Chapter 99: Level B2 Is Just Too Amazing

Tail: First reply! (*/ω＼*)

Quit_smoking: !!! WHAT THE HELL?! They gave out all the qualifications for the closed alpha again?! What happened?! w(゜Д゜)w

Night Ten: Lol, you didn't get it again?!

Old White: Hahahaha, my dude, your luck is really bad.

Sword Execution: You’re really a poor soul. I applied later than you, but I'm already in the game.

Quit_smoking: T.T

Mosquito: By the way, the update this time is really incredible. They actually gave out a hundred places. The players who received the last ten additional places have not yet entered the game, right?

Tomato Eggs: You are right. That batch of players should be online at six o'clock this evening.

This_lord_is_arrogant_what_can_you_do: Hehe, a hundred places? As if I would believe it! Only a fool would apply for the qualification. These one hundred qualifications must be fake.

Sisi: Really? But I got it.

Tail: I got it too! (*/ω＼*)

Quit_smoking: QAQ.

The announcement had only been released a few seconds ago. No one had time to read the entire thing but almost everyone just rushed down to shitpost after reading the first line.

Except for those who were shitposting, there were also people who were crying about not getting the qualification.

For example, Quit_smoking. He did not get the qualification again, which was really sad. However, he was not the only one who didn't get it. There were more than one thousand applications. Even after deducting a few trolls that were on the blacklist, there were still more than nine hundred people.

Only high-quality players who had been whitelisted by Chu Guang on the backend of the website would be able to get the qualification. Otherwise, the chances of getting a single qualification for normal players wouldn’t exceed 10%.

If they managed to get it, it would not be an exaggeration to say that they were children of luck favored by the heavens.

After comforting Quit_smoking and failing to be the first one that replied to the announcement, everyone hurriedly ran back to read the entire announcement.

After reading it, all of them were stunned by the huge amount of information in the announcement.

The expansion was over!

The issuance of the Warrior of Winter title was limited!

A special in-game item that integrated the property panel, mission window, and map functions!

And level B2 of the shelter was open!

Holy shit!

If that was any other game, the content would be enough to be split into several different updates and last until the end of the year!

Irene: Tremble in the cold winter? I feel that only Garbage would tremble. (?° ?? ?°)

Good_names_are_taken_by_dogs: WTF! I haven't even played the game yet, but the expansion is already over?!

Future Kakarot: I just discovered a small shocking detail: the property interface actually requires money to be unlocked! Well, it isn’t real money that’s used.

Garbage: Money is a small problem, the key is the contribution points! Huh? Wait, my contribution points seem to be enough? Oh, I've got no problem now.

Mosquito: You idiot. You even borrowed money from me to buy a piece of land. Now hurry up and pay back what you owe me!

Garbage: QAQ.

Makka Pakka: Awesome! As soon as I was invited, a new version was released.

Quit Bullshit: +1, hahaha, I hope the lake will not freeze. Fishing is so much fun.

The expansion ended abruptly, but it was also expected by everyone.

After all, the big boss of the expansion had been killed, and everyone had great fun in the last battle. All it left was a strange foreshadowing scene when the final boss was killed and a bunch of helpless prisoners, which could be regarded as a hint for the next version.

Winter had finally arrived.

The theme of the next expansion would probably be survival, and the enhancement of Lifestyle Profession players had paved the way for this moment.

It couldn’t be more suitable for the update to come at that moment.

After reading Light's Development Log, the players on the forum were really looking forward to the VM and the new version of the gameplay.

However, there was another question on their mind.

What was level B2?

This game designer didn't mention anything about it!

Tomato Eggs: Wait, what about level B2?

Quit_smoking: Dev, hello! What about level B2? How can you not disclose any information about level B2?

Sword Execution: Can any one of you go online to check if the elevator to level B2 works? I seem to have seen an elevator in the residents' lobby!

Night Ten: Damnit, I'm still in class, and I left the helmet at home!

Escaping Mole: Brothers, don't panic, let me go check! I'll be right back!

Ample Time: I'll go too, it just so happens that I'm also at home!

Old White: Seriously? You really don't have to go to work?

At three o'clock in the afternoon on weekdays, most players who had things to do during the day had not yet left work.

Players who didn't need to work hadn't logged out of the game yet, and they probably didn't even know that the game had been updated.

After all, this game couldn't access the official website from within the game, and every update in the past did not seem to kick the online players offline.

The only people the netizens on the forum could count on now were those hardcore players who didn't have to go to work or go to school during the day, and happened to not be online.

After a few words, Ample Time and Escaping Mole went silent for a moment, perhaps because they were in the game.

However, after twenty minutes, there was still no news.

A group of people who waited impatiently on the forum almost started cursing.

Old White: What’s taking them so long?!

Sword Execution: Yeah! Why haven't they come back? I have been waiting for 29 minutes and 12 seconds!

Night Ten: There must be some dirty deal going on that we don't know about.

Teng Teng: ? What kind of dirty deal?

Night Ten: Why do you want to know?

Escaping Mole: Whew! I'm back. That was fun!

Teng Teng: !!

Night Ten: What the hell. Where did you go? Why are you so slow? And where is Ample Time?

Escaping Mole: I don't know, I went to the bathroom and took a shit before I left. He went to the bathroom and didn't come out for a long time, so I logged out first. But that's not important. Let me tell you something, level B2 is simply awesome!

Night Ten: Hurry up and tell me what it has!

Escaping Mole: Don’t be so impatient. First of all, the layout of level B2 is similar to a circular space, and it's divided into four zones. Zones B, C, and D are a bit like a dormitory, and Zone A should be a functional area. There is a canteen, toilets, and bathrooms in the back. There's also a door I couldn’t get in, so I don't know what's in there, but the toilet and bathroom alone are already very awesome, don't you think so?!

Tomato Eggs: Canteen?! Is there food there?

Escaping Mole: No. The door to the back kitchen is locked and I couldn't get in. Several refrigerators and beverage machines in the lobby are empty. I’m guessing the kitchen is in a similar state, but it’s good news that the refrigerator can be used! We can have cold drinks when it’s hot in the summer.

- Anyway, enough about the kitchen. What I really want to praise is the design of the bathroom! It has a cyclical self-cleaning toilet pad and an automatic toilet cleaning system. After sitting on it, you don’t have to think about anything except doing your business. We don’t have to worry about stepping on poop when walking around the outpost. I'm even willing to pay to use this toilet!

Mosquito: Bro, are you an idiot?! Hurry up and edit your reply. Don't let the game designer see it!

Night Ten: Awesome! I was still discussing with Old White yesterday about what to do if the temperature continues to drop. This function is really convenient!

Gale: Wait a minute... You mean, there’s water in the shelter. Is the toilet you are talking about a flush toilet?

Irene: ... What do you want to do? I have a bad premonition. (?° ?? ?°)

Gale: No, I’m just speaking out of pure curiosity.

Escaping Mole: Hahaha, of course there is water! This is the second point I want to talk about! The biggest difference between B2 and B1 is that there is fresh water supply! Whether it is by collecting water from the lake, collecting rainwater, or the internal circulation water purification system, we have water now! In short, you can drink clean drinking water from the drinking fountain in the kitchen! Anyway, where's Ample Time? Is he still in the game?!

Night Ten: To be honest, that guy is a bit abnormal sometimes, but most of the time, he is alright. So let's just ignore him.

Ample Time: Screw you! I came out already. I was just busy typing my review post!

Night Ten: Huh?

Escaping Mole: Ample Time, what does it feel like taking a shower in level B2's bathroom?

Ample Time: Mhm... very cool. It is probably a simulation of ultrasonic atomization technology. I just didn't expect them to apply this technology to showers at all. In short, it’s quite sci-fi. You basically just stand there with no need to move. It completely subverts my understanding of showering, and I feel that it’s worth it to spend money to experience it.

Night Ten: For real? Ah, ah, ah, I really want to go online now. I will try it when I get back to the dormitory!

Escaping Mole: So, have you finished typing your post?

Ample Time: Already posted. It's in the forum!

...

"Shelter 404; level B2 tour... Have these players already visited level B2?"

When Chu Guang woke up, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

The first thing he did after waking up was to open the computer to log in to the official website and read the posts made by players in the forum.

My goodness, it seems that these players have turned my level B2 upside down.

Fortunately, he had locked most of the doors, so they couldn't open them even if they wanted to. Weapons that could break the door were not allowed to pass through the airlock room and couldn't be brought into the shelter. In addition, Chu Guang had granted Little Seven access to the shelter's CCTV system and asked Little Seven to keep eyes on those players so he didn't have to worry about them destroying his home while he was asleep.

In general, the players were still very excited about the updated content of the Alpha 0.5 version.

Seeing the new high-tech facilities on floor B2 only seemed to have heightened the players' excitement, and the players who had experienced it immediately fell in love with life there.

Compared to the surface, life in the shelter was simply too comfortable!

After reading these posts, Chu Guang had some understanding of the settings left by the first administrator.

Indeed, compared to the outside, staying in the shelter was nothing short of being in heaven.

Counting on people in heaven to improve the condition of hell was simply an unrealistic idea.

Chu Guang stroked his chin and thought. "Mhm, that's it. To use the facilities in the shelter, players will need to use the VM to obtain permission, and the water purifier, shower, and toilet are now changed to a paid service."

The official forum's post history could testify that he wasn’t the evil bastard who came up with the idea. Instead, it was an idea proposed by the players themselves.

In addition, some players who had bought VMs from Little Seven had also put forward some suggestions, such as simply integrating the functions of a translator and wallet on the VM.

The wallet function was worth considering and he could launch it together with the banking system.

It didn't matter even if there was no electronic payment function. The excess silver coins could be stored in the bank and could be taken out when needed. This would make it convenient for players to check their deposits at any time, and also convenient for Chu Guang to collect currency in circulation.

It could be said to be a win-win situation!

In regards to the translator, it would take some time to make it in theory, but it wasn't a priority yet.

If he let the players and the natives communicate freely, in addition to a lot of trouble that may be caused by the players, there was no benefit for him at the moment at all.

To put it bluntly, the language barrier may be a barrier for players, but it was not a bad thing for Chu Guang.

From the perspective of an administrator, he needed to create an information gap between the players and the native people, or an information filter, which would be best for everyone. After all, cross-server communication would not always turn out to be very friendly.

Besides, even if it was the game with the highest degree of freedom, it didn't say that players could communicate with every NPC in the game like one could with a real person, right?

It would only raise more suspicions if that was the case!

In contrast, the Weapon Shop Owner, Xia Yan, had a lot of lines. When she was annoyed, she would not only stamp her feet in anger, but she would also curse in bad Mandarin.

Many players had even woken her up as soon as she fell asleep to listen to Boss Xia’s curses.

If there was no information filter, not to mention whether Boss Xia could still be so cute, players would definitely rush to sympathize with marauders or be fooled by some NPCs to do side quests.

Apart from finding a lot of trouble and variables for himself, there was no benefit at all. Even if he had to arrange a translator for them in the future, it would definitely be selective translation.

However, if he thought about it from another angle...

"It's possible to develop a special version of VM for NPCs."

Thinking of this, Chu Guang's eyes lit up instantly while staring at the forum.

"The NPC-specific version of the VM will not have the property panel, but it will add mission release and translation functions, with the translation function only supporting translation of daily and functional terms in specific language scenarios."

There was no need to translate everything the players said. After all, with different cultural backgrounds, the translation may cause misunderstandings.

For example, the Chinese internet slang

Olige

can't just be translated as telling someone to hurry up and move, or something else because they had different meanings in different contexts.[1]

The Weapon Shop Owner just needed to do what a Weapon Shop Owner should do. It would be more than enough to just know what her lines meant and what players wanted to buy.

As for other things, when the great administrator needed them to know, they would naturally know.

"The screen of the VM is a bit small. The entire device is like a real-time translation device... But with appropriate language training, this idea is possible."

He could slowly train a batch of native people to speak Chinese. They didn't have to become fluent in Chinese; simply achieving some slight accomplishments in it would be enough. As long as they could understand some game terminology and daily communication, it would be sufficient for them to work as an NPC.

The more Chu Guang thought about it, the more he felt that he was a genius.

As expected of me!

As for the subtitles used by the players...

Hmm... I’ll think about it when the time comes!

1. Slang to encourage the listener/person saying it, telling them they can do anything! ☜