Chapter 36 Chapter 36 Bet 2

"No, are you sure?" Lin Biege held up the communicator, a puzzled look on his face. "We're all new here, where did we get one million Spark Coins?"

Lin Biege glanced at the game account in which he had just completed the novice mission.

[Tinder coin balance: 8.]

Nan Gua also looked at her own. Since she didn't eat much, she had more left than Lin Biege.

[Tinder coin balance: 1580.]

But not much.

Looking back at the bet just now, it was for one million Spark Coins. There were extra tens, hundreds, and millions at the end... Lin Biege wasn't good at math, so it was a lot of digits anyway.

"Xiaoying, where do we get so many coins to gamble with?"

Tao Ying raised her chin slightly and said, "Go to the Fire Bank."

Jianzitou was stunned for a moment. This user S actually knew about Huozhan Bank?

This place is generally only known to very experienced players who have played to the later stages of the game.

"You're not a big shot on the leaderboard, are you?"

Speaking of which, her ID only has a single digit. Maybe she is some hidden big shot.

There was a hint of tentativeness in the man's tone, and Tao Ying smiled.

"So I'm still going to fail the tutorial? Let's use a teleporter to get to the bank. I'll take a break and start the seventh round later."

"OK."

Jianzitou took out a black metal object from his backpack, pressed the button on the top for two seconds, and a blue light circle surrounded Lin Biege and Nan Gua.

A pillar of light appeared on the ground.

The beam of light led the three to a dilapidated area.

Nan Gua looked around: "This is..."

"Zone E?"

Area A of Casonier is the core business district, Area B is the most populous area, Area C is the industrial area, and Area D is the slum area.

The prosperity and economy gradually decline starting from Area A.

But even in Area D, which is known as a slum, there are signs of life in the environment and various strange terrains, so various businesses have been developed, such as tourism and mecha racing arenas.

In short, it has a mature business system.

Area E is a general term for all areas outside of this area. As a marginal area, it is very desolate.

Because the environment is dangerous, the surrounding area is enclosed by power grid.

Legend has it that there is an experimental area inside, but the entire Area E is under the jurisdiction of the military, and civilians are not qualified to enter. Looking from a distance, there is nothing.

Everyone's impression of this place is that it is deserted.

What was strange was that after Lin Biege and the others took a few steps forward, they seemed to have bumped into some invisible barrier.

The barrier provides a small amount of resistance.

They pushed forward with all their might, pulling themselves free from the barrier like pulling a carrot.

There was a "pop" sound from my body.

They looked up and saw that the area within a radius of about one kilometer was covered by a sky curtain with optical camouflage, so the situation inside could not be seen from the outside.

Under the sky, countless rows of buildings on the ground formed a small town, which was out of tune with the surrounding desert, as if it had been placed there out of thin air.

The two busiest streets are full of vendors.

The stalls were filled with hairpins, toilet brushes, second-hand clothes, model guns... in short, a wide variety of things.

The items sold at the same stall are completely unrelated.

The NPC shop owner didn't seem to worry about whether he could sell his goods. When he saw someone coming, he didn't even say hello and just turned over and went back to sleep.

The businessman in black saw them, glanced sideways in their direction, and when their eyes met, he quickly looked away.

It doesn't feel like a proper market.

A sharp whistle blew from behind. They turned around and saw a large wooden bus passing through the middle of the road.

The vendors put away their fishing rods and retracted the roofs above their heads. The car just passed through the narrow corridor.

Nan Gua: "This is... the black market, right?"

Tao Ying nodded: "Well, I guess so."

"There's a black market in the game, right? What do they sell?"

Tao Ying: "Rare mecha parts, high-strength weapons, and the like. If you carry enough Spark Coins, you can enter a hidden shop that sells special weapons, but purchases are limited and you have to wait for the weekly refresh. I heard that this feature was not originally included in the original version of the game and was added on a whim by the developers."

"By the way, there are some hidden side quests during the novice period that can be triggered here. Before going to the bank, you can go find the NPC to take a quest. There will be a large reward if you collect all the quests later."

"The house number is A3-8. After receiving the mission, go to A5-8. There are clues for the mission there."

Lin Biege and the others went to this location together and indeed found the hidden task.

[Do you accept the mission: Find the Fire -1]

Mission Summary: You purchased a strange fragment from a black market merchant. It's said to be a logbook written by the starship's captain, Sheila Sing, during her space wanderings. While I'm not sure if it's authentic, it seems worth a look. Let's try to collect it!

[Current number of collected log fragments: 1/? ? ]

Jianzitou finally found a chance to interject, "This hidden quest has already been triggered, but it's a rip-off. A group of veteran players, over ten years in the game, formed a group just to complete this hidden quest. They literally ran through every map in the game, found over three hundred fragments, and it still wasn't enough."

"Since the server launch, no one has ever collected all the fragments of the logbook."

Tao Ying smiled slightly: "Who knows, maybe there are hidden maps that haven't been opened yet."

Lin Biege looked left and right, but always felt something was wrong.

"Shadow, you seem to know a lot about the game. Have you played this game before?"

"No, I prefer to play games with people in real life."

Do you like to treat others as games?

Lin Biege secretly complained.

Tao Ying: "Is the mission completed?"

"I got it! The logbook, let me take a look."

【34th day of space travel.】

[Recorded by: Captain, Sheila Sing.]

[Log content: A supply point has been found on a nearby planet, with sufficient supplies and the starship in good condition. 590 passengers are in cryogenic freezing. Ten crew members were relieved today. After waking from the cryostat, they are all in good physical and mental condition.]

Reading further, there was nothing special about the content. There was also a real-life captain named Sheila Sing, whom they had learned about in their elementary school textbooks.

I guess they just used the actual logbook.

It seems to be added to supplement the world view.

The two teammates took five minutes to quickly get another mission clue.

Turning around and seeing the shuttlecock head still following, Lin Biege clapped his hands and said, "Oh right, let's make a bet. I almost forgot."

Tao Ying pointed the way: "The Spark Bank is in the alley next to the thirteenth store on your right."

Following Tao Ying's directions, they came to a hidden alley. In the corner, there was a small door about one meter high, and a tattered sign read "Fire Bank".

The two teammates squatted down and pushed open the small door. Because Lin Biege was too tall, he had to crawl in.

After entering, both of them couldn't help but exclaim "Wow".

The interior space is very large and the decoration is gorgeous, just like the Imperial Royal Bank, all golden.

It's completely invisible from the outside.

The lobby was full of NPCs walking around doing business.

As soon as they came in, someone asked them what business they wanted to do. When they learned that they wanted to advance 1 million Tinder coins, they smiled and took them inside to find the account manager.

Lin Biege couldn't help but sigh: "At the bank in my hometown, you may not be able to get any business even if you queue up for two hours. It's really good to have money."

She covered the communicator, turned her head and asked quietly, "But we are obviously here to advance the money, why is the NPC so happy?"

"It's just a game setting. The NPCs in it all have fixed programs and are not very intelligent."

"Most of the game's performance is reserved for the mecha."

Tao Ying yawned lightly and raised his hand to chop off an obliquus.

"Tinder Bank is also an official little Easter egg." However, only those who have played multiple rounds of the game usually know about it.

There is an extremely complete trading system within the Spark, and some people will make money by reselling mecha parts at high prices in the world trading system over multiple rounds.

Deposit the money into the Spark Bank, then open a new account and buy a better mecha.

This way, when a new account enters a high-level battle, it will be matched with weaker opponents in the Novice Protection Zone, making it easier to climb the solo ladder.

Of course, if you advance one million from Huoyan Bank, you have to pay it back even if you delete your account.

Lin Biege: "Shadow, you really haven't played this game?"

"No."

"Then how do you know so much about the hidden content of the game?"

"Well, I happened to see some related guides on Starnet."

"Really?" Lin Biege touched her chin. She felt that the man's tone was wrong, as if he was trying to fool her.

Forget it. Shadow is a teammate and it’s not the first or second time that he has betrayed them. The worst that can happen is that he owes them a million.

Lin Biege: "But the man who made the bet with us just said he was a newcomer. From what you said, he seems like a veteran player. I have a feeling he has bad intentions. Do we really want to bet with him?"

Tao Ying: "Wouldn't it be better if it was done with bad intentions?"

"?"

"We can then act with confidence."

teammate:"……"

Tao Ying patted the headset: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"Okay then. I'll do as you say."

They quickly completed the business and received the money.

Tao Ying moved the mecha to the left, skillfully avoiding the attack of the seventh blind spider, found a way to get behind the eighth blind spider, and killed it with one blow.

[Timeout has occurred, task progress has been reset.]

【Restart the tutorial.】

[Current kill count: 0/10.]

【Resources loading.】

Tao Ying took a few deep breaths and just happened to hear Lin Biege and Nan Gua discussing on the other end whether her bet was made on impulse.

"Not like that. I never saw her get angry. She was even taking pictures when the dormitory building collapsed."

"Yes, turn around and start applying for compensation."

"I think she really wants to win."

"Even though I feel like she's going to lose, I'm willing to play with her! Risking my life for my roommate!"

This is Lin Biege.

Tao Ying laughed and put on her earphones. "Thank you, roommates. But next time you two are plotting, keep your voices down. I heard everything. Where's the person you made the bet with?"

The man leaned over to Lin Biege and told Tao Ying to stop dragging down her teammates. Tao Ying narrowed her eyes when she saw how secretive he was.

Like thinking of some bad idea.

"You just mentioned betting one million Fire Coins. Set it up using the betting system. Let me confirm it."

There is a guessing system in "Tinder", which was initially used for prize-winning guessing in official competitions.

Later, because many teams from the public also spontaneously organized competitions, the official decentralized authority, and ordinary players could also use the guessing system to bet on the victory of the game.

Both of them had their hands on the interface to receive the task, but Tao Ying suddenly called a halt.

"Wait, if you add another mission reward, I'll bet on my mecha VX-89."

"Ah?" Nan Gua reconfirmed the mission conditions. "Can this thing be traded? Isn't it a mandatory mission item for newcomers?"

Yes, each new user's initial mecha will be bound to their account. Even if it is traded with others, no matter how many times it is resold, the name of the original owner will be on it.

Binding, but not strong binding.

"Of course you can trade. The trading system of Fire is very free."

Tao Ying gave an elusive smile.

"As for you, since we're betting three mechas, you should at least show some appreciation, right? Add some chips?"

The shuttlecock-headed man had a nonchalant expression and added the mecha: "Of course, I'll also bet my mecha, plus two million Spark Coins!"

The challenge is set to "User S will complete the novice tutorial within ten rounds."

[Party A, Spark Coins: 3 million. Mecha: One Morning Breeze.]

[Side B, Spark Coins: 1 million. Mecha: Three VX-89s.]

【The system has been entered.】

[The challenge is limited to one day. Please "S" and "pass the novice tutorial within ten games" in time.]

[The challenge results will be evaluated by a randomly selected judging panel.]

[The ten judges are being randomly selected... Successfully selected.]

The content on the challenge system is public, and everyone can freely watch the gambling content.

Because the popularity of "Spark" has declined in recent years, few people are participating in challenge activities. So when Tao Ying's bet was put on the system, in addition to the jury automatically drawn in, several audience members also flocked into the room.

【Wow, it’s a new person! 】

【Be careful, don't scare the newbies away. 】

"Let me see, what's the bet about? Clear the game within ten rounds... A tutorial? Huh?"

The jury was shocked.

Which good guy can’t complete the novice tutorial after ten rounds?

Someone took a look at Tao Ying's basic data.

[Case solved, the challenger's physique is E. Which big shot is recording a live video of this?]

That's too much. Someone in the top three of the leaderboards previously recorded a Constitution D walkthrough. It was incredibly difficult, taking almost a week, and I was exhausted. Finally, a fan asked him to record a Constitution E walkthrough, but he said, "No way! If you do that, I'll give you one million Star Coins. Star Coins, not Spark Coins."

[Yes, because of this incident, a meme became popular in the gaming community: "Ask me how strong I am? I cleared the Fire Starter tutorial with my Constitution E.jpg."]

[Anyway, how can I possibly clear the level with a Constitution E? Let's go home and eat.]

Several audience members left the room.

Shuttlecock Head looked at Nan Gua and Lin Biege with a smug smile on his face.

They are doomed to lose.

You can delete your account and reopen it in Tinder, and other things can be reset, but the money in your Tinder bank is tied to your identity and is mandatory inheritance. Once you have a debt of one million, it will take a long time to pay it back, and you can say that your account is basically useless.

Jianzitou lowered his head, took a screenshot, and sent a message to his friends in the small group.

"Another new person has taken the bait, haha."

"Big brother is awesome! He tricked another one! They'll cry when they lose the bet later."

"This is going to be fun. I want to see how they slowly pay off these debts."

"Seeing how hard she's having to fight, she'll probably have to delete her account and start over and go through the tutorial again. Haha, how pitiful."

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The author has something to say: I have never played the game, but I am very familiar with the game content. What's going on? (Looking at the sky)