“...Executive Officer, is this also a 'program' we prepared in advance?”

Black Smoke leaned towards Lu Yuan and asked in a low voice without turning on the translator.

"Of course not, this is truly coincidental."

Lu Yuan's mood was quite complicated.

On one hand, he naturally hoped for more time to develop covertly; but on the other hand, Oasis City's ruthlessness would only push Red Iron Town towards his side faster, which was beneficial to him.

The Town Chief probably also heard the dirty dealings between the City Lord and the Raiders directly for the first time, and verified his status in the rulers' hearts for the first time.

“Whether or not I hand over the rare metals to you, the result is the same.”

The Town Chief said in a deep voice.

“We either directly refuse their order, or after overtime leads to a large number of work injuries, production will plummet. Punishment will come sooner or later; it's just early now.”

“Yes. You are a sensible person and should make a wiser choice.” Caoyuan's gaze was cold from the side.

The Town Chief looked at Lu Yuan.

“Executive Officer, I can agree to cooperate, but the trade price must be increased. I hope Cangyuan can exchange high-performance weapons, combat suits, and security services for our high-end alloys!”

“The Stormwind Gang is blocking Cangyuan's path forward; I had already planned to eliminate them.”

Lu Yuan's tone was calm.

“But Cangyuan will not stand guard for Red Iron Town. For the sake of the first business deal, I can offer a discounted price: weapons, combat suits, plus intelligence sharing and combat training. This is my final price.”

“When Red Iron Town is attacked, Cangyuan will proactively send troops, simply because it is an excellent opportunity to weaken the enemy. At that time, how you use the purchased weapons is up to you. You can fight alongside Cangyuan, or you can hide far away and pretend none of this concerns you.”

The Town Chief nodded heavily.

“These few words from you are enough!”

The few young players exchanged glances silently.

So this is how business is done.

The so-called intelligence sharing and combat training are essentially recruiting militias, just in time to alleviate the urgent need for manpower! But under the packaging of the Executive Officer, it is indeed a form of discount.

In this Desert, who else would be willing to provide these things for free?

Truly brilliant.

In summary, the first phase of the contract was happily signed. Red Iron Town will clear its alloy inventory and send it to Lu Yuan as soon as possible, and in the next month and a half, it will provide the highest quality alloy products once a week.

Cangyuan will use a pre-payment method to provide 90 sets of combat suits and the corresponding number of individual weapons as soon as possible.

Before deciding on the specific weapon types, Lu Yuan inquired about the Stormwind Gang's situation and learned that they were completely not on the same level as the Raiders who were previously thrashed.

The Stormwind Gang has a total of four camps in the Desert, with a total of over 800 people. They have long been fully mechanized, and their overall strength exceeds the level of elite forces from Earth's World War II.

They have infantry fighting vehicles equipped with rapid-fire autocannons, tanks and wheeled assault vehicles with main gun calibers over 100mm, and truck-mounted artillery.

Furthermore, there are even piston-engine fighter planes in the air.

Frankly speaking, even the “Barbarian” light exoskeleton wouldn't be able to gain much advantage in a head-on confrontation against these heavy weapons.

Facing the assault of these weapons, the “Madman” automatic rifle is basically obsolete, completely reduced to a self-defense weapon.

Lu Yuan plans to trade the machine guns and grenade launchers obtained from the instance first, so that Red Iron Town will at least no longer fear infantry charges.

As for the remaining combat vehicles, more targeted weapons still need to be produced.

The next day, after sending off the people from Red Iron Town, Lu Yuan posted a new pinned announcement on the official website.

【Navigator】: “Good news, good news! To test the feasibility of future warfare gameplay and the potential pressure on the server, we have decided to launch a campaign event called ‘Lion Hunt’ ahead of schedule!”

“As you may have guessed, this time, players will face the test from the strongest Raiders warband in the Desert - the Stormwind Gang. As for the direction and outcome of the campaign, the planning team is just as curious as the players. There are no pre-set scripts or endings in the game~”

“Considering this is the players' first time participating in a full-simulation campaign, the difficulty may be high. To ensure the smooth progress of the closed beta event, we are now widely soliciting tactics, strategies, and weapon ideas from all community users. As long as your idea is effective in the campaign, you can obtain closed beta qualification after the event ends!”

“According to the currently available intelligence, the Stormwind Gang's military equipment status is...”

“During the campaign event, players can earn 【Honor Points】 by killing Stormwind Gang members. 【Honor Points】 can be exchanged for 3D printer capacity after the event ends to create your own personalized equipment!”

Currently, the decision-making power over the printer's production queue is basically in the hands of the Executive Officer and the two Scholar players. Other players can at most independently produce some ammunition supplies and consumables, occupying no more than 5% of the capacity.

However, ever since Lu Yuan obtained the plasma crossbow, he could clearly feel the players' desire for personalized equipment from the envious gazes around him.

Launching a reward system can also be considered catering to public demand.

After the announcement was posted, community users actively spoke up, and the official account's private message inbox was instantly overwhelmed.

A user named “Bei Hai Xian Yu” made a statement that caught Lu Yuan's attention.

【Bei Hai Xian Yu】: “Undeniably, the Stormwind Gang's firepower is indeed strong. However, instead of focusing too much on the enemy's firepower, it's better to worry about their reconnaissance capabilities and tactical level.”

“How so?”

Community netizens felt curious.

【Bei Hai Xian Yu】: “Why did the Stormwind Gang tell Oasis City that they needed a few days to prepare? I think, besides mobilizing troops and stockpiling fuel and ammunition, another very important reason is that they don't completely trust Oasis City. They will definitely conduct reconnaissance before attacking.

“If they detect that Red Iron Town has started setting up defenses, they will inevitably increase their troop deployment afterwards, and may even indirectly realize the existence of Cangyuan as a powerful helper.

“At this point, another possibility will arise, which is to completely abandon the attack on Red Iron Town, turn to search for Cangyuan's camp, and then accumulate strength to prepare for battle. This will bring many dangerous variables.”

Some netizens didn't take it seriously.

“Whether they reconnoiter or not, as long as the players' firepower is strong enough then, let the cannons roar and blast them to hell. A single force can overcome ten guilds.”

The Salty Fish said unhurriedly: “You're right, but the risk is undoubtedly higher that way, and there's also a hidden danger you haven't noticed.”

“What hidden danger?”

“Once the Stormwind Gang detects that Red Iron Town is setting up defenses, they will realize that their previous conversation with Oasis City has been eavesdropped upon, and consequently realize that radio communication is no longer safe. Cangyuan will lose its intelligence advantage.”

“In the worst-case scenario, the Stormwind Gang sends a real messenger to settle accounts with Oasis City face-to-face, rendering Cangyuan's previously established monitoring network useless. After deliberation, the two sides might jointly encircle and suppress Cangyuan, which would be very difficult to deal with.”

After some explanation, netizens also realized this problem.

“This... indeed, I was thinking too simply before.”

The quality of the Xing Hai player community is indeed high. In this era where everyone is a keyboard warrior, someone actually admitted their mistake voluntarily. Can you believe this?

“So what should be done?” the netizen continued to ask.