Chapter 9

The amount of work completed in the afternoon was almost three times that of the daytime.

There were about fifty logs of various sizes, which the players had tied with ropes and dragged to the wall of the sanatorium.

To be honest, these players' performance exceeded Chu Guang's expectations.

Each log was between 8 to 10 meters long, with the longest reaching 20 meters, and most were as thick as thighs.

Chu Guang counted and found a total of 2000 contribution points.

Among them, Old Bai contributed the most, earning 800 points alone. Kuangfeng was probably the worst off; his clone was not good at physical activities, having only an average person's physique, and after a whole day of work, he only earned 300 points.

As for what this thing was for?

Chu Guang hadn't thought it through yet.

The shelter was currently very poor; he only had two lollipops, and a compressed biscuit which he had already eaten.

After much consideration, he only told the players that resurrection required not only a three-day wait but also a resurrection coin.

And resurrection coins needed to be purchased with contribution points.

Although the "purchasing power" of contribution points was a bit weak, the players didn't seem to mind too much.

After all, this was still the closed beta stage, and the lack of game content was understandable. As long as the data wasn't deleted, they could stockpile money and find ways to spend it when the game officially launched.

Additionally, contribution points had no physical form; they were just a number, and could only be checked after logging out and visiting the official website.

Although Chu Guang wanted to create some tangible coins like those in Boulder City, the conditions in the shelter were too harsh, and he couldn't even gather the materials needed for "minting."

He couldn't just give the players chips.

Those were the hard currency in the Qingquan City area, but he didn't have many left himself.

Moreover, giving chips directly to the players would be useless, as they couldn't go to survivor outposts to trade.

He could communicate with the survivors because he had soul-traveled to this world and had the language of this world in his head.

The clones used by the players were completely blank, lacking even basic mental functions, and certainly couldn't inherit memories.

The language used by the survivors in the Qingquan City area was the Human Alliance Common Language.

This language was entirely different from any language in the real world, with only a slight similarity in grammar and pronunciation to Chinese.

In the future, Chu Guang would consider developing a translation tool to solve the communication problem between players and "NPCs," and redesign the distribution system and economic system.

But not now.

...

After tallying the day's work, it was getting late.

Chu Guang looked up at the slanting sun in the sky and squinted slightly.

It was almost evening.

"Lord Administrator, I noticed that our outpost has no electricity," Fang Chang stepped forward and said, "Why don't we try to get a generator?"

It was a good question.

Unfortunately, it was also a pointless one.

"We don't have any extra generators," Chu Guang looked at him, "Does anyone here know about this? Or have any electrical skills?"

The players looked at each other.

"Can't we run a wire from underground?" asked Ye Shi, a rather naive question.

"There isn't a long enough wire, and the energy in the shelter isn't infinite. Even if we could use it in the short term, the long-term problem would still remain, and it would create a bigger hazard."

Chu Guang paused.

"It's getting late; we should head back."

By "head back," he meant "log out" for the players.

Although it wasn't completely dark yet, it was already 5 PM, and it would soon be morning in the parallel world of China.

The players, who had been in the game world for so long, looked reluctant to leave, feeling that there was still much to explore in this world.

But they had work to do during the day and couldn't stay here indefinitely.

...

Inside Shelter 404.

Watching the players lie down in their cultivation pods, Chu Guang thought about trying to recruit some idle people who didn't work during the day.

Or players from other time zones.

Otherwise, the large outpost base would be left with only him at night, which wasn't ideal from a safety perspective.

"I'll stay in the shelter tonight."

He really didn't want to go back to the "doghouse" on Bet Street unless necessary.

Just as Chu Guang was thinking about what to do, Xiao Qi came to his side.

"Master."

"What is it?"

"The clone health reports have been updated. Would you like to see them?"

Chu Guang hesitated slightly.

"Health reports?"

"Yes! After each player logs out normally, the cultivation pod scans the clone inside, records the physical condition, and extracts a certain number of embryonic stem cells for backup, recording the progress of gene sequence development—"

"Wait, what's a gene sequence?"

Hearing this unfamiliar term, Chu Guang felt he had missed some crucial information.

Faced with the administrator's question, Xiao Qi answered nonchalantly.

"Didn't you notice? Each player's clone is synthesized from different DNA, and the gene sequence is the code for different DNA."

Chu Guang followed up, "What about the development progress?"

"Each DNA sequence is carefully designed, but unfortunately, we haven't fully grasped the mysteries of life."

"Not all genetic traits are fully expressed. It's like how an athlete's child is more likely to become an athlete, but isn't born one."

"The development progress refers to the degree of dominant expression of special segments in the gene sequence, usually expressed as a percentage."

"For example, if the development progress reaches 100%, it means that the organism's various functions are infinitely close to the limits designed by the genes, reaching the most perfect state... but this is almost impossible."

"Currently, the four gene sequences we have activated have a development progress between 0% and 1%. According to research, continuously stimulating survival instincts and physical training can increase this value."

If "gene sequence" is understood as a profession, "development progress" is similar to a level.

A gene sequence focused on strength enhancement is like a "Barbarian" in D&D, with innate strength and a tendency to improve strength attributes.

For example, "Bai Juguoxi."

All the other players seemed normal, but he had thick body hair and a large build, clearly not a normal person.

Good grief.

These clones—no, players—could actually level up!

And they even had talent settings!

Such an amazing thing, and he only found out now!

Looking at Xiao Qi, who was explaining nonchalantly, Chu Guang couldn't help but say,

"Why didn't you tell me about this important thing until now???"

Xiao Qi said with a hint of委屈 (grievance), "Didn't you tell me not to startle you? I planned to tell you from the beginning."

Chu Guang: "..."

This guy...

Definitely did it on purpose!