Chapter 1 This time, it's a bit troublesome

For Mingmei and the others, this game is about finding the culprit who disrupted the stability of the Outer Star Sea. Based on Mingmei's calculations, coupled with the grudges they had previously formed with the Outer Star Sea, Mingmei didn't believe that it wasn't to let players find those few people who sold information to the Zerg.

However, Mingmei didn't know what missions those Outer Star Sea players who entered the game would have.

It couldn't be the same as them, the military academy students, right?

If that were the case, they were so familiar with this place, their advantage would be too great.

But this wasn't something for Mingmei to worry about now. She was more concerned about the fact that she was playing two roles in this round, one selling boxed lunches and the other as a player.

To prevent the problem of her roles being exposed, her boxed lunches could only be sold in this store this time. If she left the store, she would automatically switch to the player role.

As a result, she didn't receive a single order all night.

"The entire night market in this underground city is only open for four hours each day. Three and a half hours have already passed, and there's not a single person. Am I really going to have to buy my own boxed lunch to boost sales before I leave?"

Mingmei looked at the street that had returned to its lively state after that octopus monster walked by. The contrast between the outside hustle and bustle and her deserted shop was simply worlds apart.

Because there was no one around, Mingmei took out her boxed lunch again and repeatedly read its effects.

[Spicy Pepper Beef, 500 star coins/portion. The consumer can see through the relationship between designated characters once.]

[Braised Pork Knuckle, 500 star coins/portion. The consumer can randomly obtain a rare resource from the Outer Star Sea.]

Looking at the introduction of the boxed lunch, and seeing that her points had turned into star coins again, Mingmei seemed to have thought of something and asked Guigui,

"I get a commission from these star coins, right?"

She remembered that she used to get a commission before she went to military academy.

[I'm sorry, no.] Guigui reminded Mingmei, [The star coins earned by the mysterious merchant in this game are divided between the Sixth Legion and Mr. Yan Hui in a two-eight split.]

Mingmei: ???

Why wasn't she getting any money this time?

"So I have to pay for eating the boxed lunches, and I don't get a single cent of the profits? What am I doing this for?!" Mingmei slammed the counter and simply closed the store door to complain.

[Don't you have a subsidy for serving in the Legion? Plus, you also have a basic salary for selling boxed lunches.] Guigui said. Before Mingmei could say anything else, Guigui continued, [The main thing is that you owe money, Host~]

Mingmei: "..."

"Huh? There seems to be a store that's not open, it's a bit different from the others."

Mingmei hadn't seen a single person before she closed the door, but now that the door was closed, it attracted the attention of others.

These "others" were none other than Lu Xiaoyao and her group.

"Oh dear, what good food can they sell here? It's called 'snacks,' but who knows what they're made of. The Outer Star Sea is so chaotic and resources are scarce, what good food can you expect?"

Mingmei had just heard someone say that her store was different, and the next moment, Lu Xiaoyao's voice, which seemed to be deliberately undermining her, came in.

Mingmei immediately opened the door, looked at Sun Yunzhong, Tong Lei, and Lu Xiaoyao standing at the door. She took a closer look and realized that if she had opened the door one step later, Lu Xiaoyao would have already pulled Tong Lei away.

"Although I don't have many products here, each one is a high-quality item. Does the customer need anything?"

It was still the process of discovery and being discovered. Mingmei had already said this, and as long as the three of them agreed, they could immediately start trading.

However, this time, Mingmei subconsciously skipped over Lu Xiaoyao. Anyway, Lu Xiaoyao always had a thousand reasons to be unwilling. Mingmei was already used to it.

Don't have expectations. The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Her gaze fell directly on Sun Yunzhong and Tong Lei's faces. Everything depended on them.

"What products do you have?"

Sun Yunzhong, who was the first to sense that there was something wrong with Mingmei's shop, spoke first. Then, when Sun Yunzhong heard the notification sound, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He didn't have time to check the boxed lunches Mingmei was selling, so he quickly turned his head to remind Lu Xiaoyao and Tong Lei, telling them that there were good things here and urging them to agree quickly.

Although she didn't know why Sun Yunzhong was suddenly so excited, her intuition told her to nod in agreement first.

So the next moment, the obedient Lu Xiaoyao and Tong Lei also heard the notification sound about discovering a mysterious merchant.

"My god?" This time, it was Lu Xiaoyao's turn to be dumbfounded. "What, did the merchant change skins?"

She only knew that the mysterious merchant was the same as her friend. Could it be that the person wrapped in a black robe and wearing a veil today was actually the mysterious merchant?

"She didn't want my good bestie skin and changed to this?!"

Lu Xiaoyao's voice wasn't soft, and everyone present was speechless.

Mingmei: "..."

Don't say such things in front of her!

They were supposed to be good besties. A good bestie would recognize her even if she turned into ashes. How could she not recognize her just because she was wearing a veil?

Mingmei complained about this to Guigui, but Guigui remained silent.

To be honest, if its host turned into ashes, not to mention Lu Xiaoyao, even it, the system, wouldn't recognize her.

Mingmei really didn't want to hear any more things from Lu Xiaoyao that made her both angry and amused.

"Are you guys—still buying or not?"

"Buy, buy, buy, buy!"

Hearing the impatience in Mingmei's voice, the three of them immediately scrambled to answer and wanted to continue buying.

However, the three of them were really struggling to choose.

"What's the use of buying and eating this Spicy Pepper Beef to see people's relationships?"

Tong Lei didn't understand and asked Sun Yunzhong in a low voice. Sun Yunzhong thought for a moment and said, "The personnel in the Outer Star Sea are complicated. Besides those of us who know each other, are you confident about what the others are and what they're going to do?

The backgrounds and relationships of those people and NPCs may not be something we can find out just by asking."

On this point, the information that this kind of boxed lunch could lock onto key personnel and find out was more accurate than they could find out by asking around.

"As for the Braised Pork Knuckle, although we don't know what the resources are, they may be useful to us or they may not. But you've seen the black market today, maybe we can use them to exchange for other scarce things we want."

Sun Yunzhong was indeed a commander. He thought about many things faster than Lu Xiaoyao and Tong Lei. He could quickly react and connect with the surrounding situation.

"Oh, oh, right, that's true!"

Hearing Sun Yunzhong say this, Lu Xiaoyao came up and ordered two servings of each boxed lunch, spending 2,000 star coins at once. This kind of extravagant behavior naturally attracted the amazement of the other two.

In response, Mingmei could only say that Lu Xiaoyao was as expected.

She always preferred to buy more rather than buy less or not buy at all.

Oh, Mingmei was also amazed for a moment, but then she remembered that this money had nothing to do with her, so she stopped talking.

"Are you spending so much money when you play games?"

Although the system had reminded them to recharge when they entered the game, Sun Yunzhong didn't recharge too much at once. He only recharged a total of 1,000 star coins. Tong Lei was even worse. She only recharged the minimum threshold of 500 star coins according to the prompts.

Her family was just an ordinary family, and their monthly expenses were only a few thousand star coins. Even with the subsidies for going to school and serving in the Legion, she was reluctant to spend so much money on playing games, wasn't she?

Tong Lei silently watched Lu Xiaoyao buy four boxed lunches at once, and was surprised and envious at the same time. After thinking about it, she only bought one Spicy Pepper Beef boxed lunch.

Sun Yunzhong regretted not recharging more money. He bought one serving of each boxed lunch. After they left, Mingmei closed the shop, took off her veil from the back door, covered her head and face with a cloak, and left the shop with two boxed lunches.

Next, she would begin exploring the plot as a player.

"Dong—"

A bell rang from all directions in the underground city. This was a reminder that the underground city was closing.

Mingmei looked up and saw everyone hearing the sound and leaving towards the exit one after another. She mingled in the crowd and left the underground city. As soon as she went up, she was hit in the face by a gust of yellow sand.

"Pui, pui, pui!"

Mingmei immediately turned her head and used her cloak to block the sand again. After spitting out sand for a long time, she remembered how harsh the weather was on the surface.

Looking at the crowd that was涌上来 from the underground city next to her, everyone put on their cloaks, but others seemed to be used to it and walked into the sandstorm in one go. m..oΓg

Mingmei glanced at those who were hesitating nearby like her. Although there were many people wearing cloaks, Mingmei could still tell that many of them were players.

Like Mingmei, most players probably had never seen such a harsh environment since they were little. They hesitated for a moment when they encountered this situation.

[Host, the electronic map of your character's residence has been sent to you. It's not too far from here. Do you want to go now?]

[Yes.]

Mingmei looked at the yellow sand all over the sky and the sand falling at her feet. She recalled the information about this sandstorm in her memory. Each one lasted for a long time. If she stayed here for too long, she might be buried directly.

So, watching the people who had just come up from the underground city rushing into the sandstorm without hesitation, Mingmei gritted her teeth and followed suit.

"Pui, pui, pui!"

After rushing past an elevator that had long lost its effectiveness, Mingmei, who had climbed more than a dozen floors of stairs, immediately opened her mouth to spit out sand again when she stood at the door of her character's residence. Then, after shaking off the sand from her cloak, she entered the house.

As soon as she entered the house, the musty smell that hit her face made Mingmei frown slightly. She stood in the house and looked around for a moment. The furnishings in the house were a bit like the objects from the ancient Blue Star era in the previous game.

It's just that the circuits here had also been broken long ago.

The house revealed an old atmosphere from the inside out.

"There used to be intelligent creatures living here, right?" Mingmei looked at the surrounding environment uncertainly and whispered to herself.

She didn't know if humans had been active here, but there must have been intelligent creatures.

[Yes, but I don't know why it became like this now.]

Although it was in the game, Guigui knew that most of what Yan Hui made and this game was restored. There were many such planets in the Outer Star Sea.

More or less, there used to be intelligent life, but no one knew why it ended up like this.

It would become what was rumored to be—a breeding ground for criminals, a paradise for the fallen.