Two days later, Xia Li arrived at the meeting point mentioned by Baron Xushinige, carrying a full set of Death Game “Player” equipment that she had exchanged for the vast majority of her property.
Although in the tower city-states only a small portion of nobles were interested in those “Games” left behind on the surface of the planet Elysia, on the surface this was a business of rather large scale.
After inquiring a little, Xia Li learned that in this not-very-large place of Cangyun City, there were surprisingly more than ten places specifically providing equipment for these “Game Players.”
Of course, just like the online games Xia Li had played in her previous life, the people participating in these “Games” also had the distinction between penniless beggars and whales with money-spending power.
The equipment provided to them naturally also differed greatly: the most basic equipment included simple packs, tool kits, and various cheap weapons, which could be acquired for only a few hundred yuan.
While in the luxury-version equipment list, one could see specially treated light power exoskeletons, high-precision motion sensors, bionic drones, and so on, with prices that could reach six figures or even seven figures!
Needless to say, Xia Li, whose total savings were only ten thousand yuan, naturally could not be mentioned in the same breath as the whale players.
But considering that this “Game” was played with her own life, although Xushinige had promised to guarantee her safety, she still, within the range permitted by the budget, acquired a set of gear that was as decent as possible.
This batch of equipment included a helmet, a torso armor with high-stretch fiber as the lining and hand-forged metal plates affixed on the outside, a second-hand gas mask, a medical kit, and a simple water purifier—in short, the main focus was prioritizing life preservation as the first priority.
In comparison, Xia Li was much poorer in the aspect of weapons.
Aside from Weeping of the Shadow, she only additionally carried one of the cheapest .38-caliber revolvers, thirty rounds of ammunition, and two high-explosive grenades… because there was no extra money left.
“Although there used to be a saying that ‘the greatest fear comes from insufficient firepower,’ this saying is at least not entirely correct in Death Games,” during the process of heading to the meeting point, Weeping of the Shadow on Xia Li’s back had been continuously comforting her like this, “Different Death Games have diversified types, and the means used to put people to death are also each different. A large portion of them fundamentally cannot be confronted by weapons alone. Under the premise of limited budget, purchasing armor is more economical than weapons.”
“What you say is not wrong, but these pieces of armor… can they really withstand how much damage?” Xia Li poked the light armor protecting her chest and abdomen area with her finger.
“This… forgive my bluntness, they indeed cannot withstand too much, but it is still better than nothing. What’s more, among the newcomers participating in a ‘Game’ for the first time, your level of equipment already counts as rather good.”
Of course, these words of Weeping of the Shadow were indeed not wrong: upon arriving at the edge of the forest located outside the city, Xia Li saw more than ten people gathered in a temporary campsite outside the forest, waiting to begin the challenge.
Judging from equipment and demeanor, these people were almost all newcomers, and the majority were petite females with beast ears and beast tails; males accounted for less than one-tenth.
Among them more than half looked as if they had not even reached adulthood.
Although after coming to the ground Xia Li had noticed that people with animal features held relatively lower status among the “people of the earth” and most concentrated in the slums, the proportion of beast-form people in this team was even nearly double that in the slums.
Although she did not understand whether this was pure coincidence or there was another purpose, after noticing this point she still produced a trace of unease.
In this loosely organized loli legion, only a few people carried roughly made hunting rifles and crude pistols; many people, aside from small packs, had as their only equipment an iron water pipe or a simple long spear made from a stick with a sharp knife tied on, and as for armor and specialized survival tools, no one was equipped with them at all.
After seeing this appearance, Xia Li immediately realized one thing: the vast majority among this group of people probably could not constitute effective combat power.
After discovering Xia Li, a few girls took the initiative to wave and greet her, but Xia Li only perfunctorily nodded and did not actively try to get close to anyone, instead sitting down on the spot against a withered tree that had been struck by lightning and burned, patiently beginning to wait.
In the following more than one hour, the number of the loli legion continuously grew, finally reaching more than double the initial number when Baron Xushinige arrived.
In addition, Xushinige also brought one male and one female assistant; although these two did not wear expensive light power armor like him, the weapons and armor on their bodies were also high-quality goods, a world of difference from those completely inexperienced newcomers.
“Hi, seeing everyone gather courage and take this crucial first step toward their brand-new lives, this one feels heartfelt gratification!” After arriving at the temporary campsite, Xushinige immediately revealed his standard light-novel male protagonist style sunny smile and waved toward the crowd gathered here, “Although the path of Seekers is full of dangers, this one at least guarantees that I will do everything in my power to let everyone obtain a safe and successful start!”
Some people cheered toward Xushinige, and even revealed the special red-faced expression that little girls have when seeing Prince Charming, just short of their eyes turning into heart shapes—however, this was limited only to those “normal” people.
Most of the lolis with animal features also clapped one after another, but their reactions could not be considered enthusiastic.
“Mm, is everyone here? Rom, Nefiria, you two first gather everyone together and take a count.”
After Xushinige issued the order, his two assistants immediately began action, gathering the crowd in the campsite together like the elementary school physical education teachers from Xia Li’s previous life, then beginning the count.
“My lord, there are a total of forty-three people here.” The tall and thin man named Rom reported.
“Including us that makes forty-six people… they still haven’t all arrived?” Xushinige briefly furrowed his brows, “I thought…”
“Baron, a few people… ran off into the nearby thickets.” An ordinary-looking young girl without beast ears or beast tail raised one hand, “I just saw them.”
“Oh? Is that so. Nefiria, you go take a look.”
“Yes.” Xushinige’s other assistant, a woman with short light-brown hair, quickly walked toward the thicket indicated by the “informant” young girl.
After a bout of rustling, two pairs of figures drilled out from inside.
These four were all beast-eared lolis; one pair were cat girls, the other pair fox girls.
For some reason, their outer clothes and cloaks looked as if they had been hurriedly thrown on, their skin was covered in beads of sweat, and residual confusing flushes remained on their small cheeks.
That pair of fox-girl lolis were even sticking out their little tongues, continuously lightly panting, and the fur on their hair and tails was also wet and glistening.
“What is going on?” Xia Li muttered with some confusion.
Because earlier during the rest period her main energy had been focused on checking equipment, she had not carefully observed the every move of the others.
“Did they unauthorizedly run off to swim? There doesn’t seem to be any river or pond nearby, right?”
“Uh… I don’t think they look like they went swimming,” Weeping of the Shadow’s tone was a bit… hesitant to speak, “Ah, right, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Eh?”
“That… how… how should I put it? Uh… later remember to stay a little… farther away from these few.”
“Ehh?” This abrupt request from Weeping of the Shadow made Xia Li freeze for a moment.
Just then, those two pairs of little lolis whose fur was all wet and glistening had already walked past her side while wiping their bodies with the towels Nefiria handed them.
And a very strange faint fragrance also drifted into Xia Li’s nostrils at this moment.
In merely a few seconds, Xia Li suddenly felt a strange dry-heat sensation coming from her lower body, then her heartbeat also began accelerating for no reason.
After another while, this dry heat and itchiness began slowly spreading, gradually extending to the fluffy tail behind her.
Even stranger was that after a large amount of blood rushed upward into her brain, this bizarre sensation even spread to the ears on top of Xia Li’s head.
For a while, even the cool wind blowing through the forest would make her face red and ears scarlet from stimulation, her entire body uncontrollably trembling.
Only after several minutes did this bizarre sensation slowly fade.
“I… what happened to me?” After recovering, Xia Li said to herself.
“This… uh, right now it’s also… not very convenient to say…” Weeping of the Shadow hemmed and hawed, “It involves some extremely complicated issues…”
Fortunately, before Xia Li had time to ask again, Xushinige took the lead in speaking: “Everyone, since all the people participating in this Game clear have already arrived, let us move to the ‘Limbo’ area. Considering that everyone is a newcomer, I will there explain in detail everything related to the ‘Games’ for everyone.”