Dream Travel

Chapter 245: The map is large, but there are few points to explore.
“Greenhouses, frost-resistant crops, the druids of this other world are terrifying.” Bai Mu muttered as he looked at the fields.

He entered this town-sized settlement.

It was bustling with people coming and going, but it was hard to say how many of the residents were indigenous.

White Curtain pushed up his sunglasses, and through the Observer Imperial Arm, he could tell that these people were not from the same faction.

They appear to be getting along peacefully, but in reality, each harbors their own thoughts.

There are several reception offices in the town.

Clearly, Nightow Company is not the only company authorized to use this Dream Source.

Upon arriving at the reception area bearing the Night Owl Company sign, Bai Mu took out the items An Yongkang had given him.

"Oh, it's Mr. White Curtain. My name is Keller. Please come with me." Keller led White Curtain to a room containing many devices belonging to this world.

However, the upper and lower limits of those things vary greatly. High-end ones include impressive-looking projection equipment, while low-end ones are just black and white TVs.

It's like a mix of technologies from the previous hundred years and the next hundred years.

The other party pulled out a few items: "This is a spare decoder, this projection device can project and scan the environment to record a map, the relevant parameters have been set up, no need for much adjustment, and this instruction manual..."

Keller revealed a lot of things. An Yongkang's identification card for Bai Mu contained information records, such as that this Dream Walker had not received any training at the beginning and had just come directly.

This adds to his workload, but the sooner the white curtain arrives, the sooner we can take action, as the decryption device is very easy to use.

Find the interfaces of those devices and just plug them in. Once the decryption is complete, issues like identification won't be a problem.

Bai Mu looks so young, he shouldn't be too bad at accepting new things. Even if he isn't, as a man, wouldn't he know how to find a hole that fits the plug?

“Mr. Bai Mu, what you need to be aware of is that some areas have been without power for a long time, so when you go to those places, you need to find a way to restore the power supply there, otherwise you will have to go to another place.”

Keller was very responsible, or rather, he didn't want the White Curtain operation to fail, so he explained things in great detail.

“Areas without power are generally safe. The only things to be concerned about are buildings that are prone to collapse, while places that are maintaining power are where automated weapons are operating.”

Keller's explanation in this regard is much more detailed than that of An Yongkang.

Currently, besides the people of the nation, there are a total of eight factions, including companies, developing and exploring this alternate dream.

Night Owl Company has relatively few personnel dedicated to this area, so please be extra careful when collecting data.

"We don't have many people here? What's the reason?" Bai Mu didn't think Night Owl Mining couldn't afford to hire people. This is mining, after all. How could they be short of money?

“The company prioritizes quality,” Keller explained with a smile. “And for most of the exploration information, we can simply buy it directly. In the same amount of exploration time, although we have the fewest personnel, our progress has never fallen behind!”

"You want them to give them to you?" Bai Mu's eyes twitched almost imperceptibly. Judging from Keller's tone, the other party was clearly quite proud of this.

However, considering that this dream was jointly developed, there will always be someone selling information.

"Not only has the progress not fallen behind, but Night Owl Company is the only one that has not suffered any personnel losses so far!"

However, we have already begun taking formal action, and other companies may interfere, so we need to be even more careful.

Although Keller didn't say it explicitly, his meaning was clear: the other companies that were competitors were no good, and people should be careful when they encountered their people.

"..." Bai Mu looked at the map projected on the projector, his expression somewhat puzzled: "With so many places to explore, why are they competing with each other?"

The projected map is huge; even if all the people in this town were taken out, it wouldn't be enough to cover everyone. Once everyone is scattered, who will be able to run into whom?

"Because no one has died at Nightow Company so far, we only received temporary authorization. Whether we can obtain real authorization requires a final assessment."

Keller explained the reason: from the current perspective, Night Owl Company's performance is not the best, because they are throwing money at the problem.

However, they haven't fallen behind in their progress. If they can turn their investment into a positive return, then they will have the highest overall score.

From this perspective, Night Owl Company cheated, but at this point, it was a project with multiple competitors, so it was normal to use every means available.

Moreover, their purchases were compliant and not illegal. After all, simply buying intelligence is useless; the key is how to convert that intelligence into positive returns, otherwise, they would just be being taken advantage of.

The government would not consider Night Owl Company under these circumstances; to win in the competition, they need to offer effective returns.

Strive for fourth place and aim for first...

Night Owl Corporation never intended to be number one; that would be pointless. Only four companies will be retained from the initial development and exploration phase.

Currently, all those companies present here are competitive; they eliminated those that were unable to participate in the Dream World from the very beginning.

The competition here is in the second round; once you win, there's no difference between first and fourth place.

They didn't care about the small 'reward' from the government; what mattered was this strange dream.

As for the Dream Terminal, that thing can replace the Dream Source. Although the range is a bit smaller, there's not much difference between one and ten.

First secure a minimum guarantee, then consider the so-called number one.

“Nightow is stable, but other competitors don’t want us to remain stable, so you’ll have to face targeting from at least four companies.”

Bai Mu remained noncommittal: "There will actually be more, won't there?"

“Of course, companies can also cooperate.” Keller did not deny this, and he demonstrated on the projector.

“These cities have all been explored superficially, and the risks have only been estimated. Currently, we are mainly exploring this tiered city system.”

Several cities were removed from the projector display.

Keller's meaning was clear: these places were about the same level of danger.

Areas that are heavily explored are highly developed, but also attract many outsiders, while others are only superficially explored, attracting fewer outsiders but posing greater local dangers.

There are two risks; it remains to be seen how Bai Mu will address them.

"Anyway, I can fight back after being attacked, right?"

Keller did not give a clear answer, but said, "Everyone has the right to defend themselves, but the company hired Mr. White Curtain so that you could obtain research data, not to risk your life."

"Okay, I'll take care of the rest."

Bai Mu looked at the city map he had left behind and pondered for a moment.

He didn't know how many operatives other companies had deployed, but the chances of encountering them in the same tier of city were not low.

The tiered cities are vast, but the lower and middle tiers of these cities are not particularly worth exploring.

Inside, there are only ordinary production factories.

Just like the technological limits of the items in this room.

The areas marked on the map are all concentrated in the middle and upper layers.

Simply staying in the lower and middle layers of the atmosphere won't be enough to find the research data that Night Owl Corporation is looking for.

The structure of these tiered cities follows a pyramid pattern, with each level smaller than the last, increasing the likelihood of encountering other people. Several tiered cities combined have over a hundred locations marked, but a single city would only have about twenty marked locations.

This is certainly not the whole picture of a tiered city. How could such a large city have few areas for high-end research?

However, for areas not marked, White Curtain will have to explore on its own to find them, and if it does, it will be a gain for Night Owl Corporation.

With over a hundred exploration points, if each company invests enough people, it's actually not that many.

Those companies can sit at the same table as Nightow Mining; he doesn't believe they can't produce a thousand or eight hundred people.

There are decoders and other things; wouldn't five or six people be enough to go to each exploration point?
One company can accommodate so many people, eight companies... well, it's still quite lively.

As for Keller's claim that Nightow Company has low personnel investment, he believes that, but even a small investment is still an investment.

Bai Mu felt that An Yongkang in reality was like an NPC, issuing tasks to a large group of Dream Walkers.

After receiving him, she immediately went to receive another Dreamwalker.

He is not Britney Spears.

Furthermore, White Screen noticed a detail: the projector Keller took out was mass-produced and looked like it had been made last week.

Isn't this the standard setup for posting tasks?
"Is that all?"

"That's all. Please be careful on the road. I'll be waiting for your good news."

Bai Mu left with the items.

Keller returned to his workstation, recorded some information on his computer, and waited for the next one or more operatives to arrive.

Compared to using internal staff, Nightow still prefers to employ people it can hire.

Although the quality of the employees varies, they are able to identify and select the best people.

As for the company's operatives, they are equally excellent, but training them is more cost-effective than hiring top-notch mercenaries.

Mining always requires 'cannon fodder,' and good cannon fodder is even better.

People like Bai Mu are the ones who charge into battle, while the company's people are the ones who reap the rewards. Of course, if they do a good enough job, it would be even better if the company's people didn't have to lift a finger.

Putting everything else aside, the loyalty of the company's employees is unmatched by these savages.

As for whether such an arrangement is fair to the employees... does that matter?
If someone accepts a commission for money, it means that the price offered by the company meets expectations.

He acted recklessly and got into trouble, but that was only due to his own wrong choices. He's an adult now, and he should take responsibility for his decisions.

Whether doing this will make other companies look down on you is not important. It's hard to make money if you care about your reputation. Only those who persevere to the end will make money.

It's not a good thing for a company to display too much military force. What's wrong with them hiring outsourced staff? As long as they can get things done, it shows that Night Owl Company has the ability to recognize talent.

If we encounter situations where it's difficult to hire outsourced personnel in the future, we can then utilize the company's core workforce.

Not long after Bai Mu left, another team arrived, and Keller had a similar conversation with Bai Mu.

Unlike the lone wolf like Bai Mu, this time it was a small team that arrived.

However, Keller did not underestimate White Curtain's ideas. He had learned about White Curtain's background. He was a dream walker who had become famous not long after his debut.

He was tempted by the idea of ​​getting a head worth over 30 million, but he didn't take any action. The company gave Bai Mu a very high evaluation score.

The subsequent reception teams combined couldn't match the white curtain.

"Such a wealthy and powerful company, yet it doesn't provide transportation." Walking across the wilderness, Bai Mu glanced back at the gradually shrinking town and muttered to himself.

He picked up a gun from the ground, shook off the snow, and examined the weapon. It had been exposed to the wilderness for quite some time, yet it didn't show much rust.

Of course, this gun wasn't an advanced weapon. Bai Mu inspected it and found that it could be used again with some maintenance.

“This material is extraordinary.” Bai Mu tossed the gun aside and glanced at the wilderness.

This appears to be a small battlefield, with many weapons scattered around, but few corpses remaining.

The war here took place a long time ago, yet many of the weapons here can still be used as long as they are not severely damaged and are cleaned up.

As long as there are people and competition, a smaller-scale war can be fought here using local resources.

The weapons in this world are 'well preserved'.

Bai Mu looked up at the sky, where there were some small black dots in the dim sky—drones released from the town.

Speaking of which... who is the source of this strange dream? What kind of thoughts would lead someone to have such a strange dream?
Do you like the apocalypse? Or do you prefer the quiet of being alone?

In any case, being in a world like this is terrible enough.

Lacking sufficient resources, it's incredibly difficult to survive.

Far from the town, the white curtain summoned Luciela.

She frowned slightly: "Why is it so cold here?"

"Isn't it normal to be cold in winter?" Bai Mu said casually, he wasn't so afraid of the cold anymore.

Moreover, when Keller left the reception area, staff members other than those at the reception desk asked him if he needed warm clothes.

Bai Mu didn't want it; he just picked out some portable survival resources from there.

"And you're afraid of the cold?"

“I’m not afraid, but that doesn’t mean I want to be in this kind of environment.” Lucyella moved a little closer to the white curtain.

Although she is dead, her summoned state is almost the same as when she is alive; she can still feel temperature and touch normally.

Bai Mu's body temperature was very high, which she particularly liked.

"Then you're going to suffer later, I'm short of transportation."

Night Owl Company is such a big company, yet they don't even provide cars for their employees!
"Can't you just run by yourself?" Luciela's body began to deform.

“It’s more convenient for you to travel long distances, let’s go.” Bai Mu sat on Lucy’s back.

In her awakened form, she let out a low growl and ran in the direction the white curtain was pointing.

Snowflakes began to fall from the gloomy sky, and before the footprints on the ground were buried, another team arrived.

Compared to the white curtain, they were riding bicycles.

"...The footprints of some kind of large beast. He has indeed mastered the 'Banshee.' Chase after him!"

(End of this chapter)