Life in the Wasteland Began with Moving Bricks

From the moment he opened his mouth, all the players fell silent, holding their breath as they watched him, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.

Chu Guang was quite satisfied with their reaction and raised his head to sweep his gaze across the hall.

However, when he spotted the lizardman standing in the corner, his expression froze for two seconds, and his hand nearly reached for the gun on his back.

Why was there still a mutant here???

But...

Judging by that stupid expression, there was probably a player beneath that skin.

Then there was nothing to worry about.

Whether it was combat experience or character stats, these adorable newbies were completely outclassed by him in every respect. Chu Guang might have been wary of survivors lurking in the shadows, but he truly wasn't afraid of these players causing trouble.

Kicking them out, banning their accounts, revoking their access—none of that would even take a second. And what could they possibly do in one second?

Deciding to figure out what was going on with the lizardman later, Chu Guang shifted his gaze away from it, looked directly at the players in the hall, and continued.

"First, I have some good news for you. The war is over."

"But the bad news is that our world has been completely transformed. If you were hoping to grab your luggage and go home to your mothers right away, that clearly won't be possible."

"It is now the two hundredth year after the apocalypse. Fortunately, we have already survived the hardest years. The fact that you can stand here makes you luckier than 12 billion people. What I need from you now is to recognize the reality of our situation as soon as possible, then fulfill the pledge you made beneath the flag of the United Humanity Alliance—rebuild our homeland!"

"This is my assistant, Xiao Qi. If you have any questions about the shelter, or anything you don't understand, you can ask it."

He had given this routine opening speech once before, word for word.

When the next batch of players arrived, he would say it again. Unless there was some serious bug or plot hole, he didn't intend to change it.

After all, he had worked hard to make it up.

After pausing for a moment, Chu Guang continued.

"In addition, the Shelter Resident Handbook has been updated to Version 2.0. It includes the resident charter, code of conduct, and requirements concerning public order, common decency, and prohibited behavior. All residents are requested to review it promptly."

"Residents who violate the rules will face punishments ranging from mandatory hibernation and confinement to expulsion back underground and permanent removal from the roster. I hope everyone will comply strictly."

A murmur of unrest spread through the players.

Wasn't this NPC's authority a bit too excessive?

Still, no one reacted too strongly.

By choosing to register, they had already accepted the game's setting.

And before logging in, they had read the "Resident Handbook" on the official website. There was nothing particularly harsh in it.

The newly added clauses merely placed restrictions on behaviors such as "PK between players," "harassing other players," "improper trading," and "maliciously damaging in-game facilities."

These rules served the interests of the vast majority of "normal" players. Some of them had even been proposed by the players themselves on the forums, then adopted by those damned developers and added to the handbook.

For example, the clause on "maliciously damaging in-game facilities" suggested by Long Days Ahead and Old White, as well as the "prohibition of forced sexual acts" proposed in a discussion thread by a player who had yet to receive access.

Those were all good suggestions.

After all, this was a brick-hauling game, not a nuclear bomb simulator, much less some porn game.

Even a game that prided itself on freedom and sandbox concepts couldn't possibly allow one player to recklessly destroy everyone else's gaming experience.

Not only had Chu Guang adopted those suggestions, he had also established more detailed rules around them.

For example, maliciously damaging facilities would result in "mandatory labor," while certain actions, depending on their severity, could be punished with "permanent confiscation of the tools used in the offense" or even a "permanent ban."

Very Ginkgo-like.

What?

Couldn't accept it?

Then hurry back to playing CrossFire and give the helmet to someone who needed it.

After explaining the matters that required attention, Chu Guang led the twenty-four players out of the shelter and took the elevator to the surface in two batches.

The visual impact that greeted them left the new players too stunned to speak.

And it wasn't just visual.

Their hearing, smell, touch, even taste—every cell in their bodies told them that this was a completely real world!

"This is insane..."

"Th-this is really a game world?"

"Whoa, whoa, this is fucking incredible!"

"Awesome!!!"

Watching the players dance around in excitement, Chu Guang's lips curled into a faint smile.

He really wanted to tell them that it was still too early to be happy.

After giving the newbie players a tour of the outpost facilities—especially stressing that they were forbidden from relieving themselves anywhere near the outpost—Chu Guang led them all back into the sanatorium and handed them over to Old White and the others, who had been eagerly waiting with rolled-up sleeves.

The outpost construction site was desperately short on manpower. There was no need to worry about the players having nothing to do; the veteran players would tell them what to do.

Some people were called over to haul bricks and repair the walls.

Others were led by Fang Chang to the construction site northeast of Wetland Park to transport materials for making cement.

As for the pay—

It was 10 Contribution Points per hour.

Though they had no idea what Contribution Points were actually for, every player was brimming with enthusiasm, itching to get to work immediately.

Why worry so much during the closed beta?

The developers had said there would be no wipes. Just get to work!

The players' boundless enthusiasm even made Chu Guang feel a little embarrassed.

Of course, not every player was assigned to the construction site. Making smoked jerky, tanning hides, fishing, hunting, and gathering all required people as well.

For example, the female player who stood 1.8 meters tall and went by the ID Ya Ya was assigned to gathering work.

Her genetic sequence belonged to the Perception type. Although her primary attribute, Perception, had an initial value of only 6—one point lower than Ye Shi's—her talent list included an additional innate talent: "Toxin Intuition."

According to the system's explanation of this talent in the player list, players with this talent could sense toxicity purely through biological instinct, independent of knowledge and experience.

Conversely, before obtaining "Toxin Resistance," the "Poisoned" status itself would have greater negative effects on her.

Furthermore, the positive effects of this talent were influenced by her Perception attribute.

She could not have been more suited to serve as a gatherer.

Then there was the lizardman.

After assigning the gatherers their work, Chu Guang called this player aside.

"You're Junk Collector Level 99?"

What kind of idiotic name was that?!

Seeing the Administrator speak to him, Junk Collector assumed he had triggered some hidden quest. He hurriedly stood at attention and nodded excitedly.

"That would be me!"

Chu Guang nodded and was about to assign him a task when Junk Collector suddenly seemed to remember something and proactively handed him a note.

"Dear Administrator, when I woke up, I found this note. I can't read the writing on it. Could you tell me what it says?"

"Let me see."

Chu Guang took the note from his hand.

The note was a little damp, as though it had been soaked in water, but it had not been saturated. It appeared to be made of waterproof material.

The handwriting was familiar, and it was written in this world's script. Chu Guang immediately guessed who had left it behind.

"Where did you get this?"

"Under my butt."

Chu Guang's hand twitched, and he nearly dropped it.

Seeing the Administrator's dark expression, Junk Collector immediately realized what he had implied and hastily explained with a helpless laugh.

"I mean, it was inside the cultivation pod. When I woke up, it was stuck there."

"It's fine. I was just asking."

Chu Guang continued reading the note.

Congratulations, you won! This is the Easter egg I left for you! Not all the genetic sequences stored in the gene bank are human. There are also a small number of special genetic sequences. To be honest, I did it. Though there was an accidental element to it, I have no intention of admitting fault. How should I put it? Don't you think this is also part of natural selection?

Come to think of it, should we call it a variant or a mutant? Whatever, it doesn't matter what it's called. You decide for yourself.

—The First Administrator.

That guy had definitely been insane.

Chu Guang was speechless.

He could not be bothered criticizing a dead man. Opening the system interface, he used the player list to inspect the lizardman's five-dimensional stats and talents.

Just like his tall, burly build suggested, his Strength and Constitution were absurdly high. If Chu Guang had not taken an injection, this guy's Strength would have nearly caught up to his own at LV5.

And he had the talents Body Regeneration and Cold-Blooded as well. They were practically weapons made for actual combat!

Although he had debuffs such as difficulty leveling up, discomfort in low temperatures, and trouble operating complex machinery, none of them were fatal flaws.

In short, it was no big deal.

Chu Guang was already considering whether to equip him with gauntlets or steel claws.

Or perhaps turning him into a walking tin can to serve on the front line would not be bad either?

Being scrutinized by the Administrator, Junk Collector Level 99 could not help feeling a little unnerved.

However, the NPC did not stare at him for long. Before long, he gave him a task different from the other players'.

"Starting today, you'll hunt with me."

Chu Guang decided not to worry about weapons for the time being.

These players were not necessarily any dumber than he was. Better to let them figure out the gameplay themselves.

Garbage Lord clenched his fists excitedly and spoke in an impassioned voice.

"Glad to be of service! Respected Administrator!"

"Very good. That had some spirit."

Chu Guang nodded approvingly and continued.

"Go wait for me at the entrance to the sanatorium."

"I still have a few things to arrange. I'll be there shortly."

"Yes, sir!"

Garbage Lord scampered off.

Chu Guang then turned his attention to the other female player waiting anxiously nearby.

Her ID was Teng Teng. Her genetic sequence belonged to the Intelligence type, and she looked rather petite, standing around one and a half meters tall.

Gene expression had always been unstable. No matter how perfect the design was, oversights were inevitable. Chu Guang could do nothing about what she had become.

However, not everything that had happened to her was bad.

Like Ya Ya, she possessed an extremely unusual starting talent in her talent bar: "Nimble Hands."

Talent: Nimble Hands (Stronger muscle memory; able to accumulate proficiency faster through repetitive work)

If he remembered correctly, her real-world profession seemed to be fashion designer?

If that was true, this talent had practically been tailor-made for her.

"Can you make clothes?"

Faced with the Administrator's question, Teng Teng nodded nervously.

"Yes! If I have the materials and tools... I can give it a try."

Although her actual work was design, and she mainly worked on a computer, her hands-on skills were not nonexistent. She was still much better than the average person.

"Materials won't be a problem. The tools might take some thought... Come with me first."

With that, Chu Guang led her to the sanatorium's backyard and pointed at the rows of rough hides stretched out on wooden racks to dry.

"Are these enough?"

Teng Teng's eyes went wide as she stared at the rows of hides on the racks.

Though she could not tell what animals the hides had been skinned from, the texture and sheen of the fur made it obvious that they were not cheap goods.

"Th-these... are all mine?" Teng Teng's eyes sparkled.

Chu Guang nodded.

"Mm. If you can, you can also take responsibility for processing the hides from the start. The leather on these racks was handled by our cook, but he doesn't really know much about it."

"Mm-hmm! Don't worry, leave it to me!" Teng Teng nodded vigorously and said excitedly, "Do you have any requirements? For the style?"

Chu Guang said, "No particular requirements for the style. As long as they keep people warm... Do you need any tools? Things like sewing machines might be difficult to get, but we do have basic tools like needles, thread, and scissors."

Teng Teng said, "A sewing machine would be better, but if the only requirement is warmth... these will be enough!"

Not bad!

He liked diligent players who caused little trouble.

Chu Guang nodded approvingly.

"Then I'll leave it to you."

"I should be able to get hold of some more prey over the next few days... I'm planning to head farther north along the elevated highway out of the city. I heard there's a migrating deer herd there."

"If we're lucky, we should get quite a haul!"