Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 67 - 054. Beware of Scams

Chapter 67: 054. Beware of Scams

After some negotiation and haggling, Li Aozi purchased two pieces of ordinary jewelry from Dmitry.

"Mid to low-quality equipment always has the largest market," Li Aozi mused as he donned the tungsten steel ring and bone porcelain pendant.

In "Starry Abyss," the quality of equipment was categorized as:

Crude and Low-Quality—high failure rate, poor comfort, ugly appearance, very low ergonomics.

Ordinary and Durable—tolerable failure rate, can withstand regular environmental wear and tear and still function properly, low ergonomics.

Exquisite Craftsmanship—extremely low failure rate, can still function well under harsh environments, high ergonomics, aesthetically pleasing.

Flawless Perfection—no operational faults, maintains excellent and stable efficacy under all kinds of harsh environments, perfect ergonomics, exquisite beauty, no flaws.

Supernatural Excellence—able to continuously optimize itself according to the environment during use, as long as it isn’t completely destroyed, it can always perform optimally, adapting to the user’s habits.

Heirloom Masterpiece—capable of accumulating past experiences and memories, continuously self-enhancing, difficult to be completely destroyed, able to pass on accumulated experience and style to the next user.

Mythical Creation—possesses autonomous consciousness and powerful intelligence, virtually indestructible, will autonomously choose a suitable host and can instantly transfer its abilities and experiences, mutually enhancing.

However, in reality, since there were different types of equipment, excessively pursuing quality wasn’t always practical.

A mythical creation screw might not be as practically effective as a crude and low-quality double-barreled shotgun.

When it came to actual combat, players found that sturdy and durable equipment was the most cost-effective.

For one-on-one combat, it was a different story; players would pile on mythical gear as much as they could, even wishing to replace their brains with mythical creations.

There were also some special tiers of equipment, like Miracle Arms and Social Institutions, but based on Li Aozi’s experience, only the four Precision System factions of the "Demonborn Framework" pursued such specialized equipment.

The Sovereign System had very low dependency on equipment. On one hand, all attributes other than "Charm" were relatively low, and on the other hand, the convenience of Arcane Energy determined this.

Therefore, in Li Aozi’s view, jewelry equipment without resource requirements was easily monopolizable. For Sovereign System players, jewelry, which inherently had a "luxury" nature, psychologically predisposed them to expect high prices.

Li Aozi only needed to monitor the forum to observe market trends and public opinion, and then use the strategy of low-profit and high-sales volume to quickly capture the market.

Speaking of the player forum—Li Aozi would take a peek whenever he had some time, trying to blend in as a player and chat casually.

However, just as he attempted to post, the forum showed that his account status was abnormal—Li Aozi opened his account homepage, and there in bold red text was the message:

"Due to violation of laws and regulations, your account has been permanently banned."

"What did I do wrong to get permanently banned—what, is dimension-hopping illegal now?"

Li Aozi was both amused and annoyed; he still wanted to check what was happening with his official account.

Well, no more need for investigation, he was now non-existent.

However, it wasn’t entirely a loss. Li Aozi found that while his account was banned, he could still download attached files from forum posts and open various video links.

Although he couldn’t post, his ability to gather information wasn’t diminished. Li Aozi soon discovered something mysterious.

"Why aren’t the times in the two worlds synchronized?"

Based on the posting frequency and time stamps of the players, one day passed on the Azure Star side, but not much time had passed on their side.

Roughly speaking, thirty natural days in the game world equated to just one day on the player forum.

This was clearly different from his past experience as a player.

"As a player, I remember that the timing of various events was synchronized."

Li Aozi pondered for a moment, and for a split second, he even thought of the conspiracy theory that "Starry Abyss was designed to explore electronic colonies."

Had he really crossed into the game and become a clump of data, or was this a real living world from the start?

Could it be that governments had discovered an electronic world and were tricking players into invading and occupying it through game portals...? That sounded way too far-fetched!

Li Aozi found it hard to hold onto this guess.

Ever since the advent of the optical brain, the real world had already resolved most conflicts. Although the wealth gap wasn’t eliminated, people could still live peacefully and contentedly in the virtual world.

There were no more significant conflicts in the real world, and technology was highly advanced, making war unlikely, let alone mobilizing half of society’s resources and population to invade an electronic world—it just didn’t make sense, they weren’t lacking resources.

Li Aozi shook his head, deciding to set this question aside for now.

Now that he was an NPC template, he needed to cherish his one life.

"Only now realizing life’s preciousness, isn’t it a bit too late?"

Li Aozi chuckled at himself and turned back to continue chatting with Dmitry’s family.

There weren’t many craftsmen in the Outer World who mastered the art of spirit infusion, and even fewer who were literate.

For a talent like Dmitry to be in such a remote spot, it was hard not to suspect he might have offended some big shot and was worried about enemies seeking revenge.

Li Aozi didn’t ask about these matters as he knew Dmitry’s true identity: this old man was a Longevity Breed.

The dominant species of intelligent beings on Azure Star was the New Generation Homo sapiens, but if one could see Dmitry’s panel, they would find that his species was [A1 Kordan Type Cosmic Human Race].

A1 Kordan, B2 Mayan, C3 Luca were the three most common evolutionary trends for carbon-based humans in the cosmos.

A1 Kordan humans were known for their longevity and innate awakening of Arcane Energy, living up to seven to eight hundred years was no big deal;

B2 Mayan humans were particularly adept at trade and mathematics, had a smaller population compared to the other two, and were known as the universe’s second-hand dealers;

C3 Luca Type humans were quite special, possessing great combat potential and adaptability.

Dmitry belonged to the successful evolution, becoming an A1 Kordan Type Cosmic Human.

Despite his low level, he truly had lived for over 200 years, being an old fox.

Pursuing the thoughts of such long-lived breeds made no sense; they might just be thinking daily about how to die with dignity.

After chatting for a while, Li Aozi suddenly changed the topic and asked:

"Old Dmitry, do you know Chen Siqi?"

"Are you talking about Doctor Chen? It’s said she came from Mingji before—I don’t quite believe it. Mingji is a place that eats people without spitting out their bones. Personally, I think she escaped from Frost Plated." Dmitry mumbled on.

Qiu Ran asked somewhat awkwardly, "Mingji Humanity... has such a bad reputation?"

"In the northern Outer World, everyone knows the ruthless and terrifying nature of Mingji."

Kachina, holding a child, seriously told them:

"You must be careful, Mingji Humanity transforms living people into killing machines. They capture people with potential for Arcane Energy everywhere, claiming they are infected with the disease, then conducting all sorts of experiments on them."

"Those doctors would draw blood from the infected, extract their bone marrow, slice their brains into sections, and place them between glass plates, repeatedly comparing them with ordinary people," Dmitry said in a deep voice.

"And that’s not the worst of it. People say the Four Nations have always cooperated with Mingji, aiming to develop super soldiers and clones adapted to Outer World environments, eventually bringing the flames of war to us."

Kachina’s words were filled with anger and hatred:

"The Four Nations have taken everything from us, enjoyed the sunlight we have never even seen, why are they still not satisfied! The Four Nations are all beastly, bastard vampires. If it weren’t for the persecution by the Four Nations, especially the hounds of the Fourth Rule, Xirich would have lived a happy life in Frost Plated..."

"In Frost Plated?" Li Aozi was surprised.

Kachina’s face showed a mix of recollection and sadness. She spoke softly:

"Xirich, my husband. He used to run a small business in Frost Plated, was an honest and upright man. One day, he was falsely accused by an employee of assaulting a female staff member."

She paused and continued:

"It was a setup. Xirich was a devout believer, maintaining his chastity until he met me. The female employee maliciously accused him for the sake of property."

"Xirich gallantly forgave her at first, then hired a lawyer, gathered evidence, and tried to defend his reputation, proving his innocence."

"But it was no use."

"No matter how he proved his innocence, before the court session, his shop was sealed shut, the Fourth Rule agents severely injured him and repeatedly tortured him with cold water and electric shocks, intending to bring public prosecution against him. Before the prosecutor even submitted evidence, the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment and confiscated his property."

"He was a tough man. Facing unfair judgment, he sought the black market, implanted combat prosthetics, killed seven agents and a judge, then drove across the border into the Outer World."

Kachina held Xirich, her words filled with pride.

"This is my husband, Xirich Xiao’s father."

Li Aozi nodded and sighed:

"No one is born great, but he undoubtedly died a legend."

"Xiao will always be our beloved, but back to the topic—seeing Doctor Chen’s resentment towards the Four Nations, I believe she has no connection with Mingji."

Dmitry pondered and said:

"I don’t know much about her. She came to the Sikkim Settlement in the past two years, has good medical skills but is somewhat difficult to get along with. I once bought penicillin from her, and she directly threw it in my face and told me to get lost."

"Dad, that was because you caught her changing her underwear," Kachina grumbled, "Doctor Chen is very kind. Xirich’s diphtheria was cured by her."

"Maybe..." Dmitry hesitated, "She was changing her underwear? I only saw a piece of alloy equipment..."

Two years ago.

Li Aozi slightly nodded.

The black market merchant Zexi had mentioned to him that it aligned with the outbreak of the ZX—102 incident and Head Nurse Nodley’s transformation.

Sure enough, after he received this information, the progress of the "Not to be Remembered" task advanced to 34%.