Chapter 78 Li Ying's Speculation
The night of June 5th.
In Liu Yanran's rental apartment, Unit 503, Building 9, there were ten people gathered. Among them were eight official players, including her, and the newcomers Li Ying and Cheng Lixue.
Currently, there are thirteen official players in the entire Ghost City event.
Liu Yanran was the first and among the first group of official players to get a business card and successfully find Luo Qing.
Sui Yan, Ji Feishuang and eight other official players were the second group of pioneers. They entered the dungeon with Luo Qing's business card, but no one met Luo Qing. Instead, they relied on the business card, took the subway, walked, or took the bus, and found Ping'an Real Estate under the guidance of some natives.
There were ten people in this batch, but two comrades from the same copy did not make it back alive.
The number of business cards obtained by the official was also extremely limited. Apart from the few business cards given to the official by two players, Li Jianjun and Xu Daqing, at the beginning, the rest were all taken away by Liu Yanran at an inconspicuous speed.
The third batch of official players consists of only four people, who have firm political stances, strong ideological qualities, abilities, specialties and props.
"Another compatriot has moved in. How brave!" Sui Yan gave a thumbs up to Li Ying and Cheng Lixue.
Surrounded by official players, Cheng Lixue's eyes sparkled. She often saw the names of official players XX on TV and online announcements, and now she finally got to meet so many real people.
"Comrades, how many players are living here now?" Li Ying said.
"There were ten compatriots at the wedding banquet, eight came to the art museum earlier, and Wanli brought two compatriots with him from a previous dungeon. Including the two of you today, there are a total of 22 unofficial players staying at Ping'an Home."
Liu Yanran said as she took out two large bottles of juice and Coke from the refrigerator.
"The compatriots from the wedding banquet dungeon and the art gallery all came here directly with Miss Luo Qing. You two came here directly without anyone leading you. You are so brave." Another official player spoke up.
Hearing Liu Yanran's answer, Cheng Lixue counted on his fingers, "So there are more than 30 players living here now? That's not a small number."
"I thought there would be more. After all, players in several dungeons have met Sister Luo Qing." Li Ying said.
He recalled the dungeon strategy sharing he had seen in the [Rugui] forum. Players had met Luo Qing at Liangxin Performing Arts, Yinhuai Village, the Wonderful Museum, the temple fair, and the Sasa Supermarket.
"Some of them got business cards earlier but didn't come. Including the business cards I got, they were all given to the official by two compatriots from the Liangxin Performing Arts copy." Liu Yanran said.
"Ms. Luo recently went to the hot spring hotel and posted an announcement on the forum. This should have deterred some players from trying to get in. After all, at the time, no one knew that their players were already working there."
The players exchanged information while eating.
Two official players who have already started working talked about their daily work.
The official player who found a job as a stock clerk at Sasa Hypermarket is named Yuanli. He has dark skin, a strong physique and is 34 years old.
"Today is my first day of internship. I have a mentor. The store's business hours are from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and employees basically work in shifts. The morning shift is from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with an hour for lunch, and the evening shift is from 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.."
"So actually one shift is seven and a half hours, and excluding lunch breaks the pure working time is six and a half hours."
"Yes, but the workload seems to be quite intense. Cashiers, salespeople, and stock clerks all have to stand the entire time, and there's no place to sit," Yuanli said.
"I felt like I was just a laborer today, transporting all kinds of cloth, which were particularly heavy. Some had to be transported by machines, but there were no rules to pay attention to because my master was always leading me in the work, delivering and sorting the goods. I had no chance to interact with ordinary players at all." Yuanli laughed bitterly.
"I heard that a group of new people came to the general merchandise area today. They should be players, but I didn't really meet them. My master took me with him during the lunch break, so I couldn't leave."
"Force, judging from your work experience today, is it that your job requirements prevent you from coming into contact with ordinary players, or is it that your master intentionally isolated you?" Ji Feishuang asked.
"It's not certain yet." Yuanli shook his head.
"But from my work experience today, my job is not dangerous at all."
"Even though today is only my first day, the store has already issued me a work card. I can swipe it and leave after my day shift."
"Because it was already after get off work, I was considering whether to re-enter the store as a customer, but after discussing it with everyone, we decided it would be safer to do it on the first day."
Listening to Yuanli's words, Li Ying suddenly raised her hand. "I remember that most players who work as salespeople at Sasa hypermarkets start at 9 a.m. and get off work until 9 p.m., right? A full 12-hour shift."
"Yes." Liu Yanran said.
"Depending on your status, you're treated differently everywhere."
Cheng Lixue felt a pang of sympathy when he heard this. Players from outside had to go through dungeons in danger and had to work 12 hours a day, while local residents worked morning and evening shifts and only worked 6 and a half hours a day. This was completely different treatment.
Li Ying stroked his chin in thought, "So, from this perspective, working is much more cost-effective than dungeon crawling. If working long-term and there's no danger to one's life, most players will choose to work."
"Besides, perhaps the dungeon is using this method to encourage us to immigrate and work in Ghost City."
As long as you work, your life is not in danger and you don’t have to die. Anyone would choose it!
"Then I have a question." Cheng Lixue also raised his hand and looked at the official player Yuanli.
"Hey, big brother, how much do you make working in this supermarket? Compared to the two or three dungeons a month, the Ghost Coins you earn must be different."
"Three thousand a month, two hundred for full attendance, plus regional sales commissions. Eight days off a month. Breakfast and lunch are provided for the morning shift, and dinner and a midnight snack are provided for the evening shift. I heard the supermarket also has employee dormitories, and regular employees are covered by five insurances and one housing fund." Yuanli answered.
Cheng Lixue:!
Others: !!!
Li Ying was dazed for a moment before speaking, "The salary for a stock clerk or salesperson in a supermarket seems similar to real life, but the treatment is quite different. It seems difficult for them to get eight days off a month and still have a dormitory."
"Yes, yes, yes." Cheng Lixue nodded hurriedly.
"At the supermarket chain near my home, the stock clerks are all middle-aged women, most of whom live nearby. They're lucky to get four days off a month, and some don't even provide social security."
"Indeed, the overall salary and benefits of the job of a stock clerk in Sasa Hypermarket are better than those of ordinary people. Let's calculate the minimum salary plus 3,200 for full attendance, and estimate that I earn 3,000 to 4,000 a month. And according to the dungeon clearance rating, for most players who can only get C or D level, this month's salary is higher than the dungeon income, and there is no danger." Another official player said.
"Junjun, how was your day at the convenience store?" Liu Yanran looked at another young comrade.
Yang Peijun nodded and said, "Then I'll say something too."
"The 404 convenience store at the entrance of our community is full, so I work across the street in the nearby Harmony community, where the 404 convenience store just opened."
"The 404 convenience store's shift schedule is quite unique, with three shifts. The morning and evening shifts are both long, lasting a full nine hours, with one short evening shift lasting only six hours."
"The morning shift is from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., the short evening shift is from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the night shift is from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day. The three shifts are changed every ten days, and you can change shifts if you have something to do. The salary is calculated on an hourly basis, and it fluctuates between 16 and 18 Gui coins per hour depending on the shift. The half-hour lunch break is also counted as working hours. You can rest for 8 days a month but without salary. However, as long as you work for 22 days, you will get 200 yuan for full attendance." She finished it in one breath.
Li Ying quickly calculated in her mind, "That means, based on eight days off per month and a shift of about seven days per shift, assuming full attendance, the monthly salary would be around 3,000."
"But you can sit in a convenience store, and it's not too busy at certain times. I was on the morning shift today, and I learned from four different positions for two hours. Oh, by the way, we have boxed lunches delivered by the group, and we can also eat the boxed lunches and fast food sold in the store, but the meal cost is 20 yuan per meal." Yang Peijun said.
"However, the convenience store where I work is full of indigenous people, there are no players," she said, shaking her head.
"There are 404 convenience stores everywhere in Ghost City. I don't know which one they will be randomly sent to."
"So how was your experience today? Did the natives make things difficult for you?" Cheng Lixue asked.
Yang Peijun frowned. "It feels pretty similar to reality. Today, the store manager caught an aboriginal kid stealing something, and then there were some really twisted and weird people coming in to buy things. They looked scary, but they were quite polite. On the other hand, some people came in looking really scary and started yelling at the waiter, 'Find me this or that.'"
"I'm new here, and there are those old men who come here every day to buy cigarettes asking if I'm a new worker or something. So far, no dangerous situations have occurred."
After listening to the two official players talk about their first day of work experience, the players present were all thoughtful.
After sharing information for a while, Li Ying knew that the official players would definitely share information with each other, and some of it was inconvenient for ordinary players like them to hear, so he pulled Cheng Lixue and took his leave.
When they returned to the newly rented house, which was less than 50 square meters, there were only two people left. Cheng Lixue sat on the sofa and took out the plush bear that Li Ying had given her.
She looked at Li Ying's pensive expression and didn't want to interrupt, so she just reached out and rubbed the teddy bear in her hand.
I will be able to return to reality tomorrow. Cheng Lixue is still a little nervous. I hope there will be no problem with this house tonight.
After a while, Li Ying finished organizing her notebook and looked at Cheng Lixue, "Xiaoxue, have you laid out your luggage?"
Cheng Lixue was stunned for a moment. Yes, she had borrowed a set of luggage from the official, but had not yet laid it out.
"I'll go right away. Brother Li, what were you writing just now?"
"Give me the luggage, I'll make the bed." Li Ying shook her head as she looked at her holding the teddy bear.
Cheng Lixue took out the luggage and handed it to him, watching Li Ying make the bed.
"I'm taking note of the information shared by the official comrades just now. Xiaoxue, what do you think you can analyze from the information just now?" He began to guide Cheng Lixue.
Cheng Lixue stood by the bed, holding the bear. She thought for a moment and said, "The two official comrades' internships didn't allow them to interact with players entering dungeons. The other two comrades who applied to middle schools and hospitals were directly rejected for their jobs. Although requiring qualifications and academic qualifications is a reasonable reason, I wonder if there may be a permission issue here."
"Outsiders, temporary residents, and indigenous people. I wonder if players like us, if we work or live here for a long time, will become permanent residents. Each level of status has different treatment and access to different information. More advanced dungeons may involve information about dungeon operations and the operation of the ghost city, but we are not qualified to know at this time."
"Not bad." Li Ying stopped working without hesitation and raised two thumbs up with an appreciative look on his face.
He continued:
"Outsiders can only enter the dungeon. After renting a house and becoming a temporary resident, they can look for work. The working hours are long, and whether they can become permanent employees, they can be exposed to a deeper connection with the dungeon at work."
"From the initial player recruitment five years ago, to the recent opening of rental housing, job opportunities, and the launch of dedicated subway trains, the timelines of the two worlds have also been aligned. The strange world is gradually opening up to us. There must be a reason for this, beyond just a lack of labor."
"You know I've been in the dungeon for two and a half years. At least in the past two years, the changes in the strange dungeon haven't been as frequent as in the past two weeks."
"Even the time of the two worlds is becoming consistent, as if... the distance between the two worlds is getting closer and closer."
He turned his head to look out the bedroom window. The lights of other buildings in the community were flickering, just like in reality.
Li Ying didn't say the next sentence.
Perhaps, these two worlds are about to collide and merge.
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