[Full Server Announcement]
[Congratulations to the 13th World players for clearing the instance 'Love Apartment for the first time!]
As Chi Ting and the others were teleporting out, this first pass announcement was refreshed no less than ten times throughout the whole server.
In the safe areas of each zone, players passing by stopped in front of the large central screen and talked about it one after another.
"Finally, it is the first pass! Love Apartment? It was actually cleared by players of a new district. Is it a simple instance?"
"I am going to look at the sales price of the clearance strategy in the library. If it is cheap… F*k, 20 million points? Is this a bug?"
"The exchange price in the strategy library is 20 million. This means it is an instance with at least a four star or higher difficulty, right? If my memory serves, the 13th World has only been open for over two months. Is there a great god in the new area?"
"You haven't been in the forum lately? I heard that a newcomer awakened an exclusive companion. It is estimated that this newcomer was in that instance."
"F*k, an exclusive companion? Then after entering the Sanctuary, the big teams will probably go crazy!"
The group was busy talking and didn't notice the figure hurriedly passing by. He pushed open the door, walked into the roadside tea house, and went straight to the private box on the top floor.
Zhu Zhou of the Seven Seas team was now in a very bad mood. The instance that their team had been staring at for a long time had actually been cleared first!
Love Apartment created a desperate situation where the group had been wiped out ten times. As one of the first-pass organizations, their original plan was that they should aim for it next. He didn't expect something to happen to the team mid-way. He went to a three star instance to relax. Then he came here and saw the full server announcement about the first clearance. It was like a bolt from the blue!
"Captain—!" Zhu Zhou pushed open the door in a hurry and entered.
Before he spoke, the people in the room already knew what he wanted to say. "If you are talking about the first clearance announcement, we have already seen it."
"It is true. Nothing goes smoothly when things are already bad." Zhu Zhou rubbed his head fiercely. He jumped onto the sofa, and the ground seemed to shake slightly. "Old Eight is gone, and there is a shortage of people in the team. Even the first pass plan has been completely disrupted! We spent so much energy on it before, and it is purely useless!"
"It isn't completely useless."
The man in the box was Qiu Ji, the captain of the Seven Seas team. His eyes were staring at the empty air in front of him. He was obviously looking at the virtual panel. It was only at this time that his eyes regained focus, and he looked at Zhu Zhou. "You just came here. Perhaps you don't know that in the team that cleared the Love Apartment instance this time, a newcomer awakened and gained exclusive companions. According to the description in the forum, it should belong to a personal skill of the summoning type. I just bought the instance clearing video. I will watch it and consider if they are suitable…"
Zhu Zhou understood the meaning of Qiu Ji's words and couldn't help being stunned for a moment. "No, Captain, do you want to pull a new person to fill the position of Old Eight? An exclusive companion is indeed very scarce, but it will take at least a month to go from the 13th World to the Sanctuary, right? Taking a step back, the personal skill of the summoning type is extremely difficult to master. No matter how talented this person is, they are still a newcomer. We have long been accustomed to cooperating with Old Eight. We don't have time to guide a newcomer and guide them from scratch."
"I will decide whether the person is suitable or not." Qiu Ji glanced at Zhu Zhou. There wasn't much change in his expression, but one look was enough to shut up his team members. "Okay, you should be tired after returning from the instance. Go and rest first."
The corners of Zhu Zhou's mouth twitched, but he didn't say anything else. He stood up with a bad face.
Just as he walked to the door, he heard Qiu Ji say again, "We are all heartbroken about Old Eight, but people can't be resurrected. He should also hope that you can continue to look forward. His place always needs to be replaced by someone."
Zhu Zhou's back stiffened slightly. Finally, he muttered unwillingly, "In any case, in my heart, no one can be stronger than Old Eight!"
Qiu Ji watched the figure disappear around the corner and sighed helplessly. His face was quite haggard.
He adjusted his mood and readjusted the virtual panel. He played the Love Apartment clearance video that he had just purchased.
20 million points.
For many people, it might be a sky-high price, but it was just a number for a captain of a top team like Seven Seas.
Qiu Ji fast-forwarded to the place where Chi Ting took out the exclusive companion item. His eyes stayed on this scene for a long time. Then after a while, he logged into the live stream platform to find the brand new account and clicked on the 'start stream' reminder.
On the other side, everyone who appeared at the 13th World exit teleportation point slowly opened their eyes.
They had just gone through a series of settlements. It seemed long, but they felt it was just for a moment. Then they opened their eyes again at this moment. Rather than the surprise of seeing the first clearance announcement, everyone's faces were full of unspeakable horror. Not far in front of them, a tall man was observing everything around him with interest.
"I… I… I… I'm not dreaming, am I? Have we not come out yet? Are we still in the instance?" Li Tao looked at Yue Ren, who appeared in front of him. He pinched himself hard in a daze. Wow, not only did he not wake up in the pain, but he suddenly felt more doubtful about life.
No, they should've indeed come out. The first clearance announcement just now wasn't his dream at all. But… what was going on with this man in front of him?
Yue Ren heard the voice and looked back.
A smile suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he walked over. "It shouldn't be my imagination. You don't seem to want to see me?"
The danger radar made Li Tao feel a chill. He instinctively moved behind Chi Ting."Brother Chi!"
Chi Ting had been looking at his shadow thoughtfully since just now. At this time, he took a step forward and stopped in the middle of the two of them.
He raised his eyes to meet Yue Ren's gaze. He pondered on it for a moment before asking, "So, is this what you mean by a bit of effort?"
With these words, he successfully attracted the attention of Yue Ren that had been on Li Tao.
He looked at Chi Ting and laughed openly. "I didn't lie to you. Isn't it very simple?"
Chi Ting looked at Yue Ren calmly and without words.
It was undoubtedly very simple, but no matter how simple it was, what was more serious was the series of possibilities behind it.
At that time, it could be said to be an instinctive reaction. If he knew in advance that his hand could bring out a very dangerous NPC in the instance, Chi Ting felt that he would definitely weigh it well.
After all, he could actually feel that this man's existence was indeed not too friendly to humans.
"You came out with my shadow." Chi Ting confirmed again.
Yue Ren nodded. "That's right.
Chi Ting thought for a moment before asking, "Why me?"
Judging from the situation in the instance, they were obviously not the first batch of players who came to the Love Apartment. This also meant that as long as Yue Ren was willing, he could guide any player to pass the level on purpose and use this method to bring himself out of the instance.
So why him?
Such words fell into the ears of the others like a dumb riddle, and Yue Ren understood it instantly.
He looked at Chi Ting, and the corners of his mouth curved up meaningfully. "I seem to have told you this. I am a picky eater, especially when it comes to partners. Everyone's shadow actually has a different taste. Some of them are really disgusting. However, I like Mr Chi's shadow very much."
Chi Ting asked, "You mean, because you like me, you want to come to my world?"
He felt that this statement was a bit ambiguous, but Yue Ren still nodded. "There is no problem with understanding it this way."
Chi Ting asked again, "Then after coming this way, what are your next plans?"
Yue Ren was very frank about this. "I haven't thought about it yet."
"Since you haven't thought about it, do you want to listen to my idea first?"
Chi Ting looked directly into Yue Ren's eyes, and a smile appeared on his face. "Since I invited you here, I always feel that I should be responsible for you. In view of Mr Yue Ren's previous actions, I think the best thing for you to do next is to continue staying by my side. This is probably good for you, me, and even other players."
Once these words came out, the beads in Chi Ting's hands had already flown out like a snake.
In an instant, it wrapped around Yue Ren's wrist and suddenly shrunk. It was like a shackle that firmly bound the two people's hands together.
Chi Ting raised his hand with such force and directly pulled Yue Ren to his side. It was only then that he showed a satisfied smile. "Since you like me so much, you shouldn't want to refuse, right?"
Yue Ren was pulled so hard that he almost fell against Chi Ting's body. The distance was suddenly shortened, causing him to raise his eyes and scan the other person's beautiful face.
He was slightly stunned as his eyes swept over their locked wrists. There wasn't much irritation in his slight smile. "Of course not."
Chi Ting held the belief that he was responsible for the future of all humanity and made the decision to keep the biggest risk factor that he could see at present. At this time, seeing that Yue Ren wisely didn't resist, he showed a satisfied demeanor. "Okay, don't stick around here. Let's find a place to sit down first."
Ten minutes later, a roadside bar.
Li Tao stared blankly at the wrists of the two people in front of him who were wrapped together with the beads. It was obvious that he wasn't able to accept the reality he was facing.
So Yue Ren really came out?
He came out of the instance??
Xiang Xianwan and Gong Jing had already said goodbye and left.
Firstly, it was because the existence of Yue Ren really didn't make them dare to stay. The other was because they both knew very well how strong they were. They were grateful to be taken through the instance once. They were really too embarrassed to pester this bigshot and hold him back.
If Chi Ting hadn't explicitly refused, they would've wanted to give him all the clearance rewards for this instance before leaving as a token of gratitude.
The virtue of repaying kindness was indeed very rare in this unlimited world.
Of course, when Yue Ren glanced at them, Xiang Xianwan and Gong Jing ran away simply and neatly.
So in a daze, Li Tao became the only one left—the commentator.
Yue Ren seemed to be very satisfied with Li Tao's overwhelmed look.
He was almost dragged the whole way by Chi Ting pulling the beads. He walked two steps, pulled again, and took another two steps.
At this time, Yue Ren looked at Li Tao while drinking the sofa in the bottle with a straw. His other hand, which was bound, allowed him to feel the faint vibrations of the beads accompanying the actions of Chi Ting counting and reviewing the rewards.
He moved here, and he moved there. It was strange but very harmonious.
It took a long time for Chi Ting to count the rewards.
Any veteran players knew that the rewards for the first clearance of an instance and the rewards for a normal pass weren't on the same level at all.
Chi Ting and the others achieved a first clearance this time. The rewards sent by system emails were also extremely rich.
After a simple count, he found a lot of B-grade and C-grade items. There were even two A-grade items, not to mention that five million clearance points that he directly received.
Such gains could basically be regarded as rushing to a well-off life.
Chi Ting vaguely found that he seemed to have received two batches of point rewards, but he didn't pay much attention to it. After he looked through everything, he was caught by a very special existence.
Chi Ting had already seen playing cards while in the apartment.
However, the playing card in his hands seemed completely different from what he used to play in the apartment.
The material was very special. It wasn't paper, but it was very soft.
Chi Ting tried to use some force. He became surprised to find that even with his strength, he couldn't directly tear it apart.
Moreover, this playing card was obviously different from other items he got. He read the information from the virtual panel and found only one extremely simple explanation: instance clearance certificate.
Chi Ting looked at it repeatedly. Then he put the 10 of Hearts in front of Li Tao and asked very modestly, "What is the use of this thing?"
It took a while for Li Tao to recover from the shock of Yue Ren leaving the instance. After clearly seeing what Chi Ting showed him, Li Tao became shocked again. "Brother Chi, don't make trouble. Don't you know this thing?"
Chi Ting found it even stranger than him. "It is the first time I'm seeing it. Should I know it?"
In the instance, Chi Ting had mentioned he was a newcomer several times, but Li Tao never took it to heart. At this time, seeing that he didn't even know about the playing card, he finally couldn't help cursing. "Are you really a newcomer?"
Immediately afterward, he realized something and cursed a few times in a row. His shock was beyond words. "As a newcomer… your beads are exclusive companions?"
Chi Ting didn't know what an exclusive company was. At this time, he was more concerned about the card in his hand. "Don't care about the details. Let's talk about this first."
For the first time, he felt that the experience of being out of the instance was more exciting than being in the instance.
He adjusted his complicated emotions and spoke like an emotionless introduction machine, "The instance clearance certificate. As the name suggests, it is the symbol of honor after you clear the instance."
"Brother Chi, open the last item on the virtual panel. You should be able to see the dedicated card slots. If you got a Hearts card after clearing the first instance, it means that your world task is to collect all the Hearts cards. In other words, a total of 13 ordinary cards from A to K. Then if you want to complete the task, you need to add the two special cards, the jokers."
"This is the same for every player. For example, my card is Diamonds. I need to completely collect all of it to qualify to challenge the ultimate instance.
Chi Ting looked at the virtual panel according to what Li Tao said. Sure enough, he saw the corresponding interface. After putting in the 10 of Hearts, the card slot instantly lit up. The collection progress suddenly became (1/15).
Chi Ting asked, "Collecting 15 cards is enough? Isn't it quite simple?"
"No, it isn't simple at all."
Li Tao could understand what Chi Ting was thinking. After all, he had thought so when he came here over a month ago. "Except for the first instance card that determines the world task, the clearance certificates for all subsequent instances are randomly determined by the system. It isn't just the card number but also the suit. In addition, there is a difference in rarity for the number of the card. The higher the rarity, the more difficult it is to obtain."
"Brother Chi, this 10 of Hearts is already considered rare. If you go to the trading market, you will know that this card is already very expensive. Going further up, the J,Q, and K cards are hard to find. However, the basic deck can barely be obtained through trading. The special cards, the jokers, are really unattainable. It is rumored that only one of the great gods of the 1st World has successfully collected all the cards and entered the ultimate challenge."
"I see." Chi Ting didn't care about how difficult it was to collect cards. He just nodded and closed the virtual panel.
After all, there was no one else in his world. In comparison, perhaps this unlimited world was more humane.
Once Li Tao accepted the setting that Chi Ting was a newcomer, he suddenly became possessed with the spirit of an old mother and introduced eloquently, "Brother Chi, the place we are in now is called the 13th World. It is a new area that opened approximately two months ago. The 1st World I mentioned earlier is the first world since the creation of this game. Now it has expanded to 13. You can know how many years have passed."
"However, such an ordinary world is mainly used to simply solve the problems of food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Powerful players like you should make it into the top 1,000 of the personal rankings and go to the top as soon as possible."
Li Tao instinctively looked up when he said this. He was staring into the distance.
Chi Ting followed his gaze and raised his eyes. "The top?"
Li Tao's voice was full of yearning. "That's right. The Sanctuary."