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

"Well... we can't be too hasty. We still need to explore what the most authentic and realistic rules of love are in this city."

"But judging from her appearance, that's already confirmed. I wonder what methods can improve one's looks?"

At this point, the boy said to Fan Xiao impatiently, "Have you finished asking your questions?"

"not yet……"

Do you really have any private photos of Yao Chen?

The boy looked suspicious and said, "Take out a few first and let me see. If you really have them, I'll play along and continue playing your country bumpkin game."

“Okay,” Van Shaw said, “no.”

"..."

The boy felt he had been tricked and immediately became furious: "You bastard..."

Tearing—Fan Xiao's shirt was suddenly torn in several places by his bulging muscles, making his body seem to have suddenly become much larger.

He grinned maliciously and said, "What, want to touch it?"

"..." The boy swallowed hard. "N-no... I... get out of class is almost over! I'll go back to the classroom now!"

After saying that, he ran out in a flash.

Fan Xiao then restored the bulging muscles to normal, his eyes thoughtful.

"They react to my fake muscles, but scoff at my real looks... It seems that cognitive interference only targets the player's appearance and does not affect its deterrent effect in other aspects."

"But at most I can only scare people. Crossing the line is illegal and you'll get arrested... If you use scare tactics well, they should be able to get things done."

Fan Xiao straightened his clothes.

Then, he used Yao Tianli's private photos as bait again, and asked several other male students a series of questions.

The answers I received were mostly the same.

In addition, he asked if there were any dangers in the City of True Love, and the students all gave negative answers.

"Is there no danger...?"

Fan Xiao asked, "Do superpowers exist here?"

“Yes, they exist,” the male student replied. “People with superpowers often cause trouble in the City of True Love, but they are all arrested by the law enforcement team. Some of them commit minor crimes and are released after a period of time, while others who are extremely vicious are executed.”

Fan Xiao: "..."

Could these superpowered individuals be players who came here before?

So, the reason why the people here aren't surprised by the existence of supernatural abilities is because... they've gotten used to it?

Fan Xiao then asked, "Why would a superpowered person be captured by an ordinary person? Firearms shouldn't pose much of a threat to superpowered people, right?"

"It's all thanks to the City Lord's protection!" the boy exclaimed excitedly. "It must be the City Lord who stripped those dangerous elements of their ability to resist. By the way, are you going to give us the photos or not?"

"Hehe, do you know why I asked you a question?"

Fan Xiao suddenly revealed a very irritating smile.

"...Why?" the boy asked.

“Because you look sleazy, and your demeanor is sleazy too,” Fan Xiao said. “Most people would hesitate in this situation because they would care about their reputation. But you… I know you’ll be hooked by the photos and cooperate with me obediently.”

"...Damn it!" the boy exclaimed angrily, "The photos are fake?"

"What? You want to fight?"

Fan Xiao bulged his muscles again, looking ferocious, and said disdainfully, "Come on, I'm itching for a fight, let's spar!"

"...You just wait!"

After uttering a weak but harsh remark, the boy quickly fled the scene.

……

School was about to end.

Fan Xiao and the others met at the edge of the playground.

Upon seeing that no one was missing, both the female bodhisattva Ai Yuan and the dog-man Tai An breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, there is no immediate danger.

"Let's exchange information as agreed."

Melissa, displaying a natural leadership quality, began by saying, "Let me start by talking about my side. We've investigated everything regarding the Ring of Love and Mitchell Sinderson's identity..."

She shared the information.

Fan Xiao listened carefully and compared it with his own gains... Hmm, it all fits.

If the teachers and students of this school did not reach a consensus beforehand to design traps for the players, the authenticity of this information is beyond doubt.

After sharing the information, Melissa looked at Fan Xiao and said, "Your previous guess was right. The way to obtain the Ring of Love really is through falling in love."

"So, we can give up on those two Mitchell Sindersons for now. Given their status, they're unlikely to be interested in 'ordinary people' like us."

"Although we have special abilities, no one here cares about them. If our abilities can't be an advantage, then among the many residents of the City of True Love, we are... well, just ordinary, and we can't attract the attention of the best members of the opposite sex at all."

"So, for now, we just need to focus on the first dungeon quest and get 10 Rings of Love from some targets that aren't too difficult. As for which targets... we'll have to investigate that. Oh, right!"

She continued, "I think I should figure out what the numbers on our foreheads mean. If I'm not mistaken, it should represent our current appearance rating."

“In the eyes of the city’s local residents, we no longer look the same. The copy rules have interfered with their perception. The appearance level we present to them is linked to our numbers.”

"I just don't know if there's any way to increase this number."

"I remember you mentioned your number was 2 before, so... Your Highness is the ugliest one among us?" Fan Xiao sighed. "A beauty rating of 2, haha, in this instance, you'll probably never find a boyfriend until you die."

Melissa: "..."

Her number was 3; she had only lied before... She never expected that the other party would use that to attack her.

What a bastard!

Melissa ignored Fan Xiao and continued, "There's another piece of information—the reason why the local residents here aren't surprised by our special abilities is probably because they've already seen them with other players."

"This instance may have been upgraded step by step from an E-rank instance and has been opened countless times, so it's not surprising that this phenomenon occurs."

"The only strange thing is that when the law enforcement team members arrest players, it goes exceptionally smoothly, as if the players have lost the ability to resist... or rather, to fight back. I specifically asked about this issue, but the students and teachers here do not know the specific details, only saying that it is due to the protection of the city lord."

"Lord of the City..." the dog-man Tai'an asked, "Have you found out any information about the Lord of the City?"

“Most of the residents here have never seen the city lord,” Melissa said. “Information about the city lord has always been a mystery. Perhaps he is the dungeon boss of this instance?”

“The information I gathered is similar to yours,” Sakura said at that moment.

“I’m about the same,” Ai Yuan said.

“I… am about the same, just a little less than you.” Tai’an sighed. “The female students here don’t want to talk to me, and the male students rarely pay attention to me either. Kind-hearted people find it strange that I keep asking common sense questions, and after answering a few words, they leave. You women have the advantage when it comes to gathering information. Even if you’re ugly now, those boys won’t refuse you out of consideration for face and the impression you give.”

"..."

Melissa and several other girls frowned.

This guy has no sense of language!

It's so annoying!

They turned their gaze to Fan Xiao.

Melissa asked, "Mr. Fan, do you have any different information?"

“It’s different… This Mr. Tai’an is right about one thing: here, girls are better at gathering information than boys.”

Fan Xiao said, "I encountered a lot of difficulties during my investigation, so I used some petty tricks such as bribery."

"Although what I got from asking was similar to what you got, the process of asking questions gave me some unexpected information."

"what?"

"Melissa asked."

She was just asking casually, but she didn't expect it to actually work out.

She said, "If it's a bribe, we've already tried. The students and teachers here don't accept game currency; they use digital currency that's directly linked to their phones."

"They not only don't recognize in-game currency, but they also have cognitive difficulties with money, which is probably also due to the influence of the dungeon rules."

Fan Xiao added, "When I offered them gold as a bribe, they immediately denied that what I had was real gold."

At this point, he took out the gold jewelry he had been wearing and threw it at Melissa: "Take a look and see if it's real or fake."

Melissa took it and immediately created a ghostly blue flame, which she then burned.

She then nodded and said, "It's real gold."

“But they think it’s fake,” Vanshaw said. “I think it’s not just gold, but everything of value in the world is probably just ordinary in their eyes.”

"You mean...it's very difficult to acquire wealth here?"

Melissa pondered for a moment and said, "If that's the case, then thinking about it from the other side, wealth becomes very important to us players."

"Wealth... We're not exactly attractive right now. Even if we find someone who owns the Ring of Love, it will probably be hard to get their attention, win their affection, and obtain the Ring of Love."

"If you can't win with looks, you can only rely on money... Ha, how realistic."

"After all, the background of the game mentions that this is a city with the most realistic and authentic version of the rules of love."

Fan Xiao said, "We need to find a way to make money, and at the same time, we need to find a way to improve our appearance."

"Brother Fan... uh, Mr. Fan, do you also think that appearance... that is, the number on our foreheads, can be improved?" Ai Yuan suddenly asked.

"of course can."

Fan Xiao said in an unquestionable tone, "If we can't improve our looks, how are we going to win over Mitchell Sinderson?"

"There are two Mitchells in this city, one male and one female, which probably corresponds to the fact that we have both male and female players."

“Mitchell represents the pinnacle of this city’s good looks. Their immense success in their careers means they also enjoy social status and wealth. In other words, they are the epitome of handsome, rich, and beautiful men and women. Do you think it’s possible to attract such people without a face that is devastatingly handsome or beautiful?”

"The dungeon won't give out tasks that are impossible to complete. Our appearance stats can definitely be improved, but we have to find the methods ourselves."

Actually, besides improving one's appearance, there is another alternative way to pass the level, which he didn't mention—the reason why Mitchell men and Mitchell women can choose their partners according to their own whims is because the social environment in the City of True Love is stable.

Once things get chaotic here, and the social structure changes drastically, like falling into an apocalypse... hey, then you won't be able to make a living just by looking good anymore.

If that happens, it won't be them picking on others anymore.

Instead, others chose them... no, they forcibly took them!

If transferring the Ring of Love only requires meeting the requirement of a "romantic partner" and doesn't consider the actual emotional state, then this would be a great way to complete the game.

Of course, the risks are very high.

Because you will definitely face the dungeon boss directly.

Before all the intelligence was fully investigated, Fan Xiao felt it best to put this radical plan on the sidelines for now.

Just because we have a little angel doesn't mean we should keep thinking about how to brute force our way through dungeons.

Moreover, there are three dungeon quests, so you can't let recklessness cause you to miss the chance to complete the third quest.

"The improvement in appearance stats might involve dangers within this instance."

Melissa speculated, "Since entering the dungeon, apart from the battle with the cannibalistic players, the environment we've encountered has been peaceful and without any danger. Considering this is a B-level dungeon, this normal phenomenon is actually abnormal."

"Appearance stats are probably not that easy to improve."

"So... should we figure out how to make money first, or investigate the dangers in the dungeon and figure out how to improve our appearance?"

"You can tell you've never been in a relationship."

Fan Xiao said with a touch of emotion, "Everyone says that once you enter society, love changes. It gets involved with material things and money, and becomes impure. Love on campus is still the most beautiful, without any impurities."

"In fact... love on campus is the cruelest thing for some people."

"Although it doesn't care about money, it does care about looks! Looks are something you're born with. If you're ugly or average-looking, you're destined to become just a background figure on campus."

"..." Melissa asked, "You mean, we should start by improving our appearance stats?"

“If possible, let’s prioritize appearance first,” Fan Xiao said. “I’ve asked the students here, and they all deny that there’s any crisis in the City of True Love. If we want to uncover the truth here and find a way to increase appearance numbers… we might have to expand our investigation area and not just limit ourselves to the school area. Besides that, there are two other things we need to pay attention to.”

He shared the information with everyone for free, saying, "The game hints that the local residents of this city lie, and these lies likely refer to concealing their true needs regarding romantic relationships."

"For example, someone might clearly like handsome men or rich men, but they would insist that they like men with good character."

"..."