Universe Infinite Canteen

With Boss Hu setting an example, other players quickly followed suit.

Not only backpack trading, but tasks requiring the collection of large amounts of materials like healing or map trading were taken over by specialized groups of players who used organizational strength to lower the entry barriers.

As for purely intelligence-based tasks like the evolution path of the Skeleton Soldier, there were players who directly shared information, to prevent others from being deceived.

The official forums were no longer empty; they began to fill with numerous strategy and experience posts specifically sharing this kind of news.

In this way, Old Necromancer Heim could no longer deceive players out of Blood Clams with just a few words.

However, Baldy and others were not worried, as the influx of a large number of players overall hastened the pace of material collection in Red Ridge Town.

Although some tasks were essentially annulled, they could earn double from other tasks.

The town was no longer quiet and deserted; players bustling about could be seen everywhere.

After a week of trading, the price of Pie Coupon Fragments had gradually stabilized at 109 yuan each, meaning it would cost 10,791 yuan to obtain the purchasing rights for an Atonement Cake.

Adding the 688 yuan needed to buy the Atonement Cake itself, this means paying 11,479 yuan could painlessly reduce one's weight by 1 kilogram.

This price, compared to similar weight loss products or training camps, might not be cheap.

But the key is it's painless, has no side effects, is 100% effective, and works immediately.

Ordinary people might find it expensive, but wealthy individuals like Boss Hu are paying for the experience.

In fact, a week had passed and Boss Hu had already consumed 15 Atonement Cakes, quickly losing almost 30 pounds.

Now, he felt Light as a Swallow, as if he had rejuvenated; his complexion looked much more radiant than before.
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He had just visited the hospital for a check-up not long ago - no more high blood pressure or high cholesterol, and even his nightly activities with his wife had become more frequent than before.

With such personal experience, he didn't stop buying Pie Coupon Fragments after losing weight; instead, he increased his purchasing.

On one hand, he was stocking up for the future, and on the other, he gave the extra Atonement Cakes he got to friends, family, and business partners.

In Red Ridge, like Boss Hu, there were three other wealthy individuals who were buying unlimited amounts of Pie Coupon Fragments. Their IDs were Desert Gale, Primacy Lee, and Does My Taillight Look Good.

They were reportedly a mine owner, a corporate executive, and a mysterious wealthy second-generation young man.

As for regular players, they generally chose to sell the Pie Coupon Fragments after obtaining them.

An experienced team of five people, with good luck, could collect a dozen Pie Coupons in one night, averaging about two to three hundred yuan per person.

Thus, the enthusiasm of the players for logging in also surged, and some even invited colleagues and friends to form teams and start fresh.

Therefore, after the three-day promotional event ended, the number of players coming to collect game CDs hadn't diminished but had increased somewhat from before.

As for the players hooked by Pie Coupon Fragments, while reluctantly continuing to play, they actually discovered quite a few highlights in this game riddled with debuffs.

The first was the highly realistic NPCs.

Unlike traditional game NPCs who just serve as tools, the NPCs in this game, which claims to pursue realism, are indeed more realistic than those in typical games.

Although they also follow scripts, there is quite a bit of room for improvisation, and they respond in various ways depending on the players' answers.

For instance, a player with the ID "Health Supplement Salesman" posted on the forum that by flattering, he successfully got the NPC called the Bone-setter in the eastern part of the town to reduce his treatment fee by 3 Blood Clams.

This post led many players to imitate him, but it turned out that flattery requires talent and proficiency.

Those who tried flattering with uncontrolled force ended up harassing the NPC and were permanently subjected to doubled treatment fees.

Besides the extremely realistic NPCs, the combat system of Red Ridge also addicted many people.

Yes, you read that right.

The insanely difficult combat level in Newbie Village indeed deterred many people; some barely managed to gather their backpack and weapons, rushed out excitedly to level up, only to find they couldn't even defeat a Goblin.

What's worse, some encountered Goblins that treated players as monsters to farm, leaping into a crowd with a Whirlwind Slash, instantly sending a team of five back to the respawn point.

Players accustomed to weaker and softer gameplay had never seen such intensity; many threw their controllers down in anger right then and there.

Those who stayed often had a solid base in action games; they would observe each monster's movements and attack patterns, blocking or dodging in advance.

Once they familiarized themselves with the monsters' behaviors, the coordinated efforts among teammates made defeating powerful enemies possible.

Early-phase battles could often last ten to twenty minutes—truly intense, but the sense of accomplishment afterward was also substantial.

Moreover, the bones dropped by monsters could be equipped to enhance one's strength.

Many noticed the lone Skeleton Puppy in town, radiating dazzling purple light, and some even had the fortune to witness it single-handedly killing a Mud Giant ten times its size.

This gave other players confidence that if they collected enough high-quality bones, they too could someday reach that level.

Additionally, Red Ridge is one of those rare games that has escaped the "hit crayfish with a wooden rod" law.

The so-called hit crayfish with a wooden rod involves players using a Damaged Wooden Rod to fight Crayfish at level 1, upgrading to a Refined Staff to fight Mutated Crayfish at level 20.

At level 40, they then use a Demon-Subduing Staff to fight Thunderous Crayfish, and by level 80, they're still using a "Heaven Rending Earth Shattering Thunder Staff +12" to fight the "True Twilight Overlord Crayfish".

Much of the world's games are like this, especially in the mid to late stages, where the initial novelty wears off and players easily feel weary.

Because the monsters and equipment are just rehashes with new names and appearances, tweaked stats, but otherwise indistinguishable from before.

But Red Ridge is different. The deeper players go, the more they realize that this game, which at first seems noncommittal with its dozens of differently colored Goblins as Wild Monsters, is actually intricate.

Each type of Goblin has its own attacks, a rich array of derivative moves, and behavior patterns, and even Goblins of the same species show distinct differences.

Sometimes, even when players have figured out a Wild Monster's routine, the creature might pull a move they've never seen before when its health drops to a certain level or just before death.

Although this causes plenty of people to curse the planners and their soaring blood pressure, one must admit that in Red Ridge, there's no chance of feeling the boredom of crayfish beating; every second in battle demands full attention.