novelnext Chapter 787 - 492: Baigan and Lessons Learned (Part 2)
Chapter 787 - 492: Baigan and Lessons Learned (Part 2)
The store clerk player, who looked like an ordinary white young man, walked up to Wang Zhifan just as he quickly made his reward selection, eagerly asking for his personal contact information.
This is common behavior among players who encounter a powerful and trustworthy player; everyone wants to add a friend so that they’ll have a strong ally when teaming up for dungeons later on.
However, Wang Zhifan had encountered this situation many times and his attitude remained unchanged. He politely refused, regardless of who the person was.
"Sorry, my friend! I prefer raiding alone, so there’s no need for such hassle! But if fate allows, we’ll meet again in future instances, so there’s no need to force teaming up."
"Alright... I hope we’ll meet again in future dungeons, big boss..."
With a look of regret, the store clerk player responded and then disappeared, decisively leaving this instance world.
The same went for several other players, including a yellow-skinned female player, who approached wanting to add him as a friend. Upon hearing Wang Zhifan refuse the store clerk player, she immediately changed her approach, saying:
"Are you from Xia Country, big boss?"
"Yes."
"I’m also from Xia Country, from Kyoto. If you ever visit Kyoto, you can find me at the Kyoto Grand Plaza, and I’ll be your guide. Bye!"
"..."
Knowing that Wang Zhifan wouldn’t divulge his contact info, the woman had a brief chat and then exited the instance.
Seeing this, Wang Zhifan felt it was time for him to leave too. But before he could do so, he noticed two NPCs present: Qian Yaron and a silver-haired middle-aged woman, who were casting curious glances at the players disappearing around them.
"What’s up, Aaron? Are you curious about our identities?"
Finding their expressions somewhat amusing, Wang Zhifan spoke to his cheap NPC friend, Qian Yaron.
Qian Yaron didn’t feel alarmed by the mass exodus of players. Stroking his chin, he quickly responded:
"Let me guess... you all belong to a mysterious organization of superpowered individuals, possessing rare solo transition abilities, and strong combat skills. I guess you’re here on K54 Star to complete a special mission..."
"Your guess is pretty spot-on."
It was clear that Qian Yaron didn’t fully grasp the nature of their player existence, but he was not far from the truth, so Wang Zhifan nodded in affirmation.
"Aaron, I’m leaving too, and likely won’t be back. Can you tell me, have you long since sided with this woman beside you?"
Before leaving, Wang Zhifan voiced his inner doubts. When he was at the ground base, he was puzzled about why the other NPCs sought to avoid attention while Qian Yaron came directly into the fray, behavior which was very suspicious.
"Well... Mr. Wang, you know how it is... the salary at the base is just too low, so I had to find other ways to make money..."
Detecting no hostility in his suddenly mysterious friend, Qian Yaron was honest, almost openly admitting that he was a spy.
"Hehe, just as I thought... but it turns out to be a good thing! The rotten Kai Bo Group wasted K54 Star’s potential. I hope you can really seize it and put an end to the meaningless manual mining industry."
Having completed the dungeon task, Wang Zhifan did not care that Kai Bo was being thwarted. He didn’t like the past half month’s dull days of overseeing the mining, which he considered a waste of time.
The silver-haired middle-aged woman next to him couldn’t help but shake her head slightly and comment:
"Had we known your attitude earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation... we definitely can’t stay in the organization anymore, what to do next really leaves me at a loss..."
"Hard to say, things couldn’t have progressed so smoothly without some violent measures! Trying to achieve our goals peacefully would have taken an excessive amount of time, so this small trouble is nothing."
Wang Zhifan didn’t quite agree with her complaint and then added:
"As for what to do next, you already have the highest management privileges at the space station. Take advantage of the fact that the other officials have run off and haven’t returned yet to consolidate all the forces to see if you can negotiate peace, or just start your own setup. I see Brother Aaron is a talented person who can take on responsibilities... Farewell to you both!"
After shooting the breeze with the two NPCs who would face subsequent troubles, Wang Zhifan finally chose to exit the instance.
In a daze, he returned to East City Villa, Dongjiang City, Earth Star Xia Country, seeing the same sunny weather as when he entered the instance, still morning time.
Upon finding his phone and confirming the exact time, he realized that only about half an hour had passed on Earth Star, no wonder it felt like the sun’s position hadn’t changed much.
"Mr. Li hasn’t sent me a message yet, so it seems the foreign player criminals haven’t been tracked... I’ll take a break first."
Returning to the main reality world, Wang Zhifan recalled the call from the Management Bureau’s Li Zhen Country before entering the instance, asking him to help deal with several foreign player criminals in Dongjiang City. Since he had agreed to help, he wouldn’t go back on his word.
Therefore, he didn’t immediately busy himself with other matters, such as reviewing the two Epic Layer rewards he had just received, instead opting to meditate in the mansion’s bedroom, reflecting on the instance’s gains and losses.
"The rewards from the previous instance were average, and the experience was even lesser, failing to level me up. The earlier Calamity Realm instance had improved me by 4 levels."
First, he couldn’t help but scorn the stinginess of the recently completed instance. He was Lv20 entering the instance and still Lv20 upon exit, with his personal panel unchanged except for a slight increase in the experience bar.
"The three rewards I received, Epic Layer Illusion Planet and Ring World, are similar to Gaia Star and Urban Planet World. High-level rewards for these interstellar instances are too homogenized, likely offering little benefit to me...
The extraordinary-grade Superpower Activation Device is similar; my superpowers are either legendary or epic grade, so its lower grade cannot enhance my existing abilities...
In short, my rewards are underwhelming, almost as if I played the instance for nothing."
Having received two Epics and one Outstanding reward, Wang Zhifan still felt that he gained nothing from the instance, without any satisfactory rewards. If other players knew about his mindset, they’d probably cough up blood in frustration, cursing him for being insufferably pretentious.
"Regarding the instance process, my performance was mediocre as well. If I’d used force early to pressure the mining base executives to amend their performance, I might not have wasted time in the mine... but given that I was new at the time, it wasn’t unreasonable to be cautious..."
"Finally, in the space station, encountering the control room shut-down procedure clearly exposed my personal capability gap, which is my lack of technological information handling skills; I’m a fighter, not a techie..."
"This is something I must address, one of my significant past oversights. Next time I go to Urban Planet World, I must acquire an advanced AI assistance system, or else, I may not have reliable teammates when facing electronic system challenges in instances."
Reflecting on his previous instance experiences, Wang Zhifan’s biggest lesson was his lack of emphasis on electronic information technology, underestimating the utility of such auxiliary measures in technologically-inclined world view instances, leaving him reliant on teammates at critical moments.
Unlike other players who lack the means, solving this issue isn’t hard for him. It was his personal mistake that led to this oversight.
Because the Urban Planet World he possesses is characterized by highly developed AI technology, pervasive throughout, as exemplified by the AI Xiaohong in his office and life-like teaching AIs in various spacecraft. As long as he is willing to put in some effort, acquiring advanced AI is easy for him, yet he’s been blind to this aspect until now.