Chapter 168 Black Pine

"So big," Meat Bun Beats Dog exclaimed. "This isn't a scenario that newbies should be encountering."

The gates slowly opened, and the car drove in. The first thing they saw was a series of watchtowers, sandbag fortifications, and barracks. Fully armed soldiers stood guard and patrolled. Further inside was the residential area.

The layout of the buildings was relatively free and easy, not as meticulously planned as a city, and there were no tall buildings. Family cars drove along the streets, and there were vendors hawking their wares and residents strolling around. The place was bustling with activity, like a small city.

The car stopped, and the group got out. Lu Cheng told someone to prepare a banquet. Since he had invited Han Xiao as a guest, he naturally wanted to fulfill his duties as a host. He took Han Xiao and the others on a tour, and residents greeted Lu Cheng with smiles from time to time. Lu Cheng was highly respected here.

"Over there is my arsenal. I have a dedicated production line for manufacturing guns and ammunition." Lu Cheng pointed to a restricted area surrounded by barbed wire. It was his warehouse, workshop, and weapons research institute, with chimneys spewing industrial waste.

On the other side, there was a second isolation zone, filled with tents, where about a few hundred wanderers lived. Their exposed skin was gray with cracked patterns, like cracked stones.

Meat Bun asked curiously, "What's that place?"

Lu Cheng sighed. "The critical care isolation zone. Residents infected with the Stone Pox plague have to live there to prevent contagion."

"Stone Pox plague?"

Han Xiao gave a surprised murmur. This disease was highly contagious and mutated in version 2.0. He didn't expect to see it here. Just as he was about to speak, a sudden change occurred in the critical care isolation zone.

A sick resident suddenly went berserk and ran towards the isolation wire fence, using both hands and feet to try to climb out. The next second, a gunshot rang out. The guard beside him reacted quickly, opening fire with his submachine gun and turning the escaping resident into a sieve. He fell to the ground, dead, with thick yellow pus in the pool of blood.

Several doctors wearing white isolation suits came out, put the corpse in a body bag, and sprayed disinfectant mist on the ground.

The guard who shot the fleeing patient holstered his gun, expressionless, as if he had just casually killed a chicken.

The patients in the isolation zone watched this scene in silence, their faces numb. A dense atmosphere of despair hung in the air like dark clouds.

"People who get sick are very difficult to cure. In order to prevent them from infecting more people, we can only strictly control them," Lu Cheng explained.

Han Xiao turned his head and saw that the nearby residents all looked accustomed to it and showed no signs of disgust.

"So cold-blooded," Meat Bun Beats Dog muttered softly.

Lu Cheng said lightly, "Originally, only a dozen people were sick. One patient knew that he couldn't be cured and escaped from the isolation zone, so now the number of patients has increased to more than three hundred."

Meat Bun Beats Dog was speechless.

[You have triggered the mission [Source of the Stone Pox Plague]]

[Mission Introduction: Black Pine settlement is troubled by the Stone Pox plague. In order to curb the spread, you feel you can do something.]

[Mission Requirements: 1. Find the source of the Stone Pox plague]

[2. Curb the spread of the plague]

[3. Cure all plague patients]

[Reward: Completing requirement 1 grants 20,000 experience, completing requirement 2 grants 40,000 experience, completing requirement 3 grants 60,000 experience. Completing all requirements rewards Black Pine settlement 800 favorability, Wanderer Guardian Tactical Set]

Mad Blade and Meat Bun also triggered the mission.

But well, Han Xiao wasn't going to do this mission. He was in a hurry to harvest leeks…no, to bring more new players into the Mechanic class. He had business to run in a dozen newbie villages. A large wave of experience was waiting to be harvested. Time was tight and the task was heavy, so how could he stop his forward pace?

"By the way, if the players complete the mission, can I get the rewards?" Han Xiao's eyes lit up. He glanced at Mad Blade Angry Sword, who was completely unaware, and a new idea popped up.

"My people have prepared the banquet." Lu Cheng extended an invitation, and the group arrived at the central building of Black Pine, which resembled a small castle, or a Lord's Hall in more Western terms.

The dishes at the banquet were plentiful and filling. Black Pine settlement had planned farmland for growing food crops, as well as a dedicated slaughterhouse for raising edible livestock, such as Woolly-backed Cattle, Pheasant-beaked Chickens, and Black-haired Short-nosed Pigs. The Wanderer camp consumed a large amount of resources every day. If they relied solely on the expensive materials sold on the dark web, the cost would be unbearable, so the residents were self-sufficient, like a small territory.

During the banquet, Han Xiao and Lu Cheng chatted casually, touching on various topics. Lu Cheng once again raised the issue of remuneration. Constantly owing Black Phantom a favor made him quite uneasy.

"Just consider me making a friend with you. Feel free to look for me if anything comes up in the future. I can help." Han Xiao left his phone number. He wanted to maintain contact with Lu Cheng so that he could find out when the four blueprint missions would be opened as soon as possible. After thinking about it, he added, "Speaking of which, I need you to do me a small favor. I need to borrow your workshop and some materials to manufacture something."

"No problem. I'll have someone arrange it." Lu Cheng felt relieved. Only when Han Xiao made a request did he feel at ease.

"Your territory has a Stone Pox plague. If you don't resolve it quickly, it might lead to a disaster. My friends will stay and help you." Han Xiao suddenly slapped Mad Blade Angry Sword on the back, causing him to spit out the food in his mouth and cough uncontrollably.

Mad Blade Angry Sword couldn't believe it. "Are you abandoning me?"

I'm not interested in your mom, Han Xiao resisted the urge to retort. He wrote several missions and threw them to Mad Blade Angry Sword and Meat Bun Beats Dog.

The general content of these missions was to have the two stay in Black Pine to solve the plague problem and improve the Black Pine faction's favorability. Han Xiao spent 200,000 daily experience quota, dividing it equally between the two. These were relatively long-term missions, and he planned to leave them in Black Pine.

For the upcoming newbie village trip, there was no need to bring two players. It was inconvenient for them to log in and out, slowing him down. It was better to leave them in Black Pine to do missions.

The potential players he chose not only cultivated themselves, but also had another benefit, which was that they could come into contact with high-level forces earlier than other players, opening the map one step ahead. This was an important attraction to keep the players following him. Letting potential players do other missions, rough-style cultivation, helped their own characteristics to develop, allowing them to play their potential, and also giving him time to do other things alone.

Moreover, the rewards that potential players got from doing missions would eventually end up in his pocket. If Mad Blade completed the plague mission, Han Xiao would also get some experience, and the money he earned would be used to buy equipment from him.

Not only would he earn the players' money, but he would also earn NPC money through the players, buying and selling!

If Han Xiao himself was an aircraft carrier, the players he brought were like a fighter squadron. No matter how great the results they achieved, they would eventually have to return to the nest. Of course, the premise was that he had to constantly show greater benefits. In this regard, he was very confident. Besides the players themselves, no one knew the players better than him.

"I'm truly a business genius," Han Xiao said with emotion, shamelessly.

Mad Blade Angry Sword had no choice but to agree (he had no room to refuse). He was actually quite satisfied. Black Pine was a high-level scenario, and the mission rewards were considerable. Meat Bun Beats Dog didn't care at all. He had enough recorded footage and could focus on making the first video if he stayed in Black Pine without worrying about losing track of Han Xiao.

Lu Cheng felt that Mad Blade and Meat Bun's strength was average and couldn't help much, but he still expressed his gratitude for Han Xiao's sake.

The next steps were decided at the dinner table. After eating, it was already afternoon. Lu Cheng went to rest. He hadn't slept after last night's battle, and he had traveled back in the morning, so he was exhausted. Han Xiao slept for a while in the car and was full of energy. He could move freely in Black Pine, so he went to the dark web helicopter pilot and gave him a few instructions, then made a phone call to Farian and arranged for the rental of a transport plane. He also haggled with Antonov for more than ten minutes, and then went to the arsenal workshop under the guidance of the Black Pine guards. The guards here had received Lu Cheng's orders to open the workshop for Han Xiao's use.

Lu Cheng had already prepared the materials. Han Xiao started working on the lathe. He needed to repair the Magnetic-Controlled Armor, replenish a wave of ammunition and basic energy storage blocks, and then manufacture some small new machinery. He could also build the "Sunworm" flamethrower that he had recently fused.

With an Intelligence attribute of 200, the manufacturing speed of the machinery was very fast, and there were also the augmentation of skills such as Mechanical Affinity and Stamina enhancement, so the attributes of the manufactured machinery would be better.

["Sunworm" Portable Flamethrower]

[Type: Small Flamethrower]

[Quality: Blue (Excellent)]

[Basic Attributes: 27~34 Fire Damage/s, 60 seconds Overload, requires 20 seconds cooldown to use again, Burn Range 7 meters, Output Energy 92]

[Fuel Type: HF Concentrated Liquid Fuel]

[Energy: 210/210 (Consumes 1 point of energy/s)]

[Weight: 9.4 pounds]

[Additional Effect: Integrated--The fuel tank has been processed and embedded in the main body for easy portability]

[Additional Effect: Concentrated Spray--Increases fuel power, +33% attack power, +25% attack range, burning damage determination changes to once every 0.6 seconds, lasts for twelve seconds, consumes 8 points of energy/s, overloads immediately after twelve seconds, enters cooldown time]

[Additional Effect: Adhesive Burning--Extends the duration of the target's burning state and increases the severity of the burns]

[Note: The beating flames, that is the warmth of love]

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. What kind of messed up note was this?