Chapter 299.2: Northern Expedition Planning

Irene: Although there's a lot of information in this update, it can be basically summed up as Corps is not allowed to do business. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Elf Wang: However, you can engage in other occupations other than your current occupation, but you cannot use the guns and armor provided by your current occupation. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Garbage: Hahaha, express delivery! Please get out of the way!

Escaping Mole: I just finished reading it! So let me make a brief summary. There are 2 key points of this change. One is that the logistics power is centralized, and the allocated budget is changed to centralized procurement and unified deployment. The other is the separation of corps equipment and personal equipment. In the future, the equipment purchased at the supply point will be stored in the designated arsenal, which will be guarded and checked by Quartermaster NPC, and can only be used under specific circumstances!

- The equipment exchanged by points is bound to the corps and cannot be traded. Normal wear and tear on weapons will be repaired and will not result in fine, but malicious damage to the equipment will require double compensation, which will be judged by the AI.

Lightning Professor: Oh damn! The issuance of silver coins is now changed to points. The corps system has been weakened at an epic level! (Panic)

Escaping Mole: Actually, it's not weakened. It's just that there are too many people on the server, and the loopholes in the rules have been fixed.

In the past, when the budget was issued, players could freely control their expenses and buy equipment by themselves. It was okay when there were fewer people, but now that there were more people on the server, it was inevitable that there would be space for rent-seeking behavior.

For example, Corps A could discuss with Player B, making a purchase from Player B, and then Player B could give them a kickback. In this way, the money from the military budget would slip to all players' personal accounts.

Now that the military budget was changed to points, and the procurement, logistics, and weapon maintenance were collectively managed by the alliance, the problem of using the military budget to make money for oneself would no longer exist.

For those who didn't intend to play tricks from the beginning, this change was not a weakening, but because the logistics system was handed over to the AI, players could focus more on the front line.

Lightning Professor: Damn! There are so many restrictions now. Who the hell would still want to play the corps system? You guys can go to the front line. I'll just focus on being a traveling merchant.

When Ye Wei saw this sentence, he was immediately amused, and couldn't help replying to Professor Yang.

Night Ten: Lol. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Lightning Professor: ?

Escaping Mole: Aren't you still waiting to get into the game? How can you be a traveling merchant if you can't even play the game? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Lightning Professor: I mean if! If! You know! Damn you lucky bastards! You're only luckier than me. If I got into the game as early as you guys, I would already max out my level.

Ample Time popped up all of a sudden.

Ample Time: In wartime, it is the duty of every citizen to fight for the alliance. Abandoning the obligation is deemed to give up everything, which includes all property in the game. Don't try to play tricks in this game, it's useless. Besides, it’s really unnecessary to play a game like this. (Side glance)

Escaping Mole: I agree with Ample Time, and the gameplay adjustment does not affect the revenue of the corps system. The rewards of the battle are reflected in many areas in the settlement interface. It can be population, resources, land, and other things. FYI, silver coins are just one of the New Alliance's currencies, and when it comes to your contribution to the New Alliance, the New Alliance remembers it more clearly than you. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Lightning Professor fell silent, but he still didn't understand.

Why did those tier 0 and tier 1 players not feel uncomfortable at all, even though this update took away the logistics power of the Corps?

Instead, he, a cloud gamer who didn't even have the qualifications for the closed test, was complaining on their behalf.

Don't they want to make more money?

Do they not know that silver coins can be exchanged for real money?!

Ye Wei could roughly understand what the guy was thinking, although he couldn't agree with it. This guy may be a little clever, but he was still very short-sighted.

Assuming that there was an obvious loophole in the rules, and someone took advantage of it to make a profit, if one didn't take advantage of it, one would suffer a loss and be eliminated from the competition. Therefore, even if it was known that taking advantage of loopholes would harm the interests of the collective, individuals would inevitably make the most unfavorable choice for the collective out of the individual's optimal solution.

When everyone fell into the prisoner's dilemma, no one would be a real winner, and the final result would definitely be a no-win situation.

For the players in the Alpha round of testing, the New Alliance was a utopia built on a deserted wasteland with their painstaking efforts. The meaning of this game was far more than just a game, and far more than those few silver coins in his eyes.

Even if there was no reward, they were willing to pick up their rifles and die bravely to protect the land under their feet.

A loss of equipment and experience was much better than a server reset.

...

Shelter 401.

Engineer Yin, who had been busy all afternoon, finally replaced the new fuel rods and restarted the shelter's reactor.

As the air purification system started to operate, the light in the shelter was restored, and Chu Guang finally received the notification that the mission was completed.

[Shelter 401 administrator authority has been obtained.]

"It's done... Speaking of which, what are you going to do with the administrator authority?" Yin Fang looked at Chu Guang, "The administrator here is dead. If they didn't leave a will, the default settings is that the living residents would inherit it according to the order of their numbers..."

Just when Yin Fang was giving advice to Chu Guang, Chu Guang stretched out his hand and lightly waved it to turn off the light above his head, and turned it back on again.

Yin Fang was dumbfounded. "... When did you obtain it?"

"Your reaction was as if it was the first time you saw me using administrator authority in another shelter. Wasn't it the same in Shelter 117 before?" Chu Guang gave him a strange look instead.

Yin Fang had a weird expression on his face. "Wasn't what happened in Shelter 117 because of the last words of the previous administrator... Forget it, it's not an important matter anyway."

Giving up pursuing minutiae, Yin Fang followed Chu Guang to the administrator's office and recovered the black box there.

The administrator's office in Shelter 401 was completely different from Shelter 117.

The decoration style was very simple, and it was more like a laboratory or an archive than an office.

As soon as Yin Fang entered the door, he spotted the squarish silver coffee machine on the table. He quickly walked over and hugged it fondly in his arms, so surprised that it was as if he had discovered the new continent.

"Model KW-8241T! I've only seen it in a magazine! It's unbelievable that there's actually one here!"

"A magazine?"

Yin Fang rattled on, "A pre-war magazine. Compared with the KW-8241 prototype, this type of coffee machine has 4 more special roasting processes, and its appearance is the academy-style especially designed for researchers. Look at this futuristic shape. Laymen wouldn't even be able to find where the water outlet is! Uh, but it seems to be broken. But it's not a big problem, it should work after a small fix... Can I take it away?"

As he spoke, he looked over expectantly.

"... Sure." Chu Guang rolled his eyes.

Anyway, he didn't have a hobby of collecting coffee machines.

Yin Fang could take it away if he wanted.

...

A coffee machine didn't take up much weight, so Chu Guang grabbed it with the black box and returned to the surface with Yin Fang.

The shelter’s operations had been restarted.

After returning, he would arrange the staff of the logistics department to clean the place and place the newly produced dormant cabins in each room.

The reborn Shelter 401 would serve as a new novice village for the Beta test, accommodating at least 1,000 new players.

As for the planting area in the shelter, Chu Guang intended to use it for breeding to supply high-quality seeds for the large farmland on the west side of Longevity Town.

Sitting on Neeko's back, on the way back to Shelter 404, Chu Guang turned on the information transmission function of the exoframe helmet, and took a look at the forum.

The light blue window was directly projected on Chu Guang's retina. He picked out the posts created by a few familiar ID posts and browsed them one by one.

For the changes in Beta 0.21 version, players had their own interpretations and opinions. Regardless of their views, however, reform of the Corps system was imperative.

The New Alliance was a united collective, and what was needed was united soldiers, not a group of warlords fighting independently.

It was the first part of Chu Guang's military reform plan to bring back the power of logistics to the central government of the alliance and to be deployed and managed by a special logistics department.

In the future, he would take more measures to ensure that the various corps could coordinate and cooperate in the system, and players who chose the corps system could get a better game experience.

What surprised Chu Guang was Spring Water Commander's post.

That dude seldom wrote strategies, but this time he wrote a lot.

In addition to a detailed analysis of the doctrines of the various branches of the Corps system, this player also asserted at the end of the post that the adjustment of the Beta 0.21 version was to prepare for the new expansion.

And the content of the new expansion was likely to be related to the Northern Expedition!

After reading the post from beginning to end, Chu Guang's mouth curled into a smile.

"Pretty smart."

Although it was obvious.

...

The next day.

In the north of Dawn City.

Next to the smooth airport runway stood the military camp of the New Alliance.

Currently stationed there were the reorganized First and Second Corps, as well as the Guardian Corps wearing light and heavy exoskeletons.

Unlike the players, these soldiers not only wore standardized uniforms, but also had uniform weapons in their hands.

Standing beside Chu Guang, Vanus looked quite proud. "What do you think?"

Looking at the neat formation on the training ground, Chu Guang, who was wearing an exoframe, nodded approvingly, not stingy with his praise. "Very good!"

There were a total of 397 soldiers standing before him.

Under the training of Vanus and other former officers of the Army, their physical fitness and fighting will had undergone earth-shaking changes during the last few months.

Some of them even awakened their abilities.

As a standing corps, the main mission of those aboriginal soldiers was defense, but that did not mean that Chu Guang would relax his requirements.

The threats in the wasteland went far beyond marauders.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Especially after encountering Torch, Chu Guang realized this more deeply.

Although the combat effectiveness of the players was strong and they had the advantage of immortality, the training of the standing corps couldn’t be overlooked because of that.

Players couldn't be online 24 hours a day. There were always things that players couldn't do.

Wastelanders had to deal with trouble on their own!

After the inspection was over.

Taking advantage of everyone's presence, Chu Guang held a battle meeting.

In addition to the commanders of the first and second corps, the high-level members of the New Alliance, including Luca from the logistics department, also participated.

Without wasting time on the opening speech, Chu Guang went straight to the point.

"Torch's armed force attacked our convoy escorting the fuel rods, and the remnants fled northward. Although there were only 8 of them, they were well-equipped and well-trained. If they are allowed to join the Bonechewer Clan, they will probably give us big trouble this fall."

"Currently, the Snake Clan is in a stalemate with Red River Town in their ongoing war, and as a result, they are unable to spare any resources to confront us right now. If I were them, I would most likely choose the Fang Clan, who is resting in West Continent City, instigating them to go south and continue the battle that ended abruptly last year."

"Since this battle is going to be fought sooner or later, let's fight it on their territory."

All the officers in the room had expressions of excitement on their faces, and they clenched their fists involuntarily.

Wrench was exceptionally prepared to fight.

In the defensive battle at the beginning of the year, the guards standing in Longevity Town suffered heavy losses. Many of his brothers fell in that battle.

However, those cunning marauders turned around and fled with their tails between their legs when they saw Black Snake's defeat!

He had been waiting for the moment for too long!

Looking at his subordinates who were in high fighting spirit, Chu Guang put his hands on the map and continued in a serious tone, "The Northern Expedition will start next month, and the goal is to drive out all members of the Fang Clan entrenched in West Continent City!"

"Before the Northern Expedition begins, we need to prepare at least 30 aircraft, 50 trucks, 5 million rounds of ammunition and artillery shells. We also have to lay our railroad to Remote Creek Town!"

"This war will completely change the situation of the southern River Valley Province. What it will affect is not just our fate. I hope you will overcome all difficulties and do everything in your power to prepare for war."

"Since the Great Rift Valley and Boulder Town don't want to deal with that group of marauders..." Chu Guang's right fist landed on the map, and he said firmly with a look of determination. "Then we'll do it!"