Chapter 13

 Chapter Eleven: Three Role-Playing Goals

【Current Role-Playing Period: 30 days】

【Main Role-Playing Task 1: Play the role of a multi-tasking, tireless laborer.】

【Acquired Role-Playing Skill 1 - Endurance: Your energy is abundant, and your sensitivity to pain has dulled, allowing you to endure long periods of high-intensity labor.】

【Main Role-Playing Task 2: Play the role of a humble and low-key campus superstar who despises evil.】

【Acquired Role-Playing Skill 2 - Artistic Talent: Your musical skills and performance abilities have greatly improved, and your vocal conditions have been enhanced.】

【Main Role-Playing Task 3: Play the role of a paralyzed patient who is optimistic and hopeful about life.】

【Acquired Role-Playing Skill 3 - Enhanced Perception: Your ability to perceive the external world has been greatly enhanced.】

【The store has activated new products: Random life skills and literary works lottery. Players can exchange as needed!】

【Special Note:】

【Within the specified time limit, players need to complete at least one role-playing task to smoothly progress to the next stage.】

【On top of this, by completing any role-playing task, players can receive the corresponding exclusive rewards.】

【As a special benefit for this cycle, after completing all three role-playing tasks, you will receive an additional reward: your material collection will not consume any points for one hour!】

Upon seeing the new role-playing tasks, Lu Zhixing's first reaction was bewilderment.

Why are there three tasks?

However, after carefully reading the game's instructions, Lu Zhixing quickly understood.

The game of life role-play, in its official version, was significantly different from the trial version and had more complex rules.

Firstly, the trial version of the game had no time limit, but the official version introduced the concept of a "role-playing period." Players had to complete role-playing tasks within the period to receive corresponding rewards.

Secondly, in the official version, it seemed that multiple role-playing tasks with different content and difficulties would be issued within a single role-playing period. Lu Zhixing could consider the difficulty, rewards, and other factors to strategically choose the order in which to complete these role-playing tasks.

Compared to the trial version, the freedom and strategic aspects were significantly enhanced.

What interested Lu Zhixing the most, however, was the additional reward: if he could complete all three role-playing tasks, he could freely collect material for one hour without consuming any points!

This was incredibly enticing!

Of course, material collection was different from purchasing from the store. Material collection could only be done in reality, and it had to be something personally witnessed to be collected.

For example, if Lu Zhixing wanted to collect material about a stone bridge, he couldn't just look at pictures or videos online; he had to personally visit a stone bridge and observe it.

Therefore, the idea of using this one-hour material collection to gather enough material for a lifetime was impossible. Even if Lu Zhixing raced against the clock, he could at most collect material from the entire campus of Jinghai University and the surrounding streets.

But this was already an extremely tempting ultimate offer.

You should know that originally, gathering materials in an internet cafe required thousands of points. Under normal circumstances, collecting such content using points would cost an astronomical sum.

Now, getting materials for free for one hour feels even better than a zero-cost purchase.

Moreover, this reward isn't available all the time; it's an exclusive benefit for this specific cycle. Missing out on it would be a shame.

In the next cycle, there might be new exclusive benefits, but they might not necessarily offer the same free material gathering opportunity.

"I must complete all three role-playing tasks and seize this opportunity to get something for free!"

Enjoying something for free is delightful, and when you're accustomed to seeing all sorts of materials and templates in the marketplace that require astronomical point values, having the chance to collect materials without spending points feels like a feast for someone who's been hungry for three days.

"But then again, these three role-playing tasks seem to have no connection between them."

"Let's evaluate the difficulty level of these three role-play goals."

"Being a part-timer should be the simplest; just delivering takeout, sorting packages, or working as a server at a fast-food restaurant should all count as role-playing as a part-timer. Or... does helping out at my brother's internet cafe count?"

"Being a paralyzed patient should be a bit more challenging. Just lying in bed probably won't cut it. I'll likely need to do things that only paralyzed patients would do to consider the role-play completed. Maybe, going out in a wheelchair?"

"The campus superstar seems the most challenging. First of all, the terms 'campus' and 'superstar' don't quite align. And how does one act 'humble, low-key, and resentful of evil'? How can I role-play that?"

"Of course, aside from the difficulty of role-playing, I also need to consider the role-playing skills."

"After role-playing, these skills can be exchanged in the point store. So, even if the role-play goal is tough, I should complete it as much as possible for the sake of obtaining valuable skills."

"The skill 'Artistic Talent' for the campus superstar is clearly the most worthwhile."

"The skill for the part-timer is 'Hardworking,' and the skill for the paralyzed patient is 'Enhanced Sensory Perception.' Neither of these shows any substantial improvement at the moment."

"But the campus superstar's skill can significantly enhance musical talent, acting, and singing ability, which is much more practical."

"Returning to the question, what kind of materials will I get by role-playing these three identities? What kind of games can I create?"

"No rush, there's still time; I can think about it slowly."

Afterward, Lu Zhixing checked out the new items appearing in the marketplace.

In addition to the originally purchasable skill "I am a Tree," there were two new lottery options: "Random Life Skill" and "Random Artistic Work."

The former required 30 points per draw, while the latter needed 50 points per draw.

Currently, Lu Zhixing had 0 points, but the formal version of the game had a longer role-playing cycle, during which accumulating points was possible as long as he role-played.

So, Lu Zhixing needed to start role-playing as soon as possible, accumulate points, and exchange them for these skills. It might be of significant help for future role-plays.

But before that, he had to make a return trip to his brother's internet cafe.

……

The occupancy rate at Xinglu Internet Cafe remained as low as ever.

Lu Zhixing entered the lobby and didn't see his older brother. He was about to call him when he heard voices coming from one of the private rooms.

Xinglu Internet Cafe had several private rooms, but they were rarely used, so they naturally served as meeting rooms.

Lu Zhixing approached the private room and lightly knocked on the door.

After a moment, the door opened.

Lu Mingyuan looked somewhat surprised. "Zhixing? Don't you have classes today?"

Lu Zhixing replied, "I have classes in the morning, but not in the afternoon."

His gaze went past Lu Mingyuan and into the private room. Inside, a middle-aged man with a two-point mustache was leisurely smoking, filling the room with a smoky haze.

Most public places in China had already implemented a smoking ban, but this man was openly smoking, clearly knowing that Lu Mingyuan, the owner, wouldn't dare to stop him or report him. He greeted Lu Zhixing with a sycophantic smile.

Lu Zhixing recognized this man.

He was Duan Lin, the owner of a nearby chain of internet cafes. There was a large store just across the street, and it was Lu Mingyuan's biggest competitor. Many of Xinglu Internet Cafe's customers had been forcefully lured away by him using various methods.

Lu Mingyuan tried to block Lu Zhixing's line of sight. "You should go back to the internet cafe, I'm in a meeting with Mr. Duan."

Seeing Lu Mingyuan about to close the door, Lu Zhixing raised his hand to stop him. "Bro, I'd like to hear it too."

Lu Mingyuan frowned slightly. "Didn't I say that you don't need to worry about internet cafe matters? These things..."

Unexpectedly, when Duan Lin saw Lu Zhixing, he seemed delighted and beckoned. "Hey, General Lu, let Young Lu join us. In some matters, you as the person involved may not be able to make decisions. Let Young Lu give you some advice."

Lu Mingyuan's face showed a somewhat unwilling expression, but after some thought, he allowed Lu Zhixing to enter.

Lu Zhixing sat down on the sofa, lightly waving away the pungent smoke in the room.

Duan Lin cheerfully handed over a contract. "Young General Lu, take a look. The terms are already quite good. If you miss this opportunity, there won't be another chance for this shop."

"Your brother has sentimental attachments to this internet cafe, which I understand. But sentiment can't put food on the table. You're a college student with a sharp mind and clear judgment. Think it over and persuade your brother."

Lu Zhixing reached out and quickly flipped through the contract.

The contract was quite straightforward, basically transferring ownership of Xinglu Internet Cafe to the other party for a price that was neither low nor high.

At this price, the two brothers wouldn't make a significant profit; they could only say that they were relieving themselves of the financial pressure of the internet cafe and getting some money to start anew on a different path.

The reason Lu Mingyuan hesitated for so long was apparent.

From an emotional perspective, the two brothers had poured a lot of effort into this internet cafe, and it had become an indispensable part of their lives.

From a practical perspective, selling the internet cafe now meant that although they wouldn't have to continuously pour money into this bottomless pit in the short term, they would also lose any possibility of turning things around in the future.

Since Lu Mingyuan had invited Duan Lin to discuss this, it meant he had already started considering the option of selling the internet cafe.

Duan Lin continued to puff away contentedly while speaking, "As you both know, the overall environment for internet cafes has been getting worse in recent years.

"Technological advancements have led to increasingly powerful portable devices, and the demand for young people to come to internet cafes to play games has decreased significantly.

"Today, the internet cafes that manage to stay afloat are mostly deeply involved with gaming companies. They either have exclusive offline perks for popular games or collaborate on offline events.

"In the future, to survive, internet cafes like ours will have to establish deep partnerships with gaming companies or even move toward the direction of becoming offline experiential stores.

"Lu General, you've been visiting various gaming companies recently, and you should have sensed it too, right?

"I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but in your situation, it's really hard to keep going. It's better to cut your losses and sell it early. There's nothing wrong with that. Why hang on to a sinking ship?"