Chapter 23: More Little Shits

In any case, they couldn’t eat that meat. Chu Guang sighed, reluctantly tossing it aside. "If only we had a refrigerator."

He thought back to the Blue Umbrella Mushrooms in the mutant leech lair. No matter what, he needed to collect them in order to get that generator. It was only the second week of September, and Liszt's caravan wouldn’t be back until the end of the month. It was pointless to worry about those mushrooms right now. He could wait until then to start storing food. A refrigerator was a luxury item, and with the shelter’s current finances, he wouldn’t be able to afford one anyway.

For three days, Chu Guang left hunting early in the morning. When he returned in the afternoon. He would cook a pot of meat for the players before squatting in the corner of the nursing home as he continued to improve his food smoking method. His schedule was so fixed it seemed like that of an actual NPC.

Although his research on smoking meat wasn’t going well, he found satisfaction in the fact that the players were performing very well these days.

Chu Guang did the math. Over the past three days, he received a total of seven reward points. Though he almost had ten, Chu Guang used all his points on a basic loot box after some thinking. Thankfully he didn’t receive lollipops; there was also a bottle of soy sauce. He didn't know what the brand was, but finally, the players would be able to eat a little more flavorsome food. Chu Guang carefully stored the soy sauce like it was treasure.

His cooking skills were still not that great. The first time the players ate what he cooked, it was fresh to them. It tasted authentic, natural, and pollution-free. It tasted different from fast food, but nobody would be able to stand having the same thing every meal.

"I think I’m going to throw up if we keep eating stew every day." Sitting on the ground holding a bowl, Night Ten frowned. When he found out that players could eat in game, he was excited at first, but he began to realize how much pain it would bring him. All their meals were either stewed meat, or boiled green wheat. Even if his mouth could endure the ordeal of eating, his butt could barely stand it.

Ample Time took a bite of greasy foreleg meat, frowned, and said, "The tasting system probably hasn’t been fully developed. Otherwise, even if we didn’t add enough salt to the meat, it shouldn’t taste like this..."

Everything was bland and greasy! It was even bitter! Meat was even worse than green wheat porridge.

"The smell is too strong. It might be better if we blanched it with cooking wine, scallion, ginger, and garlic," Old White comforted. “Let’s just make do for now. We’re in a wasteland after all. It would be really difficult to find things like that. I’m sure there will be more delicious things in the future!"

Ample Time rolled his eyes and said nothing. Since being appointed Construction Captain, that guy was considering things from the game developers’ perspective more and more, and was even starting to make empty promises on the developers’ behalf.

What he said was true, though.

Since realism was the game’s selling point, there was nothing wrong with setting condiments as luxury goods; players might have to pay for them in the future!

Night Ten sighed. "I hope we will get condiments in the next update. I’d happily buy them using real money..."

Gale ate his meat slowly and didn’t participate in the conversation between the three. He didn't mind the taste, but he was thinking about how to improve his fishing traps.

Seeing that the atmosphere suddenly chilled, Night Ten looked at Old White and asked casually, "How’s your cement production going?"

Old White sipped his soup and replied, "The quality needs to be improved, but I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to success."

"Seriously?" Night Ten gasped.

"I'm not kidding, and it's not just cement. Ample Time and I started working on making bricks, but we have no molds, which is frustrating. The shape of the brick we made wasn’t great, but it’s still usable."

Night Ten asked, "Can't you use wood planks as molds?"

"Hehe, if only it were that simple!" Ample Time shook his head before he continued, "This isn’t the same as chopping a tree. It takes a lot of work to shape the mold."

Ample Time didn't expect it to be so difficult either. As a hardcore survivalist master who could build a building in

The Forest

in under half an hour, he was frustrated to be dealing with such a low-level problem. Of course, everything was attributed to Wasteland Online’s hardcore setting.

Night Ten and Gale glanced at each other before looking at Old White and Ample Time. They expressed a look of helplessness and exasperation. They were players in theory, and though their hands-on abilities weren’t useless, they weren’t much better than ordinary people. They had caught a lot of mutant leech larvae these past few days and made lots of traps using the method they learned from a short video they found online, but they still hadn’t caught a single fish. Then again, there were lots of birds around the lake. Maybe those stupid fish were long gone as they had been eaten by the birds. Those who remained were pretty smart and might not be so easily fooled by them.

Gale could only find comfort by convincing himself that he was just trying to feed the fish so they would grow bigger. Maybe after the fish were less vigilant, they’d be able to catch a few.

All of a sudden, there was movement from the direction of the nursing home. The four turned to see the Administrator walking towards them with two dumbfounded dudes. From their shocked expressions, it was clear they were the newest players to put on their helmets and enter the game world.

Night Ten sighed silently to himself, again.

More male players...

"Everyone, allow me to introduce you. These two are our newest members, Tomato_scrambled_eggs, and WC_really_has_mosquitoes," Chu Guang said.

What kind of stupid names are these?

Chu Guang resisted the urge to complain. After all, he was supposed to be an NPC.

Clap clap clap.

Light applause rang out suddenly. The four players sitting in front of the cauldron put down their bowls and applauded, offering their unenthusiastic welcome, but the newcomers didn't care; they hadn’t recovered from their shock.

At Chu Guang's instruction, they sat in front of the cauldron, looking blandly at the white mist floating over the pot. They felt the damp heat coming from the flames below... The smell of meat...

Even these things are so realistic!

Seeing that the two new players had been silent for some time, Old White took the initiative to talk. "What attributes did you guys get?"

Mosquito was the first to recover. "I’m an Agile type."

Tomato Eggs eventually came to. "I'm a constitution type. Have all of you eaten?"

"The Administrator originally planned to hold a welcome ceremony, but it seems that we messed it up. He got us to start eating earlier," Night Ten said with a helpless expression, "You just woke up, want some?"

Mosquito took a bowl full of big bones and soup, took a sip, and his pupils widened in shock. "Taste... This is incredible! You can really taste food in this game!"

‘Holy shit! This is too incredible!’

"Not only can you eat, but you can also get low blood sugar if you don't," Ample Time sighed. "I don't think it needs to be this realistic. They could at least make food taste delicious."

Tomato Egg stared at the bowl, speechless. He hesitated before asking, "This... What is this?"

Old White replied, "Meat."

"Meat? What kind of meat?"

"Mutated hyena. We don't actually know whether it’s a wolf or a dog. They’re all mutants, anyway."

Mosquito’s hands shook subconsciously, almost spilling the stew.

Tomato Egg’s reaction was different, though. Instead of shrinking back, he leaned in closer and took a curious bite.

After savoring the taste, his brow furrowed even tighter. "It smells so fishy. Didn’t you bleed it?"

The players looked at each other.

"I have no idea."

"The Administrator was the one who hunted it all..."

"If you know how to cook, you can bring it up to the Administrator. As long as you have a skill, he’ll assign you a class," Old White suggested.

Tomato Egg gave an eager look. "Really? Then I'll try talking to him later."

"How about woodwork? I can do woodwork!" Mosquito hurriedly asked.

"You mean you’re a carpenter?" Old White's eyes lit up and he stared at him before asking again, "Are you really a carpenter?"

Mosquito was taken aback. He slowly revealed a shy smile and muttered, "Yes. I sell furniture in real life, and everything is made from wood. If you’re interested, you can add my chat number. I’ll even give you a discount..."

"Great!" Old White stood up excitedly, "I need someone here to make a mold. Come help me!"

"?!"

Not only did Old White get up; Ample Time also got to his feet. Before Mosquito realized what was happening, the two of them had already grabbed his arms. "Wait, I haven't had the soup yet!"

Seeing them drag him towards the construction site, Mosquito stared at the scene before him, dumbfounded. Just as he was about to protest, Old White cut him off.

"That soup tastes like shit. Just wait for the chef to cook another pot in the afternoon."

"That's right! Hey man, you should listen to my advice. That stuff is terrible! Let me help you get familiar with the gameplay," Ample Time added.

Mosquito: "......%*!"

Tomato Eggs watched his fellow rookie being dragged into the grove and swallowed. "Are they really teaching him how to play the game?"

Night Ten and Gale glanced at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Probably?"

"Maybe?"

"..." Tomato Eggs stared at them in fright.

Why do you sound so unsure?!