Because Zeus said that Zhou Zhou is now an intermediate player and a lot of new content has been added, Zhou Zhou happily bid farewell to Elvia and returned to his home in the Nightmare City.
Zeus, who didn't have time to run away, was left alone to face Elvia.
After being out for so long, the little octopus waved its tentacles happily to welcome him. Zhou Zhou fed the little guy and then began to look at his task panel.
He received many messages, all from friends he had added. Most people were congratulating him on becoming an intermediate player, and some players he had met in other dungeons asked him if he had any secrets to passing the dungeons.
Zhou Zhou read all the messages from his friends and replied to them one by one.
But, the secret to passing the level? He doesn't have any secret tricks.
Zhou Zhou recalled his experiences in various dungeons. He felt that if anyone could tell him the secret to his ability to successfully pass these dungeons, it should be his friends.
Because of Coli and Shirley, he bravely stepped into here from the Love Academy copy; and because of the appearance of Elvia, he and she worked together in various copies; and because of Qianle, Eddie, Heya and others, he had a lot of fun in the copy.
He seriously responded to the players who asked for tips.
“With a good group of friends, you can get through the level smoothly.”
Although it seemed extremely perfunctory, it was actually Zhou Zhou's heartfelt words. Without them, he would definitely not be able to pass the level by himself.
Although he didn't know why his score was so ridiculously high even though everyone had completed the game together, he still wanted to thank all the players he met.
After replying to the message, Zhou Zhou began to carefully observe the upgraded task panel.
The originally light blue task panel changed to light gold. In the personal center, a small intermediate player title appeared after Zhou Zhou’s name.
The biggest change to the task panel is the addition of a new module.
【Copy Design Module】
After upgrading to an intermediate player, you can design your own copies for players to pass through. The higher the quality of the copy, the higher the points the designer can get every time the players pass through the copy.
The way for primary players to gain points is to clear the dungeon and get corresponding points according to the settlement.
At the intermediate level, if you can make a copy that meets the game requirements, is of high quality, and has wide player participation, you can earn points as long as there are players participating, with no limit on the number of times, which saves much time and effort than completing the game by yourself.
Zhou Zhou looked at the copy design module. There were relevant rules for the copy's name, scene, location, NPC, props, etc., and it must be designed according to the requirements. It will then be reviewed, and if it fails the review, the copy cannot be put into use.
Zhou Zhou took a long time to finish reading all the contents. After reading it, he just felt that it was really difficult to design a copy that met the requirements.
I always feel like I have no idea where to start.
Just then, Molan, who received his reply, sent another message to ask him to meet.
Zhou Zhou immediately put the matter of designing the copy behind him. He hadn't seen Molan for a long time. Although the two had been in contact, they hadn't met since the last time they met in the restaurant.
Molan invited him to go out today, and Zhou Zhou originally wanted to go out immediately, but the little octopus that he hadn't seen for a long time clung to him and refused to get off. No matter how Zhou Zhou coaxed it, it was useless, so in the end he had to take it out with him.
The meeting place agreed by Molan was outside the Novice Village of Nightmare City.
Although Zhou Zhou rarely wandered around in the game and didn't know much, he knew that there was only one huge Novice Village in the Nightmare City. Everyone was doing tasks in the Novice Village. Some people were curious and wanted to take a look outside the tall and majestic walls of the Novice Village, but they all failed.
Now Molan asked him to go out of the city, how should he go?
Zhou Zhou blinked in confusion. He originally wanted to ask Molan, but before asking, he suddenly thought of something and walked to his door.
Previously, when purchasing a house, an additional feature was that you could be teleported directly to a certain place through your doorstep, and each time you did so cost one point.
When Zhou Zhou checked the places he could go, he suddenly saw an address like "outside the Novice Village". It was clearly not there before, and it seemed to have appeared only because of the upgrade.
Now that there was a way to go out of the city, Zhou Zhou, with the little octopus on his shoulder, spent one point, and was teleported to the place he had agreed to meet with Molan at his doorstep.
The scene in front of me was my home one second ago, but turned into black and white the next second.
Zhou Zhou looked at the large white grid in front of him and was confused for a moment.
Is this really the outside of the Novice Village of Nightmare City? Why is there nothing?
And where is Molan?
As soon as Zhou Zhou turned around, he could see the towering city walls and a large number of buildings inside the walls in the distance. Even from such a distance, the huge and majestic buildings were the most conspicuous existence in this space.
That is where they usually stay, the Novice Village of Nightmare City.
But the area under his feet was completely different from inside the city wall. The sky and the ground are both white, and black lines are used to divide them into square grids. The repeating black and white grids can make you dizzy if you look at them for a long time.
Before Zhou Zhou could react, the little octopus on his shoulder became dizzy.
"Zhou Zhou~Here~"
A long-lost and familiar voice sounded not far away. Zhou Zhou looked towards the source of the sound and saw Mo Lan waving at him at a glance.
Molan still looked the same as when she was first seen, with a pale and bluish face, long black hair, and a pair of black pupils without whites. She appeared in the strange black and white grid, looking even more frightening.
This face seemed very familiar to Zhou Zhou. He thought he had found the wrong place, but seeing Molan proved that he was right. This was the place they had agreed to meet.
There was a flying vehicle parked behind Molan. Because it was all white, it was parked on a large white square. Zhou Zhou took a quick glance and didn't notice it.
They ran towards each other happily, and both were very happy to see each other.
Molan's bright red lips contrasted with her pale face, and her smile made her look even more weird. Even the little octopus, who saw Molan for the first time, was frightened. Its usually lively tentacles now obediently curled Zhou Zhou's hair and looked at Molan timidly.
The two met successfully, and before Zhou Zhou could ask about Molan's recent situation, Molan took him onto the aircraft.
"Let's go and meet up with the others first." After saying this, Molan skillfully drove the aircraft into the air.
Zhou Zhou was confused. Who were the others?
The aircraft was flying very fast above the vast expanse of black and white squares, and soon reached their destination.
Even Zhou Zhou couldn't help but open his eyes wide when he first saw the buildings below.
This is a place different from the Novice Village in Nightmare City. It is a small city.
Both the walls and the buildings inside are simple compared to the Novice Village.
But this is a place Zhou Zhou has never been to. He has never thought that outside the Nightmare City, a ridiculously large city that even now has not been fully figured out on the map, there is actually a small city hidden.
"This is a secret that only intermediate players know." Molan couldn't help but explain when she saw his silly look, which was mysteriously similar to the little pink octopus on his shoulder.
After Molan parked the aircraft in an empty square and they got out of the aircraft together, Zhou Zhou realized what really made this city unique.
The people here are not human.
There were not only people who looked very similar to Molan and were shaped like ghosts, but also children running around, a clown handing out balloons to passers-by, a person with two heads on his body quarreling with each other, and even a puppy running on the ground that was more than one meter long.
All the creatures here are different from ordinary humans.
Zhou Zhou stared at the people around him in surprise. Even though they looked more different than each other, there was only curiosity in Zhou Zhou's eyes. They were so clear that he could see through them at a glance.
The corners of Molan's scarlet mouth curled up. She knew that no matter what time, Zhou Zhou would never let her down. He was still the player who could greet her with a smile even when he saw her so terrifyingly for the first time.
"Welcome to the city of mid-level players."
Molan spoke these words in a clear and melodious voice, without the slow and lingering tone of the past. It was very formal and serious, and it was unknown how many times she had practiced it.
Zhou Zhou suddenly realized why he could not see Molan, Locke, Xiao Jin and others in the Nightmare City except in the dungeon. He thought they had all logged off and gone home, but now it seems that they were all in another city in the game.
Following Molan into a restaurant, Zhou Zhou found that the "people" nearby were staring at him.
To ordinary humans, these people all look weird and scary. Being stared at by so many pairs of eyes is enough to make one's legs go weak and teeth chatter. However, Zhou Zhou was not afraid. Instead, he smiled and nodded politely at these people.
Zhou Zhou noticed that everyone was still looking at him and even waved at them.
What used to be the most normal existence in the Novice Village of Nightmare City has unexpectedly become the most unique landscape here where monsters are everywhere. Zhou Zhou didn’t know how strange he was in the eyes of these people. He just found that everyone who looked at him would look away first.
Although he was a little confused as to why everyone was staring at him with strange eyes, Zhou Zhou soon stopped thinking about it when he saw the group of people in the restaurant.
The moment Molan opened the door to the restaurant, Zhou Zhou saw many familiar people.
Xiao Jin and his group of friends, the captain of the deep sea creature, the seven drivers who are exactly the same as in the mirror world, the old butler and Locke in the castle night, and all the NPCs he met and met in the copy are all here!
Before Zhou Zhou had the time to digest this huge surprise, Xiao Jin and the others were already running towards him.
The blond little angel shouted Zhou Zhou's name and rushed over to hug him.
A dozen other children also rushed up, and Zhou Zhou instantly became a human climbing frame for the children. Instead, the little octopus widened its eyes in horror, and then used its short and fat little tentacles to climb towards Zhou Zhou's head.
Although the little octopus's memory is not very good, it remembers very clearly the voices of the group of children who would use the dolls' bodies to run around and play around Zhou Zhou's house every day and bully it.
"Why is everyone here?"
After accepting the children's warm hugs, Zhou Zhou looked at everyone in the restaurant and was obviously very happy.
"Of course ~ Congratulations ~ on your upgrade ~" Molan returned to her normal tone and spoke slowly while standing among a group of people.
The others also greeted Zhou Zhou. The seven identical drivers in the mirror world changed their original appearances in front of Zhou Zhou. It turned out that the middle-aged man was driver No. 7 who took them in and out of the copy. The others looked different, even their ages were different.
The captain still looked lazy. After greeting Zhou Zhou, he wanted to catch up with the little octopus. However, the vigilant little octopus thought that the captain was going to separate it and Zhou Zhou again, so it stood on top of Zhou Zhou's head and refused to come down. When the captain reached out to it, it would resist and hit him with its little tentacles.
The captain was so angry that he kept scolding it for being heartless.
Locke was also very happy to see Zhou Zhou, and kept trying to sneak closer to Zhou Zhou. However, his big and ferocious appearance made him look a little funny when he did such sneaky movements, and the children even tried to imitate his movements with malicious intentions.
The old butler was still leaning on his cane and greeted Zhou Zhou in a very restrained and elegant manner.
After Zhou Zhou greeted everyone one by one, he learned from Molan the reason why everyone gathered here.
Before the launch of Nightmare City, all the players in the internal beta test were not humans, but minority races in the remote star regions of the empire. They were ostracized because their appearance and habits were completely different from humans, or most humans were unaware of the existence of these races.
However, when the Nightmare City game was being tested internally, they were specifically allowed to enter the game as the first batch. After going through layers of screening, those who were qualified in mental strength and other aspects became intermediate players.
After the game is officially launched, their job is to design copies for players to pass through.
For these races that look obviously different from humans, this game actually uses their special appearance or abilities to scare players, causing their mental power and brain fluctuations to achieve the greatest changes, in order to stimulate the development of mental power.
At first they thought that although this job could earn them a high salary, the content of the work was somewhat insulting to them. After all, no one wants to let their special appearance become a weapon to scare others. Doesn't this clearly mean that they look different from ordinary people and are scary?
However, after listening to the relevant game managers who were in contact with them, they realized that this was just the beginning. As the game develops, they will gradually be accepted by human players and even become the most popular players in the game.
It sounds like a fantasy, but everyone decided to give it a try. After all, they also want to integrate into human society.
In fact, up to now, most of the players have either screamed or run away when they saw them, and some have even fainted.
As for why the players' mental state is so fragile, it is still deeply related to the history of the empire. The cultural gap has caused humans to lose a lot of precious culture, and the rapidly developing technological era has made people staunch atheists. They do not believe in illusory things, and only rely on the unique tenacity and perseverance of human beings to become the largest group in the interstellar.
So when the interstellar age came, they had never even heard of any monsters or demons, and they looked down on them.
The original intention of Nightmare City was to stimulate the growth of people's mental power. If they are in an extreme state, such as a near-death state, they can also stimulate mental power. However, this method has many disadvantages. It may leave serious psychological trauma, and if any accident happens in a near-death state, it will cause greater damage to the brain.
Coincidentally, while studying spiritual stimulation, a number of ancient earth ruins were discovered, and some of the contents inside served as a reference for experts.
Fear is a milder form of stimulation than extreme conditions.
This is why many contents in the copy are ghosts and monsters, and minority races that fit these images are also included in the plan.
In the later period, as more and more players become mid- and high-level players, based on the needs of dungeon design, they will have a higher understanding and tolerance of these minority races, and even need their help when designing dungeons. This will form a transition period, allowing humans to slowly accept these minority races that look different from them.
Before Zhou Zhou, Molan had come into contact with some players who were not afraid of her, but Zhou Zhou was the first player to show a friendly attitude towards her.
She also urgently wanted Zhou Zhou to upgrade to an intermediate player as soon as possible, so as to understand them and let more minority races know that humans not only fear them, but also have people like Zhou Zhou who will take the initiative to show kindness.
As a result, Zhou Zhou did better than she had imagined. Not only did he win praise from every minority race who knew him, he also became the first player to upgrade after the server was launched.
All players in Nightmare City know this name.
There were not many people who could become intermediate players during the internal test. Everyone gathered in this small town on weekdays and gradually became familiar with each other. When Molan chats with her companions, one person she often mentions is Zhou Zhou.
People who have seen and known Zhou Zhou in other copies would occasionally talk to others about what Zhou Zhou did in the copies. After all, he left a deep impression on every copy designer.
Molan, who had been preparing to celebrate for Zhou Zhou for a long time, found everyone in advance to celebrate for Zhou Zhou, which is why they gathered here.
Molan explained very slowly, but Zhou Zhou still listened patiently.
Last time, due to the rules of the game, Molan couldn't say too much. Now that she can tell Zhou Zhou everything, she naturally has to explain everything clearly.
The captain and others on the side kept agreeing with each other and ordering food. Since we are celebrating, we can't just sit there and do nothing. We must have a good meal.
In addition to delicious food, various fine wines were naturally indispensable during the celebration. The captains ordered various foods and drinks, and then grabbed Zhou Zhou to sit with them.
The captain, who originally wanted to give a bottle of wine to the person being celebrated at the party, stared at Zhou Zhou's fair and tender face, hesitated for a long time, and finally gave him the same juice as the other children.
"Oh, thank you." Zhou Zhou was unaware of the captain's dilemma and took small sips of the juice.
"Hey, why are you giving him juice? He is the most important person in this banquet, of course he has to drink." An NPC player in the mirror world shouted to the captain.
"I always feel that he is not an adult yet. All underage kids have to drink juice." Although they knew that this game did not have strict restrictions except for minority races like them, and other humans had to be eighteen years old to enter, Zhou Zhou's appearance was so delicate that people would believe he was sixteen.
Other players noticed that the way Zhou Zhou drank the juice was similar to the group of little kids beside him, and they always felt that he was the leader of the kids.
"Okay, let's drink the juice, and we'll drink the wine ourselves."
The intermediate players were drinking and chatting, but Zhou Zhou received special attention. The food in his bowl was piled to the brim, and the juice never stopped. If it weren't for the fact that you can eat as much as you want in the game, I would have been full with this amount of food.
Zhou Zhou secretly glanced at the drinks of other players, but soon his attention was diverted to other aspects.
The purpose of Molan calling Zhou Zhou over this time, in addition to helping him celebrate his upgrade, was to talk about the copy design.
Zhou Zhou had just leveled up, so he certainly didn't understand anything about this. However, they were all players who had successfully designed a dungeon, so when they got together, Zhou Zhou could ask any questions he didn't understand at any time, and at least he could help with some advice.
When Molan said this, Zhou Zhou's eyes suddenly lit up. He just had a lot of questions that he couldn't figure out.
In the next few hours, a lively gathering turned into a teaching discussion meeting. Because Zhou Zhou lacked a lot of common sense, he was confused about many things in the instructions that came with the copy design module.
The average person would probably skip these instructions and start designing the copy. But Zhou Zhou, who has always been serious, will not do things perfunctorily if he wants to complete something.
Everyone present gave answers to the aspects he didn't understand, and even if there were things they were not clear about, others could add to the explanation.
"Thank you everyone, I understand it all." Zhou Zhou benefited a lot from this gathering. He felt that he now knew how to design it.
"Do you already have an idea?" Molan guessed as she looked at Zhou Zhou's confident look.
Zhou Zhou did not hide it: "I just thought of something."
Locke praised dryly: "Zhou Zhou, you are amazing."
The captain also said: "The copy design is indeed difficult. So far, we have only one or two copies that have passed the review. You can come up with it so quickly, you must be talented."
Xiao Jin acted like a little adult: "Zhou Zhou, after you finish the design, we can help you check if there are any problems."
Zhou Zhou touched Xiao Jin's head and said, "Thank you, Xiao Jin."
While everyone was discussing, he actually already had a lot of ideas. When he thought about turning the scene in his mind into reality, Zhou Zhou couldn't wait.
After the party, the location of the small town was added to the task panel, so that when Zhou Zhou comes next time, he can be directly teleported to this city without the need for everyone to go outside the novice village to pick him up.
After waving goodbye to everyone, Zhou Zhou and the little octopus teleported back home together. He had to start designing the copy quickly.
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