"Why did you choose such a strange name?"

"Is it weird?"

"No, the greenhouse farm... it might as well be over the top, but it's a bit strange."

"Hey! Can you blame me for this? Hey, I wrote and handed in my application form, only to realize that I forgot to choose a provocative name."

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Edge Paddle."

[ Red Face Boxer ] found [ Edge Paddle ] whom he had contacted on the forum, and the two little players, wearing animal fur coats, carrying wooden bows and javelins, set off towards the east gate.

Although Lucius was very curious about why they walked through the east gate instead of the west gate, and carried wooden bows and javelins instead of hoes and axes, but after thinking about it, he finally ignored them.

Evening.

Lucius was too lazy to cook, so he went shopping around the north gate and found that Yaya had stewed a pot of venison and mushroom soup, so he put some silver coins on the table.

"I want two bowls."

"Okay!"

Yaya, who took the bowl, vigorously filled two large bowls of broth with a spoon, and gave it to Lucius with a sweet smile on his face.

"Be careful it's hot."

The players holding the bowls next to them saw it, and instantly felt that the meat in the bowls was no longer fragrant, and they all started yelling.

"Boss Yaya, you are biased!"

"That's right! You weren't gentle at all when you gave it to me!"

"There's a big piece of leg in Mr. Manager's bowl! I saw it!"

"That's right, why is there only one piece of meat in our soup!"

"Yes! And it's butt meat!"

"There should be no distinction between high and low in food! My wife said it!"

Yaya blushed and hurriedly argued.

"What is butt meat! Am I that kind of person?"

Besides, what's the matter with partiality?

Is there any problems courting NPCs? How dare you say you haven't licked it? Hehe, are you embarrassed to say "Dear Manager" one by one? Anyway, I triggered a hidden mission!

"I don't care unless you give me another bowl!"

"F*ck off!"

Lucius smiled like an old father, ignored these noisy little players, turned around and walked through the north gate, and went to the weapon shop of Sumeria.

After several rounds of renovations and remodeling, the weapons shop is completely transformed now. The original mud wall has become a regular red brick wall, and a layer of plaster has been plastered inside and out, and a wooden floor has been laid on the ground.

If it was the small dilapidated house from before, it would have been crushed by the snow a long time ago.

It could be seen that the players felt sorry for Boss Sumeria even more than himself, because of the few hand-painted CG pictures on the forum, she was almost becoming a mascot.

No, it should be said already?

When Lucius came here, Sumeria fell asleep lying on the table, with a pile of freshly made bullets in the wooden basket next to him. Now the players are playing happily at the north gate, but no one comes here to disturb her.

Lucius didn't wake her up, but gently placed the bowl next to her.

Then he found a chair in the room, sat down by the brazier, added a firewood to it, and drank the bowl of fresh and delicious venison mushroom soup while roasting the fire.

Sparks floated on the fire. The aroma of broth gradually filled the room.

The nose buried in the crook of his arm moved slightly, and Sumeria, who was slowly waking up, looked around in a daze. When he saw Lucius sitting in the room, he instantly woke up.

Looking at Sumeria who woke up, Lucius said casually.

"You have indeed relaxed a lot recently."

After being touched by someone for so long without realizing it, and only waking up after smelling the smell of meat, he might not survive two days in the wasteland.

Being caught for being lazy, Sumeria looked embarrassed, like a child who did something wrong, buried her head and dared not look at him, and whispered.

"I, I just slept for a while after finishing my work. I'm not lazy... When did you come in?"

"Just now," seeing Sumeria's nervous look, Lucius joked with a smile, "As for being so nervous?"

Sumeria faltered for a long time without speaking.

Lucius thought for a while, then spoke.

"Starting tomorrow, I will pay you every day... well, 10 silver coins as wages, this month will be settled daily, and next month will start monthly. I will give you an indicator every month, mainly about the production of ammunition and weapons. You can regard it as your task, and after completing the task, you can get a bonus of 10%~30% of your monthly salary. In addition, your bonus will also be related to the profit of the weapon shop."

Sumeria asked quickly.

"What if it's not finished?"

Lucius shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, anyway, there are 30 revolver rifles in stock now, and there are more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition, which is enough for the time being."

The Bloody Hand clan has been destroyed, and now the only threat in the area is the mutants on 76th Street, but they seem to have their own problems to face, and they haven't set their sights on Wetland Park yet.

Even if the sudden cold winter is a risk, it is also an opportunity.

This natural barrier will buy the residents of Shelter No.404 a valuable development time. Food, fuel, and building materials are the key. In contrast, the demand for weapons is not so urgent.

Peeking at Lucius, Sumeria whispered.

"... To be precise, there are actually 14, and 16 were sold a while ago, and there are more than 2,000 rounds of bullets."

Lucius didn't care.

"It's okay, there are still a lot of rags from the predators in the inventory, enough for those little cute newbies to play for a while."

"Why are you so nice all of a sudden... you actually paid me a salary." Sumeria asked in a low voice.

In Boulder City, only when the big people need the little people like them to die, will they suddenly and inexplicably show kindness.

Although the possibility of finding a buyer in winter is very small, Sumeria is still a little scared, after all, this man left a deep impression on her.

"Because I think it's almost time," Lucius said after thinking for a while, "Not only you, but also old Luka, everyone who works for me will get paid, more or less. You don't have to treat it as a reward, this It's the part you deserve after your hard work."

Simply put, you need to stimulate consumption. It is a little difficult to rely on players to consume the things produced by the players themselves. Allowing NPCs to properly purchase the things produced by the players can promote the expansion of production by the players.

Sumeria nodded with a vague understanding. She actually wanted to say that if she really wanted to pay her, she could use those white plastic sheets, and it didn't take a lot, one a day would do. But she was timid and could only comfort herself.

In fact, silver coins are also quite good, 10 silver coins... I heard that two chips can be exchanged for one silver coin, so thinking about my daily salary, wouldn't it be 20 points of chips? Monthly salary of 600 chips!

In Boulder City, an assault rifle is only 150 chips, and a monthly income can sell four guns, a proper middle-class citizen!

Rich, Hehe... While dreaming this dream, Sumeria amused herself.

Lucius ignored the demented expression on her face and continued talking on his own.

"In addition, you will get a 'Budget' from the 'Profit' of the weapon shop, which is used to issue tasks to the 'Players'. Just like I taught you, you can guide them to do some things that you need to do by yourself. For example, filling the shells with gunpowder, oiling the receiver, and even helping you look around the shop for a while..."

"You can use your imagination freely for this part of the content. Anyway, you know more about these minutiae than I do. Your VM can help you edit. If you don't understand something, you can contact my assistant Popo through the VM. Find it for others as appropriate. Do something to make your own job easier, too."

Sitting upright and listening to what Lucius said, Sumeria didn't dare to move or interrupt. But the bowl of venison and mushroom soup was so delicious that she couldn't help sneaking a few times, swallowing her saliva again and again.

Noticing her small movements, Lucius, who had finished explaining the matter, smiled and said in a relaxed tone.

"You can figure out the rest yourself, and I won't talk nonsense. The bowl of venison and mushroom soup is my treat, so drink it while it's hot. There's still a piece of venison leg in it."

Sumeria immediately picked up the bowl and started to gobble it up.

When she put down the bowl, she had a happy expression on her face, and said in praise, regardless of the oil and soup dipped in her mouth.

"Wooooooooo, That's so delicious!"

"You can go to the North Gate after get off work. It's getting more and more lively there. I don't think you've ever been there."

Lucius stood up from the chair, put the empty bowl on the wooden table next to the brazier, and counted out 10 silver coins and placed it next to the bowl.

"When you finish drinking, you can help me wash it later."

"Thank you for the time."

Until Lucius walked out the door, Sumeria, who was holding a bowl in his hand, didn't recover for a long time.

"!"

What word did this big devil say?!

She couldn't remember if it happened before, but she was very clear about how ruthless and hard-hearted this man was. Not only is he ruthless to the enemy, but he is also merciless to his own people.

She had seen it with her own eyes. He ordered the corpses of those soldiers who died in battle to be sent to the furnace and burned together with the enemy. He didn't even leave a grave for them.

Such a cruel and merciless man, suddenly showing his favor to him, must have some intentions! But for some reason, Sumeria suddenly felt that she was not as scared as before.

how to say? When this man threatened herself that if she didn't work hard, she would throw herself out to fend for herself, she really felt quite scary.

But it seems that after getting along for a while, he didn't really drive himself out.

Sipping the soup in the bowl in small sips, Sumeria couldn't think of anything trashy to say for a while.

Never mind. Anyway, he didn't do anything excessive to me.

The venison was quite tasty.

For the sake of treating me this soup, I will help him wash the dishes later.

...

After coming out of the weapon shop, Lucius found Old Luka and explained to him about his salary.

After being a slave for most of his life, when he heard that his Master planned to send him money, Old Luka had a blank expression on his face.

Lucius was too lazy to explain what salary was, so he simply said.

"Take it as a reward."

"Save it to buy some food or supplies, go to the woodworking hut to buy some furniture, support the business of the 'Players', or save it to build a decent house for yourself."

Hearing the word reward, old Luka was moved to tears. He wanted to kneel down at the time, but when he remembered that Master had said that people in shelter were not allowed to kneel, he immediately put his right fist on his chest.

"Thank you for your generosity! Master."

If thinking this way would make him feel more at ease, Lucius wouldn't bother to correct his thoughts.

After explaining the work matters, Lucius then asked about the training of the two new warehouse managers.

It has to be said that these survivors who had experience as slaves are naturally adaptable to service positions such as "Warehouse management".

After all, for them, in Brown Farm, these positions are only available to the top slaves. In the next step, there are only the farmer's servants, stewards and soldiers.

However, those people could no longer be regarded as slaves, or even completely slaves, but more like servants with status. Most of them inherited their father's business from their sons, and there were only very few opportunities for slaves to be selected to work in Master's house.

Therefore, both of them cherish the opportunity in their hands very much, and the learning speed is quite fast. It is estimated that they will be able to put on the VM and start working officially in a few days.

Lucius was very relieved about Luka's work attitude. After a brief inspection, he turned and went back to the nursing home.

Just when he was thinking about whether to go back to the shelter to play the game he just played, or go to the third floor to stay with Popo for a while, suddenly there was a commotion from the direction of the north gate.

A similar scene always feels a little familiar.

He saw a little player with a broken leg, lying on a stretcher, being carried by two other players, trotting in from the north gate.

Lucius recognized him. If I remember correctly, it should be in the afternoon.

This guy followed [ Red Face Boxer ], and the two carried wooden bows and javelins out of the east gate, singing happily.

At that time, he was still thinking, why did the two of them walk from the east gate, did they go the wrong way. Now that I think about it, it's probably not that they went the wrong way, but that I rushed to die from the very beginning.

Lucius had a strange expression. He turned on the system and opened the player list. Sure enough, he saw that Brother Red Face Boxer's icon was grayed out, obviously he was completely cold.

Going forward, Lucius asked with a frown as he looked at [ Edge Paddle] lying on the stretcher with his consciousness faltering.

"What's your situation?"

"Moths! A lot of moths! And one moth is so big, it's almost as long as my arm! Their teeth are like scissors!"

I don't know if the expression on the face of Edge Paddle is excitement or panic, but the emotion is very excited, and the hands are gesturing in the air indiscriminately.

"We went to the community in the northeast of the Wetland Park on the map, where there is a ruins of an artificial greenhouse! We originally planned to see if we could find something useful in it, but after a lot of effort, we went in through the safe passage. As soon as we walked to the exit, we saw a long row of cocoons hanging on the net! We were stunned at the time, and just wanted to study what it was, and then we walked to the front of the cocoon. Red Face Boxer was eaten by moths. !"

[ The Boy On The Construction Site ], who was carrying the stretcher, kept listening with his ears up. When he heard the last sentence, he couldn't help swallowing.

"Ew, gnaw?"

"Yes! I just gnawed it!" Panting Edge Paddle, ignore his bleeding wound, and continued excitedly, "Seeing that he couldn't run away, brother Red Face took off the VM and threw it to me. Not daring to look back, I rushed to the safe passage desperately! As a result, I almost rushed out, but my leg was still bitten by two big moths..."

"Fortunately, these insects are not resistant to cold. When I crawled out of the safe passage, those moths behind me didn't chase them out. The two big moths biting my legs didn't have much strength. I stabbed them a few times with a dagger and finally killed them, but till then my leg was already half eaten."

It's okay to eat only half of it...

Edge Paddle said vividly, but Lucius frowned when he heard it beside him.

This is thanks to the shielding of the over-limit pain sensation. If it were any other survivors, the pain would be so painful that they would not be able to breathe after the first bite.

"Devil Moth."

Lucius took a deep breath, glanced at his bloody broken leg, and immediately issued a terminal illness diagnosis.

"You're missing a leg, and you don't even have any bones. This is not an injury that can be cured by the training cabin. Without the feature of 'Regenerating broken limbs', no matter how strong your recovery power is, it's useless. Do you understand what I mean?"

The most humane thing to do is kick off the line, lock the login, and send it straight into the furnace. It doesn't really matter whether it is dead or not, without the access of the conscious body, the clone is just an empty shell without a mind, and whether it is dead or not does not affect the recovery of active substances.

Of course, Edge Paddle understood the hint from Manager. This is an old tradition in Shelter No.404, so he nodded at the speed of light.

"I know! I understand, my lord Manager, but if I have to die, can I choose a way to die?"

This is a reasonable request. Lucius nodded.

"No problem, how do you want to die?"

Edge Paddle smiled embarrassedly and said shyly.

"I want to try it, the gallows of justice at the door... Hehe, I'm a little curious."

Lucius: "..."

It was the first time he heard such a strange request.

Worth mentioning. Being able to leave a whole body is also convenient for recycling.

...

Just like that, Edge Paddle was carried to the gallows outside the north gate by two players.

"Wait a minute, let me think of a cool line, I want to die like a hero—"

"Stop talking nonsense, let's go down!"

"I am—"

The two players finished processing quickly, and sent Edge Paddle to the morgue.

His equipment and VM will be stored in a locker in the buffer room, and he will be a hero again in three days.

Lucius went to the third floor of the outpost and found Popi.

"A nest of devil moths was found in the northeast of Wetland Park."

"Devil Moth?"

"It's a kind of insect species, first you help me mark three skulls on the map, this thing is not easy to deal with."

Popo tilted the camera.

"Do you want to ban players from entering that area?"

"It's not necessary, just a warning," Lucius thought for a while, and said, "Restrictions including Street 76 can be lifted, but the danger signs remain."

"I'm curious how these players will deal with this difficult problem."