At the prompt from Cycle Paradise, many of the contractors around him immediately changed expression.
It seemed contractors entered Derivative Worlds at roughly the same time, usually in large batches.
"Hell yeah! The world I got is Food Wars! Hahaha!"
"Bullshit, it's all bullshit! How did I end up in the Naruto world? Damn, I'm screwed this time. Any big-shot mage out there? Please protect me! 3,000 Paradise Coins!"
The blond giant dropped to his knees, cursing the unfair world and his damned fate as he asked those around him if there were any mages.
Another girl in a sailor uniform was laughing loudly, looking delighted.
Most of the contractors around them were much the same: some were overjoyed, while others were miserable.
Among the many Derivative Worlds, each one had its own settings and themes.
Large-scale, high-powered battle worlds like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, and Dragon Ball were extremely dangerous for contractors.
Entering worlds like those was practically a death sentence.
"If there aren't any mages, can an Adventure Group take me in temporarily? 5,000! I'll pay 5,000 Paradise Coins for a spot!"
Wang Changle had little reaction to the giant's plea. After all, they had entered different worlds.
What interested him was that it was possible to buy a spot in an Adventure Group with Paradise Coins. That was quite a trick.
Of course, the Adventure Group in question had to be a permanent one. The leader of a permanent Adventure Group could invite others to join, and members of similar levels would enter the same Derivative World.
With everyone at the same level, having teammates to help would undoubtedly increase their chances of survival.
However, not every Derivative World in Cycle Paradise was high-risk. Worlds focused on everyday life and food, like Food Wars and Chineses Little Chef, could be considered safe zones.
They were very peaceful and stable worlds with almost no danger. As long as you didn't go looking for trouble, you could make it through safely. With enough luck and charm, you could even obtain plenty of recovery items and production skills.
However, if you were going to Food Wars, it was best to bring extra clothes. Otherwise, you'd definitely end up dying of embarrassment—especially female contractors.
In truth, neither a temporary Adventure Group nor a permanent one was something Wang Changle needed to consider right now.
What he needed to think about was how to handle the world of The Outcast.
Thinking of the various characters in The Outcast and their different abilities,
he quickly returned to the unoccupied stall beside "Jelly Bean" and bought two sticks of Spirit Calming Incense for 1,000 Paradise Coins.
[Spirit Calming Incense]
Origin: Cycle Paradise
White: 7
Category: Recovery Item
Effect: Once lit, meditating within the incense's range for every 30 minutes will remove one mental negative effect. Lasts 1 hour.
Description: Manufactured by a Staff Member. Paradise Inspection: Safe!
[Time's up. Derivative World: The Outcast. Opening. The timeline has been reorganized. Space-Time Power consumed: 0.01 ounces.]
[Due to the consumption of 0.01 ounces of Space-Time Power, the contractor's minimum overall evaluation for this world must reach E rank.]
The expressions of the people in Cycle Paradise shifted as they received the prompt. It seemed the timing was the same for everyone.
Just as Wang Changle's face brightened, relieved that the mission's difficulty requirement was fairly low this time, his vision blurred.
"Clang!"
A pain struck the back of his head, as if someone had hit him with a club. The familiar sensation of teleportation washed over him.
When his consciousness returned, he found himself in a dense forest.
The cold moon hung high in the night sky, its chilly light filtering through the leaves and falling across him.
Ten meters away from Wang Changle stood an abandoned factory.
A soft shield of light surrounded the area. He reached out to touch it, and the shield immediately pushed back, flinging his hand away.
A countdown appeared on the shield: 5 minutes and 12 seconds.
"A Protective Shield, huh..."
Wang Changle pondered, stepped aside, and began observing the scene.
Beneath the shield, there were several other people in different spots. From the way they were dressed, they seemed to be contractors too.
There were nine of them in total. Three had gathered together in the northeastern corner, while the rest, like him, seemed to be unaffiliated and had each taken up a different position.
After glancing over the others, he silently sat down on the ground, resting his palm against a nearby tree as he surveyed the surroundings.
When he looked up, he saw four people appear in front of the factory, while two more came out from inside it.
"BOMM!"
The next moment, with a heavy thud, four figures quickly gathered together.
"How's that? I brought Zhang Chulan here. I can join you now, right?"
Liu Yanyan, with chestnut-colored hair and two Living Corpses exuding corpse qi beside her, spoke smugly to the tall and short figures opposite her.
"Impressive. Impressive. Fine, then. You're one of us now."
Lu Liang, wearing thick-framed glasses and his hair in a topknot, clapped his hands.
Perhaps because of the light surrounding them, the four were right in front of the contractors, yet they seemed not to notice them. Their conversation continued.
Quite a few contractors had already begun to retreat as they watched the people talking in the clearing.
Those closest to the two Living Corpses were scrambling backward on all fours.
"...That's it? There's no ceremony or anything? I'm in?!"
"Yeah. You kept saying you wanted to join Quanxing, but how much do you actually know about us?"
"I heard people in Quanxing can use their abilities without any restraint. They do whatever they want, with no rules to hold them back. Basically, they're just really cool~"
"Joining Quanxing is actually pretty simple. You just have to claim publicly that you're one of us, and we'll acknowledge you as one of our own."
As the two went back and forth, the young man tied up on the ground with hemp rope wriggled and struggled, "Mmmph!" as he tried to free himself from the cloth stuffed in his mouth.
Just then, information about the Derivative World appeared before Wang Changle.
[Entering World: The Outcast]
World Difficulty: IV3~?? (Semi-open Derivative World. The difficulty will increase accordingly depending on the contractor's location or the events taking place.)
World Origin: 0% (Will increase as the Hunter explores or interacts with the current mission. When the world is settled, this will be calculated together with the mission difficulty to determine the final score.)
World Introduction: In a peaceful, modern society, there are still some strange people who can control the qi within their bodies. These people are divided into those with innate abilities and those who acquire them later, but all who can use Innate One Qi are collectively known as Otherworldly Persons.
Celestial Master's Mansion: An Otherworldly sect on Dragon Tiger Mountain led by the Celestial Master.
Quanxing: An evil organization represented by the Four Maniacs, and an anomaly in the Otherworldly community.
Ten Elders: A special organization made up of leaders from various Otherworldly sects, responsible for overseeing the Otherworldly community.
Nato Company: A government-affiliated Otherworldly department. To the public, it is a courier company.
Tianxia Association: A civilian alliance of Otherworldly Persons founded by the Feng Family, backed by Tianxia Group.
Main Mission 1: Join any organization and obtain an identity.
(Notice: Subsequent missions will unlock after you obtain an identity.)
Hunting Mission: Eliminate Violator Contractor No. 534178. When the Hunter comes within one kilometer of Contractor No. 534178, the tracking function will activate automatically.
Warning: Do not mention anything about "Paradise" in this world. If this warning is ignored, you will be forcibly executed.
Notice: The main mission in this world is cumulative. Subsequent missions will unlock according to the contractor's mission scores.
(You may return to Paradise after your cumulative mission score exceeds 200.)
Notice: The higher your mission score, the higher your overall evaluation.
The world begins!
After reading the mission information and the world difficulty, Wang Changle began forming a number of theories.
At the same time, he quickly reviewed what he knew about this world.
Before the Jiashen Rebellion, Wu Gensheng had gathered thirty-six outlaws and sworn brotherhood with them at Twenty-Four Valleys.
Among the thirty-six outlaws, who were the best of the best, eight had created what was known as the "Arts of Disorder." Together, they were called the Eight Wonders.
The forces across the land launched a campaign against the thirty-six outlaws in the Jiashen Rebellion, hoping to obtain the Eight Wonders.
Zhang Huaiyi, Zhang Chulan's grandfather and the creator of one of the Eight Wonders, Qi-State Origin-Flow, spent his entire life being hunted, constantly on the run, in order to pass the technique down.
Before he died, he used himself as bait to kill more than twenty current and former sect leaders, creating a safe place for Zhang Chulan to live.
In the end, he entrusted Zhang Chulan to Nato Company. The story began when Quanxing's Lu Liang set his sights on Zhang Huaiyi's corpse.
Zhang Chulan: The Child of the World in this Derivative World, Zhang Huaiyi's grandson and inheritor of Qi-State Origin-Flow. Backed by Dragon Tiger Mountain, he excels at the Golden Light Spell and Lightning Method.
Liu Yanyan: Heir to the Xiangxi Liu Family, skilled in corpse-driving and corpse-control. She hopes to join Quanxing to escape her family's control.
Feng Baobao: Zhang Chulan's guardian and a temporary worker at Nato Company. In order to uncover her own origins, she was designated the heroine. Her Taijutsu is powerful, and she acts decisively.
Lu Liang: A third-generation member of the Lü Family and a member of Quanxing, skilled in the Soul Illumination Technique.
Feng Shayan: The eldest daughter of the Feng Family and Tianxia Group. She has a fiery personality and excels at the Hundred Paces Divine Fist and Shrinking Ground Footwork.
Xia He: One of the Four Maniacs of Quanxing, known as the "Bone Scraper Blade." Born with a bewitching body, she excels at seduction and control.
With that in mind, Wang Changle had settled on which direction to take for the main mission.
He would naturally choose the righteous side. Not only was Quanxing hunted by righteous Otherworldly Persons all over the world, its own members were also prone to exploiting and stabbing one another in the back. That would hinder his future development.
The key to this main mission was the phrase "obtain an identity." Judging by the mission description, the standing of the identity he obtained would likely affect what came next.
In other words, this was a mission chain that progressed step by step.
If he wanted to rack up points quickly and earn a high evaluation, Wang Changle would need to score well on every stage of the main mission.
As for the Hunting Mission, there was no need to rush. He would finish the first step of the main mission, then consider how to track down the Violator.
The contractors in the clearing had also begun to act. Most of the unaffiliated ones chose to retreat.
But one person in the trio pulled out a silenced pistol, took a proper shooting stance, and aimed at Xia He, who was straddling Zhang Chulan.
The other two protected the gunman from the front and behind. Their clear division of roles and practiced formation showed that the three had done this many times before.
They were planning to get the first kill on Xia He, a character from the story!
"Big Sis! You're not going to do it here... At least wait until I'm done with my business! After that, you can do whatever you want with him!"
Lu Liang scratched his head awkwardly as he appeared behind Xia He with a sheepish grin.
"Tch. Since you know that, hurry up already..."
Xia He climbed off Zhang Chulan with an impatient look and walked to the side.
"What are you trying to do? And where's my grandpa? What did you do with his body?"
Zhang Chulan glared angrily at the people before him, then fixed his furious gaze on Lu Liang, who wore a sneer.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Lu Liang. My ability is different from other people's. I can question someone's soul directly!"
As Lu Liang spoke, a layer of blue qi surfaced over his hands. It slowly enveloped Zhang Chulan, seeped into him, and began to corrode him.
In an instant, the light faded. The Protective Shield's time was up.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~"
"Clang~"
A piece of broken stone struck a tree trunk and interrupted Lu Liang.
The trio seized the chance to fire several shots at Xia He, determined to kill their target.
Wang Changle reacted in that instant, charging forward at full speed.
His target: Zhang Chulan!
Before you continue