Chapter 359.2: Survivor's Daily

Spielberg wasn’t the only one who thought that way.

In the past few days, around the taverns in Boulder Town, there were quite a few scavengers picking up empty bottles.

With just 10 empty Nuka Cola bottles, they could exchange for a copy of the Survivor’s Daily, even if not used for reading, it could be brought home to serve as a table or bed cover.

As for where the Survivor’s Daily came from, no one paid attention. After all, it had just released its first issue, and its popularity was extremely low. So low that the factory owners, business association bosses, and city hall officials in Boulder Town were unlikely to notice...

On that night.

President Malvern returned to his luxurious mansion on the edge of the inner city with a radiant expression.

The negotiations with Dawn City went smoothly, and they presented a wonderful procurement list, including a large quantity of building materials, textiles, and food.

It would create at least 50,000 jobs for Boulder Town, solving the food and clothing problems for nearly 100,000 people.

By this time next year, Boulder Town's GDP would reach a new high!

The interest paid back by New Alliance and the raw materials flowing in from the northern suburbs would rejuvenate the factories in the industrial zone!

What pleased Malvern the most was that many factories had started borrowing money from him recently.

Some borrowed money for consumption, and others were willing to borrow money to expand production. His bank could make money from both ends.

And with almost no risk of bad debts!

Boulder Town had entered a new cycle, and he seemed to see the dawn of economic recovery!

"It seems like you're in a good mood today. Did something good happen?" his wife asked, taking the coat from him.

"Of course," Malvern said with excitement, "After days of negotiation, it finally concluded. The representative from New Alliance reluctantly signed the agreement, and our relationship with New Alliance will now enter a new chapter!"

Although the negotiations were full of twists and turns, thanks to his clever performance at the negotiating table, he firmly controlled the pace of the negotiations, forcing the representative of New Alliance to make concessions and reaching an agreement.

"But... Is it really okay to lend money to those country bumpkins?" his wife asked with some concern.

In her eyes, people outside the giant wall were either vulgar mercenaries, ragged scavengers, or marauders. She found it hard to believe in those people, so much so that even if they just glanced at her, she felt uncomfortable all over.

Malvern wore a confident smile on his face. "What could go wrong? They have copper mines, farmland, and vast forests... I even hope those country bumpkins borrow a bit more."

"Debt will turn them into our slaves, which is much better than chains."

At this moment, he suddenly noticed the newspaper on the table.

The headline on the front page of the newspaper actually featured the news of the successful progress of the negotiations.

Malvern raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

The negotiations had just ended today, and the representative of New Alliance only reluctantly signed the loan agreement 2 hours ago. Neither side had officially announced it yet. How did this unknown small newspaper predict that it would definitely be successful today?

But it was pretty accurate.

It couldn't have been printed a few hours ago, right?

"What is this?"

"Survivor’s Daily." Elisa, sitting on the sofa, gently stroked the cat in her arms. Hearing her father's question, she looked up and answered in a soft voice.

"Do we subscribe to this newspaper?" Malvern asked in confusion.

Elisa shook her head gently. "No, but I think this newspaper is quite interesting... Didn't I lose a cat before?"

Malvern couldn't remember which one it was; his daughter had too many cats.

Seeing that her father seemed to have forgotten about it, Elisa continued in a soft and gentle tone. "Didn’t you tell me that you had instructed the steward to post lost cat notices around the city’s taverns and it wouldn't take long before a mercenary brought it back for me."

"Is that so... What happened later?" Malvern's expression seemed a bit embarrassed.

It seemed that the cat had not been found, and he had broken his promise he made to his daughter.

However, the sensible Elisa didn't blame him. She simply continued in a gentle tone, "Later, that mercenary did not appear, but this newspaper found me through the lost cat notice at the tavern. They said they could publish an advertisement for me in the newspaper for free. All I had to do was write a thank-you letter for them once we found Little Black."

After hearing this, Malvern smiled.

Was this newspaper trying to establish its popularity by using his daughter's name?

These people seemed to have some business acumen.

In Boulder Town's upper society, his daughter's name was worth much more than a few chips.

However, this kind of small matter was not worth worrying about. He only cared about his daughter and said to her with concern. "I hope they can find it."

"Me too." Petting the little cat in her arms, Elisa's eyes showed a touch of worry. "I'm really worried that it might be hungry."

...

At the same time.

Not far from the warehouse district, there was a standalone building with a sign at the entrance that read ‘Voice of the Alliance’.

From the looks of the brand-new nails, this sign had probably been hung up recently.

Unlike the quiet entrance, the inside of the newspaper office was bustling with activity.

Especially for Hal, who served as the president of the newspaper, he had been busy from early morning until almost evening, wishing he could split himself to get everything done.

In fact, that was exactly what he did.

Due to the recent establishment of the newspaper and the shortage of staff, he had to take on multiple roles, responsible for the content, layout, and external contacts of the newspaper.

As for why it turned out this way, it all started 3 days ago on that fateful afternoon.

According to the instructions of the administrator, the New Alliance needed its own voice channel.

However, due to the understaffed New Alliance office in Boulder Town, Shu Yu and Luca, after some discussion, dumped this significant mission onto Hal's head.

The trust of the New Alliance surprised Hal.

Although he also wanted to repay these people for saving and sheltering him while proving his abilities, he had never run a newspaper before. In fact, he didn't even know what a newspaper was.

Fortunately, Shu Yu did not leave him to handle everything. Instead, he went to the talent market to find a few employees who had worked for The Voice of Boulder Town before. This at least prevented him from being too busy and overwhelmed.

The Survivor’s Daily was the first product they launched, with distribution mainly in the outer city of Boulder Town.

The first printing consisted of 1,200 copies, distributed to relatively low-consumption places such as taverns, grocery stores, and mobile vendors.

These newspapers were printed in the local printing house in Boulder Town, and the production cost per newspaper for quantities under 10,000 copies was approximately 0.5 chips.

Adding the cost of labor, rent, water, and electricity, their expenses for the day had reached over a thousand chips.

As for income, they didn't need to think about it for now.

The newspapers were almost provided to their partners for free.

The retail price for each newspaper was 1 chip. If sold, after deducting the profit belonging to the cooperating merchant, they could at most recover the cost of printing the newspaper.

To promote these newspapers, they even threw in 56 boxes of Nuka Cola!

However, their efforts would be worth it eventually.

In the conference room on the second floor of the newspaper office, a meeting was taking place. Hal had gathered the 6 editors of the newspaper to compile the suggestions left by readers and discuss the content of the next issue.

At this moment, the door of the meeting room was pushed open, and a staff member walked in hurriedly. "Good news! We sold half of the 1,200 newspapers!"

Upon hearing this, many people at the conference table relaxed, showing smiles on their faces.

In a situation where the newspaper could be freely perused, being able to sell half of the total produced newspapers was quite good for a new newspaper with no recognition. At least it indicated that their content was not a problem.

The staff member paused for a moment and then continued. "... But the bad news is, we didn't earn a single chip. We only got back 120 chips and over 3,000 empty bottles."

After hearing the second half of the sentence, the editors at the table exchanged glances.

"... Maybe we can make some money by selling these bottles?" An editor glanced at the president of the newspaper and suggested quietly.

Finding a job wasn't easy these days, especially for something like a newspaper that wasn't a necessity of life. He was genuinely worried that he might lose the job he had finally found.

Seeing the concerns in everyone's eyes, Hal stood up from the conference table and enthusiastically encouraged them. "Don't worry about the loss. Profit is not our goal. What we need to do now is just one thing, and that is to quickly build our reputation."

"I carefully studied the suggestions we received. The name 'Survivor’s Daily' is too general, and the content is not specific enough."

"People sitting in offices won't be interested in which factory's assembly line is short of people, and the workers in Boulder Town won't care about what the lead dancer of the Queen of the Night is wearing today."

"I believe that, in addition to 'Survivor’s Daily,' we should also establish supplementary publications such as Worker's Daily, Citizen's Daily, Playboy’s Daily, etc., and deliver different content to different customer groups."

"Since The Voice of Boulder Town occupies the upper society, let's go to the areas they have never ventured into, and open up new battlefields."

As he spoke these words, Hal felt every cell in his body boiling, and his eyes sparkled with excitement and ambition.

If this plan could be realized, the newspaper he founded would occupy every minute of the leisure time of Boulder Town residents, and the words he wrote would be read repeatedly by hundreds of thousands of people.

And he would become the uncrowned king of this city!

After being away from home for so long, it was the first time he encountered something so exciting.

Hearing him describe the amazing plan, everything revealed looks of surprise.

An editor couldn't help asking, "Do we have that much budget?"

Hal said confidently. "... There will always be a way. Didn't our boss say that the New Alliance would not be stingy when it comes to investing in the cultural industry?"

"Moreover, we just got a loan of 200 million chips. We have to spend this money somewhere, right?"