Back in his rented room, Gao Yi finally had some free time; he took off his shoes and lay straight on the bed.
The conversation with Zhao Qian just now was truly packed with an enormous amount of information.
Fortunately, the other party wasn't the worst-case scenario of a purely bad person, but rather leaned more towards a 'pimp' who could be communicated with.
Regardless, he was the type that could be communicated with normally.
Just this alone was several times better than the crazy guy in the black hoodie from last night.
But at the same time, it also meant that the other party was very likely to come looking for him again in the future.
Sighing deeply, Gao Yi jumped off the bed, pulled out his portable notebook, and began to record the information he had just obtained.
“After players kill each other in reality, they cannot obtain the other party's items or characteristics.”
【Conversely, if they kill each other in a script, can they obtain these things from the other party?】
Writing his question in the notebook, Gao Yi then recalled the information from earlier.
“Tickets are divided into time-limited and non-time-limited types, and most players are very short on tickets.”
“Tickets include four script types: ‘Holy Grail’, ‘Sword’, ‘Coin’, and ‘Scepter’.”
He pulled out the 【West City Ghost Story】 ticket from his pants pocket; the countdown at the bottom only had eight hours left.
“So, that means 9 PM…?”
Gao Yi propped his left hand on his chin, pressing his elbow against the paper, and murmured softly.
And its (Sword 7) suffix seemed to add a hint of danger to it.
Gao Yi hadn't studied tarot cards much, but he still retained some relevant information in his memory.
“Sword” represented ambition, destruction, and conflict.
And “Holy Grail” corresponded to the mind and self.
What manifested was a script like 【Heart Ghost Mist】, which tested wisdom and will.
Then this 【West City Ghost Story】 with “Sword” as its suffix might involve combat, death, and extreme danger.
In this regard, it was indeed worrying.
“And then there’s this so-called ‘forum’…?”
His gaze slid down further, and Gao Yi saw the handwritten website address on the ticket.
It had to be said that Zhao Qian's calligraphy was indeed good, obviously professionally trained.
However, it seemed to be limited to Chinese characters; his English handwriting lacked distinction, only remaining neat.
He opened his computer and entered the website address.
A forum website appeared on the screen, with black as its main color, dotted with a large amount of red text.
Its name was written at the top.
【Nankang City Player Forum】
How straightforward.
The registration process was not simple; it required a phone number and an email address.
Fortunately, as an investigative journalist, Gao Yi had plenty of these in stock.
He specifically chose a never-before-used virtual phone number, then proceeded with registration.
At the end of the process, he needed to enter a name to be used on the forum.
It was impossible to use his real name in such a place; it was best to choose a name that matched the style but couldn't be directly linked to him.
After a brief thought, Gao Yi entered the three characters “Investigator” as his forum username.
This was precisely the new tag that the tag system had synthesized yesterday, discreet yet containing a connection.
But the second before clicking confirm, Gao Yi suddenly stopped his mouse.
Wait, if, as Zhao Qian said, various communications and transactions would take place on this forum…
“Should I create another alias for myself, for external transactions and bounty exchanges, and also to ensure safety…?”
After a brief thought, Gao Yi added two more strokes to the name.
【Investigator-Snake】
He nodded contentedly; this immediately gave it the right feel.
In the future, he could create alt accounts with other suffixes, and others would ponder when they saw this ID.
If there was someone called Snake, were there also 【Investigator-Rabbit】 or 【Investigator-Tiger】? Perhaps they would also be wary during transactions and wouldn't dare to act fraudulently.
After successful registration, Gao Yi officially began browsing the forum.
Scrolling the mouse wheel, compared to the cluttered websites and software of today, the entire forum didn't have many features.
It was mainly divided into three large sections: 【Discussion Area】, 【Trading Area】, and 【Bounty Missions】.
The discussion area was for various casual chats, most of which contained little information.
“What do I do if I run out of tickets? What happens when the time limit expires?”
The replies below were quite merciless.
“You die.”
“Selling tickets cheaply, cash transactions supported.”
“Does anyone know the contact information for the relevant official departments?”
Below, there were no replies at all, almost entirely curses.
It was clear that “imperial lackeys” were not welcome anywhere.
From the scattered words within, it could be understood that official personnel seemed to arrest “players” for interrogation.
Of course, among the player community, there might be a phenomenon of demonizing official agencies.
The specific situation probably wouldn't reach the point of “arrest” and “interrogation.”
But this was enough for Gao Yi to resolve to keep his distance from the authorities.
The remaining various 【Missing Persons Notices】, 【Rumors】, etc., mostly contained little information.
It seemed that, as Zhao Qian said, the player community in Nankang City was not yet large and had only just begun to develop.
“Then what’s going on with him? That paper doll was clearly obtained in the game, right…?”
Recalling the dangerous premonition he felt from that person, Gao Yi shook his head and flipped through the webpage again.
The 【Trading Area】 sold various items, and there were also many item requests.
Looking at the exchange rate, it seemed that the current mainstream exchange rate for game currency to cash was 1:1000.
Of course, the total amount of game currency was clearly insufficient, so this ratio was actually unable to exchange for enough game currency.
In other words, you could easily exchange 100 game currency for 100,000 cash, but the reverse was very difficult to achieve.
“How much?? My 500 game currency, isn't that five hundred thousand?”
Gao Yi slapped his thigh, feeling hopeful about paying off his debts.
But when he looked at the various props and items, this brief excitement quickly dissipated.
Item levels were divided from low to high into “Gray,” “White,” “Blue,” “Purple,” and “Orange.”
According to the popular science posts on the forum, higher levels also existed, but they just hadn't been seen.
Most of the items sold in the 【Trading Area】 were “White” or “Gray” level.
Their effects were mostly not outstanding; there were gloves that slightly increased punching speed and strength, and boots that increased movement speed.
While the enhancement was limited, many also had negative effects.
Blue-level equipment was basically sky-high, with prices reaching up to 800 game currency.
Purple equipment, on the other hand, was only sought after, never seen for sale.
Summoning the light screen, Gao Yi once again examined his item bar.
【Items (2/5): ① Mist Mask (Purple): Greatly increases mental resistance when worn; actively used, randomly changes user's appearance, body type, and voice for one hour.
②: Director's Whistle (Orange): Unknown】
These two items must be very valuable.
Although the purpose of that inexplicable whistle was unknown, its orange quality meant it couldn't be bad.
And the 【Mist Mask】 had an excellent effect; its ability to change appearance was completely supernatural power.
However, on the other hand, the effect of “greatly increasing mental resistance” only took effect when the mask was worn, which also presented many limitations.
After all, this mask was somewhat conspicuous; at least, it couldn't be worn at all times in the real world.
Unless it was in an environment like a comic convention or Halloween, it would definitely attract unnecessary attention.
What about potions?
C-grade potions were not being sold at all; it was clear they hadn't entered the market.
And the 【E-grade Physical Healing Potion】 that Gao Yi had tested on the landlady this morning was priced up to 60 game currency per unit.
“Sixty thousand… that's more than three years of my rent, Grandma. Please take care of yourself and let me stay longer…”
Gao Yi always couldn't help but convert it into cash and compare it to his various debts.
In addition, the level of “Evolution Potion” was not only related to the evolution rate it provided, but also a C-grade Evolution Potion meant that C-grade players could also use it.
That being said, Gao Yi would be even less likely to use that bottle of 【C-grade Evolution Potion】 now, as he was only E-grade at the moment.
Flipping through the forum interface again, the last section was 【Bounty Missions】.
There weren't too many wanted individuals at the moment, only three in total.
Besides the “Zhang Tu” that Zhao Qian had shown him at noon, there were only two others, both of whom didn't show their faces.
One was the “Santa Claus” he had seen in the video last night.
His wanted poster didn't have a clear face, only a screenshot from the video.
The bounty price was 200 game currency.
There was also someone who not only had no clear face but also no photo, and their information was extremely incomplete, only known to be female.
Her bounty, however, reached 300 game currency, and he didn't know what she had done.
There wasn't much more information on the website for now; Gao Yi rubbed his sore neck, turned his swivel chair, and faced the window.
Opening the 【Attributes】 list, he looked at his 500 game currency.
Gao Yi couldn't help but think about converting it into 500,000 cash, which could directly repay most of his debts.
But… this would undoubtedly be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
He thought about the crazy guy in the black hoodie he met last night, the wanted criminal he saw in the video, and Zhao Qian this morning.
They all possessed extremely strong abilities and skills far beyond ordinary people.
If they truly attacked him directly, how much chance of winning would he have?
Calming down, he realized that in this world, which was clearly no longer peaceful, strengthening himself was always the most important thing.
Gao Yi made up his mind; he had to convert these 500 game currency into direct combat power.
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