Chapter 32: The Talent Engraved in the Bone
The construction site on the old nursing home site:
The dust was rolling, and the construction noise was constant; it was a bustling scene.
These players seemed to have endless energy and enthusiasm, energetically pushing carts picked up from the abandoned construction site, transporting the stones one after another, breaking them with a hammer before transporting them to the cement kiln, and then pouring them into the kiln as raw material to make cement.
The squatting players vigorously pumped the blower hard, trying to make the fire in the kiln bigger. Not far from it was the charcoal kiln that was working non-stop, and further away were the earthen kilns for smoked meat and fish racks. The rising smoke and noise even drove away the birds on the trees.
The players worked together to mix the cement with sand and water, turning it into a viscous grout, and soon the foundation of the first section of the wall was built.
This place was like a newborn tribe, young and full of vitality.
The construction site was handed over to [Hold_the_sword_execution] who used to study civil engineering. Old White and Ample Time had already begun to research the "blast furnace".
Gale also improved the fishing traps. Using mutant leech larvae as bait, getting more than a dozen fish a day was no problem at all. If they couldn't finish all the fish, the rest of the fish would be handed over to Brother Scrambled Egg to make dried fish.
The aquatic products in this lake were more abundant than he imagined.
The only thing to pay attention to was that he couldn't put too much bait in the trap and that the water level should not be too deep, otherwise the big fish that would be attracted could easily damage the trap.
But these were minor issues.
As long as he mastered the know-how, everything would slowly become more efficient, and the process itself was full of fun.
The same goes for new players.
They didn't even need to deliberately look for it as everything here was so novel to them, it was almost impossible to experience this in modern society.
Many people sat in offices for a whole day, repeating tasks that anyone could do day after day, losing themselves in those mundane activities.
However, it was different here.
This difference not only stemmed from the fact that it was novel, but also came from a sense of satisfaction in the realization of self-worth.
As a civil engineer who had been working on the construction site for five or six years but still wasn't able to get into the management level, as long as he shouted "I'm a civil engineer" here, he would immediately be praised by other players as a big boss and entrusted with important tasks.
The same goes for other workers on the construction site.
The vast majority of players here were ordinary people, and the work they were engaged with in reality may not be so compelling, but as long as they had a skill, they didn't even need to be prominent; they could still get collective affirmation.
The shelter's surface outpost upgraded at a speed visible to the naked eye because of each of their efforts.
In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, this was the highest need. It was separated from any other low-level satisfaction, and the spiritual pleasure it brought was unmatched by any other satisfaction.
The most important thing was that they did not have to pay a huge price to get it. Even if they were tired, the tired ones were the characters in the game, and it wouldn't affect their real life.
On the contrary, because of falling asleep early, they would be more vigorous the next day.
All of the above were just guesses made by Chu Guang, who returned to the outpost with the trophies when he saw the players were busy repairing the outpost.
Of course he wouldn't know what the players thought.
For the administrator, that kind of thing was not important at all and he didn't care.
As long as he kept the number of applications always greater than the players in the game, he would not need to worry about not having new players coming in the game.
Quit?
AFK?
Then they could give their helmet and account to those who needed it, and go back to playing their primitive games.
Anyway, back to the business. The harvest this time was quite gratifying.
Two 5mm iron-barreled rifles, 62 rounds of 5mm ammunition, and three backpacks that they hadn't had time to check.
These were found from the two marauders and the hapless man who was killed by them.
Chu Guang was a person who didn't like to waste anything, including the mutant hyena that was shot in the neck. He also brought it back.
Domestication would not affect its taste anyway, as it was just a mutant to Chu Guang.
Throwing the mutant hyena to Brother Scrambled Egg, Chu Guang and the two players, Night Ten and Mr. Garbage, began to check the backpacks they picked up.
"A match, a compass, a map, and... a few pieces of dried meat? And some plastic pieces? What is written on this thing?"
Hearing Night Ten's muttering, Brother Garbage also leaned over. He picked up one with interest and took a closer look.
"It's kind of like a casino chip."
"Give me the plastic pieces, I need them."
Chu Guang confiscated the twenty or so white "plastic pieces" with a calm expression. These things were useless to the player anyways.
Then, he looked at the jerky in Night Ten's hand.
"... Forget these jerky. I don't recommend you eat it."
Night Ten was stunned. He was just about to take a bite.
"Why?"
Chu Guang thought for a while and replied indirectly.
"There aren't many things Marauders wouldn't eat. You can't tell what kind of meat it is."
Before Mr. Garbage reacted yet, Night Ten next to him had already thrown away the jerky and started retching.
Even in-game, he still couldn't accept certain settings.
Seeing Night Ten's reaction, Chu Guang was suddenly curious about what these players thought, so he looked at Mr. Garbage and asked.
"How does it feel to kill someone?"
Mr. Garbage was dazed and scratched his head.
"I didn't pay attention..."
It was a game, what could he possibly feel? It wasn't like he hadn't played even more bloody games before.
On the contrary, the blood effects of this game were not very exaggerated, so he didn't pay much attention at the time.
But...
When he rushed and thrust the javelin into the last marauder's chest, the blood that splashed on him caused him to suddenly have a desire for food.
It was just like a biological instinct.
Chu Guang glanced at this "lizard man" unexpectedly. He didn't expect that this player's mental quality was unexpectedly good.
Could it be that the fact that it was a game dilutes the fear of death?
Or maybe the players were looking at this world using a kind of perspective that he didn't understand.
Chu Guang wasn't sure.
After all, this device was not designed by Chu Guang, and he had never used the helmets of players, let alone know whether the world in their eyes was exactly the same as the world in his eyes.
It seemed that he would have to use the identity of the game designer to chat with the players more often...
...
As of 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the wall on the north side of the nursing home had been basically repaired.
Chu Guang had to admit that these players were simply geniuses.
He even felt that his role as an NPC was a bit redundant.
Although some talents were not written on the attribute panel, they were engraved in their bones. As long as they were given a piece of land, they would be able to grow something out of it.
Even if the server was reset and the world was destroyed tomorrow, they could still rebuild it brick by brick.
The treasures on the construction site were not just the blue-gray stones, but also the piles of concrete blocks covered in sacks.
These things were too heavy for ordinary survivors to take away or use, so they still maintained their original appearance at the beginning of the nuclear war until now.
Although these cements had long been hardened and could not be mixed with sand to be used to build the foundation, it was better to use them directly as bricks for piling up walls.
At least, it was much more reliable than the pile of yellow mud bricks that Old White burned!
Under the leadership of [Hold_the_sword_execution], the players hammered the sawn pine logs that had been cut to four to five meters long into the ground, piled the cement blocks transported from the construction site in the middle, inserted the steel bars stolen from the construction site for fixation, and finally poured the even calcium carbonate cement on it.
When the cement dried up, a simple but reliable concrete fortification was completed.
As for the inner side of the wall, a slope was made with cement blocks and concrete waste.
In the event of an attack, the players within the wall only need to crawl on the slope, and then they could use the cover to fight back against the offender.
Taking into account that the scale of the outpost would be further expanded in the future, another fortification could be built on the outside of the fort, and it could be used with guard posts and watchtowers for security.
"... The terrain of the entire wetland park is relatively flat, and the nursing home is surrounded by a forest. There is no steep slope to be used as a cover. I can cut down all the trees around here, so we can discover when a target gets close to the outpost earlier!"
"Yo, bro, not bad. What do you do in reality?" Old White looked surprised when he looked at the new player next to him.
He had a vague impression of [Hold_the_sword_execution], remembering that this guy seemed to have joined the group a long time ago.
Unexpectedly, there was such a person lurking in a small game group.
Hold_the_sword_execution smiled shyly and said embarrassedly.
"... I'm just a civil engineer, a marginal staff member in the department who drinks tea and reads newspapers all day long."
"No, no, you are actually quite good! To be honest, I never thought that the wall would be completed today."
"You're flattering me."
It was already evening, and the afterglow of the sun had appeared at the horizon.
Brother Scrambled Egg who served as the cook set up a big pot on the open space in front of the nursing home, threw in the fish Gale caught from the lake, and made a pot of fresh fish soup with pine nuts.
The players all sat on the floor, each with a bowl and a piece of dried smoked meat. Drinking the fish soup and chewing the smoked meat, it actually wasn't that bad.
Of course, not everyone would enjoy this meal.
For example, Teng Teng, who was sitting on the ground, pinched her nose and looked sadly at the bowl in her hand.
"Uh, it's so fishy..."
Whether in-game or in reality, she was very sensitive to smells and couldn't accept this kind of cooking method.
Brother Scrambled Egg not far away heard it and rolled his eyes.
"You think I like it?... There's no cooking wine here, I've tried my best."
His expression made it clear whether she liked to eat or not, that was all he got.
"Just make do with it. You will be hungry if you don't eat in this game," Night Ten comforted beside her, "Do you want me to pinch your nose so you can drink it? I'm happy to help."
Teng Teng moved aside hurriedly.
"It's not necessary."
Speaking of which, did the NPC also need to eat?
Teng Teng looked around and found that the administrator was also not far away.
However, he didn't dine with the players, just stayed here for a while and then hurriedly left.
And when he came back again, many players who were close to him saw that his face was livid and his mood seemed not very good.
There was a commotion among the players.
Noting the situation not far away, Old White was curious, so he put down the bowl in his hand and got up from the ground.
He walked forward quickly and grabbed Gale, who was closer.
"Brother, what happened?"
Gale looked solemn and said in a deep voice.
"I heard that… A player just died."