Chapter 575: Bound to the Birth System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 576 Infinite Flow Cannon Fodder (23)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

The girl turned and left, leaving Shen Yao to brood for a moment before returning to normal.

Then seek out the next target.

Not everyone they met was so easy to talk to; some ignored Shen Yao outright, some took the benefits and left, and some told deliberate lies meant to mislead. Shen Yao stayed in the Instance Hall for about a day, and the useful information she gathered was scarce.

Xu Ningchen's situation was the same. Although they spent a day in the Instance Hall, their gains were far from proportional to their efforts.

Shen Yao shook her head. "No, we still need to approach from another angle."

"As for guilds, we could consider purchasing information?" They tried not to get too involved with guilds, simply consulting about instance situations.

Xu Ningchen raised his hand and tapped the ring on his hand. "We can take a look at these few guilds with decent reputations."

Doing business also required choosing clients carefully; points in the Infinite World were no less than real gold and silver.

Shen Yao nodded. Over the next two days, the two of them gathered information and observed the guild situation in the Ninth District (Infinite World) from the side.

For some general news, Shen Yao could get quite a bit without much effort, but for more obscure secrets, they still had to rely on points.

Finally, the two selected three guilds with decent reputations and decent size.

"Ping'an Guild, Changping Guild, Qingshihua Guild."

After organizing the information she found, Shen Yao sent it to Xu Ningchen beside her, indicating that the three guilds each had their own pros and cons. If they were simply purchasing instance information, they should choose Ping'an Guild, after all, this guild had always pursued harmony bringing wealth.

"If they wanted to buy some decent items along the way, Changping Guild was quite good; most people inside mastered skills, and prices were cheaper than the System Mall."

"Qingshihua Guild, it's said to be a bit strange; the people inside have all sorts of personalities and conduct, as long as the price is right, anything can be bought."

Shen Yao wrapped both hands around her arm bend, feeling that it was best not to come into contact with people from Qingshihua Guild if possible. Strange indeed; cannon fodder like them feared such people the most.

Xu Ningchen made the decision. "Ask Changping Guild first; if that doesn't work, consider Ping'an Guild." As for Qingshihua Guild, he ignored it directly.

Say do, do. The two originally planned to rest for a week in the Infinite World before entering the instance at the right time, but seeing time passing faster and faster, they couldn't continue to waste it.

Leaving the residential area and entering the wide street, Shen Yao slid the ring in her hand, finally placing her gaze on a slightly secluded (actually crowded here) small alley, because at the alley entrance hung a flag fluttering in the wind, with the character "Ping" written on it.

Guilds in the Infinite World all had fixed contact points. Around Changping Guild were other big and small guilds; whether guild members or others, all could enter.

Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen came to purchase instance information, and along the way take a look at the items sold by Changping Guild.

"Welcome."

The young man, seeing someone enter the door, hurriedly brought a smiling face up to welcome them.

"We want to purchase some instance information; I don't know how your guild's prices are?"

Xu Ningchen spoke directly, not giving the other party a chance to be polite.

"Please sit here," the young man also liked this straightforward style, after all, saying more was a waste of time; wasn't earning points more fragrant?

"The above is the price list for items sold by Changping Guild. Ordinary instances are all good quality and cheap, while strange phenomenon instances are relatively tricky to handle. As for specific prices, it's just that..." The young man himself couldn't bring himself to say it too bluntly; after all, compared to points for ordinary instances, strange phenomenon instances were obviously not very cost-effective.

But Changping Guild, in order to clear strange phenomenon instances, spent a huge cost every time. If they lowered prices, they themselves wouldn't be able to recover costs.

Therefore, in order to promote information on strange phenomenon instances, Changping Guild would also appropriately lower prices on some items that could deal with strange phenomenon instances.

The young man took out the best few items sold by Changping Guild and delivered them to Shen Yao and the other. "Although they can't compare to the quality of the System Mall, the effects are still very good."

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao touched the few items before her; there were bells, bracelets, daggers, and earrings.

As soon as she picked them up, Shen Yao could read the note information beside the items.

For example, this Repelling Dagger could successfully repel strange phenomena for five seconds each time, and could be used three times in total.

"If purchasing instance content in bulk, does Changping Guild offer discounts?"

Xu Ningchen tapped the price list before him and nodded slightly at Shen Yao.

The young man was obviously prepared. "Changping Guild's prices are transparent. If the purchase quantity exceeds the guild's regulations, there are naturally discount offers."

"Then calculate at the most favorable rate. We need a large amount of ordinary instance information," Shen Yao took over the conversation extremely naturally, then pointed at the items on the table that could deal with strange phenomenon instances, speaking earnestly in hopes they would purchase Changping Guild's items.

Big client.

The young man's eyes smiled into crescent moon shapes. He hurriedly calculated the points spent on this transaction, and along the way gently reminded the two that instance information sold by Changping Guild theoretically could not be resold a second time, but if they avoided people and didn't make too big a show of it, Changping Guild wouldn't pursue it.

"These are all instance information. Changping Guild gifts both of you some content related to strange phenomenon instances for free, hoping to continue cooperation next time."

The young man Tian Ye sent the content over through the wristband with a smiling expression, and along the way took away the few items on the table that hadn't been sold.

As for the dagger, earrings, and bracelet that Shen Yao bought with points, those naturally belonged to Shen Yao to use.

After standing up and leaving Changping Guild, the two did not go to Ping'an Guild, but returned to their residence to view the instance information sent by Changping Guild.

One long string after another of instance names. Just looking through them all took Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen about two days.

During this period, questions also arose. Shen Yao contacted Tian Ye through the wristband, not expecting the other party's after-sales service to be so attentive, even responsible for answering related questions.

"No wonder Changping Guild has a good reputation. With such a hardworking worker, business must be booming."

Xu Ningchen picked out several medium-difficulty ordinary instances from among them, marked them, and sent them to Shen Yao.

Shen Yao:... Huh?

"The next time we enter an instance, our target will be medium difficulty."

Having a psychological preparation in advance, they wouldn't panic after entering.

Shen Yao made an "oh" sound, clicked in to look twice. "It's an ancient times instance; the character backgrounds are somewhat troublesome."

Compared to ordinary difficulty instances, medium difficulty and above instances all require character settings. That is to say, after the tasker enters, they cannot let the NPCs inside the instance detect problems. On top of that, they still need to clear it and earn extra points. Tsk tsk tsk, not easy to do.

"Not just character backgrounds. Most of the instances inside involve natural disasters and human calamities. Now look at the free information Changping Guild gave us. Did you discover anything from it?"

Xu Ningchen simply sold a secret. Hearing this, Shen Yao reached out and flipped through the few free strange phenomenon instance information again, finally detecting a hint of obscure content in an instance named 'Inverted'.

"Both instances have an ancient setting, and the place names match," she said. "Could they be two different instance contents derived from one outline?"

Xu Ningchen nodded. "That being the case, the Strange Instance and the Regular Instance must have some connection; it most likely evolved from a Regular Instance."

The strangeness involved in the Strange Instance might be people who died miserably in a Regular Instance, eventually transforming into this neither-human-nor-ghost thing for various reasons.

"We need to keep buying information about Regular Instances," she said. "The Strange Instance is harder to clear than a Regular Instance; no matter the consideration, spending points on Regular Instances is more cost-effective."

Buying instance information could only be put off for later; right now, their rest time was clearly insufficient.

Before the week ended, Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen bought some usable supplies from the System Mall again, then turned around and entered a Regular Instance.

This time they chose a medium-difficulty Regular Instance; clearing it would grant 30 points.

Ding—

The white light circle beneath them brightened instantly, and Shen Yao's thoughts stuttered slightly; when she opened her eyes again, she was already in a strange, dilapidated room.

"Welcome, Tasker, to the medium-difficulty instance—New and Old Alternating. Please strive to survive for three months."

The mechanical sound disappeared from Shen Yao's ear, and before her thoughts could return, a scattering of footsteps came from outside the door.

"Dogzi's Wife, don't give up on life."

"Yes, Dogzi and the villagers will definitely return safely from the mountain."

"Don't listen to those women at the village entrance talking nonsense; Dogzi definitely won't have an accident."

"……"

A group of middle-aged women wearing upper garments and lower skirts rushed in, their hair wrapped in cloth, looking very much like ancient times.

Shen Yao moved her body without changing expression, then drooped her eyes and wiped the corner of her eye, vaguely saying, "I don't believe it either, but the elders all say so, I…"

Before she finished speaking, tears in her eyes dripped down one by one.

Sounds of "aiyo" rose and fell, showing Shen Yao's words were correct; this body had indeed experienced something the person herself could hardly bear.

"Pah pah pah, I won't listen, I won't listen; those people usually like to talk nonsense."

"Rest assured, Dogzi has always been a good child, and the villagers went up the mountain with him; it's impossible for him to leave you and the child in your belly uncared for."

"Besides, our village's headman won't write a certificate, so Dogzi can't even leave Mountain Qing County, let alone run to Le Shui County to make money."

One of the women looked the most imposing and was also dressed the best; Shen Yao noticed a silver hairpin inserted in the woman's head. Though not delicate, compared to the others' wooden hairpins, it was enough to show this person's status.

Shen Yao blinked, raised her sleeve to dry the tears on both sides of her cheeks, and said, "Is this really true?"

"Naturally, Dogzi's Wife. Wan Niang's man is the headman's own nephew; how could he lie to you?" A woman interjected to introduce herself, conveniently allowing Shen Yao to learn about these women's situations.

Shen Yao smiled through her tears and thanked Wan Niang, then struggled to stand up with effort.

"Dogzi's Wife, rest quickly. You're pregnant; just stay at home in peace and wait for Dogzi to return."

Wan Niang stepped forward to support Shen Yao, while the other women chattered as they spoke.

Finally, Shen Yao nodded, and Wan Niang and the others turned around and left in peace of mind.

However, Shen Yao did not trust these people; she had the system monitor the area in a circle, while she simply organized the dialogue information that had just occurred between the two parties in her mind.

Based on the information currently obtained, they deduced that the Willow Tree Village they were in was an ordinary village under Mountain Qing County, and the county and the county seat were managed very strictly. To live across counties, without a certificate written by the headman, one simply could not leave.

The man of this body was surnamed Liu and had no formal name; the villagers all called him Dogzi.

Dogzi went up the mountain with the villagers three days ago and had not returned temporarily. The original owner of this body, upon hearing that her husband had abandoned her and the child in her belly (pregnant for four months), fainted directly from excitement.

"Host, I heard those women say that the people who went into the mountain this time are probably more likely to meet misfortune than good fortune. It seems they didn't tell you the truth."

The system returned in a lowly manner, and with a clatter, a great thunder fell to the ground.

"It was predictable. When Wan Niang spoke, her eyes darted about, avoiding contact," which was exactly a sign of a guilty conscience.

Shen Yao had the system help monitor the entire village; she felt there was something wrong here.

Xu Ningchen was not by her side. Shen Yao suspected this person had probably transmigrated into Dogzi, who went up the mountain. As for the situation in the mountain, she inferred a bit from the performance of this body and those women who liked to gossip; it was probably extremely dangerous.

The system turned around and circled the village busily, while Shen Yao lay steadily on the bed, resting with closed eyes, until the sky gradually darkened, then she got up to cook some food to fill her belly.

There was no light in the room; not even the moonlight from outside could seep in.

In the pitch-black space, Shen Yao was studying the name of this instance with the system.

New and Old Alternating

"Now is spring, all things revive; it probably refers to the weather?"

"The weather? Recently the weather has been mostly sunny. I heard the headman say there will be a drought."

"Once there is a drought and no grain, we people will have to flee for survival. Could the instance be hinting at the disaster to come?"

"Not just that. Medium-difficulty instances generally wouldn't be this simple."

"Drought is one type of disaster; there are also floods, extreme heat, extreme cold, earthquakes, and wars caused by soldiers…"

Shen Yao muttered to this point, then suddenly had the system expand monitoring of the entire instance. What period was it exactly now, and what was the situation with the current dynasty's emperor?

System: …Huh?

The system turned around and drilled into the county city, which could provide it with more news sources. Finally, from several wealthy families, it learned that the country they were in was called the Sheng Dynasty, which was actually not prosperous but rather in decline.

Not only were strong enemies (other countries) surrounding them from the outside, but internally there was also all sorts of discord. Who let the old emperor be getting on in years? It was said he had been sick since last year. The Crown Prince supervised the court, but the brothers below did not submit. Open and secret struggles filled the court, and this conveniently affected the entire surrounding country.

Shen Yao: …

Shen Yao raised her hand and touched her chin, indicating she had seen this plot before.

Next should be fleeing to avoid natural disasters and human calamities. The three months required by the instance would probably be mostly spent on the road.

"Since things have come to this, let's sleep first."

Fleeing for refuge—where could she flee to? Better to leave it for tomorrow to ponder.