Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

Mercury quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Ordinary people would also instinctively be wary when they see a large carnivore... Well, that analogy isn't quite right, but you should get the idea."

"Look at the cowardice you all have..."

Fan Xiao didn't pursue the matter of their rudeness and continued, "Is your 'spiritual particle injector' still usable?"

"Are you injured?" Mercury asked.

"Yes. So many monsters aren't just for show; they'll fight back."

"wait."

Mercury took out a bottle of water from his storage space, used a tool to turn it into a recovery potion, and handed it to Van Shaw.

Fan Xiao took the drink and drank it down in one gulp. His injuries healed much faster, and his lost strength gradually returned.

"The ability you used to kill those monsters just now, was it your talent?"

Mercury seized the opportunity to ask out of curiosity.

Fan Xiao replied, "Do you think I'd tell the truth? Or lie?"

"……All right."

Mercury did not pursue this further.

At this moment, Jinna seemed to have adjusted her emotions and suppressed her instinctive fear, so she started a conversation to ease the previous awkwardness: "Speaking of which... the first dungeon mission requires us to survive for four days. We just waited outside the school until the dungeon closed, so that should count as fulfilling the requirement, right?"

“The area outside the school is also part of the instance,” Fan Xiao replied. “The instance does not restrict our survival location. Based on this, as long as we are still inside the instance, it is okay.”

"Mr. Fan, did you finally kill 'it'?" Jin Na asked curiously.

"Being formless makes one not so easy to deal with."

Fan Xiao shook his head: "If 'it' didn't change our perception and bodies, requiring a full 10 minutes, I think... 'it' might appear in a higher-level instance. By the way..."

He met Jinna's blue eyes and asked, "I also have a question for you. Your Yahweh Catholic Church in Division 001 should be considered a fairly large force, right?"

"scale……"

Jinna thought for a moment and replied, "Although our church has many believers, most of them are casual believers, the kind who believe a little bit since it's free. After all... you all know that the technology in District 001 is very advanced."

"Leaving aside our followers and focusing solely on our own power... we're not exactly top-tier, but we still have a decent amount of influence in Roman City."

"Did your church do business with 'fantasy substances'?" Fan Xiao asked. "Or...do you have any means of obtaining 'fantasy substances'?"

Upon hearing this, Mercury and Luo Hao also perked up their ears, their expressions becoming more serious.

Chapter 180 New Items

"Fantasy matter?"

Hearing Fan Xiao's question, Jin Na was a little surprised: "Mr. Fan, do you want to create a safe zone in your partition?"

"I suppose so," Van Shaw asked. "Does your church have any connections?"

"I'm not too sure about that. My job is to receive worshippers who come to pray and attend Mass."

Jinna shook her head: "As for fantasy matter... all I know is that it is directly traded by game companies to various game governments."

"A game government?" Mercury asked. "Evolution Games have government organizations?"

"It's just a name."

Jinna explained, "For a world division to integrate into the Ninth Dimension, it must first achieve the unification of forces within its own division and then obtain certification from the game company."

"Once this step is achieved, the ruling class within that region can be considered the government of the game."

“The game government can establish direct transactions...or trade relations with game companies. Fantasy matter is one of the commodities.”

"To obtain the illusionary substance, do I need to make contact with the government of Division 001...?"

Fan Xiao seemed to be deep in thought.

“Buying from the government is a huge loss!” Jinna warned. “I heard Miss Qiu mention that the game government usually sells the fantasy materials they buy to other game divisions at more than 20 times the price, and in some places they even sell them at 50 times the price. As for even higher prices… there might be some.”

"...That's really ruthless!" Mercury couldn't help but complain, "They're practically leeching off other divisions."

"Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimp. Presumably, Division 001 is also being leeched off by game companies, with each layer sucking the blood down. This phenomenon is normal; it's just that others beat us to it."

Fan Xiao sighed, "This can be considered as benefiting from the dividends of the times."

He then asked Jinna, "Besides purchasing from the game government, are there any other methods?"

"I don't know about this."

Jinna shook her head and said, "Fantasy matter is not a commodity that individuals need. It is generally traded between various forces, so the information is not made public. What I know is what I heard from Miss Qiu."

"Jin Na, could you introduce us to this Miss Qiu?"

"Mercury asked."

“Well…” Jinna said a little embarrassedly, “I don’t have that much authority. I can only introduce you to Mass at St. Roman’s Church. You might be able to meet Miss Qiu there. However, we won’t discuss anything related to the transaction in the church.”

"It seems that it will be difficult to meet this Miss Qiu," Fan Xiao said.

"of course."

Jinna immediately adopted a devout expression and made a praying gesture: "Miss Qiu is a saint of the church, with a face as beautiful as if kissed by angels. She is the most dazzling pearl of Roman City. She is so noble, yet so approachable. People would bow down and kiss every inch of the ground she treads..."

"..."

Fan, Xiao, and the other two took a few steps back.

When a simp is indulging in self-admiration, ignoring him is the best approach.

The girl is quite pretty, how did she become a simp?

Still towards the same sex...

Do you have any plans?

Fan Xiao asked Mercury and Luo Hao.

“Let’s try contacting the game government of Zone 001 first,” Mercury said. “According to Kinna, the forces within the zone need to be unified before they can integrate into the Ninth Dimension and gain trade rights. Who knows when that will take? Besides, we players can afford to wait, but ordinary people have no way to protect themselves when facing random dungeons. Establishing safe zones in advance is essential.”

"Yes, the mission must be completed."

Luo Hao said in a serious tone.

Fan Xiao nodded and said, "After leaving the instance, I will go to Roman City. Where are you going?"

"We need to meet up with our colleagues who came here before us."

Mercury asked curiously, "What are you going to Roman City for?"

"Private matter."

"What personal matters could he possibly have in another region...? Could he be going to see his girlfriend from the dungeon?"

"Mercury asked."

"..." Fan Xiao: "Are the people in your Special Affairs Bureau specially trained in gossip skills?"

"Just kidding," Mercury laughed. "Since you have personal matters to attend to, let's split up after we leave the instance. When we get back to Division 010, come to Beijing and I'll treat you to dinner."

"Wouldn't you call this setting a flag?"

"Heh, you actually believe in this?"

Mercury shrugged, indicating that he didn't care.

Fan Xiao said, "Contact me if you need help, and I'll do what I can to assist you. Establishing a safe zone sooner will also benefit me."

"How do we contact each other?" Mercury asked. "Do you have any communication tools?"

"Even if I had one, I wouldn't dedicate a slot specifically for it."

Fan Xiao shook his head and said, "Jinna is a nun from St. Roman Church, and she lives in Roman City. After I get the communication device for District 001, I will leave her my contact information. If you want to find me, just go to the church and ask her for it."

"That's a good idea!"

Mercury nodded.

On the other hand, Jinna seemed to have snapped out of her self-absorbed state.

She interjected, "Sure, I work at the church. If you need to find me, just come during the day. By the way..."

She reminded the group, "Should we move a little further away from the gate of Hope Middle School? It just feels a bit strange to stand here chatting like this."

"This is a psychological reaction driven by your self-preservation instinct."

Fan Xiao said, "Don't worry, the fact that 'it' didn't chase us out of the school when it was so angry just now is enough to show that 'it's' activity range is limited to Hope Middle School. Even if we talk right next to the door, 'it' can't do anything to us."

"What exactly is 'it'?" Mercury wondered. "Generally speaking, the background story of a dungeon is complete and logical, but 'it' seems to have appeared out of nowhere, out of place in the dungeon, and has a deus ex machina feel to it."

"It probably represents the collective thoughts of the students' parents."

Fan Xiao speculated, "Hope Middle School is like a strict juvenile detention center where parents hope their disobedient children can be reformed."

"And the inner world, perhaps, is the world born under the expectations of these parents; 'it' is the collection of the parents' will."

"The students in the alternate world are not naughty or disruptive, they are obedient and focused on their studies, while the teachers are diligent and hardworking... Isn't this exactly what parents hope for?"

"If you say so..."

Mercury continued his thought: "'It' can make sounds, proving that 'it' can speak, but 'it' never communicates with black and white students. It only acts unilaterally based on its own perception, is extremely biased, and even directly transforms students into something that completely conforms to its own perception... This is similar to the thoughts and actions of those parents."

"That seems... to make some sense."

Jinna followed suit and started doing reading comprehension: "Are we players without student IDs probably positioned as bad guys who will disturb 'its' children's studies? So 'it,' representing the will of the parents, will attack us?"

"It not only refuses to communicate with students, but also refuses to allow outsiders to contact those students. This demonstrates... a desire for control?"

"Dogs are more obedient than cats, so 'it' likes dogs and dislikes cats, just like parents always only like obedient children."

Mercury continued, "Dogs are clearly creatures that live on land, but in 'its' perception, they live in water. Dogs that don't live in water are forcibly pushed into the water by 'it,' just like the dog skeletons in the swimming pool of the real world."

"This is similar to parents, who like to forcibly restrict their children's freedom and make them do things according to their own wishes."

The two of them took turns speaking, and their reading comprehension became more and more comprehensive.

Fan Xiao, who initiated the topic, was completely stunned.

He just said it casually, he didn't really think that much about it...

Mercury concluded, "It's highly likely that 'it' represents the will of the parents. The only question is how those parents' expectations created a space and a powerful monster."

"How dungeons are created has always been a mystery," Fan Xiao said. "Perhaps they are created by the game through random selection of factors."

He turned his gaze to Jinna.

Mercury and Luo Hao also looked over.

Jinna shook her head: "I don't know either. There's no publicly available answer to this question in Division 001. So far, it seems no one has discovered the pattern."

It's possible that you're just at a low level and don't know... Fan Xiao kept these words to himself and didn't say them out loud.

He's not a contrarian; he knows what he should and shouldn't say.

Fan Xiao brought up the player panel and glanced at the time.

6:04 PM.

They have been in the instance for almost thirty hours since it opened yesterday.

Jinna peered through the gate into Hope Middle School and said, "From here, it looks like the inner world. I wonder how those two players in the outer world are doing now."

“Staying in the surface world is their own choice,” Fan Xiao said. “They are all adults, and taking responsibility for their own actions is a basic quality. We don’t need to interfere.”

He changed the subject and asked, "By the way, what kind of city is Roman City?"

"Roman City is so beautiful!"

As soon as the topic turned to her hometown, Jinna immediately became lively and began to talk non-stop.

With the danger over, the group relaxed and started chatting together.

Time slipped by slowly in this casual conversation.

……

The D-level dungeon "Hope Middle School" has ended.

[Player "Seal" Dungeon Rating: A]

[Player "Mercury" Dungeon Rating: C]