"It's Saturday tomorrow. What's everyone's plans?" While farming monsters in Poisonous Marshlands southeast of Desolate Outpost, Give Me Medicine asked.
"Tackling the Inner Demon instance dungeon again?" a player suggested while stuffing materials into his backpack.
"Eh… Going back again?" A player not that keen on rushing for first clears objected. "We shouldn't go right now. Those three instances are impossible to beat. It's better if everyone advances to Level 2 first."
"I don't want to go either. Dying and getting kicked offline all weekend is way too frustrating."
Players who wanted to attempt the instance dungeons weren't pleased and voiced out their support. "When are we going to go, then? Potential values only increase by about one or two a day at most. Reaching Level 2 requires 100 Potential values, and our average right now is below 70."
"We only have two days in a week to access these instances. It'd be a waste not to go. Even if we can't clear it, gaining experience is beneficial."
"Yea, if we don't clear content now, how do we have future progress? If we don't try it now, it will still be impossible to clear in the future."
"So many people have gotten new gear from the siege event. Maybe we might be able to clear it now?"
"Of course we challenge it! If we don't fight for the first clear, others will get it!"
Seeing quite a number willing to challenge the instance dungeons, Give Me Medicine turned to Qin Guan and asked, "What do you think, Vanilla? I feel that our chances this week are better than last. We had no warriors last week, and our only mage was Blossom. This week, we've gotten a few more warriors while Fish and Baobao have also completed their job advancements. We can at least form three raid teams."
Qin Guan, who had been depressed since the mayoral election results came out, nodded reluctantly. He then turned to Blossoming Strokes and asked weakly, "Blossom, what do you think?"
"I find you annoying."
Qin Guan: "??"
"Nothing." Blossoming Strokes kept a straight face and turned away from him to address everyone. "Those willing to challenge the dungeon instance, don't play too late tonight and save some online time for raiding tomorrow. Gather online before noon."
Qin Guan's mouth twitched. "Hold on, Blossom, there was something wrong with the look you gave me…"
"Ah, what did you expect?" Blossoming Strokes expressed with displeasure. "So what if you didn't manage to become mayor? How long are you going to sulk for? So much game content has been released and you aren't even interested. And you have the audacity to call yourself a top gaming content creator?"
A shudder ran through Qin Guan's body.
He was quite a character, and despite being chided by Blossoming Strokes, he showed no anger and quickly stood up, saying, "I nearly forgot something important. Brothers, you guys continue farming monsters, Meds will take charge, and Blossom, you manage the materials. I have to go shoot new video content!"
With that, he handed several backpacks filled with materials to Blossoming Strokes and rushed off…
"Don't forget to inform Xiao Zhou and the others to join us tomorrow for raiding!" Blossoming Strokes shouted from behind.
"Got it!" Qin Guan waved his hand.
A stupefied Give Me Medicine: "???"
"What the heck, I tried talking to him for so long but it was all for naught. You just chastised him with two sentences and he listened?!" Give Me Medicine stared at Blossoming Strokes in shock.
"You talked with him about future game prospects in the game, like blood alliance plans and stuff like that. Of course, it wouldn't be of any use." Blossoming Strokes rolled her eyes. "We are all adults and have to be realistic! Nothing is more important than real-world prospects! For example, if I lose to Unceasing Entropy in intellectual terms within the game, I would at most just be pissed for a bit but get over it quickly. However, if anyone dares to say the books I write suck, I would bear grudges to no end!"
Give Me Medicine: "…"
Qin Guan ran all the way back to Desolate Stronghold and first told Xiao Zhou (ID Eight At Once, who ran a gold farming studio), who had been camping out here doing logging quests, regarding the matter of forming a raid team to challenge the Inner Demon instance dungeon tomorrow.
Then, he entered the teleportation point and traveled to Weisshem.
The town of Weisshem and its surrounding area for tens of miles was full of people and lacked monsters to farm. Once players' novelty faded, no one other than idlers and players grinding manual labor quests were willing to come and stroll about.
Coincidentally, the former number one player, Ou Huang, was among the latter sort. Qin Guan hadn't yet stepped off the platform in the Weisshem Town Hall courtyard when he saw Ou Huang stepping out from the white glow, carrying a woven bag.
"Ou Huang?" Qin Guan trembled and immediately started recording footage. He approached in a friendly manner. "Boss Ou Huang, you aren't staying in Exile Town anymore? What brings you here? New quests?"
Ou Huang gave the streamer a cold look, completely ignoring him, and continued walking.
Qin Guan not only stuck on like a leech but even reached out to touch Ou Huang's woven bag. "Don't be so heartless, Boss Ou Huang. What's in that bag you are carrying? Oh my, why does it feel so hard? Dried boar meat? Did you make this yourself? What are you doing with this sort of thing in Weisshem? Isn't it only the Undead Merchant Association canteen that accepts this kind of lifestyle class products?"
Ou Huang was as indifferent as an NPC and continued to walk forward, paying absolutely no heed to Qin Guan's endless chatter…
Qin Guan had a video series called "Expert Specials" among his uploads, which was a series on players who stood out due to their unique and humorous approaches.
Of the players he had filmed as material, the cold and indifferent Ou Huang was popular among the non-player crowd. This expert player had too much entertainment value—his forum posts were always laden with emojis, leading those who had never interacted with him to mistakenly think he was a cute girl. However, his in-game persona was cold as ice, and players all agreed that they had never heard Ou Huang speak more than three sentences.
In addition to his sort of contrast cuteness character, Ou Huang was also the non-player crowd's standard for unconventionality. He didn't join teams, never participated in monster hunting parties or large-scale quests, and refused all types of attempts by others to play together. He single-handedly turned the cooperative online game into a single-player experience and did so impressively, occasionally posting his experiences on the forum, which would quickly be bumped to the front page.
Qin Guan himself and quite a few of his companions often referred to Ou Huang's forum threads. Now, seeing that Ou Huang had come to Weisshem, Qin Guan immediately assumed that this expert player must have more interesting material that could be filmed and thus pestered him shamelessly…
This wasn't the first time Ou Huang had been filmed by the shameless Qin Guan, and he calmly walked out of the town hall, turned a few alleys, and arrived at Martin Street.
Currently, it was 6 p.m. on Earth and 11 a.m. in the game. The marketplace on Martin Street (OtherWorld) would only start getting lively after two in the afternoon. Right now, the whole street was deserted, with very few pedestrians. Only a few shops, a leather workshop, and a bakery were open.
Silent Ou Huang and Qin Guan, constantly making "KABAKABA" sounds, passed through, and the apprentice at the leather workshop gave them a casual glance without barely batting an eyelid. There were so many skeletons roaming the streets daily, and even the mayor was one, so the townsfolk were no longer surprised.
With his big bag in tow, Ou Huang came to a grocer and entered.
The shop owner, who had been dozing off behind the counter, suddenly snapped awake and stared blankly at the two undead that had entered his shop. He didn't scream in terror or make any attempt to solicit business; there were too many skeletons treating shops on the street as sightseeing spots, and after being troubled for a few days, shopkeepers like him had no choice but to adapt.
Evidently, Ou Huang wasn't here for "sightseeing." He silently walked over to the counter and emptied the contents of his woven bag.
Ou Huang's bag contained only dried wild boar jerky. He had caught boars via the butcher class's trapping skill, slaughtered them accordingly, and cut the meat into slices, which were then seasoned with salt and air-dried.
If food products created from lifestyle class professions weren't gray-quality junk but white-quality (common) when "Identified," they could be sold to the Undead Merchant Association, and NPCs would have no problem consuming them.
Finally, a look of astonishment crept into the face of the previously desensitized general goods shop owner.
Ou Huang pointed at the jerky on the counter, then pointed to the boss.
"S-sell to me? Are all these for sale?" The shop owner was momentarily stunned as he tried to make out the meaning behind this skeleton's gestures.
Of course, Ou Huang didn't understand the native language and repeated his gestures once more.
The grocer boss gulped nervously. Over the past few days, the new lord's men had set up a stall in Martin Street that sold goods at unbelievably low prices, and he had bought quite a bit himself. While he hadn't directly transacted with these undead, who couldn't speak human language, he also didn't have the guts to drive away these two undead who seemed to have peaceful intentions.
Thus… the grocer boss bit the bullet and examined the jerky.
The air-dried wild boar jerky had been prepared cleanly and appeared to have quite a generous layer of salt applied on the surface (sugar and salt sold by the Merchant Association canteen were cheap). This batch even looked much better than wild game jerky that hunters brought to sell.
Perking up, the shop owner immediately weighed the jerky, made some calculations, and counted over a hundred copper coins, stacking them up on the counter.
Ou Huang wasted no time nor said anything, instantly pocketing all the NPC's copper coins, then turned around and left.
Qin Guan, with a head filled with questions, hurriedly followed behind. "Boss Ou Huang, why are you exchanging white-quality items for gray-quality junk NPC currency which we can't us—"
Before he even finished, Ou Huang turned into the next-door clothing store.
The middle-aged lady boss of the clothing store had a wooden reaction much like the grocery shop owner when she saw the two undead enter her store… Many players came to poke their heads around her store, too.
Ou Huang looked around at the clothes hung on the wall, then picked out a round-neck pullover and a pair of double-pocket canvas trousers, which he brought over to the counter. He then produced the copper coins that were "Identified" as gray-quality junk to the NPC store owner.
"What the heck?! That works too??" Qin Guan was absolutely flabbergasted.
The lady boss was equally shocked…
Due to the massive sale of affordable fabrics by the new lord's men, business at the clothing stores had become incredibly challenging. Their store had been closed for the past few days. The lady boss hesitated, then plucked up her courage and nervously picked out 80 copper coins…
Ou Huang had acquired this batch of "dried boar jerky" through his practiced butcher skills. If sold to the Undead Merchant Association canteen, he could gain slightly over 20 game currency copper coins. With that amount, he could buy three sets of the standard "uniform"—a beginner T-shirt and shorts.
However, when sold to these civilian NPC vendors and buying clothes with the takings, he wouldn't have enough to get even two sets.
All things considered, it wasn't very cost-effective. But the difference was that the clothing he received from the civilian NPCs was customizable. He could buy long-sleeve shirts and long pants!
Right there in the shop, Ou Huang stripped off his equipment, removed his ragged "Beginner gear," and put on the long-sleeved pullover and canvas trousers before finally putting on his equipment once more.
Skeleton frames didn't have gender distinctions after all, so players didn't feel any shame in the game.
Ou Huang, now dressed differently from other players, glanced coldly at Qin Guan, whose arms and legs were exposed, then walked off silently.
Qin Guan: "…"
The brand new set of beginner gear he had just gotten suddenly lost its appeal…
Then… Qin Guan ran to the teleportation point and logged out.
Ou Huang's maneuvers had been sleek indeed, and that final look of disdain was rather soulful. Qin Guan's inspiration was flowing at this moment, and he needed to quickly edit and upload this video—his pride had already been hurt, but he couldn't afford to hurt his income (view count) as well.
These two left Martin Street one after the other, and a while later, the clothing store lady boss went to the next-door grocer and discussed the frightening experience of dealing with the undead…
The new lord's people (Mia and Ben) had been purchasing vegetables and flour at the market for consecutive days already, but it had only been humans that did the transactions. This was the first time trading with the undead.
Ou Huang's spirit of bold and unconventional thinking opened up a new world for Weisshem's townsfolk. They realized that these undead that spoke a different tongue could indeed reason, follow orders, and engage in fair trade!
November 2, Saturday, Earth time, 9.00 a.m. Game time, 6.00 p.m.
Before the sky darkened, Ou Huang, who was practicing disassembling beast carcasses in the butcher's workshop at Life Alley, swiftly packed up his belongings, closed shop in a hurry, and ran to the Crossroad's teleportation point.
During the weekend, nights in Exile Town became fraught with danger, which greatly affected Ou Huang's gaming experience. He had no interest in teaming up to clear instance dungeons, and before his second job advancement and having sufficient strength to solo farm in the wilderness, he just wanted to quietly hone his lifestyle class skills all by himself.
The safe area around Desolate Outpost was limited, and Ou Huang had died quite a few times when practicing his butcher skills on his own. Retrieving his dropped equipment had been quite a struggle then.
When he reached the teleportation point, Ou Huang chose to teleport to Weisshem without any hesitation. Others might dislike Weisshem due to a lack of monsters to farm, but Ou Huang didn't mind. All he needed was a place to hone his life skills.
Weisshem was bustling as always, completely unlike Exile Town. When Ou Huang stepped out of the town hall courtyard, two child NPCs, playing by the roadside, gazed at him curiously.
Previously, Weisshem's townsfolk had been afraid that the roaming skeletons would harm children and thus kept all of them indoors. However, after more than a week of observation and verifying that these undead were much less aggressive than inebriated grown men, the streets and alleys of Weisshem saw children playing once again.
Ou Huang halted, scanning his surroundings to make sure there were no players around… and then, he reached into his waist pouch for a small pack of rock sugar and tossed it to the two child NPCs.
The barefoot children happily accepted the rock sugar, thanking the "undead mister" before running away to play.
Ou Huang stood in place for a while, waiting, but the two children didn't return with any adults to give him a quest. Regrettably, he shook his head.
It seemed that hidden quests weren't so easy to trigger.
Weaving through the streets and alleys, Ou Huang arrived at the town gate. Two militiamen stationed at the duty post noticed Ou Huang leaving town and raised their eyebrows. However, they didn't come out to stop him and just silently watched him depart.
The former Weisshem sheriff, militia captain, and a portion of militiamen were still locked up at the former militia headquarters, waiting every day for the undead to provide two meals that didn't fill them up fully.
Some of the militiamen, assessed by Hal as being low threats, had been idle for two days before Rex summoned them. They were made to join the public security squad led by Ben and, using their old uniforms, resumed their previous duties.
Currently, Weisshem didn't have any security issues—the undead roamed the town each night, making any would-be thieves think twice about committing any crimes. Bringing these people back to work was simply a precaution to ensure they didn't become a security threat to the town in their idle time.
Jimmy, who had fainted upon seeing the undead and essentially gifted the town gate to players, was also one of the reemployed militiamen.
The fear and humiliation during confinement, the feeling of escaping a near-death experience after release, and the two restless days of unemployment had made Jimmy, a young man who had never left Weisshem before, much more reserved. Stepping out of the house to resume his job and seeing the now-closed red-light district added to Jimmy's complex feelings.
He never liked this street, even though its existence had once been beneficial to him. Since childhood, he had seen too many instances of people living in the same district as him squandering away their family fortunes for a night's revelry on this street, leading to arguments and even the breakups of family.
Even his mundane father, who had lived an unremarkable life, had once brought their entire family's living expenses to this street for an extravagant night after having a little too much to drink, which led to their family on boiled potatoes for almost two months afterward.
The filthy street that Jimmy had always hoped to see disappear had actually been sealed off by those undead that had haunted his nightmares for nearly a week. Jimmy didn't know whether to curse his fate at having his hometown fall into the hands of an evil black mage or be grateful that his hometown had been rid of this shameful sore.
As he watched the distant figure of the undead under the setting sun, Jimmy hesitated for a while before finally mustering the courage to tap his partner on the shoulder. "I need to follow and see what's happening. You keep an eye out here."
Before his partner could respond, Jimmy slipped out of his duty post, rushed out of the town gate, and followed that undead from a distance.
That undead followed the main road out of town for about 500 meters before turning to a small dirt path. Jimmy knew this path headed toward a small village. His heart tightened, and he quickened his pace.
The undead in town sometimes appeared in greater numbers or were sometimes scarce. The townsfolk, who had to act deferential to survive, occasionally speculated where these undead were when they weren't in town.
Including Jimmy's wife, many housewives, while buying vegetables, would discreetly take note of familiar faces among the farmers.
Everyone was afraid that these undead were only safe and harmless in town but could turn aggressive once they ventured outside where there were fewer people. However, no one dared to voice their fears and kept them buried deep in their hearts.
For ordinary folk, relocating their entire family elsewhere was no easy task. Besides the risks during the journey, even if the entire family managed to escape unscathed to another town, it would still be challenging to find housing and secure work to make ends meet before running out of savings.
That undead that had left the town alone hadn't headed straight for the village. Instead, it stopped by the edge of a recently harvested wheat field.
Jimmy initially thought that he had been spotted and hurriedly crept into some bushes.
Fortunately, that undead didn't notice him. Instead, it crouched by the field's edge, seemingly gazing curiously at the cut wheat stalks.
Jimmy quietly wiped away his sweat as he nervously watched this undead, trying to guess what its purpose was.
A while later, the undead unstrapped its backpack, pulled out a woven bag it held in hand, then bent down and went into the wheat stubble and started rummaging…
Due to the distance, Jimmy couldn't grasp its intentions at first. He stared for a good while before realizing that the undead was continuously putting something into the woven bag… seemingly grasshoppers.
Jimmy rubbed his eyes and scrutinized even more carefully.
He hadn't been mistaken. The undead that had left the town alone at dusk was indeed catching grasshoppers. Moreover, it did so with great focus and seriousness, catching at least one every two attempts as it moved from one end of the field to the other, displaying remarkable agility and showing no signs of tiring…
Enduring mosquito bites while crouching in the thicket, Jimmy watched this undead catch grasshoppers for over half an hour. There weren't as many grasshoppers left in that field, but the undead didn't give up and headed to another wheat field.
Jimmy silently crawled out of the bushes and turned back toward the town. It was time to change shifts soon, and he had to return home.
The image of the undead diligently catching grasshoppers in the fading light of the setting sun was likely to remain etched in Jimmy's mind for a very long time.
As the casual players that didn't intend to participate in the weekend event were fleeing Exile Town in succession… Hal, Tuttle, and Rex suddenly materialized in Exile Town's town hall.
When the glow of the teleportation array concealed underground faded away, what appeared in front of the disgruntled trio of Hal, Tuttle, and Rex was… the projected clone of Yang.
"You've done well." Yang's projection flashed a warm smile and gave a nod to the trio. "You three stay here until sunrise. I'll send you back once the sun is up. We are all depending on you guys for the next three nights."
"Hah… Heh…" Tuttle wanted to laugh cynically but simply couldn't muster it. His face twitching, he said, "Sparing no expense to have us use a teleportation array… So, does this mean that Finley's intuition had been spot on, and the anomalies that appeared in Exile Town half a month ago are indeed related to us?"
Yang Qiu smiled but didn't say anything.
"I knew it!" Hal roared. "No wonder those damn undead made such incomprehensible threats to me! So it was all thanks to you!"
Even Rex chimed in, "Isn't this going too far, Yang? Our mental domain isn't meant to be used as tools for amusing others."
"Calm down, my friends," Yang's projection said patiently. "Intruding into someone else's mental domain is more perilous than entering the tenth level of the Dimension Realm. I would never intentionally put our undead friends at risk.
"In truth, I merely borrowed the negative aspects of the memories in your soul, from your souls' memories, merging them into the 'Void Realm' to allow the darkest facets deep within your minds to briefly materialize on the material plane. This constructs a temporary, non-invasive manifestation within your mental domains.
"Your inner demons are being used to train our undead friends, allowing them to comprehend the true essence of becoming stronger. It also gives you guys a chance to confront your own fears, tempering your mentality. This is clearly a win-win situation. So, why get upset?"
"Please, for the sake of the gods, don't say another word!" Tuttle clutched his head in shame.
"You're a monster! You have long ceased to be human! It's a monster that resides in that body of yours!" Hal roared, his frustration turning into rage.