuming along the way to bypass impassable ruins, they finally reached their destination before nine-thirty.
Outside Brown Farm.
As Chu Guang's group approached the gate, they spotted a burly man carrying a shotgun leading a gaunt thrall out through the wall.
The two parties came face to face. Chu Guang's side remained calm, but the other side tensed up immediately.
Seeing Chu Guang's exoskeleton and the exaggerated hammer on his back, the man instinctively reached for his shotgun.
"We're passing merchants. Don't be nervous."
"What merchant travels at this—wait, you?"
Liu Zhengyue froze atop the perimeter wall, pulling back the shotgun barrel he had just eased forward. He stared blankly at Chu Guang's exoskeleton, the war hammer, and the bluecoat worn beneath the frame.
He clearly remembered that the man hadn't dressed like this on his last visit.
"That's right, it's me." Chu Guang smiled faintly and called up to the wall, "We need food, steel, and copper."
"What do you plan to trade for it?"
Liu Zhengyue watched the group outside warily, his eyes darting across their gear, uncertain.
These people were noticeably stronger than during their last visit.
In principle, this wasn't a good time to do business. Winter had come earlier than usual, so they needed to preserve food for the cold season and keep reserves in case marauders came demanding tribute.
Marauders from the north raided periodically. Although the farm wasn't without guns, nobody wanted to risk an open fight against them.
A single harassment campaign during the spring plowing would cost far more than the food paid in tribute.
And yet...
The guns slung across their backs forced him to carefully weigh the risks of refusal.
Chu Guang said nothing. Walking to the wagon, he lifted the curtain, hauled out a burlap sack, and ripped open the tied cord.
Liu Zhengyue narrowed his eyes, trying to see clearly.
"This is..."
"High-purity magnesium ammonium phosphate. If that means nothing to you, just call it guano stone. Premium chemical fertilizer either way," Chu Guang said, looking up at Liu Zhengyue with slight annoyance. "Could you come down to talk? My neck gets tired shouting up there."
"Wait there... I need to consult my master."
Leaving those words, Liu Zhengyue vanished from the wall. Moments later, he stepped out through the main gate leading a thrall.
"My old friend... you've changed quite a bit."
"Struck it rich lately."
"Are you really nomads?" Liu Zhengyue stared intently at the bluecoat beneath Chu Guang's exoskeleton, clearly doubting his earlier assessment.
"Does it matter what we are?" Chu Guang smiled faintly. "Don't read into it. I scavenged this coat."
Seeing that Chu Guang had no intention of saying more, Liu Zhengyue dropped the subject and looked at the sack of fertilizer.
"I need to inspect the goods."
A reasonable request. Chu Guang nodded.
"Go ahead."
The inspection method was the same as last time. Liu Zhengyue kicked the nearby thrall and pointed at the sack.
The thrall stepped forward, dragged an index finger across the powder inside, and popped it into his mouth without hesitation.
"It's guano stone."
Hearing that, Liu Zhengyue broke into a smile.
Though he had no idea where this group had procured such goods, it was precisely what they needed.
While human and animal manure could serve as fertilizer after thermal composting, its nitrogen content remained inadequate, and its overall fertility fell far short of guano stone that had aged through time and weathered rains.
A single handful of guano stone often rivaled an entire bucket of cattle manure. And to use the latter effectively, one had to mix in urea.
Brown Farm lacked the capacity to produce quality urea in bulk. Using raw urine directly would scorch roots, and mixing it with manure risked compacting the soil.
Consequently, they usually imported synthetic and organic fertilizers from Boulder City or Red River Town to blend with fermented manure.
This held true not just for Brown Farm, but for nearly every farming settlement around Qingquan City.
"Name your price!"
"We only brought three hundred kilograms this time. Give me a sincere offer, and we can do more business down the road."
A mu of farmland generally required a few dozen jin of organic fertilizer, though the exact amount varied depending on crops, soil conditions, fertilizer type, and expected yield.
From pre-war maps, the entire farm wasn't particularly large—at most, eighty to a hundred mu of arable land, roughly equivalent to seven to nine standard sports fields.
Of course, they might also employ vertical farming or indoor cultivation, as such technologies weren't uncommon before the war.
Unable to guess their exact demand, Chu Guang let them quote first.
After a moment's hesitation, Liu Zhengyue ventured, "Three hundred kilograms... how about two tons of green wheat?"
Hearing that figure, Chu Guang couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Thank goodness he hadn't spoken first.
When he had checked wholesale prices on Earth's internet, the ratio was roughly 1:5, and his mental expectation had been around 1:6 or 1:7.
It seemed prices in this parallel world held no reference value at all.
Chu Guang looked at him and said, "Five tons minimum."
"Five tons?! That's impossible!" Liu Zhengyue gasped. "Our yield per mu is only five hundred jin of green wheat!"
"That's because you haven't been using our fertilizer. Starting next year, it'll be a thousand jin."
*These mutant crops have terrible yields...*
*If only I could get my hands on a pre-war seed vault.*
Compared to wheat, Earth's yield per mu in his world was at least six hundred jin, and hitting over a thousand was routine, though claims of ten thousand were pure fabrication.
Chu Guang mused to himself that even if his own shelter lacked one, regular shelters ought to have some seed reserves, right?
He wondered whether pre-war crops had failed to spread across the wasteland due to travel distance or climate.
Or perhaps they were simply absent from this region?
"Are you dreaming? A thousand jin per mu?" Liu Zhengyue's eyes widened, and he shook his head. "Friend, if you're truly sincere, three tons... that's my bottom line. We have stable suppliers who deliver in bulk. Did you think your guano stone is irreplaceable?"
"It's certainly the most cost-effective, and I doubt they'd sell it cheap after hauling it all that distance," Chu Guang replied, looking straight at him. "One kilogram for twelve kilograms of grain. Considering winter came early this year, that's my final concession."
"We'll be supplying this in bulk next year, too. If you can't accept this price, I'd rather turn around and sell it to passing merchants."
The guano stone around Ling Lake was scattered across the southern shoals and stretched to the eastern shore. While the reserves weren't limitless, they were substantial, requiring only time and labor to excavate.
Chu Guang had no idea why the local survivors had never discovered that treasure trove, but either way, it was his territory now.
Liu Zhengyue hesitated for a long moment before finally nodding.
"Fine. You'd better not be lying to me... Next spring, we'll need three tons of guano stone in time for planting season. Where are you located? Qingquan City, or the outskirts? If it's not far, we can pick it up ourselves."
"No need. Once winter passes, we'll deliver it to your doorstep."
Chu Guang smiled and extended his right hand.
"Here's to a pleasant partnership, then."
Though his expression pained, Liu Zhengyue forced a smile and took the offered hand.
"...A pleasant partnership."
Chapter 72