[??? Under what circumstances did he refuse? He really refused!]
[Are you sure this is a newcomer? Did he read the strategy beforehand?]
[You just have to look at the number ID to know that he must be new.]
[It can only be said that his sensitivity is okay!]
[It feels like he can get out alive if the instance is changed. It is a pity.]
[It might be out of place, but it is really rare to see this expression on an NPC. I want to laugh hahaha!]
In the safe passage, the already strange atmosphere suddenly became very subtle. However, Chi Ting's eyes never moved away as he stared directly at the other person. There wasn't the slightest evasion or flickering in the pair of dark eyes.
Perhaps such explicit eyes were so sincere that Gloria eased slightly from the shock of being rejected. Her cherry-sized mouth pouted slightly. "However, I will be very sad if there is no doll."
As the captain of the core patrol team, Chi Ting had always been committed to maintaining world peace and protecting all humans. It was his lifelong wish to bring back the brilliance of 'love' to every corner of the world. If there was a little girl asking him for help pitifully, then there was no reason to refuse, no matter how he looked at it.
But only if—'she' was indeed a person.
The highest-tier predator tended to appear as prey.
The breath on this girl's body was all too familiar. It was just like the alien species he had often seen disguised as humans again and again.
He let out a long, "Ah—!" Judging from Chi Ting's expression, he seemed to empathize with Gloria's distress. At the same time, his good-looking eyebrows were furrowed together.
This was undoubtedly a very standard gesture of distress.
After a long period of thinking, just when Gloria almost thought he would be willing to agree to the request, Chi Ting raised his head again and pointed to the pile of waste cardboard boxes beside him. "But I am really busy. Even if I want to find it, this is probably the only place I can search for you. Why don't you come and take a look yourself?"
The attitude of his invitation could be described as very enthusiastic.
Gloria: "..."
She stared straight at Chi Ting. Gradually, all the anxiety, apprehension, and urgency in her eyes disappeared in an instant, leaving only emptiness.
At this moment, her voice lost any undulations. "However, I don't like to rummage through garbage."
Chi Ting looked at her and stopped smiling for a moment.
The curve of his mouth suddenly drooped. The intangible cultural history of 'face changing' was vividly presented with a loose and light demeanor. "Unfortunately, I don't like it either."
Gloria stared at him coldly. Her tone gradually lost all ups and downs. "Then do you want to be garbage?"
She was obviously close at hand, but the words that came out seemed to be both far and near in the surrounding environment. However, Chi Ting seemed unaware of this weirdness. He took two steps back and waved his hand in a very friendly manner. "Don't make trouble. Brother is very busy. Let's talk when we have time."
The moment these words came out, he heard a 'bang—!' as the door of the safe passage was slammed shut.
The moment when the resentful gaze was blocked, Chi Ting clearly found that the capture bar on the head of this NPC called Gloria jumped fiercely.
[Gloria's favorability -10.]
Instead of accepting the task to increase favorability, he gave away 10 points for nothing. Even so, not the slightest bit of regret appeared on Chi Ting's face.
He used his room card to open the door of his 'home' and turned on all the lights with a few clicks.
The moment he clearly saw the surrounding environment, there was a light that lit up in Chi Ting's eyes.
The simple and clear design style and the clean and neat furnishings made the apartment suite exude a warm atmosphere from the inside out under the soft lighting.
Was this what it felt like to have a 'home'?
Chi Ting was afraid of dirtying the floor inside and specially changed into slippers at the entrance. He put his fingers on the wall and gently stroked it. Then the few viewers in his live stream room watched him touch the entire suite from top to bottom.
In fact, many players who had just arrived at the new 'homes' were also doing the same actions.
Just then, the audience in the live stream room noticed that Chi Ting stopped suddenly.
He was standing at the entrance of the master bedroom. From this vantage point, the panoramic view of the suite could be clearly captured.
His beautiful eyebrows twisted slightly and made his expression a bit more inscrutable.
Then as the audience waited, they finally heard Chi Ting let out a sigh, expressing the emotions that had been brewing for a long time. "It is so good… if only I could really have such a house."
Listening to such a tone, it seemed he felt envious from the bottom of his heart.
The audience members who had already taken out their small notebooks and were preparing to record the clues of the new instance: "..."
The pressure of buying a house in modern life was indeed great, but shouldn't he wake up? Was the unlimited flow world a suitable place for daydreaming?
[Is it my illusion, but is this newcomer's brain circuits a bit wrong?]
[It isn't easy to buy a house. Stay in the instance and don't leave. I guarantee that you will get the right to use the house for life immediately.]
[…Seeing that he refused Gloria, I thought he was a master. I'm not sure, so I will look again. If not, I will change the live stream room.]
[Go ahead. I will withdraw first.]
Chi Ting didn't know there were only two people left in his live stream room where there weren't many people. He familiarized himself with the environment and returned to the hall. Then he sank deeply into the sofa in a very comfortable posture, fingers tapping lightly on the red stone for a while. If anyone familiar with him saw this, they would know that this was the consistent state of Captain Chi after entering work mode.
The light left a thin halo between the contours of his face. In the silence, everything he experienced after coming here was filtered very quickly through his mind like a revolving lantern.
The rules of the game that he heard in the lobby of the first floor actually weren't too much. They all sounded very basic, but there were actually many ambiguities.
Intuition told Chi Ting that the secret to clearing the instance was hidden in these rules.
First of all, this obviously wasn't a simple game.
The first rule emphasized 'carefully collect favorability tasks during the game'. This was a contradiction with the game itself. This game needed to increase the favorability of NPCs, but it reminded them to carefully accept the tasks. The only possibility was that the so-called favorability missions shouldn't be triggered as much as possible.
Then based on the contact with Gloria just now, all tasks could actually be refused. In other words, it would probably be reduced at the cost of favorability.
Secondly, as a novice player who had just entered the instance, Chi Ting's active area was limited to the 12th floor where he was currently located.
If the system tasks were given based on feasibility, Gloria's doll should be in the pile of cardboard boxes. Chi Ting didn't accept it, but he could guide her. But after the guidance, he could come to a second conclusion based on Gloria's reaction.
The third rule said that the 'favorability on the same floor reaching the green value will unlock the upper and lower floors.' He was afraid that it would also affect the NPCs in this building in the same way. At least at this stage, Gloria couldn't cross the cordon of the 13th floor to the 12 floor. She was only a short distance away from her doll, but she could only choose to ask him for help.
As for the last piece of information:
The initial favorability of all NPCS should be 100 points like Gloria. After deducting 10 points, the remaining 90 points of the capture strategy bar remained within the white threshold, not turning into a yellow state. This indicated that the favorability range of 90-100 was within the safe range. Further exploration was needed to determine when it would fall below the bottom line.
Chi Ting laughed.
He found that the game seemed to be much easier to play than he expected. He got a lot of good clues as soon as he arrived at 'home', which made him look forward to the next development in the instance.
He came all this way. He should naturally have fun.
In order to realize the first step of happiness, Chi Ting decided to have a full meal first.
Just now, he found that the refrigerator in the kitchen was fully stocked. They might be very common ingredients in peacetime, but in the end of the world where he had been living, it was almost impossible to find such uncontaminated fruits and vegetables. Even meat could only be stored for a long time in the form of a nutritious can.
Chi Ting never told his team members that one of his dreams was to one day return to ordinary life and become a gourmet chef.
Right now, every fresh ingredient in his eyes was very cute. He was busy in the kitchen with an apron. Gradually, a delicious fragrance faintly leaked out of the kitchen, and the table was filled with delicious food.
The two remaining viewers in the live stream room: "..."
Before this, no one could've imagined that they would one day watch a food show in an unlimited flow instance. But by this time, their interest wasn't in the clue collection at all. They inexplicably wanted to see how this newcomer would continue to play life games in this instance.
How to say it? It was really difficult to find players who knew how to enjoy life so much in the unlimited flow world.
Every dish had been cooked with great care. They wanted to cry to death about this rigorous attitude to life!
PART 2.
Sitting at the dining table, Chi Ting drank the fragrant broth before remembering to pick up the phone next to him.
Under the function of face recognition, the phone was successfully unlocked. He finally knew where the message notification sounds were coming from.
This was a chat group called 'Love Apartment Family.'
The number of people online was 65. Judging from the name notes, the people inside should be the apartment owners.
There were aunts in their 50s chatting in the group and couples with a couple's profile picture. No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like what an ordinary owner's group should look like. As for the players he met on the first floor today, none of them had appeared so far. Chi Ting thought that they should be quietly peeking at the phones in their hands at this time.
It was just like the system said. Those living in the Love Apartment seemed very close to each other. The relationship between neighbors was very friendly, and the chat content was basically helping each other. Even if some small problems were occasionally raised, there was no friction. It was quickly solved satisfactorily with the help of the property.
But when he thought of the little girl he met before, Chi Ting actually wasn't sure if those chatting behind their phones were all human beings.
He ate while scrolling through the chat records. When he was full, Chi Ting basically collected a lot of information related to NPCs.
For example, the person living next door to him in Room 1201 was a professional model. Her headshot was a strong budding rose. As long as she appeared in the group, she would always be sought after by many men and women. It was said that it was hard to get a ticket to her runway shows.
However, the owner of Room 1203, who lived on the other side of the corridor, never showed up.
Chi Ting opened the list of group members and looked through it. He found the one with an all-black profile picture.
1203-Blade.
He clicked on the Moments, but it was blank.
After he was full, Chi Ting felt that his mind was spinning again. He carefully cleaned the dishes and chopsticks before putting everything back in place. He lay back on the sofa very comfortably, and his legs raised slightly in a very natural position. He picked up his phone and slowly started to type.
[1202-Chi Ting: Hi, hello everyone ~^_^~]
This type of greeting was too natural, so natural that for a moment, the originally harmonious chat messages could clearly be seen freezing.
Chi Ting still maintained a very comfortable posture, as if he wasn't aware of the very delicate atmosphere in the group. He introduced himself enthusiastically.
[1202-Chi Ting: I am Xiao Ting, who just moved in today.]
[1202-Chi Ting: From now on, we will all be a family. I hope we can become good neighbors who love each other.]
[1202-Chi Ting: Get acquainted with me #rose# #rose# #rose# #rose#]
Then he continued to send the rose emoji in a tireless manner.
His diligence never failed. Some NPCs finally reacted.
[903-Grandma Wang: Welcome to this new neighbor. You look like a very enthusiastic young man.]
[1202-Chi Ting: Hello, Grandma. Come visit me more in the future when you are free.]
[903-Grandma Wang: Okay okay, it is just that the legs of this grandma aren't very convenient. You might need to make the trip at that time.]
[1202-Chi Ting: Yes, I will definitely go to the 9th floor to see you when I have a chance.]
One mouthful of 'Grandma' made Grandma Wang elated. Then the other NPCs finally recovered and started chatting together.
Seeing that the Love Apartment property management was also here, Chi Ting slowly entered the next step.
[1202-Chi Ting: Speaking of which, isn't Gloria here?]
[Love Property Management: Dear owner, are you asking about Gloria on the 13th floor? Can I ask why you are looking for her?]
[1202-Chi Ting: It's nothing. I didn't help her find a doll before, so I wanted to apologize to her.]
[Love Property Management: Oh, that is the case. Unfortunately, she isn't in the group.]
[1202-Chi Ting: Why? Isn't this a group of owners?]
[Love Property Management: Yes, but have you forgotten that she isn't an adult yet?]
Chi Ting: "..."
Okay, it was very reasonable.
It was at this time that the players quietly peeking at the group finally understood Chi Ting's intentions.
Someone had a keen sense of smell and came forward.
[1102-Li Hou: Hello, everyone. I am also a new owner who just moved in today.]
Li Hou appeared. Soon, the players who participated in the game today also appeared in the group one after another.
As the first player to adopt this type of operation, Chi Ting didn't feel worried at all about other people's way of following him. On the contrary, it would be too eye-catching if he was the only player in the group to show his head. Them appearing helped him stir up the muddy water.
What's more, it was a nice feeling to be able to help other people.
Of course, they should help each other as human beings.
Chi Ting continued to insert a few messages from time to time in the increasingly chaotic group chat, allowing him to quickly gather what he wanted to know.
There were a few keywords about the person in Room 1203:
Male, a corporate drone, didn't go home after work until after 10 p.m. every night, and he looked good.
Chi Ting used a small notebook to record the information and thoughtfully underlined the last one.
Being able to get such a unanimous evaluation from the NPCs made him have some expectations for the appearance of this Mr. Corporate Drone.
There might be a high possibility that the other person wasn't human, but at least the NPCs on this side were different from the alien species and could maintain a human appearance for a long time.
At this moment, his phone suddenly vibrated.
Chi Ting picked it up and was surprised to find that it was actually a friend request.
He clicked to accept it. The other person sent a message instantly and sounded very surprised.
[1502-Li Tao: Wow, I saw you sending group messages in the property group chat and wanted to give it a try. I didn't expect that we can really add friends on this phone!!!]
[1202-Chi Ting: Wow.]
[1502-Li Tao: …Why are you wowing?]
[1202-Chi Ting: Seeing how excited you were, I wanted to cooperate with you.]
Li Tao on the 15th floor: "..."
There was a pause, and he continued to send messages.
[1502-Li Tao: In short, we can use this contact method in the future and communicate at any time if there is any new situation.]
[1202-Chi Ting: Of course, my pleasure ~^_^~]
He didn't know why. It was obviously across the screen, but Li Tao still felt like he was blinded by Chi Ting's overly explicit kindness.
So how unscheming was this person to be full of kindness to others all the time?
Li Tao had passed through several instances, but it was really the first time he had seen someone like Chi Ting.
Still, it must be admitted that in such an unlimited flow world, it was definitely a good thing that someone could be kind to them—although this person was likely not to survive the first three episodes of a TV series.
Li Tao thought about it and decided to recruit Chi Ting as a partner in this instance. In order to get closer, the messages continued one after another without stopping.
[1502-Li Tao: I feel that our luck isn't bad. The death of the person who tried to escape was indeed a bit bloody, but judging from the current situation, this is indeed a warm-hearted capture strategy game.
[1502-Li Tao: Several of my neighbors on the same floor seem to be easy to talk to. Once I figure out how to increase their favorability to the green value, I will see the situation downstairs. If it goes well, I should soon be able to go to the 12th floor to see you.]
A warm-hearted capture strategy game?
Chi Ting thought of the little girl he met in the safe passage today and raised an eyebrow noncommittally.
Well, probably.
On this side, they got in touch through their mobile phones. However, the atmosphere of the live stream room was inexplicably depressing.
Due to the operation in taking the lead to join the owner group chat, the group of viewers who went to the live stream rooms of other players came back. Compared to the two people who added each other as friends, everyone's attention was on the content that Chi Ting had just recorded in his notebook.
[That… the 'corporate drone' he mentioned should be the one I thought of, right?]
[The NPCs on each floor will be refreshed every time the instance starts again. As a result, Gloria lives upstairs, and next door is… this is simply full of love from the instance!]
Absolutely, I'm already starting to suffocate after substituting myself in.]
[I hope this newcomer can stick around a bit longer. After all, it is really too difficult to collect effect clues from the instance designed by No 7?!!]
The messages from Li Tao continued.
[1502-Li Tao: What about your floor? Has the situation been determined?]
In the era that Chi Ting lived in, the identity of a 'corporate drone' that countless people yearned for had long become extinct. This made him only have a rough impression of this group of people based on the records from the top-secret archives.
They were positive people who could withstand the pressure of life. No matter what, they shouldn't have a bad personality.
So when a new group of people followed the trend and poured into the live stream room, they saw Chi Ting give a reply after thinking about it: [My neighbor should be easy to talk to as well.]
...
...
There was a moment of silence in the live stream room when the barrage broke out again: […No! You aren't wrong! He isn't easy to talk to at all!]