Information Known in Advance

Zhu Yan had miscalculated, because the moment Yang Zhanbai heard that, he immediately stood up on high alert.

"I'll go with you."

His gaze kept darting toward some spot in the air.

Seeing this, Zhu Yan asked, "Are you in contact with someone? Why don't you handle that properly first—I'll head to another school and check things out over there."

If he really couldn't shake off his teammate, then he'd just have to keep a low profile today.

Places like the Lazy Craftsman Shop and Nightmare Bookstore were public knowledge and safe to visit, but the Chaos Order fragment would have to be delivered to Mount Fangcun another time.

As for the Declamation Stage, he probably wouldn't make it there today either.

If that was the case, Zhu Yan might as well just sleep the day away and rest up.

"I'm in contact with Guan En," Yang Zhanbai said. "The Alliance is really concerned about how this dungeon run went."

He gave Zhu Yan a once-over and then added, "Why don't we all just go together? Isn't the Lazy Craftsman Shop at Yuan Chen and Qin Yang's school?"

"Besides, there's strength in numbers. Even if you want to stop by the Frog Convenience Store on the way back, we can tag along and take a look."

The broadcast had been going on for quite a while—that Hunter had probably already swept through everything by now.

Picking up the scraps was still something, at least.

A bitter smile crept onto Yang Zhanbai's face.

His own haul from this dungeon wasn't low—550 bone coins in total.

But the broadcast had also announced again that the "Open Beta" and the Player Leaderboard were about to launch, and he didn't believe money would be this easy to make anymore.

At that point, supplies were probably going to become extremely valuable.

…

"That Hunter killed a supermarket owner too."

As the group walked through the seemingly impenetrable fog of West Mountain University, Qin Yang suddenly spoke up.

They were heading toward the small street behind the dormitories, making their way to the Frog Convenience Store.

"It was called Happy Supermarket or something… There was a lot of stuff there too, just not sure if any of it's still edible for humans."

Oh, that place had already been cleaned out.

Zhu Yan thought to himself.

As for what exactly was there, or whether it contained any of that Shuddering Ecstasy, he had no idea.

If there was any, he'd send some to the doppelgangers and keep the rest on hand—might come in handy in unexpected ways.

"Keep an eye on the group chat," Zhu Yan said, pretending not to know anything. "We can't be the only ones out gathering supplies, right?"

That was what he said, but everywhere he looked was empty, save for a few scattered cheers and commotion coming from the dorms behind them.

Probably because the survival rate was so brutal, most of the surviving players were busy talking to each other, celebrating, or recuperating—very few were out hunting for supplies like they were.

Yang Zhanbai lowered his head and typed a long list of reminders into the student group, including trivial stuff like "if your door is broken, you can go to the Lazy Craftsman Shop to get a replacement."

"We're going to the Human Alliance welcome assembly tomorrow," he said, turning to Zhu Yan. "I asked Guan En on the down low."

Zhu Yan could already see the sign of the Frog Convenience Store.

The huge toad head was still intact, glowing faintly through the dim fog, staring down at them.

But the glass door that had once been fine was now shattered on one side, and through the gap he could make out overturned sauce bottles and multicolored condiments smeared across the tiles.

Zhu Yan scanned the shelves and found there was still something worth grabbing.

He quickened his pace and asked Yang Zhanbai in a low voice, "Something this trivial—why would you secretly ask Officer Guan? Isn't this common knowledge?"

Yang Zhanbai shook his head. "He was telling me about some of the Human Alliance's rules. The Player Forum doesn't allow screenshots, otherwise I'd just send you the chat log. What the hell is this mess?"

Yang Zhanbai swore loudly at the disaster area before him.

"Brutal."

Qi Yinming sighed, stepped around the dirty floor, and pulled a pack of pickled mustard greens off a half-empty, cluttered shelf.

"Microwave this and it counts as a hot dish. There's instant noodles over there—grab as much as you can."

Chen Zhaoxing didn't need Qi Yinming to say it; he was already on the move.

Zhu Yan quickly dragged Yang Zhanbai along, grabbing a few boxes of self-heating rice while squeezing in a question.

"What do you mean, the Human Alliance's rules?"

Yang Zhanbai opened the Online Mall and bought a Silver Ring of Storage on the spot.

His level was high enough to afford such an expensive spatial storage item.

Hearing Zhu Yan's question, Yang Zhanbai stuffed some supplies into the ring while glancing warily left and right, lowering his voice.

"Oh… his point was, the Alliance has a rule: all items on Alliance players are subject to inspection and registration."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yan paused mid-reach for a cola.

"Basically," Yang Zhanbai's voice dropped even lower, "Guan En said the current rule is that for new players like us, any item above level nine gets forcibly held by the Alliance."

"As someone who contributed the item, you can apply to borrow it before entering a dungeon. That's how it works."

Zhu Yan's face twitched. He wanted to curse.

What do you mean they only confiscate items above level nine?

They just don't bother with anything below nine, huh?

By that logic, his 13-level military blade that he'd paid for out of his own pocket, and his 14-level Demon Cloak that he'd fought tooth and nail to upgrade and spent a fortune on—all of it would be taken by the higher-ups of the Human Alliance for "collective use"?

Oh, wait.

Given what he'd encountered back in the Hall of Mourning, maybe it wouldn't even be for collective use—maybe it would just end up in some high official's personal stash.

And when he actually wanted to borrow it, he probably wouldn't even be able to get it back!

What a joke.

The person who came up with this rule had already earned themselves a death sentence in his book.

Yang Zhanbai nudged Zhu Yan.

"Anyway, Guan En said there are two players responsible for the inspections—one can browse your storage space, and one can read your recent memories."

"Almost impossible to fake."

He glanced around, his voice barely a whisper.

"I'm thinking, you should probably keep that blade of yours tucked away. Tomorrow at the meeting, just leave it in the dorm. Outsiders can't enter the school, so they can't do anything about it."

Yang Zhanbai had seen exactly how that blade had been obtained.

It had nearly cost Zhu Zeyu half his life!

Even if the Human Alliance was an organization fighting against the Carnival Paradise, wasn't Zhu Zeyu himself a formidable warrior who dared to stand against the Carnival Paradise?

That blade could still serve its purpose in Zhu Zeyu's hands.

Why on earth should something so precious be handed over?

With that thought, Yang Zhanbai nudged Zhu Yan again. "Hey, Zhu Zeyu, what do you think?"