Chapter 771.2: Frontline Status
Chapter 771.2: Frontline Status
Ideal City could afford to avoid expansion. Its foundation was deep enough that it could prosper comfortably behind closed doors and still have spare money to throw around the wasteland.
But did Dawn City possess that kind of wealth?
Its overseas operations had to keep expanding. They already had food and mineral resources. The only thing they lacked was people.
If that fellow Laxi really could convert the people of the Poro Province into an actual force, who cared what kind of person he was? No matter how outrageous he might be, surely he couldn't be more outrageous than Wutuo Xilande.
After Ample Time presented a series of pieces of physical evidence, Xiaoyu had ultimately said nothing more. Once he supplemented his proposal with a complete project plan, she revoked the summons.
In truth, everything she had done was entirely in accordance with the New Alliance's Constitution. There had been neither deliberate favoritism nor deliberate suppression.
Chu Guang was quite pleased with the outcome.
Whether it was the Baiyue Strait Development Company, Xiaoyu herself, or the transformations unfolding across the Poro Province under the guidance of the players, he had seen it all.
That land was just as much a part of the wasteland as anywhere else. There was no such thing as a "main-story wasteland" or a "side-story wasteland." The corruption consuming the Brocade River Province had originated from the Torch Church in the Ocean Edge Province.
And tracing it back to its source, everything ultimately led to Clearspring City in the River Valley Province, or more precisely, to the Hive beneath Clearspring City and Shelter 117.
The Na Fruit that plagued the Ocean Edge Province had originated from the Baiyue Province, and the key to solving the Na Fruit crisis, the type B Na Fruit fungal strain, had also come from there. More precisely, it had come from the Hive hidden somewhere within the Baiyue Province that players had yet to discover.
The development of the Baiyue Province would not have been possible without the support of the survivors of the Southern Seas, from researching the wreckage of the Heavenly Court to investigating the mutated species and the Hive lurking beneath the ocean.
The same principle applied to developing the Great Desert. If the New Alliance wished to tame that land, it had to work together with the survivors who had once ventured there, and later escaped from it. It had to solve their problems, or at the very least, walk alongside those willing to venture back into that wasteland once more.
Every event on the wasteland appeared isolated from the others, but in truth, every piece was interconnected. If they failed to take each step carefully, then no matter how many legacies they inherited, they would never again return to the stars humanity had once reached...
At least not within his lifetime.
...
The sun and moon over the battlefield crept along like a snail crawling across the tip of a leaf. The northern front advanced slowly, steadily, and relentlessly.
Time gradually slipped into late September.
The coalition forces on the Northern Front had successfully secured the entirety of Lai Peak City and were pushing deep into the interior of the Ocean Edge Province along three separate axes.
The facts had proven that the coalition's war of attrition strategy was indeed effective. Well, that was even though the Army's representatives constantly complained that the New Alliance was exploiting the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee's system for its own benefit, using the prolonged campaign as an excuse to expand its industrial base.
However, after witnessing the New Alliance's casualties on the front lines, especially the casualties suffered by the shelter residents, they found themselves unable to utter those cynical criticisms any longer.
The Enterprise, on the other hand, had no objections. Steady, sustainable investment coupled with predictable returns was exactly what they pursued. They worried only about unforeseen risks, never those they had already anticipated.
As for the Academy... No one could guess what they were thinking. Even Chu Guang himself could at best infer 10% to 20% of their intentions. Their obsession with secrecy rivaled only their devotion to knowledge.
The Torch Church, meanwhile, appeared determined to continue stalling for time. They continued pouring more resources into the Southern Seas while dispatching an advance force eastward in an attempt to spread the flames of war into the Spur Province.
That advance force, led by a Pathfinder and over 100 Apostles, happened to run headfirst into the Enterprise's 99th Mechanized Infantry Division and a fierce battle erupted across the plains.
In the end, the Enterprise's increasingly extravagant and over-engineered equipment proved superior, and the Torch Church’s advance force suffered a bitter defeat.
Quite a few rookie players had participated in that battle as mercenaries and reportedly walked away with a fair amount of equipment. Most of that loot, however, was eventually bought back at premium prices by corporations like Boulder Town Arms Industry for research purposes.
After all, the defense contractors simply offered too much money.
Besides that, there were also players who worked as mercenaries for the Army or even alongside the Hound Special Forces.
Some players who loved "taking the road less traveled" had even compiled guides on the official forums comparing the rewards offered by each faction, along with the most cost-effective ways to slack off while getting paid.
Among them, the New Alliance offered the most stable returns, with the smoothest progression curve, as though it had been carefully designed.
Which, of course, made perfect sense. As the officially designated main protagonist faction, it naturally catered to the majority of players, making it ideal for ordinary players and large player corps who weren't interested in unconventional playstyles.
The Enterprise, meanwhile, filled the role of the wasteland's daddy. As the first faction to become rich after the apocalypse, even ordinary soldiers could hand out quests as NPCs, and the pay was by far the highest.
The only downside was that much of the equipment they awarded had relatively poor practical combat value.
Aside from bionic chips and certain cybernetic implants, which were genuinely useful, equipment like exoskeletons and light firearms were usually worth more when sold for cash.
For players chasing powerful equipment, the Academy and the Bugra Free State were actually better choices.
The Academy possessed the greatest technological reserves on the wasteland.
As for the Bugra Free State, protected by the Great Rift Valley and therefore rarely threatened by outside powers, it had quietly borrowed more than a few technologies from the Academy over the past century.
The Army, meanwhile, paid poorly and issued fairly ordinary equipment.
However, players occasionally stumbled across unexpected opportunities. Battlefield Cheerleader was one example.
After reading the fellow’s forum post, even Chu Guang couldn't help giving it an upvote. The guy had truly figured out how to play the new version. At the rate he was going, he could practically become a servant to all five great clans.
Of course, so long as they didn't violate the Player Handbook, Chu Guang had always encouraged his little players to venture beyond New Alliance territory on their own initiative.
Still, those minor details had little impact on the overall course of the war. Chu Guang had merely glanced over them through Little Seven and hadn't bothered paying close attention.
At present, the Purification Zone within the Ocean Edge Province had expanded to 70,000 square kilometers, nearly one-tenth of the province's total area of 670,000 square kilometers.
Its significance was roughly equivalent to capturing the first peak of Ten Peaks Mountain.
Unfortunately, much more land remained to be conquered, and each one was more dangerous than the last.
If only the Southern Front could achieve a breakthrough...
As the commander overseeing operations from the front lines, Chu Guang found himself thinking that more than once.
Especially now that the Conch submarine carrier had been completed, the Meissner-effect armor had been successfully installed aboard the South Sea New Alliance flagship, and the radar stations and missile launchers on Sandbar Island had all been deployed.
The opportunity for a decisive battle had never looked better.
Just as Chu Guang was considering whether he should urge their southern allies into action, a telegram accompanied by an operational plan arrived through the dedicated line from French Fry Harbor and was forwarded to Little Seven.
The operation bore the codename Laken, the name of the Southern Seas' fiercest sea beast, roughly equivalent to the Deathclaw of River Valley Province.
The plan had been drafted by Li Minghui, Commander of the South Sea New Alliance Navy, who had been granted full authority over Peace Island Naval Base and the fleets stationed there.
[The fishing boats and harpoons prepared to hunt the Laken have already been sharpened. The South Sea New Alliance Fleet stands ready to reclaim everything, or sacrifice everything!]
[We intend to launch the final decisive offensive in early October, completely annihilate Chalas and his followers who have coerced the residents of North Island, and permanently drive every Torch Church cultist and mutant from the island!]
[This operation concerns the future of us all. We need your support!]
The telegram itself consisted of only three short paragraphs. The attached operational plan, however, stretched over more than a dozen pages.
It covered everything, from using the captured Reef as bait to lure the battleship Ocean Edge out of port by creating a deliberate opening, to suppressing the island's anti-air defenses and providing cover for New Alliance ground forces during the amphibious landing.
Because the Torch Church maintained forces on North Island, the South Sea New Alliance hoped Dawn City would provide the primary ground combat force.
If the operation succeeded, close cooperation between the South Sea New Alliance and the New Alliance would continue.
Furthermore, North Island would become an New Alliance logistics hub, serving as a forward staging base for future offensives against the southern coast of the Ocean Edge Province.
After reading the entire operational plan, Chu Guang suddenly burst into laughter. "Beautifully done!"
Perched on his pen holder, Little Seven tilted its head and mumbled, "Master, do you really think their plan is that good?"
It felt the operation still involved considerable risks. After all, the South Sea New Alliance was wagering nearly everything it had.
A faint smile spread across Chu Guang's face. Tapping several commands onto the holographic display, he forwarded the operational plan to the New Alliance Army Command as well as the corps commanders stationed on the southern front.
"We can’t determine whether it's good or bad by staring at a map. The only way to know if it'll work is to try."
As he spoke, he looked toward Little Seven and issued two consecutive orders. "Notify all players on the Southern Front to assemble at French Fry Harbor. No need to explain the details, just tell them the server has launched a new event. And have the Burning Corps and the Goblin Corps prepare immediately! They are to stand by for deployment at any moment."
Seeing the excitement gleaming in Chu Guang's eyes, Little Seven energetically snapped into a New Alliance salute. "Roger, roger!"