'Her speed just now wasn't particularly fast; I saw it clearly. But that handgun seemed to appear from thin air. It's not like she fumbled for it anywhere on her body.'
'A spatial artifact?'
Lexon was suddenly reminded of the settings in cultivation novels he used to read—an item that possessed storage space, allowing things to be retrieved from thin air at any time.
'Of course, it could also be some kind of ability.'
Lexon's train of thought was quite divergent, and he didn't find his own ideas strange in the slightest. After all, his original worldview had been shattered the year the system activated when he was eighteen, so he could accept anything strange that appeared now.
The sexy woman noticed Lexon's surprised gaze. She had a reasonably good impression of this unusual newcomer, so she raised the hand holding the gun and explained, "A space ring."
Only then did Lexon notice the black ring she wore on her finger.
"Alright, stop screaming." The woman fired a shot into the air, signaling for the still-shrieking and wailing newcomers to quiet down.
The effect was obvious. The people who had just been making ear-piercing noises were now silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to breathe too loudly. They could only stare at her with terrified eyes, like fragile lambs looking at a gray wolf.
"Hello, newcomers. I am a member of Zhongzhou Team Four, Youmei."Youmeiseemed to find speaking like this a bit troublesome, so she pinched out the cigarette between her lips and casually tossed it aside.
"Zhongzhou Team Four?" Lexon asked, picking up on a point of interest in her words.
"Correct. The place we are in now is called the Main God Space. The Main God, which is that big sphere of light next to you, selects people from the real world to enter the Main God Space and sends them to different worlds to complete missions it assigns. Based on the region people are selected from, they are divided into many zones. The region we are in is Zhongzhou, so we are assigned to a Zhongzhou team."
"You all have been assigned to our team, Zhongzhou Team Four."
"You should consider yourselves very lucky to have entered our gentle team."
'Gentle?' The man with glasses glanced at the fat man, who had once again fallen unconscious from blood loss and pain, and couldn't help but curse inwardly. 'What kind of gentle is this?'
"Don't doubt it. When I say gentle, I'm not kidding. Some teams don't care about the lives of newcomers at all, using them as cannon fodder or little piglets," Youmei said with a light laugh. "Our team, out of humanitarianism, still cares a little about newcomers. Isn't that why I was sent to look after you all?"
'Look after?' Lexon also glanced at the fat man.
'That guy is about to kick the bucket.'
"Of course, it's also to replenish our ranks. If there's a newcomer with good potential, we will recruit them as an official new member of our team."
As she said this, Youmei casually threw a couple of glances in Lexon's direction.
"Now, I want you to introduce yourselves. It's best if you mention any special skills or strengths you have. That way, during missions, I can pay more attention to you based on your potential usefulness. This will be very beneficial for you, because the missions aren't that simple. One careless mistake, and you could die!" Youmei's tone carried a strange, teasing undertone.
"We could die?!" Hearing this, the few newcomers became even more uneasy.
Youmei first pointed her hand at Lexon. "You first!"
Lexon had no objection to being singled out first. Everyone had to introduce themselves eventually, and it was possible they would have to cooperate with these people later.
Lexon didn't bother standing up and simply said from his seated position on the floor, "My name is Lexon. I've learned a little about fighting techniques. It's a pleasure."
He had never formally learned fighting techniques, but the sign-in system had given him the [Proficient Fighting Techniques] skill, so there was nothing wrong with what he said.
The young and pretty female student spoke with a trembling voice, "My name is Rin Tabane, I'm a student... I can dance."
...
After they finished their introductions, Lexon had a general understanding of the other newcomers' situations.
The female student's name was Rin Tabane; she was a student who could dance.
The man with glasses was named Huang Ming; he was an accountant skilled in calculations.
The woman in casual clothes was named Hu Yan; she was a writer skilled at making up stories.
The fat man was still unconscious, so his details were unknown.
However, judging from his earlier behavior, he likely wasn't a very capable person.
From Youmei's previous explanation, Lexon understood that the situation they were about to face would not be peaceful and smooth. The Main God's missions would inevitably be fraught with danger, so Lexon was considering the possibility of cooperating with others. And compared to the veterans like Youmei whohad already formed their own clique, Lexon was more willing to work with the newcomers, as it would give him more freedom.
'But... none of them are useful.'
Lexon propped his chin on his arm, thinking to himself.
"Alright, except for that Lexon who's a little useful, the rest of you are trash." In contrast to Lexon's internal criticism, Youmei said it out loud.
Although Rin Tabane, Huang Ming, and Hu Yan were furious upon hearing this, they only dared to be angry without speaking out against this woman who would shoot someone over a single disagreement.
"Next, I'll explain some things about the Main God Space in detail. You'd better listen carefully," Youmei reminded them.
"Wait a moment." Just as Youmei was about to continue, Lexon spoke up. He pointed at the fat man, whose bleeding had mostly stopped, and said, "Are we just going to leave him like that?"
Youmei chuckled lightly. "It's fine to leave him. The Main God won't let him die."
"Oh."
...
Youmei's explanation was quite detailed.
Lexon roughly summarized it in his head.
The Main God Space throws selected Reincarnators into various worlds to complete main story missions assigned by the Main God. Upon completion, the Main God rewards Reincarnators with Samsara Points and Plot Rewards. Failure to complete a main story mission results in a deduction of a certain number of Samsara Points and Plot Rewards. If a Reincarnator's point balance is negative upon returning, they will be directly obliterated.
Reincarnators can use these Samsara Points and Plot Rewards at the Main God to enhance their physical attributes or exchange for bloodlines, skills, and items.
Furthermore, each world has a plot that follows a certain pattern. Under normal circumstances, it will develop in a specific order. If a Reincarnator attempts to influence the plot's development, they will trigger side quests, which will have different rewards based on the impact of the changes they make.
New Reincarnators receive an initial 500 Samsara Points, which is why veterans on some teams treat newcomers as "pigs for slaughter." They torture the newcomers, knowing the Main God will keep them barely alive.
Although there is a penalty for killing a newcomer, veterans use their information advantage and physical torment to force the newcomers into submission.
Samsara Points cannot be forcibly transferred, so veterans make newcomers exchange for items they want, even though the things that can be bought for 500 points are very limited and of little use to veterans.
Afterward, the veterans have two choices. The first is to use other story characters to kill the newcomer immediately after entering a mission world to eliminate future trouble, as there have been cases of "pigs" who harbored resentment, bided their time, and got their revenge. The second option is a more sustainable approach: to continuously farm the newcomer as a "pig," only killing them off after they have developed to a certain point.
After hearing Youmei's speech, the newcomers finally understood what she meant by "gentle" earlier. By comparison, her team was indeed much gentler.
The reason she didn't just let Lexon explain things after she had finished was that explaining the basics of the Main God Space to newcomers provides a certain guidance reward.
As for how much that reward was, she didn't specify.
Regarding the question the newcomers cared about most—returning to the real world—Youmei gave a surprisingly wonderful response: "After you pass the first mission, you can leave the Main God Space at will. You just need to return to thespace on the day the next mission begins."
This news truly made the few newcomers ecstatic.
Finally, Youmei told them, "Those twenty doors correspond to the private rooms of twenty team members. You cannot enter without permission. The ones you can't open are occupied. After you're done with your exchanges, find an empty room to rest. We'll gather here in two days at noon."
Then, ignoring the newcomers who wanted to ask more questions, Youmei turned and left.