Not Enough Hands

The cheers were coming from the Cement Kiln.

Chu Guang walked over and saw Fang Chang and Old Bai piling a heap of light gray powder on the ground, adding water and sand, and mixing it into a paste-like slurry.

Roughly estimated, this batch of cement was only about 20 kilograms.

Since it was a test firing, not much was produced in this batch. Judging from the volume of the feeding port of the Cement Kiln, processing half a ton a day should not be a problem.

Although it couldn't compare to professional production equipment, it was barely usable.

"Respected Manager!"

Noticing Chu Guang walking towards them, the two Players dropped the tools in their hands and excitedly greeted him.

"Cement!"

"We finally made Silicate Cement!"

This was truly not easy.

To make the temperature inside the Cement Kiln reach over 1450 degrees, the two of them practically worked themselves to death pumping the bellows, adding charcoal shovel after shovel, almost developing Qilin Arms.

Especially Old Bai, whose Gene Sequence was originally Strength Type, had almost leveled up again after these three days!

"You did very well."

Chu Guang looked at them approvingly, nodding.

"With this cement, we've taken a big step forward in our first phase plan. The Shelter will remember your contributions, and each of you will receive a reward of 1000 Contribution Points!"

Expressions of joy appeared on the faces of the two Players.

Their hard work these past few days had indeed not been in vain!

However, what they didn't know was that the NPC and scheming developer standing in front of them had already begun to calculate how to recover the "currency" they had over-issued.

Inflation that was too fast wouldn't work; it would affect the game's lifespan.

How about...

Opening a Gacha function?

1000 Contribution Points for one pull?

It wasn't impossible.

Just as Chu Guang was contemplating the best way to do it, Fang Chang and Old Bai exchanged glances and said respectfully to him,

"Manager, there's something I must report to you!"

"Speak."

"Now that the cement has been successfully fired, we need more hands to start building the Outpost!"

Chu Guang looked at the two of them.

"How many people do you need?"

Old Bai eagerly jumped in.

"At least ten people! Of course, the more the better! The Cement Kiln requires manual bellows for calcining. Two people can operate one kiln in shifts, and we'll build a second one soon. That will require four people! Moving stone from the construction site will need at least four, and the rest for building walls and houses, at least eight or more."

Chu Guang calculated in his mind.

Wouldn't that be sixteen people?

The current food reserves at the Outpost were only enough for seven people, including himself, for a week. If the population suddenly tripled, he wasn't sure if the logistics could handle it.

Chu Guang hesitated repeatedly, but finally made up his mind to take a gamble.

It was already the 9th.

Almost a third of September had passed. If they didn't work harder, it would be difficult to complete the Outpost before winter.

"Alright! I understand."

Nodding, Chu Guang looked at the two Players and continued.

"I will apply to my superiors for support. In three days, a batch of new members will awaken from hibernation and come to the surface to join our cause."

Hearing this, expressions of joy appeared on the faces of Old Bai and Fang Chang.

With the addition of new people, their grand infrastructure plan would be much easier than it was now!

Not only that, Fang Chang's guess was also confirmed.

This NPC's authority was indeed not as simple as just a regular NPC; he could even influence the progress of the game's Closed Beta.

This made Fang Chang think of the fantasy settings in early online novels about online games—

The game runs on a supercomputer with infinite computing power. The game company sets the world view framework, and the content is entirely dynamically generated by AI.

Maybe Wasteland Online was like this!

Fang Chang became more excited the more he thought about it.

He felt like he understood again.

With the addition of a carpenter and a chef, the players' working conditions and quality of life visibly improved.

With help from There Really Are Mosquitoes in the WC, Old Bai and Fang Chang's construction team got molds for making mud bricks, and he even helped Gale and Night Ten improve their fishing traps.

He even used a tree stump to make a wooden toilet seat for the latrine that wouldn't pinch your butt.

Now you could finally sit down to do your business.

However, not everyone liked this kind of sitting toilet.

Gale, for example.

This guy seemed to be a bit of a clean freak. Even in the game, he couldn't accept using a toilet someone else had used. He stubbornly dug another pit next to the original latrine and put up wooden boards for cover.

Thanks to this, the outpost now had a second latrine.

But compared to these trivial matters, the most surprising thing was this guy and Night Ten's fishing plan.

With the improved traps, the two finally caught their first fish just before dusk.

And it was a big one!

Judging by its appearance, it should be a catfish.

The reason for saying "should be" was because its thick lips and head were freakishly large. White spots were scattered among the dark blue patterns, and its whiskers were adorned with coral-like red filaments.

Clearly, this was also a mutant after mutation.

Looking at the "big guy" struggling in the trap trying to escape, Gale and Night Ten were so excited they were almost crying, not caring at all how ugly the thing looked.

Three days!

A full three days!

They finally caught one!

Before the large birds circling in the sky and the beasts by the lake noticed, they quickly dragged this big guy, trap and all, from the lake to the shore, and brutally beat it to death with steel bars.

Only when it was completely dead did they tie its head and tail to steel bars with rope, carrying it front and back, and brought this still twitching dead fish back to the outpost.

"Brother Scrambled Eggs, take a look, can this thing be eaten?"

"Holy crap? What is this thing?"

Staring at the catfish Gale and Night Ten threw on the ground, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, who was making a fish smoking rack, almost popped his eyes out.

He had been cooking for almost half his life, and this was the first time he had seen such a large catfish with his own eyes.

Just the fish head could fill a washbasin.

By the way, if this thing was thrown into the lake, could other fish still survive???

Catfish eat meat!

"It should be a catfish," Gale said.

"Nonsense, of course I know it's a catfish," Scrambled Eggs squatted down, flipped open its lips for a look, then pulled at them, smacking his tongue as he said, "Good heavens... it must weigh over a hundred pounds!"

Night Ten quickly asked.

"Can it be smoked?"

"Who the hell uses catfish to make smoked fish..." Scrambled Eggs continued with a speechless expression, "This thing has very thick fat, and there's moisturizing mucus on the surface. It's quite troublesome to process, I don't know if it can be dehydrated."

"Then what should we do?" Gale asked.

"I haven't tried it either, let's give it a shot first..." Looking at the fish smoking rack he had been working on for half the day, Scrambled Eggs fell silent.

A fish weighing over a hundred pounds would definitely crush it if placed on top.

He could only rebuild it...

At dusk.

Brother Scrambled Eggs took over from the Manager and stewed a pot of fish head soup for the players, proving through practice that this thing could indeed be eaten.

And the taste was unexpectedly good.

Although there was no tofu as a side dish, and no scallions, ginger, garlic, or cooking wine to remove the fishy smell, Brother Scrambled Eggs still relied on his exquisite cooking skills, using only salt and soy sauce for seasoning, to make a pot of fish head soup that was still fresh and not greasy.

The players ate with tears streaming down their faces.

Brother Scrambled Eggs and Mosquito were surprised that there was taste in the game, while the other four players were moved by finally being able to eat some normal food.

Sob sob sob, it was too difficult...

They went offline at six in the evening that day, which was exactly six in the morning in reality.

As soon as the closed beta players came out of the game, before they even had time to log into their Penguin accounts, the messages in the Cattle and Horse Club Group exploded.

Quit Smoking: [Holy crap! Everyone look at the official website!]

Why Should I Be Arrogant: [You still haven't given up...]

Spare Me: [What's wrong with the official website?]

Quit Smoking: [Alpha 0.2 Version Major Update! The official website will release another 24 closed beta slots! The number of closed beta players will be expanded to 30!!!]

Spare Me: [What the heck?]

Why Should I Be Arrogant: [Heh, they're starting to harvest the leeks. Spit it out, how much? Let's see if it's enough for the police station downstairs to file a case. (Picking nose)]

Quit Smoking: [It shouldn't cost money, right? I didn't see the announcement mention anything about fees! Haha, I refuse to believe it, I still won't get in this time!!!]

Trash Picker Level 99: [You're overthinking it. The number of reservations has already surpassed a hundred. 24 extra spots... the probability is about one-quarter to one-fifth.]

Quit Smoking: [Over a hundred?! What the hell, our group has that many active people???]

Trash Picker Level 99: [Uh, not all of them are from our group... I saw a lot of gaming groups discussing this game last night.]

Spare Me: [It's actually gone mainstream. (Surprised)]

④Who Doesn't Understand Love: [Mm, I just checked, the number of reservations is already 111.]

Quit Smoking: [Holy cow!]