Chapter 55:
In a graduate student dormitory of a certain university, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman took off his black gaming helmet.
Although he had been wearing it for six hours, it wasn’t uncomfortable because of the built-in air conditioning system. In fact, his shoulders even felt a bit of pleasure due to the activated bio-electrical massage function. Moreover, after exercising vigorously in the game for six hours, though his physical body hadn’t moved in reality, the mental activity left him feeling energetic rather than tired. After taking off the helmet, he actually felt hungry instead.
However, there was a look of bewilderment on his face.
Just in the game earlier, Dump Truck, Bulldozer Man, and Half Off With Full Coverage took him to meet Miss Miriam, and in front of that NPC, they exaggeratingly packaged him as a “genius architectural design master” from another realm.
That over-the-top hyping made the thin-skinned Grayman unable to bear listening to it himself.
But Miss Miriam seemed to buy into it. After asking a few entry-level questions in the architectural field, she granted him the authority to plan, design, and supervise the construction for the survivors’ camp.
By the time he logged off, Miss Miriam had allocated 100 people for him to use, with the camp’s logistics led by Dump Truck providing full support. The condition was that he had to submit a concrete plan for discussion within three days and complete the subsequent design for the camp within half a month.
This was just the appetizer!
That clearly inexperienced first-time leader Miss Miriam was still making promises, saying that if the camp construction went well, he could even be fully in charge of the rebuilding work for Kadman City!
This series of events left Grayman feeling dazed and confused.How did he end up getting a contractor job just by casually playing a game? Could it be that while others were playing《Reality Realm》, he was actually playing《Otherworld Construction Foreman Simulator》?
Most exaggeratedly, in order to facilitate Grayman’s communication and coordination with the workers, Dump Truck kept his promise and selected two young sisters from wealthy merchant families who could read and write to be his assistants in the survivors’ camp.
Okay, although it felt like playing house, to be honest, having two soft and fragrant virtual paper girls as assistants was quite appealing. However, the problem was that it was impossible to produce a design within three days, right?
Grayman was a professional!
He was well aware of the manpower and resources required to produce a design.
Even for just a village housing a thousand or so people, it would be difficult for him to complete it alone. After pondering, he went to Ah Yuen and the others’ dormitory to discuss with them.
But he was shut down by one sentence from Cyborg Snail:
“Who said you had to design it yourself, brother! There are so many ready-made templates online. Just randomly find one, modify it a bit, and it’ll be done, right? Dump Truck and the others found you because you’re a professional. This way, at the very least, you won’t have basic problems like building crooked houses or forgetting to install doors when implementing it.
This is a game, dude. Although you’re called Grayman, you’re not really being asked to go lay bricks!”
Oh right!
Grayman suddenly realized that while he was given a task, no one said he couldn’t plagiarize or, ahem, borrow ideas. So this was the true way to play this game?
The freedom in this aspect really exceeded his imagination to an unimaginable degree.
“While we’re still toiling away killing monsters in the game, you’ve been made an official, managing 100 NPCs and even getting two soft and fragrant girls as your secretaries to give you massages.
Tsk, having professional knowledge is really something.
Even though we’re also professionals in international trade and finance, it’s a pity we can’t put those skills to use right now.”
Ah Yuen sat up from the bed, grinning mischievously as he pointed at Grayman and shouted:
“Hey, you traitor who has left the masses behind! You’re treating us to dinner this afternoon! Brothers, pin him down! If he doesn’t treat us, we’ll pants him.”
“Brother Yuen, don’t!”
Grayman let out a miserable cry.
Then he was pounced on and pinned down by his dormmates as he fell victim to a group pantsing attack. Just as this was happening, the dormitory door was suddenly pushed open.
Niuniu, who had just finished playing basketball and was sweating all over, barged in. Seeing the scene before him, he fell silent. He sighed, covered his eyes, and turned to leave.
Alas, the vile atmosphere at Nantong University was as overwhelming as raging beasts, poisoning the upstanding youth of the nation.
“Don’t leave, Niuniu. What’s up?”
Ah Yuen hurriedly pulled up his pants and asked in a very proper manner, but the wailing Grayman being pinned on the bed behind him and the dormmates laughing weirdly while shouting “cancanneed” made the whole scene look improper no matter how you looked at it.
“Nothing much, just passing on a message from my older sister.”
The tall and sturdy Niuniu nonchalantly spun the basketball skillfully on his fingertips, then said to Ah Yuen and the half-awake Pigeon:
“My sister is planning to hire you guys to take her level grinding, monster hunting, and gearing up these few days.”
“Huh?”
Pigeon and Ah Yuen exchanged glances, rubbing their eyes with a yawn, “Does our sister really need to hire us for leveling? That’s too distant. Tomorrow when we go raid the dungeon, we can just bring her along, right? Besides, how would Sister Pomegranate have accumulated enough in-game currency when she’s just started playing?
She’s not thinking of hiring us with RMB, is she?
I mean, it’s not impossible.
But still, it feels too distant considering our relationship. Who’s who, you know?”
“My sister has no intention of paying. She can be quite the schemer in this regard.”
Niuniu put away his basketball and sighed, saying:
“She currently has a Master-level sword technique manual. That thing isn’t bound but can only be viewed by 10 people before having to return it to Maxim.
She has already read it herself, so she plans to use this as payment for you guys to help her level up these two days.
The rewards will be split evenly, but she gets priority in choosing the loot.”
“???”
Hearing this, Pigeon and Ah Yuen were stunned. The dorm mates who were just teasing Grayman behind them were also stunned. They crowded over and asked:
“Isn’t Sister Pomegranate a newbie? Where did she get a Master manual? Isn’t this the first high-level skill book in the game? Don’t tell me it dropped from killing monsters? Is there such a good thing?”
“Of course not, she won it.”
Bringing up this matter made Niuniu even more vexed.
He heaved a long sigh, pulled up a chair, and sat with the other seven guys who had pulled up their pants, chatting away:
“Didn’t the announcement say Maxim’s personal quest line was opened, that challenge mode? Have you guys tried it?”
“Cheche tried!”
Invincible Tyrannosaurus Cheche raised his hand, then awkwardly pulled a wry smile, “Went up and got three-hit by that guy. That white-haired Maxim really doesn’t hold back. Absolutely unbeatable. Meow King also tried but only lasted five seconds before being defeated. He said at least Master swordsmanship is needed to block Maxim’s vicious combos.”
“Master isn’t enough! At least Grandmaster level. Because I’m at Master swordsmanship and also tried, but only lasted twenty seconds.”
Niuniu propped his chin, looking gloomy as he combed his handsome hair and said with closed eyes:
“But my sister won! Just before she logged off, she beat Maxim, surviving with a sliver of health in a brutal victory. Not only did she trigger the hidden quest ‘Maxim’s Warrior’, she also got this sword technique manual from Maxim, plus a pair of Veteran-level Masterwork Crimson Nightwalker Knuckle-Claws with the rare ‘Elite’ prefix.
I saw the screenshot she sent me.
That ‘Vault Guard Mick Series’ weapon is basically the best in the game right now, with five prefixes and a permanent venom effect.
Maxim said it’s enough for her to use until the Silver Realm without needing to replace it, but it needs frequent maintenance, otherwise it’ll lose its spirit enhancement. Anyway, it’s really powerful.”
“Damn! Our sister is that badass?”
The group of young players were all dumbfounded, before exclaiming that not only was Sister Pomegranate beautiful with a great temperament, but also incredibly powerful in combat and undefeatable. However, the cunning Ah Yuen soon noticed something amiss and squinted, saying:
“But why were knuckle claws rewarded? Didn’t our sis beat him with swordsmanship?”
“She’s my sister, not yours! If you want to get close to her, better see if your scrawny self is even worth her beating up first. She’s been practicing martial arts with my grandpa since she was little. We’re from Cangzhou, so it’s a family tradition.
My grandpa didn’t even teach me, said I had no talent. So pissed off.”
Niuniu glared fiercely at the group trying to get chummy, then explained:
“My sister kind of exploited an unintended bug. She’s not skilled with swords, but her fist techniques are truly masterful. Maxim has a weakness there but insisted on fighting her with fist techniques. In the end, he was thoroughly defeated in skill and promptly admitted loss.
It gave me an idea.
Perhaps we can learn from my sister’s way of clearing it.”
“How’s that useful?”
Kono Maomao Shark said dejectedly,
“Your sister was a former national athlete, a pro among pros. With our fitness levels where we get winded just from running 800 meters, we can’t exploit any bugs, can we?
Only Niuniu has a chance.
But I think at an NPC’s AI level, this bug will probably be fixed quickly. So Niuniu, you better hurry if you want to try!”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too. I’ll log in to challenge right after midnight tonight.”
Niuniu punched his fist, saying:
“Once I beat it, that skill manual is yours for free. But about my sister’s hiring offer, let me be honest with you guys, she’s definitely messing around. My sister plays games just for pure fun. Think it over carefully.
She may seem cheerful and bubbly, but she’s actually hard to get along with. Her competitive spirit is really strong, she can’t stand losing to anyone. She didn’t have many friends growing up either.
I had it even worse.
When we were little, she’d beat me up whenever she was unhappy.”
“Thanks, we’ll think about it,” Pigeon said to Niuniu. He then checked the time and said:
“Let’s go eat. Today’s dinner is on Master Grayman.”
“Huh? I didn’t agree to that!”
“Do you want me to announce to everyone that you got two virtual sweeties as assistants in the game? Count your blessings
Alright, I’ll pay for it then..
We’re all from the same school, let’s support each other in the game. Ah Yuen, call out the guys from other majors who also play.
Instead of others forming guilds to recruit us, we might as well do it ourselves.
Let’s treat this dinner as our ‘covenant feast’! We’ll make our mark together in this game!”
“Wait! What’s this about virtual sweeties?”
Niuniu immediately widened his eyes and asked with a mischievous grin:
“Looks like my sister wasn’t the only one who had an adventure today. Come on, Grayman, spill the details on the way! I heard this game’s modeling is extremely ‘realistic,’ so you, bushy-browed kid, have already gotten a taste?”
“I’m wronged! I only know the two girls are both surnamed Palean, and we barely said a few words, okay?”
——
After the players logged off, in the administrative tent of the survivors’ camp, Miriam, who had just gotten some rest, was now holding the detailed plan for camp management that Dump Truck, Bulldozer, and Half Off With Full Coverage submitted before logging off.
Judging from the handwriting, it seemed to be recorded and compiled by their assistant. As Murphy’s earliest recruited “assistant”, Miriam was well aware of the young players’ backgrounds. She knew these guys couldn’t understand the language of this world or write their text, and currently all communication relies on the translation function of the Computation Bead.
But this report was quite detailed, providing Miriam with several suggestions from the three aspects of logistics, security, and human resources:
1. The camp will immediately implement a curfew.
All camp members except the militia must return to the camp before 6pm. There will be a roll call at 7pm dinner time. After dinner, no one is allowed to leave the camp, and from 9pm no one is allowed to move freely within the camp.
The curfew will last until 6am the next morning when work begins.
2. Establish a Survivor Management Department led by Miriam.
Complete survivor information registration and documentation as quickly as possible, identify professionals from various industries, and organize ordinary civilians into basic labor units for easy deployment and management by different departments.
It is suggested to use the recording function of the Computation Bead to input data and make real-time adjustments.
3. The camp will immediately implement a rationing system.
The camp’s logistics department will centrally manage all food distribution, resource reception, and storage. There will be three unified food distributions at the same location at 7am, 1pm, and 7pm daily. No private cooking fires are allowed to avoid safety hazards.
At the same time, establish specialized chef, medical, collection, construction, and camp guard teams directly managed and assigned daily tasks by the Survivor Management Department.
4. The camp can immediately implement a “Labor Credit” system.
Members under 14 and over 60 can be properly assigned simple tasks. All other members, regardless of gender, must complete their assigned daily tasks and earn a certain amount of labor credits.
These credits can be exchanged for various resources and extra meals at the store set up by the camp management. Failure to complete daily tasks will result in no credits earned. Three consecutive days of substandard work performance will lead to being enlisted in the militia and sent to the city frontlines.
“Hmmm”
Reading through this set of suggestions left the young Miriam with mixed feelings.
At Shaldor Engineering Academy’s administration program, she had studied similar knowledge, but it was clearly not so easy to translate textbook knowledge into practice.
She had her own private plans too.
But those were just patchwork, dealing with details in a headache-inducing, whack-a-mole manner, without being able to directly tackle the organizational structure and establish simple, practical systems from the top-down like these three guys’ suggestions.
Miriam felt she had an epiphany, and she could confirm that these three were indeed very talented.
“These four points are great, but they overlook the current bewilderment of the survivors about their situation. The people of Transia are brave but ignorant, they must know who they are serving and what kind of protection they can get.”
The red-haired girl scratched her head, carefully pondered for a while, then added another point below the suggestions:
5. Establish a Propaganda Team led by Miriam.
The Propaganda Team’s task is to announce the daily work assignments to the survivors, identify and persuade disgruntled members, collect issues and provide feedback, and use all means to ensure the basic order of the camp is not disrupted, while promoting Lord Murphy’s authority and leadership.
“Sigh, although I don’t like that vampire either, he is currently the only one who can take on this great responsibility.”
The camp administrator read through the “new management rules” repeatedly, sighed again, shook the bell beside her to summon her assistant, handed over the rules, and asked her to immediately convene a meeting with those currently managing the camp.
Miriam knew she had to maintain order and guide these survivors to not do anything foolish.
Vampires rarely had compassionate ones like Lord Murphy.
Compared to the vampire laws that once governed Kadman City, these five rules already seemed unimaginably lenient to Miriam’s assistants.
But if the rescued people were ungrateful, the vampires might just make them remember how this land had been ruled by the midnight nobility for the past 400 years.
Hopefully, things won’t develop to that point.