Loot

Cheng Shaofeng went Quantum Surfing while waiting for the three buildings to finish construction, chatting with the three players.

However, his Quantum Surfing could only access the Baidu Tieba section of Earth's internet, making real-time communication with others rather inconvenient.

Fortunately, all three players kept a close eye on their Tieba private messages and posts.

The three of them had created a Discussion Group with Sentinel and were just waiting for him to appear.

Sentinel: "Everyone did very well! I just watched your actions from the backend. Overall, you were quite impressive and completed the mission smoothly. Thin Dog especially—you even found the Hidden Item we deliberately left in the Dungeon. You've got good instincts."

African Thin Dog: "See? I told you! Aside from Bro Soldier, my gaming instincts are definitely the best in the forum. Anyone got a problem with that?"

Ghost Face Demon Fox: "Sure. It's hard for me to imagine this is the face of a third-generation heir of the Pu Family."

Lin Tang: "To be fair, judging by how I make mods, since the designers deliberately placed a Hidden Item on the map and it gives players no bonuses, it's obviously a quest item. It'll most likely help the Calamity Base those NPCs keep talking about. Once Big Bro Thin Dog gets online, he should receive a reward from the Base Lord."

Sentinel: "Smart! You're almost exactly right."

Thin Dog immediately perked up when he heard that. "Bro Soldier, what kind of reward? Can you give us a hint in advance?"

Sentinel: "Hmm, what reward? That's a very good question. So good that... I don't know how to answer it for the moment."

This so-called base was just a few machines placed on a small hill. Other than making empty promises, he really had nothing to reward Thin Dog with.

Lin Tang: "See? Brother Dog, that question left the designer unable to answer! It's obvious that the NPCs in this game are intelligent AIs. They must have their own logic, not those generic tool NPCs. The rewards are generated independently too, right, Bro Soldier?"

Sentinel: "Ah, right, right, right!"

Oh, right. He had said he would give them Merit Points, hadn't he? Hmm... Then he would give them more.

Although Cheng Shaofeng had yet to figure out what players' Merit Points were for.

Lin Tang: "What do you think?"

Once the topic turned to game logic, Lin Tang clearly became much more talkative.

Lin Tang: "Bro Soldier, if I'm not mistaken, the Merit Points in our Apocalypse OL probably calculate a player's contribution to the base, right? We earn Merit Points by doing missions, which lets us receive more challenging missions from the Base Lord. Completing them then earns us even more Merit Points."

"Right, if I were making a Merit Points mod myself, Merit Points could also be the threshold for limited purchases of base equipment, skills, and items. Only by reaching the corresponding Merit Point total could you unlock items from that stage. With that kind of design, players would have to center everything around the base after logging in instead of running around aimlessly. When I make story content, what annoys me most is players refusing to follow the intended flow."

"Since we're on the subject, Bro Soldier, I think the Merit System could also be tied to Titles, Special Effects, Fashion, and so on. Only those who've put in enough work would qualify to spend money on them. That way, players wouldn't feel like they were being fleeced; they'd be highly motivated to grind Merit Points and compete to spend money in the game."

"Ahem, sorry for making you laugh, Bro Soldier. Whenever game design comes up, I get carried away. I've been showing off in front of an expert."

Cheng Shaofeng was already dumbfounded.

People actually made guides for him?

"Lin Tang, I think... what you said makes a lot of sense! When we designed the Merit System... that was exactly what we had in mind!"

Thin Dog: "Right, Bro Soldier, it says on our end that our characters can't log in for now after dying. When can we get back online? I just asked my special forces coach to do a combat simulation breakdown and came up with a set of tactics for dealing with Raiders. Next time we log in, if the three of us coordinate properly, we can definitely farm Raiders!"

Holy shit?

This hardcore?

Cheng Shaofeng felt that players, as a species, might be even more formidable than he had imagined.

"Mm, tomorrow. I'll work overtime tonight and adjust some things in the backend, then make a few simple fixes to the bugs we found today."

Demon Fox: "Understood. A new game is a constant process of debugging. Sentinel, if there's anything you need the three of us to test, contact us anytime."

Lin Tang: "Bro Soldier, when is this game going into Open Beta? Will the closed beta wipe our data?"

Sentinel: "The Open Beta date... has yet to be determined. But I can tell everyone for certain: the closed beta will not wipe data. The Apocalypse OL we created has complete world logic. Every trace each of you leaves behind will change the game's future direction. Even I will find it difficult to alter."

No data wipe for the closed beta!

The three of them were instantly stunned!

That meant they were not merely testers. They could also gain more benefits during testing and build an excellent foundation for the future Open Beta, starting far ahead of other players!

Levels, equipment, supplies, skills, maps... they would all be ahead!

Right! And most importantly, Merit Points!

Thin Dog hurriedly typed, "Bro Soldier, one more question. Does the Calamity Base's lord have a hidden Favorability System? How can I get more benefits from him?"

A Favorability System?

Cheng Shaofeng scratched his head. He figured he could add one.

"Big Bro Thin Dog truly lives up to his name—so meticulous! You even discovered our hidden system. That's right! NPCs all have hidden favorability values! Players who leave a good impression on the lord will receive more story dialogue and may even obtain some Hidden Quests. That's all I can say. Those who understand, understand. Company policy says I can't reveal too much. Figure out the rest yourselves. I'm off to work overtime and fix bugs."

Thin Dog: "Got it, got it. Thanks for the insider information, Bro Soldier!"

Sentinel logged off.

Very soon, the three of them reunited in the QQ Group.

Lin Tang: "Bro Soldier made it very clear. He wants us to butter up the NPC lord for lots of benefits. We absolutely must keep this hidden setting confidential. Once there are more players in the closed beta, this will be our advantage."

Ghost Face Demon Fox: "An interesting setting, but I've never been a sycophant. Wouldn't this be a little beneath me?"

Thin Dog: "Come on! We're flattering an NPC, not a real person. Does that make us sycophants? This is strategic praise!"

"True. Hahaha!"

"Gotta say, Sentinel's a real stand-up guy. He gave us so much insider information."

"Definitely. I shouldn't have always called him a handout beggar before."

A small hill in the center of Four Mountains.

The Primeval Forest-style Calamity Base.

After Cheng Shaofeng exited Quantum Surfing, construction of the three devices was nearly complete.

The silver-white streams of particles atop the three machines slowly fell away, revealing their true forms.

One was a silver-white pod more than four meters long, one was a huge silver-white boiler, and one was a tower-shaped machine with seven empty slots.

The Clone Production Pod, the Loot Generator, and the Attribute Conversion Tower.

Good!

He could revive the players now!

"Zero, how many materials are needed to produce Clones?"

Zero: "Master, the corpse of the killed player 'African Thin Dog' is well preserved. The chip in his body was not damaged, and he has not been dead long, so he can be directly recycled. Add a small amount of other Biological Raw Materials, and a new Clone can be produced."

"Additionally, the Raider corpse beneath your feet can also be recycled. The Biological Raw Materials already exceed the amount required to produce a Clone at the current stage by thirty percent. The excess can be stored within the production pod. You will also need to find a set of electronic components before a Clone can be produced."

"Alternatively, you can place the intact Raider corpse into the Loot Generator and convert it into loot for your use."

Cheng Shaofeng rubbed the bridge of his nose and continued searching through the useful parts of his memories.

"Biological Raw Materials... in other words, animal corpses. Hunters in Salt Well Town should sell them."

"Electronic components... there should still be some scavenged stock left in my predecessor's residence in Salt Well Town. If I sell the miscellaneous junk and exchange it for food and animal carcasses, it should be about enough to revive three people."

"Then this Raider... let's convert him into loot first!"

Cheng Shaofeng struggled to stuff the green-skinned Raider into the huge boiler.

He pressed his hand against it and used the base's energy to charge the boiler.

Boom!

A strange red energy erupted within the boiler.

Ten minutes later.

The loot compartment opened, and a conveyor belt rolled out two items.