Chapter 104.1 Merfolk Shore
After sending out the ticket, Wen Shi switched to using a communicator to talk to Ji Yuanzhi and discuss the schedule for the next instance.
Song Yan squeezed by the door and carefully poked half of his head inside. “Boss, do you want to play the next instance?”
He had heard Qian Laiye say before that Wen Shi played often.
Wen Shi nodded. “Yes, life isn’t easy.”
He had a large family to support.
His shadow’s use of【One Strike Flattens All】wasn’t registered by the system. To help Xie Tangyan learn the swordmanship sooner and improve their home’s functions, he had to constantly work for money.
Song Yan: “Then I want to go too.”
While Wen Shi was halfway through sending the message, he looked up at him. “This instance is probably quite difficult, and there might not be suitable team-up items to help you enter.”
Song Yan earnestly volunteered, “I upgraded the mirror, it’s very useful.”
Wen Shi was instantly intrigued.
Song Yan’s mirror upgrade required ten thousand points. Fortunately, with the previous game settlement, he had the chance to upgrade it. The cost was so substantial that the features shouldn’t be disappointing.
Song Yan didn’t keep any secrets and informed him about the new feature, “The status bar now displays【Philosophical Mirror】, and the description says,【This is a mirror that you can’t help but love. It comes with dialectics to help you question every rule.】”
Question every rule?
In the game, the key to survival was to abide by the rules, yet it would help others question them. The last person who questioned things like this, the Earl, had gone mad.
Song Yan, holding a philosophy book, sighed. “It’ll take twenty thousand points for the next upgrade.”
Though the mirror was his transformation tool, it resembled more of a gold-devouring beast.
Happiness relies on comparison. Compared to Song Yan’s insatiable desires, Wen Shi suddenly felt that providing for his family wasn’t all that difficult.
“I’ll ask if there are any advanced team-up items for a group of three.”
Wen Shi continued to message Ji Yuanzhi, first explaining Song Yan’s background and then outlining his abilities.
Even if he didn’t bring up Yu Xingzhou, the guild leader would still pass on the information to Ji Yuanzhi. However, given the importance of showcasing sufficient skills and the costliness of advanced team-up items, Ji Yuanzhi would certainly decline.
About half a minute later, he received a message reply from Ji Yuanzhi: “Okay, I’ll come find you at ten in the morning the day after tomorrow.”
Wen Shi conveyed the message to Song Yan.
After Song Yan turned back into a human, he had moved to the guest room across the hall. Exactly two days later at ten o’clock, when he knocked on Wen Shi’s door, Ji Yuanzhi happened to step out of the elevator.
From Ji Yuanzhi’s perspective, this was just a very ordinary young man, a bit timid, who would instinctively avoid direct eye contact when looking at people.
“Hello, I’m Song Yan,” he greeted proactively.
Drawing from past memories of a virtual successful individual, he used to interact with people quite boldly. But ever since he found out he was an incarnation, the timidity and confusion in his personality had been magnified.
The assessing gaze under Ji Yuanzhi’s lenses vanished as he nodded. “Ji Yuanzhi.”
The door suddenly opened.
Wen Shi heard voices conversing in the hallway, and knew that it was these two who had arrived.
The three of them took seats beside their respective dining tables. Ji Yuanzhi didn’t rush to use the team-up item. He began by discussing the information he had gathered.
“There are many legends about merfolk, and since you mentioned misfortune, the information mostly revolves around that aspect. The most brutal interpretations come in two forms. One portrays merfolk as symbols of disaster. Wherever they appear, floods and other calamities follow. The second version, comparatively more obscure yet romantic, claims that merfolk, like animals, go through mating periods. During these times, they come ashore to find partners for mating and spawning. Once successful, they consume their mates.” Song Yan shivered. Was this considered romantic?
Ji Yuanzhi handed Wen Shi a list of items he had purchased beforehand. “You can refer to this list and buy accordingly.”
The in-game store had certain special items with strict limitations on their availability and quantity during each restock. The items on the list were mostly things one could only find on the black market.
Among them was a【Pain Reliever】, which piqued Wen Shi’s interest.
Speaking of merfolk, the common perception was their melodious singing and the widely known fairy tales. Legends said that after a fishtail transformed into legs, every step they took caused immense pain, so it wouldn’t hurt to stock up on pain relievers in advance—even if they weren’t needed in this instance, they might prove useful in the future.
Seeing his gaze linger on that particular item, Ji Yuanzhi asked, “Pain relievers?”
Wen Shi nodded.
“Could you help me buy a box? I’ll transfer the points to you.”
He didn’t have a means of purchase.
A box of pain relievers, containing seven pills, cost eight hundred points. Each pill provided two hours of pain relief upon consumption. Apart from alleviating pain, it didn’t have any healing effects, making its cost-effectiveness quite low. As a result, the in-game store restocked them rarely.
Ji Yuanzhi: “The price might be fifty to a hundred points higher.”
Wen Shi: “It’s alright, as long as we can get them.”
Song Yan weakly raised his hand. “I also want to buy a box.”
Getting the pain relievers took an hour. At the same time, Wen Shi received a transfer from the hotel manager. Selling off those scattered items finally brought him a little over nineteen thousand points, after a discount of a bit over a thousand. Since he was able to unload them in a few days, Wen Shi was quite content with the outcome.
Making sure there were no other issues, Ji Yuanzhi instructed Wen Shi, “After I send you the team invitation, immediately use the medium to access the instance.”
Wen Shi nodded. “Alright.”
【Player 377777 has sent you a team invitation.】
After agreeing, Wen Shi seamlessly transitioned to using the ticket.
【Waiting for other members to agree.】
【Matching for the specific instance “Merfolk Shore,” please wait…】
【Team formation successful, match successful】
“Loading instance ‘Merfolk Shore’…”
Before the familiar advance summoning prompt could arrive, Wen Shi took the initiative to ask, “Can’t we perform a summon now?”
“Player, please note that the summoning target doesn’t possess a ticket. Please conduct summoning within the instance.”
Starting with the station after Sunset Town, a ticket was required to board the train. This was in contrast to Sunset Town, where ticket evasion was possible.
“Loading complete.”
【Merfolk Shore: A large-scale instance within the ordinary category
Difficulty: S
Initial player count: 200
Background story:
A long time ago, humans captured merfolk for medicinal, culinary, and entertainment purposes, turning the Merfolk Shore into a bustling trading hub. Later, merfolk launched a bloody retaliation, ruthlessly slaughtering the people living nearby. Over a century, merfolk gradually became a terrifying legend in this land.
Mingzhu Academy is a renowned music institution both domestically and abroad, hailed as the cradle of versatile entertainters. It boasts the strongest faculty and the strictest teaching standards.
Due to the frequent occurences of mentally fragile students opting for suicide, Mingzhu Academy is allowed a 5% annual mortality rate by the local government, which benefits financially from the school.
Lately, rumors about merfolk resurfacing have circulated on the campus. Despite being mere hearsay, the locals hold a deep-seated animosity towards merfolk. Even though these are just rumors, fear has spread among people’s hearts. The academy has decided to implement closed-campus teaching until the end of the semester, forbidding students from leaving without permission.
Character identity: You are Aaron, striving to inherit Frank Hospital. In order to become an outstanding hospital director in the future, you are determined to develop yourself comprehensively. For this purpose, you’ve specifically come to Mingzhu Academy for further studies.
Note: You need to distinguish your own identity. If you feel like you’re a merfolk, absolutely do not let the local residents discover it.
Friendly reminder: There are various theories about human ancestry, some of which involve fish. Perhaps at some point, the fish genes in your body might resurface, so don’t be too confident that you’re just a human.】
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