[006] They’re Here, But Where Is Everyone?
[Washroom placement complete. Please configure settings.]
The Landlady System’s voice sounded once more.
Gu Weiwei’s attention was drawn back.
The washroom displayed on the screen was a small-scale model, already divided into separate male and female shower sections. Inside, the shower areas were further split into numerous individual stalls. The initial setup unexpectedly came equipped with shampoo and body wash, and of course, both hot and cold running water were fixedly supplied.
However, all these amenities required… purchase using points.
All she needed to do was type the pricing into the boxes behind each option. As for the quantities, those were strictly controlled by the system, accompanied by a system-suggested price: 0.3 points per use, 0.1 points per gram.
Gu Weiwei looked over the numbers and typed in two prices directly:
0.1 points per use, 0.05 points per gram.
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For the sake of that phrase “you’re such a good person,” she would settle for earning a bit less!
At any rate, her strategy was to win through numbers and volume.
In addition, the clothing sets priced at 1 point were listed directly onto the vending machine by her as well.
Someone would always need them.
Once entered and confirmed, the washroom was ready for immediate use, triggering another wave of enthusiastic cheers from the front of the queue.
A moment later:
“There’s hot water supplied, and taking a shower only costs 0.15 points!”
“That cheap?”
“Of course the amount used is pretty small too! Don’t expect to take a long, luxurious shower—a long shower would cost at least 1 point.”
“Forget it then! Spending 1 point just to take a shower is completely out of the question for me.”
“Speaking of which, can we collect the bathwater to use later?”
“The rules posted in the washroom state it loud and clear: you can’t collect water for drinking. If any of you actually try collecting and using it, remember to drop me a note—I’ll be waiting to see what kind of terrible fate hits you.”
“Forget it, let’s not break taboo so casually. There’s no great place like this on the outside.”
“Oh right, there are clothes available for purchase on the vending machine too! A full set costs only 2 points.”
“Although it’s cheap, let’s skip it for now!”
“I’ll wear the same clothes today and come buy new ones tomorrow—that way I can trigger another 6-hour stay, perfect.”
“Actually, once converted, items in the Doomsday Apartment are still considered expensive.”
“Expensive only in the early stage while money on the outside still has value. In the later stages when money becomes useless, the apartment’s prices will be dirt cheap compared to the game mall.”
“True.”
“…”
Thanks to the presence of the washroom, the players’ morale—which had been low all day—seemed to perk up quite a bit.
Although they had suffered such a massive upheaval that stripped away everything from their past, their lives remained intact.
Giving up on life wasn’t something easily done.
After all, a miserable life is better than a good death.
Watching the apartment lobby instantly become lively, Gu Weiwei couldn’t help but feel a subtle wave of emotion.
Humans are truly social animals after all!
She now possessed the Doomsday Landlady System and was temporarily free from being manipulated by the Apocalypse Game System. She didn’t know why that was, but as far as things looked, she was the only one in this game zone who had it.
If she were the only person guarding this Doomsday Apartment, where would be the fun in that?
The more people there were, the livelier and better it would be.
Next, Gu Weiwei focused her eyes back onto her phone screen.
Just during this short span of time, she had browsed through a great deal of information using her phone.
After reading through it all, relying on her years of experience surfing the web, she felt the structure of this game zone was crafted far too realistically.
In particular, the seamless integration between the previous background settings and the current situation left no visible loopholes whatsoever.
Gu Weiwei’s mind involuntarily opened up to wild possibilities.
Could this actually be a real, living world? Or rather… this world was definitely not a newly generated game zone. Only that explanation could make sense of everything.
However, Gu Weiwei quickly suppressed the thought.
The information available right now was far too limited; her assumption was still overly hasty.
Immediately after, she continued using her phone to collect information on this game zone.
Next, she began typing in keywords related to the Apocalypse Game.
The fact that Zhang Jingze could learn news about other players proved that channels of communication existed between players.
And the internet was without a doubt the best channel available.
Sure enough, Gu Weiwei spotted the forum on it.
Entering the keyword “Blue Star” allowed her to smoothly gain access, and the information posted inside immediately filled her screen:
#What a garbage game, doing nothing but torturing people#
#Help! It’s only day one and I feel like I can’t endure it anymore#
#Formed a team, currently recruiting players. Interview location: XXX#
#…#
The posts varied wildly; clearly, quite a few players already had the capability to get online.
Makes sense—out of 100,000 people, a few formidable ones were bound to emerge.
It was also within these posts that Gu Weiwei spotted the thread Zhang Jingze had mentioned.
Inside the post, everyone’s greed toward the Doomsday Apartment was intensely palpable. Gu Weiwei saw zero respect for NPCs from them; some even revealed that they had broken into an NPC’s home to claim everything as their own, while others boasted about exploiting NPCs’ sympathy to scam large sums of money.
Gu Weiwei instinctively recalled what a player had said earlier:
The incident where a player chose to commit a crime and was arrested by the police.
Evidently, quite a few players had chosen to resort to illegal means.
After all, arriving in this game zone without money made robbery the fastest path to primitive capital accumulation.
Under normal circumstances in the game zone, things wouldn’t have descended into such chaos at the start of the news, but who invited a crowd of players into the mix?
Order had already laid the groundwork for imbalance, silently and unnoticed.
Just as she was pondering, she had already scrolled down to the bottom of the post.
“Successfully reached the marked location! Didn’t expect there to actually be a Doomsday Apartment!”
“Holy crap! While still a good distance away from the apartment, I received a welcome notification sent by the Doomsday Apartment!”
“It was at least ten meters away!”
“This Doomsday Apartment is something else!”
“…”
The tone was full of amazement, tinged with a eager readiness to try something.
Gu Weiwei’s eyes involuntarily drifted toward the main entrance.
The people are here???
At the same time, outside the entrance.
A team of people looked at the Doomsday Apartment, a subtle hint of surprise flickering in their eyes.
“I thought that guy on the forum was lying. Who knew it was real!”
“Yeah! Is this really run by an NPC?”
“Tsk tsk, do you think we can snatch it away from the NPC’s hands?”
“Not right now. Give it a few days when this game zone gets more chaotic—maybe then we can make a move.”
“…”
This group talked with utter impunity.
Evidently, they were a lawless bunch.
Just then, a figure quietly approached them from the side.
“I’m the one who posted the thread,” the person blurted out hurriedly after being spotted, as a pair of hands gripped him tightly.
“The poster? Then you must know the situation inside. Come on, lead the way and bring us in to take a look.”
“I’ve been blacklisted by the Doomsday Apartment,” the man admitted.
“Blacklisted? What happened?” Jiang Zhaoxiong, the leader of the team, spoke up, his eyes sizing up the man critically.
“I just… did a small bad thing inside the Doomsday Apartment,” the man explained dryly. “Now I’m banned from entering.”
“What? Is someone standing guard to block you?” Jiang Zhaoxiong raised an eyebrow and asked. “Come with us! Let’s see who dares block you.”
“But…” The man wanted to say more, but was dragged along directly.
Just like that, Jiang Zhaoxiong led his men straight toward the Doomsday Apartment.
Others nearby were also observing Jiang Zhaoxiong’s group.
“Who are they? So arrogant?”
“A small team led by that guy named Brother Jiang. They have a pretty strong presence on the forum, mostly focusing on robbing NPCs.”
“So they came here to…”
“He said on the forum that he wanted to rob the Doomsday Apartment,” one of the players commented, unable to hold back a light cough.
The others fell silent as well.
Who gave them such guts?
Daring to mess with an apartment building that had the word “Doomsday” attached to its name.
Many people outright viewed this group as a walking joke.
Of course, they also wanted to see what kind of end awaited them.
By this time, Jiang Zhaoxiong had already led his men close to the Doomsday Apartment.
However, right around the 10-meter mark, they instantly felt a cool breeze that was completely different from the sweltering heat outside.
“Brother Jiang, it’s actually so cool here! Are they running air conditioning?”
“This NPC’s territory is truly amazing. If we could take it over…”
Jiang Zhaoxiong’s henchmen spoke with expressions full of longing.
Just as they marched aggressively forward, a figure among them suddenly flew backward, accompanied by a blood-curdling scream.
Jiang Zhaoxiong turned around and saw that the person hurled into the air was the very man who had just claimed to be blacklisted.
“Holy crap! Does the Doomsday Apartment actually ban people from entering?”
“He must have been blacklisted, right? I heard someone tried to make a move on an NPC today and got blacklisted on the spot.”
“This NPC is probably boss-level.”
“Serving as a safe zone in the game zone, she’s definitely terrifyingly strong.”
“Heh, all the more reason to go inside and take a look!”
“…”
In an instant, players who had initially intended to just watch the show began entering the Doomsday Apartment one after another.
None of them were rejected by the Doomsday Apartment.
Before Jiang Zhaoxiong and his men could even make a move, they were dealt a harsh blow right off the bat, their faces turning pale and red by turns.
Right now, they only felt a burning sting on their cheeks.
After all, setting everything else aside, that invisible, mysterious power alone was not something they could ever hope to resist.
“Brother Jiang, we…” One of the men called out with a guilty conscience.
The confidence they previously had when dealing with ordinary NPCs vanished in an instant.
When facing an NPC endowed with immense power, players like them were nothing more than trash!
Jiang Zhaoxiong realized this as well, but his expression remained unchanged as he maintained his boss persona, lowering his voice to say: “We came here seeking shelter in the safe zone. We haven’t committed any wrongdoings, so what is there to fear?”
“Besides, this is a great place. Even if we don’t mess with the NPC, can’t we still find opportunities to target other players?” Jiang Zhaoxiong continued. He still counted on getting rich through robbery.
After all, making money this way was far too fast!
“Right, right, right!”
Reassured by Jiang Zhaoxiong’s words, the rest of the crew snapped out of it.
Thus, led by Jiang Zhaoxiong, the group smoothly entered the Doomsday Apartment.
As for the man who had been thrown back, once he caught his breath, he scrambled up on his own and left.
As for the Doomsday Apartment—he had better keep a respectful distance from now on!
He couldn’t afford to mess with it!
After entering the Doomsday Apartment and sensing how great the place was, Jiang Zhaoxiong and his group couldn’t wait to purchase a bottle of water inside, intending to stay for 6 hours.
Being able to hoard goods, gain safety, and select targets—all for just 2 points—it was well worth it.
On top of that, they enjoyed a thoroughly refreshing hot shower.
Meanwhile, Gu Weiwei had been waiting all this time for troublemakers to show up, debating whether to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. In the end, all she saw was her point balance continuously ticking upward.
Where is everyone?