Chapter 53: Fuck It! Let's Pretend It's Part Of Their Welfare

"Huh? 30 reward points?" Chu Guang gasped.

The players have been really hard-working lately.

Before going to bed, Chu Guang opened the Administrator Menu for a quick update. He discovered that he already stocked up 30 reward points and he didn’t hesitate to buy two intermediate loot boxes and ten basic loot boxes.

It was a shame the rewards weren’t really desirable. At the very least, they weren’t what he wanted.

"A box of twelve oral antibiotic capsules. A box of hemostatic bandages, containing two packs, can be used twice... Unfortunately, no muscle strengthening syringe this time."

"At least give me a therapeutic syringe!"

Picking up the supplies from the conveyor belt, Chu Guang sighed inwardly.

Well, at the very least, they weren’t hot garbage! They were just average pulls...

As for the basic loot boxes, other than a bunch of colorful lollipops, he received a bottle of soy sauce and a bag of salt again. Looking at the bag of salt that weighed five hundred grams, he raised an eyebrow. It seemed a little interesting.

"... A single intake of more than 10g can increase immunity by 1-5% and metabolism by 1-5%, good god, is this a legendary item?!"

What happens if I eat a whole bag?

The idea of ??stacking buffs just appeared in Chu Guang's mind before he realized how stupid it was.

Imagine swallowing the whole bag of salt. It was just a terrible idea no matter how he looked at it.

"Maybe I should put it on the shelf tomorrow..."

He could split it into five independent packs of one hundred grams each. He could also sell each pack to the players at 3 to 5 silver coins...

To be honest, it really wasn’t much. After all, what he was selling was refined salt that didn’t contain sulfur, sulfate ions, and organic impurities. Not to mention that it also gave buffs.

I'll just treat this as part of the players’ welfare.

The soy sauce wasn’t as easy to divide as the salt. Finding sealed containers that could store one hundred milliliters was uncommon in itself and he simply decided to price it at 20 silver coins.

After all, if the player wasn't a chef who wanted to open a restaurant, they probably wouldn’t buy it anyway.

"That's it, time to go to bed... Little Seven, wake me up at six tomorrow morning."

Little Seven, who was squatting in the corner, lit up a small light and hummed, “Okay, Master!”

Chu Guang soon fell asleep.

In contrast, Xia Yan, who was squatting in the corner of the other room, couldn’t sleep at all!

It wasn’t because she was kept up by someone’s snoring... After all, the soundproofing was pretty good and she couldn’t hear anything with the doors closed.

What really made her toss and turn was that she would be on her first day of official employment the next day!

Could being the owner of the Weapon Shop be a real job?!

In the past few days, Chu Guang treated her very well. The better he treated her, the more uneasy she felt.

After all, generally speaking, the food of captives would usually consist of the cheapest nutrient cream without much nutrition. They might even have to eat bark or wood chips mixed with bark. Of course, it might also be something completely different.

Not to mention meat and porridge, it would already be considered lucky if the captive could get normal food.

After two days of staying in the shelter, she felt like she was about to gain weight...

After thinking about it for a long time, she started to get sleepy. Xia Yan, who was holding the script she had been given, fell asleep without knowing it. By the time she woke up, it was already eight in the morning.

"Get up."

Looking at the man standing at the door, Xia Yan rubbed her eyes. She was about to stand up while leaning on the wall, only to find two walking sticks in front of her.

"This is... for me?"

Chu Guang was speechless. "Is there anyone else here who can’t walk?”

In the future, if he had the resources, he would give her a bionic prosthesis. After all, she looked really pitiful.

"..."

This guy!

Why the hell do I feel like punching him whenever he speaks?!

Xia Yan gritted her teeth and stood up from the ground as she struggled with the crutches between her arms.

Standing on the side and watching her complete the whole set of actions alone, Chu Guang nodded approvingly, very satisfied with her strong performance.

"Not bad, it looks like it suits you."

Xia Yan replied stiffly with a cold expression, "Whatever you say... I'm your captive anyway, even if you want me..."

"Okay, shut up," Chu Guang didn't want to understand what she was thinking about and interrupted her without hesitation. Coughing once, he continued, "I will arrange work for you in a while. Now, follow me outside."

The last time Xia Yan breathed in outside air was three days ago.

She followed Chu Guang to the elevator and went directly to the surface.

Seeing the sunlight shining in front of the nursing home, Xia Yan subconsciously raised her left arm, which was holding the crutch, to shield her eyes. Her slender eyelashes narrowed as she was slightly dazzled.

"You built the wall already?"

Chu Guang replied casually. "What do you think?"

Xia Yan curled her lips and mumbled, "It’s nothing remarkable. It can be used against a few marauders. But if a mutant comes, they can jump over it easily, let alone a tide or the like."

Hearing words that he had never heard before, Chu Guang glanced at her. "Tide?"

Xia Yan explained casually, "It happens very often along the third-ring, but you probably won't feel it here. Crunchers would migrate in groups from the second-ring to the third-ring, and there are many Creepers among them. There are even mutants stronger than Creepers... You won’t be able to understand it based on my description alone.”

Due to how big Boulder Town was, as long as there were mutants migrating north from the city, they would definitely pass through the survivor fortress.

The war between humans and mutants was naturally inevitable.

Although Xia Yan's mercenary team was small, they participated in several tasks to deal with the tide.

When acting with a large force, there wasn’t much risk and they earned pretty good money.

In order to resume trade and production as soon as possible, the big figures in the city will often spend a lot of money to hire mercenaries, and will not hesitate to provide them with ammunition.

All they need to do is pull the trigger and hold the gun properly.

Many poor people living in slums took on tasks during the Tide only to never return...

"Indeed," Chu Guang nodded, "I've only seen Crunchers a few times... They seem to be scared of light?"

That was when he came to the wasteland for the first time.

Back then, he almost died!

Xia Yan nodded.

"Yes, though it's not just light, but mutant hyenas, jackals, moles, bats, flies, mice, and other mutants too. Crunchers are not popular amongst mutants. When other mutants are extremely hungry, they will treat them as prey... So these guys often crowd in the subway or in the sewer."

"Generally speaking, when you see one, you will pretty much certainly run into a horde. Even though they’re not amazing hunters, it’s still very dangerous to run into them in a narrow place."

After silently noting down these clues, Chu Guang decided to update the Tide in the database on the official website.

That was a task for later.

"... From now on, you’ll use this place as your workshop. In the future, if conditions permit, I will find someone to build a new one for you."

"Anyway, just make do with it first."

Bringing Xia Yan to the entrance of the Weapon Store, Chu Guang hung the wooden sign placed at the door on the hook beside the door frame for her.

"I've engraved the price on the wooden sign and taught you what to say and how to respond. If you have any questions, you can find Little Seven... The bin is on the first floor and it won’t be easy for you to get up. My players are all very friendly anyway and if you don’t understand what they’re saying, just stare blankly at them.”

For an introverted otaku who is not good at socializing, receiving her blank stare was deadly enough.

"Player?"

Because Chu Guang used the Chinese term for it, Xia Yan did not understand what the word meant.

"It means shelter residents," Chu Guang explained casually, "you don't need to remember their names or understand the meaning of the word, just call them that and they will reply.”

Even if that's the case, it's still not very polite to call a shelter resident a shelter resident, right?...

But since Chu Guang has said so, Xia Yan had no other opinion.

She was just a slave anyway and having a decent job was already the greatest kindness he could show to her.

"Remember, you need to record every item sold. I will check the account book and inventory every day. However, even the cheapest iron-barreled rifle costs hundreds of silver coins, so they won’t be able to afford it for the time being. You shouldn’t be too busy... In your spare time, help me repair that assault rifle and help me make some bullets and weapons if you can.”

Xia Yan glanced at the empty workshop. Except for a table and a chair, there was only a wooden board with nails left in it.

Some low-quality iron-pipe weapons were hung on the nails, and as if he was afraid that she would forget the price, a wooden tag with the price was hung underneath.

With a dull gaze, Xia Yan looked at Chu Guang and couldn't help but ask, "Are you asking me to fix your gun with my bare hands?"

"Can it be done?"

Xia Yan’s eyes widened in shock and she yelled, "How am I supposed to do that?! Even if you don't have an electric lathe, you should at least have a workbench that can be operated manually, right?!"

There were often mercenaries who used DIY weapons and could not find the bullets and accessories they needed in the stores. When that happened, they would usually head over to some small and medium-sized workshops that make machine parts or precision instruments, rent a workbench there, and process what they need.

Because of how poor she was, Xia Yan made weapons and bullets by herself in the past. Although she couldn't afford the high-end intelligent automatic processing machine tools, it was not difficult to make those things with some affordable electric mechanical tools, and it would not cost too much time either.

However, what she was staring at was beyond her imagination.

Let alone electric mechanical tools, there was no electricity and not even a single machine! Not to mention various types of tools, there weren't even the most basic turning tools, boring tools, and milling tools.

How was she going to make a weapon with nothing?!

Chu Guang didn't care about her complaint, and continued lightly, "Just tell me what you need and don’t make me guess."

"Now, I want you to make a list and write down the things you need. It's best to simply draw what they look like. If I can’t find them, I will ask the players to find them for you the best they can. If we can't find them, I'll find a way to buy them... By the way, remember to write down their prices, I don't want to be scammed," Chu Guang instructed.

Xia Yan started mumbling to herself, "Turning tools, boring tools, milling cutters, as well as pliers and hammers, these are the most basic equipment. In addition, I also need a... Forget it, I will draw it down."

Chu Guang took out paper, pen, and a wooden ruler, and handed them to Xia Yan. "It's best to have a picture of what you need. You can draw as much detail as possible, maybe my players can make it out."

After Xia Yan took it, she frowned for a while before she started to draw on the paper with the help of her memory.

Chu Guang did not rush her.

It wasn’t easy to draw stuff that people understood, especially since she was only an unprofessional mercenary.

Of course, everything started from nothing. She could improve slowly.

After Xia Yan finished drawing, Chu Guang took the drawing and added two lines before heading to the warehouse and looking at the player on duty.

Passing the paper in his hand over, Chu Guang got straight to the point. "I need the things on this paper."

"If someone comes here to sell something, you can tell them about it and pay attention when picking up waste.”

"When you are free, please copy this drawing, help me draw a few more, and paste it at the gate. Oh, and send someone to the steel making blast furnace."

The warehouse manager's job also served as the publisher of collection and production missions. After all, it was too troublesome to give missions one by one.

The player took a look at the paper, and his eyes shot wide open.

[Mission:

Forge or collect a turning tool (with photos)

]

[Reward:

10 silver coins, 100 contribution points]

10 silver coins!

Holy shit!

That was the same as making a day’s worth of cement! Wouldn’t picking up the item on the paper be the same as striking the lottery?!

There seems to be more than one mission, the missions being similar to the other as each commissioned various types of tools such as boring tools, milling tools, and so on.

Regardless of how jealous the player sitting in the warehouse manager’s position was, Chu Guang turned around and left.

Although the mission said to forage or collect, he didn’t have much hope of the players finding something like that in the wasteland.

Not to mention that it was already the 211th year of the Wasteland Era. Society before the outbreak of the nuclear war did not necessarily use these primitive processing tools either. Maybe, they have already popularized more advanced production methods.

For example, 3D printing and the like.

Although the technology of the 21st-century earth was still immature, who could be sure about what kind of technology would appear in the future?

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

What Chu Guang really expected was for his lovely players to solve his problem with limited tools and materials.

For example, the brothers who often exchange metallurgical technological knowledge on the forum were all on the list of the third batch of test players, and the fourth batch contained a few more.

Amongst those keyboard professors, he believed that there had to be one or two people who could resolve the problem for him!