Chapter 56: The Undead Chamber of Commerce
The casual players who discovered the shady dealings immediately became furious, dropped their missions, logged off, and headed straight to the player forum to start a verbal battle.
Teacher Yuchi was also very angry. The initial potential value of her account was not too low, it was over 40 at the beginning, but because she had relatively little time to play, it had not yet reached 50 and could not be upgraded to level one. Suddenly seeing two newcomers with incredible potential, she found it quite unacceptable.
We all buy the same helmet and play the same game, is that so unfair?
However... Teacher Yuchi has not been online for long, but she has been on the forum a lot. She knows the nature of the game's production team very well - from the launch of the server to now, players have been angrily criticizing the fact that there are too many and monotonous tasks to carry out, that the randomness of the initial potential values is too unfair and anti-game experience, that the task design is unreasonable, that monsters are too difficult to kill, and that it is inconvenient to not have a backpack, etc... There has never been a lack of complaints.
But no matter how intense the criticism was or how many posts were posted, the official staff were as unresponsive as corpses.
Only when newbies who have seen game videos come to post and flood the screen to ask for an account will the forum administrator reappear as if from the dead and ban their accounts and mute them .
In the end, I didn’t say anything like “If you want to play, play. If you don’t want to play, get out.” But my attitude of “You can criticize me as you like. If I don’t listen to you, I lose” is clearly there…
Teacher Yuchi can guess the result of this "conspiracy" with his knees: no matter how excited the players are and how angry they are about the game, it is estimated that no newbie who spams the screen to ask for an account will be able to get the official to take a second look.
Even if you go to the relevant departments to complain, the possibility of threatening the dog production team is very low - because this game does not charge any money at all, it is not considered an official operation, and even when the official released the account at the beginning, they did not charge any related fees, only the helmet material fee of the login device.
In other words, players can’t even use the ultimate move of “issuing invoices”…
As for forcing the official into a desperate situation, such as all players quitting the game, everyone returning their helmets and asking the official to refund their money... It's impossible, it will never be possible. Players who have helmets will definitely not do such stupid things.
Some players even bought safes to store their helmets to prevent them from being damaged by cats and dogs or thrown away as waste by cleaning ladies.
Even Mr. Yuchi himself made a small box to store his helmet...
You can play the game while you sleep, and work and study with full energy when you log off, without delaying your life and entertainment. During the game, the speed of time perceived is doubled, which is equivalent to having one third more life than other people. Anyone who really wants to quit the game and abandon his account must be mentally ill!
"Forget it, this crappy planner isn't the first time to behave like a human being." Teacher Yuchi, a mature adult, sighed, then... handed in the task and ran to find the two newcomers.
She had to find out where these two newcomers came from. If there was a chance, it would be best if she could hook up with them and take advantage of the uncle's party... If a random value like potential could open a backdoor, then other benefits must be guaranteed as well, right?
Three hundred players worked hard to move bricks for more than half a month. All the garbage that needed to be cleaned up and the dilapidated buildings that were completely useless in Exile Town were demolished, and the blocks that needed to be divided were also marked out.
All construction sites managed by NPCs have built buildings that are barely presentable - although these buildings are not much better than the bungalows waiting to be demolished in third-tier cities - except that they are indeed a bit empty, at least they look like places where .
Teacher Yuchi walked south along the central street that led to the end of the road. After passing the construction site of the Walker Guild and running to the place where the zombie general used to stand, he found the traces of the two newcomers:
On the open space diagonally opposite the butcher Manan, several piles of steel plates appeared out of nowhere. Two newcomers were holding pliers, wrenches and other tools, and were discussing how to assemble these steel plates.
Teacher Yuchi: “What the hell?!”
Just by looking at the situation on this open space, Teacher Yuchi instinctively judged that these two newcomers must be members of the uncle's party - there is no NPC issuing tasks here, and the building materials provided are different from those at other construction sites!
The construction site where Mr. Yuchi gained the reputation of a gathering master was piled with steel bars, sand, blue bricks, asphalt tiles. Mr. Yuchi gained thousands of reputation points intermittently and was almost able to develop the skills of a bricklayer!
"Hello!" Teacher Yuchi was not afraid at all and immediately stepped forward to greet them enthusiastically.
"Hello, hello." The two newlyweds also responded politely.
Master Liu's voice is quite ordinary, just the voice of a middle-aged man in his fifties, with a bit of gulping, and is relatively low and hoarse.
Lao Geng's voice is very conspicuous in the gaming environment... At least, to Teacher Yuchi's ears, it sounds like the particularly steady and heavy tone of an elderly person who is a highly respected old scholar or expert.
Teacher Yuchi straightened his back unconsciously, and his attitude was no longer as casual as before: "Uh... I haven't seen you two before. Are you the new, the new player?"
"Oh, we are newcomers and we have to be recognized everywhere, right?" Old Geng said with a smile, "Yes, we have been here for about ten hours... Oh, no, one hour here is only equal to half an hour? We just arrived six hours ago."
"Didn't Xiao Zhong say that there are only about 300 players here? They are all familiar with each other, so of course they can recognize the two of us who have never seen each other before." Master Liu also smiled and said, "What's the matter, comrade?"
These two obviously had the image of skeletons, and were squatting on the ground doing the task of moving bricks like other players, and they spoke casually, but they made Teacher Yuchi feel like he was facing an old leader; especially when the title of "little comrade" came out, Teacher Yuchi almost gave up his knee.
"Hey, hey, hey..." Teacher Yuchi regretted running over to chat up with him so rashly. He forced himself to smile and said, "Well... actually... I want to ask, how did you two get your game accounts?"
Master Liu and Lao Geng seemed to have guessed what she wanted to ask and laughed at each other.
"Oh, this... being able to play this game is really a good thing." Master Liu shook his head and smiled, "Little comrade, don't have any ideas. We are different from you 'players'. We are not just here to play, we are... um, employed by this game."
Teacher Yuchi: “???”
"That's right, it's hiring." Old Geng also laughed heartily. "This game's... what's it called, the production team? They hired old guys like us to serve you players. Aren't we only online for twelve hours a day? If we come online, we have to be that... NPC for five hours."
Teacher Yuchi's head was full of question marks: "???"
"Oh, right, I just remembered this." Master Liu patted his head and said, "Speaking of which, we should give players tasks. Come on, comrade, take a look at our tasks and see if you want to do them."
When the producers of "Alien World" sent out this batch of "special helmets for tool men", they also thoughtfully attached operating instructions for NPC accounts. In addition, the Brain Intelligence Center also has the need to continue to maintain the social perception that "Alien World" is indeed just a game... These two were "trained" before going online.
The training content includes but is not limited to how to play the role of an NPC properly, how to perform NPC duties during "work", and how to deal with the groups of idiot players in the "game"...
In short - as the first batch of "real-person NPCs", the "authority" of these two in the brand matrix is the same as that of the indigenous "senior NPCs". They have an independent reputation calculation system, a relatively flexible "work and off-get off work mechanism", and the authority to issue tasks during "work" time.
It was the first time for Master Liu to use the "NPC Exclusive Panel". He fumbled for a while before finding the option to assign tasks to players face to face, and then he chose the operation.
On Teacher Yuchi's side, a reputation bar immediately popped up in his personal panel, just like when interacting with high-level NPCs.
"The reputation of the Undead Chamber of Commerce has been activated."
"This reputation is a must-have for players of lifestyle professions. When the Chamber of Commerce reaches Friendly, new channels for material exchange are available, including the option to exchange materials/life profession products for designated materials/potions/equipment/props, and the right to hire NPCs. When the Chamber of Commerce reaches Intimate, a free trade certificate is obtained, and the Town Hall can be consulted for land to build a house/shop, and NPCs or players can be hired to form a caravan. When the Chamber of Commerce reaches Respect, the right to apply for the right to use the Tarantan land is obtained, and factories/manors/plantations can be built by the Chamber of Commerce, etc."
“How to gain reputation in the Undead Chamber of Commerce: Complete any task issued by the Undead NPC.”
After seeing the contents of the reputation introduction, Teacher Yuchi's jaw almost dropped to the ground.
The idea of clinging to the uncle's party flew away from Teacher Yuchi's brain like wings. The life player waved to Master Liu eagerly: "Come on! Please give me a task!"
On the other side, in the wilderness more than a hundred kilometers away, the leader of the Crusader Cavalry following the Undead Caravan, Inspector Lowell, suddenly changed his expression.
"There is a demonic presence ahead." Lowell turned his head and reminded the black magician who was traveling with him.
"I know." Yang Qiu said calmly.
"...Aren't you going to stop the undead?" Lowell was not satisfied with Yang Qiu's attitude of not caring about the matter. He frowned and said, "There are so many civilians in the convoy. If monsters break in..."
Yang Qiu smiled slightly: "Don't worry, Supervisor Lowell, please believe that no one will be more enthusiastic about clearing monsters than our Tarantan Undead."
Rowell: “…”
Before Yang Qiu finished his words, the convoy of undead stopped.
These undead spirits abandoned their vehicles, the supplies and civilians on them, and rushed out in full force, screaming "WAKAKAAA" and rushing towards the direction where the monster's aura was hidden...
Civilians in the convoy: “???”
The priests at the back of the convoy: "..."
Yang Qiu smiled and spread his hands towards the stiff-faced Rowell: "With the Undead's enthusiasm for exterminating monsters, they will not miss any targets that can be attacked. What we need to do is to keep a safe distance like this, so as not to let the Undead misunderstand that we want to compete with them for monsters."
Rowell: “…”
