To Get Rich, First Chop Trees

No rules, no order.

Especially for those players who are eager to cause trouble, we can’t go easy on them.

[Shelter Resident Handbook 1.0]

[1. The manager’s orders take precedence over everything, and all residents of the shelter must obey unconditionally.]

[2. For violators, the manager reserves the ultimate measures of “forced hibernation” and “confinement.” (Note: Forced hibernation is equivalent to being forcibly kicked out of the game, and confinement means being banned from logging in.)]

[3. The manager has the final right of interpretation over all of the above clauses.]

Being kicked out of the game is no longer just an ability possessed by regular NPCs.

After seeing the note behind the second clause of the Shelter Resident Handbook, the players finally understood that this NPC is not just an NPC, but also has partial GM privileges, able to “ban” those who affect other players’ gaming experience.

For now, with few people, these three rules will suffice temporarily. If there is a need for additions later, Chu Guang will consider releasing version 2.0, or even 20.0.

For example, regulating interactions between players and players, players and “NPCs”, as well as prohibited activities in the game, and so on.

One of the reasons for conducting a closed beta test before the open beta is for this.

The space inside the shelter is not large; although there seem to be about twenty rooms, they are all very small, crammed full with four cultivation pods each.

The previous manager seemed deeply afraid that Chu Guang wouldn’t work hard and would just sit around eating for free, so he cleared out the entire B1 floor, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

Chu Guang did not stay in the shelter for too long. After going over the rules, he brought the four people and Little Seven to the elevator leading to the outside world.

These four closed beta testers were quite obedient, giving him, the manager, plenty of face. Their only issue was being a bit too curious.

From the moment their feet touched the ground, they were like little children who entered Disney Land, constantly touching and looking around, wanting to fiddle with everything they saw.

Not a single cell in their bodies could stay still!

The elevator stopped steadily.

Seeing the sunlight spilling through the broken windows onto the elevator entrance, the four players let out exclamations as if they had never seen the world before.

“Holy crap…”

“This light! This wall! This, this this this…”

“This is too freaking awesome!”

“The sunlight passes through the gaps in the concrete ruins, shining on the blades of grass sprouting from the floor, with visible dust particles floating in the beams… Every frame is art, every second is the burning of money!”

“Awesome! Our brother here is cultured!”

“Shut up, call me Brother Fang!”

“Okay, Brother Fang.”

“…”

A bunch of greenhorns who have never seen the world…

Chu Guang found it somewhat amusing, but could also understand. He pretended not to hear anything and fulfilled his duty as an NPC, leading them out to the area outside the nursing home.

Seeing the tools lying on the ground, Chu Guang turned to face them.

“As you can see before you, the nuclear war ended two hundred years ago.”

“Our current location is in the northern suburbs of Clear Spring City, far away from the nuclear crater. Unless we encounter a ‘glow rain’ or a visible radiation cloud, there is no need to worry too much about excessive gamma radiation.”

“The shelter cannot shelter us forever, and our civilization cannot remain hidden underground forever. Remember, we are the vanguard force returning to the surface. Behind us, there are thousands upon thousands of people waiting for our good news. We have no time to delay.”

“The first thing we need to do now is to repair this nursing home we are standing on and establish an outpost on these ruins.”

“It will become our bridgehead for returning to the surface.”

“I’m giving you a task: pick up the axes on the ground and go out and chop some wood to bring back.”

“Before winter arrives, we need to stockpile enough fuel, and repair the broken walls around us.”

“Remember, don’t wander too far. If you encounter mutants, don’t act rashly. Retreat immediately.”

“Move out!”

Chu Guang originally thought he would need to persuade them at length.

But unexpectedly, these players were even more obedient than he had imagined, swiftly picking up the axes and going to work.

Their actions were so prompt, as if they couldn’t wait for him to finish speaking, afraid of delaying their task.

“Master, are these guys really okay?” Little Seven, following beside him, expressed its concern. It always felt that these clones were not quite right in the head.

“That’s why I’m having you come along too,” Chu Guang raised his head to look at the nursing home behind them, paused for a moment, and continued, “You go to the window on the third floor facing north and keep watch. If they encounter any trouble, or wander too far, let me know.”

As for himself, he needed to check the rewards for completing the task first.

The trash can stopped beside Chu Guang and did not move.

After a while, Little Seven spoke up softly.

“…Master.”

“What is it?”

“Um, I can’t climb.”

The moving trash can circled around Chu Guang’s legs, showing off its mode of movement. It was only then that Chu Guang noticed it had been moving on four little wheels the whole time.

“…Alright, I’ll carry you up.”

Sighing, Chu Guang squatted down and slung it over his shoulder.

What a piece of work.

It’s quite heavy too.

…

Crack crack——

Duang!

A tree as thick as a thigh slowly fell to the ground, hitting it with a dull sound.

“I don’t think this place looks like a wasteland.”

“What does it look like then?”

“More like a forest… I mean ‘The Forest’, don’t know if you guys have played it, where you chop trees like this and build houses.”

“Of course I’ve played that classic survival game, and not just played it, I built my house all the way up in the sky. But building houses there was much easier, just a click of the mouse, unlike here… damn it, this axe is quite heavy.”

“Speaking of the setting, I actually find this quite realistic. Remember seeing a documentary before about returning to Chernobyl, after forty years without human disturbance, it had evolved into a new ecosystem, with vines engulfing buildings and trees growing taller than houses… This game is set two hundred years after a wasteland right? It’s not impossible. I even feel like the situation inside the city will be even more exaggerated than this.”

Looking at the mess behind him, Old White wiped his sweat and clicked his tongue.

“If this was reality, we’d probably be sitting in prison cells.”

They had been busy for two hours.

Though not very efficient, leaving stumps that looked like they were gnawed by dogs, they had still chopped down about a dozen pine trees as thick as thighs, not to mention the countless smaller ones.

It’s just that the manager didn’t specify how much was needed, so no one could decide if this was enough.

“I have to say, this game is made too realistically… whether it’s the dull feeling of the axe hitting the tree, or the flying wood chips and sunlight passing through the leaves, it reminds me of—”

“Alright, alright, enough rambling.”

Interrupting Fang Chang’s musings, Night Ten leaned on his axe, looked at the scattered branches and fall leaves on the ground, and said while panting.

“Since we can chop trees, building houses and farming shouldn’t be a problem either, right?”

The physical abilities in the game were much stronger than in reality.

In reality, Night Ten was the type whose body was drained by nine years of compulsory education, but in the wasteland he could barely squeeze out two lumps of biceps.

Of course, the most awesome was Old White the Passing Steed.

Although his character didn’t look great, with a scruffy beard all over his mouth, when he rolled up his sleeves he was all muscle, looking quite powerful.

“If we need to farm, I suggest we set a fire, till the ashes from the burnt plants into the soil, and by next spring after winter passes, it’ll be fertile soil… of course, that’s assuming the game is really that realistic, otherwise it’s just wasted effort.”

“Speaking of which, I’ve always wondered, why does Old White look like he’s worked out with those solid muscles, while I can barely swing this axe around?”

Gale panted heavily.

His character was probably the one whose physical abilities were closest to reality among them all, already exhausted after just a bit of exercise.

“Each character’s attributes must be different… although I don’t know how this thing is determined either,” Fang Chang pondered for a moment and said, “But I do have a guess.”

“What guess?”

The three players were quite interested in his discovery.

Those who had spent time in the Cowboy Club all knew that this guy was a member of the walkthrough team for several single-player games, and had the largest Steam game library in the group.

There was no genre he didn’t play, whether FPS, RPG or strategy.

“You guys probably noticed too, we woke up from a silver-white pod. Considering the theme of this game, there are two possible settings. One, we went through cryogenic hibernation from before the war until now. Two, we’re all clones.”

“Of course, I personally think the latter setting would be more convenient, since it would easily explain the revival problem – just re-synthesize a body using the DNA stored in the cultivation pods.”

Seeing the players looking at each other, Fang Chang continued.

“I estimate there will be additions like attribute panels and level systems later, and the physical differences between us are likely foreshadowing for that!”

“I really look forward to the developers coming up with a unique game mechanic, like… combining DNA and job systems, differentiating strength-based and agility-based players, setting different attribute growth curves. This way it can ensure freedom while enriching gameplay.”

“It’s just a pity the characters are randomly assigned, it would be better if we could decide our initial attributes ourselves.”

Finally out of breath, Fang Chang stopped talking.

“Enough nonsense, I’ll talk to Brother Light when I log off later.”

He remembered Brother Light said he was the game planner. Talking directly to the planner about this issue would definitely be better than their blind discussion here.

At this moment, Night Ten, who had been staring into the distance, suddenly spoke up.

“You guys, how big do you think this map is?”

“No idea.”

“What if I just keep walking in one direction…”

Seeing Night Ten’s eager look, Gale, leaning on his axe to rest, hesitated and said.

“Most likely an invisible wall, or possibly a story kill… But either way, I suggest you don’t do that.”

“You forgot? The manager told us not to go too far from the nursing home.”

“Come on, he’s just an NPC, you’re listening to him?”

“But he can log us off, and even revoke our closed beta testing privileges,” Gale reminded him.

Fang Chang also chimed in from the side.

“Yes, and I suspect, given this game’s NPC intelligence level, it’s likely there are hidden settings like relationship values. You can actually notice that its attitude towards each player is not exactly the same, there must be some hidden algorithmic logic behind it.”

“Alright alright, I won’t try it.”

Hearing this, even the most mischievous Night Ten settled down.

No way around it.

That threat carried too much weight.

Anyone with eyes could see the immense value behind this game.

Fully immersive virtual reality…

Once this technology is released, it will revolutionize modern society’s entertainment methods, even lifestyles!

Even if one doesn’t want to play games, who would mind having an extra 8 to 12 hours per day?

According to Brother Light in our group, the time spent in this game world is equivalent to sleeping in the real world.

So even if you stay here all night, it won’t affect your work the next day!

It’s hard to imagine that a game destined to shake the entire world was initiated in such a “hasty” and quiet closed beta test.

Doesn’t that company need to make money?

But no matter what, since this opportunity has fallen into their hands, no one is willing to give it up easily.

Just as Night Ten was suppressing his urge to explore the map boundaries and preparing to continue obediently chopping trees, an intense sense of danger suddenly enveloped his entire body.

His hands and feet turned ice cold.

Cold sweat seeped out from his back.

He didn’t know where this sense of danger came from, yet it was as if he could foresee his own gruesome death—

His legs went weak, and Night Ten stumbled backwards, but it was this very stumble that allowed him to dodge the black shadow descending from above.

Rip—!

Wood chips flew everywhere.

The tree trunk beside him was marked with three half-foot wide claw marks!

“Shriek—!”

Like a ghost’s wail!

The diving giant bird missed its attack, using the recoil from kicking the pine tree to flap its wings and regain altitude, disappearing into the treetops.

Seeing the fallen black feathers, Night Ten sat dazed on the ground, instinctively touching his head.

What the hell?