The Second Spirit Realm Opens

"Find it. I left everything there." Zhang Yuanqing stared at those words, remaining silent for a very long time. *Oh, Brother Bing, you really gave me a tough puzzle!* Zhang Yuanqing sighed and focused his attention on the clues. "'Brothers for a lifetime' was Brother Bing's catchphrase back in eighth grade. If it were just an emotional outburst, he wouldn't have put it in a cipher. "'6203.' A string of numbers—is it a password? "'Find it.' What does 'it' refer to?" Zhang Yuanqing frowned in thought for a long while, pinching the bridge of his nose with an aching head. *It feels like I got a ton of clues, yet at the same time, nothing at all...* he silently groused. Still, this fit the tropes of detective fiction: to prevent the secret from leaking, Assistant Ah Bing had left behind clues that only the great detective Zhang Yuanqing could understand. Once certain conditions were met in the future, he would naturally figure it out. After all, the great detective was still just a weakling right now. "The so-called 'everything' must be related to Brother Bing sending me the Demon Lord's character card, his disappearance, and his abnormal behavior during college. Since it involves someone at the Demon Lord's level, it really makes you wonder what 'it' is." Zhang Yuanqing shredded the paper slip, left the room, and entered the bathroom. *Gurgle...* The flushing toilet carried the paper scraps away. Uncle Lei was very busy with work, which could numb him to a degree and ease the pain of losing a child. This only highlighted how agonizing life was for Aunt Zhou, who was a homemaker. Zhang Yuanqing said goodbye to Aunt Zhou and left Yinping Community. By the roadside outside the compound, he waited for his ride-hail while pondering: *I definitely can't tell the Decurion or the Old Driverette about this. I have to investigate it on my own. There are only so few clues, so rushing won't help. What's most important right now is the second Spirit Realm mission. *Leveling up is what matters most.* Zhang Yuanqing realized the importance of strength more and more. *If a multiplayer Spirit Realm isn't a lethal type, it's a penalty type. Failing the mission deducts experience points. If things go wrong, my strength might even regress... *The rewards depend on the dungeon's difficulty level and the walker's performance during the mission. My current experience is at 52%. I wonder if the second Spirit Realm can take me straight to Level 2.* Theoretically speaking, that was impossible. He had asked around recently. As long as one survived a solo Spirit Realm, the rewards were quite generous, so logically leveling up shouldn't be slow. Yet seasoned walkers like Guan Ya and Li Dongze were stuck at Level 2 and Level 3 respectively for a long time. There were two reasons for this: first, the Spirit Realm dungeons they entered weren't high in rank and the missions weren't difficult, so the rewards weren't as exaggerated as an S-rank's. Second, multiplayer dungeons had wins and losses. Put in everyday gaming terms: it was inevitable to lose points when saddled with terrible teammates. Just then, the ride-hail car finally arrived. Zhang Yuanqing pulled open the door, slid inside, and headed home. "Grandma, I'm back from class!" Zhang Yuanqing shouted toward the balcony. "Your uncle was here. He wants you to go over and see him when you get back," his grandmother responded, washing a mop. "No way. Class was exhausting. I don't feel like singing and dancing with him." "I heard your aunt gave him a sum of money recently." "Grandma, I'm going over to Uncle's place!" Ten-odd minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing walked out of his uncle's home thoroughly satisfied. Back in his room, he opened the forum. Yesterday's post forwarded from the official Night Wanderer forum was still pinned at the top, but a new post had appeared below it: #Condolences: A Colleague Has Fallen in a Multiplayer Spirit Realm# Clicking inside, the post stated that yesterday, a colleague from a certain branch had received a mission for the S-rank dungeon "Jinshui Amusement Park." He had notified his superior before entering. And then he never came out. Over twenty-four hours had already passed since he entered the Spirit Realm. [Past Days Full of Sorrow: I'm scheduled to enter a multiplayer Spirit Realm soon too. I'm panicking so hard...] [Call Me Queen: A walkthrough probably won't be available anytime soon. You're on your own. But there are so many multiplayer Spirit Realms, you won't be that unlucky.] [Days Ahead Are Long: Queen, the odds may be low, but if you run into it, it's certain death. Plus, S-rank Spirit Realms are notoriously hard to clear. If it drags on for six months or a year, who knows how many people will be done in.] This news stirred up quite a panic and lively discussion on the forum. [I Have an Affliction: Are there any extraordinarily brilliant colleagues at the Transcendent stage? Wild rogue cultivators work too. People like that have stellar track records and stand a higher chance of being assigned to an S-rank by the Spirit Realm. They might just clear an S-rank. Past Days Full of Sorrow, you just need to keep your eyes glued on people like that.] [Past Days Full of Sorrow: Great idea!] With such a massive base of walkers, there were quite a few people about to enter the Spirit Realm just like Past Days Full of Sorrow. They upvoted in droves, agreeing that this was a good approach. In their eyes, genius players of the same stage were more important than Deacons or Elders, because the latter couldn't enter low-level dungeons. *Yinshan Haunted School and Xinfeng Reservoir have already been cleared. Meanwhile, Jinshui Amusement Park is a multiplayer Spirit Realm open to all classes. Even though it's S-rank, theoretically speaking, the probability of it being cleared is higher than a Night Wanderer exclusive realm. This 'Days Ahead Are Long' clearly failed math.* Zhang Yuanqing scrolled through the comments, muttering his own thoughts. Just then, he saw a pop-up prompt in his messaging app. Wang Qian, the informant from the Palace of Halting Slaughter, had sent a message. Wang Qian: "Can you get an old-version guide for Jinshui Amusement Park?" Zhang Yuanqing: "Are you entering a Spirit Realm soon?" Wang Qian: "My next Spirit Realm is a Musician exclusive realm, and it's not anytime soon either. I just wanted to let you know that if you can get your hands on an old guide, you can make a tidy little profit." "How so?" "You already know about the anomaly in the Night Wanderer exclusive Spirit Realms—no need for me to repeat it. Jinshui Amusement Park is a Transcendent-stage multiplayer Spirit Realm with the broadest audience. On the black market, its old guide is already selling for three hundred thousand." Spirit Realm dungeon guides were "strategic resources"—one of the cornerstones of official organizations, accumulated through the blood and sacrifice of countless official walkers. In all his years, Zhang Yuanqing had never even seen three hundred thousand. Wang Qian continued messaging: "A channel I'm in contact with is buying old guides. You're a member of an official organization. If you can get an old guide, I can help sell it for you. A seventy-thirty split." "I have one!" *Seventy percent would be two hundred and ten thousand...* Zhang Yuanqing replied reflexively, then immediately recalled the message. Wang Qian sent a question mark, expressing confusion. Zhang Yuanqing: "I do have an old version, but I'm not selling." Wang Qian: "Why?" Zhang Yuanqing: "I don't want to make this kind of money." Wang Qian didn't push it. It was obvious that Yuanshi Tianzun came from a decent family background and held a high moral bottom line. That was a good thing; after all, no one wanted to deal with someone ruthless and heinous. "How much is a new guide for Jinshui Amusement Park worth?" Zhang Yuanqing messaged back to ask. "An S-rank Spirit Realm dungeon guide is worth an astronomical sum, but there's no fixed price. The exact figure would be negotiated with the buyer. That said, I'm guessing that with your security clearance, you probably don't have access to S-rank dungeon guides." A Transcendent-stage S-rank was completely different from a trial mission. Wang Qian: "I have a patient now. Let's chat later. If you change your mind, remember to contact me. I've been tight on money lately." Wang Qian had been very strapped for cash lately. A doctor's salary wasn't high, and the restrictions of Morality Points ruled out most possibilities of making ill-gotten windfalls. After this casual chat, Zhang Yuanqing was reminded of the Jinshui Amusement Park dungeon guide Li Dongze had given him. He felt a spark of interest in this dungeon. He exited the messaging app, opened his email, and downloaded the attachment. [Jinshui Amusement Park, Spirit Realm ID: 6203, Difficulty Level: B, Type: Multiplayer (Penalty-type)] [Main Mission: Experience two or more park attractions.] "Upon entering the dungeon, the Spirit Realm will prompt you on which attractions to experience. The park's attractions include a roller coaster, a giant pendulum, a pirate ship, a haunted house, a Ferris wheel, a detective mystery hall... "Most attractions test team coordination, and the rules are... "The most dangerous is the ghost wedding in the haunted house. The ghost bride will pick the most handsome male player to be her husband, and the chosen player will be directly eliminated. Therefore, after entering the haunted house, you must continuously chant: I am an ugly freak! "When all male players shout 'I am an ugly freak,' the ghost bride will choose at random, and at that point, it just comes down to luck. Female players are the safest and can clear this attraction directly." Zhang Yuanqing carefully read through the rules of each attraction. When he saw the ghost wedding, he thought to himself: *Just elimination? This ghost bride is nowhere near as vicious as the ghost bride from the trial mission.* Although the old version was only for reference and couldn't be relied upon, it allowed one to quickly understand the dungeon's overall setup, which was still very valuable. No wonder someone was willing to pay a hefty three hundred thousand for it. Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing's expression changed. He swiped rapidly across the screen, scrolling the document to the very top. Jinshui Amusement Park, Spirit Realm ID: 6203. 6203?! He froze, stunned for a long time. Was it a coincidence? "Does '6203' refer to Jinshui Amusement Park? Brother Bing hid something there? No, that's impossible." Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. Spirit Realm dungeons were assigned randomly. On that point alone, it made no logical sense. What if he never entered Jinshui Amusement Park? Wouldn't Brother Bing's arrangements be completely wasted? Unless Brother Bing could predict what Spirit Realm he would enter. If what Spirit Realm he would enter in the future could be predicted, then his Spirit Realm missions weren't random. And if so, his entering Sheling Tunnel was terrifying to contemplate... Zhang Yuanqing suddenly felt his scalp tingle. After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing washed up early, drew the curtains, turned off the lights, locked the door, and lay on his large bed, staring blankly at the digital clock on the nightstand. The Spirit Realm mission would definitely come before midnight. Clutching five or six little blue pills in his hand, he felt time slowly slip by. After an unknown amount of time, the familiar prompt chime sounded in his mind: [Ding! The Spirit Realm map is opening. Entering the Spirit Realm in 60 seconds. The Spirit Realm you are entering this time is "Jinshui Amusement Park," ID: 6203.] [Difficulty Level: S] [Type: Multiplayer (Lethal)] [Main Mission: Experience two or more park attractions] [Note: Non-Spirit Realm items may not be brought inside.] [Introduction to Spirit Realm No. 6203: One day, an indescribable figure arrived at Jinshui Amusement Park. She was surprised to discover that after her long slumber, such fascinating playthings had appeared in the world. She joyfully experienced every attraction and decided not to destroy the place. Before departing, she instructed the spirits in the amusement park to find a young man for her. His name is XXXX.] *It really is Jinshui Amusement Park. It really is Jinshui Amusement Park...* Zhang Yuanqing felt as if ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through his mind. With no time to overthink, he popped the little blue pills into his mouth and dialed Guan Ya's number. According to protocol, he had to report his Spirit Realm dungeon so his superiors and colleagues would be aware, especially during such a sensitive period. The call connected quickly. Guan Ya grumbled playfully: "Every young lady whose sweet dreams are interrupted deserves a feast in compensation." "Tell the Decurion that I'm about to enter the Spirit Realm. The dungeon is Jinshui Amusement Park..." "What?! Your multiplayer Spirit Realm is Jinshui Amusement Park? Hello, Yuanshi? Hello? Hello—" Guan Ya received no further response.