This was the difficulty of triggering this Hidden Quest.
To trigger it, players had to repeatedly talk to the Old Man NPC for a full two hours, repeating the conversation four times before they could receive the Hidden Quest.
What ordinary player had that kind of free time?
Most players would chat with the Old Man NPC for five minutes at most. If no quest was triggered, they would just leave.
Even the more patient ones would retreat once the conversation reached half an hour and they noticed the Old Man NPC starting to repeat himself.
That was why no one had triggered this Hidden Quest in Su Yu's previous life. It was only discovered by chance by a player who had already lost all hope when the Blue Star Humans were on the brink of destruction.
But it was too late. By then, the final waves of the Skrulls' offensive had already arrived.
Su Yu patiently chatted with the old man for a full two hours.
When the fourth round of dialogue ended, the Old Man NPC's relaxed demeanor suddenly changed.
He sat up from the bench and looked anxiously toward the east.
"It's here!" Su Yu's spirits rose.
The old man stood up and anxiously gazed toward the alley entrance for a while before turning to Su Yu.
"Alas! It's so late already. Why hasn't my daughter Tina come over yet? Young man, could you go to the Morning Song Grocery Store on the northeastern side of the village and look for her? She may have run into some trouble there."
"Ding! Excellent Hidden Quest triggered: Tina's Struggle (1/20). Accept?" "Accept!" "Quest Description: Old Man John has asked you to go to the Morning Song Grocery Store and search for clues about his daughter Tina's whereabouts." "Quest Reward: 200 Experience Points, 2 Psionic Coins."
After accepting the quest, Su Yu stood and waved to the Old Man NPC. "Old Man John, I'm off. 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 within the residential district on the eastern side of the village, with very few players passing through.
Just as Su Yu was about to push the door open and enter, a female player walked out of the grocery store.
"Excuse me. Huh? It's you, Kexing!" The female player's eyes immediately lit up when she saw Su Yu.
But as though she had remembered something, her gaze quickly became resentful.
"Hello, Snowflake." Su Yu waved in greeting.
This female player was Snowflake. Su Yu had met her twice before.
But when he noticed Snowflake's resentful gaze, Su Yu felt completely baffled.
He was very familiar with that kind of resentful look.
Su Yu had rejected quite a few girls before, and after being rejected, they would all look at him with similarly resentful eyes.
Snowflake was looking at him the same way.
Su Yu muttered to himself.
I haven't had anything to do with her, have I? Why is she looking at me like that?
So Su Yu awkwardly asked, "Um... where's your dad?"
"My dad logged off. He's getting old, so he isn't suited to playing for long periods."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?"
"Kexing, you stole my Hidden Quest, Tears of Goddess Savi," Snowflake said gloomily.
Once Snowflake had accepted the first stage of Tears of Goddess Savi, no one else could receive the quest unless she failed it.
Snowflake could also tell that Su Yu had cut in during the quest's tenth stage.
She did not blame Kexing. If her skills were inferior and her quest was stolen, she had nothing to say. Still, she could not help feeling uncomfortable about it.
"Oh! So it was you!" Su Yu suddenly understood.
So Snowflake had been the one to complete the Hidden Quest in his previous life.
Later, Snowflake had failed to complete the follow-up quest, Annie's Revenge, and had her account banned, leaving Evolution for good.
No wonder Su Yu had never heard the name Snowflake.
After all, Snowflake was quite pretty and had been among the first batch of players. She should have become at least somewhat famous.
"What do you mean, 'so it was me'?" Snowflake was confused. She had no idea what Su Yu was talking about.
"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 the Slick Scale Breastplate out of his backpack and handed it to Snowflake while showing her its stats panel.
Slick Scale Breastplate lv5 (Excellent) Type: Leather Armor Defense +6 Agility +3
Although Su Yu had prevented Snowflake from suffering the fate of having her account banned, objectively speaking, he had also taken one of her Goddess's Tears.
So Su Yu decided to give Snowflake the Slick Scale Breastplate as compensation. After all, it would not sell for much even if he threw it onto the Warehouse.
When Snowflake saw the Slick Scale Breastplate's stats, she was immediately shocked.
This was actually a level 5 green-quality breastplate!
The Black Iron Boots (Excellent) lv3 that Kexing had listed on the Warehouse had already been bid up to 50 Psionic Coins. Wouldn't the Slick Scale Breastplate be worth at least 100 Psionic Coins? Psionic Coins were currently trading on the Black Market at a rate of 1:20, making it worth nearly 2,000 Zhonghua Coins in real money!
"No! This is too valuable. I can't accept it!" Snowflake hurriedly shook her head and took two steps back.
"Take it."
"I said no! How about this, Kexing? Let's add each other as friends. In the future, just keep me in mind if you come across any good quests!"
As she spoke, Snowflake sent Su Yu a friend request.
The latter half of Snowflake's words was merely polite. She just wanted to give herself a way out and did not actually expect Kexing to provide her with any quests.
Su Yu understood that as well.
"All right, then. If I come across any suitable quests in the future, I'll contact you."
Su Yu accepted Snowflake's friend request.
"Then that's that. Goodbye, great expert!" Snowflake waved and turned to leave.
"Wait! There's something I want to ask you." Su Yu suddenly remembered something and called out to her.
"What is it?" Snowflake turned around.
"It's like this." Su Yu explained, "When you were in the grocery store just now, did you see a shopkeeper named Tina?"
"Tina..." Snowflake tapped her chin with her index finger. "I came here following Baron Wilson's quest line. If I remember correctly, Tina should be at the entrance to Baron Wilson's manor. I saw her there."
"Baron Wilson. Thank you! This information is extremely useful to me!" Su Yu said gratefully.
"Don't mention it." Snowflake smiled, then turned and ran off.
After parting with Snowflake, Su Yu officially began tackling the Hidden Quest, Tina's Struggle.
The first five stages of Tina's Struggle were mainly Puzzle Quests.
Tina was not at the grocery store. Players had to use the Puzzle Quests to figure out where she had gone.
Many of the clues uncovered through the puzzles were highly misleading.
For example, "Tina had taken a liking to a little dress and was planning to try it on at the clothing store."
Or, "Tina had arranged to undergo an aptitude test with Warrior Overseer Quinn at the Warrior Guild."
Or, "Tina was tracking a puppy that had been separated from its family."
All kinds of false information tried to lead Su Yu astray.
Fortunately, Su Yu had learned the accurate information from Snowflake. He easily eliminated the false leads and smoothly completed the Puzzle Quests.
After completing the five Puzzle Quests, Su Yu arrived before Baron Wilson's manor and met the quest's main character—Tina.
Before you continue