Chapter 45
◎ Arena ◎
The surroundings were a transparent barrier, enclosing the 20-square-meter area under Yu Chi’s feet.
From within the barrier, she could see the scene outside. Her dad was chatting with Li Feng. After a few sentences, Li Feng suddenly took out a piece of roasted meat from his backpack. The two of them ate and chatted.
Yu Chi had rarely observed her dad from this angle. The man had a handsome and upright appearance, but in the years since he had retired from the military due to injury, his face had softened a lot, and his aura had become less sharp.
Time had left fine lines at the corners of his eyes. Yu Chi suddenly found that her childhood memories were a little blurry.
She withdrew her gaze and focused on the screen in front of her.
【Player has successfully set up shop mode.】
【Please build the initial building.】
In the game world, whether it was planting or building, it was rare to have to do it yourself.
There were several building pictures on the screen. You just had to submit the materials and pay a certain amount of crystals to get a complete shop.
Yu Chi was dazzled. She passed by various architectural styles and finally chose the new Chinese style.
【Please submit the following materials: Wood x2000, Stone x200, Iron Ore x100, Crystal Stone x50】
【Note: Materials are not limited by type.】
“Not limited by type” meant that she could exchange ordinary wood for Vermilion Bird Wood, and the same for other materials. Yu Chi had nothing else, but she had a lot of wood. She had also planted two large forests in the [Two-Sided Mirror].
One was a Vermilion Bird Forest, and the other was a Red Star Tree Forest.
After submitting the materials, Yu Chi paid another 200,000 crystals for the construction fee.
【Submit shop goods? (After submission, the shop layout can be set according to the goods.)】
Of course, Yu Chi would not make things difficult for herself. Due to the limited space, a total of only 20 types of items could be submitted. She thought for a moment and simply made this shop specialize in selling fruits, so she directly put in 20 types of giant fruits.
Soon, a series of “ding” sounds were heard. The next second, a 2-square-meter wooden building rose from the ground. Yu Chi stood in it, only feeling that she was instantly surrounded by an ancient and simple atmosphere, which made her a little dazed.
The lighting in the building was soft and warm. The ice-attribute crystal stones and the fire-attribute Vermilion Bird Wood complemented each other, creating a cool and comfortable environment.
Although the shop was not large, the layout was simple and elegant.
The first thing that caught her eye was the central display stand, which could display three types of items. The name, grade, and description were written on it to provide basic information to the customers.
And on the right was a small counter, which was usually where the shop owner stayed. In the corner of the shop was a small rest area with a set of wooden chairs.
In addition, the system had cleverly used every inch of the wall space to display 20 types of fruits on three walls. If a customer wanted to buy, they could touch the screen, and after paying a certain amount of crystals, the fruit would be automatically pushed out from the wall.
The shop owner could check the shop’s status at any time, including the stock of goods, daily turnover, etc. If someone tried to damage the shop, they would also be punished by the system.
Yu Chi placed a banana, a watermelon, and an orange in the central display area. A huge one was placed in the middle, and even the players passing by could easily see it.
The fruits were placed randomly. When she came to the central island every week, she could replace them with three other types of fruits to attract customers in turn.
Yu Chi was very satisfied with the appearance of the shop. She set the price of each type of fruit at 1000-2000, completely customized according to the size of the fruit.
In real life, the value of fruits was not equal, but she did not need to consider any environmental factors when cultivating fruits, so the rarity was only related to the size.
After everything was set, Yu Chi pressed the [Complete] button on the screen.
【Please give your shop a name!】
【DazedFruit】
Yu Chi’s thoughts were very simple. A fruit shop would be called DazedFruit, and a spirit plant shop would be called DazedPlant. This would also better distinguish the goods sold in each shop.
The barrier surrounding the shop slowly disappeared, and the entire shop suddenly appeared in the core area. The two people waiting for Yu Chi outside immediately noticed the movement.
The three words [DazedFruit] were written on the plaque in a grand and ancient style, which was out of place with the atmosphere of the entire shop, with an inexplicable sense of humor.
The two men’s gazes lingered on it silently. Yu Chi slowly walked out and said, “How’s the name I chose?”
Li Feng racked his brains. In his opinion, this name might as well be called Fruit Shop directly, but he soon heard the man next to him speak in a steady voice.
“It’s a good name,” the man said in a rigid tone. If you didn’t listen to the content, you would have thought he was giving a report. “It not only reflects your characteristics, but also shows the type of goods, and can even be named as a chain store.”
“Little Fish,” the man’s expression softened. “You’ve improved a lot.”
Li Feng: “…”
He was filled with awe.
Yu Chi was surprised to find that her dad had also changed a lot in just over a month… this might be because they had rarely been alone in the past.
When soldiers were on missions outside, it was common for them not to come back for several years. When he was forced to go home due to injury, it was impossible for Yu Chi to suddenly become familiar with him, so they could only maintain a superficial relationship, which was actually stiff and stagnant behind the scenes.
Yu Chi’s lips curled up. She stepped forward and pushed the other person’s wheelchair. “I’ll take you guys in to have a look.”
The newly opened shop in the core area quickly attracted the attention of many players, especially when they found that the fruits sold in the shop were the ones from today’s auction, they were even more shocked.
The three of them simply walked around the shop a few times and were immediately surrounded by a crowd.
Fortunately, no one knew who the shop owner was. Yu Chi was also too lazy to introduce the fruits to others. To save trouble, she directly bought a shop robot.
Shop robots were divided into basic, elementary, intermediate, advanced, and simulation. Even the most advanced bionic robot was only a few million.
Yu Chi was not short of this money and naturally wanted to set up a better one for her shop, so she spent 3 million to buy a female simulation robot, entered all the descriptions of the fruits to her, and then left it alone.
The three of them wandered around the core area. Currently, only 20 land purchase transactions had been completed in the core area, and very few had been converted into shops.
The two sections of commercial and social were not clearly distinguished. Most players bought land to set it up as an alliance gathering point. Placing the gathering point here could not only show the alliance leader’s face, but also make it convenient to recruit people in the core area.
The players who could buy land in the core area would naturally not be ordinary people, especially in the early stages of the server merge.
“Dad, why don’t you buy a piece of land?” Yu Chi asked.
Since her dad was seventh on the wealth ranking, he must have hundreds of millions in funds. Speaking of which, she was quite curious about what her dad relied on to make money.
“I’ve joined the Yanhuang Alliance,” Yu Yan, her dad, said calmly. He turned to look at his daughter. “It’s an alliance mostly organized by soldiers.”
Yu Chi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized.
Now it was different from the solo fighting of the first stage. The merging of the servers also meant the inevitable appearance of alliances.
Although the world had changed, the people were still the same. They naturally had their own positions and would naturally come together with their compatriots.
Almost organized by soldiers, and with the seventh on the wealth ranking joining, Yu Chi immediately realized that this was very likely to become their country’s official alliance.
In that case, her dad could spend a lot of money to find her and buy her gifts, but he would not spend hundreds of millions of crystals to buy a piece of land for himself in the core area.
“That’s good,” Yu Chi smiled.
A man like her dad, loyalty, dedication, responsibility… these qualities were already completely engraved in his bones.
In the past, he had been forced to retire due to a disabled leg. Now that he had the opportunity to serve the country, he would definitely not stand behind others.
It seemed that the matter of taking her dad to her own territorial sea had to be done slowly.
The man did not speak, his expression not looking relaxed.
Yu Chi knew that he was feeling guilty.
Guilty for the companionship he had missed as a soldier in the past, which he could not make up for now. But in fact, there was nothing wrong with having his own career and pursuits first. He had already done his best.
“What about that brother?” Yu Chi broke the strange atmosphere. She hated all sentimentality, things that would trigger her negative emotions.
“We met on the night of the server merge. I almost killed him, and he recognized me.”
Yu Yan described their encounter concisely.
Yu Chi felt a strange pity in his words, but when she looked up at the man’s expression, everything was as usual, just a normal answer.
…Could it be that I’m the one who feels pity? Yu Chi touched her nose guiltily.
She felt that it shouldn’t be. She really didn’t have any positive feelings for this brother, but it wasn’t to the point of… ahem.
“He wants to meet you,” Yu Yan said. “You decide whether to add him or not, and whether to meet him or not.”
Yu Chi nodded.
Actually, what’s there to see? she thought. Although they have the same mom, she has no memory of her nominal mother.
Love and resentment canceled each other out. Everyone was a stranger now.
“This is for you,” Yu Chi took out a wooden box.
Yu Yan lowered his eyes: “What is it?”
Yu Chi patted his shoulder, her eyes curved. “You’ll know when you open it back home. This is my meeting gift for you!”
Yu Yan chuckled. He found it very interesting, because his daughter had reached the age of giving her a meeting gift, like a little elder who thought she had grown up.
“Li Feng! Let’s go,” Yu Chi turned her head and shouted.
The man had been trailing far behind, giving them father and daughter a chance to be together. When Yu Chi turned her head, she almost couldn’t find him.
“Let’s go to the combat area!” Yu Chi was very enthusiastic. She was very interested in both the arena and the island teleportation.
If the black tower was on the side of the free construction area, then the one on this side was the white tower. It was one floor higher than the black tower, a total of ten floors. Each floor represented a different strength, and the higher up, the greater the difficulty.
There were two forms of combat: PK contaminated creatures and PK players. The former would directly enter the contamination trial field, with single and multiplayer instances. And the latter was to fight with players on a huge arena. You could choose whether to fight to the death, and you could also choose to spend money to open a separate room to block other players.
Players who were not willing to fight could participate in betting, guessing the winner during player PVP to earn Purification Crystals.
And whether it was PVE or PVP mode, the participating players could get rewards. The former was the reward for killing contaminated creatures and the points ranking reward, or it was part of the player betting pool’s reward.
In short, this was a large-scale carnival for the players.
In the context of the apocalypse, violence and blood were their best stimulants, and also a comfort to the spirit.
As soon as the 3 of them reached the arena, Yu Yan left because he had something to do. Now was a critical period for the development of various alliances. As a veteran, his time was always tight.
“Little Fish, do you want to go and see our alliance’s land?” Yu Yan’s expression was filled with an unnoticeable expectation.
Yu Chi noticed it, but still refused.
“Later,” she said seriously. “I have my own things to do too.”
“Okay.”
Compared to disappointment, Yu Yan found that he was more happy in his heart. In any case, they would have countless time to spend together in the future.
…
“You’re all so rational,” Li Feng complained on the side.
Whether it was the first meeting or getting along, whether it was the perverted peeping tom from before (Li Feng sneered), or the old dad now, none of the three of them had lost their composure when they met.
Li Feng had no family, but if he saw his little brothers, he felt that those guys might hug him and cry. Although he would only tell them to get lost.
“Because we’re all people who don’t show our emotions,” Yu Chi replied frankly. “Everyone is very awkward. If we really hugged and cried… haha!”
She suddenly laughed, probably thinking of that scene, and felt that among the three of them, only she would not be OOC for doing this.
“Let’s go, let’s fight!” Li Feng cracked his knuckles. “Do you want to fight me first or play by yourself?”
“Play by myself.”
Yu Chi licked her dry lips. She was not keen on fighting, but standing in a crowd, even the air was brutal and hot-blooded, so it was inevitable to get excited.
She felt that she should test her own strength first, and then go find Li Feng to fight… yes, Yu Chi needed to build up some confidence first.
The white tower also required an entrance crystal, but compared to the black tower’s ten thousand, this side only required a payment of 100 crystals—a price that almost everyone could afford.
Even if you were so poor that you only had 101 crystals left, you could go in and come out as a millionaire. Yu Chi saw the nature of the arena.
【Please enter your ID to verify your identity.】
【DazedFish】
The machine in front of her spat out a crystal card with his ID, tower floor, points, and balance written on it.
The balance needed to be recharged, and the tower floor and points were currently both 0.
Yu Chi directly recharged 1 million crystals, paid 1000 crystals, and entered the first floor of the trial tower. The price of single-player mode and multi-player mode was different. The former was 10 times the price of the latter. She wanted to enter multi-player mode first to see the situation.
Multi-player mode had 10-person groups, 20-person groups, 30-person groups, etc. You could choose on your own. When the number of people was met, you would automatically enter the trial field.
Yu Chi chose a 10-person group. As soon as she came in, she heard a surprised voice.
“Wow! There’s finally a girl!”
Yu Chi turned her head. A girl with a high ponytail was waving at her excitedly, and her body also walked over. “Hello! My name is Mao Yi. Can I get to know you?”
In the Sea Survival game, it was not taboo to expose one’s name. After all, their lives were closely related to their IDs, and their names were not so important in comparison.
“Hello, my name is Yu Chi,” she also learned from the other party and showed a smile.
A multi-player training ground did not mean that they had to cooperate. They could also backstab each other. But even if they died in the training ground, they would only lose a level after they went out.
In this world, their bodies were truly digitized. Of course, this also had its advantages.
The players were all converted from ordinary people. Having such a place for them to practice was of great benefit to improving their strength.
More importantly, the time in the trial field was not synchronized with the outside world. This meant that one hour inside might only be 1 minute outside.
The 10 people were clearly divided. The two girls stood together, and the other 8 people were divided into three groups. It seemed that they might have known each other outside.
Everyone was just chatting in their own small circles. It was not until the 60-second countdown ended that the trial field officially began.
Yu Chi only felt a flash in her eyes, and she went from the high-tech trial field preparation area to a dense forest. Countless tall trees rose from the ground, and the crowns of the trees were layered, making it almost impossible to see the sky above.
It’s so real. She couldn’t help but rub the dirt on the ground with the sole of her shoe. The touch here was no different from the real world.
Yu Chi had originally thought it would be something like a phantom of a contaminated creature, but then she thought of the island teleportation next door, and she felt that it might have thrown them into a special space.
“Fuck, I feel like I haven’t seen a forest in 800 years!”
“I heard someone say they’ve been to an island. This place isn’t an island, is it?”
“Impossible. This is at most a projection.”
The people around her were discussing. The girl named Mao Yi also came up to her and said happily, “The air in the forest feels fresher than on the sea!”
Yu Chi didn’t know what to answer, so she just smiled with her.
Mao Yi didn’t care about her coldness and said excitedly, “What’s your level?”
Yu Chi thought, why haven’t the contaminated creatures come yet?
She had never seen a contaminated creature on land before. She didn’t know if these were real or simply illusions.
Not getting an answer, the expression on Mao Yi’s face was a little unnatural for a moment, but she quickly put on a smile again. She opened her mouth, about to say something, when she saw a white light flash, and black blood instantly spurted all over her face.
“Ahhh—”
The girl’s scream was particularly ear-piercing in the forest, and it instantly attracted everyone’s attention.
“Fuck, what the hell are you screaming for?!” A tall and burly bald man rushed over and grabbed Mao Yi’s collar, his face very ugly. He had just been observing the surrounding environment with full vigilance and was so scared by the scream that he almost attacked.
“She… she…” Mao Yi pointed at Yu Chi with a trembling finger, her lips pale, and the sticky black blood on her body made her want to vomit.
Yu Chi sincerely apologized: “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
After saying that, she said to the others, “I just saw a contaminated creature. I was worried that it was dangerous, so I attacked directly. I’m sorry.”
No one spoke. Everyone noticed the dog-shaped creature lying on the ground. It had three heads and was covered in black patterns.
And at this moment, the three heads had been cut off and were seeping black blood onto the ground.
“If you scream one more time, I’ll feed you to a contaminated creature,” the man directly threw the girl he was holding on the ground, his voice fierce.
No one came to comfort her. The man had walked to the girl’s side very quickly just now, which was enough to show that his strength was not bad. Naturally, no one wanted to provoke him.
And Mao Yi’s scream just now was too ear-piercing. In a tense environment, it did subconsciously make people feel disgusted.
Yu Chi looked down at her crystal card.
【Killed a level 3 contaminated creature, points +30】
These points were easy to get, but it was inevitable that she would have to compete for monsters with too many people. It seemed that it was better to just go to the single-player trial field in the future.
After the bald man threw the person away, he looked directly at Yu Chi. “How did you find it?”
Although there was also the reason of distance, when the contaminated creature appeared just now, they had not felt anything, but this girl could kill a level 3 contaminated creature in an instant.
Yu Chi was very calm: “I heard its breathing, right next to my ear.”
The bald man frowned and did not say anything else.
Someone felt that this reason was very perfunctory, but seeing that the bald man did not continue to ask, they had to shut up.
The time in the trial field was limited, and the points obtained were also limited. Now, the first kill points had been taken by someone else, and it was someone they hadn’t even taken seriously before. Some people didn’t show it on the surface, but they were actually very unhappy in their hearts.
The yellow-haired young man was one of them. He, who thought his strength was not bad, had an ugly expression after seeing this scene.
“Isn’t it just luck?” he said mockingly.
A sneer was faintly heard from the crowd. It was clear that someone agreed with this statement.
Yu Chi took out a tissue, carefully wiped the blood from her Silver Moon Scimitar, looked up, and said with a smile, “That’s right. My luck has always been pretty good.”
The yellow-haired young man narrowed his eyes, his gaze a little cold.
Yu Chi met his gaze: “What are you looking at? If you’re not happy, come and cut me.”
Although her strength was not very strong, please don’t really treat her like cotton. It’s annoying to look at.
“You…!” The yellow-haired man’s face stiffened, and he sneered. “So arrogant. Don’t die in the middle.”
The few people next to them were watching a good show. Everyone had just been released, and they wished there could be more of this kind of lively drama.
“You be careful too,” Yu Chi grinned, her threat blatant. “I’m not a good person either.”
The atmosphere in the crowd became a little stiff because of the two’s argument, but since everyone was not friends in the first place, it didn’t have much effect.
Yu Chi helped Mao Yi up from the ground. She really hadn’t done it on purpose just now, but she was worried that speaking out would attract the attention of that contaminated creature, so she really hadn’t reminded her.
She just hadn’t expected the other party’s reaction to be so big.
Mao Yi was thrown and had a small cut on her arm. She stood up with a pale face and grabbed Yu Chi’s clothes.
“Yu Chi, you’re so nice. I…”
Yu Chi moved her hand away and said awkwardly, “You’d better stay away from me next time. I’m afraid this will happen again.”
“How could it?” Mao Yi’s face was a little ugly. “You’ll definitely remind me next time. You…”
“I won’t,” Yu Chi replied seriously. “So you’d better stay away from me.”
Mao Yi lowered her head: “Are you disgusted with my poor strength?”
Yu Chi was quite embarrassed: “Yes.”
Mao Yi: “…”
Yu Chi had a friendly smile on her face.
***
【Author’s Note】
Let’s improve the fish’s actual combat first [Cat paw][Cat paw][Cat paw].