Exploration Mission

"How many Soul Coins did you say?" Ye Xue'er asked again, disbelief written all over her face.

"Five hundred Soul Coins! If you can take them all, I'll sell every last one to you!" Lu Wu said with a smile.

Facing Ye Xue'er's suspicious expression, Lu Wu stepped forward and opened the trade window. He placed 500 Soul Coins inside, then canceled the trade.

"Believe me now?"

Seeing the 500 Soul Coins displayed in the amount field, Ye Xue'er was utterly shocked. She had earned at most around sixty Soul Coins from killing monsters so far, yet this guy in a full set of starting gear actually had five hundred. How could she not be stunned?

"Yes, I'll take them all!" Ye Xue'er said decisively.

"Sure. Then let's use the trading website. It has escrow protection."

"No need. Give me your account number, and I'll transfer the money right now!"

Lu Wu was somewhat surprised to hear that. After all, this was no small transaction. Five hundred Soul Coins were worth 350,000 yuan.

But since Ye Xue'er trusted him, Lu Wu did not mind. He gave her his bank account number.

"Benzi, transfer the money to him!" Ye Xue'er called to the girl beside her.

The girl called Benzi nodded, and her figure vanished from the spot.

A moment later, the girl reappeared. "Xue'er, the transfer's been made!"

Ye Xue'er nodded. "The money should be there. Go check."

Lu Wu shook his head. "Since you trust me, I trust you too. Let's trade."

As he spoke, Lu Wu opened the trade window and transferred the 500 Soul Coins to her.

Naturally, Lu Wu was not simply trusting her with 350,000 yuan. Bei Li had told him the money had arrived. His carefree attitude had been entirely an act.

Having obtained the Soul Coins, Ye Xue'er happily opened the shop and selected a red-quality outfit, Rainbow Raiment Wings, for 400 Soul Coins.

A multicolored light immediately flashed over Ye X'er's body, and a gorgeous garment draped itself over her.

Just as Lu Wu was about to leave, Ye Xue'er reached out and stopped him.

"Is there anything else?"

"How exactly did you get those Soul Coins? A hidden quest?" Ye X'er's heart was filled with curiosity.

"Oh, it was from that Soul Collector quest. I got lucky. I wandered around and picked up five Initial Souls, then sold them all to the shop."

Everyone: "..."

Ye Xue'er had originally wanted to ask where such a hidden quest could be triggered, but Lu Wu's answer left her completely speechless.

That kind of luck really was outrageously unbelievable.

"If there's nothing else, I'm leaving. I want to wander around some more and see if I can pick up a few more."

Lu Wu's words plunged everyone into silence once again.

After Lu Wu left, Ye Xue'er turned to the others and asked, "Has any of you picked up one of those things before?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Just then, someone hurried out of the Ghost Mountains, looking extremely flustered.

"Xue'er! The brothers were ambushed!"

Ye Xue'er's expression hardened. "Avengers Alliance again?"

"No, it was the NPCs in the game!"

Ye Xue'er froze. "Tell me exactly what happened!"

"Just now, our ten-man squad was searching the Ghost Mountains for Avengers Alliance players when we encountered a group of ghost soldiers riding wolves. They wore armor, and flames burned in their pupils. They looked terrifying. When they saw the ten of us, they actually asked which ghost general we served under."

"What did you say?"

"I said we were descendants of the King of Beiqi, and then they started chasing us down and hacking at us! They wiped us out in no time. I was the only one lucky enough to fall into a hole and escape!"

Hearing this, Ye Xue'er suddenly recalled the opening storyline. It seemed that the ghost kings and ghost generals who had once served the King of Beiqi had all already betrayed him.

Thinking it over, Ye Xue'er understood why those men had been hunted down after claiming to be descendants of the King of Beiqi.

"Brothers, enter the Ghost Mountains and kill the traitors!" Ye Xue'er said coldly.

Having watched the opening CG, Ye Xue'er hated those traitors intensely. The King of Beiqi had sacrificed himself for the countless living beings of the land of Beiqi, yet they had not only failed to feel grateful, but had even dared to betray him. In Ye Xue'er's eyes, that was utterly unforgivable.

Besides, Ye Xue'er felt that they might be able to find a hidden quest on those ghost soldiers.

Soon afterward, the massive hundred-man group advanced into the Ghost Mountains.

After logging out of the game, Lu Wu immediately picked up his phone and checked the bank notification:

An amount of 350,000 yuan has been credited to your account ending in 6573. Current balance: 351,236 yuan.

"Food~ Food~" Bei Li shouted from the side, her eyes shining.

This money was damn easy to earn. Looking at the Soul Coins that were still steadily increasing, Lu Wu felt delighted.

To celebrate earning his first pot of gold, Lu Wu took Bei Li to the best hotel near his home for a fine meal. He also bought plenty of snacks for the food-loving Bei Li, making the easily satisfied girl so happy that her eyes curved into crescents.

When they returned home, it was already dark. Lu Wu sat before his computer, first opening Platform173's homepage to check the game voting rankings.

Just as he had expected, Battle Online remained far ahead of the competition. The player count was still growing and had already reached eighty thousand.

What Lu Wu needed to consider most now was collecting Soul Coins—how to gather fifty thousand as quickly as possible and unlock the skill function.

In fact, many Players still had Soul Coins on them. How to encourage them to spend was also something he needed to consider.

This left Lu Wu hesitating over whether he should start a war and declare war on the eastern ghost general, Shana. As long as there was war, spending would naturally surge.

But after thinking it over, Lu Wu shook his head and dismissed the idea. The player count had risen, but their strength was still insufficient. If eighty thousand Players truly fought against Shana's hundred thousand ghost soldiers, they would definitely lose. Constant defeat could easily crush the Players' confidence and harm the gaming experience.

After giving it some thought, Lu Wu suddenly had an idea. He then used the artifact to assign a quest to all Players who had reached level fifteen.

Exploration Quest: Head east of the Underworld and investigate the territory of ghost general Shana. Quest rewards will be determined by the extent of exploration.

The difficulty of this quest was undoubtedly extremely high. Even the strongest Players at present were only at the level of ordinary ghost soldiers.

But Players possessed one particular trait: they could not truly die. There was no better choice than sending them to investigate the strength of Shana's ghost soldier army, while Bei Li monitored their situation and reported back to him.

Once he had a clear grasp of the situation, Lu Wu could formulate a strategy for how to launch an attack.

An hour after the quest was released in the game, many Players indeed began moving along the road east of the Underworld, preparing to test the waters.

Just as Lu Wu was feeling pleased with his decision, a server-wide announcement suddenly appeared.

Congratulations to Chen Ziyu for establishing the first guild, "Great Dragon Guild"! Heroes are welcome to join and build the glory of Bei Qi together!