Chapter 258: Virtual Reality Interactive Device

Before leaving the settlement space, Wu Chang inserted the corruption core from the Anthem Corporation dungeon into the Poison of the Mortal.

Clearing an A-rank dungeon, energy +1.5; A-rank dungeon corruption core, energy +4.

The second draw of the Poison of the Mortal brings cumulative energy to 9.5/50.

He toyed with the Poison of the Mortal in his hand; so far, he had not discovered the true purpose of the corruption core—neither the Administration nor the player forums offered any related information, not even a single search result for those four characters.

Erin could not absorb the corruption core; he had just tried, and the Omniscient Crystal showed no reaction upon contact.

Perhaps the answer lies in the second layer of the Abyss.

Wu Chang returned to the Crimson Courtyard and went to the leaderboard area; upon looking up, he saw he had once again broken the A-rank dungeon breakthrough record.

When the system asked if he wished to display his nickname, he chose to decline—after all, advertising fees were settled based on the leaderboard, and he had yet to receive the top-name fee for breaking the A-rank dungeon record.

In fact, during the Silent Passage dungeon, he should have broken the A-rank dungeon breakthrough record already, but he was delayed by the Demigod's Remains and his class change.

When he exited the dungeon, he found the breakthrough record had been taken by Sword Star.

Sword Star, by following behind him and drinking the leftovers, gained substantial base dungeon exploration points, and with the 25% bonus from winning the multiplayer confrontation mode, his dungeon rating reached A, barely meeting the minimum requirement for a breakthrough.

Because of this, the Administration had recently issued a special commendation to Sword Star.

Remember, Silent Passage ranked higher than the Anthem Corporation dungeon on the difficulty chart, placing among the top three A-rank dungeon difficulties.

It was rumored that the Administration later contacted Sword Star, hoping he would give a lecture and write several reports summarizing his advanced strategies for internal members to study.

Yet Sword Star and the Negotiation Master themselves had no idea how they broke the dungeon; after reviewing the events, they concluded the dungeon's native inhabitants had unleashed divine power, allowing the players to break it effortlessly.

Once this conclusion was drawn, it drew immediate attention from all factions—but after consolidating vast amounts of data, all factions concluded Sword Star's situation was mere coincidence.

But luck is part of strength; Sword Star's fortune made his top position even more dramatic, becoming the second most talked-about topic of the past half-month.

But today, this topic would end here.

This time, Wu Chang had Buk and the others withdraw early using an early-exit item; although the dungeon settled normally, it was not counted as a cleared dungeon, and thus did not qualify for a breakthrough.

Moreover, Wu Chang was not close to them and had no intention of letting them drink his leftovers, so Buk and the others had low base dungeon completion rates.

Wu Chang became the sole breaker of the Anthem Corporation dungeon, not only breaking Sword Star's record but also halving the time it took Sword Star to clear it.

Wu Chang had once wondered about the clearance time: different dungeons had different difficulties, time flows, and mission requirements—how were players' times compared on the same leaderboard?

For example, some dungeons required survival for three days, others thirty, and some had no time limit—clearing the main quest returned you immediately; these dungeons had no fixed time flow—what was the Abyss Game's evaluation standard?

After becoming an Explorer, he had consulted the Administration's records; this information involved no secrets or interests, merely basic mechanics, and was easily obtainable.

Simply put, the Abyss Game's standard for breakthrough time was not based on fixed time-flow ratios, but on relative ratios.

The Abyss Game collected data from all players entering the dungeon and its derivative projections—survival time, clearance time, death time, etc. —and combined it with their completion rates at those times for comprehensive calculation.

For example, Player A died after four days in the dungeon, with a completion rate of 10% at death;

Player B survived twenty days and exited, with a completion rate of 30%;

Player C cleared the dungeon in thirty days, with a completion rate of 45%.

The Abyss Game would calculate from these figures a standard clearance time, setting all dungeons' standard times to a single value to determine the time ratio between dungeons.

By comparing a player's actual clearance time with the dungeon's time ratio, the displayed time on the leaderboard was derived.

Wu Chang did not delve into the exact algorithm—too many variables existed; he only needed to know the Abyss Game could calculate it, and that he would be number one on the leaderboard.

The change in the A-rank dungeon breakthrough leaderboard quickly drew attention from Wasteland Realm players; seeing the familiar hidden identity, no guesswork was needed—it was him.

The atmosphere in the plaza instantly heated up; the four major organizations had just declared war on the mysterious newcomer, and the newcomer immediately broke the breakthrough record.

This was a blatant slap in the face of the four major organizations!

Fight! Fight!

At this moment, Buk and the others had likely not yet reported what happened in the dungeon; the Uncle Faction had not moved, and Wu Chang's actions inside the dungeon had not yet spread.

This led ordinary players to expect a spectacle, unaware this affair was destined to end with the four major organizations playing dead.

Wu Chang shook his head, passed through the public zone, and left the Crimson Courtyard.

Opening his eyes, he was back in his home in the Inner World; as soon as he stepped out the door, he heard a voice, trembling with tears and faint sobs, say:

"You're back. Was the dungeon smooth?"

Wu Chang turned toward the voice and saw Erin holding a tissue, wiping away tears.

He walked toward Erin and said, "I adopted a great big brother in the dungeon—he looked out for me, everything went smoothly. But you—what's wrong?"

Erin shook her head. "I don't know. Suddenly I felt moved, couldn't stop crying."

Before Erin sat a laptop; Wu Chang leaned over and saw it was playing an old movie.

After a period of adaptation, Erin, with her powerful learning ability, had mastered nearly all knowledge from nine-year compulsory education and was now watching classic films to learn human emotions.

The old movie playing was familiar to Wu Chang—it was actually a comedy, absurd and exaggerated in style; in terms of emotional impact, it was far less touching than the "Top Ten Tearjerkers" and "Top Ten Tragedies" he had previously selected for her.

When Erin watched those ranked films before, Wu Chang, sitting beside her, had always teared up, clenching his fists to suppress the urge to cry like a man in front of her.

But Erin had shown no emotion, instead dragging Wu Chang into endless discussions about the plot's logical flaws.

Like saying, "I kill without blinking," and you asking, "Are your eyes dry?"

This had led Wu Chang to abandon tragic films for her and switch to comedies.

The one she was watching now was one of them.

That shouldn't be.

Watching Erin cry with tear-streaked cheeks, Wu Chang smiled—he was delighted by her progress and curious about the cause.

Was it because Erin's cinematic insight had reached such a height that she saw the tragedy beneath the comedy, or was there another reason?

He sat beside Erin, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, and said, "Tell me in detail."

According to Erin's description, in the first half of the film, she had been like before—unable to fully immerse herself in the plot, instead analyzing the movie like solving a problem.

She pondered which parts were the jokes and why they were funny.

In the second half, watching a supporting couple on screen, she suddenly recalled two believers she had helped in the Quiet Town dimension.

At that time, she had felt compassion, believed they needed help, gave them aid, and prayed for them—but she could not empathize.

Because all her negative emotions had been taken away, including sorrow.

In the past, when she thought of those two, she would only regret that they had not received fair treatment from fate. But just now, their figures overlapped with the supporting characters in the movie. Recalling their labored prayers and confessions, she suddenly understood the movie, and also understood what those two believers were actually saying.

From that moment on, similar experiences kept flashing before her, making her tears uncontrollable.

After Aileen's rough description and the timing of the inexplicable sorrow, Wu Chang had a hypothesis.

Could it be that the Sage's Remnant Face fused the virtues and sins representing human nature, causing the changes Aileen was experiencing?

Emotions suppressed for years suddenly erupted, and the momentum was bound to be unstoppable. Aileen spent half a day barely adapting to the extra emotions, stabilizing enough to communicate normally with Wu Chang.

The first thing Aileen mentioned was the progress of the Surface Divine Kingdom.

Because of the negative status brought by the false miracle, "Unstable Divine Kingdom Core," during this period, under Aileen's consolidation, it had completely stabilized.

Aileen only needed to spend another seven days connecting the Surface Divine Kingdom of Wanghai City with the Faith Source of the Midnight Graveyard instance plane, and then the Surface Divine Kingdom could operate on its own without her guarding it.

By then, the Surface Divine Kingdom would merge with Wanghai City as one, with no worry of being discovered by others.

If nothing unexpected happened, Aileen could enter the next instance with Wu Chang and once again become his combat power.

After talking about the Surface Divine Kingdom, Wu Chang told Aileen everything he had encountered in the instance, including Schultz's Hymn Plan and the Omniscient Crystal.

!

He then took out the Omniscient Crystal and handed it to Aileen, wanting to see if Aileen, from a deity's perspective, could spot any clues.

Aileen flipped through it a few times, then shook her head and returned the Omniscient Crystal to Wu Chang.

"It's rejecting me. Without its permission, I can't forcefully see its core. However..."

Wu Chang asked curiously, "However what?"

Aileen said, "However, I can faintly sense that it's very weak and needs a massive amount of energy. Perhaps you can start with energy and see if you can exchange energy for its help without performing a soul binding."

A massive amount of energy.

Wu Chang muttered the words, his expression turning strange.

Is there any other place that has more energy than Shelter No. 88 underground?

It just so happened that upon returning from the instance this time, he needed to find He Yun to pick up the modified Dawn's weight. Such was the will of heaven—looks like he had no choice but to make this trip.

The topic of the Omniscient Crystal came to an end. In the Hymn Company instance, only one matter remained unfinished.

That was drawing the class-change item.

After completing the Psionic Activation surgery and having his Talent Zone fully activated, he could perform one class-change item draw.

His Psionic Activation surgery let Schultz see humanity's second possibility. No longer holding back, Schultz quickly began the Hymn Plan, and what followed was intense combat.

He hadn't had time to draw his class change, and now was the perfect chance.

It was said that the class change brought by activating the Talent Zone was bound to be the most suitable for the user. His Talent Zone was called unique by Schultz—he wondered what kind of class change he could draw.

"Begin the draw!"

Accompanied by a flash of light, Wu Chang's vision blurred, and a VR-goggle-like device appeared in his hand.

"Item Name: Virtual Reality Interactor."

"Item Description: Is the boundary between virtual and reality truly blurred? Only by wearing it can you find the answer you seek."

The item description ended here. Wu Chang put on the VR goggles, and the screen before him flashed, displaying a line of prompt.

"Beginning virtual reality interaction. Beginning player qualification check."

"Qualification requirement: Will attribute 226/200, qualified. Inspiration attribute, 162/200, unqualified. Virtual reality activation failed. Player, please continue to work hard."

Wu Chang took off the VR goggles, utterly bewildered.

What did this mean? His new class change actually required both Will and Inspiration at 200?

200 attribute points is the maximum value not limited by the plane barrier. For other players, even those specializing in a single attribute, their main attribute might not reach 200, let alone both Will and Inspiration.

Good lord, this class change really was tailor-made for him. Anyone else, even with the class-change item, could forget about successfully changing class in this lifetime.

When he first changed to Arcane Knight, because the Arcane Knight was positioned as a melee wizard, it had requirements for all attributes.

By the same logic, the positioning of the new class change should also be related to the attribute requirements.

Only requiring Inspiration and Will, and being related to virtual reality—he wondered what positioning the second class change would have.

But no matter what the class change was, he couldn't rush it. Even though he wasn't short on attribute points, spending 40 attribute points on Inspiration would still hurt.

Wu Chang rested at home for one night. The next day, with nothing to do, he went to the Management Bureau to relax and casually inquire about any new moves from the four major organizations regarding the mysterious newcomer.

Before entering the Hymn Company instance, he had spent three days in the Abyss Game's training room. Counting yesterday, he had skipped work for four days in total.

The moment he entered the Fighting Club, he noticed everyone looking at him with very strange eyes.

He looked back along their gazes and immediately discovered the reason.

Whether due to the influence of the general environment or Wanghai City gradually becoming more honest in its customs, public order had been continuously declining recently, with vicious incidents constantly rising.

Just the bank kidnapping cases Wu Chang had handled—four more had occurred in the past three days.

To deal with these wild transcendent beings, the bureau's members were all so busy they barely touched the ground, on call 24 hours a day, everyone sporting dark circles under their eyes.

Now encountering Wu Chang, who had skipped work for four days and looked rosy-cheeked and radiant, it would be strange if they gave him a pleasant look.

Wu Chang knew he was in the wrong, hunched his neck, and tactfully said, "Is there anything I can help with?"

Coincidentally, Zhao Yan had just finished interrogating a wild transcendent and called out to Wu Chang, "You came at just the right time. Come with me and take her down below first."

"Got it!"

Wu Chang walked toward Zhao Yan and discovered that the person Zhao Yan was escorting was a young girl.

The girl's outfit was extremely exaggerated and very recognizable.

She had long hair dyed red and white, and her nose, lip, tongue piercings, and earrings were all present. In the middle of her collarbone, there was also a butterfly tattooed with flower petals as wings.

This distinctive appearance, once seen, would never be forgotten.

Wu Chang frowned. He remembered her—she was the Butterfly Woman whose portrait had been painted by Lu Langfeng in the Emotion Art Museum.

(End of this chapter)