Chapter 5 Deliveryman (5)
I've never seen anyone fish with yarn. Even if you're not a professional angler, you should at least use a bamboo pole.
Even if it's not a normal fishing rod, it should at least be a children's toy fishing rod.
Even if it isn't...
To sum it up, there's no such thing as fishing with a thread.
"I say, isn't this a bit too perfunctory?"
Bai Ye held the yarn and shook it. In the windless dungeon lobby, it was difficult to even cast it half a meter. "How am I supposed to fish like this?"
The dungeon lobby was quiet; no one answered this difficult question.
Bai Ye waited for a minute, and when she was sure there would be no response, she gave up and began to examine the yarn in her hand.
This is a black yarn, about 1.8 meters long. It can be twisted and reshaped at will. When placed in blood, the yarn does not absorb water and remains black.
But none of that is the main point. The main thing is that the colorful fish completely ignored the yarn as it passed by.
Some fish are even more cheeky, sniffing around near the yarn, and even opening their mouths as if to bite the hook.
Just as Bai Ye was getting excited, the fish suddenly turned its head, swung its tail, and rolled its eyes at him.
Bai Ye was certain that the fish was rolling its eyes at him!
It's mocking.
"So these fish might be sentient?"
Realizing the problem, Bai Ye squatted down and looked at the fish swimming in the bloody water. "I'm asking you, are you fish the same as those weird creatures outside?"
The fish did not answer.
Bai Ye added, "Actually, I don't know how to fish. When I was alive, I worked every day. At my busiest, I worked three jobs a day and didn't even get four hours of sleep. Fishing is a job for people with plenty of free time and money."
Some of the fish swam a little slower.
Bai Ye was thrilled; they really understood. "I don't like eating fish either, because the house is rented, cooking fish is too much trouble, and it has a strong fishy smell. If I'm not careful, my roommate will complain to the landlord..."
Bai Ye recalled that when she first graduated from university, she was full of beautiful dreams about the future.
The house may be rented, but life isn't!
So even though working ten hours a day is tough, I still buy groceries and cook dinner after get off work.
One meat dish, one vegetable dish, and a bowl of soup—life should never be compromised.
However, this ultimately resulted in dissatisfaction from his roommates, who accused him of making noise late at night and causing air pollution. They all preferred to order takeout or eat instant noodles.
"Fish is out of the question; braised pork is out of the question; stir-fried pork belly is out of the question... I only eat braised rice and boiled noodles now..."
Unbeknownst to Bai Ye, more and more fish surrounded him. They all looked up, with their mouths open and their eyes wide open, as if they were surprised that there was such a pitiful person in the world.
Bai Ye had been observing these fish, silently looking for one that could be caught.
Quick and ruthless, while still talking about how he almost bumped into a pillar due to lack of sleep, he had already grabbed a big, silly fish at his feet that was dozing off.
The moment he grabbed it, Bai Ye shouted, "Exchange! I want to exchange for the prize!"
No mechanical sound was heard.
Bai Ye pondered for a moment, then forcibly pried open the fish's mouth and stuffed one end of the yarn inside. "Exchange! I want to exchange for a prize!"
His tone was quite confident.
The blood on the ground began to recede, and the colorful fish continued to burrow underground. At the same time, the mechanical voice finally sounded.
[Successful fishing! You have redeemed a prize. Please check your account.]
The fish and yarn in my hand have both disappeared.
Bai Ye immediately opened the screen, and the gift box image in the information bar was gone, replaced by a coupon.
Bai Ye tapped the card with his finger, and it flipped over—
[Forum Key: Congratulations on unlocking the Forum Center! You can use this key to enter the central area and interact face-to-face with more players, contributing to a wonderful and bizarre new world.]
"It turns out that this dungeon lobby is not the whole thing."
No wonder I always felt uneasy standing in the lobby, and these forum posts were always floating around. It turns out I was still hesitating outside the door.
Bai Ye immediately chose to use it, saying, "Exchange key, I want to enter the forum center."
[Player has used forum key; key activated; forum center loading...]
[Loading complete. Players are free to enter and exit.]
The pure white hall gradually became empty, and the posts that had been wandering around formed rows of columns, all crowding in the same direction.
Bai Ye followed the posts and saw a large, transparent door with a bloody handprint on it.
I know this thing very well!
Bai Ye raised his right hand and placed it on the door, which immediately opened, revealing a moonlit town.
It's called a small town, but it's actually just a tiny residential area with only one building. The building is so tall that you can't see the top or the end with the naked eye.
There is a small park nearby, with exercise equipment, a sand play area, and some other small items.
...
"A new player has joined."
"What are you doing standing there like an idiot at the gate?"
"Go take a look. Maybe the first time you see it will be the last. New players usually break down because they die too quickly."
In the living room on the first floor of the building, a few players who were chatting saw the light coming from the community gate and quickly noticed Bai Ye walking in.
Several people got up and went outside to greet the newlyweds.
When Bai Ye saw the three people walking towards him, he instinctively stepped back.
The reason is simple: the faces of these people are all blurry, making them look quite terrifying.
"Are you monsters?" Bai Ye asked warily.
The three stopped in their tracks. One of them pinched his own face and laughed, "Sure enough, every new player asks this question. I'm actually quite curious about what I'll look like after I die. Maybe being smashed to pieces is too ugly. A blurry face would be fine."
After that person finished speaking, someone next to him said, "New player, don't be afraid. We're all the same. You can't see our faces, and we can't see yours. We're all blurry like this."
Bai Ye was extremely surprised and couldn't help but raise his hand to touch his face. It turned out that he was also such a strange existence in the other party's eyes.
The three greeted the newlyweds as they entered, while the four sat in the lobby on the first floor chatting.
Bai Ye roughly understood what was going on at this forum center from the three people opposite him.
It's like the core area of the entire eerie forum; all players who find the key can enter this place.
There is only one building in the core area. Players can choose to rent rooms on the second floor and above. The higher the floor, the more expensive the rent.
It is said that each room contains a healing pod, primarily used to heal those who have suffered a breakdown due to bizarre stimulation during the dungeon.
The small park outside has equipment and toys for exercise, which can improve one's strength to handle the heavy work in the strange dungeons.
Of course, using all the equipment and toys in the park also requires spending Ghost Coins.
“Use of items in the small park costs 1 Ghost Coin per use, valid for one hour. Rental prices vary, with the second floor being the cheapest at 300 Ghost Coins per month and 2500 Ghost Coins per year. The higher you go, the more expensive it becomes.”
After the blurry face across from him finished speaking, he reached out to Bai Ye, "Let's get acquainted. I'm the one who's best at surviving."
Survival is the best skill!
Bai Ye was familiar with this name; he had previously scraped forum posts and found that this person was very active, leaving comments everywhere.
After saying "Survival is my greatest strength," the two people next to him also introduced themselves.
"I would rather die than take this order."
"I earned money to advance to level two."
Bai Ye realized she hadn't chosen a nickname yet, so she immediately tapped the screen and typed "[Day and Night]" after her real name.
After finishing the operation, he said to the group, "I am Day and Night, a regular player who just died."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, "Survival is the Strongest" directly invited Bai Ye to participate in a life-or-death mission.
"What is a 'life-or-death mission'?" Bai Ye looked completely bewildered.
Survival is the best: "It's about everyone working together, one person taking a hit and the other taking a hit, and we can take down the most difficult dungeon mission. Didn't you ever play Pinduoduo before you died? It's similar to that thing. We ordinary players are most afraid of getting the errand deliveryman dungeon. The weirdness in there is really too scary. We should avoid going if we can avoid it."
"I'd rather die than accept this order: 'New player, you've probably already done the dungeons, right? You've definitely drawn the delivery guy dungeon before, weren't you almost scared to death? Did those eerie things give you a mental breakdown? That kind of breakdown is terrifying; you can easily die of fright. Giving up halfway through the quest really drains your health. Fighting your way through the quest is the perfect way to avoid drawing this horrible dungeon...'"
The two tried their best to persuade him, as they both opposed the idea of using delivery drivers.
However, Bai Ye had a pretty good impression of this instance. Although the eerie things were a bit scary, they also had a certain ghostly charm.
Thinking of the old lady's strange gift of friendship, Bai Ye couldn't help but laugh.
"How about it? Let's join the desperate mission together, one hit from you, one hit from you, and hack this dungeon to pieces. It's a great deal, each hit only costs 1 Ghost Coin, and if the four of us hack a hundred times in a row, we can get a free pass."
Survival is my greatest strength, and I can't help but bend forward.
Bai Ye frowned after hearing this, "Are free meal cards available to everyone?"
If you can exchange 25 Ghost Coins for a free meal card, that seems like a good deal.
"Survival is my greatest strength," I said, my blurry face turning back and forth.
Bai Ye sensed something was amiss and added, "So not everyone can have it, right?"
After remaining silent for so long, Qianqian Sheng Level 2 finally spoke up: "Of course not, four people risking their lives on the mission can get two free meal cards."
"So the other two are just wasting their time." Bai Ye raised an eyebrow.
"I'd rather die than accept orders: 'Even though there are only two, we can discuss who should use them. Staying in the neighborhood for a day costs 1 life point, which is equivalent to 100 Ghost Coins. But the free order card only costs 25 Ghost Coins. If the task goes well, I can earn at least 50 Ghost Coins. It's not bad to share the money I earn when I get back.'"
After saying that, he pointed to the side and said, "You don't need a free card to earn money to level up to level two. Just give him 30 Ghost Coins when you come back."
Bai Ye understood that this method of earning money to level up to level two was just to make up the numbers, and could be considered as taking on side jobs.
You earn 25 Ghost Coins for each dangerous mission you do with others, and another 30 Ghost Coins afterward, making a total of 5 Ghost Coins per mission.
Five Ghost Coins seems like a very small amount and won't arouse any jealousy from other players; they'll automatically ignore this person. Meanwhile, the other player only needs to accept 20 such offers to quietly gain 1 life point.
Bai Ye looked at the blurry face on the far side and felt admiration for it.
What a master!
However, "Sorry, I'm not doing this dangerous task. I just came in to stroll around the neighborhood."
"Survival is my greatest strength: You're not going to do it? What are you going to do with the ghost coins you've earned, rent a place?"
Earning 300 Ghost Coins a month does require some expenditure.
Bai Ye: "I don't rent a place."
Encountering those bizarre things in the dungeon was exciting, but not to the point of mental breakdown.
"Survival is the best": "Then you want to spend money to train yourself?"
Bai Ye: "There's no need for that right now."
I haven't encountered any strenuous work that requires a lot of physical exertion yet, so I'll think about exercising later.
"Survival is the best": "Then why don't you participate? It's such a worthwhile mission, why are you hoarding your money? You have to spend money to make money, and you can make more money by choosing good dungeons."
Bai Ye remained unmoved, but agreed with one point the other party made: indeed, good dungeons can earn more money.
What he needs most right now is the deliveryman role.
A conversation that didn't go well ended badly.
I'm best at surviving, and I'd rather die than accept any more orders and just leave, heading elsewhere to find more players to help me gather more people.
Before leaving, he was still muttering things like "stingy," "inexperienced," and "dying young."
Before leaving after earning enough money to level up to level two, he said to Bai Ye, "If you want to level up quickly, you can browse the forum posts. There are always some experience posts that can help you. New players are protected for the first three months. The supernatural entities cannot directly harm you. You should earn as many supernatural coins as possible, which you can then use to buy protective equipment."
"!"
This news was completely unknown to Bai Ye.
Those two people didn't mention this at all.
"Thank you," Bai Ye called out to the departing figure.
After everyone left, Bai Ye opened the screen again and used his finger to mark the information bar below: New user protection for three months.
After thinking about it, I added another point: protective equipment can be purchased.
Then, after thinking about it again, I added a note: If you can avoid buying it, then don't.
Finally, he started browsing forums and reading a lot of posts.
By the end, Bai Ye was even more convinced of one thing: the errand deliveryman dungeon was the fastest way to earn Ghost Coins.
"Since that's the case, I should just keep trying to beat this dungeon."
Thinking of his pitiful 1.1 health points, Bai Ye immediately got up and left the community.
Back in the dungeon lobby, he chose to start the dungeon.
The dark red tabletop amidst the blood-red waves remained the same, along with the same three cards.
Bai Ye silently wished for good luck and chose one of the cards.
All three cards were flipped over at the same time, and they all showed "Happy Deliveryman".
"Yay!"
Bai Ye was completely satisfied; this was exactly what he wanted.
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