NOVPUBChapter 55: Chapter 54 The Warrior and the Warrior’s Brother
Chapter 55 -54 The Warrior and the Warrior’s Brother
But substitute souls cannot change the condition of the body, especially for those who died from trauma or disease. For example, the odd smell that Qianyuan detected was the stench of decay emanating from the body’s diseased areas. To avoid causing too much discomfort to players, Chaoyang also correspondingly reduced the sensory threshold, which resulted in users feeling that their bodies became less responsive.
Of course, these bodies couldn’t be preserved for long; they’d need to be replaced with new ones after about a week, but compared to bodies created purely by wishing power, this was already the most cost-effective method.
It should be noted that creating anything with wishing power, its consumption is calculated by the hour.
As for the issue of the bodies being easily recognized by acquaintances, he was not too worried about it—after all, creations made with wishing power could also be used for makeup, such as sticking on a fake nose, or applying an ultra-thin mask that changes skin color, which could essentially render someone unrecognizable, and the consumption wouldn’t be too high either.
He couldn’t do much to adjust the body shape, but even this could be concealed by the way one dressed.
“If you encounter any problems with your body while playing, feel free to provide me with feedback. Paradise always puts the experience of our players first,” Chaoyang clapped his hands together, “Now, let’s tally the scores for the last round.”
Everyone noticed a string of numbers appearing in the upper left corner of their field of vision.
“The base score is 1000, and the final score depends on your performance.”
As his words ended, the number began to spin rapidly.
Zhang Zhiyuan saw his own number finally settle on 1900.
“How much do you have?” he whispered to Zhou Zhi.
“2200.” The latter replied.
Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly felt a sense of defeat in confidence. He was actually outscored!
Although he kept telling himself that this wasn’t just a game, and he didn’t come to Paradise merely for pleasure, he couldn’t help feeling a bit competitive deep down, especially since in the last game he led the team perfectly, only to end up with a lower score than that brat Zhou Zhi, which was somewhat demoralizing.
“Sukarnobert,” another side Anthony suddenly shouted, “Why only 600 points for me!?”
“Because you were taken out too early, becoming a gap in the team’s front line. This is a justified outcome based on various parameters, and Paradise has the final interpretation right.”
Of course, these were just excuses Chaoyang made up on the fly—for recording these scores, he could only use the most primitive method, which was to write them down in a notebook, and therefore the scores were entirely based on his personal impression, let alone a “sophisticated mathematical scoring formula.”
“The scores have been tallied, and you may now exchange items freely based on the exchange list.”
“I want a translator tofu; it’s really uncomfortable not understanding what you guys are babbling about!” Anthony said first.
“Me too,” Qianyuan Meiko chimed in right after.
Chaoyang fulfilled their requests one by one.
However, after exchanging for the translator tofu, all four decided to save their points for later.
Chaoyang nodded and didn’t beat around the bush, “This mission also has a situational theme, with Zhang Zhiyuan playing the role of Zhang Qiang to meet the needs of Yeni Temple. As for the others… Your roles will be assigned by Zhang Zhiyuan himself.”
“Eh?” Zhou Zhi looked at Zhang Zhiyuan in surprise, and Qianyuan Meiko’s expression also seemed quite astonished.
Anthony was even more vehement, protesting loudly, “Why do we have to listen to him? Shouldn’t Paradise be a game that values freedom?”
“The situational theme is a pre-set objective of the game, but whether you follow it or not is up to the players,” Chaoyang said indifferently.
“That’s more like it,” the Russian huffed.
“But similarly, the allocation of points is closely related to the degree of participation in the theme; thus, the following two possibilities exist: one is that when the next round of the game begins, players who have made no contribution to the task will not receive any points. The second is that if any player deliberately creates obstacles for the task within the game, then Paradise allows for combat between players.”
“This…” Anthony hesitated for a moment, his gaze sweeping in succession over Zhou Zhi, Qianyuan Mingzi, and Ailuodi before finally coming to rest on Zhang Zhiyuan. It was clear that although the others were doubtful, they did not intend to support him. In the end, he could only stamp his feet, “Alright, I’ll follow and see, in the hope that Mr. Justice can provide us with some different amusement.”
“Wait, I want to ask the host, is the newcomer really called Fiend?” Qianyuan Mingzi couldn’t help but raise this issue.
“Her real name obviously isn’t that, but in Paradise, a name is just a code. What does it matter whether it’s true or false? As long as it’s easy to say.” Chaoyang looked at Ailuodi, “Am I right?”
The latter felt veins popping on her forehead but nodded anyway.
“Then what exactly are our identities right now?” Zhou Zhi asked curiously, looking at Zhang Zhiyuan. He didn’t care who took the lead; to him, being in this novel world was the greatest pleasure.
“First… how about being bodyguards?” Zhang Zhiyuan suggested uncertainly. Paradise had only told him about Zhang Qiang and medical matters, for which he had even consulted the department’s doctor all night. Who knew that they would come up with this twist?
He looked at Chaoyang, but Chaoyang didn’t provide any indication and instead addressed everyone, “Since the preparations are complete, let’s set off.”
…
The Yeni Temple was no unfamiliar place for the participants of the second round of the game; they confidently made their way through the entrance hall and corridors, arriving at the center of the large hall where the patients were housed.
“Something is odd…” Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly muttered.
“What’s wrong?” Zhou Zhi asked.
“This place looks the same as when we visited.”
“It’s barely been a week, what change could there be?” he said, puzzled.
“Have you forgotten that we stayed in Paradise for more than two days, while only about thirty minutes passed on the outside?” Zhang Zhiyuan shook his head, “I thought that after such a long time, Magnificent Castle would have gone through years, but it seems that time here doesn’t differ much from Earth’s.”
Perhaps this was also one of Paradise’s abilities.
They must have used some method to blur the boundaries of time, he thought secretly, and he must observe carefully.
“You must be the detectives sent by Mr. Detective, right?” Suddenly, a woman approached quickly, “I’m Judy, and I’ve been waiting for you here for a while.”
To Zhou Zhi and the others, Judy was not a stranger, but since they were now in different bodies, they could only pretend not to know each other and introduce themselves from scratch.
“I am Zhang Qiang, Zhang Zhiyuan’s brother,” Zhang Zhiyuan quickly declared his identity, “How did you know it was us?”
“Well… I can’t really say, perhaps it’s a feeling?” Judy thought for a moment before replying, “You always look so spirited, and the light in your eyes seems to say that you are not afraid of anything, which is not common in the Temple. The people here are all afraid of death, already crushed by various diseases and pains to the point of being unable to breathe.”
As she spoke, she paused slightly, her voice dropping a little, “Also… regarding your brother, please accept my condolences. Although I didn’t witness it myself, I heard from Dane that he faced ten enemies without changing his expression and ultimately turned into a blaze that incinerated the enemies, a truly worthy warrior.”
“Ah? Oh… um…” Zhang Zhiyuan didn’t know how to respond right away.
“I heard that Miss Judy works at a newspaper, how come you suddenly showed up at Yeni Temple?” Zhou Zhi helped him out of the awkward situation, “Could it be that you are the client for this mission?”
They already had a feeling that the host wasn’t the real initiator of the mission, and the passersby that came and went in the streets were not NPCs created by Paradise.
But as if by tacit agreement, no one uncovered this level of relationship.
“No, no,” Judy waved her hands hastily, then yelled towards a side room far away in the hall, “Miss Jenny, the Mr. Zhang you’ve been talking about for a long time is here!”
