Chapter 522: B6 floor “Biological Laboratory” is open!
Chapter 522 B6 floor “biological laboratory” is open!
The penultimate day before the celebration.
The swallowing went surprisingly smoothly and was completed in one night.
Xiaoyu, who stepped into the mother nest, has merged with the slime mold sea and became the new queen who dominates this mother nest.
The slime mold sea rolled like boiling, and every cell was cheering for the new master.
With the change of control of the mother nest, the scarlet of killing faded a little, less bloody and more pleasing pink.
That guy has been fighting with the shelter for two hundred years and has evolved extreme outer space survival ability in an almost vacuum environment.
Give it enough time and space, it may even be able to kill the guy in the center of Qingquan City, and develop into the largest mother nest on the Central Continent with the largest self-limitation.
But it may know in its heart that those humans will not let it go. Even if it swallows the little guy, it will only be the next round of attack.
If the little guy is understood as a signal of “reconciliation”, it is not unacceptable.
This war has been going on for two centuries. Those short-lived guys can’t live for too long, but their offspring are endless… These guys can’t be eliminated at all.
Then let’s go together.
Anyway, it’s tired too…
…
”Ew!”
”Ew!”
Shelter No. 404, there was a “Ew ew” noise at the door of the B6 floor machine room.
Looking at the group of light red “human slimes” crowded in front of the door, Luo Yu was stunned and felt his head buzzing.
One, two, three… Oh my goodness, ten? !
He counted around and was completely dumbfounded.
Which one is Xiao Yu!
”Strictly speaking, they are all Xiao Yu’s fruiting bodies,” He Ya, who was standing aside, saw the confusion in his eyes and explained concisely, “Fruiting bodies do not have individual consciousness, and all slime molds share a unified consciousness, so you can also understand that… they are all Xiao Yu.”
Looking at the “Xiao Yus” who kept rubbing against him, Luo Yu touched their heads and asked He Ya with a smile.
”That is to say… they are clones that share the same consciousness?”
”Yes, you can understand it that way.”
”But… how do they communicate?”
”Of course, they communicate through sound like us,” Heya looked at him strangely, “Haven’t you always communicated with it this way?”
The slime mold from the desert does not have the ability to release spores on a large scale. In the long evolution, it has abandoned that way of information exchange.
Instead, it communicates with sound like humans.
Luo Yu was stunned.
”Then if they leave the sound range, won’t they…”
”They will hibernate,” Heya looked at him and asked, “Isn’t the mother body in the Lost Valley the same? The fruiting body is dormant most of the time, unless it is actively awakened by the mother body’s voice, and the two sides communicate through sounds of a specific frequency.”
”And outside the range of the sound wave, the fruiting body will probably continue to execute the last command of the mother nest. When all commands are executed, the fruiting body will either return to the mother nest to report, or hibernate on the spot.”
Luo Yu recalled carefully.
It seems to be true?
Although he had no memory of what happened after the nuclear explosion, according to the description on the official website of Wei and the others, the mother body following the white dove – now it seems to be the fruiting body of the mother nest, seemed to have shouted and summoned the Titan that was eroded by slime mold.
Later, the plane that Xiaoyu sent to help him also crashed shortly after the order was executed…
But if that’s the case, doesn’t it mean that Xiaoyu can only stay in the shelter on the B6 floor for the rest of his life?
After all, the sound can’t be transmitted out of the shelter –
”It’s very simple,” Chu Guang, who had been silent, said as he looked at the noisy little guys, “Just equip them with headphones and microphones.”
His understanding is that Xiaoyu completed its evolution with the help of humans, so its functions are not perfect and it needs the help of humans as “hosts”.
For example, help them spread the sound to farther places.
This is actually a good thing.
If Xiaoyu can complete all aspects of life activities by himself without relying on human tools, the symbiotic relationship will be weakened.
After hearing Chu Guang’s words, Luoyu was stunned on the spot.
Damn?
Can it be like this?
This was probably the first time that he felt that the NPC had a bigger imagination than him…
Heya looked at Chu Guang in surprise, with praise in her eyes.
”Ah… This is indeed a good idea. They can’t complete the conversion from radio to sound waves by themselves, so they can’t get out of control because they are out of our control.”
Chu Guang nodded.
”The controlled evolution mother nest must be under our control, and we must try our best to prevent it from differentiating into new mothers… Especially mutant mothers.”
Heya nodded thoughtfully.
”Indeed, so we have to control the number of fruiting bodies… How about ten?”
The mother body was born accidentally from tens of thousands of fruiting bodies. As long as the number of fruiting bodies is reduced, new mother bodies can be effectively prevented from appearing.
However, it is impossible to completely prohibit the generation of fruiting bodies.
Neither of these two extreme options, laissez-faire and complete prohibition, meet the needs of the alliance.
He needs Xiaoyu to replace other more aggressive slime molds with limited fruiting bodies, and deepen the symbiotic relationship with humans in the process-find a way that is beneficial to both sides.
Chu Guang will appropriately select some players to cooperate with it within a limited range.
”Just ten, he can’t handle more.”
They keep humming and humming every day, which is annoying.
Chu Guang looked at Luo Yu.
”You go back first, I will arrange surgery to help them install headsets… so that they can move around outside the shelter.”
Luo Yu said with a touched face.
”Thank you…”
Chu Guang’s face showed a father’s smile.
”You’re welcome, and please continue to take care of it.”
Slime mold cannot eliminate humans, and vice versa.
Even the Human Alliance in the Prosperous Era could not eliminate all mosquitoes, flies, and cockroaches on the entire planet, not to mention the slime mold that is far more difficult to deal with than these things.
The post-war reconstruction committee has been trying for half a century. There is no need for him to step on something that has been proven to be a pitfall by his predecessors.
If it is objectively difficult to eliminate, then reduce its risks as much as possible and eventually make it harmless. This is also a more materialistic approach.
Xiaoyu, who was born by coincidence, has the potential to be “domesticated” and “nearly harmless”. This thing is like the brain slug in “Stellaris”. It looks a bit scary, but it may become a good buff if used properly.
The mother nest is on the B6 floor of the shelter.
Even if there is a problem, it can be controlled in the shortest time.
Chu Guang looked at Heya who was standing aside.
”I’ll leave the follow-up research to you.”
Heya’s eyes flashed with interest. This was exactly the field she was interested in.
”No problem! Leave it to me!”
…
”Wasteland OL” official website:
[Part of the “Biological Laboratory” area on the B6 layer is open: the “Slime Mold Symbiont” Buff is now available]
[Slime Mold Symbiont: “Slime Mold Symbiont” can be regarded as a special biological prosthesis. It is essentially the fruiting body of the B6 layer mother nest and has no self-awareness. Players who have implanted the symbiont will have their recovery ability increased by 100%~500%, and will gain the ability to keratinize and alienate some of their body structures, which will last forever. After death, the BUFF will be reset, and the used symbiont will be deleted and will need to be applied for again. ]
[Note 1: Since repairing wounds will cause some somatic cells in the injured area to be replaced by slime mold cells, each injury will increase the degree of “slime moldization” and cannot be removed through surgery. The rate of experience value growth will decrease as the degree of slime moldization increases. When slime moldization exceeds 50%, experience will no longer be accumulated, and the archive function will be closed. In addition, in order to avoid making the NPC feel uncomfortable, if the slime mold reaches more than 50% or the body alienation reaches beyond the scope of common sense, it is mandatory to wear full protective armor or clothing when entering and leaving public places in the safe zone, refer to “NPC Bachi”. 】
【Note 2: This BUFF is usually only open to players, and requires the contribution level to reach the citizen level and the sequence level to reach LV10 or above. 】
【Note 3: Slime mold has no concept of gender. Xiaoyu’s mind is still a child. When accepting the symbiont, please do not express strange wishes to it. In addition, even if the symbiont cannot establish direct communication with the mother, please do not use it to do strange things. 】
Tail: “!!! Wait a minute, so… as long as the symbiote is implanted, it is possible to turn into a tentacle monster!? (ω)”
Sisi: “Calm down, Wei, you will scare Rourou like this.”
Meat Mountain Big Steamed Bun: “(Shivering)”
Aoao Sesame Paste: “Ahaha… I feel that if it’s Wei, turning into a tentacle monster wouldn’t be too scary.”
Tail: “Huh?! Why?!!!∑(Дノ)ノ”
Aoao Sesame Paste: “Because I don’t think Wei will hurt others… By the way, why do you seem a little disappointed? 0.0”
Si Si: “Emmm… Based on my understanding of Awei, maybe you are the first person Awei wants to play a prank on.”
Aoao Zhimahu: “???”
Tail: “Eh hey! (///ω///)”
Sisi: “A little disappointed. (Squint eyes)”
Tail: “Woo woo woo, but it’s so hard to scare Si!!!”
Sisi: “…Ah, so scary, I can’t move.”
Roushan Damomo: “Too perfunctory!”
Tail: “Really? Even Rourou can see it, it will definitely turn out like this in the end!”
Aoao Zhimahu: “Ahahaha…hahaha…”
WC Zhenyou Mosquito: “Gagaha, the era of goblin technology is finally here! (Smirk)”
Ye Shi: “If it was a mosquito, it would probably be caught by the guards on the spot. (Funny)”
There is really a mosquito in WC: “Damn! How dare you look down on me! Wait, I will turn into a tentacle monster and tie you up first!”
Night Ten: “Fuck! Don’t mess around!”
Debt Eyes: “Brother, you are really good at transformation. (Funny)”
Construction Site Boy and Brick: “Hahaha! I’ll take a picture for you!”
Fountain Commander: “By the way, why do you all assume that you will definitely turn into tentacle monsters… I am only curious about one thing now, after living in symbiosis with slime molds, will you still be attacked by the fruiting bodies of other slime molds?”
Midnight Chicken Killer: “If I won’t be attacked, can’t I go to the city center alone?! (Excited)”
Canyon Fugitive Mole: “It should be. Mutated slime mold is just a general term. Different bacterial communities will prey on each other and absorb each other’s genetic material. Hasn’t this been verified on Bachi?”
Fountain Commander: “I see… It seems that it’s not that easy to find a bug, haha.”
Fang Chang: “I think even if it hasn’t been verified, logically It is unlikely that A Guang will let you get stuck with such an obvious bug. (Funny) ”
Edge Watering: “Symbiosis with slime mold will lead to experience loss… Is this a reference to the setting of alien players?” ”
Fang Chang: “I feel more like it is a reference to bionic prosthesis. Didn’t it mention it in the previous update announcement? Excessive use of bionic prosthesis will lead to a slow growth in the development of gene sequences, in other words, less experience. However, the 50% statement is a bit general. I feel that the impact of different sequences should be different. ”
Kuangfeng: “Well… Personally, I feel that if the intelligence system is not equipped with a brain implant chip, using a mechanical arm will not only not have a debuff of experience loss, but will also gain a small amount of intelligence experience bonus due to frequent brain nerve overload. Slime mold is probably similar. If symbiosis does not affect the brain, even if the slime mold exceeds 50%, even if it becomes like Bachi, the sequence progress can still be accumulated and saved. ”
Quit Smoking: “Fuck! Epic enhancement of intelligence? !” “Kuangfeng
: “It’s only a theoretical enhancement. Who knows in practice. Anyway, I can’t accept biological prosthesis… It feels weird. (Squint eyes)”
Fang Chang: “+1, I’m quite satisfied with my current character, there’s no need to stack buffs.”
Ye Shi: “You’re afraid of scaring your Dolly. (Funny)”
Fang Chang: “I don’t deny that although the symbiont is different from the general fruiting body and there is no real-time information exchange between it and the mother nest, it still feels weird to have an extra piece of something that doesn’t belong to you. I suggest that those who have a partner should ask their partner’s opinion. Ah, it doesn’t matter for singles. (Squint eyes)”
Ye Shi: “MMP! This can also abuse dogs, right? ! ! ”
Elf King Fugui: “I vomited!”
Yirena: “Am I the only one who’s curious whether it tastes good? (Funny)”
Luo Yu: “Boil! What do you think my Xiao Yu is! (Angry)”
WC Zhenyou Mosquito: “Hahaha! Now it’s everyone’s Xiao Yu! (Smirk)”
Luo Yu: “%￥#@!”
……
The research on mutant slime mold is only one of the many affairs of the alliance. There are more important things waiting for Chu Guang to deal with.
For example, the problem of money.
There has never been a war that does not burn money, especially when the opponent is a legion.
The alliance’s supplies have never been cut off from beginning to end, not only because the enterprises helped to handle the transportation, but more because the alliance was willing to spend money on logistics.
During the war, the alliance produced nearly 300 No. 1 and No. 2 tanks, nearly 1,000 “Electric Mule” transport trucks, dozens of “Dragonfly” transport planes and nearly 1,000 W-2 attack planes.
This is not counting the ammunition consumed and the light weapons produced. These vehicles alone are enough to accommodate the entire population of the alliance!
The production of these equipment consumes not only resources, but also a large amount of the alliance’s fiscal budget.
It is precisely because of this that the alliance’s fiscal deficit has reached a very alarming figure…
After handing over part of the authority of the B6 floor of the shelter to Heya, Chu Guang went to the conference room of the alliance administrative building according to the schedule that Xiaoqi helped him to make, and summoned the president of the Merchants’ Union, Old Charlie, and the Minister of Finance.
In the reform a long time ago, the alliance established twelve departments including internal affairs, industry, economy, diplomacy, etc.
The Ministry of Finance is one of them.
Like other departments, all personnel in this department are recruited through examinations.
The objective questions are roughly at the level of high school mathematics, and this knowledge is taught in both full-time schools and workers’ night schools.
As for the subjective questions, some of the questions are copied from the Internet by players for voting, and some are copied from the Internet by Chu Guang according to his own needs.
He does not need these people to be proficient, as long as they can learn mathematics well, respect natural sciences, have materialistic spirit and general common sense.
In fact, it is called the Ministry of Finance, but in fact the entire department currently has only one office, and there are less than ten people including the clerks who organize documents. On
the one hand, there are not many people in the alliance who are capable of this job, and on the other hand, there is really not enough people.
Audit-related work, financial revenue and expenditure, and budget reports of various departments are mainly completed by AI. The staff of this department are mainly responsible for cooperating with Chu Guang’s macro-decision-making, improving the details of the decision-making, and making some more specific adjustments based on his opinions.
Compared with decision makers, the nature of the work of this department is closer to that of secretaries.
And the fact is indeed so. Some specific decisions were even perfected with the help of Old Charlie, the president of the Merchants Guild.
Although the latter is not an experienced economics expert, he has been dealing with merchants in the wasteland for so long, and has dabbled in warehousing, logistics and industrial production. He is more professional than these rookies who were recruited through exams.
If the old man didn’t want to toss anymore and just wanted to run the Merchants Guild well before retirement, Chu Guang would have originally planned to let him serve as the Minister of Finance of the Alliance.
Looking at Chu Guang walking into the meeting room, Minister Sun Ruicai’s expression was obviously much more nervous. He stood up from his seat with a manuscript in his hand.
Compared with Old Charlie sitting next to him, he is undoubtedly much younger and has little experience. He had only worked as an ordinary employee in the mint before.
Before receiving the appointment letter, he didn’t even think that he would be selected. He just saw that everyone took the exam, so he tried it himself. Unexpectedly, he actually got the first place.
Since he had never worked in a management position, he was always worried that he would not be able to do the job, so he was always very careful at work, fearing that he would fail the trust and cultivation of the manager.
However, no matter how careful he was, he could not change the deficit on the financial statements.
That thing was automatically calculated by AI, and there was no room for modification.
Before the meeting started, he was ready to be scolded by the manager.
However, the development of the matter was beyond his expectations. The manager did not blame him, but gave him a comforting look.
”Sit down and talk, don’t be so nervous, I have a rough idea of the financial situation… I am here to solve the problem today.”
”Yes… sir.”
Seeing Chu Guang’s elegant and easy-going expression, Sun Rui was slightly relieved, and the index finger and thumb holding the manuscript loosened a little, and slowly sat back in the chair.
Seeing that the young man had regained his composure, Chu Guang continued.
”Let’s get started.”
”Okay!” Sun Ruicai nodded quickly and read from the script, “According to the summary results of various departments, the alliance’s fiscal deficit this year has reached 1.17 billion silver coins, of which military expenditures are as high as 900 million, accounting for 76.9% of the total budget…”
1.17 billion!
For an alliance with a total population of less than 200,000, this number is actually quite terrifying.
It is equivalent to each resident of the alliance carrying a debt of 5,850 silver coins, which is 487.5 per month, even exceeding the alliance’s legal minimum monthly income of 360 silver coins!
Of course, the account cannot be calculated like this.
Chu Guang knew very well that at least 70% of the fiscal deficit of 1.17 billion silver coins was paid to players, and at least half of this reward returned to him through “technology export”.
This income was not included in the financial report because the “technology export” was carried out in the name of the shelter collective, and the funds would be temporarily stored in the collective account of Shelter No. 404.
Including the construction of player save points, the operating expenses of save points, and the salary of NPCs working for players, etc., are all withdrawn from this account.
When the accounts are settled at the end of the year, most of this money will enter the alliance’s treasury in the name of “Donation to Shelter No. 404”.
Although he has both hands, it is still not good to use the alliance’s treasury to seek benefits for the residents of the shelter.
Even if no one will say anything now, it is easy to leave hidden dangers in the future.
As the size of the alliance increases, many things that could be done casually before will have to be gradually formalized in the future.
According to the data provided by Xiaoqi, including the part of the return at the end of the year, the final deficit of the alliance treasury is about 600 million.
This number is not small.
But it is still much smaller than 1.17 billion.
Looking at Chu Guang who was lost in thought, Charlie coughed lightly and said.
”…The war has put too much pressure on the finances. Although you brought back a lot of spoils from the front line, those things are difficult to convert directly into money, especially such a large amount.”
After a pause, he continued.
”…This is just our internal debt. It’s actually easy to deal with. All it takes is one word from you to start the printing press. The more troublesome thing is the external debt. Take the debt of Giant Stone City for example. The first 200 million chips you borrowed from Giant Stone City, this alone, the principal and interest that needs to be repaid by the end of the year is as high as 5 million chips.”
”In addition, we have borrowed some medium- and long-term debts one after another. The total debt scale has reached 500 million chips. The principal and interest that need to be repaid by the end of the year have exceeded 10 million chips.”
When he said this, Charlie pressed his wrinkled brows, his expression slightly distressed.
There are some things he wanted to say a long time ago.
That is, the alliance spends money too fast!
In order to make this respected manager realize the seriousness of the problem, he unconsciously emphasized his tone.
”If you don’t plan to completely default on this debt, or use our Cr reserves and Boulder City Bank trading chips… I suggest that you adopt a more conservative fiscal strategy from today. At least for the next three years, we have to tighten our belts and do everything possible to reduce the scale of debt before the industries we invest in produce sufficient returns.”
”Otherwise, the foreign exchange earned from export trade every year will be used to repay debts. In addition to printing money and watching silver coins become less and less valuable, I’m afraid we can’t do anything!”
(End of this chapter)
