Selling, Gray Domain

The gap between players had never been determined solely by personal skill and luck. Financial resources were also a crucial factor.

The equipment each player obtained was not necessarily something they could use themselves or something they liked. Selling the equipment they did not need in exchange for greater benefits was a very common practice.

Some players with considerable wealth in the real world could obtain more and better equipment this way, quickly surpassing most ordinary players.

The source of all kinds of player equipment on the Xia Kingdom market today was the vast quantities sold by individual players. Of course, that was only the main source; some equipment entered the market through abnormal transactions.

Wang Zhifan inwardly marveled at the advantages wealthy players had, then followed the receptionist into a room on the upper floor to discuss selling his Fine Grade Ammunition.

Since what he intended to sell was merely Fine Grade equipment rather than higher-end goods like Rare Grade items, the other party did not take the negotiation very seriously. The shop casually assigned a buyer to haggle with him.

At first, the man even tried to disparage what Wang Zhifan was selling, saying that his ammunition was only Fine Grade and not particularly high-end, so they could not offer much. Sell it or don't.

But Wang Zhifan was far from unfamiliar with the player scene. He knew perfectly well that his Fine Grade Bullets were quite valuable. They might not be high-end goods, but they were definitely in high demand.

So during the following negotiation, Wang Zhifan adopted the manner of an industry insider, making it clear that these merchants did not need to try fooling him. He would not sell at too low a price. At worst, he could simply find another shop; surely someone else would offer a more reasonable price.

Only when Wang Zhifan finally made as if to end the negotiation and get up to leave did the buyer from the Player Mall relent. He realized that the young man before him was not some clueless newbie player and would not be easy to fool, so he raised his purchase price a little to keep these easily sold goods from going to another merchant.

After that minor hiccup, Wang Zhifan soon left the Player Mall and returned to Tianhua Street.

At the same time, most of the box of Fine Grade Handgun Bullets in his Personal Space had disappeared, leaving only a few as reserves. He also casually tossed the two defective items in his space—the original owner's Initial Equipment, the Curled Ordinary Grade Short Knife and the tattered Ordinary Grade Cloth Armor—to the Player Mall in exchange for a little money. This brought the National Currency on him to forty-five thousand, enough to cover his living expenses for the next few months.

Having achieved his goal, Wang Zhifan did not continue wandering around Tianhua Street. He did not want to run into an acquaintance like Brother Qiang and get dragged into wasting time.

He quickly left this famous pedestrian street of Dongjiang City, boarded a Bus, and headed back to his Rental House.

"Every player can enter a Dungeon once per day. It isn't mandatory, but you have to enter at least once every week, or you'll be forcibly pulled in. But for me, running a Dungeon only once a day seems a little too little."

On the Bus, Wang Zhifan considered his plans for the future. Unlike many other ordinary players like himself, he very much hoped to run Dungeons multiple times each day. That was the only way he could grow faster.

But many other players—indeed, most ordinary players—did not have that need. Some even quickly became extremely resistant to entering Dungeons.

The reason was simple: running Dungeons actually carried a considerable risk to one's life!

It might seem that as long as players still had a breath left after clearing a Dungeon, they could return to the real world and recover perfectly. But that all depended on being able to clear the Dungeon. If they died inside before clearing it, they were truly dead. In the real world, it would simply become a missing-person case.

The reward mechanism of getting equipment from Dungeons was certainly addictive, but if players risked sudden death every time, not many people would keep doing it tirelessly.

But Wang Zhifan was not included among those people. He had great confidence in his ability to clear Dungeons. At least at low levels, he did not think those Dungeons would be especially difficult. After all, he had obtained two Rare Grade rewards after only two Dungeon runs. His strength had long surpassed that of most novice players. As long as he continued accumulating power like this, he would utterly overpower low-level Dungeons, and things would only become easier the further he went.

Just as Wang Zhifan sat on the Bus considering how to further accelerate his progress, he suddenly noticed that the Bus had become quiet.

The previously rather noisy Bus abruptly fell completely silent. Not only was there almost no sound inside the vehicle, but even the bustling streets outside seemed to have been separated from the Bus by a layer of fog. The clamor from outside rapidly faded, while his view became blurry and indistinct.

"What's going on?!"

This was the first time Wang Zhifan had encountered such a strange situation. In the memories he had inherited from the original owner, there had never been anything similar.

Confused and on guard, he quickly shifted his gaze from the street outside the window back into the Bus. Only then did he discover why the vehicle had become so silent:

Every passenger had closed their eyes, sitting rigidly in their seats or standing in the aisle like wooden figures. No one moved at all. The sight was deeply unsettling! "This is..."

A thought immediately flashed through Wang Zhifan's mind. He felt as though he had realized something, vaguely guessing what he had encountered.

"Am I in a Gray Domain? Did this Bus just enter a Gray Domain?"

He rapidly recalled what he knew and swiftly rose from his seat. A silver-bright Long Horizontal Saber appeared in his hand, while Silver Gray Leather Armor appeared on his body.

The Gray Domain was named for how it appeared as a dim gray region when viewed from outside in the real world. But according to players who had entered Gray Domains, the scenery within varied. Some were no different from the original area's real-world appearance, while others became entirely different places.

But one thing was the same in every Gray Domain: non-player humans within them completely lost their ability to move, becoming like Stone Golems. If this state continued for too long, these people might even face the risk of dying completely.

Of course, those were not what truly made Gray Domains terrifying. The truly terrible thing was that whenever a Gray Domain appeared, it meant that Gray Domain Monsters would descend from some unknown place. If these monsters were not swiftly and thoroughly eliminated, the Gray Domain would gradually expand, perhaps eventually becoming permanently fixed in the real world and forming an Absolute Realm!