Chapter 14: The Art of Blending In Is a Skill in Itself.
As countless fragments converged once more, the surroundings had transformed back into the "Paradise of the Gods," that vast plaza.
Before Chen Jiang, a panel slowly materialized.
-
"Paradise Name": Midnight City.
"Paradise Difficulty": Grade F.
"Main Quest": Survive until dawn (Completed).
"Hidden Quest": Find the city exit (Completed).
"Quest Evaluation": You completed this dungeon by means bordering on the incredible. Rather than simply finishing the task, it felt more like a display of skill.
Yet one must admit, you have the credentials to show off.
You are the first player in the Paradise of the Gods to complete the hidden quest in this paradise.
Therefore, you receive an additional reward of 500 Paradise Coins.
"Reward Summary": 100 Paradise Coins for completing the main quest, 200 Paradise Coins for the hidden quest, plus an extra 500 Paradise Coins, totaling 800 Paradise Coins."
-
"..."
Standing in the central plaza of the Paradise of the Gods, Chen Jiang reviewed his haul. Beyond these 800 Paradise Coins, he had three other gains:
A skill book titled "Fundamentals of Firearms," an Uzi submachine gun, and a sacred relic favored by the god known as the "Master of the Paradise."
The true value of these three items was yet difficult to gauge.
Compared to the novice dungeons, this Grade F dungeon’s Paradise Coin reward was markedly higher. The coins earned from his previous dungeon runs remained unused, now accumulating to a total of 1,120 Paradise Coins.
Under normal circumstances—
Once the hidden quest of any dungeon is completed, that dungeon would be permanently closed, no longer accessible to others.
In other words, completing a dungeon’s hidden quest grants the rewards for both the hidden quest and for being the first to complete it.
If a player only finishes the main quest without the hidden quest, they would leave with a meager 100 Paradise Coins.
Chen Jiang then glanced at the other players scattered across the plaza.
He wouldn’t need to re-enter the Paradise of the Gods for the next month. After finishing a dungeon, a one-month cooldown period followed. Of course, he had no intention of lingering that long.
Immediately, he exited the Paradise of the Gods and returned to the real world.
...
In Chaoge City, inside a courtyard, Chen Jiang sat on a bench and stretched lazily. One month inside the dungeon equated to one day in reality. This dungeon had lasted only briefly, so just over half an hour had passed in the real world—the entire duration of his stay in the Paradise of the Gods.
The time flow between the Paradise of the Gods and reality was one to one.
He first gathered the scattered firearms in the courtyard and put them away inside a cabinet in the inner room. These were small toys he had originally intended to bring into the Paradise of the Gods but had been forbidden to do so.
Checking his wristwatch, Chen Jiang pondered briefly before heading out of the courtyard. "Let’s go."
---
"To school?"
A voice from behind, belonging to Silent Snake, spoke.
"Not today. We’re going to see Uncle Ji."
---
"Ha..."
In an office on a high-rise building in Chaoge City, a middle-aged man soaked through with sweat lay back in his boss chair, gasping for breath with a look of terror and relief in his eyes.
Surviving this dungeon was truly a stroke of luck; he silently thanked the heavens for his fortune!
But—
As the man gradually regained composure and looked at his dungeon completion results, his breathing quickened again.
This was only his second dungeon.
In the first novice dungeon, he had only completed the main quest and earned a pitiful 20 Paradise Coins.
How pitiful?
He had stood within the "Player Shop" area of the Paradise of the Gods plaza for a long while without seeing a single item. At first, he thought it was a bug, but later learned the shop only displayed items affordable to the player.
With his 20 Paradise Coins, he couldn’t buy a single item!
However!
After running the entire dungeon alongside Chen Jiang, this dungeon rewarded him with a full 800 Paradise Coins!
That was forty times the amount from his first dungeon!
Suddenly, he understood what it felt like to be wealthy overnight.
He also highly agreed with the dungeon’s rating, which contained only one brief line:
"You seem to have done nothing, yet you completed the dungeon perfectly."
Sometimes, just surviving is an art.
Otherwise, there had been five players at the start; why had the other two died, leaving only him to make it to the end?
Then, without hesitation, he pulled out his phone and immediately dialed his son’s number. The call connected quickly, and before his son could speak, he urgently asked, "You know someone named Chen Jiang, right?"
"Huh?"
His son’s confused voice came through the phone. "Yeah, I know him. How do you know?"
"Don’t worry about that for now. Who is he? Where did you meet him?"
"We met at university. He’s my college classmate."
"Classmate? College classmate!?"
The man’s voice rose involuntarily. After confirming once more, he took a deep breath and composed himself. "Remember this: you must maintain a good relationship with him, understand?"
---
After hanging up, the man paced anxiously in his office. About five minutes later, he summoned his secretary and hesitantly said, "My son has a college classmate named Chen Jiang. Find out everything you can about him."
"Immediately!"
"Understood."
The sharply dressed male secretary nodded seriously.
Ten minutes later, the secretary returned, placing a stack of paper documents on the man’s desk. "Boss, here is all the information we could gather."
"Good."
The man nodded and asked instinctively, "What connections did you pull to get this?"
Those in business often interacted with officials, and for matters not too sensitive, they could usually get some help.
"I opened a box for him."
"..."
The man froze in place, expressionless, staring at his secretary. After a long silence, he waved his hand dismissively. "Go on."
He hoped—
He hoped Brother Jiang wouldn’t be angered by this. Initially, he only wanted to know the man’s real-world identity and had no intention of opening a box...
...
Then the man sat back in his chair, leafing through the documents.
Nothing remarkable.
All the information was publicly available online; no secret or hidden data. To this, he felt a slight relief.
-
Name: Chen Jiang.
Male, 20 years old.
Orphaned from birth, placed by the government in the Chaoge City Orphanage. At age nine, adopted by a pastor. Since then, he never attended a social school and left few traces.
-
That was all.
Only the first page contained information; the following were blank sheets of A4 paper.
He didn’t know much else.
But he did know one thing: such racing skills could not have been honed within the city, nor could such calmness amid life-and-death crises be innate.