Even Science Fiction Wouldn't Dare Use This Setting

"Qiu Yun, take the coffee to Minister Norfolk. He can go home today."

"Okay, sure."

Xia Yubing immediately put on a professional smile, put the coffee on the trolley, pushed it to the elevator, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is this what online games are like? It feels just as tiring as going to work!"

Xia Yubing grumbled, feeling a bit uncomfortable in this Government Employee's business suit, but she put up with it because it provided a "no harassment" setting.

After her investigation, she discovered that the body she had recruited, ' Qiu Yun,' died under suspicious circumstances. Besides exhaustion from working overtime, there were also some female colleagues with malicious intentions involved.

While riding the elevator, Xia Yubing opened the system's built-in memo app and began to examine the evidence she had collected.

"Evidence A: [Recording] - Qiu Yun's female colleagues Vivian and Andy were jealous of Qiu Yun Qiu Yun's rapid promotion and kept making things difficult for her. This included, but was not limited to: giving her a lot of miscellaneous work, preventing Qiu Yun from communicating with the leaders, excluding Qiu Yun from participating in group activities, and splashing paint on her uniform a few minutes before a public event... This can definitely be called workplace bullying."

"Evidence B: [Chat Log] - On President Dai Weilin's inauguration day, Lilith, a new recruit that Qiu Yun had mentored, planned to have Qiu Yun anger foreign guests during her service and disrupt the inauguration ceremony - This also involves Lilith being suspected of being an undercover agent planted by foreign spies."

Qiu Yun's background and her death were already pitiful, making Xia Yubing, who had never played games before, feel sorry for her. After investigating these truths, she was even more indignant.

"Don't worry, Qiu Yun, I will definitely get justice for you! I will definitely help you find your sister."

Fortunately, she wasn't alone. Her clubmates were all from Frostplate, and after forming a guild, they embarked on an efficient leveling and monster-hunting campaign.

As for her sister's whereabouts, it is currently unknown. However, Xia Yubing believes that with the increasing number of players, relevant information will soon emerge.

It is worth mentioning that the Four Nations have noticed the appearance of a group of 'descendants', but after Four Nations, they believe that it is a disease and has no major impact.

In some ways, players are much more honest than ordinary citizens.

In reality, most players descend to the Outland, and the number of true players from the Four Nations is only a quarter. The characters recruited are basically marginalized people in society.

At first, players found this setting quite terrifying, but as many players discovered that the characters they recruited were either dead or about to die—after that, no one cared about it anymore.

In a country with over 600 million people, nearly 8 million die each year, even from natural causes, and around 100,000 die from Outland. Add to that the cold climate, lack of natural sunlight, and cancer—the emergence of players has actually lowered the mortality rate by a few percentage points.

During the initial public beta launch phase, only a few million players registered, so the initial appearance of these players did not attract much attention.

Players' penchant for charging into battle makes them inclined to take on dangerous jobs, and becoming outlaws is the most common form of employment for them, which has dealt a heavy blow to many criminal organizations.

Although the players are currently in a state of urban legend, the club's henchmen are already able to help her a lot.

The club members fought each other, using many shady methods from gangsters and street thugs to obtain various information, while she, through her identity as a "Government Employee," promptly obtained new government bounties and information for her companions.

Although Xia Yubing is still working in a Frostplate Government and only earns a fixed amount of experience points each day, everyone needs a government informant like her, and Xia Yubing is naturally happy to help.

Opening my friends list, the first thing that catches my eye is Caramel Snail, who is on my 'Special Attention' list and has just sent me a new message.

Caramel Snail: Ah, this mission is so difficult. Everyone here is a master with perfect aim and lightning-fast movements. It's so stressful being with them. —Read. Xia Yubing just glanced at her friend's message and saw that Caramel Snail has already leveled up to lv.19, while her own skill level is still only lv.6 [Laborer].

'Currently, the highest-level player on the forum is only level 20, so Zi Niu seems really powerful...'

With that in mind, Xia Yubing wrote down a line of greetings.

Re: Are you having fun with the aliens? —Read

Caramel Snail: Hmm, it's alright. But this latest exploration mission is really difficult. Our six-person team encountered a huge problem while searching for the Goblin Nest (see screenshot: 623.7M) -- Read

Upon opening the screenshot, Xia Yubing immediately saw a thrilling scene: they seemed to be in a dark mountain forest, the moon obscured by dark clouds, the ground shrouded in gloom. From Caramel Snail's first-person perspective, some dark red eyes could be clearly seen flickering like will-o'-the-wisps among the trees.

... That's it? Xia Yubing thought to herself, it's not even as scary as the horror movies she watched when she was in elementary school.

Reply: (Typing...) Caramel Snail: Wow, that's really scary! I'm most afraid of this kind of scene! --Read.

Seeing this, Xia Yubing hesitated for a moment and deleted the already edited 'Is there a problem?'.

Reply: Yeah, it's really scary. Seeing something like that in the middle of the night, I feel like I'm going to have nightmares! 'Will my answer seem too contrived? Zi Niu doesn't seem to like this weak tone, right? But if I seem too assertive, will he think I don't care about him at all?'

Xia Yubing thought for a moment, then slowly started typing again: Zi Niu, you're so brave. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't dare to go any further into this dark place alone. It's so scary...

'Ugh, such a soft tone is really disgusting, but if I say it like this, he just has to reply, "It's okay, we can walk together from now on"—that way, I'll have a chance to ask him out again!'

Before Xia Yubing could finish typing, Caramel Snail uploaded another picture.

'Huh? What did he post now? Probably another game screenshot?'

She downloaded it and opened it: In first-person perspective, Caramel Snail appeared to have fallen to the ground, with some wounds on its body. At that moment, a female player with dyed green hair reached out to Caramel Snail. Her bright features contrasted sharply with the chrome-plated circuit wires, making her a completely cyberpunk-style beauty.

[High blood pressure, please maintain emotional stability.]

The blood pressure monitor on my wrist immediately started alarming.

Caramel Snail: Ugh, honestly, the Goblin Nest is so hard! Luckily, everyone's been patient with me, teaching and guiding me, especially Cumin Powder, who saved me several times. Personality aside, she's practically an angel. We've already been wiped out twice just exploring the outer perimeter, so we'll set up camp for today and rest until tomorrow when the respawn count resets. —Read, just now Caramel Snail: (Typing...) Caramel Snail: (Sending image) We've set up camp. My battle for today is over. The open beta is great! During the closed beta, when characters were asleep, we could only browse the forums. Now I can play * Red Arrow Miner * and Auto Chess. Enough said, Ye Zhangjian wants to play Auto Chess with me, I'm logging off now. —Read

(The other party has left the chat)

"Cumin Powder? Angel?"

Xia Yubing clicked her tongue, her tone icy.

She zoomed in and examined the other person's appearance closely, comparing it countless times in her mind.

She herself is actually better looking, but Qiu Yun's appearance is rather ordinary, but she is still very pretty when she dresses up.

Xia Yubing patted the flat, open airport.

"Ah... it's a pity, this is what happens when you're malnourished."

Xia Yubing shook her head.

Saying that made her feel even more sorry for Qiu Yun.

Besides, the appearance and physique in virtual games are all fake; who knows, the other person might be a tank. But Zi Niu has actually seen himself and knows what he looks like in real life.

After looking around, it seems that I'm only a little behind in level. That woman named Cumin Powder entered the closed beta and is only level 20, while I've only been playing for a few days and I'm already level 6.

Xia Yubing muttered:

"It's just that they entered the game a little earlier than me."