Chapter 421: First Contact! Reward Upgrade!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor:EndlessFantasy Translation
During the merciless Doomsday torrent, every single person was akin to a grain of sand. They may have seemed indispensable, but in fact, they were pitifully insignificant.
‘When Su Mo was weak and small, he did everything with utter caution and was always on his guard.
Against the game, the system, and strangers. He did not trust any of them.
However, after witnessing so many deaths and with so many people vanis.h.i.+ng into this ‘river’, he had slowly but surely come to the decision to stop being overprotective over his ‘lousy’ life!
Harm me, and I will come after you!
Make me suffer any losses, and I will pay you back twofold!
He was now much more relaxed after going through the mill and gaining a brave and vigorous will.
Su Mo even considered going behind the scenes and allowing someone else to s.h.i.+ne.
However, after learning what had happened to previous players of the game, he realized that extinction was on the horizon if this current situation continued.
If that was the case, why not just follow one’s heart and live a free and unrestrained life?!
The pull on his stream of consciousness got stronger, and just as he had expected, this was not some sort of reward collection. Rather, it was a sort of ‘interrogation’.
He chose to not fight it. Su Mo willingly gave up the defense his consciousness had been holding up.
A dizzy sensation overcame him, and the world in front of him suddenly descended into darkness.
He was momentarily stunned when he opened his eyes once again and saw what was in front of his eyes.
The consciousness s.p.a.ce he could see was no longer the gloomy atmosphere nor the endless chaos he had seen after retreating from his duplication.
Even though he had not spent much time here, it was a place that he was very familiar with.
Shockingly, it was.
It was the room he had been a.s.signed to at the official shelter on Earth!
It was not a big room. Compared to the crew cabin on Hope One, it was much smaller and less than ten square meters in height.
According to the rules that had been set for the war, it could house twelve people, though it would be extremely cramped inside.
Even with no one living there at the moment, the condition of the room was exactly as it had been before he transmigrated. The air-conditioning howled above his head, which chilled him to the bone!
“How are you, player Su Mo?!
“Apologies. Before your reward collection, I’ve called upon the authorities to conduct a search of your sea of consciousness. I’ve located the one thing you yearn most to achieve.
“Tm truly curious about what charm lies in this tiny, little bedroom that makes you miss it so much. Its priority level has surpa.s.sed everything, including how dearly you hold.
“Your life?”
Su Mo whipped his head around when he heard a hoa.r.s.e voice next to his ear. Three human faces appeared on the wall next to him.
It was as if the faces sensed that they had scared Su Mo, as they began to slowly take form within the bedroom. They eventually became three familiar faces.
“Chen Shen, Pei Shao, Qi Qin?”
“These are the three images we have detected as the most valued in your heart. If you do not like them, we can communicate using another form.”
Qi Qin’s face, which was on the extreme left, began to transform. It first turned into Oreo, and then into Moore.
“No, this is quite alright. Seeing all of you makes me feel as comfortable as being at home!”
Su Mo sat down, and a sunny smile spread across his face.
Very nice. The system had done well, as usual!
He could not believe the last five hundred points had been so well spent. The concealment had not disappeared, and the game had only captured current information.
Much like the golden light, the game had to have been crippled by cheats!
“Huh, the term ‘at home’ has an importance level of 97% within your emotions. We’re happy to see you so happy, especially with you being such a powerful player.”
‘When they noticed no resistance from Su Mo, ‘Chen Shen’ gave a wave of his hand, and the narrow bedroom suddenly began to widen until it tuned into a room of a hundred square meters.
A table and four stools appeared in the middle of the room.
“This is the interrogation format I’ve found to be most easily accepted by you humans. Let’s have a chat. There are too many secrets you’re keeping that we’ve been unable to understand.”
A bright smile appeared ‘Chen Shen’s’ face. He seemed to suddenly remember something, as he said, “You can call me Adam. As for the two of them… They’re my a.s.sistants!”
He made a gentlemanly gesture of invitation. The smile on Adam’s face grew brighter when he saw Su Mo ‘obediently’ jump down from the bed.
A smile spread across Su Mo’s face too as he sat at the table. “Adam, was it? Sounds like something from the bible. Are you an Earthling as well?”
It was obviously not his real name. He was only using it to connect with Su Mo as a way to break through Su Mo’s defensiveness.
“According to my records, Ma Fei is just an ordinary man with slightly higher abilities. His abilities are clearly not good enough to have helped you make all those amendments.”
Su Mo smiled casually. “Nope, that’s not right. You’ve underestimated Ma Fei. He’s no ordinary man. To be able to discover someone as outstanding as me is a mark of how excellent he is. He only seems ordinary because it was not his time yet. We have to believe that everyone possesses unlimited
potential.”
“Like?”
“Take me, for example. I was an ordinary man on Earth, but I’m very successful now. I’ve managed to defeat G.o.ds twice and have endured the disasters fantastically. I even possess the potential to become a G.o.d. I am Almighty Su, who belongs to the humans. Could I possess all of these traits as an ordinary
man?”
Silence.
A deadly silence.
Even the golden light ceased moving in the sky.
It seemed like the game had not expected Su Mo to answer the question in this way, but the conclusion they reached from this.
The result of his answer was a.
Pa.s.s!
Su Mo had been telling the truth. That was truly his opinion, and he really did think that way.
“Do you know about the world above the wasteland?”
Su Mo shook his head. “I kind of do, but I kind of don’t at the same time. Ma Fei and Connie once told me that I could level up into that world if I fulfilled certain requirements. As for how I was supposed to get there, they had no idea.”
“Do you know what game permission is?”
Su Mo said, “Permission? What is that? Are you referring to the hacking console that can be activated during a game session, or do you mean the phantom spirits players can activate when they get frustrated with the game and summon random G.o.ds?”
His answers grew more ridiculous as the question-and-answer session progressed, while the game’s response time grew longer.
At first, only a few minutes were required to come up with an answer. Now, the game needed over an hour’s waiting time to reply.
The color of the golden light in the s.p.a.ce began to dim in brightness. By the end of things, it was almost as bright as the sun in the sky.
“Su Mo, this is the last question. I hope you’ll be able to reply honestly. This concerns our basic logic, and we don’t allow unorthodox answers.”
“alright!”
“What do you think the objective of our game is?”
Boom!
A m.u.f.fled thunder seemed to be heard. The golden light immediately changed color within the Void of the s.p.a.ce. It turned from bright gold to a frightening pitch black.
Bolts of a lightning-like phenomenon continuously flashed through the darkness, as if trying to determine any trace of lies. It seemed ready to launch into an attack the moment it detected one.
Right at the same time, the system, which had been silent all this while, suddenly appeared for the first time and began to boom loudly!
(Warning!)
(Warning!)
(Warning!)
[Detected an unknown power attempting to break through the defense, detected an unknown presence attempting to bypa.s.s the stream of information!]
[Detected a 0.00000006% chance of a successful breakthrough. Safety factor is extremely low. Recommended for the Host to strengthen defense structure]
[Would payment of 1500 survival points be transferred to solidify the information barrier?]
[Please confirm quickly! 15… 14…]
The pitiful success rate displayed by the system did not align with the formidable performance of the black lightning in the sky.
Su Mo quietly confirmed this in front of the game. A smile appeared on his face.
“The objective of the game is to save humans, of course. Our Earth is facing destructive disasters. He brought us all here and has even provided us with so much help.
“Even though we have been made to sacrifice a lot, in order to move forward and live in a better world, these minor sacrifices are worth it.
“From the bottom of my heart, I am extremely grateful… to the game!”
Once Su Mo’s indifferent voice was heard, he did not have to wait long this time before a pleasant-sounding voice slowly responded.
“Pa.s.s!
“Congratulations, player Su Mo, you have pa.s.sed all the tests!
“Based on your excellent performance, you may request a reward upgrade of the fitting level. Should we begin now?”
Su Mo watched as the chaotic s.p.a.ce vanished and he was standing once again in the room of his shelter on earth. Adam and the others gradually appeared in front of him once again.
Su Mo replied with ‘utter delight’. “Let’s begin! I can’t wait!”