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PFRG: Chapter 17 Part 1

Love Apartment (17)

The platform for the live stream was called ‘Black Universe’, and it had the same name as this unlimited flow game.

No one knew who created it, and no one knew where it came from. It already existed naturally in the players’ system when everyone came out of the first instance.

All ongoing instances would be streamed live in the corresponding sections of Black Universe.

Chasing the live stream was undoubtedly an important way for players in this unlimited flow world to obtain information about instances. For this reason, the number of online viewers had become an important indicator of the level of each live stream room.

Among them, 20,000 viewers was the basic dividing line.

Once it reached 20,000 viewers, it would automatically switch to charging mode. If it didn’t reach 20,000, no matter how much they fumbled in the game, it could at most be regarded as ‘generate electricity for love.’

For some top masters, their popularity was often overwhelming as soon as the live broadcast started. There was no such thing as a ‘free trial’ at all. However, Chi Ting was a newcomer after all. Many newcomers might not attract enough online people even after dozens of instances. Li Tao, who had gone through several instances, was a clear example.

Then again, for some special groups, 20,000 viewers weren’t such a difficult number to reach. As early as when they saw the exclusive item associated with Chi Ting’s awakening, the audience had vaguely realized that it would be a matter of time before it started charging them. They just hadn’t expected it to be so early.

In this way, it made them feel a bit troubled.

If they kept chasing, their points would be blown away.

The current minimum charge was only 2 points/minute, but they would have to spend 2,880 for one day. Spending it on a newcomer where the results were unknown always gave them the illusion that it would be wasted at any time.

However, the feeling that this Chi Ting gave off was too subtle to stop chasing.

What if this newcomer could really achieve the first pass? Even if it cost 10,000 points, it would be far more cost-effective than spending hundreds of thousands of points or even millions of points to buy strategies in the strategy library. Compared with the surprisingly high price of the strategy library, following the live stream was still a very frugal choice. It was precisely because of this that the live stream rooms of various ranking masters were so popular every time.

Of course, after watching more live streams, everyone had found a way to take advantage of it. In other words, during collective actions, go to a low-cost live broadcast room to get a spectator’s perspective. It was the spectator perspective that would be blocked at the most critical spoiler moment and could only be guessed by the audience through the actions of the instance players.

But in order to save money, some people were willing to believe in their own ingenuity. They jumped into the live stream rooms of a few people, wanting to try their luck.

Of course, more people thought back to Chi Ting’s performance along the way. They didn’t want to miss the first-person viewing experience and the clues they might gain.

Anyone who was a bit more rational knew that this desperate situation where it was easy to speculate about the way to clear the level wouldn’t happen again and again.

Give it a try! Turn a bike into a motorcycle!

After gritting their teeth, most people decided to believe in their own judgment and continued to chase.

Chi Ting didn’t know he had accidentally opened up a new way to earn points and was telling other people about his discovery. “Look at the final number of owner spots.”

“24.” Li Tao thought about it but still didn’t understand. “What’s wrong with this?”

However, Xiang Xianwan immediately responded. “This is the number of NPCs. The floors we live on are from the 9th floor to the 20th floor. If there are two NPCs and one player on each floor, the total number of NPCs is 24! The number of rooms on floors 1 to 8 that aren’t occupied are also 24 in total.”

She thought for a moment and deduced it, “But even if all of us players survive, there are only 12 people, and there are 24 rooms downstairs. There should be no competition at all. So I feel that this number should refer to the former situation?”

After speaking, Xiang Xianwan instinctively looked at Chi Ting. She smiled when she saw the other person nodding to her in approval.

Gong Jing hissed. “Isn’t this asking us to PK with these NPCs? So the last two days aren’t the end, but the official start of the final stage of the game?”

“It is possible, but it is very unlikely.” Chi Ting’s slender fingertips lightly tapped on the table. “Since it is said that we will obtain ‘permanent residency’ at that time, it is likely that we will indeed be the official residents of the Love Apartment that need to stay here forever.”

Originally, Gong Jing’s words made other people feel a glimmer of hope. Then after listening to Chi Ting’s words, he suddenly felt that another basin of cold water had been poured on him.

“So this is to let us compete with NPCs for the owner’s position under the condition that we will have to permanently stay behind?” Li Tao suddenly remembered what happened when he saw Chang Hefeng before. He asked in a low voice, “Why? At that time, we should’ve been completely assimilated by the dungeon, right? What is the purpose of this arrangement? Killing people and punishing them? Whipping the corpse? Or is it taking the opportunity to deliberately mess with our mentality?”

The more Li Tao thought about it, the more he felt the perversion of the designer of this instance. This was until the phone vibrated twice, and there was a new message notification. Then he controlled his mind and clicked to open it.

He also managed to do a good job of psychological construction. He wanted to see what type of things this stupid instance could do. Then after looking at it, he found that it was actually Chi Ting who pinged the Love Apartment Property Management in the group.

[1202-Chi Ting: @Love Apartment Property Management. Hello, property management. Can I ask how many people are currently participating in the election?]

Before Li Tao could understand Chi Ting’s purpose, the Love Apartment Property Management had already given a reply.

[Love Apartment Property Management: Dear owners, according to the statistics, the number of participants is 33. Kiss kiss~ #smile# #smile# #smile# smile]

The smiling emoji of the Love Apartment Property Management entered their eyes. This was undoubtedly very eye-catching.

But at this time, everyone’s focus was no longer there.

“If it is running for the position of an owner above the 9th floor, shouldn’t the NPCs and players add up to 36 people? Since eight players have already lost their qualifications to run, there should be 28 people. Why are there 33 people…?” Xiang Xianwan was speaking only to find that her voice was already a bit hoarse because of excessive tension.

She didn’t continue to speak the next words. Looking at the ugly faces of the others, it was obvious that they had already realized something.

36 minus 8. No matter how they calculated it, only 28 people should remain.

So what about these extra five?

Li Tao once again remembered what Chi Ting had said and looked over stiffly. “Brother Chi, do you think it is what you mentioned earlier…?”

Chi Ting nodded. “It should be them.”

If he was just guessing at first, the answer from the property management had undoubtedly confirmed his thoughts.

Eight people had lost their qualification.

Regardless of whether those players were assimilated or dead, even assuming that all but the five players present at the scene had been eliminated, it was only seven people.

Then the only possibility of reaching the ‘8’ statistic’ was that even those ‘missing’ NPCs were counted.

So did those things below the 8th floor indiscriminately attack players and NPCs?

Moreover, those things could replace them in some special way, no, there was the owner’s election. To be more precise, in the current situation, it should be accurate to say that what those things needed was the opportunity to participate in the election.

Now it seemed that the five extra ‘candidates’ were the number of people who had been replaced.

What could be obtained after a successful campaign was no longer the point. The main purpose of this countdown released by the property management should be to tell players to be careful of those who were still unknown.

Most likely, this was the final test of this instance.

Chi Ting was a bit relieved after figuring out all the clues in his mind.

At the very least, such a reminder indicated that there was indeed a solution. Otherwise, there was no need for such an action.

It was as Li Tao said before. The instance here would always leave a way out for players to live, no matter how difficult the process of finding this path was.

Li Hou had just joined the group and obviously didn’t understand what Chi Ting was saying. “What then?”

Chi Ting simply explained the previous discovery and his current speculation.

Judging from everyone’s expressions after listening to his analysis, it was obvious that more than one or two of them were about to be driven crazy by this instance.

After all, no one could imagine how terrifying it must be to have an NPC specially arranged in the instance to give a warning message.

The only thing that surprised Chi Ting a bit was Li Hou’s reaction. His expression seemed very complicated and unacceptable, but it gave Chi Ting a very subtle feeling.

But as long as he wasn’t the type of existence seeking death like a monster, Chi Ting didn’t intend to delve into it any further.

He glanced at the current time and got up, skillfully cleaning up the dishes and utensils. “It is late. Pack up and get ready to rest.”

The others seemed to have come to their senses at this moment and rushed over to help. “Brother Chi, you are tired from cooking. So leave this matter of washing dishes to us! We will come, we will come!”

Looking at the backs pouring into the kitchen, Li Hou couldn’t help back and let out a low voice, “F*k…”

His mood was indeed very complicated. But the complicated point was that many details that Ma Zizhou found out in the past were really guessed by these people with a few words.

Yes, guessed.

He guessed so accurately!

Originally, Li Hou was still very confident in his next plan. Now these people were already on guard, and it was obvious that he could only reconsider his plan.

But after all, it had reached the last step.

One, if only one was needed… it should be easy to complete.

It wasn’t a big deal. He believed that everyone would understand his approach.

After all, who wanted to die when there was a way to survive?

Thinking of this, a smile finally appeared on Li Hou’s face.

He got up from his position and walked to the kitchen. “I am the latest to join. How about I wash it?”

If they ignored that they were still in the unlimited world, the lively scene of Room 1202 was indeed full of a confusing, lively atmosphere.

At the same time, in Room 1203 next door, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped. Yue Ren wiped his wet hair with the towel hanging from his neck and walked out slowly.

In front of the French windows, in the dark night, only the mottled lights of neon colors remained in the distance.

The night scene of the city looked bright and prosperous. Bright moonlight was shallowly scattered over Yue Ren’s body as if a layer of blurred halo was applied to every inch of his tight muscle lines. The shadows at the soles of his feet expanded a little bit from time to time. It was as if they were vigilantly tempting the world.

His gaze fell on the tall buildings in the distance as he slowly narrowed his eyes.

It must be admitted that this world was indeed peaceful and beautiful from any perspective. This was on the premise that everything was real and not, in the words of those people, something called an ‘instance.’

A strong sense of absurdity appeared for a moment, and the man laughed silently.

Interestingly, the Li Hou he saw today really reminded him of some very bad memories.

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O
O
1 year ago

Is YR the instance designer? 🤔 I think not? But possibly related? Ah, I’m as curious about him as I am about the instance.

Also, a bit confused about what’s going on. So there’s the competition to be the “owner” – am I right in thinking that if they become the owner, they’ll be able to leave? I thought that engaging in the election meant that they would have to stay there forever…

Thanks for the chapter and stay safe!

Marie-Sandra
1 year ago
Reply to  O

I’m confused too! And sooooo curious!
This novel is really well-written hehe.

Marie-Sandra
1 year ago

Thanks for the update ❤

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