Chapter 97 Special Mechanisms
From the moment that large bag of keys appeared in the live stream, the number of viewers began to surge, and the chat was buzzing with excitement.
[You mean if you have money, you can make the dungeon boss reveal the dungeon mechanics in advance? That would be awesome! Can I act in two episodes of that?]
[I've never seen a boss so eager to flatter me, you eight-eyed fat man, I really misjudged you.]
[Hey Fatty, straighten up a bit, okay? Don't make me look down on you. Give this newbie a good beating and show us players what it means to be unyielding in the face of poverty.]
[Oh, so the idea genius has appeared, huh? Don't push my chubby brother into the fire!]
[...My silence was deafening. Did the handsome new guy just burn three thousand pieces of ghost money for the fat guy? The firelight was so bright and flashing, I think I can't see things clearly anymore.]
[Wow, there are so many rich people lately! I just came out of the safe house livestream room and saw a huge bag of keys on this workstation. Folks, do you think if I rushed in and knelt before the newbie, he'd give me one of the keys?]
[Seriously?! Get out of my way, I'll kneel down first!]
After the fat guy leaned over and gave a friendly reminder, several live stream notifications popped up on Fang Zhuo's bracelet—
[Congratulations, player! Your small-batch trial push has achieved better-than-expected results. You will now be pushed to the medium-sized traffic pool.]
[As a selected high-quality live stream on the platform, your content will be featured at the top of the newcomer section for the next seven days, and will also receive a level three recommendation slot in the entertainment live stream section. Keep up the good work!]
[You have recently received 3982 ghost coins as a reward. There are currently 5562 people watching online. The next level of data package will be unlocked when the number of viewers exceeds 10000.]
Following the fat man's instructions, Fang Zhuo spent almost all of the past few days at his workstation, except for setting up the safe house.
This is his first instance, and he hasn't yet figured out the details of the player gathering area. He should be cautious and avoid attracting unnecessary attention.
After six days of regular get off work hours, this special dungeon mechanic arrived on an ordinary weekend.
This day was originally a rest day as stipulated by the instance, with no work performance assessment requirements. Players only needed to stay at the company to "voluntarily learn and improve themselves".
The other two remaining players in the company relaxed their guard. Since there was no annoying HR manager today, the tattooed man simply lay down on the table and started snoring, while the other player lazily lay on a makeshift bed made of three chairs, watching the TV series projected on the wristband screen with a smile on his face.
First, the ground gradually became damp, and then the metal tables and chairs began to condense moisture.
After the screen flickered a few times, the computer and host slowly became transparent until they completely disappeared from view.
Fang Zhuo was the first to notice these changes.
His third-party shop was always open. Long before the fat man reminded him of the dungeon mechanics, he had quickly picked out several related items that he might need.
Less than a second apart, the entire office was instantly flooded.
This turn of events was within Fang Zhuo's expectations. He did not use the prop immediately, but instead let himself float in the water for a few seconds.
The buoyancy of this water is slightly less than that of seawater, so the speed at which a person rises is negligible, and holding his breath for a minute is a piece of cake for him.
The other two players seemed caught off guard; they choked on a huge mouthful of water and were unconsciously grabbing at anything nearby, frantically trying to drive away the sudden influx of water.
After their initial panic, they then noticed something flashing on their respective desks—an inappropriate word game.
Despite their intense thirst for oxygen, they forced themselves to calm down from their near-suffocation, their fingers mechanically filling in the blanks.
The tattooed man was the first to guess a blank space correctly, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed bubbles rising from a water pipe in the corner of the office.
Without even having time to think, the tattooed man frantically paddled his way across.
Like a cleaner fish clinging to the wall of a fish tank, he comically clung to the water pipe, desperately breathing in the little bit of air that leaked out.
Seeing this, another player quickly swam over, and the two started fighting in the water over that pitiful little bit of air.
But the rate at which oxygen is released becomes slower and slower until it disappears completely.
Fang Zhuo simply sat quietly at his workstation, holding his breath. He leaned back in his chair, looking as relaxed as if he could have a hot Americano at any moment.
He remained calm throughout, and his oxygen consumption was much slower than the others.
From the start of the game until now, he has neither solved the word puzzles on the table, nor bought any waterproof props from the store, nor made a mess of fighting with the other two for oxygen.
The door to the safe house was located in a corner of the office, but he didn't get up to open it either—the entire space was flooded, and he didn't want to cause the safe house to suffer as well.
As time passed, he chose the strategy that received the most comments: do nothing.
The increasingly rapid pace of donations being reported in the live stream shows that the number of viewers watching his live streams is rising rapidly.
He could guess what the comments were saying.
The audience speculated that he had run out of money and couldn't afford the water-repelling items, or that they were holding a cyber funeral for him and suspected that he would die on the spot because of this mechanism. In any case, there were all kinds of ridicule and pessimism.
It doesn't matter. As long as he sits here for one more second, the popularity of the live stream will double.
After holding his breath for two minutes, the tattooed man was already rolling his eyes while hugging the water pipe. Only then did Fang Zhuo buy a blister from a third-party store.
In an instant, the water in the office rippled, and a bubble more than two meters in diameter enveloped his entire body.
There are many options for water-repelling items. The store has water-condensing devices that cost 2,000 ghost coins each, as well as small oxygen bags that cost 100 ghost coins each. However, Fang Zhuo ultimately bought a giant water bubble that cost 5,000 ghost coins.
Unlike condensers, water bubbles don't restrict player movement after use, and using them is much more respectable than using oxygen bags.
Its interior is no different from normal air environment, and its outer wall is very thick, providing a certain degree of protection.
This blister is cost-effective for him because it solves the problem without requiring him to do anything extra.
The moment the dazzling, colorful bubble appeared, the pace of donations in the live stream reached its peak. Unseen by Fang Zhuo, the chat was frantically refreshing—
[You mean you're using the advancement items that high-level players in large guilds only buy once when evolving into mimicry as ordinary water-repelling tools? That's incredibly extravagant.]
[For your information, this giant bubble is scientifically called 'Absolute Territory,' and it has a very high oxygen concentration, making it incredibly resilient. It costs 5,000 yuan per session, but only lasts for half an hour.]
[Haha, it seems like someone burned through my entire year's salary in half an hour. I'm not crazy at all!]
[I really thought the handsome guy was going to send it just now, my heart almost stopped beating. Handsome guy, please don't scare me like that next time, okay? If you have such a prop, just take it out earlier.]
[So why didn't he buy a cheaper condenser? A condenser can achieve the same effect, the only difference is that the user can't move in the water, and the effect isn't much different. Plus, condensers can be reused.]
[Fun fact: You only prioritize deals when your account balance is low]
[Alright, alright, little mouth]
Not knowing how long the flood would last, Fang Zhuo sat in the water, bored, and solved the word guessing game on the table.
Seven or eight oxygen vents suddenly appeared from the water pipe in the corner of the office. After struggling for a while, the other two players clung to the vents, panting heavily.
Five minutes passed, and the water showed no sign of receding.
Fang Zhuo turned on his bracelet and began checking the remaining items in his system inventory. He then checked the box next to the forum posting card and selected it for use.
The screen projected by the wristband flickered, displaying the player's forum homepage.
The UI style still retains the look of the last century. The forum is divided into five sections, including strategy sharing and bounty Q&A, but the casual chat section is undoubtedly the most active.
I heard from Fatty before that the virtual screen and storage space of the bracelet will not be captured by the live broadcast room; the live broadcast room can only display physical objects.
Fang Zhuo browsed through the chat section and, as expected, saw a post about himself.
I scrolled down further and found many more speculations about safe houses, all very recent, with most posts showing signs of increasing popularity.
He was satisfied with the current level of popularity, but he wanted to add fuel to the fire.
He used an anonymous ID and casually posted a provocative thread in the casual chat section:
[Family members, who do you think is more capable, the recently popular newcomer or the safe house owner?]
The title is cleverly chosen, with just the right amount of silliness, making it irresistible to click and discuss.
The post had only been published a few minutes ago, but it already received a lot of replies.
[1L: What are you thinking? It's definitely the safe house owner. He can afford to hire the Empress.]
[2L: Are you kidding me, or have you stopped watching new streamers' livestreams lately? This handsome guy just got at least several thousand keys last week and bought them instantly.]
[3L: Please, please stop fighting! All I can say is that they both make me so jealous I'm unrecognizable.]
[4L: I don't care. Either of these two can transfer me 100 ghost coins, and I'll admit who's richer. Here's my chance to send money!^^]
[5L: I'm more generous than you, I only need fifty]
[6L: Doesn't anyone think the safe house owner might be a god? With that kind of wealth and organizational ability, even a god would have to shine his shoes.]
[7L: Actually, that's not the case, because the main god wouldn't even get a chance to carry the shoes.]
After refreshing the page a few times and watching the comments section go back and forth, the nearby waters finally receded, and Fang Zhuo turned off the bracelet screen.
The water came and went quickly; in just a second or two, the water level dropped to ankle height, but the computer and mainframe still hadn't returned.
Having just spent over twenty minutes fighting over the water pipe, the tattooed man thought it was all over and was about to collapse helplessly to the ground when he suddenly noticed that the man with the air of a noble businessman was still frowning slightly.
Something's not right. The tattooed man suddenly stood up from the ground.
Sure enough, the water that hadn't completely receded from the ground gradually solidified, turning into water monsters of varying sizes.
The tattooed man almost wanted to roll his eyes at the water monsters on the spot.
How insidious! To implement this kind of dungeon mechanic on a day off, and then a water monster appears after the floodwaters recede. He would have fallen for it if he hadn't been paying attention to that handsome guy's expression.
This is amazing! Would the dungeon designer die if they included something from the real world...?
Meanwhile, the water monsters held ice blades and slashed straight at the tattooed man, while others were eyeing the water bubbles menacingly.
Fang Zhuo was mentally calculating how long the blisters would last.
The water bubble would only last four minutes before it lost its effect. He wasn't worried about whether there were other items that could deal with these water monsters; he could just burn some paper money for the dead. He just wanted to make better use of the traffic in his live stream and on the forum.
On the other side, the water monster had already sliced off a small piece of flesh from another player's arm, and its high-pitched scream filled the entire office.
Fang Zhuo simultaneously activated the bubble, which enveloped him as he slowly walked to the door of the equipment room in the corner of the office and gently opened the door.
Upon discovering that the safe house actually worked, the other two players' eyes lit up as well.
They rushed over in a panic, quickly swiping their wristbands to pay for three days' wages.
The moment the door opened, Fang Zhuo winked at the mermaid.
The mermaid, who was playing a silly game with her chin resting on her hand, stood up knowingly. Rong Yuan opened his live stream and bowed respectfully to Fang Zhuo.
"Hello, boss."
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