"Xiao Yun, look at how you bullied Senior..." The two roommates surrounded Senior Xin Ya, whose mouth was swollen like a sausage, and glared accusingly at Guo Xiaoyun.
Ya Xin: "Waaah!"
Waaah my ass!
Guo Xiaoyun rolled her eyes in annoyance and ignored them. She went straight to the window to look outside, her mind racing.
A standard regiment in the Central China Region usually had 1,500 people. Their Tianfu District belonged to the Southwest Division, so the nearest troops they could mobilize should be the garrison stationed in the Yangtze River Bank Division. Since it was a special district, a regiment might have more soldiers than elsewhere—perhaps around 2,000.
Their school covered more than 5,200 mu and had four campuses: A, B, C, and Huxi. Its buildings covered nearly 1.6 million square meters. Even excluding the old campus, there were still nearly 600,000 square meters. It was impossible for a single regiment to completely blockade the place.
The school had park-style outer walls, and adults could climb over them in many places with little effort. Surrounding the entire school was impossible. Therefore, as long as they broke through the dormitory blockade, escaping was still possible.
Xiao Yun watched the outside and secretly calculated the best escape route in case she was forced to flee.
After all, she still could not determine whether that game was truly what she thought it was. She had to prepare for the worst.
"Xiao Yun, we're talking to you!" When she failed to respond and Senior Xin Ya continued to whimper, several roommates glared at her in displeasure.
Only then did Guo Xiaoyun turn around. Looking at the two roommates who were still kept in the dark and the senior pretending to be pitiful nearby, she immediately grew impatient. She waved her hand and said, "I'm going into the game to do a quest. You can rest on your own. I'll come out before dinner this afternoon. Don't bother me unless it's important."
With that, she walked straight into her room without looking back and shut the door. Her roommates even heard the click of the lock.
"Hey, what kind of attitude is that brat showing?" The short-haired roommate immediately grew angry.
"Forget it. She might just be frightened too." Wen Shanshan gently tried to placate her.
"As if we weren't frightened too! So she takes it out on Senior just because she was scared? What did Senior ever do to her?" The short-haired roommate remained indignant.
Nearby, Xin Ya's eyes peeked out from behind her hands with a hint of evasiveness. She continued to lower her head and whimper without saying a word.
"Welcome back, Player No. 117: Yu Nv Wu Gua!"
The familiar voice rang out, and delight flashed through Xiao Yun's eyes. Before entering the Game Pod, she had checked it once already. The Game Pod truly had no power at all. She had lain inside merely to try her luck and opened the screen as usual.
The screen lit up once again!
If the Nanhu Battery had not mutated, then the only explanation was that the Game Pod had been modified.
Just as I thought... this definitely isn't a proper game...
Following the intelligent prompt, Xiao Yun leisurely walked out of the Nutrient Pod. Looking at the familiar surroundings, she said quietly, "Isn't this a problem? Aren't you afraid that I'll infect the other players if you just let me out?"
Unlike those hulks or elves, the developers had not received new bodies. They also did not need to change back to their original bodies inside the Nutrient Pod when logging off. Therefore, she guessed that her current body was the same one she had on Planet D.
"An unknown virus has been detected, but its level is below Level One. It does not possess the infectious ability to break through a Level One Lifeform's immunity. Please rest assured, player!"
Guo Xiaoyun's body trembled when she heard that. Although she had already guessed it, only after hearing the other party admit it did her tense nerves relax slightly. She thought, I'm saved...
"Please follow the route map to the Lord's Room and stand by."
Guo Xiaoyun obediently nodded. She knew that her fate now rested entirely in the hands of that so-called lord.
There was a separate residence for the lord in the base. Players were normally forbidden from entering. Now, when the surrounding players saw Yu Nv Wu Gua walking there, they began chattering again.
Player A: "Could there be another new quest?"
Player B: "That's not fair! You always prioritize those with high scores. Players at the bottom like us don't get any gaming experience at all."
Player C: "Exactly, exactly!"
Looking at the group of hulks wearing ignorant yet envious expressions, Guo Xiaoyun sighed softly and thought, Being a wage slave is so miserable!
After entering the Lord's Room, the protective door closed behind her. Xiao Yun silently looked at the tall lord seated behind the desk.
Xi Ye looked at the most outstanding developer under his command with mixed feelings. He was pleased that she was indeed capable enough to seek help here at the first opportunity, yet disappointed that he would not get to see the intelligence eat excrement.
But honestly, if the intelligence lost, in what form was it supposed to eat excrement? Would it count if it controlled a machine to eat excrement? Had he really been tricked after all?
"Is there nothing you want to say?" After a long silence, Xi Ye coughed lightly and took the initiative to ask.
After remaining silent for a while, Xiao Yun raised her head and said, "That was a fraudulent contract. Contracts like that aren't valid where we come from..."
"Cough, cough!" Xi Ye choked. He had not expected her to bring that up first and immediately felt awkward. Irritated, he asked, "Shouldn't you be more concerned about your own situation right now?"
"What is there to be concerned about?" Xiao Yun rolled her eyes. "The intelligence just said that the virus can't infect Level One or higher lifeforms. I checked the information, and I'm a Level One Lifeform too, right? That means this virus shouldn't affect me."
Xi Ye covered his head. Having subordinates who were too clever was not necessarily a good thing.
"You're not really planning to keep making us work for free, are you?" Xiao Yun continued with another sharp question.
"How could I?" Xi Ye said solemnly. "I'm a benevolent lord. How could I do something so shameless?"
Xiao Yun: "Then when are you planning to pay us?"
"Young people shouldn't talk about money at every turn. As newcomers, you should care more about your growth and prospects, about how much you can accumulate and how much you can contribute, instead of constantly opening your mouths to ask your boss for wages!"
Xiao Yun: "So you just don't want to pay us?"
Xi Ye: "..."
What an impossible woman. It seems the strategy of keeping the public in the dark has to continue. Think about how simple these people were when they were players. They worked overtime without complaint. Money? No one ever mentioned it.
Now that they know they're wage slaves, they've immediately revealed those ugly faces that care only about getting paid!
"Ahem, you're not regular employees yet. The lord invested a great deal to help you evolve. No company or organization would spend such resources to train people for nothing. You understand that, right?"
Guo Xiaoyun froze for a moment. Not knowing that her genes were worth only one and a half coins, she honestly nodded, unable to refute him for the moment.
"But I'm not stingy either. How about this? The intelligence has already extracted a sample of the virus in your body and used your immune serum to create an antidote. This time, I'll issue a large-scale quest and put you in charge. If you can resolve this virus crisis perfectly, I'll make an exception and let you, an employee still in the internship period, enjoy the salary of a regular employee. How does that sound?"
"How much?"
"Five hundred!"
"Per day?"
"Dream on! Per month, of course!"
Xiao Yun: "Are you kidding me? Where we come from, even moving bricks for one day earns more than five hundred!"
Xi Ye: "Young person, don't make things up just because I'm an alien. I've investigated the bricklaying market in your region. At most, it's 150 a day."
Xiao Yun: "I remembered wrong. Operating an excavator for one day earns more than five hundred."
Xi Ye gave a cold laugh and casually displayed a set of recruitment data. It showed: "High salary of 8,000 for excavator operator, food and accommodation provided."
"But that's a monthly salary too! Five hundred a month is ridiculously exploitative, isn't it? I could collect and sell mineral-water bottles for a month and earn more than that!"
Xi Ye: "That's because you don't understand the purchasing power of our God Coins. In your Central China Region, 100 Federation Currency can't even buy ten pounds of apples. Here, 100 can buy an entire truckload. An ordinary resident of a Level 7 Star earning 500 God Coins a year is already considered middle class, and you still think it's too little?"
"Is... is that so..." Xiao Yun said doubtfully. "But I saw that mecha on your planet the other day. It seemed to cost more than a hundred million."
"That's the most cutting-edge product on the high-end market. Naturally, it isn't something you can hope to afford right now. Once you evolve to that level, you'll naturally have the purchasing power to buy one—if you want to develop toward piloting."
As soon as she heard that she might have a chance to own a mecha, Xiao Yun's eyes lit up. In the end, Xi Ye coaxed her out while she remained half-convinced.
After Xiao Yun left the Lord's Room, the intelligence's voice rang out: "Shouldn't mechas be assigned to the people by the lord? Why does it sound as though Lord Xi Ye wants them to buy their own?"
"Didn't you say to follow the conventions of games? I looked at the games on this planet. Don't all those players have to spend their own money on equipment?"
The intelligence: "You're even planning to make them pay for their own weapons and equipment?"
"Ahem... wouldn't that make it feel more like a game?"
"Lord Xi Ye has turned bad. You weren't like this before. Is it because that goblin tricked you?"
Xi Ye: "Shut up!!"
Before you continue