Saving the World in an Apocalypse-Style Text Game

Chapter 20: Chapter 21 Strategies in the Apostle Forum_1 Chapter 20: Chapter 21 Strategies in the Apostle Forum_1 Lin Xun returned to his rented room, the time was approaching noon.

He logged on to the Apostle forum according to the website address sent by Ye Xiaoqi.

“Logged in successfully! Welcome, respected Apostle, to the forum.”

The Apostle forum has an exquisite webpage and is divided into several major channels like chatting and making friends, sharing strategies, looking for items to buy, game resources, etc.

Driven by curiosity, he scrolled through posts made by his fellow Apostles.

The posts weren’t as serious as he imagined, many were casual chats or even risqué jokes. However, most of them were complaints about the game’s difficulty.

Lin Xun looked for explanations about compatibility within the posts and discovered numerous rant-filled threads by frustrated Apostles.

After a quick glance, he understood the secret. Compatibility is determined by the degree of affinity between the Apostle’s own body and the prospective Shell.

The gender, age, and even appearance of an Apostle, among other things, could affect compatibility.

Thus, finding a Shell with a compatibility above 80, which also possessed great potential and power, was as hard as ascending to heaven.

In the world of the game, each individual chapter is a strange Doomsday. The powerful Bosses often have forms very different from humans and have very low compatibility.

Under such circumstances, it was understandable why Apostles struggled to find powerful Shells.

Lin Xun smirked, comparing other Apostles’ complaints with his own ability to enhance compatibility and turn into a Boss, he felt overpowered.

As a seasoned gamer, his instinct about the importance of compatibility over extra Shell slots was right.

After more browsing, Lin Xun gained a new understanding of the Text Game “Book of Salvation”.

The game was truly challenging. According to official statistics, less than five percent of the Apostles had cleared their chapters!

Most Apostles were stuck at certain points within their chapters and had no choice but to return to the Library and randomly enter a new chapter.

Opening the strategy section, Lin Xun planned to search for a strategy guide for chapter 323.

“You don’t have enough Contribution Points to view this.”

“To gain Contribution Points, please upload game chapter strategies. After official review, if deemed valuable, Contribution Points will be rewarded.”

“…”

Lin Xun twitched his mouth, surprised that he couldn’t access strategies freely.

To earn Contribution Points, he had to write a strategy guide first. But having not cleared even a single chapter, how could he write anything?

Just then, he noticed a red exclamation mark on his account. He clicked on it.

“You have activated Intelligence Team Member privileges!”

He tried to open the strategy guide again and, this time, the chapter guideline was successfully opened without any required Contribution Points.

“Freed access always brings joy, hehe, I finally get to experience exclusive privileges… Joining an organization was indeed the right choice.”

He quickly found chapter 323’s strategy guide. As he read through it, he was stunned.

The completion rate of chapter 323 was zero!

Over ninety-five percent of the Apostles were stuck by monster waves at the east of the Small Church.

Going through the comments left by Apostles, Lin Xun learnt why.

Apostles couldn’t use the bodies of the Blood Sun Church members because of their insufficient compatibility and had to explore using normal Shells.

After stepping out of the Small Church, they were either killed on the spot or die due to the madness caused by the Blood Sun. The Apostles could only fight monsters when the Bright New Moon fell at night.

Lin Xun noticed a detail. Apostles’ game progress showed that everyone encountered different level monsters, and their levels were very high.

What was for him a bug in the game where “as long as I become a monster, monsters won’t attack me,” was for other Apostles a terrifyingly difficult monster pile.

Upon referring to the game resources, he finally understood.

The difficulty level of the chapter would fluctuate within a certain range. The more chapters an Apostle cleared, the higher the level of the monsters would be in proportion, but would not exceed the maximum limit of the chapter’s difficulty.

Lin Xun continued to study the strategy guide and found that some top-level Apostles with skills like stealth and disguise could sneak past the monster waves and enter the tower.

But without a monster shell of the Blood Sun faction, they would startle the dogs in the tower with their unfamiliar scent, and get killed even before they could search for items.

Several Apostles died at the mouths of the dogs, and unable to overcome these difficulties had no choice but to quit the chapter.

Only one managed to barely defeat the dogs and ascend to the third floor of the tower, only to be turned to dust by a single Bloody Charge from the Law Knight…

“This is too brutal.”

Lin Xun realized that his strategy of possessing a monster shell and infiltrating the enemy ranks to fight them from within was completely breaking the balance of the game.

“Does this count as joining because I can’t win?”

After a long search, the apostle who saw the Law Knight had already been the player with the highest progress in Chapter 323.

Coming back to his senses, the soul strength in the game had been restored.

He took out his mobile phone, launched the ‘Book of Salvation’.

[A weak wandering soul awakens in a familiar church…]

[You consume 1 point of soul strength to recreate the ‘Blood Sun Church’s Law Knight’ shell.]

[Current Soul Strength 1/2]

[The weak wandering soul possesses the law knight’s shell.]

Lin Xun, controlling the Law Knight, passed through the metal gate to the north of the church and arrived in front of the Lord’s Castle.

With the alternation of day and night, the game text quietly changes.

[Under the blood sun, the entwining plant roots on the castle’s outer wall become thicker. Like countless blood-red tentacles enveloping the entire castle.]

[You arrive at the castle gate.]

[The plant roots are thick and dense, sealing the castle gate solidly.]

[Do you want to cut these roots and open the castle gate?]

Lin Xun thought carefully. The game text displayed at midnight yesterday showed that the castle under the bright moon was covered by an unknown shadow.

The eerie plants were also being shrouded by this shadow.

That is to say, these plant roots did not directly contact the moonlight.

The current game text shows that the plant roots become thicker under the radiation of the blood sun, does it mean these plant roots fear the moonlight and love the sunshine.

Seeing the “Enchanted Moonlight Sandpaper” in the item bar, he could use this tool to enchant the weapon with the power of the bright moon.

Without hesitating any further, he clicked to use the “Enchanted Moonlight Sandpaper”.

[You used the ‘Enchanted Moonlight Sandpaper’]

[Your weapon, the ‘Broken Dragon Hunting Spear’, gains the ‘Bright Moon’ enchantment effect, which will disappear after you kill a monster or the shell dies.]

[The spear in your hand radiates the dazzling light of the ‘Bright New Moon’.]

[The nearby plant roots wither and die under the radiance of the bright moonlight, dissolving with the breeze.]

[All plant roots on the castle wall like angry snakes, attack you together…]

[They absorb the power of the bright moonlight from your weapon and dare not approach.]

[The metal gate gradually reveals its corroded appearance.]

[Do you want to open the castle gate?]

Success!

Lin Xun spent a sheet of moonlight sandpaper, solved the roots that sealed the gate, and also prevented these roots from attacking himself.

[You push open the heavy metal gate.]

[The vast inner courtyard of the castle appears before you.]

[The towering scarlet sunflowers faintly glow red, covering the entire courtyard. Under the crimson sunlight, the weird flowers sway and grow wildly.]

[To your left are the stables and granary.]

[To your right is the guard room and small church.]

[Straight ahead is the inner castle banquet hall.]

[Where would you like to go?]

So many options?

Five places suddenly popped up in the text, making Lin Xun a bit troubled.

“Then explore one by one in order, the stables and granary don’t sound too dangerous.”

[You push through the sunflowers and head to the stables.]

[A dozen or so horse corpses lay in the dirty stables, the flesh and blood on these corpses dried up as if they were wind-dried.]

[In the shadow of the stables’ corner, a pair of blood-red eyes are watching you.]

[Do you want to go forward to check?]