Chapter 18: The Game Difficulty Is Still Too Low

Big Brother~ Danger!

Amidst the bustling crowd, players with names floating above their heads were as dazzling as fireflies in a summer night; from half a street away, Lin Bai spotted the two people, Lao Mi, dressed as beggars.

And so.

Lin Bai witnessed the entire process of the two, Lao Mi, being knocked unconscious by beggars, stuffed into sacks, and subsequently carried away.

Of course, he chose to remain indifferent.

How could an ordinary NPC have such sharp eyes? It is only natural that they wouldn't recognize him after he transformed from a dashing young master into a beggar; even if they met in the future, they wouldn't be able to find any fault.

However, the more NPCs he came into contact with, the more Lin Bai felt that this did not look like a world edited by a program.

If nothing else.

The division of labor among that group of beggars when grabbing people was far too precise.

Some were responsible for diverting the attention of passersby;

Some secretly influenced the route of the two, Lao Mi, making them walk into a secluded area without realizing it, still oblivious;

Some were responsible for knocking them unconscious, some were responsible for stuffing them into sacks...

The entire process was done in one go, without a single superfluous movement, as if it had been rehearsed countless times; it simply couldn't have been more fluid.

Putting himself in their shoes.

If he were in the position of Lao Mi, he would also be unable to escape this blow to the head.

With such smooth and flowing operations, could underlying calculations really achieve this?

What's more.

The actions of players are full of randomness and uncertainty...

This must be a real world!

The thought of doubt rose in Lin Bai's heart once again.

But if it were a real world, players had been having their Advent for two days, yet the Government had not taken a single countermeasure; this point did not make sense.

And if this were truly a game, with the survival of players being so difficult, where would the playability of the game lie?

Real?

But this already goes against the basic philosophy of game design.

On Earth, Lin Bai knew many games that were abandoned by players because of their high learning curve.

He had also seen many games with rough graphics that were crazily sought after by players simply because they were easy to pick up.

After all, a game cannot rely solely on professional players to make money; it relies on ordinary people who use games for leisure and entertainment. It has to be enjoyable!

In a busy life, who would be willing to seek suffering in a game?

Layer upon layer of doubts left Lin Bai completely baffled.

Thinking back and forth without understanding, Lin Bai simply stopped thinking about it.

In the end, he was just a stranger in this world, and he hadn't even figured out the rules himself, so why bother worrying about the operators?

From his perspective, he should be hoping that the game is as discouraging as possible.

Settling down and establishing himself is what matters.

As for the inside story, he would consider it once he had the strength!

As a novice village, the area of Jiamu City is actually not small, with six streets running horizontally and vertically.

Going out through the West City Gate, the mountains are high and the forests are dense; it is said that Fierce Beasts run rampant inside, and apart from hunters, basically no one is willing to go up the mountain.

A river flows through the city, dividing it into northern and southern parts.

The area on the north side of the river is smaller, mostly inhabited by the powerful and wealthy of the city, while the area on the south side is three times the size of the north, mostly housing for ordinary people.

Martial Arts Halls, Blacksmith Shops, Carpenter Shops, weaving, printing, escort agencies, and so on—industries looked down upon by the nobles in the city but highly sought after by players—are all on the south side of the city.

Among the many professions.

Martial Arts Halls are clearly more loved by players.

After all, slaughter-type players who are keen on competition and pursue destruction make up the majority of players.

And for social-type players and achievement-type players, in the Xianxia World, if they want to play happily, mastering certain spell Skills is also necessary.

Therefore.

For players, Martial Art and spells are rigid demands.

In Jiamu City, there are three Martial Arts Halls that open their doors to accept Disciples: the Zhang Family Martial Arts Hall, which teaches fist techniques, with the fist technique named "Five Elements Chain Fist";

The Mo Family Sword Hall, which teaches sword techniques, with the Sword Art named "Mo Family Sword";

And the Wu Family Blade Hall, famous for its Blade Technique, whose ultimate art is said to be the "Qianye Blade";

Of course.

Entering a fist hall doesn't necessarily mean one must learn fist techniques; for example, the Zhang Family Boxing Hall still has staff techniques, spear techniques, and so on, while fist techniques are only eligible to be learned by core Disciples.

Besides accepting Disciples, the three Martial Arts Halls also have other businesses.

The Kuangfeng Gang, which controls the transportation industry in Jiamu City and surrounding cities, is supported by the Zhang family behind the scenes.

The Mo Family Sword Hall has connections with the wealthy in the city, and the Disciples who come out of the Sword Hall are mostly sent to the powerful as bodyguards;

As for the Wu family, they have their own escort agency and seem to have ties with the military...

This is the intelligence that can be found on the surface; whether there is a deeper background inside is not something that can be known just by asking around.

Near every Martial Arts Hall, there were players wandering about; Lin Bai saw about a dozen or so.

"Bitter Gourd", "Terminal Laziness", Shangguantiezhu, "Crazy Man", "Not Settling", and so on—there were all kinds of names...

These players gathered together, discussing in twos and threes how to join a Martial Arts Hall and which profession is more suitable for development, each one excited beyond measure.

Game players entered this world with a mindset of entertainment; in order to explore this world, dying once or twice or deleting their accounts once or twice is the norm.

As long as the novelty of the game remains, they won't care at all about suffering a setback or two.

……

Seeing so many players, Lin Bai finally felt that this was a game world; he hadn't expected the number of closed beta testers to be so high.

With nothing better to do, Lin Bai pretended to be tired from walking and mingled beside them to gather the latest intelligence.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.

Even if he didn't interact with them for the time being, it was necessary to conduct a preliminary investigation into the personalities of these players.

……

"The Breaking Wall Martial Arts Hall requires an enrollment fee, and the game hasn't even opened up recharge channels yet; the development team is so unfriendly to us closed beta players," said 【Bitter Melon】.

"Basic Martial Arts are just a transition, and they won't even let us sign up directly for that. I bet a game that takes pleasure in making things difficult for players won't even last until the late game before the Game Company goes bankrupt," said 【Not Settling】.

"I actually think it's quite interesting. The harder the game, the more challenging it is!" 【Crazy Man】 had a faint smile on his lips.

"Actually, I have a way to solve the enrollment fee, but it requires taking a bit of a risk and a little bit of trust," 【Terminal Laziness】 said, sweeping his gaze over the few of them.

"Speak up! We aren't even afraid of death, so why would we be afraid of taking a risk?" The interest of the few people was immediately piqued.

"Delete your accounts," said 【Terminal Laziness】.

"What kind of method is that?" said 【Bitter Melon】.

"The enrollment fee is 500 copper coins, and the system gives you 200 copper coins at the start," 【Terminal Laziness】 said leisurely. "There are four of us now. If we pool the money of three people into one person's hands and the remaining three delete their accounts and restart, we'll have an extra 600 copper coins. If everyone repeats the account deletion three times, we'll have enough for the four of us to pay the enrollment fee."

"Damn!" The remaining three exclaimed in unison.

"Understood. The risk I'm talking about isn't a risk within the game, but outside of it," 【Terminal Laziness】's gaze swept over the three. "You all know that closed beta accounts aren't easy to come by. Using account deletion to farm money is very likely to attract the attention of the Game Company, and there's a certain risk of being banned."

The remaining three fell into silence simultaneously.

"We can do it," 【Crazy Man】 suddenly said. "The game's closed beta is meant for testing bugs and optimizing the game experience. Deleting accounts to farm money counts as a type of bug. Once we discover this loophole, they should even thank us! It's better than discovering this loophole during the open beta, where it would cause less harm. If they ban our accounts because of this, we'll go to the forums and expose them..."

"Let's do it," said 【Bitter Melon】. "Once we've farmed enough money, we'll immediately report this loophole to the officials and take another reward from them."

"Good idea," said 【Not Settling】. "A company as stingy as this deserves to be fleeced."

He paused and said, "Since we are fortunate enough to have walked together, why don't we form an alliance here and move forward together in the game? One person's plan is short, three people's plans are long. It's clear that this game can't be played alone. If we encounter any difficulties in the future, we can discuss them together."

"No problem."

"No problem."

【Not Settling】's proposal was quickly met with a response from everyone.

……

Lin Bai, who had overheard all their schemes, was dumbfounded.

These are players, for heaven's sake; they'll stop at nothing for the sake of the game, and they've even taken their tricks outside the game. Once they've farmed enough money, they'll report the loophole to cut off others' paths—they really are shameless...

Just a moment ago, Lin Bai was still complaining about the game's high difficulty.

At this moment, he only felt that the game's difficulty was still too low.

He had to realize that he was an NPC now, and it was highly likely he would be screwed over by this group of players...

(End of chapter)