Chapter 50

On the first day of the alpha 0.3 version launch.

The test results of the new version were quite promising.

Thanks to the players' division of labor, the walls surrounding the outpost were finally completed.

These three-meter-high concrete fortifications not only brought a sense of security but also created possibilities for players to play at night.

Previously, once it was 6 PM, Chu Guang would lead the players back to the shelter to prevent them from being picked off by the roaming mutants.

Now, with the protection of the walls, as long as the players were willing, they could stay on the surface until their in-game characters started to feel sleepy (fatigue value depleted).

Of course, for safety reasons, Chu Guang still prohibited the use of high furnaces and other facilities with open flames at night.

During the day, steelmaking and cement burning were fine, as the trees blocked most of the smoke and the firelight was not so noticeable. However, at night, it was a different story.

The mutant tribe on 76th Street was like a thorn in the throat of the outpost. Until this thorn was removed, Chu Guang could not feel at ease.

In addition to the walls, the weapon shop and the bathhouse were also completed thanks to the players' efforts. Although not luxurious, they were functional.

Especially the bathhouse with partitions, which Chu Guang found very satisfactory.

Previously, both he and the players had to go to the lake to wash, but now with the bathhouse, hygiene issues could be resolved right in the base.

Of course, the wooden water tank on top of the bathhouse could only store 5 cubic meters of water, and if used for a long time, it might run out of water.

At such times, someone would have to manually transport water from the lake to the tank so that people inside could continue to bathe, which was indeed a bit troublesome.

Therefore, the wise and great administrator was considering turning the bathhouse into a paid facility, charging 5 copper coins per cubic meter of water. An additional position of water supplier would be set up to be responsible for filling the water tank on top of the bathhouse.

This was quite reasonable.

On the other side, the players' performance in production, gathering, hunting, and crafting also exceeded Chu Guang's expectations.

The introduction of currency greatly stimulated the players' enthusiasm (in-game).

Just the sound of the coins in the money bag could dispel the fatigue and weakness in their limbs, making them full of fighting spirit and working hard in their respective positions.

Among them, the Cow and Horse Squad performed the best.

The four experienced players, with their quadrilateral combat strategy that combined reconnaissance, frontline, output, and support, achieved remarkable results on their first collaboration.

By evening, they had explored south along the elevated road and hunted a total of eight mutated hyenas and one mutated reindeer.

The sale of the hunted animals amounted to 55 silver coins—43 from the mutated hyenas and 12 from the mutated reindeer.

Although the meat yield from the mutated hyenas and the mutated reindeer was not high, typically around 40% and not exceeding 50%,

even so, the temporary butcher, Brother Scrambled Eggs, still managed to obtain over 100 kilograms of hyena meat and over 100 kilograms of reindeer meat from these animals.

This meat would be processed into smoked meat and stored in the warehouse. Before being processed, players could also buy fresh meat to use as their dinner.

It's worth noting that previously, the outpost had a communal dining system, with Brother Scrambled Eggs, the cook, arranging two meals a day.

What the players ate depended entirely on the cook's mood and what the administrator brought back that day.

Now, everything was different.

The base's grain warehouse would be open to all players, with fair and reasonable prices, 1 silver coin for 1 kilogram of green wheat, 300 grams of fresh meat, or 200 grams of smoked meat.

What does 1 silver coin mean?

According to Chu Guang's design, 1 silver coin is equivalent to 10 copper coins, roughly the median income for players in one hour.

In other words, as long as most players worked diligently for 1-2 hours or patiently completed some tasks, they could buy enough food to fill their stomachs.

As for whether the players chose to eat the food directly, cook it with seasonings into green wheat porridge or wheat cakes, or share or trade it with others, they could decide for themselves.

Previously, when Chu Guang designed this simple economic system, he had done some calculations.

A mutated hyena weighing over 30 kilograms, after removing the inedible organs and head, could yield about 12 kilograms of meat.

At a base price of 5 silver coins for the animal, and an average cost of 2 silver coins to hire a butcher to process the meat, the total cost was only 7 silver coins.

Assuming 12 kilograms of meat, at a price of 1 silver coin for 300 grams of fresh meat, 12 kilograms would be 40 silver coins!

40 silver coins in value, 7 silver coins in production cost, and negligible circulation cost, so in this simple economic chain, 33 silver coins of surplus value would be generated.

This number was meaningless to the players, after all, they were playing a game, but for Chu Guang as the administrator, it was extremely significant.

As long as the economic chain from "hunted animal to fresh meat" could continue to operate, each cycle would provide the outpost's grain warehouse with "33 silver coins worth of fresh meat" and "some silver coins worth of fur."

Of course, the players would not consume all the fresh meat. Even if they spent all their money, they could not buy and eat everything they produced, as overeating would not be appropriate.

Therefore, apart from a small portion of the meat being bought by the players with the silver coins he issued, more fresh meat would be left as "raw materials" to flow into a new economic chain, processed into dried meat, and stored in the grain warehouse as a food reserve for the shelter.

In addition to the "hunted animal to dried meat" industry, cutting trees, picking up trash, burning cement, moving bricks, gathering, and fishing basically followed a similar economic model.

Through the levers of prices and mission rewards, the inventory of various materials and the current focus of the players' work could be easily adjusted.

For example, now that the walls were completed, the base's demand for plastering and moving bricks had decreased, and more food and weapons were needed to feed and arm more players.

So Chu Guang would appropriately lower the weapon prices at the carpentry shop to encourage players to order weapons, upgrade their equipment, and improve their skills by hunting with the weapons they bought.

In this way, the players would have money, equipment, and combat experience, while Chu Guang would not only gain a large food reserve but also a group of well-equipped and experienced players.

It was a win-win situation!

No, it should be a triple win!

Because as the administrator, Chu Guang could win twice!

Those few coins were like catalysts, creating no value themselves but revitalizing the entire outpost's economy.

Chu Guang felt he was a genius.

The only small problem was that no one was cooking today.

Brother Scrambled Eggs hadn't saved enough money, and the restaurant hadn't opened yet.

To save money, almost everyone went to the warehouse to get by on a low budget, buying 1 kilogram of yam for 1 silver coin, renting a large pot, and cooking it simply before eating it. After eating, they would rent the pot to the next person.

Even if it wasn't fully cooked, it didn't matter much, as the yam could be eaten raw, just with issues of hygiene and taste.

It seemed that with a clear goal, everyone suddenly didn't care about the taste of the food, fully embracing the spirit of hard work, with the only requirement being to fill their stomachs!

Only Yaya was different.

While everyone else was happily eating potatoes, she couldn't even afford them.

Since the administrator had forgotten to give her a low-income allowance and she had logged in too late to find a team, she was sitting in the corner, looking resentful, and eating sour berries and mushrooms.

Finally, Teng Teng couldn't bear it anymore and went over to give her half a bowl of yam mash.

Seeing Yaya wolf down the food, Teng Teng couldn't bear to tease her and sighed, saying,

"From tomorrow, you need to do tasks and earn money. I can't keep supporting you."

Yaya, moved, hugged Teng Teng tightly.

"Teng Teng, are you an angel?"

Seeing Yaya's tearful eyes, Teng Teng, whose face was squished, sighed and blushed, wriggling out from under her arm.

"… What are you saying nonsense for."

The sky gradually darkened.

Chu Guang, strolling through the base, was inspecting his territory and the players' conditions.

Although most players wanted to stay a bit longer, in two hours, it would be morning in the real world, and the workers would need to get ready for work.

Chu Guang thought it was getting late and was about to call them to gather when the north gate of the base was knocked on with a "thud, thud, thud."

The players looked towards the door, and Chu Guang's right hand instinctively gripped the pistol in his pocket but soon relaxed.

Through the player list, he confirmed that the person outside was Laji Jun.

Looking at the two nearest players, Chu Guang instructed,

"Fang Chang, Lao Bai, go open the door."

"Yes!"

Fang Chang and Lao Bai ran forward, lifted the door bolt, and pulled the wooden door open a crack.

Seeing Laji Jun squeeze through the door, Fang Chang and Lao Bai were shocked.

"What the heck?"

"Bro, what happened to you?!"

Blood!

All over!

Although some wounds had healed, there were many visible bite and gunshot wounds.

Seeing Laji Jun's condition, Chu Guang's brows furrowed, and he had a good idea of what had happened.

Fortunately, if the others mistook him for a mutant and one that wasn't very tasty, the chances of pursuit were low.

Ignoring his injuries, Laji Jun quickly walked to the administrator and panted,

"The raider camp! About 2 kilometers north of the abandoned construction site, about 3 to 4 kilometers from here! It's a tire factory!"

Ye Shi couldn't help but ask, "Did you fight with them?"

"No, no, I swear I didn't provoke them!"

Laji Jun quickly waved his hands to clarify, glancing at the administrator before continuing, "I was planning to retreat, but I ran into their patrol... I saw there were only three of them."

Ye Shi: "So you still fought them?"

Laji Jun looked embarrassed and averted his gaze.

"Uh... I was spotted, so I had no choice."

It seemed he had lost the fight.

Not surprising, given that a three-person patrol would likely have a dog, and the bite wounds on him were probably from the dog.

Although he had an advantage in stats, he was no match for experienced raider veterans.

It was lucky he managed to escape.

"North tire factory, noted," Chu Guang nodded, looking at Laji Jun, "Go back to the incubation pod and rest."

The incubation pod had a function to accelerate tissue cell repair, and with Laji Jun's physical attributes, he should recover quickly.

"Yes, Administrator." Laji Jun, wagging his tail, limped towards the infirmary.

On the way, many players noticed his condition and whispered among themselves.

"This guy is so injured!"

"Heard he found a raider camp."

"Raider camp?! Is a new dungeon opening?"

"Awesome!"

"Damn, gotta save up and buy a gun!"

"Hey, dilemma, buy land or a gun first?"

"Don't be silly, go work first."

Clearly, these players didn't realize the seriousness of the situation and were excitedly discussing it.

This was understandable.

After all, to them, it was just a game.

Only as the administrator, Chu Guang felt a sense of urgency.

North was the raider camp, east was the mutant den, west was Linghu, and south was the area where the survivors from Bet Street and Brown Farm were active.

The outpost's location was not ideal, with limited development space.

"Whether raiders or mutants."

"To open up the situation, we must fight them..."

Chu Guang had already planned the content for the next update.