Chapter 732.2: The New Alliance's Original Job Scope

Just when the cafeteria worker thought it was over, the next squad member stepped forward.

With the exact same motion, he produced his meal card. "Potato with braised pork over rice. Three portions with extra rice."

The cafeteria worker’s eyes widened in shock as he realized what was coming.

As expected, the next two soldiers did exactly the same thing. They ordered three portions of the exact same dish. Even the way they accepted the trays and said thank you looked identical. It was as though they had rehearsed it.

In the end, every single one of them ordered the same meal.

By the time they finished, an entire barrel of braised pork had been sold out, while the other dozen dishes had barely been touched. The cafeteria worker could only contact the kitchen and ask them to urgently prepare another batch.

What he didn't know was that on a communication channel beyond his hearing and sight, invisible radio waves were exchanging information at light speed.

"Potato with braised pork with rice is good. This is recommended."

"Agreed."

"Good."

"Very good."

"Satisfied."

"..."

By the time the Alpha Task Force soldiers finished eating and returned their trays, a flood of Enterprise soldiers who had just completed their training poured into the cafeteria. Those recruits had already undergone three months of boot camp before arriving, but training had not stopped after deployment.

Every one of them was starving and one young soldier squeezed his way to the front of the line. After glancing at the menu, he slapped his meal card onto the scanner. "Boss, one serving of potato with braised pork! One braised eggplant too! Two portions of rice!"

The cafeteria worker immediately grimaced. "Potatoes with braised pork are sold out. Those masked guys cleaned us out. Wait half an hour if you want some."

Everyone was stunned.

"Holy crap?!"

"They ate it all?!"

They had not been particularly interested before. But now that they knew it was sold out, everyone suddenly became aware of it.

More and more people joined the line as the queue grew longer and longer. Soon it was not just the Enterprise’s troops. Soldiers from the Bugra Free State, Garbage City, and other settlements also came to see what the fuss was about.

In a single day, nearly 100,000 servings of potato with braised pork were sold in the military base.

The Academy's famous food monsters were especially terrifying. Each person started with at least three servings and their 1,000-man force somehow ate like an entire division.

Although the coalition cafeteria was not intended to make money and earned at best, a converted one to two CR per meal, the accumulated total was still substantial.

That day, there was no fighting on the Northern Front. A small number of soldiers from the Army continued clearing tunnels on Black Cloud Peak of remaining Mutant Humans and Goblins.

Meanwhile, behind those Wislanders, the New Alliance's potato with braised pork over rice quietly swept through the entire military base like a storm.

Not only were the players stunned. Even Chu Guang, far away in Dawn City, had never anticipated such a development.

Using nothing more than a single dish, these soldiers from all corners of the wasteland had somehow eaten the military base's entire potato supply.

When Chu Guang received the frontline report in Dawn City, he sat frozen for several seconds. "Holy crap... A military base can actually turn a profit?!"

To be fair, Chu Guang had never intended to make money from the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee.

The New Alliance was no longer the poor little village it once had been. As the New Alliance's administrator, his responsibility was no longer merely feeding those who supported him. His duty was to lead those already fed and clothed toward rebuilding a greater era, while uniting those who still went hungry.

That was why many potentially profitable services, including railway transport, were provided to allied Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee factions at near-cost prices.

If logistical supplies were manufactured in Dawn City or Boulder Town’s Industrial Zone, they were often sold at half of production cost.

In effect, the New Alliance subsidized the expenses directly, encouraging allied factions to produce logistics supplies within New Alliance industrial zones.

Although that increased short-term fiscal deficits, the long-term benefits vastly outweighed those losses. Foreign trade orders brought more than money. They brought technology, talent, and stronger partnerships.

Even after the war ended, many of those orders would remain due to the close cooperative relationships forged during wartime.

The accompanying flow of capital, technology, and skilled personnel would remain as well.

At the end of the day, everyone knew what he was doing, but every faction also had a long-term interest in solving the threat of Mutant Slime Mold and a short-term interest in eliminating the Torch Church disaster.

Even the Academy, notorious for guarding their technology, was willing to accept some technological leakage and relocate less critical but high-demand industries closer to the frontlines. Some products were even outsourced to Boulder Town Arms Industry.

Examples included capacitors for gauss rifles and polymer ballistic plates for exoskeletons.

The technologies connected to those industries were enough to upgrade more than a dozen New Alliance industrial chains. Compared to that, the New Alliance's financial subsidies were insignificant.

Without exaggeration, Chu Guang had fully prepared himself to lose money throughout the war. What he had never expected was that less than three weeks after the campaign officially began, they had somehow managed to turn a profit through selling food in the military base.

Sitting on his pen holder, Little Seven looked at him with sparkling eyes and gave him a thumbs-up. "As expected of Master! Everyone else loses money when they wage war, but Master not only avoided losing money, you actually made a profit!"

Chu Guang coughed awkwardly. "... Even if you're praising me, there's absolutely no benefit in it for you."

"How can that be?" Resting its chin in both hands, Little Seven put on a shy expression. Its bright eyes peered at him through the gaps between its fingers. "When Master is happy, that's the happiest, happiest, happiest thing in the world for Little Seven... hehe."

Huh?!

Chu Guang looked at the little thing in surprise. Why did it feel like Little Seven was getting smarter and weirder? More importantly, who had taught it to say things like that? Was that even how such lines were supposed to be used?

"I feel like Master is thinking something rude..." Little Seven narrowed its eyes suspiciously at him, folding its arms across its chest. The slight pout on its lips suggested it wasn't very happy with his astonished reaction.

Clearing his throat lightly, Chu Guang steered the conversation back on track. "No. I was just thinking... I've actually overlooked something. I almost forgot about our original line of work."

The New Alliance had developed so quickly that he had forgotten about the salaries sitting in those soldiers' pockets, including the mission rewards he personally handed out to players.

Those guys earned money but had nowhere to spend it in Dawn City. Most of it eventually ended up being exchanged through the Silver Exchange on the official website anyway.

They might as well spend it at the front lines.

The New Alliance no longer lacked productive capacity. What it lacked were places capable of absorbing that productivity and generating positive returns.

Perhaps those soldiers' spending power alone could fund an entire settlement into existence!

It wasn't impossible. According to reports from the front lines, some merchants from Horseman Town had already driven ox carts to the Guardian Manor Military Base Station, a location civilians were normally forbidden from reaching by train, and set up stalls selling locally produced milk and various dairy products.

Once survivors from other parts of the Brocade River Province began gathering there, a new settlement might gradually form on its own.

"Our original line of work?" Little Seven tilted its head. It wasn't sure which one Chu Guang meant. After all, he had dabbled in far too many things.

"Our heavy industry of barbecue, and light industry of selling beer..." Chu Guang smiled faintly. "Of course, conditions are much better now. Besides food, there can be other things too."

With a wave of his finger, he manipulated the holographic screen and opened the task distribution and server event interface.

His imagination might be limited, but he firmly believed his little players possessed limitless imagination. "... Let's send some Lifestyle Profession players to the frontlines."

...

While the coalition forces on the northern front were busy stuffing themselves with food, the Mutant Humans atop Ten Peaks Mountain were also enjoying a feast.

The difference was that they weren't eating rice, but livestock. Well... They were eating people treated as livestock.

The Torch Church provided them with abundant food and breeding tools. Ever since the great fire in the Ocean Edge Province began, they had been feasting every day. The good times had never stopped.

Despite already losing two peaks, the green-skinned creatures showed no signs of concern.

The war had only just begun and the human coalition forces had merely stepped into their territory.

Besides the creatures that could dig, they also had creatures that could fly. Once those humans truly reached the mountainsides, their nightmares would begin as the Mutant Humans would tear them apart piece by piece. Their blood and organs would be used to honor fallen comrades and please their Beast King!

...

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