This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 527.1: The Spreading Filth...

“This fruit is not safe to eat!” A quarrel broke out in front of a fruit stall on North Street.

A broad-shouldered young woman stood protectively in front of two girls, like a mother hen shielding her chicks. Opposite her, the stall owner, who looked every bit the part of a thug, glared at her as though he wanted to devour her whole.

As more onlookers gathered, Frost Snow tugged on Yaya’s arm in concern, not wanting to cause trouble for the administrator.

“Yaya, let’s... Let’s not buy it anymore.”

Hiding behind her older sister, Frost Night looked terrified as she watched the tense standoff between Yaya and the fruit vendor. She whispered, “Please... don’t fight.”

She had only been curious about what that green fruit tasted like and pestered her sister into buying one. She hadn’t expected to stir up such a commotion.

Worried she had caused trouble for her sister, she was on the verge of tears.

“It’s not about whether you buy it or not.” Looking at Frost Snow earnestly, Yaya crouched down and gently patted her head, speaking softly to calm her down. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“I’m not fighting with him. But there’s a bad guy here selling dangerous things in our settlement. Can we let them go on hurting people?”

Frost Night blinked and stared at Yaya in shock. “Bad guy?”

“Mm.” Yaya nodded firmly. She stood up, grabbed one of the glossy green fruits from the stall, raised it high, and shouted to the crowd gathering around, “Everyone listen! This fruit is poisonous, do not eat it!”

An uproar immediately followed.

“Poisonous?!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Damn... I think I saw someone buy one already!”

“What if something happens?!”

Hearing the whispers in the crowd, the stall owner’s face turned bright red. He quickly yelled at her, “Hey, you better watch your mouth! I can sue you for slander! These are imported fruits from the south! Who said they’re poisonous?!”

Yaya scoffed and puffed up her chest. “I can tell just by looking!”

Teng Teng, who had been silently standing nearby, cast a sidelong glance at her not-so-bright friend and sighed with arms folded, “You’re going to cause the opposite effect.”

“Hmmph?”

“She’s got a point,” said Pineapple Jiujiu while staring at the clueless Yaya. She rubbed her chin with a thoughtful look. “My brother’s always dragging me off to grind levels, it’s so annoying... Wait, is this what they call reverse psychology? Yaya, are you doing that?!”

Teng Teng rubbed her forehead. “This has nothing to do with reverse psychology.”

Yaya’s talent only worked on herself. In her world, anything poisonous glowed green, but no one else could see it.

What’s more, her talent wasn’t even 100% reliable. There had been cases where players ate something she claimed was toxic, and they turned out just fine.

Perception was one of the most mystical attributes in the game. It encompassed all forms of insight, and Yaya’s Toxin Intuition was one of the most mysterious of them all.

As soon as Yaya spoke, the onlookers exchanged skeptical glances and murmurs spread through the crowd.

“Poisonous?”

“It does look kind of suspicious, all that glossy green...”

“I think that girl’s right!”

“She’s wearing a blue coat, and looks pretty much like an official!”

“But even if she’s a shelter resident, declaring it poisonous with just one sentence seems a little rash, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, by their standards from the Prosperity Era, almost everything in the Wasteland would be considered toxic. Hell, even people might be...”

“Shipping fruit all the way from the Brocade River Province isn’t easy...”

“We wastelanders aren’t that delicate, can’t eat this, can’t eat that. When I’m starving, I’ll eat a damn Cruncher if I had to.”

“Tsk tsk. Still, he picked the worst possible person to mess with in New Alliance territory... That stall guy is screwed.”

New Alliance residents naturally took Yaya’s side without question. But most of the outsiders and wandering traders sympathized with the stall owner. After all, in the settlements they had been to, things weren’t so tightly regulated.

Sensing the crowd’s sympathy tilting back in his favor, the fruit seller, who had initially been intimidated by Yaya, regained some confidence.

After staring at the green fruit for some time, Pineapple Jiujiu suddenly realized it looked familiar and she couldn’t help but gasp in shock, “Wait... this fruit looks just like the Emerald Fruit those junk dealers found in the south!”

Although communication had been down and no photos had made it to the official site, based on the forum descriptions, there was no doubt it was the same Emerald Fruit that had been talked about.

So...

The Emerald Fruit and the Na Fruit the seller claimed it to be, were actually the same thing?

“Yeah... They do look alike,” said Teng Teng, realizing the same thing. She turned to the stall owner and laid a 100 silver bill on the table.

“Hey, I’ll take a basket. And I want you to eat two yourself. It’s fair, right?”

The stall owner froze, his expression turning nervous. “M-me? Why should I eat them...”

He remembered the trader who sold him the goods had told him eating one fruit now and then was fine, but if he ate two at once, he was in trouble.

“Oh ho, so you won’t eat what you sell?” Teng Teng revealed a devious grin. “By the way, New Alliance law states that if there are no lab testing conditions, a customer can request the seller to sample their own product after purchase... Don’t tell me you’re too full to eat something the size of an apple.”

Actually, as the New Alliance expanded, that rule had become somewhat outdated, like the rule about selling prisoners of war to other settlements.

The New Alliance’s Biological Research Institution created a Food Safety Department, tasked with inspecting all goods sold as food, identifying the toxicity of various mutant creatures, and improving food processing methods. Some items had even been banned completely.

Back in the day, players had to test new food with their own stomachs...

“You...”

Seeing that even those who had supported him were now growing suspicious, the stall owner’s beady eyes darted around. His fierce face scrunched into a miserable grimace as he fell to the ground, wailing and flailing. “You blue coats... Ganging up on a poor traveling trader from out of town, shame on you! How can anyone do business here?!”

“Wow. This guy is shameless.” From her VM, Pineapple Jiujiu looked up from the subtitles and glared at the wailing man. “Alright, we can all stay here, I’m going to get my big bro!”

She turned to leave, but didn’t make it far before Teng Teng grabbed her arm. “Don’t go running to your brother for everything. That guy can’t fix anything.”

She sighed and turned back to the stubborn vendor. “I’ll ask you one last time. Do you still plan on selling this stuff? I can buy the whole batch off you. But if lab tests show it causes moderate addiction or serious health risks, under current New Alliance law, you’ll be sentenced to at least three years of labor, and depending on severity, possibly death.”

He didn’t even hear the part about death. Just the three years of labor made his face go pale.

He gave an awkward laugh. “I-I mean... Is that really necessary? It’s just a few pieces of fruit...”

He couldn’t bear the thought of working alongside marauders in some deep, dark mine.

He hadn’t killed anyone. He hadn’t set fires. And technically, small doses of Na Fruit could ease some people’s pain. How could it be poisonous?

Teng Teng stared him down, ignoring his deflections, and nodded firmly. “We can’t speak for other places, but this is our home. We built it brick by brick. Don’t expect us to turn a blind eye to what you’re selling.”

Her words drew nods of agreement.

People started doubting the seller again. His increasingly nervous expression made them wonder, maybe he wasn’t so innocent. Why wouldn’t he eat the fruit?

“What, is it that hard to pick one off your stall and take a bite?”

“She’s right!”

“I support her!”

“These damn merchants! They won’t eat their goods but still put it on the shelves!”

“Exactly! Hey fruit guy, eat two and we’ll believe you!”

The vendor’s face went from red to pale.

At that moment, Frost arrived with Eclipse, pushing through the crowd.

“I heard someone here needed help.” Frost smiled gently at the gathered crowd.

“I’m a member of the Festival Management Committee. Please explain your conflict, and I will judge it fairly according to New Alliance law. No wrongdoer will escape justice, and no good person will be wronged.”

“No need, no need!” The vendor saw its armband and instantly panicked, shaking his head. “I’m not selling them anymore!”

He immediately threw a cloth over the green fruits and began packing up his stall.

“Ah... it’s already over?” Frost looked a little disappointed.

Eclipse, standing beside Frost, gave it a blank look. “I don’t understand. Isn’t this a good thing?”

Frost muttered to itself. “It is... But it still feels like a bit of a letdown.”

Watching the stall owner hurriedly pack up, Teng Teng fell into thought. “We need to report this up the chain as soon as possible...”

Shelter residents didn’t have law enforcement power. She couldn’t just smash the stall or confiscate it just because Yaya thought it was poisonous.

Yaya nodded seriously. “Yeah. This is a big issue.”

Hearing that, Frost’s eyes lit up, its energy returning. “A big issue? Leave it to me. I’ll help!”

Holding Frost Night’s small hand, Frost Snow hesitated, then looked up at Yaya. “Is it really that serious?”

“Of course it is!” Yaya nodded solemnly. “The New Alliance isn’t just a tiny settlement anymore. If someone’s already brought this stuff here, it means it’s already started circulating.”

Teng Teng nodded in agreement. “That’s right.”

"When you see a single cockroach in your room, it means there are countless others crawling in the places you can’t see."

...