Shen Xingliu smiled and said, "'Street Gang' focuses on dungeon survival. They send people into the dungeons to live for a while, take photos and videos, and satisfy the residents' curiosity."
Cheng Tingyu's gaze fell upon the three new tenants.
They were meticulously groomed from head to toe, and on the surface, they didn't look like they were in need of overtime pay to go on a business trip.
Cheng Tingyu: "Is there any particular benefit to reporting this news for an individual?"
Her question was directed at both of her tablemates, but Wei Xugu's throat was hoarse, and he didn't feel like talking. In the end, it was Shen Xingliu who explained, "The issuance of citizen identities in F0631 City is very strict.
"Relocation between different districts is also restricted. Citizens of the central district can live in the outer district, but residents of the outer district need to submit an application and wait for approval to go to the central district. Moreover, they cannot stay for long. To obtain official central district residency, they need to accumulate enough contributions." After a pause, Shen Xingliu added, "The same applies for moving from the central district to the inner district."
Shen Xingliu: "These are the rules set by the earliest pioneers of F0631 City. To this day, their words still hang in the city hall of the inner city, 'Only through dedication can one reap rewards.'"
Cheng Tingyu slowly nodded.
Taking risks to improve one's own residential rights is also a reasonable justification.
The newcomers were a trio of two men and one woman. Their facial features bore a slight resemblance, making it easy to discern their familial ties.
After the three of them entered, they each went their separate ways and proactively started conversations with the diners in the cafeteria.
A well-dressed, handsome young man walked over to Cheng Tingyu's table and introduced himself: "Ji Shilu, an external reporter for 'Street Gang,' would like to interview you about the situation in Apartment No. 6."
Shen Xingliu thought for a moment and said, "I remember the boss of the 'Street Gang' has the surname Ji."
Ji Shilu's face showed a hint of a reserved smile, which could be taken as tacit acknowledgment of the neighboring guest's guess about his identity.
Cheng Tingyu had a slight understanding in his heart—F0631 was a city where population movement was significantly restricted, and some companies, when hiring employees, inevitably tended to choose people who were related to the boss by blood.
Ji Shilu sat down: "I want to ask, who among you has lived in the apartment the longest?"
As an insurance company employee, Shen Xingliu generally did not refuse interactions with residents: "It's me." Without waiting for Ji Shilu to ask further, he added, "But I cannot accept your interview."
Ji Shilu lightly furrowed his brow and said, "'The Street Gang' will cover the interview expenses."
Shen Xingliu shook his head: "Due to work constraints, I ask for your understanding."
Ji Shilu was somewhat surprised. He didn't see the work badge representing the employees of Apartment No. 6 on Shen Xingliu, but he quickly realized: "Are you an external agent of 'Screwdriver'?"
Shen Xingliu: "Our company offers various instance insurance services. You might want to consider it."
Ji Shilu didn't continue trying—if he really wanted to gather information from the "Screwdriver" employees, it wasn't entirely impossible, but he couldn't do it openly in the cafeteria hall..
Having failed in his first attempt, Ji Shilu turned to ask the other two people at the table.
Wei Xuguang's throat wasn't feeling very well, but basic communication wasn't a problem. Since Ji Shilu intended to conduct an interview, he shared the information he had told Cheng Tingyu yesterday with the interviewer in front of him.
Ji Shilu prepared a notebook but did not take any notes. Instead, he looked at Cheng Tingyu and asked, "How long have you been living here?"
Cheng Tingyu replied honestly, "I just arrived yesterday."
Ji Shilu stood up, closed his notebook, and nodded politely. "Thank you for your cooperation." He pulled out a stack of 1000-yen bills from his wallet and placed them in front of the three people, not leaving out Shen Xingliu, who had refused to answer. "This is a small token of appreciation."
"..."
Cheng Tingyu's gaze lingered on Ji Shilu for a moment, and he smiled slightly, "No need to be polite."
In her right eye, the basic information of the person in front of her was clearly displayed—
[Name: Ji Shilu]
[Ability: [*Currently Incubating*]]
Although she couldn't see the abilities of these people, identifying their names was still quite an easy task for Cheng Tingyu. At this moment, she had already seen that the two people who came with Ji Shilu were named Ji Shijiu and Ji Shiqi, both of whom exuded a strong family resemblance.
Cheng Tingyu already knew that if players cleared the dungeon, they could take away a portion of the dungeon's power. Ordinary people could do it too, but the power they took away would be less than that of the players.
Since that's the case, the three Ji siblings coming to Apartment No. 6, a place where they must stay for thirty days before they can leave, might not just be for writing reports or accumulating contributions.
An hour later, Ji Shilu and the other two regrouped, each having made some progress.
Ji Shiqi was a sharp and capable young woman. She said to her cousins, "A person named Wang Si added me to his contacts, claiming to be an employee of 'Plush Bear.' I've sent his information to you as well."
Ji Shijiu curled his lip and interjected, "I don't think we should need this person."
Ji Shiqi did not refute his brother's words and continued, "The staff told me that someone had just died on the sixth floor yesterday. According to my investigation, on average, one or two people die in the apartment every week. Even if we have [Exemption Passes] and [Chewable Coffee Candy], we might not be able to get out unscathed."
Ji Shilu: "Once you truly enter the instance, the [Exemption Pass] cannot be used to force an exit." He paused and added, "Moreover, the elders at home have warned that once you enter the apartment, don't think about forcibly leaving, lest you provoke an attack from the inspector."
Ji Shijiu: "Compared to ordinary people, the instance will prioritize capturing players. We haven't truly gained our abilities yet, so it's relatively safer." Then he raised the "Resident Guidelines" in his hand. "For a long time, Apartment No. 6 has been under the supervision of the inspection team. They must have mastered a way to stay safely. If we really encounter any problems, we should seek shelter from the staff immediately. After all, we all have official resident status in the central district, and they can't ignore us."
Ji Shiqi: "There might be some formidable individuals among the guests. Don't underestimate them."
Ji Shijiu scoffed, "I've inquired, most of the residents climb fewer than ten floors, it's hardly a concern."
Only one person could live in each room. Ji Shiqi was assigned to 504, Ji Shijiu to 501, and Ji Shilu was assigned to 604.
There are twelve rooms on each floor, but the staff doesn't fill all of them.
Although the apartment management discouraged residents from visiting each other, Ji Shilu, driven by a sense of vigilance in a dangerous area, still found a way to figure out who his neighbors were.
The tenant of 601 is named Zhang Zhuowei, an ordinary resident from the outer district who moved into the apartment due to his debt issues, having just arrived a week ago. 602 has been requisitioned by the staff, and sometimes a staff member named Qin Luosong stays there for a night. The owner of 603 is Shen Xingliu, an employee dispatched by the "Screwdriver" Insurance Company. 604 belongs to Ji Shilu. 605 is vacant, and the owner of 606 is Cheng Tingyu, who just moved in yesterday. Although Ji Shilu didn't inquire deeply, he did find out that Cheng Tingyu actually comes from the Wasteland District and doesn't even have official resident status in the outer district.
Room 607 is vacant, the owner of 608 is Wei Xu Gui, the owner of 609 is Tian You Qian, who has been living in the apartment for half a month, and the last rooms 610, 611, and 612 are all vacant.
The pale golden sunlight streamed through the window, casting a black shadow on the beige floor tiles.
Theoretically, the probability of being captured by the copy on the first night is very low, but there are always exceptions.
After realizing he had entered the game, Ji Shilu was not particularly flustered.
Although most residents of the central district would never encounter something as dangerous as entering a dungeon in their lifetime, Ji Shilu, due to family reasons, had already been taken to several safe Common dungeons, accumulating a certain amount of experience.
He quickly opened the shoe cabinet by the door and saw a pair of gray leather shoes and a pair of sneakers adorned with shiny stickers inside.
Ji Shilu let out a sigh of relief—the information in the copy was basically consistent with what he had learned.
Before entering Apartment No. 6, Ji Shilu had already conducted an investigation.
As a member of the Ji family, he lacked neither money nor forum credits, and the report he received was naturally much more detailed than that of someone who had just entered the city from the desolate zone.
——Just as many games have cheat codes, the game "Only Fools Reach the Hundredth Floor" has hidden tricks.
As the main setting of the instance, the actual height of the residential building is unknown. All participants refresh at Room 401. Each floor has two rooms, with the one labeled 01 being accessible, while the one labeled 02 is not.
Theoretically, every house with the last digits 01 hides quite a few tools, and 401, as the starting point, is considered the most thoroughly explored among them.
Before entering the instance, Ji Shilu knew that in the kitchen drawer there was a large piece of bread, a liter of mung bean porridge, and a liter of lemon juice. If you took one of these items, the other two would disappear. If a participant ate the bread, their health bar would recover, but their sanity value would decrease.
Drinking mung bean porridge can also restore health points and won't reduce sanity, but opening the can of mung bean porridge requires tools, which is too time-consuming.
So lemon juice is the best choice.
Lemon juice restores health less effectively than mung bean porridge and bread, but its refreshing taste has a certain effect on recovering sanity.
Ji Shilu felt a bit regretful in his heart. The internal information he had obtained showed that although past participants had tested the recovery effects of various items, there were no specific values. Given the current level of F0631 City, it was likely that only the big shots in the inner city had the powerful technology to quantify the data of these items.
In addition to the lemon juice placed in a relatively hidden spot, there was also a glass jar directly on the kitchen counter, filled with colorful candies.
Ji Shilu had been warned and knew that he could only eat one piece of candy each time he entered the instance; otherwise, it would have the same negative effect.
He quickly grabbed the lemon juice and candy, then changed into the sneakers by the entrance cabinet. These sneakers were also a prop, capable of making the wearer move even faster.
As an ordinary person who has not yet developed any abilities, Ji Shilu couldn't observe too much information. However, if it were Cheng Tingyu's gaze falling on the sneakers, he would definitely be able to identify the detailed information: "Rubber-soled sneakers from the shoe cabinet: can increase movement speed by 20%, reducing physical exertion during movement to 87% of the original."
From refreshing to leaving the room, he spent a total of fifty-two seconds.
Ji Shilu knew very well that a quick-moving person could reduce the time it took to leave the house to thirty seconds or even less.
However, today was only his first day entering the instance, so Ji Shilu felt he could afford to be a bit more lenient with his expectations.
Wearing sneakers, Ji Shilu climbed to the seventh floor in one go without stopping—actually, according to the information, there were some beneficial items in both 501 and 601, namely a bowl of iced cola and a motorcycle helmet that could definitely increase defense. Both items were good; the iced cola could restore health, sanity, and stamina, and the helmet could greatly enhance the participant's defense. However, searching for resources itself would consume a considerable amount of time.
Time is the most precious thing in the current scenario.