In the Stilted Building, where the air was faintly filled with dust, Li Muyang opened his eyes.
He looked around, and once again, those two options popped up in his vision.
[I... I'm not dead? That's great! I need to go find Manager Wu and report back to work]
[I'm so tired... My body hurts so much, I don't want to work anymore, let's just keep sleeping]
Faced with these two options, Li Muyang was supposed to choose the first one since he had already failed with the second.
But as the moment of decision approached, his curiosity piqued again.
What happened to the powerful potential of the female lead? If she dies just because I stay indoors, that potential is too useless.
With that in mind, Li Muyang picked the second option again.
From Leng Aqi's mouth came a tired mutter, "I'm so tired... It's already so late, I won't work today, let's sleep for a while."
After saying that, Leng Aqi lay back on the bamboo bed, and Li Muyang's view plunged into darkness.
After a while in this darkness, a system notification appeared in Li Muyang's vision.
[You have missed the opportunity to personally water the wild grass…]
[Game Over]
Li Muyang was once again ejected from the game instance and returned to the main interface.
This time the wild grass hadn't died, but did he just lose the opportunity to personally water it?
Li Muyang reentered the game, defiantly choosing the second option again.
And as expected, he was deemed to have failed again and was forcibly ejected from the instance.
After failing continuously eight times, Li Muyang began to understand.
"It seems that this wild grass doesn't necessarily have to die if I don't interfere."
Out of eight game failures, except for the first and fourth times when the wild grass died, the wild grass survived the remaining six times.
It was just because Li Muyang lost the chance to cultivate her himself that the system deemed it a nurturing failure, forcing an ejection.
"Although the mortality rate indeed exists, it's not very high. It seems this wild grass really does have potential."
According to the story background, the village in this miasmic place is filled with dangers.
It's normal for a nurturing female lead who hasn't grown up to die in there.
But her death rate was lower than Li Muyang had anticipated, showing true potential.
When Li Muyang opened his eyes again in the Stilted Building, he finally chose the first option.
"I actually didn't die?"
From Leng Aqi's mouth came a surprised murmur, "But it's so late already, even if I go to find Manager Wu now, I'll be late…"
Leng Aqi quickly dressed, wound a black cotton strip around his waist, and hurried out.
The people in this village wore the ethnic dress of the southwestern region, greyish dark blue fabric printed with many simple white patterns, which looked ornate yet somehow plain.
Many women in the village had their heads wrapped in bundles of black cotton, looking as if they were wearing a series of black hoops.
The men also wrapped cloth around their heads, but their cloths looked more like hats.
Leng Aqi ran through the village and soon arrived at a small open square.
"Wu… Manager Wu."
Leng Aqi arrived in front of Manager Wu, panting heavily.
Manager Wu was thin and haggard, with a somewhat harsh and gloomy appearance.
He wore a Central Plains robe, his attire different from the people of the village.
Seeing Li Muyang approaching, Manager Wu, who was sitting at the door puffing on a huge water pipe, scornfully looked up and exhaled a thick puff of smoke.
"It's Leng Aqi…"
Manager Wu examined Li Muyang from head to toe, saying, "You're not dead yet?"
After Manager Wu had spoken, three dialog box options popped up in front of Li Muyang.
[...Thanks to your blessing, I'm still alive. Is there any work for me today?]
[Manager, I'm so tired. Can I take a break today?]
[...]（Enter content as you wish）
Oh? This time he could actually respond on his own rather than rigidly following the system's options?
That was interesting.
He had never experienced this type of real-time input dialogue in games in his previous life. After all, how could ordinary games react in real-time based on player responses?
Li Muyang first pulled up the system interface and saved his game, then he typed in his response.
On the edge of the square, the sallow-faced Leng Aqi suddenly spoke up and cursed at Manager Wu by the door.
"Old Wu, even if you die, your grandfather here won't!"
…
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
A few villagers passing by turned their heads in surprise, looking at Leng Aqi in disbelief.
Manager Wu, who was sitting holding a hookah, also froze for a second, as if doubting his own ears.
An eerie silence persisted for a few seconds.
Suddenly, the scrawny and sharp-tongued Manager Wu exploded and viciously smashed his hookah on Li Muyang's head.
Blood burst forth.
[You have died, game over…]
"Damn, died just like that?"
Inside the thatched hut, Li Muyang opened his eyes. His provocation this time was not merely for fun, but to test and gather information.
Manager Wu's attire was different from that of the villagers, making him stand out awkwardly yet he was exceedingly arrogant.
Li Muyang wanted to see what kind of status and identity the other party had within the village.
However, he hadn't expected such a seemingly frail old man to suddenly burst out and smash him to death on the spot.
This kind of disregard for human life, killing someone over a mere comment, confirmed that the village was indeed dangerous and that Manager Wu held an extraordinary status within it, killing without hesitation or fear.
After briefly recalling all the information gathered so far, Li Muyang reloaded his save and entered the game again.
This time, facing the sinister and gaunt Manager Wu, he chose the most sensible response.
Manager Wu, holding his hookah, glanced at him and said, "It's quite late already, too late to send you up the mountain."
"How about this, wait outside the village. A flock of lambs is arriving shortly, and you'll be in charge of receiving them."
As he spoke, Manager Wu took off the money pouch from his waist and threw it to Li Muyang.
"The old rule, two silver taels per lamb. Just pay the driver per head."
"Make sure to check the animals when paying, don't accept any that are sick or disabled."
Manager Wu delegated the task, and Li Muyang took the money pouch and turned to leave.
Although this interactive game was from an immersive perspective, often his body would act on its own according to the storyline. Whenever this happened, Li Muyang would lose control over his body.
As soon as the game character Leng Aqi took the money pouch, he familiarly headed outside the village, without any need for Li Muyang's control.
Li Muyang observed the surrounding village, inspecting each of the villagers closely.
He noticed that most of the village residents were ordinary people who even seemed rather simple.
But there was a distinct group of villagers too.
These individuals looked more ferocious and formidable, and all of them wore a purple cloth band around their wrists, in a uniform style.
These individuals were also residents of the village, but they clearly sourced some of the danger in this place.
Additionally, Li Muyang… or rather, game character Leng Aqi had a purple cloth band wrapped around his wrist too…