Chapter 280 - 45: New Event Dungeon

By the time she was forcibly kidnapped and brought to the store, Bai Yang had already written her will.

Forced down into a chair, the only daughter of Love City’s mayor—a disgraced former idol whose reputation was ruined for sleeping with fans—racked her brain for a reason. But the more she thought, the more she realized that far too many people wanted her kidnapped.

So, as she was dragged into the room and pushed onto the chair, she said through her tears, "Did Xiao Zhang send you?"

"Who’s Xiao Zhang?" Duan Fei asked, confused.

"Then it must be Xiao Li, Xiao Jiu, Reimu Hakurei, Kirisame Marisa, Izayoi Sakuya..."

"Are you a cosplayer or something? Just how chaotic is your personal life?"

"I’m an idol. Isn’t it perfectly normal to find a few female fans, flirt a little, play the piano, and then play them like a fiddle? I just made a mistake that every idol makes. Wait a minute, that voice... Duan Fei?"

Only then did Bai Yang realize it was Duan Fei and Jinghong who had brought her here. She finally let out a sigh of relief.

Slumping over the table like a boneless slime, she said with relief, "Oh, it’s just you two. I thought I was going to die here today."

"I’m curious, what have you been up to lately?"

"Nothing much. I just had some inappropriate contact with a few female fans, and then my ex-girlfriend exposed me. My mom said she’ll disown me if I don’t sort this mess out. Anyway, what do you want with me?"

For a moment, Duan Fei wasn’t sure if hiring such a wreck was the right move.

But he couldn’t think of a more suitable role for Bai Yang, so he just said, "Be a server. Room and board are covered, and you’ll get a monthly salary. You in or out?"

"Of course I’m in," Bai Yang said immediately. "Going back would be suicide. I’d rather work for you guys."

"Alright. You’ll be selling the Black Mashed Potatoes here. Base salary plus commission. If that’s okay with you, sign the contract."

Even though they were all pretty familiar with each other, Bai Yang still read the terms carefully before agreeing that there were no issues.

With the contract signed, the shop finally had its first employee.

And this employee was surprisingly capable.

Dressed in men’s clothes, Bai Yang was quite attractive. While not as stunning as Jinghong, she had an iconoclastic, rebellious vibe.

Especially after she applied some temporary tattoo stickers, put on clip-on earrings and a lip ring, and gave herself a smoky-eyed look, a rebellious yet handsome youth emerged.

Just then, a few female players walked in. They instinctively wanted to leave after seeing the Black Mashed Potatoes, but a roguish voice came from behind the counter. "Hey, ladies. No need to buy anything, just come over and chat for a bit."

Players already have a natural affinity bonus towards NPCs, and seeing a roguishly handsome young man only made it stronger. They couldn’t help but walk over and start chatting with her.

As a former idol who specialized in a handsome, boyish look, Bai Yang quickly had the players beaming. In the end, they even bought a few servings of the mashed potatoes to take with them, just to show their support.

Watching them leave, Bai Yang nodded in satisfaction. "Pretty easy."

"Now that’s what I call a professional." Seeing Bai Yang’s performance, Duan Fei also nodded in satisfaction, feeling like he had no more worries.

With such a great start, business became much easier.

The first batch of customers found it delicious, so the number of repeat customers grew. Sales of the mashed potatoes spread even further, especially when people discovered that the Black Mashed Potatoes were inexpensive but provided a ton of beneficial buffs.

Thanks to the shop’s automation, many tasks could be completed without much manpower, allowing Bai Yang to handle things on her own.

Still, Duan Fei spent a day adjusting the workflow, streamlining the sales process, and introducing an automated vending system before he finally left.

After that, all he had to do was look forward to this month’s profits.

Meanwhile, there was a new development in the Corruption Invasion event.

"Dear players, this is the Admin Team.

Thank you for your contributions to the Corruption Invasion event. The event has now reached its final stage: the Endgame.

In the Endgame, all players will appear in the same large-scale Dungeon. You can challenge this Dungeon an unlimited number of times to achieve final victory.

In this Dungeon, you will encounter unprecedented danger, countless terrifying Monsters, a random and rich variety of ways to die gameplay experiences, and fearsome traps.

Go forth, players! Due to the Dungeon’s danger, your rewards will be doubled again. Players who successfully achieve victory will have their total scores doubled.

We wish you all success."

Duan Fei checked the time and saw there were still three days left before the event ended.

He hadn’t expected the game developers to pull such a huge stunt at the very end.

The daily active user count for Abyss had already surpassed ten million. Having ten million players active in the same Dungeon would put an absolutely staggering amount of pressure on the servers.

Duan Fei seriously suspected that the Abyss server cluster was built with quantum computers. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have the processing power to support ten million people in the same Dungeon simultaneously.

Besides, ten million players gaming at the same time—what a spectacular scene that would be.

This made Duan Fei look forward to the evening’s update even more.

After making plans with Jinghong, Duan Fei first logged off to prepare and eat dinner with her. Then he slept until evening, logging on right as the update went live and rushing into the city.

Although he was among the first wave of players to log on, Duan Fei found the area outside the statue was already packed with people. They were all impatiently rushing toward the statue to be teleported into the Dungeon.

The Admin Team had anticipated that the new Dungeon would cause a massive rush of players and had set up additional statues temporarily, but it was still not enough to handle the frenzied crowd.

While waiting in line, Duan Fei started reading the event’s update details to understand how the new Dungeon worked.

The new Dungeon was a roguelike, specifically a very traditional dungeon-crawler.

Players had to search for the entrance to the next floor within a vast Dungeon, all while dealing with terrifying enemies, hidden traps, and all sorts of bizarre puzzles.

This Dungeon had a preset condition: players’ bodies and their five main Attributes would all start at one. Part of the fun was figuring out how to push forward from such a disadvantageous start.

And with each death, players would gain some experience and increase their Attributes, allowing them to advance further into the Dungeon on their next attempt.

In addition, players would retain their Profession, Equipment, and all their Skills, giving them plenty of extra help.

The final Dungeon will last for a long time. Players can log off at any time, rest, and then continue, with all their previous Dungeon progress being saved.

’I see. A massive roguelike—one with ten million people playing at the same time. Sounds pretty awesome.’

Nodding in satisfaction, Duan Fei was filled with anticipation for the new Dungeon as he queued up and walked toward the statue.

After touching the statue, he was teleported just as he’d hoped, arriving in the new Dungeon.

A gloomy sky, a dilapidated city, crows circling over dead bodies, the living dead waiting to die by the roadside...

The moment he entered, a dark and unsettling scene greeted him, making Duan Fei once again marvel at how well the game’s art department understood its craft.

But when he got a clear look at his current body, he cried out in shock.

"What the hell is this!"