Chapter 387: 384

【Ding, you have encountered a mysterious black-robed entity…】

Hearing the crisp notification sound by his ear, Wei Ziqi was momentarily unable to react, staring blankly at that mysterious figure strolling leisurely through the mountains and fields.

Especially his own sorry state—like a drenched chicken amid the blood rain from the monster's sudden explosion—contrasted against that spotlessly clean, incomparably dashing mysterious figure.

A sudden aura of an Expert washed over him.

"Young friend, when traveling in the wild, you must watch your step…"

A gentle, slightly dashing aged voice rang out, instantly making one think of an Expert wandering the Ren Jian.

"Oh my heavens!"

Prompted by that voice, Wei Ziqi finally came to his senses, and was immediately overcome with wild joy.

He never expected that he would have the dogshit luck to encounter an Expert!

"Senior, please wait~~ Thank you for saving my life!"

"This one is Little Blade… oh no, Wei Ziqi, endlessly grateful!"

In an instant, having come back to himself, he watched the mysterious Expert about to pass by and leave, and grew anxious inside, thinking how could he possibly let such a golden opportunity slip away.

With a shift in his gaze, he steeled himself. He took a swift stride, dropping to his knees mid-step, and with the momentum slid-kneeled right in front of that mysterious figure. Without a shred of shame or bottom line, he immediately began "thud thud thud" kowtowing loudly, while a stream of respectful words of gratitude burst from his mouth.

At one point he nearly let slip his in-game name used when chatting with other players, scaring Wei Ziqi into quickly correcting himself.

Because this game was unlike those previous trash games with insufficient realism—it was extremely realistic, immersive, and hardcore. Just how realistic and hardcore was it?

So realistic it was like a second life for the players!

So hardcore that unlike other games, there was no level system or equipment/weapons system—these all had to be figured out and grinded out by one's own wits, or snatched from the ready-made ones on the NPCs inside!

Here, players could do anything they wanted, provided they had the ability and knowledge, could bear the punishment and consequences, and handle the chain reactions brought about by their actions.

Because through the initial phase of countless players' death-seeking exploration, they discovered that every NPC inside possessed intelligence nearly on par with real living people, with their own distinct joys, hates, loves, and grudges—every action you took would produce different effects.

Some even suspected this was truly a real world!

But others refuted it—if it were truly a real world, then why could they die and die again, learn various skills, and so on…

Real or fake, in any case, in this game world, if you didn't take the game seriously and tried to do what other games allowed—picking flashy names at random, finding ways to tease NPCs—then a day of bitter consequences would surely come.

Wei Ziqi knew there had once been a player named "Your Relatives Brought Your Wife Online" who, because of his name, suffered losses in that Yingzhou-like ancient world, and was sent a Hundred Ghosts Night Parade by a great noble to hunt him until he didn't dare enter that world.

His mind wandering through random thoughts, Wei Ziqi racked his brains for flattering lines he had seen before, all to keep this mysterious Expert NPC here, hoping to trigger some quest or other.

Just from that one casual move the other had made, even a little guidance from him would let him take off!

As for face, skin, dignity and such—can you eat them?

Please, this was a mysterious game that could bring supernatural power into reality!

Casting a sidelong glance at the somewhat shattered giant corpse beside him, Wei Ziqi only now realized it had actually been a Spirit beast shaped like a loach, as massive as a whale!

"…" Baichuan.

Facing such a shameless player who nearly clung to his leg and wouldn't let him leave, Baichuan was also somewhat speechless for a moment. He had thought he had already overestimated these players' sense of shame, but never expected he had still underestimated them…

Or rather, the player he had encountered seemed to have an unexpectedly different personality.

His mood was somewhat subtle, but Baichuan's face remained impassive. To prevent that filthy fellow from actually grabbing his leg, he stopped his steps, turned around, and asked with a hint of puzzlement, "Young friend Wei, is there something else?"

"Senior, it's like this…" Seeing there might be a chance, Wei Ziqi struck while the iron was hot and spun a story of his own misfortune. To repay the senior's aid, was there anything he could help with, so as to offer some small thanks for the life-saving grace.

And as the other stated his reason, Baichuan's gaze shifted slightly, as if he had detected an invisible force probing out from within the other's body. That force was invisible and "harmless," yet seemed to want to skew his own perception of the loopholes in the player's words, luring him into revealing his own needs.

But the moment he perceived it, it transformed into a transaction.

The content of the transaction was roughly: within a certain scope, he could make any request, and the fellow before him would go complete it.

And once it was completed, that force would offer him a crystal, while he would need to form a portion of his own insignificant power into a reward according to the method transmitted by the other, and deliver it to them.

And this "method" was precisely the means of creating skills that Baichuan had previously figured out!

All of this, described at length, was for Baichuan at his level completed in an instant of "communication."

Of course, calling it communication wasn't quite accurate, because this procedure—from the initial skewing of perception, to being discovered and changed into a transaction—was like a pre-set program: once triggered, it would begin operating according to a fixed degree.

As long as the living being encountered by the players wasn't strong enough, it would have its perception skewed and be made to issue quests. If it could discover it, it would be enticed with profit.

The existence that had set up this "transaction program" seemed to have never worried about being discovered by a powerful being and incurring their wrath, as if it was extremely confident that the "crystals" it used for trade would never be passed up by any powerful being.

And indeed, that was the case.

At the final moment, amid the aura of the crystal transmitted by that force, Baichuan was tempted.

The crystal mentioned by the other was absolutely a precious treasure resource needed by beings at the level beyond True Immortal, among immortal-grade beings!

The mere sensation of that aura made him feel a hunger well up within him, as if he wanted to swallow it right then and there.

This feeling, he had only experienced twice before: when breaking through to True Immortal, and when encountering that segment that should have been Shi Long's finger bone.

And both times this feeling appeared, it had brought him unimaginable benefits.

The former let him break through successfully on the spot; the latter directly let his Ability Panel collect "Source Points."

In other words, that crystal might possibly be the origin of "Source Points," or a precious resource that could strengthen immortal-grade beings!

At this moment, he seemed to already understand how the players' quest system operated.

Because the existence behind that game simply wasn't afraid of encountering non-cooperators!

The weak couldn't resist the mysterious force within the players skewing their perception, and would in a daze issue their own quests to the players. Once the players completed the quests, the issuer got their wish, and the players got the reward from the issuer.

The strong, however—as long as they could discover it—basically couldn't resist the temptation of the crystals offered by the existence behind the game. As long as they had desires, they would turn a blind eye and casually give out quests, in order to obtain the crystals from the transaction.

The weak, ignore them; the strong, entice them with profit.

On the surface, it seemed like a fine thing where everyone wins, no wonder those players could obtain quests in all sorts of worlds.

The other was absolutely a master at this game!

But, was things really that good?

Baichuan harbored doubts within. The existence behind that game absolutely wouldn't run a losing business, offering such precious crystals merely for a few ordinary quests from the players—so there must be something it sought.

And what it sought was likely to be found in the process of completing those quests.

If that were truly the case, then every major event at each stage within those games seemed to conceal secrets worth pondering over...

Perhaps the quests, and the secrets behind them, were related to why the existence behind that game was invading other worlds.

While pondering, Baichuan pulled his thoughts back and looked at the player before him.

In any case, as long as he kept his eyes on these players and continued probing, the truth would eventually come to light.

"I see, allow this old man to think it over." Baichuan glanced at the other party, putting on a contemplative look.

"Yes, please give this junior a chance to repay you!" Hearing this, Wei Ziqi, who sensed there was a chance, could barely contain the wild joy in his heart and replied in a low voice.

Utterly unaware that the "senior" he had taken for a quest dispenser was already observing the root secrets of them as players.

"Mm, I have it." Not long after, Baichuan's voice sounded as if he had thought of something, and the next moment his voice dropped low, speaking slowly as if reminiscing: "Years ago, when an old friend of mine passed away, he entrusted me to look after his daughter for a time. Yet when I came to find her this time, her whereabouts were nowhere to be seen. Could you help me trace her trail?"

"If it can be done, this old man will surely reward you handsomely."

Following that invisible force transaction, Baichuan issued his quest.

【Ding, a mysterious black-robed existence has issued a request to you. Do you accept?】

As Baichuan's voice fell, a quest-triggered-success sound also rang in Wei Ziqi's ears.

'It worked!'

At this moment, Wei Ziqi could no longer contain the excitement in his heart, and both in his mind and aloud he decisively roared, "Yes! I am willing!"

"Very well, to help this old man find my old friend's daughter, please retrieve three stalks of this purple Ten-Thousand-Year Yuanling Flower."

Of course, that was fake.

It was merely Baichuan's way of trying to discern exactly how the game's quests operated, and how to complete the first linked quest issued by the entire Jiaoyisuo.

The existence behind this game still placed considerable importance on those powerful beings who could sense its power's existence. The transactions it offered were, in the players' eyes, always special linked quests with abundant rewards. Each completed ring would grant a "crystal," seemingly with the intention of having them appraise the goods.

Of course, it also did not lack confidence in the allure of the crystals, harboring plans to thoroughly hook those powerful beings.

But these matters had nothing to do with a minor player like Wei Ziqi. Unaware of the truth, he only knew at this moment that he was about to rise!

A pair of eyes stared fixedly at the quest's rewards, especially the skill at the back — a certain amount of Source Coins, and the skill 【Sprint】.

Regardless of the quest's background or requirements, it was always either finding someone, finding something, or killing someone. As for the specific story content, plenty of players skipped it with a single click.

He only knew that he was finally about to welcome his very first skill — the rarest and most powerful kind of skill!

And this skill was actually one glowing with yellow light!

In "Transcendent," skills all had grades. Through the exploration of countless players, it was discovered that, starting from the most trashy "White," there were roughly eight grades in total: White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Purple.

And now, the linked quest he had triggered — even the reward for just the first ring was at the fourth stage, Yellow. This was an unprecedentedly bountiful reward!

Even among all the linked quests shared by players throughout the entire game "Transcendent," such things were rare. More often, skill rewards were only given at the final ring or the last two rings, and even then they were mostly Red or Orange.

Now, with the reward for his first ring already so generous, he couldn't help but look forward even more to the rewards of the later rings. Considering this was a cultivation world, perhaps cultivation techniques and the like might appear later on!

And such a mysterious and powerful existence — the techniques it offered as rewards would absolutely not be poor!

He had a premonition: once the quest was done, he was absolutely going to rise!

Truly worthy of being the strongest in the game world opened up by "Transcendent" — was this the kind of wonderful thing only pioneer players could encounter?

Love it, love it.

Thinking this, Wei Ziqi grew somewhat impatient. After hastily asking the departing senior about the method of quest submission, he decisively left to go search for the quest target.

At the same time, he also silently screenshotted the conspicuous skill in the quest's reward column, and rather smugly posted it on the player forum — "New player, just received a quest, what is this skill?"

In an instant, countless players swarmed in like sharks that had caught a scent, leaving their own "friendly greetings" in the post.

Looking at the lemon-eating players' comments on the forum, Wei Ziqi felt utterly content — like drinking a big bottle of ice-cold Sprite in the height of summer. So blissful.

"Eh, why did the sky go dark?"

Yet just then, a hawk with slightly oversized wings sharp as blades dove down from the edge of the sky, seemingly treating him as prey on the ground.

"No, it can't be this unlucky, right?"

The proud smile on his face had barely appeared when, in the next instant, it was torn into two pieces beneath the hawk's terrifying giant talons, finally crashing weakly to the ground and staining a patch red.

Not long after, just as that terrifying hawk was about to peck at the player's corpse, a series of crisp footsteps rang out.

It was an existence shrouded in a black robe.

The appearance of the black-robed existence directly frightened that hawk into flying away in terror.

This was naturally Baichuan, who had just given the other party the quest — for no other reason.

To observe the series of circumstances after players died — how their souls and the like returned unaffected, and the corpse left behind after the soul departed.

Last time, because he didn't understand, he had directly ruined it. This time, he couldn't miss it.

As for what had just happened, one could say it was his doing, or one could say it wasn't.

He had merely, among countless calculations, silently selected the most probable accident and let it happen.

The hawk that attacked player Wei Ziqi was an "Iron Owl-Hawk," a type of demon beast that liked to prey on the mud loaches beneath swamps — the demon beasts that had previously attacked that player. The mud loach, meanwhile, was a demon beast that liked to hide beneath swamps and ambush any living creatures that approached the swamp.

Earlier, when saving the other party, he had deliberately blasted that demon beast into a rain of blood, the purpose being to spread the scent that attracted Iron Owl-Hawks. Later, without his deterrent presence, Wei Ziqi — whose entire body reeked of that smell — how could he possibly escape the attack?

Therefore, Wei Ziqi's death had long been destined, and perhaps until death he would never discover that the murderer was the very "NPC" who had given him the quest just moments before.

After all, what attacked you was merely an accidental demon beast — what did it have to do with him, Baichuan, the black-robed existence?

……

(End of this chapter)