Upgrade Area

Xia Ruize, Cheng Huaiqian and the other two personally collected the wealth accumulated by the Aardman family over the years. They kept the ones they were interested in as collections and sold the ones they were not interested in through the black market. With the huge amount of financial resources they obtained, they bought up various technical data of this mission world at high prices.

When the country where the Aardman family was located took action to collect the assets of the Aardman family, they were furious to find that most of the liquid assets had already been processed. When tracing the flow of assets, they found that they were all in various world-famous foundations and museums. It was impossible to get them back even if they wanted to.

At the same time, the black market of the whole world was also in turmoil, ushering in a carnival. When the carnival was over, those who wanted to trace the clues could not find the person behind the scenes.

With the help and reminders from Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian, Wang Huan and the other two stayed safely until the end of the mission. Xia Ruize and the other two also completed the final mission time without any accidents and received a notification that the mission was completed.

[Main Mission:

1. Survive for eight days. Mission status: Completed

2. Stay in the hospital for five days. Mission status: Completed

Mission Rating: Perfect

Mission Rewards: 4,000 survival points; 4 free attribute points (extra reward for perfect mission evaluation)]

Gao Hexuan happily read the instructions for his main mission several times, and was once again thankful for his prompt decision to cling to the support of his big teammate. Since following his big teammate, “perfect” level mission evaluations had become a daily occurrence, and he almost forgot the days when he could only get “passing” evaluations.

Of course, what made Gao Hexuan even more excited was that receiving reminders of the completion of extended missions had become a daily routine.

[Hidden extended mission: Kill Duowei. You are not a lamb, you are a fierce wolf. Not only will you escape from the hospital safely, but you will also break the shadow that hangs over the hospital. Countless restless souls will send you blessings!

Mission Status: Completed

Mission Rating: Perfect

Mission Rewards: 5,000 survival points; 30 phantom fragments; +5 all attributes (extra reward for perfect mission evaluation)]

Killing the boss behind the hospital, Duowei, was indeed a hidden extended mission. However, according to the contribution of the kill, Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian received a perfect evaluation, and Gao Hexuan received an excellent evaluation.

Gao Hexuan was already very satisfied with this. After all, he easily obtained 3,000 survival points, 10 phantom fragments, and a bonus of +1 to all attributes. Wasn’t that great? He followed the boss and drank soup and ate meat scraps until his belly was full.

[Hidden extended mission: Destroy the Aardman family. This is a family with sin flowing in their blood, and they deserve to be hanged. Countless restless souls surround them, cursing them all day long!

Mission status: Completed

Mission evaluation: Perfect

Mission rewards: Reward 8,000 survival points; reward a spring of life; reward all attributes +9 (extra reward for perfect mission evaluation)

Special reminder: You will leave the mission world in five seconds. Five, four, three, two, one…]

Before leaving the mission world, the three people focused their attention on the so-called spring of life. It was called “spring”, but it was actually a water drop-shaped pendant. According to the system introduction, a drop of pure life energy would be generated in this pendant every day, which was beneficial to the body when taken.

Xia Ruize turned the pendant over on the spot, pouring out a drop of pure and transparent life energy. After taking it and feeling it carefully, he was pleasantly surprised to find that this drop of energy from the spring of life had a very obvious nourishing effect on mental strength.

The three were very satisfied with the mission rewards, especially Xia Ruize, who was most satisfied with the silver-quality skills obtained from the treasure chest that dropped after killing Duowei.

Returning to the team room in the Endless World, the first thing the three of them felt was that the room had grown larger. Their respective lounges had expanded two or three times, and the public area in the middle was the size of two basketball courts.

The successful completion of the zone upgrade mission meant that they were promoted to the Silver Page Area. The basic introduction to the Silver Page Area had appeared directly in their memories, which was quite different from before.

The biggest change was the mission frequency, which changed from once a month to once every two months, and one of the six missions each year could be rejected without reason. It seemed that the mission pressure on the Silver Page Area was lighter than before.

After resting for a while, the three of them opened the door, walked out of the team’s private space, and prepared to go see Silver Page Area.

At first glance, the structure of Silver Page Area was still familiar, with a circle of small buildings and various leisure and entertainment venues surrounding the main temple. The most obvious difference from the White Paper Area and Bamboo Silk Area was that the Silver Page Area was very lively.

This was probably because the trialers could stay in the Silver Page Area for fifteen days between every two missions, and could return to the Endless World twice. Compared with the trialers in the White Paper Area and Bamboo Silk Area who come and go in a hurry and have no time to communicate, the trialer in the Silver Page Area communicated with each other a lot more.

For example, when Xia Ruize and his two companions sat down at the wooden table in the small restaurant, the people at the next table looked at them and took the initiative to greet them: “Newcomers?”

“Is it so obvious?” Cheng Huaiqian asked doubtfully.

“Hahaha, because I don’t know you.” The middle-aged man at the next table said with a nonchalant smile, “You will understand after you stay in the Silver Page Area for a long time. There are only a few thousand people in the entire Silver Page Area. After a while, you will get to know everyone’s faces.”

Noticing the puzzled expressions on the three people’s faces, the middle-aged man became talkative and simply opened the conversation:

“My name is Shizi, you can just call me Lao Shi¹. If we meet in future missions, please greet each other. We are all Chinese, and we are one family when we are away from home. Come, the specialty drinks in this little shop are very interesting. It is fate that we met. I will buy you a drink.”

Lao Shi? Then, everyone would call him “Teacher²“?

“Your name is really an advantage.” Xia Ruize laughed and then asked, “You specifically mentioned China, is it because…?”

“It’s just as you guessed. In the Endless World, there are actually trialers from various countries on Blue Star. Some people speculate that the Lord God absorbs new people roughly according to the population ratio of each country. China has the largest population and the largest number of trialers. Therefore, China has a special city in the White Paper and Bamboo Silk areas, and when doing tasks, the people of the country are matched together.

But starting from the Silver Pages area, the number of trialers has been greatly reduced, and all trialers are concentrated in the same Silver Pages Area. When completing tasks, it is possible to match trial participants from other countries.

Hehe, well, because of various historical issues, the relationship between the trialers of each country is quite tense, and they are roughly divided into five major forces. Our China is one, New America in the east is one, Europe in the west is one, there is South India in the south, and there is the Northern Bear in the north.

Although they are called the five major powers, they don’t actually have a strict organization. They are basically divided based on skin color and nationality. Although the trialers of each power will not kill each other, they are likely to compete with each other and set traps. Fortunately, we Chinese are relatively united when dealing with foreign countries. When we meet our own people, we can give them a little more trust. “

Noticing Cheng Huaiqian’s indifferent expression, Lao Shi smiled and waved his hand, indicating that they could try the rainbow drink served to them, and continued to explain:

“You have just arrived in Silver Pages Areat. Once you have been here for a while, you will realize that the way of life in the Silver Pages Area is very different from before.

In the White paper and bamboo silk areas, you have to go through more than ten missions  non-stop once a month to accumulate capital in the area. And you can only stay in this space for one or two days between each mission. Most of the time, you are busy working on your own and have no chance to build good relationships with other trialers.

But it’s different in the Silver Pages area. I’ll tell you a statistic and you’ll understand. Above the Silver Pages is the Gold Book area. It is said that the number of trial participants who have reached the Gold Book area can be counted on one hand. Do you understand?

For all the trialers in the entire Silver Pages Area, the purpose of completing missions is not to upgrade the zone, but to accumulate capital to make themselves stronger, and then strive to live longer!

The missions in the Silver Pages Area are difficult and the mortality rate is high. How can you live longer? You need to build good relationships with other trialers. It is best to join a strong team and go on missions with your teammates every time. When you encounter a large mission, you should also try to gather the strength of unity. In short, don’t think about upgrading the Area or anything like that. Our only goal is to live longer. “

As he was talking, Lao Shi laughed, raised his thumb and pointed at himself, and said proudly, “Do you know how long a friend of mine survived?” After asking, he answered himself, “Five years! Hahaha, isn’t it amazing? Among all the people I know, my friend is the only one who survived…” and waved his thumb vigorously.

Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian looked at each other and fell silent. Even the rainbow-colored special drinks in their hands seemed less attractive.

“There is a Jade Scroll above the Golden Book. How many people are there in the Jade Scroll area? Can we escape from the Jade Scroll area? Do we have to complete the mission forever without stopping until we die?”

Gao Hexuan touched his nose and asked somewhat depressedly.

“Alas, child, I advise you to face reality as soon as possible. How many people there are in the Jade Scroll Area, or even whether there are any, is unknown and has nothing to do with you. What really matters to you is that you are already dead. There is a price to pay for continuing to live, and that is to work for the Lord God. Don’t think about whether you can escape the endless world by ascending to the Jade Scroll Area. You should seize the present moment.”

Shizi raised his glass and clinked glasses with his friends at the same table and Xia Ruize, then drank happily.

Basking in the warm sunlight that came from nowhere, Shizi sighed leisurely with his legs swaying as he crossed them:

“I’m different from you. I enjoy my current life. I complete five missions every year, save some of the survival points I get to buy weapons, and exchange some for real money. I can live a leisurely and comfortable life in real life. I feel very comfortable. I will continue to live like this. No matter how long I live, I will earn money.”

Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian also relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine in the endless space, a sunshine that made people feel relaxed and comfortable. The pace of the Silver Page Area slowed down significantly. They did not need to rush to training, rush to the main temple to make purchases, or rush to improve their strength for the next mission, because there was a longer rest period between two missions.

The other trialers around were also in a relaxed state. The most obvious manifestation was that the restaurants and bars in the city center were frequented by a large number of customers.

During the chat, people would come to say hello to Shizi from time to time, and would also chat with Xia Ruize and the other two. They got to know each other and might meet each other on a mission.

Notes

1. Shizi means Lion, Lao means Old, and the guy asked them to call him Lao Shi, Old Lion ↩︎
2. So, Old Lion 老獅 (Lǎoshī), and teacher 老師(lǎo shī), they do sound the same apparently. ↩︎