Chapter 2740: Romantic Sightseeing Tour
Regardless of their original intentions, Zone 022 was very welcoming to outside players. As soon as they walked out of the station, people were already selling them maps and travel guides. The moment they bought the first map, Xu Huo and the others triggered a dungeon notification:
[Player has entered the "Romantic Sightseeing Tour" dungeon range. Default participation in this B-rank dungeon.]
[Background Introduction: The country of Ivan, known as the most romantic nation, boasts beautiful scenery and is livable everywhere. It is the ideal residence desired by residents of this entire zone and even the entire wormhole point. With nearly fifty thousand A-rank scenic spots and nearly one hundred thousand B-rank scenic spots nationwide, the routes for sightseeing are complex and varied. Whether it's cultural history or natural scenery, any route can satisfy the fun of exploration and leisure for tourists.]
[Dungeon Quest: Select any route and complete scenic spot check-ins.]
[Dungeon Time Limit: None.]
[Note: Each tourist route has a limited capacity for tourists. Please choose a route map as soon as possible.]
After reading the dungeon introduction, Levi said, "This is a suitable zone for retirement."
With so many tourist routes, each player might take a different one. Ivan was a tourist country. Unless the country collapsed, the possibility of the dungeon breaking down was very low.
"Not necessarily." Zhou Juanjuan lowered her voice and said, "You all saw it. The people in this zone treat us outside players as entertainment. What will they do if the entertainment isn't fun anymore?"
A dungeon born in a tourist country—there must be a way to disrupt or adjust it. How could they let the players who entered just slack off?
"Maybe that's part of the entertainment too." Zhan Erliu stretched lazily. "Don't overthink it. Let's go buy route maps first. There's a tourist station up ahead."
The group moved toward the tourist station.
The so-called tourist station was a terminal point specifically providing route consultation for tourists. Here, players could choose their preferred routes via electronic terminals, either inputting them into their personal terminals or having them made into booklets.
When Xu Huo and the others arrived, some players were coming out, holding more than one tourist brochure in their hands.
A quick glance showed at least twenty or more scenic spots listed on them.
"Let's design several sets of routes," Zhou Juanjuan suggested. "We can choose later."
The group entered the station. Combining information from Under Dimension and the local Message Collection Terminal, each of them selected several sets of routes, but in the end, they could only choose one.
The tokens triggered at each tourist spot might be the same or different. Only by arriving at the location could one determine the difficulty of obtaining the token. However, tokens were generally sourced locally, and some ranges could be judged in advance.
But there were simply too many tourist locations. Except for a few places that appeared frequently on different tourist route maps, the rest of the information was very fragmented and difficult to extract anything useful. In other words, every place had people going to it, but the information wasn't representative, and it was hard to tell truth from falsehood.
"Would places where players frequently go make it harder to refresh tokens because of the crowd?" Levi said. "If too many people go and the refreshed tokens are the same, wouldn't there be competition?"
That possibility couldn't be ruled out. One of the functions of those fixed locations was probably this.
"Choosing less crowded places isn't low risk either," Zhan Erliu said. "Fewer people go, less is known, and you might end up with a stage that's harder to obtain tokens from."
"With over a hundred thousand locations, even with more people, it's not a problem." The route maps Xu Huo had chosen were all based on the popular guides of Zone 022, with complete sightseeing routes and aircraft along the way for easy boarding.
"Wouldn't this be too popular?" Zhou Juanjuan said. "The people of Zone 022 are watching outside players clear the dungeon. Popular locations might increase in difficulty due to the high number of observers."
"Places with fewer people aren't necessarily low difficulty either," Xu Huo said. "In places with more exposure, the possibility of others tampering with things decreases."
From another perspective, these tourist spots had a competitive relationship with each other. The more people went, the more attention they got, and the more popular the spot became. If the attention of Zone 022 residents was a variable, then to attract more people, someone would definitely try to increase the spectacle. What the spectacle was didn't need much explanation.
"What you say makes sense too." Levi looked troubled at the route map he had chosen. "Should we go to a few places first to check the situation before deciding?"
"No need to waste time," Xu Huo said. "There are already many guides on Under Dimension. Everyone's encounters are different. No matter how much you explore fixed locations and fixed patterns, it's not very meaningful."
"Then which route map should we choose?" Zhan Erliu asked.
"We can't share the same route map," Xu Huo stated in advance.
Zhou Juanjuan was slightly surprised. "Didn't we agree to team up?"
"That's not what I mean. We can still act together, and choosing the same route map is fine, but we can't team up." Xu Huo explained, "There are too many locations involved in this dungeon. It's hard to predict what changes might occur in between. The possibility of getting separated is high. Once we team up and someone falls behind, it will slow everyone else down, and there's also a risk in the final settlement."
"So it's best for each person to take their own route map."
If a group teams up and someone doesn't cooperate after clearing the dungeon, the team reward can hold them back. There's no need to dig a pit for themselves in such a vast dungeon field. After all, they have to go to every place anyway.
Seeing that he didn't want to team up, Zhou Juanjuan thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, we don't have to choose exactly the same routes. What if the token is only one piece..."
She didn't finish the rest of her sentence. Instead, she chose a route that wasn't too popular. "My route overlaps with yours in many places. If we run into each other, we can look out for one another."
Xu Huo picked a popular route.
Levi hesitated briefly before choosing a route map that mostly overlapped with Zhou Juanjuan's. Zhan Erliu, on the other hand, tapped on everyone's booklets and finally chose the same route as Xu Huo.
Zhou Juanjuan gave him a rather surprised look.
After selecting the route maps, the next step was to input them into the dungeon.
The route maps open to tourists in Zone 022 could be randomly combined—north and south, or all chosen within one city. But player guides had already mentioned that you basically had to include a few of the most popular scenic spots. If you didn't choose them, the dungeon would automatically adjust a new route when you input it. It was best to pick a relatively reasonable one in advance to avoid the dungeon adjusting and ending up with two locations spanning half the country.
After Xu Huo and the others input their route maps, the dungeon quickly gave feedback.
In Xu Huo's route map, two locations were adjusted and two were removed, while the rest remained unchanged.
As for Zhou Juanjuan and Levi's maps, at least a third was changed. The less popular spots they had deliberately chosen were swapped for some very obscure locations, and several more spots were added.