Chapter 67: The Savior

On the overhead public screen, the prompts continued to scroll—

[There are a total of 5 main tasks set in this map, each lasting between 24 and 48 hours.]

[Due to the existence of soul doll items, the affection rating for each character is no longer included in the task evaluation system during a single main task. Whether the task is completed depends solely on whether the player achieves 100% task completion within the allotted time.]

[Soul Doll: A doll crafted from the soul of each target character, serving as a tangible representation of their emotions. At the end of each main task, if the character's affection rating is below 80%, the soul doll will generate a soul thread. This thread will attach to one of the player's limbs during nighttime rest, thereby increasing the bond between player and character. The limb connected by the soul thread will be controlled by the character and no longer by the player. Triggering a soul thread does not affect task completion; a player who triggers a soul thread can still clear the map. However, if the number of soul threads reaches the limit—meaning all five limbs are controlled by the characters—a deep and unbreakable bond is formed, and the event ‘Reverse Fate’ is triggered.]

[To reiterate, during nighttime rest, please ensure the soul doll is within one meter of the player. If the soul thread cannot function due to distance, the main task will be considered failed.]

After reading the introduction, all the players present fell into deep thought.

Wen Nan had to admit that the design of this item was quite morbid; no wonder the difficulty of this instance was the highest among beginner maps.

Was the designer of this map some kind of twisted, controlling lunatic? Did they really have such a strong desire to control players?

If the affection rating in the first task didn’t reach 80%, then in the next task, players would lose part of their bodily control?

If it were just a hand, Wen Nan could barely tolerate it. But if it was a leg—especially the central one—how could he possibly enjoy a romance strategy?

However, this worry troubled Wen Nan only for a brief moment—

A mere 80% affection rating was nothing for Wen Nan. Not to mention a single CEO, even if he had to win over all six of the characters just introduced, it would be no problem.

Now, Wen Nan was troubled by another, more urgent and pressing issue—

Each main task here took one to two days, with five tasks in total. That meant, even at the fastest pace, clearing this map would take more than five days...

Wouldn’t that make it impossible for him to complete the second phase of his guild’s trial operations on time?!

Unless... he didn’t go to the game lobby at all, but recruited members directly in this map?

But at this spawn point, there were only six people, including Wen Nan himself—not enough for the ten required in the second phase.

However...

Wen Nan pulled up the agreement from the system community, under "My Guild," for the trial operations period. At the top, under "Agreement Status"—

[Current Agreement Status: Normal (Last refreshed: 5 minutes ago)]

This meant the system had not yet determined him to be in breach of contract.

If there were truly only six players in this map, and there was no mid-game exit mechanism, then theoretically, the moment he entered the instance, the system should have changed the agreement status to abnormal and reclaimed his private domain.

Since the system hadn’t done so, it indicated... there were more than just the six players here; the total number must be at least ten.

Where were the remaining hidden players? Had they, like the extra ace in the trial map, disguised themselves as strategy characters?

If that were the case, Wen Nan was a bit concerned—one ace scholar had already caused him enough headaches; if he recruited several more of such high-level players into his guild, whether they were willing or not, even if they truly were, his small guild would likely end up in chaos.

Therefore, Wen Nan felt that, at this stage, he should focus on securing the easy recruits—the little rookies.

And right now, weren’t there four of them right in front of him?

Thus, Wen Nan’s first priority was to find a way to persuade these four unlucky souls—no, lucky ones—to join his guild.

While Wen Nan was pondering this, Huang Yan sidled up once more, forcing out a smile more painful than tears. “Guild leader...”

Wen Nan jumped. “What is it?”

“I’m your only precious member right now. You can’t just let me die.”

“You’re dying?”

“No…” Huang Yan thought for a moment and amended, “Almost.”

He held up the gentle, water-like wife doll in his palm to Wen Nan. “This soul doll—could you... hold onto it for me? I... I have a severe uncanny valley response, late-stage! If I put this beside me at night, I’ll be scared to death!”

Wen Nan was speechless, wanting to say that the uncanny valley effect wasn’t even a real illness, but changed his mind at the last moment. “Can soul dolls be transferred to others?”

“Yes! Yes!” Huang Yan nodded furiously. “I just checked. The rules only state the doll must be within one meter of a player, but don’t specify it has to be the player who originally selected the character. So, you can put it next to any player, as long as they’re in this map.”

Wen Nan glanced at the exquisitely crafted doll in Huang Yan’s hand, falling into thought.

Seeing he wasn’t rejected outright, Huang Yan hurriedly pressed his advantage: “I checked with my system—soul dolls can be handed over to other players without affecting either’s map progress.

“And after transfer, if the character’s strategy is completed, the system rewards and experience originally meant for me will go to the player who received the doll. So, once this map is cleared, all my upgrade experience and random loot—gear and gold—will be yours!”

Wen Nan was tempted.

So, if he took the soul doll, he’d get to strategize both characters and the experience would count for him?

This... was exactly what he wanted.

Thinking this, Wen Nan, to preserve his image as a guild leader, didn’t immediately agree but said ambiguously, “I’ll consider it. Let’s see how you perform.”

The guild leader’s willingness to consider was already beyond expectations. Huang Yan was overjoyed and about to say more when he was pushed aside by another player and stumbled to the side.

A young boy with delicate features and a head full of curls hurried over. Seeing Wen Nan, as if he’d spotted his savior, his eyes brimmed with tears, and he said,

“Big brother, is your guild still recruiting?”