[World Contract]

Lost World.

The Tian Kong here was finally shrouded in thick black clouds. No plants grew, and there was no life. It was desolate. The Unique thing that added a bit of life to this lost world was the crowd of people setting up stalls in the huge Plaza in the Town Center the town.

Although each Player can only stay in this world for a maximum of one hour a day before having to return, the sheer number of Player in the world means it's always packed.

Stepping out of the Plaza and into the street, Bai Zhi stopped in an abandoned courtyard and turned to ask the White-haired loli who had been silent from the beginning.

Was this once your world?

"... That was true before, but now that world is completely dead."

The White-haired loli looked up at the Tian Kong in a daze and gave her answer.

"You can't find any living things in the entire world, let alone plants. If our world hadn't made a pact with the system at the last moment, this world would probably have fallen into Abyss of Dead Silence."

"A contract... is that why you want to figure out what kind of existence the system really is?"

Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Who wouldn't want to know? After all, I've lost everything—family, friends, brothers... Now I have nothing left."

The White-haired loli gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"Take out that Land Deed. After helping you unlock that Skill, you should still have one Shadow Crystal left. We can go directly to the center of this town."

"Um... I've been wanting to ask this for a long time, what exactly is [Shadow Crystal]?"

Bai Zhi turned to look at the little girl beside him.

"It's a crystallized form of Special Strength; you can think of it as something like Spirit Stone. Most of the Land Deed's functions are activated through the [Shadow Crystal]."

The White-haired loli patiently gave her answer.

"Theoretically speaking, you can use [Shadow Crystal] to become the main controller of this town through that Land Deed. For example, the Auction House in the Town Center actually belongs to us; we've invested in this world."

"Oh, that's all."

Bai Zhi spread his hands.

"What's gone?"

The White-haired loli looked a little strange.

"Didn't your so-called imperial brother kidnap a whole bunch of my classmates and bring them here? I came all the way here to rescue them, and that's how I used up the last [Shadow Crystal]."

Bai Zhi shrugged indifferently.

Do you have any more? If so, could you lend me one?

"..."

The Auction House, located in the Town Center, is probably the Unique building in the town that can still be considered normal and presentable. Player from all over the world gather here at the Auction House.

In the terminology of Online Game, the Auction House is equivalent to the starting point or main city for all Player in this world.

Once Player reach Level 5 and unlock the Auction House function, just like how each Player's System Store has a fixed Attribute Point exchange function among the ten Item that refresh monthly, the Highest of the system Auction House will always have a [Access Pass] worth one Game Coins that grants access to the auction house.

In reality, this is not Auction House, as the system does not specify this. It's just that Launch Player started offline transactions here on their own, which led to the automatic addition of the Auction House function to the system.

Left with no other choice, the stalls in the Player Plaza appeared, which were set up by the original Player when the Plaza was Launch Player.

Bai Zhi and his group's destination was the underground area of this Auction House.

"No one else can get in here; it's the last escape route for the surviving humans in this town, or rather, this world."

As they walked through the long underground passage, the White-haired loli spoke softly.

"At the same time, this place contains the last legacy of a civilization, even a world."

There seems to be a special luminescent mineral installed above the passage, making everything inside the passage clearly visible, even though countless years have passed.

After walking along a semi-sloping passage that was clearly descending for about half an hour, and turning several corners along the way, Bai Zhi arrived at a huge Underground Hall, which was about the size of a dozen football fields. In the very center of the hall was a high platform.

What's truly horrifying is that, directly to the east of this Underground Hall, lies a deep pit filled with stark White Bones.

Some traces of life still remain here.

"The situation had deteriorated to its worst point, so humanity retreated underground to eke out a living. At that time, this place was crowded with people."

Looking at the hall in front of her, the White-haired loli spoke softly.

"But with all plants in the world ceasing to grow, the food problem became the most critical issue. Even insects stopped growing in the ground; staying here was simply waiting to die. Fortunately, the disgusting situation of cannibalism didn't occur, because before that happened, the Anomaly m. hetushu. com. com had already invaded this place..."

"Lucky? Perhaps it could be considered lucky, because at least they retained their dignity as human beings before they died."

Bai Zhi turned his head to look at the White-haired loli and shook his head slightly.

"There's no need to worry about such things; to die as a human being is the greatest happiness."

"Worried? Perhaps..."

With a look on her face that was hard to decipher—whether it was mockery or self-deprecation— the White-haired loli walked towards the platform in the very center.

"This platform was built after everyone here died. It has seven Teleportation Array engraved on it, each leading to one of seven sealed underground warehouses... Take out that Land Deed; we need to go to the third teleportation point."

"It was established after everyone else had died..."

Bai Zhi glanced thoughtfully at the pit of White Bones beside him, narrowed his eyes slightly, but didn't say anything more. Instead, he took out the Shadow Realm Permanent Deed from his Inventory.

After he took out the Land Deed was drawn by some inexplicable Strength and automatically Levitation above the platform. As the writing on the Land Deed gradually disappeared, several new golden characters appeared.

[World Contract]