North of the four mountains, on the way to the Colossus City, is a plain terrain, where you can see traces of what was once a small town or county town.
The wasteland has just entered autumn, and it is neither cold nor hot.
After walking for a whole morning, Agent Feng ran out of the four mountains and stood on a small hill, looking at the vast but dilapidated world beyond.
“True open world map...”
The so-called open world means that all locations on the map can be reached, without any plot or air wall restrictions. This is the practice of many mainstream games today.
But seeing it in a fully immersive VR game... is still pretty astounding.
Agent Feng is different from those game players in Sishan. He is not keen on leveling up and fighting monsters. He wants to explore an unknown world and solve the puzzles hidden in the game world.
He really likes the game between humans and ghosts that his high school classmate Forgiveness Hat talked about.
"So, we know there is a very powerful female ghost in Sishan, so why is she sealed there? And according to the information given by other players... the female ghost did not choose to leave immediately after being unsealed, but is still hiding in Yanjing Town. Is there something there that she cares about?"
There are no clues to these, and with his current strength, there is no need to even think about challenging the female ghost to get the truth.
Agent Feng also went to the ethereal fantasy. This one-time copy gave him 200 experience points and relived a battle he had participated in. In that battle... his instructor died in the line of duty. In the fantasy, he chose to sacrifice himself in exchange for the instructor, and then he passed the level.
At that moment, he seemed to have let go of something in his heart.
Agent Feng looked at his smartwatch, which showed a map. Apart from the four mountains, the surroundings were completely dark.
On the map, he opened an exit to the north from the circle representing the Four Mountains area.
The maps in the game are shared. As long as the player backs up the data, his map information will be uploaded to the data center of the Scourge Base, and other players will synchronize the map information when they enter the base.
Therefore, Agent Feng was the first player to walk out of the Four Mountains.
Looking to the north, there is a town not far away. It looks like it has been abandoned for a long time. Agent Feng plans to explore it.
“The Four Mountains are too barren. If you want to get high-quality materials, you have to explore the large open world map.”
"I may not be able to defeat the monsters, but... I'll just pick up something and run."
With this thought in mind, he walked into the abandoned town ahead.
After searching for an hour, I found nothing.
Not to mention picking up high-level items, even the expected high-level monsters were not there.
"Huh? The game designed a completely useless scene. This shouldn't be the case. From a psychological point of view, players are creatures that need timely rewards. They can work hard, but they can't play empty-handed. That will greatly consume their patience for the game. A designer who can make such a huge game shouldn't have thought of this."
"Then why design a completely worthless town on the way out of the Four Mountains? Is it just a world background?"
"Something is wrong... It's definitely wrong..."
Agent Feng seemed to sense an unusual smell.
He went in again and explored, carefully checking every place, and this time he found many traces left by people.
“The game is set hundreds of years after the war. According to the logic of the open world, even if we haven’t reached a map yet, the people or monsters on that map will act according to their logic. So... the wasteland humans should have emptied the town of supplies long before us players.”
"So, this place might be a background texture left by the designer on purpose, without any people or monsters."
"But the absence of people and monsters doesn't mean..."
Agent Feng walked towards a roadside in the town which was already in ruins. Through the gaps in the stone slabs, he could see the town's sewer below. Inside was a pale boy with two blushes on his face, grinning at him.
Agent Feng also showed his big white teeth.
"It doesn't mean there aren't ghosts."
He felt his eyes flash, and the boy's figure disappeared in the gap of the sewer.
If it were an ordinary person, he might have thought that he was dazzled.
But Agent Feng... is no ordinary person.
"This body has almost no flaws, how could it be dazzling?"
He found a wooden stick, knocked the stone slab open, and jumped into the sewer.
"In fact, the Void Realm is a guiding welfare copy, which allows us players to understand the attack methods of creatures like ghosts. According to the logic of this game... ghosts attacking humans may be a kind of spiritual infection. If we find a way to deal with it, it may not be fatal."
The sewer was pitch black, with faint sounds of a woman crying and a child laughing, and it was filled with weirdness everywhere.
Agent Feng closed his eyes and walked forward, knocking with a wooden stick in his hand.
Here, his eyes are a burden to him.
Something was pulling at his clothes from behind, something was blowing in his ears, and something seemed to be staring at him in front of his face, making him instinctively want to open his eyes.
"Noisy!"
Agent Feng remained unmoved and strode deep into the pitch-dark sewer.
At this moment, he trusted no one except the stick in his hand.
You are taking continuous Aether damage, hp-1... hp-1... hp-1...
He was losing blood slowly, but his blood volume was also recovering at a rate of 0.5 per second.
"My limit is 16 minutes, but considering that losing too much health will affect my mobility, my safe time should be around 12 minutes. In other words... if I can't find anything after walking forward for 6 minutes, I have to come back."
Da~da~da~
Agent Feng kept walking forward, tapping the surroundings with the stick.
As a professional police academy graduate, he had learned how to deal with situations where visibility was poor.
By the sixth minute, he had three more things in his arms, which he had taken by feel.
"It's time to go back..."
Bang!
Agent Feng's stick struck a crisp object.
He squatted down and reached over with his hand.
"Hiss~ It's so cool!"
An irregular but smooth metal-like object, about the size of a standard masturbation cup.
At this moment, a horrible howl came to my ears.
"ah!!!"
As if attacked by a ghost, two lines of blood flowed from Agent Feng's ears.
You are attacked by Aether, HP -50.
Agent Feng smiled.
"Found something good."
He picked it up and walked back quickly.
The dark sewer was filled with the sound of small sticks hitting each other.
Four minutes later, Agent Feng returned to his original position. He felt the sunlight shining down from above and touched the place based on his memory with his eyes closed.
Then... he opened his eyes.
What came into view were two twisted figures in the sewer, a long-haired female ghost and a rosy-cheeked boy, who were about to rush out, looking hideous and terrifying, more terrifying than the most terrifying horror movie figures.
"If you could rush up and beat me, you would have done it long ago. Forget it."
Agent Feng moved away and checked the pile of things in his arms.
A gold watch, a bag of shiny iron coins with sculptures printed on them, a delicate-looking metal spinning top, and the last thing he found was a piece of cold white "metal" the size of a masturbation cup.
It feels like metal, but the surface looks more like a crystal, with beautiful patterns inside, and it feels cold to the touch.
"Great, this thing looks good."
There are gains.
He stood up and put the things into his backpack. These were bought for him by Forgiveness Hat at the Lord's Shop before he left, for 10 iron coins each.
"Let's go shopping again... and pick up some props."
His way of playing can be summed up in one word: stealing chickens.
"I didn't reach the end of the sewer just now. Maybe there are other items I can get... I'll come back after I level up and have more health."
At this point, he only had 150 points of health left, and it would be dangerous if he walked any further.
After eating a few mouthfuls of beans, Agent Feng brushed the dirt off his body and walked out of the town to the north.
Da da da~
Da da da~
Two humans on horseback came galloping towards us, wearing clothes with yellow and green stripes and printed with multiple sculpture patterns.
When Agent Feng saw this, he was delighted.
"Isn't this the pattern on the iron coin?"
If Xigou and the other three were here, they would definitely recognize it. This pattern appeared on the caravan train in Colossus City.