Chapter 105: Eating Watermelon in the Rest Area (12)
With the help of a group of players, the turnover of the bun shop increased rapidly, and soon the store's profit was enough for Mo Qianhe to pass the level.
After sending off the last batch of customers, we immediately closed the store and chose to pass the level.
A dim light came from the back door of the bun shop, and everyone passed through the door and returned to the rest area.
In the darkness, many fragments of past memories flashed through Liu Tang's mind.
About his parents and about himself.
There are also stories about the upper world.
As soon as his vision returned, Liu Tang saw Mo Qianhe, who opened his arms and hugged him again.
Only then did Liu Tang completely relax and hug the other person tightly, feeling relieved that he had survived a disaster.
The points calculation was playing in both of their minds, but they didn't care.
Mo Qianhe received the props and points returned by Ji Zehan without even taking a look at them.
They held each other like this for a long time before they let go of each other.
When the two appeared in the square in front of the building, the other five were already waiting there.
There was some worry on their faces, fearing that something might happen to these two people again.
It wasn't until they saw Mo Qianhe and Liu Tang appear in the square that their expressions eased a little.
Feng Xiansu took the opportunity to speak disdainfully: "They're even holding hands. How disgusting."
Qin Zhengyi couldn't help laughing beside her, and Song Xiaoyan also curled up the corners of her lips.
Ji Zehan followed suit and reached out to hook Chairman Jiang's hand, but was pushed away by the other party and given a warning look.
After confirming that everyone was present, Ji Zehan hosted the party and invited everyone to have dinner at Wantong Pavilion and complete the copy review.
Liu Tang gave a detailed explanation of the operation of reporting Boss.
Qin Zhengyi asked curiously, "Since we can report the boss, can we do the same thing if we encounter a boss who is maliciously forcing players in a dungeon in the future?"
Ji Zehan calmly analyzed, "It depends on the rules of the dungeon. The reason we were able to successfully report the Boss this time is because players have gained the special right of 'Report' in the dungeon, and the scope of reporting just happens to include the Boss's role before it was unlocked—'Inspector'."
Jiang Minxu nodded: "So the rules like those in the 'Food Court' are not common by coincidence.
"If players don't have a way to contact higher authorities in other instances, then this approach wouldn't be possible."
Qin Zhengyi sighed: "Okay."
After everyone reviewed the various rules and restrictions within the instance and asked Pavilion Master Ji to take notes, Mo Qianhe proposed his own conjecture:
"Based on the information from the two bosses we unlocked, Liu Tang and I hypothesized that after players reach 10,000 points, they will enter an upper world called 'Heaven'.
"That world should have the authority to manage the '18th Layer of Hell.' The manager can project fragments of their consciousness into the body of the dungeon boss, performing more 'personalized' operations.
“For example, by communicating with players or NPCs and fine-tuning the dungeon mode.”
After listening to Mo Qianhe's words, Pavilion Master Ji looked at Liu Tang and asked, "Why didn't you go to the 'Heaven'?"
Liu Tang replied, "I'm probably staying here of my own free will. But I don't know what went wrong, or perhaps some rules or restrictions made me forget everything that happened before."
Pavilion Master Ji nodded: "So, the benefactor's situation is not a common case, but an exception."
"I guess, yes." Liu Tang said affirmatively.
Everyone was a little confused by the bombardment of this information. They were trying to digest it and fell into silence for a while.
It was Liu Tang who broke the silence:
"I think I have a certain understanding of the nature of the '18th Level of Hell'."
Hearing this, everyone else looked at him, with either confusion or expectation on their faces.
Liu Tang gathered his thoughts and said, "At first, I thought the '18th level of Hell' was a way of settling accounts for our past lives, making those who did evil pay the price they deserved."
Song Xiaoyan frowned after hearing this and asked, "Isn't it?"
Liu Tang thought for a moment and replied, "Perhaps it has this function, but this is definitely not the purpose of creating the '18th Level of Hell'."
Liu Tang listed some phenomena he observed: "Whether it's me in 'Wanjingyuan' or the boss in 'Food Court', we're actually following certain rules. Revealing secrets between players, to some extent, is exacerbating conflicts between them."
"But at the same time, dungeons always try to give players as many trial and error opportunities as possible, so they can gain more information before making their ultimate move.
“For example, in most dungeons, the boss is unlocked gradually only after the player breaks the rules, rather than having the boss appear right from the start.
"And the 'Food Court' even started out as a 'cooperative mode'. If it weren't for your past grudges and mutual betrayal, you might not have unlocked the boss until you cleared the dungeon.
"Even in the 'Cute Snack Room,' many dead ends were caused by players letting their guard down, like eating the snacks given by the store manager without restraint.
"The most obvious thing is that players can watch the dungeon live for free, which provides a lot of learning opportunities."
Mo Qianhe followed Liu Tang's train of thought and continued, "In other words, the dungeon hopes to foster competition among players, but also hopes that players can successfully complete it through continuous learning while maintaining a margin for error."
Liu Tang nodded: "Doesn't this sound like an extreme form of 'talent training and screening'?"
Everyone was enlightened when they heard this. Jiang Minxu's usually gentle expression could no longer be maintained. He exclaimed, "So that's how it is. From this perspective, it makes sense."
"Whether it's competition between players or the dangers encountered in dungeons, these are all challenges set for players by the screening mechanism.
“Only by overcoming these difficulties and becoming stronger can you pass the screening and survive.
"Finally, only those who pass all the assessments and reach a clearance score of 10,000 can be successfully introduced into the 'Heavenly Realm' as a 'Talent'."
Song Xiaoyan was puzzled: "If the goal is just to cultivate strong enough people, why do we have to treat people with different good and evil values differently?"
Liu Tang thought for a moment and replied, "I think this is similar to the 'background checks' companies and organizations use when recruiting employees. Those with a history of bad behavior will be given a lower priority, while those with a history of outstanding performance will be given a higher priority."
Mo Qianhe thought it made sense: "If we look at it from a dungeon perspective, players with high evil values will be more likely to be targeted by the boss and eliminated; while players with high good values will have a higher survival rate."
Ji Zehan, after synthesizing the information obtained from Wantong Pavilion, made a conjecture: "So the main purpose of dungeon clearance points is not to allow players to spend money in the rest area, but to grade the players' strength.
"The higher the score, the closer the player is to what the 'Heaven' needs, but at the same time, they will also face more difficult and rigorous assessments to gain more training and growth.
"For example, players with over 8,000 points are forced to choose high-difficulty dungeons and cannot draw dungeons with known strategies."
Mo Qianhe nodded. "So, those players who use ghost money to reverse purchase points will be forced to open another account to deposit points after accumulating 8,000 points. Because the screening mechanism judges that their strength has not increased, their points will not be increased."
Feng Xiansu snorted coldly when she heard this. "You're talking as if we're happy to go to the 'Heaven'. Just because they want to select the right person, we have to pass the test obediently, and if we can't, we'll die?
“So overbearing.”
Ji Zehan said calmly: "After all, they built this '18th Layer of Hell'. Without their energy supply, we would have no chance of gaining this second life."
When everyone heard this, they fell silent.
Almost everyone present was able to fulfill their regrets in their previous lives thanks to this "second life": reuniting with their childhood friend, avenging their enemies, and reuniting with their younger brother...
Although they were all grateful for another chance to live, this forced screening without any choice was still difficult for them to accept.
After a long while, Qin Zhengyi finally spoke to break the suffocating silence: "Ah, thankfully, we now know that players' 'rebirth' doesn't mean their memories are wiped and they become NPCs. That's already good enough."
"That's right." Song Xiaoyan replied and shook her childhood friend's hand.
The atmosphere in the room also became a little more relaxed.
Mo Qianhe added: "In fact, if you don't want to go to the 'Heaven', you can also learn to 'control your points' like many other players, and keep your total points below 8,000 by spending money. This way, the difficulty of passing the level is relatively low, and at the same time you can stay in the rest area as you wish.
"But we still need to continue to play regularly, so making ourselves stronger is the most important thing."
After Liu Tang pondered the whole story, he hesitated and said, "When I founded Wantong Pavilion to provide players with strategy guides, perhaps my intentions were good but my intentions were bad."
Mo Qianhe comforted him: "For any reasonable leveling game, a beginner's guide is essential.
“Wantong Pavilion allows players to get started faster, which is crucial for initial survival.
“As for the players who were quickly eliminated after losing their strategy guides, it was because they developed laziness and became dependent on shortcuts.
"Even without the existence of Wantong Pavilion, such people would still rely on other opportunistic methods and would not survive for long."
Ji Zehan also nodded. "The benefactor established Wantong Pavilion to, to some extent, complete the screening mechanism and give new players more chances to survive. I think this is why, even though we have released many secret clearance methods, '18th Layer of Hell' has allowed Wantong Pavilion to exist."
After everyone finished discussing everything, they prepared to leave.
Before parting, Feng Xiansu called Song Xiaoyan and Qin Zhengyi.
Feng Xiansu looked at Song Xiaoyan and said, "I won't apologize for what I did to you. But I want to thank you for finding a way to help the store I'm in charge of reach its sales target when Boss stopped providing customers.
"You've saved my life. This also settles our grudge.
"So I decided that I will never seek revenge on you again."
When Song Xiaoyan heard this, she didn't know what expression to show.
Qin Zhengyi, who was standing by, was the first to react: "Great, then let's just laugh it off and forget our grudges! From now on, we'll be friends when we meet in dungeons!"
As she spoke, she took Song Xiaoyan and Feng Xiansu's hands and put them together.
Feng Xiansu quickly and awkwardly pulled her hand back: "Who wants to be friends with you guys? It's disgusting."
Song Xiaoyan said quietly, "Then add contact information?"
Feng Xiansu awkwardly brought up the player panel: "Alright."
Qin Zhengyi: "Puff."
Feng Xiansu was so angry that she said, "What are you laughing at?"
Qin Zhengyi: "Nonsense, you are not fart."
Feng Xiansu's fist hardened: "..."
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