Chapter 44 - Hidden Room

44 -48 Hidden Room

The so-called slum currency is actually currency issued jointly by the various major guilds.

One killing field currency can be exchanged for 14 one-hundred-denomination slum banknotes, which is roughly equivalent to the value of US Dollars.

It can be used for shopping in the slums and can also be exchanged back for killing field currency.

After all, the value of killing field currency is too high; it’s fine for buying bulk goods, but for daily consumption, it’s really hard to break.

However, some players see this printing of money as economic exploitation—the hard-earned game coins that everyone fought to earn are just exchanged away for a few pieces of paper.

Someone even wrote a book called “Currency War,” criticizing the financial squeeze of the major guilds.

Upon learning that Li Cheng wanted to settle with slum currency, the gun shop clerk was slightly disappointed, but still diligently packed all the weapons, equipment, and ammunition, placing them in ten carry-on cases.

Li Cheng collected all the cases into his backpack, walked out of the gun store, and nodded in thanks to Zhangsun Yao.

“I never expected you to become a player.”

Zhangsun Yao was currently wearing a blue and white uniform, embroidered with a nuclear explosion pattern on the chest, apparently the standard uniform of the World Nuclear House.

As if afraid of Li Cheng’s misunderstanding, she took the initiative to explain: “I recognized you by your night robe.”

After choosing to agree, Li Cheng chatted with Zhangsun Yao and others while walking—they happened to be going for a meal together at the World Nuclear House.

Among this group, the first was a skinny youth in his twenties, wearing a top hat, sunglasses on his nose, dressed in a long coat, looking very much like the folk artist Ah Bing from the last century.

The player ID is .

The second was a round-faced young man in a white down jacket, with a shiny gourd hanging at his waist.

His player ID is .

The third was a burly man close to two meters tall, nearly in his forties, with a buzz cut, bronze skin, squinting eyes, and always smiling.

His player ID is .

The fourth was a girl in a kimono who had appeared in the company’s official website advertisements.

Her ID is .

As a courtesy, Li Cheng added them all as friends and learned more about the slums through casual conversation.

“That red and black building in the shape of demon horns is the headquarters of the civilian guild, the Demon Scientist Alliance.

The tallest steel and concrete building is the headquarters of the United Nations-backed Global Supernatural Alliance.”

Zhangsun Yao casually said, “Since the land area of the slums is limited, the larger the building area, the stronger the guild’s strength is symbolized.”

Li Cheng nodded, “I see.

I didn’t expect the United Nations, which doesn’t have much presence in the real world, to turn around in the killing field.”

“Haha, that’s indeed quite peculiar.”

Zhangsun Yao laughingly explained, “On the one hand, it’s because the emergence of the Killing Field Game poses a serious threat to countries around the globe; even permanent member states can’t isolate themselves or remain unscathed, and must take a collaborative approach.

On the other hand, there are indeed people on Earth who believe in the concept of ‘big united human civilization.’ And among these people, there are a few top players.

So, this is the situation that has formed.”

Li Cheng thought for a moment and asked, “I saw in the information interface that the current player level cap is Lv40.

Has anyone reached this level?

What kind of power do top-level Transcendents have?”

“The player hierarchy in the killing field is a bit like a pyramid; the higher you go, the fewer people there are.

My guess is that there are probably only about ten people at Lv40?

The power of these people…

is roughly equivalent to nuclear bombs that can walk on two legs, humanoid natural disasters.

Given enough time, they could destroy a modernized country.”

Zhangsun Yao spoke casually; her current level of Lv25 put her in the top 10% of Transcendents.

When serious, she could destroy a fully equipped armored unit.

Talkatively, the group arrived at a Chinese restaurant.

Today I Didn’t Take Medicine and the others went to the front desk to order food, while Zhangsun Yao continued to provide Li Cheng with information about underlying rules not mentioned in the forums inside a private dining room.

“As a newcomer, your move to buy firearms was quite wise—they’re cheap, easy to use, and can quickly boost combat power.

You can go to the shooting range to practice and improve your proficiency.

In addition, the task type with the highest death rate for newcomers is the supernatural horror category.

You could spend about one hundred game coins to buy some talismans, peach wood swords, amulets.

Increase your means of dealing with spiritual bodies…”

At the same time, in the private room next to the Chinese restaurant, Yuan Zhixia, who had just become a player today, rubbed her forehead and said in distress: “…

So, my cousin is now your Heavenly Eye System?”

“To put it precisely, our Heavenly Eye System was constructed with her as the core,” Liao Guangming, the Deputy Director of the Yin City Special Affairs Bureau, a Committee Member of the Party, and Vice Director of the Emergency Command Center with the rank of Second-level Police Supervisor, explained.

“Three years ago, Yuan Donglian, a 19-year-old college student in Hang City, was involved in a car accident, and her body mysteriously disappeared while on the way to the hospital in an ambulance.

After the incident was reported to the local Special Affairs Bureau, it was classified as a Yellow Alert Level unusual incident.

A month later, an operative exploring the killing field suddenly heard hallucinatory sounds.

After repeated verifications, it was confirmed that the voice belonged to Yuan Donglian, who had been declared missing.

According to her, she fell into a coma on the ambulance and, upon awakening, found herself inexplicably in a sealed room.

Pipes on the walls of the room would periodically supply food and water, and there was a toilet in the corner, ensuring her survival needs.

She tried every means but could not escape from the room.

After some time, she figured out how to use the control panel.

It was an all-weather, zero-latency, multi-open, God’s view surveillance system.

By pressing buttons on the control panel, she could see and hear the scenes and sounds of specific areas and establish communication with designated targets.

The only problem was, she couldn’t see her own location.

And the killing field was too vast, too infinite; finding her in the endless space was like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Yuan Zhixia glanced at the hand-drawn picture passed by Liao Guangming and slowly said, “…So, you integrated her into the Special Affairs Bureau.”

“She joined voluntarily.”

Liao Heping said in a deep voice: “Over these three years, she has saved countless lives and has made outstanding contributions to the Special Affairs Bureau, the nation, and all of humanity.

She is a proud member of our bureau.

Your disappearance was actually a mistake on our part—we promised her that we would take care of her family, but most of the resources of our city’s Special Affairs Bureau were focused on another unusual incident at the time, and we failed to notice your disappearance in time.

We apologize to you for this.”

Yuan Zhixia was noncommittal, frowning, “But you never disclosed to her parents that she is still alive.”

Another leader from the Yin City Special Affairs Bureau, Kong Raoran, said: “In fact, this was her own wish.

After all, she’s trapped in the Hidden Room and cannot escape in the short term.

Telling her parents would only continue their worries, so we had to respect her wishes.

We also altered their cognition to lessen their grief.

You and she grew up together, very close, and she specifically instructed the Special Affairs Bureau to ensure your safety.”

Yuan Zhixia reacted instantly, shocked: “Wait, you’ve been monitoring me?!”

“It’s minimal surveillance maintained by the Sky Net monitoring system and AI programs, without personal involvement or invasion of your privacy.”

Liao Heping quickly explained: “First of all, anomalies attract each other.

Any excessive focus will make the subject more likely to be drawn into unusual incidents, thereby increasing the likelihood of being selected as a player in the killing field.

And being a player is not something good—at the early stage of the Slaughter Field Game, over 80% of new players die within the first three months, a figure that remains grim even now.

If it wasn’t for this reason, and your cousin’s special instructions, with your talents, the Special Affairs Bureau would have noticed and recruited you into the organization as a reservist long ago.”

“…Fine then,” Yuan Zhixia conceded with resignation, realizing that if the Special Affairs Bureau had already been paying attention to her for several years, then making guns in secret couldn’t possibly be hidden from them.

“By the way, what is this ‘Hidden Room’ you mentioned?”

“‘Hidden Room’ refers to certain buildings within the killing field that have clear purposes and powerful effects, such as the ‘Shabby Street’ we are in now, which prohibits players from attacking each other.

Like the Whale Song Organization’s occupied ‘Root Territory,’ where they use supercomputers within to lay cables and establish signal stations in the killing field, setting up a network to fill the communication gap for players.

Like the Global Supernatural Alliance’s occupied ‘Horn Room,’ which is a horn-shaped automated factory capable of mass-producing guards with strength comparable to mid-level players.

Our Special Affairs Bureau has also stationed ourselves in a Hidden Room called ‘Imitation Star Corridor.’ It can output a massive amount of clean energy without producing any pollutants or waste heat.

Besides, there are some mythical buildings in the killing field, like the ‘Dead River’ that can perfectly resurrect the dead, the ‘Wish Room’ that can grant any wish, and even the ‘Origin House’ that can change world lines, rewriting the past to create the future.”

The Director of the Yin City Special Affairs Bureau, Xing Hechou, said: “Some speculations from our think tank suggest that it is precisely the effects of the ‘Origin House’ that led to the formation of our current world.

The evidence lies in the large-scale memory discrepancy incidents that occurred on Earth before the Killing Field Game appeared, such as the Mandela Effect.

Before the former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, passed away in 2013, many people believed Mandela had already died, but in reality, he had not.”