Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 47 - 43 New Gameplay Unlocked!

Chapter 47: Chapter 43 New Gameplay Unlocked!

After asking a few more questions, Du Gang finally nodded, "I will report this matter immediately, but I can’t promise you anything."

"There shouldn’t be a problem with evacuating these areas, but if you want to endorse ’Dark Sand’ officially, I’m afraid you’ll need to go through a series of complex procedures, which is unlikely in the short term."

"At least it would have to be after truly seeing demons appear in the real world."

Meng Yuan nodded, "Understood."

"There’s no rush for this matter. Of course, it would be best to have your cooperation, but even without it, I will resolve the threat of these demons in my own way."

"I’ll wait for your good news then."

Watching the game operator, who called himself Beichen, disappear in front of him, Du Gang let out a sigh of relief, his feelings complex.

The official personnel of ’Dark Sand’ gave him an explanation, but this explanation was far more preposterous than anything he had imagined.

But no matter what, this matter concerned the safety of the general public—better safe than sorry.

Thus, Du Gang immediately quit the game and urgently reported these matters.

There were less than two days left before the demons would appear in the real world. In that time, they needed to clear the area, evacuate the residents, organize manpower, and complete a series of preparatory work.

Time was of the essence, and there was no room for delay.

...

After meeting with Du Gang, Meng Yuan returned to the Return Order Space.

In fact, only the space that he and Consort Shen occupied was the true Return Order Space. The palace floating in the air, surrounded by clouds and mist that other players saw, was only an image of the Return Order Space.

Consort Shen was energetically chewing on crispy pork belly, her chubby cheeks emitting crunchy sounds, completely absorbed in eating.

Seeing Meng Yuan come back, she temporarily stopped.

"Is this what you mentioned before, that someone would help us seal off this news and collude with us in this deception?"

"You had planned this from the start?"

Meng Yuan nodded, "Yes."

"’Dark Sand’ has too many things science can’t explain. It’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out; even if we could temporarily hide it with the power of the Return Order, we couldn’t hide it forever."

"Rather than bending over backward to cover one lie with another, it’s better to come clean with a select few from the start and keep the secret together."

Consort Shen then looked at the current state of the players, "Well, so far, the plan is going smoothly."

"These players are indeed progressing as rapidly as you said."

"After the videos of the four trial instances were released, there was a clear increase in the number of people who completed them. The number of players who have cleared an instance and obtained an identity has already reached nearly two hundred."

"And the number of those who are a step away from success is also growing quickly."

"Based on this pace, by the time the demon invasion happens, there should be about three hundred players who have obtained identities and possess a certain combat capability."

"Among the four professions, the number of foot soldiers is the highest, accounting for over forty percent; assassins and scholars follow, each accounting for over twenty percent, with the fewest in the Ranger instance."

Meng Yuan was not surprised, "Hmm, basically the same as my earlier estimates."

"It’s normal for the foot soldiers to have more people since their video came out first; scholars and assassins, after getting the standard answer, one tests willpower and the other acting—their chances are good after several tries."

"The Ranger trial relies on pure skill and is a bit harder, but it doesn’t require as much preparation. Those players who are good at action VR games will have a good chance of clearing it after several attempts."

"The sample size is still a bit small at present. As the number of players increases in the future, this ratio is likely to change."

"However, based on the current situation, as long as these players can perform at the level they have shown in the instances, dealing with these demons should not be a problem."

CanShang asked, "So what should we do next? Wait until the day after tomorrow?"

Meng Yuan shook his head, "Of course, we have things to keep us busy."

"We need to post an announcement about an offline MR game experience event on the official website and guide as many players as possible to the location where the demons will appear."

"It would be quite embarrassing if we evacuated the personnel, cleared the site, and then had no players turn up."

...

At 6 a.m., Zhao Haiping logged out of the game and woke up in the real world.

Last night, he had reaped a bountiful harvest.

After obtaining the exclusive talent skill "Resolve to Enter the Fray," he entered both the assassin and Ranger instances, clearing them both as well.

As it turned out, with the correct answers at hand, the difficulty of clearing the stages indeed decreased significantly.

Moreover, the exclusive talent was effective in other instances too. In the assassin trial, Zhao Haiping was completely surrounded by the Red-armored Guards and was on the verge of failure, but he managed to fight his way out and slay Emperor Yanling thanks to the "Resolve to Enter the Fray" talent.

The same was true for the Ranger instance. Even though he was beaten up by the house servants in the end, he still successfully killed Xue Tianba.

Zhao Haiping couldn’t help thinking, what if he could use three talent skills and employ the exclusive talents of four identities after entering an instance? How awesome would that be?

"Resolve to Enter the Fray + A Common Man’s Wrath + Overwhelming Righteousness + A Hero Doesn’t Look Back..."

Just thinking about it made him feel invincible!

By then, he should be able to effortlessly clear these trial instances, which would truly fit the game’s description of ’simple.’

But that was obviously wishful thinking; the current game mechanisms meant that all players could only assume one identity. Zhao Haiping could clear other instances using the infantryman’s identity but couldn’t gain any other identities.

After clearing the assassin and Ranger instances, Zhao Haiping stopped fretting. It was clear that neither identity suited him well; it was better to stick with the infantryman identity.

Zhao Haiping planned to start trying to set a speedrun record for the infantryman instance from tomorrow.

He had cleared it before, but the whole process was full of stumbles, and there were many areas that could clearly be optimized.

Mainly because Dark Sand’s official site had not released any new game content, and apart from repeatedly running these four trial instances, there was nothing else to do.

He habitually clicked on the official Dark Sand website once more.

This time, however, what appeared in front of Zhao Haiping wasn’t the previous Dark Sand promotional clip but a brand new section.

Bold letters announced, "New Dark Sand Gameplay Unleashed!"

The eye-catching poster depicted a massive promotional banner.

The background of the poster was a real-world setting, seemingly a plaza. Still, instead of dance-aerobic grannies or roller-skating kids, there was a ferocious Eastern Barbarian army!

In the center was an Eastern Barbarian General, mounted on a horse, wearing armor distinctly different from ancient Huaxia armors, with stacks of armor plates and numerous bamboo decorations. The armor was also coated with large swaths of red lacquer, and he wielded a cross spear, his bright red mask akin to a monster.

Around him were several common Eastern Barbarian soldiers, dressed in seemingly cheaper leather and bamboo armors.

Beyond them, at the edge of the poster, stood a sinister Eastern Barbarian Shadow Servant.

Dressed in black, he seemed to blend into the shadows, yet he still emanated a sense of extreme danger.

On the other side of the image, several young people dressed in modern clothing were taking determined steps, heading straight for them.