Chapter 25: 404.-Paraíso dos Deuses(Coelho medieval)

"I..."

The smile on Xu Kun's face froze instantly. He quickly waved for the secretary standing at the door to leave, then scrambled to stand up and pour tea for Chen Jiang, looking flustered as he tried to explain. "I... that is... um..."

Chen Jiang didn't say much. He simply stood up, picked up Xu Kun's application form from the table, and gave it a glance before turning to walk out of the office. "Follow me. I'm taking you somewhere where someone will explain the specifics to you."

"You'll be joining us for the next instance."

"Huh?"

Xu Kun was stunned for a moment before he realized what was happening. His face lit up with excitement and agitation as he nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes! I'll follow your lead, Brother Jiang!"

...

Within the courtyard in Zhaoge City.

Chen Jiang sat at the table, continuing to leaf through the confidential documents. He had to clear two more instances to officially become a player of "Paradise of Gods"; his current status was barely that of a novice.

Dumb Snake had woken up and was busy briefing Xu Kun on the general information.

After a while, Xu Kun nodded with a serious expression. "Understood. I will never reveal information about you two in the real world, and within the instances, I will strictly follow Brother Jiang's commands."

"Let's go."

Chen Jiang didn't add anything else. He hid the confidential documents in a secret compartment beneath the floorboards, crushed his cigarette, and tapped his wrist lightly.

The next moment—

The surrounding scene froze and shattered. When the image reassembled, they were already back inside the Paradise of Gods.

...

Instance 08029, Paradise of Gods Novice Plaza.

The familiar plaza.

Hundreds of players were standing around various pillars, querying information. Having moved past his initial entry, he no longer needed to head to the "Novice Guidance Center" and instead walked straight to the Player Shop.

He hadn't spent the Paradise Coins he earned last time.

Between him and Dumb Snake, they had a total of 1,120 coins each.

Opening the Player Shop now, he could see a much wider variety of items.

"Player Shop."

"Low-level Free Attribute Point *1 (Limited to use when an attribute is equal to or below 20)": Price 100 Paradise Coins.

"Name Change Card": Price 100 Paradise Coins.

"First Aid Bandage": Price 200 Paradise Coins.

"Team Formation Order": Price 200 Paradise Coins.

"Firearm Basics": Price 200 Paradise Coins.

"Racing Basics": Price 200 Paradise Coins.

"Lockpicking Basics": Price 200 Paradise Coins.

"Combat Basics": Price 200 Paradise Coins.

"Low-level Vampire Bloodline": Price 500 Paradise Coins. Enhances speed and recovery; fears sunlight. After choosing this bloodline, you can no longer purchase attribute points and will be rejected by certain gods.

"Low-level Werewolf Bloodline": Price 500 Paradise Coins. Explosive strength and moonlight enhancement. After choosing this bloodline, you can no longer purchase attribute points and will be rejected by certain gods.

"Space Bag": Price 500 Paradise Coins.

"First Aid Injection": Price 500 Paradise Coins.

"Mid-level Free Attribute Point *1 (Limited to use when an attribute is equal to or below 30)": Price 1,000 Paradise Coins.

"..."

Chen Jiang narrowed his eyes, scanning the dazzling array of goods in the shop as a plan began to form in his mind.

Many of these items were excellent.

For instance, the "First Aid Bandage" priced at 200 was extremely effective for treating external injuries and fractures, ensuring rapid recovery. Then there was the "First Aid Injection" for only 500, which could bring someone back to full health instantly, even if they were on their last breath.

However, for both the bandages and the injections, each player could only use one of each per instance.

There was also the "Space Bag," a small storage space that was essentially a godsend for a magician.

And then there were the bloodlines—the simplest and most intuitive way to enhance one's own strength.

The Team Formation Order allowed for the creation of a squad, which granted access to "Team Instances" with richer rewards. It was useless for now, as the Novice Plaza only featured simpler instances, with no "Team Instances" available.

He had 1,120 Paradise Coins in hand. Dumb Snake had the same amount.

He turned his head to look at Xu Kun. "How many coins do you have?"

"810."

"Transfer all your coins to me. I'll make the purchases."

"Alright!"

Xu Kun nodded even faster than Dumb Snake, afraid that even a moment's hesitation might lead to Brother Jiang kicking him out of the squad. After witnessing Chen Jiang's methods firsthand, he knew that holding onto such a powerful figure in the Paradise of Gods was worth more than anything else.

Not to mention, 800 of those coins had come from tagging along with Brother Jiang last time.

...

A total of 3,050 Paradise Coins.

Chen Jiang pondered for a moment.

He purchased three "First Aid Bandages" and three "First Aid Injections" to ensure they had a way to save their lives in an emergency; this alone cost 2,100 Paradise Coins.

After that, he bought one "Space Bag" and three "Name Change Cards."

That left him with 650 coins.

He kept the remaining 650 coins unspent, prepared to deal with any unexpected situations.

He walked to the pillar marked "Instance Entrance." The two pinned gray instances showed that their hidden tasks had already been completed and could not be entered again; his name was on both of them.

If someone who knew him in reality happened to appear in this Novice Plaza, seeing those names might lead them to identify him.

A name change was necessary.

He immediately changed his name in the Paradise of Gods to "A7."

"You two should change your names too. Anything will do."

Dumb Snake took a card and changed his name to "Y3."

"Er..."

Xu Kun, standing to the side, hesitated for a while before tentatively asking, "Brother Jiang, is there some sort of significance to your names? Do I need to use a combination of letters and numbers too?"

"No need," Chen Jiang said softly. "Just change it to anything. The main thing is to avoid leaking your real name."

"Understood."

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Kun changed his name to "404." "404 means 'not found.' I feel like it fits your magic philosophy, Brother Jiang..."

Dumb Snake glanced at him and said casually, "Uncle Ji would definitely think you're bad luck if he saw that."

"Who is Uncle Ji?"

Dumb Snake didn't reply.

On the pinned "Midnight City" instance, the names of the players who cleared it perfectly changed from Chen Jiang, Dumb Snake, and Xu Kun to "A7," "Y3," and "404."

Just then—

A screen suddenly appeared in the sky above the entire Novice Plaza.

"Large-scale Instance."

"All players who have completed any hidden task in the Novice Plaza may choose whether to participate in this instance. Please make your decision within 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, the instance will officially commence."

"Higher difficulty, richer rewards."

"Shall we go?" Dumb Snake asked, looking over at Chen Jiang.

"Yes."

After a moment of thought, Chen Jiang said softly, "We have a high chance of winning."

Players in the Novice Plaza wouldn't have enough coins to buy many items, and a single "Firearm Basics" cost 200 coins. With their advantages, they were effectively ahead of others by several mastery or even perfect-level skill books.

Naturally, they had to go.

...

Fifteen minutes later.

The surrounding scene gradually froze and shattered. When it reassembled, they had appeared in a dark alley in an unfamiliar city, and a panel popped up before them.

"Instance Name": Neon City.

"Instance Level": E-rank.

"Instance Content": This is a city inhabited by various monsters, superhumans, and other entities. It is fraught with danger. Players must not leave the city limits, or the mission will be considered a failure. Failure does not result in death, but all Paradise Coins, learned skills, attribute points, and items will be wiped clean.

There are 135 players in this instance.

The instance will last for a maximum of 3 months. If the main quest is not completed after 3 months, all players will fail the mission.

"Main Quest": Complete the mission when fewer than 10 players remain in the instance.

"Hidden Quest": Be the last surviving player in the instance.

"..."

Chen Jiang looked down at his player watch. A bird's-eye view map of the city appeared on the screen, with a red line encircling the city limits. Stepping across this line meant mission failure.

The layout of this city was somewhat similar to the last instance he participated in, "Midnight City."

It was also a city surrounded by a large river, and the only way out was across a grand bridge.

However...

This instance was far more brutal.

With 135 players in total, the main quest would only be completed when fewer than 10 remained. This meant that a lot of people had to die.

Failure didn't mean death, which meant that if one didn't have anything valuable, heading straight to the city's edge and voluntarily forfeiting to leave the instance would actually be the lowest-risk strategy.

At least they wouldn't die at the hands of other players.

The biggest problem now was that the city had a population of over a million. Finding the other players would be a challenge in itself.