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Central World

Once Xie Xi opened his eyes again, the sight in front of him made him somewhat unresponsive.

He stood in a very bright place. He looked up and saw a dazzling white light. He couldn’t see the sun or the edges of this place. There was a glossy mirrored floor that clearly reflected his whole body.

He wore his own clothes, which were a simple white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. The only difference was that these old clothes had become fresh and clean. Even the stains that couldn’t be washed off on the sneakers were gone.

Xie Xi looked around. His eyes widened as noisy sounds finally entered his ears. It felt as if he had just come up from the quiet bottom of the ocean and finally heard the sounds of shore.

Where was this place? The game was over but he still couldn’t go home? Or had he started a new game again?

“Hey, did you just return from a quasi-world?” Xie Xi turned to look at the person.

The one who had just spoken was a young man in his early 20s. He was tall but very thin. His blond hair was especially dazzling, his eyes were big and round and there was a curved mouth under his high nose. He looked very refreshing and sociable.

Xie Xi didn’t know him.

The blond youth saw his face and froze. “So beautiful!”

Xie Xi, “…” He silently took a step back.

He just came out of that damn game and had a psychological shadow towards these type of words.

The blond youth saw his vigilance and smiled. “Don’t panic, I’m straight.” He scratched his head and sincerely praised, “You look really good. You are a natural beauty…” Perhaps he became aware that the word ‘beauty’ was too feminine and he hurriedly changed it. “I mean, very handsome!”

Xie Xi could only give a polite and awkward smile.

The blond youth was a very friendly type of person and he introduced himself. “My name is Zhong Jin. I am a junior explorer. You can call me Ah Jin!”

The name Zhong Jin was a good match to his hair colour.

Xie Xi opened his mouth. “Hello.” He didn’t introduce himself.

The current situation was very confusing and he couldn’t rashly introduce himself to strangers. It might be impolite but it was better than placing himself in danger.

Zhong Jin wasn’t annoyed and realized something. “You are a newcomer!”

Xie Xi nodded.

Zhong Jin scratched his head. “I am also a newcomer although I’ve probably encountered more worlds than you…” He told Xie Xi, “Come here, I will introduce things to you!”

Xie Xi’s head was covered in fog and he really wanted to know more about this place.

Zhong Jin led Xie Xi forward and along the way, Xie Xi was dazzled.

The landscape here wasn’t complicated but there was a lot of people. Most of the pedestrians coming and going were wearing silver-white uniforms like Zhong Jin. A few were dressed casually and their had a confused demeanor.

Presumably these people were newcomers like Xie Xi.

After walking for seven or eight minutes, Zhong Jin arrived at a blue semi-circular building.

“This is the hall.” Zhong Jin explained. “It is the place that newcomers must know!”

Zhong Jin took him into the hall without waiting for Xie Xi to ask questions. It was much more spacious than it looked on the outside. The design was simple, or it should be said that there was no display other than a giant water curtain.

Zhong Jin said, “Come here and follow my actions.”

He placed his hand into the water curtain. There was a ripple but nothing changed.

Xie Xi didn’t do it right away and looked around through the corner of his eyes.

The water curtain was huge and circular. Many people were placing their hands in it with closed eyes. There were quite a few newcomers in plain clothes who followed suit.

Xie Xi retracted his gaze and also put his hand in.

There was no need for Zhong Jin to say anything. The water curtain in front of Xie Xi flashed and something similar to a system interface appeared.

Xie Xi glanced at it and his eyes narrowed.

Zhong Jin explained, “Rest assured, only you can see your information in front of the terminal.”

Xie Xi sighed with relief.

“I was also startled the first time. Isn’t the information that the terminal gives too detailed? Still, you don’t have to worry. No one can see it apart from yourself.”

Xie Xi nodded. There were some doubts in his heart but he didn’t say anything.

Sure enough, Zhong Jin took the initiative to say, “You don’t need to look at your personal information. Go check the mission rewards!”

Xie Xi replied, “Okay.” He started looking earnestly.

The water curtain showed his personal information in detail. It wrote from birth through to his 19 years of life. Forget other people seeing it, Xie Xi himself was surprised by the sight.

He saw the name Xie Su and had some thoughts. He wanted to see his father’s name but unexpected, the column about his father was blank.

What was going on?

Xie Xi had some doubts but it wasn’t convenient to ask Zhong Jin, whom he just met. He could only temporarily suppress his curiosity.

He removed the overly detailed personal information and the other interfaces were similar to a game system. The first column was ‘Quasi-World’, the second column was ‘Task Reward’, the third column was ‘Items’, the fourth column was ‘Skills’ and the fifth column was ‘Mall.’

Xie Xi opened Task Reward and the water curtain flashed. There was a clatter and then the following prompt:

[You have cleared the instance Love to the Left or Right. Completion percentage is 100% and you have received the reward of 1,000 gold coins.]

Xie Xi didn’t understand the value. Who knew if this 1,000 gold was a lot of money or not? Still, he remembered that one of the option privileges of the game was to get 10 times the reward money. If he chose that privilege, he would’ve received 10,000 gold?

This sounded tempting but if he really chose that privilege, he probably wouldn’t have cleared the task.

Zhong Jin asked him, “How is it? How much did you get?”

Xie Xi didn’t speak. He opened the Mall and saw that everything inside priced with silver coins. He realized that his reward was probably a huge amount of money.

Zhong Jin saw his dull expression and comforted him. “It’s okay. The novice tasks are mostly simple and won’t give too much money. I got 100 silver coins the first time and this is already lucky!”

One gold coin equalled 100 silver coins. Xie Xi actually got 100,000 silver coins…

Zhong Jin said again, “You shouldn’t spend too much money. There are a few things that are the most cost-effective and it would be a pity to miss them!”

Xie Xi asked, “What are they?”

Zhong Jin pointed to his own body. “This uniform must be bought. It might be the lowest level but it can resist a fatal injury in the quasi-world. It is a very cost-effective novice welfare item!”

Xie Xi nodded and looked at the mall. This piece of clothing only needed 50 silver coins.

Zhong Jin added, “For the remaining 50 silver coins, I suggest you buy the common language skill. The novice games come with their own language recognition but there is no such benefit in the next task.”

Xie Xi searched through the mall and saw the skills column. The common language skill cost 40 silver coins.

Zhong Jin continued, “You still have 10 silver coins left. You can do whatever you want but it is recommended to save some money. Don’t try those useless entertainment items.”

Xie Xi looked at his remaining 99,910 silver coins and thought, ‘Okay, let’s save a bit.’

Then a huge line of words appeared on the water curtain.

[Announcement: S-grade quasi-world ‘Love to the Left or Right’ has been cleared. The designer: X. The person who cleared the instance: Anonymous. The world’s story is on the shelves and you are welcome to buy it.]

The big announcement immediately set off the whole hall.

“What a surprise, a S-grade quasi-world! Which big person cleared the instance?’

“If I remember correct, that quasi-world of God X is a novice trail. Is it a n-newcomer?”

“Oh my god!”

“A S-grade world give special skills as a reward. This newcomer will be soaring!”

The speakers were so noisy that they could be heard from a distance.

Zhong Jin was also shocked. “Constantly comparing oneself to others will only make one angry. This newcomer is too powerful. His first task is S-grade and he also cleared it! He is really from the heavens!”

Xie Xi who didn’t want to recall that broken game, “…”

Zhong Jin looked regretful. “I really want to know the story of the S-grade world. Unfortunately, it is too expensive. The text version must cost at least 100 gold coins.”

This meant there was a video version?

At this time, the water curtain changed again and a magnificent medieval castle appeared.

Xie Xi tensed up.

Zhong Jin exclaimed, “Which big guy is awesome enough to buy a full-screen public release?”

Xie Xi’s face was dark. Sure enough, there was a video version. Was he going to be exposed? He knew nothing about this ghostly place and just wanted to keep a low profile!

To his surprise, the person on the water curtain didn’t look like him.

Zhong Jin lamented, “Unfortunately, the instance clearance is anonymous. We don’t get to know what he looks like.”

Xie Xi sighed with relief. At this time, he noticed the line at the bottom of the water curtain.

Designer: X.

Xie Xi wondered, ‘There is a designer for this game?’