The work completed that afternoon was nearly three times what they had done in the morning.
A full fifty-odd logs of varying thickness had been hauled by the players with ropes and carts to the sanatorium wall.
Honestly, the players' performance had exceeded Chu Guang's expectations.
Each log was between eight and ten meters long, with some of the longer ones reaching twenty meters. More than half were as thick as a thigh.
Chu Guang tallied it up: 2,000 contribution points in total.
Old White had achieved the most, earning 800 points all by himself. Gale had probably had it the worst. His clone was not built for physical activity and had only an ordinary person's physique, so after working all day, he had earned just 300 points.
As for what these things were for?
Chu Guang had not figured that out yet.
Vault 404 was dirt poor. He only had two lollipops in his pocket. He had had a compressed biscuit before, but he had already eaten it.
After thinking it over, he only told the players that resurrection required not only a three-day wait, but also resurrection coins.
And resurrection coins had to be bought with contribution points.
Although the "purchasing power" of contribution points was somewhat lacking, the players did not seem to mind.
After all, this was the closed beta stage. It was understandable that the game had little content. As long as there was no character wipe, they could stockpile money now and surely find somewhere to spend it once the game officially launched.
Besides, contribution points had no physical form. They were merely numbers that could only be checked on the official website after logging out.
Although Chu Guang wanted to imitate Boulder City and make some tangible coins, Vault 404's conditions were too harsh. They could not even scrape together the materials for minting currency.
He could not exactly hand out chips to the players.
They might have been hard currency around Clear Spring City, but he did not have many left himself.
Besides, giving them chips directly would be useless. The players could not go trade at survivor settlements on their own.
He could communicate with the survivors because his soul had crossed over into this world, and his mind contained this world's language.
The clones used by the players, on the other hand, were completely blank slates. They did not even possess basic intelligence, much less inherited memories.
The language used by survivors around Clear Spring City was the Human Alliance Common Tongue.
It was completely different from the languages of any country or ethnicity in the modern world, with only slight similarities to Chinese in grammar and pronunciation.
Chu Guang would consider developing a translation tool in the future to solve the problem of communication between players and "NPCs," while also redesigning the distribution system and economic system.
But not now.
By the time he finished taking stock of the day's work, it was getting late.
Chu Guang raised his head and looked at the slanting sun on the horizon, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Night was approaching.
"Administrator, I noticed our outpost doesn't have electricity," Fang Chang said as he stepped forward. "Why don't we find a way to get a generator?"
That was a good question.
Unfortunately, it was also pointless.
"We don't have any spare generators." Chu Guang looked at him. "Does any of you know about that? Or have any electrician-related skills?"
The players looked at one another.
"Can't we run a wire up from underground?" Ye Shi asked a remarkably stupid question.
"We don't have cables that long, and the shelter's energy supply isn't unlimited. Even if we can use it in the short term, the long-term problem still won't be solved, and it will create even greater hidden dangers."
Chu Guang paused there.
"It's getting late. We should head back."
For the players, heading back naturally meant "logging out."
Although it was not completely dark yet, it was already five in the afternoon. Dawn would soon break in China on the other side of the parallel world.
Without realizing it, they had spent so long in the game world. When the players finally came back to their senses, their faces were filled with reluctance.
It felt like there were still so many places in this world worth exploring.
But they still had work to do during the day, so they could not stay here forever.
Inside Vault 404.
Watching the players return to their incubation chambers and lie down, Chu Guang thought that perhaps he should try recruiting some idle people who did not work during the day.
Or players from other time zones.
Otherwise, once night fell, he would be the only person left in the enormous outpost. From a security perspective, that was not ideal either.
"I'll sleep in the shelter again tonight."
Unless necessary, he truly did not want to return to that "doghouse" on Bette Street.
Just as Chu Guang was wondering what to do, Xiao Qi came over to his side.
"Master."
"What is it?"
"The clones' physical examination reports have been updated. Would you like to take a look?"
Chu Guang hesitated slightly.
"...Physical examination reports?"
"Mhm! Every time a player logs out normally, the incubation chamber scans the clone inside, records its bodily functions, extracts a certain number of embryonic stem cells for backup, and records the gene sequence development progress—"
"Wait, what the hell is a gene sequence?"
Hearing that unfamiliar keyword, Chu Guang felt as though he had missed some crucial information.
Faced with the administrator's question, Xiao Qi answered casually.
"Didn't you notice? Every clone used by each player was synthesized from different DNA. Gene sequences are simply the identifiers for different DNA."
Chu Guang immediately asked, "Then what is development progress??"
"Each sequence's DNA was carefully designed. Unfortunately, we have not completely mastered the mysteries of life."
"Not every trait within genetic information is fully expressed. It's like how an athlete's child is more likely to become an athlete, but they are not born as one."
"And so-called development progress refers to the degree of dominant expression of special fragments within a gene sequence. It is generally represented as a percentage."
"For example, if development progress reaches 100%, the organism's various capabilities will be infinitely close to the limits of its genetic design, reaching its most perfect state... But that is almost impossible."
"The development progress of the four gene sequences we have currently activated is between 0% and 1%. Research indicates that continuously stimulating survival instincts and training the body can increase this value."
If "gene sequences" were understood as classes, then "development progress" was probably similar to levels.
A gene sequence focused on strength enhancement was like a "barbarian" under DND rules: innately stronger, with a tendency to increase strength attributes.
Like Fleeting Time.
The other players looked perfectly normal, but he had thick body hair and a huge build. He clearly did not look like an ordinary person.
Holy shit.
These clones—no, these players—could level up!
And they even had a talent system!
How had he only learned something this awesome now?!
Looking at Xiao Qi, who was explaining it as if nothing were unusual, Chu Guang could not help saying,
"Why are you only telling me something this important now???"
Xiao Qi said aggrievedly, "Didn't you tell me not to speak up out of nowhere? I was planning to tell you from the very beginning."
Chu Guang: "..."
This guy...
He was definitely doing it on purpose!
Before you continue