The next morning.

The people in the caravan, who had rested all night, packed up their stuff and prepared to set off.

According to Liszt’s plan, most of the people in his caravan would continue to Red River Town, but a small group would be split out to return to Boulder Town without carrying much merchandise.

Of course, the group returning to Boulder Town wouldn’t return completely empty-handed.

According to the contract between Liszt and Chu Guang, this group would bring 100 kilograms of psychoid leaves and 10 rolls of devil silk cloth.

Each roll of cloth was about 100 meters long, and weighed about 10 kilograms. It was mainly the backlogged inventory in the outpost.

As for psychoid leaves, it was the specialty of the Greenhouse Ruins.

Some wastelanders liked to use it to make psychoid drinks for refreshing their minds, or mix it with shredded tobacco and roll it into cigarettes. However, this thing was mildly addictive, and using it frequently could easily lead to dependence.

Before the caravan set off, Chu Guang found Escaping Mole and Ample Time.

These two old brothers were the players who understood him the best of all players, or in other words, the players who understood the current goal of the game the best.

He needed them to do one thing for him.

They were the only ones suitable to carry out a mission like that.

"I have two important missions for you here."

After hearing him, both players were stunned for a moment, and then the excited expressions quickly appeared on their faces.

Hidden mission!

An important hidden mission!

Thinking of this, Escaping Mole couldn’t help trembling with excitement. He quickly straightened his back and said, "I’d love to serve you, the most honorable administrator!"

Sure enough, the game had a favorability setting! All his past efforts were not in vain.

Ample Time, who was standing next to him, was shocked.

My goodness.

This guy is such a bootlicker!

Not wanting to be outdone, and for fear of falling behind, Ample Time quickly added a sentence with a serious face, "Me too, the most honorable administrator! For the glory of recasting the Federation of People, for the glory of our Shelter 404, I am willing to do anything!"

It was just licking an NPC’s boots.

It was not like he hadn’t done it in other games before.

As long as the hidden mission could be triggered, nothing else was important!

"..."

As much as he would like the players to obey him, he still preferred them to obey him in more useful places. All they were doing now was giving him goosebumps. ŕἁＮỖBÈŠ

Clearing his throat, Chu Guang decided to pretend he didn’t hear anything and continued, "The winter is over, and in order to carry out the next step of work, we need to strengthen our relationship with the surrounding areas."

"The caravan we have made friends with is going to Boulder Town and Red River Town. I plan to send a representative to investigate the local situation, understand the living standards and spiritual outlook of the survivors there, and the most important thing is to understand their needs."

To put it simply, it was to inquire about information and inspect the market at the same time.

Chu Guang didn’t fully believe in Liszt. Things could be left to capable people to deal with, but he still needed to have his own source of information.

It just so happened that those two players were game enthusiasts who liked to write strategies.

He believed that he didn’t need to suggest it too obviously, and as long as he sent them over, they would definitely be able to figure out what they needed to do.

Just as Chu Guang had expected, after hearing his words, the eyes of the two players instantly shone brightly.

Boulder Town and Red River Town!

New maps!

Opening two at a time?!

Obviously, the game production team had completed the design of the new maps, but it had not been fully opened, so they needed two players to test it.

Guessing the intention of the development team, the two become even more excited.

"I’m going to Boulder Town!" Ample Time responded the fastest and spoke first.

Escaping Mole’s reaction was half a beat late, but he recovered immediately. "Damn it, I want to go to Boulder Town too!"

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the merchant from Boulder Town was obviously stronger than the merchant from Red River Town.

After all, the people in the caravan stationed at the door even used the prosthetics that looked like they came straight out of

Cyberpunk 2077

.

On the other hand, although those merchants in Red River Town came twice, each time they came, their merchant looked like someone from

Red Dead Redemption

.

Anyone would be able to tell which place was more well to do!

Ample Time looked at Mole, trying to bribe him to back down. "Brother, 200 silver coins, how about giving me this chance?"

Escaping Mole sneered, "Fuck off, at least 300 silver coins!"

"250 silver coins. If not, then let’s roll dice or rock paper scissors, that’s the fairest."

Escaping Mole said with grief and indignation, "You bastard! Didn’t you promise that you wouldn’t fight with me next time? You even have the audacity to say that you want to roll the dice with me?"

It was mainly because he didn’t trust his own luck, so he was reluctant to gamble.

Ample Time coughed awkwardly. "I was talking about auctions at that time… I didn’t say that I wouldn’t fight with you over missions. Besides, it’s obviously me who made the choice first, so logically speaking, you’re the one looking for a fight."

"@#%!"

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Chu Guang frowned and was struck speechless. "..."

These two really ignored him completely.

Well, after thinking about it, it was quite reasonable.

After all, he pretended to be dumb very often by relying on his NPC identity.

In the end, Escaping Mole weighed the pros and cons and settled on 250 silver coins.

The probability of rolling dice and rock-paper-scissors was 50 to 50. If he lost, he would not have the money.

Besides, going to Red River Town was not bad either.

While it was clear that Boulder Town was more developed, there were more opportunities in underdeveloped places. Obviously, for a long time in the future, the focus of outpost trade would be outside Clearspring City, not around the third ring.

Seeing that the two had already determined their respective jobs, Chu Guang looked at them and continued, "I’ll have a guard follow you, act as your interpreter and help you communicate with the locals."

"Remember, you are the image of Shelter 404, and I hope you will pay attention to your behavior and keep our mission in mind when you are outside."

After listening to the administrator’s instructions, Ample Time and Mole replied solemnly.

"Don’t worry, administrator!"

"Please leave it to us!"

...

The caravan set off on the road.

Ample Time and Mole followed, and waved goodbye to the players at the south gate.

"Goodbye, brothers! Wait for our good news!"

"Rest assured, we will bring the first-hand information to the forum!"

However, the players at the gate did not appreciate it.

Especially after seeing the smug expressions on the faces of those 2 clowns, they felt even more envious.

"Damn it! These two are so lucky!"

"This is so not fair! It’s so shady! They must have some dirty deal with the development team behind the scenes!"

"I don’t care! If they don’t choose me, this is how I’ll tell everyone! Unless they let me go too!"

"I also think that there is a dirty transaction behind the scenes."

Escaping Mole couldn’t help but yell back when he heard other people were slandering him, "Dirty transaction my ass! Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared, you ignorant fools"

Ample Time also echoed, "That’s right! Do you know how hard it is for us to level up the administrator’s favorability?"

Regardless of whether others were satisfied or not, in the end, they were the only ones who received the mission.

In this way, in the envious eyes of other players, the two players followed the caravan with triumphant smiles and disappeared into the woods.

After leaving the wetland park, the caravan divided into two groups with the main group continuing to set off along the original route to Red River Town, which was located in the east of Clearspring City.

The other group took the devil silk and psychoid leaves purchased from the outpost and returned to Boulder Town, where they would purchase the equipment needed to open the factory and collect technicians who could operate the equipment.

Farther and farther from the park, Xu Shun, who was wearing simple clothes, looked at Qian Lai who was walking beside him and asked, "How long does it take to get to Boulder Town from here?"

Qian Lai said with a smile, "It depends on how many people there are. If it’s a caravan like us, it will take three days if we travel slowly. But if we travel fast enough, we may arrive in two days."

Need to spend at least a night outside.

Xu Shun nodded thoughtfully.

He grew up in the northern suburbs and only heard that Boulder Town was very prosperous, but he only heard about it. There were many mutants and marauders along the way, and it was full of unknown dangers, so it was difficult for ordinary people to travel there alone.

The guard next to him interjected, "We need to be extra careful from now on. We encountered a group of marauders when we came. Although they didn’t go after us at that time, it’s hard to say when we have fewer people… To avoid any potential attack, we will need to go around that area later."

Xu Shun said in surprise. "You encountered a group of marauders?"

Qian Lai said with a smile. "It’s just some thugs hiding in the ruins. This is very common. In fact, some of them may have been mercenaries or merchants in the past, and for various reasons, they decided to change to a more comfortable way of living."

The guard beside him continued, "They’re like cockroaches, always popping up when you don’t expect them, and no matter how many you kill, you wouldn’t be able to kill them all."

Hearing this, Xu Shun couldn’t help but tightened the grip on the rifle on his back.

Seeing his serious look, Qian Lai couldn’t help feeling a little amused, so he joked, "Brother, how old are you this year?"

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen? Then I’m a few years older than you. I’ll be twenty in a few months."

Xu Shun looked at the man in surprise. "Seriously?"

He thought this guy was as old as Auspicious...

"If you’ve been traveling everywhere on the wasteland since you were twelve like me, you’ll be like an old man when you’re my age." Qian Lai pointed to his weathered face and said helplessly. "For example, look at our boss. If you only look at his appearance, can you tell that he is only in his early thirties?"

Xu Shun nodded, seemingly understanding what he meant. "I see."

"But our administrator... He looks quite young," He continued.

Qian Lai shook his head. "Brother, don’t be deceived by the appearance. You will never be able to tell the true age of those blue coats just by looking at their faces. He may look like 20, but he may actually be an old monster who has lived for more than a hundred years."

Xu Shun gasped, "Is this possible?!"

Qian Lai grinned and chuckled to himself, "You haven’t been to many places. You’ll know when you travel more."

Ample Time, who was walking beside him, was confused the whole time. He stared at his VM for a long time, but there weren’t any subtitles.

What are these two talking about?

...