Chapter 62: Folks, It Really Works!

Showing excessive courtesy usually conceals ulterior motives.

However, after checking carefully twice, Wu Chang found no anomalies. Plus, Cotton was indeed a member of the Management Bureau, so he accepted Cotton's invitation.

At the moment he accepted, he noticed that the other accompanying assistants from the same batch also clicked confirm with mixed feelings of doubt and hesitation.

After accepting the invitation, everyone's vision blurred, and two unfamiliar players appeared in the waiting lobby.

The two assistants from Dongyang City looked honest and taciturn, fitting the standard introvert profile. After a brief mutual introduction, they pulled down their hoods and retreated to a corner of the room, wishing they could vanish on the spot.

Wu Chang chatted briefly with the two of them. Their words revealed nothing amiss, and like him, they were assistants who had just joined the Management Bureau this term.

Could free pies really fall from the sky?

Cotton smiled and said, "If everyone is ready, please click confirm on your status bar."

Following Cotton's prompt, the group changed their waiting status to ready, only for Cotton to directly activate the reward instance.

"Wish you all a pleasant time."

Before the group could react, they vanished from the waiting lobby and arrived in a room resembling a settlement space.

A prompt popped up before Wu Chang's eyes.

[Matching instance for player. Player's current level: 10. Instance difficulty matching probability is: F-grade: 30%; E-grade: 60%; D-grade: 1%; C-grade: 0.1%.]

Seeing the randomized instance probabilities, he could not help but raise an eyebrow.

The probabilities really did drop.

Although the C-grade instance in the table stubbornly remained at 0.1%, the B-grade instance probability that had previously appeared during simulations had indeed vanished.

Judging from the expressions of joy on the other assistants, the effect of their reward instances was also active.

Wu Chang chose to start matching for an instance, and a loading icon appeared before his eyes.

Whether it was his imagination or not, the instance matching this time was exceptionally slow, even slower than his first time matching the Moonlight Containment Facility.

[Matching complete!]

Wu Chang's vision blurred, and he found himself on a stretch of beach.

"Successfully entered 'Desolation—Plane 86951'."

[Instance Name: Tranquil Town.]

[Instance Type: Multiplayer Survival Instance.]

[Instance Mode: Cooperative.]

[Instance Difficulty: C.]

[Official Recommended Minimum Exploration Level for Instance: 10. Players are advised to proceed with caution.]

[Due to a significant level discrepancy between the matched players and the instance, other players have been automatically filled in.]

[Instance Status: High Pollution!]

[Main Quest 1: Successfully survive in the town for thirty days. Leaving the town perimeter will interrupt the timer.]

[Main Quest 2: Investigate the missing Count and uncover the truth.]

A C-grade instance with a high pollution level!

After a brief silence, Wu Chang threw a fierce punch in the air.

Folks, the probability nerf for this reward instance really works!

Given how much the Abyss Game targeted him—making him match a C-grade near-out-of-control instance back at level 8—now that he had reached level 10, it should have at least assigned him a B-grade instance.

He had prepared himself for the worst-case scenario, only to unexpectedly queue into a regular C-grade instance.

Having grown accustomed to instances with pollution levels over 90 that were teetering on the brink of losing control, a Tranquil Town with merely high pollution already fell into the category of a standard instance in his eyes.

What a fortunate encounter.

Had he not queued into this instance, he would have thought the Abyss Game was entirely filled with out-of-control instances.

After a brief surge of excitement, he began to pay attention to the other information about the instance.

A multiplayer survival instance.

He looked around and spotted the figures of other players lying not far away on the beach, still unconscious at the moment.

He was the first one to wake up.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he summoned his avatar from the "Recreated True Self" skill and had the avatar lie down a bit further away.

In multiplayer instances, in order to avoid drawing attention, it is often inconvenient to act alone.

Using an avatar to disguise oneself as an unsociable, cold lone wolf would make operating much easier.

Having settled his avatar, he looked at his activated title.

With the Breakthrough Master title, the general pollution level described in the instance briefing was quantified into a specific value.

[Current Instance Pollution Value: 70.]

[Breakthrough Master Attribute Bonus: 35%.]

After the buff from Breakthrough Master, Wu Chang's current attribute panel was as follows:

Player Nickname: Does Not Eat Beef.

Player Level: 10 (0/2600)

Titles: Perfectionist, Breakthrough Master.

Health: 28 (21)

Strength: 27 (20)

Agility: 20 (15)

Endurance: 22 (16)

Energy: 19 (14)

Inspiration: 90

Willpower: 64

(Note: Values in parentheses are attributes before the Breakthrough Master bonus.)

Free Attribute Points: 0

Decayed Silver Coins: 30,000.

Skills: Mamba Iron Elbow, Firearms Proficiency (Proficient).

Cultivation Method: Fragment of Thunder Technique (D).

Items: Silver Dawn, Favor of the Goddess of Fortune, Whisperer's Echo ×1, Poison of the Mortal, Secret Magic Knight Order Newcomer Code, Soul-Cleansing Banner, Four-Directional Age-Fire Lamp, Shadow-Reflecting Human Face, Healing Type I ×3, Small Recovery Potion ×2.

Talents: Deliverance, Calamity Specter.

Enhanced by the Breakthrough Master, his attributes had improved further, and he felt that he was terrifyingly strong right now.

Just as he was immersing himself in his attribute panel and contemplating how to explore the instance, the other players slowly regained consciousness.

Much like Wu Chang, upon waking up, the other players first stared blankly at their attribute panels, confirming something in sheer disbelief.

Moments later, the beach echoed with a chorus of curses directed at Cotton himself and his family members.

Are you kidding me?

A reward instance means entering a high-pollution C-grade instance—what kind of reward is that? Reincarnation?

They wouldn't have naturally matched such a difficult instance under any normal circumstances; that bastard Cotton must have meddled with it!

Outside the instance, in the waiting lobby.

Zhao Yan walked in carrying a tray of cocktails, humming a tune.

Each cup of the specially crafted cocktails on the tray, when consumed, could temporarily increase temporary willpower by 3 points and temporary strength by 2 points. There were five cups in total, costing him quite a few Decayed Silver Coins.

He had always been a man of his word. He had previously told Wu Chang that as long as he could land a hit on him, he would treat him to drinks once they entered the Abyss Game. While the group was preparing, he immediately tracked down a familiar bartender to mix these special drinks for them.

Yet, upon turning around, why were all the people gone?

The assistants under his charge had vanished, and instead, an obnoxious-looking fat man had appeared.

People are complex, and organizations composed of people are equally complex.

Even within the Management Bureau, not everyone shared the same philosophies and goals.

For instance, there was the Order Faction, to which Meng Yawen and Zhao Yan belonged, which advocated for maintaining existing order and balancing the relationships between high-level players, low-level players, and ordinary people alike.

Then there was the Evolution Faction, represented by people like Cotton, who believed that all resources should be concentrated on players with potential to cultivate a batch of elites.

Once there were enough elites, the Management Bureau would tower above all organizations and be able to set its own rules, at which point they could spare the extra energy to protect the interests of low-level players and ordinary people.

The two ideologies differed drastically, to the extent that they could be called diametrically opposed.

Seeing Cotton wearing an unkind expression, Zhao Yan did not care, as Cotton grinned and sidled up to him.

"Yo, Brother Huo, treating the newbies to drinks? So generous."

As Cotton spoke, he reached out and swiped a cup, taking a sip amidst Zhao Yan's disgruntled glare, and nodded approvingly:

"Still a special cocktail with attribute buffs! Brother Huo is magnanimous!"

There is a saying that one does not hit a smiling person, but facing Cotton, Zhao Yan did not want to offer even a single pleasant expression.

As a member of the Order Faction, countless seniors had warned him never to mingle with the Evolution Faction, as few among that bunch were any good.

"Cotton, where are the people I brought?"

Cotton finished the cup of cocktail, smacked his lips twice, and grinned broadly.

"I sent them into the reward instance."

"You sent them into an instance?" Zhao Yan's heart skipped a beat.

Cotton said, "Don't be ungrateful. I came with goodwill this time, upgrading them to an intermediate reward instance for free. No need to thank me. It's not too much to drink two of your cups of wine, is it?"

As Cotton spoke, he reached out and grabbed another cup.

Incredulous, Zhao Yan asked, "You people have such good hearts to help new assistants?"

While drinking, Cotton brought up the reward instance progress and smugly said:

"You still don't believe me? Take a look at what instance they entered..."

"Pfft!"

The instant Cotton caught a glimpse of the instance name, a mouthful of alcohol sprayed directly onto Zhao Yan's face.

"Tr-Tranquil Town?!"