This Text Adventure Game is definitely poisonous
Chapter 255 - 206: Changes Brought by Public Testing_1

Chapter 255: Chapter 206: Changes Brought by Public Testing_1

"So... are we still going to guard this place?" "No need. Let’s delegate it to the Battle Eagles and focus on our tasks."

It was not possible for Mu You to stay online continuously. However, after a series of successful battles, their loot was already sizeable. They had wiped out the enemy four times, and this had earned them a lifespan of 40 years, 40 pieces of equipment and props. Towards the end, some players were even dropping magic beast materials.

The order of dropped items upon death is quite specific. Equipment and props are dropped first. Only after all of these are dropped do players start dropping various magic beast materials and herbs.

If these people were now dropping materials, it meant that their valuable inventory had been drained dry.

Mu You took inventory: aside from a few potions, everything else was equipment, the vast majority of which was Black Iron Level, with a small fraction of ordinary quality. There was not a single piece of excellent equipment, but everything could eventually be thrown into the synthesis furnace and combined into one or two excellent pieces.

Being constantly defeated, this bunch would definitely not dare to log in for a short time.

Mu You and Lin Xue each kept a Battle Eagle in the area, and the trio moved away, continuing to fight monsters in the forest as usual.

As for those few individuals, when the Battle Eagles alerted them of the players logging in again, they would simply tail and kill them. The drop rate from a player with a red name, compared to killing monsters, proved to be more profitable.

This went on until morning. The five players did indeed log in twice in the middle of the night, but each time they were caught and ended up being thoroughly frightened off.

At eight in the morning, after the trio had exhausted their stamina, they logged off. Lin Xue and Little Ya went home to rest, but Mu You could not rest—he received a call from Zhang Yang, calling him out for a mission.

The first day of the global public test was bound to be tumultuous.

The night before, everyone had been busy playing games and planning strategies, too occupied and not in the mood to stir up trouble, thus spending the night relatively calmly.

Only now, after everyone’s stamina had been exhausted and the first day’s gaming process had ended, did various changes begin to quietly emerge.

The first noticeable change was an inevitable increase in violent incidents.

After many players experienced leveling up in the game for the first time and felt the sensation of their bodily attributes doubling, it was easy for them to become arrogant, resorting to physical violence to settle disputes, even more so than before.

Especially at night, in the crowded conditions of the game, chaotic battles happened everywhere, anytime. Due to the correlating birthplace in the game, both the murderer and the victim often lived close by in real life. This led to conflicts arising seamlessly.

Those who suffered losses in the game at night naturally sought retribution in the daytime, which easily escalated into violent confrontations.

Regular incidents could still be handled by ordinary officers, but there were always a few severe cases, or cases involving individuals with overwhelming strength superior to the officers. At times like these, the only option was to call in the Special Affairs Department.

Mu You spent the entire day dealing with these miscellaneous matters with Zhang Yang and other colleagues from the Special Affairs Department.

The Special Affairs Department of City K had now gained fifty or sixty personnel, all from the internal test players, with the lowest level being over five.

But, considering the entire population of City K, numbering in the millions, it was still inadequate.

For instance, Mu You was currently situated in a school, having just handled a case where a student had cast a killing curse on a peer.

The matter was simple: this student had once been bullied by peers. They had just entered the game the previous night and were lucky enough to obtain a high-ranking curse element magic spell. That night, they cursed everyone who had hurt them, resulting in three deaths and four injuries.

The student probably thought that their magic would go unnoticed—that no one would be able to trace it back to them. But ironically, these kinds of matters were even easier to investigate. While magic brought about means of harm, it also brought about many conveniences.

Mu You’s colleague, Liu Chen, had merely executed a simple retrospection spell and tracked down the source of the curse.

This level-one gamer was then, effortlessly and in person, apprehended in front of them, their magic wand confiscated and handed over to the police.

The remaining matters were no longer their responsibility. Right or wrong, justice would be served by the courts.

The two colleagues leaned against the school wall, chatting leisurely after wrapping up one case.

Mu You took the opportunity to check the news.

This recent incident would have been considered a major case under normal circumstances, but today it didn’t even qualify to be reported. It was just a microcosm of society after the start of the public test—a minuscule event that the media did not even have time to cover, as there were far bigger things to report.

Mu You briefly skimmed the trending news and found that the focus of the day was on three heated topics.

First was the joint declaration issued this morning by a few big guilds, both at a national and international level, updating the title designations for player levels.

The cause of this action was due to last night’s news leak from the Shen Feng organization that both the President, Wu Ying, and the Vice President, Cang Qiong, had broken through the 20 level bottleneck, reaching a higher realm.

In addition, a group of top masters, including Jiu You from Dragon Group and Blue Beard from Ice Emperor, all achieved the 20 level cap and were in the process of accumulating Evolution Elixirs. According to rumors, they had already identified the elixir source and would soon break through to the new realm.

Thus, it reveals a significant issue: the appellations for the realm levels are now insufficient!

At the beginning of the internal testing phase, everyone was at a low level with limited exposure to the game. Hence, there were three ranks: ordinary players, elite players, and godlike players. Because anyone above level 15 was considered highly skilled as they couldn’t possibly envision accumulating the astronomical experience needed to reach level 20 in less than a decade or so.

But now, barely two years later, not only are there players above level 20, many others have also encountered monsters and local wizards from the Star Spirit World who are above level 20. To maintain the existing level designations now seems inappropriate.

Therefore, this morning, the major guilds have jointly issued a statement, unifying the new appellations for the evolution levels of players. Players of levels 1-20 are sorted into three tiers: 1-10 for low-level players, 10-15 for mid-level players, and 15-20 for high-level players.

For those above level 20, appellations from the Star Spirit World are adopted, where the 20-25 level is considered the Epic Level, and 25-30 is the Legendary Level.

As for levels above 30, considering that no one has ever seen or heard of such creatures, they are considered non-existent for the time being. The issue will be addressed when it arises.

The second most heated news topic is ’the fall in housing prices’.

Due to the existence of spatial bags, everyone has the opportunity to zero-cost acquire an estate to call their own, often comprising thousands of square feet of prime real estate.

Under such an impact, housing prices globally can no longer be stabilized by policy alone. The property bubble worldwide has been forcibly burst, and housing prices everywhere have dropped sharply.

On the contrary, the prices of goods have started to rise rapidly. The addition of the lifespan system is equivalent to stuffing a few hundred thousand cash into the hands of every person worldwide. The increase in purchasing power naturally leads to a rise in prices.

However, this is only temporary. After the initial vengeful spending, people would soon realize spending lifespans as currency amounts to overdrawn futures. After all, everyone’s actual asseteness hasn’t changed.

With the introduction of magic leading to industrial upgrades and the rapid improvement of productivity in all sectors, the future commodity prices will decrease gradually until stability is achieved.

The third most heated topic is a mobile software called ’New Era’.

This is a software developed by the nation for collecting player information, serving as a ’ID card’ of the New Era. All domestic citizens are required to download it, apply for an account, and input their real and player information, such as their ID, relics, known magic, etc. And every time a new magic is obtained, they must register in the software in real time before using it.

Of course, you could choose to hide your power, but the price would be severe penalties if your unregistered abilities caused harm to society.

There’s not much to say about this software as nations all over the world are developing it. Some magic is indeed too harmful, and it would be quite problematic if it weren’t limited.

In the following two days, Mu You spent daytime completing tasks and the nights gaming. His two days went by in busyness.

When leaving the office on Saturday afternoon, Zhang Yang suddenly called out to him and mysteriously pulled him aside.

"Two matters, first one, where are you in the game right now? Are you near a coastal city?"

"Not really close, why?" Mu You looked weirded out. Will this question be about...

Just as expected, Zhang Yang spoke in the next second,"You must know that heavy checkpoints are set in water, land, and air routes in the empire. Infiltration and disguise will be checked, and all bags will be thoroughly inspected. Even spatial equipment hidden in the body will be exposed. It’s pretty much impossible to approach the Imperial Capital by the usual means...but it seems that our upper hierarchy managed to procure a transport route. It’s said that a ship can take players in the coastal region directly into the capital of the empire...This news must be kept secret. We need to select trustworthy players to board the ship. Would you like a ticket?"

"Um, I...don’t need it." Mu You shakes his head with mixed feelings, not expecting an actual ticket opportunity to literally land on his own doorstep.

"Hmm, are you sure?" Zhang Yang looked surprised. He did not expect Mu You to refuse so directly.

"Have you forgotten? I have the Thousand Faces ability, and it’s not difficult to infiltrate the Imperial Capital. Leave the opportunity for others." Mu You said.

"Oh, right..." Zhang Yang immediately realized. The Thousand Faces was something he personally gave to Mu You. Back then, he felt Mu You had made a loss spending so many points on it. However, looking back right now, it seems the Thousand Faces is really worth it.

"And the second thing?" Mu You asked.

"The second matter, we have located the Remnants of the Illuminati!"

"Oh?"

Mu You was moved. He had just told Sagittarius about this issue at the meeting on Thursday, and no more than two days had passed before there was already news.

"Where is it?" Mu You asked.

"It is top secret. Tonight, the godlike players of the Dragon Team will start and prepare to hit the Illuminati hard. You are one of the invited personnel. But if you decide to participate, only then can I tell you." Zhang Yang said.

That’s quite fast...

Mu You thought for a moment then nodded, "Alright, I will participate."

To be honest, his participation doesn’t really impact the overall situation. His main reason for going is to confirm Taurus Bull’s death and find out the whereabouts of the Taurus Bull Ring.