Chapter 146 Blind Box Mall
The game that Xin Yue was talking about is called "Midnight Ghost Market".
The corresponding area was said to occupy an entire floor of the shopping mall. When Qiao Song heard this, he knew that this should be part of the Twelve Committees.
"The -77th floor is full of Chinese horror games, and the corresponding 77th floor is full of props and raw materials. I remember that the -44th floor is similar. By the way, you should know the props and raw materials, right?"
Qiao Song recalled the experience of the paper-making town: "Raw materials for homemade props?"
In addition to selling daily necessities and food, the 88th floor also sells props and raw materials.
For example, on the 44th floor, although props are not sold, blind boxes of raw materials that can be used to make corresponding props are sold.
Either with good luck or good skills, players can always get what they want.
Qiao Song is obviously the latter.
Although the paper beasts are produced in the paper-folding town, she is talented enough and Xiao Ni is not bad either, so they can buy the right raw materials. Basically, their team can make consumables such as paper beasts on their own for a long time in the future.
"So, on the other hand, even if you don't have any information, if you want to know the games on the corresponding floors downstairs in advance, the easiest way is to go to the corresponding store upstairs and draw a few blind boxes of raw materials."
"Through the blind boxes, we can infer the functions of those props and the situation of the game in the copy." For example, when Qiao Song went to buy the raw materials for paper-folding, he saw the paper beasts on display in the display cabinet.
The finished product cannot be purchased, and only the finished product assembled from the raw material blind box is displayed, which can be regarded as encouraging players to enter the copy and participate in the game.
Of course, you still have to play the game to know the specific rules.
"But we can make some preparations in advance. After all, this is an S-level game copy."
Xin Yue took out a list and said, "These are some items for exorcising evil spirits. They are not considered props. You can go to the 77th floor to buy them in advance."
Lou Keqing took it and looked at it. It was just an ordinary cinnabar dog blood talisman paper or something like that.
These are some raw materials with special properties. Before they are synthesized into items, they cannot become items that can be used against other players or NPCs, but they can slightly affect the judgment of certain creatures in the dungeon.
Lou Keqing became alert: "Is the danger level of this copy so high?"
"It's S-level after all. Anyway, it's not open yet. You can reconsider whether to go in or not. If you follow us, at least your personal safety will be guaranteed. After all, we are the buyers of the props this time. If you are still willing to sell it in the future, we may have to trade the props in this way. Of course, the same applies to buying props from others."
Lou Keqing decided to give it a try first. If she could really get other people’s blind boxes in this way, then it would not be impossible to complete a whole set of new professional skills during these days in the mall.
At the very least, it's a new way to make money.
Lou Keqing was about to agree after thinking for a moment, when she saw Wen Haoqian, who had been sneaking behind Xin Yue, raised his hand: "Excuse me, although my sister has already said that this is a Chinese copy, you two should not be afraid of ghosts, right?"
Lou Keqing always felt that this guy was mean and rolled her eyes at him.
"I can even give a ghost a big fight. If you don't believe me, you can try it first."
Most of the acrobat's skills are close-range physical attacks, and she has tried it in other copies. Ghosts can attack her and she can also touch ghosts.
Wen Haoqian immediately had a toothache expression: "I am just asking for routine information. This game is very special. If you are timid, you cannot enter."
Xin Yue slapped her brother away, and fearing that Lou Keqing didn't understand, she added, "The reason why this game is rated so high is because the NPCs are more aggressive. That idiot only asked this for safety reasons."
After saying that, she looked at Qiao Song beside her.
Qiao Song: ...
She said implicitly: "I also have some tricks to deal with ghosts."
If the former water ghost Xiao Ni was here, he would probably introduce it with quite complicated feelings. The methods Qiao Song mentioned include but are not limited to - using a hammer to break a hole in the ghost's head, using an electric saw to cut the ghost in half, and by the way, pressing it to the ground and looting all the ghost heritage from the other party.
Those with a stronger temper can be directly fed to puppet silk or flower pig piggy banks, and those with a better personality can be directly harvested as minions. Those who obey her will prosper, and those who disobey her will perish.
Xin Yue acted as if she was saying, as long as the two of you are brave enough, we will protect you.
"Ok, that's no problem on my end. Once the time is confirmed, we can prepare the materials in advance and then go into the game."
The ghost market mini-game is open once in a while.
There was still about a day to prepare, so Qiao Song sent the address to Tang Xiaoxiao and Aunt Huo. Aunt Huo said that she had met an old friend and would come over later, but Tang Xiaoxiao was already on her way over on foot.
It is said that Jin Jiaqi's shop is not very far from here.
The people in the hotel continued to return to the lounge, but this time, perhaps because the captain was there, the European emperors did not play cards. Instead, they took a whiteboard and began to draw the map of the game and some clues to pay attention to, preparing to hold a small meeting after everything was ready.
"The Chinese dungeon features a depressing atmosphere. The more scared you are, the greater the gap in strength between the two sides will be. In this dungeon, there is a very special heart lantern that you need to hold in your hand. Once the level of fear increases, the heart will emit a more obvious red light and make a thumping sound. So you two must control yourselves and don't be scared by the ghost."
When Tang Xiaoxiao came in, she happened to hear the fat man talking to Qiao Song about how to avoid being frightened by ghosts.
Her expression suddenly became strange.
Who to scare?
A ghost scares Sister Qiao Song?
"Another thing is that if your luck is very low, you will easily get lost in the ghost market and fall into a pile of ghosts. If we want to exchange props, we must complete the task of knocking on the door. The longer we are entangled by ghosts, the more difficult it will be to complete the task."
Xiao Pang looked at Qiao Song and pushed the special transparent glasses on his nose: "I believe in your strength. After all, you are the people brought back by Hao Qian. Luck is just a small problem. A smart brain is enough to deal with all the bad luck."
He currently thinks Qiao Song should be an intellectual player.
From Wen Haoqian's retelling of their previous experience of clearing the level, as well as Qiao Song's performance when playing cards, it can be seen that this player is always calm and knows how to think no matter how bad his luck is.
They don't accept orders from just anyone, so of course they have to treat these high-quality customers well.
Xin Yue looked up and looked behind her:
"Oh, there's another little sister. She looks so cute."
Xin Yue couldn't help but greet the pretty girl when she saw her. Knowing that this was Qiao Song's companion, she quickly pulled her to sit down with her: "Little sister, do you want to enter this dungeon too?"
"Yeah, I went in too."
If you want to go in, it means you have extra blind boxes. You can't be a newcomer who has a wild idea and wants to get the S-level blind box.
The fat man concentrated: "What kind of blind box is it? You can exchange it or sell it to us."
Tang Xiaoxiao saw Qiao Song looking at her, and just said what she hadn't had time to say in the text message: "Jin Jiaqi invited me to a small game, which is also a store corresponding to the food court, called 'Little Dining Table'. After I cleared the game, I opened the blind box and got a set of kitchen utensils, A-level props."
Qiao Song took a look around the game, and Tang Xiaoxiao was also not idle. Perhaps the bowl of ice jelly she had eaten earlier came in handy. When Jin Jiaqi realized that she couldn't convince her no matter what, she pulled her into the game.
Tang Xiaoxiao mentioned this on the communicator, and Jin Jiaqi promised to help her get a complete set of professional suits.
What she didn't say here is that Jin Jiaqi also has a method of exchanging blind boxes, which also requires entering the game and using the game mechanism to achieve the goal.
If Qiao Song were given a choice, she would choose to try out the people from the European Emperor Alliance first.
These guys don't seem like ordinary players.
"So you know Boss Jin?"
Xin Yue took a bite of the hamburger. This was one of the foods that the captain brought when they were playing cards. It was a food sold by a player using his skills. You can also draw a hamburger blind box in the food court of the blind box mall, but you can’t choose. You have to eat it once you open the box. It’s not fun at all.
Qiao Song: "Do you know each other?"
The fat man sat down and grabbed a box of chicken nuggets. "She has a lot of cheap props. Most of the players who run shops on this street know her."
However, judging from the expressions of these people, it seems that the relationship is not particularly good.
Xin Yue sighed, as if she had suffered several losses in purchasing goods. When she mentioned the goods in Jin Jiaqi's shop, her expression was not very good: "The props she has are indeed of good quality and low price, but you have to be careful and don't be influenced by her other means. That girl likes to do some crooked business."
Qiao Song knew about the plastic friendship hairpin, nodded, and didn't say anything more: "We have another companion who will come to stay later, but he probably won't enter the game in the ghost market."
"That doesn't matter. I'll give you a discount price since it's your first day here."
That night, everyone took a temporary break. The captain wearing the plague doctor's mask also came and drew a map.
The rest of the time he slept in the medical room, it seemed that his throat needed to rest and he couldn't speak. But he would go in with them when the game started.
Aunt Huo came back very late. She said she went to say hello to a friend she had met in the mall.
"I smell like alcohol, so I won't talk for too long. It will make you feel nauseous. Be careful with the game tomorrow. After all, it's an S-rated mini-game."
While Aunt Huo was talking, a kitten would occasionally come out from her body, yawning and shaking its head. It looked like Aunt Huo was not drunk as she was chatting and drinking with her friends, but the cats were sleepy.
After Qiao Song returned to the room, he took out the mirror and the shrine and contacted the boy and girl and the nun respectively. As a result, he learned that they had gone out to do temporary jobs.
Tang Xiaoxiao: "Doing odd jobs?"
Qiao Song put the mirror away. It just showed some scenes from the game. Those little guys went to work temporarily in the game.
It was Tong Nan, who had almost spent all his New Year's money, who took the initiative to propose it.
The shrine allows Qiao Song and Tong Yao and Tong Nan to achieve an effect similar to telepathic communication, but Xiao Ni's mirror can see the image briefly, which allows Qiao Song to see a little bit of the truth.
It turned out that he was going to be a temporary NPC in the game.
Of course, even if they happen to meet him, Xiao Ni and the others will be temporarily bound by the NPC management rules and will not let Qiao Song off. At most, they will have a conscience and let their colleagues run away quickly.
"When you think about it, the life of a ghost is quite colorful. It's no different from punching in at work." Tang Xiaoxiao muttered.
Qiao Song: "The capitalists in the underworld are still happier."
After a night's rest, we prepared to go to the ghost market the next day.
They first took the elevator to the 77th floor to draw some blind boxes and received a bunch of talisman papers, red candles, and yellow paper money. However, these were actually waste products from drawing blind boxes. The main materials were all things that Qiao Song and Tang Xiaoxiao could not understand.
Qiao Song had "bad luck" and most of the items he drew were junk, which were just a pile of paper money, candles and a small amount of talisman paper.
Tang Xiaoxiao drew "flashlight without batteries", "No. 5 battery", "No. 7 battery", etc., which are obviously parts of lighting equipment.
"Once you enter the dungeon, you can buy some materials from NPCs and assemble them together." Xin Yue reminded Tang Xiaoxiao.
All four girls will go in this round. Lou Keqing plans to sell her storybook to the people in the European Emperor Alliance. The temporary price is 50,000 soul coins. If there are props of the same level later, they can be exchanged.
Wen Haoqian also went in this time to exchange his storybook with her sister.
"Before you go in, I'll repeat it again. If you encounter ghosts, stay calm and don't panic. Otherwise, you'll be more likely to be chased by ghosts. Follow the NPC's instructions and find the door we marked earlier in the ghost market. Complete the exchange, and then you can pass the level. If you exchange items, you won't be able to draw blind boxes in the game. Try not to stay too long. The longer you stay, the more dangerous it will be."
However, Qiao Song had no intention of exchanging the props. Although the agricultural protection gloves were only a B-level prop, she planned to keep them for herself and did not want to sell them.
Originally, they should have charged 1,000 as an agency fee for providing the copy information in advance, but Tang Xiaoxiao was also brought here by Qiao Song, so Xin Yue said that she didn't mind the money.
"Qiao Qiao, although you are unlucky, you are the kind of player who can get a lot of blind boxes. If you need to exchange, come to us."
Xiaopang will not go in and will stay in the base camp, but the captain of the European Emperor Alliance will go in.
"Our captain can't speak right now, so he can only communicate with you through floating bubbles. But it doesn't matter whether he speaks or not. You have to stay as quiet as possible in this dungeon. The ghost market is almost full of ghosts, and talking is one of the easiest ways to give yourself away."
The general rules of the game will be announced by the NPC when entering the game. Every 7 days, the biggest change in the dungeon is the map of the ghost market. They have already obtained this from the captain in advance and memorized it.
In the elevator, they were heading to the -77th floor.
Although there is a way to enter the game directly from upstairs, that method will randomly throw you in from the sky. If you want to enter certain specific games stably, it is most convenient to take the elevator.
For S-level copies, it’s better to be safe.
Xin Yue stood between her brother and Lou Keqing, and verbally "persecuted" Wen Haoqian together with the latter.
Tang Xiaoxiao would occasionally be pulled over by Xin Yue, the wealthy and powerful woman in the community, to join in the conversation, so that the little girl wouldn't be left out.
And Qiao Song, while chatting from time to time, would also look at the front of the team.
The captain who led the way was still dressed as a plague doctor, with a grey windbreaker, dark leather gloves and a strange hooded mask.
Xin Yue, Fatty and the others had no intention of introducing the captain's name from beginning to end. They just said that you could either call him Captain or Mr. Plague.
Qiao Song's gaze passed nakedly across the white skull and the dark leather of the bird's beak, as if he was observing the person inside through the hood.
The plague doctor seemed to have some discomfort in his throat. He touched his neck with his leather gloves, perhaps to cover it up or out of habit.
He wore a dark round hat today, which somewhat covered the shape of his head. From a distance, he looked more like an NPC than a player.
But in fact, if you look at the personnel composition of the Dawn Guild, you will know that some players will indeed change into other forms due to the influence of their abilities, such as Bai You’s partner, the lion, and Gao Chengcheng’s dog brother.
So he is not particularly outstanding.
A string of dialogue bubbles suddenly popped up, and it was the captain "speaking".
[Be sure to remember the symbol of the door used for trading. If you can't find the door, retreat in time. I copied the map the day before yesterday. If there are any changes, try to keep yourself safe and clear the level first. ]
Xin Yue, who was chatting, also stopped. Before entering the game, everyone adjusted their status. Only Qiao Song suddenly asked for some reason: "Captain, can I ask a question?"
The leather glove that had just been touching his throat suddenly straightened, and his fingers rubbed unnaturally.
【Can】
Qiao Song stared at the bubble.
"Can I ask why your organization is called the Alliance?"
The prefix "European Emperor" can be said to be a spoof. She understands that they are unwilling to form a guild, but wouldn't it be better to call it a team or other name? However, the name "Alliance" sounds more like people from multiple forces are grouped together.
The last alliance name she heard was the so-called Ghost Alliance, which was the one involved with convenience stores and that issued special red passes.
The plague doctor was inexplicably silent for a few seconds, as if he was relieved, and a circle of bubbles slowly formed around his head.
[Just as you guessed, because we come from different forces. ]
Ding—the elevator arrives at the -77th floor.
The Plague Doctor walked out without explaining which specific forces his members came from.
Xin Yue, on the other hand, said cheerfully: "Qiao Qiao, you can also ask me. My silly brother and I used to be members of the Black Iron Guild."
Qiao Song raised his chin and pointed in the direction where the plague doctor left: "Then where is your captain?"
"Him," the enthusiastic rich woman smiled and made a cross on her mouth, "Only he can tell the captain's information."
Qiao Song said "oh" and stopped talking.
The decoration style of the 77th underground floor is very Chinese, just like the theme escape room in the real world. It is full of various sedan chairs, lanterns, spider webs and other dark red colors. The whole floor seems to belong to this copy, and there is a reception desk at the door.
[Players please take the entrance on the left]
[Non-humans go to the right]
When Qiao Song and others went to line up on the left, they saw Xin Yue and their team leader go to the right.
Lou Keqing's eyes widened slightly: "No, why is he..."
She thought the other party was just wearing a special headgear. It is said that the longer high-level players stay in the dungeon and the more games they participate in, the worse their mental state will be.
It's not impossible to do some performance art.
It turns out that he is not a human being?
Xin Yue patted her shoulder and reassured her: "Captain, he was contaminated in a certain copy and can no longer be considered a pure human, but don't worry, he is still a player."
Lou Keqing thought about it and realized that, yes, starting from the 89th floor, the system rented extra space to players to open stores. NPCs could not go up there, and it was even more impossible for them to travel thousands of miles to pack up some junk food and bring it back to the humans in the base camp.
"Then is there any difference between him entering from that side and us?"
Xin Yue thought for a moment: "If there is a difference, he seems to have been blocked by the NPC because he came here to play the game too many times. He can't get the lantern when he enters the game. He can only go in and feel the map."
Lantern is a very important tool for human players in the Ghost Market game.
After Lou Keqing walked away with a frown for a few minutes, an NPC really appeared. It was a middle-aged man with horns on his head, a gray face, and shriveled fingers.
He held several lanterns in his hand: "One for each person, no more than one."
Lou Keqing didn't even see what was in her hand clearly before the NPC pushed her and continued walking forward.
She looked back and saw that the back of the passage was pitch black and no one else was following her.
"They really are separated. We have to go in one by one."
This is the copy rule that Xin Yue mentioned before.
Lou Keqing put on the black robe that she was also assigned. She felt that the temperature was getting lower and lower as she went deeper inside.
He took the lantern and continued walking forward. The lights in the corridor gradually went out, and it took a long time before a faint light could be seen. Finally, Lou Keqing reached the end of the corridor.
Perhaps because I had just walked out of a pitch-black passage, the streets in front of me did not seem particularly dark.
The dark streets were filled with figures in black robes, and almost everyone was holding a lantern in their hands.
It looks like the same model as the players', with cardboard on the outside and bright red inside, like a beating heart.
There seemed to be a quiet gathering going on here, with stalls lined up on both sides, each with some items that looked a little strange.
The whole street looked eerie, like the ghost gates opening wide during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
She considered herself to be quite brave, but after taking a curious look at the items sold by the vendors, she broke out in a cold sweat.
They were some freshly disassembled human body parts, displayed in transparent cups.
They were all fresh, human body parts, just like beef slaughtered in the early morning. There was a piece of human thigh muscle on the stall, and it was even still moving.
While Lou Keqing was observing quietly, a jar of eyeballs in the hand of a small vendor suddenly started to turn.
The seven or eight bright red eyeballs in the jar all looked in her direction.
Plop.
Lou Keqing felt the lantern she was holding sway slightly, and the red light inside the lantern beat very slightly like a heart.
"Oh, it looks like there are a lot of new people coming to the ghost market. Now the supply of goods will be much more sufficient."
At this moment, all the scattered players heard a system prompt that was half a beat late.
[Ding——Welcome to the survival game, Ghost Market]
[All the fresh ingredients that ghosts love the most are bought and sold here. The bosses say, 'The freshest products must be freshly picked and still steaming', so please don't let them find out that you are a living person.]
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