2022-11-06 10:04 Category: My Days Pretending to Be an NPC in Puzzle GamesTurn off the lights
All men outside are tigers; none of them can be trusted.
Of all the dungeons out there, this was the only one that truly resonated with me, and it turned out to be fake—a scammer!
Shengchun felt like a pitiful girl who had encountered a scumbag. She was screaming and shouting, while he was calm and collected, and perhaps even secretly mocked her naivety.
An inexplicable sense of shame made him feel like he was on fire.
"You! Player!"
Facing the berserk Sheng Chun, Ren Yifei remained unfazed. He knew Sheng Chun was in a terrible mood. But so what? Sheng Chun's power lay in awakening, yet Ren Yifei held his own.
At that time, the light cannons of the advanced civilization did indeed make Ren Yifei feel fear and trembling for a moment, but his fear was not to the point of awakening.
However, his body reacted, and he felt a strange power.
He didn't know how to describe it, but it reminded him of the bark painting on the sacred tree that had a particularly strong religious connotation.
Ren Yifei guessed that the 'Jiang' in the original world had already awakened, perhaps because his beliefs were impacted, or perhaps for some other reason. He must have already awakened, so it was only natural that Ren Yifei could upgrade his combat power and gain 'awakening' here.
Ren Yifei looked at Sheng Chun. Without the aura of awakening, both of them were practically useless in combat; no, Sheng Chun was even more fragile.
"I want to challenge you."
Having been in the Desolate Corner for so long, Ren Yifei has even built a deck around the Ghost cards, but he has never once battled a Ghost card. Legend says that identifying a Ghost card and then battling it out is the standard way to progress.
He'll try this standard procedure today.
Shengchun spread his wings, transforming into his noble appearance. Long hair covered one side of his face, and there was a kiss mark left by flames on his right hand. He was gloomy and dark.
The copies have begun to disappear. Whether it's the burning anthill or the incongruous interstellar saucer, they are all turning into white ash and flying away.
The NPCs stood still, their colors faded, and their bodies gradually cracked.
Ren Yifei, bow and arrow in hand, soared into the air. Sheng Chun, not to be outdone, drew a long sword from who-knows-where: "Die!"
However, aerial combat is more advantageous for a highly agile ranged fighter like Ren Yifei. Sheng Chun didn't even manage to scratch the hem of his clothes, but he himself almost got hit by an arrow.
Saman, on the ground, watched with fascination as Ren Yifei danced gracefully and dealt with the enemy with ease.
"Ghosts are no match for him. Ah Fei is weak in close combat due to his lack of strength, but once he gets his hands on a ranged weapon, he's the one who kills others," he thought to himself.
As Saman predicted, the ghost was shot down by several arrows, and with a bewildered feeling of reliving the nightmare, it unwillingly became Ren Yifei's ghost card.
SR: Moon Elf.
"There might not be any treasure chests this time," Ren Yifei muttered to himself, as he dropped the card.
No treasure chests mean no extra income, and for someone as unlucky as him, he missed another chance to test his luck. (For some reason, the more unlucky Ren Yifei realized he was, the more he enjoyed drawing cards and testing his luck.)
Four people died in this game: one was killed by the ghost because of Ren Yifei, one died during the wedding, and two others died while picking up scraps outside.
Besides the ghost, there are Ren Yifei, Saman, a gorilla player, and an archer player from the rebel faction.
"If those last two players hadn't tried to go outside to scavenge for scraps, they might have survived," Ren Yifei thought to himself.
But the next second he contradicted himself: "However, just trying to survive won't end well in the game; taking the initiative is the only way to increase your chances of survival."
"I didn't notice you." Saman walked over, his eyes filled with admiration, but his words were tinged with melancholy. "I didn't recognize you at first glance."
"..." Ren Yifei remained silent, only a slight smile playing on his lips. Neither 'Jiang' nor 'Gucheng' were recognized by Saman at first glance.
"Cough, if you could recognize me so easily every time, wouldn't I be a failure?" Ren Yifei put away his arrow, looked at the unconscious gorilla player not far away, shook his head, and turned back, "Why did you save me first back then?"
Anyone with eyes could see that Saman only had one chance to use the Ghost Card at that time. But he chose to send the Golden Armor Guard to protect Ren Yifei.
"You will save me," Samantha said matter-of-factly.
Seeing that Ren Yifei was about to retort, Saman changed the subject: "I recently found a restaurant that serves spicy food. Can Afei eat spicy food?"
Ren Yifei, who can't handle spicy food very well but loves it, didn't hesitate for a second: "Shall we set a time?"
"Okay." Afraid that Ren Yifei would change his mind, Saman immediately agreed. Finally, glancing at his expression, she asked in a low voice, "Does this count as a date?"
It's unfair for a tall, strong person to make that expectant dog-like face.
Ren Yifei put his hand on Saman's shoulder and defined himself as a "meal buddy".
Saman's eyes lit up: "Fellow foodies, fellow foodies, if we eat too much food from the same pot, won't we end up...right?"
He also reached out and put his hand on Ren Yifei's shoulder, but because of the height difference, the posture was a little awkward, so he moved his hand down to Ren Yifei's arm, which made it more interesting.
The wings are a bit in the way.
The two remained pressed together, watching the instance slowly dissipate. Behind them, the gorilla player finally woke up, looking around: "Where's that UFO? Where's my huge UFO?"
A player from the worker/civilian camp wiped his face and said, "Don't bother me, I'm choking on this dog food."
Another space fish transformed into a stream of light and dissipated, but the people looking up below had changed.
The new recruits in the desolate corner are replaced almost every month. For them, three chances to survive mean the difference between dying today and dying tomorrow.
Death is the most common thing in the desolate corner, more common than eating. After all, sometimes they may not be able to afford food, but they can certainly afford to die.
But today is special, because one of the top ten has passed away.
Early in the morning, when the eleventh place squeezed into the top ten, everyone noticed something was wrong.
Back then, Ren Yifei and his teammates were still outmaneuvering each other in the dungeon. Now, a whole day has passed, players are gradually emerging from the dungeon, more and more people know about it, and the discussions online are getting louder and louder.
"Hua Chaojiu, he died in the dungeon this morning. Within an hour, all his playthrough videos were taken down from the internet. In addition, all his assets were confiscated by the official authorities, even his mansion was taken away. It is said that his house full of women had nowhere to go, some of them ended up in prostitution, and others found other people as lovers."
"What about the ghost card in his courtyard?"
"The ghost card? The ghost card naturally disappeared along with its owner."
Ren Yifei only learned of this news after he returned.
Although people die every day in the Wasteland, the top ten have remained unchanged for almost a year. In the eyes of the players, they are like pillars of stability; as long as they are there, their hearts remain at ease.
Now, my heart is in turmoil.
"No matter how powerful you become, you still have to die."
"Shouldn't they have known about this from the beginning?" Ren Yifei asked curiously.
Do you think that just because you gave them three lives, the world isn't cruel anymore?
Compared to those horror game worlds where you only get one chance, Desolate Corner is just a beautiful mask over the reality of the killer. To think that the developers of Desolate Corner are doing good deeds is worse than being blind.
"Probably still young?" the guiding spirit guessed.
It has become accustomed to the players' daily madness. The top ten deaths are earth-shattering for the players, but for the system, they are just an annual routine.
If players live a few more years, they'll get used to it—if they can live that long.
"However, this year's top ten have indeed lived for a very long time." The guide spirit pulled out a row of data and compared them one by one. "Someone has stayed for seven years without dying. It seems that he is about to break the record for the 'longest-lived' dungeon player."
Ren Yifei was taken aback: "Broken the record in just seven years?"
How short is the average lifespan?
"Doesn't anyone choose to make a fortune and then retire?"
He calculated his savings and realized that even if he stopped playing games today, he could live comfortably for decades. The top ten (those with even more money) could live forever without playing games.
"Insufficient points," the guide sprite said.
"Um?"
"Points are settled at the end of each year, and those who do not meet the requirements will be removed. However, you already have enough points, so you don't have this problem."
Ren Yifei stroked his chin, suddenly thinking of craftsmen like Boss A Jin: "What about those who choose not to enter the game and instead do business outside?"
"For any registered business, the government will award points when collecting taxes. Even those who sell their bodies will receive points."
After thinking for a moment, the guiding spirit added, "The only thing to worry about might be those spouses or lovers who are kept at home. For the Wasteland, anything that can't contribute to its tax revenue is useless."
Ren Yifei: ...Are full-time housewives really that miserable?
"Enough with the nonsense, show me what we've got this time."
The guide spirit opens the rewards page: 40 points, 10,000 white shells, 10 silver shells, 5 gold shells, no treasure chests.
"This time, the Ghost Card only has a 47% affinity rating?" The guiding spirit seemed to have discovered a new continent. Such a low affinity rating would be perfectly normal for other players, but it was abnormal for Ren Yifei.
"Probably because I lied to him, I beat him up again," Ren Yifei said.
Guide Spirit: ...Fortunately, it didn't affect the Grand Slam results.
"Although this time the ghost card wasn't as impressive as the last one, it added a rather useful item and passive skill!" The naturally optimistic guide spirit quickly overlooked the disappointment of not getting a treasure chest; it always managed to find the bright spots in life.
Ren Yifei glanced at it; the first page was the somber Shengchun.
SR-rank Ghost Card: Moon Elf (47%)
Ignoring the ghost card, Ren Yifei's attention was drawn to one of the props.
Heart of the Moon Elf: When equipped, you will transform into a Moon Elf, possessing endless arrows and a mysterious attraction to dark creatures.
He remembered the player who transformed into a chimpanzee and never transformed back. Did that player also use an item similar to the 'Heart of the Moon Elf'?
Let's look at the other rewards:
Skill: Pheromones
Skill Activation: Passive skill. Automatically activates when you are near death. The nearest person will become your prisoner, willing to charge into battle for you and die for you.
Limitations: Applicable to any copy.
Rating: B (Don't associate with losers, that's my advice.)
Ren Yifei remained silent for a while, feeling that he probably wouldn't need to use this skill, so he continued reading.
Skill: Fake Identity
Skill activation: After killing a creature, you can steal its identity.
Limitations: Applicable to any copy.
Rating: B (People should have self-awareness; do you not know whether you can pretend or not?)
Ren Yifei's eyes lit up; this skill couldn't be more suitable for him.
He lacks this skill, but he doesn't know whether 'stealing identity' means completely becoming that person's character or merely acquiring their 'identity'.
If there's a chance in the next dungeon, I might give it a try.
Finally, there's one more item: a special upgrade gem for Ghost Cards.
Ren Yifei gave it to Grandma Chunzhi without even considering it.
Grandma Chunzhi's card has undergone some changes. The letter on it has changed from R to SR, the appearance is more detailed, and a faint shadow of a coffin has appeared behind it.
The pattern has changed, so the abilities should have changed too. However, he doesn't use the Ghost Cards much, so he really doesn't know what kind of abilities Granny Chunzhi has.
Ren Yifei still habitually relies on his own abilities and is not overly dependent on props, skills, or ghost cards.
Speaking of the ghost card, he remembered something. Ren Yifei had thought about this issue when he was exploring the fourth-floor laboratory.
"System, are there any restrictions on the use of Ghost Cards?" If there are no restrictions, then he only needs to carry the highest-level card, such as the Fallen Angel, and he can sweep the entire field.
"The use of Ghost Cards is rather complicated, but it is mainly affected by the environment. For example, the Star Goddess is naturally like a tiger with wings on the sea, and it is invincible. But if it goes to a desert, it is basically useless."
Ren Yifei nodded: "Then what restrictions would a fallen angel have?"
"Literally speaking, this dungeon needs to be based on Western legends for the cards to unleash their full power." Since the host rarely had so many questions, the guiding spirit naturally answered all his questions without reservation.
Other players would seriously study their strongest combat power, the Ghost Card, but Ren Yifei relied on his own efforts to get there and never thought about the Ghost Card, which led to his lack of common sense in this area.
The guide spirit has said a lot, but to summarize: the limitations of the Ghost Card need to be discovered by the cardholder himself. It mainly depends on the degree of fit with the environment. The better the fit, the more power it can exert.
However, one good thing about ghost cards is that, although the influence of the environment varies, they won't become useless like items when they enter an unsuitable world.
Ren Yifei pondered the words of the guiding spirit, wondering if he should ask the ghost cards to come out and find out what was going on. Just then, Saman contacted him.
There was only one sentence on it, but it left Ren Yifei stunned.
"Ten minutes ago, Nian Tianxi was confirmed dead. The official team may be purging a batch of high-level players soon. Be careful and don't log into the game for the next few days."
Author's Note: The Barren C
orner: It's the end of the year, and the sheep are fat.