This Game Is Too Real-Chapter 775: A Single Stone Raises a Thousand Ripples

"...Is that so, it has indeed sunk."

The browsing room on Floor B4 of Shelter No. 404, City of Dawn.

When Sun Yuechi heard the news that the Sea Edge Battleship had sunk, he was stunned for two seconds, and then a complex expression appeared on his face.

Chu Guang could tell that upon hearing the news, a look of relief and joy crossed Sun Yuechi’s face, but there was also hesitation towards the outcome. Mostly though, it was the "as expected" that he had mentioned.

It seemed he had predicted this outcome from the very beginning, even before he had dumped the mess of Shelter No. 70 onto Chu Guang.

A curiosity inevitably rose in Chu Guang’s heart.

However, before he had a chance to ask, Sun Yuechi, who was sitting opposite him, spoke first.

"It’s fine for you to leave the frontline, isn’t it?"

Chu Guang gave a faint smile and said,

"Actually, they don’t really need me there. Without me, they do quite well. Compared to that, meeting with the representatives of the South Sea Federation Authorities is more important."

Although the Steel Heart was always at the frontlines, he didn’t have to be there every moment, sometimes flying back for important agendas by the Sticky Community or internal affairs of the Union that required his decision-making.

Sun Yuechi nodded in understanding, squeezing out a gratified smile on his face. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"That’s good to hear... I’ve heard that the Southern Alliance was jointly established by the Residents of Shelter No. 70 and the survivors of the southern sea area, right? They’ve finally overcome their differences... It’s actually quite foolish, we’ve played the VM into a ’Black Card’, forgetting that we were originally fellows. The doors of the shelters have been open for half a century now; it’s really dumb to still call ourselves Residents of the refuge."

"Sometimes I even can’t help thinking that the shelters should have a self-destruct timer, to explode when the time’s up... Perhaps that would be better for the survivors."

"That would be too formalistic; even without shelters, there can be ’Black Cards’. Wouldn’t it be nice to turn this place into a museum once everything’s over?" Chu Guang took a look around, continuing in a joking tone, "like a library-themed museum, for instance. I’ve collected quite a lot of books here, from both the Era of Prosperity and by the people themselves during the Wasteland Era."

Sun Yuechi sincerely admired, "It seems you have indeed learned a lot from the experiences of Giant Stone City."

Chu Guang: "After all, we don’t want to walk the path they’ve already tread... we would fall into a new cycle otherwise."

"That’s good." Sun Yuechi said sincerely, looking at Chu Guang and nodding involuntarily once again.

It was a conversation between two Managers.

Chu Guang knew what that "That’s good" meant. It was an acknowledgment from one shelter to another’s "business." The Manager of Shelter No. 70 believed that the method of Shelter No. 404 might indeed unlock the Wasteland Era.

As for the transfer of management authority, there was no regret in his heart.

Seeing that Sun Yuechi seemed to have nothing more to say, Chu Guang asked the question that he was curious about.

"I always had a feeling that you guessed today’s outcome a long time ago."

Sun Yuechi gave a bitter smile and said,

"Do I even need to guess? I remember saying a long time ago that I’m just a paperhanger, and it came to a head during my time. I considered all possibilities, but the ending was the same. My Residents think I’m irresponsible, but they really don’t understand anything. I’ve looked at all the possibilities, and this is almost the only way to keep them safe."

He paused, then continued,

"You’ve seen what’s in the ’inventory’ of Shelter No. 70, right? Those things that the ones who blame me for not opening the doors clamored for."

Chu Guang nodded.

"I haven’t been there myself, but my Residents have gone to take a look for me. Indeed, there are many good things."

Sun Yuechi continued with a smile,

"Do you think those things can change anything? Or what change could I bring by giving those to them?"

Chu Guang thought for a moment, and said candidly,

"Indeed, they wouldn’t."

In the inventory were numerous power armors, but relying on the novices of Shelter No. 70, who hadn’t even held a gun, they’d likely just get their heads bashed in by the Marines of the Federation if they went out.

Weapons are just weapons; in the end, it’s people who operate them, and war is a systematic affair.

The Residents of Shelter No. 70 were untouched during the entire civil war and ended up playing a crucial role in the formation of the new Southern Alliance.

Especially since they were the only ones in the entire civil war who had not stained their hands with the blood of their fellow men.

No matter how many times they cursed the people outside and wished they all died to start over again, that was just in their minds.

Every person has a dark side to their heart, but at least their actions tentatively stood at the moral high ground.

After this civil war, their past errors were all erased.

In retrospect, this guy’s shock therapy did have a little effect, at least preventing the worst and the most tragic outcomes. To say that he was an irresponsible Manager would indeed be unfair.

Sun Yuechi was silent for a while, then sighed softly.

"...We were wrong from the start. Perhaps that young man with the freight submarine was right. Our ancestors... might indeed not have obtained shelter authority through normal means, the real Residents being left outside. So, we’ve always been afraid of outsiders discovering the truth, afraid they would understand all of history, afraid that one day they would awaken, afraid they’d realize what we bestowed upon them was actually theirs, and so the gene of distrust has always engraved in our bones..."

His Adam’s apple moved as he continued,

"Apart from the Sea Edge Battleship, which was to deal with threats from the Army, all other warships, though built under the pretext of fending off outsiders, were actually just to ensure the rule of Shelter No. 70."

"How ironic... as you’ve seen, these measures meant to balance each other out were actually useless. And the only ship truly built with the Army as a hypothetical enemy was used from start to finish on our own people."

"I guessed that the Sea Edge would eventually sink, but I really didn’t expect this civil war to end in such a mild way... In my expectations, the cost may have been greater, and the outcome may have been slightly better than before, but not better than now."

At this point, Sun Yuechi turned to Chu Guang and sincerely thanked him.

"This is your credit... Thank you."

"Don’t mention it, ending the Wasteland Era is precisely our job as Managers."

Chu Guang nodded at him, then suddenly thinking of something, continued speaking.

"By the way, Chu Guang mentioned that Li Minghui has arrived in Dawn City and plans to discuss future cooperation with me in person. Although he hasn’t asked to meet you, would you like to see him?"

Sun Yuechi felt somewhat tempted but seemed to recall an unpleasant meeting with someone in the past and shook his head with lingering trepidation.

"Let’s not... I’ve retired, and meeting me won’t be of any use to him."

"Is that so? I actually think it would be better to meet him since he is, after all, your compatriot. Of course, it’s fine if you don’t meet him. It’s your choice..."

Chu Guang said this with a smile, paused for a moment, and then suddenly added, "There are many missing parts in the Administrator’s Log from Shelter No. 70. Haven’t you thought about completing it?"

Sun Yuechi was again tempted, but for the same reasons as before, he ultimately shook his head.

"Maybe another time... I quite like my current job."

Although Chu Guang was somewhat disappointed, he didn’t say anything, just nodded.

Reckoning with one’s own problems is not an easy task.

He could understand what was in Sun Yuechi’s heart; he still had feelings for Shelter No. 70, perhaps even more so than for the survivors of the Southern sea area.

Settling accounts with the catalyst for the civil war—the collapse of the Ocean Current Power Station—was already enough.

The Torch Church were the ones who acted directly, whereas Charles and his supporters were accomplices, and the now-deceased President Mongo was the enabler.

As for what happened in the past one hundred and fifty years, and even further back, over two hundred years ago, the survivors of the Southern sea area no longer wished to pursue the truth. As the former manager of Shelter No. 70, he had no reason to take the initiative to do so, and from the standpoint of the Alliance and present manager of Shelter No. 70, Chu Guang had even less reason.

This guy had made up his mind right from the start, so he unhesitatingly threw the refuge’s authority to himself.

The civil war was undoubtedly won by the South Sea Union, but the biggest winner was actually Shelter No. 70, which had always stayed out of the fray, and the Alliance, the actual owners of the shelter.

As for the survivors of the Southern sea area, they won thoroughly yet lost just as thoroughly...

...

At North Street of Dawn City, in the lobby of the Highway Town Inn by the bar, it was bustling.

The guests seated here having breakfast were watching the television beside the bar.

For the survivors of Dawn City, who had long been using controlled fusion power, television wasn’t anything rare. Its popularity, however, was a recent development.

Some traditional media that had grown through newspapers and radio began to expand into new businesses. Now, in addition to reading newspapers, the general public had a new option: watching TV news.

Before that, local survivors’ viewing devices were mostly VMs transformed into tablets, which in turn were primarily produced by Black Boxes.

Nowadays, VMs no longer needed to be made through Black Boxes. Dawn City’s industrial area had not only achieved mass production but had also undergone several iterations of the model.

As a result, players got their new wrist-worn computers, residents of Dawn City got their new televisions, and in the future, they will have their computers, mobile phones, smart wearables, Endpoint Cloud, and even bionic maid robots.

From this point of view, a certain manager truly fulfilled his promise to build a new Ideal City in Qingquan City.

It was indeed looking more and more like that good place.

Although it was still a bit low-spec at the moment.

At this moment, the television was showing the morning news of today.

"Yesterday evening at 8:15 pm, the Burning Corps successfully took control of the Presidential Mansion on North Island and discovered Charles’s body in the bunker beneath it."

"The gunshot wound on his jaw and the position of the fallen weapon allow us to preliminarily determine that Charles’s death was a suicide."

"The commander of the Burning Corps refused to disclose any information about the casualties of this operation but made a special mention that there had been no casualties during the airport assault."

"At present, the Burning Corps has handed over Charles’s body to the Southern Sea Union, which is being preserved in a morgue at North Island Hospital, leaving local survivors to decide on its handling. Also transferred were Charles’s supporters and his sham Cabinet officials. The subsequent trials will take place soon."

"With the downfall of Charles’s regime, the long-standing chaos in the Southern sea area is finally declared over. The investigations into the sinking incidents of the Ocean Current Power Station and the series of shipwrecks like the Golden Coast exploration ship will go hand in hand with the rebuilding of North Island."

"South Sea Union authorities stated that the top priority is to restore local production and living order."

The television screen switched, cutting from the studio to the port of Ring Island.

Li Minghui, the commander of the Southern Sea Navy and interim President, stood facing a circle of microphones and spoke in a loud voice.

"The war is not over yet. The Alliance supported our war, and now it’s our turn to support our allies!"

"North Island’s naval port and airport will be permanently open to the Alliance, including North Island’s shipyard!"

"If we do not completely eradicate the Torch Church, trouble will find us over and over again. We will learn from yesterday’s lessons; no matter what difficulties we face in the future, we will never again cooperate with barbarism!"

The television footage continued to switch, returning to the news studio.

"According to interviews by our station, the authorities’ representatives at the press conference specially thanked the Alliance for their help and stated that the survivors of the Southern sea area will always remember the assistance the Alliance offered in times of crisis, welcoming survivors from the Alliance to vacation, work, live, and invest, and so on, in the Southern sea area."

"For more updates on the situation in the Southern sea area, our station’s reporters will keep you posted!"

After the report on the situation in the Southern sea area ended, the screen on the television quickly switched to the Northern Front.

Seated at the bar, a few guests exchanged glances, and a drunkard who was indulging in drink early in the morning belched and said.

"Southern Alliance... is it the Alliance of Brocade River Province?"

"Are you a pig? Where does Brocade River Province have a sea?!" a man who looked like a mercenary mocked.

The drunkard wasn’t offended and argued with an air of righteousness.

"What if they do? I’ve never been there... how would I know?"

A peddler sitting to the side spoke with a casual tone.

"That place is far beyond Brocade River Province, even further south, all the way to the equator."

The group of guests sighed when they heard this.

"... That’s really quite far."

"I’ve been traveling north and south for years, and I’ve never been to a place that far away."

The drunkard took a sip of vodka and mumbled to himself.

"What’s the point of waging war so far away? I don’t see how it benefits the Alliance..."

"What’s the point?" The man who looked like a mercenary laughed teasingly, "The fact that you can ask that shows you haven’t really grasped the news."

What’s the point?

The Alliance, by inheriting maritime military and civilian technologies developed by survivors of the Southern sea area over two centuries, made its debut on the water and jumped two hundred years forward, becoming a "maritime power" in one fell swoop. That’s a clear win, for crying out loud!

Even as a mere mercenary, he could see how many times their respected Manager Mr. Chu Guang had won.

The drunk was a bit confused and scratched the back of his head with his right hand.

The traveling merchant sitting beside him smiled faintly, said nothing, and just kept eating his breakfast.

He had booked his flight to City of Dawn the night before, and his plane was taking off in three hours. While these people were joking around, he had already planned his future business ventures.

Since the outbreak of the civil war in the Southern sea area, he had been keeping an eye on the changes in the war situation. Now, he had finally seen the war draw to its final full stop.

Currently, the entire Southern sea area was in need of reconstruction, not just North Island, but also the ocean current power stations and Coral City, among others—all visible business opportunities.

Including the subsequent development of the Golden Coast, the Alliance’s investments in the Southern sea area would be substantial, and he could make a fortune by just doing something there.

Having finished his beef noodles, the merchant wiped his mouth with a napkin, suddenly thought of something, and spoke to the old man behind the bar.

"Boss, give me a vodka too."

Old Hooke recognized this regular customer, remember he was a businessman from Brocade River Province and had settled in Dawn City since last year.

Pouring him a shot glass of vodka, Old Hooke teased with a smile,

"It’s unusual, you’re drinking early in the morning."

"It’s an exception today, haha."

Zhou Nan, in a good mood, smiled, took the glass from Old Hooke’s hand, gestured a toast towards the television, and then downed it in one gulp.

"To the Alliance’s victory!"

Praise the Manager!

Ever since he joined the Alliance, his good fortune had never stopped!

...

At Embassy Street, atop a three-story foreign-style building with front and back yards, the flag of the Army stood tall.

This was the Embassy of the Army in the Alliance, which had just been completed not long ago.

Before that, the Army’s delegation had always been camping in the suburbs of Dawn City.

While this was not a big deal at first, as time went on, the Weilante People themselves found it cumbersome.

Especially as the Sticky Community project advanced, more and more Weilante People traveled around Dawn City, and the Army’s involvement in the Sticky Community’s affairs increased, eventually Bennott broke with tradition and agreed to the Alliance Foreign Minister’s proposal for mutual establishment of embassies.

At this moment, Bennott was sitting on the couch in the Embassy’s reception room, watching the news on TV.

Seeing the segment about naval battles between the South Sea Union and North Federation, a look of disdain crossed his face.

"Heh, nowadays... any piece of junk dares to clash with my Army."

The TV showed a majestic battleship slowly sinking into the sea amidst boiling smoke.

According to the news, the battleship named Sea Edge was built by survivors in the Southern sea area to counter the threat from the Army, and its main gun at the bow was taken directly from a starship, specifically to target the Army’s Wasteland—or the deflection shield on the escort ship’s core.

After watching the news to the end, Bennott curled his lip and turned off the TV.

Though he held no respect for the "fishermen" on several small islands, when he heard that the main gun of that battleship was from a starship, he couldn’t help but feel a thrill of alarm.

It’s a good thing that battleship sank.

If the Alliance got their hands on it, those guys would surely find a way to make use of it.

Thinking of the Steel Heart, Bennott breathed a sigh of relief, putting the matter aside and no longer paid attention.

After all, the Southern sea area was too far away. The Army’s navy is mainly in the hands of the West Army, and the core interests of the West Army are on another continent, which is really too far from here.

Anyway, as long as that thing doesn’t fall into the hands of the Alliance, all is well.

What Bennott did not know at this moment was that Shelter No. 70 had four identical railguns!

And with sufficient supply of steel and electricity, the shipyards on North Island could instantly build another similar toy...

...

It wasn’t just the Weilante People who were paying attention to the situation in the Southern sea area.

For the "South Sea Union," which appeared to be the Alliance’s "puppet" and was about to join the Sticky Community, various major forces in the Wastelands were keeping an eye on the latest developments of the Southern sea area’s situation through the Alliance’s media.

This included not only enterprises and academies but also the Free State... and even distant West Winds.

Tiandu, on the majestic palace.

Witch Camel, sitting on the chair, savored the fine wine imported from Jinjaron Harbor, gleefully listened to eunuchs reading the latest issue of the Dawn Garden News, and couldn’t help but repeatedly exclaimed in delight.

To be fair, the Alliance wasn’t all made up of flatterers; there were still people who dared to speak the truth, and the news in the paper really was written splendidly.

Due to the Manager’s fancy for the queen of the Lion Kingdom, the king of Lion Kingdom, though fuming, tacitly condoned the matter. This not only caused public outrage within Lion Kingdom but also incited jealousy in the Honey Badger Princess who was infatuated with the Manager, leading to a brawl between the two kingdoms on their border, seemingly on the verge of sparking the second Falling Leaves War.

The Alliance’s own backyard was already up in flames. Now, a fire had spread to the Southern sea area, reportedly even burning down a Heavenly Palace, and Dawn City’s media hadn’t mentioned a word about it. Only the honest Dawn Garden News stood out, exposing the stark truth to the public and stripping the Alliance bare.

"... This Alliance, guilty of many misdeeds, is sure to be doomed before long!"

Witch Camel exclaimed with great relish, his face flushed with a slightly tipsy glow.

If it hadn’t been for the great distance, he would have loved to reward that newspaper with some money, incentivizing those brave journalists to publish even faster.

Perhaps it was the alcohol talking, but his eyes shifted slightly, and he suddenly had an epiphany.

"The Alliance is preoccupied with Luo Xia Province and the Ten Peaks Mountain frontline, surely they’ll pay no mind to the Southern sea area... If the South Sea Union became a tributary state to my West Winds, wouldn’t it be perfect?"

The term "tributary state" was something he learned from reading the Dawn Garden News. It spoke of the Lion Kingdom and Honey Badger Kingdom as Alliance’s tributary states, the Camel Hump Kingdom was a quasi-tributary, and Golden Lizard as well as Falcon were respectively tributary to the Academy and Army.

The eunuch reading the newspaper was momentarily confounded, and Duke Nihak, seated beside him, was also taken aback.

The former was primarily lost in His Majesty’s train of thought, unsure whether to chime in or not, while the latter had only returned recently and had not had the chance to read the previous issues of the newspaper delivered by Duke Garava; he didn’t quite grasp what "tributary state" actually meant.

Seeing no opposition, Witch Camel stroked his chin and said,

"Didn’t the Weilante People bring some cement and stuff like steel to West Sail Port? And there’s all that stock, rusting away in our warehouses; we might as well sell it to them... Right, price it in West Winds currency! We need to have that pricing power too!"

He’d read in the Dawn Garden News that a major reason for the rapid rise of the Alliance was the Manager stuffing silver coins into the pockets of the Waste Land Wanderers, in exchange for the truly valuable items they held.

Although the newspaper hadn’t specified how the Alliance managed to get the silver coins into the wanderers’ pockets, Witch Camel thought it was a brilliant idea; the Empire had to find a means to do the same and might as well seize this opportunity to make a grand affair of it.

The survivors in the Southern sea area needed to rebuild their homes and would surely need steel and cement, which he happened to have in large surplus.

That steel and cement were originally for road construction, but when it came to rebuilding the infrastructure around Tiandu and West Sail Port, they didn’t require so many resources—excess materials were almost piling up into mountains in the warehouse.

Frankly speaking, he didn’t understand why the Weilante People bothered to produce so much steel and cement. What he wanted were rifles and cannons, along with soldiers skilled in combat.

However, regrettably, those big-nosed folks never treated him as an outsider. They not only coerced sales but also used their unsellable goods to repay their debts.

Pondering that he would never collect the debts, he might as well go along with their plans, which could also garner him a pile of assorted things.

Who knew when they might come in handy?

He was now immensely grateful that he had the foresight to agree to the Weilante People’s proposal. The junk he had accumulated was proving useful right now!

Duke Nihak stroked his chin, contemplating that there seemed to be some rationale to His Majesty’s words.

He had been a governor in Jin Jialun Port and knew a bit about trading. West Winds currency indeed lacked competitiveness against the Dinar and silver coins, which had put them at a substantial disadvantage in commerce, causing considerable losses to the Empire’s finances.

Now that the tariffs at Jin Jialun Port had increased significantly, bringing appreciable revenue to the Empire, they could use this discretionary income to engage in some ventures.

"The only problem now is... the South Sea Union doesn’t have West Winds currency. How do we get them to buy our goods with West Winds currency?" Duke Nihak mused, scratching his chin.

Watching Duke Nihak’s perplexed expression, Witch Camel took a sip of his fine wine and said lightly with a smile,

"That’s not difficult at all. If they don’t have it, no problem, we’ll just lend them some West Winds currency."

This maneuver, he too had learned from the Dawn Garden News.

During the Falling Leaves Battle, the Alliance had provided the Lion Kingdom and the Honey Badger Kingdom with a loan in silver coins. On one hand, it stimulated infrastructure construction in these countries; on the other hand, it allowed Alliance enterprises to profit handsomely from these infrastructure projects.

In the long run, the assistance provided by enterprises to the Alliance took on a similar form.

Although he couldn’t articulate the intricacies, Chu Guang still had the knack for imitating a good idea when he saw one.

To Chu Guang’s surprise, Hooke’s face gradually lit up with delight as he rose from his chair.

"Your Majesty is sagacious! By lending them money, not only do we offload our surplus cement, but we also become their creditor!"

Hooke, who had labored at Jinjalon Harbor for many years, had never thought of this strategy. It was unexpected that His Majesty would come up with it!

Could the newspaper truly be this miraculous?!

Hooke couldn’t help but ponder in his heart that once he got back, he must ask Duke Garava to send him a few copies to study.

Watching Hooke, who was utterly taken aback, Witch Camel gave a faint smile and put down the cup in his hand.

"You flatter me, please, sit."

Despite maintaining a poker face, he couldn’t help feeling quite pleased with himself for showing off such a move in front of his subject.

As Witch Camel was quietly taking pride in his stratagem at the same moment, a monumental battle was quietly unfolding in the northeast of Poluo Province, in Mammoth State.

On one side was the local army of Mammoth State, boasting a count of fifty thousand soldiers, with claims of a hundred thousand, led personally by the governor of Mammoth State.

On the other side was the Moon Clan Resistance Army, purporting ten thousand, but in reality, not even six thousand were muster, more than half of whom were serfs and refugees picked up along the way, led by the former leader of the Jin Galun Port Militia Group, Laxi.

Clearly, the governor of Mammoth State didn’t take this group of ragtag fighters seriously and didn’t even bother His Majesty, planning instead to send good news to Tiandu after victory, to give His Majesty an enormous surprise.

Coincidentally, his opponent Laxi likewise did not take his adversary seriously at all.

A hundred thousand men...

They really dare to boast!

In this godforsaken land of barren mountains and waters, he would concede defeat if they could get ten men together to form a single rifle!

After arranging the battle plans, the disheveled Laxi simply squatted in the barracks flipping through Survivor Daily, which came with the supplies.

Reading the headline about the developments in the southern sea area, Laxi nibbled on a steamed bun and muttered to himself,

"Damn, that was fast!"

He remembered when he was living large in Jin Jialun Port, the Alliance was still at a standoff with the Federation in the Southern sea area. Apart from redeploying the Burning Corps, there were no indications of an impending battle.

And now, in the blink of an eye, the Federation was defeated.

Now that the Alliance had the Southern sea area, it would definitely start major infrastructure development there.

To uplift the backwater of Mammoth State, he must seize this opportunity!

The place was so poor, the only thing left was people!

Stuffing the last piece of steamed bun into his mouth, Laxi chewed thoughtfully, a glint of sharpness in his eyes.

He had to move even faster!