Chapter 178: Early Recruitment

Five hundred players were eager to get started, but because the number of tests was so small, although the official website for *New Calamity* had not crashed and the forums were functioning normally, the number of people complaining began to rise.

It was unclear whether it was competitors or if the players truly had many grievances, but in any case, the promotional effect of selling the Helmet did not seem very good.

However, this could not stop the players' enthusiasm.

Especially the enthusiasm of those veteran players.

Right now, the entire Tana City was short-handed; 500 newcomers meant 500 laborers.

Therefore, from the very beginning, the novice tasks that Chen Zhi and the others had designed for these players were completely unnecessary to perform.

You'eryuan: Crew for five cargo Ships, 30 people total! Complete the novice task in one week, and I'll help you save your first pot of gold! Sign up quickly, 200 Tana per sea voyage, a round trip takes two days!

Yunxiao: The Train station is recruiting 20 security inspectors, daily wage 80 Tana!

Zhuguli: The War Church is recruiting cannon fodder for the battlefield; the death benefit is as high as 15 Xide! Limited quantity, first come, first served!

Zhongshan Laoren: The factory is recruiting skilled workers, daily wage 500, manual laborers 90 Tana per day...

Amao: The wharf area is recruiting security and administrators, daily wage 100!

Before even entering the game, players had already begun selecting their development paths on the forums, and the players inside the game were also establishing their own organizations.

For example, Yunxiao, who was taken in by the Wealth Church, had already organized a large group of newcomers on the forum, calling it a guild, and promised these newcomers that joining the guild would grant them a daily subsidy of 10 Tana.

Although it wasn't much, it was enough to attract a large group of people.

And the obligation of these guild members was to be able to arrive in time when Yunxiao issued a task.

If they failed to show up multiple times, they would naturally be cleared out of the guild, which meant losing the subsidy.

He named the guild Freemen directly, because he hoped that everyone who joined the guild could achieve financial freedom.

As for Zhuguli, he stated that joining his guild would come with a full set of equipment; although there was no daily subsidy, if one thought about the death benefit from the War Church after dying in battle, joining the Military Camp in the early stages was a good choice if one really wanted to rely on the game to grind for money.

Likewise, those who joined needed to return to the Military Camp after dying in battle, otherwise, they would only receive half of the death benefit.

This was also a very reasonable requirement, which the players understood, and he named his guild Blood Slaughter.

It was said that the name was decided by a vote among the players in the entire Military Camp.

As for Zhongshan Laoren's side, it was the more loosely organized Commercial Alliance; if one's contribution points met the standard, such as completing tasks like improving a production line, one could obtain an individual factory building, and as long as they passed the evaluation, Zhongshan Laoren could represent the Commercial Alliance and sign investment agreements with players.

This was equivalent to the role Andrew played.

And doing this saved Andrew time, while the Calamity Church still held 30% or even more of the shares.

More and more players were beginning to learn how to manage their lives in the game themselves; Chen Zhi nodded with satisfaction and then looked at the reports from the staff in the backend.

The new Helmets had all been shipped out; as long as there were no accidents, the players would all be able to play this game at the earliest opportunity.

After holding an online meeting with the staff for a while, Chen Zhi finally opened WeChat.

Chen Ai: Are you coming back for the Spring Festival?

Chen Zhi: I can't come back this year, I'm too busy; you know, this kind of game development isn't that simple.

Chen Ai: You say that as if you'd know... This game couldn't possibly be developed by you, right? You don't even have time to come back for a meal?

Chen Zhi and Chen Ai had always relied on each other; every year for the Spring Festival, the two of them spent it together, and even if he was working overtime, Chen Ai would accompany Chen Zhi.

After all, this was the only remaining family in the world.

But looking at his current state, Chen Zhi replied helplessly: "There's no way around it, you can go out and play with your friends, remember to buy some firecrackers."

Chen Ai: Forget it, I'd rather play online. By the way, can't you play for a while too? You can't be working all night, right? At least test your own game yourself.

Who wouldn't want to test it? Chen Zhi helplessly twitched his arms and did not continue to reply.

Some things were destined to be borne by oneself.

February 9, 2024, 14:00.

Although it was the afternoon, and it was night inside the game, the vast majority of players still chose to put on their Helmets and enter the game at the first opportunity.

After all, everyone wanted to know if this game was really that magical.

Anyone who had seen the screenshots on the official website and understood this game would have expectations for it.

However, if you asked these players whether they truly believed this was an epoch-making game, most people still held a skeptical attitude.

For most people, a 9,000-yuan Helmet was at a reasonable price for an electronic product; they could afford it if they gritted their teeth, but it still stung a bit to buy it.

So those who actually bought it were either those who had known about the game for a long time or those who really didn't care much about money.

Putting on the Helmet, Gu Huai'an felt a wave of dizziness, and then he saw the opening animation.

This animation had long been posted on the official website as the official background setting, and he had watched it several times.

But not once was it as shocking as it was now.

As the image faded, he sat up from the ground with a start, then watched the people around him, who looked as if they were rising from the dead, constantly climbing up from the ground.

"Damn it!"

"Holy crap!"

"What the hell!"

Different versions of national expletives were spoken from the mouths of different players; Gu Huai'an finally recovered from the shock and began, like the other players, to touch the things on his body.

The things carried on his person were a notebook, a pencil, a small schoolbag containing a money pouch, and a map.

This was what Chen Zhi could provide for the players after having some surplus.

The map marked some locations in Tana City; of course, it mainly marked the living areas of some player guilds.

The Sewers version...

This time, there were no NPCs to guide them; Tana City was so busy that all the NPCs that could be used had been placed by Chen Zhi in reasonable positions.

Plus, these players had already found jobs, so Chen Zhi felt that he didn't even need to do novice guidance and could just leave it to the players.

Opening the map, Gu Huai'an found the direction of the factory he needed to go to, and then began to walk forward along the signs for the Sewers.

"Brother, are you planning to go to the factory?"

"Yes, I studied mechanical engineering." Gu Huai'an subconsciously reached up to push the glasses on the bridge of his nose, but it was obvious that he didn't need to wear glasses in the game.

A full 900 degrees of nearsightedness... This made Gu Huai'an sober up instantly; he wasn't in real life, but in a game.

"I was just looking for my asthma medication too, but thinking about it carefully, I don't have asthma in the game. I hope it won't affect me in real life." The ID above the young man's head was "Heavy Breather," which fit his own physical characteristics perfectly.

Gu Huai'an comforted him: "Don't worry, this game has a warning mechanism. People on the forum say that when your body can't hold on anymore, you will automatically be withdrawn from the game."

"Yeah, I haven't heard of anyone wetting the bed playing this game yet, though there have been cases of people suddenly fainting in the game and scaring the NPCs." Heavy Breather patted Gu Huai'an on the shoulder. "There's just one thing that's not great: this game actually doesn't let you customize your face."

"To be honest, even if you didn't customize your face yourself, this face of yours is definitely handsome enough. I wouldn't be able to do it myself..." Gu Huai'an's own drawing skills and aesthetic sense were both worrying; he didn't think he could create a good-looking face.

It might even turn out uglier than it is now.

Heavy Breather laughed out loud. "You're a really interesting person. I heard not many people go to the factory, even though the factory pays quite well."

"I only went because I heard the food at the factory is the best, and it's relatively free, plus I can make some inventions myself," Gu Huai'an said with a sense of longing. "I usually like to tinker with small things."

"I'm so envious. Because of my asthma, my house is clean as anything; I can't even keep a cat. I originally wanted to study materials, but my parents wouldn't let me, saying they were afraid I'd encounter allergens or something." Heavy Breather scratched his head. "Anyway, I ended up studying literature."

"That's quite a difference." Not expecting to make a good friend on the first day of the game, Gu Huai'an, Heavy Breather, and several other players chatted as they walked. When they were about to reach the exit, they met Zhongshan Laoren, who had come to welcome them.

"Come up from here. We've hired carriages; otherwise, it would take you at least four hours to walk there on your own," Zhongshan Laoren said politely. "Players who want to go farming take Carriage No. 2, and those going to the factory take Carriage No. 1. The carriages are all the same."

Crawling out of the Sewers, the players excitedly boarded the carriages. Gu Huai'an, riding in a carriage for the first time, looked left and right.

Heavy Breather also looked out the carriage window. Although it was dark and he couldn't see anything clearly, the realism here made Heavy Breather feel a tremor from the bottom of his heart.

What kind of company could develop a game like this?

Even if he were writing the plot for a game company, he couldn't write it this convincingly, but right now, the scene outside the window looked as if it were truly happening.

"I know you're curious, so let me introduce you. We are currently passing through the West District. The nobles here sometimes hold parties until three in the morning, so we can still see people. However, there aren't usually many people like this; most of them are the mistresses of the nobles." The person responsible for driving the carriage was You Sun from the Factory District. In order to receive this batch of players, he had specifically gone to learn how to drive a carriage and even passed the test for a license.

Driving a carriage with four horses is difficult, but it didn't stump You Sun. He confidently drove the horses and then turned his head to continue: "Further ahead is the estate area for most of the nobles. That high tower over there is the Arrow Tower we built at the port; it hasn't fully taken shape yet. Over there, the one emitting smoke, is our factory. The Coking Furnace and Steelmaking Furnace there are manned 24 hours a day—of course, they are all NPCs."

The players listened while exclaiming "ah," "wow," and "oh." Some even felt it would be better if the carriage didn't have a roof.

That way they could see more clearly.

"After you arrive, there will be dedicated employee dormitories. I remember some of you registered your job intentions. Are there any who studied mechanical engineering?" You Sun asked.

Gu Huai'an hurriedly raised his hand, as if he were a good student in a classroom.

You Sun said with satisfaction: "That's great! I thought all 500 of us were ordinary players; I didn't expect there to be people with their own professional skills."

The biggest difference between this game and ordinary games is that professional skills must be brought by the person themselves.

Like Ai Ai, who knows how to draw; she has the skill of painting and is naturally able to become an artist in the game.

And there is Ye Laoshi, who can open a bookstore because she knows how to translate, and publish books to earn royalties.

There are many similar players, like Zhongshan Laoren, who already knew how to farm, so he now owns a small estate.

Although it's not big, the flowers he grows are already a bestseller in Tana City, and more than ten nobles have already placed orders.

Hearing the praise, Gu Huai'an said somewhat embarrassedly: "But I'm in communication engineering. I don't know if it's useful. I mean, I hope to manufacture things like radios and signals to facilitate our information dissemination."

"That's really great. At least having a radio station would be good. You know, we are currently in the middle of a War." You Sun said somewhat embarrassedly, "I've been speaking Tana Language too much lately, and it's all taken on a bit of a translation accent."

The people passing by burst into laughter. "So we have to learn Tana Language in the game?"

After laughing, several players felt a bit terrible.

"Don't worry, the NPCs here are all very good at reading body language, and there aren't many common words. Most people can manage to communicate with the people here within a month. Although it's not barrier-free communication, it's still much more fluent than you speaking English."

And so, the players burst into laughter again.

Like Gu Huai'an, players full of curiosity about the game dispersed throughout Tana City.

Just as Chen Zhi had speculated, these people looked like a lot, but once they dispersed, the number wasn't so abrupt.

At least relatively speaking, it wasn't that abrupt.

Anna watched as the last curious player also got up and left. Only then did she turn back and say respectfully to Chen Zhi: "Respected God, your Believer has left here and headed to the place where they should go."

"Very good, you can rest. No need to watch them; they will do very well." Chen Zhi waved his hand with satisfaction, signaling that Anna didn't need to worry about anything anymore.

The most excited players couldn't hold back their temper now and were preparing to go see their workplaces.

It's just that Anna had already gotten used to worrying about these players.

Not bad, at least this NPC can now be considered a sincere Believer, Chen Zhi thought to himself with a self-deprecating smile.

After riding the carriage for an hour, Gu Huai'an and the others finally arrived at the factory. Although they had looked at it from the carriage earlier and felt the factory wasn't far, when they actually arrived, they were still shocked by the damn realism of this game.

There was no repetitive scenery along the way, and even the carriages they passed were all different.

You Sun even introduced the nobles here to each player, for example, that estate with more than a dozen carriages coming out of it belonged to Viscount Philip, and for another example, that taller building belonged to the Saina Family.

(End of this chapter)