Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 468 - 106. Even in science fiction, it’s a setting that’s not easily adopted

Chapter 468: 106. Even in science fiction, it’s a setting that’s not easily adopted

"Qiu Yun, deliver this coffee to Minister Norfolk, and then you can call it a day,"

"Okay, got it."

Xia Yubing immediately put on a professional smile, placed the coffee on the cart, and wheeled it to the elevator area before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Is this what online gaming is like? Why does it feel as tiring as a day job?"

Muttering to herself, Xia Yubing found the government employee’s business suit quite uncomfortable, but she endured it for the sake of the "Harassment Avoidance" status it provided.

Through her investigations, she discovered that the death of the body she had summoned, ’Qiu Yun,’ was far from simple. Apart from overwork leading to complete exhaustion, there were also malicious female colleagues involved.

Taking advantage of the elevator ride, Xia Yubing opened the system’s built-in notepad to check the evidence she had gathered.

"Evidence A: [Recording] — Qiu Yun’s colleagues, Vivian and Andy, were jealous of Qiu Yun’s rapid promotion and continuously sabotaged her work. This included but was not limited to: assigning her a heavy load of miscellaneous tasks, preventing Qiu Yun from communicating with leadership, excluding Qiu Yun from group activities, and splashing paint on her uniform minutes before public events... It’s definitely workplace bullying."

"Evidence B: [Chat Logs] — On the day of President David Lyn’s inauguration, the newcomer Lilith, whom Qiu Yun mentored, planned to make Qiu Yun upset the foreign guests during service to disrupt the inauguration ceremony — This also involved suspicions of Lilith being an undercover spy planted by foreign powers."

Qiu Yun’s origin and her death were already pitiful enough, prompting Xia Yubing, who had never played games before, to sympathize deeply, and upon uncovering these truths, she felt indignant.

"Don’t worry, Qiu Yun, I will definitely get justice for you! And I will find your sister as well."

Fortunately, she was not alone. Her companions from the guild were all from Four Nations background; after forming the guild, they had launched an efficient campaign of leveling up and monster hunting.

As for the whereabouts of Qiu Yun’s sister, they were still unknown. However, Xia Yubing believed that with the increasing number of players, related news would soon emerge.

It’s worth mentioning that the Four Nations had begun to notice the presence of ’Descenders,’ but after conducting research, they concluded it was a disease and not of significant consequence.

In a way, players were much more well-behaved than the average citizens.

In reality, most players had Descended into the Outer World, and only one-quarter of them were actual players from the Four Nations; the characters being summoned were generally marginalized individuals in society.

When players first learned of this setting, they were quite alarmed, but as many of them discovered that the characters they summoned were either dead or on the brink of death — they stopped caring about it.

In a country of over six hundred million people, even with natural deaths alone, nearly eight million people would die each year, and on top of that, there might be around one hundred thousand accidental deaths, plus the harsh conditions of the Outer World, lack of natural light, cancer — the arrival of players had actually decreased the death rate by a few percentage points.

During the public beta launch phase, there were only a few million registered players, so the emergence of the initial public beta players did not attract much attention.

The fearless and forward-charging nature of players made them inclined to take on dangerous jobs; working as daredevils was the most common employment taken by players, which actually delivered a significant blow to various dark forces.

Although the players were still regarded as an urban legend, the companions from the guild were already able to help her significantly.

The members of the guild fought hard, employing many underhanded methods to gather various pieces of information from gangs and the streets, and she, using her "Government Employee" identity, promptly procured new bounties and information for her companions.

Although Xia Yubing was still working in a government department for Four Nations and could only earn a fixed amount of Experience each day, everyone was in need of someone like her, an inside informant, and she was naturally willing to help.

Opening the friends’ list, the first one she saw under ’Special Attention’ was Caramel Snail, who had just sent a new message.

Caramel Snail: Ah, this task is so tough. Everyone is an expert with a sharp aim and swiftness like swallows. It’s so stressful to be with them — Seen, just now

Looking at the friend information, Caramel Snail had risen to Lv.19, while the best she could offer was still only a Lv.6 "Labor."

’Considering the highest level player on the forum is only Lv.20, Kiddo really seems quite awesome...’ she thought to herself.

With that in mind, Xia Yubing wrote down a line of greeting.

Reply: Are you having fun playing extraterrestrial? — Seen

Caramel Snail: Yeah, it’s okay. But this latest exploration task is really tough. Our team of six had a lot of trouble looking for the Goblin Lair (View attachment: 623.7M) — Seen

Clicking on the attachment, Xia Yubing immediately saw a thrilling scene: they appeared to be in a dark, shadowy forest, with the moon obscured by thick clouds, shrouded in gloom. Through Caramel Snail’s first-person perspective, one could clearly see several dark red eyes flickering like ghostly flames among the trees.

...That’s it? Xia Yubing thought, not even as scary as the horror movies she watched in elementary school.

Reply: (Typing...)

Caramel Snail: Wow, truly super scary, I am most afraid of these kinds of scenes! ——Read.

Seeing this, Xia Yubing hesitated for a moment, then deleted the ’Is there a problem?’ that she had already typed out.

Reply: Yeah, it is indeed very scary, encountering such a scene in the middle of the night, I feel like I’m going to have nightmares!

’Will I seem too pretentious with this response? Kiddo doesn’t seem to like this kind of weak tone, right? But if I act too tough, will he feel that I don’t care about him at all?’

After thinking it over, Xia Yubing slowly began typing again: Kiddo, you’re so brave, if it were me, I absolutely wouldn’t dare to keep going into such a dark place alone, it’s so scary...

’Ugh, the tone is so soft, it’s really disgusting, but by saying it like this, he only has to reply: No problem, next time let’s go together—like that, I’ll have an opportunity to ask him out to play!’

Before Xia Yubing could finish typing, Caramel Snail uploaded another picture.

’Huh? What did he send now? It should be another game screenshot, right?’

She downloaded and opened it to see:

From a first-person perspective, Caramel Snail seemed to have fallen to the ground, with some wounds on him. Just at this moment, a female player with dyed green hair reached out to Caramel Snail, her vivid features and the chrome-plated circuit lines made a stark contrast, altogether looking like a cyberpunk beauty.

[Blood pressure increased, please stabilize your emotions.]

The blood pressure monitor on her wrist instantly started to sound an alarm.

Caramel Snail: Ah, seriously, the Goblin Lair is too tough to beat, but thankfully, everyone doesn’t dislike my clumsiness, and they’ve been teaching me and guiding me, especially Cumin Powder, who has saved me several times. Putting her personality aside, she’s simply an angel. We’ve already been wiped twice just exploring the periphery, so today we decided to camp here and rest, we’ll set out again tomorrow after our revival counts reset. ——Read, just now

Caramel Snail: (Typing...)

Caramel Snail: (Sends picture) We’ve camped, and my battle for today ends here. It’s so nice now that it’s the open beta, back during closed beta, when characters needed to sleep, we could only browse forums, but now I can go play ’Red Arrow Miner’ and Auto Chess, but I can’t talk more, Night Fighting Sword bro is pulling me to duo queue in chess, logging off now. ——Read

(The other party has left the chat)

"Cumin Powder? Angel?"

Xia Yubing clucked her tongue, her tone icy cold.

She zoomed in for a closer look at the other player’s avatar, comparing it countless times in her mind.

She actually has a better appearance than the other, although Qiu Yun’s looks are quite plain, she can still be very pretty with some makeup.

Xia Yubing patted her flat chest.

"Ah...what a pity, this is the consequence of malnutrition."

Xia Yubing shook her head.

The thought made her even more sympathetic towards Qiu Yun.

Besides, in virtual games, looks and body shape are all fake, who knows, the other person might be a tank. And Kiddo has truly seen her, knows what she looks like in reality.

Looking at everything, she only lags behind in level. That woman named Cumin Powder entered the beta earlier and reached lv.20, but she herself had reached lv.6 in just a few days after the server’s launch.

Xia Yubing muttered:

"She just got into the game a little earlier than me, that’s all."