154: Chapter 151 Resonance

"Although we can pay in installments... isn't this just the Magic Sea version of a mortgage? Carrying a mortgage before Transmigration, and carrying a ring-loan after Transmigration?"

"Can you make it cheaper, Fate Master? Give us a discount! Even 20% off would do!"

"If we don't participate in the Sequence War, can we choose not to enable it..."

As soon as this message was sent, the speaker followed up with another one.

"Never mind, never mind, I was just joking. Fate Master said it is strongly recommended; if you don't buy it, you aren't cute. I don't want to be disliked by Fate Master."

"Right, right, right! What if Fate Master thinks we aren't supporting him? Must buy! Even if I have to sell everything I own, I have to buy it!"

"I choose to have one karma point deducted every day to pay it off slowly... two hundred days... more than half a year..."

Sighs filled the Symphony Realm.

And just amidst the collective wailing of the Yanhuang Survivors, messages from Survivors of other civilizations began to emerge.

A Survivor from the Star-Spangled Banner Camp: "Four hundred karma points. Four hundred. You Yanhuang Survivors at least only need two hundred, we need four hundred."

A Survivor from the Fog City Camp: "My total net worth right now adds up to forty-seven karma points. Four hundred points. I'll have to save for nearly a year without eating or drinking."

A Survivor from the Teutonic Faction: "Even if only one point is deducted per day, that's four hundred days. The Magic Sea only lasts three hundred and sixty-five days in total. I'll be dead before I finish paying off the debt."

"Besides, our life rings don't have various functions yet; our advantage is about to disappear."

"Yeah, it's expensive, but that's fine. If all Yanhuang Survivors enter the Sequence Battle equipped with life rings... Numerical Panel plus Life Spring recovery... what are we supposed to fight with? Fighting with our lives?"

"The advantage in combat experience we've accumulated over the past fourteen days through pure strength will be compressed to the point of being negligible in front of the life ring. An opponent who can recover HP, Mana, and Stamina in real-time versus an opponent who has to tough it out to the end—they are simply not in the same dimension."

"The balance of the Sequence War has been completely broken."

"It's not shameful to lose to Yanhuang Civilization Survivors. By the way, will the debt be cleared if I die? If not, I won't even be able to die in peace."

"So we are destined to live with debt until the end of the Magic Sea?"

"Fate Master... can you make it cheaper?"

When the Yanhuang Survivors saw these messages, they were originally wallowing in self-pity, but suddenly felt their situation wasn't that miserable after all.

A strange resonance spread through the Symphony Realm.

Yanhuang Survivors thought two hundred was expensive.

Survivors from other civilizations thought four hundred was even more expensive.

Then both sides said in unison—too expensive.

For the first time, the Yanhuang Survivors and Survivors from other civilizations in the Symphony Realm reached an unprecedented consensus on the same topic.

"Brothers, your four hundred is truly miserable."

"Our two hundred isn't much better!"

"We are all workers paying off debts, let's understand each other."

Just amidst this cross-civilization wailing, a Yanhuang Survivor suddenly noticed a detail.

"Wait—that Survivor from Gaul just now, didn't he already post one message earlier? How come he posted another one?"

"Yeah, that one from the Stars and Stripes too, he posted three in a row!"

"Didn't Survivors from other civilizations used to only be able to post one message every three days? Why are there so many suddenly?"

Yanhuang Civilization Survivors and Survivors from other civilizations responded immediately.

"The fourth point of the announcement—visitor system permission expansion pack. Consuming one karma point grants ten message opportunities, with no upper limit."

"I just spent two karma points to exchange for twenty message opportunities. Although it hurts, I can finally speak normally."

A Fog City Survivor followed up with: "Thank you, Fate Master, for opening up more message opportunities. Although there are still restrictions and fees, it is already much better than one message every three days. Really, thank you very much."

A Teuton Survivor said: "If Fate Master can continue to open up more functions to us in the future, even if the cost is higher than that of the Yanhuang Civilization, we will fully accept it without any complaints."

A Kangaroo Survivor said: "Being able to live on the Fate Platform is our good fortune."

No one mentioned the words "inequality."

No one questioned why the pricing for other civilizations was double that of Yanhuang.

No one complained about the various restrictions of the visitor system.

The Yanhuang Survivors looked at these messages and were silent for a few seconds.

Then someone spoke up.

"Although you can't beat us, you can set your goals on other civilizations. Second place is also quite good."

"Yeah, you don't have to be too depressed. Fate Master will definitely open up more functions for you slowly; it will be better in the future."

"Everyone has to go into debt to pay off the life ring installments. It's like the pot calling the kettle black; nobody should look down on anyone else for being poor."

"Let's all live until the end of the Magic Sea survival!"

At this moment, the Symphony Realm—noisy, wailing, teasing, comforting, grateful—various sounds intertwined, chaotic, yet inexplicably warm.

Less than three minutes after the announcement was issued.

The emergency communication channel in the Command Cabin of the Renaissance lit up.

"Chief Number Two, the Fate Platform 4.0 update announcement has been released, new feature—life ring. Emergency discussion group requests activation."

Zheng Yuanshan was in the interval matching period of the Sequence War.

The Despair Wall Team had just finished their three hundred and twenty-third five-on-five battle, and before he could withdraw from the command state, the red prompt on the communication channel popped up.

He glanced at the content of the announcement.

Ten seconds.

"Entire team, pause matching."

On the video link of the Despair Wall Team, Zheng Yuanshan's voice did not hesitate at all, "Guan Tiezhu, Zhang Haotian, you two are free to do as you please. Gu Qingyi, you take a break for now. Shen Qing, you go handle the affairs of your Little Life Society."

After handling the affairs of the Despair Wall Team, Zheng Yuanshan sent a reply on the emergency communication channel, "Granted, emergency discussion group, online in five minutes."

This emergency discussion group was specially established by the Revival Society after the third major update of the Fate Platform.

Twenty-hour shifts, with four standing council members and several experts from various fields forming the core team, dedicated to real-time analysis, functional evaluation, and public opinion guidance for every update of the Fate Platform.

Team leader, Zheng Yuanshan.

Seven minutes later.

Zheng Yuanshan sat in the main seat of the Renaissance Command Cabin. He stretched his stiff neck and shoulders, his gaze sweeping over the core members who had already arrived.

Director Sun Zheng sat in the first chair on the left, clutching a full copy of the announcement just captured from the Fate Platform, his brows knitted and never relaxing.

Director Lin Su was standing, not sitting, her fingers swiping rapidly across the Fate Platform interface, already muttering: "Two hundred karma points, installment payments, zero interest... I have looked at this pricing model; it is completely different from the pricing logic of the food god shrine—"

Director Zhou Ming leaned against the cabin wall with his arms crossed and interjected: "Look at the functions before talking about the price."

Acting Director Liu Zhenghua and Chief Prosecutor Chen Tianjiao were also there. The former sat quietly reading the announcement, while the latter had already opened the real-time discussion page of the Symphony Realm, quickly browsing the first wave of public reaction.

In addition to the standing council members, the discussion group also had three special experts.

One was a middle-aged woman who had researched economic models at a top domestic think tank before Transmigration—surnamed He, called Professor He within the Revival Society. One was an associate professor who researched social psychology before Transmigration, surnamed Jiang. The last one was a military strategy researcher before Transmigration, surnamed Tang.

Zheng Yuanshan looked around, without any nonsense.

"Everyone has seen the announcement. Enable the life ring first, field test."

Seven people simultaneously opened their personal pages and clicked on the three-dimensional oval ring icon made of lines on the right.

Confirm the consumption of two hundred karma points.

The next instant, a pale blue light condensed in front of everyone from the void in front of them.

After the light dissipated, a silver-gray metal strip as thin as a cicada's wing appeared, floating.

No dial, no buttons, no protruding structures of any kind.

The whole body was smooth and clean, refracting a very thin layer of iridescent light under the lights of the Command Cabin.

Several people subconsciously reached out their wrists. It hovered about one centimeter above their wrists, and then silently attached itself down.

The two ends of the metal strip automatically fused the moment they touched the skin, the entire wristband becoming a seamless whole, as if it had been born growing there.