Tang Mianmian repeated her old trick: "It was you who insisted on bringing us to District S. You begged us to help you wake up your boss. Now that your boss is awake, you're asking us for points again. We haven't even asked you for medical expenses yet!"

Duan Hongzhen glanced at Tang Mianmian dimly, and she immediately took a few steps back in fear, shrinking behind Xiao Tangqiu: "Of course, it's only natural to pay back the debt. We must still pay back the points we owe..."

Duan Hongzhen shrugged. "One price, 50,000 points. OK?"

Tang Mianmian nodded immediately: "Absolutely OK! Then let's..."

Xiao Tangqiu quickly covered Tang Mianmian's mouth: "I'm applying for installment payment!"

"Installment payment? Don't you even have 50,000 right now? Didn't you just complete an S-rank mission?" Duan Hongzhen raised an eyebrow and added, emphasizing, "...with our guidance."

Xiao Tangqiu immediately said, "Thank you, Master, for showing off and letting me fly... But we still need some points to buy some weapons and equipment, otherwise we might really die in the next dungeon. I believe you don't want to see that result."

Duan Hongzhen shrugged: "Why not?"

Xiao Tangqiu: "...I'll apply to pay it back after the next instance is over, and I'll pay 60,000 then."

Duan Hongzhen said with a smile: "I don't mind the 10,000. If you die in the next instance, I won't even have 50,000 left."

Xiao Tangqiu: "..."

He felt that he shouldn't have mentioned the point repayment in the first place. Let him be mean! Let him be mean!

...But if he didn't mention this, perhaps he would never have a reason to see Shen Yuan again.

Duan Hongzhen observed Xiao Tangqiu's expression with great interest. He waited until Xiao Tangqiu seemed to have had enough fun before he slowly spoke, "Alright, I'll allow you to pay it back after the next instance, but you'll have to pay back 70,000 points by then."

Xiao Tangqiu gritted his teeth and said, "Are you buying vegetables at the market? Why are you bargaining so hard?"

He didn't know whether Duan Hongzhen really had the power to see through people's hearts. Seventy thousand points were indeed the most they could give out now. They needed supplies and weapons. Apart from these points that had to be consumed, he and Tang Mianmian could only grit their teeth and pay out another seventy thousand points at most... But at least, Duan Hongzhen gave them time to complete another mission. As long as they could return safely from the next mission, they would have more money on hand.

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian looked at each other, reached a common opinion, and nodded in agreement to this way of repaying the debt.

After the three of them reached a consensus, Duan Hongzhen patted his butt and left in a leisurely manner, while Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian returned to their new home in District D.

The two of them were exhausted after traveling all the way and collapsed to the ground as soon as they got home.

Tang Mianmian lay on the ground and poked Xiao Tangqiu beside her: "What should we do next?"

Xiao Tangqiu looked up at the ceiling. "Let's rest for a week, then go on missions and earn enough points to repay Duan Hongzhen. Then, continue to do missions and earn points, and try to move to S District as soon as possible."

"Move to S District? Are we really going to move to S District?" Tang Mianmian turned over and looked at Xiao Tangqiu. "Although we can enter S District at will now, it will definitely cost a lot of points. We two poor rookies..."

Xiao Tangqiu rested his head on his hands. "Who among those great players in District S didn't start out as a poor rookie? If they can do it, why can't we?"

Tang Mianmian said, "But Duan Hongzhen said that District S is a decadent world of extravagance and debauchery. What if we enter District S and become corrupted and learn bad things?"

Xiao Tangqiu smiled. "Besides all the luxuries and enjoyment in District S, there must be some secrets we don't know about. Otherwise, why would all those people run to District S? They've experienced so many near-death experiences, constantly walking between life and death. Could it be that they ran to District S just to enjoy themselves?"

Tang Mianmian thought for a moment and said, "That seems to make sense."

"And I believe the environment has a significant impact on people. Look at those people living in the Novice Village, their eyes, their attitudes... We've only just arrived in the City of Abyss, so perhaps we won't be influenced by them for the time being. But if we stay in the Novice Village for too long, I'm afraid we'll be assimilated by them, becoming numb and only knowing how to live a mediocre life," Xiao Tangqiu sighed. "I think this is the real reason Su Manluo asked us to leave the Novice Village as soon as possible."

If you enter a room full of orchids, you will no longer smell their fragrance for a long time; if you enter a store selling abalone, you will no longer smell their stench for a long time... The assimilation of the environment to a person is very terrible.

"That makes sense!" Tang Mianmian suddenly turned over and climbed up, her eyes suddenly becoming very determined. "After hearing what you said, I also began to feel that this matter could not be delayed! We should immediately take the mission to earn points and try to move into the S area as soon as possible!"

Xiao Tangqiu smiled and said, "It's not that urgent. Let's rest for a few days, then collect information online, exercise to improve our combat effectiveness, and then buy all the equipment and weapons before setting off."

Tang Mianmian nodded: "It's a happy decision!"

The two had originally planned to rest for a few days, but because of a sudden sense of crisis, they only rested for one day before impatiently starting to plan and prepare for the next mission. They first climbed onto the Abyss Forum to collect known information, but found that most of the public free posts did not mention the main points. Basically, posts that mentioned the main points required a fee. They gritted their teeth and spent some points, and finally obtained some more valuable information.

Generally speaking, the first few tasks for newcomers who have just entered the City of Abyss are D-level tasks. This is probably a kind of protection for novices. Then the tasks will be upgraded according to the quality and potential of the newcomers. Some people may have to complete 10 D-level tasks before they have the opportunity to receive C-level tasks, and some people may be able to receive C-level tasks after completing 3 D-level tasks. However, there are also people with good quality and potential who can receive tasks above A level from the beginning. However, what is the standard for judging this quality and potential? No one has been able to analyze it so far. Some people think it is "force" and some people think it is "brainpower", but the two factions have been arguing until now and no one has been able to convince the other.

At first, Xiao Tangqiu also thought that it was either martial arts or brainpower, but then he remembered the group of newcomers he met in the previous S-level copy. No matter how he looked at them, they didn't look like people with special potential in martial arts or brainpower... Sure enough, the judgment criteria was a mystery.

He continued reading and found that someone pointed out that the "system" might temporarily increase the difficulty of the next task based on the player's performance in the previous task, but if the player performed averagely in this temporarily increased difficulty task, the next task would return to its original difficulty. However, the judgment criteria of this system remained a mystery.