Chapter 661.1: Your Daddy Has Returned!

Chu Guang naturally supported the players’ plan to build their own port in the Baiyue Strait.

Not only because the Southern Seas contained Shelter 70 and the wreckage of the Heavenly Court Space Station, but because it meant his players were finally taking the initiative to spread the light of order on their own.

As for issues like who the port would belong to, getting hung up on that would be far too small-minded.

It was the year 2342, not 1600. He wasn’t the emperor of the New Alliance or the chairman of some mega conglomerate. He was the Administrator, the architect of the New Alliance’s order.

His players weren’t people under his command, but fighters who had sworn beneath the banner of the Human Federation to bring an end to the wasteland. Their interests and goals were fully aligned with his.

The players were part of the New Alliance, and any settlement founded by players was naturally part of the New Alliance too. Acknowledging the New Alliance Constitution was literally written into the Player Handbook as a duty. Anyone unwilling to accept that could simply hand their beta access to someone who would.

Under the New Alliance’s rule of order, players could work together with local survivors to discuss the future of their settlements, or even let the locals govern themselves entirely, just like the residents of Boulder Town and Singularity City. As long as they didn’t violate the New Alliance Constitution or the rules in the Player Handbook, Chu Guang was happy to see them experiment freely within those bounds.

In his design, the New Alliance authorities handled only macro-level planning and overall security, while how to do things was always left for each settlement to figure out on its own.

No one could plan everything to perfection, and the things he couldn’t foresee would inevitably require many hands to complete.

The shift from passively waiting for the players’ classic “waiting for the doggy developer” to update the game, to actively enriching the game world themselves, was exactly the behavior he had been guiding players toward all along.

After all, on a planet this large, hundreds if not thousands of settlements would eventually need to be planned. If he tried to personally oversee them all, it would take until the next century before anything could be done. And as for worlds five light-years away? That was out of the question.

Compared to the players’ improvised port project, Chu Guang’s real concern lay elsewhere.

“A Southern Archipelago Federation formed in the Southern Seas and is now at war with Shelter 70... That’s not what was supposed to happen.”

Staring at the pale blue holographic screen, he sank into thought.

When Sun Yuechi had briefed him about the Southern Seas, he had mentioned differences between the shelters and the surface settlements, but not that tensions had escalated to open conflict.

A flicker of doubt crossed Chu Guang’s mind.

Did that fellow set me up?!

But then he remembered, Sun Yuechi had left the Southern Seas long ago, heading north to River Valley Province. According to the players, the so-called Federation had only emerged that very year.

In other words, while Sun Yuechi was leisurely wandering north, his hometown had probably caught fire behind him, literally or figuratively.

News in the wasteland always traveled at a mysterious pace.

Chu Guang’s thoughts stirred. “Little Seven.”

A bright, energetic voice answered immediately. “Here, Master.”

After a moment’s thought, Chu Guang said, “Update the quest log for the tester who received the activation code. Assign her to investigate who started the war between the Southern Archipelago Federation and Shelter 70, and what caused it.”

Judging from her forum activity, it shouldn’t be difficult for her, in fact, this was exactly the sort of task she excelled at.

He added, “Set the mission priority to the highest level.”

Perched on the edge of his pen holder, Little Seven gave a playful salute. “Roger, roger!”

...

The next morning, at dawn, the airfield in front of Dawn City’s airship terminal was already bustling.

Crates of supplies and bundled equipment were stacked high, surrounded by all kinds of construction machinery waiting to be loaded. Players carrying oversized packs milled about in noisy groups. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“New map expedition! Looking for a constitution type main tanks with an exoskeleton! Whisper me to party up!”

“Hey, vets, how do you even save that far away? What if you die?”

“You must be new. Go run a courier quest first, get to LV10, then go exploring.”

“Damn it!”

“Need anyone good at mining gray rock? Strength types welcome! The worksite needs slav..., uh, we need manpower!”

“Any explorers here? Take me along! I’m an intelligence type, great with drones!”

The plaza was jam-packed, and the ticket queue stretched like a dragon.

A newbie finally reached the counter and froze when he saw the price. “What the...? You need to buy tickets to ride the blimp?!”

The ticket clerk, a veteran player, replied lazily, “You can walk if you like?”

Since parts of Ocean Edge Province and the Brocade River Province were still controlled by the Torch Church, the air route from Dawn City to the Baiyue Strait had to detour south through the Sunset Province, over 4,000 kilometers, taking more than two days.

The newly opened line, operated by the Bull and Horse Squad, currently used two blimps running twice weekly, with plans to expand to daily flights later.

A one-way ticket cost around 500 silver coins, including taxes and insurance, and allowed up to 15 kilograms of luggage. Any extra weight cost 10 silver coins per kilogram.

That was the price of three assault rifles. Only players with Citizen rank or higher could buy one.

After all, taking untrained newbies that far was a pain. Citizens were generally more reliable. They were quality labor, as what Chu Guang would call them.

Even with the high price and purchase restrictions, nothing could dampen players’ enthusiasm for the new map and the lure of the unknown.

It was a chance to get ahead of the version update!