Chapter 116 Night Moon Town (6)
"What are you trying to say?" Gou Wenyan asked, unusually serious.
Bai Ye recalls those "people" in the critical zone, especially the Supreme Prosecutor: "Fumihiko, what is the bizarre world like in your eyes?"
Gou Wenyan's impression of the strange world is that it is divided into the big world and the small world.
"The larger world where the [Strange] entity resides, which is this world, sets the rules and issues missions. Human players who die are pulled in, enter the smaller world, and complete the missions."
Bai Ye nodded, then asked, "What is the reason for [the Strange] doing this?"
"Previously, I thought it was just a weird, perverse sense of humor, watching us human players struggle for survival in dungeon games, risking our lives for a resurrection ticket that seemed to have no end in sight. But now, after gathering so much information, I think the ultimate purpose of this weirdness is us players ourselves."
Bai Ye agreed with this point, but he also had a different opinion: "[Strange] This world should be very chaotic. In my opinion, there are at least three forces."
"Oh, tell me about it?" Gou Wenyan immediately perked up.
Bai Ye: "The first faction consists of [The Strange] and a top-tier Strange being called Nine Venerables. They have joined forces to exploit the life force of human players in the dungeon game, while also draining the death energy left after the Strange beings dissipate. They may want to expand rapidly to achieve some kind of goal."
"The second force should be the world's operating laws that exist within the supernatural itself. This kind of thing is invisible and intangible, but it should have representatives. For example, the Supreme Prosecutor I met in the Critical Zone, his power of judgment is supreme, and it is above all supernatural actions. He is resisting the first force, but for some reason, this force is somewhat weak, and they seem to be looking for more judges to join them."
"Judges?" Gou Wenyan asked, puzzled. "What's the point of having so many judges? To judge the [mysterious] and that top-tier mysterious?" Gou Wenyan knew nothing about judges.
Bai Ye, having personally experienced this power, was quite qualified to speak on it: "The power of judgment is very mysterious. It has an affinity for the supernatural, at least Xiao Bai likes it very much. But it is extremely deterrent to evil supernatural beings who do evil, and those evil supernatural beings avoid it like the plague. The power of judgment should contain the laws of the world, right?"
"So this Liao Xianfeng is from the second faction?" Gou Wenyan asked again.
Bai Ye shook his head. "It doesn't seem like it. Liao Xianfeng's actions seem more like a solo operation. Besides Liao Xianfeng, there are also Aunt Yao and the convenience store owner; they are all acting independently and should belong to a third-party force with unclear motives. I'm just very curious about what this third-party force wants to do?"
Gou Wenyan and Bai Ye used the [virtual card] to thoroughly examine the strange forum.
Just as he was about to leave, Bai Ye suddenly remembered, "Wen Yan, go check if there have been any changes to the announcement post."
The original announcement post was highlighted and pinned to the top, making it easy to see. However, after the forum was reset, the first post was no longer an announcement post.
Players are all discussing the strange things, and it seems that no one has thought to check the announcement post yet.
At least Bai Ye and Gou Wenyan checked the posts and no one had mentioned this yet.
After searching for a while, Gou Wenyan finally found the dusty post in some obscure corner. When he opened it, the content had doubled.
[Announcement: Rules related to the Mysterious World dungeon.]
[1L: Once a player selects a dungeon, they must complete the entire dungeon. Giving up halfway is considered a failure, and failure deducts corresponding health points. If health points reach 0, the player is instantly killed.]
[2L: A score is given upon completion of the dungeon, and Ghost Coins are awarded based on the score. Ghost Coins can be exchanged for health points or used for forum-related expenses.]
[3L: Remember to be civilized, harmonious, dedicated, and friendly.]
[4L: Only by seeking the rules themselves and touching the edge of this bizarre world can you level up again.]
[5L: The rules are constantly being updated, please check back regularly.]
This is the content of the original announcement.
Below is what wasn't there initially, but has now appeared due to the forum reset and update:
[Announcement: The Operating Rules of the Mysterious Little World.]
[1L: The eerie, randomly selected small world requires you to complete a mission upon entry; being killed midway will cause you to vanish. High-level eerie entities can be dissolved, allowing you to return to your home base and be reforged.]
[2L: Upon completion of the mission, rewards will be given based on the damage dealt by human players, with a 5% increase for every 100 damage dealt. Players can freely access the nutrient pool to absorb nutrients.]
[3L: Remember savagery, brutality, murder, and indifference.]
[4L: Find the rules for human players to clear the dungeon, analyze and decipher the rules themselves, and strip them away. Each time a rule for clearing a dungeon is successfully stripped away, the strange power can be directly upgraded to a higher tier.]
[5L: The rules are constantly being updated; please check regularly for any unusual occurrences.]
After reading the hidden content, Bai Ye's expression darkened. "Human players and the supernatural beings use the same forum, but their purposes are completely opposite. Human players must abide by the rules set by the supernatural beings, and they pay a huge price to comply with these rules. The supernatural beings, on the other hand, seek to profit from these rules."
Gou Wenyan nodded in agreement, “That’s right. Apart from the first one being killed and dissipated or returned to its home, the others are all aimed at us human players. That healing pod is really problematic. The damage we generate is first drained by the monsters in the dungeon, and then drained a second time during healing. They’re like bloodsuckers, it’s disgusting.”
This is basically treating human players like blood donation bags, and they don't even explicitly tell you that. They just create a highly difficult and complex game to immerse all human players in it, making them feel like they're being exploited and even helping to count the money.
Bai Ye: "Look at the last one. The ultimate purpose of the [weird] thing that led us into the dungeon game is revealed: they need us to clear the dungeon and then strip us of the dungeon clearing rules."
"Rules for clearing dungeons?" Gou Wenyan didn't understand. "Aren't these dungeon games created by [The Strange] itself?"
"No, I suspect that the dungeon world is actually part of the bizarre world itself, and the [bizarre] only has the right to deploy it. They want us to figure out the rules for clearing the dungeon so they can take it for their own use."
Bai Ye thought of the Supreme Prosecutor and had a bold conjecture: "If, I mean if, the [Strange] and those nine who stripped the small world of its rules were trying to understand the power of the rules in order to fight against the world laws of the Strange world itself?"
Gou Wenyan thought hard for a moment, "So, to put it simply, there are two forces fighting in this strange world, and we human players are just pawns, pure tools, right?"
"That's one way to understand it."
Gou Wenyan remained silent.
After a three-second silence, he burst into a tirade of profanities.
All the swear words I've learned in my life are unleashed in this moment.
As the only listener, Bai Ye also felt uneasy.
Who wouldn't feel frantic and angry if they knew they had been manipulated, used, and deceived?
But what can we do? We're at their mercy.
"No way, I absolutely can't let them get away with this, this isn't over!" Gou Wenyan said, his face turning red with anger.
Seeing the other party constantly taking out item cards, Bai Ye roughly guessed what was going on. "But it's still not enough. Even if we gather the power of all the human players, it's still too weak. Besides, people's hearts are complicated, and not everyone is willing to stand up against the strange world."
"Then let's win over the other strange beings in this world. Now there's no distinction between humans and strange beings, only between those who want to fight and those who don't."
"You mean joining forces with a third party?"
Bai Ye pondered for a moment, “It’s not impossible. Besides, there’s no information about our hometown on the forum. Tao Zhizhi and Xiao Bai are both second-highest level monsters, but they don’t know either. I guess only top-level monsters would know this.”
"So we need to find your Aunt Yao." Gou Wenyan threw more than a hundred prop cards on the table.
Bai Ye was dumbfounded. "Brother, aren't you being a bit too arrogant?"
"Bro, tell me honestly, are you in cahoots with the shop owner? You're practically the favorite son of this weird world!"
"Wait, no, didn't you say there were only a few dozen?"
Bai Ye finally realized what was happening.
Gou Wenyan chuckled twice, "Isn't this just keeping some cards up my sleeve?"
Bai Ye narrowed his eyes and looked Wen Yan up and down. "Wen Yan, I don't believe you. Do you have more item cards?"
This is now a definite affirmative statement.
Gou Wenyan hesitated for a moment, then silently took out dozens more bills. "That's all. This time it's really all gone."
There are still a few trump cards left, and I'm not going to use them no matter what.
That's for saving your life!
Bai Ye didn't pry. He knew Gou Wenyan definitely had more cards hidden, but it didn't matter.
The two categorized nearly two hundred item cards and finally decided to first open the permanent passage between the dungeon game and the eerie convenience store.
Setting up a temporary connection isn't difficult; a single "Convenience Store Connection" will suffice. But a permanent connection—
“I never thought that the channel could be permanently fixed.”
Bai Ye held twelve related cards in his hand. These cards were all rare and he had never seen them before.
"I suspect that you have almost all the cards in the item gacha pool," Bai Ye said sourly.
Gou Wenyan, with a thick skin, said, "Luck, haha, it's purely luck."
While the two were busy opening the permanent passage, Bai Jin and Kong Yuehan had already moved from the second floor to the fourth floor.
In the second, third, and fourth floors, Bai Jin kicked open the doors one by one and destroyed the treatment pods inside.
However, there wasn't enough time; she couldn't disassemble each treatment pod to check if it contained gold threads.
Kong Yuehan was puzzled by Bai Jin's behavior, but she neither stopped him nor asked him anything.
This made Bai Jin feel a bit more favorably toward the smelly human player following him. "Don't you want to know what this golden thread is for?"
Kong Yuehan looked down at the little baby, who walked with a wobbly gait and spoke with an unusually mature air.
She shook her head and said, "You have a lot of opinions. Apart from Bai Ye, I don't think any human being can catch your eye."
"That's right, my dad is one of a kind."
Bai Jin looked up, her expression proud. "I hate communicating with stupid humans, but you're not so bad. Take this golden thread; it should be one of the important construction lines for that power."
Kong Yuehan took it and prepared to put it into the player's inventory.
But Bai Jin stopped him, "Do you still dare to believe in this thing? Aren't you afraid that force will take the golden thread away from you?"
Kong Yuehan was shocked. "What do you mean?"
"Literally, it means put it in your pocket, but it's safer to carry it with you. Let's go to the fifth floor and see; I want to verify my dad's friend's conclusion."
Bai Jin acknowledged Gou Wenyan's identity, confirming that he was her father's friend and one of her own.
Kong Yuehan followed Bai Jin upstairs, thinking about the screen leak the whole way.
Neither of them paid attention to what was happening on the strange forum.
Zhang Tao, who was still wandering around on the second floor, kept trying to contact Kong Yuehan.
But the result was terrible.
Kong Yuehan's communications suddenly went gray.
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