CHAPTER 493: CHAPTER 157: PLAYER: OLD NET? HEHE, I’M COMING IN~_2

[The ticket price for the Old Net instance is set at 500 euros per entry. Players only need to pay 500 euros to explore the unknown realms of the Old Net. If they’re lucky, they might even encounter wild roaming AIs, viruses, or lost technologies. Capturing and bringing them back could earn mysterious rewards. If they die unexpectedly in the Old Net, their respawn time is shortened to 6 hours. After all, only one brain was burned, and repairing it doesn’t take long.]

[You see, isn’t this quite reasonable?]

[System: You mean, you want players to go to the Old Net to meet their doom, and then make them pay you for tickets? And the things they dig up will still belong to you...]

[Lin Miao: Your description is incorrect. This shouldn’t be called meeting doom; it should be called going to explore the lost cyber ruins of humanity, excavating those long-sealed technological archives, and allowing those lost souls to amend their ways. It’s such a noble ideal, such a great cause. Talking about money cheapens it too much. Besides, isn’t a little risk quite normal? You can still get hit by a construction truck when you walk down the main street of Night City.]

A little risk....

Even highly skilled hackers know that the death rate when venturing into the Old Net is extremely high. According to Lucy, at least two out of ten members are lost each time they go to the Old Net, and most of the time they return empty-handed. Let alone those ordinary players whose intelligence isn’t even higher than 6; they can only rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm the opponent.

If the system had a physical form, it would definitely give Lin Miao two big slaps. Compared to his agreement, even Huang Ban seemed benevolent, at least they don’t make employees work to death and then pay back the company for tickets.

This system advises you to behave like a human.

[System: A large number of players entering the Old Net might cause real-world offices to halt operations. This system urges the host to act cautiously.]

[Lin Miao: Makes sense. A six-hour respawn time is still too long. Judging by the last battle players had with the Sea God, encountering a slightly stronger roaming AI means low-intelligence players are very likely to die in droves. I can’t step in every time.]

A player’s life was the currency in Lin Miao’s hands. The time to mold a body was about one turnover cycle of funds. Biomass was the reserve capital. With their deaths happening at that pace once they enter the Old Net, it might not take more than two crops to deplete reserves, causing a cash flow interruption and collapse, which would basically mean the server explodes, and players wouldn’t be able to log in, posing a great risk.

The 500 euros ticket was indeed a good entry barrier, but Lin Miao couldn’t guarantee that the player’s gains in the Old Net would cover the losses. This matter required careful consideration and meticulous planning.

Lin Miao nodded secretly, giving himself a thumbs up for his newfound means of exploitation—oh no, for creating a new gameplay service method in the game.

Then, he dismantled the chains binding the roaming AI, preparing to bring it back to strip it of consciousness, as for the body, naturally it shouldn’t be wasted.

Although it can’t be used like A2 and her kind, with their brains restored, dismantling their prosthetics might still be sellable.

As for the few other players who captured live agents, Lin Miao didn’t think too much about it, at most exchanging them for a ransom payment with military tech or Huang Ban. Keeping them by force wouldn’t really be useful.

After all, they were professionally trained agents. Whatever they said, Lin Miao didn’t necessarily believe it.

The abstract way the latter three failed somewhat implied to Lin Miao that it might have something to do with Huang Ban Meizhi being an old-school otaku.

It’s possible that underlings were specially trained to be playthings for the opposite side.

Who knows, Mizuki might even be a lesbian.

After all, this woman could talk about a romantic relationship with Adam Heavy Hammer; what can’t she do?

————

As Lin Miao prepared to give the players a big gift for the next update, the players, after an all-night battle, were celebrating the victory on the forum.

[Masked Rider: Today was yet another day of becoming a Masked Rider (picture)]

The content in the picture was exactly the scene of Masked Rider carrying Nishikawa Lingmei out of the fire caught by a robot. Lin Miao thoughtfully had the robot take photos of the players as souvenirs.

[Sword Saint: Damn, you snatched the chance to save the little girl from me. Such a wonderful thing should have been mine, not making an equal sacrifice with some metal shell.]

[Master: Careful, we’re the ones who took the head; technically, you just created the opportunity.]

[Brother Dao: Right, why don’t you look at your own issues?]

[Shui Yue: Master is the MVP; Sword Saint is just basking in the victory.]

[Sword Saint: Dammit, you bunch of bastards, Brother Dao, didn’t you get pounded to death by Adam Heavy Hammer? Why aren’t you looking at your own issues? Shui Yue, you got caught alive by Huang Ban, check your own issues, okay? Can we settle it like this? Dammit, how was I supposed to know I’d be targeted by an overpowered monster...]

[Brother Dao: You’re the Great Britain Sword Saint, not the Shurima Sword Demon, don’t log into the wrong account (wry joke)]

And those players who hadn’t died were either still in the game helping refugees with their post-disaster issues, or because they had wasted an entire afternoon, they had real-world matters to handle, at least they had to use the bathroom. They would randomly find a car or room to tuck into and sleep, meanwhile browsing the forum on their phones.

Seeing quite a few people boasting about their heroic deeds in the fire on the forum, the corners of the players’ mouths couldn’t help but rise; it also truly made them feel like heroes in the game, even just this once.