Chapter 96: The Second Basement of Shelter 404

Chu Guang had a very long dream.

This time, it wasn't about being hit by a truck while working, but rather playing a game of Civilization 6, and it was the marathon bladder version with one turn per year.

Starting from the primitive age, he sent out scouts to explore, climbing up the tech tree... After thousands of turns, he finally managed to wear down the few god-level AIs and achieved a scientific victory.

However, when he opened his eyes, everything was gone.

"Damn! At least let me finish the dream!"

If he had continued, it would probably have been a space victory, right?

He stretched and sat up from the bed, his bones cracking.

Chu Guang had a sudden thought and immediately went to the adjacent resident hall to find the health check equipment and gave himself a full-body check-up.

As expected, he had leveled up!

ID: Chu Guang

Gene Sequence: Administrator

Level: Lv.8 → Lv.9

Basic Attributes

Strength: 10 → 11

Agility: 6

Constitution: 8

Perception: 7

Intelligence: 7-

Skills: Wild Instinct

"Sure enough, you grow by sleeping."

Good children should go to bed early.

After confirming the electronic health report on the computer, Chu Guang dragged it into a folder for archiving and stood up to stretch his arms.

With 220% of the base strength of a normal adult, plus the attribute boost from "Wild Instinct," Chu Guang felt incredibly strong.

"I should go get something to eat."

Yes, and he also needed to distribute the loot to the players.

Thinking of this, Chu Guang hummed a tune and walked into the buffer room, put on the exoskeleton suit, and securely hung the large iron hammer on his back.

Everything was ready, and he stepped onto the elevator to the surface.

It was 5:30 PM in the wasteland, the busiest time at the outpost.

Especially the market at the north gate, which was bustling with players returning from scavenging.

Although it started snowing again, it did not dampen the lively atmosphere.

Now, the players had developed a habit: they would first set up a stall at the north gate with the trash they collected or the loot from hunting. If no one bought it, they would send it to the warehouse for materials.

This way, they could earn a few more copper coins, and those with shopping needs would also come here before going to the NPC store.

"I don't know whether to call them cold or strong. Yesterday, one-tenth of the people died, but no one mourned the dead, and there wasn't even a proper funeral." Lenna stood at the north gate, looking at the blue-coated players with surprise.

"Cold and strong are not contradictory. The world has become like this, and if you're not a little stronger, you'll be crushed by yourself before anyone else can crush you."

Hain was seeing the blue-coated players for the first time, but he had seen many strange things, so he was only slightly surprised.

"Existence is reasonable."

Moreover, if they were the kind of weak people who wallow in sorrow, the ones standing here would probably be a different group.

Attracted by a nearby stall, Hain walked over and examined the cracked crab legs on the iron rack for a while, then asked curiously.

"How much is this?"

Yaya looked up at the NPC.

Although she didn't understand what he said, she could guess from his gestures that he wanted to buy her grilled crab legs.

Yaya wiggled her index finger.

"One silver coin for the small one."

She hadn't decided on the price for the larger ones yet, as they were expensive to buy from the warehouse.

A token, right?

It seemed that the survivors in Qingquan City used tokens for transactions.

"Two, please."

Hain held up two fingers, then fished out two tokens from his pocket and dropped them into Yaya's outstretched hand.

However, Yaya shook her head and urgently took out two silver coins, waving them in front of him.

"Two tokens equal one silver coin."

She tapped the two tokens and a silver coin together to indicate equality, then took out a grilled crab leg and handed it to Hain.

Two tokens for one grilled crab leg?!

Are you crazy?!

The smaller one was only about two or three pounds, and the crab meat inside was probably less than a pound.

Hain's eyebrows and mouth twitched, but he didn't say anything.

After all, he was a guest here, and it was best to avoid conflict.

Damn!

It still hurts!

In this rural area, two tokens could buy a lot of supplies!

Hain didn't want to buy a second one, but he looked at his companion and politely asked.

"Do you want some?"

Lenna didn't waste any words. She caught half of the crab leg with her left hand, threw a curved knife with her right hand, and cleanly cut the crab leg in half, waving the half in her hand.

"This part is mine."

"..."

Hain, used to her rudeness, shook his head and didn't say anything, taking a bite of the soft and tender crab meat.

Hmm.

It's not bad.

But the street vendor didn't use many seasonings, and it was far from the meal Chu Guang treated him to a few days ago.

And it didn't seem very fresh...

After finishing the crab meat, Lenna licked the juice from the corner of her mouth and looked at the people in the market at the north gate, suddenly speaking.

"What do you think of their strength?"

Hain thought for a moment and gave a fair evaluation.

"Very strong. Whether in terms of mental fortitude or various abilities, these people are much stronger than the blue-coated players I've seen."

"Especially their leader, who is probably on the verge of awakening... I don't understand, they're not a barbarian tribe that worships strength, and I've never seen a leader of a faction train themselves to the point of awakening. Is it not enjoyable to sit and command from a position of power?"

Hain, noticing the meaningful expression on Lenna's face, hesitated for a moment and said.

"What are you planning?"

"Definitely not you," Lenna said bluntly, shaking her hair, "I like strong males."

Hain gave her a mocking look and glanced at the girl grilling crab legs at the nearby stall.

"Look, even she is grilling crabs. I don't think that man will be interested in you."

Noticing Lenna's unfriendly gaze, Hain weakly shrugged, indicating that he was no match for her, and made a surrender gesture before walking away.

Just as they were chatting, Chu Guang, carrying a large hammer, walked out of the north gate.

The players immediately gathered around when they saw the Administrator, their eyes shining.

Loot!

Contribution points!

And goodwill!

Before the players could be too eager, Chu Guang, like a true NPC, raised his right fist in a commanding gesture.

Then, he announced in a firm and powerful voice.

"Distribute the loot!"

"I won't repeat the old rules."

Walking to the cart piled with loot, Chu Guang picked up a double-barreled shotgun with rifled barrels and began the NPC's job.

"Identify the equipment!"

"...This is a 18mm double-barreled shotgun. Its owner was Bear, the leader of the Blood Hand clan. Although he and Cha were evil all their lives and deserved their fate, ultimately being sent to hell by the righteous hammer, their weapons are innocent. The wooden stock is carved with a bear, and although a few letters might be wrong, it doesn't matter. Raiders don't have much culture anyway."

"The auction starts now. The starting bid is 40 silver coins, with a maximum of 80 silver."

Mosquito was the first to raise his hand, bidding 80 silver before Chu Guang even finished speaking.

"80 silver!"

Chu Guang: "...?"

The surrounding players, who were ready to bid, cursed.

"Damn!"

"It's him again!"

"Too fast, too fast!"

Chu Guang was also taken aback.

He thought the gun, except for the good steel barrel, had no other redeeming qualities, so he casually set a moderate price.

How could it be snatched so quickly?

But seeing the regretful expressions on the players' faces, he instantly understood.

"Tsk, I underestimated it... The boss's equipment has value."

What was it called again?

Anyway, it was a named weapon!

Chu Guang mentally scolded himself for being hasty but didn't take it too seriously.

He was a man who didn't sweat the small stuff.

Besides, there were five Centurion weapons here. He could fabricate some exaggerated legends and sell them for more, right?

It would be like robbing the rich to help the poor.

The auction proceeded quickly, and all fifty main weapons were distributed in half an hour.

The remaining small items were sold for 1 silver coin each, and the rest were counted as 1 copper coin each, then taken to the warehouse for sorting.

Out of the fifty pieces of equipment, twenty failed to sell, and the thirty that did sold for a total of 971 silver. Following the old rules, a 10% transaction tax was deducted, leaving 873.9 silver, which was rounded down to 873 silver!

In addition, the 29 captives were counted as 5 silver coins each according to the team battle reward rules, totaling 145 silver.

Adding the rewards for killing 21 veteran raiders, 5 Centurions, 1 boss-level raider, and completing the base capture and rescue missions, the total reward amounted to 4371 silver coins!

In comparison, the funds raised from the auction were relatively small.

All 82 participating players would receive at least 50 silver coins, with some getting 55 or even 60 silver coins!

It was like getting rich overnight!

In addition to the loot rewards, the players who died in battle also received a special compensation from the Administrator.

However, the compensation was not high. For example, a Level 1 gene sequence player would receive 1 silver coin per day, totaling about 3 silver coins over three days.

Level 2 would be 6 silver, Level 3 would be 9 silver, and so on.

The amount wasn't much, but something was better than nothing. After three days, they would be back on their feet!

"Long live the Administrator!"

"Awesome! I have a gun now, hahaha!"

"Sniff, 41 silver coins! I've never had so much money!"

"Let's go buy something!"

The combat players cheered, holding the silver coins distributed by Chu Guang, and happily went to spend their money.

The eight non-combat players, who didn't participate, watched enviously, wishing they had joined in with shovels and sticks.

Yaya secretly marked the large crab legs at 3 silver coins, which she couldn't sell earlier, but now should be able to.

Lenna and Hain, standing nearby, watched in confusion, taking a while to swallow and whisper to each other.

"What are they doing?"

"It seems to be an auction."

"I don't understand. Why are they buying back their own loot? Shouldn't it belong to whoever found it?"

"I don't understand either, but I'm deeply impressed."

Hain suddenly had a new understanding of this young ruler. Although he didn't know what methods or spells he used, the art of power was being manipulated to perfection.

Making a farmer hand over his harvest is nothing to praise, as anyone can load a rifle.

But making a group of farmers willingly and gratefully hand over their money to buy back their own harvest...

Only a demon could do that.

Regardless, this was the second time in one day that Hain had raised his evaluation of the same person.

However, Chu Guang, who was being evaluated in his mind, didn't care about others' opinions.

Compared to the heavenly being Kelly, Chu Guang felt he was already a great benefactor, at least not robbing the players' wallets or fooling them with hidden drop rates.

Do people really think that giving more money will make players happy?

Those who think so probably don't play enough games and haven't seen those that shower billions of gold coins, only to make new players happy and old players feel like fools.

Yes, Chu Guang had been tricked more than once, so he was very careful when designing the economic system of Wasteland OL.

He knew he wasn't like those real game designers who could randomly develop "godly equipment" to absorb excess currency and then create overpowered bosses to stimulate player spending.

Amidst the players' cheers, Chu Guang waved and walked through the north gate back to the sanatorium, taking the elevator to the basement.

The elevator to B2 was in the resident hall on B1, which was still locked and would open in a few hours.

Taking advantage of the free time, Chu Guang sat at the computer and uploaded the information he had organized from "The Blood Hand Diary" to the official website's lore section for cloud players and entertainment seekers to imagine freely.

Then, Chu Guang browsed the forum for a while, reviewing the posts he hadn't had time to read the night before, like reading imperial edicts.

Some of the ideas were indeed good and could be considered for the alpha 0.5 version.

Time passed, and it was finally 2 AM.

Chu Guang, seeing the time, stretched and got up from the chair, put on the exoskeleton suit again, and picked up the large hammer.

Although the probability of the first Administrator harming him was only one in ten thousand, it was better to be cautious.

"Xiao Qi, I'm going down."

Xiao Qi, who had returned to the corner to recharge, lifted its camera and nodded obediently.

"Okay, Master, be careful."

Chu Guang, about to step onto the elevator, stopped and looked at the wastebasket.

"What do you mean by 'be careful'? Do you know something is down there?"

Xiao Qi, taken aback by the series of questions, was stuck for a while before answering dumbly.

"I don't know... Probably not?"

"Then why did you tell me to be careful?"

"Ah?! That's just a common phrase stored in the language area..."

Uh.

There's such a setting?

"...Come with me."

Seeing Xiao Qi close its mouth and obediently roll to his feet, Chu Guang felt reassured and stepped onto the elevator to B2.

It wasn't out of fear.

This was purely out of caution.

As soon as Chu Guang stepped in, the previously dark touch screen immediately displayed B1 and B2 buttons and an authorized dialog box.

Chu Guang unhesitatingly pressed B2 with his index finger.

The door closed lightly, and the elevator sank slightly, opening again in less than three seconds, releasing a dry and refreshing breeze.

There was even a hint of a pleasant fragrance.

"...Air freshener?"

Chu Guang looked at Xiao Qi with a strange expression.

"Go check the way."

"Okay..."

The voice sounded weak and even a bit aggrieved.

But Xiao Qi still obeyed, rolling forward.

Chu Guang, gripping the hammer handle with his right hand, stepped forward steadily, cautiously entering the area that had been untouched for over a century.

The floor was very clean, without a speck of dust, and there was no creaking sound when stepped on.

Not just the floor, everything around was so new that there was no sign of anyone living here.

The elevator was in the center of a circular hall, which was even more spacious than the resident hall on B1.

There were four large doors on the east, south, west, and north sides of the hall, leading to straight main roads and four fan-shaped areas divided by the main roads.

There were controllable alloy doors between adjacent areas, which were usually open but could be closed to isolate the areas when necessary.

Area A was the functional area, with complex facilities that Chu Guang planned to explore later.

As for Areas B and D, their structures were simple. From the floor plan at the entrance, it was clear that these were residential areas.

The doors and numbers were densely packed like pigeonholes, filling the entire corridor. Each room was roughly 4-5 square meters, just enough for a cultivation pod and a table, less than half the size of the rooms on B1.

"Does anyone really live here?"

Chu Guang, walking in Area D, was amazed. He opened a room and found only a cultivation pod inside, nothing else.

Well.

Not a problem.

Maybe this wasn't meant for living.

"...The rooms are small, but the dorms have been converted to single rooms, which considers the players' needs."

Each area had 200 rooms, and all the rooms in Area D were equipped with cultivation pods, totaling 400.

The population limit of the shelter was increased from 100 to 500, which was undoubtedly good news for Chu Guang, who was short of labor.

So many slots would be useful for several versions!

The only downside was that so many people might not be needed in winter.

But no problem, they would be useful during spring planting!

As for Area B, it had a simple configuration, with just a bed and a foldable table in each room, not even a chair.

"This area is probably for living."

Chu Guang thought, but no matter how he searched, he couldn't find any personal items in any of the rooms.

Even the bedding was neatly folded, like tofu blocks, with no millimeter of error, even if measured with a ruler