NES Classic Four

[You have entered the Space Island Central Plaza. The entire Space Island area is a safe zone. Within Space Island, you can communicate with all players and NPCs without barriers.]

All players who pass the Novice Trial will automatically appear in the plaza at the very center of the entire Space Island the first time they leave their Personal Space.

Just like how most train stations in our country have tout drivers, Chosen Space also has people doing that.

Making money, right~ Nothing to be ashamed of~

But people are different. Just as among the touts at train stations, there are those genuinely trying to make a living, and there are also those who forcibly take your luggage and try to drag you into a black market shop when they see you're too embarrassed to refuse.

This matter is also recorded in the "Greed Island" arc of Hunter x Hunter.

Learning to distinguish these people is also part of life experience.

As for Cheng Tian, who is too lazy to guess others' thoughts, he has always had one attitude—pretend they don't exist.

Especially this guy who, as if exchanging a secret code, kept repeating "Want to go swimming or work out?" in Mandarin, Cheng Tian was most vigilant.

As the saying goes, a countryman meets a countryman and gets shot in the back. Moreover, this is Chosen Space, a place that doesn't prohibit players from killing each other. The more "compatriots" there are, the more vigilant one must be.

Seeing that Cheng Tian, the masked one, was so unresponsive, these groups, commonly known as "Hyenas" by other players for exploiting the newbie information gap and extorting them, all showed displeasure and moved away from Cheng Tian, preparing to scam the next novice player who passed the trial.

Cheng Tian didn't walk too far, but watched the backs of these people from a distance, feeling bored.

Although he didn't know how many of these people had completely altered their appearances, he did see quite a few Non-Human Race appearances.

Before long, Cheng Tian saw the next male newcomer appear and the Hyenas surround him.

This newcomer's face was a standard Mosaic Appearance, utilizing the Face Blurring Function of the space. However, the person was dazed and walked away with an extremely revealing Deep V Succubus.

Cheng Tian was curious whether the Deep V Succubus was originally male or female.

But that had nothing to do with him. He needed to activate the Space Island's War Fog first.

According to the Projected Road Signs floating in mid-air, Space Island was generally divided into four major areas.

The East District was the Bounty Mission Area, centered around the "Player Quest Hall." To the south was the Enhancement Trading Area, featuring "Equipment Enhancement," "Player Market," and "Auction House." To the north was the Training Combat Area, with the "Wooden Man Training Ground" and "PK Colosseum." The West Side was a chaotic Entertainment Leisure Area with everything.

With strong curiosity, Cheng Tian went south first.

Cheng Tian had no interest in Scenery Attractions. Whenever he went to a new place, he would always find and head to the local Wholesale Market and Secondhand Market first. He might not spend a cent after a day of browsing, his main goal being to accompany others while shopping, but he always enjoyed it.

Of course, in Chosen Space, he had an additional objective: to observe and analyze the market price of Space Items.

Although Cheng Tian had that typical strong Savings Desire of an old Chinese man, when playing games, he displayed a different Financial Management Style. That is, without a strict savings target, he would try his best to convert all his Game Currency into Combat Power for his character and team.

If there were good equipment, he would upgrade. If not, he would stock up on supplies. He dared to spend money but not waste it; that was Cheng Tian's attitude towards playing games.

Money, as long as his character's strength improved, could always be earned back, and certainly more efficiently. Getting killed because he tried to save a few bucks was what annoyed Cheng Tian the most.

It was clear that Cheng Tian chose the most game-like approach to deal with the Chosen Space and the Chosen Players.

Incidentally, the Space Island Designer was likely a Doraemon reader. The seemingly flat ground was actually composed of countless small balls. Merely stepping on them and slightly tilting one's body towards the target direction would cause the small balls underfoot to immediately roll, propelling the person towards their destination.

Cheng Tian accidentally played around for a bit longer. It wasn't until he was pointed at and chuckled at by passersby, who might or might not have been players, that he finally reined himself in.

After roughly touring the area and asking around, Cheng Tian got a general understanding of the transaction types here through the method of freeloading.

One type was an Auction House with independent buildings. Auctions were held at fixed times each month, and only items with genuine value could be included in the auction pool, with the space taking a percentage cut.

The second type was applying to open a shop. The space would only charge a shop fee, but the prerequisite was that you needed to achieve a certain transaction volume each month. Otherwise, your shop would be forcibly closed the following month, and you wouldn't be able to reapply for a long time.

The last type was simply setting up a street stall, which was also the most numerous. This was because there were no stall fees, agency fees, or anything of the sort. Whatever you sold, more or less, was yours to keep.

Some sellers even went as far as to simply lay a rag on the ground, place their items on it with prices clearly marked, and then squat down in an Asian Squat to haggle if a buyer was interested.

Of course, here, there was no need to worry about being robbed. The space had its own rules for protection.

Although the Chosen Space was ruthless in forcibly abducting many people who had no intention of entering, forcing them to risk their lives in dungeons and complete missions, the space would also provide due protection for the loot that players successfully brought back.

The items in the Player Market Area covered everything from their origins to their types, and many of them evoked Cheng Tian's old memories.

For example, at a stall where the owner was absent and had simply set up a weapon rack for sellers to choose from, Cheng Tian rummaged through for a while and immediately realized that this must be someone backed by a team.

This was because all these weapons were items from different game blueprints. It was impossible for a Lone Player to obtain them all at once from the same dungeon.

Take straight gun-type weapons, for instance. Cheng Tian saw them from three different dungeons: Dynasty Warriors, Fire Emblem, and Meteor Butterfly Sword. All of them were Green Excellent Grade.

The Dynasty Warriors ones had the most potential for growth, the Fire Emblem ones had the highest Attack Power Panel, and the Meteor Butterfly Sword ones had the most Derivative Moves.

Then, next door, there was a stall selling firearms. After just a glance, Cheng Tian dared to conclude that the boss here likely knew about the concept of the "NES Classic Four" created by Chinese people.

This was because he saw the Type F Flamethrower from Contra, the RPG Launcher from Green Army, the Blooming Rocket from Chi Color Fortress, and the Crystal Wingman from Salamander... Huh?

Crystal Wingman!?

Cheng Tian immediately stood at attention!