Chapter 272.2: Here Comes The Pillow Delivery

"What will happen if the development progress of the genetic sequence reaches 20%?" Putting down the tablet in his hand, Chu Guang looked up at Hyrja who was sitting opposite the scanning table.

However, Hyrja's answer disappointed him. "I have no idea."

Chu Guang frowned and said, "Is there no way to predict what might happen?"

Hyrja shot him a helpless look. "The selective expression of DNA involves one of the most mysterious areas of life science, and even in the Prosperity Era, it was a frontier of research."

"So we can only wait and see?" Chu Guang frowned.

Hyrja nodded. "That's the only thing we can do at the moment."

Although it was a regretful tone, Chu Guang always felt a trace of excitement in this woman's eyes. It was as if she couldn't wait to see what would happen to him in the end.

Did this woman treat me as a guinea pig?

But this feeling of having power is not bad.

Stretching his shoulders, Chu Guang put on his shoes, got up from the scanning bed, and handed the tablet back to Hyrja. "If you find anything new, let me know."

In the past, Chu Guang was worried that players would level up faster than him, but now, he hoped that he could level up a little slower.

He wanted at least a high-level player or two to explore the path ahead so that he could find out if it was safe.

Currently, he was like a piece of log in a river, racing down a path he never imagined.

Despite the fact that he wanted to level up slowly, he didn't seem to be able to control his growth.

Chu Guang had gradually discovered recently that the experience his players shared with him was not affected by the distance. As long as the overall strength of the players improved, he would grow accordingly.

Even if he stayed in the shelter, nothing could stop him from growing stronger.

Hyrja didn't know what Chu Guang was thinking, and she didn't care at all.

She smiled slightly as she took the tablet from Chu Guang's hand. "No problem! Don't worry, leave it to me!"

Although he wasn’t reassured, Chu Guang could only trust her ability.

...

The morning sun rose.

Rolling over the dew that formed in the ground, the caravan returning from Boulder Town finally arrived at the outpost.

The emotions of the players were still calm, so was Xu Shun's expression, but the few new employees who came back with them were not so calm, and they all had lingering fears on their faces.

It was really close.

They almost didn’t arrive...

The world outside the giant wall was really scary.

Looking at the settlement in front of them, several people were very baffled, wondering how these country bumpkins managed to survive in the suburbs.

It was simply ridiculous!

Seeing Yaya appearing at the south gate, many players showed joyful expressions on their faces.

"Boss Ya is back!"

"Great! We will be able to eat mushroom soup soon!"

"Whoa, the price of ramen has reached 6 silver coins!"

"Barbecue too! From 2 silver coins for 3 skewers to 3 silver coins for 2 skewers!"

"It’s too expensive!"

Both ramen and barbecue have increased in price.

Yaya's eyes lit up when she heard this.

Great!

The price of my mushroom soup can also be increased.

Hearing everyone's complaints, Tail, whose head was bandaged, suddenly touched her belly. "Hmm, I'm suddenly hungry again."

Sisi, whose right hand was bandaged, glanced helplessly at Tail. "You look like a completely different person in game."

Tail curled up her lips triumphantly and snorted nonchalantly, "What's the matter! The food eaten in the game will not fit in my real stomach, and I heard that eating more can speed up recovery."

Sisi snorted in contempt. "I've only heard that high blood sugar will hinder healing."

Sesame Paste stared at them who were still chatting with a worried look. "You guys better go to the infirmary quickly."

Teng Teng also nodded and said with some worry, "You lost so much blood last night... Don't try to act tough."

"It's okay, this is but a scratch." Sisi flung her head back and gave them a thumbs up. "It will be fine tomorrow!"

At this time, Midnight Pubg just happened to come out from the south gate. He glanced at them and asked curiously, "Where's the bear?"

"You mean Roro?" Ample Time looked away and said meaningfully. "Er, how should I put it... She finally made her first brave sacrifice."

When they were on the way back, they encountered a little trouble. The number of mutants on the edge of the fifth ring completely exceeded their expectations. There were not just Creepers, but also Tyrants and Butchers.

When dealing with Tyrants, Tail and Sisi suffered slight injuries, but the problem was not serious, and they could be cured by returning to the nurturing cabin and resting for a day.

However, their action also exposed a very serious problem.

The individual heavy firepower capability of the shelter was still lacking.

The portable bazookas currently used by players were mainly the Armor Fists seized from the Army and their imitated version.

The bazooka was quite powerful when dealing with light targets, and it could also pose a certain threat to some light exoframes.

However, when facing a Tyrant with thick armor and high health, it still seemed a bit ineffective. They would need 2 to 3 shots to kill one.

As for monsters like the Rotten Knight... There wasn’t a need to mention it at all.

Their experience reminded the Lifestyle Profession players that their shelter needed a portable bazooka with higher penetration.

For example, RPGs.

Mosquito, who had produced recoilless guns and armor-piercing shells, said that it wouldn't be a problem. He had obtained the critical blueprint and formula, and Goblin Technology would soon produce a more reliable individual anti-armor weapon than the 37mm Kontos!

Mosquito, who regarded Steel Plant 81 as a competitor, had already set up a flag on the forum, vowing to let Bathroom Goer and Athlete Foot see the true strength of his Goblin Technology.

In addition, the encounter of Teng Teng and her party the night before also gave the players another reminder.

The mutants in the Tide would leave the main force over time and gradually spread to areas outside the battlefield, in what Hyrja called the ‘dispersion effect’.

Thanks to Roshan’s sacrifice, Shelter 404's Mutants Research increased by one.

After briefly understanding what happened the night before from Xu Shun, Chu Guang ordered him to bring the new employees to Luca in the Longevity Town. Once he was done, he headed to the front line.

Since the night before, the fierce battle between the players and the Tide had become intense. And amongst the 125 players who had just been resurrected after dying on the first night, 66 players were sent back to the forum again.

Some even had just been revived for a few hours before they died again. It was simply too pitiful!

The sound of artillery and gunfire never stopped.

Chu Guang knew very well that the real key to winning this war was not the front line, but their ability to deploy enough logistics.

In order to meet the supply of ammunition, he even shut down the fertilizer production line.

The sudden Tide completely disrupted his plan.

Chu Guang originally planned to gradually transfer part of the production capacity of the industrial zone to civilian use before the end of spring, but who would have thought that the Tide would suddenly break out less than halfway through the season?

It was fine if the opponent was a group of marauders.

After all, fighting with marauders would not only provide them prisoners of war, but also give them some loot.

It would be the simultaneous growth of both the social labor force and their social wealth.

However... Their opponents were Mutant Slime Molds!

They would only receive a mountain of corpses after they emptied their chambers. There were neither prisoners nor spoils, which was simply a loss-making business.

Chu Guang was really feeling a headache coming.

If the problem of fiscal deficit was not resolved, even if he won the battle, he would become poor...

...

The war was still going on.

On the sixth day of the Tide, the battlefield was permeated with an unbearable stench, and mutant flies, mice, and cockroaches became new troubles.

The physical condition of the players was good. Except for intelligence type and perception type players, basically no one was affected. However, those NPCs were having a hard time..

Some guards with weak immunity even got sick.

Yin Fang had to temporarily put down the work of the scientific expedition team and set up a mobile medical station at the Brown Farm. It was closer to the front line, to accommodate the patients who returned from the front line.

Chu Guang exchanged all the accumulated points for intermediate loot boxes. Fortunately, he received some antibiotics and antiviral drugs. With them, the outbreak was finally brought under control slightly.

Of course, that was only a temporary workaround.

In order to prevent the corpses from continuing to rot and cause a larger-scale plague, Chu Guang had to ask 50 newcomers of the constitution and strength type sequences to wear protective clothing and gas masks, and use rickshaws to remove the corpses from the fourth ring to further places outside the fifth ring.

Back in the command post on the frontlines.

Chu Guang called Brown over from his farm.

Although Brown didn't want to come out of the farm, nor did he want to see Chu Guang's face, he knew very well that he had no right to refuse.

Without wasting time exchanging pleasantries, Chu Guang looked at Brown and asked, "I heard that Boulder Town has a way to turn Crunchers into nutrient cream."

"You've been doing business with Boulder Town for so long, haven't you thought about using the Cruncher's corpse?"

Hearing Chu Guang's words, a bitter smile appeared on Brown's trembling face.

Use it?

Does he think it's that simple?

With his head down, Brown mumbled softly, "Sir, processing the corpse will require more than just a piece of equipment. We need to consume a lot of electricity. What's more... We have never encountered such a huge Tide before."

Even though Crunchers were the lowest level mutants, they were still dangerous when they gathered and reached a certain size. Few survivors would have time to mess with them.

Most people would only shoot at them when they had no choice.

To use Crunchers as industrial raw materials, regardless of the technical skills required, one needed cheap bullets and electricity.

To produce the former meant having sufficient labor and a stable supply chain, while to obtain the latter meant that they needed relatively complete industrial facilities.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

If they could solve those problems, Brown Farm would have been industrialized long ago. He wouldn’t be in his current awkward situation.

There was no need for him to produce nutrient cream if he could buy it from Boulder Town for 1 chip.

It was just nutrient cream after all. There was no point in spending too much money on it.

Brown Farm neither had a large enough market nor the ability to export what it produced to more distant locations.

To put it bluntly, it was nothing more than a small settlement of survivors with a size of 100 people.

Even now, with a population of 2,000 to 3,000 gathered in the northern suburbs, the support of basic technology and massive balls, they barely managed to ignite the flames of industrialization.

Chu Guang stroked his chin and fell into deep thought. "That's a problem."

Maybe I should talk to Liszt.

But this guy is now concentrating on making the imitated version of KV-1 exoskeleton and developing sales...

In order to invest in the factory and support Chu Guang's war, he'd already owed a huge amount of debt to the Boulder Town Bank.

Chu Guang was too embarrassed to continue oppressing him.

He shouldn't always go after a single person, even if that person could bring him money.

A win-win deal should first be a win for both parties involved. And if he wanted to keep winning, he should at least let the other party recover...

Just when Chu Guang was deep in thought and Brown was trembling, Captain Wrench barged into the room. "Administrator!"

Chu Guang looked at him, "What's wrong?"

Wrench stood at attention and gave a military salute before speaking, "There's a group of merchants from Boulder Town outside. They claimed to be your guests and wanted to see you."

Thinking of the phone call Shu Yu had made to him earlier, Chu Guang's eyes lit up. "Let them in!"

Wrench nodded instantly. "Yes!"