The Famicom's Old Four Kings

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

All players who pass the newbie trial will appear by default in the central plaza of the entire Space Island when they first leave their personal space.

And just like how most train stations in China have touts trying to solicit customers, the Chosen Evolution Space also has people doing this kind of thing.

Making money, ain't shameful.

But people are different. Just like how among those touts at train stations, some are genuinely trying to make a living, while others forcibly grab your luggage and try to drag you into a shady shop, banking on your reluctance to refuse in public.

This is also documented 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 couldn't be bothered to guess what others were thinking, he had one attitude from beginning to end—to pretend they didn't exist.

Especially the guy who kept repeating "Swimming and fitness, interested?" in Mandarin, like he was trying to say a secret code. Cheng Tian was most wary of him.

As the saying goes, "See a fellow countryman, shoot him in the back." Especially in a place like the Chosen Evolution Space, where players aren't prohibited from killing each other, the more "compatriots" there are, the more vigilant you need to be.

Seeing that Cheng Tian, with his mask, wasn't taking the bait, these people, generally known as "Hyenas" by other players for preying on the information gap of newbies, all looked away with displeasure and prepared to scam the next newbie player who passed the trial.

Cheng Tian didn't go too far. Instead, he watched the backs of these people from a distance as they idled around.

Although he didn't know how many of these people had completely altered their appearances, he did see quite a few who looked like non-human races.

Before long, Cheng Tian saw the appearance of the next male newbie and the Hyenas surrounding him.

The newbie's face was a standard mosaic pattern, using the space's facial blurring function, but the person dazedly followed a Succubus in an extremely revealing deep V outfit.

Cheng Tian was curious whether the Succubus was male or female in its true form.

But that had nothing to do with him. Time to open the Space Island's fog of war.

According to the projection signpost floating in mid-air, the Space Island was divided into four major areas.

The East District was a quest area centered around the "Player Mission Hall," the South District was a reinforcement and trading area centered around "Equipment Enhancement," "Player Market," and "Auction House," the North District was a training and combat area centered around the "Wooden Dummy Training Ground" and "PK Arena," and the West District was an entertainment and leisure area with all sorts of things.

Filled with curiosity, Cheng Tian first went to the South District.

Cheng Tian had no interest in scenery or attractions. Whenever he went to a new place, he would always find and go to the local wholesale markets and flea markets as soon as possible. He might not spend a single penny after a day of browsing, focusing on accompanying and window shopping, but he always enjoyed it.

Of course, in the Chosen Evolution Space, there was an additional purpose: to observe and analyze the market price of space items.

Although Cheng Tian had that typical and strong desire to save money like an old cadre, he would show a different financial style when playing games. That is, without hard savings targets, he would maximize the conversion of all game currency into the combat power of his character team.

If there was good equipment, he would upgrade it. If there was nothing to upgrade, he would stack up on supplies. He dared to spend money, but he didn't spend it blindly. That was Cheng Tian's attitude towards playing games.

As long as his character's strength increased, he could always earn the money back, and the efficiency would definitely be faster. If he saved those few pennies and got himself killed, that would be what annoyed Cheng Tian the most.

Clearly, Cheng Tian chose the most game-like approach to dealing with the Chosen Evolution Space and the Chosen Players.

By the way, the designer of the Space Island was likely a Doraemon reader. The seemingly flat ground was actually composed of countless small balls. Just step on it and tilt your body slightly in the direction of your destination, and the small balls under your feet would immediately start rolling, sending you in the direction of your destination.

Cheng Tian accidentally played around for a while, until he was pointed at by passersby who might or might not be players before he finally restrained himself.

After roughly strolling around, asking questions here and there, Cheng Tian roughly understood the types of transactions here through freeloading.

One type was the auction house with independent buildings. Auctions were held at fixed times every month, and only things of real value could be included in the auction range, and the space would take a percentage cut.

The second type was applying to open a shop. The space would only charge shop fees, but the premise was that you needed to reach a certain transaction volume every month, otherwise the shop would be forcibly demolished next month and you would not be able to apply again for a long time.

The last type was directly setting up a stall, which also had the largest number of stalls, because there were no stall fees or intermediary fees. Whether you sold a lot or a little was up to you.

There were also some sellers who simply laid a rag on the ground and threw the items directly on it with prices marked. Buyers who were interested in the goods would also squat down Asian style, pick them up, and start bargaining.

Of course, you don't have to worry about being robbed here. The space has its own rules to protect you.

Although the Chosen Evolution Space inhumanely abducted many people who had no intention of entering the space and forced them to risk their lives to run dungeons and do quests, the space would also provide due protection for the spoils that players successfully brought back to the space.

The items in the player market area ranged from origins to types, and many of them successfully evoked Cheng Tian's early memories.

For example, at a stall where the owner was absent and a weapon rack was set up for sellers to choose from, Cheng Tian immediately realized after rummaging around for a while that this should be someone with a team behind them.

Because these weapons all came from different game blueprints, it was impossible for a lone player to obtain them all in one dungeon.

For example, among the same type of straight spears, Cheng Tian saw green and excellent-level weapons from three different dungeons: Dynasty Warriors, Fire Emblem, and Meteor, Butterfly, Sword.

Dynasty Warriors had the most growth potential, Fire Emblem had the highest attack power, and Meteor, Butterfly, Sword had the most derivative moves.

Then there was a stall next door with firearms. Just glancing at it, Cheng Tian dared to assert that the owner probably knew the concept of the "Famicom Old Four" created by Chinese players.

Because he saw the F-type flamethrower from Contra, the RPG launcher from Green Beret, the Blossom Bomb from Jackal, and the Crystal Option from Gradius... Hmm?

Crystal Option!?

Cheng stood at attention on the spot!