This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 329.2: The Siege

At this moment, a nearby murmur caught his attention.

"Become an Alliance captive, and your lives will be spared... Surrender willingly using this leaflet, and you could be promoted to oversee the prisoner camps."

Greyhound glanced to the side, seeing a short, nervous man holding one of the leaflets, muttering quietly.

Noticing Greyhound's gaze, the man visibly panicked, quickly hiding the leaflet.

Greyhound, however, said nothing. He simply walked over as if nothing had happened, draping his arm around the man's shoulder.

"What does this paper say?" Greyhound asked.

The man nervously replied, "Nothing much... It's about surrendering."

Greyhound instinctively pressed further. "Does it mention how to surrender? Do you just walk over with the leaflet? What if they shoot you?"

Surprised, the man looked at Greyhound, then quickly glanced around. Seeing that nobody was paying attention, he began to speak rapidly in a low voice, "Just hold up the leaflet... Don't carry any weapons. The Alliance's soldiers and guerrillas won't shoot. Do you also want to surrender? We can do this together..."

"Enough, don't say more," Greyhound hastily interrupted him, glaring with a threatening expression. "Forget what happened today. You didn't say anything, and I didn't ask anything. Got it?"

The man nodded, his expression tense.

Greyhound patted the man on the shoulder, then returned to his position, discreetly tucking the leaflet into his pocket.

He didn't know why he had asked those questions.

He hadn't even considered surrendering.

Yet, when he saw the grim state of their comrades who had faced the Alliance head-on, he couldn't muster the courage to discard the leaflet.

He would consider it a lifeline.

Greyhound reassured himself with that thought and set the matter aside for now.

However, just then, a broadcast erupted within the city. "To all marauders within West Continent City, the New Alliance's mighty army is already at your gates. The artillery sounds from last night were your final warning!"

The booming voice echoed through the city's streets and above.

Listening to that deafening broadcast, the marauders exchanged bewildered looks. They saw the confusion and uncertainty in each other's eyes.

Especially when they learned that the invincible Dillon had fallen, and the tanks they were proud of had been obliterated...

It was far worse than the night-long artillery barrage they endured the day before.

.........

"Those shameless cowards! Vermin! Cockroaches! Gutless rodents!"

The fact that the New Alliance people didn't enter the city but instead air-dropped surrender leaflets was something Gold Fang had never expected.

What surprised him even more was that they had set up a broadcast right under their noses, using it to lure the wavering individuals into surrendering.

Surrender?

This word didn't exist in the Bonechewer Clan’s dictionary!

"These filthy gophers! They are actually using such despicable tactics!" Gold Fang tore the leaflet in his hand into shreds, venting his anger, then turned to the group of subordinates who dared not make a sound.

"After you all left, personally check each one of your men!"

"If any of you cowards dare to keep leaflets secretly or discuss the contents of the broadcast, I'll skin you alive and hang your skin outside the window!"

"And... watch your respective defense zones closely. If they set up the broadcast again, be the first to go up and dismantle it!"

The crowd lowered their heads, trembling, and none of them dared to speak out of turn, only nodding in agreement.

"Yes..."

After leaving the room, a shadow hung over everyone's faces. No one dared to linger any longer, and they all hurriedly walked out of the artillery bunker.

"Our leader has gone mad..." Rock Fang glanced at the door behind him and muttered in a low voice.

Next to him, Cloud Fang, upon hearing these words, hastily made a shushing gesture with his index finger and glanced around. "Shh... don't say those words. Do you want to die?!"

Rock Fang recoiled and immediately fell silent, closing his mouth.

While their leader had been cruel before, compared to his current state, it was a world of difference. The night before, someone had been hacked to death in bed for even mentioning the idea of retreat. His corpse was hung on a lamp post with a sign around his neck that read ‘Coward’.

Now, whether it was the main lineage or the side branches, or even outsiders, all lived under a cloud of terror. Everyone felt they were in danger...

Before Dillon's death, they could still reason with their leader. But now, this guy wouldn't listen to anyone.

The thought of escape suddenly crossed Rock Fang's mind, and even he was startled by this cowardly notion. He had seen his fair share of battles on the way from River Valley Province in the north, but this kind of thought, which only cowards would have, had never occurred to him before...

...

On Wasteland Online official website.

As the war entered its final stages, more and more battle recordings and screenshots were posted on the forum, and the forum's popularity was soaring.

Each corps took turns showing off their achievements, not only thrilling the players but also providing entertainment for cloud gamers who hadn't received closed test access.

- Oh dang! They even made Junkers Ju!

- Junkers Ju my ass, those are just human-guided bombs, alright.

- Airship! Airship!

- It looks like a C-47 but also like a TB-3... but it's actually electric. What kind of battery can match the energy density of fuel? And that aluminum alloy material is pretty impressive too. The recoil from the 37mm cannon is not small, but it was able to stand the stress of continuous firing.

- Haha, they said it’s solid-state hydrogen.

- Using fuel cells for propeller planes?! Amazing!

- Why not just use electric fans if it's solid-state hydrogen? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

- Probably to save cost. I watched yesterday's battle. It seemed like they only fired 1 round of rockets. Afterward, they mainly used heavy artillery.

- I think instead of developing planes, we should first get some tanks, like an electric T-72, how about that?

- Solid-state hydrogen lighter? Why not stick to fuel, it's safer. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Most cloud gamers were focused on the unrealistic equipment and almost impossible aerial technology.

On the other hand, the players were mostly interested in the game's mechanics and strategies.

For example, Escaping Mole started a thread to boast that the surrender leaflets dropped by the New Alliance aircraft were drawn by him!

However, everyone clearly didn't care much about his artistic skills, especially when he mentioned drawings other than the erotic ones.

The thread quickly went off-topic.

Make Me: Speaking of leaflets, I found an Easter egg.

Escaping Mole: What Easter egg?

Make Me: Hehe, I thought it would be a shame to see some of the leaflets lying in remote corners, and I was worried that the marauders wouldn't find them, so I secretly picked up a few and stuffed them into their sleeping quarters. In the afternoon, I wanted to go back and see how the surrender effort was going, but I didn't find anyone surrendering; instead, I found 5 people hanged outside the windows.

Ample Time: OMG?

Night Ten: Holy shit!

Yaya: Wait, why were they hanged outside the windows? Σ(ﾟдﾟlll)

Makka Pakka: Isn't that obvious? If you're their leader, and if you see your subordinates trying to escape, don't you want to do something about it?

Yaya: So pitiful...

Quit Bullshit: What's pitiful about it? If they catch you, it's even worse.

Irene: Not necessarily. Maybe Yaya likes that kind of play. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Yaya: Get lost! (#｀д′)✄╰ひ╯

Escaping Mole: Sigh, Make Me is truly ruthless.

Elf Wang: Frfr, this method is too ruthless. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Make Me: ??? What do you mean ruthless? I was just trying to help, alright! How can you say this to me?

Sideline Slacking: Sigh, why do you want to humiliate them? Since you've sneaked into their rooms, why not just end their suffering?

Make Me: I also wanted to, but the problem is I can't beat them! QAQ

Garbage: Hahaha!

...

Nighttime.

Chu Guang, sitting in his tent, was browsing the forum through his VM.

When he saw his players describing one daring operation after another in vivid detail, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"... This is truly evil."

Stuffing leaflets under others' pillows or in their pockets wasn't even the most outrageous operation.

There were also those who waited by buildings equipped with broadcasts, and even those who placed tripwire grenades in the hallways...

To stabilize the crumbling morale, marauders had to bear casualties while venturing deep into poorly controlled urban areas to remove the speakers tied to walls, hidden in the wreckage of abandoned buses, or installed on rooftops.

But they quickly discovered that it was a futile effort.

Local guerrilla fighters were far more familiar with the terrain outside the 4th New District. Often, after dismantling the speakers in the north, the ones in the south were reinstalled.

Like a game of whack-a-mole, when they focused on one, they couldn't attend to the others

The Burning Corps and local guerrilla forces lurking in the city only needed a single loudspeaker to keep an entire company of marauders busy.

In the communication channel...

Ma Ban, stationed in Hope Town, reported the progress of their work to Chu Guang while also mentioning the situation with the surrendering captives.

"... As of now, we've received over 100 prisoners on our end. I'm worried that some marauder spies might have infiltrated them, so we haven't taken them to Hope Town. Instead, we've placed them in an abandoned subway station in the eastern part of the city, and our guerrilla fighters are keeping an eye on them."

He paused for a moment before he continued, "Should we keep these people?"

Chu Guang smiled faintly and said, "Keep them. We've said we won't kill surrendered captives, so we must keep our word. Besides, keeping them might be useful. Those prisoners will need someone to manage them."

Dead people wouldn't produce any value, but the living could still be used as human batteries. They would be given the minimum ration, which wouldn't consume much food.

There were still many resources to be developed around West Continent City, and those tasks that ordinary people were unwilling to do needed to be performed by someone.

When the war ends, the number of prisoners would probably outnumber the population of the New Alliance. It wasn't practical for the limited number of people within the NPC Corps to manage tens of thousands of people.

The first to surrender would become overseers, while the later ones would become laborers. When the time came, he just needed to select a few guards to guard those overseers.

The earlier captives who surrendered and those captured on the battlefield would naturally be at odds. To prove their loyalty and unique skills, they would work harder and distance themselves from the other prisoners.

Guessing the administrator's intention, Ma Ban said with a knowing smile, "I understand what you mean now."

"Good. Is there anything else?" Chu Guang asked.

"One last thing," Ma Ban continued after a pause. "Among the captives who surrendered today... One of them brought a letter."

"A letter?" Chu Guang sat up straight in his chair, intrigued. "Whose letter?"

"A Brigade Commander named Rock Fang," Ma Ban said cautiously. "The messenger claims to be Rock Fang's confidant, and they are responsible for the defense of the west side of the 4th New District."

Chu Guang glanced at the map.

The western side of the 4th New District bordered West Continent Lake, and it was a submerged shallow bank and marshland. The terrain was treacherous and easy to defend but difficult to attack. It was likely that the Fang Clan wouldn't deploy too many forces there.

However, they would definitely arrange trusted individuals there.

Chu Guang's interest was piqued. "What did the messenger say?"

Ma Ban continued, "The messenger said that their Brigade Commander is willing to surrender and wanted to ask if we could provide him with a way out..."