Chapter 302.2: This Clearly Isn't Something Done By A Human....

Where did these rats come from?

Make Me was also dumbfounded.

He could admit he served a small role as a stimulant, but that was all.

Frankly speaking, the wasteland was already full of rats and cockroaches to begin with. Any corner brimming with filth had the chance of becoming breeding beds for them.

Those forgotten corpses and a lack of sufficient natural enemies were the actual root of the rodent infestation.

Compared to mutant cockroaches, although rats, as mammals, didn’t have as good a reproductive system, they had the upper hand when it came to intelligence and combat prowess, which allowed them to become the true masters of the West Continent City.

They moved in packs and gnawed through everything in their path. It didn’t matter if it was the surface or the underground, marauders and survivors alike were unable to do anything about them.

It wasn’t like Make Me hadn’t tried disciplining his minions or forming order in their ranks. Unfortunately, it didn’t take him long to realize his plan was completely useless.

First of all, they were speaking different languages.

Second, rats were cunning by nature and possessed no loyalty to speak of.

Even those minions he had beaten into submission didn’t always listen to his orders. Insubordination was commonplace amongst them.

The firewood machine made whirring sounds as it worked. The wires next to it had already been patched several times.

These damned rats always took advantage of his sleep to chew through the wires. They wouldn’t learn their lesson even after a few of them were electrocuted. Good thing the radio and the clone cabin couldn’t be gnawed off; otherwise, that would be a real loss.

The most loyal bunch were probably those female rats.

Due to Make Me’s human intervention, they obtained more than enough food and living space, so the rats practically lined up to breed and expand their population like mad.

However, their affectionate gazes only served to thoroughly terrify Make Me.

Thank the gods and heavens!

I don’t have that...

This was the first time he thought not having a dick was actually a good thing.

“H-Honorable administrator, sir... The rodent infestation in the West Continent City really wasn’t my doing!”

In the nest underneath the ruins.

Make Me, who was standing next to the radio, trembled nervously when he heard the administrator’s inquiry.

Although he had been reporting back the situation in the West Continent City, he consciously hid the issue of the rodent infestation, whether it was on the forums or on the calls.

He wasn’t afraid of the other NPCs, but the administrator was, after all, the boss...

This guy possessed the authority of a GM, allowing him to ban any players from the game for actions that violated the in-game rules.

Who the hell wouldn’t panic when facing such a god-like figure?

And who the hell knew what kind of logic an AI followed when it came to dealing punishments?

Light had stressed to them on the forum, more than once, that there existed many problems in the servers of closed beta testing. Those who had their beta test qualification revoked by the GM had no way to appeal and there was no customer service, and the revoked beta test qualifications would be inherited by new players.

A serious voice came through the other end of the call, “I don’t mean to blame you. I just hope you can give a truthful account of the situation over there.”

Make Me knew then, that he wasn’t able to hide the matter. After hesitating for a bit, he finally chose to come clean, and he blurted out the situation he had hidden in one breath.

After listening to Make Me’s vivid narration, for a moment, Chu Guang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

That guy was really a fucking genius. He managed to think of artificial breeding.

Well, he was a genius rat. After all, that wasn’t something a human would do.

“... Sir administrator?” Hearing silence from the other end, Make Me grew even more apprehensive.

“...Ahem, it’s nothing, I’m just a little surprised. Give me some time to think.”

Minutes and seconds passed by.

To Make Me, each second felt as long as a year.

Finally, the administrator on the other end of the call spoke again. “... You did a great job. The rodent infestation slowed down the Fang Clan’s march to the south and bought us invaluable time for development. But likewise, you indeed failed to reign in your underlings. The indiscriminate rodent infestation severely affected the survivors’ resistance movement.”

Make Me said with dejection, “I really can’t be blamed for that. I tried reeling them in, but each and every one of them only pretended to listen to me... They acted one way in front of me and acted another way behind my back.”

“I understand, that’s why I’m not blaming you, but I cannot publicly commend your actions either.” Chu Guang paused, and continued, “The New Alliance will remember your contributions, but we cannot promise you credit for it, and instead we will reward you in other ways. Do you understand what I mean?

Haah.

Scared the rat’s hell out of me.

That was it?

Make Me heaved a sigh of relief.

Commendations didn’t really matter. He couldn’t understand what the NPCs said anyways, and this wouldn’t affect the mission rewards nor stop him from showing off in the forums.

And, it sounded like he triggered a hidden mission?

Make Me wasn’t disheartened at all. Instead he got excited and eagerly vowed, “Don’t worry, honorable administrator, sir! I will keep my mouth shut over everything I’ve done! There must always be a shadow under the light. I’m willing to become the sharp blade that serves you, clearing all the obstacles that stand in our path!”

Chu Guang found it so awkward he nearly dug a hole with his toes.

But for the sake of providing a gaming experience for the players, he held himself back and cooperated with the guy’s performance, solemnly going through the cutscene.

“... I’m glad you think so. From now on, I need you to map out the intelligence in our path forwards. Do your best to mark the other side’s ammunition depot, focus of firepower, commanding stations, the soldier barracks, and secret gateways and ditches in the map. Cooperate with our ground force and airforce to purge the marauders.”

“Can this be done?”

Make Me exclaimed with excitement, “Leave these to me! I’m still capable of doing this much!”

“Mhm, I look forward to hearing good news!” After concluding these matters, Chu Guang hurriedly ended the call.

End of communication.

Make Me released a breath of relief. The face that was originally sullen was now full of happiness.

It increased!

It definitely increased!

From the tone of the administrator’s last few words, the favorability bar definitely increased!

The little rat minions around him tittered. Although they didn’t know why their boss was excited, they were sure that his rotund gut was full of evil ideas right now.

Turning to face his minions, Make Me, who couldn’t wait to show off, straightened his back and yelled at the top of his lungs, “My minions! Call all of your brothers!”

“Follow your rat grandpa to go cause some trouble!”

......

Rats could not speak, but Make Me had his ways.

After living with rats for so long, he had long since learnt about their living habits and their usual manner of exchanging information.

Those cunning rats wouldn’t necessarily obey or die for the sake of his orders, but there weren’t any problems when it came to helping him scout the enemy.

A dangerous place meant a lot of people. A place with a lot of metals meant there were probably weapons or ammunition stored. After confirming the general location, he would follow the scent and take a look himself.

It wasn’t like valuable information could be found every single time, but at least 6 times out of 10, there was something fruitful.

Once he found a highly valuable target, he wouldn’t immediately take action, but rather he would use the VM to mark it on the map and then silently withdraw.

Acting rashly would only alert the enemy.

Once the war started, the New Alliance’s aircraft and artillery would give the marauders an extra large surprise.

Oblivious to the ongoing events under his feet, Lion Fang was currently working with advisor Bernie to further fortify the formation of the former Bluestone County.

They concealed fixed machine guns on building roofs and used water tanks, power distribution boxes, ventilation ducts and other objects as camouflage. They also installed high-powered spotlights on some of the roofs, so they could scout the nearby airspace and mountain areas at night.

These ideas, of course, didn’t come from Lion Fang himself. Instead, he had an advisor from the Army to help him. Even though Lion Fang didn’t think those blue coats would dare take the initiative to come looking for trouble, Black Snake’s tragic death taught him a good lesson.

Even if it was only a 1% possibility, he was going to strangle them in their cradle!

......

Early April.

An entire week had passed since the higher-ups’ meeting regarding the Northern Expedition.

Dawn City was like a war machine that had activated, following the opened trade routes and zealously absorbing resources from everywhere.

Steel and aluminum were the materials with the highest demand.

Not only were they necessary to manufacture light and heavy equipment, but the railroad in construction devoured resources like a ravenous blackhole, seemingly with no end in sight.

A single steel factory wasn’t enough anymore to satisfy the development needs of the New Alliance. In order to satisfy the increasing demand for steel and iron from the industrial area, not only did Steel Plant 81 open more branch factories, Chu Guang also signed administrative documents that allowed the Logistics Department to establish the New Alliance First Steel Factory.

That was the first steel factory that would be operated by the NPCs and owned solely by the shelter.

It was different from Steel Plant 81, which mainly produced military equipment.

The steel produced by the New Alliance First Steel Factory would focus on being supplied to basic infrastructure and construction. Part of its equipment would be machine-processed, and another part would be procured from Boulder Town. Technical staff included players with the Lifestyle Profession, as well as unemployed engineers hired from Boulder Town.

As for the A3-Type Aerospace Aluminum produced by Bucky’s aluminum factory, most of it was supplied to the production line of the Electric Mules. The leftovers were basically swallowed by Liszt Factory and used to produce more robust and improved versions of the KV-1 exoskeletons.

Before the war started, Chu Guang needed enough trucks to send supplies and soldiers to the frontline, as well as the KV-1 exoskeletons to ensure the players’ maneuverability and combat power.

Before the month ended, the number of players was able to reach more than 2500, but the players with Combat Profession that could actually enter the frontlines were probably only around 1500.

Inferior numbers could only be offset with movement speed and firepower.

Aside from steel and aluminum, the New Alliance’s also had great demand for copper and sulfur.

Copper was mainly used to make bullets and place power grids. No further explanation was needed for that.

It was possible to use steel casing for shells, but it was best for bullets to use copper. Not only were they easier to preserve and store, they also had excellent performance. And compared to ammunition with steel casing, they could also effectively reduce jamming rates and rifling abrasions.

As for electricity it was even more critical. No matter whether it was exoskeletons, trucks or the players’ saving points, they all needed the support of an electric system.

As for sulfur... The main use was to make sulfuric acid.

This stuff wasn’t important to only 1 production line. From steel factories to chemical plants, there weren’t many industrial chains that could function without it.

As the gears of war turned, the industrial area’s productivity continued to expand and the demand for nearly all resources skyrocketed.

It was during this time that the Traveling Merchants Association's president, Charlie, brought bad news for Chu Guang. “Although you must’ve probably already guessed something from the inventory data, just in case I still have to tell you. The expansion of our industrial scale is faster than expected. The copper and sulfur produced by the surrounding survivor settlements have been bought up so quickly that the prices have increased.”

Chu Guang, who finished listening to Charlie’s report, raised his head after a moment of thought. “How much did it increase?”

“The price for copper in Red River Town has increased by 20% and for sulfur it increased by at least 30%. This is the latest data.”

Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully. “It’s similar to what I expected.”

The night before, the players were discussing this in the forums. It wasn’t only copper mines and sulfur mines, some rare metals had also simply gone out of stock.

Actually, Chu Guang had expected something like that to happen.

The tickets issued by the Red River Town were essentially a kind of futures contract. This manner of trading wasn't only to facilitate the purchase of goods from other survivors, but also to facilitate their coordination of their own production plans.

In other words, they wouldn’t produce a pile of useless ores that had to be hoarded in a warehouse, and instead, they could decide the production of the next quarter based on the tickets issued in the previous quarter.

If someone suddenly needed a large amount of goods, an increase in prices was natural.

Even so...

The speed of the increase was a bit sudden.

The Northern Expedition plan had only been underway for a week. No matter how fast the demand was growing, Chu Guang didn’t believe that Red River Town’s warehouses didn’t have any kind of emergency stock.

Chu Guang had reason to suspect that someone had guessed something through some other information gateways, and was playing a game of hoarding and sales with him.

Clearly, Charlie also guessed what was going on. He grimly said, “Our resources are restricted. The impact of this problem will only get worse and worse. Either we open up more trade routes and reduce our reliance on a single source of raw materials, or, we make our own source of raw materials and solve part of our resource demands.”

“That’s also what I’m thinking. In fact, one of the purposes for this Northern Expedition is to solve the problem of raw materials.” Chu Guang nodded, looking at the map on the wall. “The New Alliance’s scientific expedition team has investigated the data on Bluestone County. The Bluestone Geopark in the mountains to their west used to be the mining territory of the Bluestone Mining Company, which had rich reserves of porphyry copper and molybdenum deposits; there’s predicted to be at least one million tons in the ground below.”

A surprised expression appeared on Charlie’s face. “It hasn’t been mined before?”

“It was, but only a tiny portion of it has been taken out. As shown by our data, this mine was shut down during the Prosperity Era due to cost issues, and after that it was converted into a geopark with an internship base and a geological institute next to it.”

With a faint smile, Chu Guang carried on, “Truthfully, it’s not only porphyry copper and molybdenum. According to the data analysis of our scientific expedition team, there are quite a number of resources in the surrounding areas that were previously explored but not developed. As long as we conquer the West Continent City, the resource problem will naturally be solved.”

“But what about the problem at hand? Even if we take over Bluestone County, mining will still take time...”

Just as these words were said, a look of realization suddenly surfaced in Charlie’s eyes.

“I see...”

“I think I understand what you mean.”