Through the noble Jin Tiaoran Yi, they learned a lot of information about this city.
This city is called the City of Melancholy. Including various NPCs, the city has a permanent population of more than 300,000. There are four other cities of the same size as it to accommodate players from other time zones and nationalities.
"So many people..." Zhou Yao frowned.
"The City of Melancholy..." Wen Zheliu thought about the name, "It seems to be prepared for players who have cleared the first world."
Jin Yi laughed and said: "That's right, and this is only the first level. Do you know tower defense games? The kind where one level is higher than the other. It is said that above the Melancholy City, there is another Midnight City, There are so many things like snow-capped mountains and huge cities.”
Zhou Qing murmured: "Nine worlds, nine levels of capital."
"Climb up one level at a time, newcomers, the road is still long." Although Jin Yi was frightened by Wen Zheliu just now, he quickly regained his demeanor as a veteran player, "They all said , when you get to the ninth-level city, you can see that damn white-robed woman. Take the last key from her, and you can go home."
Du Zijun sneered: "Go home... How do you know she will keep her promise? Look at this hellish place now, can you tell the difference between virtuality and reality? When the time comes, she will just build a place to lock you up, why don't you? Blinded by both eyes."
"People have to have something to look forward to in life." Jin Yi shrugged, "Besides, if you don't go up, what can you do?"
Wen Zheliu suddenly asked: "Then why don't you go up and choose to be an information dealer here?"
Jin Yi looked at him, with a complicated smile on his face. He pointed at the pedestrians coming and going outside the alley: "Did you see the bodies of those people outside? The game world in the Uncanny Valley will not give you those flowers. With green skill cards, all you can rely on are props and your own mortal body."
He lifted up his leather jacket and showed the group of people his torso underneath. His belly still had the texture and color of flesh, but it faintly reflected an inorganic light in the night light. Wen Zheliu frowned and heard him say: "You have also dealt with those things with long tongues. The first time they saw me, they ate one of my companions, and then used their tongues to hook my intestines. .After I survived, I vowed never to try that feeling again."
"So, you just modified this part into metal?" Muto was stunned. "Oh my god, human body modification violates the Science and Technology Ethics Law in real life..."
"But this is the uncanny valley." A sarcastic smile appeared on Jin Yi's face, "So, without powerful props to save my life, I will not rush into the second world and give away my life for nothing. Little life.”
Wen Zheliu asked: "Does everyone here think so?"
"No." Jin Yi replied, "Most of them, maybe there are quite a few people who don't want to transform themselves into half-human, half-mechanical monsters. Who knows."
"Take us to see other places." Wen Zheliu said.
Jin Yi got up from the ground and patted the dirt on his butt: "I thought you would let me sit here until I die."
"If you want to." Du Zijun said coldly.
Under Jin Yi's guidance, the six people took a suspended cable car and ordered an online dinner on the car. While eating, they took a general tour of the structure of Melancholy City.
It is like a small nova city, with shopping malls, restaurants, underground black markets, entertainment venues, and various infrastructure constructions... It is not difficult to get familiar with it.
Several people observed the scene below. Compared with here, Nova City is larger, brighter, more open, warmer and more tolerant. But here... Looking down from the top, this place is like a steel city full of violence and crime, and the NPCs acting as guards are just to collect the bodies of players who died in street fights, and to prevent them from damaging the city. public building.
"It's so scary..." Zhou Qing couldn't help shrinking her neck, she murmured, "It's too messy here."
Du Zijun pressed his cigarette butt on the seat of the suspended cable car. His dark eyes reflected the bright colors of the entire city, which were colorful and bizarre. He said, "There is nothing to be afraid of. Trust me, you will get used to it soon."
They gradually approached the center of the city, where there was nothing but an ice-blue spire that towered above everything else. It was mysterious and beautiful, standing there as silent as a mountain, emitting a majestic blue light that could be seen by the entire city.
"what is that?"
Jin Yi glanced down and replied casually: "That's the ranking list."
"Ranking list?" Wen Zheliu was a little interested and stretched his neck to look up at the steeple. The cable car was floating forward smoothly, taking them around to the other side of the spire, "What row..."
His eyes were focused, and the words that came to his lips could not help but die down, slowly becoming silent. A group of six people followed him and looked over there, but they were silent for a while.
Ranking list of cleared players
No.1: Wen Di, clearance time: 105 hours, 37 minutes and 48 seconds, collection achievements: full plot achievements
Wen Zheliu opened his mouth wide, almost unable to believe his eyes. He rubbed them again and again before confirming that the golden name was his.
He is actually the first among all players who have cleared the level? !
The remaining people also hurriedly held their breath and concentrated on looking for their names on it.
No.9: Leng Ao, Kuangye, clearance time: 105 hours, 37 minutes and 52 seconds, collection achievements: 2/3 plot achievements
…
no.13: Little Transparent also has spring, clearance time: 105 hours, 38 minutes and 01 seconds, collection achievements: 2/3 plot achievements
A novel app that has been running stably for many years, comparable to the old book-chasing tool, a source-changing app used by old bookworms, huanyuanapp.org
…
no.18: Tianzhiyao, clearance time: 105 hours, 38 minutes and 02 seconds, collection achievements: 2/3 plot achievements
no.19: Clear Water, clearance time: 105 hours, 38 minutes and 02 seconds, collection achievements: 2/3 plot achievements
…
no.32: Hunter hunter, clearance time: 105 hours, 38 minutes and 9 seconds, collection achievements: 2/3 plot achievements
… The six of them actually squeezed into the top fifty on a ranking list where the total number exceeds 300,000, but the quota only counts the top 600 people.
but…
"Who is that Leng Ao and Kuang Ye?" Zhou Qing said "ugh". Judging from the time and color, this player ID is on the same team as them, "... This is too earthy."
There is no doubt that Tian Zhiyao and Shui Zhiqing are brothers and sisters Zhou Yao and Zhou Qing; Xiao Zhiyuan also has a spring and it is Xie Yuanyuan; as for the hunter, remembering the profession Mutuo said, the hunter should be Muto; then the rest …
… Several people slowly twisted their necks and turned to Leng Ao and Kuangye Du Zijun.
Du Zijun: "..."
The slender girl in a white dress took out a women's cigarette from the cigarette case and lit it with an old-style lighter. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting the smoke spray onto the transparent window of the cable car for a long time.
The hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly.
"This name should have been chosen for him by his... employees, right?" He spoke with difficulty and crypticly, trying not to let the only outsider on the field hear the clues. "It's possible that he doesn't know it himself, but he does. It’s already too late and I can’t get out anymore?”
Jin Yi smiled and said: "It doesn't matter whether they are local or not, in short, this group of people suddenly came out like dark horses yesterday and took away a few of the front row seats of several large groups. Especially the one named Wen Di Of... After four days of clearing the game, all the plot achievements were unlocked without even finishing the side missions. I don’t know what kind of monster it is with Qiqiaoling|Longxin. The other five people in his team must have been brought there by him, right? No. Look down on you."
Du Zijunxin said that there is a bigger monster above this little monster, but it's a pity that you didn't have the chance to see it, leaving the rest of us blind in vain.
"So that's it..." Wen Zheliu said with a smile, "Those people in the big group must have worked hard to know the information about these six people, right Jin Yi?"
The information dealer was stunned when his name was suddenly called, and then looked at him.
Wen Zheliu's expression remained unchanged, but the smile on his face deepened. The young man's cunning and intelligent eyes were like a small sword, nailing him in place before he could react.
"So, it's not difficult to recognize the six of us, right?" he asked softly.
The muscles on Du Zijun's face also twitched slightly. He suddenly reacted and kicked the intelligence dealer hard between the legs, causing the suspended cable car to sway. Jin Yi also screamed in fright, "So, Are you following not your accomplices, but the so-called big group?"
Zhou Qing was shocked: "Is someone following you?!"
Du Zijun frowned fiercely and grabbed Jin Yi's collar: "You laymen are a little too young to play such a trick with me, hiding your head and showing your tail! Be honest, or else I will burn the center of your forehead with a cigarette butt and make you Be a Tieguanyin.”
Seeing the clearly extinguished cigarette butts close at hand, Jin Yi couldn't help but scream in fear, and the purple hair on the top of his forehead trembled in fear. He shouted: "No, no, no, sister, don't do anything! I said, I said!"
"Why are those big groups of players following us?" Zhou Yao asked calmly, "The mastermind of the Uncanny Valley has imprisoned human players here. Do they still care about the nihilistic rankings? Anyone who is a little smarter, Do you know how to rush through the level and end all this quickly and return to the real world?"
"Unless the ranking has any substantial benefits for players that can affect their strength." Wen Zheliu continued slowly, and at the same time glanced at the holographic light screen on the right side of the cable car, "The cable car still has 12 minutes, 35, 34 Walk the whole distance in seconds, this time should be enough for you to speak clearly."
After dealing with the information dealer who left half of his words, everyone learned about the current situation of the players in Melancholy City from his mouth.
When the first batch of players came to Melancholy City, this ranking began to record the rankings of those players. For players at the top of the ranking, the conveniences they get in this city are much more than those at the bottom. Including discounts on props in the mall, human body modification experiments in the research institute, and even going to some feasting places to become adults, you will also get preferential treatment and special attention from NPCs.
More importantly, the top 100 players can select an additional product for free in the prop mall that is "no more than three levels above the optimal prop level they carry" before leaving the Melancholy City, and take it to the next one. world. This is undoubtedly a huge guarantee for the player's survivability.
"So..." Muto understood, "They are chasing us, but they actually want to kill us and regain the ranking?"
"That's not entirely true," Wen Zheliu said. "I guess, maybe they are still not sure whether we are the six people on the ranking list."
Zhou Qingqi asked: "Why? I guess it is rare for all members of the team to clear the escape mode. Thinking about it this way, we are quite conspicuous."
Wen Zheliu raised his eyebrows and smiled - when he made this expression, he was already very similar to He Qin, but he was not as scheming and evil as his brother, but more lively and bold. He asked Jin Yi: "Tell me, How many people are there in our team?”
"Five people." Jin Yi blurted out without thinking, and then felt something was wrong, "Eh? It seems... six? No, no, no, wait for me to count, is it six or five..."
Xie Yuanyuan huddled in the corner and rolled his eyes.
Du Zijun smiled coldly, bit the cigarette holder with one side of his teeth, took out a silver coin from his pocket, and slapped Jin Yi on the face.
His eyes were decisive and old-fashioned, like the cold black light from the muzzle of a gun: "Here's another piece of white money for you. The piece he gave you just now is payment, and the piece I gave you is for medical expenses."
Jin Yi froze for a moment. He could see that this kind of look was not something ordinary people could have!
He suddenly struggled: "No! I know I'm wrong, I know I'm wrong... Spare me! Please, please..."
Du Zijun pushed him hard against the wall of the cable car, put his fingers together with the knife, raised the knife with his hand, and knocked him down on the inside of the seat.
The cable car swayed slightly, and after a while, it stopped at the intersection of an aerial walkway.
Several groups of people watching from a distance frowned, and one of them reported to Guang Nao in a low voice: "A tall man came down and took a taxi... The cable car continued to move forward."
After a while, he reported again: "A man and woman of similar appearance came down. The cable car is still moving forward."
At the last fork, he said: "This time three people came down... no, two people, a man and a woman, and the cable car went to the end."
"They went in different directions, but the intelligence dealer didn't come down. Boss, do you want to split up to investigate? Yes, yes, there are five people in total, that's right."
"… Ok, I see."
From the spire in the center of the city, blue light is still emitting. The next moment, a name emerged silently from the top, and the player ID of Wen Di was gently placed on the No. 1 position, and a glow as bright as molten gold flashed across the entire melancholy city. above.
The author has something to say: Everyone’s mental journey when choosing a name:
66: Hearing the broken willows in this nocturne, no one can forget the love of hometown. Just call it Wen Di.
He Qin: I'm too lazy to think of a random name, so I'll just give it a one-character name... Damn it, I can't even come up with a one-character ID. Forget it, if I open permission for this matter, everyone can know my true identity, just call me Chin.
Xie Yuanyuan: I, I don’t want to be transparent anymore, there is spring even if you are transparent!
Brother A: Big brother! The ID has been registered. It is very domineering and fits your temperament. You will know it at a glance. That feeling is absolutely unmistakable!
Sister Du: Well, okay, let me check it out after I play the game.