Chapter 990: Chapter 548: Boundless Merit Chapter 990: Chapter 548: Boundless Merit After understanding what Black Tech had been up to recently, Wang found that Black Tech was indeed the king of the abstract realm.

While other people were already abstractly seeking reality in a virtual world, Black Tech went as far as to look for so-called science in the game.

Even more abstractly, he actually managed to do it.

The creations Black Tech produced were a bunch of bizarre devices, internally composed of Magic Artifacts made by Cultivators, and externally made of tatters and scraps of paper.

Colorful decorations adorned the machine like a giant Christmas tree, and the continual roaring sounds from within made Wang feel a bit uneasy.

Staring at this massive object, Wang swallowed nervously and asked, “What is this thing?”

“Something that lets you communicate with a platypus-like creature?”

“What’s the principle behind it? You better not tell me it transforms me into a platypus, so I can communicate with it.”

Black Tech didn’t speak; he just patted Wang on the shoulder, gave a thumbs-up, and smiled reassuringly.

“Why are you looking relieved right now?”

At this point, Wang didn’t care if the other party was his money-daddy; he just started to rant.

“So, this device really can turn me into a platypus! How did you come up with such an outrageous idea? This is the first time I’ve seen someone solving a problem by turning a person into the problem, Black Tech, well done!”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“I wasn’t complimenting you! I was dissing you!”

“Is there no Disney where you’re from?”

“That’s not what I meant! And don’t use such an old joke now! The fans in the live streaming room will think I’m out of jokes and just messing around here!”

Black Tech looked puzzled at Wang and then pointed at the device, asking, “So, are you going to use it?”

“…Yes!”

Unveiling the secrets of these creatures had become an obsession for Wang, and before transitioning behind the scenes, he wanted to uncover this secret as a final tribute.

Although he couldn’t understand how the device worked, Wang still placed his full trust in Black Tech and stepped in.

The machine was enormous on the outside, and its internals were like a labyrinth. Wang walked through the complicated machinery for almost ten minutes before he found himself exiting from another end of the machine.

As he walked, he said in confusion, “Strange, I don’t feel any different. Black Tech, is there something wrong with your machine?”

However, he did not hear a response from Black Tech, but rather a strange cacophony.

The sound, forged as if with molten blades, made Wang’s ears hurt.

Then, as if waking from a deep dream, Wang suddenly found his world completely altered.

It hurt a lot.

Pain in “Nebula” was suppressed; the most intense pain felt no worse than a needle prick, and it was adjustable.

But now, Wang felt as though he had been jabbed by a thousand needles, with every part of his body in pain.

Immediately turning off all pain sensations, Wang noticed that the scenery around him was also amiss.

Everything around him was twisting and deforming, the sky was dark as if it were the black hell, and the ground beneath his feet had turned into red molten rock, stepping on which caused a painfully burning sensation.

Looking at the bizarre surroundings, Wang couldn’t help but say, “Black Tech, your machine has crashed my game.”

[It’s not the game that crashed; your vision has been contaminated.]
Seeing the content in his own live streaming room, Wang paused for a moment, then realized that Black Tech’s research had indeed succeeded.

The content of the game in the live streaming room was part of a plugin, untouched by contamination, allowing Wang to realize through this medium that his vision had been contaminated.

Allowing Black Tech to share his vision, Wang saw his own reflection as a platypus-like creature in front of Black Tech, his eyes splayed outwards like those of Ariel, exuding profound wisdom.

But from his own perspective, Wang saw Black Tech as a blurry shadow, barely discernable as a humanoid creature.

Carefully assessing his current situation, Wang noticed a line of text in his vision.

This text was not part of the game; its font looked weird and twisted, clearly incongruous with the game’s atmosphere, apparently a special mechanism only present after turning into a platypus.

[Only through fire will you find peace.]
After reading this line, Wang felt a bit weird, yet he asked Black Tech to turn up the fire in the livestream and then resolutely jumped into it.

The flames began to burn Wang’s body, and within a few minutes, he was consumed by the cleansing fire.

After his death, Wang did not appear at the respawn point but was transported to another place.

This place exuded tranquility and peace, resembling a heavenly paradise.

However, Wang had already been tricked once; this time, he didn’t linger in that place for too long but immediately asked the Black Tech on standby in the live broadcast room, “Black Tech, what do I look like now?”

[Tattoo. You are a tattoo now.]Black Tech immediately responded.

“Understood.”

After silently waiting for a few minutes, Wang felt himself gradually detaching from that place. The familiar stabbing pain returned to his body, and he realized that he had once again become a wise platypus-like creature.

He cautiously recalled the current situation and roughly guessed what was happening here.

Then, it was all spine-chilling horror and extreme fear.

If there was no problem with Black Tech’s machine, then the secret of this place was about to be revealed.

It wasn’t just this planet; all the planets in the entire region were the same.

This place was neither a small animal paradise nor a sanctum for idle play; it was hell.

All the creatures were like him, once the intelligent beings of this place, but for some reason, they had been transformed into animals and were constantly subjected to agonizing torment.

Players continually felt the pain of incessant stabbing, and walking even brought about an intense burning sensation, so the suffering endured by the native residents here was only far more brutal.

The only way to escape this pain was one option: to choose a method of death according to some cryptic instructions.

Only by dying could they temporarily escape the pain and enjoy endless bliss. But this paradise was not real; after time, they would return to reality to endure endless agony.

Moreover, the textual prompts were not clear; some methods of death had to be tried repeatedly before success.

After understanding this, the previously foolish actions of the Platypus-like creature suddenly made sense.

It was not a game bug, but an act of self-rescue by tormented souls seeking to escape their pain. Their occasional redemption only made the darkness heavier and the pain more profound.

Knowing this completely changed the game’s atmosphere and almost brought Wang’s sanity to zero.

What have you done, Fang Cheng!

You created this place just to mess with people’s minds.

Shivering intensely, Wang suddenly thought of something and asked hastily, “Black Tech, then why do they want to kill me?”

[Because of contamination.]Black Tech immediately said, [The tattoo is also a form of contamination. It constantly throws itself at players, trying to contaminate us and assimilate us into their kind. But even without those tattoos, this place is full of contamination enough to corrupt ordinary creatures. Those Platypus-like creatures don’t want us to be contaminated, so the best way is to kill us. Being dead is still better than enduring this pain all the time.]
Recalling the sensation akin to being pricked all over, Wang nodded with lingering fear, comprehending the principle here.

“I saw a line of text appear at the corner of my eye after I became a Platypus-like creature, telling me how to kill myself. Black Tech, did you add that line of text?”

[No, what text? I didn’t see it during my experiment.]
After hearing the text Wang described, Black Tech seemed thoughtful.

[That text might hide deeper secrets, which we could use later. Also, do you still remember why we came here?]
“To cause trouble?”

[No, to earn merit.]
Wang then remembered why he had come here, and his spirits lifted immensely.

He thought idly staying here was the main focus, but it turned out there were other advantages, directly offering him multiple joys.

Now that he had identified both the tricks of idling in this place and the secrets of the Platypus-like creatures, and found an appraiser, he also found a channel for accumulating great merit.

Through his actual experience, the Platypus-like creatures in this place were constantly in a state of pain, so as long as he could alleviate their suffering, they could earn considerable merit.

Rubbing his hands together excitedly for a few seconds, Wang excitedly said, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s start! What do we have to do?”

[Based on our previous research, we found that Platypus-like creatures seem very peaceful after being engaged in some activities, we assume the activities alleviate their pain. However, their memory is poor, and they give up an activity after a short while. But the text you mentioned gave me a new idea.]
Wang, equally excited, said, “You mean, we can use these texts to keep giving these creatures something to do?”

[Exactly. Although we do not know the origin of these texts, we can continue to identify and explore the reasons behind these texts. Besides, we can burn some merit to enable the feature of adding more tasks. In doing so, we can free these little animals from their pain and earn great merit.]
“Exactly, we are truly immeasurable in our virtue!”

Wang smiled proudly for a long time before getting down to business with Black Tech on researching how to free the small animals here from pain as much as possible.

With Black Tech’s assistance, their research progressed very swiftly, and they gained the power to modify and add tasks in the text within one day, put it to use in two days, and had it operational across all areas within three days, turning this place into a pool of merit for players.

However, upon reflection, Wang, looking at the large-scale factory-like melting pot of multiple animals in front of him, fell into deep thought.

Are we engaging in capitalism here?

Since when did capitalism also become a path to virtue?