After Lu Jin sped on his bicycle for nearly half an hour, a barbed wire fence that surrounded the entire city and a steel gate that was about five to six meters tall appeared before his eyes.
In order to protect the City of Light from Fantasy World's electronic monsters and mist, a protective barrier had been specially set up. That was unlike the world before the mist.
Although that protective barrier was not very effective against the mist and was only positioned at the intersection between the misty zone and the city, it was excellent at blocking the electronic monsters which were completely unruly.
In addition, as the original design of Fantasy World was to prevent people's jobs and lives in the cities from being affected, they had planned for the electronic monsters to be active solely outside the city.
As 400 years had passed, some cities that had not been shrouded in mist had kept expanding. However, as more and more people entered the cities that were not shrouded in mist, the City of Light, which was small to begin with, had to expand rapidly. The current city area had already exceeded the safety limit that had been set 400 years ago.
Fortunately, the city area was not significantly over the safety limit. The electronic monsters near the city were relatively weak and were easily affected by electric currents. Typically, they would not venture near cities with powerful electric currents. Therefore, for many years, there were very few electronic monsters near the barrier. Furthermore, after the barrier had been virtualized, it had become a sky-scraping wall of fire. Regardless of whether they were electronic monsters or humans, they would have felt threatened.
Even if there were electronic monsters that had respawned within the barrier, the city's patrolling guardians would specially deal with them to prevent them from entering the city.
As he got closer to the steel gate, Lu Jin saw that there were thousands of people on both sides of the road. They were all like Lu Jin, either riding bicycles or electric scooters, and were carrying different types of bags. Some of them even had large suitcases, as if they were going on a trip. It was very lively.
A middle-aged man, who was close to 40 years old, was carrying a backpack and was followed by an electric hound. He saw Lu Jin approaching on his bicycle and could not help but greet him. "Young Lu, I haven't seen you these past few days. I thought that you had gone to another area. How about you come with us to the Mid-Zone to hunt?"
Lu Jin looked at the middle-aged man and his memories instantly surfaced. He shook his head with a smile. "Thank you, Uncle Li. However, I plan to experiment with my newly-bought equipment alone today, so I won't be going to the Mid-Mist Zone to hunt with you all."
Li Jianyuan was a warm and friendly man. Although he had not gotten past Level 10, he was a renowned Scavenger from the West Gate and had his own team.
When Lu Jin first became an Adventurer and ventured into the misty zone, he received Li Jianyuan's care and guidance, thus avoiding many unnecessary deaths and losses.
"Impressive, you actually changed your equipment!" Li Jianyuan could not help but size up Lu Jin's gloves and the 60 to 70 centimeters long metal sword that was hanging on his side. "The A3 sensory gloves and the A3 electronic sword! Did you strike gold?"
"I wish I did. I've saved up two years' worth of money for these two pieces of equipment." Lu Jin smiled wryly.
AR games were different from VR games. In VR games, players only needed a helmet for their spirits to be fully immersed in the world. AR games required a lot of equipment, and AR glasses were just the most fundamental ones. During battles, specialized equipment was required.
For example, sensory gloves and simulation weapons were essential items that allowed players to better simulate the build, texture and effectiveness of the weapons of Fantasy World. Furthermore, the higher the quality of the weapon, the better the simulation equipment that was required. Otherwise, they would not be able to produce the effects that they actually should have had, which would make their performance in battles weaker.
For example, the most fundamental A1 simulation equipment could only bring out 100% of the effects of Normal-type items and weapons in Fantasy World. Its effectiveness was significantly worse when used on Rare and Magical weapons which were better.
Scavengers were generally Adventurers who had not surpassed Level 10. As Rare-type equipment was mainstream in Fantasy World, A2-model simulation equipment was good enough for the Scavengers. Scavengers were typically unwilling to buy expensive A3-model simulation equipment as they were electronic products that could wear and tear over prolonged usage. They were completely consumables.
If it weren't for the fact that young Lu Jin had planned to venture into the Heavy-Mist Zone with the elite Scavenger team to collect more memory fragments and materials in order to advance to Level 11, he would not have bought the expensive simulation equipment which had cost 40,000 credits.
Otherwise, he would not even have had 100 units of memory fragments…
"Alright, but you have to be careful when you go in. I don't know what's wrong with the monsters these few days. They are very restless. If you encounter too many monsters alone, escape quickly." Li Jianyuan nodded his head and reminded him, "At our level, the price of recovery after losing a life is very high. You don't want to have worked for nothing for a week."
With that said, Li Jianyuan took his electronic hound back to his team and prepared to enter the misty zone.
At that moment, the guard who was stationed by the steel gate had also come to the entrance. He said loudly, "All of you, remember! The closing time of the gate is 9pm. After that time, you can only wait until 7am tomorrow morning to enter the city. Pay attention to the time!"
Experienced Scavengers were accustomed to the guard's reminder. On the other hand, the rookies had a look of disdain on their faces, as if they had not known about it at all.
"These rookies definitely wouldn't make it." The captain of the guards looked at those rookies, who were in their early twenties, with complete disdain. "Whatever, open the door!"
The misty zone had been enhanced by the AR Five-Senses Enhancement and Virtualization technology, which had increased visibility to 100 meters.
It was as if time never passed in the misty zone.
In the misty zone, it was difficult for a person to find their bearings. They could also be attacked by monsters at any time. They would enter a state of high alert even if they did not intend to. If they were too focused, with the narrow field of vision, it was easy for them to forget the passage of time, never mind the fact that they were only navigating within a range of a few kilometers' from the borders of the city.
It was not easy to travel through the rugged road and the vast forest that had been formed over the course of 400 years, let alone fight against monsters.
Even if it was just a one-kilometer journey, it was not unusual to have spent one hour to complete it.
Rookies often misjudged the distance and lost track of time. They only realized that they did not have enough time when they were on their way back, and had no choice but to spend the night outside the city.
It could be said that the night was when the monsters were the most active. Powerful monsters would start to move about. Even if the rookies spent the night beside the barrier, they would not feel good. If they were not careful, they could lose their life, which would lead them to suffer heavy losses.
That was also why the Scavengers rarely changed locations when they hunted outside the city. Normally, without familiarizing themselves with the area outside the city for a few years, they wouldn't think of roaming around freely in the area.
As the gate slowly opened, the Scavengers swarmed out of the gate.
"Hurry! The monsters in the Low-Zone should have just respawned! Before entering the Mid-Zone, clear out the areas where the monsters are gathered!"
"Follow me and don't fall behind. My electronic hound can sense monsters within 200 meters. We have to enter the Mid-Zone before the other teams!"
…
Lu Jin, who had just entered the gate, marveled at the scene that was before him.
A scene like that would definitely not be seen in the city. It was as lively as a market. Although Lu Jin, who had just arrived in this world, had seen such a scene in young Lu Jin's memory, he felt an indescribable sense of novelty when he witnessed it with his own eyes.
After a moment of amazement, Lu Jin did not dare to waste any more time. He immediately rode his bicycle towards the Heavy-Mist Zone that was five kilometers away from the city.
As he had internal testing rights, he could find out the locations of monsters within a one-kilometer range with the map exploration function. That way, it would be a lot easier to avoid monsters and head straight to the Heavy-Mist Zone.
In less than an hour, Lu Jin arrived at the Heavy-Mist Zone, which was deserted and was filled with powerful electronic monsters. Even his visibility had decreased to 70 to 80 meters.
"Is this the Heavy-Mist Zone?"
Lu Jin scanned his surroundings. Compared to the Mid-Zone, it was even darker after virtualization. It was as if he had arrived at a forest maze with different types of thorns surrounding him. It was difficult to detect the surrounding monsters through vision, which made the level of danger significantly higher.
However, that was no danger to Lu Jin. Soon, he spotted a lone monster on the map.
"I'll use you as a gauge!"
Lu Jin looked at the Level 10 Two-Headed Horned Serpent that was slithering around an ancient tree not far away. He instinctively drew out the simulated sword that was hanging on his side.
As soon as the simulated sword was in his hand, it instantly transformed into a Rare-type flaming lightsaber. He parked his bicycle at the side and walked over slowly.