“Shen Yuan?” Xiao Tangqiu repeated that name in a daze. His mind was blank. Wasn’t that Meng Xinghe? How did he become Shen Yuan? Was it really not the same person? Was he really mistaken?

But … That was clearly Meng Xinghe!

He and Meng Xinghe had grown up together, how could he mistake someone else for Meng Xinghe? That face, those eyebrows…… It was definitely the same! Even the tear mole under his left eye was exactly the same!

But if that person was Meng Xinghe, why did he pretend not to know him?

Xiao Tangqiu’s heart sank. He didn’t think that Shen Yuan was acting just now. At the time, Shen Yuan had looked at him as if he was looking at a stranger, as if he was meeting him for the first time. Those eyes…..Meng Xinghe would never look at him with those eyes.

Did Meng Xinghe lose his memory? ……..After all, Meng Xinghe had been in a car accident! Could it be that Meng Xinghe hadn’t died after the car accident, but somehow got here by mistake?

Xiao Tangqiu’s heart, which had sunk to the bottom, finally started beat once more. He turned to look at Su Manluo, and opened his mouth to ask something, but as soon as the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back down again.

“Qiuqiu, were you mistaken?” Tang Mianmian had some misgivings.

Xiao Tangqiu was silent for a moment, “Maybe…… Is Shen Yuan a very strong player?”

Su Manluo smiled and pulled out a cigarette from her pocket, “Do you mind if I smoke?”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian shook their heads at the same time.

“Some people say that Shen Yuan is the strongest player in the city of the abyss, but this is just one of the many opinions” Su Manluo said with a cigarette in her mouth, “There are differing opinions about who the strongest player is. Perhaps, the answer is only known to those players themselves..… In the city of the abyss, strength is everything. There’s a world of difference between the weak and the strong, just like how mole crickets and ants are always destined to only be able to look up at the splendor of sun and the moon.”

100,000 points?!

Xiao Tangqiu calculated at once. They had gotten 500 points for completing a D-level mission…… 100,000 points, wouldn’t that be 200 D-level missions?!

Looking at the stunned expressions of Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian, Su Manluo puffed out a mouthful smoke and said faintly, “Do you understand now? Those who can enter District S are all experienced and strong. We are still far off from them. If you want to know exactly how strong they are you’d have to become just as strong to find out.”

Xiao Tangqiu hesitated, then asked, “Do you know….. how long Shen Yuan has been in the city of the abyss?” If it happened to be seven years, then his guess would be right!

However, Su Manluo shook her head, “No one knows, but many players have guessed that he’s a first-generation player…… Anyways, he got here way before I did.”

“First-generation player?” Tang Mianmian asked curiously.

“The first group of players who were the earliest to arrive in this world.” Su Manluo blew smoke rings and added, “It’s said that…… all the other first generation players have died, only he is left.”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian gasped. Although they have long felt the cruelty of this world, they were even more chilled by Su Manluo’s remark.

“You have to be psychologically prepared. The death rate here is very high. The friend who you were talking to and laughing with yesterday may die in the instance today.” Su Manluo smiled, “Treasure your friend. Perhaps it’s the last time that you’ll have together.”

Xiao Tangqiu’s heart sank, but then he heard Su Manluo suddenly burst out laughing, “We’re here, rookies! Welcome to Newbie Village!”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian looked up, but all they saw were rows and rows of dilapidated houses in front of them. The houses were like decrepit like those in the slums, with tiles falling off and dust covering every inch. The streets were even more dirty with trash scattered all around. There were a few people dressed in rags walking on the streets with a wooden expression on their faces. It looked like they had come to some slum village.

Tang Mianmian was dumbstruck. He couldn’t resist asking Su Manluo, “Did you take us to the wrong place?”

“We’re at the right place! This is Newbie Village!” Su Manluo burst out laughing again.

“This……..” Tang Mianmian was tongue-tied.

Xiao Tangqiu was silent for a second, “We don’t need points to live in Newbie Village?”

“Nope, if you want to enter District D you only need a few points. But right now I don’t think you have 1000 points, do you? You must’ve failed the S-level mission? ” Su Manluo looked at Xiao Tangqiu with inquiring eyes.

Xiao Tangqiu nodded, “We failed. Indeed, we don’t have 1000 points now.”

“I believe that with your potential, you should be able to enter District D after finishing the next mission. Although District D can’t be compared with District A, it’s still much better than Newbie Village.” Su Manluo raised her chin and motioned for the two men to look ahead, “Of course, I can give you a chance to immediately enter District A, and that is to join Thorn.”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian looked up and froze at once. In front of the main street of Newbie Village lined with shabby houses were several slightly taller residential buildings. Although they were just ordinary residential buildings that were common in small towns, they were much better than the so-called Newbie Village. And just a little further off, there were modern-looking apartments, and a little further past those modern-looking apartments was a high-rise building with more than 100 floors…… And a little further past that high-rise building, was a futuristic, metallic building with hundreds of floors that seemed to have come out of a sci-fi movie.

Because the terrain got higher and higher, Xiao Tangqiu could vaguely see those buildings in the distance. He guessed that the building with hundreds of floors was probably District S. In District S, there was a faintly discernible huge metal column, that towered into the clouds, as if it led straight into the sky.

“Everyone calls it the Heaven Tower. Some people say that if you climb all the way up the tower, you’ll reach the sky of this world. Others say that you’ll find your way home. But so far, no one has ever succeeded in climbing to the top.” Su manluo smiled, “……So how about it? Are you thinking of joining us? I can take you directly into District A. Points can be traded, so I can lend you some first, and you can return them to me after you’ve completed a few more missions in the future.”

Xiao Tangqiu glanced at Tang Mianmian, hesitated, and shook his head: “No, thank you.”

Su Manluo raised an eyebrow but she didn’t look surprised, “Why? Are you unsatisfied with the benefits I’m offering?”

“It’s not that, it’s because the benefits you’re offering are too good. It makes me feel uneasy instead,” Xiao Tangqiu said frankly.

Su Manluo burst out laughing, “So, that’s why. What if I give you less benefits?”

Xiao Tangqiu smiled, “Then, all the more I don’t want to go.”

“Forget it, I won’t force you.” Su Manluo stubbed out her cigarette, “But if you regret your decision, you can contact me through the communicator at any time.”

She pointed the cigarette butt at her wrist; there was a watch on her wrist. It was then that Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian realized there was an additional watch on their wrists that had unknowingly appeared God knows when. But because their attention was elsewhere earlier, they had only discovered it now.

It was a metal wrist watch, but they couldn’t feel anything although it was worn on their wrists, as if it didn’t exist. The dial didn’t show the time, only a few buttons. Xiao Tangqiu pressed one of the buttons, and a translucent light screen appeared on the watch. A string of numbers were displayed on the light screen, which was the exact number of points he had obtained from the previous mission -“500.”

“You can contact me by pressing the button below and saying my name, but the contact device can only be used in the city of the abyss. Once you enter the instance, it will disappear.” Su Manluo laughed lazily, “Aside from communicating, point transaction is also done through it. Although the houses in Newbie Village are old and broken, there’s an automatic vending machine in each house. By using your points, you should be able to take care of your basic living needs. You can simply choose an empty house. Once there’s someone living inside, other people can’t just enter the premises…..”

“But don’t say I didn’t remind you, Newbie Village is very chaotic. Be careful not to get targeted. Rookies like you better not go out at night….. Of course, it’s best not to go out during the day either…..”

~~~

P.S. Guys if you’re on our Discord server, check out the drawings that the lovely Ari made! It’s so cute I wanna take a bite out of XTQ and TMM omnomnom