Valhalla, a street scene.
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] walked in the middle of the crowd of NPCs and players, feeling that the scene in front of him was somewhat unreal.
When did things start to go wrong?
Did they see [ Howling Pothos ] bring back an important item worth nearly ten gold coins from Fir City in just a few hours?
Or was it after learning that [ Clear Soup Master ] had miraculously survived that he gained the opportunity to open up a new direction for Aberration?
Or perhaps it's seeing those companions constantly infiltrating Fir City?
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] doesn't remember when he started to fall for her; he only knows that by the time he realized it, he had already paid the deposit in Black Locust Town and received a "boarding pass" and a signal flare.
As for the fishing rod that I used to love so much...
Life is always full of changes, that's not surprising.
After convincing himself, the biting cold wind led him into a small alley in Fir City. He had no companions, no map, and not even Root Network to connect to the forum to copy homework.
After several hours of trepidation, he was finally kicked to death by the night-patrolling tree spirit, his soul returning to the heavens to look down upon the world.
One failure is nothing, of course. [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] quickly regrouped and entered Fir City with even better equipment.
This time he wasn't kicked to death by the Night Watch Tree Man, because he didn't live to see the night.
The randomly descending Soldier Bee transported him to a slightly bustling area within Fir City, but [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] had not prepared any local attire, nor had he planted any plants on his body beforehand to simulate Symbiotic Tree in order to imitate a civilian.
So unfortunately, a strangely dressed person who doesn't have any symbiotic plants on him just happens to fit the image of the thugs described in the Holy See's announcement a couple of days ago.
After being reported three times, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] was chased and hunted down by two squads of combat priests and one squad of Holy Crusaders. Before the Treant Hunter could even leave his pen, he was riddled with holes.
Two consecutive failed evacuations temporarily calmed [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ]'s restless heart.
He logged out of the game and opened forums and video websites, starting to study strategy videos and written tips to prepare for his next infiltration.
After studying for most of the day (actually, I was online as long as I could), [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] felt that he had completely understood the Fir City event map.
That night, his game time was broken again, and a man as majestic as an eagle entered his Fir City with an air of complete control.
This tiny capital city is easily under control!
Let's go, brothers!
[Evacuation failed. Current account balance: 6 gold, 78 silver, 6 bronze.]
Oh, so priests patrol at this time... I must walk quietly.
Let's go, brothers!
[Evacuation failed. Current account balance: 5 gold, 7 silver, 13 bronze.]
There is a Holy Crusaders camp here. Be very careful when moving around in the vicinity... Remember this!
Let's go, brothers!
[Evacuation failed. Current account balance: 3 gold, 82 silver, 1 bronze.]
Why is this tree-man so tanky? I'll need to buy Oil Vine Incendiary Bomb to win... I can't skimp on that money!
Let's go, brothers!
[Evacuation failed. Current account balance: 1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze.]
No, if we can't finish the fight in five minutes, we'll attract more enemies. We can't let this fight drag on for too long; we need to avoid battle as much as possible... Yes, gather information, avoid battle!
Let's go, brothers!
[Evacuation failed, current account balance: 0]
ah?
In his soul form, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] kept clicking to revive immediately. Each time he clicked, the bright red 0 would beat like a heartbeat, like a needle pricking his eyes.
He finally awoke from his two-day-long reverie and stared in disbelief at his account balance.
No, I've been playing for months, and all this money I've saved up... is gone just like that?
That's actually a bit of an exaggeration, after all, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] has spent a lot of money on other things before, such as buying a small piece of land in Valhalla for himself, like [ Noncompliant Nickname 1214 ].
However, this can already be considered real estate, and he hasn't lost his mind to that extent.
Fortunately, Ed's Root Network game system didn't introduce a forced liquidation feature, otherwise foreclosure auctions of real estate might already be on the agenda...
Having regained his senses, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] felt somewhat like crying but had no tears left to shed.
For the first time, he understood why gambling was so addictive.
Even though he was only playing an activity in a virtual game, the feeling of believing he had found a pattern and wanting to win big with a small investment had already taken root in his heart.
In his soul form, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] drew a line for himself in his heart:
Real estate must absolutely not be touched!
That's what they say, but how do we revive them?
This has happened before. If a player's account balance is insufficient to support their physical repair or regeneration, others can voluntarily advance the funds to complete the resurrection. Such "payment on behalf" transactions will be recorded in the player's system, so there is no need to worry about morally corrupt individuals trying to renege on their debts.
However, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] had never heard of such a thing. After all, the more realistic the game is, the more players care about their image. For the sake of their gaming experience, becoming a deadbeat is almost a completely unprofitable thing.
He opened his friends list on the right, intending to borrow some money from someone he was on good terms with to revive or pay for his friend's account, but to his surprise, all the contacts listed were "unable to connect".
Um?
Why can't I connect?
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] opened the specific status bar and found that all of his friends were now in Fir City. According to the rules of this large-scale long-term quest, players who entered Fir City could not communicate with the outside world through the game system unless they logged off.
Ah, this...
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] suddenly sensed something was wrong--
Could my file be a dead file?
Just then, a message pop-up appeared in front of him:
[Your account balance is insufficient, and you have been in a pending recovery state for ten minutes. Do you wish to activate "negative equity" mode?]
Negative Assets Mode?
Could it be what I'm imagining?
With things having come to this point, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ], who only wanted to be resurrected, clicked "Accept." He then watched as his account balance changed from "0" to "-1 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze," and his new body began to take shape inside a Aberration plant.
You really can go into debt!
It hurts, it hurts so much!
With immense regret, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] threw himself back into the Valhalla respawn point, having run out of ammo and supplies.
I'm... tired of launching a full-scale attack.
Let's take the boom back and go back to how things were before.
The spiritless [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] wandered the streets of Valhalla like a walking corpse, muttering to himself:
"Hello Jie Jie..."