??Chapter 13: Chapter 12 This is Unscientific!
Chapter 13: Chapter 12 This is Unscientific!
“These are the ga points I’m gifting to all of you; you can think of them as chips,” said the host. “While Paradise won’t restrict your actions, each ga will still have a reward task assigned. Based on your performance, corresponding points will be awarded. You can now open the exchange interface and select the items you need—just focus on the numbers and silently think ‘Open,’ and the interface will automatically appear.”
Open.
Zhang Zhiyuan silently commanded in his mind. Then he saw the numbers expand and turn into a semi-transparent chart.
So… is this really just a ga?
He quickly skimd the exchangeable items on the list—compared to those mature gas on the market, the things available in Paradise were eclectic and disorganized, as if hastily thrown together. They were divided into two main categories. The first was [Combat Support], with the Resurrection Scroll (limited) at the top, valued at 1000; followed by the Healing Card, valued at 750; the rest were swords, armor, and similar equipnt, ranging from 150 to 50 in value. The other, [Life Support], had everything from pressure cookers, portable liquefied gas, lighters, Fish Harpoons… to even thermite packs.
“This isn’t any different from before, is it?” grumbled Anthony, “The enemies we encountered last ti all had guns. Can’t we get sothing more powerful?”
The host didn’t respond as if the question was outside the preset options.
“Maybe there is, but we don’t have enough points to see them,” Zhou Zhi whispered. “Ga designers typically take into account a progression in difficulty. They won’t place powerful weapons in the initial phase or perhaps they want us to focus on strategy…”
“Fine, I’ll take the full set of armor and a crossbow, with a dagger for spare!” The Russian didn’t bother to argue further.
The host nodded, raising his right hand. A few pieces of equipnt materialized out of thin air and fell to the ground.
Zhang Zhiyuan marveled at this scene, while everyone else seed to take it in stride.
After a round of exchanges, everyone was more or less geared up, except for Zhang Zhiyuan, who hadn’t used any points.
“I guess… there’s no need to use them right now?”
“Of course. You can make a request to
at any ti,” the host nodded.
“Then I’ll skip the exchange for now.” Zhang Zhiyuan let out a sigh of relief, not because he had a plan all along, but because he rarely played gas and had no idea what to exchange for.
If only I’d known, I should have invited Cui Zhen’en to join the Paradise ga.
“So, has everyone finished exchanging?”
“Hold on!” Zhang Zhiyuan raised another question, “Mr. Host, could you take off your mask so we can see your face? I have no ulterior motive, it’s just that the mask is kinda creepy. Even a virtual face would be better than this thing.”
The others nodded in agreent.
The host smiled, reached up, and took off his mask.
However, beneath the mask was still another Sichuan opera mask, only with changed colors and patterns.
Zhang Zhiyuan was dumbfounded.
“Now that everyone is prepared, please follow .” The host, without further ado, as if that mask was his real face, turned and pushed open a side door, entering another room.
This wooden cabin was much brighter, with several oil lamps, and a square table in the center of the room, piled with a hefty stack of manuscript papers.
“What’s this?” the Arican inquired curiously.
Zhang Zhiyuan stepped forward and grabbed a sheet of paper first, only to find it filled with text that he couldn’t recognize a single word.
“Case files,” the host said nonchalantly. “This ti, you will beco hunters of sin, solving a massive cri. All the details about the case and all the clues are recorded on these pages. From the mont you entered this room, the Paradise ga has officially begun.”
Everyone looked at each other, puzzled.
“Has it… started already?”
“Are there no more hints?”
“Who knows what this says?” Joe Jas waved the manuscript in his hand, “I can’t even read it, let alone hunt!”
“Wait, I think I saw sothing like this just now…” Zhou Zhi suddenly said, “Where was it again… Right, in this section, take a look as well, in the exchange interface under living assistance.”
Prompted by him, Zhang Zhiyuan also flipped to that item and, to his amazent, he found sothing called a “Translation Tofu,” priced at 200 points.
“Kid, you are sowhat useful.” Anthony chuckled, “According to its description, eating it should grant the ability to translate.”
“That doesn’t make sense, shouldn’t the ability to communicate be default?” Joe Jas furrowed his brow, “Who would play a ga with such a cumberso language thrown in!”
“I can’t afford it now, I only have about 100 points left.” Jason Tyler, who had recently joined the ga, expressed his regret.
“If the ga is designed this way, we have to follow suit,” Qianyuan Mingzi suddenly spoke, “200 may seem like a lot, but there’s no need for everyone to exchange for one. Don’t forget, this mission is to be completed by us together.”
“Then… I’ll do it,” Zhou Zhi volunteered, “I still have 500 points left.”
“One might not be enough, I’ll get one too,” Zhang Zhiyuan quickly followed. He had noticed a detail that it seed no one was aware the ga’s the would be related to solving cases. Neither Joe Jas nor Jason Tyler, whom he had brought along, seed familiar with these matters. But he was different; as soon as Paradise had sent out the invitation, the letter made it clear about the participation criteria. Since they could specifically send an email to the police departnt’s inbox, it indicated that the new round of the ga might require detective skills.
This suggested two things: first, that everyone received different invitations, with the one marked “Outstanding investigative detection skills” only received by the police departnt.
This ant that the character background the departnt had crafted for him hadn’t been a waste, and he wouldn’t be specifically targeted by the suspects.
Second, it more or less confird that Paradise was a neutral organization, not biased towards Joe Jas.
“Are you sure, buddy?” the Arican looked at him, “After buying this, you can only choose between weapons, equipnt, and Healing Cards.”
“You see the environnt we’re in,” Zhang Zhiyuan purposely avoided talking about solving cases, “Soon we’ll have to move into urban action. If only one person can communicate and the rest of us are just fumbling around, it will surely raise suspicion. And with so many archives, if he’s the only one reading, who knows how long that will take. I believe Miss Asahara is right; since we’re a team, we should specialize and cooperate. If you handle the combat, I can provide logistics.”
“Suit yourself,” Joe Jas didn’t ramble on.
Soon Zhang Zhiyuan ate the exchanged Translation Tofu and looked at the archives again. The characters on the manuscript seed to twist and change, eventually rearranging into Chinese that he could fully understand!
“How is it?” the others asked.
“It’s… effective,” Zhang Zhiyuan murmured, his surprise being far greater inside. He knew it definitely wasn’t simple translation, because with a blink he could see the manuscript itself hadn’t changed at all. Those characters weren’t just an image floating before his eyes, but a subconscious conversion after he fully understood the text! In other words, he had instantly comprehended the language!
Even for a simulated reality ga… this couldn’t be possible, right?
Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but steal a glance at the host.
What kind of organization was Paradise, to have such astonishing technology? If this learning technology were used in education or industry, it would likely start a new developntal revolution, but they were just using it to make money from the rich, which he found sowhat incomprehensible.
Zhang Zhiyuan faintly realized that perhaps Paradise itself was more important than the case—it wasn’t sothing a police departnt or an international police organization could handle. He had to rember everything he saw and, once the ga was over, report it!
For now, his primary task was to play his role well.
Reviews
All reviews (0)