From the Abyss of Stars

054. Beware of Fraud

 

After some negotiation and haggling, Li Aozhi purchased two ordinary pieces of jewelry from Dmitry.

 

"Mid-to-low-quality equipment is always the largest market." Li Aozhi put on the tungsten steel ring and bone china pendant, his mind active.

 

In "Abyss of Stars," equipment quality is divided into:

 

Shabby Inferior—high failure rate, poor comfort, ugly appearance, very low ergonomics.

 

Ordinary Durable—tolerable failure rate, can withstand regular wear and tear, still usable, low ergonomics.

 

Exquisite Craftsmanship—extremely low failure rate, still usable in harsh environments, high ergonomics, aesthetically pleasing.

 

Flawless Perfection—no operational failures, maintains excellent and stable performance in various harsh environments, perfect ergonomics, delicate and beautiful, no flaws.

 

Transcendent—continuously self-optimizes according to the environment during use, retains full functionality as long as it's not completely destroyed, matches and adapts to the user's habits.

 

Masterpiece—accumulates past experiences and memories, continuously self-strengthens, difficult to completely destroy, capable of passing accumulated experiences and styles to the next user.

 

Mythical Artifact—possesses independent consciousness and powerful intelligence, almost indestructible, autonomously selects a suitable host, and can instantly transfer its abilities and experiences to the host, mutually enhancing each other.

 

However, in reality, due to different equipment types, overly pursuing quality is not very cost-effective.

 

A mythical artifact screw might not be as effective and useful as a shabby inferior double-barrel shotgun.

 

In actual combat, players find that durable and practical equipment is the most cost-effective.

 

In one-on-one environments, it’s best to stack divine equipment if possible, even wanting to replace one's brain with a mythical artifact.

 

There are also some special equipment tiers, like miracle armaments and social institutions, but in Li Aozhi's experience, only the four precision families of the "Demonic Biomechanics" pursue such special equipment.

 

The Dominion faction has a low reliance on equipment, partly because all attributes other than 【Charisma】 are low, and partly due to the convenience of Arcane abilities.

 

Therefore, jewelry-type equipment without equipment conditions, in Li Aozhi's view, is easy to monopolize. For 【Dominion】 players, jewelry, which already has the nature of "luxury items," is expected to be priced high.

 

Li Aozhi just needs to observe the forums for market trends and public opinion, then use the method of small profits but quick turnover to quickly capture the market.

 

Speaking of the player forum—Li Aozhi takes a glance whenever he has time, trying to blend in and chat with other players.

 

However, as soon as he tried to speak, the forum showed his account status as abnormal—Li Aozhi opened his account homepage, and a bold red message was prominently displayed:

 

【Due to violation of laws and regulations, your account has been permanently banned】

 

"What did I do wrong to get permanently banned—what, is time travel illegal now?"

 

Li Aozhi was both amused and helpless. He still wanted to see what his official account status was.

 

Well, now there’s no need to check, he no longer exists.

 

But it wasn't entirely fruitless. Li Aozhi found that although his account was banned, he could still download files attached to forum posts and open various video links.

 

Although he couldn’t post, his information-gathering ability wasn’t diminished. Soon, Li Aozhi discovered something strange.

 

"Why are the times of the two worlds not synchronized?"

 

According to the frequency and timing of player posts, one day on Blue Star passed, but not much time passed on the players’ side.

 

Roughly, 30 natural days in the game world equate to one day on the player forum.

 

This was obviously different from his past player experience.

 

"When I was a player, I remember the timing of various events was synchronized."

 

Li Aozhi pondered for a moment, at one point recalling the conspiracy theory that "Abyss of Stars" was developed to explore electronic colonies.

 

Did he actually travel into the game, becoming a piece of data, or was this originally a living world?

 

Could it be that the governments discovered an electronic world and used the game port to trick players into invading and occupying it... that's too fantastical!

 

Li Aozhi found it hard to believe this hypothesis.

 

After all, after the advent of the optical brain, the real world had resolved most conflicts. Although the wealth gap wasn’t resolved, people could live and work in peace in the virtual world.

 

There were no longer conflicts in the real world, technology was advanced, war was impossible, let alone mobilizing half of society's forces and population to invade an electronic world—it made no sense, they weren’t lacking resources.

 

Li Aozhi shook his head, deciding not to consider this issue for now.

 

As an NPC template now, with only one life, he had to cherish it.

 

"Now realizing life's preciousness seems a bit late..."

 

Li Aozhi mocked himself, then continued chatting with Dmitry’s family.

 

There were few craftsmen who mastered the enchanted manufacturing technique in the outer world, and even fewer literate people.

 

Talents like Dmitry were rare and hard to avoid suspicion of provoking big figures or fearing revenge.

 

Li Aozhi didn’t ask these questions because he knew Dmitry's true identity: the old man was a long-lived species.

 

The main intelligent species on Blue Star was the new generation Homo sapiens, but if Dmitry's panel could be seen, it would show his species as [A1 Kolton-type Cosmohuman].

 

A1 Kolton, B2 Maya, C3 Luka, these were the three most common carbon-based human evolutionary trends in the universe.

 

A1 Kolton was known for longevity and innate Arcane awakening, living seven or eight hundred years wasn’t a big deal;

 

B2 Maya were particularly good at trade and mathematics, fewer in number, known as the universe’s middlemen;

 

C3 Luka were special, with strong combat potential and adaptability.

 

Dmitry was a successful evolution into an A1 Kolton-type Cosmohuman.

 

Despite his low level, he truly was a 200-year-old sly old fox.

 

There was no point in pursuing the thoughts of such long-lived species. For them, they might be thinking about how to die with dignity every day.

 

After chatting with the old man for a while, Li Aozhi suddenly changed the topic and asked:

 

"Old Dmitry, do you know Chen Siqi?"

 

"You mean Dr. Chen? They say she came from the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization—I don't quite believe it. That place is where they eat people and spit out bones. Personally, I think she escaped from the Frost-Plated Republic." Dmitry rambled.

 

Qiu Ran asked awkwardly, "Is the Abyss Humanitarian... that notorious?"

 

"In the entire northern outer world, everyone knows the cruelty and terror of the Abyss."

 

Kachina, holding her child, seriously told them:

 

"You have to be careful. The Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization transforms living people into killing machines, they capture people with Arcane potential everywhere, saying they are infected, then take them away for various experiments."

 

"Those doctors draw blood from the infected, extract their bone marrow, slice their brains, place them between glass plates, and repeatedly compare them with normal humans." Dmitry said in a deep voice.

 

"That's not the worst. People say the Four Nations have been cooperating with the Abyss, aiming to develop super soldiers and clones adapted to the outer world. Eventually, they want to bring the war to us."

 

Kachina spoke with anger and hatred:

 

"The Four Nations have taken everything from us, enjoying sunlight we have never seen, why are they not satisfied! The Four Nations are bastards, bloodsucking vampires. If it weren't for their persecution, especially the hounds of Law IV, Xiao would have been a very happy person in the Frost-Plated Republic..."

 

"In Frost-Plated?" Li Aozhi was surprised.

 

Kachina's face showed a mix of recollection and sadness. She said softly:

 

"Xiao, my husband, ran a small business in Frost-Plated, an honest and decent man. One day he was falsely accused by his employee of assaulting a female employee."

 

She paused and said:

 

"It was a scam. Xiao was a devout believer, a virgin before meeting me. The female employee framed him for money."

 

"Xiao gallantly forgave her, then hired a lawyer, collected evidence, trying to maintain his reputation and prove his innocence."

 

"But it was useless."

 

"No matter how he proved his innocence, before going to court, his shop was shut down, Law IV agents severely injured him, tortured him with cold water and electric shocks, preparing to prosecute him. Before the prosecutor's evidence was presented, the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment and confiscated his property."

 

"He was a tough man. Facing unjust judgment, he found the black market, implanted combat prosthetics, killed seven agents and the judge, then drove across the border, escaping to the outer world."

 

Kachina, holding Sirich, spoke with pride.

 

"This is my husband, Sirich's father, Xiao."

 

Li Aozhi nodded, sighing:

 

"No one is born great, but he died a legend for no reason."

 

"Xiao is our eternal love, but back to the topic—I see Dr. Chen has a strong dislike for the Four Nations. She probably has no connection to the Abyss."

 

Dmitry thought for a moment:

 

"I don't know much about her. She only came to the Sikkim settlement in the last two years. Her medical skills are good, but she's not easy to get along with. I bought penicillin from her, and she directly threw it at me with her prosthetic, telling me to get lost."

 

"Dad, that was when you caught her changing her underwear." Kachina said discontentedly. "Dr. Chen is very kind; she cured Sirich's diphtheria."

 

"Maybe..." Dmitry hesitated. "Changing her underwear? I only remember seeing a metal device..."

 

Two years ago.

 

Li Aozhi nodded slightly.

 

Black market merchant Ze Qi told him that this coincided with the outbreak of the ZX-102 incident and the transformation of Head Nurse Nordley.

 

Sure enough, after getting this information, 《Unremembered》 quest progressed to 34%.