CHAPTER 108: CHAPTER 108 IN-APP PURCHASES IN REALITY

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

Level 4 Researcher ’Luo’: "Argument 1: How does he know such detailed Demon Intelligence? Most of it has never appeared in ’Over My Dead Body,’ so it’s impossible for him to have analyzed it. Thus, the Demons must be from the future, and that’s how he knows the Demon Intelligence."

That’s because those pieces of Demon Intelligence are what Ren Suo obtained from playing other save files in ’Over My Dead Body’!

"Argument 2: In the second trial, Zhao Zili’s combat power was significantly higher than the others. However, in reality, no matter what Zhao Zili achieved in the first trial, he could have at most three Blessings, which wouldn’t be enough to achieve such a crushing effect. Moreover, Zhao Zili himself is an unemployed person with no professional skills. This suggests that Zhao Zili either has ’special abilities’ or he has mastered some kind of trick to obtain more Blessings when exchanging them. According to eyewitness intelligence, the latter is more likely."

He actually got it right. Ren Suo was able to breeze through the trials by making dirty deals with the Golden Ranger.

"Argument 3: In the third trial, aside from Mr. Chen’s statements, we can also see from the video released by ’Ren Naiser’ that Zhao Zili’s actions were almost without hesitation; his every move almost seemed to have a God’s-eye view. Most Trial Participants who encountered him were eliminated with a single strike. He was able to precisely locate Trial Participants lying in ambush from a great distance, disqualifying them before they could act. He once, on three occasions, suddenly opened his scope from 400 meters away without any warning, killing a hiding Trial Participant. This can no longer be explained by Blessings or special abilities. There are only two possibilities: he is a Priest chosen by three deities and has received stronger Blessings, or he has experienced this trial before, even made it to the last challenge, and perhaps he had even won the trial. Considering that he had died once but came back to life, I think he is more likely a transmigrator who has traveled through time."

’Luo’s hypothesis received 888 upvotes, and in the upper right corner of the response, there was a large red ’Confirmed’ Mark. This meant ’Luo’s argument had been deemed correct by the research institute and had been recorded and reported. Based on the assessment, ’Luo’ would receive more privileges or a monetary reward.

Those who agreed, due to their ’perceptive vision,’ could also earn forum Points (applicable only to upvotes before the analysis post was recorded). Since this discussion post only allowed for one approval per person, those who received a high number of upvotes were truly recognized by everyone.

This, in fact, was the real method of discussion on the internal forum: researchers made bold statements, open for upvotes and replies, digging into exposed intelligence and analyzing it to its limits. Even if one guessed right but wasn’t recorded and reported, it was fine. As long as their point could be proven correct later on, the internal network would record it retroactively and issue double the reward.

Yu Kuangtu asking Ren Suo to collect information on the internal network and submit papers to the Tactical Bureau was essentially marking the papers with the stamp of the Lian River Countermeasure Bureau, implicitly improving the Bureau’s performance record. When Ren Suo did this, it was akin to ’contributing,’ which was good since there was a base salary, and he only needed to provide the required intelligence analysis on time. The downside was that a mistake would lower his own evaluation, unlike on a forum where a wrong statement would at most get ’folded.’

His gaze returned to the screen to ’Luo’s analysis, and Ren Suo found it quite vexing.

The main reason everyone thought Zhao Zili was a Reincarnator was that ’Ren Naiser’ hadn’t released videos of the first two trials. Instead, ’Ren Naiser’ had selectively chosen exciting clips, hiding Zhao Zili’s reliance on luck to get through the first two stages. As for the third trial, it was completely released, but the biggest difference between it and the earlier trials was that in Ren Suo’s gameplay, the third trial had no randomness.

The first trial had ten thousand scenarios happening simultaneously, while the second trial had one hundred. Every time Zhao Zili entered one of the scenarios from the first two trials, it was different. In the third trial, however, there was only one scenario. Even the participating Trial Participants were the same; their behavior patterns, thought processes, and combat situations were also the same when Zhao Zili chose the same action pattern.

Therefore, Ren Suo could retry over and over again. Even if the Trial Participants’ strengths were not much less than Zhao Zili’s, he could use infinite save reloads to memorize their locations and reactions and then replay the scene. The content narrated by that ’Mr. Chen’ in the intelligence record also reminded Ren Suo of this.

He had Zhao Zili pilot the Great Jagras through that hillside, and the first time, he got shot down.

The second time he stopped, he still got sent to heaven, but he found ’Mr. Chen’s’ location.

The third time, he aimed at that spot and hit the target, but the enemy didn’t ascend. When he charged over, the opponent had already finished eating his fried chicken and shot Zhao Zili down again.

The fourth time, he threw a Holy Grenade in that direction halfway through the charge, and it hit.

Just like that, with no special technique, by trying over and over again, one could eventually carve out a Perfect strategy.

However, to others, this wasn’t just cheating—it was ’precognition.’

Either Zhao Zili could see into the future, or he had returned from the future. But given that Zhao Zili had also provided Demon Intelligence, researchers thought it more likely he was a Reincarnator.

If Zhao Zili were still around, various agencies would try their best to make contact. Even if they couldn’t capture him, they’d seek to communicate... After all, he’s a transmigrator suspected of illegal Resurrection, knowledgeable about the future... However, Zhao Zili can’t possibly show up, unless... Ren Suo thought.

Ren Suo’s eyes rolled as a subtle idea came to him. He then replied beneath the intelligence analysis post:

"Rather than assuming Zhao Zili has traveled through time, we might consider other variables. If someone, or a certain power, knew the content of this Priest trial, resurrected Zhao Zili to participate in the trial, and provided him with trial intelligence, Demon Intelligence, and special abilities, they could achieve similar effects..."

He wrote a few hundred words and posted it. It might be useless, but it might also soon become one of his achievements.

Suddenly, a message popped up on his phone. It was a notification from Huo He, the Principal of Guidance at Heavenly Lotus Academy. Since starting work at the academy, he had to interact with the Principal of Guidance, though most matters were unrelated to Ren Suo. However, the principal was holding a talk before school started that night, and all the teaching staff had to attend, including Ren Suo, the emergency doctor.

That evening, Ren Suo attended the assembly in the Heavenly Lotus Academy auditorium. Whatever the principal spoke about had nothing to do with him since he wasn’t responsible for teaching, so he looked around. It seemed that just like the Tactical Bureau, where Deputy Director Yu Kuangtu was a powerful Cultivator, Heavenly Lotus Academy also had a vice principal who was a powerful Cultivator—and also a Key carrier, suspected to have undergone an Awakening.

The teachers were divided into two groups. One group taught cultural courses; they were genuinely teachers, all of whom had reached middle age, seemingly strong talents pulled from various schools. The other group consisted of only ten people, specifically tasked with teaching students Cultivation. Yet, among these ten, four were Key carriers!

Coming to the school was indeed the correct decision; the likelihood of encountering Keys was significantly higher among both teachers and students! This meant that Ren Suo had completed half his process of collecting Keys—finding them. The remaining issue was acquiring the Keys.

Ren Suo spotted a familiar face among the group of Cultivation teachers. As soon as the meeting was dismissed, he went over to greet him, "Zhao Huo!"

It was the same Zhao Huo who had trained with Ren Suo and had even stayed in the same room during their joint training period.

Zhao Huo was also surprised to see Ren Suo, and they agreed to go out for drinks and kebabs to catch up. After returning from their joint training, Zhao Huo, having exceptional Talent, was given significant development opportunities. Now that he had learned multiple Spells, he had come to Heavenly Lotus Academy to teach and continue his Cultivation.

"So you really teach students Spells?" Ren Suo asked while peeling a mantis shrimp.

Zhao Huo replied, "Of course. But once students learn Spells, they have to sign a contract. They must choose to work for state institutions, whether they seek further education or employment."

"That’s great," Ren Suo remarked. "I also want to learn. How do you plan to teach?"

"First, we’ll use the Law Net Instrument to instill the basics, and then tailor our teaching to the individual student," said Zhao Huo. "If you want to learn, why not just buy it directly from the Law Net Instrument?"

"Buy from the Law Net Instrument?" Ren Suo was taken aback. "I do have one in my dorm... but how do I buy from it?"

"The Law Net Instrument is still in its trial operation phase. It’s only available for purchases from 6:00 PM to midnight each day. You just need to log in and buy it," Zhao Huo explained.

Zhao Huo continued, "Purchasing requires Spirit Stones—yes, the same Spirit Stones you hear about in fantasy stories. They’re actually a virtual currency. We Cultivation teachers get a salary in Spirit Stones each month. You should have some too, since you’re a Cultivator at the academy, even though you’re not a teacher."

After parting ways with Zhao Huo, Ren Suo hurriedly called Yu Kuangtu. Yu Kuangtu’s response was—

"I forgot about this. You can just log into the Law Net. Your Law Net account is tied to your Researcher account. If I’m not mistaken, you should have 50 initial Spirit Stones and another 50 Spirit Stones as welfare for Researchers. As for the rewards for the reports you submitted, those will be given to you next month."

Damn it! If I hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve missed out on this huge benefit!

Rushing home, Ren Suo realized it wasn’t past midnight yet. He picked up the Law Net Instrument in the living room, activated the Spiritual Energy Breathing Technique, and naturally entered the dark universe within the Law Net.

Suddenly, dozens of different colored but dim stars appeared before his eyes.

"Welcome, Suo."

"This is your first time entering the Magical Starry Sky Ver1.25. I will give you a brief introduction now. The Law Net currently only offers the ’Magical Starry Sky’ service."

"Each star in the starry sky represents a Spiritual Energy Spell. You can gaze at the stars to get detailed information and prices. Please ensure you understand the Spell’s level, required affinity Attribute, effects, and price before purchasing."

"If you wish to buy a Spell, use ’Willpower’ to slide forcefully on the star’s price tag to complete the purchase."

"Some Spells are progressive or inclusive of others. After purchasing, the prices of other Spells will fluctuate accordingly."

"Due to security concerns, each person can only purchase one Spell per day."

"There are already so many Spells in the Law Net?"

Ren Suo stared wide-eyed at the dozens of stars in the Magical Starry Sky. Among them, only three were illuminated—two in white and one in green, representing "Clothing," "Armor," and "Healing"!

Ren Suo eagerly browsed the Spells in the starry sky, like a game addict seeing a pile of discounted AAA games, with only one thought in his head: I want them all!

However, with only 100 Spirit Stones, and Spells ranging from 50 to 250 stones, they were too costly for him. He definitely could not consider Krypton Gold—even if he could, it certainly wouldn’t be an amount Ren Suo could accept.

Why does it feel like I’ve stumbled upon real-world in-app purchases...

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Ren Suo saw a very interesting Spell.

This Spell might temporarily compensate for the shortcomings of his game controller. However, it’s also possible that it will be ineffective after I buy it...

Just as Ren Suo hesitated, a voice suddenly announced from the starry sky, "The Law Net will close in 5 minutes. Please hurry with your purchases..."

Ren Suo was startled. In the next second, a thought burst forth in his mind, Only five minutes left? I must hurry and buy it!

Impulsiveness is the Devil.

By the time Ren Suo snapped out of it, he had already exited the Law Net Instrument, a new Spell now imprinted in his mind.

Well, now I have to give it a try.