Chapter 3 (2/2)
Accordingly, Ling Xiaolu touched his belly b.u.t.ton. The panel that had just vanished instantly appeared again. He crossed his fingers, touched his belly b.u.t.ton, then crossed his fingers again, finding it extremely novel.
”Other commonly used gestures are: tapping your temple once to turn on the radar, tapping your temple twice to open the map, and holding your finger to your temple for 2 seconds will turn the navigation system on. Snapping your fingers and ending with a heart gesture would open your social panel, snapping your fingers twice in a row means you'll like to initiate a trade. Of course, when you're performing the gestures, you also have to think about what you want to do at the same time. If not, it would also be very troublesome if you accidentally activated a lot of panels.”
”Very considerate.” Ling Xiaolu admired the ingenuity of the whole process.
”There's also something very important. If you need to go offline urgently, silently reciting ”force quit” 3 times can cut your connection. This is in case of an emergency, please don't use it to go offline normally. As it can result in a loss of data, it can only be used once every 24 hours.”
”All right, I'll remember that.”
”Now then, shall we can go into the game and experience it? I'll answer any questions you have as we go.”
Ling Xiaolu was transported to a small town. Although it was referred to as a small town, it was not small at all. Looking at it, it was flouris.h.i.+ng.”
”There's a total of 24 main cities in <spirit contract=””>. As the maps of the main cities are bigger, if there aren't any important events, players would usually choose to hang out in the towns around the cities. We're near one of the 24 main cities — Jingzhe City, and this is Yuanting Town, the most prosperous town in the suburbs. This town connects to 3 big main cities, and is one of the game's important communication hubs. It's also referred to as the Free Trade Distribution Center.”
Ling Xiaolu and Ling Long were walking along the main road of the town. Both sides of the roads were lined with shops, and they often saw people opening roadside stalls.
Outside a pet shop, the shopkeeper had displayed a hundred pets for sale, occupying nearly half the street.
”Wow!” Ling Xiaolu who actually did not have much experience in life exclaimed in surprise over the wide range of pets.
”This is nothing,” Ling Long had a lot more experience with this. ”There's a limit to the number of pets you can display on a market street. If you walk all the way to the end of the street, the area selling pets there is as big as a parking lot. You wouldn't be able to see the end with your naked eye.”
”So many? Will they all be bought?”
”Even if it's the same type of pet, there's also a difference in their values. Top quality ones will have a sky-high price, while the substandard ones will be sold wholesale to be used to increase the levels of their pets.”
”These shops are run by players?”
”Every single one of them. The player first has to sign a contract with the system, then they'll gain a shop. A location like this on the market street would be charged accordingly, and if you're not selling top quality pets, you're bound to lose money. The area at the end of the street is cheaper, but not every single player would be able to rent a spot. Most of them are career sellers or they have financial backing from their families.”
”Interesting. Then, won't people like me who can't capture pets be unable to open a shop?”
”You think the bosses of these shops capture their pets themselves? It's only that they have very good channels of acquisitions, which means they're flipping items. Also, other than pet shops, there are also many other types of shops, like equipment shop, food shop, pet items shop etc., the difficulty of opening a shop isn't in the capturing of a pet, but in…”
Ling Long's claws shook and convulsed.
”What does that mean?”
”Money.”
”So that gesture of yours refers to money. I still thought you were getting a cramp.”
”…”
”Then I don't have money, and I also can't catch pets. What should I do now?”
”I'll teach you. Each time you go to a place, you must first go to the pub.”
”Pub?”
”All the buildings with a sign of a wine barrel on the doors are inns. After entering the inn, you will activate a waypoint. Other than this, the inn is also a vital place for players. Many information and gossip all go through the inns.”
Ling Xiaolu took one step into the inn, and a strangely dressed person came up to him warmly.
”Please come in, what would you like to drink?”
Ling Long plastered itself next to his ear. ”He's an NPC, just tell him activate.”
”Activate.”
”I've recorded the honoured guest's name already. Next time, it will be very convenient for you to come here, please come often!”
Ling Long then said, ”Look for any table to take a seat, and listen out if there has been anything major that happened recently.”
Ling Xiaolu followed the instructions. He surveyed the surroundings, and was unable to distinguish who were the players and who were the NPCs.
”How do I know who are actual people?”
”You didn't turn on the name display? Some people like to experience this as though it is reality, so they choose to turn this function off. However, before you're familiar with the game, I'll suggest that you turn this function on.”
Ling Xiaolu found the name display function in the game setting. After checking it, names appeared on everyone's heads.
”In the game, the grey names are the neutral NPCs. The ones with the orange names are NPCs that can be attacked. As for the players, there are a total of 5 colours. Friendly players are in green, enemy players are in red, the ones who have acc.u.mulated a certain amount of murderous intimidation are in black, the benefactors are in gold, and the names of the combat pets are in a pretty pink.”
”Oh G.o.d! Don't tell me my name is in pink!”
”Of course not. To hide your ident.i.ty, the developers have already changed your name to green. It's a nice, pretty emerald green.”
”Oh, then that's still ok.” Ling Xiaolu heaved a sigh of relief. He could not bear to imagine how much fun it would be if he had his name hovering above him in pink.
Ling Xiaolu was a newbie without any power or influence. For now, all the names he saw in the inn were green.
Just like what Ling Long said, everyone liked to sit in the inn, drinking as they gossiped.
”Hey, did you guys hear? Recently there has been another person who has successfully worn the collar.”
Ling Xiaolu shuddered. It was true that he was here to listen to gossip, but why was he the main character of the gossip?!
”Really?”
This was very big news, and it grabbed the attention of many people in the inn.
”Of course it's true. I heard it from my uncle working in Xinshan. Also…” The person's voice trailed off, deliberately keeping the crowd in suspense.
”Also what? Quick, say it!” A person who could not wait quickly poked him.
”According to my deductions, that person is now somewhere around Yuanting Town.”
Yuanting Town, isn't that where I am right now?
Ling Xiaolu really wanted to strangle Ling Long. Did they not say they were not going to leak anything out? He was only here for such a short while, how did other people end up finding out?!
”How do you know it so clearly?”
”I don't know, but someone does. Don't forget, each time a human pet appears in game for the first time, there would be a notice in the benefactor system. I just heard from a friend that there's already quite a few benefactors heading this way. Recently, there hasn't been any compet.i.tion in Jingzhe City, why do you think they all simultaneously come this way?”
Ling Xiaolu lowered his head, pretending to be sprawling across the table, napping. Secretly, he gritted his teeth and asked Ling Long, ”Didn't you all agree to hide my ident.i.ty?”
”No! To be more precise, it's not hiding, but disguising!” Ling Long sounded clear and logical, ”We did do a little editing on your data, but that's only on the surface. If we were to change all the settings, it would be a very big workload. It's impossible for it to be done in a short time, and we might even break the game engine!”
”What?” Ling Xiaolu was deeply aggrieved. ”Then what should I do?!”
”30% cover, 70% acting, good luck!”
”f.u.c.k!”
The person was still talking, ”… Not only the few of them. Rumour has it that even Li Zheng is making his move this time.”
”Li Zheng?!” The inn erupted in exclamations. ”He's actually coming?”
Who is that?!
Luckily for Ling Xiaolu, another newbie asked this question for him. ”What sort of person is Li Zheng?”
”You don't even know Li Zheng? He's the national Adonis of <spirit contract=””>! In the annual tournament of experts in the game, Li Zheng was last year's runner up, but everyone believed that his abilities were actually above the champion.”
”Then why did he lose?”
”He lost because of his pets. During the quarterfinals, it was pretty much a battle amongst the benefactors. Those players who filled up the top 8 spots mostly had human pets. The only one who could get a runner up position with an AI pet was only an expert like Li Zheng. However, regrettably, at the end of the day, artificial intelligence is still unable to defeat a real life person. During the finals, he lost with only a point difference. If not for his much weaker pet, he would have been the champion.”
”Li Zheng rarely appears in places with many people. If he's also coming, then I really believe that that person is near Yuanting Town. I wonder who would be the first to capture them this time.”
”Wuwuwu, my Adonis, if I could just see him one time…”
Ling Xiaolu could not bear listening to this anymore. He needed to quickly leave this G.o.dd.a.m.n place.
”You guys basically didn't keep your words,” Ling Xiaolu ran as he complained. Unknowingly, he had reached the forest outside town. ”You promised that I won't be captured by anyone and become their pet. Now they're all here, and I was nearly just about to be caught easily.”
”This can't be entirely blamed on the company. My colleagues in the technological department have already tried their best,” Ling Long spoke aggrievedly.
Ling Xiaolu hurried away. Suddenly a strange noise exploded by his ear. It was not loud, but its impact was great. Just like a blast of air, it diffused.
At the source of the sound, a powerful soundwave diffused outwards, like an enormous wave cras.h.i.+ng onto its surroundings. All the plants and trees in the area toppled over. The soundwave traversed through Ling Xiaolu, and disappeared far into the forest where no eyes could see.
”Wow,” Even the experienced Ling Long received a shock. ”Such a powerful force of air, it must have come from an expert. If I'm correct, this is an immobilisation curse to seal all skills. It'll immobilise all beasts within a certain radius, but I've never seen anyone with such a wide radius before. How impressive.”
It turned its head, alarmed to see that Ling Xiaolu did not look quite right. ”What happened to you?”
Ling Xiaolu was frozen in his position, unable to move. With much difficulty, he spat through his teeth, ”I… c-can't… m-move….”
About Latest Posts Join us on and follow us on !
Latest posts by Alex PT () - July 13, 2019 - July 12, 2019 - July 11, 2019
</spirit></spirit></spirit></spirit>
<script>