Bai Ye said, "No need for experts, just call anyone over. We'll just be filling a slot for the reward. We don't have to wait for him; he can enter the virtual game on his own once he arrives."
Gao Ming asked, "Is that appropriate?"
Bai Ye replied, "What's inappropriate about it? I'm not expecting you guys to do much anyway. Sorry, I let my true thoughts slip out."
Gao Ming: "..."
He wondered why he hadn't realized Bai Ye was so annoying before.
Bai Ye continued, "Anyway, I don't care. It's up to you whether you call someone or not. The losses will be on your Evil Spirit team, not mine!"
As Bai Ye spoke, he put on his helmet and went ahead.
Almost the instant he put on the helmet, Bai Ye felt his consciousness blur. His body then swayed and he collapsed onto the bed.
The surrounding space turned pitch black. Soon, colorful stripes appeared within the dark space, constantly flashing past Bai Ye.
Upon closer inspection, these colorful stripes resembled a jigsaw puzzle. Within the light were various landscapes, and as the stripes increased, the surrounding scenery was pieced together.
The space around him also formed at this moment.
A vast town, in a medieval European retro style. Behind Bai Ye stood a huge fountain, with pedestrians walking around.
Bai Ye glanced around, a smile on his lips. It was exactly as he remembered, and he felt a sense of nostalgia.
The reason Bai Ye could sell this place to the Evil Spirit team and knew everything about it was because he had been here in his previous life.
This virtual game restricted zone adopted a dungeon mode, with a total of seven floors. Bai Ye had already explained the general rules to Gao Ming.
Items dropped started to be red from the third floor. The fourth floor was still predominantly red, but with a small chance of golden items, though limited to golden equipment.
The fifth and sixth floors would yield genuine golden-quality items, and upon defeating the boss, three items could be taken away. The seventh floor, being the highest, offered super-quality items.
Of course, while the rewards were enticing, the difficulty was also very high.
Bai Ye admitted that he could only manage between the third and fourth floors currently, and the fifth floor was definitely out of reach.
The strength of the fifth-floor boss could be directly compared to Ken Kaneki in his Dragon form from the Ghoul region; it was not something an ordinary person could easily defeat. It belonged to the high-end areas that the World Battlefield entered in the mid to late stages.
Speaking of which, the Ghoul region's large-scale restricted zone, which produced a large amount of golden-quality items, was itself an accident.
Simultaneously, each background had its own unique characteristics.
The first floor was a fantasy world, or you could consider it a magical background. The items obtainable here were mostly corresponding.
The second floor was a steampunk background, a retro mechanical era. Although the items appeared ancient, they could be compared to true technological products.
For example, Bai Ye had once obtained an airship there. It was made of wood, but it was no less inferior to the aircraft in the technology region.
The third floor had a Japanese style background, a style of "good little country," but more accurately, it was a background of Japanese yokai culture—Hyakki Yagyō was also acceptable.
The fourth floor was a supernatural region, encompassing both Eastern and Western elements, with zombies, ghosts, vampires, Frankenstein's monsters, and so on.
The fifth floor was an Eastern Xianxia background, with the entire floor suspended in the air, composed of countless floating mountains.
The sixth floor had an electronic background, with the overall structure of the modern world, but the entire world was in a pixelated electronic style, which was very distinctive.
The seventh floor…
Bai Ye had never been to the seventh floor.
In his previous life, this place was completely occupied by the three major powers.
After all, the boss battles in the virtual game restricted zones were team-based for each floor. In essence, the virtual game restricted zones were designed for multiple players.
The bosses to be conquered on each floor were not meant for a single person but required different teams, with the minimum being two people for the second floor and a maximum of twenty people for the fifth floor.
From this, it was evident that normally, one person could not defeat these bosses.
Of course, as long as one was strong enough, there were no problems.
At this point, the others also began to enter, appearing near the fountain in the plaza.
Bai Ye glanced at Gao Ming and asked, "The first and second floors don't involve me anymore, right?"
Gao Ming nodded, "We've cleared the first and second floors. Currently, we are mainly collecting red-quality items on the third floor. The Cang Long Guild is also here, and we've had several conflicts. We've also been deliberately targeting their members."
Bai Ye asked, "How many people have they sent in?"
Gao Ming replied, "Over twelve, but likely not exceeding twenty. They probably don't have much intel and don't know the team limits for each boss encounter. In the first and second floors, they were in an exploratory phase, so we gained some advantage."
Bai Ye then said, "And then they figured it out, and you guys got beaten?"
Gao Ming: "..."
Indeed, this guy's mouth was very annoying.
Bai Ye continued, "So, how many of the Cang Long Guild members have died?"
Gao Ming looked up at the sky and chuckled vaguely.
Bai Ye was speechless; he understood. They were completely outmatched and hadn't taken down a single one.
Bai Ye then asked, "So, you've built your stronghold?"
"Yes, we have," Gao Ming replied. "It's on the first floor."
Bai Ye questioned, "Why not on the second or third floor? Wouldn't that make collecting items more convenient?"
Gao Ming pondered for a moment and said, "The Cang Long Guild has built strongholds on both the second and third floors."
Bai Ye was speechless. Although he had expected the Evil Spirit team to be no match for the Cang Long Guild and to suffer greatly, Bai Ye had truly not anticipated they would be this miserable.
Being unilaterally beaten, and even not daring to enter the upper floors casually, it was a complete humiliation.
"Fine, fine," Bai Ye said helplessly. "Let's go see the items first, and then head to the third floor."
Gao Ming nodded. "Okay, let's go."
Gao Ming led the way.
He had indeed entered here before, but Gao Ming's primary role then was reconnaissance, assigning tasks, and deploying troops.
Therefore, Gao Ming had only cleared the first floor, established a stronghold, and left after giving his instructions. He was now re-entering, but the first-floor boss had already been conquered, allowing him to move freely on the first floor and also go to the second floor.
As they walked, Gao Ming explained, "But you four need to conquer the first-floor boss, and to go to the third floor, you'll need to conquer the second floor first. Others who have already cleared them cannot help."
"I know the rules," Bai Ye said with a smile. "Are you still worried I can't defeat the boss?"
Gao Ming nodded, this was indeed not much of a concern.
The first floor yielded blue-quality items, and the boss's level wasn't very high, which Bai Ye could easily handle.
The second floor started to produce black-quality items, and Gao Ming felt it would be somewhat difficult.
But for Bai Ye...
Gao Ming felt he shouldn't measure things by his own standards.
...