Chapter 10

Chapter 10

At this moment, a sly player logged into the game and, without hesitation, named himself Baba Hao.

Fortunately, his usual ID wasn't taken, and he cleverly evaded the system's sensitive word filter to retain this sacred ID.

Next came the character card selection. The game currently allowed for five character cards, though only one could be logged in at a time. After some deliberation, Baba Hao chose the Thug profession – starting with 20 in Brawling but education points restricted below 40, thus having fewer initial skill points compared to Unemployed Youth and Homeless.

After randomly selecting the classic trio skills, he entered the game to find himself in a deserted alley. Baba Hao stepped out into a street and began his performance.

In reality, he wasn't a seasoned tabletop role-playing enthusiast, but rather an expert in causing mischief. Unfortunately, as tabletop role-playing is a social game, being too troublesome often led to being blacklisted by all the game masters. So, Baba hadn't played tabletop role-playing games for a long time, until this game, reputed to be fully AI-monitored, came along.

Though a troublemaker, he was one with principles – enjoying the fun of driving NPCs and AI crazy, rather than seeking conflict with real people. Hence, he chose this game to vent his mischievous streak.

Now, he wanted to test if the game truly was as advertised, fully monitored by AI.

[System! I want to activate my skill! I want to Stealth!]

The system did not respond. Baba thought for a moment, then suddenly threw himself to the ground in front of many onlookers, rolling in the dirt in an attempt to blend in with the ground.

[Stealth: Failed]

Baba's failed attempt at stealth made him the center of attention in the neighborhood. To the onlookers, he either seemed to be performing some kind of street art or a lunatic who had escaped from a psychiatric hospital. Many had already taken out their phones, ready to call the police.

Baba stood up, deep in thought.

Usually, at this point, he would have received a warning message from the system. But now, as the NPCs around him seemed about to commit him to a hospital, there was still no warning. It appeared that this was indeed a very tolerant game.

With this in mind, Baba's hand hovered over his trousers, contemplating another test of the game's limits.

Just then, he heard the door of a nearby shop swing open, and an NPC appeared at the entrance.

"Hello?"

He looked up, and upon seeing who it was, fell into a daze, thinking: The images and videos on the forum were not exaggerated after all...

Lann looked down at Baba, about to pull down his trousers. Although he was well aware of the players' antics, his smile froze on his face: "I think, perhaps, you might need some help?"

Baba, taken aback, looked up and realized he was standing outside a clinic with 'Psychological Therapy' written on it.

"..." Reflecting on his recent behavior and looking at Lann (his face), he decisively replied, "Yes, I do need help, and you came out just in time."

So, he naturally followed Lann into the therapy room.

People on the street, seeing him enter the therapy clinic, nodded knowingly and, realizing the show was over, dispersed regretfully.

Only one person quietly observed the therapy room before quickly vanishing into the crowd.

Baba followed Lann into the therapy room, and as Lann was about to speak, the player extended his hand and said cheerfully, "Hello, my name is Baba Hao. You can call me by my name."

Having said that, he looked at Lann expectantly.

Lann paused for a moment, quickly grasping what kind of player Baba was, and sternly said, "You've come at just the right time. I have a task for you that needs your help."

"Um... aren't you going to call me by my name first?"

"Okay, Mr. Hao, could you help me find someone? He's a friend of one of my clients who recently went missing," Lann gave an address, "You might find some clues near the outskirts, close to the Andrew Factory."

Such a classic start to a quest...

Baba fell silent for a moment. He was eager to accept the task, having done his homework before starting the game and knowing that getting tasks in this game wasn't easy. But he somewhat reluctantly said, "Actually, you could just call me by my first name..."

Lann smiled: "Thank you for your help, Mr. Hao."

Watching the troublemaker player muttering something like 'maybe my charisma skill isn't high enough' as he left, Lann breathed a sigh of relief, expressionless.

Although in his previous life he quite enjoyed playing with troublemaker players, as their presence always made the modules endlessly fun, being on the receiving end of their antics was not so pleasant.

If possible, he preferred spending time with immersive players, who at least behaved like normal people most of the time.

Thinking this, Lann quickly turned to look at Ogler, only to find him still engrossed in his drawing, seemingly unaware of the unusual events on his side.

Lann relaxed, opened the game forum, and unsurprisingly found that the countdown had reached zero, signifying the start of the internal test.

The forum was flooded with new posts.

"Is the hospital instance open yet? Looking for a team."

"Ignore the idiot above. Players aren't high-level enough for advanced group instances yet, let alone when he's a troublemaker!"

"About me logging into the game and not knowing what to do."

"Career Choices – An Analysis."

"Anyone forming a regular team? We need two more, no troublemakers!"

"Question: Where is Lann?"

Overall, the forum was in chaos. Lann glanced through it and noticed that most players, after choosing their attributes and skill points, seemed lost and unsure of what to do next.

This was one of the game's drawbacks, a challenging transition from tabletop role-playing to an online game.

The issue was about how to take on quests.

Unlike most traditional online games, quests in tabletop role-playing can't be repeated multiple times, and unlike RPGs, you can't level up by defeating monsters. This means to meet the questing needs of so many players, the volume of text for instances would be unimaginably huge.

"Destiny's Spiral" touted its AI-driven, auto-generated instances, which initially led many to be skeptical.

However, time proved that the game overcame this. Lann wasn't clear how the early stages were managed, but in the later stages, players received quests through major official entities like the Bureau of Investigation, the underground quest market, and large-scale campaign instances.

Of course, there were also unique gameplay features like the NPC favorability system and a realism and freedom akin to Earth Online.

Freedom, indeed, was the game's biggest synonym. Creating a character card was like wiping the slate clean to start a different life; within reason, you could do anything.

Players could even run for president in the game.

The most crucial thing was that someone actually did it, attracting a large number of votes from players with their forum debut. Before Lann crossed over, this player had become a mayor, the player with the highest 'credibility' points among the player community.

His campaign was one of the rare joys serialized in the forum threads. There were even bets on how far he would go, but Lann didn't get to see the results of the next midterm election before crossing over.

A portion of players was solely drawn by the viral video, which featured Lann, and they were now actively searching for him.

Lann felt a mix of emotions.

On one hand, he thought players might become his clients, as their investigation of events often led to a loss of sanity points, which he could attempt to restore. However, recalling the recent troublemaker, he had an ominous premonition.

Then, the next second, he saw a reply in a thread about finding NPCs.

Troublemaker Unit 1: "If you're looking for Lann, he's in the psychological therapy clinic on the corner of 7th Avenue. I just got a task from him."

Lann: [Speechless].

……

Meanwhile, in a certain bar in the city.

The bar didn't operate during the day, but this rule was practically non-existent for the Black Spades, as the bar was one of their owned establishments and a key base.

At the moment, the bar was bustling. Amidst the flickering neon lights, gang members drowned their sorrows in alcohol. Due to the boss's orders, they refrained from strong spirits, many unfamiliar with the taste of mild beer, instead focusing on the boldly dressed women in the dance floor and making crude comments.

At the bar, a man with black hair sat alone, seemingly oblivious to the surrounding noise, speaking to the bartender.

His attention shifted only when a phone call came through. Glancing at the caller ID, he waved his hand backward.

The music from the dance floor stopped abruptly, and the loud chatter of the members inside the bar ceased as if muted.

The man then answered the call: "Hello?"

"Boss Clarence, there's been activity at the therapy clinic you asked me to monitor," the person on the other end hesitated before adding, "But it seems to be just a regular patient."

"How do you know he's a patient?"

"Um... because his behavior seemed insane? He was swimming on the street, almost stripped off his pants, probably wanted to skinny dip."

Clarence fell silent for a moment: "Alright, sounds like a patient indeed. Anything else in the last few days?"

"No, that's all... Boss Clarence, to be honest, this therapy clinic doesn’t seem to be anything special. It can’t even attract customers. Do we really need to keep monitoring it?" the person on the other end complained, as anyone would after three days of fruitless effort.

In his opinion, Clarence was good at everything but just too cautious.

Unlike other Black Spades operations where higher-ups might lead their underlings in direct action, Clarence differed in his approach, preferring to carefully investigate the background and relevant personnel of any mission, ensuring everything was perfect before making a move.

The reason for this operation was the recent news from a police informant that Sean had betrayed them, leaking information about the Black Spades. Thus, the Black Spades had planned their retaliation.

Initially, the 'interrogator', the psychologist who had interviewed Sean, was the prime target, but Clarence insisted on observing for a while, to confirm that the person inside was indeed an isolated, ordinary individual before taking action.

Clarence chuckled, "Do you think I'm being overly cautious, even cowardly?"

The person on the phone hastily replied, "No, no, I wouldn't dare..."

"There's nothing you wouldn't dare. You think so, many people do. I'm well aware of that," Clarence spoke, his gaze sweeping over the other gang members in the bar, all of whom lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eye.

"I don't expect you all to be like me, but here's a piece of advice: in this city, you can never be too cautious."

"Of course, caution is one thing, but that doesn't mean just anyone can mess with us," Clarence knew these gang members were growing impatient and didn’t bother to elaborate further, "The action is tonight. Kidnap that psychologist. The Exorcism Day is approaching, and I need to deliver a memorable gift to our old friend Albert."

The people in the bar erupted in excited howls. For the gang members, nothing was more thrilling than violence, drug trafficking, sex, and stirring up trouble with the police.

"Wait, hold on," just then, a voice came through the still-open phone line, "Looks like the situation has changed... Damn, where did these people come from?!"