This Game Is Too Real

In this world, there's never a shortage of people who think alike.

Especially at Potato Harbor, where so many people are connected through the same Morphogenesis Field.

Beside the Sacred Tree, in the open space roughly cleared by the swipe of a lizard tail, tons of food is packed in barrels and carts, resembling a gigantic buffet party.

Things like fruit-flavored nutrient paste and fine pig, duck, cattle, and sheep feed are just the basics.

The more powerful players went ahead and formed hunting groups, heading straight to level fifty recommended maps and brought back a huge haul, pulling those Iron Back Ants, Giant Bugs, and Titan Worms over with truckloads.

According to official data, Dragon Lizards prefer "crunchy" food.

Especially those Iron Back Ants that love nesting in ruins - they're absolutely its favorite!

Clearly, not only Genie Turtle but even the Jungle Corps, almost every player around wants to become that Dragon Knight.

The mountains of food left the three old turtles carrying barrels of nutrient paste dumbfounded.

"What the hell?!"

"That's too much!"

"This is too intense!"

The three old turtles were left stunned, but the Dragon Lizard napping at the root of the Sacred Tree was absolutely thrilled.

It had just taken a nap, only to open its eyes and find the food had been delivered right in front of it!

Thank the great Tree of Life for its generosity!

It wasn't coy at all, seeing that mountain of delicacies, and immediately went towards it without saying a word.

Its sloppy manner was just like a pig hearing the dinner bell, devouring the Iron Back Ants on the ground hungrily!

The speed was like a bomber sweeping the ground, ripping up the land and even taking half-buried rotten wooden stakes along for the ride.

This guy's digestive ability was incredible; a few wood chips were merely appetizers for it.

In less than half an hour, the "mountains of corpses and seas of bones" displayed around the Sacred Tree was completely devoured.

Fully satisfied, the Dragon Lizard lifted its head and let out a deafening burp, then curled its tail, cozily coiled up next to the Sacred Tree, snoring with a ground-shaking "wooing".

And then—

That's it?

The players looked at each other, each one of them wearing a bewildered expression.

An experienced player of level forty swallowed his spit, looked at the big brother beside him and asked.

"Bro... so what now?"

All those goods worth tens of thousands of silver coins went in, and all they got was a bit of noise.

He felt this wasn't about catching Paru in the forest but feeding monkeys on Mount Emei.

No—

The monkeys on Mount Emei would be more professional than this; who eats their fill and then just sleeps without a word?!

The big brother was also confused, not expecting this Dragon Lizard to not play by the rules, awkwardly scratching his head.

"... Uh, maybe wait for it to wake up and ask?"

Hostile actions are forbidden in the safe zone.

For now, they'll have to wait for it to wake up and ask.

At this time, swearing and shouting could already be heard from not far away.

Silver Daddy, leader of the Silver Corps, was seen throwing his shovel on the ground, looking extremely pissed.

"What a rip-off!"

He spent a whole 100,000 Silver Coins buying a large number of Iron Back Ant corpses from nearby hunter players, hoping to use this opportunity to tame this beast, only to find that he didn't even get a chance to approach it while it was feeding.

And even more outrageous, the damned thing ate and then went straight to sleep!

He was dying to take a knife and chop off the tail of this damn lizard.

Seeing the murderous look on the leader's face, Silver Sword and Silver Hand, standing by, hurried forward to restrain him.

"Whoa, bro, calm down!"

"Let me go! I saw its health bar!"

"You don't want your account anymore?!"

They weren't really afraid of this thing deleting the account for a remake, mainly worried about blood getting on themselves.

At this time, several hunter squads came out of the forest dragging prey, smiling and shouting to Silver Daddy.

"Bro, we brought your prey over, yeah, feel free to contact us again if you have more needs."

"Remember to settle the final payment."

Silver Daddy: "I %@%#!"

In the open space in front of the Sacred Tree, there was a chattering commotion, but the Dragon Lizard lying on the ground napping seemed to hear nothing, snoring away, continuing to pig out.

Seeing that he wasn't the only one who went bankrupt, Genie Turtle, who was carrying an empty bucket, finally felt balanced, muttering maliciously and sneering.

"Heh, a bunch of fools, how old are you, learned nothing yet, do you think pulling the wool over the dog plan's eyes is that easy?"

"Losers!"

Water Sword Turtle and Fool Turtle looked subtly at the guy who unknowingly roasted himself, instinctively taking two steps sideways to distance themselves, pretending to be strangers.

Just at this moment, the Dragon Lizard lying under the Tree of Life suddenly made a short, dull sound.

"Poof!"

Hearing that sound, the arguing crowd suddenly fell silent, looking at the big guy sleeping blissfully.

"Did you hear that?"

"What just happened?"

"I think I smell stinkbug noodles..."

"Uh...?"

Seeing the lizard suddenly roll over, an ominous feeling emerged in Silver Daddy's heart.

But before he could react, that short, dull sound was drawn out long like a machine gun.

"Poof——!"

A black torrent gushed out like a fountain from beneath that lifted tail, sweeping over with unstoppable force!

"What the hell?!"

Seeing that torrent rushing straight at them, Silver Daddy barely managed to let out a cry of surprise before he and the nearby brothers were swallowed up in a black wave of energy.

This guy probably ate too much of too many things and upset its stomach.

The avalanche of a solid-liquid mixture unleashed an AOE attack, sweeping a fan-shaped area on the ground, engulfing at least a third of the players.

Including the three old turtles watching the drama from a distance and the others craving to tame the big lizard, no one escaped.

Unaware, the Dragon Lizard let out a "wooing" from its belly, comfortably continuing to sleep.

Watching that indescribable scene, the canopy of the Tree of Life gently swayed, whispering in a language no one could understand.

What a shame.

If only it had sprayed a little closer.

...

No one had ever been drowned by poop since Wasteland OL launched.

Fortunately, it didn't happen this time either.

By evening that day.

The small players, who had been busy all day, dragged their exhausted bodies back to Potato Harbor.

The overwhelming stench cleared half of the street.

The local residents thought some chemicals had leaked and hurriedly put on gas masks, only to later realize it was a false alarm.

That evening, the beach at Potato Harbor was crowded with people bathing, and the laundry service's orders were booked up for three days, making the laundry workers, who charged per order, seem like the biggest winners.

After all, you couldn't save your progress if you didn't shower - no one could stand it.

The "Dragon Knights" were devastated without words.

It really was a double whammy.

The only consolation was that Dragon Lizard manure could repel wild animals, and it's even rumored to be a good luck charm.

After all, if you wear something like that to high-level maps, it's practically invincible!

Additionally, the Alliance's Biological Institute also procured some samples, although the quantity was quite small.

All in all, with these gains, it can be considered a small way to recoup a bit of the investors' losses.

Compared to the costs they have invested, such gains can only be described as "better than nothing."

Late at night.

The garden of the Seaside Hotel.

The Tree of Life deep in the forest once again found Night Ten through Dora, speaking in a slightly reproachful tone.

"...Although I don't oppose you feeding my children, you've fed it too much. It's not my fault if it doesn't trouble other variants. You'll have to manage on your own when the time comes."

As the apex predator in this forest's food chain, the Dragon Lizard also has its own significance.

Night Ten said awkwardly.

"Uh, I'll inform the others to stop feeding that guy."

He thought that with this lesson, even without a reminder, no one would make such a mistake again.

However, it was quite strange that he still couldn't figure out what those people were thinking, believing that feeding it some pieces of meat would tame it into a pet.

The main issue was they hadn't awakened their spiritual energy, right?

If it were him doing it, there might be some hope, or if it were an experienced animal trainer, but leaving it to these amateurs, it was certainly a lost cause.

The Tree of Life expressed approval of his answer, and then continued.

"The main issue is you've given too much. Actually, a little bit is fine... When this kid is full, it just knows to sleep. Over time, it might forget how to hunt, and only come to you for food."

"This is not good for both it and you."

...

The night passed without further discussion.

Early the next morning, it was time to check out, and Night Ten settled the bill at the hotel.

Although the lobby manager repeatedly stated that the unique "South Gate Two Scenic" garden had already covered their room charges for the whole year, and the hotel owner had waived their bill, Night Ten still insisted on paying.

If you want to know why, naturally it's because Brother Guang had already allocated the funds.

There was really no need to save money for Brother Guang, as that guy prints money by himself.

However, for Dora, those paper notes with the pretty designs and patterns were indeed novel.

Blinking her curious eyes, she held the hundred-dollar bill from Night Ten above her head, inspecting it for quite a while, and then asked Night Ten.

"What is this?"

Night Ten responded casually.

"Paper money, cash, silver coin, you can call it whatever you want. You can use it to trade for things from others."

It's not only for exchanging things with others; this item can even be traded for real-world currency with mysterious buyers outside the Game.

However, seeing the look of confusion on Dora's face, he realized she clearly didn't understand.

"Exchange? Why?" Dora's confusion became more evident.

In the Doma Tribe, exchange is undoubtedly a novel concept.

Because items in the tribe are collectively owned, if they want something from outside the tribe, they just take it.

And there is no mutual exchange of items between tribes.

Everyone worships the same God and adheres to the same lifestyle and code of conduct. What you have, I generally have as well, so there's no "you have, I don't" situation.

Moreover, these people live just like the "Dragon Lizard", relying on hunting for food, and if lacking food, they act coy with the Sacred Tree and get whatever they need. If nothing drastically changes, they might happily continue in the tribal era.

"There's no reason why..."

Night Ten scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to explain the matter.

"Your society hasn't developed to that stage yet, when you... find the sea, you'll understand."

Dora tilted her head.

"Why is it finding the sea?"

Night Ten concisely replied.

"Because you will discover shells not found in the forest, and then someone will take forest prey, which is not found at the seaside, to exchange with tribes living by the sea for shells... You know shells, right? Those small items you saw on the beach when you got off the boat."

That is probably the oldest form of currency.

Seeing that Dora had more questions, Night Ten quickly pulled Ms. Han Mingyue, who had just come out of the elevator, and handed over this "ten thousand whys" to her.

"This is the Alliance's social science expert! Ask her any questions, she knows better than I do."

"Wait, what are you saying—"

"I suddenly remembered I left something in the room, I'll leave this to you!"

"Hey!"

Leaving behind a bewildered Han Mingyue, Night Ten hurried out of the hotel lobby and slipped into the elevator.

Although not clear what had happened, seeing Dora with a curious expression, Han Mingyue roughly guessed something.

Patting her forehead to wake herself up a bit more, she looked at Dora with a gentle voice.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

Dora looked at her hesitantly, tentatively handing over the banknote in her hand.

Han Mingyue, amused and exasperated, pushed it back with a patient tone.

"You don't need to pay for such a small thing... Ahem, I don't know what that guy told you, but he probably didn't explain clearly. This kind of thing is used in transactions, you understand? It's not used for small favors between friends."

Blushing, Dora took the banknote back.

Han Mingyue patiently looked at her and spoke softly.

"So, is there anything I can help you with?"

Dora gently nodded and said in a small voice.

"There's something... I can't figure out."

Han Mingyue: "What is it?"

Dora looked outside the hotel's lobby at the sparsely crowded street and said softly.

"There are so many things here that I haven't seen before. I've been very happy living here for this period, and even once thought of staying here forever. And you've told me that this is just a corner of the Alliance, that there are other prosperous places far beyond here."

Han Mingyue smiled and said.

"More or less, the most prosperous should be the Ideal City, where prosperity extends from the surface to the skies... You should have a chance to see it."

Dora turned to look at her and smiled shyly.

"What I've seen here has already surprised me enough... Sometimes I can't help but think how wonderful it would be if my people on Gaia planet could experience this kind of life."

Han Mingyue said.

"They will, one day."

"Why not now?" Dora asked earnestly, blinking her eyes, "You've said we have at least half of your blood in us, we were originally family. If you are willing to come to us, we would welcome you very much... Just like before when Night Ten came to our tribe."

Although there were some minor unpleasant incidents, they have seriously reflected on their mistakes.

Including the late chieftain Tunnan.

And his apology has been forgiven by the Ancestors.

Han Mingyue showed a thoughtful expression, then said after a moment.

"In fact... the plan you proposed is indeed a choice, but I don't think our arrival will necessarily be good for you."

"Why?"

"You've thought too well of us."

"Isn't it?"

Looking at the confused Dora, Han Mingyue gently shook her head.

"It has nothing to do with being or not being; it's just a perspective, like the two sides of the banknote in your hand. Our method is not perfect, and we believe that a more perfect social form will definitely replace us in the future... And your society is not entirely worthless to us; we're just at different stages."

Sometimes she felt that this girl from South Gate Two was like her child.

Pure like a blank sheet of paper.

Of course, saying that is not accurate.

Accurately speaking, she should be the child of everyone on this planet...

Looking at the still puzzled Dora, Han Mingyue smiled, stretched out her hand, and gently ruffled her hair.

"This journey isn't over yet. What you've seen is only a corner of the 'Ancestor' world."

"Soon you'll understand why I said that."