Chapter 486 - 190: Number 0 Appears, Great Turmoil in the Special Area!

The fourth inheritance of game abilities! Humans really are the protagonists of this major version! With this fourth inheritance, a lot of my clones must have appeared too! When will I get to leave this place and Devour some more of Tang San’s clones!

In a special region, next to a petite, well-behaved girl, a man with a giant hammer on his back and Soul Rings circling his body was thinking to himself. This was Tang San, an Intelligent NPC inherited from the Game World. He had come from the Great Chaos Secret Realm without his memories being erased and then followed Zero—or, to be more accurate, was "kidnapped" by her—into the special regions.

He had already followed Zero to countless special regions. The two of them had experienced a vast variety of special regions, each with its own unique environment. At this moment, the two had just entered the special region with the highest Combat Power and the largest area: the Pacific Ocean region.

As Blue Star’s volume had expanded, so too had the Pacific Ocean special region. The ocean’s area was now at least tens of thousands of times larger than it had been before the apocalypse, and the various islands dotting the ocean had likewise expanded by tens of thousands of times. There were countless islands that were now individually much larger than the entire landmass of Great Xia before the end of the world.

As a mere "little NPC," Tang San had never imagined he would one day enter the Pacific Ocean, the largest special region of all. Unfortunately, he had no choice in the matter. Having been "kidnapped" by Zero, he was utterly unable to escape her control.

As he spent more time with Zero, Tang San discovered that the abilities she had inherited were incredibly special. Especially now, the game ability from the fourth inheritance seemed to embody a fundamental rule of some kind. He had been with Zero for over ten days now, and Tang San had also learned that Zero knew "Skyrocketing"—the figure with immense Combat Power from the memories he’d gained in the Great Chaos Secret Realm. Moreover, according to Zero, their relationship was exceptionally good.

He wanted to go to Qing City and latch onto a powerful backer, and with Zero there to make an introduction, things would go much more smoothly. He also considered that "Skyrocketing" had only gone through three game ability inheritances so far, with five more to go, meaning his Combat Power was bound to become countless times stronger over time. So, although Tang San was filled with various worries, under Zero’s "kidnapping," he had no choice but to obediently follow her and act as her bodyguard. Worse yet, given the unique circumstance in the special regions where his Combat Power would vanish every other day, he even had to protect Zero and help her escape from danger.

Originally, Tang San had thought that after entering the special regions, Zero would visit two or three at most, each with different terrains and environments, before promptly leaving to return to the normal world of human players. Unfortunately, to his surprise, Zero seemed to have gotten addicted to them. The more special regions she entered and the more intel she gathered through Detection, the more regions Zero would insist on entering. And now, she had even dragged him here, sneaking into the Pacific Ocean special region—the largest and most powerful on Blue Star, teeming with the most hidden NPCs and bosses.

Looking ahead at Zero, who was hiding behind a large rock, her body surrounded by countless colorful cubes of various sizes, Tang San couldn’t help but sigh internally.

Human players... although their overall Combat Power and numbers were currently weaker than those of Intelligent NPCs and Super Bosses, they possessed a rule-based advantage that allowed their Combat Power to surge instantly with each weekly inheritance of game abilities. This was something that made Intelligent NPCs, Tang San included, incredibly envious. Seeing that a new week had arrived, allowing human players to receive their fourth inheritance of game abilities, it was impossible for Tang San not to be envious.

While following Zero and sneaking into various special regions, Tang San had, of course, encountered his own "kind"—other NPCs or bosses who were also named "Tang San." With Zero’s help, he had Devoured these members of his own kind. Unfortunately, these opportunities for Devouring were entirely dependent on luck. Only when he was exceptionally lucky did he manage to encounter and Devour his "kind." Moreover, on several occasions, if Zero hadn’t used her miraculous Ethereum technology to help him apprehend them, his "kind" would have likely fled after the first exchange, once they sensed he was stronger. Therefore, even though his own Combat Power had increased slightly, seeing human players receive a guaranteed boost to their Combat Power every single week still made Tang San incomparably envious.

"Time to go?" After waiting quietly by her side for several hours and seeing that Zero seemed to have adapted to and mastered her newly inherited ability, Tang San asked, his tone practiced.

"Hm!?"

A version update?!

But before Zero could answer, Tang San suddenly froze, completely stunned. He hadn’t expected that a version update would arrive hours after the human players had already received their fourth inheritance of game abilities.

As an Intelligent NPC who had been inherited onto Blue Star, intelligent game lifeforms like Tang San were fully able to see and even be affected by the rules of version updates. For example, after the third inheritance, there was a mandatory mission to enter a Secret Realm. He and Zero had teamed up to clear a Secret Realm within one of the special regions, completing this so-called mandatory mission. Tang San hadn’t expected there would be another version update now. And this time, it was different. This time, two versions were being updated at once