Chapter 240: Inhuman (48) (1st update + 2nd update + 0.5 update) [VIP]

The 270th Business All-Around Challenge came to a successful conclusion.

Bai Jinshu opened his eyes and found himself still in the nutrition cabin, in the same position as before he lost consciousness and entered Monopoly.

There is a transparent plastic cover on top of the nutrition capsule. Through the light blue liquid, you can see that the white incandescent light above the landing capsule accommodation room is dyed with a light blue color.

The space inside the nutrition cabin is small, but fortunately the lighting and vision are not restricted, so people don't feel cramped.

A broadcasting voice came from my ears: [All awake contestants, please press the button on the right side of your palm in the cabin to confirm your awakeness.]

Bai Jinshu moved his right arm and fumbled to press a round button.

After about ten seconds, the second broadcast sounded: [Confirmed that all contestants are awake, nutrition cabin is ready.]

After three short warning sounds, the blue liquid around him quickly faded away, the transparent cabin cover above his head popped up, and dry air instantly rushed into his nasal cavity.

Bai Jinshu coughed a few times and sat up with his hands on the edge of the nutrition cabin.

The other newcomers in the room also stood up from the nutrition cabin one by one.

Xiao Fei coughed and spit wildly: "Why is this nutrient solution bitter? Cough cough... spit!"

"What are you doing in the nutrition cabin with your mouth open?" Xiao Tang glanced at him with disdain, stood up from the nutrition cabin, shook the water off his hands, but found that his hands were dry. "Oh, they are dry so quickly?"

She looked at her clothes, which had no water stains at all, curiously: "What kind of high-tech is this?"

Xiao Tang turned around and reached into the nutrition cabin and felt around: "It's really done."

After she said this, the remaining few people also lowered their heads and looked at themselves.

Sure enough, after the nutrient solution disappeared, their bodies felt dry as if they had never been soaked in liquid.

Bai Jinshu observed his skin. This nutrient solution was indeed high-tech. They should have been soaked in it for at least several hours during the competition. However, his fingertips, which were most likely to wrinkle when soaked in the liquid, did not show any wrinkles at all and were extremely smooth.

He twisted his fingertips, supported himself on the bulkhead and jumped out.

The clothes on his body were also unusually dry, as if there was a hydrophobic film wrapping around him when he was soaking in water.

Bai Jin's description was simple, but for others, this nutrient capsule was not so easy to get out.

Xiao Fei tried for a long time, but finally gave up and stretched out his hand to Xiao Tang: "Sister Xiao Tang, please help me, I can't get out."

"Wait a minute," Xiao Tang waved his hand, "I'll go rescue Huang Mao first."

Huangmao struggled in the nutrition cabin for a long time, and was finally lifted up from it by Xiao Tang with both hands.

Obviously, he was not too short, about 1.73 or 1.74 meters tall, but in Xiao Tang's hands, the yellow-haired ghost fire boy, who was not short, suddenly became incredibly petite and was carried out by her obediently.

“Hey, hey, hey, little sister Tang!” The yellow-haired man struggled hard, “After all, I am a young man in my twenties! Can you please stop carrying me like a dog? I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!”

"Tsk..." Xiao Tang threw him to the ground with disdain and clapped his hands, "It's your blessing that I am willing to carry you."

The yellow-haired man rubbed his red neck, angry but not daring to say anything.

It's unbearable to watch.

Bai Jinshu silently looked away, thinking that this was probably a stereotype. It was normal for most people to appear very weak and small in front of a tough human like Xiao Tang.

Xiaofei was also picked out by her in a similar way, but compared to Huangmao, he was much quieter.

As for the three girls in the team, Xiao Tang was much gentler, and she carried the three girls out in her arms. Except for Nian Yu, Xiao Tao and Li Zi both smiled and said thank you Sister Xiao Tang amid Huang Mao's wailing.

Xiao Tang was having a lot of fun carrying people. Bai Jinshu looked around and walked towards Huai Jiamu: "Do you want me to help?"

Just as Huai Jiamu was about to answer, Bai Jinshu saw that he was already halfway out of the nutrition cabin.

"Ah, you're already out," he glanced casually, turned around and prepared to pull the old horse, "Then you don't need my help, I'll take a look at the old horse."

"...Wait a minute," he just turned around and heard Huai Jiamu's voice, "It's a bit stuck."

"...Are you stuck?" Bai Jinshu was stunned for a second and turned around, "Why don't you just stand up?"

Huai Jiamu's movements now are very strange.

It's not that his movements were abnormal, it's just that the space in the nutrition cabin was small, it was not convenient to bend the knees, and the opening position on both sides was not suitable for supporting the upper body with arms. So if you want to get out, you either have to be extremely flexible or have great strength, or you can only rely on the help of others like Huangmao or Xiaotao.

But Huai Jiamu was neither of those. His body parts were twisted at an angle that humans could not do, as if he was missing some joints or bones. He escaped from the nutrition capsule easily and now all he had to do was stand up from inside.

The identity he got this time is not a human?

Bai Jinshu was stunned for a few seconds and was instantly speechless about his subconscious thoughts.

I almost forgot that Huai Jiamu met him in the teahouse's ghost story [Fox's Wedding]. He was not a human in the ghost story, not to mention how an identity that can appear in a ghost story could be a human.

But now he has clearly come out of the nutrition cabin in this posture, so where is he stuck?

"My legs are stuck," Huai Jiamu said calmly in the face of his doubts, "Pull it, I can't stand up by myself."

"Okay..." Bai Jinshu was puzzled, but still reached out a hand to grab his wrist and exerted force towards himself.

Following his movement, this huge weirdo, who was probably not a human, stood up and staggered a few steps forward unsteadily. Fortunately, Bai Jinshu, who had seen the state of Xiaofei and Huangmao after they got up, was prepared and reached out to help them, thus preventing the two from falling together.

Due to this delay, the last horse in the team who had not gotten up was enthusiastically carried out of the nutrition cabin by Xiao Tang.

Lao Ma was a tower crane worker in his forties. He probably hadn't been treated like this for more than twenty years. His face turned red as if he was drunk. As soon as Xiao Tang put him down, he stood up and walked aside.

Just when everyone came out of the nutrition cabin, there was a gentle knock on the door. After a few knocks, a team of employees in formal attire walked in, all holding a round tray in their hands.

On the tray was a white towel, a transparent goblet filled with an unknown liquid, a small plate of fruit and a few delicious-looking cakes. The receptionist at the head said in a friendly voice, "Congratulations to everyone for winning the championship of this year's Business All-Round Challenge. Here is the afternoon tea prepared by the organizer. You can move to the lounge to enjoy it."

"Here are the towels," she took a few steps forward and handed the tray to Bai Jinshu, "You can clean it up a bit."

Bai Jinshu reached out to take the towel and said in an inexplicable tone: "Is this the treatment for winning the championship?"

Even the towels were hot.

This was in stark contrast to the indifferent attitude of the front desk staff when they entered here before.

The organizers are just as damn snobby as the announcement.

"This is the treatment for VIPs here," the receptionist avoided his question with a smile, and stretched out her hand to lead Bai Jinshu towards the lounge.

In the lounge, Yuan Shanming had already sat at the table.

In front of him, the small round table was already piled with various desserts and fruits, and even a few cups of drinks of different colors. Two waiters gathered on his left and right, and considerately handed him tableware.

It can be seen that Yuan Shanming's face was extremely stiff, probably because he had not encountered such courtesy many times. When he saw Bai Jinshu and the others coming over, a rare look of "salvation" appeared on his face.

Seeing them coming, all the waiters working in the lounge stood up straight and bowed solemnly towards the door.

The atmosphere was so serious that the yellow-haired man, who was walking in front and had already stepped half a foot into the restaurant, took a step back and retracted his foot.

It's scary, what is this for?

The waiters formed two lines and stood behind the lounge door, welcoming everyone in.

If conditions permit, Bai Jinshu believes that they would even lay a red carpet on the ground.

Seeing this scene, all the newlyweds stopped in their tracks for a moment, and no one dared to go in.

"Here is a little gift from our competition team," seeing that they didn't dare to go in, the receptionist smiled and looked at Bai Jinshu to smooth things over, "The competition is too long. Although there is nutrient solution, it is also necessary to eat a proper amount of food to replenish energy."

So thoughtful?

Why make it so grand?

Everyone looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

Finally, Xiao Tang said directly: "Did you take the wrong medicine?"

Even if he's the champion, it shouldn't be like this, right?

"Perhaps our way of expressing respect is too grand. If you contestants and guests do not want to eat, you can leave now," the receptionist said with an unchanged expression. He glanced at his watch and waved to the people outside. "We will send a special car to take you back to your place of stay."

This is even stranger.

Wasn’t it a special car before?

Everyone looked confused, not knowing whether to stay or leave. They just felt that the organizer's 360-degree turn around was inexplicable and a little confusing.

Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds, and Xiao Tang looked at Yuan Shanming: "Brother Yuan, is it delicious?"

There are already several pieces of small cake missing from Yuan Shanming's table.

Yuan Shanming: "Uh... it's okay. Not too sweet... I was a little hungry while waiting for you, so I ate a few."

He was sitting alone in the lounge, watching the waiters line up in two lines, which was quite awkward.

Xiao Tang: "Then give me some of the ones that are missing from his desk."

She sat down at the table very naturally and actually started eating.

"Okay, we'll get it now." The receptionist smiled and nodded, and the waiter behind her quickly came to everyone with new small cakes and placed a few copies on each table.

"Sit down, it's a waste if you don't eat," Xiao Tang said calmly, "It's time for dinner anyway."

It has to be Xiao Tang.

Everyone watched her finish one portion, order another, and sit down hesitantly.

Huang Mao tried to pick up a piece with his fork, and his expression immediately became convinced: "It's really delicious!"

"Really? Let me try it." Xiao Fei responded positively.

After a while, everyone started eating.

"Don't you want to eat?" The receptionist looked at Bai Jinshu attentively, "If there is any food you like, you can also tell our waiter and we will pass it to the kitchen."

Why is the receptionist so attentive to him?

This is beyond the effect range of [Welcome!], right?

Or did this buff grow a lot without his knowledge?

Bai Jinshu opened the live broadcast room and glanced at the comments:

【I want to eat】

【It looks delicious. 】

These cakes look delicious.

[The waiter is also very enthusiastic...]

The comments were all talking about food, but Bai Jinshu ignored them and clicked on the buff icon above.

As expected, maybe it was because of the recognition of children in this Monopoly game, the affinity of [Welcome!] has reached 170, and many of the items are related to those NPCs.

Things like [Recognition of the West District Gang], [Destroyer of the Fraud Park], and [General of the Qin Army] are fine, but the most outrageous one is [Father of the Business All-Round Challenge], which increases the affinity by up to 50.

Barrage: [The father-son relationship recognized by the Novice Village! ]

[The anchor is really amazing, he actually got this kind of entry. ]

[The level of the ghost stories is very high. If the Business All-Round Challenge does not add it voluntarily, then this entry will not appear. 】

[So this was added by the host’s sixth son himself? ]

[What sixth son? The eldest son? Do you think the other five have household registration? ]

[The other five are just illegitimate children without household registration, and only the one in the announcement is the father and son with a household registration relationship with the anchor. ]

[What a thoughtful announcement, the first one to be added to the anchor's account. ]

Bai Jinshu: ...

He felt that he really didn't need a weirdo to occupy the child's place in his household registration.

The audience on the barrage said that the addition of this item requires the permission of the announcement, so what is this? The announcement registered itself?

Then he probably knew...why the waiters here were so unusually enthusiastic towards them.

His current label in the eyes of these ghosts is probably: [The boss’s father].

I'm really sorry for being so young...

Bai Jinshu's eyelids twitched violently, and he quickly gestured to the front desk: "You guys go out first, we don't need you here for the time being."

"Okay, okay," the receptionist left very decisively.

As the remaining waiters all left, the last waiter considerately closed the door. Yuan Shanming finally couldn't hold back his doubts and asked impatiently, "What on earth did you do?"

He pointed at the table full of desserts, fruits and drinks, then pointed at the closed door, and lowered his voice: "This is the treatment, winning the championship? Didn't they say it's best not to win the championship?"

He said anxiously, "It's meaningless to get the Buff in S City. The S in other areas may not be able to trigger it without this buff. If we go too late, the trigger will fail. Even if we have a way to grab it, we won't have the chance to do so!"

"Hmm..." Xiao Tang stopped talking and said with a subtle look, "Although we did win the championship, I don't think their treatment is because of our victory."

"What is that?" Yuan Shanming was confused.

Xiao Tang: "Oh, because Ersi is the father of the game."

Yuan Shanming: “Ah?

Yuan Shanming was even more confused.

"Er Si..." He looked at Bai Jinshu blankly, "What were you doing in there?"

"Does this game last that long?" He looked puzzled and cautious. "Did you kill anyone in there?"

Bai Jinshu: ...

He glared at Xiao Tang silently. Xiao Tang shrank his neck, made a zipper gesture with his mouth, and went to the side to eat the cake.

Bai Jinshu took a deep breath and said, "No, we had some communication with the organizers of the game and we have a good relationship."

"Monopoly has undergone an updated version in our competition this time. In the latest version, the victory is no longer determined by a single region, but by a single camp." He changed the subject very abruptly.

Fortunately, this topic was one that Yuan Shanming was very concerned about, and he quickly drew attention to it: "I haven't heard of it, why did it change the version?"

Yuan Shanming frowned and said, "Generally speaking, the content of the ghost stories will not change, otherwise there would not be leaders like us. Our task is to familiarize ourselves with the various ghost stories in the Novice Village, so as to increase the survival rate of the newcomers and ensure that you will not die in it."

But why did the strange story of Monopoly suddenly change?

"That's not important," Xiao Tang wiped his mouth, "The revised rules are actually more beneficial to the contestants. It's a good reform."

"What do you mean?" Yuan Shanming looked at her.

"You should know from outside that we won the championship this time," Bai Jinshu clasped his hands together, "but in fact, the championship of this competition was tied among four regions."

"Wait...how did you do that?" Yuan Shanming widened his eyes.

"Because the version has been changed to one faction winning," Xiao Tang said with a grin, "Brother Yuan, you may not know, but after this version change, as long as four regions belong to the same faction, all four regions can get the buff, so the other three regions besides us also got this buff."

As soon as these words were spoken, Yuan Shanming's expression changed obviously.

A thoughtful look appeared on his face, and joy gradually spread from the corners of his eyes: "If that's the case... will S in the three regions be very easy to trigger?"

"And this way, you don't have to worry about the region you found out in Monopoly being wrong..." His mind raced, "According to the situation in the previous few games, all players in the region will automatically receive this buff after the representative team wins. The information about the increased regional trigger rate cannot be concealed, and soon a large number of people from other teams will flock to the winning area, causing the strange story to trigger a run..."

His eyes lit up as he spoke: "The news of a large number of teams moving to other regions will soon spread. In this case, we only need to pay attention to which regions have such news in the next few days, and we can directly target the other three regions!"

"Yes," Xiao Tang nodded, "and we have already identified one of the areas."

Yuan Shanming looked up: "Where?"

Bai Jin said: "B city."

The capital of violence.

*

Yuan Shanming kept muttering until he was escorted out of the office building by waiters, walked on the red carpet into a stretch limousine with a starry sky roof, and then got out of the car and returned to the teahouse.

"The City of Violence? How can there be a City of Violence..." He looked at Xiao Tang, Er Si and the big weirdo beside him, and sighed worriedly, "Forget it, it's not impossible. Then you guys don't have to go to B City this time."

Of course, the "you" he refers to is the people other than these three people.

"What's wrong?" The yellow-haired man's face was full of curiosity and confusion. "Why, Brother Yuan, what on earth is in the City of Violence? It shouldn't be that serious, right?"

"Of course not." Yuan Shanming's face was filled with worry. "That place... I was really worried that you guys wouldn't be able to come back after you went there."

The teahouse was packed with people, and everyone was pushing and shoving. After finally squeezing into the lobby, they found that there was not a single empty table.

Except for a few familiar-looking regulars and some guests in long gowns and jackets, the rest of the people sitting in the lobby were actually newcomers.

When they saw Yuan Shanming, several other team leaders greeted him and it seemed like they had a pretty good relationship.

"What's going on?" Xiao Fei looked at the crowded lobby blankly, "Where do so many people come from in the teahouse?"

"You guys are back," said the teahouse owner Ma, who walked over cheerfully, holding a teacup in his hand. "These are the teams that triggered the strange story today."

Xiao Tao was stunned for a few seconds: "The teahouse's strange story is not triggered by..."

Doesn't it require the use of Soul-Returning Incense to trigger it? Yuan Shanming said that few people run teahouses because of the scarcity of materials?

Where do so many teams come from?

"Oh, you don't know?" Boss Ma said enthusiastically, "I don't know which team won the Monopoly. Now the efficiency of triggering ghost stories in the whole area has increased. Many people from surrounding areas have come here. It's very lively outside S City. These are people from other areas who have no place to stay, so they come to the teahouse."

They really didn't know, and on the way back in the racing team's car, no one paid attention to the outside world.

"With so many people...are there any guest rooms?" Huangmao couldn't help himself.

"No," Boss Ma said calmly, "At night we will put the tables together in the lobby and make beds for them."

This is really...

Everyone looked at these newcomers with twitching lips. They didn't expect that after triggering ghost stories became easier, the first one to be impacted would be the teahouse.

This place was directly turned into a hotel for foreign teams, and they charged one cent per person. Anyway, these people just needed a place to stay and had no requirements for accommodation conditions. Of course, Boss Ma was happy to let them do what they wanted.

All businessmen are dishonest. He even raised the price and cheated the team leaders for a lot of other materials.

The teahouse lobby was now noisy, and it was impossible to have a conversation. Everyone looked at each other, and finally Yuan Shanming made the decision: "Let's talk in my room."

Yuan Shanming lived in the upper room of the teahouse reserved for him by the owner. They had only been there once, on the first day they entered the place, to listen to him tell stories as a storyteller. The room was very big, more than enough to seat the ten of them, not to mention that two of them were dead now.

Everyone walked into Yuan Shanming's room and finally continued the topic that had just been interrupted.

"Is B really that exaggerated?" Xiao Tang asked curiously, "But we saw a short guy who couldn't fight in the fourth division team, and he was able to survive, so why can't Huangmao and the others?"

Huangmao and Xiaofei are at least much better than that short guy studying economics, right?

"That person may not be a member of the B-district team," Yuan Shanming said worriedly, holding his forehead.

"The entry threshold to the City of Violence is too high," he said with a sigh. "You said that short guy is studying economics, but it's very likely that he was borrowed from another area, and he may not be a member of the local team in City B."

"Besides, there are relatively few people like us who stay in one area. It is very likely that his team is exploring across regions," Yuan Shanming said in a muffled voice. "There are many areas near B City. It is very likely that B City is just one of their exploration areas. In this case, he does not necessarily need to enter B City. It is his teammates who enter B City, and he is responsible for exploring other areas. However, B City is one of the exploration areas of his team, so it is also okay for him to be assigned to the B City representative team."

In short, the short man will definitely not be able to survive in B City. It is impossible for someone like him to be a ghost story in B City.

"Ah? Is it dangerous for Sister Tang and Erge to go there?" Huangmao asked with concern.

"As for Xiao Tang and Er Si... they're fine," Yuan Shanming thought for a moment, "With Xiao Tang's fighting power, he won't have to worry about being at a disadvantage in B City."

As for Ersi...

He couldn't help but shift his gaze to Bai Jinshu.

Although he didn't know the specific strength of this person, he only knew that he had triggered the S City-limited buff [Welcome!], so he was probably a brave man. But he had a big weirdo who he didn't even know the details of, and according to others, he was very protective of him, so he probably wouldn't get into trouble.

After all, a ghost story that can leave its area and still exert its power must be a very powerful ghost story.

Yuan Shanming felt that he didn't need to worry about him.

"I may not be able to take care of the rest of you in the next few days," he knocked on the table, "but fortunately, the ghost stories in S City will become extremely easy to trigger in the next few days, so there shouldn't be any problems. You have been in the Novice Village for so many days. If you think the ghost stories outside are too dangerous, you can stay in the teahouse and don't go out."

The way he said this sounded like he had made up his mind to take only three people to B City.

As a team leader, Yuan Shanming has always been at ease since he entered the Novice Village. Even when faced with provocations from other teams, he has behaved quite tough.

This was the first time he showed a deep fear of a certain place, which immediately made everyone nervous.

"Is B City so dangerous?" Li Zi opened her mouth a little in surprise, "What kind of place is this?"

I've never heard of a region where the weak simply can't survive.

Even for newcomers like them who have no fighting power, they can still survive in some relatively dangerous dungeons by holding on to the legs of the two big guys in the team.

Is this place so dangerous?

Yes, it's really dangerous.

——The next morning, everyone who arrived at B City using the "A Rapid Progress" Buff soon suffered a great mental shock in the hail of bullets.

Literally, a hail of bullets.

B is an international metropolis.

But the strange thing is that the further you go from the suburbs to the city center, the taller the buildings become, but the fewer people there are.

Houses seem to be concentrated in suburban areas. In the entire city, residential buildings higher than five stories are extremely rare, not to mention the residential areas and high-rise buildings that can be seen everywhere in other places.

The city center of B City looks highly modernized, but there is no residential area at all. At first glance, it is all commercial areas and office buildings.

The commercial district is also frighteningly desolate.

"Is there no one here?" Xiao Tang looked blankly towards the commercial area beside the road.

On the street, all the shops had their doors closed. It was clearly business hours, but the lights in all the shops were off, and the doors were all blocked by thick rolling shutters with a large iron lock that looked very heavy hanging underneath.

There was a noisy sound in the distance that was inaudible, and there was no one on the street.

Is B so dangerous that businesses dare not open their doors?

It stands to reason that merchants who can do business in a city like this should have some means of survival, right?

How dangerous must this place be if all these shops are closed?

"This shouldn't be the case..." Yuan Shanming frowned in confusion, "Xiao Tang, don't go over there yet. It wasn't like this when I came here before."

"Let me take a look." Xiao Tang didn't look back, but walked cautiously towards the store door, trying to see what was going on inside through the glass window next to it.

At this moment, something suddenly flew over from behind.

She turned around swiftly, and the flying bottle quickly hit the iron gate.

The heat wave is coming.

It turned out to be a fuel bottle made by primitive method!

Xiao Tang took a few quick steps back and ran out of the store in an instant.

And her reaction was indeed quick, because in the next second, several men in hoodies with their faces covered ran out, holding hammers, shovels and other things in their hands.

They raised hammers and shovels and smashed the shop's glass without even looking up.

With the sound of glass breaking, several hooded men whose faces could not be seen rushed into the store, cleared out all the goods on the shelves, smashed and picked up the things, and quickly left through the broken hole with a bunch of things in their arms. Their movements were so smooth that they didn't even look at the newcomers next to them, leaving them stunned.

In the distance, more sounds of breaking glass were heard from the commercial district, and it was foreseeable that more stores would be smashed in the future.

Xiao Tang: "Ah, this..."

"B City..." She was silent for a few seconds suspiciously, "B City is dangerous. So the danger is here?"

This group of people...

These people are...

Bai Jinshu: "...Zero dollar purchase?"

The author has something to say:

On the first day I entered B City, I saw Guan Hongyan buying something for free: This is the feeling of my hometown!