It took Ding Shi three hours to accept reality: he had traded two practical skills for one that harassed others without inflicting actual harm.
To lift his spirits, Ding Shi used a Sixiang Teleportation Card. This time was extraordinary—over three hundred Sixiang Cities were available to pick from, but he still chose City 00.
Human workers in City 00's central commercial district had already begun replacing the robotic clerks. Shoppers bustled through the streets; it seemed people had already adapted to life in Sixiang City.
After wandering for an hour, he chose a ramen shop for lunch. First, Ding Shi checked the group chat. It was mostly a conversation between Su Su and Xiao Feng. Neither had held anything back, openly sharing their rewards. Su Su's individual rating was merely B-, while Xiao Feng had it even worse, scraping by with a C+.
Ding Shi chimed in: "Fifty dao for a pair of walkie-talkies, ten dao for a watermelon knife, ten dao for a nail gun. Anyone interested?"
Everyone immediately blew up the chat: "Where can you buy those?"
Ding Shi replied, "Sixiang City."
Everyone asked, "You went to Sixiang City? How do you get back to the instance?"
Ding Shi put on airs. "Don't you guys have Sixiang Teleportation Cards?" He posted an image of the card into the group chat. Rather than moping alone, he much preferred making everyone miserable together.
Exclamations, weeping, and outrage—a barrage of emojis flooded the chat interface.
Yu Yuan said, "I'll take a pair of walkie-talkies and one drone. Check how much the drone costs first, though."
Ding Shi said, "The drone is a hundred dao."
Yu Yuan: "Forget the drone, then."
Hua Shan, the herbalist girl: "I'd like a set of acupuncture needles."
Ding Shi said, "Five dao."
Hua Shan immediately initiated a transfer, but Ding Shi did not accept the money. "We'll settle up when the tribal instance opens again. Keep in mind, anything that cannot be bought or sold legally in the real world will not appear in Sixiang City either."
Wang Meng spoke up: "Ding Shi, I want a Wildcat."
Ding Shi slapped his forehead. How could he have overlooked such an obvious loophole? While weapons could not be purchased from vending machines, they were readily available in Sixiang City. Buying guns was illegal, but buying and selling crossbows was not—even if carrying them around in public was.
The Wildcat Wang Meng mentioned was a top-selling British-manufactured hunting crossbow. Equipped with an infrared night-vision scope and boasting an effective range of 160 meters, it could pierce an elephant's skull when loaded with specialized bolts.
Ding Shi said, "No problem. I'll buy it for you once the tribal instance reopens."
Ding Shi suddenly felt he had missed out. He should have realized much earlier that he could bring goods from Sixiang City into the primitive society instance.
A saber-toothed tiger? Dropped in an instant. A wild boar? Dead on the spot.
As for rhino herds and wolf packs? Protecting wildlife was everyone's responsibility. A real man knew when to fight and when to yield.
Ding Shi immediately tracked down a hunting supply store, shelled out 100 dao for a Wildcat crossbow equipped with an infrared night-vision scope, and purchased a quiver containing twenty-five bolts.
Giant apes, saber-toothed tigers, Wang Meng—come out and face him one-on-one! Hahaha!
***
Spending 10 dao to return to the island, he spotted Chu Yu poking her head around, peering curiously into the restaurant. Ding Shi walked up to pitch his service: "Twenty-five dao for all-you-can-eat lobster. Anything you want, it's on the menu."
Chu Yu glanced at Ding Shi. "Up to no good, as usual. Good to see you're still alive, though."
"Thanks." Ding Shi called out, "Xiao Ji, bring some tea. How did things go for you?"
Chu Yu said, "I was hunted by a great white shark for a day and a night."
Ding Shi asked in surprise, "A great white shark?" A flying shark?
Chu Yu nodded. "And you?"
Ding Shi said, "I ran into a herd of rhinos, a saber-toothed tiger, and a whole pack of wolves."
Chu Yu looked utterly bewildered, feeling as though their brainwaves were operating on entirely different frequencies. She asked, "What difficulty did you enter?"
Ding Shi: "Nightmare."
Chu Yu gave him a thumbs-up. "I entered a Hard-difficulty ocean raft survival."
Ding Shi gestured for Chu Yu to take a seat and sat down himself. "As long as you made it through, that's what counts."
Chu Yu said, "I came over specifically to invite you to team up for a Nightmare instance."
Ding Shi replied apologetically, "I'm planning to challenge a Hell-difficulty instance."
Chu Yu nodded in understanding, pulled out a card, and handed it to Ding Shi.
Ding Shi took it and saw that it was a City Lord Card. Chu Yu explained, "I got it from a Facility Scratch Card."
A City Lord Card allowed its holder to build a city on their own land. The city lord possessed the authority to enact laws and set tax rates.
Aside from owning a Sixiang Teleportation Card, how was one supposed to acquire land?
Possessing a City Lord Card allowed a player to browse available land parcels across the various Sixiang Cities. After purchasing a plot, paying 100 dao would establish a rudimentary teleportation array.
The city lord could plan the urban layout and submit the blueprints to a construction shop in Sixiang City, which would provide a reasonable quote. Once the City Lord Manor was constructed, Chu Yu would officially become the city lord, with the power to hire other players as municipal administrators. Administrators could travel back and forth between their personal villas and the main city free of charge via the teleportation array.
Perk 1: The City Lord Manor contained an instance teleportation array allowing players to enter instances as a group. Conditions permitting, they would be placed together.
Perk 2: If a resident of the city died inside an instance and became unable to challenge instances again, they would return to this city rather than being randomly allocated to an arbitrary Sixiang City.
Ding Shi handed the City Lord Card back to Chu Yu. "This is going to cost an absolute fortune." Having worked on road construction, he knew firsthand what a bottomless money pit infrastructure could be.
Chu Yu produced several sheets of paper and asked, "Roughly how much?"
One sheet was a design sketch for the City Lord Manor, while the others laid out the city itself. Within a one-square-kilometer area, there were commercial and residential zones, along with a fire station, a hospital, and other essential facilities.
Chu Yu asked, "Could you help me get an estimate? Leaving out equipment and looking purely at construction costs, how much would it take?"
"Wait for me." Ding Shi teleported to Sixiang City to consult a construction shop. Twenty minutes later, he returned. "The construction shop quoted two million dao, and that doesn't even include site leveling. That's using lower-mid grade building materials, too. On top of that, maintaining city operations in the initial phase requires hiring robots, which is another substantial expense."
Chu Yu sighed.
Ding Shi added, "However..."
Chu Yu played along smoothly. "However?"
Ding Shi said, "I met with the president of Sixiang Bank. He's willing to offer a loan for urban construction, but right now he can only provide five thousand dao. When I asked about the requirements for a two-million loan to build the city, he said it could be collateralized with land valued at one million. When I asked what it would take to borrow one million to buy the land, he threw me out." Completely unreasonable, really.
Chu Yu said, "In other words, I need to scrape together at least one million in capital, buy a plot of land, use that land as collateral, and take out a two-million loan to build the city."
Ding Shi: "That's the gist of it. How much do you have right now?"
Chu Yu: "A hundred." Missing several zeroes.
Ding Shi said, "For twenty-five dao, you can gorge yourself on lobster. Are you sure you don't want to try it? Isn't living like a pig far better than being a city lord?"
Chu Yu chuckled, then asked in all seriousness, "If I managed to get a gold teleportation ticket and had you auction it off in Sixiang City, could we raise one million dao? You know how it is—wealth gradually concentrates in the hands of a few."
Ding Shi countered with a question: "Why would someone who can throw around a million dao spend it on a gold teleportation ticket?"
Chu Yu was stumped. That was true—anyone with that kind of money was already an East Community resident, so why would they need a ticket?
Chu Yu asked, "Could we sell skill cards or something like that?"
Ding Shi answered, "No. Skills, instance items, Origin Force, and the like can only be used in villas and instances."
Chu Yu frowned in distress. How on earth was she supposed to round up a million?
Ding Shi brought out a feather and said, "For higher-grade materials like this, the vending machine offers a buyback service. Each one can sell for fifty dao." Other than that, Ding Shi couldn't think of any ways to earn money either.
Chu Yu asked, "What do you think about bringing a stove into an instance and selling boxed meals?"
Ding Shi considered it. A pot, a gas canister, a bag of rice—it seemed feasible on paper. But would anyone actually buy it? Even in the primitive society, there had been meat and fruit.
The two chatted a while longer without reaching any fruitful conclusions. Feeling frustrated, Chu Yu decided to eat lobster. Ding Shi was delighted and joined her, each paying their own way. Footing her bill was completely out of the question—after all, this was the island's very first piece of business.
***
The following day.
The Hell instance teleportation array emitted a faint purple vapor. It was not a noble purple, but the sickly purple of venom, looking thoroughly sinister.
Without hesitation, Ding Shi stepped into the Hell teleportation array. Provisions brought along: the Wildcat crossbow, a quiver of bolts, a Metal Thunder Talisman, and a bicycle-style electric moped. Origin Force could not be used in Sixiang City, and Ding Shi couldn't lift a higher-end electric scooter with one arm. Skills equipped: Three Short of One and Acclimatization Sickness.
Instance preparation room.
Instance Name: Grim Reaper. Tag: Ghost King. Instance Capacity: 100.
The background was a sprawling town called Ham Town, home to over four thousand native residents. The town center was equipped with every basic facility, ranging from a police station to elementary and middle schools.
Ham Town appeared calm, quiet, and peaceful on the surface, but a serial killer lurked within. Yet the killer was far from the greatest threat; the greatest danger was the sudden descent of the Grim Reaper.
Grim Reaper: Absolute invisibility, cannot kill humans directly.
Main Task 1: Survive for 7 days.
Main Task 2: Accumulate over 200 work-time points. Every hour of work grants 1 point. Exceeding quotas or performing work with excellence yields bonus points. Errors on the job result in point deductions.
One hundred cards materialized on the table. The system's voice rang out: "Please select your profession."
Barely two seconds after the words faded, two cards vanished. Ding Shi deduced they had been snatched by other players in the instance. Glancing at his Luck stat, it stood at 5 points—the exact median. Snapping forward like a pecking chick, Ding Shi snatched a card and flipped it over: patrol officer.
Ha! After working six years undercover, he had never once worn a police uniform.
The system provided a map of Ham Town. The town was shaped like a rugby ball, flanked by a forked river. To the south lay a slaughterhouse, and to the north stood a pharmaceutical plant; many locals worked at these two enterprises. The police station, schools, dance hall, auto repair shop, supermarket, and residential neighborhoods were all clearly marked. The road network was straightforward, all circling around a single main thoroughfare. An affluent district consisting of a dozen detached villas occupied a sizable tract of land.
Identity card generation complete.
Ding Shi: 24 years old, patrol officer. Residence: 99 Bell Street. Parents abroad. Bank account balance: 270 dao, along with other miscellaneous information. Note: Dao currency can be exchanged for the instance's yuan currency at a bank, but yuan cannot be converted back into dao. The exchange rate is 10 yuan to 1 dao.
The instance begins!
What greeted his eyes was a very ordinary room, equipped with a window, a wardrobe, and a bed—neither too large nor too cramped. Stepping out led to a corridor; glancing through the corridor window, Ding Shi grasped the house's general layout.
It was a three-story house covering roughly sixty square meters. With neither a front yard nor a backyard, stepping out the front door put one directly onto the sidewalk. Ding Shi's bedroom was on the second floor alongside a study. The third floor also contained two rooms, serving as the living quarters of his parents, who worked abroad. The ground floor housed the living room, kitchen, and dining area.
Judging by the state of the kitchen, the stove hadn't been lit in a very long time.
Several personal items lay on the bedroom bed: an address book containing phone numbers for his parents, police station superiors, colleagues, and others, as well as a driver's license and a police badge. Inside the wardrobe hung four sets of patrol officer uniforms, and notes affixed to the wall outlined this week's shift schedule.
Ding Shi was on the evening shift this week, working from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. He was to report to the station at six, draw his equipment, and patrol Night Rain Street today. At two in the morning, he would report back to the station before clocking out.
Ding Shi decided to head out early to get his bearings. Based on what he had gathered so far, the overall atmosphere resembled 1930s London as depicted in film and television. There were automobiles, telephones, and electricity.
Ding Shi opened the door and stepped out of 99 Bell Street. Right outside was the pedestrian sidewalk, with a bicycle leaning against the entrance. The people bustling to and fro were indistinguishable from real human beings.
Across the street on the opposite sidewalk, a young boy was bouncing a small basketball while his mother sat on a nearby bench chatting with another woman.
A small pebble rolled five meters entirely on its own, without a breath of wind. The boy's basketball bounced squarely against the pebble, altering its trajectory and ricocheting toward the road. The boy instinctively dashed after it into the street.
A black automobile came hurtling down the road. The driver's radio crackled with static; looking down to check the dial, the driver looked back up only to see the young boy right in front of the car. The driver wrenched the steering wheel on pure reflex, the left front corner of the car grazing past the child by a hair's breadth. The vehicle swerved violently to the right, vaulted the curb onto the sidewalk, and plowed straight toward Ding Shi, who had his back turned while unlocking his bicycle.
By the time Ding Shi noticed, the front of the car was already mounting the sidewalk. Reacting on instinct, Ding Shi evenly channeled his Origin Force into Agility and Strength. Bracing both hands against the bicycle handlebars, he launched himself upward like a gymnast on a high bar, executing a clean handstand atop the bars.
The car slammed violently into the wall, totally demolishing the nearly new bicycle.
Ding Shi dropped his feet onto the smoking hood. Seeing that the driver appeared to have been knocked unconscious, he hopped down and reached for the car door handle to pull the man out. Just then, a sharp smell of gasoline hit his nose.
Stepping back two paces to look, Ding Shi saw fuel leaking rapidly from the gas tank. He also realized he was wearing a casual late-autumn, early-winter suit made of nylon fabric.
Static electricity flashed across his mind at once. This had nothing to do with being clever; he was simply terrified of electric shocks. In modern society, his car had leather seats; during the winter, every time he got in or out and pressed the button on the handle to lock or unlock the vehicle, he ran the risk of a jolt. Ding Shi had practically developed a phobia of static shocks.
Right then, a middle-aged man dressed in similar attire strode quickly toward the car. For a fleeting moment, Ding Shi had the bizarre hallucination that the man's swinging arms were generating friction and building up static charge as he walked. Ding Shi backed away even further. The middle-aged man yanked the door open to check on the driver.
As it turned out, Ding Shi had miscalculated; the middle-aged man did not ignite the gasoline with static electricity.
The puddle of gasoline expanded, spreading beyond the car's footprint. Passersby began gathering, and several men pulled the driver out of the vehicle.
Ding Shi's neighbor happened to be an uncouth older man. Having finished his cigarette, he paid no heed to what was happening outside and flicked the butt straight out of his window.
Lurking nearby, the Grim Reaper noticed that Ding Shi was more than seven meters away from the vehicle. It promptly summoned a gust of wind to deflect the cigarette butt, preventing it from landing on the gasoline as it otherwise would have.
A patrol officer approached the scene. Ding Shi exchanged a few words with him, requested his assistance in securing compensation for the ruined bicycle, and walked away.
Chapter 85