Ita World

The angel pointed its stick at the free button on the vending machine. "Press it."

Ding Shi reached out and pressed it. A sound came from inside, followed by a clang as a steamed bun slid out of the vending machine and landed in the metal basin. Then a bottle of water dropped down.

A caption appeared: Free food and water would not dispense again until they had been completely consumed. Deliberately wasting food and water would result in punishment.

Ding Shi picked up the steamed bun, squeezed it, then slapped it against the table. The bun remained completely unchanged.

Ding Shi forcefully tore off a small piece and put it in his mouth. Honestly, it tasted all right. It was just hard.

At times like this, plenty of people would ask the angel, "What if I have bad teeth?"

But Ding Shi was used to solving problems himself. There was a basin and water here. If he couldn't bite through it, he could soak it. As for whether he would have to eat steamed buns every day, the answer was obvious if he used his brain. If there were free options, there had to be paid ones. Compared with asking about minor details, Ding Shi believed the key question was how to leave Ita World.

The angel waved its stick. "Follow me."

He followed the angel to the front of the house, where there was a circle of light about two square meters wide. The angel said, "Teleportation Array."

A caption appeared, roughly explaining that the Teleportation Array could be used to enter instances. If the requirements were met, it could also take someone to other places in Ita World.

Ding Shi asked, "Instances?"

The angel waved its stick, and another caption appeared.

Tomorrow, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., the first instance would open. This would be a casual instance, with no death penalty. After completing two casual instances, you could receive a One-Way Teleport Ticket and teleport to Yita Four Symbols City to begin a new life.

Ding Shi asked, "Why can't we return to Earth?"

For the first time, the angel looked Ding Shi directly in the eye. For the first time, it spoke a complete sentence. Its voice was adorably soft, the kind that made people want to have children after hearing it a few times. "You need to find the answer in Ita World."

The angel waved its stick, and a television appeared. It showed a United Nations Security Council meeting. The topic of the meeting was a letter believed to be from a high-dimensional alien civilization. The letter contained only one simple sentence: In two hours, all humans would enter Ita World.

Ding Shi extracted several pieces of intelligence from this information. First, going to Four Symbols City immediately was not necessarily a good thing. Second, no hostility from Ita World had been discovered. Third, non-casual instances had death penalties. Fourth, after using the one-way ticket to go to Four Symbols City, it would no longer be possible to enter instances. Fifth, there was something strange: neither the angel nor the captions had ever mentioned the word "player," even though everything looked like a game.

Ding Shi asked many more questions, such as why they had come to Ita World, what Ita World was, and what Four Symbols City was. The angel's answer never changed. "You need to find the answer in Ita World."

Ding Shi sat on a large stone in front of the house, staring blankly at the distant horizon. The Little Angel conjured a butterfly and chased after it at an unhurried pace, flying all over the island.

The third time the Little Angel flew past Ding Shi, it paused and said, "You can open the system interface."

Ding Shi called up the system interface.

Ding Shi, twenty-four years old, male, healthy. There was also a handsome 3D portrait of him that could rotate 360 degrees. Ding Shi himself was 1.8 meters tall. His good looks were neither the slick roguishness of a delinquent nor the sunny vitality of a student, but an air of confidence that came from within.

The first column of the interface contained four item card slots. The system gave a detailed explanation: any cards could be placed in these four slots.

Following the instructions, Ding Shi set up a gesture. Then he snapped his fingers at a small stone in his left hand. The stone vanished, and a Stone Card appeared in his hand. Ding Shi placed the Stone Card into a slot. Then he took it back out and snapped his fingers again. The Stone Card turned back into a stone.

The second column contained four skill and equipment card slots.

There was no health bar, no mana bar, and no yellow stamina bar. However, there were physical attributes: strength, agility, intelligence, and luck. Ding Shi's strength was 7, agility was 7, intelligence was 8, and luck was 3. Note: Luck reset at midnight each day and could be affected by external factors.

The first three major attributes could only be increased through personal training and learning. They could be temporarily or permanently reduced by illness and similar factors. Ita World had no stat point allocation system.

The final slot was a bank card, with the basic functions of a banking app. It could make transfers, receive payments, and even buy stocks. Unfortunately, all the stocks were currently grayed out and could not be selected. A quick glance showed companies such as Four Symbols Energy and Four Symbols Agriculture, which were presumably related to Four Symbols City.

There were no talents or bloodlines in the system interface. Setting age aside, basically all humans started from the same point. What caught Ding Shi's attention was a row of question marks on the interface.

If he didn't understand, he would ask. Ding Shi said, "Little Angel, what is the hidden portion of the system interface?"

The Little Angel replied while playing, "Please explore it yourself."

Ding Shi asked, "What happens if I don't enter the instance tomorrow?"

The Little Angel said, "Nothing will happen." Its tone was casual, but it answered quickly.

Ding Shi stopped asking questions and sat quietly on the stone. He was not overly concerned about Ita World at the moment, not only because the past week had left him physically and mentally exhausted, but also because his nerves had been constantly taut throughout his six years undercover.

For the first time in six years, Ding Shi could think about nothing and do nothing. Simply sitting there quietly was a kind of happiness for him.

The night passed without incident.

He had never slept on such a hard bed. The palm leaves on the stone bed might as well have not existed.

The muscles and bones in Ding Shi's back ached terribly. He climbed out of bed with his back hunched, studied the vending machine for a while, and found what he needed: toothpaste, 1 dollar; toothbrush, 1 dollar; one roll of toilet paper, 1 dollar.

Ding Shi slipped out of the house, plucked a few leaves from nearby bushes, then returned to the house and entered the bathroom. The leaves could not be cleaned properly, so Ding Shi could only use other substitutes. Fortunately, water was free. After using the toilet, he thoroughly washed his hands three times.

There was no mirror and no comb. Ding Shi casually ran his fingers through his hair, collected a hard steamed bun and water for breakfast, then checked the time on the system panel. It was already 7:30 a.m. Outside, the Teleportation Array glowed with a faint blue light, and a countdown appeared within it.

Chewing on the steamed bun, Ding Shi looked around for a while, then jogged over to a large stone and flipped it over. His left hand caught an earthworm trying to escape, while his right hand snapped his fingers. An Earthworm Card appeared in his hand. His idea was simple: fish inside the instance, then turn the fish into cards and bring them back to the island. He caught another earthworm, but it could not be turned into a card. The system prompted: You cannot carry duplicate cards.

Ding Shi dug deep into the ground and unearthed more than a dozen red earthworms. He grabbed them all in one hand and snapped his fingers. A card appeared in his hand. Its name was: Many Earthworms Card.

Supplies were scarce. Ding Shi picked up a stone and obtained a Stone Card. He picked up a chair and obtained a Chair Card. There was truly nothing left to fill the final slot, so Ding Shi casually grabbed a handful of sand and obtained a Sand Card.

After washing his hands and running his fingers through his hair to tidy it, it was 7:55. Ding Shi stepped into the instance Teleportation Array and vanished in a flash.