Opening the post, Su Nan sees a game screenshot and a photo.
There's not much content in the game screenshot, just a game warning.
[Warning: The second bloodline you've merged with conflicts with the first one, and it will go out of control in 42 hours. Please find a solution ASAP.]
As for the photo, it shows a palm entirely covered in dark hair, looking like a bear paw at first glance.
What's strange is that the arm behind the bear paw belongs to a human!
"A bear paw? The poster's Photoshop skills are pretty good, I almost believed it."
"The second bloodline is out of control? This game just came out a week ago, and lots of people haven't even finished their novice tasks. How did you manage to merge the second bloodline, bro?"
"All hail the poster, I'm willing to call you the first person to lose control, please share your strategy!"
Players in the forum didn't pay much attention to the photoshopped bear paw, but many were surprised at how fast someone could merge with a second bloodline.
However, Su Nan looked at the photo with a strange expression.
He had just witnessed the White-robed Youth lose control within the game, leaving a deep impression on him.
Seeing this photo now, he couldn't help but feel like he was witnessing another person's loss of control.
"The one who photoshopped this so realistically must have seen an NPC losing control in-game."
As Su Nan took another look at the photo, he realized that the poster's username was "Xiao Feipao" and, coincidentally, they were in the same city.
"As far as I know, you can only get bloodlines from novice tasks and mainline tasks. Could it be that the poster has already completed the mainline task?"
"No hope, prepare to delete your account and start over, even the game's NPCs can't find a solution to losing control. How could an ordinary person find one?"
"You can tell from the background - once out of control, you'll turn into a mindless monster. Obviously, if you want to play this game well, you must ensure you don't lose control."
"Good luck, poster! I'll wait to see you find a solution."
"A three-minute silence for the poster."
Most of the replies in the thread were unhelpful, and Su Nan didn't pay much attention after skimming through them.
Loss of control wasn't his problem right now; he was more interested in how the rewards from completing novice tasks could help players.
He suspected the in-game map he was on was a high-level one, and to escape, he needed to strengthen himself as soon as possible.
"The game's task rewards mainly consist of bloodlines, demon sutras, and demon powers."
"Bloodlines and demon sutras complement each other: only after obtaining a demon bloodline can you cultivate the corresponding demon sutra. The improvement of a demon sutra's level increases the bloodline's power and thus enhances a player's strength."
"Demon power has a simpler role. As far as we know, it can be used to upgrade demon sutras, much like experience points in other games."
Due to the lack of players, there wasn't much useful information on the forums. After ten-plus minutes of browsing, Su Nan finally found some helpful information.
He now understood the game's mechanics.
To survive in the game world, enhancing one's strength was the primary goal, which relied on the three aspects of bloodlines, demon sutras, and demon power.
Bloodlines and demon sutras were hard to obtain, available only through novice and Mainline Tasks.
As for demon power, there were more ways to obtain it.
Daily Tasks were the primary source of demon power.
However, the demon power rewards for Daily Tasks were minimal – pitiful one-point rewards for a one-star task, and even a two-star task only offered three to five-points.
Moreover, most players found two-star tasks too difficult to complete.
"It turns out I really hit the jackpot by completing a four-star task." Su Nan's eyes flashed with a smile.
Without comparing, he would never know how incredible his rewards were.
A whopping 30 demon power points – other players would need to complete 6 to 10 two-star missions to obtain those.
"Seven-day deadline, Demon Art Mastery! I plan to establish a guild in the game. Interested brothers, please add me as a friend."
As Su Nan was about to leave the forum, a newly posted thread caught his attention.
The poster's name was Zhou Cheng.
Below the post was a game screenshot, clearly showing that Zhou Cheng had a demon sutra named "Green Wolf Sutra" with the word 'Perfection' added behind it.
"It's him!" Su Nan instantly realized who it was.
He had seen Zhou Cheng's earlier post before entering the game.
That post was published three days ago, when Zhou Cheng had just reached the Great Accomplishment level with his demon sutra.
"I don't know how many Demon Power Points it would take to raise the Demon Art from Great Accomplishment to Perfection, but one thing's for certain, the amount won't be small."
"Zhou Cheng really isn't simple, his speed of obtaining Demon Power is so fast." A different look appeared in Su Nan's eyes.
Now he knew that acquiring Demon Power in the game was not easy for players; it was quite hard for ordinary players to obtain even a single Demon Power Point.
"Great God is too incredible. I'm sure no one can surpass Great God Zhou right now."
"Great God, take me with you!"
"Add me, Great God. Please agree."
Zhou Cheng had already become a celebrity in the forum. With just a single call, his post had already received replies from dozens of players in a moment.
Zhou Cheng's achievements didn't make Su Nan envious. Instead, he was looking forward to seeing what level his own 30 Demon Power Points could raise the Demon Art to.
"It's ten o'clock. Time to sleep."
After logging out of the forum and checking the time, Su Nan didn't continue to wait for the login.
He had to work the next day, so he needed to rest early. Staying up late was not a good habit.
...
"Morning, Brother Nan!"
At 7:30 in the morning, Su Nan arrived at the hotel where he worked on time.
As soon as he arrived, a tall young man quite far away greeted him with a smile.
The young man was in his early twenties, eating a pancake with big bites while drinking soy milk. In addition, he was holding a hand-grabbing cake and a bowl of eight treasure congee. These were not for anyone else but his own breakfast.
Having a double portion of breakfast, this was Su Nan's colleague, Wang Chong.
Glancing at the breakfast in his hand, Su Nan commented, "At the rate you're eating, you're going to get fat."
"One portion is simply not enough." Wang Chong laughed and offered the uneaten hand-grabbing cake in his hand to Su Nan, "Brother Nan, do you want some?"
"No need, I've already eaten." Su Nan waved his hand, paused, and continued, "It's almost roll-call time. Hurry up and eat, then go change your clothes. If Fatty Li sees you like this, there's bound to be a scolding."
Upon hearing this, Wang Chong got a bit excited, "Am I even scared of him? I've been annoyed with that fatty for a while now. If it wasn't for you holding me back, I would have beaten him up already."
The Fatty Li mentioned by the two was the captain of the hotel security team. Actually, Fatty Li was not fat; to be precise, he was well-built. He was famous in the hotel as a fitness enthusiast, having built up quite a muscular body.
"I know you're tough. Just eat quickly." Su Nan smiled and walked with Wang Chong towards the changing room.
After changing into their security uniforms, they finished roll-call. After handing over duties to the night patrol colleagues, the two began their day's work.
Their work was simple, mainly responsible for the internal security patrol of the hotel. Occasionally, they would also be responsible for external security due to personnel shortages.
Under normal circumstances, their work would be very leisurely as long as there were no accidents.
At noon, Su Nan was eating in the staff cafeteria, with Wang Chong sitting next to him, eating and looking at his phone.
Suddenly, Wang Chong saw something and held the phone close to Su Nan, saying, "Brother Nan, someone died again in that river where you run every night."
"Someone died again? Did they kill themselves or commit suicide?" Su Nan was astonished.
The route he took for his nightly runs was built alongside a river. Whether it was due to people's lives being too stressful or other reasons, there were always individuals jumping into the river to commit suicide. The last suicide incident happened three months ago.
"Suicide. It is said that she drowned to death between eight and twelve last night. It was only discovered this morning by someone on their way to work."
"What a pity, she was a beauty." Wang Chong shook his head and sighed.
"A beauty? Drowned last night?" Su Nan was startled.
Suddenly, he thought of something and subconsciously looked at Wang Chong's phone.
It was a photo someone else had posted in Wang Chong's friend circle.
In the photo, several police officers at the riverside had set up a cordon, separating the onlookers. Two people in white coats were conducting a preliminary examination of a corpse.
The photo was taken from a distance, and it could only be vaguely seen that the corpse was a woman in a black dress.
"It's her!"
The moment he saw the corpse, Su Nan recognized the woman.
It was the woman who had collided with him while he was running last night.
The woman who was suspected of placing a game bracelet on him.
"How can it be? She really died!"
Su Nan's heart pounded wildly as he suddenly remembered the game's prompt when he logged in yesterday.