| WRIAWW |[Body Enhancement: MAX]| 06
Having stayed up all night, Zong Le was feeling a bit drowsy, but the moment he saw the task details, he was instantly wide awake.
He never expected that this part-time job would take place right in his own neighborhood.
"Great! I can save a lot of money on travel expenses!"
Zong Le happily accepted the task and began reading the detailed information.
[Ankang Community Resident Happiness Index Survey]
[Task Level: B]
[Description: The residents of Ankang Community have recently experienced significant fluctuations in their happiness levels. As a newly appointed community service worker, you need to conduct a door-to-door survey of the community residents.]
[Main Task: Improve the overall happiness index of the community (can be split into subtasks)]
[Side Task: Have all residents fill out a happiness index survey form (can be split into subtasks)]
This task was clearly different from the C-level tasks Zong Le had experienced before. Just the number of people involved in this task was twenty.
After cramming all night, Zong Le had learned that tasks in the Infinite Space were divided into seven levels: S, A, B, C, D, and E. The more survivors assigned to a task, the higher its difficulty. For example, this B-level task was obviously much harder than the subway task he had done last time.
After a quick glance, Zong Le got dressed, washed his face in a hurry, and rushed to the guard post.
A number of survivors had already gathered at the entrance of Ankang Community. They were standing in small groups, not particularly close to each other, which made them seem even more distant. If it weren’t for the community service badges hanging on their chests and their clear, sharp eyes, Zong Le might have mistaken them for something else.
"Uh... hello everyone! Are you all here for the task?"
His enthusiastic greeting made everyone look up in confusion.
But upon seeing the green D-level mark above his head, they quickly lost interest and looked away.
Just as Zong Le was feeling puzzled, a kind-hearted athlete waved him over: "Lone survivors stand over here."
Once Zong Le joined him, the athlete lowered his voice and asked, "Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, is this your first time doing a task with so many people?"
Seeing Zong Le’s slightly bewildered expression, Sun Ming sighed, "I thought so."
"Before tasks like this start, everyone waits at the starting point according to their factions. Look, the group standing at the front, they’re usually from the three major guilds. Judging by their attire, they’re probably from the Watchtower Guild. There are also a few teams of mercenaries from the Merchant Guild next to them."
"These organizations and factions always go on tasks as teams. Only us lone survivors, who are unaffiliated and low in strength, stand at the back. Remember this for next time—don’t just go up and greet everyone with a big smile. Some high-level survivors look down on us low-level ones, and their attitudes can be pretty ugly behind our backs."
Recalling the starkly different attitudes Wen Pushi had shown toward him and the two B-level survivors during the last task, Zong Le nodded in understanding, indicating that he was aware of these unspoken workplace rules.
"Thanks for the heads-up."
"Ah, no need to thank me. I’m also D-level. I was still preparing for my fourth-level exam when I got pulled into this damn space. I went through several tasks in fear. And now, the only task available is this B-level one... I’m speechless. Why would they assign a D-level like me to a B-level task? Is the main system malfunctioning? Isn’t this just sending me to my death?"
Sun Ming chattered on and on, then quickly apologized when he realized it: "Ah, did I talk too much? Am I being too noisy? It's an old habit of mine—when I get nervous, I just can't stop blabbering like a machine gun."
Zong Le nodded: "You are indeed noisy."
Sun Ming: "..."
This black-haired guy looked quite handsome, but why did he have to be so blunt when he speaks?
But since they were the only two D-levels around, and Sun Ming had already tried striking up a conversation with a C-level survivor who completely ignored him, he had no choice but to talk to this guy who had a sharp tongue.
"By the way, brother, what level is your body enhancement at? Did you enhance anything else?"
When asked this, Zong Le rarely hesitated.
He had already learned from the forums and Wen Pushi about the importance of body enhancement for survivors. In fact, not long ago, he had even tried it himself, since the limited-time discount in the shop was too tempting. Spending 300 points to enhance himself seemed harmless enough.
The problem arose after Zong Le pressed the enhancement button.
[Purchase successful]
[Monitoring survivor's physical attributes... Exceeding maximum monitoring value...]
[Survivor's physical attributes have surpassed the system's monitoring range. Enhancement is unavailable.]
[300 survival points have been refunded.]
At the same time, the body enhancement section under Zong Le's username officially displayed: [Body Enhancement: MAX]
Zong Le was utterly confused.
To figure it out, he even made a post on the forum, asking what it meant for his body enhancement to jump directly from no level to MAX. But this time, instead of encountering a kind-hearted soul, he was roasted to the point of questioning his existence.
[Body Enhancement MAX? Are you kidding me?]
[Yeah, everyone knows that each level of enhancement gets more expensive, and anything above level five costs a fortune.]
[Right, and enhancement attribute points are so expensive. Most survivors only specialize in one attribute. Are you saying you maxed them all at once?]
[Even Qin Ye, the leader of the Watchtower Guild and the strongest solo fighter in the Infinite Space, only has level eight strength enhancement. Laughable.]
[Seems like a desperate D-level overdosing on copium.]
[You can fool your buddies, but don't fool yourself, okay? Next time, come up with a better lie. This one's just too dumb.]
Recalling the colorful language of his forum peers, Zong Le decided to kindly withhold the truth.
The black-haired young man stammered, "N-not yet."
"Not yet? You only did the beginner enhancement and nothing else?"
"Uh... yeah."
It was Zong Le's first attempt at lying, and his eyes darted around nervously, his face turning red.
"Aha!"
Thinking he had successfully turned the tables, Sun Ming didn't notice this. He chuckled, "I bet you didn't expect that, huh? Even though my body enhancement is only level one, I used to be an athlete, so when I first came in, I already had level one strength and level one agility. That's like having two extra attribute points from the start. Pretty impressive, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, impressive."
Zong Le, feeling guilty, quickly raised his hands to applaud.
"Don't worry, brother, I'm only slightly better than you. Let's help each other out later!"
As they chatted animatedly, the survivors assigned to the mission were being teleported in one by one by the main system.
Seeing that the number of participants displayed on the phone screen had reached the required count, the person standing at the front cleared his throat.
"Alright. Everyone, gather around. I’ll assign the tasks."
Zong Le noticed that as this person spoke, the faces of the mercenaries in front flashed with displeasure.
Sun Ming looked around and voiced his confusion: "Strange, there are several A-level survivors in this mission, yet they’re willing to take orders from a B-level guy."
"Because that guy is the son of the Watchtower Guild’s leader, a notorious dandy in the Infinite Space."
Another voice chimed in: "The one next to him is Zuo Wenxuan, an A-level survivor from the Watchtower Guild, acting as his personal bodyguard. The fact that no other guilds are participating in this mission clearly shows that the Watchtower Guild has monopolized it. Not to mention the nepotism at play—who wouldn’t give him some face?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the independent survivors around them couldn’t help but show expressions of eating melons.
Qin Man also noticed the murmurs among the independents, and his expression darkened. However, upon recognizing the person who had just spoken, he performed a complete 180-degree change in demeanor.
"Well, well, if it isn’t the Strategist! What a coincidence to run into you in this dungeon. It’s an honor."
His words caused a stir among the crowd.
"What? That little girl is Yu Anlian, the one who writes strategy guides on the survivor forum?"
"The brainy powerhouse who publicly posted about mapping out the ultimate dungeon city model?"
"Wow, you really can’t judge a book by its cover."
"But wait, if Yu Anlian is so famous, why is she only C-level?"
"Brainy types don’t usually take on missions. They mostly stick to the basics tasks since they rarely lack any resources. So it’s up to them."
...
Yu Anlian adjusted her glasses and replied indifferently, "The honor is mine."
Compared to her cool demeanor, Qin Man was overly enthusiastic: "I happen to have brought the guild’s elite with me for this dungeon. Miss Yu, why don’t you join us?"
"Fine. I’m here to collect data anyway."
Seeing Yu Anlian agree, Qin Man couldn’t hide his delight.
Brainy types were a rare resource in the Infinite Space, and the three major guilds had been trying to recruit this rising strategist. However, she had remained indifferent to their offers. This successful invitation was undoubtedly a great opportunity to get closer to her.
"It’s so great to be a brainy type. You never have to worry about finding people to team up with," Sun Ming said, his face full of envy.
After pulling Yu Anlian into his team, Qin Man resumed his previous haughty attitude.
He began assigning tasks on the spot: "This mission is monopolized by the Watchtower Guild. The area is divided into five buildings, and we’ll assign a high-level survivor to lead each one. As usual, survival points will be deducted based on survivor level."
"B-level survivors will lose 30%, C-level 60%, and D-level 90%. Come line up and pay the deposit first."
Watching the survivors line up voluntarily, Zong Le looked puzzled: "Is this like paying protection money?"
"Exactly."
Sun Ming sighed: "Big guilds monopolize missions, and low-level survivors can’t handle them alone, so they have no choice but to pay for protection. But their greed is getting out of hand—even B-level survivors have to pay for B-level missions now. How ridiculous."
"Will paying guarantee our safety?"
"You must be dreaming! This is the ultimate dungeon, it’s filled with dangers everywhere. Besides, who would bother to protect the safety of us lowly D-rank survivors?" Sun Ming rolled his eyes. "As they say, if you live, it's because you clung to someone stronger; if you die, it's just your bad luck."
"That's such a scam. Taking such a high commission without doing any real work. What an unfair contract."
"There's nothing we can do. The three major guilds are pure capitalists. In the past, there were many survivors on the forums who banded together to resist, but once they joined the guilds and started taking commissions from others, they changed their tune. And if I remember correctly, the commission this time is even higher than before... Anyway, let's stop talking and get in line."
Sun Ming, who was at the back of the line, didn't hear any footsteps for a while. When he turned around, he saw the young man still standing in place.
"What are you waiting for?"
"I'm not paying."
"Huh?"
Zong Le shook his head and repeated, "I said, I'm not paying."
Sun Ming's expression changed.
The entrance to the neighborhood was small, and anything that happened there couldn't be hidden.
Almost as soon as Zong Le spoke, the sharp-eyed high-ranking survivors at the front of the line turned to look. Among them, Qin Man's face was the most unpleasant.
"Such big talk! Let me see who it is. Oh, it's just a D-rank. I thought it was an S-rank for a moment."
As soon as he said this, scattered laughter broke out in the line.
Normally, with Qin Man's arrogant demeanor, he would have made this D-rank lose a layer of skin on the spot. But now, with the task of recruiting talent at hand, he couldn't afford to be too harsh. So, with a malicious glint in his eye, he said, "Since you don't want to pay, I can give you a chance."
"To be able to say something like that, you must have some skill. How about you lead the team to Building 4?"
Hearing this, many of the onlookers felt a pang of pity.
After all, this was a B-rank mission. Sending a D-rank to lead it was practically a death sentence. Moreover, some survivors with enhanced mental abilities could vaguely sense that Building 4 had the strongest weirdness energy in the entire neighborhood, and it was surely inhabited by a high-level weirdness.
"Brother, why don’t you just give in?," Sun Ming said under the weight of everyone's gaze.
Just when everyone thought the D-rank would take the opportunity to beg for mercy, the black-haired young man's eyes instead lit up.
"Lead the team to Building 4? Okay!"
Helping his neighbors improve their happiness not only allowed him to do a good deed but also earned him money. He was more than happy to do it.
Besides, Zong Le prided himself on being friendly and had maintained good relationships with his neighbors upstairs and downstairs. Filling out a happiness index survey shouldn't be a problem; he was sure everyone would be willing to help him.
"What? Is this D-rank crazy..."
"The last person who dared to openly challenge Qin Man, their grave is probably overgrown with grass by now."
Ignoring the whispers, Zong Le happily stepped forward to split his task.
Soon, his mission panel was updated.
【Main Mission (Split): Improve the overall happiness index of residents in Building 4 of Ankang Neighborhood】
【Side Mission (Split): Have all residents of Building 4 fill out the happiness index survey】
"Oh, I almost forgot. You can't do the mission alone. I'll have to find you a companion for the journey to the underworld."
Seeing the D-rank still blissfully unaware of the situation, Qin Man felt as if he had punched cotton, leaving him thoroughly displeased. He glanced around and finally locked his gaze on Sun Ming.
"I remember this skinny guy just spoke up for you, didn’t he? Fine, he’ll go with you."
Under Sun Ming’s horrified gaze, his task panel was also split.
"Mr. Qin.” Zuo Wenxuan, an A-level survivor standing beside Qin Man, finally couldn’t hold back any longer. "Before entering the dungeon, didn’t the guild issue a notice reminding us to pay extra attention to any D-ranks we encounter during missions?"
"Huh? You think those two noobs could be the talented newcomer?"
"You’ve misunderstood. That’s not what I meant. I’m saying they’re both D-ranks. Sending them directly to the most difficult building... will drag down the overall mission rating."
"Tch, you’re such a softie. Don’t think I don’t know you’re just trying to speak up for them."
Qin Man sneered, "I’m the one calling the shots here. I’ll arrange things however I want. If you want to join the guild’s core army, you’ll have to listen to me and play the role of a lackey. Otherwise, don’t expect me to recommend you."
Zuo Wenxuan’s hand, gripping his knife, tightened silently for a moment before abruptly loosening.
After a pause, he replied in a low voice, "Understood."
"Besides, how much trouble could two D-ranks cause? They’re not even enough to fill the gaps in the weirdness teeth. At worst, after they die, we’ll finish the main mission and then clear the tasks in that building."
Qin Man spoke with utter indifference.
However, Yu Anlian, standing behind him, frowned and looked toward the two retreating figures.
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