Chapter 423: The Forsaken Realm of Gods (12) (1st update + 2nd update + 0.5 update of 44w nutrient solution) [VIP]
Even dogs don't eat love.
The members of the exploration team tried hard to control their gaze away from the supposedly "shiny" bones of Delmis and tried to change the subject.
"Um...um," White Moth looked around, "I think something is wrong?"
"What's wrong?" everyone asked cooperatively.
"Have you ever played online games?" Bai Moth scratched his head. "Generally speaking, although online game players play games within this big background framework, they don't have to dress the same as NPCs. In-game stores usually sell some fashions that are beyond the current game world view to make money. There are also some purely casual clothes available in the game, so most players actually dress very differently from NPCs."
Otherwise, most games wouldn’t have memes like “asking players to dress like human beings when going through the storyline”.
Using colorful curly hair in the martial arts world, wearing a frog head and maid outfit in the Western fantasy world, wearing women's clothing or wild boar costume when saving the princess... these are all basic operations for players.
For gamers, the more open the world view is, the more activities they can create, not to mention that a considerable number of gamers actually value beautiful in-game costumes and have the need to match fashion. For game manufacturers, selling related costumes in the mall can make a lot of money, and players actively posting videos of their activities on various social software can increase their popularity.
Therefore, players wearing strange clothes, various combinations, and appearing in serious occasions. This strange behavior is actually the most common thing in the game.
"But look," White Moth pointed around, "there's no one around wearing strange clothes."
The adventurers coming and going were all wearing Western fantasy outfits that were very much in line with the "adventurer stereotype", and they all had surprisingly uniform purple hair, but the purple was of different colors. From a distance, it looked like they had made up an entire purple color spectrum.
"Oh yeah..." Guan Hongyan pinched her chin.
From this perspective, these adventurers seemed a little too "well-behaved", exactly the same as the adventurers they had seen in Rossburg, and not like players at all.
"Could it be a stand-alone game?" Zhao Yinglai took out a bubble gum from his pocket, chewed it and asked, "For example, in this world we are now, there is actually only..."
She said mercilessly: "Actually, it's only the dog we met just now?"
[I am Dorothea's dog] directly became "that dog" in her mouth.
"Probably not," Yun Guang shook his head. "When he suspected that we were the NPCs for the Favoring Mission, he once speculated whether we were a mission that could only be taken by a team of eleven people. This shows that this game is not a stand-alone game."
"That's right..." Zhao Yinglai squatted down and held his face in his hands, "So what's the situation now, Bai Mo?"
"I'm not sure either..." White E frowned, "Logically speaking, the main city of an online game should have a large number of players."
Most of the time, the main city of an online game is not just a concept relative to the wild, but more of a functional place. For example, some fixed equipment merchants and task players will be in the "safe zone" of the main city. When transactions occur between players, they will be conducted here by default. If there are seasonal activities in the game, they will most likely be held in the main city area.
The Rossburg they entered was a level 50 map, so it was understandable that there were not many players. But why were there not many players in the main city of Besser?
"The player disappeared?" Lu Changfeng guessed.
"It's possible. I think something is wrong," Xu Zichen said sincerely, "The environment here shouldn't suddenly change overnight."
"Could it be related to the rules here and the fact that it is a separate small space?" Su Hao added.
"It's definitely related." Guan Hongyan made the final decision.
"Dermis, Dermis!" She called out to Dermis quickly, "Stop talking, there's a new discovery!"
Bai Jinshu is still brainwashing the bard.
"Only I will be captured by a dragon. The poem you sang is wrong." His eyes were firm and he changed the subject. "But not every dragon can capture me. It depends on whether I am willing or not. I only want to be captured by my partner."
The bard was in a trance: "Oh...oh, so your partner is a dragon?"
Bai Jin said firmly: "Dragon, but you don't need to ask, only I can see his dragon form, you can't."
The bard stumbled, "Uh... I didn't really want to see it, either?"
No, who said I should watch it?
"But my partner hasn't used the dragon form for more than 500 years," the necromancer in front of him mentioned casually, "By the way, do you know why he hasn't used it for more than 500 years?"
Bard:?
What on earth is this wizard here for?
Why did I suddenly start talking to him about my partner so naturally?
"Because you two have been married for 522 years and there are still 28 days left until the 523rd year," Guan Hongyan quickly interrupted and answered, "Okay, now that the bard knows that you have a good relationship and are a perfect match, can we discuss the rules of this world?"
She said, winking at the bard.
[Go away, don't give him the chance to show off his affection here! ]
Bard:?
Guan Hongyan's eyes were firm: [Let's go.]
The bard picked up the small stool and the head of his harp and ran away without looking back!
Seeing his partner running away without looking back, Bai Jinshu sighed regretfully: "I haven't told her about the first time my partner and I met. At that time, he was not a bone dragon, but a baby dragon that had just hatched and lived on his own..."
"Wait a minute!" Guan Hongyan resolutely interrupted the spell, "You can tell your apprentice about this later. Let's discuss the players' issues first."
Hector next to him:?
When a person stands by, the pot will fall from the sky.
After finally interrupting Delmis's crazy display of affection, everyone looked at each other, and Yun Guanglai quickly described the current situation: "According to White Moth's experience, players and natives are very easy to distinguish. Players usually wear strange clothes, so we now suspect that all the players in this world have disappeared. Except for the one we just met, we haven't found anyone who looks like a player in this world now."
"The dog just now was dressed the same as a normal person." Bai Jinshu said casually.
"But he himself said that he has a secondary account," Yun Guang shook his head, "Few people would buy costumes for their secondary accounts."
That's true.
Bai Jinshu raised his chin, motioning him to continue.
"So we have two plans now," Yun Guang explained one by one. "Bai E said that since the players are adventurers and adventurers have all registered with the Adventurer's Guild, we can go to the entrance of the Adventurer's Guild and see if we can wait for players who have come to hand in quests."
"And the second one?"
"Just break in!" Zhao Yinglai raised his hand enthusiastically, "and grab their registration list."
"I'm serious," Zhao Yinglai got up from the ground and blew the bubble gum in his mouth, "We're going to rob the Grand Mage's Tower anyway, so what's wrong with robbing the Adventurer's Guild as well? Too many lice won't itch, and too much debt won't worry you."
"Go, go, go!" She put her arm around Guan Hongyan's shoulder. "It's so slow to wait at the door. It's a waste of Dermis' time. She's in a hurry to go back with her partner to celebrate their anniversary. Let's finish the job quickly, right Dermis? Which one do you choose?"
"I choose the second one." Bai Jinshu said without hesitation.
The rest of us: ...
Oh no, now everyone has found a way to control the team's most powerful weapon.
Zhao Yinglai, whose plan had succeeded, whistled happily and walked towards the Adventurer's Guild pulling Guan Hongyan.
Among the few people who fell behind, Yun Guang held his forehead with his hand again.
"I think we should reach a consensus... or an agreement," he sighed slightly, "For example, don't use the Delmis Wedding Anniversary Weapon unless it is absolutely necessary."
The rest of the people nodded in agreement.
[How to control a giant necromancer who can shake the world.jpg]
[If it were someone else, I would say that even dogs would not eat love, but in my case, I would say that the teacher and his wife will live happily together forever and grow old together, and will never die in this life.]
[Bullshit, this is obviously my mentor. Mentor, you left a student here, do you still remember me? ]
[Forget it, this is my mentor. Are the two above in the undead direction? You are just randomly claiming a mentor here. How many graves have you dug? How many skeletons can you drive? How many ghosts are following you? You can't still barely float a calf bone? You can't beg for mercy and kowtow to the dead before digging up someone's grave to drive the undead, right? You can't have your own bound ghost yet, and need to chant a spell in the cemetery to see who is destined to respond to your call, right? No way, no way, no way? ]
【? I suggest you withdraw the post. You were watching my livestream, why are you attacking me?】
[My friend, I have no grudge against you, why did you suddenly stab me? ]
【Take down the surveillance water mirror for me! 】
[It’s okay if you don’t tear it down, woohoo, please beautify me! I’ve practiced necromancy and my face looks paler than a corpse that’s been dead for thirty days woohoo…]
[My fellow Taoist, you have to succeed. A necromancer must first become an undead before becoming a mage. ]
[? Where are you from, fellow Taoist? Which worldview are you from? Our space is a Western fantasy world. You are in the wrong place, right? ]
[Oh, that’s right. I’m a Taoist priest from the Eastern worldview. My professional field overlaps with that of a necromancer. I’m a zombie Taoist priest.]
【Grass】
[How many people are peeking at the screen in the live broadcast room of this project? 】
…
On the screen, the exploration team finally arrived in front of the Adventurer's Guild.
There are many adventurers coming and going in the Adventurer's Guild in Besser City. Compared with the small counter in Rossburg, the Adventurer's Guild here is a large building with five floors. The first floor is where all adventurers accept and hand in tasks. The task board that only had a few small blackboards in Rossburg also occupies an entire wall here.
The enchanted wall will allow adventurers of different levels to see different content, and only those who meet the relevant level of the commission can take the corresponding commission off it.
The explorers walked all the way to an empty counter.
"Hello," said a human woman with wheat-colored skin behind the counter, "Are you accepting or handing over a commission?"
"Hello," the necromancer adventurer who was walking in the front nodded, "Robbery."
Teller:!
"Don't move." The hand that was left with only bones stretched forward and lightly touched her throat. "Give us what we want, and we won't kill you."
Teller: “Okay…OK.”
She glanced around quickly.
The counter where she was located was quite remote, and there were so many adventurers coming to rob that they had already blocked the counter. The Adventurer's Guild Hall was crowded with people, and no one seemed to notice the little incident here.
She silently felt under the table for a long time and finally felt a small bump.
Alert button.
As long as this button is pressed, the entire Adventurer's Guild will quickly sound the alarm, and all adventurers will be given a temporary mission - to protect the safety of the guild.
The teller quietly placed his hand on the button and continued to ask questions calmly: "What do you want?"
gold?
gem?
Or are they some important items deposited here by a trustee?
It seems that a noble lord posted a commission here a few days ago, asking adventurers to repair their heirloom crowns. Could he be here to steal this thing?
Or is it the weapon that was temporarily stored here last time?
Countless deadly entrusted items flashed through the teller's mind, and with every additional guess, her hand, which was loosely placed on the button, became more determined.
Then she heard the necromancer in front of her say, "Hand over your list."
Teller: “…Ah?”
"A... a list?" Her brain froze for a moment.
"A list," Bai Jinshu repeated, "a list of all registered adventurers."
"This, this, this, this..." the teller stuttered, "This is public. The bulletin board outside the Adventurer's Guild has a list of adventurers who have recently joined, as well as a list of adventurers who have passed the guild's assessment and are able to take on higher commissions. You can see it when you turn right when you go out."
Everyone: …
So there's no need to rob?
It was all because Zhao Ying was too impatient when everyone came in, and no one even looked at the various notice boards near the Adventurer's Guild.
The atmosphere remained eerily still for a few seconds.
"That's fine," Bai Jinshu said calmly as he took his hand back. "Thank you. I won't rob you anymore."
Teller: “…No, you’re welcome.”
The crowd gradually left.
The teller said weakly: “Please…please rate my service.”
"Five stars!" Lu Changfeng turned around and said affirmatively, "Thank you, kind teller lady!"
Teller: ...
The teller watched the group of weirdos walk away.
"No," she slowly moved her hand down from the button, her eyes dull, "but the full score is ten stars..."
What does it mean to hit halfway?
There was no time to mourn for the unlucky cashier who had lost all her full-star reviews, as bad news was revealed in the list within the Adventurer's Guild.
"That's not good." After everyone split up and looked through all the names, Guan Hongyan touched his chin. "Except for that dog, there's really no name that any player would come up with here."
"All the names on the notice board are surprisingly consistent in Western fantasy style, only that dog stands out from the crowd."
"Could it be that all the players have really disappeared?" White E speculated, "Or is this game dead?"
"Excuse me," Xu Zichen said silently, "So now it is the default to call that player 'that dog'?"
"Then what else should we call him? We can't call him Dorothea," Zhao Yinglai, as the first person to call him by this nickname, quickly gave a counter-example to refute, "Of the seven words [I am Dorothea's dog], the first six are not suitable to be used as a nickname alone, right? Then it can only be dog, right?"
Besides, he himself said he was a dog, not them.
Others: …
Can't refute it.
They can't claim to be the dog of "Dorothea", whose identity is currently unknown, every time they mention this person.
"Are we still going to rob the Mage Tower...?" Lu Changfeng raised his hand.
"Grab," Bai Jinshu said affirmatively, "Let's go."
And time goes back a few hours to when [I am Dorothea's Dog] was stopped at the city gate.
The only player in this game also logged off after he couldn't enter the main city no matter what.
*
Wang Wenhua is an ordinary social animal.
I am in my twenties and almost 30, with no mortgage, no car loan, no children, and not married.
I own a small rental house in a first-tier city, and I work from nine to five and occasionally work overtime. My salary is neither high nor low, just enough to make ends meet and save some for buying games.
He is just an ordinary stay-at-home nerd. After get off work, he will play some new games, discuss the latest anime with friends and family, prepare his lunch to take to work tomorrow, and then go to sleep.
A few days ago, he was slacking off at work when he suddenly saw a mashup of a gaming blogger. The main character in the mashup was an elf princess in an ancient game - Dorothea. This ancient game was the world's first holographic game "Breath of Slenkmed", a holographic western fantasy online game that once caused great turmoil among game manufacturers around the world.
Once upon a time, it was the darling of all gamers, game websites and game bloggers, and a perennial hot topic among peers. Every plot, every n.pc and every professional skill in it were once hot topics that everyone talked about with relish.
Now, after this mashup was released, many people in the comment section are asking what game this is and what character this is.
The game blogger replied with emotion: [Breath of Slenkmed, this is the elf princess Dorothea, who was the wife of many players back then. In the blink of an eye, more than a decade has passed, and surprisingly not many people know her anymore. ]
Wang Wenhua suddenly remembered his boyhood.
He also once rushed back to his room as fast as he could after school, finished his homework, put on a holographic helmet and made an appointment with his friends to fight. He became an adventurer in a continent called Slenkmed, defeating monsters, saving dancers and rebuilding the kingdom.
In an era when holographic games were still not very mature, everything in the game felt novel to the players, whether it was skills that were no longer released by pressing a button, NPCs that could talk freely, or maps of the other world that could be measured by one's own footsteps.
He was also a player of Breath of Slenkmed.
After get off work, he rummaged through boxes and cabinets and found the first edition holographic helmet that he brought with him when he moved. After connecting the power cord, it was still usable.
He logged into the game tentatively, with an unknown feeling in his heart. He did not log into the big, golden account, but created a new small account named "I am Dorothea's Dog" and started the main storyline of the game from scratch.
He became a fledgling adventurer in the game again. The npcs and maps in his memory were still the same as when he was a teenager. But now he has become a social animal whose edges have been smoothed out by life. However, the people and things in his memory are still the same as they were in the past in the holographic game.
Wang Wenhua played the main storyline in the game with his new account for several days and found that there was no trace of any other players on the continent of Slenkmed except himself.
Adventurers from Slenkmed still come and go, but no one mentions anymore that another group of brave men from the same small mountain village once appeared here.
He felt infinitely disappointed in his heart, but he had to accept the fact that the wheel of time was rolling forward, and eventually everything that was once so noisy would be left behind by time.
Then, he met a strange n.pc.
Then, the game got stuck with a bug and he couldn’t enter the main city.
Wang Wenhua:!
What's going on?
He logged out of the game and went to the Weibo account of game producer Lao Zhang, and discovered that the account had been last updated five years ago.
Wang Wenhua left a message without hope: "There is a bug in the game, Lao Zhang. After an NPC took the bound item Adventurer's Guild Emblem, the player cannot enter the main city."
When I refreshed the comment section, the last message was even from a year ago.
Wang Wenhua: ...It seems that this comment will most likely not be noticed.
He silently opened the large gaming group of that year. In the gaming group of 2,000 people, the information record also stopped at the New Year's Eve a few months ago. Someone sent a message of Happy New Year in the group, and a few people popped up and replied with Happy New Year sporadically.
Wang Wenhua left a message in the game with the intention of giving it a try: [Has anyone logged into the game recently? There is a bug in the game, and n.pc can take away the player's bound item, the Adventurer's Guild Emblem. Now I can't enter the main city.]
He hadn't expected an answer.
But a few minutes later, a friend privately stabbed him.
[Are you still playing Breath of Slenkmed? We haven't contacted each other for a few years. How are you doing recently? ]
The friend's remark [Coriander Cult] was obviously a game ID, but it looked very familiar. He thought about it and remembered that this person seemed to be a regular teammate back then and was the mage in the team.
Many times, in critical moments, it was his exquisite micro-management that saved everyone from being wiped out.
At that time, he was a high school student who was not yet an adult, and the other party was also an unlucky guy who had to compete with his twin brother for the only holographic helmet in the house every day after school.
[I suddenly remembered this game recently, so I created a small account,] Wang Wenhua replied, [After graduation, I found a company to work for, and I’m currently in City A, how about you?]
After a while, the other party replied: [My brother and I are in City N. We haven’t played games together for a long time. The teammates in the fixed team are all the ones I paid special attention to back then. I was stunned when I saw you sending a message in the group [laugh]]
Wang Wenhua rubbed his head and sent a message as if possessed by a ghost: [Do you want to play games together? ]
He added: [I seem to have triggered a favor that I have never seen before. That NPC took away my Adventurer's Guild emblem. Now my trumpet can't enter the main city. ]
[They said they were going to blow up the Mage Tower in the North City. That's quite interesting. I don't think we've seen this plot before when we played the game. I want to see what happens.]
[Okay,] [Coriander Cult] is very straightforward, [Then you wait for me to finish the dinner and go home to find the first edition helmet, and we'll meet in North City? What's your trumpet name? ]
Wang Wenhua: [Uh… I’ll go to the bathroom. I’ll go to the bathroom.]
He really didn't want his old friends to know that his trumpet was the elf princess's dog.
Coriander God Cult: [Okay, wait for me for an hour, I'm going home. ]
With a mixture of trepidation and anticipation, Wang Wenhua waited for more than an hour, driving his max-level character to the gate of Besse, which players called the North City. Suddenly, a max-level character wearing a golden wizard robe appeared before his eyes.
"Let's go," [Coriander Cult] said, "Where is the n.pc you mentioned? In the North City?"
The voice on the other side was no longer the hoarse voice of the boy in his puberty period that he remembered. Wang Wenhua scratched his head: "Maybe it's in the Mage Tower? If they really intend to rob the Mage Tower."
"The Mage's Tower... I remember it was the location for the Mage's professional mission?" [Coriander Cult] thought for a moment, "Doesn't that mean you can't get in?"
"Hmm..." Wang Wenhua thought for a few minutes, "How about you go in and take a look? This is the favor triggered by my small account, maybe the big account doesn't have it."
"That's right." The [Coriander Cult] nodded in affirmation.
The two chatted as they walked toward the Mage Tower. When they stood at the door, [Coriander Cult] pointed the fixed team communication bead beside his ear to Wang Wenhua: "Then I'll go in and take a look. Let's keep in touch?"
Wang Wenhua nodded.
[Coriander Cult] unfolds the magic pattern and transfers into the Mage Tower.
He had no hope for what he would encounter. As everyone knew, this was the location for the mage's professional quest. Even for the main quest, there had never been any problems because of the guarding of the great magician.
A favor met on the road, how could an n.pc rob the mage...tower of the most famous mage in Slenkmed?
The light of the magic pattern went out, his right eyelid twitched, and he bumped into a fat man holding a pile of books.
"Who are you?" He looked at the fat man with a long scar on his face, dressed like an adventurer, with a confused look on his face, and then he saw the messy hall of the Mage Tower behind him.
The door of the library, which was originally tightly closed, has been opened, and books piled to the top can be seen through the door frame. However, according to common sense, this door cannot be opened. In fact, the library behind the door is not behind the door in terms of the geographical location of the game, but in another space.
After touching the gate and choosing to enter, the player will be teleported to that space instead of being able to walk directly there like now.
The two guards who were used to guard the gate had been knocked to the ground. Logically speaking, these two NPCs could not be attacked, and they could not even be selected.
Some players once tried to exploit a bug to attack n.pcs in safe areas, but later found that these n.pcs were completely immune to any damage.
And the books in the fat man's hands.
Aren't those empty models? They are tied to the scene and cannot be removed.
Why was he carried out directly by the fat guy now?
【Coriander Cult】: ???
What's going on?
How come the game I was playing suddenly became so real?
This doesn't seem like a holographic pioneer that has just emerged, has slight flaws in various places, and is not real enough. Instead, it really looks like a mature real world.
The next second, the fat man who knocked him down yelled at the top of his voice: "Brother Delmis! It seems that the Grand Mage has found out that we looted the Mage Tower and is back! Come quickly!"
In an instant, an undead wizard with half of his body covered with skeletons appeared directly, grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up into the air from the ground.
"Grand Mage?" The other party seemed to glance him up and down, "Nothing more than that."
【Coriander Cult】:!!!
Wait a moment!
Shit, he’s not the Grand Mage!
The Grand Mage is his mage professional quest mentor in the story!
He just… He just wore something a little more golden!!! This was the game’s third anniversary limited edition costume! There were only 20,000 sets, and he didn’t get it at first, so he even bought it from a scalper at a higher price!
What's wrong with players wearing golden clothes!
The author has something to say:
Miss: The Great Mage is just like this
Coriander Cult: Damn it, help me, I am not my mentor!
Games abandoned by players and manufacturers will struggle to grow flesh and blood like crazy (Youyou)
How long have you not logged into your childhood game account? (Youyou)
First 20 + Random 20~
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