III. Title
The live stream screen went black quickly, and the netizens who were busy exchanging information hurriedly moved on to another platform.
The public forum, which originally only contained game rules and forum announcements, was now constantly flashing with requests for help.
Pi Min then realized just how bizarre some of the initial residences determined by the system could be.
Tents and holographic capsules are considered relatively good; some unlucky souls even managed to obtain a toilet stall as their initial accommodation by using a public restroom.
The only consolation is that the underground city has always done an excellent job of recycling resources, with urine and feces being 100% recycled and reused, so the toilets in this era don't have any unpleasant smells.
That's all.
The game system quickly popped up a prompt, asking the player to take stock of all available resources in their dwelling. The initial dwelling, where even urine and feces were 100% recycled, was utterly destitute.
Years of gaming experience have made Pi Min keenly aware that the initial resources in a dwelling might be crucial for future upgrades. At this moment, she can only mourn for those unlucky souls who accidentally obtained bizarre initial dwellings.
Unlike those unlucky ones, she was quite wealthy in terms of initial resources, as she owned a recycling station.
Plastic, wood, scrap fabric, and a jumble of metal and broken electronic components were piled up all over the floor. In the corner of the warehouse, there was even a pile of unburnable body parts that she had recently collected from the crematorium.
Bones made of various alloys, artificial hearts and kidneys made with the latest technology...
Even in this era, the taboo surrounding the deceased persists, and the fundamental principle of being human remains: do not disturb the body parts of the deceased. Therefore, those expensive bodily parts are pushed into the incinerator along with the deceased, and after being burned in the flames, these parts, having lost their value, naturally become waste.
User DQ5668745329
Real name: Pi Min
Nickname: It's fun to be a little mischievous
Popularity: 0
Points: 0
Survival time: 0
Items: None
Materials: None
Food: None
[Have you taken inventory of the resources within the residence? Yes/No.]
Pi Min pressed "Yes" without hesitation.
As soon as she pressed "yes," her personal information was quickly refreshed.
User DQ5668745329
Real name: Pi Min
Nickname: It's fun to be a little mischievous
Popularity: 0
Points: 0
Survival time: 0
Items: None
Materials: 18 tons of wood, 52.147 tons of plastic, 21.43 tons of glass, 20.65 tons of common metals, 562.11 catties of rare metals, 34,562 electronic components…
Food: 108 servings of nutrient solution, 6 goldfish.
The resources the game system tallied were more than the resources Pi Min had put into the recycling bin. She was stunned for a moment before she suddenly realized that, in the game system's eyes, her everyday household items were also among the usable resources.
The amount of nutrient solution was correct, but those six goldfish were her pets. What kind of integrity could a system that could recognize pets as food possibly have?
[Does the player wish to exchange the resources in their residence for points?]
Realizing there was a trap, she hurriedly pressed "No".
After pressing the button, she finally saw a line of small print at the very bottom of the resource exchange interface.
[Note: Resources within the residence can be redeemed for points as a whole, categorized by type, or individually. Points can be redeemed for popularity points at the same rate. The points shop will be unlocked after the first successful redemption.]
After reading the contents, she breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed how lucky she was. She almost got scammed by this damn game.
The system clearly hadn't given up, quickly scanning the pair of cufflinks in her hand and popping up the exchange box again.
[Should I exchange this for points?]
Pi Min immediately gritted her teeth and pressed "No".
She decided not to rush to exchange the currency; she planned to check out the forum first.
Sure enough, upon closer inspection, people were already wailing and howling up there.
"Help! I accidentally pressed the exchange button, and now I'm penniless! Damn system, at least leave me a bed to sleep in!" The accompanying picture is of an empty, unfinished house, with even the wallpaper, floor, electrical wiring, and water pipes stripped away.
The poster, whose nickname is "I'm really not unlucky," clearly wanted to find comfort on the forum, but scrolling down revealed a long list of posts.
"Thanks to the Warriors for clearing the way!"
"Thanks to the Warriors for clearing the way!"
"Thanks to the Warriors for clearing the way!"
...
The formation was broken when the poster replied again.
"Sitting on the ground is too cold, so I had to go to the store to redeem a single bed. My points immediately dropped by more than half. Help! This damn system!" The accompanying picture shows a clean, unfinished house with a single bed that is the most ordinary thing in the dungeon placed there.
"Let me show you what my room originally looked like." The accompanying picture shows a lavishly decorated room with paintings, ornaments, and a silk bedding set.
Good heavens! With just one entry and one exit, the deluxe king room instantly transformed into a construction site.
Everyone was clearly shocked by the system's shamelessness, and the post was quiet for a moment before people started replying again.
"Thanks to the Warriors for clearing the way!"
"Thanks to the Warriors for clearing the way!"
"Thanks to the Warriors for clearing the way!"
...
"I'm really not unlucky": "You guys are really going too far! *flips table*"
Perhaps feeling that this unlucky guy wasn't unlucky enough, a mischievous player secretly added, "Friendly reminder, you don't have a table to flip, dear."
"I'm really not unlucky": "Ahahaha iweqgjordjgljfgklsdjk"
The poor guy must have been so angry that he lost his temper and started scribbling on the virtual keyboard with his face.
One person's misfortune brings happiness to everyone. With the unlucky guy's example as a warning, everyone who saw the post subtly withdrew their attempts to exchange all the resources in their residence for points.
With the cautionary tale of exchanging all resources for the same old thing right before his eyes, Pi Min was naturally unwilling to repeat the same mistake.
Curious about what the system's points mall looked like, she went straight to the warehouse, grabbed a charred artificial heart, and redeemed it without hesitation.
[A damaged artificial heart successfully redeemed, earning 200 points.]
[Dear player DQ5668745329, you have just completed your first redemption. The points mall is now open.]
[The item you redeemed was detected to be a human body part. You have been awarded the title "Human Body Decomposer".]
This inexplicable title immediately startled Pi Min, making her realize that it was not a good title. Just as she was about to call for a halt, a global broadcast had already resounded throughout the entire Earth server.
[Congratulations to player DQ5668745329 for obtaining the title "Human Decomposer". As the first player to obtain this title, you are awarded 1000 points.]
As expected, the forum exploded again after the news broke.
"What the hell is this 'human decomposer'? It can't be what I'm thinking, can it?"
Pi Min felt a tingling sensation on her scalp.
She's not, she didn't, don't talk nonsense!
"I'm really not unlucky": "No! I exchanged all the resources and only got 1000 points, while others get 1000 points for just one title. Is there no justice in this world?"
"Human body parts can be exchanged? I'll give it a try."
"Upstairs, don't get agitated! Please don't get agitated!"
...
The netizens who wanted to try it out returned shortly afterward.
"I redeemed the leg that was amputated a few years ago due to an infection and received 200 points. Human body parts can really be redeemed, and there are no requirements regarding freshness."
"Oh, it was the amputated leg! That gave me quite a fright."
"What are you worried about upstairs? Nobody's going to cut off a leg to exchange for it, okay!"
"That's not necessarily true."
"No, who would keep their own amputated leg?"
"What kind of 'human decomposer' do you think that is?"
"I don't want to guess, thanks for the invitation!"
"Shivering.jpg"
"Shivering.jpg"
"Shivering.jpg"
...
Pi Min spent a long time browsing the forum before finally realizing why everyone was trembling with fear.
Originally, each building designated as an initial residence could house more than one person. All residents of a building designated as a single entity would use that building as their initial residence and share all the resources within it equally.
Before the title "Human Decomposer" appeared, no one realized that the human body was a resource. This title, once coined, seemed to break a taboo, instantly making the world seem terrifying. One can only imagine the feelings of those players living in the initial multiplayer settlements.
It's one thing to allocate resources per person in multi-person dwellings, but now even human bodies are being counted as resources...
Pi Min covered her face.
She didn't have any bad intentions; she just wanted to get rid of the junk at the recycling center.
She tried wearing the title "Human Decomposer," and its effect was to double her stamina and defense. With that title effect, the game had blatantly revealed its malicious intent.
If saying "I'm really not unlucky" was like paving the way for everyone, then she stepped on a massive landmine for everyone. She herself got away scot-free, but she caused a huge mess for everyone living in multi-family dwellings.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"
She wanted to post an apology, but in the end she deleted everything she had typed. At this point, no amount of apology would help, and it might even cause more trouble.
Just as she was overwhelmed by a wave of guilt, a game announcement suddenly appeared in front of her.
[Considering that many players have basic living conditions and limited resources at the start, this area is holding a "Show Off Your Home" contest. Players with unusual or unusual homes will receive "sympathy points" from other players, and the top 100 with the highest "sympathy points" will receive rewards. This is a great newbie event with generous rewards, so everyone is welcome to participate.]
Looking at the abundant resources in the waste recycling system, Pi Min shook her head. Although the rewards were generous, she couldn't participate in the activity even if she wanted to.
If she dared to post the photos of the warehouse, she would probably get not sympathy, but rather resentment and anger towards the rich.
Let's give the opportunity to those unlucky souls who accidentally get a bizarre starting residence.
As she expected, most of the contestants were unfortunate souls deserving of sympathy.
The accommodations shown include tents floating in space, lonely holographic capsules, public toilet cubicles without roofs, and even a transparent glass greenhouse...
A glass conservatory?
Pi Min thought she was seeing things and subconsciously rubbed her eyes.
However, to her surprise, what appeared before her was indeed a transparent glass greenhouse.
All submitted photos were taken from a bird's-eye view by the system.
A solitary, transparent glass greenhouse floats in space, its interior lush with greenery and blooming flowers, creating an indescribable sense of absurdity and beauty.
Why would someone's initial dwelling be a glass conservatory? Could it be that some rich girl from the surface world fell asleep in the conservatory?
The underground city has harsh conditions and no suitable conditions for planting; green plants are a luxury.
In the dungeon, if someone posts a photo of themselves with green plants, it's definitely considered showing off wealth, similar to someone in their original world posting a photo with a Hermes or LV bag.
Green plants are more difficult to care for than Hermes or LV bags.
You buy a Hermes or LV bag, and at most, it'll just get old. But plants are different. You spend a lot of money on them, and they might just die right there in front of you.
Pi Min magnified the holographic projection and looked closely. It was indeed a living green plant. Thanks to the advanced technology of this era, she could not only smell the unique fragrance of green plants, but also see glistening dewdrops hanging on the leaves of many plants.
Although the fake flowers and grass in the underground city were extremely realistic, they could only fool underground people who had never seen plants before. However, a transmigrator like her, who had been used to seeing green plants since childhood, could see through them at a glance.
It's true, all the plants in that entire greenhouse are real!
Red, yellow, blue, purple... the colorful flowers were dazzling and their enchanting fragrance was intoxicating. Pi Min couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Such a greenhouse could never exist in an underground city.
In a world where every green plant is more precious than gold, what kind of person would own such a greenhouse?
After searching for a while, Pi Min finally found a red Tyrannosaurus Rex on a recliner in the corner of the greenhouse. The red Tyrannosaurus Rex was wearing a white silk nightgown and looked utterly dejected. Even in its automatically generated animal form, it still exuded the elegance and composure of a pampered young lady.
So, did the final producer really expel all of humanity except himself?
To expel everyone on Earth equally—this madman is something else!
Although she knew she shouldn't, Pi Min couldn't help but want to laugh at that moment.
"We're all in the same boat now, a community with a shared future for mankind. No laughing, no laughing! I can't take it anymore! Turns out it's not just the commoners of the underground city who're suffering, hahahahahahahahahahaha..."
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