Chapter 278 I Picked Up Trash on the Battlefield of National Fortune 34
Zhou Jue returned to the small house and sat on the edge of the bed, still pondering.
"Brother Tongzi," she said softly.
"I'm here, host."
“The appraiser at the auction, the auctioneer, and the pharmacist who reported me—they are different from the other cleaners I encountered at the venue,” Zhou Jue said.
"What's different?"
“They have emotions; they can be afraid, they can be obsequious, they can be excited.” Zhou Jue recalled the old man’s attitude of being arrogant at first and then obsequious: “But those cleaners have empty eyes, like machines. They are all NPCs, so why is there such a big difference?”
The system's voice paused for a moment, and when it spoke again, the silly demeanor had vanished.
"Host, because most of the NPCs on this battlefield are not native programs."
"They... are all data remnants extracted from other destroyed planets by the national destiny system."
Zhou Jue paused for a moment, his fingers holding the water glass: "What do you mean?"
"It means that they were once living, breathing people too." The system's voice was somewhat low.
"Their planet failed in the game of national destiny and was completely swallowed up. The data of some of them was extracted, their memories were wiped, and they were injected with new identities and programs, becoming part of this 'game'."
"They themselves are also victims."
Zhou Jue didn't speak. She thought of the money-grubbing NPC at the flea market and the appraiser with a monocle.
Were they also...victims?
"So, if Lao Jiang and his team successfully buy the planetary barrier," Zhou Jue asked, "what will happen to them?"
"Their data is deeply intertwined with this descending national destiny system," the system replied.
"Either, they will be excluded along with the national destiny system and continue to carry out missions on the next planet to be located."
"Either you stay here forever, along with the national destiny system."
Zhou Jue understood that no matter the outcome, their fates were tied to this system, and he was powerless to change it.
She put aside the inexplicable emotions in her heart and turned to ask about something more important.
"Won't the national destiny system monitor Jiang Zhe's communications with Lan Xing?"
"It doesn't have any sensitive words like 'planetary barrier' set to trigger alerts?"
"Hehe." The system's voice immediately became smug: "Don't worry, host! Don't you know who I am!"
“I have already gained access to more than half of the data in this national system. As long as they don’t keep threatening to ‘overthrow the system’ and trigger the core alarms, I can perfectly disguise these communications as ordinary data exchanges.”
The system paused for a moment, as if searching for a suitable analogy: "From the perspective of the National Fortune System, Jiang Zhe was merely reporting the auction details to the Blue Star headquarters."
Zhou Jue breathed a sigh of relief, then his eyes darted around and he suddenly asked, "Since you can manipulate the data, can you just change my score? Just add a few zeros."
"No way!" The system's voice instantly changed tone, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Host, don't get me into trouble! Points are the core data, every single one is directly linked to the main system. If I make any move, it will be detected immediately! Then we'll both be under surveillance!"
"I can help you alter the points earned from selling potions because those points are rightfully yours, not something you can create out of thin air!"
"That's all." Zhou Jue leaned against the headboard and stopped talking.
In the following days, life seemed to return to its initial tranquility.
During the day, she is 0714, cleaning up trash in the ruins, frantically picking up materials to exchange for points, or leaving them for forging.
At night, she arrives in town at 10:24 to collect broken items, sell a small amount of potions, and finally go to the flea market.
Her points accumulation began to slow down, and Zhou Jue realized that the "Ascending to Heaven Plan" had officially started.
The Dragon Kingdom is concentrating the energy of every single cog in the machine into a single point in an extreme way.
This is a good thing for them.
But for Zhou Jue, it was not the case.
She opened her bracelet and looked at the balance of over ten million points. The number was huge, but it was still far from her goal of one hundred million.
At the current rate of daily growth, it would take her decades to save enough.
She can't wait any longer! Relying solely on the Dragon Kingdom route is no longer a viable option.
Zhou Jue closed her eyes, and scenes from the auction flashed through her mind.
Scott roared out a price of nine million for a sword.
The mysterious merchant in black robes casually followed up with 6.2 million.
The noble NPC in the second-floor private room made Scott empty his pockets with just one bid.
Quartermaster-007.
Black Market Merchant - 444.
The nobles of the central city.
These are the people who truly control enormous wealth on this battlefield; they may have already experienced dozens of games of national destiny.
Unlike players, they don't need to carefully calculate the costs of each mission.
They have so many points that they can spend a fortune on a favorite item.
A thought clearly emerged in Zhou Jue's mind.
Players' money is harder to earn, but NPCs' money... seems to have remained untouched. Zhou Jue's eyes lit up in the dimly lit room.
She immediately switched back to her 1024 identity and opened the familiar internal employee forum.
This time, she didn't look at the trading areas filled with "buying large quantities of D-grade materials" and "selling C-grade daggers," nor did she look at any gossip.
Her finger swiped across the screen and clicked directly into another section.
[Task Bounty]
[Mutual Assistance in Daily Life]
This is where the high-level NPCs post their requests.
On the screen, messages flashed by rapidly.
[Chef-111: Offering a reward of 30,000 points for a wok with automatic temperature control, preferably a Grade B one.]
[Guardian-9527: Can anyone repair my A-grade shield? It's been corroded by the corrupted lord, leaving a huge hole. The official shop's price is outrageous! Price is negotiable!]
[Gardener-369: Seeking fertilizer to neutralize acidic soil, as much as needed.]
Zhou Jue's gaze swept quickly across these posts, silently noting down each ID and their needs.
Most of the bounties offered to her were either too low in return or too niche in terms of requirements.
She directly sorted the bounties from highest to lowest in the bounty section.
The screen refreshed, and a row of new posts appeared at the top.
[Black Market Merchant - 444: 5 million points bounty for a live "Void Dragon Egg".]
Zhou Jue swiped past it; he'd never even heard of it.
[Captain of the City Lord's Guard: A bounty of three million points is offered for the trail of 'Shadow,' the number one assassin on the assassination list.]
Zhou Jue swiped away again; she didn't want to cause trouble for the time being.
Her gaze continued downwards, and suddenly, her fingers stopped.
On the screen, the title of a post caught her eye.
Posted by: [Quartermaster-007]
Bounty amount: 1,000,000 points
Bounty: [Find a rare material or finished potion capable of repairing 'soul damage'.]
Quartermaster-007.
Zhou Jue remembered this ID; someone had mentioned him in a discussion thread before the auction started, saying that he had prepared at least 500,000 points.
It now seems that the information about that person was too conservative. Someone who can casually offer a bounty of one million points must have an absolutely terrifying net worth.
Soul damage.
This word makes most players and NPCs hesitate. In this world where technology and the bizarre coexist, physical injuries can be healed with medicine and healing devices, but damage to the soul is almost an incurable disease.
But for Zhou Jue, this task was worth a try. Looking at the post, a smile slowly crept onto her lips.
A new customer has been found.
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