Encountering Snowflake

This is the difficulty in triggering this hidden quest.

To trigger the quest, you must repeatedly talk to the Old Man NPC for a full two hours, with the dialogue repeating four times, before you can receive this hidden quest.

What normal player has that kind of free time?

Players would talk to the Old Man NPC for five minutes at most, and if the quest didn't trigger, they'd just leave.

Even the more patient ones, after half an hour of conversation, would retreat upon noticing the Old Man NPC's dialogue repeating.

That's why no one had ever triggered this hidden quest in Su Yu's previous life until humanity was on the brink of destruction on Earth, when a player who had lost all hope accidentally discovered it.

But it was too late; the Skrulls' final waves of attacks had already arrived.

Su Yu patiently chatted with the old man for a full two hours.

As the fourth round of dialogue concluded, the Old Man NPC's leisurely demeanor suddenly changed.

He sat up from the bench and looked eastward with a worried expression.

"They're here!" Su Yu's spirits lifted.

The old man stood up, gazed towards the alley entrance with concern for a moment, then looked at Su Yu:

"Sigh! It's so late, why hasn't my daughter Tina arrived yet? Young man, could you go look for her at the Morning Song Grocery Store northeast of the village? She might have run into some trouble."

"Ding! Excellent-grade hidden quest [Tina's Struggle (1/20)] triggered, accept?"

"Accept!"

"Quest Description: Old Man John has entrusted you to go to the Morning Song Grocery Store to find traces of his daughter, Tina."

"Quest Reward: 200 Experience, 2 Psionic Coins."

After accepting the quest, Su Yu stood up and waved to the Old Man NPC, "Old Man John, I'm off then. Wait for my good news!"

"May the gods watch over you, young man," Old Man John waved goodbye to Su Yu.

Five minutes later, Su Yu arrived at the entrance of the Morning Song Grocery Store.

The Morning Song Grocery Store was located in a secluded alley in the residential area east of the village, with very few players passing by.

Just as Su Yu was about to push the door open and go inside, a female player walked out of the grocery store.

"Excuse me. Huh? Is that you? Nemesis!" The female player's eyes lit up upon seeing Su Yu.

But as if remembering something, her gaze immediately turned resentful.

"Hello! Snowflake," Su Yu waved and greeted her.

This female player was Snowflake. Su Yu had met her twice before.

However, noticing Snowflake's "resentful" gaze, Su Yu felt somewhat bewildered.

He was very familiar with this kind of resentful look.

Su Yu had rejected quite a few girls, and after being rejected, those girls would look at him with resentful eyes.

Snowflake had the same resentful gaze.

Su Yu muttered to himself, I haven't interacted with her in any way, have I? Why is she looking at me like that?

So, Su Yu asked somewhat unnaturally, "Um... where's your dad?"

"My dad went offline. He's old and not suited for long gaming sessions."

"Then why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nemesis, you stole my hidden quest [Tears of Goddess Savi]," Snowflake said softly.

Once Snowflake accepted the first part of [Tears of Goddess Savi], no one else could take the quest unless she failed it.

Snowflake also realized Su Yu had "cut in line" at the tenth stage of the quest.

However, she didn't blame Nemesis. If you're not skilled enough, you have no right to complain about having your quest stolen. Still, she felt a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh! So it was you!" Su Yu suddenly realized.

So, in his previous life, it was Snowflake who completed the hidden quest.

Later, Snowflake failed the follow-up quest [Annie's Revenge], got her account banned, and left "Evolution" forever.

No wonder Su Yu had never heard the name "Snowflake."

After all, Snowflake was quite attractive and was one of the first batch of players, so she should have been somewhat famous.

"What do you mean, 'So it was me'?" Snowflake was confused, not understanding what Su Yu was talking about.

"It's nothing," Su Yu changed the subject. "Since I stole your hidden quest, how about I give you a piece of equipment as compensation?"

Su Yu took out the [Slick Scale Breastplate] from his backpack and handed it to Snowflake, displaying the breastplate's stat panel to her at the same time.

[Slick Scale Breastplate Lv5 (Excellent)]

Type: Leather Armor

Defense +6

Agility +3

Although Su Yu avoided the fate of Snowflake being banned, objectively speaking, Su Yu also took one of her [Goddess's Tears].

So Su Yu decided to give the [Slick Scale Breastplate] to Snowflake as compensation, since it wouldn't sell for much at the trading post anyway.

Snowflake was immediately surprised when she saw the stats of the [Slick Scale Breastplate].

It was actually a Level 5 Green quality breastplate!

The [Black Iron Boots (Excellent) Lv3] that Nemesis listed on the trading post were already being bid on for 50 Psionic Coins. How could the [Slick Scale Breastplate] be worth 100 Psionic Coins? The current black market exchange rate for Psionic Coins is 1:20, which converts to nearly 2000 Zhonghua Coins in real-world currency!

"No! This is too valuable, I can't accept it!" Snowflake quickly waved her hands, taking two steps back.

"Take it."

"I already said no! How about this, Nemesis, let's add each other as friends. If you get any good quests in the future, just keep me in mind!"

Snowflake said this while sending Su Yu a friend request.

Snowflake's latter half of the sentence was purely polite, just a way for her to save face. She didn't actually expect Nemesis to provide her with any quests.

Su Yu understood this as well.

"Alright then, if I have any suitable quests in the future, I'll contact you."

Su Yu accepted Snowflake's friend request.

"Then that's that, goodbye! Great Master!" Snowflake waved her hand and turned to leave.

"Wait a moment! I have something I want to ask you." Su Yu suddenly thought of something and called out to her.

"What is it?" Snowflake turned back.

"It's like this." Su Yu explained, "Earlier, in the grocery store, did you happen to see a shop owner named 'Tina'?"

"Tina..." Snowflake tapped her chin with her index finger. "I came here through Baron Wilson's questline. If I remember correctly, Tina should be at Baron Wilson's manor entrance. I saw her there."

"Baron Wilson... Thank you! This information is very useful to me!" Su Yu expressed his gratitude.

"You're welcome." Snowflake smiled and ran off.

After parting ways with Snowflake, Su Yu began to formally tackle the hidden quest, [Tina's Struggle].

The first 5 rings of [Tina's Struggle] were primarily decryption tasks.

Tina wasn't at the grocery store, and players needed to complete decryption quests to find out where she had gone.

Many of the decryption clues were highly misleading.

For example, "Tina took a fancy to a small dress and is going to the clothing store to try it on."

Or, "Tina made plans with Warrior Supervisor Quinn to take a talent test at the Warrior Guild."

Or, "Tina is tracking a small dog that got separated from its family."

Various incorrect pieces of information tried to lead Su Yu astray.

Fortunately, Su Yu had obtained accurate information from Snowflake, allowing him to easily eliminate the false leads and successfully complete the decryption quests.

After completing the 5 decryption quests, Su Yu arrived at the entrance of Baron Wilson's manor and met the quest's protagonist – Tina.