Chapter 1 The Night

The night enveloped an unnamed planet, a planet inhabited by intelligent beings of different races.

The arrival of night seemed like a signal, prompting people who had been cooped up in the dilapidated buildings on the planet's surface during the day to leave their homes. In groups of two or three, clad in black robes that blended with the night, they poured into the underground city.

In the dimly lit underground city, energy crystals emitting a faint glow hung along the narrow, long streets, barely illuminating the surroundings.

On both sides of the street hung wooden and cloth signs of various shapes, some serious and some not, for the shops.

This faint light also allowed the bustling crowd on the street to see the shops they were looking for at a glance.

Mingmei, her face covered, sat in a very inconspicuous shop in a corner. The words "Snacks" hung at the door. She coldly watched the passersby who didn't glance her way, and couldn't help but blow a breath at her veil.

[Host, be careful of your veil.]

Gui Gui couldn't help but remind Mingmei that in this game, while playing the role of a boxed lunch merchant, she was also a player.

She needed to distinguish between these two identities in this game.

In other words, different identities had different tasks.

[After all, Mr. Yan Hui didn't care in the last game, and you also said it was a bug. If you don't pay attention and your cover is blown again in this game, then your account will be useless!]

"If the account is useless, then it's useless. I can just quit."

Sitting in this dark place for half a day without anyone coming, Mingmei's temper gradually flared up. She wouldn't work for her uncle. After graduation, with her education and experience, it should be okay to join the legion, right?

[Host, every expense you've had since you started school has been paid for by Mr. Yan. You currently owe Mr. Yan 16,194,250 Star Coins, plus an S-class mecha.]

Even if Gui Gui didn't directly state the price of the mecha, Mingmei knew it.

This mecha cost at least hundreds of millions.

"Even with the mecha, what about the string of numbers before that?"

[That's for food, drink, and tuition over the years.]

"I had a stipend when I was in school!"

[Pulling strings to get into school required some greasing of the wheels.]

Mingmei: "..."

Why did this system know more about interpersonal relationships than she did?

[Host, you should honestly sell boxed lunches. This game is the first match of the bet between you and the Outer Star Sea.]

Originally, Mingmei thought that according to Hu Mingli's personality, after she passed her certification at the legion base, she would have to follow them around again. But she didn't expect that what awaited her was another game for them, these new recruits.

They even had to play with those people from the Outer Star Sea who had caused trouble a few days ago.

Mingmei's first reaction was that her uncle was up to something again.

With Hu Mingli's personality, it was possible for him to just fight again. Why play games!

Mingmei didn't believe that her uncle wasn't behind this.

What to play with those people?

How to play?

These were the thoughts everyone had at the beginning of the game.

But after they entered, everyone couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

This game could be played like this!?

They were exchanging lives with those guys from the Outer Star Sea?!

With this full of surprise and curiosity, when Mingmei finally entered the game, she had to continue playing the NPC while also thinking about the task of her player character.

Player task – [Catch the rebels who are disrupting the stability of the Outer Star Sea.]

"If no one comes to buy boxed lunches, I'll close up shop and switch to my player character."

Mingmei lowered her head, she still had to investigate what exactly counted as rebels.

Looking at the feet of the passersby outside the shop, Mingmei couldn't help but mutter, "This place is too dark. Do you think anyone will notice us after so long?"

[This place is a no-man's land. There's not much infrastructure. It's good enough as it is. Don't be picky.]

Gui Gui comforted Mingmei softly, and Mingmei sighed again.

When she went to the Outer Star Sea before, she had been staying in the starship. She had only flown over some inhabited planets in the Outer Star Sea, never landed to see them, and never had such a direct experience of it all.

She didn't expect that the game background for this round would be in the Outer Star Sea.

"Where exactly did my uncle get such detailed information? The depiction of the scenes, the characters, and some of the customs here. How does he know what the Outer Star Sea is like?"

Even though Mingmei knew that her uncle had traveled all over the world when he was young, that didn't mean he could remember everything so clearly after so long.

Who knew that he would make a game about this place so many years later?

Just as Mingmei was thinking about her uncle's sources of information, a sudden commotion came from the street. Mingmei stood up curiously and looked outside the shop, only to see the pedestrians on the street suddenly crowding to both sides of the street, as if making way for someone.

"Big Octopus is coming!"

Someone shouted. Mingmei, as an NPC, immediately received information about Big Octopus. Although everyone called him Big Octopus, he was just a mixed-blood of half-human and half-octopus, a hybrid of humans and兽人 (shou ren, beastmen).

He was also the boss of this underground city.

Mixed-blood.

This was the first time Mingmei had heard such a word in the game.

At the same time, Mingmei sensitively realized that her uncle's introduction of this word into the game must have a deeper meaning.

"My God? Really? Humans and beastmen can also combine?"

While Mingmei was thinking about Yan Hui's intentions in this game, she heard that familiar discussion again among the crowd who were making way for the underground city boss's unusually large body.

Mingmei looked up and saw that it was indeed Lu Xiaoyao standing there, with several people she had met in the game before.

For example, Dong Lei, and Sun Yunzhong. They didn't know what was going on, but they had run into each other after entering the game.

"That's right..."

Dong Lei's eyes showed some disbelief, and she felt a little uncomfortable looking at the upper half of his body which was no different from a human, but the lower half was completely octopus tentacles as he walked past them.

Beastmen and humans were indeed very different, but they had two forms, one completely beast form, and the other a humanoid state similar to humans. At most, the humanoid state would retain a little bit of the beast form, but there was definitely nothing like this half-human, half-beast form.

How was this monster born?

Dong Lei subconsciously thought, but suddenly her body couldn't help but tremble.

Such words seemed to be taboo here.

Mingmei also saw clearly what the other person looked like when he approached, and her heart also rejected it.

It wasn't that Mingmei had any prejudice, she just simply couldn't imagine it.

"I remember, don't beastmen reproduce in their beast form?"

Don't think that Mingmei's serious knowledge wasn't very good, but when it came to other things, she could say a few words. As soon as she asked this, the system immediately spoke up – [Host, please stop your dangerous thoughts!]