This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 529.1: Three Days of Celebrations

After the banquet ended, Chu Guang received many gifts.

Although most of the gifts from the survivor settlements were addressed to him personally, Chu Guang still accepted them in the name of the New Alliance.

"... This sword belonged to my oldest brother. The late king gifted it to him when he was a month old, and he has carried it ever since he could remember. He asked me to tell you that the Honey Badger Kingdom is willing to serve as the blade of the New Alliance. The enemies of the New Alliance are our enemies." Handing the sword to Chu Guang, Afrni looked at him without blinking, then presented a shield embossed with the royal crest. "This shield is a gift from my second brother. He insisted I convey his words to you. The Honey Badger Kingdom is proud to be the New Alliance's shield. We will guard against threats from the west. Our friendship will be as strong as steel."

Taking the shield from her hands and placing it to the side, Chu Guang spoke solemnly. "Thank you for your gifts. The friendship between the New Alliance and the Honey Badger Kingdom will indeed be as firm as steel. I also sincerely hope your brothers can remain in harmony and handle internal affairs properly, not betraying the trust your people have placed in them."

The royal family of the Honey Badger Kingdom was deeply beloved by its people.

Otherwise, when the Army arrived, there wouldn't have been so many who resisted, or followed Yard into exile in the Lion Kingdom to form a resistance army. Chu Guang had no intention of interfering in their affairs, provided they did not escalate into bloodshed. He trusted that Yard and Somer understood that.

"I will keep your advice in mind and try to counsel them when the time is right," Afrni said, bowing slightly.

After a pause, she turned and retrieved the red silk cloth that had been laid beneath the sword and shield. Only then did Chu Guang realize it was actually a cloak. He immediately teased, "You’re the only faction that gave us three different gifts. We’ll treasure this friendship."

"This is a gift from me," Afrni said with a grateful nod. "Thank you for the knowledge you taught me, and for always taking care of me."

"There’s no need to be so formal. The colleagues who’ve worked with you all speak very highly of you. We wouldn’t call it taking care of you," Chu Guang replied.

Glancing at the mountain of gifts behind him, a thought struck Chu Guang, and he smiled. "I’m thinking of building a museum in Dawn City to house all these gifts, to serve as a testament to our friendships and for the enjoyment of people from every region."

He also planned to build a zoo, where Deathclaws, mutants, and other exotic creatures captured by players could be exhibited.

It wouldn’t just serve scientific purposes, it could also educate new players and local residents who had never traveled far, while demonstrating the New Alliance’s formidable military strength.

"That’s wonderful," said Afrni.

Although she felt a twinge of personal regret, she soon smiled again, deciding that perhaps this was good in its own way.

Aside from the Honey Badger Kingdom’s gifts, the Lion Kingdom had gifted the New Alliance 100 strong and fierce warhorses. Those couldn’t be displayed in a museum. They would have to be placed in the zoo once the city planning was complete.

In rugged terrain, horses were faster than bicycles. They could intimidate without terrifying people like the New Alliance’s Deathclaws.

The Golden Lizard Kingdom sent Chu Guang a 1:1 bust sculpture, reportedly smelted from Dinars looted from the Army. Although a vassal of the Academy, they clearly saw commercial potential in the River Valley Province.

The Camel Kingdom gifted the New Alliance a mechanical clock inlaid with red diamonds to thank the New Alliance for their timely military assistance in the Lost Valley, while also flaunting their wealth and exquisite craftsmanship.

Compared to the politically-minded royals, the gifts from the Enterprise were more pragmatic. Wu Changnian, representing the Enterprise Management Group, gifted Chu Guang a nearly three-meter-tall off-road vehicle.

Its massive tires elevated the chassis, the frame built from lightweight special steel, and the windows were made of custom bulletproof glass. Supposedly, it was strong enough to withstand light Gauss weapons.

"I see you’re always wearing an exoframe, so I figured you’d appreciate this muscular beast," Wu said, patting the hood of the off-road vehicle in front of the hall. "This is a product from a Long Axe Group’s subsidiary. It’s called the V-100 Tiger Off Roader. You can treat it like an armored car."

There was one thing he didn’t say out loud... If Chu Guang found it useful, purchasing more would be no issue. Unlike aircraft, cars weren’t on the sensitive technology export list.

Chu Guang admired the beast of a vehicle, then turned to Wu Changnian with a question. "Can this thing fly?"

He had heard from Ample Time and Escaping Mole that the cars in Ideal City could fly. He was quite intrigued by that technology.

Wu Changnian cleared his throat and explained, "You don’t have a maglev roadbed here so we didn’t install a maglev unit. But even if you did, I wouldn’t recommend flying this thing. It’s got a steel frame and it’s really heavy."

But precisely because of that, Chu Guang could fit in the vehicle with his exoframe. In fact... Even if four people wearing exoframes sat in the car, it wouldn’t feel cramped.

Staring at the off-road vehicle, Chu Guang chuckled, "I just said I was planning to build a museum to store all the representatives’ gifts!"

"We’re pragmatists. If no one uses a product, it would be a joke! You can display the car key first, and when it’s worn out, then place the entire vehicle inside. I think that would be more meaningful, and a better testament to our friendship," Wu Changnian said, shaking Chu Guang’s hand with a smile. "It’s been a pleasure working with you. I hope we continue exploring a brighter future together."

Chu Guang shook Wu Changnian’s hand firmly. "Absolutely!"

He planned to assign this vehicle to the Guard Corps.

If it performed well, he would consider importing a few more from the Long Axe Group for use in the departments and Corps that needed them.

Of course, if Dawn City’s industrial zone made good progress reverse-engineering the Academy’s Reindeer vehicle, they could save on that expense altogether.

The large-scale war was over. The development of tanks, artillery, and other heavy equipment could finally slow down.

According to Chu Guang’s plan for the New Alliance Army Command, the next phase of weapons development would focus on miniaturization and specialization.

That meant refining the details they had previously skipped over or hastily implemented.

In short, not just the New Alliance’s allies and partners, but also Boulder Town, Garbage City, the Red River Alliance, and even Dam City, a place Chu Guang had never even heard of before, all sent generous gifts to the New Alliance.

But the gift that brought Chu Guang the most joy wasn’t from any other survivor settlement. It was the surprise Xiaoyu brought back from Camp 101.

...

"Xiaoyu and Pai have a special gift for Big Brother Chu... Though it’s not something particularly valuable," said Xiaoyu, blushing shyly in the library on level B4.

Standing beside her, Pai eagerly handed over a thumb-sized hard drive with a smug smile. "The thing you asked for is done. Take it and use it as you like. Oh, and feel free to use the holographic computer I gave you to check it out. If you find anything that needs improvement, just let me know!"

Her expression practically screamed ‘come on, praise me already’!

Chu Guang accepted the drive with a smile, going along with her wish. "That’s amazing! Thank you, you’ve been a huge help."

Xiaoyu’s face lit up with a joyful smile, but then she seemed to realize something. She turned to Pai with a shocked look and asked in a whisper, "Wait... didn’t you say this was supposed to be a surprise for Big Brother Chu? Why does it sound like he asked us to do it?"

Pai awkwardly averted her gaze and mumbled softly, "I thought you’d be more motivated that way... You even started learning faster."

Xiaoyu furrowed her brows and looked genuinely upset. "You lied to me!"

She had considered Pai a close friend throughout their time at Camp 101, and yet Pai had deceived her the whole time.

"Wuuu... it’s my fault, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!" Pai quickly yelped, panicking in the face of her best friend’s stern expression.

She turned to Chu Guang with a pleading expression, hoping he would help.

Too bad for her, Chu Guang’s attention had already been completely drawn to the holographic blue glow projected by the computer. He slid his finger across the screen with growing interest.

Even before the war began, he had asked Camp 101 to help develop a bond credit contract and a supporting trading system tailored to the New Alliance’s economic rules.

The system was originally intended for issuing war bonds, meant to allocate social resources more efficiently into the New Alliance's war machine.

It had only been delayed because Boulder Town lent him a massive loan and the Enterprise added both loans and subsidies. If there was a way to exploit outsiders instead, Chu Guang would never burden his own people.

Unifying his people was the first step to expand the New Alliance!

Now, he had resurrected the tool not only to allow more New Alliance residents to share in the dividends of economic development, but also to fleece his neighbors a little more.

The New Alliance would issue two types of bonds.

One was a domestic bond, paid in New Alliance currency, aimed at absorbing the excess liquidity created by large-scale infrastructure investments. Interest payments would also redistribute some of the wealth generated from the direct beneficiaries to the wider survivor population.

The other was a foreign bond, paid in foreign currencies. The funds raised would be used to purchase goods from those markets, suppress local inflation, and export the surplus liquidity of the New Alliance’s economy.

It was like two barrels of beer.

And as the one pouring the drinks, Chu Guang could decide which barrel held the real beer and which held the froth.

Though similar financial tools had existed in the Federation back then, the current conditions were vastly different, and they couldn’t apply the same tools rigidly.

Xiaoyu had served as the New Alliance Bank’s acting president for a time.

Though she mainly handled coin disbursement, she interacted daily with players and professionals across various industries.

Combined with her natural numerical intuition and mathematical talent, she had a deep instinctive grasp of the New Alliance’s economic operations. All she was lacking was formal knowledge.

Chu Guang sent her to study at Camp 101 not just to fill in her technical gaps, but also to ensure she could help the researchers there design a system suited to the New Alliance’s unique situation.

Eventually, Professor Evan likely found the project too basic and handed it over to his student, Pai. Not only did she have strong skills in programming, electronics, and mechanics, she also got along well with Xiaoyu.

Their collaboration had turned out just as Professor Evan expected. It was fruitful and effective.

"Not bad! Barely anything needs changing. I’ll hand over system maintenance and updates to Little Seven. You’ve both worked hard!" With a flick of his finger, Chu Guang shut off the holographic screen and looked across the sofa at the two girls, only to find Xiaoyu glaring at Pai, sulking.

He blinked. "What’s going on with you two?"

"Um... it’s my fault," Pai said sheepishly, glancing at Chu Guang. "I told Xiaoyu that we would give it to you as a surprise when you came back from the front lines. I didn’t mention that it was actually something you asked me to do."