Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Illidan Stormrage? Your new ID sounds pretty special. It seems that you are fond of the word ‘storm.’”
In the head cabin of the spacious passenger spacecraft, Sister Rui was curious about the new ID displayed in the team channel by Feng Luo.
“Hey, so do you think I prefer the word ‘wood’? I just changed it randomly without giving a second thought.” From the corner, Mu Zi interrupted the conversation. He had changed his ID to “Woody.”
“Well, I actually do prefer storms,” Feng Luo said, beaming.
The name Illidan Stormrage… Obviously, none of the people in this universe would understand the meaning of this name.
At that moment, the airship was approaching its destination. From the spherical virtual screen suspended over everyone’s heads, the land below the aircraft could be viewed directly—the continuous stretch of high and low primeval mountains, the crystal clear lakes, the flowing streams, and the majestic waterfall
By 7:00 in the evening, half of the sky was painted with shades of red originating from the sun, lined with a streak of pale gold trailing the tail of twilight.
The town of Rogue, a small town in the middle of the mountains, had a population of more than 1,000 NPC players and was known for its tourism, which highlighted its most primitive natural features. However, in order to ensure that the world was not destroyed by foreign tourists, the town strictly limited the maximum number of people who could enter per day. That was why Feng Luo and the others were only able to come in numbers of 15, due to the availability of only 15 tickets acquired by the FBI.
Of course, from a player’s perspective, this was actually due to the system’s limit on the number of people in this mission. In addition, the information given by the FBI was interpreted as a guide for the mission.
A large part of the land in this town was actually under the property of the Umbrella Corporation. As such, Umbrella had turned the land into a wellness retreat for its senior staff. The largest building in town was the staff sanatorium of the Umbrella Corporation at the edge of the town, half of which was surrounded by forests.
Without a doubt, the sanatorium was just a cover. According to the details given, the sanatorium was equipped with an advanced private hospital, which was a secret research base of Umbrella. It was suspected of illegal human trials, and it was also the target of Feng Luo’s team.
“So beautiful!”
After getting off the airship and walking 1,000 meters toward the town, the three female players on the team immediately looked around with bright eyes. The whole town was maintained nicely with clean, paved roads, bluestone stairs, and buildings on both sides that were almost all made from wood or stone.
There were no suspension vehicles, no energy escalators—not even any high-rise buildings in view. The tallest building had no more than three floors.
Players who were starlings living in high-tech environments would have never seen such a “primitive” environment before, so the scenery took their breath away. However, what Feng Luo felt was actually more like returning back to the Earth because it was similar to the resorts on Earth.
The crowd of people were wearing casual clothes. At the same time, in order to blend in, all the weapons on their bodies had been stored in their inventories. Even some of the more noticeable equipment was not worn; there didn’t seem to be any difference in clothing between them and the NPC tourists.
Under the leadership of Brother Ling, the group went through the formalities and stayed in a small three-story hostel.
While dealing with some matters in the hostel, Brother Ling welcomed everyone to explore first.
“Everyone is free to move around,” he said. “Let’s go and check the situation out. However, the three ladies are exceptional. If you are tired from the journey, you can stay in the room to rest. Also, please keep in touch on the team channel. Call for help if needed.”
“No, we don’t want to rest! It’s hard to come to this original town. We’ll take this opportunity to explore. Sister Rui, are you coming?”
The one who spoke up was a female Doctor from the team whose name was Xiao Jiu. Her dimples showed when she smiled. Her face was slightly round, and her appearance was adorable.
Another female player beside her, wearing silver-framed glasses and sporting a long brown ponytail was a Wind Controller. Her level was only 44, which was the lowest among them except for Feng Luo, but still, nobody looked down on her because her side career was as a chipmaker who had already reached the Expert level. She was also one of only three people in the Lu Conglomerate who had reached Expert level in a side career.
There was no doubt that friendships could be established between the women much more quickly than among the men. In the case of Feng Luo and Mu Zi, besides Brother Ling, they did not have much to say to another male player. On the other hand, the three female players looked as though they had become close friends.
“Okay!” With a smile on her face, Sister Rui tucked a baby blond hair behind her ear.
Xiao Jiu turned back and looked at Mu Zi pleadingly. “Right! Brother Mu Zi, can you accompany us? After all, we are all girls here.”
Mu Zi smirked and let out a laugh. When he looked at the Doctor player named Xiao Jiu, he was completely mesmerized by her.
Young man, you will understand her intentions later! Feng Luo thought silently.
******
“Vintage” shopping may have been a pleasure for women, but for men, it only existed to sacrifice their time and energy.
In fact, this situation clear after waiting for two hours. When night had fallen, bags of all sizes were seen on Mu Zi. Due to the inconvenience in using the inventory in public, everyone had to hold on to their shopping bags. Tragically, Mu Zi was the one who had been asked to be their coolie.
Actually, this kind of situation was rarely seen in this world. After all, most of the time, people would only need to go through the virtual world and try on the garments in the online store. After payment, all they needed to do was wait for the delivery. Even in a real-life store, there were specialized vending robots that would follow the customers around, so there wasn’t any need for human labor.
Feng Luo suddenly felt that the advancement of technology was a good thing. In conjunction with this, this world could finally liberate the hands of male compatriots from shopping bags.
Presently, they were in a garment store. The three female players were in the fitting room trying on clothes while Feng Luo and Mu Zi sat in the waiting area. In front of them was a wooden table where all the shopping bags had been placed.
Feng Luo’s eyes kept darting back and forth toward the window, expecting the people surrounding them to suddenly become zombies like in the Resident Evil game. At that moment, his sensitive ears suddenly heard the two NPC saleswomen next to him who were whispering behind the counter.
“Have you heard? Billy is dead!”
“Goodness! How could this be? That handsome blonde guy with good archery skills?”
“I heard that it’s true…”
At this moment, the saleswoman who was speaking further lowered her voice.
“This is already the third time this month!”
The other saleswoman spoke anxiously. “God! Haven’t the guards found out anything yet?”
“They only said that it might have been a large beast, but you saw the condition of Robert… It doesn’t seem like a mere beast could do such a thing… ”
“I think they are hiding something. Did you know that these few nights…”
The salesperson who spoke initially had lowered her voice until it could no longer be heard.
“Let’s not talk about it. There are others here!” The other saleswoman turned towards Feng Luo and Mu Zi to indicate their presence, stopping her colleague from continuing.
As expected, thought Feng Luo. Were there any clues?
He stood up and walked toward the counter as Mu Zi stared puzzledly at him. Upon Feng Luo’s arrival, the two saleswomen’s expressions were a bit flustered, but they returned a smile at once.
“Sir, is there anything that I can help you with?”
“Excuse me,” said Feng Luo. “When I was at the bar, I heard people saying that the town of Rogue seems to have mysterious happenings, especially during the night…”
“Huh? How is this possible!”
“Sir, rest assured. The town of Rogue is the safest tourist town in the Federation. Although we have promoted the original ecology that was not affected by technology, the town guards have the most advanced weapons and can certainly guarantee all tourists’ safety.”
The eyes of the two saleswomen showed that they were panicking, but the words that came out of their mouths said otherwise.
“Oh, right! I’ve always thought that Roguetown was very safe. The rumors are definitely fake…” Feng Luo gave them a smile, then returned to his seat.
“Brother Feng? Did you find out about anything?” Mu Zi whispered in the team channel.
He wasn’t stupid; he already knew what Feng Luo had discovered.
“Not sure,” replied Feng Luo. “But if that is the case, I’m guessing that the mission on our hands is quite troublesome!”
Feng Luo looked a little dignified.