Chu Fu and the others rode in the official van to the Primordial Academy.
They had not notified Li Weizheng, but he had already logged off and was waiting enthusiastically at the entrance of a high-rise building to welcome them.
The Primordial Academy was no longer the quiet place it had once been, with only a handful of people around. It was now bustling with activity, crowded with people coming and going. Quite a few players who had cashed out their in-game strength were even training there.
Most of them carried one or two pieces of equipment from the game, which looked completely out of place in the real world.
“Welcome, welcome!” Li Weizheng greeted them personally.
“You two arrived at just the right time. This afternoon, we have some information to present to Master-level players. Why don’t you join us?”
In reality, the information was shown to players every day, and the presentation should have begun ten minutes earlier.
But because Chu Fu was coming, Li Weizheng would rather make the other players wait than risk keeping her waiting.
Fortunately, they had arrived just in time.
He then led everyone to the screening hall.
Apart from Chu Fu and the others, more than a dozen people were already inside. They were clearly players who had only recently reached Level 30, and the aura of power around each of them was still rather weak.
By contrast, after Chu Fu and the others entered, the players looked them up and down. Their expressions soon changed.
“They look like the Plantman group from the Thorny Rose Guild.”
“Aren’t they from District 030? They got here so quickly?”
“They were already incredibly strong to begin with!”
Chu Fu and the others took their seats.
A female host soon stepped onto the stage. She had short hair cut to her ears and was not as frail and fair-skinned as ordinary presenters. Clearly defined muscles showed on her arms.
She was probably a military art troupe performer.
Although she had given this presentation many times, the host was deeply shaken every time she delivered it.
“Thank you all for coming, Master-level players. I’ll now explain the recent changes that have taken place in Linjiang City.”
The screen soon displayed a large amount of data.
The red-eyed rabbits had mutated, and huge rabbits had appeared across the country.
Fortunately, although the red-eyed rabbits were irritable and kicked people, they could still be dealt with by human strength.
Next came the mutated rats.
These were far more troublesome. The Flower Kingdom had spent a great deal of money encouraging everyone to hunt and exterminate rats, and the situation had been temporarily brought under control.
However, as time passed, the mutated rats gradually grew stronger. In some of the videos, rat hordes had appeared in various regions.
Dozens of mutated rats, each the size of a large yellow dog, attacked humans. The people in the video screamed in agony before ultimately being bitten to death.
Such a scene was perfectly ordinary in the game. Level 2 mutated rats in the rice paddies liked to ambush players and were among the least popular monsters. If players had not later discovered locations where they respawned instantly, they would not have wanted to go there at all.
Next came the wild boars.
The skin of domestic pigs had begun turning black, and they had grown tusks overnight. Because of their weight, they were extremely ferocious, and incidents of people being injured had become frequent.
The host explained, “At present, wild boars are mutating extremely quickly. Their meat is still edible after slaughter and is even more nutritious than before, but they are much harder to control, and attacks on people are occurring frequently. The authorities have already dispatched as many personnel as possible to handle the situation.”
“But this isn’t the most frightening development. This is.”
The host played another video.
A huge hole had appeared in a rice paddy.
The opening was roughly forty or fifty centimeters high and pitch-black inside. Most importantly, it was blocked by a layer of black membrane.
Everyone immediately understood what this meant.
A Level 3 dungeon: the Mutated Rat Nest!
“This Level 3 dungeon appeared three days ago, and one mutated rat respawns every ten seconds.
“There are three difficulty modes. That means 25,920 mutated rats can spawn each day.
“Most frightening of all, after searching the entire city, we discovered a total of fifty-three Mutated Rat dungeon entrances.
“The game has currently unlocked up to District 53. That means 1,373,760 mutated rats will spawn every day, surrounding the entire city.”
Chu Fu’s thoughts stirred.
She was not particularly concerned about the number of mutated rats spawning each day.
What mattered was that the locations of the Mutated Rat Nests could be used to determine the locations of the Novice Villages.
The Novice Villages that had survived would, at the very least, become safe zones for humanity.
Buying property there in advance would be an absolute bargain.
However, purchasing Wangxi Manor had been part of Chu Fu’s advance planning. She had obtained the surrounding land with strategies and guides.
The Flower Kingdom now possessed a great deal of information and had plans of its own. It was too late to acquire more property.
Besides, managing it all would be difficult.
Chu Fu felt that she could not afford to be too greedy.
Sure enough, the young host continued, “The monsters in the game are constantly entering the real world. So, does that mean other things will enter as well? Our research has found that some mutated rats have invaded areas far beyond their expected range. Those locations happen to correspond to Novice Villages that survived.
“District 001, District 009, District 017… At present, we are doing everything in our power to renovate the Novice Villages corresponding to these districts and establish safe zones there.”
“At the same time, we have sent personnel to guard the dungeon entrances and clear out the monsters.
“The only problem is that this dungeon requires Shrinking Potions to enter, and it also imposes a level restriction. The authorities exchanged for a batch of potions and sent a squad of soldiers inside. Using firearms and explosives, they managed to clear the dungeon.
“After a dungeon is cleared each day, it will no longer spawn monsters.
“But the problem is that we are unable to clear Nightmare difficulty.”
The female host’s eyes reddened.
All the soldiers could only be considered Level 1 humans. Even elite soldiers with twice the physical attributes of ordinary humans were merely Level 2.
Without any supernatural abilities and relying solely on guns and explosives, entering the dungeon was practically a suicide mission. Yet the Nightmare-level dungeon still had not been cleared.
Mutated rat monsters continued to spawn at the dungeon entrance. In the game, these creatures were Level 5 elite monsters.
Each one was the size of a large dog. In just three days, Linjiang City had probably fired more bullets than it had in the previous ten years combined.
At this rate, they would not be able to hold out.
That was why they urgently needed players who had cashed out their strength to guard the dungeon.
“The game is constantly invading the real world. If we calculate according to the current rate of one monster level syncing every eighteen days, once all the monsters in the Novice Villages have synchronized, it could trigger a major disaster!
“A beast tide.
“The beast tide will come to exterminate humanity.
“Only by relying on safe zones will we be able to withstand it.
“There is another extremely serious problem: the maps in the game are a hundred times larger than their real-world counterparts.
“Two villages that are originally only three kilometers apart are a full three hundred kilometers apart in the game.
“Furthermore, the Novice Villages, the towns that survive, and Linjiang City are all extremely small in area.
“We have reasonable grounds to suspect that when the time comes, Blue Star itself will expand. Only the safe zones may remain intact. Perhaps there will first be a massive earthquake, followed by a terrifying beast tide.
“Regardless of what happens, the crisis is already upon us.”
The host’s speech came to an end.
At that moment, Li Weizheng stepped onto the stage.
“Everyone, I’m delighted that you still trust the authorities and are willing to work with us toward a common goal. Here, I announce that all Master-level players who are willing to stand on the same front as the authorities will be rewarded with a house inside a safe zone.
“You may choose whichever Novice Village you want, and we will make the necessary arrangements. The only condition is that you may need to guard the dungeon and protect your new home.
Of course. With more and more top-tier players from the official side joining us, everyone’s shifts are staggered. Each person only needs to stand guard for about three hours, and not every day—just once every few days.
The official side is also offering rewards. Besides in-game currency, they’ll provide all kinds of support in the real world to help everyone improve their strength.”
As soon as Li Weizheng finished speaking, a player seated in the back suddenly asked, “Can we choose any novice village? Then I want to choose the one near Wangxi Manor.”
