Life Game In Other World
Chapter 186: Atlas of Ruins (Long - , Please Subscribe, Add to Favorites, Request Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 186: Chapter 186: Atlas of Ruins (Long Chapter, Please Subscribe, Add to Favorites, Request Monthly Tickets)

After arriving in Dongdu, He Ao and other specially appointed researchers selected for the expedition were to take a special flight provided by the Research Institute to Liu Zhengyun’s private island.

Once they received their basic equipment and supplies on the island, they would then head to the gateway to the ruins.

Since the oil field where the ruins’ entrance was discovered was located right in the middle of the ocean, far from the coastlines of Central Earth, the flight they were on was relatively long.

Nearly nine hours.

After escorting He Ao to the boarding gate, Zhang laughed and patted He Ao’s arm, "Make sure you come back alive."

He Ao opened his mouth.

The last time he had heard this phrase was from Roger, back when he was known as Regit.

Hmm... Regit probably didn’t survive.

The statement sounded like some sort of dreadful omen.

Nonetheless, He Ao didn’t speak up in the end, but simply nodded lightly and walked towards the Research Institute’s special plane, carrying his paper bag of Kaifeng vegetables.

The flight attendants showed no surprise at the paper bag on He Ao’s head, and after inquiring about his code name, they guided He Ao to his cabin with warmth and grace.

The use of the word "cabin" was because this seat was much longer than typical seats, resembling a long sofa where one could sit or lie down, and encased by a metal partition that formed an elliptical arc.

It looked quite aesthetically pleasing.

He Ao sat down and noticed a small door beside him, which could be pulled closed, cutting off the entire space from the outside world.

He activated Super Memory, checked around, and after making sure there were no cameras inside, he took off the paper bag of Kaifeng vegetables and locked the partition door.

On the metal partition to his left, near the window, there was a small LCD television embedded, and below the TV was a cupboard, which held several books.

The flight attendants had already informed him upon his entry that these books contained information about the ruins.

The airplane’s broadcast system began to play safety instructions and reminded passengers that during the nine-hour flight, they could take some rest to gather their energy since there might not be time to relax upon arrival at the destination.

He Ao reached for the books on the cabinet, briefly flipping through them, and found that their content was not much different from what Zhang Ansha had outlined, and in fact, Zhang Ansha’s explanations were even more detailed.

For instance, these only mentioned that the number of people who could enter the ruins was limited, while Zhang Ansha had informed him that the number allowed inside the ruins was gradually increasing.

To test the number of people who could enter, one simply had to walk to the location of the gateway to the ruins. The number of individuals who heard the "calling" in their hearts would equal the number of available spots.

According to Zhang Ansha, the voice of the calling would grow stronger, and those who heard it could even vaguely sense when the ruins would open.

Entry into the ruins happened in an instant; one had to wait in advance, and if missed, the opportunity was lost.

Inside the ruins, there were mainly three areas: Ruined City, Underground Palace, and Wilderness.

The vast majority of the interior of the ruins was likely the Ruined City, though this conjecture was an estimate by the Research Institute based on the premise that each entrant was transported randomly.

Because most entry points for those going into the ruins were in the Ruined City.

Of course, the term Ruined City merely referred to old cities that had become ruins, and the style and areas between different cities also varied.

Scattered among the Ruined City, there were several wilderness areas.

The Wilderness, as opposed to the city, was named for its different environment. Thus far, the only territories confirmed by the Research Institute included completely distinct areas such as forests, grasslands, mountain ranges, snowfields, lakes, and deserts.

The Underground Palace was another matter altogether, more like an underground bunker with no view of the sky.

It was only possible to roughly discern that the area was underground from the rocks exposed by fissures in the metal walls of certain parts of the Underground Palace.

The interior of the Underground Palace had a very complex topography and was home to various twisted creatures, making it the most dangerous of the three areas; no one had yet found a way to exit the Underground Palace and ascend to the surface.

According to the Research Institute’s findings, the concentration of transcendent powers within the ruins was much higher than in the main world, and it was easier to awaken and acquire transcendent powers there.

Moreover, some Transcendents were also able to encounter opportunities within and advance to higher levels.

However, the underlying principles of these promotions remained unclear, and the Research Institute’s advice was to avoid consuming anything from within the ruins unless necessary. Suspicious items could be taken out first for the Research Institute to study.

Many of the sealed items now held by the Research Institute were brought out of the ruins by researchers who had entered.

Items brought out by specially appointed researchers could be kept for personal use, provided they were confirmed not to cause contamination. If one wished to sell, the Research Institute had the right of first refusal, and they typically offered a fair market price.

Items brought out of the ruins by official researchers, on the other hand, belonged to the Research Institute; the Institute would cover all sealing costs and compensate the researchers with a certain amount of points based on the value of the items.

These points could be used to exchange for the right to use certain sealed items from the Research Institute or to apply for the long-term use of sealed items suitable for an individual’s needs.

All these details were ones that Zhang had talked about before, and they were also included in the books on the plane.

However, there were also contents in these books that Zhang hadn’t mentioned.

For example, there was an illustrated guide to exotic creatures found within the ruins, which Zhang had only mentioned in passing, but as they were difficult to describe, he had not elaborated on them.

Mainly featuring exotic creatures commonly seen in the ruins, He Ao browsed through briefly and felt some of the creatures were quite interesting.

For instance, a large Lizard named ’Violent Lizard’ possessed sharp teeth and a long tongue; the guide described it as being strong and having a high regenerative ability, but low intelligence. Crushing its brain or blowing up its neck could kill it.

It was rated at E-level.

This lizard resembled one He Ao had previously seen, the exotic beast kept by the mayor of Dawn City, but it looked much weaker than that beast.

Apart from animals, many plants in the ruins also possess bizarre abilities.

For example, a white flower called the ’Sleepy Flower,’ which tends to bloom in clusters throughout an area. Without realizing it, if one wanders into their sea of flowers, all emotions gradually calm down, and eventually, one would succumb into the sea of flowers, becoming nourishment for these very flowers.

The Sleepy Flower is also rated as E-grade.

Most of the creatures in the manual are E-grade or F-grade Transcendents, probably limited by the strength of the people who had previously entered the ruins.

After all, the only people who can bring back data are those who are alive. If they encountered a D-grade, or even higher-grade exotic beast or bizarre plant, they simply couldn’t bring back any information about those creatures.

He Ao flipped through briefly; there was only one D-grade exotic beast— a ’gorilla’ that sold items, named ’Merchant Gorilla.’

It already possessed a certain level of intelligence and could communicate with people through gestures. Explorers who encounter it could use weapons they carry or other Transcendent items obtained from elsewhere to trade with it.

However, the exchange must be one-sided, with higher value items traded for lower value ones; if you don’t trade with it, or attempt an equitable exchange, it will threaten to kill you.

Of course, if you did trade with it, it would leave.

Then after some time, it would come back to continue trading with you.

The manual noted here that there’s no set interval for its return; it largely depended on when the explorer acquired something valuable. As soon as the explorer found something good, it would suddenly appear and take advantage of the situation.

······

Quite reasonable, a very cunning merchant indeed.

He Ao continued to flip through; the following pages contained a guide to smart robots.

It included various shapes of robots and humanoid ones. Some humanoid robots used to have artificial skins, but as time passed, they had completely fallen off.

These robots would move along a predetermined trajectory, and as long as you didn’t touch them, there would be no problem. However, if you accidentally touched or attacked them, you might get attacked by all the nearby robots.

Moreover, it seems that these robots could not leave the ruins, nor could their chips. The Research Institute had tried several times to bring these things out for study, but without success.

He Ao activated Super Memory and memorized the contents of these few books in their entirety.

Then he picked up his phone again to search for magic suitable for his current condition.

There were a few large-scale magic tricks he was quite interested in, but to achieve Miracle Magic, he had to learn the trick himself and be able to perform it completely, deceiving the audience.

However, to perform these large-scale magic tricks generally requires professional magic equipment.

Moreover, many magics have not been decrypted, as the secrets of magic are the magicians’ bread and butter, and many magicians are unwilling to reveal them. Furthermore, with time being short, He Ao found it difficult to find professional magic equipment.

He began to think of alternatives, considering whether he could achieve some ’miracle’ effects with some simple street magic that’s easy to perform.

Knock knock knock—

At this moment, there was a gentle knock at his compartment door.

After some thought, He Ao grabbed his fast-food paper bag and opened the compartment door.

What he saw was a girl with dark skin, her small mouth slightly open, wearing a Husky half-mask, and two cute little canine teeth, with short hair.

Seeing He Ao open the door, she giggled and said, "My codename is Speech Master, I’m from Dongdu, I sit right across from you."

She stepped aside to let He Ao see behind her.

The layout of this private plane had cabins on both sides with a narrow corridor in the middle.

He Ao’s gaze went over and could just make out the open door of the empty cabin across the corridor.

"So," with her identity confirmed, the dark-skinned girl chuckled softly, "I can’t sleep alone."

He Ao glanced at his own cabin which also didn’t seem fit for two people. He put his hand on the door, ready to close it.

"No, you’ve misunderstood," Speech Master quickly waved her hands, "I only woke up at nine this morning, and it’s just afternoon now, I’m not sleepy. Since we’re sitting opposite each other, why don’t we chat for a bit?"

?

Being rather inarticulate and an honest child, He Ao couldn’t handle this scene. In a quiet voice, he said,

"Reading."

Then he briskly closed the door and locked it from the inside.

"Hey hey hey," Speech Master clearly didn’t expect this turn of events. She knocked a few more times, "Let’s have a chat for a while, huh? I’m so bored; we can speak softly and won’t disturb anyone."

He Ao ignored her and continued to study his magic.

Speech Master knocked a few times and, realizing she wasn’t getting a response, sighed, apparently hesitating whether to knock on someone else’s door.

However, before she could make up her mind, a flight attendant was attracted by the noise. He Ao heard the flight attendant softly and delicately persuade her to go back and not to disturb the rest of others.

She, in turn, tried to... persuade the flight attendant to chat with her for half an hour.