Chapter 16 D City
◎It seems like...looking back on the past.◎
A bony hand rested on the clean, white bathtub. Green veins were faintly visible under the thin skin. Xie Songjin sighed, lifted his overly long bangs, and answered the terminal call that had been ringing non-stop.
"Hey, Little Tomato, what's the matter?" He asked weakly, looking lazily at the water drops dripping from his fingertips.
Cherry Tomato's voice sounded furious: "Excuse me, Mr. Puppet Master, do you still remember that you are the vice president of our Second Guild? Can you use your brain when doing things? Do you know that the four cities are now discussing why the vice president of our Second Guild wanted to win over a newcomer, not to mention that this newcomer indirectly killed the C-level player of the Third Guild!"
"Guess what everyone is saying now. They all suspect that we are using the newcomer as an excuse to take the blame. The truth is that we have long been fed up with the Third Guild and deliberately plotted to murder the C-rank player of the Third Guild!"
"This is ridiculous. I didn't even start the live broadcast. If I really wanted to deal with those guys from the Third Guild, I would have to at least set off some firecrackers on their graves." Xie Songjin complained. He paused and then said helplessly, "Is this why you offered a bounty on Gu Qiufeng as soon as he left the guild?"
Cherry Tomato said sternly, "You're questioning me. I haven't asked you why you're so concerned about a newcomer. You even killed a player from a third guild and exposed the issues between our two guilds to everyone. Xie Songjin, are you out of control?"
"I admit that I lost control of my emotions at the time." Xie Songjin said, "And you know..."
Cherry Tomato said coldly, "Don't give me any nonsense. Xie Songjin, you have to make it clear to me, whether Gu Qiufeng is the son of the old friend you mentioned or not, it has nothing to do with me or the Second Guild. The old friend is your old friend, not mine. Before you do anything, please make it clear that you have caused trouble to the guild."
"Little Tomato, why do you become more unkind as you get older?" Xie Songjin chuckled. "How can I question you? Anyway, Gu Qiufeng went to City D by mistake, and your bounty order is invalid. Let's just put this matter behind us."
"Well, calm down. Dear President, please invite a nurse with healing skills to the tavern in City B for me." Xie Songjin said, sinking his body into the water that was already full of warm blood. He said weakly, "Hurry up, I'm going to die."
Cherry Tomato was stunned: "How can you be so seriously injured from a C copy?"
"No, I just went to the A-level copy when I was leaving the copy." Xie Songjin said.
Cherry Tomato: "...If you keep trying to get yourself killed, don't even think about asking me to treat you with a nanny!"
As she spoke, she angrily hung up the terminal and went to find Xu Jing to ask who the healing players in the guild were who had not yet left the dungeon.
Xie Songjin took a breath, dipped his finger in the blood-soaked bathtub water, and lazily drew a bloody word "Gu" on the white wall next to the bathtub.
*
"That one over there!"
Gu Qiufeng and Feng He were looking around at the gate of City D when they suddenly heard a rough shout from a distance: "Are you a new player?"
A middle-aged man in a brown leather jacket ran over from the misty forest nearby. He wore a wide-brimmed hat and had a gun on his waist. After he stood in front of Gu Qiufeng, he said enthusiastically and happily, "I just went to the Wushuishen area to wait for you. I didn't expect you to come here directly. Ahem, let's not talk too much..."
He took a breath and said cheerfully, "Let me introduce myself. I am Lao Zhang, a life player and guide in D City. I am responsible for guiding new players who have completed the dungeon to come to D City for life arrangements and player qualification registration."
Gu Qiufeng said "Oh", and then said: "The foggy forest you just mentioned is the forest that the bus passed by when we came here?"
Lao Zhang chuckled twice, "It's behind that forest. Don't go in out of curiosity. It's very foggy inside and few people come out. Even players who are professional gatherers can only look for things near the foggy area and dare not go in."
"Ahem, hurry up and go to D City to register your player qualifications. In the future, whether you are going to play dungeons or anything else, with your player qualifications and terminal account, you can use this as online banking and identity proof in real life. It's very convenient." Lao Zhang said, "If you have any other questions, just ask me." //
Gu Qiufeng and Feng He followed Lao Zhang and entered City D with him.
The gate of City D opened automatically and then slowly closed behind them.
Gu Qiufeng looked around this small town which had the style of a European town at the end of the last century.
The town is dominated by sharp Gothic buildings, which are not very tall and have no driving tools. At least from what Gu Qiufeng has seen, most of the players are walking in a hurry.
He asked curiously, "I remember that there would be live broadcasts when players were completing dungeons. Who were those live broadcasts for?"
"Well, it's about the terminal account." Lao Zhang said, "Points are the currency here. When dungeon players are in dungeons, they also need to use points to unlock various auxiliary props, especially for the first dungeon for new players who have nothing and have not awakened their skills. The game system will preset a live broadcast account for players to live broadcast into the new player list of the terminal to attract other players to watch, so as to gain points to pass the level. After passing the level, you also need to accumulate points to obtain player qualifications. The highest-qualified players enter City A and City B, and the next-lower ones enter City C and City D."
Gu Qiufeng said: "In other words, live streaming is a way to earn points, and the points can be used in life or exchanged for mall props."
Lao Zhang praised, "Young man, you are very perceptive. You can see that City D and other cities are all living areas for players, so live streaming is not the only way for players to survive. You will know when you go to certify your player and choose a profession. Therefore, if you don't like live streaming, you can turn it off later. You can rely on dungeon rewards or even just live as a self-sufficient player."
Gu Qiufeng glanced at Feng He beside him and said, "There's nothing wrong with that. But if I broadcast more, won't many players recognize me? Will that affect my dungeon trips in the future?"
"It's okay. Our live broadcasts are interfered by human faces. You've been in the real world longer than me. I remember that when I entered the game, there was already technology to block brainwave interference. I don't know the exact principle, but after you close the live broadcast room, other players basically can't recognize you." Lao Zhang said, "This is also the reason why many god-level players have many fans or enemies, but they are basically safe and sound."
Gu Qiufeng finally understood why Xie Songjin had exposed his identity so openly. Apart from the fact that he was really powerful and not very scary, he probably relied on the fact that no matter how many times he was exposed outside the dungeon, no one would be able to find him.
"Here," Lao Zhang said, "Here is the form. Fill it out, and I'll enter it into the system. Then you can log into the terminal through the mall interface. There will be a guidance tone, and you just need to press that button."
Gu Qiufeng filled out the form neatly and then said, "In the last instance, I saw that those with summoning skills can also authenticate their puppets as players. How do I do this?"
Lao Zhang said, "Ah, that's indeed possible, but you have to make sure your puppet has enough personal consciousness. Fill out this, the attachment form, which is linked to your player qualifications. Non-human players do not have terminal live broadcast and mall permissions, and the responsibility is borne solely by you as the guardian."
After certifying his entry qualifications, Gu Qiufeng asked Lao Zhang some questions about D City’s living infrastructure and other related information.
Lao Zhang patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Most of us in D City didn't perform well in the first level, and we came here just to make a living. So the number of living players in D City is far greater than that of dungeon players. If your goal is dungeons, you can do more live broadcasts to accumulate points and improve your qualifications. The higher the level of the city, the greater the difference between the two."
There are three career options in the living area of "Fatal Fall": 1. Life players. Some shops on the street are opened by these life players, and they provide expenses through trading points. Just like the prop repair shop opened by Lao Zhang himself, his skill awakening is in this direction, and he can provide paid services for copy players.
Second, the sources of income for dungeon players are basically the various props and points obtained in the dungeon, as well as subsidies from the guild. A large part of the income of popular players also comes from live broadcast rewards.
There is also a rare profession called bounty hunter, which usually earns points by completing bounties or tasks from major guilds. The level of City D is too low and there are no guilds, so there are no bounty hunters.
After Lao Zhang finished the introduction, Gu Qiufeng took Feng He and said goodbye to him.
After walking out of the prop repair shop where Lao Zhang worked, Gu Qiufeng and Feng He found themselves exactly in the center of this small town.
Gu Qiufeng immediately noticed a large statue standing in the center. It was a goddess with a broken arm, her eyes closed, and one hand clasped in front of her chest, as if she was praying silently.
Her face was holy and clean, the other missing arm was covered with a veil, and she was wearing a white robe fluttering on the ground, with a few butterflies embroidered on the edge of her skirt.
There was a huge sign next to it that read "World Boss Arcana, open every Friday, please do not approach unless necessary."
When Gu Qiufeng turned his gaze back to the BOSS of this world, a ray of light happened to pass by her ear, making the goddess' beautiful face look even more hazy and gentle.
"Today is Monday." Lao Zhang came out of the repair shop next door and said, "If you want to play our world boss copy, you have to wait another five days."
Gu Qiufeng retracted his gaze and said with a smile: "It's okay, I just can't walk when I see good-looking people, it's an occupational disease."
I don’t know what the game designers of “Fatal Fall” were thinking, but the dungeon NPCs they designed are all very good-looking.
"I think after you get beaten by her, you might not think so anymore." Lao Zhang said with a wry smile, "The World Boss forces all players to attack together, and the mortality rate is very high."
Gu Qiufeng suddenly remembered something: "You said before that few players come out of the foggy water, which means that some people have come out before, right?"
"Even in D City, there is a certain threshold for points. There are still many players who pass the dungeon by cheating and have no points. These players will be thrown into the fog and water by the game." Lao Zhang said, "Once there was a player who fought his way out of the fog and water and opened the door of D City with blood all over his body."
Gu Qiufeng asked: "What happened next?"
Lao Zhang smiled and said, "He is the pride of us in D City. He fought his way up from D City to become an A-level player. He was said to be the only person in the game who had cleared an A-level dungeon. After that, there was no news of him. Everyone speculated that he either lived in A City—a place that even some A-level players couldn't go to—or that he had already cleared the game and left."
"What's his name?" Gu Qiufeng asked.
The halo made the goddess feel leisurely and happy, listening to the conversation between the two of them as they talked about old friends.
Lao Zhang paused for a moment, then said as if waking up from a dream: "It's been too long, I can't remember it clearly. I think it's called something..."
"Gu Jiu."
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Disclaimer: The male protagonist of Gu Jiu is two people
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