Survival in an apartment, starting with a stroke of luck on a plane

The violent ghost-slaying maniac's gaze fell on the picture Lin Yu sent in the friend's chat box. The attribute panel of the [Ghost Generator] was clearly visible.

He raised an eyebrow at the generator's silver-level rating, looked up at Lin Yu, and said with slight surprise, "Brother, that's pretty impressive. Silver-level apartment facilities? Looks like you weren't exactly stellar in the last game either."

He put down his knife and fork, tapping his greasy fingers on the table: "Based on the level of this thing alone, you're guaranteed to enter the Bronze level, and the administrator will definitely mark you as a high-potential stock."

"Once you join in, and after a few more transactions, or if you manage to acquire one or two decent silver-level items, or even produce a batch of good equipment like last time, reaching the silver level should be just around the corner."

Lin Yu felt reassured; his biggest concern was actually the materials: "Brother Violence, the trading of basic materials should be quite active in the Bronze Layer, right?"

"Haha, don't worry, bro." Violent Ghost Killer laughed loudly, with an "I understand you" expression: "Those businessmen in our neighborhood who specialize in material production and trading are basically all in the group."

Furthermore, to facilitate transactions, they assigned "specialists" to each level (Iron, Bronze, Silver), each with a unique online name that made them easily identifiable.

Once you're in the group, just search for keywords in the group, or look for IDs with "business," "materials," or "mine," and then send them a private message.

The prices are much more transparent and reasonable than on public channels, and there are discounts for bulk orders. Most importantly, it's safe and secure; no one dares to scam or cheat in the group—the administrators are watching.

This news was of utmost importance to Lin Yu.

He has a huge amount of basic materials, which he can't possibly use up in a short time if he uses them himself, so he needs to sell them.

Upgrading your apartment requires a stable source of steel ingots and other materials. Joining this group will solve most of your material problems instantly.

Lin Yu thought for a moment, then said, "Brother Violence, could you introduce me to one of the group chat administrators?"

"No problem." Violent Ghost Slayer nodded, then shared a player with Lin Yu in the friend chat box, saying, "I've already told him your situation. Just add him, and once he accepts, send him the picture of the ghost generator."

Lin Yu chose to add the other party as a friend, but the other party did not accept immediately. Lin Yu was not in a hurry. He could take this opportunity to communicate more with the violent ghost killer and obtain some information.

Lin Yu pressed his advantage: "Brother Violence, there's something else I'd like to ask you. Last time in the game, I got a [Knowledge] item."

But this thing isn't like a skill card where you can just equip it and know how to use it; you have to spend time learning it yourself.

In the game, you only get seven days off at a time, and there's never enough time to learn this stuff! Is this thing a bit of a waste of time?

"Useless? Brother, you're wrong about that." Violent Ghost Slayer immediately corrected him: "Knowledge-type items are rare. Although they're troublesome to learn, once you master them, they're real skills. There's almost no cooldown time, and you can even create your own. They're much better than rigid skill cards."

He took a sip of his drink and began to offer advice: "As for the timing? I know two ways."

"First, it depends on the dungeon itself." He looked at Lin Yu and said, "Brother, don't think that all games are just tense and exciting for a few days and then it's over. You're wrong. Some dungeons have a very long time span. I heard that a player once entered a dungeon with an ancient dynasty background and stayed in it for a whole year."

There are even more outrageous ones, such as post-apocalyptic reconstruction, interstellar colonization simulation... some spanning ten or eight years. Most of the time in these instances is actually a relatively safe "development period," where you can farm, build, and learn skills.

There's plenty of time in this kind of instance to learn at your own pace.

Lin Yu was astonished. One year? Ten years? The span of this game's dungeons is too exaggerated.

What's even more outrageous is that even in a game with such an extremely long time span, players still return to the neighborhood together with other players. It can only be said that the game's capabilities are truly absurd.

"Secondly, you can buy time with money. Game currency is very useful." Violent Ghost Slayer pointed to the ceiling: "There's a place in the entertainment area called the 'Time Hut.' That place is awesome. No matter how long you stay inside, only one second passes in real time outside."

"One second?" Lin Yu's eyes lit up.

"Yes! Just one second." The violent demon killer affirmed, "We don't understand the principle. It might be due to different time flow rates, or it might be due to mental immersion in learning."

Anyway, once you're inside, you can study for as long as you want. It's specially designed for people who need to immerse themselves in training, hone their skills, or simply want to relax and have a vacation.

If you really want to learn that knowledge, spend some in-game currency to go to the Time Chamber and meditate for a while. That will be a hundred times more efficient than trying to figure it out on the outside.

The Time Cabin was a godsend, a perfect solution to his immediate crisis.

The method of drawing the "Collection of Talismans of Qingshan" is obscure and difficult to understand, requiring a lot of practice and enlightenment; seven days in reality is simply not enough to fill a gap in one's teeth.

But if he had a time cabin and spent enough time, he didn't believe he couldn't learn it.

Seeing his intrigued expression, the violent demon-slaying maniac laughed and said, "But brother, I must remind you, that place charges by the 'day,' one coin per day, fair and square."

Moreover, it's just a pure white space inside, with nothing but yourself and the things you brought in; it's incredibly boring.

People with weak willpower are prone to going crazy if they stay there for too long, so if you really want to go, you need to plan it out carefully.

Lin Yu nodded in deep agreement, having already decided to spend some time in seclusion at the Time Hut during this vacation to try and learn how to draw talismans, since he currently had a sufficient amount of game currency.

Lin Yu then raised another question he had just observed that day: "Brother Violence, there's something else that's been puzzling me."

In our 9527 community, I've noticed that the total number of players seems to have remained around 10,000.

Logically, quite a few people should die in every game, so why isn't the number decreasing?

The smile on the face of the violent demon-slaying maniac vanished, replaced by a solemn and helpless expression.

He put down his glass, leaned forward slightly, and said in a low voice, "Dead people? That's for sure. The reason the numbers don't seem to have decreased... is because new players are constantly being added, or... players from other 'damaged' areas have been transferred here!"

"Damaged neighborhood? Relocation?" Lin Yu keenly caught the key words.

"Yes." Violent Demon Slayer nodded, his expression serious: "Our player communities are not eternal fortresses."

Each time a game ends, if the number of surviving players in the community falls below 50% of what it was before the game started... the community will be damaged!