Please don't question multi-week players

Chapter 376. The Conman and the Leek Field

In a room in a villa district of a certain city, a man wearing headphones stared intently at his computer screen, then suddenly let out a low exclamation:
"My God! It's exactly the same..."

He repeatedly compared screenshots of the game map of "Dark Land" with real-world photos and discovered that the two worlds perfectly met in the thick fog.

This discovery made him instantly breathless, and his cheeks flushed with excitement.

After repeatedly checking the computer screen for a long time, he suddenly remembered something and quickly opened the Ping An Forum.

By this time, the forum had already been ignited by related topics.

Posts on the homepage kept flooding the feed, and the term "dark earth" quickly climbed the trending topics list.

"These two maps look so similar. Does anyone know what's going on? Do these two worlds really meet at the gray fog?"

"I think it's very likely. There are similar buildings here. Isn't it obvious that they're from the same world?"

"Is our world going to merge with the game world? Should I download the Dark Earth game now and get familiar with the environment?"

"Downloaded, but wasn't this game free before? Why do I have to pay to register an account now?"

"It's normal operation for someone from the Rose Group. All they care about is money."

"I feel that even though it costs money, I should still register. It's quite important to learn about the world in advance."

"I've already started playing it, and the models feel so realistic! Aren't they just scanned from reality and overlaid on?"

"Based on what the person upstairs said, I'd buy the account no matter the price!"

"Buy it!"

……

A flood of comments poured in, and as he looked up, the first thing he noticed was a post that was rapidly gaining popularity:

[Attention all wealthy individuals! Global integration is an undeniable fact. I know my brothers and sisters in high society are anxious about how to maintain their wealth amidst this era of great change. This post will guide you on the right choices! [Note: The poster is a friend of a financier, whose abilities are evident to all. This post was obtained through a private consultation with the financier. If you don't trust the poster, you can trust the financier, right?]]

Seeing the prestigious "Financier" sign, the man couldn't resist clicking on it.

Alright, I believe everyone who clicked in is at least somewhat wealthy, so let's skip the small talk and get straight to the point!

As we all know, every game has its own currency system, and within a game, only in-game currency can be used for transactions. The Dark Land is no exception; buying and selling there requires Rose Coins.

[After the world merges, the currency system will most likely be transformed. Our local currency can only be used for transactions with locals, while transactions with people from other worlds will only be possible using Rose Coins.]

[I strongly recommend that everyone purchase some Rose Coin packs after entering the game. Those who want to establish businesses in the other world should purchase even more, because the combat power levels in the two worlds are different. If the other world is a society where everyone is highly skilled in martial arts, our currency might become worthless!!!]

The poster added a series of exclamation marks at the end of the sentence, and the comments below were even more panicked.

"Damn, what the poster said makes a lot of sense. In our society, the level of combat strength varies greatly, but it may not be like that in another world. I just took a look in the game, and the weakest NPC there is level 60. It is very likely that it is a society where everyone is highly skilled in martial arts."

"No! I finally became rich thanks to the apocalypse, I don't want to lose my money!!!"

"Never mind, I think the poster makes a good point. I'm going to buy the 9999 Rose Coins gift pack from the store!"

"I just spent 100,000, and I'm really anxious. I really don't want to go through the poverty before the apocalypse again. I must maintain my position."

"I've already bought them, guys. You can't go wrong with buying some."

……

The cold light from the computer screen illuminated the man's pale face. He gritted his teeth, closed the Ping An Forum page, and instead logged into the game world of "Dark Land".

In the online store, the "Rose Coin Gift Pack" priced at 9999 yuan flashed in the center of the screen, with a halo of red and pink intertwined, dreamlike and beautiful to the point of being unreal.

He suddenly remembered the various novels he had read before the apocalypse—"I Became Rich After Spending a Trillion on In-Games" and "The Game Arrives: Luckily I'm a Pay-to-Win Player"... Those brightly colored covers flashed through his mind, and eventually transformed into the pink gift package in front of him that was radiating an alluring glow.

His gaze fell on the prominent "Recharge" button below the gift pack. After only a moment's hesitation, the man pressed it hard.

Meanwhile, in a basement somewhere.

Baili Song was logged into "Dark Land" while browsing the game developer information and scrolling through posts on the Light Forum.

A few days ago, the Guangming Forum saw a surge in investigations into the identity of the "fake person," but no conclusion was reached in the end.

The world may merge—this has long been considered a potential future within the Light.

Many people speculate that the "pseudo-humans" may come from another world, but there has always been a lack of conclusive evidence.

After the anomaly occurred on the "Dark Land" map, members of the Light faction were among the first to flood into the game.

Their purpose was different from others; they were simply alerted by the events of the past few days and had to be the first to enter the game to gather intelligence—after all, intelligence was the foundation of all their deductions and plans.

Despite their differing motives, this shrewd group has quietly sparked a frenzy of "account snatching."

Bai Lisong quickly scanned the discussions on the Guangming Forum and then switched the page back to the Ping An Forum.

The viral post at the very top of the homepage seemed to trigger her talent for "public opinion" with just one glance, causing a faint glimmer to appear in her mind.

"Public opinion manipulation, information asymmetry manipulation, malicious guidance, and taking the opportunity to make money..."

Baili Song muttered to himself in a low, deliberate tone.

"President Jun has hired a great subordinate..."

"My fraudster lineage is truly full of talented people."

……

The Realm of Revelry, near the Hall of Fools.

"clatter……"

Jiang Jianxin, exhausted after riding Xie Yan's little flying car back, lay down on the bed.

The moment my head hit the pillow, I received a message from my ally, Baili Song:
[News Reporter]: [Several more victims of war-related scams have fallen victim in Haidu. Beware of new types of fraud perpetrated by con artists!]

[Journalist]: [Game scams are rampant; what will become of the financial security of players in the warring factions?]

[Journalist]: [A top fraudster's account: Beware of telecom fraud around you!]

Jiang Jianxin stared at the three old news articles from the Qing Dynasty sent by Baili Song, not understanding her intentions. Confused and puzzled, she typed a message—

[Sword Master]: ?

The other side recovered very quickly.

[Journalist]: It's alright. I was just worried you might be scammed, so I'm sending you some useful news articles to show my concern for you.