"Five...... Million?! Silver coin?! ”

Scientific expedition group, Prosperity Era relics recovery registry.

A sudden scream of astonishment floated out of the closed reception room, disturbing the crowd of people queuing with numbers.

People craned their necks in the direction of the reception room, and their faces were invariably envious and even greedy.

Needless to ask, they could all guess what was going on in that room, after all, they were the "hunters" who specialized in this business.

A long time ago, the Alliance's scientific expedition team opened a channel for the paid recovery of the relics of the Prosperous Era.

Today, "archaeology" has developed into a mature industrial chain in the alliance.

Someone is responsible for registration, someone is responsible for appraisal, someone is responsible for valuation and acquisition, and some person is responsible for fooling and picking up leaks.

For the scavengers who have picked up the treasure, if they choose the recycling channel of the scientific expedition group, they only need to bring the things over and fill out a form, and then wait patiently for a maximum of 7 working days to get the identification results, and finally decide whether to shake their heads or nod their heads.

For customers who don't want to sell, the scientific expedition team will not force it, they can take what they bring with them.

However, since the prices offered by the researchers have always been very good, most of them will happily sign up.

Many scavengers even came here from the eastern provinces and even the territory of the Science and Technology Commission to trade treasures, after all, the reputation of the alliance is obvious to all wasteland guests.

If you're lucky, a well-preserved relic of the Prosperous Era can sell for a sky-high price of more than 100,000 silver coins, and you can directly lie flat in the rest of your life.

Even if the expedition team didn't take a fancy to it, the museum or Camp 101 might have picked it up, and some of the blue coats from Vault 404 might have been collected.

For example, the big boss who runs the goblin technology is that he often spends money to buy things that seem to be useless, but in fact are useless, and take them back to make trouble.

Many scavengers even make a living from it.

In the past, many mercenary groups in Boulder City also changed careers to do this after the collapse of the inner city.

Occasionally, they'll work with the Blue Coats of Vault 404 to clear out distant ruins or something.

However, the seven-digit recovery price is ......

Even the bigwigs who make a living picking up garbage haven't heard it for a while.

Everyone turned their heads to each other, guessing what kind of treasure the lucky guy had picked up.

"I guess I picked up a spaceship or something."

"Titans, I guess!"

"Not so much...... There really is that thing, and the people in the academy have picked it up eight lifetimes ago. ”

"I guess I found the treasure from some deserted place."

"Yes...... In addition to that kind of place, even if there were good things, most of them were dragged away by the people of the War Construction Committee. ”

Theoretically, the War Construction Committee has the most complete information, and the people who know best where there are good things in the wasteland are in that organization.

In the era of the later Big Three, the academy "inherited" the archaeological clues of the War Construction Committee, and scraped the places that the War Construction Committee had not been able to lick clean for half a century, and it was a century and a half to scrape.

One can imagine how much more of the real treasure can be left in this wasteland.

Just when everyone was talking, in the reception room with the door closed, a man with tanned skin and red eyes widened in surprise.

Five million credits!

When he heard this number, Ma Jinwei thought that his ears were broken.

But the researcher didn't seem to be joking, and handed him a stamped list.

"Of course, it's silver, if you want other currencies, I can apply to my superiors."

"No, no, just silver coins!"

Ma Jinwei smiled honestly.

And the reason why he laughed like this is not because of how honest he is, but purely because he has never seen so much money in his life, and he doesn't know what to do for a while.

More than half a month ago, he was still farming in Mafu Town, but he didn't expect that the iron lump in the old warehouse would make him make such a fortune.

He only remembered that his grandfather had dragged it from the city more than 100 kilometers away, and he had planned to repair it for a tractor, but after pondering for a long time, he didn't understand how the tractor started, so he threw it in the warehouse to eat ashes.

It wasn't until the recent declaration of war on the Torch and the letter from the Mayor that he remembered that he could drag it out for money, so he hesitated and finally decided to rent a train car and transport it to Dawn to try his luck.

He vaguely remembered the strange expressions on his faces when the Mavf Station loaded the thing onto the train with a loading and unloading crane.

It's like looking at a monster.

After checking the amount on the card, Ma Jinwei immediately pressed his handprint on the list, and even wanted to give a little to the two researchers who helped with the errand, but the latter was startled, and he waved his hand and refused with a smile.

The funding and treatment of the scientific expedition can be said to be the highest in the entire alliance.

Although their treatment is not as exaggerated as the seven-figure figure, they basically have no worries about food and clothing, and there is no need to risk being targeted by the Guards for a little "life-changing" a lot of money.

What's more, most of them didn't join the expedition for money, but to fulfill the ideal of ending the wasteland era that the administrator had portrayed to them.

In the wasteland, anyone who has the knowledge or skills of the Age of Prosperity has some nostalgia and yearning for that great era in their hearts.

“…… Don't test us with this kind of thing, this friend. What's more, we are just on duty here to do a registration, and the appraisal and valuation are in charge of people from different systems, so even if you give us gifts, it is useless. ”

Regarding the researcher's crying and laughing excuses, Ma Jinwei actually didn't understand too much.

After all, there aren't so many complicated doorways in Mafu Town, and there aren't so many strange businesses.

Seeing that they refused to accept any "filial piety", he could only touch the back of his head, embarrassed to smile and play a round road.

"This, that's it...... Haha, it's really hard for you. ”

The researcher said with a smile.

"It's not hard, we have our own performance, and in two months we will be transferred to other departments to do research work, if you find anything else, you can still come to this office."

"Okay! I'll come over if I have any more! Thanks, then I'm leaving. Ma Jinwei smiled all over his face, his hands had nowhere to put it, and he nodded as he walked to the door.

When he gets back into town, he might be able to use the money to open a hotel.

However, it seems that there is no need to go to Mafu Town, which is obviously more lively.

Lately, many of the guests who had been getting off the bus in Mavtown had been there, and he had heard that the Coalition was going to build a city of Guards there, like the Fallen Leaf City in the northwest.

Maybe he could take the money and try his luck there.

After all, it's still too difficult to make a fortune from farming.

Of course, before that, he had to have some fun with his good brothers in town.

He promised that if he really got the money, he would treat them to a drink......

"You go slowly, right...... Let's go this way. ”

Seeing that he was about to exit through the main entrance, the researcher remembered something and pulled him to the back door that led to the safe hallway.

This guy shouted just now, but I'm afraid that everyone outside will know that he has 5 million on him.

While you don't have to worry about it in the Alliance, it's hard to say when you go to the wasteland.

Ma Jinwei was stunned for a moment, then understood, and quickly smiled and nodded in thanks, and then walked back from the back door in three steps.

The office was quiet.

The researcher, who had been sitting in front of the computer and had not spoken, glanced at the one standing.

"Isn't 5 million too much?"

He always had a feeling that even if he gave that guy 50 million, he would have to throw it away, and it would be better to make the money disappear a little more meaningful.

Maybe they should open a money management fund and sell it to the lucky ones who "make their fortune out of pure luck".

For this reason, he also made this suggestion to his superiors, but it is a pity that such a meaningful suggestion was rejected by his superiors.

The researcher, who was in charge of receiving customers, was thinking about something else and replied with a smile.

"It's not much, Meissner Effect Armor...... If you can get your hands on that, adding two zeros is cheap. ”

Whether in terms of economic value or military value, this thing is definitely worth so much money.

At present, the Alliance has mastered two shield technologies, but both the Deflection Shield and the Nitrogen Shield have their own weaknesses.

For example, the former is not good at dealing with low-speed, guided weapons, and because the technical principle is achieved by driving gravitons, and the technology is also new in the era of prosperity, it consumes a lot of energy.

The latter is not good at dealing with high-speed and high-energy particle rays, and can only be used in standard atmospheric environments.

Meissner-Effect armor differs from the two in that it is designed to restrain metal weapons. Since most of the hard armor-piercing weapons use alloy materials, especially the electromagnetic guns that were widely used during the Prosperous Era, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the nemesis of the "hard-core armor-piercing projectile".

To use a simple analogy, assuming that the deflection shield and the Meissner effect armor both use the same capacitor and energy supply device, the former can block 1~2 electromagnetic cannon shots, and the latter can block 3~4 rounds.

It is said that during the Three Years' War, some captains of the People's Alliance, under special circumstances, would even consider turning off the bias shield and activating the more efficient Meissner effect armor to counter the dense fire network created by the rebel fleet through mass launchers, so as to increase the overall resistance efficiency of the fleet against metal warheads.

If used properly, this could become a technology that could affect the course of the war.

From the limited information available, companies may not have access to this technology.

The researcher sitting in front of the computer turned the pen in his hand and made a helpless expression.

"That makes sense...... But I just don't think the money means anything to him. As you can see, he doesn't deserve so much wealth at all. In other words, this thing is worth so much money, but the person who finds it is not worth it at all. ”

If he were a Vault 404 resident, he might not have much of an opinion.

After all, those guys are really trading their lives for payment, and they go to the most dangerous places in the wasteland, unlike the foolish farmer who made a fortune just because he was lucky.

After listening to his words, the researcher in charge of receiving customers smiled and said.

"Meaning, my friend, don't say that, 'meaning' is the thing that doesn't stand up to scrutiny, and if you have to think about whether it makes sense in everything you do, then the end result must be that everything is meaningless."

The researcher sitting in front of the computer looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

I walked over to the coffee machine and poured myself a cup of coffee, and the researcher in charge of receiving customers said slowly.

This means that the close relatives of pragmatists are nihilists, after all, people's likes and dislikes are ever-changing. If you don't think he's worth it today, you'll feel like they're not worth it tomorrow, so we have to set a rule that must not be vague and make sure it is implemented impartially. Even if one day this rule becomes obsolete, it will have to be changed after full discussion...... And not based on your and my evaluations. ”

This is Mr. Yin Fang's speech at the third internal meeting of the scientific expedition group.

That big guy is worthy of being a high-level talent from the academy, whether it is doing academic or management work, he has quite a set, and I heard that the scientific research/archaeological system of the entire alliance was built by him.

To be honest, he admired that Yin Fang quite a bit in his heart, especially after learning about that guy's legendary experience.

The researcher sitting in front of the computer shrugged his shoulders and reached out to the screen in a bored manner, picking the next lucky person on the list.

"I'm not interested in that kind of stuff, I just want to finish this work as soon as possible and go to the lab to do something meaningful."

The researcher with the coffee said with a smile.

"The score for the administrative position must be completed, which is also to familiarize you with the business processes of the research team. I have one month left, and you have three months left, so let's get through it a little longer. ”

……

Weifu military base.

In the office of the Supreme Commander of the coalition forces, Chu Guang made a new call to Yin Fang through the special line of the shelter built by the Southern Construction Corps, and listened to the latter report the whole process of the whole matter.

And after learning about what happened, his mood was probably the same as when he played "Civilization 6" and saw the "Eureka" of the primitive tribe sharing the "Doomsday Mecha" technology with him, and he felt a little reasonable in his confusion.

Determined, he asked.

"Where did you find it?"

Can guess what Chu Guang cares about, Yin Fang smiled and said with a comprehension.

"Don't worry, I've already arranged for your 'wanjia' to investigate near that coordinate."

Chu Guang nodded when he heard this, and a smile stretched on his face.

It seems that Yin Fang has mastered the player's use skills, and this guy doesn't need his own guidance for a long time.

But he soon began to wonder what the "near-full" Prowler tank looked like.

If it weren't for the fact that he had just arrived at the front line for a few days, he really wanted to get on the airship immediately and go back to see for himself the weapons of war in that prosperous era.

Seeing Chu Guang's impatient expression, Yin Fang took a sip of coffee and continued with a smile.

“…… To be honest, I didn't expect that sticky community you got to get such an interesting thing...... The Prowler tank equipped with Meissner effect armor is much rarer than power armor, and the People's Federation has not built a few in total, and the production numbered inventory was recycled by the War Construction Commission more than a century ago, and it is estimated that only the Legion and the Great Rift Valley can see it. ”

Chu Guang asked curiously.

"Doesn't the academy?"

Yin Fang shook his head.

"I don't get the impression that they got a full Prowler tank. However, with their technical reserves, it is not difficult to reproduce the Meissner Effect armor. It's just that you also know how scarce helium-3 resources are, so I have the impression that only some senior researchers' research ships are equipped with similar defense functions. ”

When he said this, Yin Fang's voice carried a hint of meaning, quite a bit of advice in it.

Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully when he heard this.

Truly.

Helium three is a big problem.

In the Age of Prosperity, there were still a large number of untapped mineral deposits on Earth, and there were even "junk mines" unique to the Wasteland Era, as well as "submarine deposits" that were classified as ecological reserves and forbidden to be mined in the pre-war era.

However, helium-3 is brought by the solar wind, and the Earth's reserves protected by magnetic fields and the atmosphere are negligible. If you want to get it, you have to go to the moon, or you have to go to Mercury or something, or you have to dig up the graves of the prosperous era.

It is precisely because of the particularity of helium three resources that the "managers" on the wasteland have to face a special trouble-

That is, whether or not to use the advanced technology of the Boom Era.

The Coalition used a wood generator for a while, which obviously didn't catch up with a fusion reactor, but it was still quite convenient compared to solar power that needed to be paired with energy storage. At that time, the most important thing in Qingquan City was wood, and it was quite convenient to obtain fuel, and they even loaded the same generator on a truck.

However, there is a fatal problem here.

Limited by many factors such as the magnitude of energy and the efficiency of acquisition, wood-burning generators can only support the technology of the middle and late atomic energy era at most, let alone the black technology of the prosperous era, and even can't get propeller planes into the sky.

If the alliance had been using traditional energy sources, I am afraid that it would still be competing with Boulder City for survival resources, and it would not have developed as much as it did later.

But if you use more advanced energy sources, you take another risk: the unsustainability of helium-3 resources.

As for how to dispose of the limited helium three resources in hand, enterprises, academies, and legions have all taken completely different approaches.

It's the same with the League.

When Chu Guang made every decision, in addition to weighing the pros and cons of a single field such as politics, economy, military, science and technology, production, and culture, he also had to carefully consider whether the alliance's strategic reserves could support it from the perspective of the overall situation.

For example, power armor, as a single soldier equipment, consumes relatively little helium-3 resources, and a battery can even use armor scrap. Therefore, with the alliance's nuclear energy resource reserves, it is more than enough to maintain a fleet of several hundred power armors.

But if these hundreds of "Xiaguang" power armors are all put on deflection shields or Meissner effect armor, the helium-3 resources of 1,000 cubic meters will be instantly strained.

Investing too much strategic resources in the military will even affect the supply of fusion reactors in Xizhou City, which is related to the stability of all production and living facilities in the entire alliance.

Therefore, he would rather accept expensive equipment such as power armor to be scrapped in battle, rather than pile up shields with high energy costs for these non-strategic weapons, and at most approve a few experimental models to test the feasibility of the technical route.

After all, in most cases, even if these equipment are completely scrapped and repaired, the fusion batteries in them can be recycled, and the loss is only some money.

And this is the most realistic reason why it is difficult to install the bias shield and nitrogen shield on a large scale.

Chu Guang could hear Yin Fang's reminder to himself in that sentence, even with the energy reserves of the academy, he was more inclined to mothball this technology than to install it on a large scale in the army to improve combat capabilities.

As for the legion, it is more direct, simply do not reverse disassemble the treasures on hand, use what you have, and use up the "wild boar" and "bison" such self-produced and self-developed "real antiques" or "hybrid antiques".

The longer the time drags on, and the farther the world is from the Age of Prosperity, the more obvious the advantages of the Willantes who have adapted to the wasteland in advance.

After all, with the current state of outer space, it is almost impossible to restore the Earth-Moon flight, and the legacy of the Age of Prosperity is destined to be exhausted one day.

“…… It's a shame that such an interesting technique can't be useful. Chu Guang sighed lightly, but pondered another thing in his heart.

Although the equipment at the tactical level is not useful, the equipment at the strategic level can be tried if it is not good.

Listening to Yin Fang's previous statement, this thing is simply the nemesis of the electromagnetic cannon.

Didn't the Southern Alliance on the Southern Front happen to be suppressed by the "cannons" of the Northern Union battleships?

If you put a shield on your friendly fleet, I don't know if you can regain a little advantage.

However, rather than a battle at sea, his players seem to be pinning their hopes on the "diving aircraft carrier" under construction.

Chu Guang secretly thought to himself, maybe he could throw this card to Fang Chang and them to play, regardless of whether it could come in handy in the end.

Thinking that Chu Guang was lost, Yin Fang comforted him and said.

"In fact, if you think about it from another angle, the real value of this thing may not all be on the battlefield, and the technology we can recover from it is far more than 'superconducting shield', but also includes a total of more than 30 sub-technologies in the fields of energy, materials, and information processing. In particular, there are several condition-specific superconducting materials and high-performance capacitors, the vast majority of which are not open to us by our allies. ”

The college and the alliance have reached a scientific research cooperation agreement, and the company has also carried out a number of cooperation with the alliance in the field of production, but the technical exchange between the two sides has not reached the level of unimpeded.

Especially these key technologies.

They also got it with blood, and it is impossible for them to open it to outsiders.

Hearing the comforting voice on the other end of the phone, Chu Guang leaned back in his chair and said with a smile.

"This is beyond my ability, so I'm going to bother you a lot."

Research is probably the only area where he struggles to get help from reality.

In fact, very early on, he tried to bring in some really capable young scholars from the original world, and observed their game behavior.

Including Nanda professor Hurricane, who first entered the game, [Lone Wolf in the Last Days] who followed in, and [Giggle] who worked under an academician, and so on.

They are different from half-baked engineers like mosquitoes, they are real researchers, not only have strong receptivity, but also have rich front-line work experience.

However, due to the generational difference in basic theories, professional terms and terminology, many things in this game are no different from "game setting" or even "magic" to them, so their progress has been slow, and many times they are thinking with a skeptical attitude.

Weighing the immeasurable risks and extremely limited benefits, Chu Guang did not interfere with their game progress in the end, and only maintained limited observations.

However, judging from Xiaoqi's continuous observation of multiple samples, they are afraid that they will be able to complete the first generation of controllable nuclear fusion technology if they die, and it will be difficult to make greater progress.

As for the second-generation controlled nuclear fusion, for the foundation of the "real world", it is equivalent to a singularity above the singularity, and even the research is probably in vain.

And that's when he's not messing around.

If he really wants to make trouble, even if he just uses the permission of the dog to plan to "secretly change" a parameter or a formula, he can keep them busy for several years, and even have no hope in the technical ideas in "Wasteland Online".

After all, in the eyes of a small number of "insiders", "Wasteland OL", which has too many "irrationalities", is already equivalent to an olive branch thrown by extraterrestrial civilizations.

If a "higher civilization" that "does not show malice" believes that a certain technical route is undesirable, then it is naturally a more rational choice to choose other technical routes from the standpoint of a "junior".

“…… That's so polite, this is my job, if I don't show some real skills, how can I be worthy of those coffee machines you gave me. ”

Yin Fang replied in a teasing tone, and then suddenly remembered one more thing, and then spoke.

"By the way, there's one more thing, the Confederate side wants us to set up a branch of the expedition in the past, in the crater and Coral City. In fact, the conditions they offer are good, and you know the education rate they have, which can bring some fresh blood to our scientific expedition team. ”

Chu Guang hesitated.

"Have they already brought Coral City back?"

Yin Fang on the holographic screen made a helpless expression.

"Obviously they're still fighting, and I guess they're trying to use your power...... But to be honest, I'm not very good at these things, so it's up to you to decide. ”

After thinking for a moment, Chu Guang spoke.

"If you think that the cooperation plan they offer is sincere, I think it's acceptable, and as for Coral City, I will ask the players who are active there to think of a way."

He has taken over Vault 70 from Sun Yuechi, and the islands of the Southern Alliance are also accepting of the Alliance's governance methods and concepts, and in the end, it is likely that they will unite with the survivors of the River Valley Province like Boulder City, and may even unite more completely than Boulder City.

After all, they have the same origins, and the idea of equality is more deeply rooted.

In that case, there is nothing to hesitate about.

What's more, the Coral City located at the bottom of the sea, his little players have been eyeing it for a long time, and they don't need him to send a special mission to instigate it.

After getting Chu Guang's permission, a pleasant smile appeared on Yin Fang's face.

"Okay, that's such a happy decision."

After saying the last thing, Yin Fang hung up the phone and continued to do his own research.

Chu Guang, who was leaning back in his chair, planned to rest for a while, but before Ibers's "daughter" X-16 could make the tea, the college's Alpha Task Force called again.

“…… We intend to launch an offensive against Blood Mountain tomorrow, and I would like to apply for support from coalition artillery. ”

As he spoke, the commander, who had not had a lot of facial expressions, sent over the battle plan.

Chu Guang clicked on it and saw that there were dozens of G's, which was a headache, so before clicking on the content, he sent it to Vanus with a slight stroke of his index finger.

“…… No problem, I will have the departments follow the plan of action to provide the necessary support for your offensive. ”

The commander nodded, politely left a "thank you", and simply hung up.

Talking to this guy was unexpectedly refreshing, and Chu Guang found that he had changed his stereotype of the academy a little.

It seems that the swamp is not full of people who like to beat around the bush.

But the embarrassing thing is that this guy's presence is really a little ridiculously low.

As the nominal supreme commander of the coalition forces, Chu Guang found that he couldn't remember the name of that guy.

“…… Xiaoqi, what's the name of the commander sent by the academy? ”

Xiao Qi, who was sitting on his shoulder, retrieved the information in the database and quickly replied, "Hmm...... Alpha Zero? That's the name in the records. ”

Alpha Zero?

Chu Guang, who was receiving the black tea from the tray in X-16's hand, couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

What surprised him was not that it was this strange name, but that he had forgotten such a unique name.

Chu Guang, who took a sip of tea, muttered in a low voice.

"It's weird......"

(End of chapter)