WTYTIAAN Chapter 165

Chapter 165

“So this is Romunike? It feels completely different from Bato Vita!” [He Kou Wang] surveyed the surrounding residences, “It feels like this place is more… well, richer than Bato Vita?”

He pondered for a long time before finding a suitable adjective: “Prosperous? A bit more prosperous.”

When they came to Romunike, they had also visited towns near Newbie Village, and they could see a significant economic gap between the cities of the two countries.

[Da A Ge] was also observing, “I think I heard an NPC mention this before, Bato Vita focuses more on noble bloodlines, and most of the power is held by old nobles. Romunike is the opposite, their titles can even be traded. Many great nobles are merchants by origin, so the economy here is more developed, right?”

The construction of Romunike’s city walls alone looked more luxurious than those of Bato Vita.

“You’re right.” A voice sounded behind them. The two turned around and saw a woman in a magic robe walking over, wearing glasses on her nose, and with pursed lips, she looked very intellectual.

Above her head was the player-unique ID [Shrimp Xiami].

“Bato Vita values old nobles more, suppressing new nobles and merchants without noble bloodlines. All the wealth is concentrated in the royal family, the old top nobles, and the Augreir Family, who stabilized their position through marriage with the royal family and gradually encroached on the commercial territory.”

“Compared to bloodlines, Romunike values money more. In this country, even buying and selling titles is not uncommon. With money, you can buy a certain amount of power. Merchants have found a good breeding ground here, so it appears more prosperous.”

“Hello.” Seeing the two men’s gazes on her, [Shrimp Xiami] nodded to them, “I’m Xiami.”

The pronunciation, which was a bit different from the ID, made the two exchange glances. [He Kou Wang] tentatively introduced himself: “Um, hello, I’m He Kou Wang… you can just call me Chengzi.”

“I’m Da A Ge, you can call me Da A or A Ge.” [Da A Ge] was very cheerful.

[Shrimp Xiami] looked at [He Kou Wang] and then at [Da A Ge], thought for a few seconds, and revealed a realization, “So that’s how it is, in the game, you call each other by your game names? Sorry, I’m not too familiar with that, then you can call me… um, Shrimp?”

[Da A Ge] listened to these words, somewhat hesitant: “Excuse me for asking, what do you do in real life…?”

[Shrimp Xiami] had no intention of hiding anything, and answered very straightforwardly: “Me? I guess I’m a university teacher now? I usually like to do research. I’m currently living abroad. I came to this game out of curiosity about the level of technology in China. After all, when I was doing research abroad, I never heard that holographic technology had matured to this extent.”

“After entering the game, I was instead attracted by the historical heritage revealed in the details of this game. This game is really made very realistically. Everything we see, we can find the reasons for its creation from a place’s culture, history, geographical environment, and so on.”

“Just like the reason why the cities of the two countries look so different.”

She looked very emotional, “Sure enough, amateur scientists always give people unexpected surprises.”

Hearing [Shrimp Xiami]’s words, [He Kou Wang] and [Da A Ge] both felt a chill run down their spines. This was actually a teacher! No wonder her aura made people feel intimidated at first glance.

But this teacher was doing academic research in the game?

As expected of a teacher…

“Let’s go, the agreed time is almost here. We should go meet those little friends.” [Shrimp Xiami] smiled.

“Eh?” [He Kou Wang] was surprised, “Teacher, you don’t mean…?”

“That’s right, I was also invited by [Rin] friend.” [Shrimp Xiami] blinked, “Looking at your expressions, are you surprised that I recognized you? Haha, don’t be so exaggerated. Little Rin didn’t tell me who all she invited.”

[He Kou Wang]’s expression changed one by one with [Shrimp Xiami]’s words, until finally his eyes widened, and he looked at [Shrimp Xiami] in disbelief.

Are teachers nowadays so terrifying? She even guessed what he was thinking in his heart. Did this teacher have mind-reading powers?

“Haha, I don’t have superpowers, but if it’s mind-reading, I know a little bit.” [Shrimp Xiami] pinched a small length with her right thumb and forefinger, “I’m a psychology teacher. From micro-expressions, I can roughly judge what you’re thinking now. And Chengzi friend, your expressions are really rich.”

“Too easy to understand.”

[He Kou Wang]: …

“Let’s go, we’ll talk on the way.” [Shrimp Xiami] suggested.

…

When they arrived at the place, [He Kou Wang] and [Da A Ge] realized that [Rin]’s partners were not just the three of them. In addition to the four who originally accepted the quest, Rin had additionally found five people.

[Da A Ge]: Game blogger with millions of followers

[He Kou Wang]: The burden that [Da A Ge] brought along, professional leveler.

[Shrimp Xiami]: Psychology professor from abroad

[Butcher Chaser]: Veteran professional player, worked as QA for many large games.

[Kunlun Head]: Third on the overall Return game ranking list

[He Kou Wang] looked around and was shocked to find that among these five people, only he was brought in by [Da A Ge] as a twofer. To put it more simply: he was a connection.

[Da A Ge]’s face showed a hint of surprise when he saw [Butcher Chaser]. After [Rin] introduced them, he greeted [Butcher Chaser], “Old Zhu, I didn’t expect you to get a closed beta slot this time too. Did the official find you?”

[Butcher Chaser] waved his hand, “I wish they did, but Return really hasn’t looked for professional QAs. I asked my friends in the circle, and no one received an invitation. I was just curious myself, so I bought a slot to take a look.”

[Butcher Chaser] was a relatively well-known professional QA in the circle. It was said that he was originally a programmer, so the evaluations he gave at the end were extremely professional. Many game bugs were caught by him during the official internal testing, saving the game company a lot of trouble.

[Da A Ge] laughed, “What a coincidence, my slot was also bought. When I was registering, I was still editing videos. When I finished working and looked at the group messages, I felt like the sky was falling.”

[Butcher Chaser] nodded in deep sympathy: “Tell me about it!”

The two had met before because they had evaluated games together. Now, meeting again in the game, they felt a kind of excitement of old friends meeting.

[Rin] waited for everyone to finish greeting each other before speaking again: “I’ve already explained it very clearly in the private messages. The reason I invited everyone here this time is that I hope everyone can explore a hidden quest together.”

As she spoke, [Rin] pulled everyone into a team and shared the quest with the team members.

Seeing the quest, everyone wasn’t surprised. They had already learned the specific completion conditions of this quest when they accepted the invitation.

“Our exploration progress has already reached 45%. We’re only 35% away from the 80% required by the quest. However, we speculate that the higher the exploration progress, the more generous the final reward will be. It might even be linked to subsequent hidden quests. So our goal is to push the progress bar of the exploration quest to 100% within the time limit.” Rin explained.

“Another point is levels. Reaching level 25 or higher within 15 days is a bit harsh. Everyone should also know that the higher the level, the more experience is needed for each level up. However, my friend and I have figured out a way to exploit a bug.”

“In a team, the experience of the monster units killed is divided into three parts. The killer takes one-third, and the remaining two-thirds are shared equally among the team members.” Rin said, “So in the following time, we need to split into two teams, one team to explore, and the other team to level up by grinding monsters. We’ll rotate every day until the whole team’s level exceeds 25.”

The method Rin proposed was very feasible, and none of the five people she found had any objections. This was also the most efficient method so far.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Rin looked at her roommate, and with Rin’s signal, Nan Su stood up.

“Then let’s go. We’ll take you to the Hawthorne Village of this quest first, and tell you about the clues we’ve already explored.”

The nine people marched mightily to the vicinity of the abandoned village.

After these days of wind and sun, these abandoned villages seemed to have become even more dilapidated. The realism of this game was evident from this.

“The villagers in Newbie Village said that the village was attacked by demonic creatures. We also found some relatively large beast claw prints and some traces of fighting at the scene. This cannot be faked.”

“The bloodstains here can be used to determine…”

The few people chatted about the clues they had explored in the past few days. [Shrimp Xiami] found a slightly higher small earth slope to stand on, overlooking the approximate original appearance of the entire village, revealing a thoughtful expression.

“Teacher, did you find anything?” [He Kou Wang], who had also applied for independent action, saw [Shrimp Xiami]’s expression and couldn’t help but ask.

“Find? I can’t really say I found anything.” [Shrimp Xiami] said, “I mentioned it before when I came over, this game is very detailed, and it seems that everything can find its basis, right?”

[He Kou Wang] nodded, waiting for [Shrimp Xiami]’s next sentence.

Who knew that [Shrimp Xiami] would get lost in thought on her own, pinching her chin with one hand. That academic aura of doing research suddenly hit, scaring [He Kou Wang] to take a step back.

What was this feeling of encountering a homeroom teacher in school?

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you.” [Shrimp Xiami] showed an apologetic smile, “Where were we just now?”

“You were saying that everything has its basis.” [He Kou Wang] quietly wiped away some sweat.

“Um… yes.” [Shrimp Xiami] nodded, “So this village is very strange.”

“Ah?” [He Kou Wang] was at a loss, completely unable to keep up with [Shrimp Xiami]’s thinking, “Where is it strange?”

“It lacks a bit of the breath of life.” [Shrimp Xiami] gestured, “Have you been to other villages in the game before? I mean villages other than Newbie Village.”

[He Kou Wang] shook his head, “I’ve only been to nearby towns with [Da A Ge].”

“Okay.” [Shrimp Xiami] didn’t find it troublesome, and explained to [He Kou Wang]: “Those villages have a very strong breath of life. There are children in the village who like to run around naked, women sitting at the entrance of the village chatting, and occasionally you can see farmers carrying hoes, sweating…”

“All the details are the same as in reality. You can even see sausages drying in every household. In the absence of refrigerators that can store fresh food, people in rural areas like to marinate meat that is prone to spoilage so that it can be stored longer.”

“But look, this village lacks a pitiful amount of the breath of life.” [Shrimp Xiami] pointed to the surrounding houses, “If this village was attacked by demonic creatures without any preparation, it would definitely leave some traces.”

“Instead of being like this, every bungalow looks deserted, with almost no traces of long-term life.”

[Shrimp Xiami]: “This place is like a village that was specially built to hide something.” Just like Newbie Village, it was fake.

[He Kou Wang] listened in stunned silence, “Ah? You mean…”

“Huh?” Before he could finish his sentence, another voice interrupted him. [Destin] said in surprise, “The exploration progress jumped another 4%? Did someone find a new clue?”

Suddenly, everyone’s gaze fell on [Destin]. Hearing this, [He Kou Wang] immediately pulled up the quest that Rin had just shared, and sure enough, he found that the quest progress had increased a bit.

[He Kou Wang]’s gaze towards [Shrimp Xiami] was immediately filled with admiration, “Teacher, you’re amazing! Are all psychology students so powerful?”

[Shrimp Xiami] waved her hand, “No, I’m just better at observing details. Don’t demonize psychology as a major.”

When the others heard this, they all knew that [Shrimp Xiami] had observed new clues not long after entering the village, and they all gathered around, preparing to listen to the teacher talk about how she discovered the new clues.

“This village… may not be simple itself.”

*

Yan Yunqing, who was already in the city of Slanlypa, didn’t know that the players were about to expose the Eternal God Cult’s believers for disguising their stronghold as a village to do evil things. At this moment, he had finally entered the city after going through layers of inspections, and was almost blinded by the prosperity of the city.

In a daze, Yan Yunqing almost thought he had returned to Blue Star, because the streets and alleys in this city of Slanlypa looked unusually prosperous, as if those backward towns he had seen before were just his illusions.

Was this the Romunike Empire, where commerce was extremely developed?

Yan Yunqing wandered around the street for a while and was stopped by a cute little girl on the side of the road.

“Big brother, would you like to buy a flower crown?” The little girl raised the few scattered flower crowns in her hand. The flower crowns were woven very delicately, and the flowers on them were bright and dripping with dew, which were obviously just picked not long ago.

Yan Yunqing squatted down in front of her, “Little sister, are you alone?”

The little girl shook her head and pointed towards the back, “Mommy is over there, I’m not alone, oh, brother, don’t worry, the city is very safe, there are guards sent by the city lord here!”

Yan Yunqing raised his head and met the gaze of a woman who looked like a farmer. She smiled at him gently and looked at the little girl’s back with gentle eyes.

After speaking, the little girl pointed to the guards standing on the street patrolling. Each of them was wearing light armor. It had to be said that they did look very safe.

Yan Yunqing didn’t expect the little girl to understand the meaning of his words all at once, and smiled as well, “Is that so? But brother is a boy, wouldn’t wearing a flower crown be a little strange?”

Who knew that the little girl would think about it seriously and then shake her head, “No, brother, you are very good-looking, wearing a flower crown will make you even more good-looking.”

Yan Yunqing choked.

The little girl had praised him like this, he couldn’t say that he was ugly, right?

Although this face of [Ri An] was created by him, and wasn’t even one-tenth as good-looking as his original appearance, he didn’t create it to be ugly. At most, he just diluted the sharpness between his eyebrows, making him look more peaceful.

“Alright.” Yan Yunqing compromised, “Then give me a flower crown, how much does it cost?”

The little girl held up four round, fleshy fingers, “Three copper coins!”

Yan Yunqing was amused, and pressed down one of her fingers, “That’s three, that was four just now.”

The little girl looked at her fingers in confusion, and then at Yan Yunqing’s face, before nodding with a doubtful look, “Okay, then brother, it’s three copper coins, oh!”

Yan Yunqing glanced at the player’s backpack. At the beginning there was 9 gold in the backpack, but he used some silver coins, and there were still 72 coins left, as for copper coins, there weren’t any.

There were a lot of loose copper coins in the NPC’s backpack, but Yan Yunqing was too lazy to transfer them from the NPC’s backpack, so he simply took out a silver coin and stuffed it into the little girl’s hand, “Then I’ll buy all your flower crowns, but I only want one.”

“For the remaining flower crowns, see if there are any handsome or pretty big brothers or big sisters on the side of the road, and you can go up and give one to them, how about that?”

The little girl’s face showed a confused expression, probably it was also the first time she heard such a strange request, “Brother bought all the flower crowns, and then I give them to the other big brothers and big sisters?”

“That’s right.” Yan Yunqing snapped his fingers and rubbed the little girl’s braids, “You’re very smart!”

The little girl tangled for a while, and looked at the silver coins in her hand, and still agreed, “Okay!”

“Then brother, you choose first, the prettiest one is for you!”

As she said that, she stretched out her little arms and showed the flower crowns hanging on her arm to Yan Yunqing, letting him choose.

Yan Yunqing casually picked a blue flower. This one looked more simple and elegant, and was much easier to accept than the other colorful flower crowns.

He took off the flower crown and hung it on his wrist, showing it to her like the little girl, “Look, is it good-looking?”

It was impossible to wear it on his head, so he could only wear it on his wrist.

The little girl opened her mouth, originally wanting to remind this big brother that the flower crown was worn on the head, but thinking that the big brother was today’s biggest sponsor, she swallowed the reminder.

Forget it, let the big brother wear it however he likes.

Thinking like this, the little girl nodded solemnly: “Good-looking!”

After speaking, the little girl seemed to have seen something, and pulled on Yan Yunqing’s sleeve, pointing to his back, “Brother, that brother is also very good-looking, can I give my flower crown to him?”

“Of course you can.” Yan Yunqing didn’t hesitate at all and agreed in one breath, and was just preparing to stand up and see who was the other very good-looking brother in the little girl’s mouth, but just as he stood up, he was accidentally bumped on the shoulder by a passerby behind him.

Yan Yunqing staggered a bit, but his lower body, which he had practiced for a long time and gradually built up a solid foundation, quickly stabilized him, and he didn’t fall down headfirst. He frowned, and before he could say anything, the little girl had already run out.

She grabbed the very good-looking big brother she was talking about and was about to give the flower crown in her hand to the other party.

Yan Yunqing looked in the direction the little girl ran to, raised his eyebrows, how could it be him?