In the grid of the travel panel, the item icon for the "Web Shooter" resembled a watch. A touch of the finger on the icon instantly popped up a series of small options.
Ke Mingye sipped some oat milk and clicked on the "View Item Description" option, and a panel the size of a palm appeared before his eyes.
[Equipment Name: Web Shooter]
[Equipment Strength: B- grade (this equipment can be modified and enhanced by betting Mall Coins)]
[Rarity: Unique (only one piece)]
[Equipment Description: A prop used by the protagonist Peter Parker in the famous superhero work from Parallel World No. 2, "Spider-Man".]
Beneath the description was a top view of the item, and players could move the perspective by sliding their finger to get a comprehensive view of the equipment's appearance.
Ke Mingye was already familiar with this, but he still took a quick look.
The Web Shooter's appearance resembled a "metal wrist guard," the difference being that it had a display the size of a watch on top, overall it was lightweight and sturdy, designed with a strong sense of technology. According to the description, the display could be used to check the time under normal conditions, but during battle, it could be used to check the remaining amount of webbing.
Players could use the [Appearance Settings] option below to adjust the color of the "Web Shooter": according to the system's settings, there were two color schemes to choose from, one was black, and the other was a mix of red and blue—seemingly generated based on the classic color scheme of the Spider-Man costume.
Moreover, they could also change the activation conditions of the Web Shooter through the [Trigger Mechanism Adjustment] option, with several conditions available to choose from, generally involving a special pressing gesture.
Ke Mingye couldn't be bothered to fuss over it and directly chose a gesture closest to that from the film "Spider-Man" as the trigger condition, mainly as a tribute to the classic.
A few videos were placed in the introduction panel, demonstrating how to use this equipment.
The protagonist in each video was Spider-Man himself, using the Web Shooter to shoot out webbing, grabbing it to swing between skyscrapers; using the Web Shooter to bind the limbs of villains with webs; and using the shot web to stick to a car, grabbing the webbing and tossing the car towards the villains.
All these kinds of usage methods were available, as if fearing that players wouldn't learn how to use this gadget.
Besides, this equipment could be upgraded and strengthened, not remaining static.
According to the item's description, by spending enough Mall Coins, the "Web Shooter" could be modified in many ways, such as: increasing "the maximum capacity of webbing," enhancing "the toughness of the webbing," adding "neurotoxicity" or "electric shock effects" to the shot webbing, and so on.
What bothered Ke Mingye more was that the "webbing fluid" needed for the shooter, once depleted, had to be purchased in the players' mall using Mall Coins.
But he still didn't know how to obtain Mall Coins. Would daily tasks refresh them? Or did players need to play instances, and currently, the game system had not provided any rewards for instances.
"Anyway, I'll find an open space after school to try out this thing."
Ke Mingye finished the last sip of oat milk through a straw, casually tossed it into a roadside trash bin, and exited the travel panel.
He then clicked on the "Friends Communication" icon in the upper right corner of his vision.
Rows of text entered his pupils.
[Among one hundred players, your serial number is NO.007, and the serial numbers of the three deceased players are NO.093 (Wilmer Hogue), NO.095 (Sean Cameron), NO.023 (Amemiya Kazuko).]
[According to system detection, the players currently in "China, Huanjing" with you total three, their codes respectively are: NO.039, NO.035, NO.032.]
[If you do not want other players to know your real name, you can choose to create a virtual ID the first time you enter the friends communication list.]
[Would you like to create an ID, or communicate with other players under your real name?]
Isn't this obvious? Ke Mingye blurted out, "Create."
[Please enter your ID on the panel, this ID cannot be changed, and other players will see this ID when they communicate with you in the communication list.]
Ke Mingye raised his eyebrows, walked into a deserted alley, and almost instantly thought of the ID "Failed Man", so he immediately typed it into the panel and submitted it.
This was a homophone for Spider-Man, which he slapped onto the keyboard in a flash.
[Are you sure you want to use "Failed Man" as your ID going forward?]
"Confirm."
Ke Mingye thought to himself, could he not fail since he was surrounded by eight Superhumans right from the start, all of whom were tough guys, which was no different from being in prison?
[Welcome to the Friends Communication List, Failed Man.]
[Your initial avatar is set to: Mario.]
[There are currently no friends in your list. Players must interact in person to add each other as friends. However, players in the same city can create a temporary discussion group before they become friends. Would you like to initiate a discussion group to include other players from the city?]
Ke Mingye bit off the last piece of bread and summoned the command.
"Initiate."
[Discussion group created successfully, other city players have been added to the group, all players can leave at any time.]
[You can mentally input and proofread text without needing to type.]
A neutral notification tone sounded, and a chat panel appeared in front of him. It was very user-friendly, pretty much like the group chat UI on WeChat.
Ke Mingye clicked on "Group Chat List" and glanced at the other members of the discussion group. Everyone had registered their IDs by then, no one was using their real names. The avatars were all default ones, Mario. After all, since they were using fake IDs, surely no one would upload a selfie as their avatar, right?
The IDs of the three people were "Fan Quan," "Good Ju Zipi," and "Undefined Dream."
He thought to himself, why are these IDs so abstract? Could they have randomly mashed the keyboard to create them? Especially the last one, it's too unconventional.
Ke Mingye tried inputting text with his mind, and clicked send.
[Failed Man: Hello, anyone up for teaming up to run an instance?]
No response.
[Failed Man: Where are your starting points? Are there many Superhumans at home?]
Still no response.
Ke Mingye had to get serious, he pushed himself to use his short essay writing skills, input, and send.
[Failed Man: How about this, let's take turns speaking, okay?]
[Failed Man: If Superhumans aren't extinct in a year, we will be, stop hesitating. In this tense period, we are a community of fate, got it?]
After sending this, no one in the discussion group still paid him any attention.
Ke Mingye, expressionless, typed a new line in the chat box, "If no one responds, your horses won't escape unscathed."
Ready to fire, his finger was about to send it.
But just then, suddenly a chat notification sound came into his ears.
Finally, someone noticed him.
He had never found the "ding" sound so pleasant, so he quietly retracted the finger he had on the send button, but the text he had typed in the chat box still went through.
[Undefined Dream: I'm an orphan.]
[Failed Man: If you don't reply, your horses won't escape unscathed.]
Ke Mingye was quick to retract.
[Notification: "Failed Man" has withdrawn a message.]
He glanced at the message from "Undefined Dream," casually typed a reply with his mind, and sent.
[Failed Man: Although I sympathize with you, what does that have to do with whether you have Superhumans at home?]
[Undefined Dream: Your mom, I mean the game character I'm using is an orphan, my starting point is in an orphanage, not that I was an orphan in my past life, get it?]
[Failed Man: Smée maase.]
[Failed Man: Now that you mention it, I get it. Are there Superhumans in the orphanage?]
[Undefined Dream: None.]
Seeing this line of text, Ke Mingye burst out a curse in vernacular.
"Damn."
He took a deep breath, and after a long while, with a look of utter dejection, he accepted a fact: "It turns out I'm the only one who started in hell surrounded by eight Superhumans."