Chapter 25: Running Short of Hands

Cheers erupted from the cement kiln.

Chu Guang walked over and saw Fang Chang and Old White piling up a mound of light gray powder on the ground, which they mixed with water and sand to form a pasty slurry.

It was roughly estimated that this batch of cement weighed about 20 kilograms.

Since it was a trial burn, not much was produced. Judging by the capacity of the filler port of the cement kiln, it shouldn't be a problem to process about half a ton a day.

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

"Respected Manager!"

Upon noticing Chu Guang approaching, the two players dropped their tools and excitedly came up to greet him.

"Cement!"

"We've finally made the silicate cement!"

This was indeed not easy.

To make the temperature inside the cement kiln exceed 1450 degrees, the two practically risked their lives cranking the blower and continuously shoveling coal into it, almost developing a Kylin Arm.

Especially Old White, whose gene sequence is of the Strength Type, had almost leveled up in these three days!

"You've done very well."

Chu Guang nodded as he looked at them approvingly.

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

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

The toil of the past few days had indeed not been in vain!

However, what they didn't know was that the NPC and the "Dog Plan" standing in front of them were already contemplating how to reclaim the "excess currency" in their hands.

Rapid inflation wasn't good; it affected the game's lifespan.

Maybe ...

Start a gacha feature?

1000 Contribution Points per draw?

That wasn't out of the question.

While Chu Guang was pondering the best approach, Fang Chang and Old White exchanged glances and respectfully said to him.

"Manager, there is something I must report to you!"

"Speak."

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

Chu Guang looked at them.

"How many people do you need?"

Old White hurriedly said.

"At least ten people! Of course, the more, the better! The cement kiln here requires manual operation for calcination. Two people per shift can manage one kiln, and we'll soon build a second one. That alone will need four people! At least four are needed for transporting stones from the worksite, and at least eight more for building walls and houses."

Chu Guang calculated in his mind.

That amounted to sixteen people?

Currently, the food reserves at the outpost would only last seven people, including himself, for a week; suddenly tripling the population, it was uncertain whether logistics could handle it.

After much hesitation, Chu Guang finally decided to take a gamble.

It was already the 9th.

Nearly a third of September had passed, and if they didn't pick up the pace, it would be difficult to complete the outpost before winter.

"Alright! I understand."

He nodded, looking at the two players, and continued.

"I will request support from upper management, and in three days, a batch of new members will awaken from hibernation and join us on the surface."

Hearing this, joy spread across the faces of Fang Chang and Old White.

With new members joining, their infrastructure project would be much easier than it currently was!

Moreover, Fang Zhang's assumption was confirmed.

This NPC's authority was evidently not merely that of a simple NPC, and he could even influence the game's closed beta process.

This made Fang Zhang recall the fantasy setting in early web novels about online games—

"The game runs on a supercomputer with limitless computing power. The game company sets the framework of the world, while the content is completely dynamically generated by AI."

Perhaps Wasteland OL was just like this!

The more Fang Zhang thought about it, the more excited he became.

He felt he understood once again.

...

With the addition of carpenters and chefs, the working conditions and quality of life for the players had visibly improved.

With the help of "WC There are Mosquitoes," Old White and Fang Chang's construction team got molds for making clay bricks, and Wild Wind and Night Ten even improved their fish traps.

They even used tree stumps to make a wooden toilet seat that wouldn't cut into one's buttocks.

Now, at last, the toilet was something one could sit on comfortably.

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It wasn't that everyone liked the sitting-style toilet.

For instance, Wild Wind.

This guy seemed a bit obsessed with cleanliness and, even in the game, couldn't bear using a toilet that someone else had used. Stubbornly, he dug a hole next to the original toilet and put up some wood for privacy.

Thanks to him, the outpost now had a second toilet.

But compared to these trivial matters, what really surprised everyone was his and Night Ten's fishing plan.

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

And it was a big one!

Judging by its appearance, it seemed to be a catfish.

I say "seemed" because its thick lips and unusually large head, along with deep blue patterns interspersed with white spots and coral-like red whiskers, were all indications.

Obviously, this was also a mutant after undergoing mutation.

Watching the "big guy" flounder in the trap, trying to escape, Wild Wind and Night Ten were so excited they almost cried, not minding at all how ugly it looked.

Three days!

A whole three days!

They had finally caught one!

As the large birds circling in the sky and the beasts by the lake remained unaware, they quickly dragged the big guy along with the trap from the lake shore to the bank, ruthlessly beat it to death with steel rebar.

Only after it was thoroughly dead did they tie its head and tail with ropes to the rebar, carrying it from front and back, bringing the still-twitching dead fish back to the outpost.

"Bro Scrambled Eggs, look at this, can it be eaten?"

"What the heck is this?"

Staring at the catfish Wild Wind and Night Ten threw on the ground, [Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes], who was building a smoking rack, was almost popping his eyes out.

He had been cooking for half his life and had never seen such a big catfish.

Just the fish head could fill a washbowl.

I mean, if you threw this thing in the lake, could the other fish even survive???

Catfish are carnivorous!

"It's probably a catfish," Wild Wind said.

"Nonsense, I know it's a catfish," Scrambled Eggs squatted down to flip open its lips and tugged at them, smacking his tongue and said, "My goodness... must be over a hundred pounds!"

Night Ten hastily asked.

"Can you make smoked fish out of it?"

"Who the hell makes smoked fish from catfish..." Scrambled Eggs continued with a speechless expression, "This thing's got thick fat and a moisture-preserving slime on the surface, it's quite a hassle to handle, not sure if it can be dehydrated."

"What should we do?" Wild Wind asked.

"I haven't tried it either, let's just try it..." Glancing at the smoking rack he had been working on all day, Scrambled Eggs fell silent.

A hundred pounds of fish would definitely crush it.

Had to rebuild it...

...

At dusk.

Bro Scrambled Eggs, substituting for the Manager, stewed a pot of fish head soup for the players, proving through practice that this thing was indeed edible.

And the taste was surprisingly good.

Although there were no tofu side dishes or seasonings like green onions, ginger, garlic, and cooking wine to remove the fishy smell, Brother Scrambled Eggs relied on his superb cooking skills, using only salt and soy sauce for flavoring, to make a pot of fish head soup that was fresh yet not greasy.

The players ate with tears streaming down their faces.

Brother Scrambled Eggs and Mosquito were amazed that there was taste sensation in the game, while the other four players were touched to finally eat a bite of normal food.

Woohoo, it wasn't easy...

On that day, they logged off at six in the evening, and it was exactly six in the morning in reality.

The closed beta players had just exited the game and hadn't had time to log into their Penguin accounts, when the messages in the Bull and Horse Club group exploded.

Quit smoking: [Crap! You guys check out the official website!]

Grandpa Ao: [You haven't given up yet...]

Spare people under the knife: [What's up with the official website?]

Quit smoking: [Alpha 0.2 version major update! The website is releasing 24 more closed beta slots! The number of closed beta players will increase to 30!!!]

Spare people under the knife: [What?]

Grandpa Ao: [Heh, starting to harvest leeks now, tell me, how much? Let's see if it's enough for the police station downstairs to open a case. (picks nose)]

Quit smoking: [It should be free, I didn't see them mention any charges in the announcement! Haha, I don't believe it, I can't get in this time!!!]

Pick up trash 99 level: [You're thinking too much, the reservation numbers have already broken a hundred. 24 additional slots... the probability is one-fourth to one-fifth.]

Quit smoking:[A hundred?! What the heck, could our group even have that many active members???]

Pick up trash 99 level: [Uh, not all are from our group... I saw several gaming groups discussing this game last night.]

Spare people under the knife: [It's actually becoming popular. (shocked)]

④ No one understands me: [Yep, I just saw it, the reservation numbers are already at 111.]

Quit smoking: [I'm freaking blown away!]

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