"Big Bro, danger!"
In the bustling crowd, players with their bright, glowing nas looked like fireflies on a sumr night. From half a street away, Lin Bai spotted [Crispy Rice], dressed like a beggar.
Lin Bai then witnessed the entire process: [Crispy Rice] being knocked unconscious by a beggar, stuffed into a sack, and then carried away.
Of course, he chose to remain indifferent.
How could an average NPC have such sharp eyes? It was perfectly normal for them not to recognize soone who had transford from a dapper young man into a beggar. Even if they encountered him in the future, they wouldn’t be able to find fault.
However, the more NPCs Lin Bai interacted with, the more he felt this world wasn’t simply programd.
Not to ntion, the division of labor among the beggars when they captured people was remarkably clear.
So were responsible for diverting the attention of passersby. Others subtly influenced [Crispy Rice]’s route, guiding them unknowingly to a secluded place while they remained oblivious. Still others were responsible for the knockout blow, and so for stuffing them into the sack.
The entire process was seamless, without a single wasted motion. It was as if they had rehearsed it countless tis; it simply couldn’t have been smoother.
If he were in [Crispy Rice]’s shoes, he doubted he could have escaped that blow either. Could such a smooth operation really be achieved through base-level computation? Moreover, players’ actions were filled with randomness and uncertainty... This must be a real world!
Doubts rose again in Lin Bai’s heart.
But if this was a real world, it was strange that the Governnt Office hadn’t taken any counterasures despite players having arrived two days ago. And if this truly was a ga, where was the playability when survival was so difficult for players?
Real? But this already violated the fundantal concepts of ga design.
On Earth, Lin Bai knew of many gas abandoned by players because they were too difficult to get into. He had also seen many gas with rough graphics that were wildly popular among players simply because they were easy to pick up. After all, gas didn’t make money solely from professional players; they relied on ordinary people seeking leisure and entertainnt. A ga had to be enjoyable! In a hectic life, who would willingly seek out frustration in a ga?
A series of doubts left Lin Bai confused.
Unable to figure it out, Lin Bai decided to stop thinking about it.
Ultimately, he was just a stranger in this world. He hadn’t even figured out all the rules himself, so why should he worry about the ga operators? From his perspective, the more of a deterrent the ga was, the better. Surviving was what mattered most. As for the inside story, he would consider it when he had the strength!
...
As a Novice Village, Jiamucheng wasn’t actually small. It had six streets running east-west and another six running north-south.
Outside the west city gate lay high mountains with dense forests, reportedly teeming with Beasts. Aside from hunters, few people dared to venture into those mountains.
A river flowed through the city, dividing it into northern and southern halves. The area north of the river was smaller, mostly inhabited by the city’s elite and wealthy. The southern area, three tis larger than the north, was where ordinary people lived.
Establishnts like Martial Arts Gyms, Blacksmith Shops, Carpenter’s Shops, textile and printing businesses, escort agencies, and so on—scorned by the city’s elite but adored by players—were all located in the southern part of the city.
Among the various professions, Martial Arts Gyms were clearly more favored by players. After all, the majority of players were the combat-oriented type who loved competition and sought destruction. anwhile, social and achievent-oriented players also needed to master certain Spell Skills to fully enjoy themselves in the Immortal World. Therefore, for players, Martial Arts and Spells were essential.
Within Jiamucheng, three Martial Arts Gyms were openly recruiting disciples: Zhang’s Martial Arts Gym, teaching a boxing technique called ’Consecutive Five Elents Fist’; Mo’s Sword Gym, teaching a swordplay technique called ’Mo’s Sword’; and the Wu Family’s knife arts gym, renowned for its unique technique, the ’Thousand Leaves Knife’.
Of course, joining a Martial Arts Gym like the Zhang Family Punch Palace didn’t necessarily an one had to learn boxing. For instance, at the Zhang Family Punch Palace, one could also learn staff and spear techniques. However, to learn their boxing arts, one typically needed to beco a core Disciple.
Besides recruiting Disciples, these three Martial Arts Gyms also had other sources of inco. The Wild Wind Gang, which controlled the transportation business in Jiamucheng and the surrounding cities, was supported by the Zhang Family. Mo’s Sword Gym had connections with the city’s wealthy families. Many Disciples from the Sword Gym were often sent to serve as guards for the nobility. As for the Wu Family, they had their own escort agency and seed to have connections with the military...
This was the information one could gather openly. Whether there were deeper connections or backgrounds couldn’t be determined by re inquiries.
Players lingered near each Martial Arts Gym; Lin Bai counted about a dozen. He saw players with nas like [Bitter Gourd], [Stage IV Laziness], [Shangguan Tiezhu], [Crazy Man], and [Uncompromising]. These players gathered in small groups, excitedly discussing how to join a Martial Arts Gym and which profession was better for developnt.
Players entered this world with a mindset for entertainnt. To them, dying once or twice while exploring, or even deleting their characters, was normal. As long as the ga still felt new, they wouldn’t mind a bit of hardship.
...
Seeing so many players, Lin Bai finally felt like this truly was a ga world. He hadn’t expected so many people in the closed beta. With nothing better to do, Lin Bai pretended to be tired from walking and lingered nearby, hoping to gather the latest information.
Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated. Even if he had no direct dealings with them for now, it was necessary to understand their general character beforehand.
...
"The Broken Wall gym charges a registration fee, but the ga doesn’t yet allow us to recharge. The developnt team is not being friendly to us beta testers," [Bitter Gourd] comnted.
"Basic Martial Arts is just a transition, and they won’t even let us register directly for that. I dare to bet this kind of ga, which takes pleasure in making things difficult for players, won’t even make it to the later stages. The ga company will definitely go under," [Uncompromising] said.
"I think it’s quite interesting. The harder the ga is, the more challenging it is, isn’t it!" [Crazy Man] said with a grin.
"Actually, I have a solution to the registration fee issue, but it involves so risk and requires a bit of trust," [Stage IV Laziness] said, his gaze sweeping over the others.
"Speak up! If we’re not afraid of death, why would we fear a little risk?" The others’ interest was imdiately piqued.
"Delete your character," [Stage IV Laziness] said.
"What kind of solution is that?" [Bitter Gourd] asked.
"The registration fee is 500 Copper Coins, and the System initially gives you 200 Copper Coins," [Stage IV Laziness] calmly elaborated. "Right now, there are four of us. If we pool the money from three people into one person’s hands, the other three can delete their characters and start over. That gives us another 600 Copper Coins. If each person deletes their character three tis, the four of us will have enough for the registration fees."
"Wow!" The remaining three exclaid in surprise.
"’Now you understand. The risk I ntioned isn’t in the ga; it’s outside of it." [Stage IV Laziness]’s gaze swept over the other three. "You know, closed beta accounts aren’t easy to co by. If we use character deletion to farm money, it could easily attract the ga company’s attention, and there’s a risk of getting banned."
The other three fell into Silence.
"’We can do it," [Crazy Man] suddenly said. "The purpose of a closed beta is to test for bugs and optimize the ga experience. Deleting characters to farm money is a type of bug. If we find this exploit, they should thank us! It’s much better than this exploit being found during the open beta, which would be more damaging. If they ban our accounts for this, we’ll expose them on the forums!"
"’Let’s do it," [Bitter Gourd] said. "Once we’ve fard enough money, we’ll imdiately report this exploit to the developers and even get a reward from them."
"’Good idea!" [Uncompromising] agreed. "This stingy company deserves to be fleeced." He paused, then added, "Since fate has brought us together, why don’t we form an alliance? We can advance and retreat together in the ga. Two heads are better than one, and three are even better. It’s clear this ga is too hard to play solo. If we run into problems later, we can figure them out together."
"No problem."
"No problem."
[Uncompromising]’s proposal quickly received unanimous agreent.
...
Having listened to all their plans, Lin Bai was left dumbfounded.
So this is what players are like! They’ll resort to any ans for the ga, even taking their sches outside of it. Once they’ve fard enough money for themselves, they’ll report the exploit to block others. Truly shaless... A mont ago, I was still complaining about the ga being too difficult. But now, I feel the ga is far too easy for these players. I realize that as an NPC, I could very well be tricked by this group of players...
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