69novels Chapter 10 - Origin City
Chapter 10 - Origin City
He stood by the pillar for about ten minutes. The completion report was finished, and Yuan City's voice was still lingering.
In those ten minutes, he did one thing: he looked down at his wrist.
Upon entering Yuan City, he noticed something—a string of characters floating on the skin of his left wrist: C-0047. It wasn't a tattoo, not a mark; it looked more like light shining through the skin. The color was light gray, and the characters were small, but clearly visible in Yuan City's light. He rolled up his sleeve and confirmed one thing: when the sleeve was pressed down, the characters disappeared.
He wrote in his memo: "Item C-0047: Inner side of wrist, visible in the city of origin, physical concealment effective. Purpose to be determined."
Then he started walking.
He wasn't wandering aimlessly—just as he leaned against the pillar, he had completed his first global scan, establishing a rough spatial framework. In that scan, he noted several figures: the city's diameter was approximately 200 meters; the population density in the central area was about 8-12 people per 100 square meters, decreasing towards the outer edges, dropping to 1-2 people per 100 square meters. This density gradient itself wasn't unusual; most markets are denser in the center and sparser at the outer edge. However, one detail made him question it in his memo: the sparseness of the outer edge wasn't because there were no people—it was because those people weren't trading. His first scan roughly estimated about 15-20 people in the outer edge, but none of them were engaging in any visible trading. He didn't have time to examine it closely then, only noting: "Outer edge: People, no trading. Reason to be investigated."
This is the second time: it's purposeful and targeted; he wants to find a few specific things.
First: Source of information.
He stood in front of the information stall for a minute, looked at the price list, and didn't buy anything. His judgment at the time was that "the price of information is determined by its scarcity, not by the quality of its content"—this judgment still holds true today, but there is a premise he has not yet verified: whether there is truly high-quality information in this market, and not just low-quality information packaged by scarcity.
The two things are different. He had seen too much information on construction sites that was "priced high because nobody knows about it," which was actually wrong, outdated, or valid for other projects but completely inapplicable to the current one.
He needs to find a source of information that has sound judgment, not just one that provides a lot of information.
He walked back to the information area.
The information area is located in the north-central part of Yuan City. He noticed this location during his first scan—it's in the central area, but not in the busiest, very center; it's a location that "you can see it if you walk towards the center, but you need to actively go in to really see it clearly." He recorded at the time as "Information area: north-central, about 13 stalls, high density, stable foot traffic."
Now that he was closer, he reassessed the number: it wasn't 13, it was 12. He had mistakenly included an "item recycling stall" in his first scan. The stall owner had written "rules consultation" on the whiteboard, but after getting closer, he saw clearly that the back of the whiteboard read "item appraisal · 20 source coins/time"—that wasn't an information stall, it was a service stall.
He changed the numbers in the memo: "Information area: 12 booths."
He spent about five minutes scanning each of the twelve stalls, not pausing at any one for more than thirty seconds. He wasn't evaluating the content of the information, but the stall owners themselves—a discerning source of information who would exhibit identifiable behavioral characteristics: they wouldn't actively solicit business, their whiteboards wouldn't display "latest intelligence" or "exclusive news," and they would look back at you when you looked at them, but wouldn't initiate conversation.
Of the 12 stall owners, 11 were actively soliciting customers.
There is no number 12.
He was in the most conspicuous spot in the information area, at a folding table. Several stacks of papers were laid out on the table, their thickness and neatness indicating that they had been looked through many times but carefully put back each time. There were only three lines of text on the whiteboard, written with a brush, the strokes very fine: "Lijing Information - Barter" "No unilateral inquiries accepted," and the bottom line was almost half the size of the first two: "C-0003".
The stall owner was an elderly man, over seventy years old, with white hair and glasses. He was looking down at a stack of papers in his hand. He turned to a certain page, stopped, tapped the page with his index finger, then put that stack on the right and picked up another stack.
Xie Chengzhou stopped in front of his stall.
The old man did not look up.
Xie Chengzhou didn't speak either. He was waiting.
About twenty seconds later, the old man finished turning the page in his hand, folded the paper, looked up, and glanced at Xie Chengzhou through his glasses.
"The newcomer," the old man said, his tone declarative rather than questioning, "#001."
Xie Chengzhou didn't ask him how he knew. He said, "Did you figure it out yourself, or did you find out?"
The old man pushed his glasses up slightly, glanced down at Xie Chengzhou's wrist, and then nodded towards the towering building that stood in the very center of Yuan City: "Both. C-0047," he paused, "your time is on the speedrun record board. 18 minutes and 47 seconds. #001 Experience, Beginner Stage, Solo, 18 minutes and 47 seconds. I've never seen a beginner achieve that."
Xie Chengzhou squinted and looked in that direction for a while. He had noticed the tower during his first scan—it was in the very center of Yuan City, its height estimated to be over twenty meters, and something at the top was glowing. At the time, he judged it to be a decorative structure and didn't conduct a thorough evaluation. Now he readjusted that judgment, noting a line in his memo: "Stall owner: Strong observation skills, has a frame of reference, doesn't waste words." Then he added a line below: "Tower: Bulletin board function, speedrun records are publicly displayed. To be verified: Scope of bulletin board content."
"You said you wanted to barter," he said. "What do you want?"
The old man lowered his head again and turned to a page: "What hidden rule did you discover in #001?"
Four.
The old man paused for a moment, then continued flipping through the pages: "Tell me one I don't know."
Xie Chengzhou thought for two seconds. Of the four hidden rules he found in #001, which one was least likely to be discovered by other players? It wasn't the factory supervisor's perception method (too many people would discover it), it wasn't the acoustic amplification in the chemical area (some people might discover it by chance), and it wasn't vibration prediction (this one was one he actively verified, and it's possible that no one else has done the system verification).
"Hidden rule D," he said, "is that the sound of footsteps is transmitted through ground vibrations and can be detected by touching the ground with the cone of a detection hammer. It leads the actual step by about 0.31 seconds, with a standard deviation of less than 0.05 seconds. The number of verifications is n=17."
This time, the old man actually raised his head. He looked at Xie Chengzhou for about five seconds, then put down all the papers in his hand, took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with his sleeve, and put them back on.
"n=17," he repeated, "you verified it 17 times in #001."
"Yes."
The old man was silent for a moment. He was assessing the credibility of the figure—Xie Chengzhou could sense this process, just as he himself had paused when evaluating sources of information.
"What's your name?" the old man asked.
"Xie Chengzhou."
"My surname is Qian," the old man said, then placed his hand on the table. "My stall has been here for about thirty years. You were the first newbie player to approach me about trading when you first came to the source city with the data n=17."
He changed that line in his memo: "Information vendor: Mr. Qian (C-0003). Observant, has a frame of reference, and doesn't waste words. Thirty years."
In exchange, Mr. Qian gave him two pieces of information.
The first rule: "There's an unwritten rule in Yuan City that veteran players don't intentionally sabotage new players on their first visit. But this rule might not apply to you—your 18-minute and 47-second speedrun record will pique the interest of some people, the kind of interest that's not exactly friendly."
Xie Chengzhou wrote in his memo: "Speed call record: Publicly available, risky. Assessment: Medium priority, not to be processed for now, continue to collect information."
The second rule: "Regarding the implicit rule D of #001, I have records of three people in the file, but none of them have ever achieved n=17. This indicates that you spent some time in #001 actively conducting experiments, not just completing the game." Old Qian glanced at him. "How much time did you spend completing the game in #001, and how much time did you spend verifying it?"
Xie Chengzhou calculated: "The clearance took 18 minutes and 47 seconds, of which about 12 minutes were spent on verification and about 6 minutes were spent following the clearance route."
Old Qian nodded: "This ratio shows you're not just trying to survive, you're collecting data." He paused, "What are your plans for the next trial?"
"Same," Xie Chengzhou said, "verify first, then pass through customs."
Mr. Qian didn't speak again, but simply picked up the stack of papers again and continued flipping through them. Xie Chengzhou understood this action: the conversation was over, and he could leave.
Before leaving, he asked, "What are your sources of information?"
Qian Lao didn't look up: "It's an archaeologist's habit—to record everything, classify everything, and wait for everything to find its place." He turned a page. "What are your sources of information?"
Xie Chengzhou thought for a moment and said, "It's an engineer's habit—to verify everything, measure everything, and let the data speak for itself."
This time, Mr. Qian did not respond, but Xie Chengzhou saw the corner of his mouth twitch.
Xie Chengzhou didn't leave immediately. He remembered the unanswered question in his memo and said, "Those people on the outer circle, they don't trade, they don't recruit, they just stay there. Why?"
Old Qian looked up and glanced at him: "The player class distribution is uneven. Most high-level players are in the center; they have resources, trading needs, and value to be traded. But some high-level players aren't in the center—they don't need what's here anymore." He paused, "Those people you see in the outer circle are most likely the latter."
Xie Chengzhou added a line to the memo: "Outer circle - Non-trading group: Uneven class distribution, higher-level individuals do not need central area resources. To be verified."
He turned and left the information area.
He continued walking in Yuan City, this time on the outer circle.
During his first scan, he noticed a phenomenon: the distribution of the crowd was not uniform. The central area was the most densely populated, and the population became sparser towards the outer edges, but the sparseness occurred in different ways—the sparseness on the eastern side of the outer ring meant "no one goes there," while the sparseness on the western side of the outer ring meant "there are people there, but they are not soliciting."
He is now walking on the west side of the outer circle.
There were about a dozen people scattered around, each with their own spot. There were no stalls, no whiteboards, and no signs of trading. They were simply there—sitting, standing, or leaning against something.
He scanned the people's positions in his habitual way—structural awareness, looking for weak points, and positions with their backs to the flow of people. No one was near a weak point in the building, no one had their back to the main flow of people, and most people's lines of sight were open, not defensive.
These people weren't on guard, nor were they resting. They were waiting.
In his memo, he wrote: "Outer ring, west side: approximately 15 people, no trading activity, no defensive posture, common characteristic: waiting. Waiting for what?"
He stopped there for a while to observe.
Then he noticed something: there was a identifiable difference between the people here and those in the information and item zones. Those in the information and item zones, whether buyers or sellers, were all consuming source coins in some way—either spending or earning them. But none of the people on the western side of the outer circle were engaging in any form of transaction.
What they have in common is that they don't need anything from the city of Origin.
He changed that line in the memo: "Outer ring, west side: approximately 15 people, no trading activity. Correction: They are not not trading, they simply do not need to trade here. These people are in Source City, but they do not belong to Source City's logic."
He scanned through the 15 people, trying to find more specific characteristics.
He couldn't judge most people because he had no frame of reference—he had only one experience level in this system, and he didn't know what the differences were between high-level and low-level players in appearance or behavior, except for the information Qian Lao had just given him: "Player ranks are unevenly distributed. High-level players are usually in the central area, but some high-level players are not in the center."
He is now on the west side of the outer circle; the people here are not in the center.
He added a line to his memo: "Speculation: The people on the western side of the outer ring either don't need the resources of the central area (high-ranking), or they actively choose not to enter the center (with their own reasons). Both scenarios are worth paying attention to."
At the southernmost point on the western side of the outer circle, he saw someone he felt needed to be documented separately.
The man sat on a blue, worn-out folding stool, as if it had been there for a long time. He wore a gray work uniform with a faded logo on the pocket. Xie Chengzhou couldn't identify the organization, but the shape reminded him of the badge of an international construction contractor he had seen on a construction site in Africa—not the same, but of the same kind.
The man was holding a red thermos, the same kind Xie Chengzhou used on the construction site. It was made of stainless steel, with scratches on the outside and words written on the lid with a marker, but he couldn't see what they said from too far away.
The man wasn't doing anything. He just sat there, holding his thermos between his hands, looking in the direction of Yuan City Center, with the kind of expression Xie Chengzhou had seen before: "He's been here for a long time, he's familiar with everything here, but he doesn't have any particular thoughts about it."
Xie Chengzhou wrote a line in his memo: "Outer ring, west side; blue folding stool; gray work clothes; red thermos. No transactions, no waiting, just here."
He thought for a moment and added a parenthesis after the line: "(Insufficient reference frame, temporarily saved, to be re-evaluated after a judgment benchmark is established.)"
Then he turned around and walked back towards the city center.
He stayed in Origin City for about two hours, then returned to the spot where he had first entered—near the entrance to Origin City, where he had a wide view and could see most of the central area and the outer ring at the same time.
He opened his memo and organized his notes from the past two hours.
"Source City - First Exploration - Summary of Records:"
"Scale: Approximately 200 meters in diameter, with no clear boundaries; the sense of boundary is maintained by the constitutive structure."
"Population: Approximately 80-100 people within sight (estimated), actual size may be larger."
Functional zones: Center (Item trading/Information trading/Services) → Sub-center (Player gathering/Team formation) → Outer circle (Waiting/Solo/Unknown functions)
"Information area: 12 stalls, varying in quality, one high-quality source has been identified (Mr. Qian, C-0003, 30 years of experience)."
"Speedpass record: Publicly available, identification number C-0047. Risk level: Medium, no action taken at this time."
"Outer ring west side: A special group of players, characterized by not participating in the core trading logic of the source market. High probability of reaching higher levels."
"To be verified: ① Specific patterns of class distribution (more historical data needed) ② Background of the male figure on the blue folding stool on the west side of the outer ring."
He drew a line under the three items marked "Pending Verification," and then wrote a line below the line:
"On our first trip to Yuan City, we accomplished our main tasks: we established basic spatial awareness, found a reliable source of information, and identified several objects that required continuous observation."
"Next step: Await summoning #002. Until then, continue gathering information in Source City, but do not actively spend Source Coins."
He closed the memo, put his hands in his pockets, and stood near the entrance to Yuan City for a while.
The sounds of Yuan City remained unchanged. There were conversations, footsteps, the sound of something being put down somewhere, and people discussing a realm rule whose details he couldn't make out. The sounds overlapped, with no one sound standing out and no one sound disappearing.
He's not here to survive.
He is building his information network.