Chapter 24: Net Worth Over 100 Million!

The Crimson Courtyard is a massive, blood-red inverted pyramid, the hub of the Abyss Game and the bridge connecting all instance dimensions.

The Crimson Courtyard is divided into four zones, corresponding to four layers of the Abyss; all new players begin their exploration of the Abyss in the first layer, the Wasteland Realm.

The zone corresponding to the Wasteland Realm is called the Mist Square.

Wu Chang stood on a ruined square, and information about the Crimson Courtyard automatically surfaced in his mind.

Around him, mist flickered in and out of view; above, the sky was obscured by gray-black storm clouds, clearly not a good place.

"Congratulations, Player #4444444, you have entered the Crimson Courtyard and become a certified player. All your player privileges have been unlocked. You may now begin exploring the Crimson Courtyard."

Along with the electronic voice in his ear, his attribute panel gained familiar icons: "Friends," "Market," "Forum," "Bounties," "Map," and others.

Ding! Simultaneously, a new unread message appeared in his info bar, sent by "The Special Phenomena Administration of Xia Nation."

The message was automatically issued, containing a document titled "Abyss Game Beginner's Guide."

He ignored his surroundings and immediately began reading the document.

The Beginner's Guide was packed with essentials, directly educating new players about the Abyss Game.

The Abyss Game has four layers; the first layer is the Wasteland Realm, where players level 1–30 all operate.

Each certified player must enter at least one instance per month; without special items, the fastest interval between instance entries is half a month, and instance matching is fully random.

Physical enhancements in reality are reflected synchronously on the attribute panel; new players can strengthen their attributes early on by training their bodies in reality.

Instances are divided into two main categories: Normal instances and Real instances.

Normal instances are projections created by the Crimson Courtyard; these projections can be repeatedly cleared by different players to gather intelligence.

Every repeatable Normal instance has a corresponding unique Real instance.

A Real instance is an actual dimension; every player who enters it causes irreversible effects on the Real instance.

If a player fails to clear an instance, it pollutes the Real instance; if pollution exceeds the safety threshold, the instance becomes uncontrollable and links to the Blue Star's reality.

Players who discover any heavily polluted instance must immediately report it to the Special Phenomena Administration to receive corresponding rewards.

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow; if he remembered correctly, the Moonlight Sanatorium's status was on the verge of going out of control.

That meant the Moonlight Sanatorium was one of these so-called Real instances.

If he failed to clear it and received a poor clearance score, it seemed some place would suffer greatly.

Besides instance information, the Beginner's Guide briefly explained the functions of the Crimson Courtyard and the attribute panel.

The information recorded was extremely basic—so basic that in a normal video game, players would skip it with their eyes closed.

Yet these most fundamental details were precisely what Wu Chang needed right now.

After closing the "Abyss Game Beginner's Guide," he followed its instructions, silently thinking, "Go to the Public Zone."

The moment he thought it, the mist before him split apart, revealing a narrow path.

Following the path, a large gate appeared before him.

Crossing the gate, a prompt flashed before his eyes.

"You have entered the Public Zone."

The Public Zone was the complete opposite of the ruined square: the stone floor no longer sprouted weeds, the eerie mist had vanished, and even the cloud-choked sky above had turned into clear blue.

On the Bai Shi-paved square, countless players moved back and forth.

"Look here, look here! Brand-new F-rank adventurer's breastplate, fifty Rotting Silver coins each—first come, first served!"

"F-rank Life Recovery Potion, twenty Rotting Silver coins per bottle—buy three, get 10% off; buy five, get 20% off—bulk discounts available!" "D-rank popular instance 'Dead Man's Rainforest' safe point intel is hotly auctioned—only three hours left until auction ends, current bid: 850 Rotting Silver coins!"

The Public Zone resembled a giant marketplace, with players loudly hawking their wares.

Players dressed in wildly different styles: knights in medieval plate armor walked shoulder-to-shoulder with futuristic warriors in high-tech battle suits; a superhero in a cape and tight-fitting suit argued passionately with a martial artist at a stall over purchasing a magic staff.

The entire square had a bizarre, broken-art aesthetic.

At the center of the square stood a clock tower; the original clock face had been replaced by a screen displaying a time.

100 days, 5 hours, 34 minutes, 52 seconds.

The time was decreasing—it was clearly a countdown.

The last time Wu Chang had stared at a countdown like this was during the Gaokao; he had no idea what this countdown in the Abyss Game was for.

Below the clock tower lay the Public Zone's most central feature: the Rankings Zone.

The area resembled a music app, listing rankings such as: Top 10 Popular Wasteland Realm instances, Instance Potential Surge Chart, Strongest Players Leaderboard, and Most Valuable Bounty List.

The Beginner's Guide mentioned that both new and veteran players could use the information on these rankings to understand the overall trends of the Abyss Game.

The most prominent ranking was undoubtedly the Most Valuable Bounty List.

For most players, other rankings were too distant, but the bounties on this list might still be worth a try.

Currently ranked first on the Most Valuable Bounty List was a bounty for instance intelligence.

"Seeking any information regarding the A-rank instance 'Hymn Corp' or the dimension 'Wasteland—51642.' Compensation varies by information value. Three core secrets regarding 'Hymn Corp' are each worth 80,000 Rotting Silver coins. Contact: Iron Armor Clan."

The bounty poster ended with a threat: "This instance concerns a class-transformation item. Within the next three months, Iron Armor Clan will voluntarily withdraw from all other instance competitions to secure priority clearance rights. If any other organization clears this instance within three months, it will be considered a declaration of war against Iron Armor Clan."

Wu Chang clicked his tongue, muttering, "What an overbearing statement."

Iron Armor Clan's posture was annoying, but their payout was undeniably high.

He recalled that even after a perfect clearance of a B-rank instance with a 300% reward multiplier, he'd earned only 15,000 Rotting Silver coins.

One piece of intelligence on Hymn Corp was worth 80,000 Rotting Silver coins! Based on the exchange rate he'd just learned—one Rotting Silver coin equaled 1,000 yuan in reality—that meant one piece of intel was worth 80 million! He spat on the ground. "Tui! He hated pay-to-win players the most."

As he prepared to scroll down the list, the Most Valuable Bounty List suddenly scrolled—Iron Armor Clan's bounty dropped to second place.

The top bounty became a missing person notice.

"Seeking the player who cleared yesterday's B-rank out-of-control instance 'Moonlight Sanatorium.' This player is a novice and will log into the Mist Square soon. All players, please pay attention. Collect any information on this player: location and characteristics—100,000 Rotting Silver coins! Player ID—200,000 Rotting Silver coins! Successful connection—300,000 Rotting Silver coins! Real-world information—500,000 Rotting Silver coins!"

"If this player agrees to join us, they will receive one million Rotting Silver coins directly, plus additional benefits. Contact: Mr. Johnson."

As soon as this bounty appeared, the entire Rankings Zone fell silent. All players held their breath, studying the information revealed by this bounty.

Before anyone could recover, the list scrolled again—Iron Armor Clan's bounty was pushed to third place.

The contents of the new bounty were much the same, with the reward of Rotten Silver Coins slightly lower than the previous one, but for completing the matchmaking and providing real-world intelligence tiers, an A-grade item suited to the intelligence provider was added.

Immediately after, the third bounty was posted, pushing the Iron Armor Group back another spot.

The major organizations, as if they had agreed, sent bounties on the "Moonlight Sanatorium" clearer pouring in one after another. Within five minutes, the Iron Armor Group had dropped out of the top ten on the value board.

Relying on the major factions taking turns bidding up the price, the mysterious new player was still just a code name, with their gender still unknown, yet they had parachuted onto the Most Popular Player board, forcefully seizing the first seat.

As for the highest bounty price for the "Moonlight Sanatorium" clearer, it had also become a franchise fee of two million Rotten Silver Coins.

Two million Rotten Silver Coins — that's two billion! Wu Chang walked up to a window, pointed at himself in the glass, and said, "Can't tell you were worth this much, kid."

Now, he could already be called worth over a hundred million. The only problem now was which organization to use to withdraw these hundred-million assets.

(End of this chapter)