Reality (2): System Upgrade

During the upgrade of the God Game, all players were kicked out of the forum. Tan Xiao found himself in an independent system space, only to see the system display panel go black, completely cutting off his connection with the outside world.

The large screen in the space could still play programs. After regaining his memories, Tan Xiao realized the purpose of the screen.

This was actually his consciousness space, and the screen was the manifestation of his innate talent: foreseeing good and bad luck, and danger.

This talent skill allowed Tan Xiao to see important information fragments of the next instance in advance.

Although this talent might seem unremarkable, it was actually incredibly powerful in practice. It was like playing a game where everyone else was fumbling in the dark, but you had a walkthrough.

Even with a detailed walkthrough, it didn’t guarantee 100% success in such a dangerous game. However, having one versus not having one made a huge difference in the chances of successfully clearing the instance.

During the time he had lost his memory, this talent had appeared in his mind in the form of dreams. He had always thought they were just dreams and hadn’t taken them seriously.

But if he entered the instance again, would he be able to recover his memories?

The reason he had regained his previous memories in this special instance was due to the influence of Abyss’s skill. Tan Xiao wasn’t sure if he would still retain his memories of himself and Wen Yi if he entered the instance again.

From Wen Yi’s behavior, it seemed that the other person didn’t remember him either. After all, every time they met, it was like starting over. Wen Yi looked at him like a stranger, not a lover.

But no matter what identity the other person had, they would quickly be drawn to each other and fall deeply in love.

This indicated that they were destined lovers. Even if he lost his memory again next time, he firmly believed that he would still fall in love with Wen Yi.

Tan Xiao looked at the screen in front of him. The time displayed that there were 2 hours, 56 minutes, and 31 seconds left until the system upgrade was complete. He stopped thinking about these messy things and switched several channels. The TV started playing a documentary.

This time, the TV channel was broadcasting a marine disaster film: “Humans polluted the ocean, causing biological mutations.”

Disaster films usually feature a young human girl as the protagonist, with the perspective of a happy family introducing the existence of monsters.

Having experienced several instances and read many posts on the forum, Tan Xiao inferred from the film being broadcast that his next instance would likely be a survival instance involving natural disasters.

There were many scenarios in ocean instances. Some took place on luxury cruise ships, like the Titanic’s iceberg plot, while others involved tsunamis and earthquakes in a post-apocalyptic setting.

However, since this film was “Monsters of the X Ocean,” he should probably buy some diving equipment and attack supplies in the system.

Speaking of items, Tan Xiao began to organize his assets. He had actually gained a lot from several instances, especially the second one. Those dolls he grabbed from the claw machine turned out to be precious items.

In the instance where Wen Yi was CEO Wen, that special black card and their shared wedding ring were extremely valuable and rare special items.

The ring given to him by Dr. Wen and the engagement ring given to him by CEO Wen were both permanently bound, exclusive items that couldn’t be dropped.

Even if he died, the exclusive items would be destroyed along with him and couldn’t be taken by others.

However, the black card was different. It was a reward exclusive to Tan Xiao, but it wasn’t a bound item. Since the black card represented wealth, if Tan Xiao was killed by another player in the instance, the wealth in the black card could be inherited by other players.

But the black card also had a hidden trap. As a droppable item, its owner could only be Tan Xiao. If anyone else used the black card, that player would be marked by a mysterious monster [xxx], leading to an absolutely cruel and fatal retaliation.

Of course, Tan Xiao didn’t know this, and barring any accidents, he would never need to use this function of the black card.

Fortunately, while the game harbored malice towards players, it wasn’t excessively malicious. In real life, players wouldn’t drop equipment when attacking each other, and in-game currency, points, and other items wouldn’t be looted. Plus, with official control, players were relatively safe in real life.

But instances were different. In instances, even players could kill each other, making disaster instances essentially lawless zones.

Considering this, and considering Wen Yi’s uniqueness, Tan Xiao decided not to join any guilds or organizations.

He himself was a special existence, unable to log out or return to reality. Adding Wen Yi, the two of them together were a collection of secrets, making it unsuitable to form deep connections or teams with other players.

However, not joining an organization didn’t mean he wouldn’t interact or trade with other players. He was very concerned about his parents and friends in real life. Tan Xiao wanted to know if they had also entered the game or if they had already died in the fog or meteor showers.

But for now, the system was still upgrading, and Tan Xiao couldn’t do anything. He called out to Xiao Bai: “Xiao Bai, let’s tidy up the house.”

The items had cluttered the room, and he had never organized them. With some time on his hands, it was a good opportunity to make this small space more cozy.

Although the system hadn’t given any hints in this regard, Tan Xiao had a special premonition that his current confinement in this virtual space was only temporary. One day, he would be able to leave this virtual space. Perhaps one day, Wen Yi could also appear here, just like Xiao Bai.

He believed this as firmly as he believed in his relationship with Wen Yi.

The TV was still playing the film. The movie was two and a half hours long, and not all the information would be useful to Tan Xiao. In fact, most of the content in these preview films was useless.

By the end of the film, Tan Xiao didn’t have much of an impression of it, except for one thing: the monsters in the film were really ugly.

They had a slimy, black appearance, like mud monsters, with sharp teeth in their mouths. Tan Xiao’s mind wandered to some chaotic thoughts. The introduction related to the Ring of Dawn mentioned the monster’s bridegroom.

With the ocean, biological mutations, and monsters, Wen Yi’s identity in the new instance was likely to be an ocean monster.

Actually, many marine creatures are quite cute, but his Wen Yi probably wouldn’t turn into something as grotesque as a mud monster, right?

After all, whether it was the Parasite Instance or the IA instance, there were opposing monsters. Even if his lover was a monster, it would be a cute one, not something disgusting.

But what if? What if Wen Yi’s new appearance was really similar to this mud monster? Tan Xiao looked at the screen repeatedly, trying to desensitize himself in advance.

If that were the case, he would have to put on a good show, not showing any trace of disgust, to avoid hurting his sensitive and fragile lover’s feelings.

That’s right, in Tan Xiao’s heart, although Wen Yi might possess immense power, his heart was as fragile as glass, a delicate flower that needed careful nurture.

The three-hour upgrade time ended, and the previously inaccessible forum page returned to normal operation.

The system immediately sent a notification to all players:

[The update content is as follows:

1. Open the job change function. Players who reach level 10, meet the comprehensive attribute requirements, and clear a special solo instance can choose a profession.

2. The mall now sells resurrection cards and no instance cards, with reduced conditions for purchasing resurrection cards.

3. Open the player list trading function. The game will adopt an invitation system, and invitation cards can transfer player identities.]

Although there were only three updates, these three updates almost blew up all the players on the forum.

“The job change function was opened early because a player cleared a special solo instance.”

“No need to say it, the system sent three announcements informing everyone that player Tan Xiao cleared the special solo instance.”

“But this special solo instance didn’t mention that the big boss got an S rating.”

“Well, it’s a special solo instance after all. It’s probably just a pass or fail, and clearing it allows you to change jobs, so there’s no rating. The big boss is definitely the first to get a profession. I wonder what job he’ll choose?”

“I just checked the big boss’s panel. He changed his name! And he hid all his attributes.

Actually, many players could hide their basic attributes. After all, exposing too much made it easy to be tricked if you encounter other players in an instance.

But in the previous instances, Tan Xiao’s specific attributes were directly displayed on the instance panel. After all, the player’s initial state was default open, and you needed to manually adjust to hide it.

This time, Tan Xiao noticed this and hid all the attributes he could. He had a special name change card that allowed him to change his name, but after some consideration, he decided not to.

Mainly because the system had released so much information, and he was already a publicly recognized figure in the game. Hiding his name now wouldn’t make much sense.

As for the player information displayed in the backend, since he hadn’t chosen to close the information channel in time, the related emails in the backend had exceeded one million.

This number was simply too large. If he were to read them one by one, it would take at least ten days to half a month.

Tan Xiao didn’t plan to read these emails. He directly chose to clear them all at once. At the same time, he closed the information channel, refusing to receive emails from strangers he wasn’t following.

As for friend requests, Tan Xiao also chose to reject them all at once.

After regaining his memories, he also remembered Wang Mingming, a special player. According to the information revealed by the other party, they had actually met twice: once when the other turned into Auntie Zhao, and once when the other was a small game streamer.

Tan Xiao considered whether to actively add the other as a friend, but after a moment of thought, he decided against it.

Wang Mingming was too noisy, and he had also joined other organizations. His abilities were also quite average.

In the Parasite instance, Tan Xiao had no choice. If they were really fated to meet a third time, he would consider giving the other a friend slot.

After observing the official situation in the posts, Tan Xiao felt that the official organizations in the game seemed relatively reliable for now. He tentatively sent a private chat request to the person in charge of the official team, preparing to try some item trading.

If possible, he wanted to understand through official channels whether his parents were still alive in this world.

Of course, not everyone in the official team was good, so Tan Xiao wasn’t in a hurry to do this. He needed to test multiple times to make the right decision.

What excited everyone more than the still unreachable job change was the sale of resurrection cards.

“With resurrection cards, you don’t have to worry about failing the game! Even if you die, it’s fine! And resurrection cards don’t cost money.”

“Don’t get too excited too soon. Have you seen how expensive resurrection cards are? Resurrection cards can only be purchased with ratings, not with game currency or points. Haha, which means the strong stay strong. Players who can’t get high ratings don’t even have the qualification to buy resurrection cards, and there are limits to how resurrection cards can be used!”

The resurrection cards sold in the system mall were divided into two tiers. One was “revive on the spot”, which meant that if you died in the game, using the resurrection card would allow you to resurrect in the game. This was relatively cheaper.

A-B rating or above could purchase the “revive on the spot” resurrection card, with one A rating and one S rating could be exchanged for one resurrection card.

The difference was that an A rating could purchase up to three resurrection cards, while an S rating could purchase five resurrection cards.

In other words, if a player’s highest rating was B, they could only purchase one resurrection card. With an A rating, they could purchase multiple resurrection cards.

The single use of this resurrection card had no limit, meaning that as long as you had enough resurrection cards, you could have multiple lives in the same instance.

However, these resurrection cards were bound to the individual and couldn’t be transferred or sold. This was actually a good thing, as it prevented large teams and forces from oppressing middle and lower-tier players.

The other type of resurrection card was more powerful. After death, you could choose to resurrect in the instance or leave the instance, which was equivalent to failing the game but being exempt from punishment.

This type of resurrection card was also more expensive, starting at one A rating. The purchase threshold for an A rating was one, and for an S rating, it was three.

If a player had an S rating or above, they could use three A ratings to purchase three resurrection cards. A was the Minimum threshold, and S was the quantity limit.

However, no players had used resurrection cards yet, so these supplementary rules were still unknown.

Regardless of the type of resurrection card, their use was limited to game instances and couldn’t be used in real life. If you died in real life, that was it.

This more expensive resurrection card could be used as a gift prop, but most people wouldn’t be generous and give it out. They would usually bind it directly after purchase.

Players couldn’t help but complain: “The upper limit for resurrection is just too high! How many players in our game have S ratings? After so many times, out of millions of players, are there even 100 with S ratings?”

“Not now, but as we go through more instances, there will be. Being able to buy with ratings is already good. If it were money or points, I feel like I’d never be able to afford it in my lifetime.”

Actually, this limit was relatively fair and friendly to casual players. At least it didn’t allow a pay-to-win player to defy fate.

Players who could get high ratings were inherently strong. The game favoring players of this caliber was something everyone could accept. After all, the God Game was a brutal survival game meant to please the gods, not some welfare game for entertaining players.

“Is everyone only paying attention to the first two updates? Didn’t you notice the third update this time, about transferring game qualification? It feels like it’s going to add fuel to the already not-so-great real world. This transfer is definitely going to cause major turmoil in reality!”

Many players who were ordinary in real life couldn’t help but tense up. Why were they taking such risks and suffering in the game? Wasn’t it to protect their weak families in real life?

Elderly parents, beloved partners, and young children. With the release of this information about transferring player identities, ordinary people might obviously become cannon fodder for major capital.

“There’s no need to worry about this. The transfer has many constraints. We ordinary veteran players don’t have the transfer qualifications. Only newly acquired game qualification players do.”

Original players, after clearing the beginner instance, already had the option to give up the game qualification. Now the game just added the option to transfer it to someone else.

Those who had once been players but had given it up didn’t have the right to receive transfer applications, and veteran players who had already become official players couldn’t transfer their player identities to others.

“That’s right, the game isn’t stupid. If you could transfer without care, wouldn’t you be able to exploit the newbie protection period to cheat the game?”

After all, newcomers, unless they were specially unlucky, basically had one opportunity to give up. If the gaming qualifications of veteran players could be easily transferred, you could use this so-called give up opportunity to create a bug.

The system wasn’t stupid and absolutely wouldn’t make updates with such significant vulnerabilities..

Seeing this message, Tan Xiao also let out a sigh. Although he had been very lucky, clearing several instances smoothly and even getting quite beautiful high scores, he didn’t want his family in real life to become players like him.

Tan Xiao had gone through four instances, with two S ratings, one S+, and a special instance with no rating. However, S+ could be changed into three S ratings, and with S+, the limit for purchasing the second type of resurrection card was five, while the first type of resurrection card was ten.

Tan Xiao thought about it and felt that the first type had a lower cost-performance ratio. He exchanged all five ratings for transferable resurrection cards.

The system added a rating mall. Besides purchasing resurrection cards, you could also buy other expensive cards in the rating mall. However, after glancing through the mall, Tan Xiao felt that the resurrection cards still were the most cost effective.

After all, he wasn’t short on money, and attribute cards weren’t that good of a deal. What if the system did a major version update and deleted the resurrection cards? Having a few extra lives was more reassuring.

Tan Xiao didn’t stay in the system space for too long. He used his points to make a large purchase in the system mall.

Every time a player entered the game, they could shop in the system mall in advance and bring the purchased items into the instance.

However, these items are basically disposable products. They could be brought into the instance but couldn’t be taken out. The player’s personal backpack had a slot limit. If you wanted to expand the slot limit, you needed space stones or gold coins and points.

Tan Xiao hadn’t purchased any before, but after receiving a large number of rewards, he expanded his initial five backpack slots to a full thirty slots.

These backpack slots had volume capacity and species restriction, and items couldn’t be stacked.

For example, putting items in a storage box and then placing the box in a backpack slot to exploit loopholes wouldn’t work.

Tan Xiao purchased some supplies, not wanting to keep Wen Yi waiting too long. He used an instance entry ticket to enter the instance early.

Actually, he could have opened a door in his own space to enter the instance, saving some points.

But back then, he had been in an unconscious state. As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. At that time, he didn’t know that entering the instance through such a method was actually very dangerous.

Entering the instance through such illegal channels was likely the reason he kept losing his memory.

Every time he entered, the instance’s plot hadn’t started yet.

But this time was different. This time, Tan Xiao planned to enter like other players. He wanted to test whether he would lose his memory.

Using the entrance ticket, Tan Xiao felt a wave of dizziness, and then he successfully entered the instance.

A system prompt sounded in his ear:

[Welcome to the survival instance: Heart of the Ocean]

[As a player, you have arrived at a beautiful seaside town. However, due to a ship dumping wastewater, the ocean has been polluted, and the creatures within have undergone some special mutation. These special mutations have brought great disaster to the seaside town.]

[Main Mission: Find the mutated creatures in the seaside town and survive for 30 days (mandatory)]

[Side Mission: Kill the mutated creatures]

[Side Mission: Solve the root cause of the mutation]

[Instance Time Limit: 30 days!]

This time was different from before. Tan Xiao finally received the Main Mission issued by the system like other players, and he also retained his memories as a player!

Tan Xiao appeared in the seaside town as a player. Through the rearview mirror of his phone, he could see that he wasn’t playing some npc, but was using his own face and body.

The system provided him with an identification. After all, before the monsters appeared, the seaside town still had laws, and for accommodation they  required relevant identification documents.

When going, they could give themselves an identity. Tan Xiao’s positioning of himself was very simple: a tourist who came out to collect folk songs and was good at painting and photography.

He had a camera hanging around his neck, a set of art supplies on his back, and a dog leash in his hand, holding a super cute puppy.

These things made it natural for him to gather other information and less likely to cause others’ dislike. The pet Xiao Bai could lower others’ defenses, better disguised as in the copy npc.

The system didn’t provide any initial capital, but fortunately, the shops in this seaside town accepted cards, and there were banks and ATMs. Tan Xiao could use that Universal Black Card to withdraw a lot of money!

Not short on money, Tan Xiao rented a wealthy and imposing house in the seaside town for a month.

Although he could afford to buy it, money should still be used wisely.