The desolate corner has been quiet lately.
The new year is approaching, but the elimination plan of expert players is still not completed. As a result, the difficulty of high-end dungeons has suddenly increased, and team wipes are common.
But all of this had nothing to do with Ren Yifei. He had just come out of the dungeon and was preparing to enjoy half a month of leisure.
The reason it's half a month is because he's a creature that needs sunlight to survive. Portraying different people is his way of life.
If he were no longer allowed to act, Ren Yifei would probably choose to die quietly in a deserted corner.
Saman didn't know about Ren Yifei's situation, but since Afei planned to play for half a month before entering the dungeon, he would accompany him.
He and Saman searched for food in various parts of the desolate corner, fished in a small boat on the cold river, admired the sunrise over the snow-capped mountains, and lay on the wasteland enjoying the starry sky.
Of course, most of the time he would be wrapped in a blanket and playing chess by the fireplace, sometimes Chinese chess, sometimes checkers.
The house was expanded again because a piano was added. Samantha could play the piano, and Ren Yifei could appreciate piano music, so everyone thought it was great.
Here, life is peaceful and serene, while the outside world remains turbulent and chaotic.
It's unclear who leaked the plan to eliminate high-level players, but it's also known that the recent dungeons are so difficult because the top ten players haven't died enough. As a result, some high-level players have turned their attacks on the top ten.
However, each of the top ten players has their own faction, and these people only dare to talk back online. They would never dare to face each other in person.
Actually, the top ten players are also quite frustrated, as it's almost the end of the year. If not enough people die by the end of the year, even three might not be enough to stop them, and perhaps like the time before last, six or seven people will die before things calm down.
"The desolate corner shouldn't be called the desolate corner; perhaps it should be called the place of reincarnation for evil spirits," the player said with a wry smile.
These players are all souls judged as 'guilty,' who came here by directly or indirectly killing their fellow beings with malicious intent.
The purpose of the Wasteland is to make use of their waste (to clear dungeons and defeat evil spirits).
These were all things that people had gradually uncovered through questioning. If this truth were to be revealed, this little corner would likely descend into chaos, and all the ordinary players would go crazy.
The reason why a batch of players need to be cleared out periodically in the Wasteland is because the capacity is limited and there is a need to accommodate new players.
It is not human, so it does not know human love, hate, or grudges, nor does it know the helplessness that humans are forced to do.
Admittedly, there are indeed heinous murderers among the players, but many more are people forced into resistance. Who knew that even after escaping legal conviction, they would still end up here?
"Complaining about these things is useless unless you can join the management of Desolate Corner and change the criteria for selecting players. But that's impossible."
That's true. The Wasteland has been around for so many years. If it could succeed, it would have succeeded long ago.
"It's not entirely impossible." This sentence suddenly popped up in the small group chat, and everyone looked and saw that it was Chen Shen.
"How so?"
"A new system has appeared in the mini-game, which is at the same level as the Desolate Corner, but much weaker. We always thought it had been swallowed up by the Desolate Corner. But not long ago, 'Spirit Entanglement' told me that the Desolate Corner was angry because something it had acquired was stolen."
Each of the top ten has their own adventures and cheat codes, and Chen Shen is no exception. Now, it is her cheat code that tells her that someone has stolen the spoils from the desolate corner.
In the recent dungeons, the one that required the Wilderness Corner to personally intervene was the mini-game dungeon.
"The Black Rabbit?" The others immediately thought of the winner of the mini-game. "Wouldn't he be in great danger?"
"And then there's Saman. The emergence of virtual games has increased the survival rate of low-end players, which is also going against the Desolate Corner. This young couple... they're really dancing on the Desolate Corner's Achilles' heel."
Chen Shen sat at home, holding a light screen, and continued to input voice messages, converting them into text: "The challenge of entering the top ten is both a danger and an opportunity for him."
"Achoo." Ren Yifei tightened his clothes. He was outside, eating fruit salad while looking at the flowing light outside the window.
Yesterday they ate grilled fish in Ice City, and today they're having local specialty fruit salad in Wood City. Of the seven districts in the Wasteland, he hasn't yet visited only the underground city where Ke Bei lives and the supposedly chaotic wasteland.
Wood City is also a very unique place in the Wasteland. It is a huge tree where players live, work, and play.
I wonder if it's due to the environment, but there seem to be a lot of people engaged in lifestyle-related professions here. They all retain many habits from the normal world. Watching these lifestyle-oriented players come and go, I sometimes forget that this is a cruel, desolate corner.
"Are all these people carrying the weight of human lives on their shoulders?" Sitting in the pumpkin-shaped fruit house, he could see the busy people below, walking and talking on the tree trunks.
"Has Mizuki killed anyone?"
This question startled Saman, who was on the other end of the line, as it brought back memories of his childhood. If it were anyone else, he would have simply laughed it off, but since Afei wanted to know, there was nothing he couldn't say.
"To be precise, it can't be called murder; at most, it's... failing to save someone in distress." Samantha sipped his fermented fruit juice and briefly recalled the past.
"As a child who has never received 'helping-out education,' it's normal to be 'frightened' when I saw my father fall to the ground and hesitate for a few minutes. Afterwards, I did run out to call for help. It's just a pity that he couldn't be saved."
Samantha had always been skeptical of the fact that the Desolate Corner had labeled him a 'villain.' There were so many scoundrels in the world, why choose a law-abiding citizen like him?
Those group crimes that use words, those crimes committed by young minors, and those acts of violence committed in the name of emotion—aren't they all more 'evil' than him?
Ren Yifei believed this explanation because he was also an innocent victim. What did his father's decision to jump have to do with him? It was his own choice. As an adult, he should be responsible for his choices.
"The selection criteria for the Barren Corner are problematic."
Ren Yifei, like all the other players who fell into this place, easily came to this conclusion because none of them felt guilty.
Looking at the calm Ren Yifei, Saman suddenly felt an urge to confide in him.
He was unwilling to tell others his name or talk about his past; all that others knew about him was what Saman had deliberately made them aware of.
But if the person he's talking to is Afei, he wants to show him his true self.
"My mother left when I was very young. The man seemed to blame all his failures on his family. So, before I even learned to speak, I had already learned to read people's expressions."
His face was calm, as if he were telling a story from a third party: "It only takes a second, no, less than a second, for me to judge that man's mood at this moment, and whether I will get beaten up today."
This is such a boring story. It sounds cliché to others. It's just domestic violence. It wouldn't even get a divorce in court.
Judges want their careers to go smoothly, others hope the divorce rate won't rise, parents and elders care about their reputation, who cares about the victim who is afraid to even go out, and the child growing up in a twisted way in the corner?
As long as you don't die, it's not a big deal.
Samantha felt that he was just an ordinary person, with only his childhood memories to talk about, which might even elicit a few tears.
He has never used his past to gain sympathy, not even during his most difficult times, except now...
"Ah Fei, can I hug you?"
Ren Yifei: "..."
After hesitating for a few seconds between tapping his forehead and giving him a perfunctory hug, Ren Yifei finally gave him a serious flick on the head.
"What a pity, your attempt to play the victim failed." Samantha wasn't annoyed; he still smiled. Unexpectedly, the next second, Ren Yifei gently patted the spot where he had been tapped.
"Thank you for your hard work."
This time, Samantha was genuinely stunned. He probably hadn't expected Ren Yifei to say "thank you for your hard work" in such a "you're great" tone, as if he had done something extraordinary.
Could you say it again?
Ren Yifei laughed: "Don't push your luck."
Fifteen days passed in the blink of an eye. Boss Ajin finally finished editing the 'mini-game' copy and asked when he would be free.
"In a few days," Ren Yifei said, already preparing to enter the dungeon. He was already quite impatient, wondering what kind of character awaited him.
"You're going to invest?" Boss Jin was somewhat surprised. "Don't you know? Recently..."
Recently, the difficulty of high-level matches in Wasteland has been increased significantly, and the death rate is also very high. Of course, in order to attract players, Wasteland has also been offering substantial rewards, providing many rare and high-level skills and items.
It is said that every player who survived has seen a visibly improved in strength. Some have even gained the ability to challenge for a place in the top ten.
Money can be a powerful motivator, and recently some players have actually started entering dungeons. Boss A Jin thought Ren Yifei was one of them.
Ren Yifei didn't explain much; he simply reassured her, "I'll be out in a few days."
Unlike players who prioritize a stable life, these players who venture into dungeons are never afraid of danger. Even if Ren Yifei and Saman knew they were being targeted, they wouldn't avoid it.
"Without your brand, her survival would be difficult," Saman said realistically.
"We'll all come out." They all sat on the sofa, leaning together.
Ren Yifei still has three lives left; even if he dies once, he has two more. Saman, on the other hand, who is bound to him, only has one life left. However, he has quite a few life-saving items, so even if the game targets him, he's not without a chance.
"Wasteland is a bit more ethical than the mini-games. It can probably only control the characters we deploy. But we don't need to worry about that. In fact, I think Wasteland was also secretly manipulating those characters from before."
"I hope I can find you again," Saman provoked him.
"Heh, then go ahead and 'think' about it." Ren Yifei reached up and tucked his bangs behind his ear. "Enter the game."
When the room before him blurred and the world came into focus again, Ren Yifei found himself sitting in a moving bus. Outside the window were vast fields, and below was a straight highway.
He was leaning against the window, surrounded by people all wearing the same uniforms, laughing and talking.
"Hey, Xiao Chuan! I heard you're going to X University? No wonder you're the teacher's favorite good boy. It's a pity we won't be in the same city anymore, otherwise we could go out for a drink."
Ren Yifei was slapped hard on the back and almost bumped into the back of the chair in front of him. He frantically tried to protect his glasses, while the people around him burst into laughter.
"What are you doing, you guys in the back?" came an annoyed female voice from the front.
Looking up, I saw a young woman wearing a white top and jeans, with her hair tied in a single ponytail. She looked like she had graduated from university a few years ago.
"Teacher Wang, we were just joking, right, Xiao Chuan?"
Ren Yifei was bumped by an elbow again, but he simply reached up to adjust his glasses and didn't say anything.
"Tch, how boring."
The sarcastic person turned to talk to the others, while Ren Yifei turned his head to look out the window, as if avoiding the crowd.
The bus was packed with students, all wearing short-sleeved uniforms with the words "Jiangcheng No. 3 Middle School" embroidered on their chests. There was also a teacher on board, surnamed Wang.
The person who was riding with him mentioned X University and said with a hint of jealousy that he was "the teacher's good boy," which suggests that the original owner had good grades and got into a very good university.
Judging from the boy's habitual and natural teasing, the original owner of this body must have had a somewhat soft temper.
Conclusion: On the graduation trip, he was a recent graduate with the character "川" in his name. He had good grades, a mild temper, and average interpersonal relationships.
Ren Yifei had established his basic persona. He reached into his pocket to check if he had a phone, and then he found a utility knife.
"..."
Author's Note: Afei: Why a utility knife?