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Is This Really A Game? - Chapter 13

Published at 19th of May 2023 06:00:46 AM


Chapter 13

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Lucius tied the seal of the plastic bag tightly and continued.

"You should be thankful that you didn't continue to go inside. This kind of mushroom usually grows near the nest of mutated leeches."

Walker was stunned for a moment.

"Mutated leeches?"

Lucius said casually, "Well, juvenile mutated leeches are only the size of a palm, and look no different from normal leeches except for their special mouthparts. However, once it enters adulthood, its size will rapidly increase to more than 1 meter, and the longest can even reach 3 meters. Its eating method will also change. It is said that it can even swallow a living person...Of course, I just It is said that."

After listening to the manager's narration, Walker felt a chill all over his body.

He said that something was wrong when he was picking mushrooms, but he couldn't tell what was wrong. Looking at it this way, he turned out to have slipped before the gate of hell.

"Can't you eat it?" The expression on Gale's face was rather regretful, looking at the mushrooms that Lucius had put away, he muttered, "I thought I could add BUFF."

"Do not think too much."

How can there be so many BUFFs? Lucius did not say a word. Although this thing cannot be eaten, it is the main raw material for making radiation suppressants.

Lucius didn't know the exact reason either, he also heard about it from old Charlie on Beit Street. Blue umbrella mushroom contains a special peptide substance, which can effectively relieve and heal the non-lethal damage caused by gamma rays. The caravan of Boulder City will buy this thing, and the price is not low. It is usually transported to Boulder City and sold to the factory there.

It's just that this thing is really hard to get. Few scavengers are willing to risk their lives to search for nests of mutated leeches in swamps, subways, and sewers. Hard to find is one thing. Finding it and bringing it back is another matter. Even if it is forced by life, no one wants to deal with these tentacles that eat people and don't spit out their bones...

Unexpectedly, there is a nest of mutated leeches so close at hand. Lucius was in a mixed mood. The joy is that this blue umbrella mushroom can be sold for a lot of money, but the worry is that the mutant leeches are not easy to deal with.

Sprinkle salt? Where can I get hundreds of kilograms of salt? It is better to sell the salt directly if there is so much salt.

Set fire? These things generally live in humid areas, and it's really not that easy to light.

"Do you remember the exact location of the sewer entrance?"

Faced with the manager's inquiry, Gale quickly took out the map and pointed to the marked location, "Right here."

Lucius glanced at the location on the map and silently wrote it down.

"I see."

...

The blue umbrella mushroom brought back by Gale and Walker is estimated to be 2 kilograms. Generally, every 50g can be exchanged for a few chips.

2000g is 40 chips! This is almost equivalent to all of Lucius's savings in the past five months. And this is the price offered by the recycling bin on Beit Street. The actual value of this thing is at least twice this figure!

Lucius planned to sell all these mushrooms, and then use the bargaining chips to buy urgently needed supplies at the outpost.

"The supplies at the outpost need to be replenished. I'll go out for a while. You stay here. Remember not to go far."

"At five o'clock in the afternoon, Popo will open the elevator for you on time and return to the shelter."

"When I'm not around, Popo will count the results of your work, and you can ask about things you don't understand."

As for the 2 kg blue umbrella mushroom, Lucius gave Gale and Walker a total of 220 contribution points. Among them, 200 contribution points are due to the discovery of the mutant leech's nest, and the other 20 contribution points are from the blue umbrella mushroom. It's not that he is stingy for only giving such a small amount, but he is afraid of giving too much, so that these players will taste the sweetness, take the risk to pick this thing, and accidentally die in it.

Until he finds a generator that can power the 'Active Substance Extractor', he thinks it's better to be cautious.

Green wheat porridge for lunch. Speaking of porridge, Lucius thought it was a bit like mung bean soup without sweetness. This thing has no taste at all, it is purely for filling the stomach. But to Lucius's surprise, the four players devoured their food like hungry ghosts reincarnated.

Is it so delicious? Lucius doubted his cooking skills. Am I actually good at cook? It shouldn't be... Had a quick meal. Putting away the pots and pans, Lucius extinguished the fire, and set off on the road alone. There were only four players left in the nursing home, and an AI robot hanging up upstairs.

Tomorrow stared at the task board inserted in the entrance of the nursing home, lost in thought.

Walker asked from the side, "What are you looking at."

Tomorrow said, "According to the manager, the blue umbrella mushroom can be used as a raw material for making anti-radiation agents, but the mission rewards you are only 20 contribution points, which is equivalent to cutting down two trees... Do you think this is reasonable?"

Walker was stunned for a moment.

"Any questions."

Tomorrow continues, "Of course there is. Normally, the rewards that players get from missions should be directly related to the difficulty of missions. Not only have you unlocked new dungeons, but you have also collected high-value materials. Generally speaking, there are not only so many rewards."

Gale ask, "Then why do you think so?"

Tomorrow snapped his fingers.

"Priority!"

"Excellent, priority?" Walker was stunned.

"That's right." Tomorrow nodded, "Do you still remember what the manager said in the previous plot? The first priority now is survival! Have it?"

It seems there is.

Walker didn't listen too carefully, most of the games he didn't read the plot, just Ctrl past. Although this game can't use Ctrl, it doesn't make any difference if you lose your mind for a few minutes.

Tomorrow continued.

"...So I guess that the missions on the mission board are not all missions. This game gives us a lot of autonomy. Quests can not only be issued by NPCs but can also be triggered actively."

Gale frowned.

"Reason?"

"Haven't you already received the reward?" Tomorrow said, "Although the generator was not found, the alien nest was found and valuable materials were collected."

"So I judge that as long as our behavior meets the current needs of Shelter No.404, we can get contribution points. And the value of the reward is positively related to the value created by our behavior!"

"For example, building cesspit and toilets is a task released by the manager after adopting our opinions. Both Bunny and I were rewarded with 200 contribution points."

Bunny nodded.

"it seems to be like this."

"I probably understand what you mean," Gale said while rubbing his chin, "But don't you get contribution points for completing the missions on the mission board?"

And the points are not low.

"This is the second point I want to talk about." Tomorrow had a mysterious smile on his face, "Do you still remember the favorability setting that the planner and we talked about?"

A hint of bewilderment appeared on Gale's face.

"I see...I see what you mean."

Walker and Bunny are still at a loss.

"What the hell do you understand?"

"Speak clearly!"

Tomorrow said slowly. "To put it simply, completing the fixed tasks on the task board step by step, although we can obtain fixed guaranteed rewards, cannot demonstrate our abilities. In contrast, actively triggering tasks can better reflect our own abilities! Theoretically speaking, we should It can improve the management's evaluation of us."

Of course, these speculations are based on the fact that Wasteland OL is a 'completely real' immersive virtual reality game, and the behavior of managers is dominated by program logic, not artificial settings. If his intelligence level is not as high as imagined, this inference is likely to be invalid. But from the current point of view, the manager's level of intelligence is quite high, and there is no problem with normal communication. He even couldn't help but wonder if this guy might be played by a real person.

After understanding Tomorrow's explanation, Bunny stroked the stubble on his chin and nodded.

"This idea is a bit interesting, and it's worth trying... Then what do you think we should do?"

"I'm still figuring out how to do it, but my intuition tells me that it is more important to accumulate more NPC favorability points before the second round of closed beta than to contribute points. test has a higher 'starting point' than other players."

After a pause, Tomorrow snapped his fingers.

"I propose to form a team!"

"The meaning of forming a team is..." Walker wondered.

Bunny nodded.

"I have no opinion."

Gale also nodded.

"I agree too."

Walker was stunned.

"I have no objection, but can you explain to me the details of the team formation?"

Tomorrow explained patiently.

"To put it simply, from now on we are a team, everyone shares information and helps each other. Then, what we have to do is to use our respective strengths."

Tomorrow looked at Gale and Walker, and continued.

"Gale, Walker, you scout along the lakeshore of the Wetland Park, pay attention to the distribution of heterogeneous species, the trajectory of their activities, and if you find areas that are suspected of nesting, mark them... But remember, don't get too close, especially to avoid occurrences Fight. We need a safe water point."

Gale nodded.

"OK."

Then, Tomorrow looked at Bunny.

"As for us, what we have to do now is to chop more wood."

"I'll be offline in a while, I'll go online to check some information, and tomorrow I'll find a way to make use of the wood I've stockpiled!"

......

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