Chapter 17

Since these players are so self-disciplined, Chu Guang felt that he shouldn’t be too controlling and should let them play freely.

Piling the supplies next to the elevator, Chu Guang returned to the shelter and summoned the administrator system. Soon, a notification of completed tasks appeared before his eyes.

【Congratulations, Host, you have completed the daily task: Stockpile Wood, Reward: +2 Reward Points】

【Congratulations, Host, you have completed the daily task: Burn Cement, Reward: +5 Reward Points】

The completed daily tasks added up to 7 reward points, which was not enough for a medium blind box.

However, Chu Guang was not bothered by this.

His players had already taken care of the cement, and now the food reserves exceeded ten kilograms. Soon, he could recruit a few more players to serve as free labor.

"System, exchange all reward points for a初级 blind box!"

The reward points in the administrator allowance instantly cleared to zero.

The alloy door on the wall opened, and the conveyor belt began to move, delivering the rewards from the blind box.

Five lollipops, a 200g bar of chocolate, and a 500g bag of salt. Just like before, none of them had an expiration date or trademark.

What a sugar-loving first-generation administrator!

Looking at the five lollipops and the chocolate, Chu Guang was momentarily at a loss for words.

However, this white, pure salt was a good thing.

Chu Guang reached out to pick it up, his face showing pleasant surprise.

The salt available on Bet Street was coarse salt transported from Giant Rock City, yellowish in color, expensive, and of poor quality, with a bitter taste that could even overshadow the salty taste.

This white, pure salt was usually very expensive, and ordinary survivors couldn't afford it.

"If only there could be more of it!"

This amount was just enough for cooking, but it would be a bit wasteful for making cured meat or sausages.

Of course, trading it might be a good option. This white, pure salt could be exchanged for 10 to 20 or even 30 times its weight in coarse salt.

However, there were other risks involved.

The River Valley Province was an inland province.

Salt was a highly profitable commodity, second only to firearms. Without sufficient strength, it was not very rational to get into this business.

After confirming the rewards, Chu Guang opened the player list to check the offline and online times of the players from yesterday and today.

To his surprise, Old Bai had leveled up?

"Can you level up by chopping trees?"

Chu Guang was shocked.

Previously, the genetic sequence development progress of these players was 0, but Old Bai's had increased to 1%.

The corresponding level was LV1.

However, after some thought, Chu Guang felt relieved.

Chopping trees, a physical task, was also a form of exercise. Since Old Bai's genetic sequence was strength-based, it wasn't strange for his development progress to rise.

Gaining experience didn't necessarily require combat, although the latter was a relatively faster route...

Closing the system interface, Chu Guang sat in front of the computer in the community hall and logged into the official website backend of Wasteland OL.

Previously, he had set a reservation threshold, requiring the filling of a delivery address and phone number and registration of an account to make a reservation. Chu Guang had already prepared for a slowdown or even a halt in the number of reservations, but to his surprise, the number of reservations had increased from 35 to 45 today.

Wow.

Does the Bull and Horse Club have so many living people?

Surprised, Chu Guang then logged into his QQ and opened the game group called Bull and Horse Club, scrolling through the chat history to get a sense of what was happening.

It turned out that a large number of new members had joined the group yesterday, increasing the number of group members from over a hundred to over two hundred.

Most of these new members were invited by group members to observe, many of whom were active in various game groups.

In the current PC gaming community, a legend about a "fully immersive virtual reality MMORPG" was beginning to spread.

Although most people dismissed it, there were always a few who believed and went to great lengths to find and join the "Bull and Horse Club."

Everyone was unsure if it was a prank by the administrators, but the official website looked quite professional.

—Chat History—

Quit Smoking: 【Why are there suddenly so many new members in the group? (Confused.jpg)】

Garbage Collector 99: 【Seniors! How do you reserve the game? Does it cost money?】

Quit Smoking: 【What? Are you all here for Wasteland OL? (Surprised.jpg)】

Enemy of Girls Night Ten: 【We can change the group name to Wasteland OL Player Group. (Funny)】

Proud and Unstoppable: 【No cost during the beta test, but we don't know about the future. Register an account and fill out a form to queue up. When you'll get in depends on luck... Wow, someone actually believes it.】

Quit Smoking: 【Night Ten, did you go online last night? Any new content? (Excited)】

Enemy of Girls Night Ten: 【We tested it, spent the whole night, and we made the cement, hahaha. Ask Fang Chang, I have to go to class, talk later.】

Quit Smoking: 【Cement?】

Garbage Collector 99: 【Isn't it about picking up garbage?】

The group chatted for a long time.

Chu Guang skipped over the long string of chatter and found Fang Chang's post.

Fang Chang: 【To be honest, the game's realism exceeded my expectations! Unlike most sandbox building games, in Wasteland OL, logs don't automatically turn into wood, and making charcoal isn't as simple as throwing wood into a furnace. You need to build a charcoal kiln, and the process is similar to real life. Making cement also requires starting with burning ash.】

Quit Smoking: 【What? So realistic?!】

Fang Chang: 【Yes, that's how realistic! We haven't found the upper limit of the game's sandbox mechanics yet!】

Fang Chang: 【Theoretically, all materials we've encountered can be transformed according to real-world physics and chemistry rules, and these transformations are permanently retained in the game environment, not reset! This is the most surprising part!】

This reminded him of the "pseudo-sandbox game" Death Stranding, where players built roads all over the world.

However, this game wasn't just about building roads. It had more interactive content than the pixel-style Minecraft, and its graphics were as realistic as the photorealistic racing game Forza Horizon 4.

Especially the immersive experience.

It was something he had never seen before.

In short, he was blown away by the game!

Proud and Unstoppable: 【Ha, laughed. If it's that good, I could build a Jinling City in the wasteland.】

Spare the Blade: 【I don't believe it! It's too far-fetched.】

White Horse Passing: 【Stop boasting. When you get into the game, you'll see it's the most grind-intensive game I've ever played. All materials are crafted by hand, and there's no AFK grinding. In other games, you can leave your computer on to grind monsters all night, but in this game, chopping a few trees will tire you out so much you can't lift your arms!】

Level 8 Strong Wind: 【Indeed, I can relate.】

Quit Smoking: 【Damn, listening to you makes me want to play so much! Light, I know you're watching, I'm on my knees, please give me a chance!】

Chu Guang continued to scroll through the chat history.

The dog administrators and the group owner, who had obtained beta test access, were mostly praising Wasteland OL, saying things like "sandbox mechanics are the best" and "it's the game of the year."

There were also some envious players occasionally chiming in, like "I'll pay 100,000 for a beta test slot" or "100,000 is too little, I'll pay 100 million (Funny)."

Then, the group members started discussing survival in the wild.

Perhaps intrigued by Fang Chang's description of the gameplay, even those who didn't believe in the existence of a "fully immersive virtual reality MMORPG" joined the discussion, even offering suggestions.

The one who caught Chu Guang's attention the most was a group member with the ID "WC Really Has Mosquitoes."

Looking at the join time, this member had just joined the group recently and was a new member.

While others were discussing the game, he was seriously explaining the eighteen uses of wood.

Burning charcoal and making furniture were the basics.

Additionally, he mentioned the "pyrolysis" of wood.

The principle is that during the process of baking wood in a sealed container to make charcoal, a large amount of flammable gas and smoke rich in various organic chemical components is released.

These complex mixtures are collectively called "pyrolysis products" and are chemical precursors to many chemical products—until coal tar and petroleum were widely used.

According to this group member's description, by filtering the collected condensate, a water-like solution composed of acetic acid, acetone, and methanol, as well as a thick, tar-like residue, can be obtained.

Both are complex mixtures but can be separated into different organic chemical components through distillation.

Acetic acid and methanol are self-explanatory, but acetone is a good thing, not only as an organic solvent but also for making smokeless gunpowder!

When he read this, Chu Guang was completely shocked.

"Is this guy a chemist?"

He subconsciously clicked on the person's profile and then his space.

The space was not locked, so he easily entered, but there was nothing related to chemistry, only some furniture and building materials ads.

Well...

It seems he sells furniture.

His knowledge of wood must be due to his interest.

However, his knowledge might come in handy here.

Chu Guang thought for a moment and decided to send him a private message.

"Friend, are you interested in joining the beta test?"

It was 9 AM in the wasteland, and 9 PM in the parallel world of China, the perfect time to be active, so he couldn't be sleeping.

Sure enough, the group member "WC Really Has Mosquitoes" sent a question mark.

【?】

【Who are you?】

Chu Guang typed.

【I'm the planner of Wasteland OL.】

WC Really Has Mosquitoes: 【What?! You're the planner?】

WC Really Has Mosquitoes: 【Bro, how do I test it? Does it cost money? I don't have any.】

Chu Guang patiently explained.

【It's free, just fill out a form, and I'll send you the link.】

Although full of doubts, WC Really Has Mosquitoes still clicked the link and filled out the address and phone number on the official website reservation page.

However, when filling in the address, he was cautious and wrote the address of the neighborhood station, not his apartment number.

WC Really Has Mosquitoes: 【What's next? Any other procedures?】

Light: 【No, just send me your reservation number, and I'll mark it in the backend. I'll notify you to go online in three days.】

Cloning a body takes three days.

Just as Chu Guang was thinking that now he had a carpenter, the outpost still needed some other talents, the group chat suddenly exploded.

Opening the group chat, he saw that "WC Really Has Mosquitoes" had just filled out the form and was already boasting in the group.

【Hahaha, guys, I got the beta test slot!!!】

Quit Smoking: 【What?! What the hell!】

Quit Smoking: 【Why him! I reserved first! T.T】

The group chat instantly exploded.

So did Chu Guang's private messages.

Seeing the long string of red dots, Chu Guang's scalp tingled, knowing he couldn't stay hidden. He quickly came out to explain.

Light: 【Everyone, calm down. The beta test is for everyone's game experience. We need to test the game's systems, so we need players with special knowledge to act as guinea pigs.】

Quit Smoking: 【I can be a guinea pig! I have seven years of driving experience! T.T】

Spare the Blade: 【Ha, seven years of driving? I can operate an excavator!】

Proud and Unstoppable: 【Stop arguing, didn't you notice that WC Really Has Mosquitoes joined the group yesterday? He might be a fake account! What fully immersive virtual reality game, it's all fake!】

Who Doesn't Understand: 【His space doesn't look like a fake account...】

Quit Smoking: 【Light, I'm on my knees, give me a chance!】

Light: 【...Wait a few more days. In a few days, we'll release 100 more slots. Believe me, everyone will have a chance!】

The group members were in a frenzy again.

Chu Guang tried to calm the group members, but it was useless. The other administrators were all in the game and couldn't manage this side.

This can't go on...

Maybe, release another slot?

Chu Guang rubbed his chin, thinking.

Anyway, the base had about ten kilograms of food stored, and with a gun, hunting would be possible soon. Two more mouths to feed shouldn't be a problem...

Right, food!

Chu Guang's eyes lit up, and he started typing.

Light: 【By the way, we also need a chef.】

Light: 【To test the cooking system.】

To Chu Guang's surprise, after he sent this message, the arguments in the group became even more intense.

Not everyone could be a carpenter, but the threshold for being a chef was much lower.

Who doesn't know how to make a couple of dishes and a soup these days?

Isn't it just a matter of having hands?

Regardless of whether they were real or fake, the group members all started boasting, saying things like "I can cook Kung Pao Chicken with my eyes closed" or "My dog can do it," almost claiming to be reincarnated chefs or food gods.

To get a beta test slot, these netizens were pulling out all the stops, leaving Chu Guang at a loss.

How the hell do I choose?

The argument lasted for about half an hour until a group member showed his New Oriental certificate, which finally calmed things down.

This was more convincing than boasting.

Chu Guang immediately announced the sixth beta test slot and privately asked for the reservation number before quickly logging off.