After the excitement, Ren Suo also calmed down.
Mo Zhaolong's incident had rung an alarm bell for him.
Mo Zhaolong's ability to suddenly put people to sleep was probably not due to external help—if it had been before, Ren Suo might have thought he had some high-tech device, but he had obtained a "One-Star Sleep Key" from Mo Zhaolong.
At this moment, Ren Suo knew that he should discard the worldview of an honor student and use a way of thinking that transcended reality to consider this matter—namely, a fantasizing mindset of an adolescent.
This world, this planet, was no longer that naive young lady in simple blue and white striped panties.
The Mini-World Game Console and Mo Zhaolong's anomalies indicated that there were special circumstances in this world that Ren Suo could not understand.
And then there was the Black Body Armor, powerful and mysteriously attractive to Ren Suo just like Mo Zhaolong, who was very likely also a "special talent."
With this thought, Ren Suo took out his phone and checked the recent news highlights.
Celebrity affairs, the president lashing out at feminists, village wedding bridesmaid tumult... Nothing out of the ordinary.
Ren Suo then visited the forums he frequently browsed and didn't see any news beyond his imagination.
"Could it be that Mo Zhaolong is a rare exception?" Ren Suo couldn't help but doubt whether he was getting carried away with his own fantasies, and at that moment, he noticed a new post on the forum:
"Does the Fairy Palace Assassin really exist?"
"Oh?" Ren Suo clicked on it out of curiosity, but the next second the forum system popped up a message: The post you are viewing does not exist.
Ren Suo was slightly startled, then quickly realized—there was an information control on the internet.
At least words like Fairy Palace Assassin and Ranpelrouge were not allowed for discussion.
Thanks to the explosive video "Assassin's Bloody Banquet," now the whole world knew about an organization in the East called Fairy Palace, where any assassin was essentially a super gunman, capable of taking on a hundred opponents alone.
Although the nation couldn't prevent the video from spreading, they could prohibit you from discussing the matter on other mainstream platforms, trying to minimize the impact of the incident as much as possible.
Even if netizens could exchange information in chat groups, without the fermentation on mainstream platforms like microblogs, news, and forums, the uproar would quickly subside and people's attention would be captivated by other newsworthy topics within a couple of days.
Ren Suo accessed foreign websites to try posting something like 'xiangongshashou,' and sure enough, it got blocked as well.
Not just Mysterious Country, but all major nations with a stake in the internet had implemented a blockade. Since they could control the information about the Fairy Palace Assassin, they naturally could control other similar 'special information.'
People like Mo Zhaolong with such 'talents' must still be 'rare examples' for now, not widespread enough worldwide to cause any turmoil. However, this also indicated one thing—under the calm skies, indeed something had happened, which is why countries around the globe tacitly cooperated to suppress the leakage of information.
If it were before, Ren Suo, just an ordinary citizen, would only drift along, becoming an insignificant pawn amidst the power struggles.
But now, he had the chance to step off the chessboard.
There were no lofty reasons; Ren Suo simply wished for himself and for his family to have a safe haven in the coming tide. For that, he needed to make himself 'irreplaceable'—Ren Suo knew he was a naturally lazy person who couldn't become a leader and was even scared of death.
However, all he needed to do was to acquire abilities through the Mini-World Game Console that would make him irreplaceable to the nation, to society, and to the people so that no matter what happened in the future, he would receive collective protection!
Upon opening the World Store, Ren Suo found that this month's "free game" in the list had turned gray. When he tried to enter, a prompt popped up: "This month's free game has been played to completion, please wait for next month's free game to refresh.
"Search" still cost 10 Merit Points per use, but Ren Suo looked at his current Merit Points: 14 points—spending one point to search for the One-Star Sleep Key.
Although he didn't know the value of Merit Points, he didn't dare spend them here since he hadn't yet found the interface to top-up. However, the "Search" interface no longer displayed the message 'You're too poor to search,' but instead 'Please enter the desired exclusive reward,' which confused Ren Suo.
However, perhaps because he had some Merit Points, a new category appeared in the World Store: "April Fool's Day Discount Items!"
April Fool's Day? Ren Suo was taken aback, only then remembering that it would be April 1st in two days.
"April Fool's Day discount items, from March 28th to March 31st, and from April 2nd to April 3rd, enjoy a 50% discount on the following games for five days."
So there are no discounts on April 1st itself...
All the games in this category, unsurprisingly, required payment in Merit Points, just as Ren Suo had guessed.
Even though Ren Suo wasn't wealthy, his desire to make purchases surged—because he couldn't even afford the discounted games.
"Infiltration" 50% OFF, 40 Merit Points; "Soul Ferrying" 50% OFF, 45 Merit Points; "Super Power Rampage" 50% OFF, 150 Merit Points...
"I only have 14 Merit Points!" Ren Suo was almost spitting blood. He didn't see "Assassin" here, nor did he know how expensive it was, but he was certain he couldn't afford it. "Isn't there some kind of beginner's pack?"
Even so, he may not have been able to purchase these games even if he had the money. For example, the game "Super Power Rampage" was clearly marked for Level 4 players and appeared grayed out.
Ren Suo noticed that these games were either available for purchase by Level 1 players or required Level 4—Levels 2 and 3 seemed to be just transitional, with Level 4 being a significant threshold.
As for whether there were games that required even higher levels to purchase, Ren Suo had not yet discovered any. But even so, after a quick perusal, he found at least hundreds of discounted games, and he couldn't find any information about these games online, so Ren Suo had no way of knowing how to play them.
At that moment, Ren Suo saw an option at the top of the category: "Show Only Purchasable Items," and he immediately ticked the option.
The myriad of games instantly dwindled to just one.
"If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters," 50% OFF, 8 Merit Points.
...This name looked pretty low-tier, even lower than Assassin.
But that was all Ren Suo could afford right now. If he didn't buy it, he would have to wait for next week's free game, complete it to earn more Merit Points, and then he might buy other games.
However, Ren Suo looked at the game's description and discovered a highlight:
"This game is a puzzle game. Players will embody a Truth Seeker climbing to the peak, where you will encounter countless extreme weather conditions and disasters, and the only thing you can rely on is your own body! Completing this game awards up to 40 Merit Points, with an exclusive reward of 'Physical Fitness Optimization.' There are in-game purchases, only one chapter with no future expansion chapters, game difficulty: One-Star."
40 Merit Points!
Ren Suo's eyes turned red with excitement, 8 Merit Points for 40 Merit Points, a 400% return!
As to whether he would lose out, Ren Suo didn't give it a second thought.
It's just a game, couldn't he reach a platinum completion?! Couldn't he beat this puzzle game?!
"I am a hardcore player!"