The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 489: The Life We Chose

A few days ago, when Nieusel gave the players the house, he gave them a “key” into the local nightmare at Nefertari’s instruction.

The players had to lock the door before bed and tie a strip of cloth around the left ankle. This was the key to the “Sporeggar Mill” nightmare.

Yes.

The local nightmare of this underground city was called Sporeggar Mill.

It was a nightmare on a distorted level, and its content leaned toward horror and puzzle. The puzzle in this horror game had many traps laid in it. Imagine the game that suddenly made the player fall into the crypt to death while walking or investigating something, or the games that killed the player when their attention was captured elsewhere for a while.

Worse still, the players were not kicked out of the nightmare immediately after dying three times in it.

It had a unique exit point, and the dungeon challenger must go to that location to exit. Suuankou only found out about the exit point on the second day.

Lin Yiyi’s group spent eight hours in a row on the first day of adventuring, and they did not wake up until six in the morning.

Although they were in the underground world where the sun could not reach, Mr. Ray dutifully woke them up.

In this dungeon instance, which increased the erosion rate by 1% every time the challenger died, Lin Yiyi’s erosion rate had risen by 17% before entering a chase or encountering an enemy with an HP bar.

Jiu Er’s erosion rate had increased by 15%. She was currently the fastest progressing challenger. At the same time, she even told the rest of the group about the map.

That was because Jiu Er was a player who relied on instinct. She had avoided many pitfalls subconsciously. This also caused her to skip many traps without noticing them.

However, Suuankou’s erosion rate rose by 31%.

This was not because Suuankou was more stupid than the other two. On the contrary, he might be the best player at deciphering the horror puzzle among the players. In the same eight hours, he did not die twice at the same place despite the high death count. It meant something that was enough to prove his strength.

But, he had a bad habit which was his curiosity.

Even without the blessing of the skill [Skillful Hands] and [Eagle Eye], his eyes were sharp. Coupled with being familiar with this area, Suuankou could always detect something that might be dangerous if he investigated it at the first moment.

Yet, he could not resist his curiosity.

So, he went to test his limits anyway.

The result was his death.

25 of his 31 deaths occurred in this manner.

He would not step on the mushrooms he detected. However, if he guessed that “Teemo [1] might have buried a mushroom somewhere”, but he was not 100% sure, he wanted to step on it without scanning. If he did not explore it, he would always feel that the surroundings were dangerous and uncomfortable.

However, it was still uncomfortable after stepping on them.

Thus, Suuankou’s progress did not advance much, but he almost tried out all the death traps.

This was also why Lin Yiyi and Jiu Er did not want to progress yet. Anyway, Suuankou loved the landmines so much. They would prefer Suuankou to progress for a while first.

With the strategy he summed up, the two could avoid some erosion.

After all, it cost Annan’s affection rating to clean the erosion rate to zero.

Although they had been saving their affection rating, they felt like the premium currency of the game.

If the Mist Continent were a mobile game, then Lin Yiyi would pay to get those affection ratings directly.

However, the problem was that they could not deposit their money for this game!

To avoid a meaningless increase in erosion rate, they uniformly arranged Suuankou to explore the nightmare first. He was tasked to identify the nightmare’s mechanism and then come back and tell the rest of the players later.

However, they said that the younger brother was meant to be sacrificed.

It was still a little distressing to have the younger brother to sweep the landmines.

It just so happens that Nieusel is so enthusiastic. Why don’t I ask him, a local, if there is any strategy for reference?

“…For example, where are the traps? Where are the more convenient items?”

Lin Yiyi asked with a smile, “You have been here for so long, so you should have some tips, right?”

“It seems that you have really entered the nightmare.” Nieusel touched his face, a little surprised.

Do you even suspect that we won’t enter the nightmare at all?

Lin Yiyi resisted her desire to complain.

Where is the most basic trust between people?

—I have told you clearly. We came here to tackle the dungeon instance! So you didn’t believe us at all!

“Don’t be mad,” Nieusel saw Lin Yiyi’s face turn sour and apologized immediately, “I’m just a little surprised…

“After all, Sporeggar Mill has a reputation for being a ‘massive nightmare with almost no solution’. Many priests came here to overcome it but couldn’t figure out a way.

“Although the nightmare was only at the level of Silver Rank at the beginning, this nightmare had a troublesome characteristic. It is impossible to quit even after dying many times in the nightmare, which directly makes those who come to solve the nightmare die in the nightmare instead. In the end, the nightmare range expands and has advanced to the Distorted level. Originally, the nightmare only encompasses the Black Mushroom Mill, but now it has expanded to more than half of the city.”

So far, no one had cleared the nightmare.

Although it was not so easy to trigger the key to entering this nightmare, it was still possible to trigger it.

A nightmare that the challenger would respawn immediately after death and would not be kicked out no matter how many times the challenger died. For irrational mortals, it meant death once they entered it by mistake. Although the person could escape if he just stayed still and waited until dawn or he could escape at a special location, mortals who could not maintain rationality in their dreams must not be able to do so.

“So, we don’t keep records here.” When Nieusel said this, he couldn’t help but smile, “After all, we don’t have our own priests here.”

“…Oh, right.” Lin Yiyi reacted.

This was the deityless Underground Federation.

Whether it was the Mysterious Lady or the Silent Lady, there was no shrine for them here. This meant that there would be no priests in the underground world who “see the purification of nightmares as an honor and duty”.

Those who came here to purify the nightmare must have sought strength from the nightmare.

When a nightmare difficulty was overly serious, no one would bother to solve it.

It was because it was “not worth it.”

“Haven’t you ever entered this nightmare before?” Lin Yiyi asked.

Nieusel shrugged, “Will you charge against the artillery?

“I don’t think I’m more competent or experienced than those seniors who died in this nightmare. They have already verified for us with their lives that this nightmare is unsolvable. Then, I will naturally not make any attempt.

“This is the result of respecting them. Instead of directly purifying nightmares, controlling the spread of the ‘key’ will be more effective. When you go to other underground cities, you will gradually understand this. There will be several difficult nightmares in each city, and even some cities are named after nightmares… such as us.”

This handsome and tall man with a gentle personality waved his hands. Then, he said those cruel words casually, “Without the priest going forward to purify the nightmare, we can only choose to compromise and coexist with the difficult nightmare. The good news is that our Sporeggar Mill’s [key] is not so easy to trigger.

“Those young people who are full of passion but cannot see reality clearly and dream of becoming a transcender… Only they will try to enter the most dangerous nightmare where the ‘key’ is directly disclosed to the public. That’s because they cannot get keys to the nightmare that can be purified more easily. Thus, this is their only choice left.

“—Each city has unique rules. This is our life and the reason why many townspeople relocate.

“Of course, this is also the life we ??choose.” The man paused and smiled wryly.