This Game Is Too Realistic
Chapter 696.2: Take The Governors Manor!
And it wasn’t just luxury. Less than 1% of Port Gallon had electricity, yet every single part of the manor was powered.
There were double-door refrigerators, artistically designed lighting fixtures, elevators connecting every floor, digital central air-conditioning, and even screening rooms and conference rooms equipped with holographic systems.
It was hard to imagine those industrial creations actually existed in a settlement where most people were still struggling to survive.
That puzzlement didn’t last long. Once four players entered the kitchen, the mystery was quickly solved.
“... Good lord, this is Dawn City-made?” One player with a rifle slung across his chest stared at the logo on the corner of the refrigerator door, his face full of surprise.
His nickname was Coincidence, a strength type monster.
The three teammates following him were Heaven Stepping, Half Wasted, and No Family. Like him, they had obtained beta access before the A Thousand Miles of Yellow Sand expansion. All of them ranged in the LV25 range and were considered the backbone of the server.
“So the villain was me all along?” No Family whistled, his tone tinged with mockery.
It wasn’t just the refrigerator. The oven and microwave here were also products of Dawn City’s industrial zone, their logos still intact.
The industrial goods, far beyond the reach of ordinary people, clearly hadn’t improved the lives of local survivors. If anything, they may have made things worse.
After looking around the kitchen, Half Wasted stroked his chin and said thoughtfully, “Probably exported to the Camel Kingdom, then resold from Silvermoon Bay to here.”
No Family suddenly had a whimsical thought. “How many slaves would it take to trade for a fridge like this?”
Heaven Stepping wondered out loud, “... Maybe 10? 20?”
Half Wasted replied, “That seems too many. No matter what, a fridge wouldn’t sell for over 10,000 Dinars... maybe seven or eight would be enough.”
In Dawn City, a refrigerator cost only about 800 to 1,000 silver coins, roughly the price of four or five assault rifles. Most residents could save up for one in half a month’s wages, or just over a month at minimum wage.
Thinking about it that way, the survivors living in this settlement were truly pitiable. They were worth less than a refrigerator.
The four left the kitchen, walked down the corridor into the basement, and arrived at what seemed to be a storage room for the governor’s private collection.
Seeing the locked door, excitement lit up all four faces.
“Stand back, I’ve got this!” Finally getting a chance to show off, Coincidence stepped forward, spat into his palm, then kicked the tightly shut door with all his strength.
With the exoskeleton’s power and dozens of points of raw strength behind it, the kick blasted the door flying several meters away.
This was when a strength type’s talents shone the brightest.
Coincidence raised his eyebrows, ready to strike a pose, when screams suddenly came from the room behind the door. The group immediately raised their rifles and rushed in, only to find two women huddled together, trembling.
They were attractive, their thin nightgowns doing little to conceal their curvy figures. Large patches of pale skin were exposed. It seemed they had rushed into the room in a panic, not even having time to throw on coats.
Seeing the intruders burst in, the woman with flaxen hair shrank back and asked fearfully, “W-who are you people?”
The players exchanged glances, unsure how to handle the situation. Coincidence reported the situation to the centurion, then looked at her and said, “We haven’t decided yet. We’ll let you know once we do... are you the governor’s wife?”
“N-no... I-I...” For some reason, the woman suddenly began stammering, unable to finish a sentence.
Fearing she might anger the men in front of them, the woman beside her immediately sold her out. “She’s Chief Bihari’s wife... He’s the Guard Station Chief.”
Half Wasted raised an eyebrow. “?”
Heaven Stepping looked at the others, equally confused. “???”
Coincidence was also struck speechless. “...?”
No Family was also momentarily stunned, but his attention quickly shifted elsewhere. He looked curiously at the woman who spoke and asked, “And you? Are you the governor’s wife?”
She looked slightly awkward, hesitating for a long time without answering.
Instead, the other whoman who was exposed shot her a furious glare and said through clenched teeth, “She’s the wife of Gulamanki, director of the tax bureau.”
The two women glared at each other, sparks practically flying from their eyes. If not for the people watching, they might have started fighting on the spot.
The four players looked at each other again, exchanging utterly bewildered expressions.
After a long while, Half Wasted sighed, “These guys really play some twisted games...”
No Family nodded in agreement and added with a frown, “Next time, they should bring me along on their wild adventures.”
“...”
...
The discovery in the governor’s collection room was only a minor interlude. The two women were temporarily sent to stay with Governor Nihark’s family members and servants.
Compared with the wives of the heads of the Guard Station and the Tax Bureau, the players present were far more interested in the items stored in the collection room itself, Governor Nihark’s private holdings.
As a suspect who had planned and carried out the attack on French Fry Harbor, his assets were to be confiscated to compensate for the ammunition lost that night.
Anything beyond that, of course, would be distributed as mission rewards to the players who had taken part in the operation.
However, to everyone’s surprise, the governor’s collection was not a mountain of gold, silver, and jewels. Instead, it consisted of a variety of strange items.
Some looked like relics from the prewar era, a finely crafted maglev car chassis, an android manufactured in the 85th year of the Prosperity Era, and even a relatively well-preserved vending machine and a coffee dispenser.
In addition to the large items, there were all kinds of odd trinkets, as well as a huge number of prewar holographic tapes and game storage cards.
The sheer number of Prosperity Era was likely due to Governor Nihark’s personal tastes.
What puzzled people was that this man, so obsessively fascinated with the Prosperity Era, seemed to harbor not the slightest longing for that time itself.
The players could only try to make sense of it.
Perhaps what the governor was obsessed with was merely the almost magical technology of that era, the kind that could soar into the sky and burrow underground, while caring not at all about where such technology had actually come from.
Otherwise, it was hard to explain why these things were simply displayed here like framed exhibits.
In any case, acquiring so many well-preserved prewar relics was an unexpected windfall for the Burning Corps.
The Scientific Expedition Team would certainly be interested in them. Whether for sociological research or engineering studies, Yin Fang usually offered generous prices for valuable Prosperity Era antiques.
After searching the entire villa, the players gathered in the main hall. Free Sniper briefly explained the current situation and the next phase of the operation. “Team 1 has already smashed the Port Gallon garrison. Those spineless bastards have retreated into the slums to organize a defensive line while waiting for reinforcements. The first phase of the offensive has been completed smoothly.”
“A new task has been issued. Command intends to turn this place into a temporary base. That way, we can monitor the northern districts of Port Gallon, and we’ll be operating in this area for the next few days. To ensure control over the region, we need to do two things. First we need to strengthen the defenses here. Second, we have to evacuate the local survivors nearby.”
“Command’s suggestion is to give the locals some money and have them move away as soon as possible, so they don’t get caught in the crossfire if fighting breaks out again.”
There was no international law in the wasteland, but civilian casualties still had to be minimized, whether for the New Alliance’s reputation or for the smooth execution of their operations.
An intelligence type player raised his hand.
Free Sniper looked at him and spoke. “Go ahead.”
The man spoke immediately. “Where’s the money coming from?”
Free Sniper answered casually, “From our enemies’ pockets, of course. That’s what I was about to get to. The largest bank in this settlement is on Tulip Street, and it’s currently under our control. Dinars and CR still have some recovery value for us. As for those Xilande currency, they’re just waste paper. All in all, we’ve got a budget of about 100,000,000 Xilande Coins for this.”
Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.
“Holy shit!”
“100,000,000?!”
“Damn, if that were silver, we’d be living the dream!”
Free Sniper cleared his throat, cutting off the shocked chatter. “Stop dreaming, get back to business. We’re looking at relocating roughly 5,000 households. It’s going to be a hassle... which team wants to handle it?”
The moment he finished speaking, hands shot up across the room.
“Me, me, me!”
“Boss, look at me! I’m not afraid of trouble!”
“My family’s been relocated before, I know this job!”
“Damn, you even have to show off with that?”
Everyone talked over one another, scrambling for the task. In real life, few people ever got the chance to slap demolition notices on someone else’s property. It was a rare chance to indulge themselves in their fantasies.