Before the words were over, a translucent game panel appeared in front of Nan Zhou’s eyes.
He reached out and waved his hand in front of his face. He found that the game panel wasn’t a real object but a virtual panel floating directly on the retinas. It didn’t require major movements. Just a slight swipe of the finger could realize a series of operations such as calling out the panel, closing the page and using items.
The left side of the panel contained the logo of a thriving tree of life. The thick roots and leaves extended outward, encircling the main page on the right. The shape of the canopy resembled a human brain. Nan Zhou tried to touch the canopy with his fingers. Thousands of golden stardust fell from the treetop like fireflies living there.
The most eye-catching thing on the main page was the character’s name, their photo and their attributes bar that hadn’t been fully calculated and loaded yet. There were the strength, intelligence, contribution and san (fear) value attributes. In addition, there were some strange skill attributes such as theft, healing, taunting, cooking, forging, labor, etc.
There was a friends list in the upper right corner. He clicked on it and wasn’t surprised to find it empty. The lower left corner was the store. There weren’t many things that could be bought from it. Most of the items were gray, representing words full of mockery:
‘Can’t afford it.’
The lower right corner was the mission log. He clicked on it and could see that the progress of the trial level was 100% complete. Sandwiched between the store and the mission log was the item slots. There were currently three open grids. The other five were gray and unopened.
This was an environment where others could see the contents of the panel so the doubtful people decided to get off the bus first. Even Jiang Fang just scanned it quickly and waited for Nan Zhou next to him.
However, Nan Zhou’s curiosity was incredibly strong. He poked through all the gray and bright products in the store and almost thoroughly studied every corner of the panel. He even went to determine if he would get any hidden rewards by frequently clicking on the leaves.
Therefore, Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou were the last two to go down.
The steel rabbit noticed Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang’s tightly handcuffed hands. Its ears pricked up. “The two of you are a pair?”
Nan Zhou thought of Jiang Fang’s scorpion braid that probably caused a misunderstanding and seriously explained to the rabbit, “He is a man.”
At this point, Jiang Fang seemed to have completely adjusted his mood. He kept a perfect smile and nodded at the rabbit. “Yes, I am.”
Nan Zhou, “……”
Jiang Fang’s answer didn’t seem wrong but he always felt that something was strange. The rabbit’s question was also answered. It lowered its ears and shook, its teeth making a crunching steel sound as they rubbed against each other. “Do you need me to unlock it?”
…It was referring to the two people’s bracelets.
Nan Zhou was about to raise his hand and listened to Jiang Fang. “Thank you, no need.”
Nan Zhou, “?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Jiang Fang’s hand grabbed the bracelet. He fumbled around and with some effort, the bracelet on his wrist easily dented.
Rjc Itbe, “……?”
“Elcu bo Kbwbggbk.” Aljcu Mjcu rdeffhfv atf gfwbnfv ygjmfifa bc tlr qjiw. “Ktf rlwqifra wjulm lafw.”
Rjc Itbe’r bkc ygjmfifa tjv cb ujqr. Pa kjr atlc jcv cjggbk jcv la kjr j yla vloolmeia ab qea bc ja olgra. Aljcu Mjcu’r ygjmfifa kjr j yla atlccfg atjc tlr. Ycmf atf akb ygjmfifar kfgf rajmxfv abufatfg, atfs rdeffhfv fjmt batfg’r rqjmf.
This was why Nan Zhou asked if he should take them off. He was afraid he would break Jiang Fang’s wrist bones if he used too much force so he gave up trying to take off the bracelet. He decided to wait until the end.
Jiang Fang used his sleeve to cushion his wrist and pulled off the bracelet while Jiang Fang explained simply, “Our two bracelets happen to be a pair. Yours is the true one and mine is the fake.”
“One part of the fake bracelet is made of neodymium magnets and the color is exactly the same as the silver ring itself.”
“If there is a strong impact at approximately the right angle, the principle of magnetism will automatically restore the broken bracelets to their original shape.”
During these words, Nan Zhou succeeded in removing the bracelet. He rubbed his wrist and asked, “If you knew then why didn’t you tell me?”
Jiang Fang put his hands behind his back and smiled. “I thought you would find out.”
Of course, he never mentioned that he had used his thumb to block the magnetic opening of his bracelet when Nan Zhou examined it. It was a magic item after all. He had to rely on magic tricks. Jiang Fang handed Nan Zhou his bracelet. “Here, they are a pair so I will give you this as a souvenir.”
Nan Zhou fixed his eyes on the bracelet and nodded curiously. “…Um.”
The other people, “……” This person’s mind was so active and his face was cold, but he was unexpectedly very easy to coax.
Everyone stood in place, waiting at a loss for the rabbit’s next instructions. The steel rabbit saw that everyone had gathered and hopped in a certain direction. There were no instructions so everyone was afraid to move. With instructions, some people were even more afraid to move.
As they hesitated, Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou had already followed the rabbit closely. In any case, they had nowhere else to go now. So after crossing a gravel road and making a turn, they saw a city square.
The setting sun was like melted cream and the ochre light was like oil paint as it spread deeply and unevenly across the sky. The square was huge. The east side was a large shopping mall. The three storey circular building extended all the way to the southeast, covering an incalculable area. The west side had restaurants, bookstores, a movie theater and several scattered hotels. The lush shadows of the trees covered the cobblestone pavement.
Right in front of the group was a fountain with first-class craftsmanship. The center contained a white jade carving in the shape of a giant tree and a circle of fountain heads was set up in the surrounding open space.
Perhaps because it wasn’t the right time but the fountain hadn’t started yet. However, the most important thing was the people moving around it. For a time, it felt like they had returned to normal society. It wouldn’t be very sci-fi if it wasn’t for the iron rabbit standing next to them.
Li Yinhang was dumbfounded. “…This is… Rust City of Forces of Temptation?”
Nan Zhou glanced at her. Rust City was one of the birthplaces of players in the game Forces of Temptation. Due to its closeness to a real city, the game planners called it Rust City. Excessive prosperity was the embroidery of the city but there was also the rust of nature.
Zhao Guanglu had nothing to do with games and asked eagerly, “What exactly is Forces of Temptation?”
Wu Yukai obviously had more to say about this issue. He briefly summarized. “It is a holographic online game. The popularity was crazy but it quickly cooled down.”
***
About a year and a half ago, the open world interactive communication game ‘Forces of Temptation’ developed by the company Tree of Life was officially launched after a trial period of six months.
Their selling point was a physics engine completely close to reality, a close-to-perfect ecosystem and a game instance world with a high degree of freedom to explore.
To play this game, one needed to purchase a complete set of interactive equipment including a full VR helmet that modified visual and auditory neural feedback, biological tactile gloves, waist control equipment and a human-shaped biological cabin.
One machine, one size. The price was good and a set of basic equipment cost 30,000 yuan. In the current price system of society, 30,000 yuan wasn’t a lot.
Take Li Yinhang as an example. As a small bank employee, her biggest goal in life was to get rid of her single status and to buy a small house in Shiyuan south district. She never considered buying high-end electronic luxury goods like Forces of Temptation.
However, the publicity of Forces of Temptation was overwhelming, including the concept map of Rust. She had seen it in the headlines many times.
Once it was first launched, the game sold madly because it was so appetizing. According to Li Yinhang’s memories, this game was suitable for all ages. The movie theater could be used to watch movies and its library was quite full. The bookstore contained millions of books. They could wear headphones, read through books and enjoy a completely quiet library-style reading environment.
There were several cities for players that were filled with easter eggs to be explored. For example, the most central pond of Rust City was also a wishing fountain. They could use 10 points of game currency to make a wish and there was a certain probability of the wish coming true. They might get a high grade weapon or a rare function card.
Of course, the most popular thing about Forces of Temptation were the original instances supplemented by all types of novels, comics and other literary products. Players could enter instances of various settings such as supernatural, magic, cold weapons, zombies, plague etc. to complete tasks, gain various items and upgrade their character.
The instance system was the most direct and effective way for players to upgrade and it was the main module of Forces of Temptation. If a player was biased toward Buddhism and wasn’t bothered with fighting or killing then they could occupy a piece of land and play a business game.
Seeds in the store were cheaper than combat items. If they recharged some money to buy farming tools and consumed a bit of physical energy, they could open up a farm of their own and grow things according to the system time.
Factory infrastructure could also start with the purchase of a simple textile machine. Whether it was a big farmer or textile factory, there were different ways of playing. Some players relied on careful management to climb to the front of the overall standings.
Forces of Temptation was the only game project of Tree of Life. Their ambition in daring to enter the unknown holographic online game field was evident. The finished product they launched was worthy of their ambitions.
—At least, until the serious accident that happened six or seven months ago.
Wu Yukai spoke up to here when Nan Zhou suddenly interrupted. “In other words, everything you want in the game must be exchanged with points?”
Before Wu Yukai’s ‘nonsense’ could continue, he suddenly felt dizzy and suffocated. The oxygen around him was suddenly pulled away. In a moment, his lips turned a blue-purple color from a lack of oxygen.
Looking at everyone’s painful expression one by one, Pika smiled mysteriously with its steel mouth. “Your 20 minute oxygen experience pack usage time has ended.”
“Please redeem your points for oxygen in time.”
However, once it looked at Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang, it saw that they both looked as usual and were breathing smoothly. Nan Zhou even had the mind to turn back and remind Li Yinhang, who was covering her throat and unable to breathe. “Open to page seven of the store. 10 points can be exchanged for one hour of breathing time.”
Li Yinhang tried her best to hold her breath as she used shaky hands to prepare for the exchange, but there was a moment of hesitation. She still had a trace of the stubbornness of the poor.
Nan Zhou saw through her thoughts and persuaded her. “Exchange it. There isn’t a more cost effective way. Even if you buy it 100 times in a row, you won’t be given a discount of one point.”
Pika, “……”
It liked this part the most every time it received newcomers. The newcomers suddenly discovered that they lost the ability to breathe so they were ugly in their panic. It was the most pleasant scene. Pika felt like its routine happiness had been forcibly taken away by these two men. It held back its sulking. “What’s going on with you?”
Did they know the oxygen would disappear so they exchanged it in advance?
Jiang Fang smiled slightly. “It’s like this. We thought the three ‘ghost’ players might have something useful on them so we tried to put their bodies in the item slots.”
Pika, “……” Fuck.
Nan Zhou added, “Yes, it is useful. They should still have oxygen in their backpacks.”
Then he looked around at the strange gazes and asked curiously, “Is there anything wrong with this?”
Pika, “……”
The other people who exchanged points for breathing items one after another, “……”
This pervert brought three mushroom corpses with him?!
Proofreader: Purichan
When you are player to the bone marrow.
thanks for the chapter~
…..also speechless
Y’all put the corpses ..that’s fine, very smart, it worked out right? The game charges them for air?! I hope they don’t have to stay here too long! How expensive!!
Thank you for the chapter!!!
Let’s casually bring some corpses in our pocket ahahaha I love em
Thanks for the chapter! <3
Well I don’t see any harm
Looting corpses is one of the basics of any rpg, very cost efficient, might find useful things!
Charging even for air? Isn’t that a bit too much? 😑
Thank you for the chapter 💜
Now the “MOM! HE IS BREATHING MY AIR!” excuse could actually works.
So yall just put some mushroom corpses- okay… alright, this is fine 🙂 we’re fine :’)
Normally, we would fine with mushroom (corpses) in our bags, on our pizzas, in our salads…
How long will it take Mister Rabbit to apply for an exchange I wonder? 🤣🤣🤣