After breakfast, Zhang Yuanqing went to the bathroom to wash up, then returned to his room and opened his laptop to write the walkthrough.
If judged purely by money, privately selling the walkthrough would definitely make the most profit. The official reward wasn't much—usually somewhere between a hundred thousand to a few hundred thousand.
But many things couldn't be measured by money, like merit points.
Merit points could mobilize official resources, grant access to classified information, increase chances of promotion, and apply for official aid—things money simply couldn't buy.
Besides, since the official side had already handed him the walkthrough twice for the S-level spirit realms, repaying the favor was only right.
Zhang's fingers danced over the keyboard:
[Jinshui Amusement Park Walkthrough, ID—6203, Difficulty Level: S, Type: Multiplayer Spirit Realm (Death Mode)]
[Main objective: Complete two or more amusement park attractions.]
[The first attraction I tackled was the roller coaster. The walkthrough remains the same: closing your eyes during the ride causes no damage, but the reality is far more complex than it sounds. More on that later.]
[Unlike the old version, the new amusement park is organized into "series." The roller coaster belongs to the "Heart-Pounding" series, which includes: Roller Coaster — Underground Parking Lot — Haunted House (Ghost Wedding) — Detective Reasoning Hall.]
[The main task in the underground parking lot is... Remember, when evading the car-humanoids, it's best if all team members ride in the same vehicle to minimize time loss. During card draws, try to find a lucky "euro king." Don't push your luck if you have bad draws—there's a risk of wiping out the entire team...]
[The haunted house is the scariest scene in the park, featuring wedding invitations and bride-price rituals. Female spirit realm travelers must be extremely careful: do NOT list your gender as female on the invitation. Female players are guaranteed to die. The bride-price items are medicinal wine, wedding quilt, golden hairpin, and balance scale, each corresponding to a specific vengeful spirit. The solution to each is...]
[Note: The bride-price stage forcibly reduces team members. Beware of team infighting.]
[Pay attention to the "Bride's Choice of Groom" segment. The Night Roamer always dies here!! The only reason I escaped the ghost bride's petticoat was because of my natural handsomeness and presence, which fascinated the vengeful spirit—a divine blessing beyond mortal effort. You won't be able to replicate this, so don't try. But don't worry, I have a method to avoid this death trap, which will be revealed in the next stage, the underground parking lot...]
[The Detective Reasoning Hall walkthrough is...]
[Hidden quest in Jinshui Amusement Park: After seeing the process in the Detective Reasoning Hall, you should have some understanding of the hidden quest...]
[Currently, the mechanism for role assignment in the dungeon is unknown, but in this team, there was a traitor whose identity was neutral. I suspect the distribution of traitors and evil roles is based on the human heart, not profession.]
After finishing, Zhang Yuanqing carefully proofread the walkthrough and sent it to Li Dongze's email.
Looking at the successful send notification, a thought struck him:
"Xie Lingxi, this little big kid, getting the old version walkthrough means she's either official staff or has deep connections with the officials. They just need to check a little, and they'll know my identity—no, my ID."
Spirit realm travelers used IDs primarily as public aliases to establish themselves in the spirit realm world, so this identity was usually not a secret.
Like Yuan Shitianzun clearing Sheling Tunnel—the tale spread in the Five Elements Alliance and Taiyi Sect. Everyone acknowledged Yuan Shitianzun's potential, but what did that have to do with Zhang Yuanqing?
After clearing two S-level spirit realms, the Five Elements Alliance likely wouldn't hide his achievements but would promote his name to showcase their talented members.
Of course, this would only be for the ID; real-world personal information would be kept more confidential.
If Xie Lingxi did have official background, she'd find out anyway. Zhang Yuanqing was used to dealing with official travelers—but only as Yuan Shitianzun.
He closed the email interface and opened the official forum on his phone.
Suddenly, he saw a shocking post:
\#Shocking: Jinshui Amusement Park has been beaten! The conqueror is this person#
Zhang Yuanqing was startled. He thought, I've only been back for a few hours, and already someone dug me up?
Clicking in, he found the post was about Hebo. Before entering the spirit realm, Hebo had notified superiors as required. After a night of suspense, his superiors and colleagues were thrilled to find Hebo had returned.
The local officials exploded with excitement, and news quickly spread among the city's spirit realm travelers, its heat akin to a village student passing the capital's university entrance.
[Qu Ri Ku Duo: The walkthrough? Has it been finished? I already submitted an application using points, but the steward told me the database has no new walkthrough.]
[Lai Ri Fang Chang: Indeed, no new walkthrough. I just checked the database @Hebo]
The official travelers were initially thrilled and praised Hebo highly.
But as they realized no walkthrough update had been posted and Hebo hadn't spoken, confusion grew, and doubts about the post's authenticity emerged.
[Gua Ren You Ji: Spreading rumors? Wanna get beaten? Believe it or not, I'll take my crew by high-speed train to Yancheng and beat you up @Hebo.]
After much arguing and tagging, Hebo finally appeared to explain.
[Hebo: I did clear Jinshui Amusement Park, earned 18% XP as reward, pretty decent.]
[Qu Ri Ku Duo: Where's the walkthrough? Where is it?]
Hebo hesitated for several minutes before replying:
[None.]
What?
Just as the official travelers felt mocked, Hebo added:
[I was just a shield for someone else, then died, and then cleared the dungeon. So no walkthrough for you. Maybe unbelievable, but that's one way to play Jinshui Amusement Park. I can't say more here. The expert who cleared it with me should have the full walkthrough, but he seems unofficial. I can tell you his name.]
Hebo cleared the dungeon lying down? Who was this merciful, all-seeing expert?
[Qu Ri Ku Duo: Who is it? Tell us!]
Qu Ri Ku Duo and some travelers soon entering the spirit realm were eager.
[Hebo: All I know is his name is Wang Tai. Not much contact, so I don't know more.]
[Li Dongze: ???]
[Guan Ya: ???]
[Qing Teng: ???]
[Bai Long: ???]
Others began speculating who Wang Tai was, shocked that none of them had heard of him. Someone tried tagging Wang Tai and found such an ID existed.
[Please Call Me Queen: Wow, seems like he's one of our officials, great!]
The group kept summoning, and Wang Tai appeared.
[Wang Tai: Not me, don't spread rumors. But I know who it really is—he's called Yuan Shitianzun.]
[Qu Ri Ku Duo: Yuan Shitianzun? Such a domineering name, no wonder so excellent. Who is he?]
[Gua Ren You Ji: Sounds familiar.]
[Bai Long: I know, he's the Night Roamer who cleared Sheling Tunnel and was forcibly recruited as a subordinate by the "Li Dongze" dog bastard. I've already decided to rescue him from misery.]
Her words made everyone recall the newbie who cleared Sheling Tunnel over half a month ago, quite famous then.
[Qu Ri Ku Duo: So it's him? Great, at least he's official. Worst case is some wild spirit realm traveler or someone from Taiyi Sect.]
Only having insiders produce walkthroughs minimizes cost. Walkthroughs from your own side differ greatly from others'.
[Please Call Me Queen: That's him. By the way, he's also a Night Roamer. Luckily we recruited him into the Five Elements Alliance. Oh, I just remembered a popular phrase on the Taiyi Sect forum recently: Elder Sun is confused!]
[Hebo: So his real name is Yuan Shitianzun...]
[Gua Ren You Ji: So this guy, or rather big brother, has cleared two S-level spirit realms?]
Such a figure might soon become a rising star in the Five Elements Alliance.
"Cut Elder Sun some slack. No, cut Captain Yuan some slack—Elder Sun will beat him to death otherwise..." Zhang Yuanqing smiled with satisfaction, exited the forum, put away his phone, pushed his desk, and locked the door.
Then he opened the drawer and took out the Cat King speaker.
This lousy gadget couldn't be put into the inventory and had to be carried physically. After returning, he tossed it into the drawer.
"Brother Bing said he left everything in the Cat King speaker. This item does have a recording function—I verified that in the haunted house—so if I want to know what Brother Bing left behind, I have to make it 'talk'..."
Zhang Yuanqing held the black metal speaker in his palm and fell into thought.
The Cat King speaker had only two buttons: one drumbeat and one suona (a traditional Chinese horn). Both sounded oddly mystical, so he dared not try them in his apartment, lest he disturb the neighbors.
Also, even pressing the buttons might not yield any info.
"It revealed info automatically in the haunted house. I didn't press anything then. So now, the only way to get info from it is by chance?"
Zhang frowned for a moment, then recalled that the speaker had shown unusual survival instincts when facing the ghost bride.
"Yes, the speaker's sealed with the Cat King's soul. Like the Red Dance Shoes, it's a tool with its own will. If it has a will, it can communicate..."
Having figured this out, Zhang cleared his throat:
"Cat King, you're coming with me now. Enjoy the good life—better days ahead. I want you to do me a favor. Do you have any recordings about the Demon Lord?"
He had wanted to say "Brother Bing," but the Cat King definitely wouldn't know who that was, and he himself didn't know Brother Bing's spirit realm ID.
The black metal speaker was silent.
"Offering you a toast and you refuse, how about some punishment?"
Still no response.
After several attempts failed, Zhang flew into a rage, threw the speaker into the trash, and loosened his belt:
"Fine, if you won't cooperate, I'll let you taste some boy's tonic soup."
Just as he prepared to pull out the Dinghai Shenzhen (Stabilizing Needle) and drain his "sea eye" energy, the trapped Cat King speaker crackled with electric noise.
There was hope!
Zhang's heart leapt. The next moment, strange audio filled the room:
"Ah\~ ah ah... hmm\~ hmm\~ ah... please be gentle..."
A woman's seductive whispers and a man's heavy breathing echoed around in surround sound.
What the hell was going on...? Zhang's face froze as question marks flashed through his mind.
Suddenly, the bedroom door was violently knocked, and his grandmother's angry roar came through:
"Zhang Yuanqing, what are you doing in there?! The sound is carrying downstairs, aren't you ashamed?! Open the door! I'm gonna beat you to death today!!"
Grandma, let me explain!!! Zhang Yuanqing, hopeless, reached toward the door, his hands grasping at thin air as if trying to regain lost familial affection.
Right, Night Roamer skills could silence all sound... He quickly crouched, grabbed the Cat King speaker from the trash, and entered Night Roamer mode.
The illusory Taiyin power exploded and wrapped him, wiping out his figure.
Instantly, the seductive sounds vanished from the room and only echoed in Zhang's ears.
Outside, Grandma knocked stubbornly for a long time, but hearing silence, she gave up and left, muttering:
"I'll deal with you when you come out."
Phew\... Zhang sighed with relief. At that moment, amid the silence, a young but hoarse voice appeared:
"I've slept with so many women, but you beauties from the Goddess of Love Association are the most satisfying. Truly worthy of the profession that controls love and desire."
Then, a soft, sweet voice with a hint of huskiness replied:
"Demon Lord, serving you is Betty's honor. When will you leave this country to accompany Betty to meet the president? Our president has always wanted to meet you."
The woman's accent was a bit awkward, clearly a foreigner.
Hearing this, Zhang froze. The seductive sounds were not a prank from the speaker, but a recording of a conversation that had actually happened.
The protagonists were the Demon Lord and a foreign woman.
Zhang straightened up, pricked up his ears, and waited eagerly for the conversation to continue.