Volume 5, Chapter 11 – The World Is So Big

starshine opened the in-game chat window.

The chat box displayed Chinese characters from the East, but that was no problem at all. The game had built-in translation functions for both written language and spoken chat.

He first checked the ID of the player who had messaged him privately: [Leading the Escape].

Generally speaking, players who chose names like that were either top-tier experts or reckless fools.

But that was not important.

What mattered was the other party’s intent.

[Anran? Which Anran?]

What did that mean?

Could this NPC named Anran have some special identity?

Some special function?

A hidden quest? A story character? A special merchant?

Why had he never heard anything about her?

Since starshine had spawned on another planet, he knew absolutely nothing about Anran. During the early stages of the game, most players preferred discussing things on the forums for their own spawn planets.

He should probe a little first and see whether he could get any information out of her.

[Why are you asking?] starshine asked in return.

Hmm…

But even after waiting five or six minutes, the other side did not reply.

“…”

He had taken less than a minute to respond. The other person should still have been waiting for his reply, yet she had not answered. That meant she was thinking about how to respond.

Which meant there really was something unusual about Anran.

starshine felt that his reasoning made perfect sense.

He was the cerebral type of player. Whenever he played a game, he liked to calculate a few extra steps ahead so that he could turn every resource in his hands into something that benefited him as much as possible.

And that did not only mean material resources. It included information as well.

[Ah, sorry, sorry. An NPC was questioning me just now, so I didn’t see your reply.] Another two minutes passed before Zhou Jieyu’s response finally arrived.

“…”

Huh?

She had not replied because an NPC was questioning her?

Was that really true?

[Wait a moment. I’ll send you a picture.]

“…”

Then the picture arrived.

The Anran in the picture looked completely different from the Anran starshine had seen, in every conceivable way.

[They look completely different.]

[Her face looks different?]

Wait. Zhou Jieyu remembered that Anran had also worn makeup when they met before, so she changed the way she asked.

[Then is there a little girl with her?]

A little girl?

There was indeed one.

[There is one.]

[Around ten years old?]

[That’s right.]

[Short.]

What ten-year-old was not short?!

[That’s right.]

[Great! Where did you see them?]

So Anran really was a key NPC. She might have some hidden quest on her, which meant he could not tell Zhou Jieyu so easily.

[Why are you looking for them?] starshine asked.

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“???”

Wasn’t it obvious? To latch onto a powerful backer, of course.

[To latch…]

Wait. Delete that. She could not say it so bluntly, or she would look too pathetic. She should phrase it more tactfully.

[To get a quest from her, of course.]

The instant Zhou Jieyu sent the message, Lin Yumo, who was watching from beside her, covered her eyes.

“Don’t…”

But she was too late. The other side had already replied.

[?]

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Jieyu looked at Lin Yumo in confusion.

“If you say that, he definitely won’t tell us where Anran is.”

“Why?”

“Because of the quest. Are you stupid?”

After spending so much time with Zhou Jieyu, Lin Yumo no longer spoke to her with constant politeness and deference.

In that respect, Zhou Jieyu truly did possess a strange kind of magic.

Even the withdrawn Lin Yumo was no longer quite so withdrawn.

Hmm…

Perhaps she had simply poured all her mental energy into roasting Zhou Jieyu.

“Oh.” Zhou Jieyu suddenly understood. “You mean that because I told him Anran gives out quests, he’ll worry we’ll steal the quest from him, so he won’t tell us where she is.”

Lin Yumo nodded. “Exactly.”

Zhou Jieyu immediately felt embarrassed.

She had messed up again.

“How about I bribe him and make him tell us?”

“How much can you give him? He just made four million Bilu from Anran.”

“Hmm…”

Although her family was rich, Zhou Jieyu’s own allowance was tightly controlled by her older brother.

Wasn’t a daughter supposed to be raised in luxury? Why did the usual script not apply in my family?

Do I look that easy to bully?

[Tell me what the quest is, and I’ll tell you where Anran is.]

“Wow, does this guy think I’m stupid? If I tell him, how could he possibly tell me Anran’s location?”

“…”

Lin Yumo was speechless.

You…

“Hehehe. I just thought of a great idea.”

“What idea?”

“starshine must be near Anran right now. As long as we find him, we’ll find Anran. So I only need to pay someone to locate him.” Zhou Jieyu spoke smugly.

“…”

Lin Yumo stared at Zhou Jieyu in surprise. How had she suddenly become clever again?

“Oh, right. We should tell Monster Mountain Hermit about this too.”

“Monster Mountain Hermit?”

“Anyway, let’s just generously tell her.”

Zhou Jieyu left Li Zhuying a message.

[Hey, don’t you want to know where Anran is anymore?]

[Hello?]

After sending several messages, starshine still did not see any reply from Zhou Jieyu.

Fxxk.

Now this was a headache. It looked like the other party had realized that she had let something slip. That made things troublesome. What kind of quest was it, and how was it triggered?

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The other party probably knew. Could it require some special quest item?

What a headache.

While he was agonizing over it, starshine casually browsed the forums and suddenly discovered identical posts across many different sections. Every one of them was looking for his whereabouts and offering a reward to whoever found him.

The posters were not the same people, but the content was identical. Quite a few players were also bumping the threads to make sure they stayed near the top of the forums.

What did that mean?

starshine’s expression immediately darkened. It seemed that woman had no intention of negotiating with him at all. She had actually resorted to this method.

He was currently standing in the middle of a busy city, and there were plenty of players around. Browsing the forums was one of the players’ favorite pastimes, so his location would probably be exposed very soon.

Anran and Aila were currently renting a room behind the commercial street, where they were “training” Stealth.

If he went over to find them, there was a very high chance that other players would locate him.

The key problem was that he did not know how to trigger the quest.

Damn it.

If that was how she wanted to play, then he would stop being polite too.

starshine appeared in every thread and replied that there was an NPC named Anran at XXX who offered a hidden quest, but only [Leading the Escape] knew how to trigger it.

He even created a new thread describing the entire incident.

Come on, then. Let’s blow each other up. Who’s afraid of whom?

“Hmm…”

“Although we already know where Anran is, the current situation…”

“We saved some money, but…”

It seemed things had become even more troublesome.

Things had gotten very troublesome for Zhou Jieyu, and for Anran as well.

“Anran, Anran, a lot of outsiders suddenly showed up outside. They’re wandering around the entrance, and it looks like they have malicious intentions toward us.” Aila walked up to Anran with a serious expression. Anran was in the middle of analyzing anti-gravity technology.

Analysis progress: 46%.

Anran temporarily stopped the analysis.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

Aila shook her head.

“When did they arrive?” Anran asked again.

“About five or six minutes ago. Seven of them gathered all at once, and now more and more are coming.”

“…”

What had happened five or six minutes ago?

Could it be Maggie’s warrant for her arrest? Had Maggie actually seen through her real appearance back then?

But that did not make sense either. Anran had used makeup to change her appearance again, and even her clothing style had changed completely.

Anran had specifically gone to a local clothing store to buy the outfit.

“Don’t panic…”

Whenever she could not decide what to do, the first step was to check the forums.

The answer might be there. If not, she could probe a little. If there really was a problem, she would kill all the players outside and then run.

Anran soon learned the reason.

What the hell…

There was no goddamn hidden quest here.

Unless the game officials revealed her background, there was no quest for anyone to dig up.

As for that player named starshine, she would cut him down every time she saw him from now on.

And then there was [Leading the Escape]. That woman really lingered like a vengeful ghost. Anran had never expected her to pop up again after half a year.

Still, since this group of players meant no harm…

Anran’s shop reopened.

At night, Aila made equipment that no longer meant much to Anran. During the day, Anran had Aila sell it while also ordering the players to run errands, effectively exchanging EXP supplied by the game for goods.

Since they only planned to stay here for a few days, they might as well make another tidy profit.

As for the players who had rushed over after hearing the news, every one of them was stubbornly charging ahead.

A hidden quest!

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Charge!

Do quests, run errands, and grind favorability first. Didn’t many hidden quests have favorability prerequisites?

Watching their favorability rise by +1, then another +1, left them suffering and delighted at the same time.

50%.

60%.

…

100%.

After two days of intermittent effort, Anran finally finished analyzing the anti-gravity technology blueprint.

At the current stage, the best use for this blueprint was naturally to synthesize it with robot-type blueprints or exoskeleton armor blueprints.

Because of the previous game update, the chance of Mechanics obtaining blueprints had been raised slightly. The change was not large, but judging from the current feedback on the forums, it was decent enough. At least some supreme “African chieftains” had successfully been promoted into ordinary “African natives.”

Becoming a lucky “European” was still difficult, but at least a ten-pull would no longer yield absolutely nothing except “Failed, failed, failed…”

“Combine [Anti-Gravity Technology Concept] with [Low-Level Exoskeleton Armor (Purple)].”

“Cost: 3,500 Free EXP.”

Anran still had 920,000 EXP stored up.

Blueprint synthesis: Failed.

“Cost: 3,500 Free EXP.”

Blueprint synthesis: Jumbled Mechanical Battle Suit (Blue).

After another five rounds of “Cost…”

Anran finally got a good result.

A brand-new blueprint: [Anti-Gravity Mechanical Battle Suit V1]. Depending on the crafter’s skill level, the resulting equipment would be either purple or orange grade.

The equipment level was 46.

It had no profession restriction and no wearer-level requirement. It did have an Endurance requirement of 50 points, but that was not a problem at all.

Its attributes in every respect could only be described as luxurious.

When the complete version used an energy source similar to Energy Coins, it possessed a full 1,300 energy points and could operate continuously for eleven hours.

It granted +45 Strength. It did not increase speed during normal movement, but it also imposed no negative buffs. Once flight mode was activated, however, maximum movement speed could reach 650. Converted into Agility points, that was more than ten times Anran’s movement speed on the ground. Its flight ceiling could even carry the wearer beyond the atmosphere.

For players at the current stage, such attributes absolutely qualified it as god-tier equipment, and it would remain god-tier for quite a long time.

Relatively speaking, however, the equipment was also extremely difficult to manufacture and placed very high demands on the Mechanic.

Even if it was successfully made, its energy consumption was another factor that could not be ignored.

Because the battle suit was much smaller than the previous exoskeleton armor, its energy requirements were even greater. Once its functions were activated, it became a machine that burned money.

But none of that was a problem.

Anran wanted this blueprint to become even more powerful.

For that, she needed Maggie’s suit of armor.

Maggie was over 1.70 meters tall, while Anran was… a pitiful 1.59 meters.

Half a year had passed. At nearly seventeen years old, Anran had grown one centimeter taller, but it still made no meaningful difference.

There was simply no way for her to fit herself properly inside that suit.

Therefore, Anran’s goal was to analyze the armor and integrate its useful technologies into the mechanical battle suit.

Once her Intelligence was a little higher, she should be able to manage it.

All right. For now, she would make one [Anti-Gravity Mechanical Battle Suit V1].

That old-fashioned exoskeleton armor could be dismantled.

However, Anran had no intention of remaining here. She could prepare the required raw materials and slowly build it aboard the spaceship. It was not wise to linger in this place.

But while she was making preparations…

Anran suddenly saw Zhou Jieyu and Lin Yumo appear before her.

A Mechanic and a little girl who sold things. Although her face was different, this was definitely Anran.

Holy crap. How did these two get here so quickly?

“We were nearby.”

“We came from Ruilanduo Star.”

That was 178 light-years away. How had they arrived in only two days?

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“A passenger ship…”

Right.

Anran suddenly understood.

The small civilian spaceship she had stolen could not compare with a passenger liner built for interstellar travel. Their speeds were not even in the same league. The difference was enormous.

What a piece-of-trash vehicle!

A decent ship cost several hundred million Bilu, while a faster one cost more than a billion. Buy one? Buy one, my ass.

But setting those nonessential issues aside, the important question was:

“How did the two of you end up together?”

“That’s a long story…”

Zhou Jieyu then excitedly explained how she and Lin Yumo had met.

“The mission to pioneer Frost Island?” Anran said. “Are you going on the first expedition or the second?”

“The first.”

“Oh.”

“Is there a problem?”

“No.”

Anran shook her head.

These two had certainly not traveled such a long distance for some hidden quest. After all, Zhou Jieyu knew that Anran probably did not have any hidden quests.

Tap.

Huh?

Anran stared in surprise at the small card Zhou Jieyu held out to her.

A bank authentication card.

This was…

“There’s a total of fifty thousand Bilu in here.”

How clever.

Anran accepted the card and raised Zhou Jieyu’s favorability by five points, bringing it to exactly 38.

Zhou Jieyu beamed with delight.

Anran was also very satisfied.

Come to think of it, she was currently carrying out an “image-building” plan, and she truly did need a few players who could be useful at critical moments, such as Zhou Jieyu, who always remembered to hand over money whenever they met.

Anran first asked, “What did you come to find me for?”

Zhou Jieyu said directly, “Boss Anran, the world is so big. Please take me on as your follower! I want to run with you too!”

“…”

Lin Yumo was utterly dumbfounded.

She had accompanied Zhou Jieyu here without really knowing what Zhou Jieyu wanted to do. She had simply come along with her. This development was far beyond anything she had expected, especially since she had genuinely believed Anran possessed a hidden quest.

Take a player on as a follower?

Considering Zhou Jieyu’s attributes, Anran did not dare keep her by her side. Still, using her for real-time demolition like before had been quite satisfying.

There were also a few schemes for fleecing money that might be perfect for the two of them to carry out.

“Quest triggered: [Anran’s Assessment 1]. Accept?”

“Huh?”

Lin Yumo was stunned again.

A quest had actually appeared?

“Accept, accept.”

The so-called Assessment 1 simply involved running errands for Anran.

They had to buy supplies and then help move them onto the spaceship.

They also exchanged contact addresses for their interstellar communication devices.

After the items had been carried onto the spaceship one by one, Anran suddenly noticed someone standing outside the ship.

He looked perfectly ordinary, but there was something distinctly unusual about the way he remained beside the spaceship, staring at it without moving.