[Congratulations, host, for completing your first world!] 001 was genuinely surprised that Tian Xi actually one-upped Gu Yuan at the end.
He started to think that Gu Yuan was probably not a very bright veteran until Tian Xi poured cold water on his parade.
'The only reason I beat him was because he underestimated me as the other host whom he'd thought never showed up in front of him. No one put up a true struggle against him for the top, after all, and my approach was too contradictory,' she patiently explained to 001.
She had great momentum in the beginning when she boosted Tian Corp's revenue by leaps and bounds, which undoubtedly made him put up his guard. The software she developed in the beginning was undeniably the work of a host as well, so he knew the host was situated in Tian Corp.
However, it could have been anyone.
The missions each host had could differ and they also could be the same. There was no real way to tell aside from being astute and figuring it all out for oneself.
When he had asked her who her developer was, she acted as the responsible temp-CEO who could not disclose confidential information, which efficiently shielded her from his question--there could have been an expert behind the scenes, or Tian Xi herself was a sly fox who was pretending to hide but was in fact out in the open all along.
Tian Xi knew that she was the most likely candidate for him but she made him truly disregard her when she proposed to him after boosting Tian Corp to such heights. Furthermore, no one else stood out even within her team of experts (obviously because none of them were actually hosts).
Why would he cross her off his list? Think about it. Right after their one-night stand, the arrogant diva Tian Xi quickly raised her status to match his so that she could propose marriage to the man who took her first time.
If her cover was too perfect, she would be too suspicious to him. Likewise, if she did not have enough evidence to prove that she wasn't a host, then she would also be too suspicious.
It took a hell of a lot of effort to maintain a good balance between too much and too little.
--is what she would like to say, but really everyone could see that she was either just sitting around or laying in Gu Yuan's bed most of the time.
Ultimately, she left him unable to confirm who exactly the host was until the very end. He he.
[Would you like to see your rewards and stats, host?] 001 asked.
'Of course.'
In the black and empty void space, her information was projected in front of her.
[List of Completed Missions and Tasks]
[Level 2 World Main Mission: Bring the family business to the top of the business world. Become the richest person in the world. Reward: 1000 points]
[Side Task 1: Be thoroughly fucked by Gu Yuan. Reward: 500 points]
[Side Task 2: Tongue-kiss Gu Yuan. Time Limit: 10 seconds. Reward: 200 points]
[Side Task 3: Watch a movie with Gu Yuan. Reward: 50 points]
[Side Task 4: Film a pornographic video. Reward: 150 points]
[Total points earned: 1900 points. Total points deducted: 0 points]
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[Host Stats]
System: 001
Name: Tian Xi
Age: 25
Class: C
Cumulative Points: 100,001 (+1900)
Points: 1900
Skill Points: 1
Skills: Hacking (max), Management (???)
Number of Worlds Completed: 1
Stats: INT - 87/100 STR - 36/100 AGI - 32/100 Charm (CRM) - 92/100 VIT - 40/100 LCK - 2/100
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'...are side tasks always this immoral?' Tian Xi's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
If her partner hadn't been Gu Yuan but someone less skilled, she'd rather her soul have been obliterated after the first task.
She initially thought Task 3 was surprisingly normal until Gu Yuan suggested an adult movie to watch, which resulted in a strenuous act between man and woman.
[Host, Side Tasks vary according to the Mission World. Maybe it was because the nature of that world was originally an adult soap opera.] 001 reasoned. It actually made sense when he put it that way...
Tian Xi sighed in resolution. At least she passed her first world. As for Gu Yuan, he was a veteran and didn't have to pass his "first" world since he probably had a surplus of points to begin with.
Hopefully, her second world wouldn't be as taxing as her first...She would prefer not having to deal with another host.
Unfortunately, by some weird twist of fate, the two were tied to each other for the next 1000 years.
[Transporting to Void World...] 001's masculine and robotic voice rang in her ears when she felt as if she was slammed into the reinforced steel wall and knocked out cold once again.
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When Tian Xi woke up next, there was a large digital countdown floating above.
[Void Countdown: 999 years 364999 days 18:59:24] Where the last number was decreasing by the second.
And right beside the countdown was a leaderboard. What made Tian Xi flip out was the name of the 3rdranker.
[Leaderboard]
[Rank 1: Han Li - 7200 points]
[Rank 2: Wen Ren - 4150 points]
[Rank 3: Gu Yuan - 3650 points]
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[Rank 6: Tian Xi - 1900 points]
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.....
...veterans are hacks! What's with the massive point gap ah?! As expected, veterans get to keep their class from the last competition and presumably a set amount of points as well.
The whole "random worlds" thing really made Tian Xi want to punch someone.
After all, she was forced to go up against one of those monsters for her FIRST!! Mission world!
FML!
[Host, that means that beating them would be much more satisfying then! Isn't that right?] 001 encouraged.
'...fine. It did feel pretty good when I beat Gu Yuan's ass in the end.' He ended up losing at least a thousand points for failing a level 2 world, he he.
[Ding! Competition Rules and Information Updated. Please review the info sheet.]
It was a worldwide announcement.
[Hosts are encouraged to complete as many missions in one void day as possible! One world = 6 void hours.]
[This means that each host can traverse a maximum of 4 times per one void day.]
'Oh.'
[Host, would you like to stay in the void world for a few minutes? What about going to the dojo or the school for some skills?]
Tian Xi was currently situated in the C Class lounge. She was seated on one of the benches at the side. There were only a few others around, at most 6. No one seemed to want to talk to each other even though everyone was a new host.
From the info sheet's classification system, she could gleam that it was almost impossible for any veteran's class to be lower than S. 1000 years is too long, unless they were super lazy and simply relaxed in the void world.
Looking at the leaderboard, Tian Xi could also assume that the number of veterans in this competition should be no more than 10. The number could even be decreased further if they failed their "first" world--especially so if that world was a level 3 or above.
It could be seen that the top 3 veterans must have started with at least 5000 points, while the others probably only had 1000. This could be assumed only because the disparity of the points was just too large even amongst the veterans. And all veterans were probably limited to level 2 worlds as their "first" world.
With her personal experience, she could even confidently say they were most probably also directly competing against each other in their respective worlds.
Tsk. Host vs host in the first world shouldn't be such a big deal for those guys, but why did they have to drag her into their battle too?!
The info sheet read that there would be 100 systems sent out, but there were only 87 ranks left on the leaderboard, revealing the number of hosts who failed their first mission whether or not they were veterans.
It was too easy to slip up and be obliterated, 'Yeah, pull up the system store.'
[Ding! System Store has been opened.]
[Categories: Dispensable Items, Indispensable Items, Soul-Bound Items, Room Passes, Real Estate]
She hovered her finger above "Room Passes," then there was a list of subscriptions displayed in front of her.
'Hissss....a monthly pass to the dojo costs 1000 points?! This is daylight robbery!' Yet she spent her points like drinking water anyway.
When she got to the dojo, there were numerous skills she could choose to learn. Of course, she could only start off at the beginner level, and it required one skill point for each level or new skill.
Some skills required a certain prerequisite like AGI higher than 90 for Teleportation and INT above 72 for Elemental Magic.
While those seemed interesting, unless one were to be thrown into a world where using magic wasn't considered OOC, what was the point in getting it immediately? Also, even in those worlds, the original body would henceforth have the ability to use magic already, so really, it was akin to a trash skill in Tian Xi's opinion.
That doesn't mean that she wouldn't squander on it later down the line, though.
Tian Xi preferred something more practical, since she wasn't sure what her next world would be. The only thing she knew was that she'd probably need some self-defense skills.
So she chose Taekwondo.
Completely learning a skill only took 1 void hour, no matter what skill or level--most likely due to the time difference between the dojo and the void world. It felt as if she were there for an entire two years instead of just an hour.
Not wanting to waste any more time and money now that she was done with the dojo, Tian Xi returned to the lounge to prepare to go to her next world. Yet, just as she got there, someone grabbed her waist and pulled her from behind, eliciting from her an instinctive spinning kick.
There was a familiar low and seductive chuckle as her ankle was caught with one hand still secured on her waist that kept her from falling, "I see you've been working hard, my little Xi..."
'QUICK, 001!!! TO THE NEXT WORLD!!! NOWWWW!!!'
[AHHH HOST GOOOOOOO!!!] 001 was also panicking because he knew how horrible of a thing Tian Xi did to Gu Yuan. Not only did she trick him, she betrayed him, damaged his pride and ego, and then even made him lose points and potentially the 1stranking spot! Ha ha...
Before Gu Yuan could do or say anything else, Tian Xi's figure disappeared as she was speedily thrown onto that damnable reinforced steel wall and knocked out cold.
This was the first time Tian Xi was so glad to reunite with that wall.
Meanwhile, Gu Yuan's eyes immediately darkened as he burst out laughing evilly, "You can't escape me, baby. I'll see you soon."
And he followed her to the next world like a vengeful ghost.