Chapter 342.1: Reform

"Wow! You have so many good things here!"

In the library on level B4...

Looking at the shelves full of various books, Pai's eyes sparkled brightly, resembling sapphires illuminated by torches.

Standing beside Pai, Xiaoyu spoke softly, "Big Brother Chu said you're free to borrow any books you like, but don't take them out of the shelter and don't damage them."

It was 8:00 at night, and she had changed out of her bank uniform into casual wear. Her ponytail was let down, and her soft hair cascaded over her shoulders, resembling a young girl from next door.

It was also worth mentioning that both pieces of clothing were designed by Teng Teng's Hut.

"Don't worry!" Pai happily grabbed an encyclopedia that was even heavier than her head from a shelf and continued. "I'll take good care of it!"

Standing behind them, Chu Guang, intrigued by the encyclopedia Pai took, asked curiously. "Don't you have one there?"

"We do! But not this many!" Pai gestured with her left hand at the shelf. "My master's library at home is probably half this size. It's filled with books he scavenged from the wasteland and some damaged storage devices. He spent half his life trying to fix them, but until now, only a little has been completed."

Chu Guang was quite surprised. "It seems your master is a respected scholar."

"Of course!" Pai proudly lifted her nose. "That old man knows a lot of things!"

“...” Chu Guang cleared his throat and said, "Why don’t you suggest to your teacher to take in more students to ease his burden?"

Pai sighed, saying helplessly. "I've been suggesting that, but it's very difficult to get students... Our camp is still alright, but many survivors in the nearby settlements can't even get enough to eat, let alone find the time to study."

It seemed the little girl wasn't completely ignorant of the world's hardships, which slightly surprised Chu Guang. "You can bring him here to see. We're almost solving the food problem here."

Hmm... Maybe I can set up him as a principal or minister of education.

Though it was said half-jokingly, Pai's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, that's right! With all the good food here, you are definitely not short of people who don’t have to worry about the food problem! When I get back, I'll suggest it to my master, have him recruit some strong folks here!"

Looking at Xiaoyu beside him, Chu Guang said with a smile, "... Can you entertain her for a while and take her wherever she wants to go?"

The core of the shelter was the control terminal located at the deepest part of level B4.

However, the access rights there belonged only to Chu Guang. Ordinary people couldn’t even enter the front maintenance room. At most, they could go as far as the gym behind the browsing room, so Chu Guang didn’t worry that they would accidentally find their way over.

Xiaoyu obediently nodded. "Okay, but what about you?"

Chu Guang glanced at the time on his VM before speaking, "Hyrja asked me to go to the medical lab for a check-up. I plan to go there in a bit."

He had been mostly on the front lines for the past 2 months, and even those 3 days after coming back from the front were spent busy with various tasks. Although his genetic sequence had upgraded a few times during this period, his attribute panel hadn't been updated.

It wasn't until this morning when Chu Guang, sweating all over, got up from bed that he realized he hadn't checked his physical condition in a while.

In the medical lab, Hyrja, wearing a white coat, had been waiting for a while.

Seeing Chu Guang enter, she got straight to the point and patted the examination bed that looked like an operating table. "Quick, lie down."

Watching the fire burning with excitement in Hyrja’s eyes, Chu Guang felt like a lab rat.

But this wasn’t the first time after all, he was used to it.

After the scan, the updated attribute panel quickly appeared on the VM.

[ID:

Chu Guang

]

[Genetic sequence:

Administrator (Third Stage)

]

[Level:

LV22→LV27

]

[Attributes]

[Strength:

25

]

[Agility:

18→20

]

[Constitution:

21→22

]

[Perception:

20→21

]

[Intelligence:

20→24

]

His sequence progress had increased by 5%, resulting in a 5 level increase on the attribute panel.

However, what surprised Chu Guang the most was that his attributes had grown by 8 points!

"My Intelligence increased by 4 points! Wow... It's almost catching up with my Strength!"

Surprisingly, his strength hadn't increased at all. It was something Chu Guang hadn't expected.

Was it because I was commanding the battle from the rear?

Chu Guang suspected.

However, the increase in the brain's processing speed was indeed more helpful for him than muscle growth.

"Incredible... I'm increasingly interested in your body." Staring at the tablet in her hand, Hyrja's expression was filled with disbelief as she mumbled incomprehensibly.

Honestly, if she didn’t speak, she would be considered a nation toppling beauty. Her face looked like it came from a painting, and her hair augmented her flawless appearance. It was no wonder she was so popular on the forums. However... Her popularity was built on the premise that she didn’t start talking nonsense.

Chu Guang coughed lightly. "Please don't say something that can be misunderstood."

Hyrja widened her eyes. "Misunderstood? No, I'm serious! Remember when I mentioned your DNA showing features similar to a Hive where it’s able to modify its DNA to express traits that better suit the environment? It's incredible!"

"Uh..." Watching Hyrja totally engrossed in her own world, Chu Guang silently put on his coat.

However, as he was about to sneak out of the medical lab, Hyrja suddenly grabbed his arm. "Wait, wait... I have something to ask you!"

Chu Guang raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is it?"

Hyrja jumped up and down in excitement. "Samples! My lab needs more samples of Mutant Slime Mold!"

"You locked the permissions for the third ring of Clearspring City, and I can't release missions there. Without more samples, the research on the Mutant Slime Mold can't progress. I haven't made any progress in a month because I couldn’t find you before!"

Being stared at so fervently, Chu Guang agreed and tapped on his VM a few times. "Alright, I'll unlock it for you..."

As she happily let go of his hand, Hyrja's expression finally returned to normal. "Thank you!"

"No problem. If there's nothing else, I have to go..." Chu Guang didn't finish his sentence before Hyrja turned and walked through the door to the adjacent sample analysis room.

Chu Guang sighed in relief and quickly left.

In fact, even if Hyrja hadn't mentioned it, he planned to lift the mission publishing permission from the second ring to the third ring in a couple of days.

Wasteland Online never prohibited players from exploring the map edges; exploring areas equivalent to planets and the outer space under development were one of his promises.

However, despite the players' unrestricted activity zone, Chu Guang still restricted NPC permissions, especially the mission publishing range.

Apart from the Travelling Merchants Association, other NPCs couldn't release missions that were too far from the New Alliance’s signal covering range.

Some excessively dangerous areas wouldn’t even appear in the regular mission list.

However, after the battle in West Continent City, many players had undergone a second awakening and reached the third stage.

For example, the Bull and Horse Squad no longer considered the Clearspring City third ring zone as an extremely dangerous region.

The restrictions on missions related to the city center area could gradually be removed, but the minimum acceptance level for such missions had to be set at LV20 or higher.

Although death wasn't a big deal for players, as an administrator, Chu Guang hoped to avoid some meaningless deaths.

That way, their lives would be more valuable.

...

Heavenly Water Municipality.

In the Snake Clan's camp.

"Gold Fang is dead?!" The Snake Clan leader's eyes widened, looking shocked and bewildered as he glared at his subordinate kneeling below him in his tent.

The person kneeling reported shakily, "Yes... I heard he was betrayed by his own men and died in an air raid shelter, leaving only half his body."

"The New Alliance hung his corpse at the north gate of Dawn City, along with over 10 Brigade Commanders. Except for a few who surrendered, the rest were hanged."

"More than 20,000 people in the Fang Clan were mostly captured. Some were sent to mines, and some were sent to dig up soil at the West Continent City lake."

"Right now, the entire West Continent... Or rather, our west side is under the New Alliance's control."

The leader of the Snake Clan wore a face expressing shock and confusion upon hearing the report.

Just half a month ago, Gold Fang had sent him a message, reassuring him not to worry and promising that once he successfully took over Clearspring City, they would meet in Red River Town.

He didn’t doubt Gold Fang in the slightest.

The Fang Clan was the leading clan of the Bonechewer Clan, and Gold Fang commanded nearly 30 tanks and over 30,000 people, possessing 3 times the military power and equipment compared to his own.

In contrast, the New Alliance was nothing more than a small village with a total population of just over 10,000.

Even if they put an idiot in charge there, it shouldn't have resulted in such a devastating defeat, right?