While Chu Guang was busy doing his archeology with the diary, the official forum of Wasteland OL in the other world was buzzing with excitement.
The seven players who had fallen in battle logged off one after another, almost simultaneously rushing to the official website to bring firsthand battle reports to the armchair gamers and trolls lurking on the forum.
This battle was far more intense than any previous encounter.
The total combined forces fielded by both sides exceeded a company. Tactical maneuvers—encirclements, suppression fire, ambushes, and counterambushes—kept everyone on their toes. Nearly every player who had taken part roared with satisfaction, declaring that dying in that fight had been worth every second!
Especially the finale of the engagement.
Fifty rockets carpeted the battlefield, followed by a whistle signaling everyone to leap from the trenches and charge into the fray. With some embellishment and exaggeration, even the armchair lurkers watching from the sidelines were thoroughly hyped.
"Hahaha, lighting firecrackers is such a galaxy-brain move! The other side must have been utterly bewildered. Where on earth did you guys learn that cheeky trick?"
"The craziest part is that Mosquito's rockets actually worked! Didn't you say his flamethrower from last time didn't have enough chamber pressure, lacked a flashback arrestor, and burned straight backward, catching him on fire?"
"Goblin engineering avenges its shame! (Funny)"
"A one-kilogram warhead is still thinking too small! If you get the chance, build a hot air balloon and drop 300-pound aerial bombs. That'd definitely get the job done!"
"A hot air balloon would be tough; once you're up in the sky, you're just a sitting duck. But you could try building an engine and slapping together a propeller aircraft. Aren't the Mini-MAX series planes made of wood? Put in enough effort, and that'll definitely land you in prison!"
"Just build a tank. Tanks are still the best, though from what you've said, the area around the respawn point is either urban ruins or anti-tank trees, so it might be rough."
"Are you guys seriously talking about a game? Why do I feel like something's not quite right? (Funny)"
"Ahem, we're talking about plastic scale models! Plastic models!"
Although the thread derailed constantly, each fresh trickle of news quickly brought the conversation back on track.
Whether giving tactical advice or engaging in armchair strategizing, both those who genuinely believed in the game's existence and the trolls just looking for laughs cared most about who won the war.
While good news had poured in so far, painting a picture of total control, what if the closed-beta testers dropped the ball, or those marauders had an ace up their sleeve?
If they lost, everything would be finished.
After all, the official announcement explicitly stated that if the 'Winter Is Coming' expansion challenge failed, the game server would be shut down indefinitely for debugging before coming back online.
As for how long the downtime would last, only the lead developer knew.
Fortunately, the eager netizens did not have to wait long.
As a player who had 'succumbed to heavy wounds' was forced offline and brought the glorious news of total victory back to the forum, the boulder hanging over everyone's heart was finally lifted.
Makka Pakka: "I got team-killed by a friendly finishing blow! But it doesn't matter, epic victory! Fifty-six marauders, including elite mobs and the boss, were completely encircled and wiped out! Hahaha, slaughtering them was amazing! I took down at least three... no, definitely four!"
Quitting Smoking: "Then why'd you still end up dead? (Eye roll)"
Yaya: "Noob! Hahahahaha! Dead equals trash! Hahahaha! o(＊≧▽≦)ツ"
Makka Pakka: "Screw you! You're one to talk, you didn't even participate! (Anger)"
Yaya: "Hmph hmph, as everyone knows, cute girls don't fight. When I save up enough pocket change to buy power armor, then I'll play around with you guys. @乛_乛@"
Quitting Smoking: "Then what the hell are you even playing for?! If you're not going to play, give me your account! T.T"
Proud Grandpa What Can You Do: "Lol, calling that a war? You couldn't even scrape together a hundred people, and you call that a war? Back where I'm from, when two high schools had a casual brawl, three to five thousand people showed up. The county government had to step in before blows were traded, otherwise it definitely would've made the evening news."
Elaina: "Three to five thousand people, sure. Is your school named Suzuran High School for Boys? By the way, how many dishes does your cafeteria serve? Don't just drink dishwater, eat a bite of food once in a while. (Funny)"
Ye Shi: "LMAO, I can't take this hahahaha ffs."
Elven King Fugui: "Yo, Elaina came to spectate too? (Funny)"
Elaina: "You two wait, I'm holding a grudge. (`Д′＊)9"
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Terrifying. (Funny)"
Whenever the forum's resident mascot showed up, he provided endless entertainment for everyone, filling the whole forum with cheerful chatter that felt as lively as a holiday.
Yet the guy was like a mole: popping up to provoke the entire crowd, then vanishing immediately without lingering for a single second, never giving anyone a chance to mock him back.
Perhaps in his own mind, he was waging an epic battle against some dark organization.
And those who 'teased' and 'slandered' him were undoubtedly the moderators' alternate accounts.
Quitting Smoking: "By the way, where's Scavenger? How come I haven't seen him show up to brag?"
Elaina: "Yeah, yeah, what about his sliding tackle? (Funny)"
Ye Shi: "Tch, bringing him up is just embarrassing. The Administrator told us not to light fires to keep warm, right? That guy was shivering in the trench and was afraid of dozing off, so he started telling jokes to the guy next to him. But his jokes were probably too cold; not a single person laughed, and he ended up passing out from the freezing cold. We couldn't wake him up through the entire battle, and in the end, we had to haul him back on a handcart like a casualty. Truly a scrub."
Scavenger Lv99: "F*ck, you think I wanted that?! I tried logging back on several times, but it kept saying 'character status abnormal' and wouldn't connect! By the time I could finally get in, I was already lying inside an incubation pod!"
Ye Shi: "Still embarrassing no matter how you slice it. (Funny)"
Scavenger Lv99: "@#@%!"
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Hahahaha, I'm the match MVP! Who else has got game like this? (Smug)"
Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes: "Kudos to the boss! Goblin engineering is invincible!"
Big Eye in Debt: "Quit messing around. I counted the bodies, and only three were killed by explosions. We're not even sure if your rockets did it."
Ye Shi: "Hahaha, moral support squad confirmed! But to be fair, while Mosquito's weapons don't pack much punch, they're plenty intimidating. A salvo of rockets went over and the enemy literally raised a white flag."
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Screw off! You're the cheer squad! Your whole family is a cheer squad! (Anger)"
Tengteng: "Stop arguing, everyone did great! 0.0"
Old Bai: "These blockheads aren't fighting; they're actually on great terms."
Tengteng: "Is it that kind of youthful bond between boys?"
Old Bai: "...How on earth am I supposed to answer that?"
Having just survived an exhilarating, full-throttle battle, many players were still riding the high, wishing they could jump out of bed and hammer out eighty or a hundred push-ups to bleed off the excess energy.
Unfortunately, their flesh-and-blood bodies in reality were nowhere near as robust as their game avatars, and their sensory perception of debuffs wasn't dulled at all. A little exertion left their muscles aching with fatigue, and those who had forgotten to eat found themselves dizzy with low blood sugar.
Sure enough, reality was the real trash game, wasn't it?
Fang Chang: "Hey Mole, did you follow the Administrator to the Bloodhand Clan's camp?"
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "Yeah, but we wiped out their main force in the park, so there wasn't any combat when we got there. I just followed along for the cutscene, then rifled through chests and cupboards to loot the stronghold. Not to brag, but this game really pulls no punches when it comes to detail. From the dungeon where they kept the captives to the marauders' living quarters... tsk tsk, all I can say is sending those scumbags to the gallows is letting them off too easy."
Ye Shi: "What was it like? Give us the details."
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "What's there to explain? You can just go see it for yourselves tomorrow; it was an absolute living hell. Still, once this dungeon is cleared, it probably won't respawn. Even if there are marauders nearby, they'll just be lone drifters. Speaking of which, now that the marauders at the tire factory have been handled, that part of the map should be open, right? I saw quite a few landmarks over there worth exploring. We should be able to scavenge a ton of good stuff."
Fang Chang: "This wave was pure profit. Dividing the spoils tomorrow is going to feel amazing."
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "A technical question: can your brick kiln's budget participate in the loot auction?"
Fang Chang: "What are you dreaming about? If we could use that, wouldn't we just monopolize the bidding?"
Five thousand silver coins was indeed enough capital to rig the entire auction.
Not even three days had passed since the last auction, so almost nobody had much savings left, and the war rewards wouldn't be settled until after the auction. Many items were bound to go unsold this time around.
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "True enough. You wouldn't even need five thousand silver; three thousand would easily sweep fifty pieces of gear. Sigh, definitely can't afford to mess with that."
Ye Shi: "It sucks. If only there was a bank, I'd buy a set of power armor on installment, then grab a fully modded +14 automatic rifle."
Fang Chang: "Dreaming is what you do best."
In truth, no matter how the spoils were divided, this battle was overwhelmingly profitable.
Last time, they had faced only a small squad led by a decurion, and each participant had walked away with over ten silver coins on average.
This time, not only had five full squads been wiped out, but even their stronghold had been sacked.
Wouldn't it be unreasonable not to award fifty or sixty silver coins, along with a hundred or so contribution points?
Fifty silver coins was the absolute minimum; it couldn't possibly be any less!
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "By the way, isn't anyone curious? Level B2 is about to open. What do you guys think will be down there?"
Ye Shi: "I have a hunch there'll be a massive update, probably Alpha 0.5."
Fang Chang: "Truly, the words you spoke were words."
Old Bai: "If that hunch had any value, it wouldn't be completely worthless."
Ye Shi: "Screw you guys! Why don't you try analyzing it then!"
Fang Chang: "I'll cut straight to the conclusion: I expect the next development phase to focus on two fronts. One is the game's internal systems, and the other is game content."
Mole on the Run from the Canyon: "What's Master Fang Chang's take?"
Being called 'Master' pleased Fang Chang immensely. At present, the two most popular analytical theory-crafters on the forum were himself and Mole.
With that bit of flattery, his typing speed noticeably quickened.
"Let's talk about the game system first. There have long been loud calls on the forum for a simpler attributes interface. But those of you who joined recently might not know that back when the game first launched, let alone an attributes interface, there wasn't even a leveling mechanic! It was so realistic that players had to feel out every single mechanic on their own!
"Soon after, we discovered that every player's initial base stats differed. Some were clearly stronger, some had sharper instincts, and others were faster. Only after asking the developers did we find out that attributes and levels did exist!
"They claimed it was for the sake of realism, but excessive realism becomes a burden. Following our strong recommendations, the dev team held meetings for several days and finally integrated the attributes and levels into the game in numeric format. The attribute panel you see today was actually added later; it didn't exist before.
"Then there was the currency. Originally, the concept of currency didn't exist at all; tree-felling rewards were settled purely in contribution points. It was around Alpha 0.3, when the quest system and economy system underwent a major overhaul, that the silver coins we use today were introduced, followed later by citizen tiers and the concept of private property.
"Players who have been around from the start can clearly feel that Wasteland OL's rules are being refined step by step. The developers are also feeling their way through, balancing the leverage between realism and gameplay.
"Currently, the currency system is fully developed. I predict that moving forward, the dev team will look for ways to improve the in-game UI. For instance, making the accumulation of 'gene sequence development progress' more intuitive? Ideally, adding an exp bar for 'skill proficiencies' as well, which would make the grind far more rewarding, wouldn't it?
"Now for the game content! This is the part I'm looking forward to the most!
"Many of you must have noticed that taking the Bloodhand Clan's stronghold wasn't just about seizing their gear; we also liberated a large group of prisoners locked up by the marauders!
"Most of these people are survivors who suffered persecution under the marauders. They aren't just bland names on a screen; each has a distinct identity. Some might be from shelters, while others hail from neighboring survivor settlements... like the Brown Farm we visited, or even Bet Street, Boulder City, and others mentioned in the lore.
"In their homelands, they probably have existing social ties, perhaps even family members living somewhere in this wasteland.
"The backgrounds of these NPCs could serve as clues unlocking numerous side quests. Properly settling them and establishing relationships will present a whole new test for our 'virtual community'!
"Therefore, I boldly predict that with the arrival of winter, the next expansion will revolve around this very theme!"
Fang Chang's perspective earned widespread agreement,
including from technical theory-crafters like Mole on the Run from the Canyon.
At this stage of the game, the number of players already vastly exceeded the NPCs. If player numbers doubled again, relying solely on the esteemed Administrator and his assistant would make handling every interaction impossible.
If Wasteland OL aimed to forge a near-photorealistic world and cultivate a human-AI friendly virtual community in cyberspace, the next expansion would inevitably center around player-NPC dynamics.
These rescued wretches were undoubtedly the perfect catalyst.
Moreover, the nearby survivor settlements freed from the marauders' tyranny and harassment would surely be full of gratitude toward this righteous force.
Fang Chang felt he had completely figured out the developers' train of thought.
Sitting bleary-eyed in front of his monitor, he couldn't help breaking into a smug, triumphant grin.
As expected of me!
I'm an absolute genius!
Chapter 94