Chapter 1703: Ember Maiden
Xu Huo nodded to the hat player in greeting, and the latter returned the gesture with a nod of his own.
The train arrived safely at Zone D03-019. Stepping out of the Green Sun Station, the first thing that caught the eye was a city veiled in a faint cyan hue. Looking up, the sunlight filtering through the clouds was noticeably different in color from other zones, denser and richer, as if a layer of green clouds floated high in the sky, though the clouds were thin enough not to block the sunlight.
The green tint in the sunlight gradually faded as one descended, becoming fresh and light above the city, without affecting the senses. Instead, it was quite comfortable. Overall, it wasn't much different from other zones—just swapping a blue sky for a green one.
Green Sun Station was located by the seaside, and Green Sun City was a tourist city built along the coastline. Everything—from the clean, futuristic station, to the streets adorned with jade inlays and carvings, to the corners planted with rare flowers, to the city's iconic buildings studded with colorful gems from top to bottom, to the luxury shops visible everywhere and festive giveaways of small gifts—all reeked of money.
Airships performed nonstop in the sky, and holographic projections reading "Welcome, Visitors" floated above the city. Driverless flying cars on the streets shuttled guests for free in an orderly manner. Outside the station, dedicated guides could quickly tailor travel itineraries based on guests' requests and arrange flying car services.
Additionally, they offered small gifts, including but not limited to travel guides, price lists for various services, and visitor guidelines. Some of the delicate little pins or cufflinks even had tiny gems embedded in them.
Getting off the train alongside Xu Huo were the hat player, the golden-eyed player, the shirt woman, and the severed-finger player. Seeing the gems in the complimentary gifts, the severed-finger player couldn't help but say, "This is way too extravagant. So many shops are giving away gifts—are they all like this? Anyone can just take them? How much does that cost? Don't they lose money doing business?"
No one answered his question, but he soon found out whether these businesses were losing money. As they exited the station, the guide hinted that they should buy a set of clothes from a tailor shop. There were several tailor shops near the station, and stepping inside, even the simplest styles had one or two gems sewn on, not even sparing shoes and socks. The prices were exorbitant, with the zeros on the holographic price tags making one's lung capacity feel improved.
"These outfits are on promotion. If you buy the whole set, you get a discount," the sales assistant said, a mix of human and machine. Generally, customers who seemed familiar with the process were handled by machines—just pay and go. But for first-timers like Xu Huo and the others, someone would proactively approach to introduce the items, calmly dealing with their shock.
"A set of clothes costs over a hundred thousand..." The severed-finger player thumped his chest. "And that's the discounted price..."
The hat player was picked up by someone as soon as he left the station. The golden-eyed player followed Xu Huo at a moderate distance, while the shirt woman and the severed-finger player were also led by the sales assistant to the tailor shop, so the three ended up together.
Zone 019 produced gems, but the ones sewn into the clothes were small and of mediocre quality. Combined with the fabric, the markup was severe.
Still, this was a tourist city, so it was understandable—the cost of the free giveaways had to be recouped somehow.
"Is it really necessary to buy?" the severed-finger player made a last-ditch effort.
The sales assistant smiled sweetly. "Honored guest, you need a proper set of clothes to receive better hospitality."
In other words, without decent attire, many shops might not even let them in.
"For example, the Green Gem Tower is hosting a player competition, and many people come specifically for it. But both spectators and participants have strict dress codes, since the matches are broadcast to other zones," the assistant said cheerfully. "If you're going to watch the matches, I recommend buying a nicer outfit. That way, you can quickly get a good viewing spot once inside."
The severed-finger player wasn't interested in the competition. He bought the cheapest set of clothes, plus shoes and accessories, totaling 110,000 white notes.
Xu Huo and the shirt woman each picked a 200,000-white-note outfit based on the assistant's recommendation, clearly more interested in the player events.
Before leaving, the assistant reminded them, "If you're here for the instance, take East Direct Road. If you're purely here for tourism, take West Direct Road."
Once outside, the shirt woman headed straight for West Direct Road. The severed-finger player, there for the instance, nodded to Xu Huo and called a car to leave.
Xu Huo still had someone tailing him, unable to shake them off, so he decided to check out the Green Gem Tower first. Along the way, he also got a sense of the city's spending levels.
Well, aside from the absurdly high clothing prices, everything else was extremely expensive, especially accommodation. No wonder many players eventually had to leave—unless you were a resident of Zone 019, with the exchange rate between white notes and Zone 014 currency, spending money here was like water flowing every day.
Before heading to the Green Gem Tower, Xu Huo had the flying car take a detour along East Direct Road to activate the instance.
[Player Passerby A has entered Green Sun City. Default participation in C-level instance "Ember Maiden." This instance allows team completion. Player must arrive at Dingding Flower Town before midnight.]
[Background: The renowned painter Solan created over a thousand paintings in her lifetime, nearly nine hundred of which fetched extremely high prices at auction, including some from before she became famous. As the most famous painter in D03 Wormhole Point Zone 019, her works have long surpassed the realm of art, embodying thoughts and humanistic spirit passed down through generations that are universally admired.]
[Because every painting is a masterpiece, collectors often argue over which one is Solan's crowning achievement. However, as more works surfaced, each newly selected masterpiece was quickly overturned, until Solan, due to severe illness, announced she would never paint again. The question was then put to Solan herself. Before her death, she finally gave her answer: the painting was "Ember Maiden."]
[On her deathbed, Solan declared this painting her life's greatest achievement, one that no later work could match. Unfortunately, "Ember Maiden" was not among any of her published works, and even her family had never known of its existence. After Solan's passing, the art world launched a frenzy to find "Ember Maiden," but over the course of ten years, no one found the painting. Thus, this unseen work was hyped to an astronomical price.]
[Instance Task: Find "Ember Maiden."]
[Instance Duration: Forty days.]
(End of Chapter) Source: /txt/35960/32858445