LATEST UPDATES

Published at 20th of June 2022 01:04:02 PM


Chapter 45: Red River Town

If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again




What Chu Guang didn't expect was that there were still a lot of good things on this bull's back.

For example, the 5 "rider" revolver rifles on top.

This thing had a caliber of 7mm, with two simple rifling in the barrel which could keep the ballistic distribution of the shot bullets basically stable within 50 meters.

In particular, the simple spring-loaded receiver structure was not only very convenient for maintenance, but also very reliable in battle. Even if there were accidents such as jams, duds, etc., there was no need to worry about it. With a simple flip of the wheel, the pistol could be continuously used.

It could be used as a pistol even if the barrel was removed, but the accuracy would be reduced a lot.

Of course, what made Chu Guang most satisfied was the rate of fire of this thing.

Although it was a semi-automatic design, as long as the trigger was pulled fast enough, it was not a problem to shoot six bullets in a short time to form a suppressing effect!

It could be said to be a very good weapon.

Just as Chu Guang wondered whether to pick a rifle as a "compensation", his eyes suddenly fell on the sack tied to both sides of the two-headed bull.

When he opened it, it was stuffed with coins.

These coins were brass-colored and silver-white. Chu Guang didn't know what material they were made of, but they were not rusty. The brass-colored coins looked a little smaller, and the silver-white ones were a little larger. The denominations were written 1 and 10 respectively, corresponding to the currency value.

"Pre-war currency? No..."

Picking up a coin, Chu Guang flipped it to the back and quickly recognized the small characters of the Federation of People printed on it——

[Galaxy Video Game City]

I see.

It is actually a game currency.

"Where did you get this stuff?"

Throwing the coin back into the sack, Chu Guang glanced up and down at the merchant named Sun and asked, all while looking at the nervous expression on his face.

Hearing Chu Guang's inquiry, Sun Shiqi answered honestly.

"I found these coins in the basement of a game arcade. I thought I should be able to smelt some copper and steel, so I just packed them."

Generally, caravans rarely stopped to search, and they usually traded with local scavengers. This was good for both parties and avoided potential conflicts.

But nothing was absolute. Just like how poor mercenaries would occasionally become marauders to rob caravans, the poor merchants would of course take the risk of picking up trash by themselves sometimes.

For example, the merchant in front of him obviously just started doing this business, and maybe the two-headed bull behind him was only bought by him not long ago.

"Are there any more there?" Chu Guang asked.

Sun Shiqi was dazed and nodded subconsciously.

"It seems that there are still two cabinets... there are probably four to five more sacks like this."

"Very well, I want it all."

Chu Guang unloaded the two sacks from the bull's back and looked at Sun Shiqi and said.

"These two sacks and the coins in them will be our compensation. Next time you come here, remember to bring all the remaining coins. Let me see... for every one hundred kilograms of coins, I will give you four kilograms of dried meat, what do you think?"

One hundred kilograms, which was about a sack full, could hold about 30,000 to 40,000 coins.

Doing business is always about returning customers, so Chu Guang didn't want to rip this man off too hard. Thus, he picked these two sacks, which happened to be useful for him.

Besides……

Since he was going to let this person go, Chu Guang didn't want to make the demand for weapons too obvious.

Sun Shiqi obviously didn't expect that the person in front of him would be interested in these scraps. His expression was full of surprise, but he didn't dare to show it too obviously, so he nodded and said quickly.

"No problem! As long as you need it, I will bring them all next time!"

He didn't care why the man in front of him needed those coins. Maybe it was to commemorate the old days or something else, but no matter, those coins weren't that valuable.

He originally planned to drag these coins to Boulder City to sell them as copper and steel, but in fact, they wouldn't be worth many chips.

If he could use them to establish a friendly relationship with a shelter and open up a new market, it would be a good deal.

It would also lighten some weight in advance, making the following journey easier for him as well.

In addition to the two sacks of coins, the five revolving rifles Chu Guang fancied also stayed, and he also bought 200 rounds of 7mm bullets from the merchant.

In exchange, he provided a total of 50 kilograms of dried meat and 10 kilograms of smoked fish to the merchant from afar.

Although there were many misunderstandings during the initial contact between the two parties, in general, the results were satisfactory to both parties.

Chu Guang got what he wanted, and the merchant surnamed Sun also got the trading rights and food he needed.

For the survivors living in Qingquan City, it was difficult to imagine the situation in Red River Town. Although the two places were less than 100 kilometers apart, the ecological environment there was completely different.

According to the merchant surnamed Sun, there was a large-scale chemical industry base and a landfill in the area.

Since these facilities were not maintained after the war, the inventory leaked, so that the local soil was seriously polluted, the content of heavy metals especially exceeded the standard, and large areas of desertification and compaction have not been completely repaired by nature even until now.

More than that, due to the fragile ecosystem, local mutants were predominantly scavengers that ate decaying meat and arthropods.

In this extreme situation, local survivors have almost no fertile land to use, and it was difficult for them to survive through hunting.

But it was very interesting that the landfill, which was protested by locals more than once before the war, became the greatest asset of local survivors in the two centuries after the end of the nuclear war.

There was rubbish buried there for nearly half a century, and a large part of it had not been able to be degraded.

In today's wasteland era, the rubbish buried there has formed another sense of "non-natural mineral deposits", and has contributed to the prosperity of local mining, archaeology, and trade.

"But what do you eat?" After listening to Sun Shiqi's description, Chu Guang couldn't help asking, "Does it all come from outside?"

That would definitely make the food price very high.

"Of course, it is impossible to rely entirely on imports. Although there are no reindeer and hyenas, many mutant moles and mice can also be eaten. In addition, we will also catch some less dangerous insects, use them to make protein extracts and feed them to livestock, or something made into a nutrient cream… like this stuff."

While speaking, Sun Shiqi took out a sealed glass jar from the package slung on the back of the two-headed bull, which contained a black gel like material.

It looks a bit like medicinal paste.

When looking through the package before, Chu Guang saw this thing but didn't understand what it was for, so he ignored it.

But he didn't expect it to be food.

"What is this made of?"

Sun Shiqi smiled and said.

"Mutated cockroach."

Chu Guang: "..."

He felt that he could no longer look directly at it.

"Although it is protein and oil extracted from mutant cockroaches, after repeated processes such as boiling, filtering, drying, grinding, soaking, and collecting juice, this thing has nothing to do with cockroaches. It's full of proteins… Would you like some?"

Chu Guang said sternly. "No need."

He'd rather starve to death than accept eating this stuff.

But……

According to this guy, the cost of this kind of food seemed to be very low?

Mutant cockroaches were common everywhere, and the cockroaches in Qingquan City would definitely contain much less heavy metals than Red River Town.

When necessary, using this nutritional cream as an emergency ration for players seemed to be a good choice.

Regarding whether he should do it, Chu Guang fell into deep thought for a long time.

But at this moment, he suddenly thought of another thing.

"It sounds like you know insects well?"

Sun Shiqi nodded immediately.

"Of course, we have to deal with those things every day."

Chu Guang then asked.

"Then do you have a way to deal with leeches?"

"Leeches?" Sun Shiqi was stunned. "You mean... mutant leeches?"

"Mhm."

Seeing Chu Guang nodding, Sun Shiqi thought for a moment, his expression a little embarrassed.

"That kind of stuff... It's quite rare in Red River Town, probably because we have more ants."

Chu Guang frowned and asked.

"Ants?"

Sun Shiqi nodded and continued.

"Mhm, we have a kind of mutant called ironback ants. They are about the size of a thumb and can grow up to the size of a fist. The carapace of this thing is very hard, and it is corrosion-resistant. They eat almost anything. Most molluscs are not their opponents."

Chu Guang asked.

"Can you take a few to show me next time?"

Sun Shiqi said with a smile.

"No problem! Leave it to me!"

After the transaction was completed, the merchant surnamed Sun did not stay here for too long, but chose to continue on the road.

Chu Guang did not keep him, but just reminded him of the mutant human camp near 76th Street and the traces of marauder activities in the north of the wetland park, and then he wished him a smooth journey.

The figure of the two-headed bull gradually disappeared into the woods.

The players who watched him leave were all talking.

"That guy was really a merchant just now!"

"Fortunately, I didn't beat him."

"It should be fine if you beat him, and you can leave all his things behind."

"That's right, but what if the merchant dies and he doesn't respawn?"

"It's unlikely that will happen, but maybe there is only such a merchant in this expansion. Didn't you hear the game designer say that Wasteland Online wants to build a full economic system. If this is not an empty promise, then this should be the prototype!"

"... It seems to make sense."

Regardless of the players' comments, Chu Guang's mind at this moment was entirely on the two sacks of game coins.

He has a bold idea.

Since plastic chips could be used as a currency, why not metal currencies?

These two sacks had roughly sixty to seventy thousand coins, and it wouldn't be long before the merchant surnamed Sun brought him another batch.

With a scale of less than five hundred people, these coins were definitely enough!

A brass-colored coin would be considered a copper coin, and a silver-white coin would be considered a silver coin, with a value of 10 to 1.

The original contribution points would be incorporated into the new honor system, which could be used to purchase identities, titles, and even private land.

At the same time, the mercenaries, caravans, guilds, and legion systems that would be launched in the future would also be linked to contribution points. Only players who contributed enough were qualified to lead other players.

This would not only strengthen management, but also greatly limit those players messing around.

After all, the higher the value of the player's account, the more they would cherish their account, be more inclined to play more seriously, and spontaneously maintain order in the game.

Messing around is fun.

And this is human nature.

Dragging two sacks weighing nearly 100 kilograms back to the shelter alone, Chu Guang then found an empty room without the culture chamber activated and leaned the sacks against the corner of the wall.

Then, he turned around and returned to the residents' lobby, turned on the computer, logged into the backend of the official website, and started editing the title.

[Wasteland Online Close Test Alpha 0.3 Version Update Announcement: Major adjustments to the economic system! ]

While typing this line of words, Chu Guang opened his document.

He copied a lot of brilliant ideas from the forum before.

It just happened to be available now...

.....................................................

There are now advanced chapters availableJoin our discord, if you think this novel is interesting and you want to help out editing this novel.




Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!