Chapter 521.2: Level B6, OPEN!

Sideline Slacking: So symbiosis leads to XP debuffs... Is that based on the exotic player template?

Ample Time: I think it’s more like the Bionic Prosthesis system. Didn’t the last patch notes mention that overuse of them slows genetic development, aka less XP gain? Though the 50% rule feels too vague. The effects should differ per genetic sequence.

Gale: Personally, I feel Intelligence type players don’t get XP debuffs when using robotic arms without neural implants. In fact, due to frequent neural overload, they gain slight Intelligence XP bonuses. Slime Mold symbiosis might be similar, if it doesn’t affect the brain, even with over 50% infection, you could still earn XP... maybe even become like Bucky.

- Sequence progress can still accumulate and be saved as usual.

Quit Smoking: Damn! Intelligence class just got an epic buff?!

Gale: Only theoretically. In practice, who knows. Anyway, I personally can’t get used to biological prosthetics, they feel weird. (｡﹏｡")

Ample Time: I’m actually quite satisfied with my current build. No need to stack more buffs.

Night Ten: You just don’t want to scare your Dori, do you? (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)

Ample Time: I won’t deny that. Even though symbionts are different from normal sub-entities and don’t maintain real-time communication with the Hive, having a foreign thing growing on your body still feels off. I suggest anyone in a relationship talk to their partner about it first. As for the single folks, do whatever you want. (◔_◔)

Night Ten: Damn it! Even this is a chance to show off your relationship?!

Elf Wang: I’m gonna puke!

Irene: Am I the only one wondering what it tastes like? ( ˶°ㅁ°)

Falling Feather: The hell?! What do you guys think my Little Feather is?! (ᗒᗣᗕ)

Mosquito: Hahaha! She’s everyone’s Little Feather now! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Falling Feather: Fuck you all!

...

The research on Mutant Slime Mold was only one part of the New Alliance’s massive agenda. For now, Chu Guang had more urgent matters to attend to. Wars were never cheap, especially when the enemy was the Army.

The New Alliance had maintained uninterrupted logistics support throughout the war, not just due to corporate help with transportation, but also because it was willing to spend money on logistics.

During the war, the Alliance had produced nearly 300 Tank 1s and Tank 2s, nearly a thousand Electric Mule transport trucks, dozens of Dragonfly transport planes, and close to 1,000 Mosquito attack aircraft.

That didn’t even include the ammunition consumed or the light weapons manufactured. Just the vehicles alone could have carried the entire New Alliance population!

Producing all this equipment had consumed not only resources but also an enormous chunk of the New Alliance’s budget.

As a result, the New Alliance’s fiscal deficit had reached an astonishing figure.

Having delegated part of level B6 authority to Hyrja, Chu Guang followed the schedule Little Seven had prepared for him and headed to a meeting room in the New Alliance Administration Building. There, he met with Charlie, the head of the Merchant Guild, and the Minister of Finance.

Back during an earlier reform, the New Alliance had established 12 ministries, including the Internal Affairs Department, Industry Department, Economy Department, and Foreign Affairs Department. The Finance Department was one of them.

Like other departments, all its personnel were recruited through exams.

The main questions were roughly equivalent to high school-level math, standard curriculum in both full-time schools and worker night classes.

As for the subjective questions, some were user-submitted and selected by vote, while others were copied from the internet by Chu Guang based on his needs.

He didn’t require them to be experts. It was enough if they were good at math, respected natural sciences, had a materialist worldview, and basic common sense.

Though called the Finance Department, it was really just one office, and even including the clerks, the total headcount didn’t exceed 10 people.

Partly, it was because there weren’t many qualified people in the New Alliance. But mostly, there simply wasn’t a need for that many.

Auditing, financial reports, department budgets... Those were all handled by AI. The staff mostly assisted Chu Guang with macro-level decision support, refining policy details, and making specific adjustments based on his input.

Rather than policymakers, they functioned more like secretaries.

And indeed, some detailed policies were even developed with the help of Charlie from the Merchant Guild.

Though not a trained economist, his years of dealing with wasteland merchants gave him insight into storage, logistics, and industrial production, making him far more knowledgeable than the rookies recruited through the exams.

If the old man hadn’t wanted to retire and focus on running the Merchant Guild well, Chu Guang would have appointed him the head of the Finance Department from the start.

When Chu Guang entered the meeting room, Department Head Sun Ruicai visibly tensed. Clutching his notes, he stood up abruptly.

Compared to the elderly Charlie beside him, he was much younger and far less experienced. He had previously worked only as a factory employee at the mint.

Before his appointment, he never expected to be chosen. He simply took the exam because everyone else did, and somehow, he ended up scoring first.

Lacking management experience, he constantly feared he wasn’t qualified. As a result, he worked very cautiously, afraid to let down the administrator’s trust.

Yet no matter how careful he was, he couldn’t change the deficit on the financial report.

That figure was calculated by the AI, leaving no room for manipulation.

Before the meeting, he had mentally prepared himself to be scolded. But to his surprise, Chu Guang didn’t blame him. Instead, he gave him a look of reassurance.

"Sit down. No need to be nervous," Chu Guang said gently, "I have a general sense of the financial situation... I’m here today to fix it."

"Yes... Sir."

Seeing Chu Guang’s calm and composed expression, Sun Ruicai relaxed slightly. His fingers loosened their grip on the script as he slowly sat down.

Once the young man had composed himself, Chu Guang continued, "Let’s begin."

"Yes!" Sun quickly nodded and began reading. "Based on consolidated reports from all departments, the New Alliance’s fiscal deficit this year has reached 1.17 billion silver coins. Military expenditures alone account for 900 million, or 76.9% of the total budget."

1.17 billion!

For a total population under 200,000, that was a terrifying number.

It meant each New Alliance citizen carried a debt of 5,850 silver coins, about 487.5 silver coins spent per month, already more than the legal minimum income of 360 silver coins per month.

Of course, the math wasn’t that simple.

Chu Guang knew very well that at least 70% of that deficit was actually player payments. And at least half of that had returned to his hands through ‘technology exports’.

This income wasn’t listed in the financial report because the auctions were conducted under the collective name of Shelter 404. The funds were stored in a group account.

Expenses like building player save points, maintaining them, and paying NPCs who worked with players were all drawn from there.

At the end of the year, most of that money would be returned to the New Alliance treasury under the name of a Shelter 404 donation. But strictly speaking, using national funds to benefit shelter residents could still be seen as inappropriate.

No one questioned it now, but it might cause issues in the future.

As the New Alliance continued growing, many things that could once be glossed over would need to become formalized.

According to Little Seven’s data, once year-end donations were accounted for, the true deficit would shrink to around 600 million silver coins. It was a sizable amount, but much less than 1.17 billion.

Seeing Chu Guang deep in thought, Charlie cleared his throat and spoke. "The war has put immense pressure on our finances. You did bring back a lot of spoils from the front lines, but those assets are hard to convert directly into cash, especially in such a large amount."

After a pause, he added, "And that’s just our internal debt, which is actually the easier part. Turning on the printing press only takes your command. The real problem is our external debt. Take Boulder Town, for example. From the initial 200 million chips we borrowed, the principal and interest due by year-end is already 5 million chips."

"Then there are all the mid and long term debts we’ve accumulated. Total external debt has reached 500 million chips. Year-end interest and repayment will exceed 10 million."

At that point, Charlie rubbed his wrinkled forehead with a troubled look.

There was something he had wanted to say for a long time, and that was that the New Alliance was spending too damn quickly!

To make sure the administrator understood the severity of the situation, he unintentionally raised his tone. "If you’re not planning to default on the debt or use our CR reserves to trade with Boulder Town Bank, I suggest implementing a more conservative fiscal policy starting today. For at least the next three years, we need to tighten our belts. Until our investments start yielding returns, we must reduce our debt as much as possible."

"Otherwise, all the foreign exchange we earn from trade will just go toward repayments. Besides printing more money and watching silver coins lose value, we won’t be able to do much else!"