After the open beta for the game 《Deep Red Continent》 began, Liming City was completely transformed.
Day or night, regardless of the time, there was always a massive crowd of players exploring everywhere.
The local residents had long noticed the abnormal behavior of these players, but since the authorities didn't intervene, they could only endure it. They watched these strange people do odd things every day—arguing for no reason, talking to themselves, and swiping their fingers in the air as if operating invisible screens.
One early morning, an old man selling breakfast pushed his cart out. Just as he lifted the lid of his steamer, he was surrounded by three players.
They didn't eat the buns or drink the soy milk; they just circled the old man, asking if he had any tasks.
“Shoo, shoo!” The old man’s brow furrowed into the shape of the character for ‘river’ as he waved his ladle to drive them away.
He didn't understand what these people were talking about. If you're not spending money, don't take up space!
The players were furious. A mere NPC had such a terrible attitude!
They beat the old man and stole his buns.
The old man called the police.
In fact, public security issues had exploded on the very first day of the open beta.
Within a single day, Liming City received over three hundred reports of players harassing residents.
Some stole openly in commercial districts and grinned shamelessly when caught.
Some set fires in residential areas, sending thick smoke drifting across several streets.
Countless others ran around naked with their pants down.
Patrolling officers were exhausted, arresting batch after batch.
The players didn't care about being arrested. At worst, they would just die once and return to the respawn point.
“It’s just a game anyway~”
This sentence was the creed of the Fourth Calamity. Most players didn't care about the damage they caused to Liming City, while a few faintly realized that the game’s realism was so high that something seemed slightly off.
In the conference room, Long Jianguo sat at the head of the long table, a thick stack of reports spread out before her.
The reports detailed recent public security data: the civil case rate had risen by 230%, and the resident complaint rate had risen by 400%.
She flipped to the last page and saw a shocking number: over three hundred conflicts between players and local residents had occurred in a single day.
She closed the report without reading it aloud, as everyone in the room knew what those numbers meant.
Liming City’s order was spiraling out of control, and the source of that chaos was a group of outsiders who could resurrect after death, possessed infinite energy, and never followed the rules.
Yet, Long Jianguo did not order the expulsion of the players.
Although these otherworldly visitors caused trouble everywhere, their presence also brought benefits.
She opened another report, one with data much more pleasing than the security report.
The Investigation Bureau had issued danger zone exploration tasks and supernatural incident handling tasks to players through various channels, and the completion rate was as high as 81%!
Those danger zones that once caused such headaches were now being stormed by batch after batch of players every day.
They didn't care about danger; they could resurrect if they died, and if they dropped their gear, they would just go back and pick it up.
They rampaged through the danger zones, clearing out monsters over and over again, and sending back samples of contamination sources one after another.
The Bureau’s combat personnel suffered zero casualties, and the rate of contamination spread in danger zones had been significantly curtailed.
In the meeting room, someone raised the issue of public security, suggesting stricter control over players, limiting their range of activity, or even banning them from residential areas.
Long Jianguo didn't answer immediately. She looked at the security report, then at the task completion report, placing the two side-by-side on the table. She remained silent for a long time.
“Let’s leave it for now. You have to give some to get some.”
The bureaus everywhere were doing the same, using players to explore and clear danger zones.
This was also the intent of headquarters—to deliberately use the players as disposables to greatly reduce the casualties of the bureaus' own personnel.
The effect was very obvious: the expansion of danger zones across the region was effectively contained, and the pressure on the bureaus was greatly reduced.
As for the chaos within Zhongzhou and the harassment of the citizens by the players?
For the sake of the big picture, the people would just have to suffer a bit.
The people of Zhongzhou weren't afraid of hardship; they could endure it!
...
Meanwhile, the player Perfume is Non-Toxic was looking at the player-created task-sharing forum on his screen.
He had been scrolling for a long time, looking for a suitable task.
After flipping through several pages, a post caught his eye.
【High-Level Exploration Task: Investigation of the 'Fairytale Town' Danger Zone.】
Mission Objective: 【Enter the depths of Fairytale Town and obtain footage or samples from inside the Candy Factory.】
Risk Warning: 【Extremely dangerous. Seventeen players have already failed in their exploration. Grouping up is recommended.】
Perfume is Non-Toxic stared at the risk warning for several seconds.
“Seventeen players failed... isn't that basically telling me not to go?”
He scrolled down to the rewards section. His eyes suddenly widened, his throat bobbed, and his attitude shifted instantly.
“Wealth is found in danger~ At worst, I’ll just die a few times.”
Perfume is Non-Toxic closed the post and first checked the location of Fairytale Town.
He didn't have a fixed team, and temporary pick-up groups were often more of a hindrance than soloing, so he decided to go alone.
...
Fairytale Town was not just a town, but a collective name for a large area.
Thirty years ago, several cities within Zhongzhou underwent an incredible transformation.
Streets turned into colorful pavements made of candy, soft and elastic underfoot with a sweet taste.
Houses became sweet buildings made of gingerbread, their outer walls embedded with colorful jellybeans, and the windowsills adorned with icicles made of frosting.
Rivers turned into thick chocolate sauce, and the residents who failed to evacuate in time became various forms of candy and pastries—speaking bread-people, walking jellybean-people.
The Bureau had attempted to clear Fairytale Town multiple times, but every attempt ended in failure. They couldn't find the source of the contamination and were unable to reverse the mutation.
Worse, the contamination area of Fairytale Town was constantly expanding; although the speed was not fast, it never stopped.
Even worse, some people were actually smuggling candy out of Fairytale Town to sell!
Those things were riddled with contamination and curses, but there were always people willing to engage in such high-profit, zero-cost business.
Rate on N.U.
