Poverty makes me capable of anything.

"Hey, Zhou Jieyu, how did you get to Shuangyue City? Hey, hey, hey..."

He led the charge but didn't receive a reply from Zhou Jieyu for a long time.

By this time, Zhou Jieyu had already seen the outline of Twin Moon City.

"We're almost there," said Mr. Wang, the driver.

Zhou Jieyu stood up, and the continuous green mountains in front of her finally disappeared, replaced by hazy high-rise buildings of varying heights, arranged in a staggered and orderly manner.

Zhou Jieyu was filled with emotion. After three days of grueling rural life, was she finally about to reach the pinnacle of her life?

She has made a decision: after completing this mission, she will stay in Twin Moon City and not return.

If we're talking about which place offers more opportunities, there's no doubt it's Twin Moon City.

As a ruined town serving as a starting village, you can't even get a job advancement quest, while in the main city of a major region, the game's early promotional materials promised that you could level up all the way to an intermediate job.

I, Zhou Jieyu, will lead the charge in the main city of the region!

……

Zhou Jieyu's mission was to deliver goods to an organization in the old city. The goods she was delivering were, needless to say, weapons for fighting. The old man selling weapons wanted to expand his sales channels, and the old city of Shuangyue City, which had been in turmoil for many years, was naturally his first choice.

After getting off the tractor, Zhou Jieyu followed the map and headed towards the old town.

She got off the bus near the old town and soon walked through the high-rise buildings into the low-rise houses.

Zhou Jieyu was like a country girl who had just arrived in the city, excitedly looking around. Even the dilapidated and low houses were much more impressive than the ruined town, full of the old-fashioned atmosphere of the real world forty or fifty years ago.

Zhou Jieyu had seen this kind of urban architecture before at the Urban Construction Museum.

【Night of the Stars】is a truly meticulously crafted game, and Zhou Jieyu is full of anticipation for the future.

"Splash—"

Suddenly, the sound of splashing water rang in her ears. Zhou Jieyu, who was dragging her suitcase, turned around and saw a short girl holding a basin and pouring water in front of a dilapidated one-story house.

The girl was wearing simple overalls and a white lining, with a wrinkled apron around her waist. Even though her attire was very ordinary, Zhou Jieyu's eyes lit up. What an exquisite character model! It was kind of cute.

Even an ordinary NPC can achieve this level of skill; it truly deserves to be called the "second world" of this super online game.

As she was thinking this, Zhou Jieyu's eyes met those of the NPC girl pouring water.

……

"..."

An Ran, who was making dinner, brought out a basin of water to pour it out. She casually looked up, but when she saw what was in front of her, she suddenly froze.

Before her stood a girl in a gray suit, dragging a large suitcase, looking in her direction.

"Lead the way and run!"

An Ran clearly saw four words floating above the girl's head.

This is……

Isn't this the player's ID?

An Ran was stunned when she suddenly realized this.

Players have appeared in Twin Moon City!

This was somewhat unexpected for Anran.

The nearest starting village, even the ruined town closest to Twin Moon City, costs 100 plutos to get there by car. Anran estimates that it will be at least three or four days before any players arrive.

But now there's a real player standing right in front of her—could anything be more real?

Although she couldn't understand how this girl with the silly name "Leading the Escape" had come to Twin Moon City, An Ran immediately became excited.

When the public beta started, a whole bunch of features were unlocked, and she had been wanting to test them on players for a long time.

Zhou Jieyu had no idea that she was being targeted. She thought An Ran was just a useless NPC used to fill space. After thinking this to herself, she dragged her suitcase toward the mission location.

Zhou Jieyu planned to finish everything as soon as possible, coordinate with driver Wang, and then not go back.

This is a minor flaw, but it's not a big deal.

Playing games is all about being one step ahead. Now that we've arrived in the main city ahead of time, we can't be foolish and go back.

"Rolling (third tone) Rolling—"

The wheels made a sound on the cement ground, and Zhou Jieyu's figure gradually disappeared into the distance. An Ran threw the basin into the house and quietly followed after her.

She needed to find out the whereabouts of the "leader of the escape".

Girl, you've been spotted by me!

Zhou Jieyu was completely unaware that someone was following her. She wandered through the streets and alleys of the old town. Luckily, she wasn't bad at directions, otherwise she would have had a mental breakdown while doing a task.

Soon Zhou Jieyu arrived at the entrance of a restaurant.

The signboard hung to the side, and she stood alone at the entrance of the deserted restaurant.

Zhou Jieyu hesitated for a moment, but still went inside.

An Ran stood not far away watching. Before long, she noticed that Zhou Jieyu had come out again, but her suitcase was gone.

"call--"

Zhou Jieyu breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, she was a little nervous about making a deal with gangsters. In those retro movies, such transaction scenes were often extremely serious, and one wrong step could result in bullets flying everywhere.

Fortunately, although the transaction was silent, nothing went wrong. Zhou Jieyu handed over the box, and after checking it, the other party transferred the money to the old man's designated account.

All I need to do is explain to Mr. Wang, who is driving, and I can begin a brand new gaming career.

Excited, Zhou Jieyu glanced to the side and immediately saw An Ran again.

Her expression immediately turned strange. Zhou Jieyu did not suspect that an NPC was following her, but a thought suddenly occurred to her.

Holy crap, are there really a lot of random NPCs who look like this?

Did the game developer create a template, then copy many of them and dump them on the street to fill space?

This is way too perfunctory!

Bad review!

Chapter 06 Morning Star in Action

After careful observation, Anran discovered that the player known as "Leader in the Escape" had set up camp somewhere in the old city.

It seems like I won't be leaving Twin Moon City anytime soon. Come to think of it, once you're in the main city, who would want to go back to the starting village?

As night deepened and she hadn't had dinner yet, An Ran stopped observing Zhou Jieyu.

She didn't want to be labeled a perverted stalker NPC.

Although there was no substantial gain, Anran was in a pretty good mood.

The fact that a very small number of players came to Twin Moon City for special reasons was actually a very good situation for her, as it would not pose a threat to her and would give her experimental subjects.

I retraced my steps and found myself back near that restaurant.

Just as An Ran was about to turn into the alley next door, two people came out of the restaurant.

"I'll need your help with the investigation."

"Absolutely, absolutely. With our influence in the old town, we'll find out who was arrested that day very quickly. You can rest assured," Little Gold Tooth said with a smile as he followed behind.

The man in front remained expressionless, but continued to instruct, "This person dares to oppose us, and we will absolutely not let her go. Whoever finds her first will receive additional assistance from me, on top of the reward provided by the organization."

Whose grudge is it?

An Ran turned her head and was immediately taken aback.

Aren't these the Morning Star rebels who stormed the police station last time?

Only two people escaped from that operation. This big man was the one who, while fleeing, declared that he would find him and avenge "Jian".

An Ran felt wronged. She was attacked for no reason, and when she fought back, she was beaten up. She didn't kill the person, but she was forced to take the blame. Her favorability towards the plot organization instantly dropped to -100. It was really infuriating.

Of course, none of that matters now; An Ran felt a strong sense of crisis.

As expected, the Morning Star Resistance is a key organization in the 1886 storyline. Their strength is far greater than imagined, and they easily infiltrated Twin Moon City.

Given the capabilities of these local bullies in the old city, they'll probably target me soon, and then I'll face a barrage of attacks from the Morning Star resistance.

An Ran remained silent.

Her current strength is still very weak. She can easily fight these local bullies who rely on their numbers in a 1v1 situation, but if she is thoroughly targeted by the well-trained Morning Star, she will soon be lying dead in the street.

"I'll come back at this time tomorrow, hoping to get good news from you." After saying this, the burly man from Morning Star disappeared into the darkness without waiting for Little Gold Tooth's reply.

Jian was his brother who had risked his life for him, and he had to avenge Jian for both personal and legal reasons!

An Ran gritted her teeth and quietly followed.

To avoid or delay being targeted by Morningstar, it was clearly impossible to deal with the local thugs in the old city. They were too numerous and too widely distributed to be dealt with effectively. The only option was to eliminate the burly man who was acting as the liaison.

This way, we can at least buy some time to develop before the next contact arrives.

Although she looks gentle and weak, An Ran, who has always been an assassin in games, is incredibly determined and never hesitates to strike when the time is right!

The pistol and dagger were tucked into his thigh; Anran always carried these two items close to his body, a sign of his former assassin's vigilance.

Fortunately, she was carrying a weapon, otherwise An Ran really wouldn't have dared to follow.

Her strength and agility attributes are already above the average for novice players, but they are still far from enough compared to a muscular giant like the Big Man.

Some say the ultimate skill for an assassin is to unleash a devastating attack, eliminating everyone who sees them, thus successfully completing the assassination mission.

But clearly An Ran wasn't at that level yet. She could only crouch down, one hand on the gunstock tucked into her thigh, following behind the big man, ready to draw her gun and fire at any moment.

The night was not peaceful; the occasional barking of stray cats and dogs could be heard, making the eerie old town particularly chilling.

They walked to a pillar, already away from the crowd. An Ran figured it was about time, and with a swift movement of her right hand, she pointed her gun at the burly man in front of her.

Before she could pull the trigger, the burly man suddenly dodged to the side and hid behind a pillar.

Oh no, we've been discovered.

An Ran immediately realized something was wrong. She quickly pulled back, and with two gunshots, two bright sparks flew from where she had just been standing.

"That little mouse is pretty quick," the burly man shouted.