Ita Era

Chapter 190 Rulebook

Ding Shi understood what 711 meant: to turn all movements into bodily instincts. The mind no longer needed to think about how to counter a move; muscle memory would provide direct feedback.

This is a common occurrence in the sports world. Take football as an example: when a defender wants to intercept a striker, he will consider whether to make a tackle, whether he has a yellow card, and whether he should foul to stop the opponent. This is called playing football with his brain.

When a striker shoots, the goalkeeper has no time to think. He can only make an instinctive save based on his training.

Furthermore, skills such as swimming are instinctive; they don't require conscious thought, and the hands and feet will automatically flap.

The Force allows the body to break through human limits; the higher the Force equivalent, the more limits can be broken. Ding Shi's biggest mistake was training with an ordinary human body, which prevented him from unleashing the full power his body could have pushed beyond its limits in battle.

However, getting rid of your brain isn't easy; it requires a lot of training to improve your body's reaction time.

Ding applied for archery training, used up the training card, and his body entered a very uncomfortable state. His muscles rippled up and down like water, and the memories transplanted into his brain made him dizzy and lightheaded. This state lasted for about 10 minutes.

He drew his bow again, and as soon as he got the bow and arrow, he habitually chose the concealed stance out of the three standing positions. His hands skillfully nocked the bow and drew the string, his body straight, his eyes focused, and he easily scored 10 rings at a distance of 40 meters.

Ding Shi first went to the library to look up methods for making bows and arrows in the wild. It was very simple if you had bamboo and rope; the rope could be obtained from shoelaces. If you had the ability, you could make a recurve bow using fire.

Ding Shi followed this method and spent the afternoon making bows and arrows, then took the rudimentary bow and arrows to the training hall.

After dinner, Ding Shi went to Sixiang City and bought several different bows, trying to make better arrows himself.

The first day passed just like that.

On the second day of rest, Ding Shi washed up and called for breakfast. He then took a look at the teleportation array, which contained four difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, Nightmare, and Hell, as well as two smaller dungeons. The smaller dungeons did not drop the veil.

The first mini-dungeon is the Gold Rush dungeon, which is similar to the Royal Family dungeon. You can avoid the death penalty by paying a certain fee.

The second mini-dungeon is a work dungeon called "Work Simulator." This mini-dungeon is permanent, with wages settled at 7:00 AM every day. If you leave through normal channels, you can exit the dungeon at 7:00 AM and re-enter at any time at 7:00 AM. If you leave through unofficial channels, there is a 60-day cooldown period.

The dungeon has two special tags. The first tag is time difference. The dungeon runs for 24 hours, which is equivalent to 12 hours in normal time.

The second persona is based on real-world law. In this instance, illegal activities exist, and it's not that the police are very responsible, helpful, or just talk about the law and evidence.

For Ding Shi, it was impossible to work.

According to online chat, this new dungeon only appeared last night, and there's very little information about it.

Yu Yuan posted an important message in the group: Wang Meng obtained the Three Kingdoms entry, but the problem is that Huozhong only has the Era, not the Mini Era. The Three Kingdoms Era will be open to all players, while the Three Kingdoms Mini Era will only be available to Huozhong players.

After discussion within the group, it was decided to retain the entry for another two weeks. If the entry for "Tiny Times" is still not available, then the entry for "Three Kingdoms Era" will be released.

Why is the Three Kingdoms period considered an era?

According to the system description, the population decreased by 46%-85% after the Three Kingdoms period, which was a very significant era for China. During the Three Kingdoms period, human life was cheap, and the wars and battles lasted for a very long time, causing immense damage to China. This even led to the southward migration of northern ethnic minorities, resulting in an even darker period in history.

However, due to the great controversy surrounding the characters in the Three Kingdoms period, the Three Kingdoms era dungeon will be primarily for entertainment and will not allow players to experience that dark age.

The following evening, after a day of training, Ding Shi soaked in a relaxing hot spring in his backyard, enjoyed a massage from 711-Eleven, and after showering, headed to Fire Seed City with an ice-cold beer and half a cow.

Fire City has added an outdoor campsite specifically for barbecues. It not only has a robot to clean up the trash, but also provides background music.

In addition, a farmland reclamation project is underway near Fireseed City. This involves simply hiring robots to do farm work and selling the harvest to NPCs. These robots are generally not very capable and cannot perform mechanized farming. Hiring residents as tenant farmers would significantly increase yields and save costs.

These residents are from the Four Symbols City. They entered Fireseed City through job applications, but they cannot enter the main city. Players can not only explore the main city, but also visit the farmland and chat with the residents.

Wang Meng did not attend this gathering. The topic of discussion was Wang Meng's recommendation of a member of the Fireseed group named Lei Ben. Wang Meng's recommendation: Although he's a bit of a goofball, he's very responsible, cheerful, and proactive. He's a pure Force-based class, so his combat strength is relatively weak.

Ding Shi felt the name sounded familiar, and after thinking for a long time, he remembered that it was the guy who shared the rewards from the gold-mining dungeon with him. He had managed to survive by hiding inside a horse's belly. The impression wasn't deep, but it wasn't bad either, so Ding Shi voted "agree."

Lei Ben successfully became a new member of the Fire Seed Tribe.

Since Wang Meng was absent, he became the topic of conversation. It was then that Ding Shi learned that Wang Meng had become a Genin (lower-ranking ninja) of the Lightning Ninja Village through a professional dungeon. After becoming a Genin, he could enter the professional dungeon once a month to complete missions, accumulate points, and learn skills.

Su Su has some good news for everyone: she has passed the assessment for the Nine Swords of Dugu, achieving a minimum score of 80. Tomorrow, she will begin formally learning the first sword technique: the Breaking Blade Style.

Ding Shi then remembered that he still had a skill book on splitting the air palm that he hadn't passed the test for.

There's so much to learn! Learning makes me happy, keep going!

Just as Ding Shi finished a bottle of Corona, a new one was handed to him, the cap even being thoughtfully removed. Ding Shi took the Corona, raised the bottle, and said to the woman in red, "Thank you."

The woman in red sat down next to Ding Shi and got straight to the point: "Have you opened the Hell Dungeon yet?" Only by clearing the Nightmare Dungeon can you unlock the Hell Dungeon.

Ding Shi nodded, and the woman in red said, "Together." She had been resting for several days and was just waiting for Ding Shi or Wang Meng to enter the Hell instance together.

Ding Shi said, "Okay, but... that doesn't seem like your personality." The woman in red is outgoing, rational, fearless, and always moving forward. She's the type who loves passionately and leaves decisively—perfect as a buddy. The fact that she invited him to the hellish dungeon likely indicates she's suffered a blow.

The woman in red sighed, saying, "Last time in the Nightmare dungeon, I barely escaped with my life, and I ended up getting involved with a Chunin."

Ding Shi: "Chunin? Is that alright? In the last nightmare instance, I encountered a demonic cultivator who could flatten an entire forest with a single attack."

The woman in red laughed and punched Ding Shi on the shoulder: "The Chunin I've met could wipe out the Pacific Ocean in one move."

Ding Shi didn't laugh, but said, "I'm serious." He then briefly introduced Huang You, Bao Gui, and Cui Fu.

Hongyi realized she had overlooked something: Ding Shiqiang was indeed strong, but he was also incredibly good at causing trouble. For example, this Cui's father had been driven to madness and explosion by Ding Shiqiang's sheer rage. However, Hongyi, with her cheerful personality, said nonchalantly, "I'll come find you tomorrow morning; treat me to breakfast."

Ding Shi said, "If I remember correctly, the Hell Dungeon will refresh in three days. The current Hell Dungeon is a light-level reasoning rule dungeon, which prohibits skill slots, item slots, and even Force."

There are many types of rulebooks. There are bizarre rulebooks, where the creatures don't follow logic or explanation, and they follow a bloody and terrifying path, possibly containing strong Cthulhu elements. Deduction rulebooks are divided into three categories: light deduction rulebooks (where the deduction is unrelated to the rules), heavy deduction rulebooks (where the deduction is closely related to the rules), and medium deduction rulebooks (where the deduction is closely related to the rules).

Light mystery novel: The rule is that you can't eat; it's just that eating is not allowed.

The reasoning exercise: The rule that eating is not allowed is related to the reasoning in the case; we need to think about why eating is not permitted.

Regardless, rule-based dungeons have a very high death rate. Participants who die in these dungeons have one chance to challenge the resurrection dungeon. If you perform well in the rule-based dungeon, the resurrection dungeon will be easy, and vice versa.

The rules in the rulebook are divided into two categories: rules of certain death, where violating them results in certain death, and rules of contamination, where violating them lowers one's mental state. Lower mental state leads to various negative emotions, even hallucinations, an inability to think, and ultimately, death from violating the rules of certain death.

Ita's bizarre rulebook is relatively benign; it won't give you dozens of rules to memorize in their entirety, nor are there any true or false rules. Ding Shi wasn't entirely clear on the specifics. His only information came from an exclusive newspaper interview with a rulebook enthusiast.

……

Ding Shi rarely treats people to meals on the island; Hongyi is the first. Now the vending machines are fully upgraded, offering whatever one desires.

Ding Shi ordered a bowl of mixed noodles, beef bone soup, and a fried dough stick, which cost $15. Hong Yi ordered a bowl of steamed buns, soy milk, and a scallion soup, which cost $10.

After dinner, there was still time, so Hongyi Chaoding took a look around his residence, only to find it desolate. Unless someone was the master's legally recognized partner, no one else was allowed to enter his dwelling. The illicit lovers in the world of Ita were truly illicit.

The woman in red casually strolled around and criticized Ding Shi for having no wine in the cellar. 711 brought over hot tea, and the two discussed the situation in the dungeon.

At 7:30, the two held hands and simultaneously chose to enter the Hell instance: Clones.

……

Clone instance, instance preparation room.

Background: Alien reptiles have invaded Earth, cloned human bodies, and infiltrated the human population. Humanity must discover the clones as soon as possible, or they will be replaced by clones.

You are an ordinary office worker who has lost your memory, but you can't tell anyone that you are searching for it. You receive a mysterious email saying that in seven days, a clone will completely replace you, and the only thing you can do is find a clone who looks exactly like you, who is hiding in the company. Touching him will completely destroy him.

Please note that if you are fired from your company or die due to any accident, you will be completely replaced by a clone.

Instance location: 200-story office building.

Get familiar with the identity background and terrain in 10 minutes.

Ding Shi works at Happy Company on the 80th floor in a support role, with working hours from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Happy Company has 100 employees and occupies an entire floor, with an office area of ​​1,300 square meters.

The Happy Company's layout is crab-shaped, with elevators in all four areas. Fire doors are always closed, and stairs are inaccessible except in exceptional circumstances. The elevators are located on the crab's left, right, middle legs, and head and tail.

As a logistics staff member, Ding Shi's responsibility is to follow the instructions of the logistics supervisor and accept temporary assignments. The supervisor's initial satisfaction level is 50. The higher the satisfaction level, the easier the assigned work will be, and the more choices one can make. The lower the satisfaction level, the more demanding the assigned work will be.

The only rule in the 80th floor of Happy Company is: Never be alone in the boss's office. If you are alone in the boss's office, you will not be able to open the door from the inside. Please save yourself within 30 seconds.

A flash of white light, and Ding Shi appeared in the city. Before him stood a two-hundred-story office building. This city was unlike any he had ever seen before. The entire city was shrouded in a gray haze, the roads were clean and tidy, devoid of any signs of life, like a backdrop.

The system provides a beginner's guide. Ding Shi swipes the gate with the ID card hanging around his neck, and the display shows Ding Shi's information: Ding Shi, 24 years old, logistics employee of Happy Company, employee level 10.

Ding Shi strode towards the elevator. It was 8:50 a.m., and the elevator waiting area closest to the gate was already crowded. Ding Shi tiptoed and peeked inside. There were four elevators, one for single floors and one for high floors (above the 100th floor).

Ding Shi took off running. The layout of the first floor was different from that of Happy Company, but Ding Shi remembered the approximate location of the elevator and quickly found the second elevator waiting room. This room had four elevators, one for floors below 50 and the other for floors above 150.

Ding Shi continued running. Like him, many others were running on the first floor, creating chaos. Some were pushed to the ground, some screamed, some cursed, and some fought. Ding Shi quickly reached the third waiting room, where the four elevators were located on even-numbered floors and lower floors.

The waiting room was large, with over forty people inside. The scene looked chaotic, and everyone was staring at the elevator indicator lights. Ding Shi noticed a problem: the elevator indicators he saw were out of order. The normal sequence was 80, 79, 78, but he was seeing 127, 198, 3.

Then he remembered the hint in the dungeon preparation room: each level has its own rules, which change daily. He might have violated the rules of the first level, causing his perception to be contaminated. To restore his perception, he only needed to leave the first level. However, if he returned to the first level that same day, his perception would still be contaminated.

When the elevator door number one opened, Ding Shi didn't squeeze in that direction. He looked at the three men and one woman on his left front, who were using their bodies to form a protective circle around the elevator door number two.

Then we saw that elevator number 1 had malfunctioned. Many people were crowding inside, and the elevator doors couldn't close at all. People inside were cursing and everyone was trying to outdo each other in volume. The scene was chaotic.

Elevator No. 2 arrived. The four people entered the elevator first and stood at the elevator door. Only one path was left open. Ding Shi was the fifth person to enter the elevator.

Once the elevator was full (15 people), the girl pressed the full button. Those outside could no longer open elevator door number 2 by pressing the button, so the four of them worked together to push people outwards. The elevator door was blocked by the object, but it wouldn't be bounced open. As the elevator door closed inch by inch, the space became smaller and smaller, and they had no choice but to give up on elevator number 2.

In contrast, elevator number 1 is overcrowded, and the elevator door will bounce open if it encounters a foreign object, making it impossible to close.

As the elevator ascends, the display above the elevator door shows the following in red: "Elevator operation rules: Swallowing is prohibited."

Before seeing this rule, no one felt anything, but after seeing it, everyone, including Ding Shi, immediately felt their mouths water and couldn't help but swallow.

Someone asked the four warriors, "Are you from the same tribe?"

The leader was a handsome, intellectual-looking man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He responded gently, "Warrior Tribe." His tone was mild, but his attitude was aloof.

(End of this chapter)