Chapter 44

Chu Guang didn't expect that the ox's back would be carrying quite a few good things.

For example, the five "Rider" revolving rifles placed on top.

This thing has a 7mm caliber, with two simple rifling grooves inside the barrel, which can keep the bullet's trajectory stable within fifty meters.

Especially its simple spring plate action, which is not only very easy to maintain but also quite reliable in battle. Even if there are malfunctions like jamming or dud rounds, there's no need to worry; just a light turn of the cylinder, and you can continue shooting.

If you remove the barrel, it can be used as a pistol, though the accuracy is a bit hit or miss.

Of course, what Chu Guang was most satisfied with was the firing rate of this thing.

Although it's a semi-automatic design, as long as you pull the trigger fast enough, firing six rounds in a short time to create a suppressive effect is no problem at all!

It can be said to be quite user-friendly.

Just as Chu Guang was thinking about whether to pick a rifle as "compensation," his gaze suddenly fell on the burlap bags tied to both sides of the ox.

Opening one, he found it was full of coins.

These coins were either brass-colored or silver-white, made of unknown materials, and surprisingly, they hadn't rusted. The brass-colored ones were slightly smaller, while the silver-white ones were slightly larger, with denominations of 1 and 10, respectively.

"Pre-war currency? No, that's not right..."

Picking up a coin, Chu Guang flipped it to the back and quickly recognized the small text printed on it—

[Galaxy Arcade]

Well, well.

It turned out to be game tokens.

"Where did you get these?"

Putting the coin back in the bag, Chu Guang looked up and down at the merchant surnamed Sun, noticing his nervous expression.

Hearing Chu Guang's question, Sun Shiqi answered honestly.

"These coins were found in the basement of an arcade. I thought they could be smelted for copper and steel, so I took them along."

Generally, caravans rarely stop to loot; they usually trade with local scavengers, which benefits both sides and avoids potential conflicts.

But anything is possible. Just as poor mercenaries occasionally act as raiders, a cash-strapped merchant would also take risks to scavenge.

For example, this merchant clearly hadn't been in the business for long, and the ox behind him might have been bought recently.

"Are there more?"

Sun Shiqi was taken aback for a moment but nodded instinctively.

"There seem to be two more cabinets... These burlap bags can probably hold four to five more."

"Very good, I'll take them all."

Chu Guang unloaded the two burlap bags from the ox's back and said to Sun Shiqi.

"These two bags and the coins inside will serve as your compensation. Next time you come here, remember to bring the rest of the coins. Let me think... For every hundred kilograms of coins, I'll give you four kilograms of dried meat, how about that?"

A hundred kilograms is roughly the amount in one bag, about thirty to forty thousand coins.

In business, it's important to think long-term. Chu Guang didn't want to be too greedy, so he chose these two bags, which he could use.

Moreover...

Since he planned to let this person go, Chu Guang didn't want to show too much interest in weapons.

Clearly not expecting this person to be interested in these scraps, Sun Shiqi's face was filled with surprise, but he didn't show it too much, quickly nodding.

"No problem! As long as you need them, I'll bring them all next time!"

He didn't care what this man would use the coins for. Maybe it was for nostalgia? Or some other reason? These old-timers were hard to figure out.

He originally planned to take these coins to Giant Rock City to sell for copper and steel, but they wouldn't fetch much.

If he could use them to open a market in a shelter, this deal would be profitable!

And reducing his load would make his journey easier.

In addition to the two bags of coins, Chu Guang also kept the five revolving rifles he had previously looked at and bought 200 rounds of 7mm ammunition.

In exchange, he provided the merchant with a total of 50 kilograms of dried meat and 10 kilograms of smoked fish.

Although their first encounter was filled with misunderstandings, the outcome was satisfactory for both parties.

Chu Guang got what he wanted, and the merchant surnamed Sun received the trading rights and food he needed.

The survivors in Spring City found it hard to imagine the situation in Red River Town, even though the two places were less than a hundred kilometers apart, the ecological environment was completely different.

According to the merchant surnamed Sun, there was a large chemical industrial base and a landfill in the area.

After the war, these facilities were left unmaintained, leading to leaks and severe soil pollution, with particularly high levels of heavy metals. Large areas of land had become sandy and compacted, and the environment had not been fully restored.

Moreover, due to the fragile ecosystem, the mutants in the area were mainly scavengers and arthropods.

This extreme situation meant that the survivors in the area had almost no arable land and found it difficult to sustain themselves through hunting.

Interestingly, the landfill, which had been protested against multiple times before the war, became the greatest wealth of the survivors in the two centuries after the nuclear war.

It contained nearly half a century's worth of garbage, much of which had not been fully decomposed.

In the current wasteland era, the buried garbage had formed a kind of "unnatural ore deposit," leading to the prosperity of local mining, archaeology, and trade.

"But what do you eat?" Chu Guang couldn't help but ask after hearing Sun Shiqi's description. "Do you rely entirely on imports?"

The price of food would skyrocket!

"Of course not. Although we don't have reindeer or hyenas, many mutated moles and rats are edible. Additionally, we catch some less dangerous insects, extract protein from them, feed livestock, or make them into nutritional pastes... like this."

As he spoke, Sun Shiqi took out a sealed glass jar from the bag on the ox's back, containing a black, gel-like substance.

It looked a bit like turtle jelly.

Chu Guang had seen this before when he was searching the bag but didn't understand its purpose, so he ignored it.

He didn't expect it to be food.

"What is this made of?"

Sun Shiqi chuckled and said, "Mutated cockroaches."

Chu Guang: "..."

Damn!

He felt he could never look at turtle jelly the same way again.

"Although the protein and fat are extracted from mutated cockroaches, after boiling, filtering, drying, grinding, soaking, and concentrating, this stuff has nothing to do with cockroaches anymore. It's full of protein... Would you like to try some?"

Chu Guang said with a stern face, "No, thank you."

He would rather starve than eat this.

However...

According to this guy, the cost of this food seemed low?

Mutated cockroaches were common everywhere, and the heavy metal content in Spring City would be much lower than in Red River Town.

In emergencies, using this nutritional paste as emergency rations for players seemed like a good choice?

Chu Guang thought about it for a long time.

But then he suddenly thought of something else.

"You seem to know a lot about insects?"

Sun Shiqi nodded immediately.

"Of course, we deal with them every day."

Chu Guang followed up, "Do you have a way to deal with leeches?"

"Leeches?" Sun Shiqi was taken aback, "You mean... those mutated leeches?"

"Yep."

Seeing Chu Guang nod, Sun Shiqi thought for a moment and looked a bit troubled.

"Those things... are quite rare in Red River Town, probably because we have more ants."

Chu Guang frowned, "Ants?"

Sun Shiqi nodded and continued, "Yes, we have a type of mutant called Iron-Back Ants. They are about the size of a thumb and can grow as large as a fist. Their exoskeletons are very hard and corrosion-resistant, and they eat almost anything. Most soft-bodied animals are no match for them."

Chu Guang asked, "Can you bring a few next time?"

Sun Shiqi smiled, "No problem! I'll take care of it!"

After the transaction, the merchant surnamed Sun didn't stay long and chose to continue his journey.

Chu Guang didn't try to keep him, just reminded him about the mutant camp near 76th Street and the raider activity in the northern part of the Wetland Park, then wished him a safe trip.

The figure of the ox gradually disappeared into the woods.

The players who watched him leave were discussing.

"That guy was indeed a merchant!"

"Damn, good thing we didn't beat him up."

"Beating him up would have been fine, we could have kept his stuff."

"That's true, but what if the merchant doesn't respawn if he dies?"

"Unlikely, but in the 'Winter's Dawn' expansion, there might only be one merchant. And didn't the developers say that 'Wasteland OL' aims to create a realistic economic system? If that's true, it's better to play the long game!"

"…That makes sense."

Ignoring the players' discussions, Chu Guang's mind was completely on the two bags of game tokens.

He had a bold idea.

If plastic chips can be used as a medium of exchange, why not metal coins?

These two bags contain at least sixty to seventy thousand coins, and the merchant surnamed Sun could bring more soon.

For a group of five hundred or less, these coins would be enough!

The brass-colored coins would be copper coins, and the silver-white ones would be silver coins, with a 10:1 ratio.

The original contribution points would be integrated into a new honor system, which could be used to buy titles, ranks, and even private land.

At the same time, the future mercenary, caravan, guild, and legion systems would be linked to contribution points. Only players with sufficient contributions would be eligible to lead others.

This would not only strengthen management but also greatly limit troublemakers.

After all, the more valuable a player's account, the more they would cherish their hard-earned game privileges and be more inclined to invest more time and effort, as well as maintain the game's order.

Troublemaking is fun.

And that's human nature.

Dragging the two nearly hundred-kilogram bags back to the shelter, Chu Guang found an empty room without active cultivation pods and leaned the bags against the corner of the wall.

Then, he returned to the community hall, turned on the computer, logged into the official website backend, and started editing the title.

[Wasteland OL Closed Beta Alpha 0.3 Update Announcement: Major Economic System Adjustment!]

As he typed, Chu Guang opened his document.

He had copied many great ideas from the forum.

Now was the perfect time to use them...