Chapter 16 Weapon Master Charlie Rex
Eight twenty Earth time.
Twenty minutes after the official launch of the game "Another World", about three-tenths of the players... died and logged off.
In the square town hall, Yang Qiu, who was sitting in this dimension, silently held his forehead with his hand.
Yang Qiu was mentally prepared for how much the players loved to commit suicide, but he was a little caught off guard by the high efficiency and high proportion of suicide...
It's bad enough that they challenged the bottom line of NPC interaction and were killed in a variety of ways by a group of former thieves. They had all seen the video released by Vanilla Pudding and knew that the big rat in the south of the town was not something that players at this stage could match. But there were still a group of people who ran over excitedly as soon as they came online and tried to kill the BOSS of the Novice Village by jumping their levels, trying to seize the so-called initiative... This is really bullshit!
"——We can't go on like this. If we keep dying and going offline, we can't be considered a stable anchor point."
Yang Qiu pondered for a moment, then stood up and cast a sealing spell on the town hall building to prevent any suicidal players from trying to break in and open the space-time rift to return to Earth.
He decided to "borrow" the images taken by the camera installed inside the player's character, and put together a fancy death compilation video of these players' sudden deaths and put it on the official website; he also emphasized that after death, the player will be kicked offline and must wait one hour in game time and half an hour in real time before being able to go online. He hoped that this would play a role in dissuading these guys who love to make trouble.
Here, Yang Qiu returned to Earth. Outside, a group of players who had gathered together to look for NPCs found themselves in front of the town hall.
"Wow... this mud-walled house is actually the town hall? This thing is the central building of our undead race's birthplace? This is too shabby!"
Seeing a sign of "Exile Town Government Office" hanging on the square earthen door, the players all showed horrified expressions... Even if you are in a dungeon like Undercity, Queen Xi at least lives in a decent palace; even if it is the Tauren living in the mountains, the tent of their chief is more decent than your mud house!
"A bunch of job transfer instructors are still squatting in tents hoping that players will help them build a professional guild. Let's not have any expectations for this shabby game inside and out." Tang Jia waved her hand and knocked on the door. "Is anyone there? Is the magic instructor here? Hello?"
Of course, there was no response.
"What's going on? The door won't open even though the NPC is not here?"
"These NPCs were able to chase someone across two blocks and hack him to death. There's no way they wouldn't be able to open the door."
"That means the person is not here. Damn, there are still NPCs slacking off."
Immediately, a player with strong mobility tried to pry the window open: "Let me see if I can climb in through the window... Wow, this broken window is so sturdy?"
"Can the window be broken open?"
"Hey, this is the town hall after all. We're going to be hacked to death by NPCs."
Except for a few people who knew each other, most of the people in this group were strangers who had gathered together to find a certain NPC. Seeing that there was no NPC in the town hall, someone said, "Forget it. If we can't find a magic instructor, we won't look for it. My friend and I will do the zombie NPC's mission first. Anyway, we have to reach level one to change jobs, so our potential is not much different."
"Yeah, looking at Vanilla Pudding's video, they completed several tasks before adding a little potential. It seems that it is quite difficult to level up in this game."
"What's so good about the zombie NPC missions? I might as well start by gaining reputation as a life mentor..."
Seeing the crowd gradually dispersing, Tang Jia called out, "Is there anyone who wants to continue looking for a warrior mentor?"
A player who had been standing still and looking around quickly followed and said, "I'm with you."
The ID above this player's head seems to be his real name, Yang Ying. Tang Jia and his childhood friend Zheng Qingyue are both young girls, so they naturally would not refuse female players from joining.
The three female players gathered together to continue the action. The cheerful Tang Jia quickly started chatting with Yang Ying: "Are you using your real name as your ID?"
"Yeah, I've never played games before and I don't go online much, so I can't think of a good ID for the moment." Yang Ying said frankly.
"Eh?" Tang Jia said in surprise, "From your voice, you should be about the same age as us?"
"I should be older than you two. I'm twenty-two." Yang Ying said.
"Not much older. Qingyue and I are both 20 and sophomores. How about you?"
Yang Ying smiled generously: "College student? I'm not a college student. When I was taking the college entrance examination a few years ago, something happened at home and I was delayed. I started working right after I graduated from high school and had no time to play."
Tang Jia and her childhood friend Zheng Qingyue looked at each other and took the initiative to change the subject...
Both of them come from ordinary families. Before going to college, they thought all families were the same. It was not until they entered college that they realized that rich families are really rich and poor families are really poor. They have heard of classmates who did not have enough living expenses to pay for their meal cards and who had to drop out of school after barely studying for two years because of family difficulties.
While chatting, the three of them walked around the not-so-big Exile Town that they had not visited before, and found... a lonely tent hidden behind an earth wall.
"Got it!" Tang Jia's eyes lit up and she said excitedly, "Except for the magic instructor, we have seen the other 18 NPCs listed in the notice. This must be the tent of the weapon master! Quick, find where that NPC is!"
During the time Yang Ying had been walking with the two of them, she had heard Tang Jia recommend a lot of benefits of playing a warrior. She had originally just gone online to see if the game her brother had helped to make was genuine, but now she had developed a slight interest in playing games and had actively helped to find NPCs.
The three of them quickly searched the surroundings and indeed found the last NPC - a young man with "Charlie Rex" and "Weapon Master Mentor" on his head.
After discovering this NPC... the three female players, including Yang Ying, who was a newbie in the game, were all stunned.
This NPC is dressed very similarly to other high-level NPCs, with a fantasy-style capable outfit, dark-colored tights made of thick and tight material, leather sleeves wrapped with cow tendons on his arms, a row of exquisite small leather bags hanging on his belt, knee pads on his knees, thick-soled high-top boots, and a half-body armor that mainly protects the chest and abdomen.
This NPC, who looked like a "hero" who came out of a fantasy movie that paid great attention to details... was slumped on the ground, with his back against the earth wall, his head tilted, his hands hanging at both sides of his body, his face pale, his forehead covered with cold sweat, his eyelids tightly closed, and he seemed to be muttering unclear syllables in a low voice.
"Oh my god - how can a warrior instructor be like this?" Tang Jia was completely dumbfounded. "Why does this guy look so much like those drug addicts in the movies who are suffering from withdrawal?!"
Tang Jia's childhood friend Zheng Qingyue squatted down and looked at him carefully, then shook her head and said, "Although it looks like a withdrawal reaction... but if it's a withdrawal reaction, you won't be able to control your tears and snot, and your emotions will be more intense, and you won't be so calm."
Yang Ying looked in surprise at this girl who usually acted quite taciturn and had little presence.
What surprised Yang Ying even more was that Zheng Qingyue actually came very close to the NPC, propped up the NPC's eyelids with one hand, and waved the other hand in front of the NPC's eyes...
"The pupils show signs of dilation, but they still react to the light reflected by the bones. Is it a brain injury?" Zheng Qingyue muttered to herself as she hugged the NPC's head with both hands and roughly examined it. "It doesn't look like an injury. Is it a parasympathetic nerve fiber lesion that caused the oculomotor nerve paralysis?"
"The lips have no discoloration, no odor, and the mucous membranes are normal in color. It should not be poisoning..."
Under the horrified gaze of Tang Jia and Yang Ying, Zheng Qingyue even inserted her finger joints into the NPC's throat: "No retching, no vomit, which rules out the possibility of breathing difficulties and insufficient blood supply to the brain due to vomitus blocking the trachea."
"It's probably because of some kind of stimulus that caused a strong stress response." Zheng Qingyue let go of the NPC's head. "There's no tranquilizer in the game to give him a shot. What should I do?"
"NPC will respond to stress?" Tang Jia looked puzzled.
"If they are in a bad mood, they will even hack people." Zheng Qingyue said.
"Then what should we do? Wait for the NPC to wake up?" Yang Ying asked curiously. She had never played the game before, so she had no idea what a normal NPC in a normal game should be like... and she didn't think there was anything particularly strange about the NPC in this game.
"It's very troublesome..." Zheng Qingyue held her chest and thought.
Rex, who was trapped in a nightmare, seemed to hear the conversation of young ladies in a daze.
Their voices were clear, pleasant, and carefree, as if they had some kind of relaxing power that made Rex, who was suffering from nightmares, relax unconsciously. The terrifying phantom that seemed to be devouring him seemed to gradually move away because of the interference of these young ladies.
Charlie Rex's eyelids moved and slowly opened.
Three skeletons surrounded him, six deep eye holes staring at him.
“?!”
Charlie Rex sat up suddenly.
"Wow, wake up, wake up!" The three skeletons quickly stepped back a little, but still surrounded him, and made the voices of surprised and happy young ladies.
Rex was stunned.
The hideous skeleton and the clear, pleasant and warm voice of a young lady... The huge contrast made Charlie Rex, who had just woken up, feel a strong sense of absurdity and disobedience. He felt that the sanity he had just stabilized was rapidly slipping away -
"Hello, Charlie Rex, are there any missions to be posted?"
One of the skeletons, with the word "Gummy Candy" in green letters on its head, eagerly came up to Rex.
There was obvious expectation in the voice of the lively, confident and generous young lady. If Rex closed his eyes, he would definitely feel his heart beating fast...
However, with his eyes wide open, he could clearly see that the deceptively pleasant voice came from an old corpse that had been buried in the soil for who knows how many years.
The nightmare hasn't ended yet...?
Rex closed his eyes and slowly fell back.
"Damn it! Give me a mission and I'll faint again!" Tang Jia was anxious and grabbed Rex's collar. "What's wrong with this NPC? Where's the mission? Aren't you a warrior job transfer instructor?"
Rex's body shook and he suddenly woke up.
His current condition is actually much better than when he was in Sorenson. The mental anchor points connected in the imprint matrix have greatly improved the stability of his sanity. At least the situation of directly giving up treatment and behaving like a human being like when he was picked up by Yang Qiu will not happen again.
For example, now, after being reminded by Tang Jia, he finally remembered what he should do now... In order to maintain his sanity and obtain the qualification to stay in the brand matrix and share the anchor point with the black magician, he must play his role well - serve as a warrior transformation instructor in the Exile Town, the birthplace of the undead race!
So Rex forced himself to stay calm and rational, and looked at Tang Jia who was eager to get the task...
"My undead friend, the undead are not suitable to be warriors." Charlie Rex, who had regained his sanity, said bluntly, "It is difficult for the undead to resist the impact, and they do not have enough strength. Give up."
Tang Jia: “…”
Zheng Qingyue & Yang Ying: "..."
"The NPC is being racist?!" Tang Jia was furious. "Do I want to choose the undead? Is there any other choice for me? Stop talking nonsense and give me the task!!"
"Don't get excited, Tang Jia. It's not worth it to be kicked off the line." Zheng Qingyue advised quickly.
Yang Ying looked surprised: "NPCs will persuade players to quit? Are all online games like this?"
"Normally this shouldn't happen..." Zheng Qingyue looked embarrassed, not knowing how to explain to Yang Ying, a game rookie, "Maybe there's a bug with this NPC?"
Charlie Rex didn't understand what they were talking about, and said seriously: "The undead are indeed not suitable to be warriors. If you want close combat, Death Walker and Death Knight are better choices. If you insist on this, you will only walk on a road full of thorns."
"Oh!" Tang Jia suddenly realized and released his bony palm. "Damn it, I thought there was something wrong with this NPC. He didn't even give me any quests. It turns out that he arranged a procedure to dissuade me from joining. Stop talking nonsense and give me the quests!"
Rex: "...I mean it, ma'am."
"I'm serious too. Why is the dialogue so long?" Tang Jia muttered impatiently.
Rex stared at the persistent skeleton lady in silence...
Although she was a skeleton undead who was not suitable to be a warrior and was a young lady, she still persisted in pursuing the path of a warrior - this spirit vaguely touched Rex.
"Well, I hope you will never regret your choice." Rex sighed and assigned the task to Tang Jia.
"I've received the mission!" Tang Jia was cheered up and quickly greeted Yang Ying.
"Hello, Charlie Rex, is there any mission to be released?" Yang Ying followed Tang Jia's example and stepped forward to interact.
In line with the spirit of fulfilling the guidance obligations as a mentor, Rex still tried his best to persuade him to quit... and then was pestered to issue tasks.
After receiving the task props, the three of them left Rex behind and walked towards the construction site with great interest, discussing as they walked: "I have experience. The more difficult a profession is to obtain, the more powerful it is. This weapon master's advanced later stage may be very powerful. Sister Ying, after we have changed to warrior together, should we also change to weapon warrior together?"
"Okay, I don't know how to play anyway, just teach me how to play."
"Then I will switch to a nurse and give you blood."
"Hehe Qingyue is the best!"
Charlie Rex, who was just feeling pleased that the undead lady who was not fit to be a warrior (…) was so persistent in pursuing the path of power: “???”
Wait! You want to be a warrior just because you think warriors are awesome?!
This evil pursuit is a blasphemy to warriors!
Sooner or later you will get lost in the dilemma of power!
Rex, who was filled with anger, suddenly froze in his tracks.
Wait - if one does not respect the honor of a warrior, one will be lost in the dilemma of power and contaminated by the evil that takes advantage of the opportunity, then what is his fate... then?
Rex felt his head ache again and hallucinations appeared before his eyes again.
"No, no... I'm different... I just, just..."
Rex held onto the earth wall and slowly sat down.
An idea popped into his mind that was extremely unbelievable but difficult for him to ignore.
"Could it be that... I am the one who is wrong? Is my persistence, my insistence on the way of power wrong?"
Rex tried his best to stay rational, forcing himself to ignore the illusion and stare at the undead lady who was giggling and starting to "do the task".
"Perhaps... these undead who treat the warrior spirit as a joke can give me an answer."
Then... Rex witnessed with his own eyes these three giggling, frivolous undead ladies completing their mission until dark.
During this period, the skeleton that did not accept the task left for a while. After coming back, he complained dissatisfiedly, saying something like "I found Yang, but I can't increase the reputation of this NPC before I reach level one", and then continued to help his companions with the task.
Relying on the undead's racial characteristics of being tireless and not needing to eat and sleep, the three weak undead managed to clear out a small area of the Warrior Guild's planned construction site...
During this time, Rex saw the skeleton lady who was grabbing his collar rather rudely suddenly jump up with joy and announce very loudly and happily: "My potential value has increased a little! It can increase even without completing the task. Can the potential value increase as long as the task is completed?"
"Ah, I grew a little too!" The other skeleton lady seemed very happy as well.
They happily chatted with each other, guessed the rules of the potential value increase, and after a short rest, they continued to clean up...
Rex really couldn't understand why these undead were willing to insist on doing such a boring "task" for the reason of "becoming warriors" which they themselves regarded as a joke. He walked out from under the earth wall and slowly went to the edge of the construction site.
Before Rex could figure out how to start a conversation without violating Yang's rules, he heard the undead lady "Gummy Candy" make a statement that instantly terrified him...
"It's already dark. My vision is not affected, so I didn't even notice it." Tang Jia held the pickaxe with one hand and touched her empty stomach with the other hand, "I'm a little hungry, how about you?"
"Yeah, we've been playing for a long time without realizing it, and I'm hungry too." Yang Ying said.
Rex's face suddenly changed, and he instinctively stepped back quietly... Even though Yang repeated several times that these undead guests were "safe and harmless" to them, it was still terrifying to hear the undead talking about hunger at night!
"It's a bit strange. When we entered the game, the game time was four o'clock in the afternoon. Now it's nine o'clock in the evening. Converting it to real time, it means we have only been playing the game for two and a half hours. I drank a big bowl of cereal in the morning, but I feel hungry after only two and a half hours?" Zheng Qingyue said in confusion.
"Is it because we've been doing physical work in the game?" Tang Jia said as she put away her tools. "We're wearing helmets while playing games, right? Then are our activities in the game related to our brain waves? Are our brain waves always highly active so we get hungry quickly?"
"...That makes sense." Zheng Qingyue knocked the shovel against a rock, knocked off the mud, and handed it to Tang Jia. "After you've completed the mission, log off and have a meal before you log back on. Do you want to come to my place for a meal?"
"Okay, I'll bring the helmet over and I'll play at your place after eating." Tang Jia nodded quickly.
"Then I'll go offline and order takeout." Zheng Qingyue turned to look at Yang Ying, "Sister Ying, will you be online this afternoon?"
"Go ahead." Yang Ying said with a smile, "I was originally planning to go online to take screenshots and record videos and then go offline to continue the war of words with others. Now that I'm playing, I don't want to pay attention to those wars of words. It's not as fun as the game."
Tang Jia said happily: "It's settled then, we'll meet here in an hour, one hour in real time."
The three of them came out of the "construction site" chatting and laughing, and went to find Rex to hand in the task.
Although Rex didn't understand, he vaguely realized that he seemed to have misunderstood something, and silently calculated the rewards for Tang Jia and Yang Ying...
After adding the "intelligent NPC", Yang Qiu also modified the task reward mode. Whether it is an ordinary task issued by the zombie NPC or a reputation task issued by the intelligent NPC, it will be settled according to the task contribution.
In addition to the one-time novice benefit of giving players clothing, the rewards for the rest of the tasks are settled according to the player's effective working hours in the task (not slacking off, working hard) through the newly added mini-program in the brand matrix. Similarly, the "NPCs" "connected" in the brand matrix can achieve fairness and justice by following the prompts provided by the matrix.
"Four effective working hours, 400 reputation and eight copper coins?" Tang Jia curiously played with the copper coins Rex gave her. "These coins look like game coins in an arcade."
Zheng Qingyue also came over curiously and said, "The mission rewards have changed. When I watched Vanilla Pudding's video before, there were no rewards for completing the missions."
Yang Ying took the copper coin and looked at the two little sisters she had just met curiously: "How do I put away this game coin?"
Tang Jia & Zheng Qingyue: "..."
"Damn, this game doesn't even have a backpack! Such a big bug has never been fixed!" Tang Jia was so angry that she was shaking, "What the hell, we are just bare bones, where are we going to put the money?!"
Rex thought about how he had misunderstood the three undead ladies before, and to apologize, he took the initiative to remind them: "Undead friends, there is a tailor named Arisa who sells waist bags in the wooden house near the town hall. You can buy them from him."
"Oh!" The three players then remembered the intelligent NPC that taught the life profession tailoring, which no one cared about at present. They hurriedly said goodbye to Rex and hurried over.
Rex watched them go away, looked at the sky, went back to his tent, lit an alcohol lamp and built a bonfire.
Yang Qiu's job requirements for them were not too high. They had to be active around their posts from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. so as to be found by the players. As long as they didn't run too far or hide deliberately, they could even lie down and sleep all day.
Even in the most stringent tool management, Yang Qiu actually did not impose any restrictions on players not being able to take tools away... Anyway, the players' activities were all under the supervision of the matrix, so no matter where the players took the tools, they could get them back.
The real restriction that Yang Qiu imposed was that players could not use "mission items" to cause trouble. For example, a group of people took a cleanup mission and carried pickaxes to kill the BOSS in the Novice Village, or used them to fight with each other... This is why the mission items can only be used within the mission area.
Although these mission props were actually collected from second-hand markets and scrap recycling stations, the cost was very low, but who can blame Yang Qiu for being poor...
In short, because the spot was relatively secret and he didn't need to receive too many players for the time being, Rex was not under as much pressure as Hal. After sending the three undead ladies away, Rex got some food, put the tools back into the tent, announced that he was off work, and set up the tent to sleep.
At eleven o'clock in the middle of the night in the game, which is noon in real time, a large group of players, led by Qin Guan with the ID Vanilla Pudding, entered the planned construction site of the Warrior Guild in a mighty manner.
"The warrior instructor that 'Gummy' mentioned on the message board should be over here... ah, over there!"
A group of undead who naturally have the ability of night vision looked around the quiet neighborhood with sharp eyes, which looked no different from daytime in their eyes, and soon found that a small piece of open space had been cleared.
"The NPC's tent is behind a dirt wall... Got it, it's here!"
"Where are the NPCs?"
"Looks like he's asleep."
"I still need to sleep because of NPC?! This is too much, I can't accept the mission or not!"
"Charlie Rex! Is Charlie Rex here? Squeak!"
"Don't sleep anymore, get up and send out tasks!"
Inside the tent, Rex held his head in his hands, stared at the ceiling of the tent with bloodshot eyes expressionlessly.
Do these damned undead really understand the word "excessive" that they themselves said? The weapon master was puzzled.
