Wen Shi started the car again and had just started on the road when his cell phone suddenly rang.
Kong Zhuoshuang.
When he saw it was an unfamiliar name, he reacted for a moment, and then matched it with the floral shirt of the man who came to pick him up in the wilderness that day.
"Hello." Wen Shi turned on the speakerphone.
"I saw what happened to your family on the news. My condolences." The man in the flowered shirt said, "I think this is too evil. I'd better find a reliable person to exorcise the evil spirits."
Wen Shi followed up by asking, "Where can I find a reliable person?"
"The City of Gold," said the flowered shirt in a speechless voice. "Is there even a question? As long as you can afford the price, anything can be traded."
The City of Gold also has an unpleasant nickname: the Devil's Brothel.
All kinds of evil transactions are happening there every moment, and the transaction method is very direct, one pays money and the other does the work.
The flowered shirt asked, "I'm going there this weekend, would you like to join me?"
"Okay." Wen Shi paused for a moment and said, "I want to bring a friend."
"It's okay, I'm not alone." The man in the flowered shirt said a few more words to comfort him before hanging up the phone.
The game prompt sounds came one after another.
"The third story you need to save, 'The City of Gold', is about to begin."
[Whatever you ask for, you can get it in the Golden City.
We welcome every talented young person!
Mission content: After entering the Golden City, you need to find a job within one day and obtain the status of [Junior Worker].
Tip: The Golden City does not keep useless people. Each profession implements a last-place elimination system. If the initial rating is the last in the industry, the player will be eliminated directly.
Tip: I hope you know yourself and find a career that you are best at.
Tip: If your profession is unable to pay a certain amount of taxes to the Golden City, the player will be eliminated directly.
"I hate working." Wen Shi is now an emotionally unstable driver.
Xiaohua shared the same view. She calmly analyzed the mission, "The Golden City should have a high-tech intelligent assessment system."
Otherwise, relying solely on manually collected data and resumes, it is impossible to objectively determine who is truly the industry leader in a short period of time.
"And we have to choose a hot profession." Only hot professions can make money. A niche business that only lasts a year will probably get into the tax-paying phase before it even starts generating any revenue. Xiaohua said with a serious expression, "But the competition in hot industries is definitely terrifying."
She tried to call Li Nan, but the phone was busy. She wondered if it was because of the game mission.
"We're not short of money right now," Xiaohua said, considering the situation, "but just giving money to the Golden City isn't an option."
Wen Shi nodded. "The game specifically emphasizes the identity of workers and gives different types of currency. It's already hinted very clearly."
Half an hour later, the car stopped outside the villa.
Workers came to the villa to repair the stairs. Most of the other players stayed in the room, and some ventured out to see if they could trigger other tasks.
Wen Shi found A Yu and gave her the phone he had bought yesterday. Hanging on the phone was a sunny doll, a pendant that Wen Shi had specially selected from a boutique.
Ayu smiled from ear to ear: "It's great to have a son dropped from the sky."
"..." Wen Shi got down to business: "I'm going to a place called the Golden City. I don't know what the situation is there, so it's best for me to go and find out first..."
Ayu waved her hand, and the bell on her waist swung: "It's okay, let's go together."
Seeing that she had made up her mind, Wen Shi said no more, ran to the study, and spoke tentatively:
"Mr. Demon, I may need to take you with me to the City of Gold."
Wen Shi didn't place any offerings or burn any incense. If the demon didn't respond, he would just take it as consent.
Because the difficulty of the mission may be beyond his estimation, Wen Shi temporarily adjusted his strategy and prepared to bring the shrine with him, but this thing cannot be kept with him all the time. When he arrives at the Golden City, he will find a corner to store it.
A black gas was floating on the surface of the statue quietly staying in the shrine, and it actually responded to Wen Shi.
"Try not to let other big demons notice me." This was the only request it made.
The devil seemed to be very busy and needed to run a business. After he said that, the black gas on the surface of the statue disappeared in three seconds.
Wen Shi tried hard to force a smile.
So you also know that you are the devil who escaped the net?
The weekend is just one day away.
Early in the morning, a man in a flowered shirt came to the villa to find Wen Shi. He was accompanied by a trendy man who looked at Wen Shi with disdain.
Apart from anything else, Mr. Lin was very good at business. With his death, the Lin family will soon be on the decline.
The man in the flowered shirt was driving an extended luxury car today, which could easily seat seven or eight people.
A Yu is a bit like the old lady. He has a low sense of presence by nature. He didn't deliberately sit in the back after getting on the bus, but he just wasn't very conspicuous.
Wen Shi was figuring out how to fasten the seatbelt on the shrine when the man in the flowered shirt suddenly stared at the rearview mirror and asked curiously, "It looks like your eldest brother's car is behind us. What's he doing here?"
Wen Shi said perfunctorily that he didn't know.
I knew deep down that I wanted to follow them to see if I could catch the beginning of the next story.
"Smart as heck." Xiaohua shook her head.
They can trigger a new chapter by successfully completing the wealthy chapter and by touching the banknotes. Both are indispensable.
Wen Shi initially turned on the navigation system to study the route, but after the car drove out of the national highway, it suddenly disappeared from the navigation map.
The weather forecast said it would be sunny today, but in reality the sky was quite gloomy. In the end, I didn't know whether we drove into the desert or the Gobi Desert, the temperature was very high, but the brightness of the sky didn't change at all.
After nearly three hours, when Wen Shi was feeling somewhat numb from sitting, the luxury car came to a sudden stop. Wen Shi grabbed the handrail and used his other hand to steady the shrine in time.
"We're here." The man in the flowered shirt's tone lacked his usual slickness, as if he was quite apprehensive about the place they were about to go.
His trendy boyfriend also put away his superior attitude and seemed to be keeping a low profile.
Wen Shi looked at the electronic watch. He hadn't done anything yet, but the number of readers had risen to 800, and was still on the rise. This showed that "City of Gold" had a certain popularity.
Surrounded by a desert, the city standing in the central area looks very unreal. Outside it is a magnificent city wall, and the city gate is made of gold. In the middle, the three big characters "Golden City" are black and bright.
The dark sky weakens the sense of prosperity that the city itself should bring.
The air was stuffy and Wen Shi felt like he couldn't breathe, so he followed the man in the floral shirt and walked forward.
You must register before entering the city, and foreign cars cannot drive directly into the city.
The person in charge of registration was wrapped in black cloth, and his voice was as hoarse as the ghost children in the orphanage. The only thing that could be identified was that he was a man.
The shrine was difficult to carry, so Wen Shi took out the statue directly.
"What are you going into town for?"
Wen Shi: "Working."
The person in charge glanced at him, then took out the banknotes from the box and pulled Xiaohua to his side: "We are together. Someone recommended us to work here."
It was indeed the damn game intermediary that forced them to come to the Golden City.
The person in charge checked the banknotes and stamped Wen Shi and Xiao Hua's arms. Then his gaze fell on A Yu. His eyes were like an electronic scanner, able to discern a person's strength. Seeing A Yu, he nodded slightly without asking any further questions.
The group entered the city smoothly.
Just now, Wen Shi's words about working shocked the man in the flowered shirt. After entering the city, he dared to say "Fuck", "Brother, are you kidding me?"
Wen Shi replied with four words: "Life forces me."
Just as I passed through the city gate, a terrified voice suddenly came from behind: "I, I'm not here to make trouble, I'm leaving now!"
The player who was driving after them was stopped by a patrolman outside the city. His two arms were handcuffed and he clearly felt that something was wrong.
After scanning the player's electronic ID, the person in charge said coldly: "You don't have enough property and are involved in a lawsuit, so you are not qualified to enter the city. Your ability is average and there is no proof, so you are not qualified to work."
After he made the judgment, the player was pulled away by two people behind him. The attack props were like ineffective magic. No matter how he wailed and struggled, it had no effect at all. In the end, the player didn't know where he was taken.
Wen Shi looked back and saw this scene, and felt the tyranny and barbarity of the Golden City.
Soon he no longer cared about the life or death of the player and began to look at the new map he was about to enter.
Two words can highly summarize the Golden City: technology and violence.
The entire city is full of advanced high-tech products. The height of the buildings has not been reduced due to the desert environment. No area is blank or wasted. Electronic screens and advertisements are everywhere, and the projection coverage is even more exaggerated than that of the virtual world.
The projections were full of the best in their respective fields; to put it bluntly, they were electronic business cards. Golden City was extremely admiring of the strong and respected talent; as long as they had the ability, Golden City's managers would advertise for the top talent in the industry for free.
"The evaluation system is similar to a game." Wen Shi narrowed his eyes.
For example, there is a lawyer's projected business card on top of the skyscraper on the left.
[Zhou An'an: S-level lawyer
Resume: The second-ranked lawyer in Golden City, helped UHY win the lawsuit last year...]
There is no detailed life experience, and only a few of the most famous lawsuits are selected in the resume.
The game prompt sounded at this time——
"Players, please choose a profession as soon as possible and go to the Talent Building for level assessment."
"Please note that there is only one opportunity for initial professional qualification certification, so please choose your job carefully."
Ayu suddenly stopped and looked towards the building on the side. It seemed that someone was staring at this side, but the windows of that building were almost all half open, and it was impossible to determine the source of the peeping.
Inside the building.
A player moved to lean against the curtain and said, "President, Pei Wenwei is here. If nothing unexpected happens, he will go for professional qualification certification first."
After hearing what was said, the player smiled and replied, "Don't worry, I've made all the arrangements. Once he's certified as a doctor, he'll definitely be dead."
The person who was talking to this player was currently sitting in the casino, playing cards with another player.
The person in the middle who plays the role of dealer and deals the cards is Li Nan, who is currently working in a casino.
The president of Wangcai Bank rubbed his brows and said, "President Li, could you please not portray the humbleness of workers in such a standard way?"
Other high-level players would exude a unique aura of being a master even when they were working, but Li Nan bowed when he should and greeted customers when he should, without any airs at all.
Li Nan just smiled and nodded, then continued to do his work in a serious manner.
The bank president looked at the newly acquired card and suddenly said, "Pei Wenwei has arrived. Do you want to guess whether he can get any business after the certification?"
Li Nan said as he dealt the cards, "With you getting in the way, it's going to be difficult. But Huangjincheng will advertise for the industry leader, and you won't be able to stop it then."
The bank president laughed heartily. "The code name does help increase his initial assessment level, but it's impossible to classify him as a top talent."
Pei Wenwei is a person with no medical knowledge at all. Because of the title, the Talent Building may give him a C or D rating, but it is impossible for him to get a higher grade.
"Oh." Li Nan didn't argue with him.
The bank president threw a card and asked, "Want to bet?"
Li Nan thought for a moment and said, "Five thousand points."
For people of their status, verbal promises alone were enough. The bank president nodded and said, "Okay, let's bet on the qualification level he will eventually certify."
…
The boss was playing cards, and Wen Shi was still walking to the Talent Building.
If he knew these people were treating 5,000 points like a joke, he'd definitely call them evil capitalists. The man in the flowered shirt and the trendy guy didn't work, and were quite intimidated by the Talent Building, so they didn't follow them in.
The Talent Building is the largest building in the entire Golden City.
The building, with a total of 108 floors, houses the world's most rigorous and sophisticated authentication equipment, capable of reading every employee's professional history to prevent resume fraud. The Talent Building can certify nearly 2,000 occupations, and countless people come through its doors daily for assessments.
If the evaluation results show that the employee is ranked last among the competitors in the Golden City, they will be executed for wasting the evaluators' time and wasting machine startup. The Golden City will re-rank the employees at midnight every day. If the employees in the city are squeezed out by newcomers and fall to the bottom, they will also be executed.
So basically there is new blood joining every industry every day, and the whole city will usher in a new reshuffle at midnight.
Of course, for some unpopular professions and special situations, there will be special "Codes" recording specific coping strategies.
Golden City collects taxes once a month. The industry can be unpopular, but the income cannot be abnormal. If it does not reach the average level, it will die sooner or later.
The lobby is staffed by intelligent robots.
"What profession do you need to be certified for?"
Wen Shi smiled and said, "Bodyguard."
"Puff——" The environment in the hall is very good, with free desserts and drinks available. Xiaohua, who had just opened a bottle of juice behind her, sprayed it out in one gulp.
Wen Shi himself stood in front of the intelligent robot with a confident look on his face.
With his "One Sword to Settle Everything" and his past outstanding cases of saving other people's lives, an S might not even be enough to describe himself.
Ayu tugged at Wen Shi's clothes from behind and looked him up and down: "Son, are you okay?"
Wen Shi nodded: "Starting from S-level, there is no upper limit."
Xiaohua had a complicated expression: "Yes, he really can."
Xiaohua and Wenshi have been to the Sunset Town dungeon together, and have witnessed with their own eyes the human-pig method of saving people, as well as the method of turning players into insect-men to save people... In short, as long as there is still a breath left, the opponent can be revived!
"Let's go." Wen Shi followed the intelligent robot.
I took the elevator up to the 34th floor. The moment the door opened, I saw a group of burly men standing in front of me, and the whole space seemed oppressive.
The young man in the car was just the opposite, with a thin waist, long legs, and skin as clean as a porcelain doll. Compared with this group of people, he was like a little lamb that had strayed into a herd of wild beasts.
But he held his head high and walked towards the authentication machine with pride.