The Current State of the Zone
The monotonous, repetitive, and boring Land of Darkness is like a woman over thirty, past her prime, while the magical and rich world outside is like an eighteen-year-old girl, or rather, many, many eighteen-year-old girls.
Today, most of the surviving areas have figured out the "basic rules" for survival and development within their regions, and as long as they don't do anything reckless, the pressure to survive has been greatly reduced.
More and more people are turning their attention away from the darkness around them and towards the wider, more fantastical "information universe" of the World Channel. They stare wide-eyed, as if listening to Legendary storyteller, capturing every little detail about the "outside world" posted by the top Survivors.
There are quite a few people like Su Luo who edit large amounts of information and have other professionals in the same area publish it on their behalf. One Forbidden Class even publishes a 3,000-word "Another World Flower-Seeking Diary" every day, clearly having forgotten all about returning home.
"Captain, it's time to go. If we lie down any longer, the monsters we just cleared will swarm us again." A steady voice came from afar, piercing through Xi Ji's immersive surfing state.
Xi Ji nimbly rolled over and stood up, accurately facing the direction of the sound source in the darkness, casually patting off non-existent dust from his combat uniform.
He took out a lighting device, gently turned it on, and tossed it diagonally upwards. The soft, non-glaring white light illuminated an area of several dozen meters in radius, and also revealed four fully armed figures waiting Jingjing not far ahead. He strode towards the team members.
This is the first large-scale "Out-of-Zone Exploration" organized and officially approved by the Mutual Aid Association.
The exploration team is led by Xi Ji and consists of four highly skilled and experienced advanced professionals.
The hard requirement for Out-of-Zone Exploration is to independently kill a level 6 Boss- level monster. Currently, in Zone 76, apart from Su Luo and Song Shige, who are recognized as "outside the norm", there are nearly ten high-level professionals capable of crossing this threshold and participating in Out-of-Zone Exploration.
After evaluation, the Mutual Aid Association's management determined that the time was right and officially launched the program.
As he walked, Xi Ji opened the forum and went straight to a post whose popularity was steadily increasing.
[Metal Explosive Flame Mechanical Construction Guide- Beginner's Guide]
[Posted by: Su Luo]
[This skill is only in its initial version. If there are any bugs, please contact the poster.]
[...]
The post was unremarkable; aside from the department within the Mutual Aid Association responsible for researching the reconstruction of industrial systems, no one would bother to read it carefully. At most, they would glance at the poster and the post's strange names, and then be quickly deterred by the content.
However, just yesterday, a bored and overly curious guy not only clicked on the post but also stubbornly scrolled to the very bottom of the page. Then, he noticed that corner that is usually overlooked—the total amount of tips.
A striking number catches the eye: 1.100.000.000 SC
And this is only the amount up to yesterday. At this moment, Xi Ji saw that the total amount of rewards had become more than 1.2 billion Survival Coins, and it kept jumping up from time to time.
Su Luo's only post that featured a tipping feature was unearthed, and it garnered over 100 million tips in just over a day, demonstrating its significant influence.
Just as Xi Ji was sighing Xi Ji, the total amount of the tips suddenly jumped dramatically without warning!
Xi Ji blinked sharply, even wondering if the mental interference from the [Dangerous Terrain] was causing him to hallucinate. He focused his gaze again—
More than 6.2 billion.
"Holy crap!"
The Mutual Aid Association stepped up its efforts and donated another 5 billion.
"Damn, their family is so rich."
Xi Ji sent a message directly to Qin Lang to confirm.
Consultant Su has directly donated billions, and the chairman has donated almost the same amount. How does the organization come up with so much circulating Survival Coin?
A moment later, Qin Lang's reply came; there was no Text, only an image.
Xi Ji on the picture, and even through the screen, he could feel an overwhelming aura of "arrogance".
The image shows a corner of a huge warehouse, filled with countless Perfect crafted amulets, piled high like mountains.
Even if only a hundred of the three thousand Perfect -quality items are reserved for Consultant Su, the rest will be more than enough to satisfy the demand for amulets and Abjuration items among the professionals in Zone 76, rendering all similar items obsolete.
The cold, impersonal items have been transformed into warm, tangible Survival Coins.
Soon, Xi Ji received a message informing him that before officially leaving the border of Zone 76, he should first go to the headquarters warehouse to collect the amulet portion of the "Standard Adventure Set".
"This is so awesome..."
Xi Ji stroked the two Perfect crafted amulets he had just received, their surfaces smooth to the touch and shimmering with an inner glow, and murmured in admiration.
Subsequently, with the assistance of Yin Haoguang, a [Flesh Alchemist] specializing in bio-engineering and alchemy, the two amulets were Perfect Nesting in the outer layer of his stomach, ensuring both safety and concealment while allowing for rapid response.
"Could you sew ten of these on me, so I can become a giant stomach?" Xi Ji joked with his old teammate, holding a long sword.
"At most, you have small appetites... You're already leaving?" Yin Haoguang didn't care, and instead asked about Xi Ji's itinerary.
As one of the earliest advanced professionals to be promoted in Zone 76, Yin Haoguang's strength was naturally not weak, but as time went by and more professionals emerged, his combat power ranking had long since slipped out of the top ten.
He himself seemed unconcerned about this, and instead turned his attention to the Alchemy Domain, giving full play to his unique Talents and becoming a core figure in the Mutual Aid Association's medical and biological modification efforts.
"Of course, we'll set off immediately. Keep a close eye on the upcoming Monster Tide. With Minister Jing gone, the entire area's healing efforts are in your hands."
"Okay, okay, let's go, Captain Xi, you're blocking the people behind you."
Having been kicked out by his old teammates Xi Ji silently headed towards the meeting point.
With the help of the directional Spell, Xi Ji crushed the level 4 and Level 5 monsters blocking his way. Just as he reached the edge of the area, the system's voice sounded.
A new wave of Monster Tide has begun.
[...]
[3. Wave Structure: The Monster Tide attacks in multiple waves, with each wave increasing in strength. The basic condition for clearing the level is successfully defending against the first six waves.]
Xi Ji paused slightly, quickly pulled up the panel to check the details, and confirmed that the basic wave of the Monster Tide had increased again, reaching the sixth wave.
Just last week, the base wave count was upgraded from the fourth wave to the fifth wave. This speed of upgrade confirms what was stated in the last system update announcement: "[Accelerate the upgrade speed of the base wave count of Monster Tide]".
This means that the cycle for basic wave enhancements has been shortened from once every two weeks, which was already quite tight, to once a week.