Chapter 177: Academy Branches and Players’ Tactics

When Yin Fang said the word "apology", the atmosphere in the office was a little subtle.

Chu Guang thought carefully for a while, but couldn't think of what this guy could do to let him down.

After a moment of silence, Chu Guang looked at him and asked.

"Did you forget your password?"

"That's not the case," Yin Fang, who seemed to have not expected Chu Guang to ask this, coughed dryly and said, "My memory is still good."

"Did you dismantle Xiaoqi?"

"...?"

It doesn't seem to be the case.

Chu Guang sighed: "So what is it?"

Yin Fang looked embarrassed and hesitated for a long time before finally speaking, "It's about what I said on the way... I want to hand over Dr. Principle's relics to the college. I have to apologize to you. I didn't think it through."

That's it.

Chu Guang breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help being speechless.

This guy had a serious expression on his face, which made him think that something serious had happened, but he didn't expect it to be such a trivial matter.

"Oh, that... Don't worry about it. I almost forgot it if you didn't say it."

Chu Guang is not such a petty man. This insignificant thing is not enough for him to hold a grudge.

Seeing that Chu Guang didn't take it to heart, Yin Fang was relieved, but he continued to speak seriously.

"Anyway, I really didn't think about this matter... I thought about it carefully later. If I handed the remains to the college, they would definitely come here to track down the whereabouts of the suitcase after watching the complete video."

"Congratulations, you thought of something that everyone can think of," Chu Guang looked at him and continued, "and even if you handed this videotape to the college, there is no way to make up for it. At most, they will give them another reason to kill you."

Yin Fang was stunned.

"Why..."

"You said that this is inconsistent with the history of the academy you know. Dr. Principle, one of the three founders, has never been to the River Valley Province, let alone Qingquan City, the southernmost city of the River Valley Province. Have you ever considered the reason why the academy concealed this clue?"

Yin Fang fell into thought.

It can be seen that although this child is a little naive, he is not really stupid.

After taking a sip of warm water in the cup, Chu Guang paused for a moment and continued.

"There are two reasonable speculations. The first situation is that Dr. Principle had an accident on the way to the Great Rift Valley or in the Great Rift Valley, but this is not very realistic, because you said that Dr. Principle made outstanding contributions to the establishment of the academy."

Yin Fang nodded seriously.

"Yes... the first of the three branches is named after him, including our laser rifle. Without him, the academy would not have been born."

Chu Guang: "Then there is another possibility. After your Principle Doctor founded the academy, he thought that the worst B might happen, so he concealed the existence of the holographic videotape."

Yin Fang retorted: "This doesn't make sense. Since the worst case scenario he imagined has already happened, shouldn't he guide his descendants to find hope?"

Chu Guang: "Maybe he thinks he can't count on you."

Yin Fang was stunned.

"...What do you mean."

Chu Guang smiled faintly.

"Nothing, you said it yourself, the academy has a history of two hundred years, and many things must have happened during this period. Perhaps it is no longer the academy of the past."

When hearing this, Yin Fang almost instinctively concluded that this was an unfounded conjecture, but he couldn't think of a reason to refute it.

In fact, in these two centuries, the influence of the academy has indeed weakened too much. From being all over the wasteland to shrinking to the depths of the Wandering Swamp, even hunting down traitors requires issuing a reward to those bounty hunters.

Looking at the silent Yin Fang, Chu Guang comforted him.

"Actually, you don't have to feel too depressed. Whether it's out of distrust or just not wanting to put all your eggs in one basket, this holographic image is in our hands after all. If you are confused about Dr. Principle's decision, shouldn't you find out what happened two centuries ago?"

Hearing Chu Guang's last words, Yin Fang's confused eyes suddenly showed a hint of enlightenment, as if he had figured something out.

"Thank you... I think I figured it out."

Chu Guang didn't expect this guy to be so easy to fool. He just comforted him casually for a few words, and he looked shocked.

However, it saved him a lot of trouble.

"I understand. Now..."

"Just as you said, the reason why Dr. Principle left the holographic image there and did not let the academy retrieve it must be some hidden reason. Maybe the image was left for us," Yin Fang's eyes gradually became firm, and he looked at Chu Guang seriously and said, "I have decided. I must find out what happened two hundred years ago!"

Chu Guang was slightly stunned, looked at him and nodded.

"That's a good idea, but... I'm unlikely to let you go, at least not in the short term."

Yin Fang shook his head and said, "I won't leave. On the contrary, I'll stay. This is not an exchange, but a request. I need your help."

Chu Guang: "... What do you need me to help you with?"

"I want to form a scientific expedition team!"

Yin Fang looked at him firmly and continued, "When I worked for the academy before, I was always engaged in data recovery work on the front line. I am very familiar with the entire workflow of research data recovery, and I can also do second-line data analysis work! As long as you are willing to lend me some manpower, I can completely imitate the academy's model and rebuild a research data recovery system in your shelter!"

"I understand what you mean. It's equivalent to an independent branch of the academy, right?"

Chu Guang got up from the computer chair with a happy face, walked in front of Yin Fang, patted his shoulder, and gave him an encouraging look.

"I'm glad you have such an ideal. Just go for it! Someone has to correct mistakes. Shelter 404 will be your strong backing. We have sufficient manpower. We can go to places that the academy can't go to, and we can do things that they can't do."

"I will give you a sufficient budget. We will start from Qingquan City and go to the next city after digging up all the treasures here. You will become the fourth founder of the academy!"

Surprised and moved by Chu Guang's enthusiasm.

Although his goal is not to dig up treasures, but to find the truth, these two things do not seem to conflict.

Glancing at Chu Guang with gratitude, Yin Fang responded to this trust and support with a firm look.

"Thank you, thank you for your support."

"You're welcome!"

Chu Guang had a bright smile on his face.

Yin Fang got the truth he wanted. The "scientific research ability" of Shelter 404 was finally no longer 0, and players unlocked more tasks or richer gameplay.

This wave.

It's a win-win situation!

Is there anything more pleasant than this?

Probably not.

…

The edge of the Fifth Ring Road in Qingquan City.

Near the Huayuan Street subway entrance, two gunshots from the subway entrance broke the tranquility of the street. I saw a nimble player running out of the subway entrance, followed by dozens or even hundreds of gnawers swarming out.

They were not fast, nor were they agile, but they were durable enough to catch up with them for a whole day. Once they formed a scale, individuals with abnormal speed and physical fitness began to appear in the group, and even veterans who had been walking in the wasteland for many years would find it difficult.

However, this is only generally speaking.

At this moment, they were not facing the group of poor wastelanders, but a group of organized, coordinated, logistical and tireless players.

The agile players began to speed up and rushed across the line drawn on the snow, and the players ambushed by the street lit the fuse.

Almost when the Gnawer rushed out of the subway station entrance about ten meters away, the gunpowder barrel placed on the street exploded instantly.

Boom!

Thick smoke instantly engulfed half of the street, and the flames of the explosion flew around the street with shrapnel, and the Gnawers in the front fell down like wheat being cut.

"Damn! You almost blew me to death!" The exhausted little Mengxin panted and glared at Mosquito fiercely.

In order to attract more monsters, he ran down for a long time and almost couldn't come back.

"I'm just afraid that you will be caught up," Mosquito laughed, then opened his throat and shouted to the front, "Brothers, it's time to go up and finish the knife, hurry up!"

"Kill!"

"Ahhh!"

"Kill them!"

The players who had been waiting for a long time, after hearing the order, picked up their weapons and went up.

Some held spears, some held axes, and some imitated the administrator and made a hammer. All kinds of cold weapons were used.

The stronger the gnawers, the faster they ran. The ones running in the front had already been blown up. The rest were just miscellaneous soldiers. There was no need to waste bullets. They were directly executed in close combat.

Ye Shi, who was standing aside and watching the battle, couldn't help but sigh.

"You guys will probably spend a lot of money for a fight."

Mosquito said with a chuckle.

"It doesn't cost much, actually. I made the bomb myself, so it costs nothing."

Ye Shi didn't believe his lies, rolled his eyes and said, "Where's the gunpowder? And hiring extras, these have to cost money, right?"

Due to the gradual increase in mission benefits, the gradual increase in difficulty, and the particularity of the gameplay, the players of Wasteland OL have formed a third set of rules for sharing spoils in addition to the original equal sharing and g-group rules.

That is, the mercenary system.

The average hourly median income of a new player is 1 silver coin for 1 contribution. As long as you pay 2 silver coins, you can have a fearless mercenary.

They don't need good equipment, and they can't afford it. On the contrary, when dealing with single-unit weaker aliens such as gnawers or devil moths, guns are not as useful as crowbars.

After all, the former costs 1 silver coin per bullet, while the latter are everywhere in the wasteland.

Ye Shi estimated that the price they offered to these newcomers should be around 3 or 4 copper coins per gnawer.

After all, if it was too low, it would be better to cut down trees.

"You don't need very good gunpowder to deal with these gnawers, ordinary black gunpowder is enough. As for the extras, uh, this will cost a little bit, but not much..." Mosquito's expression was a little subtle, and he quickly changed the subject, "By the way, aren't you going to make a profit today?"

Ye Shi showed a smug smile on his face.

"We just passed the B3 floor, and we decided to relax and act separately for a day."

Lao Bai and Kuangfeng took Quitting to the Elm District to level up. Fang Chang didn't know where he went to fool around. He didn't know what to do alone, and the perception system was not suitable for solo training, so he just wandered here to join in the fun.

"Rich people," Mosquito smacked his lips and said with envy, "If you guys reach the last level, the total profit will probably be over ten thousand."

The Greenhouse Ruins is currently recognized as the most profitable map, especially after the problem of weaving the devil's silk is solved, the profit of the first level is at least a thousand. Fang Chang is too dishonest. He stopped revealing the profit from the B2 level. He is really a brother.

There is no need to keep the profit secret.

Post it generously for everyone to see!

How can you know if there is any shady deal if you don't take a look? What if there is some unspeakable PY transaction behind it?

"Hehe, it's not bad," Ye Shi was about to show off, but suddenly remembered that Fang Chang and the others had just told him to keep his mouth shut, so he coughed dryly and changed his words, "Actually, it's not as exaggerated as you think. Equipment loss, supply consumption, and other miscellaneous things count, there is not much money to be made. And this broken map becomes more and more difficult as you go down, and the profit has to be shared by four people. Oh, poor."

This time it was Mosquito's turn to roll his eyes.

"Can you tell the truth, how much did you make?"

"Really not much."

"Fuck!"

The battle not far away has ended.

After a wave of monsters were cleared, the players began to clean up the battlefield and count their own achievements.

And Brother Mole, who had fought side by side with the newcomers before, checked and distributed their deserved rewards based on the results they counted.

The battlefield was lively, and everyone was laughing and talking, and it was completely impossible to tell that a brutal battle had just taken place.

"This task is too easy. I killed 11 by myself."

"Awesome! I killed 8, haha! Those whose heads were split by the axe are mine!"

"I got 5 silver coins! Woohoo, I can watch Xiaoyu count the money!"

"Brother Mole, remember to call me next time you have such a good job!"

"Of course! Thank you all for your support."

The mole who was handing out the money was smiling, but his heart was bleeding.

He counted just now. There were a total of 136 gnawers on the ground. There were 20 killed on the spot by the gunpowder barrel, and 15 killed by him. The newbies killed 101 of them. At the price of 5 copper coins, he had to pay them 50.5 silver coins.

Damn!

This is almost as much as a Panzerfaust rocket launcher!

Mole really felt that he and Mosquito were like contractors working for the manager, and they were the kind that "paid 0 in advance" and "paid for work". If he couldn't complete this task within two days, he would be dragged into bankruptcy.

"Planning dad, please, please release a new version as soon as possible!"

Looking at those newbies who were happy to get their rewards, Mole had a faint sadness on his face.

If we don't release a new version, when these little leeks level up, the labor cost will be even more expensive!

At this time, the agile player who had pulled the monsters before finally counted the corpses on the ground and ran to Mosquito's side.

"I just pulled up 136 gnawers, you have to give me 13 silver and 6 bronze."

Mosquito's face was as sad as Mole's, but he still managed to squeeze out a kind smile.

"No problem. Can you round it off? I just don't have any copper coins."

"You want to give me 20?"

Ye Shi couldn't help laughing. Mosquito's eyebrows jumped fiercely. He took out a few coins from his pocket and stuffed them into the hands of the newbie.

The newbie took the coins and counted them, looking surprised.

"13 silver and 6 coppers are just... Huh? Don't you have no copper coins?"

Mosquito: "Suddenly I have some."

Newbie: "..."

Ye Shi patted the newbie's shoulder with a smile and said, "Young man, not bad, what's your ID name? Let's team up next time."

Unexpectedly, the newbie didn't appreciate it. He glanced at him and said, "Who are you calling young man? I'm already 30 years old. How old are you?"

Ye Shiyi was embarrassed and took his hand back.

"Hahaha!"

Seeing this guy being humiliated, Mosquito laughed like a pig, patted Ye Shi's shoulder with a playful smile, and winked at the newbie.

"He's just a little brother. I remember he just started college."

Ye Shi blushed and argued: "Get lost! I'm already a sophomore!"

The newbie smacked his lips: "He's still a little brother."

Mosquito smiled and said: "Brother, you talk so interestingly. What's your ID?"

"Zhang Hai."

"Uh, no, I asked you your game name, why did you give your real name?"

"Just Zhang Hai, I won't change my name, I'll use this name when I play games." Zhang Hai said with a glare.

Ye Shi: "What if someone preemptively registers it?"

Zhang Hai groaned and said, "It's okay, I still have Zhang Hai 001, Zhang Hai 111, and Zhang Hai 000."

Ye Shi: "Pfft."

Mosquito, who has a low sense of laughter, laughed so hard that his stomach hurt. He coughed and said, "Brother, your style... why don't you play with a strength system or a physical system, why choose agility."

Zhang Hai said with a beaming face, "You don't understand this. The only martial arts in the world that can't be broken is speed. Fast is strong, and I am fast!"

Mosquito: "Hahahaha."

"Wait," Ye Shi suddenly frowned and looked around vigilantly, "I always feel like something is staring at us."

"It's okay, it's not embarrassing," Mosquito smiled and patted his shoulder and said, "We'll be done for a while, shall we go eat something?"

Zhang Hai's eyes lit up and said, "Come to my stall to eat, I'll make you ramen, authentic."

"..."

Is it an illusion?

The feeling of being targeted gradually faded, and Ye Shi suspiciously moved his eyes away from the distant street.

At the same time, on a tall building hundreds of meters away.

A mercenary holding a sniper rifle, with a look of seeing a ghost on his face, his back pressed tightly against the wall.

Just now he just wanted to use the scope to observe what was happening on that street, but before he could see clearly how many people were on the opposite side, one of them suddenly looked around alertly, and then looked towards him.

Is it a coincidence?

But this is too coincidental!

At this time, the captain's voice came from the communication channel.

"Karl, what did you see."

"A lot of people."

"How many?"

"I didn't see clearly... give me some time."

Swallowing his saliva, the mercenary named Karl continued nervously.

"Those people... maybe there are awakened ones." -