Chapter 26: A Civet Cat for the Crown Prince.
"..."
Chen Jiang glanced at the narrow alley they were in. There were only the three of them, and the smell wafting from the sewer was slightly pungent. He leaned on his cane and walked toward the mouth of the alley. "Time to work."
"Are we going to look for other players?"
"No, first, we make money."
"Make money?"
...
In the neon-lit city, inside a bustling shopping mall.
Chen Jiang sat in a first-floor coffee shop, looking up to scan for his targets. This instance could last up to three months, the same duration as the novice instance he first entered.
It was a long-term instance.
And based on his experience, in such long-term instances, regardless of what the main quest is, the first thing to do is to earn enough currency to be used in this city. This way, no matter what the next step requires, things will be much more convenient.
It allows for greater utilization of all resources within the instance.
If nothing else, if you don't have a single cent on you, where to sleep and where to eat for the next three months would be a problem.
Go out into the street and rob someone without any preparation?
The instance details clearly stated that this city is home to many monsters and superhumans. If one acts too arrogantly, they wouldn't even know how they died. As for the money he was using to buy his coffee, it was because Silent Snake had just swiped a wallet from someone.
Silent Snake had maxed out the skill of theft. After all, it was one of his core subjects.
Soon—
Chen Jiang had selected his target: a middle-aged man with a briefcase walking briskly outside the coffee shop. With a subtle flick of his fingertips, a playing card shot out, precisely striking the man in the back.
Instantly!
The man stumbled and fell to the ground, emitting pained cries as blood quickly stained his clothes.
The onlookers immediately scattered in panic and confusion, with some people dialing the emergency services.
"..."
He looked down at his wristwatch and began to time it. The reaction of the surrounding crowd indicated that the security in this city was mostly decent; those monsters and superhumans did not just come out and kill people at will, otherwise, the reaction wouldn't have been like this.
Not long after.
7 minutes and 17 seconds later.
The police arrived at the scene, cordoned off the area, and began questioning the person who reported the crime.
At 9 minutes and 27 seconds, the ambulance arrived.
"The time it takes for police in a busy downtown area to arrive after receiving a call is about seven minutes." Chen Jiang finished the last drop of coffee in his cup before standing up and walking out of the shop. "Let's try another place."
He glanced at the prompt in the upper left corner of his wristwatch interface.
[Current surviving players: 135.]
[No eliminations yet.]
...
After testing a few more times, he could basically confirm that after receiving a report, the police response time was between 5 and 12 minutes, which wasn't too slow.
Night began to fall.
Chen Jiang and Silent Snake checked into a suite at a hotel. The hotel was of decent quality. He stood by the window, overlooking the city below, and began to contemplate his plan.
Every player would do their best to hide their identity, searching for others who might slip up while trying not to expose themselves.
If this continued, it would turn into a war of attrition.
Just then—
"Rat-tat-tat-tat!!!"
Harsh gunfire suddenly rang out in the night. Not far away, the Law Enforcement Bureau was already under a hail of bullets. Five players armed with automatic rifles were launching a fierce assault on the bureau.
Their marksmanship was precise; they shot anyone who poked their head out.
They had actually managed to break in.
"..."
Chen Jiang nodded thoughtfully. These five were clearly players; the magazine capacity of those automatic rifles was obviously larger than standard firearms. Attacking the bureau probably wasn't to secure firepower, but an attempt to find player information within the bureau's personnel files?
Interesting.
All such large-scale instances automatically assign players an identity that fits the world, but they all share one commonality: their background is always that of an orphan.
So, theoretically, if one could obtain information on all the residents of this city and then kill all the orphans, one could indeed eliminate all the players, or at least narrow the search range significantly.
However...
His expression grew strange. Hadn't these people done any background research?
He had tested the strength of the Law Enforcement Bureau multiple times during the day; there were clearly superhumans inside. Could they really do it with just a few automatic rifles?
The next moment—
"BOOM!"
Countless flames erupted within the bureau. A man whose entire body was ablaze walked out through the storm of bullets, looking at the five rifle-wielding players with a furious expression.
He raised both hands slowly and let out a fierce roar.
Countless flames converged into a dragon of fire, smashing into the five players with unstoppable force!
...
"..."
Chen Jiang’s mouth twitched slightly as he looked at the five piles of ash on the ground below. He knew there were superhumans, but he hadn't expected their power to be this terrifying... it wasn't even in the same league.
They were reduced to ashes.
Could a "First Aid Kit" even save them?
The data on the top left of the watch updated in real time.
[Current surviving players: 130.]
[5 players eliminated.]
Just then—
Another panel popped up on his watch.
-
[Detected that players have died. Safe House unlocked. Upon entering the Safe House marked on the map, you will not be subject to attacks from other players or the city's superhumans and monsters.]
-
Chen Jiang looked at the watch map, where a building marked with a pentagram had suddenly appeared. It was an... "Internet Cafe."
A standalone building, only one story high.
It occupied about 200 square meters, not too large.
A plan began to take shape in his mind. He had been completely lost before, but this Safe House provided a perfect fulcrum. Without hesitation, he turned and headed out of the hotel.
"Let's go, let's take a look at the Safe House."
Downstairs.
Hailed a taxi.
Heading toward the "Neon Internet Cafe" not far away, the designated Safe House.
After the taxi stopped, Chen Jiang carefully observed the surrounding streets. The internet cafe was a standalone building on the street. It was already night, but there were still many people entering and leaving. They didn't appear to be players, but local residents of the city.
He walked into the cafe with Silent Snake. The pinhole camera on Silent Snake’s chest clearly recorded every detail of the interior layout. Silent Snake carried a pinhole camera that was kept permanently activated.
After scanning the layout, they left.
His plan was already forming. The main reason he came was to see if there would be any interface prompt upon entering, such as: "You have entered the Safe House area."
However, there was no such prompt.
That meant.
A ruse could be played.
The plan was taking shape. Now, he only needed two things: time and a large sum of money.
To complete this, he would need a massive amount of the city's currency to support him, and he would have to wait until the three-month deadline was nearly up.