READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 38: Chapter 38: The additional value of the helmets
October 14, 11 p.m. Earth time. It was also nighttime in OtherWorld.
After work ended, as per usual, the former bandit trio gathered for a meal in front of Tuttle's tent, though the mood was rather downcast.
"…Although the previous operation was a complete failure, at least we've proven one thing. These crazy, chaotic, and evil undead really have no respect for Yang," Hal said, forcing himself. "If the Town Hall hadn't been built with earth magic, there's no doubt that the damned undead would have torn down Yang's dwelling."
Tuttle, who was silently chewing on some dried sweet potato, reluctantly said, "Hal, I think it's best if we… stop thinking about using these undead. I shouldn't have suggested such a naive idea then, and I apologize for my foolishness… These undead are simply mentally ill."
"…I know," Hal said with unease. "What I want to say is, these completely unmanageable undead will one day devour that bastard Yang. There's no need for us to do anything, and we should patiently bide our time."
Tuttle fell silent, while Finley said nothing.
Hal had actually taken the initiative to bear with it and suggested waiting patiently for the right time. The other two really didn't know whether to be happy that their old friend had matured or feel sad that Hal was bowing down…
Of course, the two strategists of the former bandits felt that Hal's willingness to "temporarily" submit was the right choice. Not only had the evil black mage not gotten mad when learning about their betrayal, he had even calmly used methods long prepared to coerce them.
What did that mean?
It meant that Black Mage Yang was willing to reason with them, and that wasn't a good thing.
"Reason" was something that didn't exist in a lawless place. Only the ones with the biggest fists did the talking in such places.
Only places with laws and rules had room for reason.
In other words… they had underestimated Yang's ambitions. This damned black mage really did intend to establish laws and rules in the Taranthan Wasteland.
Yang didn't even think of them as rebels worthy of being "suppressed" by force and beaten into submission. Instead, from the beginning, he viewed them, former bandits, like meat on a plate.
And as embarrassing as it sounded, that was the truth. When Yang used reasoning to subdue them, the former Sacred Crows didn't even have the right to use their fists to object.
Hence, Tuttle and Finley wouldn't persuade the others to refuse Yang's supplies from now on lest they owed even more. This was because Yang was the one who clearly wanted to set the rules. It was impossible to win in a system of rules belonging to someone else. Now, the only two paths before them were to obey or to flip the table.
But flipping the table was impossible. Yang, who was sitting opposite the table, exerted too much force on it and could hold down the table with one hand. All in all, the two strategists couldn't see any chance of winning at all.
After a bout of silence, Finley felt that he should give Hal some positive feedback to prevent the latter from thinking too much.
Just as he was stewing over what to say, a series of nightmarish rattling came from the direction of the nearest street, accompanied by unbridled and noisy chatter.
"??" The former bandit trio felt goosebumps as they looked in the direction of the sound.
These damned undead would run around the town without rest even in the middle of the night. The advanced "NPCs" knew this well, but most of the time, these undead wouldn't move in large groups and either wandered alone in groups of three to five.
At this time, over 20 undead had appeared on the other end of the street and were causing a commotion. However, they clearly weren't heading toward the Wanderer Guild construction site, and this made the trio heave silent sighs of relief.
As the group of undead ran to the other end of the street, the former bandit trio exchanged glances and stealthily followed after.
After the failed night operation, the trio had reflected in private about their inadequate understanding of these crazy undead. Now, they were determined to avoid making the same mistake again.
The players were unaware that the "off-work" advanced NPCs were tracking them in secret and continued chattering until they reached the ruins in the south of Exile Town.
This particular area was infested by the giant rats that had mercilessly slaughtered countless innocent players who had ventured in or simply passed through. The "advanced NPCs" were also aware of this. Other than them on the receiving end of curses by questing players with terms like "incompetent developers" and "idiotic development team," the demonized rat in the south of town was often ranted at.
The three lurking wanderers exchanged puzzled glances, then turned their gazes toward the group of skeletons.
Perhaps, this bunch of crazy undead were attempting to take down the demonized rat?
Ever since frequent contact between the native continent and the Outer Continent was established over 400 years ago, spatial rifts had appeared on the continent of Navalon. It was unclear whether the many deaths of the evil god-worshipping slaves from the Outer Continent brought to Navalon were the cause.
And of these rifts, many led to the dimensional realm, and even the endless void…
The Taranthan Wasteland was also heavily affected by these unstable spatial rifts. And due to the malevolent energy spilling out of these rifts, infecting beasts and monsters, these demonized creatures were the true "masters" of this land.
Hal and his companions were no strangers to these demonized creatures. The Sorenson Mountain Range where they used to make a livelihood was far from a hospitable place. Every year, from spring to autumn, they could even hear the roars of monsters in the forests above the canyon's cliff where they used to reside.
Demonized creatures, like this demonized rat with visible physical enhancements and a grotesque form, were the sort most despised by professional fighters of this world. The entire bodies of such creatures were weapons, possessing immense defense and brute strength. They were extremely difficult to deal with, and even if one could kill them with great labor, the rewards rarely outweighed the effort.
Only the mutated parts of "physically mutated" demonized creatures had value. For example, their fur and bones. While fur was somewhat valuable, the skeletal structure was practically worthless—despite its hardness and resilience surpassing that of metals, its cost of processing and difficulty were ten times higher than that of metals. Additionally, due to the inherent mutative properties, alchemists had no use for it, and professional fighters couldn't be bothered to collect it.
Observing from the shadows, the puzzled trio watched as a member of this nocturnal undead troop stepped out.
The player that stepped out… was Give Me Medicine.
This fella held a bag of money in his hand and distributed copper coins to his fellow undead while expressing his gratitude, "Brothers, thank you for coming to help. I'm eternally grateful."
"No big deal, Brother Medicine. It's just dying once." The players gleefully collected money while thumping their chests. "Once we distract that rat, you just rush out of the ruins and you'll be safe."
After distributing the compensation for labor, the players who volunteered to help lure the giant rat away started taking off their clothes and handing them over to their companions who had come along to help hold their stuff…
This scene left the former bandit trio absolutely perplexed.
With his good friend attempting this quest, Qin Guan would definitely come to help. He handed his beginner clothes, waist pouch, and the equipment he had bought after the night of rampaging to Blossoming Strokes before walking completely bare to the team. "Has everyone made their preparations? If ready, stand by."
"Okay!"
"Good to go!"
"Alright, pay attention to not sticking together. Spread out as far as you can and try to keep the rat occupied for as long as possible!" Qin Guan gestured with his bone hands. "Brothers about to be caught, make sure you die in an open area. If you get smashed into a wall, you'll have to experience what it's like to fall apart, and it's rather unpleasant."
The players responded with hearty laughter, "Falling apart is nothing when playing as an undead. We're used to it!"
The three hidden observers hesitated on whether to go closer to hear what these undead were talking about. And then, they saw bare skeletons rushing into the demonized rat's territory.
Former bandit trio. "???"
As soon as a player stepped into the ruins, the giant rat dozing in a garbage heap was startled. Its red eyes shot open as it sprang up and shot out like a speeding bullet.
"Whoa, f*ck! It's fast!"
The players that were distracting the rat immediately scattered.
"Don't stick! Spread out!" Qin Guan shouted as he dashed away.
"We're spreading out!"
"Split up!" players running haphazardly in all directions shouted out.
"What the hell, why is it charging at—" A player was pounced on by the giant rat, launched into the air, and vanished in a flash of white light.
"Run! Run quickly!" Players spectating from the edge of the ruins shouted in support.
"F*ck! F*ck! Don't attract the rat this way! Run into the distance!"
The escaping players wanted to curse, but the rat was really just too quick. These players couldn't afford to be distracted and instead focused on using their lives as a relay, leading the rat in the opposite direction.
After several players were consecutively slaughtered, the team finally managed to lure the rat far enough, leaving a clear path for Give Me Medicine to do his quest.
Without needing a reminder, Give Me Medicine immediately activated the "Basic Windwalk" he had recently unlocked and shot forward like an arrow.
"Damn, that speed! With wings, he could probably fly, right?" a player responsible for safeguarding his friend's belongings exclaimed enviously.
"It's indeed fast, but unfortunately, it only lasts for eight seconds," Blossoming Strokes explained. "After the skill ends, there's a 15-second weakness period where speed decreases by 30%. So, he can't rush out in one burst."
"That's still pretty awesome," another player beside her remarked. "My friend wants to advance to a knight, and the skill he'll get after leveling up is 'Basic Battle Roar.' Considering the base strength of the undead, the enhancement isn't that significant, and the weakness period lasts a full 30 seconds.
"At least Battle Roar doesn't reduce strength during the weakness period, though; just that it can't be activated again. In the later stages, with equipment that can increase rage value, you can maintain the skill for 30 seconds straight, making it more practical than the wanderer class's Windwalk."
—In order to facilitate players adapting the class system, Yang Qiu displayed the minimal amount of mental power consumed when activating a player's skill rune as a blue bar/rage bar on their personal panel. Evidently, the players readily accepted this method without any objection.
"My friend said the same, so he insists on grinding knight reputation and not switching to a wanderer class." The first player nodded in agreement. "Hey Blossom, what effect does Beginner Meditation of the mage class have?"
Blossoming Strokes, who had just been talking confidently, suddenly fell silent, and her jaw dropped so low it touched her clavicle.
First player. "??"
"Hey, don't poke at someone's sore spot. Blossom tried advancing to the mage class last night with Entropy and failed." The player beside poked the first player's arm. "Their job advancement is different for us wanderers. They can't ask others for help."
"That's harsh." The first player clicked his tongue. "Luckily, I'm grinding wanderer reputation."
"What's so lucky about that? Think about how few players will be able to play as supports in the future if even Blossom gets stuck during the advancement," said the second player. "There are fewer people playing support roles in most traditional games since it isn't that satisfying, but in this game, mage class supports can fight too. There will be a scarcity of healers, and we'll have to form parties based on DPS."
The official website didn't provide much information about the game's background, but the skills after the job advancement for each class were released after the completion of the worldview breakthrough quest. In the later stages of the mage class, there were two major branches for the second job advancement: Dark Prophet and Black Mage. Both had offensive and healing skills (black magic naturally possessed healing effects on the undead), although the emphasis differed.
While this bunch was idly chatting, Give Me Medicine had already rushed out of the ruins and onto the verdant grass outside. The players waiting in the town hurriedly called out to their surviving friends.
"Give Me Medicine made it out!"
"No need to aggro anymore!"
"Hurry and come back!"
The few remaining players desperately ran back. Even though they were compensated for their efforts, no one wanted to die and be kicked offline if they could avoid it.
The trio sneakily observing in the distance: "…"
Without saying a word, they silently retreated.
Fighting with blades at the slightest disagreement, laughing while chasing down fleeing comrades—the former bandits felt that they had a rather deep understanding of the internal workings of relationships amongst the undead.
Yet never in their wildest dreams did they expect that these undead creatures would be willing to sacrifice themselves so magnanimously to ensure safe passage for a fellow compatriot to leave the town.
Even though their "lives" held no value, as those who died to the demonized rat would soon be back in town, lively and energetic, the former bandit trio felt it was necessary to re-evaluate these undead.
Yang Qiu's daily rhythm followed that of Earth. When it was time to rest and sleep, he naturally returned to Earth to enjoy the conveniences of modern life.
Despite it not showing, Yang Qiu was already over 300 years old. Compared to the vigor and passion he had when he was in his 100s or 200s, for the present Yang Qiu, nothing was more important than peaceful sleep and a pleasant mood. Whatever those unscrupulous former bandits and relentless players did while he was offline, Yang Qiu would settle it when he came "online."
Before going to sleep, Yang Qiu logged into the game forum on his computer and sent an email to NeuroTech Center's Director Lu.
Personnel that Director Lu had arranged for was already taking care of the patient "NPC" in the game. In this situation where both parties understood each other's intentions, Yang Qiu felt that it was best to be open and honest—
While I would never admit that I have the ability to transport "game players" to another world, since you are here to be of research value, it's only natural for me to approach you guys when I have difficulties… I am not part of your department and do not have the right to request funding, but at the very least, I have supported your research. So, shouldn't you offer some benefits in return?
And so, early the next morning, when Lu Yiyun, who had just woken up, saw this shameless email:
In the email, the "target" proclaiming himself to be the game development team of "OtherWorld" candidly requested a long list of supplies and shamelessly expressed that he hoped the following arrangement could be made and delivered to a certain location in the suburbs of An City within three days.
But what left Lu Yiyun speechless was that this person had requested supplies without even providing a reason!
No reason was given, nor any excuses were made. This was simply stretching out a hand and shamelessly demanding!
Director Lu took a few deep breaths and carefully read through the email once more.
Well… Not only was there a lack of reason for requesting these supplies, there also wasn't a promise of how the development team would reciprocate after receiving them!
Lu Yiyun's current sentiments were indescribable…
As a top scientist in the field of AI in China who had worked as the director of coordination and planning at the NeuroTech Center for many years, Lu Yiyun had encountered her fair share of shameless individuals—even in the scientific world, there were people who appeared pure and sacred in the eyes of the world but were downright despicable in private.
For example, individuals with a high school education level at most, who somehow managed to hold sway in a particular field or a certain age group.
Or those academic scoundrels hiding in prestigious academic institutions or even in legitimate government departments…
These disgraces of the academic world were the fraudsters of the scientific community, achieving no genuine accomplishments but extremely skilled at deceiving departments for funding. There was no project they couldn't hype up, no nonsense they couldn't fabricate, and no major project they wouldn't dare subcontract to students or even amateurs.
Allocating 10 million in funding only for 50,000 to end up in the hands of those doing genuine work—this sort of joke happened way to often.
Therefore, this was also why Lu Yiyun felt quite frustrated… What sort of dimension did this strange "target" come from to not bother to even come up with an excuse or offer an empty promise?
While she felt extremely frustrated, Lu Yiyun didn't immediately refuse and made a phone call to her superior.
"Give it to him. Of course, we'll provide it. Requests are a good thing to have. What we're most afraid of is the 'target' having no requests. We won't have any leverage, then!" Lu Yiyun's superior on the other end of the call gave a straightforward directive.
Lu Yiyun silently hung up the phone and replied to the email without any expression, stating that the requested supplies were being coordinated…
Two hours later, Lu Yiyun received another email from the "target."
In this email, the "target" stated that there is consideration to add 20 closed beta accounts. These spots wouldn't be publicly announced and only be given to designated applicants via email.
Applicants for these accounts were required to have professional experience in fields including but not limited to chefs, doctors, nurses, teachers, and artists. After logging into the game, each applicant would be required to spend 5 hours in the game performing assigned tasks within each in-game day.
In other words, based on a full login of 12 hours of real-world time per day, 5 hours would be spent as a "tool player" in the game, leaving 7 hours for free activities.
These specific closed beta accounts would give priority to applicants with disabilities or elderly patients who were bedridden and required care.
At the end of the email, the "target" bluntly stated that the approval authority for these accounts would be handed over to the expert task force as a gesture of gratitude for the support in supplies.
Lu Yiyun's expression became extremely peculiar upon reading this…
The time flow in the game was only half that of the real-world time, and the task force had known this for some time already. This perplexing phenomenon had been discussed on multiple occasions.
During the days when Ji Tang entered the game, staff members dispatched to the military district hospital carefully recorded his physical condition every time he logged in. For the time being, spending double the time in the "game" than in the "real world" had no negative impact on Ji Tang's physical condition.
On the contrary, Ji Tang, who had been physically weakened due to injuries, experienced an improvement in his mental state, and even his appetite had gradually returned.
The chief physician at the military district hospital believed that Ji Tang would be able to be discharged after another six months of recuperation.
"It's not surprising that he could figure out Ji Tang is different from other players. Ji Tang's qualities are too obvious. But how could he know Ji Tang's condition and even that Ji Tang is recovering faster during the game?"
Lu Yiyun muttered in disbelief.
Ji Tang's identity was apparently confidential, and nothing could be found on the Internet.
The arrangement of the helmets by the expert task force was confidential and hadn't been disclosed as well. The allure of being able to freely move during deep sleep, essentially extending one's lifespan, had an undeniable appeal.
Upon realizing Ji Tang's gradual recovery in mental state after entering the game, even Lu Yiyun's superior demanded that the remaining seven helmets were closely monitored…
There were just too many patients in China. Even though wearing the helmet wouldn't cure their illnesses, it could temporarily help them forget the torment of their ailments during deep sleep and slowly recover their mental well-being.
These helmets were worth a fortune for families of such patients; after all, painkillers had side effects, and prolonged use led to drug resistance.
"How exactly did this fella figure it out?!"
Lu Yiyun suddenly understood why this person could so calmly extend a hand and ask for supplies, which made her even more suspicious.
Something that effectively extended lifespan and alleviated the suffering of critically ill patients was undoubtedly a good thing. But no matter how good something was, it could cause significant problems if something went wrong with its operation.
The expert task force had shifted to G Province right from the very start because they didn't want to stir up trouble.
The members of the expert task force, including Lu Yiyun, weren't particularly eager for the "target" to discover the additional value of the helmets as there was concern this person would exploit this "monopolized resource" and cause trouble.
After thinking it over, Lu Yiyun could only silently copy the contents of the email to a USB drive and delete the email.
She couldn't take matters into her own hands; this had to be dealt with by her superior.
"Good thing Sir is bold. Were it up to me, these supplies might be dragged for two days while waiting for the other party's response… If that were so, perhaps the 'target' wouldn't be so cooperative." Lu Yiyun sighed.
Director Lu had only logged in on the day when the helmets were clinically applied to patients with consciousness disorders. Had she logged in a few more times, she might have discovered the reason why the "target" noticed the changes in Ji Tang's mental state.
In the game, players could use an assessment technique to see each other's Potential value (mental strength). Ji Tang, who first logged in on October 12, had an initial Potential value of 53. And in just three short days, it had skyrocketed to 60…
Ordinary players who projected their souls into OtherWorld via the imprint matrix could enhance their mental state via "spiritual exercise," what more patients whose mental states declined due to physical reasons?
While there was no space for magic to exist on Earth, the upper limit of human prowess was relatively low. Humans couldn't enhance their mental prowess to the same extent as spellcasters in magic planes could, where spellcasters could rejuvenate their physical bodies and surpass the limits of lifespans. However, the ability to enhance mental prowess had no downsides for Earth humans.