Chapter 14
A year ago, a tech company called “Ash Blue Tech” was established in that area. The newly established Ash Blue Tech had no reputation to speak of in China and only a select few knew that the GENESIS China servers were being monitored by them.
Ash Blue Tech knew the first day of GENESIS’ launch was crucial. It was midnight but the monitoring department was in full gear, keeping a vigilant eye on the game’s data.
Data flowed in a continuous stream across enormous screens as a group of young men watched attentively below.
The game had been running for quite a number of hours now and they were not as nervous as before.
There had been no hiccoughs, even at the game’s busiest time. It should be able to maintain its stability later, too.
“Eh?! How is this possible? Someone has entered The Land of Divine Punishment!”
A young man suddenly cried out in surprise.
“The Land of Divine Punishment? Isn’t it accessible only through a very few hidden quests? The highest-level players are just Level 10 – How could anyone have managed to get into that hidden map?”
“Quick, investigate what’s going on!”
The whole group was taken by surprise. The young man who first discovered this development hurriedly called up the corresponding data.
If bugs have appeared in the game, they have to report it right away. Ash Blue Tech only did monitoring and had no power to repair anything in the game.
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
“Haha! This guy must be a big pervert! He molested over 10 female NPC in a row and triggered a hidden quest that would throw him into The Land of Divine Punishment!”
“Woah, what a revenge! The person who designed this quest must be some Old Maid who’d never been molested before.”
“Poor bastard. It’s the Land of Divine Punishment – Players level 10 and below have no chance in hell of getting out unscathed. He’ll probably lose all his levels and drop back to Level 1 again.”
… … …
The Land of Divine Punishment.
Chen Mo gnashed his teeth as he stared out at the ruins in front of him.
The ruins was located on a large, black, borderless marshland. The sky was gray and lifeless with not a trace of light. Half submerged debris from fallen buildings poked out from the depths of the marsh.
There were no monsters to be seen other than the black female figures which emerge from below to assassinate him.
He had barely been here for 5 minutes but he’d been assassinated 5 times and dropped from Level 9 to Level 8!
Bloody hell! I got tricked!
This rendezvous quest was a hidden quest all right – but it was a hellhole where you paid with your life!
When he had gotten to the Northern end of the town, he’d knocked on the door and Enoch caught hold of him without a word, then said that she was going to punish a wicked bastard before sending him into this Land of Divine Punishment.
Of course, Chen Mo did not go in without putting up a fight. However, Enoch’s speed and attack power was too much for him and he was caught in a few moves.
He could only leave The Land of Divine Punishment after an hour. In The Land of Divine Punishment, his EXP was reduced by 20% – this effect was applicable too, even though he was not yet Level 10.
Only 5mins had passed and he’d died 5 times and dropped a level. Looks like he’ll be dropped all the way back to Level 1 when an hour’s up.
Chen Mo reckoned that this place should have some good items somewhere in it but he was powerless to obtain it.
He had actually moved just 30m in all of 5 minutes in the black marsh. Every time he resurrected and took a few steps, black figures would emerge from the surface of the swamp and insta-kill him with the wave of a dagger.
After dying, he would resurrect after 30 seconds but would get assassinated again after walking a few steps.
He was unable to logoff to escape either. When he logged off, his avatar remained and was still killed by the dark figures.
After his 5 deaths, Chen Mo finally got to a huge rock.
He was thinking of using the huge rock to defend himself against the shadowy figures’ attacks.
He quietly calculated the timing of the figures’ appearances and silently set a Quake Trap on a rock.
Whoosh!
Right after he’d set the Quake Trap, a figure suddenly appeared on his left. Chen Mo reacted quickly and flung the Quake Trap at it.
Boom!
The Quake Trap exploded! The dark figure was blasted away by the Quake Trap!
Looks like it’ll work!
Chen Mo’s heart leapt for joy.
However, the quake had also pushed him away from the huge rock and he fell once more into the wet, murky marsh.
Damn!
Before he could get away from the marsh surface, Chen Mo felt a sharp pain in his back. He’d been stabbed once again.
No…! There is no way to defend against this!
He’d thought it was possible to use the Quake trap to lessen his death count and somehow pass the hour but after this attempt, Chen Mo knew that his current attributes and level was no match for the power of the black figures.
Once he admitted this fact, he did not resist. He ran in one direction like a madman, trying to uncover some treasure, any treasure, before he got killed all the way back to Level 1.
Chen Mo dropped dead over and over, running as soon as he resurrected.
“A treasure chest!”
When his level dropped to Level 5, Chen Mo was gratified to discover that, 50m in front of him, was an ancient, blackened treasure chest sitting on the marshland!
If he can open that treasure chest, it would be worth it even if he dropped down to Level 1!
Chen Mo ran without care for his life.
Unfortunately, it was just a pipe dream. With just 30m to go, dark figures emerged from the marshland one after the other.
This was the first time Chen Mo had a chance to look at the dark figures properly. These dark figures had alluring figures of an exquisite beauty – it was just that their entire bodies were darker than black and details could not be seen clearly at all except those pairs of cold, killer red eyes. These eyes were a sign that they were not to be trifled with.
One dark figure was impossible. Faced with over 10 of them, Chen Mo had not the slightest chance in all the hells of the universe.
He could only sigh and halt his steps and obediently be killed all the way to Level 1.
Once he hit Level 1, he was finally free from the Land of Divine Punishment and resurrected in Ayer Town Square.
“Shit! She tricked me! I’d like to see what’d happen if I overpowered that Enoch and made her my servant. We’ll see what happens to the quest then!”
It didn’t matter to Chen Mo that he had fallen back to Level 1.
What he couldn’t stand was being tricked into being killed over and over!
He had fought against Enoch. He knew her attributes were not that high. If he could get his hands on good equipment, it would be possible for him to spar with her.
Judging from the contents of the quest, it was obvious that the motive of the designer of the quest was to severely punish the players who want to take advantage of NPCs. Sigh, he must’ve been an innocent party caught in the crossfire.
Chen Mo was doubtful if the game designer intended at all for the quest to be possible to complete. Enoch was more powerful than Level 10 players by far and they wouldn’t be a match for her.
If it was truly so, the game might get stuck in an infinite loop if he completes the quest.
Therefore, be it professional or personal, Chen Mo had every reason to complete this quest.
To accomplish this, he had to first get a set of good Level 10 equipment.
It wasn’t easy to get excellent equipment right now but he’d dropped to Level 1 and failed the quest. He could not re-trigger it again. That meant that he had to commit suicide and start over.
But before he did that, he could do something first to get a hidden title and increase his attributes.