It's a Set-Up

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by SnowPeaches

The outskirts twenty kilometers away from Jinghua City...

A year ago, a technology company called Canglan Tech was established here. It was not really that famous in the country. Only a few people knew that the company was in charge of the Chinese servers of Genesis.

It was the launch day of Genesis, thus Canglan Tech was placing all their attention on the game. It was already midnight, yet the monitoring team was still observing the data collected from Genesis.

More data kept showing up on the giant screens that a group of young workers was staring at.

It had been a few hours since the game had launched, thus they were no longer as nervous.

If the servers did not have any problem when the number of Players was the highest, it was very likely that the servers would operate as intended from now onward.

"Huh? How is this possible!? Someone has entered the Sacred Land of Condemnation!"

A young man yelled all of a sudden.

"The Sacred Land of Condemnation? Isn't that only accessible with a few hidden quests? The highest level of a Player is only 10 at the moment. How is it possible for anyone to enter the hidden area!?"

"Go find out what happened!"

The others were dumbfounded too. The young man that yelled in the first place quickly pulled out the relevant data.

If there was any bug in the game, they would have to report it immediately. Canglan Tech was only in charge of the game servers in China, they did not have the right to implement changes to the game.

"So that's what happened."

"HAHA, how perverted is that guy to harass dozens of female NPCs in a row which triggered the hidden quest that would force him to enter the Sacred Land of Condemnation!"

"That's insane, I'm wondering if the person that came up with the quest is an old woman who has never been harassed before!"

"What a poor guy, the Sacred Land of Condemnation, Players below Level 10 wouldn't stand a chance in there. I'm afraid his Level is going to drop back to Level 1."

...

The Sacred Land of Condemnation...

Chen Mo looked at the ancient ruins ahead while clenching his teeth.

The ancient ruins were located on a vast black swamp. The sky was gray without any glimpse of light. He could only see half-floating debris on the black swamp.

There was no sign of monsters, apart from the black silhouette of a woman that kept appearing from the swamp to assassinate him.

It had only been less than five minutes since he came here, but he had already died five times to the black shadow. He had gone from Level 9 to Level 8!

Damn it! It was a set-up!

The quest "The Tryst" was indeed a hidden quest, but it was a complete set-up too!

When he entered the house to the north of the town to meet Inoch, the woman detained him right away and proclaimed she was going to punish an evil man like him. She then sent him to the Sacred Land of Condemnation.

Chen Mo did not just stand still when Inoch started attacking him. However, he was no match against Inoch's damage and speed. He was caught in just a few rounds.

He was forced to stay in the Sacred Land of Condemnation for an hour. Every time he died in the Sacred Land of Condemnation, he would lose 20% exp, even though he had not reached Level 10 yet.

He had died five times in just five minutes. His Level had already dropped by one. If he was stuck here for an hour, he was surely going to drop back to Level 1.

Chen Mo bet there must be some insane loot in the Sacred Land of Condemnation, but no matter how good it was, there was no way he could get it.

He had died five times in five minutes, but the truth was, the distance he covered was only less than thirty meters. Every time he came back to life, the black shadow would rise from the swamp and kill him with a single blow using her dagger before he could even take a few steps.

After thirty seconds, he would be resurrected on the spot he died. The black shadow would come to assassinate him again before he could take a few steps.

He could not just go offline either. His character would just stay and die continuously to the black shadow.

After dying for five times, Chen Mo finally made it to a boulder.

He was trying to use the boulder to defend himself from the black shadow's assassination.

Chen Mo calculated the time it took for the black shadow to appear. He quickly set up a Dazing Trap on a rock.

The black shadow showed up on Chen Mo's right after he set the Dazing Trap. He quickly tossed the trap at the shadow.

Boom!

The Dazing Trap exploded, knocking the black shadow away.

It might work!

Chen Mo was overjoyed.

However, the blast also knocked Chen Mo away from the boulder. He fell back to the muddy swamp.

F**k!

Chen Mo felt a sharp pain from his back before he could leave the swamp. He knew the black shadow had done it again.

There was nothing he could do!

He was initially planning to reduce the number of his deaths with the Dazing Trap to see if he could last for an hour. However, Chen Mo realized he did not stand a chance against the shadow with his current attributes.

Chen Mo stopped resisting after coming to the conclusion. He ran in the same direction to see if he could find any treasure before he dropped back to Level 1.

Chen Mo kept dying, but he still kept running as soon as he was revived.

"A treasure chest!"

When Chen Mo's Level dropped to 5, he was surprised to discover an ancient black chest on the swamp fifty meters ahead!

It might be worth it for his Level to drop to 1 if he could reach the treasure box!

Chen Mo started running toward the chest.

However, Chen Mo soon realized how naive he was. When he was less than thirty meters away from the treasure box, several black shadows rose from the swamp.

It was Chen Mo's first time taking a close look at the black shadows. The shadows had the outline of a glamorous woman with an alluring figure, but their figures were pitch-black, making it difficult to see their features clearly. However, their icy bloodshot eyes clearly indicated that they were not someone a Player should mess with.

Chen Mo was already struggling against a single black shadow, let alone a dozen of them.

Chen Mo let out a sigh and stopped moving. He waited until his Level dropped back to 1.

Chen Mo finally left the Sacred Land of Condemnation after dropping to Level 1. He was revived back in the square of Aiur Town.

"Damn it, how dare they set me up!? I can't wait to see what would happen if I was to subdue Inoch in the first place!"

Chen Mo did not really care if his level had dropped to 1. After all, the Level of his character did not matter much to him.

However, he was furious after knowing that he had been set up!

He had fought against Inoch. He noticed that Inoch was not unbeatable. If he could get himself a set of impressive equipment, he might be able to defeat Inoch.

It seemed like the hidden quest "The Tryst" was like a prank that the game designer had come up with to punish the Players that harassed the female NPCs. Chen Mo was unlucky to be its first victim.

Chen Mo was suspecting if the game designer had taken into consideration the possibility of a Player outmatching Inoch. After all, Inoch was just insanely strong for any Player at Level 10. There was no way the Players could stand a chance against her.

However, if he could complete the quest, he might be able to find a game-breaking bug.

Either for personal reasons or for his mission, it was important for him to complete the quest.

In order to complete the quest, he would have to find a set of impressive equipment that he could wear at Level 10.

It would not be easy to get a set of high-quality equipment now. Furthermore, Chen Mo's character had dropped back to Level 1 and failed the hidden quest. If he wanted to have another attempt at the hidden quest, he would have to kill his character.

Before doing so, there was something Chen Mo had to do to acquire a secret title which might grant him extra attributes.

...