Sin Pass

After saying goodbye to Gwen, Li Si didn't linger. He walked straight out of Midtown School of Science and Technology, got into a taxi, and headed directly for Queens.

He checked the memory recordings and quickly found the home the game system had assigned him: a small, detached house he was renting.

That was one good thing about America: it was so vast and sparsely populated that even somewhere like New York had plenty of detached houses.

What pleased him even more was that the little property came with a separate garage.

Before he'd crossed over, he'd been incredibly envious of the garage culture abroad. For many young Americans, a garage wasn't just a place to park a car; it was their workshop and laboratory. That garage culture was also what helped develop their remarkable hands-on skills.

A small garage might not look like much, but many well-known tech companies on Earth had gotten their start in one.

Li Si's garage wasn't very big, but it was more than spacious enough for a small workshop. He hadn't had the chance to experience this in his previous life, so this time he was definitely going to make the most of it.

But first, he needed to fill his stomach.

The identity assigned to him by the game system hadn't come with much help. Aside from documents like a driver's license and student ID, he'd only been given this little two-story house and a thousand dollars in starting funds.

And the house was rented, too. The stingy game system had only paid one month's rent. Starting next month, he'd have to pay rent for each quarter himself.

The one saving grace was the thousand dollars in starting funds. At least he wouldn't need to worry about living expenses for a while.

After buying some groceries at the supermarket and cooking himself a sumptuous dinner, then cleaning and tidying up, Li Si finally relaxed and stretched out on the bed.

He'd borrowed a few books from the school library, but his brain was already fried, so he didn't plan to read any more. Instead, he opened the game's built-in forum to unwind and see how far the other players had gotten.

<I quit. This damn game is just like real life: I'm a wage slave out there, and now I'm working in a game too? What am I even playing it for?>

<Heh, you can't even spend money on this game. This big spender is out of here!>

<I got robbed as soon as I entered the game. I almost got shot, too. What the hell? They took all my money, and now I'm going to starve. What am I supposed to do?>

As soon as Li Si opened the forum, he was met with post after post whose titles alone were full of rage.

He skimmed through them and promptly ignored them.

Earth OL would sweep the globe in a year or two, until no one had never heard of it. But right now, there weren't actually many players. There was no mystery why: the game was just too boring. Many beta testers had no intention of continuing to play, and the entire forum was practically a sea of complaints.

After skipping a string of pointless rants and searching for quite a while, Li Si finally found a post that interested him.

<Earth OL Explained: Do You Really Think This Is a Simulation Game?>

"Seeing all the complaints on the forum about how boring it is to go to work and school in the game, I've decided to make this post and offer some analysis.

"It turns out the game itself isn't boring; you're just playing it wrong. I'm sure many of you didn't pay attention to the prompt when creating your character, did you? Your starting template affects how you play the game. In fact, you chose the wrong template.

"But enough talk. Let's start with a picture. I chose the paid template: Soldier. Its stats are as follows:

[Template]: Soldier (Rare)

Stat bonus: Strength +5

Special bonuses: Firearms Proficiency LV +1, Unarmed Combat LV +1, +5% success rate for biological research and development, +10% success rate for first-time genetic modification

Evaluation: We may be soldiers, but we're actually better at research and undergoing genetic modification. The results aren't always reliable, but this is, in fact, our tradition.

"I'm sure everyone has noticed that the evaluation for the Soldier template's special bonuses explicitly mentions genetic modification.

"Clearly, this game is actually a combat game. Analysis Guy suspects the main storyline simply hasn't started yet, which is why things are so uneventful. Later on, all kinds of amazing superpowered battles will surely be part of the game.

"Another reward item I got from a quest backs this up..."

"Hm?"

Li Si's eyes narrowed.

He wasn't surprised by the Soldier template's stats. He'd had that template in his previous life, so he knew it well.

What really caught his attention was the item shown in the image further down the post.

Item: Sin Pass

Category: General Free-For-All Instance

Description: A ticket to Gotham City, the City of Sin. This instance is a multiplayer competition instance. Difficulty range: Hard—Nightmare; number of entrants: 1–20.

Abnormal status: Current instance module is locked. Please wait until the instance module is unlocked before using this item.

A pass to a Gotham instance. This was a valuable item.

The main world of Earth OL was Marvel Earth, but based on a multiverse framework, the DC Universe was another multiverse. At first, it would mainly appear in the form of instances. Many movies from his previous life also existed as instances.

One of the most important ways he planned to obtain a certain template was in Gotham, so he was definitely going there.

After thinking it over, Li Si sent the post's author a private message, saying outright that he wanted to buy it with real-world money.

The author soon replied. Clearly, no one was stupid enough to sell it immediately, and the poster rejected his offer without hesitation. However, they promised to sell him a spot to enter together once the instance opened, and told him to get in touch then.

Getting that promise was enough to achieve Li Si's goal. After all, he only needed to go to Gotham, and there was no difference between a spot and a pass.

Besides, while the Sin Pass was hard to get, it wasn't impossible. It would just take a little effort. If the seller changed their mind later, he could always go to the trouble of finding one himself.

The instance module wouldn't be unlocked for quite a while yet.