Free Web NovelChapter 135: Chapter 135: The Merchant of Black Gold Island and the Fragment
Black Gold Island?
Bai Wu suddenly remembered that Violet had mentioned this place in the manor.
Traders, in Bai Wu’s initial view, were not much different from Travelers, being Evil Fallen with special designations.
Upon reflection, if the year was 2128 and people had already started living inside the High Tower, then it was quite normal for these Evil Fallen, who had lived for seven hundred years, to have already become active around the world.
However, the creator of this game wouldn’t mention Black Gold Island for no reason, which means... he knew the traders?
Is this really the Blue Area? Able to be acquainted with Evil Fallen of the baseline Red Area level?
"Do you want to trade? I have all sorts of good things available."
The Octopus Man called out again.
Both Wu Jiu and Bai Wu’s eyes flashed with a note:
[Unscrupulous Merchant, but with a complete range of goods.]
Bai Wu could also see the second part—[The master of Black Gold Island doesn’t accept game currency, and at this time, it is still green and tender, not yet entitled to be called Little Octopus. Let’s call it Tiny Octopus, shall we? It has not yet gained the ability to trade. It’s purely because this is a game and a game has to have a store—how else would players upgrade? It’s just a figurine of an octopus that has been spiritually possessed. Don’t ask me why someone would buy a figurine of Evil Fallen, after all, the owner of this area is not quite normal~]
So this merchant is not real, just a fake... and the goods inside might not be as complete as they seem, but they’re definitely useful for the game.
The most crucial point was that Bai Wu realized something in these lines.
In the year 2128, during the seven hundred years of the apocalyptic era, the "merchant" had not yet become a real trader.
This meant... did the master of the area foresee the merchant’s future?
Or is it that this area has turned into what it is now, a pixel art environment with independent rules, because of the merchant’s influence?
Both possibilities imply wholly different outcomes: the former suggests that the area’s master is exceptionally powerful, while the latter suggests that the merchant is extremely powerful. But given the description of Prayle’s Eye, the former is more likely than the latter.
"What goods do you have?"
Lacking clues and unrelated to the main storyline, Bai Wu decided not to think about it for now.
The octopus-like merchant opened his backpack.
The menu, identical to the game goods note seen earlier, appeared in Bai Wu and Wu Jiu’s vision. freёwebnovel.com
[Random Seven Sins Series Weapons, priced at 1000 Gold Coins.]
[Cooking Skills: 10 Gold Coins.]
[Driving Skills: 10 Gold Coins.]
[Equipment Upgrade Coupon: 25 Gold Coins.]
...
...
[Backpack Capacity +1 Coupon: 5 Gold Coins.]
[Experience Points for Leveling Up +1: 20 Gold Coins.]
[Master Key: 20 Gold Coins.]
[Incomplete Notes from Denglin Technology Headquarters Building: 5 Gold Coins.]
...
Including the items Wu Jiu and Bai Wu initially saw in the storage room, the merchant’s goods menu was remarkably vast.
The prices of the goods ranged from five Gold Coins to a thousand. Bai Wu was curious to know what the thousand Gold Coin Seven Sins Series Weapons were like.
But obviously, his eloquence wasn’t sufficient to get a discount from the Octopus brother; insufficient rapport meant more money needed.
Up until now, although Wu Jiu and Bai Wu had killed quite a few Evil Fallen on the vehicle, the number of Gold Coins they picked up was very limited.
They had a total of thirty-one Gold Coins. Bai Wu thought it over and bought a set of Incomplete Notes from the Denglin Technology Headquarters Building, one Backpack Capacity +1 Coupon, and one Master Key. He didn’t buy the Driving or Cooking Skills.
After upgrading the backpack, the items fit just right for storage, as the wine bottles had been used up earlier.
Realizing the many good things that Gold Coins could buy—
They decided to walk by foot toward the Denglin Technology Headquarters Building, aiming to accumulate Gold Coins along the way.
Bai Wu’s behavior was somewhat aggressive. The normal player’s approach to the puzzle would involve using driving skills and then driving a vehicle as safely as possible towards the headquarters building.
However, Bai Wu’s real goal lay in the Level Up Coupons and Equipment Upgrade Coupons.
The Innate Force of the Dwarf at the eighth rank and fourth stage only corresponded to level five. Bai Wu was temporarily unable to calculate how much Innate Force corresponded to one level.
But if there was a way to get both the Dwarf and himself to dozens of levels, once they left the area, perhaps the Innate Force would also massively increase?
"Oh, you’ve run out of money. Then, until next time. I’ll appear again when the time is right. I hope you’ll have your Gold Coins ready, hehehe."
"Wait, do you know the Traveler?"
"The answer to the question is also a commodity. Business is business, but I can make an exception this once. Yes, I know him."
After speaking, a pool of ink-like substance appeared under the Octopus’s feet. The quality of this ink was very high, appearing more detailed in Bai Wu’s eyes compared to the other block environment. Quickly, the Octopus’s entire body sank into the ink and disappeared from view.
Wu Jiu said:
"You seem to know this monster?"
"Among the Evil Fallen, there are some very odd characters, who possess intelligence just like us, have their own organizations, and hold unique secrets."
Right as he said this, Bai Wu didn’t hurry to head to the headquarters building, but instead turned to Wu Jiu and said:
"Captain was there last time too. The merchant, who provides goods to Violet, trades the fear she extracts from others for many items. For example, our food."
Wu Jiu nodded his head. The conversation between Bai Wu and Violet had been quite foggy for him, but he still remembered everything.
Bai Wu said:
"The Traveler, on the other hand, was whom I encountered when we went to the Misty Area to rescue the miners. I suspect they are related because they both carry certain titles."
"Does the Traveler also have very special abilities?"
"To put it simply..."
Bai Wu paused here for a moment, fell silent for a few seconds, then decided to speak outright:
"The monster that trapped you all during the martial demonstration that day was the Traveler."
Wu Jiu froze, clenching his fists involuntarily. Though his pixel-style form meant his so-called palms were just blocks and seemed to lack even fingers.
"Merchants can sell many strange things, while Travelers, as the name implies, can ignore regional restrictions and move freely outside the entire Tower."
"So finding him... would be difficult?"
That strange swampy land, the climax of the martial demonstration event, had everyone evacuate except for Liu Mu and Nie Chongshan who faced off.
About the accident during the military demonstration, Bai Wu learned from Lin Wurou and Yin Shuang’s accounts.
But he was still unclear on many details. He didn’t yet know that the original Traveler had been devoured by Hong Yin, Beauty Mark, and Nie Chongshan.
The new Traveler was indeed a Demon Evil Fallen, a warrior with an extremely pure physical combat style.
"It depends on luck, Travelers are called Travelers because they possess Doomsday Fragments, so I guess merchants might have something similar. There might not be just these two who have special Doomsday Fragments; there could be judges, butchers, doctors, etc. Of course, these are just my speculations."
"Doomsday Fragment? What is that? Does it have anything to do with what you said about saving Liu Mu?" Wu Jiu’s eyes suddenly sparkled.
"Captain is very clever," Bai Wu responded with a smile, then added:
"This thing is very important. To be complete, it’s called a Doomsday Puzzle Fragment. I don’t know why it exists, but what can be confirmed now is that you can basically find Doomsday Puzzle Fragments in the blue areas or higher."
"What powers do the fragments have?"
"Apart from the series of special fragments held by Travelers and merchants, the powers currently demonstrated by the Doomsday Puzzle Fragments can be collectively summarized as—restoration."
"Restoration?"
"Yes, it is to restore the strange rules outside the tower, along with the Evil Fallen, back to the Pre-Tower Era."
Bai Wu didn’t explain this very thoroughly.
But Wu Jiu trembled and exclaimed in shock:
"Do you mean to cleanse the apocalypse? To restore everything?"
"Correct, in theory, if we collect all the Doomsday Fragments from all the districts, we... could allow humanity to leave the High Tower. Everyone could go back to living as they did in the Pre-Tower Era."
Wu Jiu instinctively disbelieved, as if something elusive and uncertain whether it really existed suddenly revealed itself before him.
But Bai Wu’s expression was very serious:
"I currently have two pieces of the Doomsday Puzzle Fragment. One comes from an animal park in Baichuan City. That fragment can rejuvenate an Evil Fallen... back to its original form before its Evil Fallen Transformation."
Seeing the Captain’s face filled with excitement and astonishment, Bai Wu quickly threw in a dose of reality:
"Captain... don’t get too excited. I need to tell you something. Remember what happened to me on the flight? I became an Evil Fallen then."
"I remember, it was because your watch underwent Spirit Possession. It was an unexpected stroke of luck; otherwise, we might not have made it out."
Bai Wu’s expression remained calm because he believed that what he was about to tell Wu Jiu was rather cruel:
"After becoming an Evil Fallen, I gained some knowledge exclusive to Evil Fallen. In my memory, a series of numbers appeared, and these numbers are the district number. So I speculate that every Evil Fallen has a corresponding district number; this number restricts us from leaving the district."
As Wu Jiu pondered, Bai Wu slowed down his speech:
"So Captain Liu... likely can’t leave the Martial Training Area. He will be trapped there forever, and my Doomsday Fragment can only cleanse the Evil Fallen from the animal park area."
Giving Wu Jiu hope and then snuffing it out instantly was undoubtedly cruel.
But Wu Jiu wasn’t disheartened:
"Thank you for telling me all this. At least it lets me know that some things aren’t impossible; they’re just very far away."
Bai Wu nodded.
The way to save Liu Mu was to cleanse him; before that, it was necessary to find the district where Liu Mu was and the adjacent districts. But how to reach the district where Liu Mu was? Nowadays, only one person knew about the Martial Arts Area: the Traveler and Cain.
Bai Wu did not think Cain would tell him the clues.
That is why he had asked the merchant if he knew the Traveler.
"We should go," Wu Jiu moved forward.
The sky had turned pitch black.
The entire city was in a state of agitation. It seemed as if all the Evil Fallen were becoming restless and uneasy.
The journey to the headquarters building in Denglin City was longer than Bai Wu had imagined.
In the West District of Denglin City, the area where Mo Cheng was located was considered a semi-safe zone. Once they left the safe zone, Evil Fallen were almost everywhere.
The route Bai Wu chose was a bit more circuitous; he avoided densely built-up streets because those buildings were now like beehives, with the Evil Fallen as the bees within.
Therefore, he chose roads with fewer buildings as much as possible. If he encountered a bottleneck that could be held by one man, Bai Wu and Wu Jiu would occupy it and then use sound to attract the surrounding Evil Fallen.
Even so, Bai Wu didn’t recklessly shout at the top of his lungs but instead gradually raised his voice little by little.
This cautious style made Wu Jiu slightly uncomfortable, but he had to admit that Bai Wu’s method was very correct.
The bottlenecks formed by these buildings were not indestructible. If too many Evil Fallen came at once, the Resurrection Coins in their backpacks would most likely be lost.
Two hours later, the two had killed nearly a hundred Evil Fallen. Wu Jiu was now at level seven, with eight points of attack power; Bai Wu was at level three, with five points of attack power.
Together, they could instantly kill an Evil Fallen.
Their actions were like a mousetrap, accurately attracting a mouse, killing it, then attracting another, and killing it again, over and over.
Using the narrow spaces between buildings, the two always ensured there were no Evil Fallen around them, only facing one Evil Fallen directly in front.
If they encountered a level three Evil Fallen, they would swing their weapons, preferring to wear down durability over losing health.
After some struggles, they amassed fifty-five Gold Coins by sticking to this tedious and monotonous method.
Bai Wu thought that if they followed the Ten Li Slope Sword God’s playstyle, they probably should just grind until they had several thousand Gold Coins.
But reality did not permit it...
Because of the hunger value and also due to negative attributes, Bai Wu and Wu Jiu were surprised to find that this area was not like the Manor; here, they too would suffer from negative attributes.
The only difference was that the negative attributes were no longer varied, but uniformly attribute reductions. Wu Jiu was luckier than Bai Wu, with a -2 reduction to his health limit.
Bai Wu was less fortunate, with a -1 to his movement speed.
This meant that if he hadn’t chosen rebound running shoes at the beginning, he would fall into a state of zero mobility, unable to move.
The presence of negative attributes meant that the two could only proceed cautiously, but couldn’t spend ten or twenty hours grinding in one place.
But soon, a sudden turn of events meant they couldn’t even proceed cautiously.
"Get away, you monsters!"
A woman’s desperate scream came from another block; upon hearing it, Bai Wu and Wu Jiu quickly received a note:[Side quest: Rescue scientist Tan Lei. Reward unknown. Failure condition: Death of Tan Lei. Note: If the target Tan Lei dies, the main quest will also fail. Accept with caution.]
"Rescue?"
Although Wu Jiu was asking, Bai Wu could tell that Dwarf wanted to save people.
"Rescue!"
Bai Wu did not hesitate. The reward didn’t really matter; the key was that people in this area might all be actually alive. Especially since Tan Lei had the title of scientist. This woman might know some critical information about the fall of Denglin City.
But rescuing someone in a block was much more dangerous than doing so inside a building.
When Bai Wu and Wu Jiu arrived, there was a ring of fire around Tan Lei.
This fire somehow prevented the Evil Fallen from approaching.
But Tan Lei couldn’t get out either.
The fire would not burn for long and was on the verge of going out. Once extinguished, what awaited the female scientist was the gnawing of the Evil Fallen.
