Chapter 54: New Playstyle Of Alpha 0.2 Version Players, Street Markets!

The performance of the players did not disappoint Chu Guang.

It took only two days for two players skilled in metallurgy to create the tools needed for the Weapon Store Owner.

Incidentally, the blast furnace was even improved, which ingeniously solved the air bubbles in the primitive steelmaking castings.

The finished casting included a boring tool, a turning tool, and a milling tool.

Although they were all castings, they were pretty reliable. If they maintained it well, they would be able to use it for a few months.

In addition, there was a set of double-rail threaded calipers modified with screws, steel bars, and scrap gears. One side of the caliper was connected to a winch with a drive shaft and a grip.

It could convert torque into horizontal thrust through gears. Every time the winch rotated, it could push the holder on the caliper horizontally by one millimeter.

Although it wasn’t as efficient as a piece of electric machinery, it was still useful when it came to millimeter-level precision control processes.

The only thing that Chu Guang was unhappy with was the IDs of the players who completed the commissions.

One was called Who_will_smell_my_athlete's_foot, Athlete Foot, and the other was I_have_to_go_to_the_bathroom, Bathroom Goer.

What the hell were those names?!

Whatever it was, according to the mission that had been posted, they received a huge windfall of 80 silver coins which averaged out to forty each.

According to their plan, they aim to farm a one-week contribution first and strive to save two thousand points as soon as possible to buy a piece of land in front of the nursing home.

The rewards of making tools gave them a taste of hope.

They plan to open a workshop when that happened, specializing in metallurgy and forging.

"... Are these tools enough?" At the door of the Weapon Store, Chu Guang placed the wooden basket with metal tools on the table in front of Xia Yan.

Xia Yan glanced at the tool in the basket, then reluctantly nodded.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"It's not the best, but they will work. With these tools, there’s no problem making bullets. If I can get seamless steel pipes, I can help you make some simple iron-barreled rifles... Did you buy these?"

"The players made it."

"Made it?" Xia Yan glanced at Chu Guang in surprise, "I didn't expect your people to be so great at crafting."

Chu Guang asked with a smile, "How does it compare to Boulder Town?"

"Boulder Town is huge, depending on whom you compare with," Xia Yan installed the threaded caliper on the wooden table and continued faintly.

"Not everyone is poor like us, there are also regular militias armed to the teeth. They have powered exoframes, dual-engine aircraft, neural-access drones, half-track support vehicles, and things that I don’t even know the name of."

"Oh? They are that strong?" Chu Guang said with a smile, "Then why didn't I see them coming here?"

"Who knows, maybe they aren‘t interested. There is nothing good in the outskirts," Xia Yan answered vaguely.

Actually, she didn’t finish her introduction. Even though it was true that the militias in Boulder Town did have some good stuff, it was obvious that not all of them were armed to the teeth.

For example, exoframes, which she had learned were only in the double digits in the militia, were mostly inferior products copied after the war, with both their power source and weapons relatively backward.

Only a few of them were pre-war equipment that had not broken down. They used a Helium-3 cold fusion battery as a power source, and it was something they couldn’t reproduce.

As for drones, aircrafts, support vehicles, and the like that sound scary, in fact, were much more effective in deterrence than actual combat.

That was especially so for close combat since cannon fodder was always the most cost-effective choice. In the slums of Boulder Town, it only took 13 years to go from a baby to a soldier. The maintenance cost of producing a soldier was nothing more than a nutritional cream that could be made using cockroaches, spiders, and mice.

Although Chu Guang has always believed only half of what she said, those interesting settings could be added to the official website database.

Both the closed alpha testers and future players would definitely like it.

...

At dusk.

The players returned to the outpost one after another.

Chu Guang noticed that in the open space in front of the north gate of the outpost, several players had already set up a stall.

Yaya naturally possessed one of the most popular stalls.

"Mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, don't miss Yaya’s delicious mushrooms."

"After a day's hard work, don't you want to reward yourself with a pot of delicious mushroom soup?"

"It’s really delicious!"

Unable to get a mission from the NPC and too embarrassed to ask other players to feed her every day, Yaya could only choose to set up a stall.

Except for the mushrooms used to complete the punishment task, she left herself about ten kilograms of mushrooms, and with the mentality of giving it a try, she set up a stall and began to sell some food.

The passing players quickly gathered around.

"Can you really eat this mushroom?"

"Has it been cooked?"

"Are those mushrooms male or female?"

"Can people with sensitive skin eat it?"

"Can you get high after eating this?"

"You can eat it, you can get hi- ah, no, you won’t get high! If you don’t believe me I can show it to you!" Yaya picked up the mushroom and stuffed it into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed before bouncing up and down to show that she was still alive.

Seeing that the stall owner had eaten it herself, the players surrounding the stall did not hesitate anymore and took out the copper coins they had.

Just like Yaya said, a kilogram of mushrooms wasn’t expensive, it sold for 3 copper coins, which was much cheaper than the food from the outpost.

The new version of the game has been released for two days, so most players could afford it.

"One kilogram for me, please. I will try some mushroom porridge today."

"Roasted mushrooms sound good, too."

"Owner, get me a kilogram too! I’ll come back to get my money back if it doesn’t taste good!”

"It’s a shame that you can’t get high. If you have some shrooms next time, please let me know. I want to see Klee call me hubby."

"FBI, Open Up!"

In less than five minutes, the mushrooms piled up in her stall were all sold out.

Looking at the sixty copper pieces in her hand, Yaya almost teared up.

This... Is this... Is the feeling of being rich?!

It's really not easy!

Although......

Actually, she only managed to get 6 silver coins.

On the other hand, when the players who bought the mushrooms passed by the Weapon Store, they suddenly found that the wooden table in front of the Weapon Store proprietress had some tools that they hadn't seen before.

As they all know, the designs of Wasteland Online were quite detailed, and sharp-eyed players recognized that the things on the table were tools for processing equipment.

In other words...

They could probably refine their material or get the NPC to help them upgrade their equipment in the future!

"Are you Kiri from

Empyrean

?"

"Shop Owner, are you married?"

"Are you stupid, she is the mercenary that the administrator rescued before! Did you forget that?"

"I know, but if you take it seriously, then you will be the foolish one."

Xia Yan looked at the surrounding players with a dazed expression.

Although she didn't understand what they were talking about, she still remembered what Chu Guang said to her. She looked at them with a cool expression, and read her lines word by word.

"Hello, I am Xia Yan from the Weapon Store, how can I help you?"

"This NPC doesn't look very smart."

"This is normal, it’s already not bad that such a large server can be compatible with one or two smart NPCs!"

"5mm grooveless iron barrel rifle, inferior quality... Damn, 100 silver coins for such inferior quality! Such a rip-off."

"Sigh, I can't afford it."

"

Wuwu

, she really is Kiri from

Empyrean

, I can feel the aura of wealth from the price list."

Xia Yan continued to stare at them with a blank expression. "..."

These people are so annoying, why do they talk so much? Are you buying or not?!

However, Xia Yan was a little relieved that those people were indeed very friendly, as Chu Guang said.

Although it wasn’t polite to stare, at least they wouldn't do irrational things just because she ignored them.

In Taverns in Boulder Town... 99% of fights were caused by someone staring at another.

...

After the players went offline, there was an extra post on the official website of Wasteland Online, and the popularity of the post quickly rose to the first hot post of the day.

- Mole’s Daily! Shelter No. 404 welcomes NPC No. 2! A Weapon Store owner, Xia Yan!

The_Escaping_Mole: Hello everyone, I am a red-nosed mole who fled from the canyon. There was not enough land in the manor, so I decided to hide in the wasteland for a while.

- Now back to the main subject, let’s talk about the newly added NPC Xia Yan today!

- This NPC was actually added yesterday, but it was probably during the debugging stage. Although she was sitting at the table yesterday, there was a closed sign outside. Today, not only was the sign taken off, but there were also guns hung on the shelves and an extra set of tools on Owner Xia's desk! I boldly speculate that this will be our Kiri in the future. I don't know when the iron barrel rifle with + 14 dmg will be released. (?° ?? ?°)

- In addition, I’ve attached my rough drawing for reference only, please don’t curse if you don’t like it.

- Owner_Xia.png

Although Wasteland Online did not support in-game screenshots, it did not prevent players from drawing the characters in the game themselves.

For example, the mole guy was actually very good at it, and his drawing was actually very life-like.

Old White: Damn, your drawing is very good!

Night Ten: It’s life-like!

Teng Teng: Instant like! Sister Mole, you are so awesome! (Cute emoji) (Cute emoji)

The_Escaping_Mole: Hey hey, actually, I used to study fine art, but after I failed the final exam, I switched careers. Here is a little suggestion for the dev. You can add a cyberpunk-style zigzag studded belt and goggles to the new NPC. Change her clothes to jeans and white shirts, and red hair will be even cooler! Of course, it’s just a suggestion.

Quit_smoking: Bossman, can you draw Boss Dawn too?! I am more interested in him! (Tears)

That_touch_of_longing: Yes, yes, no one wants to see the NPC in the Weapon Store, I want to see what the Administrator looks like! This official website doesn't even have a single concept art!

The_Escaping_Mole: One minute, I'll draw it now. But what's so interesting about male NPCs?

Irene: No rush, I will be online tomorrow night anyway. (?° ?? ?°)

Quit_smoking: &%@#!

The discussion of the forum that day was completely focused on Xia Yan. Chu Guang glanced at the picture drawn by Escaping Mole, and then at Xia Yan, who was sitting in the corner memorizing her lines.

He had to admit that it was pretty similar.

He wondered if she would look better if a belt and goggles were added...

Chu Guang didn’t know.

Noting Chu Guang's gaze, Xia Yan flinched.

"What are you looking at..."

"Nothing, just thinking about how many days you haven't changed your clothes."

Chu Guang looked at her right leg. The injury was almost healed, but the blood on the trousers still remained, which looked somewhat unhygienic.

Change, change clothes?

Xia Yan became even more nervous. Her face turned pale, and then red, and repeatedly changed back and forth between them.

"Relax, I just want to ask about your size... tsk," Chu Guang shook his head halfway through and grunted, "Forget it."

It was truly inappropriate for him to be asking stuff like that.

He would probably give Teng Teng a task the next day to get Xia Yan’s measurements.