Jia Hyson suddenly opens his eyes to the bustle of lively sounds and ocean waves.
Looking around, he sees he is standing in the middle of a lively port filled with tourists, seagulls, and smiles. For a moment, he really couldn't adjust to the scene. After all, it was so full of vitality, and the environment was refreshing with the crisp salty sea breeze, the white sands, and the bright blue oceans.
Unable to help himself, he almost instinctively moved to the jetty. Standing on the wooden pier, he looked over to admire the clear waters with lively little fish and coral. With his enhanced eyesight, he could see a little crab moving in the seaweed and even a sizeable eel that he couldn't recall the name of.
"Young master, are you alright?" An elderly man in a very British-style servant suit walks up and asks respectfully.
"I'm fine," Jia Hyson glances at him before waving away the other's concerns. "I just wanted to enjoy the novelty of the ocean."
"Very good, young master." The elderly servant replies, "But remember, we must head to the boat soon. You know the master is already upset with you, if you don't go back to the school soon-"
"Yes, yes," Jia Hyson waves off a bit more impatiently, his dark brown eyes flashing gold for a moment, causing the servant to shudder violently, as if he was staring at a fierce predator instead of the usually casual young master of the Jia Family. "You don't need to remind me, just let me have a minute."
[You're so irritable.] A white text box with an elegant gold outline appears in front of him. [Check your phone.]
Jia Hyson snorted before obediently doing so. Touching the sleek, brand-new phone, he was unable to stop tears from springing from his eyes. His emotions were stronger than seeing the pristine ocean.
Oh, it's been so long since he, a reluctantly reformed phone addict, had a working phone.
The mind is clearer but the memories come and go. It took a bit of hesitation and fiddling before the zombie emperor could find the button to turn the phone on. The phone was a sleek touchscreen with a vaguely familiar fruit logo, the phone cover was also surprisingly quite cute, a bright yellow with a little calico cat cartoon on it.
The character Jia Hyson plays is essentially himself, with some large differences in his background. This allowed him to slowly debut and establish his Wandering God NPC character backstory. Many powerful NPCs were similar, having instances based on different points in their lives or that mention them as an Easter egg for the more sensitive players, or even have a part of them as the final boss.
This was pretty typical of UF stories, Jia Hyson was fond of the genre along with QT* and transmigration stories, so after Pero explained the concept briefly he quickly understood. Together they created a fairly vague but workable backstory, with both of them being impressed by the other's storytelling craft.
*Quick Transmigration
Between the stage of mortality and becoming the Wandering God, there should be a minimum of five big life events that formed him. This was theoretically the third big event and currently Jia Hyson is set in his young adult years, about twenty-three years old.
In his backstory the biggest event of his 'life' was when he was a teenager which is the second event, but there was also a build up to there with the first event that occurred when he was a child. In contrast the third event is not as interesting but it was still a significant turning point. And Pero already had an instance on hand that was very suitable for it.
Of course, that wasn't technically the main reason why this instance was chosen. In fact, it was picked quite arbitrarily.
Just an hour ago, still lounging around in the deserted Four Wells Village Pero had given Jia Hyson three options.
[These are currently instances that are either new, undergoing updates or have some problems I planned to deal with anyway.] Pero had explained as three different light screens pull up in front of the zombie. [Therefore it's not too much trouble if anything goes wrong or off-track. Even if it goes well, but you don't like the general character background design for yourself, it's simply a matter of wiping out everyone.] The tone was very casual, as if it wasn't condemning players an unfair death.
To be honest, there are many instances happening simultaneously but those with complete wipeouts are ultimately quite rare given how the Metempsychotic System naturally balances things out. After all it was the type to ripen before harvesting, and there were also other reasons why it couldn't needlessly kill. But that didn't mean this sort of thing wasn't impossible or couldn't be manipulated, it just was not really worth the risk.
However, the system wasn't omnipotent and instances usually need to undergo some testing, not to mention, Pero really didn't have the boredom to carefully pick out who goes where so the instance assignments for most players were genuinely random. It was only those players it was interested in harvesting that it will try move to some more challenging instances for them, in hopes they'll die.
Therefore naturally there were times when the quality of players were too bad or someone accidentally triggered a secret mission that increased the difficulty more than they or anyone else there could handle. It wasn't common, but it wasn't a particularly rare circumstance either. Alternatively there were other reasons like a new instance that was being tested for difficulty, the boss or important NPC of an instance breaking free and releasing hell, or a murderous player killing everyone before getting killed themselves. These were all things that have happened many times but it was still a very, very small percentage.
Jia Hyson has some ideas on how the unlimited flow systems work given extensive reading experience however his brain was still a bit slow in recollecting the details and even then it wasn't even remotely comparable to the experiences the system had. Therefore the zombie didn't object to anything and let Pero pick out his options patiently and obediently.
Each light screen came with their own themed background. The leftmost screen had a lot of faded appearance like parchment with vague curse symbols and disturbing drawings in the background. On the opposite side it was much simpler yet maybe it was the simplicity that made it quite eerie, with its solid black background there was faint red bloodstains and if you looked closely at the bottom of the screen past the text you can see the bodies of children lying there, as if blanketed by shadows.
However the most eye-catching was the middle which was, in contrast a very bright and lively fantasy jungle theme. With bright green leaves and coconut palms, the most notable thing was a chubby cute unicorn posing gallantly in each corner of the screen, the tip of its horn a bloody red. If you looked closely the unicorns even had Cutie M*rks, one with a bleeding heart, one with two crossed guns, one with a beaker full of some sort of bubbling chemical and finally one with a black flower.
Jia Hyson: …Damn even the light screens have such personality. It was better than the posters made by professional advertisement firms.
Not that he remembers very well what they looked like. He just instinctively felt these light screens were definitely better. While he hadn't read the words yet he already noticed a few strange details around the design which indicated some hidden meanings and hints behind the art that went beyond simple aesthetic choices.
"You're really wasted in Unlimited Flow," Jia Hyson sighs emotionally, "Have you considered entering the art field instead?"
[Yes, but it's not very profitable.] Pero sighs back, [What are dreams? Can you eat them?]
…Oh, how dreadfully realistic.
Jia Hyson who managed to live incredibly well off his dream of being an author before the apocalypse smartly chose to say nothing and start reading the text boxes.
[High School Haunted House Party]
[A large group of highschoolers from Red Fern Highschool decide to do a large scale party in a famous haunted house. They say not only did four people died in the basement but there were even many haunted items that had been dumped here. Little do they know there's a conspiracy afoot. Can you survive the night?]
[Clear conditions: Survive until dawn.]
[Optional: Save Zhao Xuefeng]
[Optional: Save Nalan Chyou]
[Optional: Save Ming Bo]
[Optional: Save Hao Fan.]
[Optional: ???]
[Optional: ???]
[Optional: ???]
[Instance Rank: A]
Jia Hyson, looking at the last three optional tasks, raises an eyebrow, "Secret hidden missions? It's really interesting."
[To be honest there are also other hidden ways to gain achievements in an instance] Pero replies with faint helplessness, [But I've found many humans are the type who need to see there are things to strive for, even if they're the conditions are unknown, in order to work hard. The main hidden tasks are put up like this to show that there are indeed some.]
"So can you tell me what these tasks are then?" Jia Hyson asked with some intrigue. He wasn't the type who would cry over getting spoiled in advance, and he wasn't the type to die of curiosity either. But as long as the option to know was available with minimal problems, the zombie generally preferred to satisfy his curiosity.
[I will summarise the instances after you read them all.] Pero indulgently agrees. It wasn't like the zombie was a real player anyway, and besides, the idea of discussing and talking about it's instances felt quite novel.
Jia Hyson nods and moves his gaze to the next light screen.
[Unicorn Island]
[You are a live streamer on an expedition to the mysterious Unicorn Island. It is said the first people who discovered this place found the cure to all disease and old age, coming back younger and healthier than before. Since then, many people have rushed to Unicorn Island not only to find the treasures but also to admire its beautiful fantasy environment.
They say if you're pure of heart, the unicorns will find you. And if you aren't… the unicorns will also find you.]
[Clear conditions: Survive ten days on the island and take some good footage for your stream.]
[Optional: ???]
[Optional: ???]
[Optional: ???]
[Optional: ???]
[Instance Rank: ~E]
Jia Hyson: '…'
To be honest, in all his years as a reader of webnovels, he truly doesn't think he's heard of a unicorn-based instance. It was pretty interesting. Not to mention all the optional tasks were hidden.
Finally, he moves to the final screen.
[Weekdeaths]
[People die everyday. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… A Child born on Sunday shall be of long Life and obtain great Riches.
A Child born on Monday shall be weak, and of an effeminate Temper, and seldom come to Honour.
A Child born on Tuesday, shall be given up to the Inordinate Desire of Riches, and is in danger of dying by Violence.
A Child born on Wednesday, shall be given to the Study of Learning, and shall profit thereby.
A Child born on Thursday, shall arrive to great Honour.
A Child born on Friday, shall be of a strong Constitution, but very letcherous; and if it be a Female, she is in great danger of turning Whore.
A Child born on Saturday, shall be dull and heavy, and of a dogged Disposition, and seldom come to good.*]
[Clear conditions: Find these children and determine the murderer.]
[Optional: Save the innocent child.]
[Optional: ???]
[Instance Rank: C]
*the 1775 weekday poem by the original book of knowledge. The more traditional rhyme is this one:
Monday's child is fair of face
Tuesday's child is full of grace
Wednesday's child is full of woe
Thursday's child has far to go
Friday's child is loving and giving
Saturday's child works for its living
And a child that's born on the Sabbath day Is fair and wise and good and gay.
Touching his nose thoughtfully, Jia Hyson rereads the last screen again. In a way, it was the most intriguing instance, as it was the most vague. The optional mission also gave a lot of food for thought. After all, to save the innocent child… implies that there is something wrong with the other six. It gives one a little bit of a chill if you think about it too long.
All three instances though were each fascinating in their own right. Of course, in the perspective of a player, they would probably use other words to describe their emotions when seeing these summaries.
[The first instance, High School Haunted House Party, is a survival mystery instance.] Pero immediately begins to explain after noticing Jia Hyson was finished reading, [In this one you're randomly assigned a role and must find and protect key characters who will make it easier to piece together the plot. One of the characters is a traitor and is using the massacre in order to revive a certain spirit. If the spirit is successfully revived it's game over essentially, so there's no way to just focus on surviving the night.]
"Multiple enemies, limited space, the most hated bodyguard mission and mystery elements.." Jia Hyson sighs, "No wonder it's A-level."
[Of course a perfect completion of this instance will also produce an A-level or even S-level reward.] Pero responds logically, [If you find the traitors and thwart the evil spirit boss, you have a chance to get key character's items like Bai Li Wei's doll, Tian Shun's Book of Curses or Li Guiren's Gun.]
Recalling Jia Hyson's previous inquiries about the side missions, Pero also adds. [The optional tasks say they're optional but they're quite important and helps toward striving for a 100% completion rate of the instance. In this case, the optional tasks include dealing with a certain number of ghosts, saving a certain number of people and naturally, stopping the ritual.]
Jia Hyson nods in understanding. This sort of thing was on par with most UF world stories, so he didn't need much explaining. "Is 100% completion rate so good though?" He can't help but question, "Of course I'm sure the points earned would be more but naturally it's much harder to accomplish, right?" In his opinion, what were a few extra points if you were going to die. There was clearly a time limit which meant if you put yourself in hell mode and found yourself at a stalemate in the investigation, you had to live through it until the timer ran out.
In UF stories the protagonist will naturally go for the completionist route, whether it was on purpose or on accident, but in reality Jia Hyson was skeptical that there were too many who would be willing to try. Compared with the harder instances of High School Haunted House Party and Unicorn Island, where the minimum pass requirement was to survive within the time limit, one may argue the mystery-based instance Weekdeaths can be seen as more difficult. After all it implied there was no time limit and if it couldn't be solved you would be stuck there forever until you died. For those who aren't good at mysteries, picking up hints or even are sensitive to human emotions and lies, this was already quite a nightmarish scenario.
The system would most likely sell power ups in some sort of shop but it was hard to determine yet if they can do anything about brain power ah.
[It is.] Pero replies firmly, [Not just for the players but also for the final boss. The players earn sometimes triple the amount of points, and a good item drop is practically guaranteed, sometimes via the blessing of one of the important NPCs. The final boss… well, as long as you get that full completion and finish it in a way the final boss is satisfied, they also will get their own rewards, so while the process is tricky, one could argue that as long as it's done right, the final stretch while difficult may not necessarily be as life-threatening as one imagines.]
Processing this slowly, Jia Hyson faintly grasps some sort of understanding but at the same time doesn't. It seems there's multiple motivations here, and it is not just the players that are being manipulated.
Tsk, it was really intriguing ah.
The Metempsychotic system deftly changes the subject, [Unicorn Island in retrospect is much easier however there is various secret plots and players can explore freely. However at the same time players don't need to uncover them and as long as they survive ten days on Unicorn Island and shoot the assigned footage they will pass.]
Jia Hyson eyes brighten and can't help but lead forward subconsciously in interest for this instance plot. After all unicorns were seriously not a common theme in infinite flow or many stories that he had read. Even in movies or cartoons they weren't common in the horror genre, it would be pretty eye-opening to see how it could be scary in person.
Sensing the zombie emperor's interest, Pero simply obliged, a slight tinge of bragging in its tone. [Of course it's not that easy either. If the players are a salted fish they still have to be careful of the dangerous wildlife of Unicorn Island as well as being attacked by undead unicorns at night.]
[In the main plot there is a delicate balance on Unicorn Island that will break by the fourth day and requires players to hide under a presiding government group and help them with their medical research. This research revolves around a certain key item taken by the first expedition team.]
[Finding the item means you found the heart of the government base and allow you to trigger a hidden task to protect the base. By protecting them for the entire 10 days, you can gain the government group's gratitude and earn the item Diluted Drug U429, which is a strong healing drug. This favourability may also be valuable in the future.]
[There is also another hidden plot in the government group. There are two factions in the group, those that genuinely want to help create cures and those that want to control the unicorns into weapons or pets for their own greed. Generally all you have to do to complete this is to protect one of the groups, and also make sure the key item is in the group's hands so they can finish their respective research and dismantle the opposing faction.
Finding this plot point is not too hard, but it generally requires reaching a certain intimacy and trust with certain NPCs to trigger it. It's also possible to switch camps, but it'll trigger hostility from the betrayed camp if found. If you help the more virtuous medical camp, you gain the real Drug U429.
At full concentration, Drug U429 can help heal and regenerate a body even if all four limbs are lost. It can be said as long as the head is attached to at least 40% of the torso and the wounds are fairly fresh the person can be saved. Of course, it's only a one-use item.]
Whistling lowly, Jia Hyson didn't need all his brain power to understand the strong appeal of such an item in this infinite game full of horrors. As long as you aren't Insta-killed, this drug is essentially a second life.
[If you favor the militaristic group the benefits aren't as good. After all, this system still rewards good deeds and good people hehe. However you can get a one time use skill to summon a wild rampaging unicorn, which is still good.]
"Hmmm… between a life-saving tool and an untameable beast that could only serve as a distraction and unreliable attack.." Jia Hyson hums, "It turns out you still have to be kind in this world huh?" He asks with a slight mocking tone.
[There still needs to be morality and order in order to have immortality and chaos.] Pero states calmly, [In the end, even if I rely on fear and cruelty, encourage it even, I still provide reincarnation and hope. You can be bad, you can be evil, but you must also be willing to reap what you've sowed. Those that can't.. heh. Then it's my time to reap the rewards.]
This made sense. In the end the system was still a system and was constrained by certain laws. Otherwise why bother considering Jia Hyson as an option to help it in the first place?
The Metempsychotic System was like a sly fox in a hole. It was restricted by the hole and couldn't change the fact it was in a hole, however to grow stronger it will trick those who come close to fall in. Evil people and weak people were the easiest to fall to the malicious deceit, but the most delicious were the strong and the ones full of merit who generally can ignore or see through the lies.
This was the life it led, but now a snake has stumbled upon the fox, a snake able to climb the walls of the hole and hunt for the best prey. With a co-conspirator there was less need to wait so patiently.
Yet in the end the hole was still there and the fox was still stuck. Having a helper doesn't change that fact at all.
Of course this was just a convoluted metaphor and in reality, who is to say the 'fox' was really trapped at all, but instead actually chose to sit in the hole for convenience?
[The true ending of Unicorn Island though is to help the unicorns and possibly reach a consensus with them and the people. There are two 'traitors' in the government group who will do their best to help the unicorns. In the previous hidden plots one of the things is to stop the traitors, but in this plot you have to help them.
The government both under the name of medical science, and militaristic value have both ultimately captured unicorns to experiment on them, producing torturous and grotesque results. The key item must be taken from the governmental group and given to the Unicorn King. However, how can the people simply allow this? So once you manage to steal the key item, you have to defend not only against the ghost unicorns but also the experimental bodies the scientists release to find you.
The ghosts can't be hit by physical attacks, and the experimental bodies can only be temporarily put down since they all have strong regenerative properties. Not only that the government group can turn you into a terrorist among the eyes of the public and the unicorns who will see the disgusting experimental bodies made from their kin will be enraged and the island fauna and flora will enter an unprecedented animosity toward humans.]
Jia Hyson's eyes brighten with unrepressed joy, "Strong regenerative abilities? Does that mean we can theoretically keep eating them infinitely as long as we're careful?"
Pero: […] I'm here impressing you with the severe trials and tribulations one has to go to, in order to reach a true ending and all you can think about is your stomach.
[Heh.] The Metempsychotic system laughs coldly, [Don't you think about it, their energy to regenerate still has limits. As if I would delegate so much effort to a mere E-level instance.]
"So… you're saying that it's better to milk out the monsters in higher level instances." Jia Hyson smiles gently, "Makes sense, thank you for the advice."
As if understanding their master's words, the plants which had been previously doing all their own business of eating and propagating and finding good places to propagate, all lifted their vines, roots or leaves up in the air and wriggled happily as if also expressing their thanks. It was as cute as it was mocking.
Pero: […]
Forcibly choosing to not acknowledge this, the system begins to talk about the last instance option. [Finally, Weekdeaths is a mystery-type instance and is a little unique in that the death rate during the instance isn't as high as the failure rate.]
"Interesting specification." Jia Hyson notes, tilting his head and absentmindedly gazing at his plants which had still not stopped wriggling, "You say death rate in the instance and even seperate it from the failure rate, implying they are two different outcomes. Does that mean failure won't result in death or failure does cause death but not in the same sense as if you die during an instance?"
[Mhmm.. you can say that.] Pero hums, its voice smooth and emotional with only a slight robotic unnaturalness. If one didn't think too deeply into it, one could easily think of such a voice belonging to a handsome adult man. [Simply put, if you fail to achieve the main objective, you're simply forced to stay there until you do. Living the role set upon you, hiding from whatever dangers are already present, and enduring the hardships placed. However, there is one way to get out of an instance- through a 'Failure'.]
The system pauses before speaking again, voice underlined with a cruel satisfaction, [To be exact, it's renouncing all your points and killing yourself in order to leave.]
Jia Hyson understood the other's malicious intentions immediately. It wanted lives but the riper the better. For some reason a lot of what the Metempsychotic system has said made it seem like it was a bit easier for players to leave then what Jia Hyson generally assumes out of a UF system. He wasn't sure of the benefits for having this sort of setup but at the very least he can see the problems of it.
[Players are new teachers in Red Fern Highschool. The task is relatively simple to find the children listed, protect them from the murderer, and extra points for unravelling the core mystery of the murders as well as defeating the murderer.]
Red Fern Highschool… the first instance option also had students from this school.
Jia Hyson touches his nose and wonders silently how connected everything was. At the very least, this school must have something special about it.
[I see you noticed.] Pero praises mildly, [Yes. Unfortunately for the players, Red Fern High School is a school that not only is related to various instances but also holds multiple instances- both supernatural and natural. This naturally raises the difficultly as players will bump into other murderers and ghosts in the process which will hinder their investigation by a lot.]
Jia Hyson's mouth twitched. "It's really novel." He can't help but mildly praise back. However, from the perspective of one of the players… haha.
Honestly though, on further thought, from the perspective of the students in that school, it was probably even more pitiful.
The holographic screen sparkles in delight at the praise.
[Isn't it?] The words of the system seemed to be full of smugness and joy. [Not only does it provide a unique experience for the players, adding a chaos that those regulated UF Systems don't have, it also saves me a lot in terms of energy! Of course the world building and planning on interpersonal relationships was quite difficult, but I believe that the investment really paid off. Currently I'm working on a few more instances with a similar layering trait now that there's enough feedback data from Red Fern Highschool and a few other hotspots to determine it was indeed a satisfying result-]
As the system chatters brightly on, Jia Hyson's mind wanders. It wasn't on purpose, it was more habit than anything. Even if his mind has been rehydrated with nutrition, working faster than before, it was slippery and untethered, and it was difficult to maintain focus for long periods of time. Jia Hyson was once a writer, and it was normal to fantasise and let his imagination wild, but it was still controllable. However long periods of complacency, both due to a lack of much to do and the arrogance of being the most powerful, has made his restraint weak.
He looks at his plants who have gone back to eating and stares at the hypnotic lights of the egg sand. There is not much thought in his head, just a feeling of numbness, like white noise without the noise, a tangible feeling of nothingness. There is no strong imagination, or voice in his head, no images or scenes in his mind, and barely even processing the visual information his eyes received. Blank but present.
Such a delayed reaction was something Praespero quickly noticed after the initial high of sharing his good deeds with someone.
The Metempsychotic System was a little dissatisfied but it was still a system in its domain. And as the creator of the world, it could showcase a great deal of omnipotent traits such as evaluating and determining the other's current status, especially now that Jia Hyson had technically passed the first instance.
Thus it also had an idea on the other's unique mental state. It was one of the other reasons it chose to come to this partnership. A young pup is the best for raising but a weak beast can also be tamed quite well as well.
Not to mention, Pero has many instance bosses with various afflictions, ailments, tragedies and psychosis. Compared to many of them who tended toward uncontrollable behaviour, rebelliousness or simply held a sense of rejection to the system who represented 'control' or 'higher power', Jia Hyson with his problem of sluggish and occasional dazed behaviour, but was willing to negotiate and even give it his world was very cute. No. Extremely cute.
Under this consideration, Pero's mood improved again, and his tone became gentle and patient. "So, which instance do you want to go to? Either way, once you pick, we can sort out any details if we still want to make it part of your NPC background. The most important thing is finding a suitable host and familiarising yourself again with the world."
Jia Hyson blinks, and his golden eyes curved into crescents as he smiles, "Well, then, I choose…"