Chapter 3

Intense pain! The only sensation Ma Le felt was intense pain, as if countless insects were drilling in and out of his muscles, organs, and brain, causing his entire body to feel as if it were about to collapse and shatter!

He lay on the ground, convulsing continuously, as if the twisting of his limbs could勉强缓解 the pain. He had no idea how long the pain lasted, but just as he felt he was about to faint, he suddenly felt his body become light, and the pain instantly disappeared! He struggled to open his eyes, wiped away the sweat that had dripped into them, and finally saw the surroundings clearly.

This was a pure white... space!

Ma Le called it a space rather than a room or any other term because, as far as the eye could see, everything was white. There was no ceiling above, no walls around, and the only thing he could touch was the pure white ground beneath his feet.

Ma Le managed to stand up, but suddenly felt a sense of floating under his feet, as if the gravity here was relatively low. With everything around being pure white and no reference points, Ma Le lost his balance and fell to the ground again.

Fortunately, his body's coordination was still decent. After a few more attempts, he finally adapted to the point where he could walk normally. He began to move around, calling out for help loudly.

"Is anyone there? Where am I?..."

Ma Le shouted a few times but received no response. Just as he was about to give up in despair, a black hole suddenly appeared three meters in front of him on the white ground. This black hole was a perfect circle and appeared silently. Then, a very thin tablet computer slowly floated out of the black hole, stopping about 1.3 meters above the ground. The black hole then closed, and the white ground was as pristine as before, showing no signs of any mechanism or crack.

Ma Le observed for a few seconds and found that the tablet computer remained stationary without any further reaction. He swallowed hard, mustered his courage, and walked up to it, tentatively placing his hand on the tablet...

"Welcome to the Edge Space, Adventurer No. 110405!"

As soon as Ma Le's fingers touched the tablet, a cold, emotionless electronic voice immediately echoed through the space, startling him into quickly withdrawing his hand.

"Edge, Edge Space?" Ma Le looked around but saw nothing unusual. He mustered his courage and asked, "Who is this? Where am I? What do you mean by 'adventurer'?"

The mechanical electronic voice sounded again, "This is the Edge Space, the boundary between Miracle City and the real world. The entity you are currently interacting with is the temporary terminal used by Miracle City for new adventurers. You have been chosen by Miracle City as an adventurer, with the designation 110405!"

"Miracle City?" Ma Le was even more confused, "What is Miracle City?"

"An introduction to Miracle City has been recorded in the temporary terminal in front of you. Please review it yourself!"

Ma Le looked at the tablet computer in front of him, placed his hand on it again, and gently touched it. The screen, which had been black, immediately lit up. Three options appeared: "Introduction to Miracle City," "Adventurer Profile," and "Newbie Rewards."

Ma Le selected "Introduction to Miracle City," and the tablet immediately displayed a paragraph of text. At the same time, the electronic voice sounded again, reading the content:

"Miracle City is an independent space that exists outside the real world, functioning and operating in the form of a city. Miracle City periodically selects humans from the real world at random to become adventurers and sends them to different worlds to complete tasks. These task worlds are often based on widely known stories from the real world, including movies and video games. After each task, adventurers can return to the real world to live, waiting for the next call from Miracle City. Miracle City will reward adventurers based on their performance in the task worlds, making them stronger to handle more challenging tasks...

Miracle City categorizes adventurers into five levels based on the number of worlds they have experienced and the degree of task completion, from lowest to highest: Beginner, Regular, Veteran, Elite, and Champion. Similarly, task worlds are divided into four levels based on their difficulty, corresponding to Beginner to Elite adventurers. Generally, adventurers are assigned to worlds of appropriate difficulty, but there is a small chance they may be sent to worlds of higher or lower difficulty. Champion adventurers do not have a corresponding world level and are randomly assigned to any world to complete special tasks..."

After listening to the introduction, Ma Le found it even more unbelievable. According to this, Miracle City would throw him into the plot of various movies or games, assign him tasks, and reward him upon completion. If he failed... regardless of whether this infinite travel was plausible, even if the introduction was true, Ma Le did not think Miracle City would throw him into a soap opera and assign him tasks like reconciling a couple or mediating a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflict... anyone could guess that these worlds would be full of supernatural beings, and most likely, they would be violent and dangerous movies unsuitable for children!

Who would do such a thing? Ma Le demanded to leave, but the electronic voice coldly replied, "Adventurers who have entered the Edge Space can only leave Miracle City by completing the ultimate hidden task or by dying!"

When asked what the ultimate hidden task was, he only received the response: "Insufficient permissions!"

Ma Le fell silent. If someone had told him these bizarre things in the past, he would have laughed at them, thinking they were crazy. But now, with the landlord's strange way of locking the door, the strange jade that had embedded itself in his forehead (which had the number 110405, matching his designation), the sudden blinding light, the unbearable pain, and this strange space with technology clearly beyond human capabilities... Ma Le believed at least eighty percent of it.

An alien experiment? An ancient civilization's relic? Or the latest scientific achievement of a secret organization? Ma Le considered all possible scenarios and painfully concluded that, regardless of which one it was, he could not resist it!

Realizing this, Ma Le felt a sense of relief. People are like this: if there is a sliver of hope for escape, they will be anxious, calculating, and racking their brains. But if there is no hope at all, they will simply give up and accept their fate.

Since he could not change his situation, he decided to follow the other party's lead. Ma Le exited the "Introduction to Miracle City" and returned to the main interface, then selected the second option: "Adventurer Profile."

The interface changed, and ten options appeared on the screen: Overview, Talents, Attributes, Energy, Skills, Items, Team, Social, Honor, and Rank. Most of these options were grayed out and unselectable, with only Overview, Talents, Attributes, and Skills available for viewing.

Ma Le selected the first option, "Overview." The interface changed, and a table appeared, similar to a resume, with his photo and current basic information:

Name: Ma Le

Gender: Male

Height: 1.88m

Weight: 96kg

Health Points: 50

Spirit Points: 3

Health Recovery Rate: 5 points per hour

Spirit Recovery Rate: 3 points per hour

Armor: 2 points, Defense: 4.8%

Resistance: 1.2%

Standard Movement Speed: 24 points

Standard Attack Power (Unarmed): 7 points

...

Comprehensive Evaluation: Strong!

The height and weight were understandable, but what were these health points, armor, and damage? Ma Le couldn't help but complain that this felt like a cheap knockoff online game. He wondered if he had been transported into a game.

The electronic voice patiently explained, "When an adventurer chosen by Miracle City enters the Edge Space, they undergo their first enhancement, which modifies their body to be more stable, coordinated, and suitable for high-intensity activities. Although the overall performance remains almost unchanged, they have some advantages over ordinary humans, such as increased immunity to common diseases and faster self-repair. The standardization of physical functions also allows the adventurer's body state to be described and calculated more accurately. The data displayed on the terminal is the information of Adventurer No. 110405 after the idealized modification!"

"Looking at it this way, it really does seem like a game..." Ma Le muttered, tapping on the "Health Points" bar, which brought up an explanation: "Health Points represent the maximum damage an adventurer can withstand. If health points drop below zero, the adventurer dies. The amount of health points depends on the adventurer's strength attribute, with the specific value being ten times the strength attribute."

Ma Le then checked the other items one by one, receiving the following explanations:

"Standard Attack Power represents the damage an adventurer can inflict on a target with zero armor and zero defense in a stable state. Standard Attack Power can only roughly reflect an adventurer's damage output. The actual damage in combat depends on the specific situation. The standard attack power in an unarmed state is equal to the adventurer's strength attribute value."

"Standard Movement Speed represents the maximum speed an adventurer can achieve and maintain for more than ten seconds in a normal state. Standard Movement Speed depends on the adventurer's agility attribute, with the specific value calculated as '20 (base movement speed) + agility value'."

"Spirit Points are the basis for an adventurer to use skills, with the specific value equal to the spirit attribute value."

"Health Recovery Rate depends on the adventurer's strength attribute, with each point of strength providing 1 point of health recovery per hour."

"Spirit Recovery Rate depends on the adventurer's spirit attribute, with each point of spirit providing 1 point of spirit recovery per hour."

"Armor is the first line of defense against physical damage. When an adventurer takes physical damage, the damage equal to the armor value is directly deducted. The armor value depends on the adventurer's strength attribute and the armor worn. The specific value for naked armor is half the adventurer's strength attribute value."

"Defense is the second line of defense against physical damage. After calculating the armor, the remaining physical damage is further reduced by the defense percentage. The overall calculation method is 'actual damage = (theoretical damage - armor value) × (1 - defense percentage)'. The defense percentage depends on the strength attribute, with the specific calculation method being 'defense = strength value / (strength value + 100) × 100%'."

"Resistance represents the adventurer's resistance to various types of damage other than physical damage and various abnormal states. Resistance is also expressed as a percentage, with the specific value being one-fourth of the defense percentage."

...

Ma Le noticed that many of the data points depended on attributes, indicating that attributes were a crucial foundation. Thinking about this, he exited the Overview interface and selected the third option, "Attributes."

As soon as he entered the Attributes interface, the electronic voice sounded again, "Attributes are the foundation of an adventurer's strength, forming the skeleton of the adventurer's combat system along with talents. The level of attributes directly determines the adventurer's physical fitness and combat ability. The quantification of attribute values is based on the average physical fitness of a 30-year-old male in the real world, with the average value for each attribute being 3. Generally, without special training, a human's attribute value in a single area is unlikely to exceed 5, and even with special training, it is unlikely to exceed 15."

After listening to the introduction, Ma Le was quite curious about his own attributes. He browsed through the list and found that there were seven attributes: Strength, Agility, Vitality, Spirit, Perception, Spirit Power, and Charm. Each attribute value was followed by a rather humorous comment, likely made by someone.

Strength: 7 points - No doubt you are quite strong. Even if you were to move bricks, you would have an advantage over most people.

Agility: 4 points - Your reaction is relatively quick, and your body is quite flexible. You probably won some awards in high school sports meets.

...

"Warning! Warning! According to the latest scan, the physical data of Adventurer No. 110405 has changed significantly. The data from the real world is no longer accurate. Please wait a moment while we make the necessary adjustments!"

Just as Ma Le was reading the second attribute, the electronic voice suddenly sounded urgently. Then, the screen of the tablet computer went black...

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