Chapter 161 : Chapter 161
Chapter : 161
The spot that originally displayed [Guests cannot reply] had, at some unknown point, turned into an input box for posting replies.
And the login information displayed next to it was precisely the player identity he had just registered, [Good Day].
He could actually reply on the forums now??
Wait, was this game system really that amazing?
Yan Yunqing swallowed and tentatively typed a sentence.
『OP, do you remember if there were any special scenes around you when you came online? Was there no starter village guide NPC? Were there other players around you?』
Click send.
The little loading daisy spun twice, then showed that the message was sent successfully.
It was actually sent successfully!
Yan Yunqing refreshed the post and, sure enough, saw that the latest comment on the post was the one he had contributed.
Taking a deep breath, Yan Yunqing controlled his slightly excited mood.
Before, he could only read the forums but couldn't participate at all. Now, his [Good Day] identity could reply on the forums!
Did this mean he still had a chance to communicate with those friends he knew from his original world?
Although Yan Yunqing always said that because his parents had passed away, he didn't have much attachment to his original world, and it was the same no matter which world he lived in, how could a person completely sever their ties to the past?
Especially after his parents' death, the several families who had raised him, those uncles and aunties and their families, had all left warm memories for Yan Yunqing.
He didn't know if he was considered dead or missing in his original world. No matter which one it was, it would surely make those uncles and aunties who had cared for him sad.
If only there was a real chance to contact them, at least to tell them that he was living well in another world...
For a moment, his thoughts were in turmoil, emotions surging. Yan Yunqing had to calm himself for a while before he could restrain the homesickness that had suddenly emerged.
After calming down, another worry surfaced in Yan Yunqing's mind.
He still hadn't figured out the entity behind the Return Journey game. What was the purpose of pulling people from Blue Star in to become players?
Yan Yunqing could only be sure of one thing right now: the entity behind this Return Journey game did not have good intentions for him, for the people of the Ailman Continent, or even for the players from Blue Star.
If he rashly contacted the uncles and aunties he once knew, perhaps not only would it fail to put their minds at ease, but it might also pull them into danger.
Yan Yunqing closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had returned to a state of calm.
He refreshed the post. The OP, who had been locked in a small black room, couldn't help but pour out his grievances and replied to Yan Yunqing's questions in great detail.
12L: I was just so excited when I came online. This Return Journey's full-dive is truly awesome, the five senses simulation is just too incredible. I think I woke up in a small forest? Oh, and there was a small stream next to it. I don't know if there were other players, because it wasn't long before I was surrounded by that group of damn savages! They didn't give any newbie guidance at all, they just started killing! So heartless!
His words reeked of strong resentment. Yan Yunqing almost laughed out loud as he read it.
What a sin.
Yan Yunqing chanted "Amitabha, press 1 and Buddha will forgive me" a few times in his heart and continued to browse the post. The OP had mixed some small clues in with his numerous complaints, and Yan Yunqing dug them out one by one.
It was just that he wasn't familiar with Romunik, and he didn't have an insider there like Alice, so it was really not easy to launch a player rescue plan.
Forget it, he would leave these few players captured by the savages for now. He had to first investigate the exact spawn points in Romunik, and then move the original starter village over.
Yan Yunqing mercilessly closed the post, returned to the main forum page and refreshed it. After confirming that no other dead players had come out to post, he closed the forum.
Destination, Romunik.
***
Cheng Tianyu, who had already been playing the game for more than seven hours, received an anti-addiction reminder from the game. He was informed that he was about to be kicked offline, and the system told him to find a safe place to log out in advance.
Cheng Tianyu rubbed his nose and couldn't help but sneeze, moving the bouquet of flowers in his hands a little further away. "This game is too realistic, it can even simulate the symptoms of pollen allergies."
"Brother A, the game system is reminding me that I'm about to be forced offline." Cheng Tianyu turned his head and saw [Big Brother A] counting the copper coins in his money pouch with a solemn expression. "Bro, what are you doing?"
[Big Brother A] didn't look up, muttering: "3, 4, 5..."
"12!" After counting back and forth several times, the final number was still stuck at 12. [Big Brother A]'s face couldn't help but twist. "This is too stingy. I did a total of eight quests and only got 12 copper coins?!"
Twelve copper coins, not to mention better weapons and equipment, couldn't even buy the most common long staff!
The lowest level white weapon in that weapon shop required 50 copper coins!!!
[Big Brother A] was just short of looking up and screaming "profiteer."
"Bro, it's alright, it's alright. At least our level is almost at level 1. After we get online tomorrow and grind a bit more, we'll get a starter gift pack when we break through to level 1. Maybe we can get a weapon from it?" Cheng Tianyu consoled [Big Brother A].
During these eight hours, several people had already appeared on the level leaderboard. Because quests were few and players were many, not many people could get quests. Most people were still in the initial starter village, exploring the world story of this Ailman Continent.
There wasn't much information to be found in the starter village, but it was enough to give the eagerly waiting players a little taste.
And the information about the level-up gift pack was figured out by a lone wolf player in their starter village who was lucky enough to get a chain quest. Because he got a chain quest, his level rose to 1 after completing it, and he received a starter box. With a stroke of dog-like luck, he opened it to find a green-quality longsword that could be equipped under level 10.
Don't look down on green-quality weapons as trash equipment in other games. But in Return Journey, which had just launched, and with extremely limited channels to obtain equipment, a green-quality longsword was already the best weapon they had seen at their level.
[Big Brother A] and Cheng Tianyu were so jealous they underwent plasmolysis.
And the eight quests they had done were completed as a team. The two of them separately went to grind on NPCs, and the quests they received shared experience, which was how their levels could barely rise to the edge of level 1.
"My game is also reminding me that it's almost time for a forced logout. Let's find a safe place to log off. Since the system notified us, there must be a reason." [Big Brother A] struggled out of the bad news that they had only earned 12 copper coins after grinding for a day, with an hourly wage of only 1.5 copper coins, and suggested: "The house at the village entrance we went to before, seems to be a bachelor's, right? We should be able to stay at his place for a night by spending one copper coin."
As for where to sleep? Logging out as a player wasn't really sleeping. Just find a safe corner to lie down like a corpse. Why bother with so much?
"We still have to spend a copper coin..." Cheng Tianyu was a little hesitant. "Is it necessary? Isn't it the same if we find a corner in the village to log out?"
[Big Brother A] patted Cheng Tianyu's shoulder. "Orange, I can tell you haven't studied Return Journey's background story carefully."
"We players are playing as Descenders in Return Journey. We have descended to help the people of this continent resist demonic beasts, so demonic beasts are the monster units in this game, right?"
Cheng Tianyu nodded.
"But it's been so long, and we haven't heard of anyone getting a quest about demonic beasts. At most, it's just hunting wild chickens and rabbits at the village entrance. This shows that demonic beasts are a very dangerous type of creature in this world."
[Big Brother A] spoke very logically. "And the villagers repeatedly emphasize how terrifying demonic beasts are, and that the favorite food of demonic beasts are people with talent for cultivation. Doesn't this perfectly align with the player faction? And before the forced logout, the game system repeatedly emphasized that we should find a safe place to log out."
"Why? There is only one truth—"
[Big Brother A] struck a classic pose. "Players may still encounter attacks from demonic beasts after logging out, and if a player is eaten by a demonic beast, they might receive some penalties."
"In a serious case, after eating a certain number of players, the demonic beasts will go on a killing spree and slaughter the starter village. Oh, generally, games probably wouldn't do this, but this is a full-dive game. From what we've seen so far, Return Journey has a high degree of freedom, supported by at least a super AI. In that case, it's really possible for a village-wiping event to happen."
"In a less serious case, we might get a few persistent debuffs—of course, none of that is important. What if we are attacked and killed by demonic beasts after we log out? We would lose experience."
"It was so hard to get to the edge of level 1 and we're about to get on the leaderboard. I don't want to go all the way back to square one!"
[Big Brother A] gave a long list of reasons, and only when he couldn't make up any more did he reveal his true thoughts.
Cheng Tianyu: ...
Cheng Tianyu: "Alright, bro, if you're afraid of losing experience, just say so. You don't have to beat around the bush so much."
[Big Brother A] chuckled. "You think I was just trying to fool you before? Nope, this is really what I inferred after careful consideration."
"This full-dive game is so realistic, the feeling of death must also be very real. In order to prevent players from confusing the game with reality, the game officials must adopt certain rules and restrictions. Just you watch, there will definitely be serious consequences for character death."
Cheng Tianyu hummed noncommittally twice, but he was also afraid of being attacked and losing experience while offline. He still agreed with [Big Brother A]'s proposal and ran to the bachelor's house to ask for lodging.
The bachelor was easy to talk to. He symbolically accepted one copper coin and gave them the empty room next door to stay in.
The two of them wandered around the empty room for a while, took stock of their gains for the day, and were reluctantly kicked offline by the game.
At the same time, countless players who had logged in as soon as the server opened were kicked offline one after another, leaving only a few players who had logged in later still roaming in the game.
For a time, the number of posts on the forums surged.
【I declare that Return Journey will become the only true god-tier game to descend in the last ten years. This is simply a dimension-reducing strike!】
【Grandpa, I really got to play a real full-dive game】
【Before entering the game, I was skeptical. After entering the game: Oh my god, an epic masterpiece!】
【Before playing Return Journey: Heh, how fun can it be? After playing Return Journey: Daddy Game, please let me play for another eight hours!】
【No, we're all adults, and there's still an anti-addiction system? Has the Return Journey studio lost its mind? Setting up an anti-addiction system for such a good game, do they even know how to make money? I'll allow you to open a paid play service after the eight free hours every day! I can pay for a time card】
【...】
At the same time, posts about death penalties and resurrection cooldowns were also bumped up. Among three thousand players, there were always a few who liked to court death.
Unexpectedly, upon dying, they were forcibly logged out, and when they put on their helmets again, they found that resurrection required a CD.
For a moment, the forums were filled with excitement and complaints, all about Return Journey, pushing posts about other games completely out of sight.
The online friends who hadn't managed to get a spot in the Return Journey closed beta couldn't help but be full of question marks. "What's going on? Has the forum been overrun by Return Journey's hired posters?"
It could only be said that those who didn't get a closed beta spot really couldn't comprehend the excitement of the closed beta players at this moment.
This feeling was like a person who had always been eating chaff and wild herbs suddenly getting to eat a Manchu Han Imperial Feast one day.
There's such a delicious game in this world?!
No one could refuse to explore a grand and magnificent otherworld!
Only after seeing the death penalty posts on the forum did Cheng Tianyu realize that [Big Brother A]'s guess was more than half right. There really was a severe penalty for character death!
At this moment, he was very glad that he and [Big Brother A] had spent one copper coin to stay in a safe house when they logged out, so they wouldn't have to worry about their game characters dying while they were offline.
The game officials did not specify when the closed beta would end, but everyone's daily game time was fixed. If he died and couldn't log into the game for two days, what a huge experience gap would that create?
That wouldn't do.
And [Big Brother A], who had returned to reality, had already opened a document on his computer and started writing the text for his next video. Before this, he had already prepared several templates, just waiting to experience Return Journey today before choosing one to produce.
However, after experiencing the game of Return Journey, [Big Brother A] found that all these texts were useless.
Because the realism of Return Journey far exceeded all the games he had played before, what the game studio said about 『This will be a cross-era game』 was not an exaggeration at all!
[Big Brother A] dragged all his previously prepared texts into the recycle bin, created a new document, stared at the blank document for a long time, and solemnly typed the first line of text.
【At the beginning of the video, I need to frankly admit: I was wrong. My previous speculations about the game "Return Journey" were all completely and utterly wrong.】
【...】
While the players were reveling, Yan Yunqing rode a griffin and quickly arrived at the location of one of the starter villages at a spawn point in Romunik, meeting up with Divic.
"Have you investigated the situation near the three starter villages?" Yan Yunqing jumped down from the griffin. At level seventy-three, his physical fitness had improved by leaps and bounds. Even a griffin at top speed would no longer make him feel dizzy.
"Yes, there was a slight error in the location where the Descenders appeared." Divic kept up with Yan Yunqing's pace. "Our people have already investigated one location and led them to one of the starter villages."
"The remaining two locations still haven't been found?"
Divic shook his head.
Instead, another silver-haired young man who came with Divic answered this question: "The royal family of Romunik has a rather strict control over the entire empire, making it difficult for our people to act. We haven't found them for the time being."
Yan Yunqing's gaze fell on him. He had never seen this person before, but to be so close to Divic, he should be a member of the dragon clan.
As expected, when Yan Yunqing's gaze shifted over, the silver-haired young man introduced himself with a smile, "Your Excellency, my name is Wendell. Her Highness Isabel asked me to follow His Highness Divic and assist him."
Divic nodded silently and took a step forward, accidentally blocking Yan Yunqing's view of Wendell. "A red dragon half-blood. His mother is one of Isabel's subordinates. He grew up in Dragon Valley."
So he was a half-blood. No wonder he looked like a smiling tiger.
He had been wondering how the dragon clan, who all seemed to have muscles for brains, could produce a clan member with a black sesame filling.
"Then I'll have to trouble you to take good care of Divic." Yan Yunqing, whose view was blocked, didn't think much of it and continued to ask, "Have you investigated the Eternal Sect's stronghold in Romunik that you previously discovered?"
Divic secretly wagged his dragon tail.
"The several overt strongholds in Romunik have all been destroyed by Her Highness Isabel." Wendell answered fluently. "The few hidden ones have shown no unusual activity for now. We have people keeping an eye on them secretly."
Yan Yunqing nodded. He had seen all the posts on the forum about being face-camped upon logging in.
He could basically confirm that there was at least one more player spawn point, located in a remote area where other forces were entrenched.
But the Romunik Empire's territory was vast, and most of their manpower was scattered among the various starter villages.
It was impossible to spare too many people to search for that unknown spawn point in Romunik.
Moreover, it wouldn't be good if the Romunik royal family noticed. Yan Yunqing still wanted to slowly transition the impact that the players' arrival would have on the Ailman Continent.
If the Romunik royal family were to discover the special nature of the players first, it would not be good news for Yan Yunqing, whether they decided to exterminate them or make use of them.
"It's fine. In that case, you can focus all your attention on the location that has already been found." Yan Yunqing said, "I have other plans for the remaining locations."
Wendell still wore that smiling expression, but he did not immediately accept Yan Yunqing's command. Instead, he cast his gaze in Divic's direction.
Divic nodded: "The King's... his command is my command. All actions will be based on his instructions."
Wendell blinked, hiding the flash of surprise in his eyes, and obediently bowed, "As you wish."
He bowed to Yan Yunqing again, "Then I will go down and make the arrangements now."
Yan Yunqing nodded.
After Wendell left, Yan Yunqing asked Divic, who had been following him every step of the way, "Does he not know my identity?"
Although Yan Yunqing was the initiator of this plan, except for a few who had already had contact with him and were drawn in, the rest of the plan's executors indeed did not know of Yan Yunqing's existence and his identity.
But since this Wendell was sent by Isabel to Divic's side to help him, he shouldn't be unaware of his identity, right?
Divic hesitated for a moment, "I didn't say."
Then he paused and added: "I don't know if Isabel has said anything."
Considering the personalities of these two siblings, this was not impossible.
Yan Yunqing did not continue to dwell on this issue and said to Divic, "I will be staying here for a while, but I have something to do and it's not convenient for me to reveal my identity. You don't need to stay by my side."
Divic was reluctant, "I can also conceal my identity."
Yan Yunqing shook his head and refused, "It will be more convenient for what I have to do if you are not around."
Divic: "...Understood."
"Then take me to the newly found location now. Have you found a suitable reason to explain why their spawn point is different from the village's location?"
"...Yes, we said that the village near them was just attacked by demonic beasts, with no survivors."
Yan Yunqing was curious: "Is there really a village nearby that was attacked by demonic beasts?"
Divic: "No, but there was a stronghold disguised as a village, which was just wiped out by Isabel and her clansmen a few days ago."
Yan Yunqing: ...
Does Isabel know you're calling her a demonic beast behind her back?
"Take me there."
***
At this moment, the players in the Romunik starter village, like the players in other starter villages, were marveling at the realism of the game while eagerly experiencing the fun of the full-dive game.
Yan Yunqing concealed his identity and observed for a while, confirming that the players had not discovered that the long distance between the starter village and the spawn point was a bug.
They were even discussing whether their starter village was so special, different from the experiences of other players on the forum, because it meant that the starter village they had randomly been assigned to had some special background.
After all, when other players came online, a guide NPC would appear shortly after, briefly introduce the worldview, and then lead them into the starter village. However, they were different. They had been logged in for a long time, and their surroundings were desolate and uninhabited.
At that time, they thought this game was a sandbox game, where you start by punching trees, make a pickaxe, and then you can start mining.
Just as they were getting their hands on the trees in the small forest, punching them with great enthusiasm, a group of people dressed as villagers finally appeared.
They looked at them in surprise and even asked them what they were doing.
Immediately after, this batch of players got the news that the village near their spawn point had been attacked by demonic beasts a few days ago, and everyone had died.
These villagers were actually from the neighboring village and had come here to pay their respects to their deceased relatives and friends.
It wasn't until these villagers guided them to a village a hundred and eight thousand li away from their spawn point, and a village chief who seemed to be a guide NPC appeared to introduce them, calling them Descenders one after another, that the players suddenly realized: So this is the starter village!
However, after they logged out, they learned from other players that other starter villages were right next to the spawn points, and there were no such accidents as theirs.
This made them start to suspect whether they had randomly been assigned to a special starter village.
They were even trying to indirectly find out if there were any special characters or if any special events had occurred in the starter village when communicating with other NPCs.
The NPCs who were asked were sweating profusely: The higher-ups didn't tell them how to answer this either.
This hesitation revealed a clue, which was discovered by observant players.
The NPCs' denial of the matter then seemed like a clumsy attempt to conceal the truth, very fake, and at the same time, it showed that there was definitely something wrong with this village.
A player who considered himself a modern-day Sherlock Holmes said: "Something definitely happened here.
Maybe it's related to the village at the previous spawn point that was attacked by demonic beasts. Based on my years of gaming experience, this is very likely to be a hidden quest!"
The other players in his party also nodded one after another: "Indeed, this is too strange. The fact that all those NPCs have the same story and say nothing happened is the strange part. It's like they discussed it beforehand, and whenever they meet an outsider, they say they don't know anything."
"They won't tell us anything at all. It's very likely that the clues we have now are not enough to trigger this hidden quest. So next, we can collect more clues about that village that was wiped out by demonic beasts. Only then can we trigger the hidden quest."
"Do you guys think it's possible that the people in that village weren't killed by a demonic beast attack at all, but that it was man-made? Maybe it was even done by the people from our starter village?"
Not far away, a high-level NPC disguised as an ordinary person: ...
Should they pretend they heard it or not, hm?