Chapter 741.3: Day In The Life Of The Coalition's Mascot

Take exoframes, for example.

As individual equipment, power armor consumed relatively little Helium-3. A single battery could often last until the armor itself was scrapped.

With the New Alliance's nuclear resources, maintaining a few hundred units posed no issue whatsoever.

However, if those several hundred Ethereal exoframes were all equipped with directional shields or Meissner-effect armor, their 1,000 cubic meters of Helium-3 reserves would suddenly become tight.

Investing too many strategic resources into military equipment could even affect fuel supplies for the New Alliance’s fusion reactors, and those reactors were responsible for maintaining every aspect of production and daily life throughout New Alliance territory.

For that reason, Chu Guang would rather accept the loss of expensive equipment such as exoframe in combat than pile energy-intensive shields onto non-strategic weapons.

At most, he would authorize a few experimental units to test the feasibility of the technology. After all, in most cases, even if the equipment was completely destroyed beyond repair, the fusion batteries could still be recovered. The actual loss was merely money.

That was also the most practical reason why directional shields and nitrogen shields had never been widely deployed.

Chu Guang understood the warning hidden in Yin Fang's words. Even with the Academy's energy reserves, they preferred preserving the technology rather than mass-producing it for military use.

The Army’s approach was even more straightforward. They simply didn't bother reverse-engineering their treasures. They used what they had until it ran out, then fell back on domestically produced and developed their Bores, Bisons, and other genuine antiques, or hybrid-powered antiques.

The longer time passed, and the farther the world drifted from the Prosperity Era, the more obvious the advantage became for those Wislanders who had already adapted to the wasteland. After all, under current orbital conditions, restoring regular Earth-Moon transportation was nearly impossible.

The legacy of the Prosperity Era was destined to run out eventually.

"... What a shame. Such an interesting technology, yet it can't truly be put to use." Chu Guang sighed softly, though his mind was already drifting toward another possibility.

Tactical equipment might not benefit much from it. Strategic equipment, however, might be another matter.

From Yin Fang's earlier description, the technology sounded like the perfect counter to electromagnetic weapons.

Wasn't the Southern Archipelago Alliance currently being suppressed by the North Island Federation's battleship artillery?

If their fleets were equipped with some kind of shield, perhaps it could help even the odds.

Then again, rather than deciding the war at sea, his players seemed far more interested in the submarine aircraft carrier currently under construction.

Chu Guang quietly pondered whether he should simply hand the card over to Fang Chang and the others to play, regardless of whether it ultimately proved useful.

Mistaking Chu Guang's contemplation for disappointment, Yin Fang offered reassurance. "Actually, if you look at it from another perspective, the real value of this thing isn't necessarily on the battlefield. The technologies we can recover from it go far beyond a superconductive shield. It includes over thirty separate sub-technologies covering energy systems, materials science, information processing, and more. In particular, several specialized superconducting materials and high-performance capacitors are technologies our allies have never shared with us."

The Academy had signed scientific cooperation agreements with the New Alliance, and the Enterprise had entered numerous industrial partnerships with them as well. However, that did not mean technological exchange flowed freely between them, especially when it came to critical technologies.

They had paid dearly to obtain those themselves, so naturally they had no intention of giving them away.

Hearing the comforting tone from the other end of the call, Chu Guang leaned back in his chair and smiled. "That's beyond my expertise. I'll have to rely on you for that."

Scientific research was probably the one field where he couldn't obtain meaningful assistance from the real world. In fact, very early on, he had experimented with bringing in genuinely capable young scholars from his original world and observing their behavior within the game.

That included Gale, the university professor who entered during the earliest stages of the game, later arrivals such as Lone Wolf, and Gugu Bro, who worked under a certain academician.

Unlike amateur or weird engineers like Mosquito, these people were genuine researchers. They learned quickly and possessed extensive real-world experience. Unfortunately, the gap in theoretical foundations and differences in terminology were simply too large.

Many of the technologies within Wasteland Online seemed less like science and more like game mechanics, or outright magic to them.

As a result, their progress remained painfully slow, and they often approached the material with lingering skepticism.

After weighing the immeasurable risks against the limited rewards, Chu Guang eventually chose not to interfere with their in-game research efforts and merely continued observing them.

According to Little Seven's ongoing analysis of multiple subjects, they would probably be able to advance as far as first-generation controlled fusion technology at most. Anything beyond that was unlikely.

As for second-generation controlled fusion, relative to the foundations of the real world, it was essentially a singularity beyond a singularity. Even attempting to research it would likely produce more wasted effort than results.

And that was assuming Chu Guang didn't intentionally interfere.

If he really wanted to sabotage them, merely using his authority as the game's designer to secretly alter a parameter or tweak a formula could waste years of their work, or convince them entirely that the technological path presented in Wasteland Online was impossible.

After all, in the eyes of a handful of informed individuals, Wasteland Online already contained too many irrational elements. To them, it was effectively an olive branch extended by an extraterrestrial civilization.

If a higher civilization that had shown no signs of hostility deemed a particular technological path unworthy, then from the perspective of a less advanced civilization, choosing an alternative path would naturally seem more rational.

"... You're being too polite. This is my job. If I don't produce results, how could I justify all those coffee machines you sent me?" Yin Fang replied teasingly, then suddenly remembered something else. "Oh, right. There's one more matter. The Southern Archipelago Alliance wants us to establish Scientific Expedition Team branches at Ring Island and Coral City. Honestly, they're offering quite favorable terms. And you know how high their literacy rate is. They could provide some fresh blood for our organization."

Chu Guang hesitated briefly before asking, "Have they already retaken Coral City?"

The holograph Yin Fang displayed a helpless expression. "Obviously not. They're still fighting for it. My guess is they're hoping to borrow your influence. To be honest, though, politics isn't my specialty. You'll have to make the decision."

After considering the matter for a moment, Chu Guang replied, "If you believe their proposal is sincere, then I think we can accept it. As for Coral City, I'll have the players operating in that region see what they can do."

He had already taken over Shelter 70 from Sun Yuechi, and the various islands of the Southern Archipelago Alliance were generally receptive to New Alliance governance and ideals. Most likely, they would eventually follow the same path as Boulder Town and move toward unification with the survivors of River Valley Province.

They might even integrate more thoroughly than Boulder Town had. After all, they shared the same origins, and the ideals of equality had taken deeper root there.

Given that, there wasn't much reason to hesitate.

Besides, the underwater Coral City had probably been on his players' wish lists for a long time already. He likely wouldn't even need to create a mission to encourage them.

After receiving Chu Guang's approval, Yin Fang smiled cheerfully. "Excellent. Then it's settled."

With the last matter concluded, Yin Fang ended the call and returned to his research.

Chu Guang leaned back in his chair, intending to take a short break. However, before X-16, Ebert’s “daughter” could even finish preparing his tea, another call arrived.

This time it came from the Academy's Alpha Mobile Task Force.

"... We intend to launch our offensive against Blood Mountain tomorrow. I would like to request artillery support from the coalition forces." As he spoke, the commander transmitted the battle plan as well.

Chu Guang opened the file and immediately saw that it was several dozen gigabytes in size and a headache instantly formed. Before even opening it, he casually forwarded it to Vanus with a flick of his finger.

Eventually, he mumbled, "... No problem. I'll have the various units provide the necessary support according to your operational plan."

The commander nodded. "Thank you."

After leaving behind the brief courtesy, he promptly ended the call.

Surprisingly, speaking with the man was refreshingly straightforward. Chu Guang found himself revising some of his stereotypes about the Academy. Apparently, not everyone from the Wandering Swamp liked talking in circles.

The awkward part was that the man's presence was so faint it bordered on absurd.

As the coalition's nominal supreme commander, Chu Guang realized he couldn't even remember the guy's name. "... Little Seve, what was the name of the commander the Academy sent again?"

Sitting on his shoulder, Little Seven quickly searched the database and replied, "Um... Alpha Zero? That's the name recorded in the files."

Alpha Zero?

As Chu Guang accepted the cup of tea from the tray X-16 was holding, he couldn't help freezing for a moment. What surprised him wasn't the unusual name itself. It was the fact that he had somehow forgotten a name so distinctive.

Taking a sip of tea, Chu Guang muttered quietly, "... Now that's strange."

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