Looking at the palm-sized mushroom on the screen, which was not brightly colored, Alex was caught in a dilemma.
Prompt: "You are very hungry and need to eat."
The system's prompt tone has changed from once every few minutes to once every minute.
It's all the fault of the poisonous red wild fruit. Although the red wild fruit failed to poison Alex's character, it also drained half of his health, leaving him weaker and hungrier.
In his current state, if he doesn't eat in the meantime, Alex's character is unlikely to survive until the communal meal at night.
Just as Alex's character stood hesitatingly in front of this mushroom, a female voice sounded behind him: "This mushroom is poisonous, you can't eat it."
Alex used his finger to rotate the screen, manipulating his character to look behind him.
He discovered that not far behind him stood a girl who looked to be eleven or twelve years old.
The girl was wearing patched grey clothes that didn't fit well. Her skin was a little dark, she was skinny and small, but her eyes were big and distinct in black and white.
Seeing Alex's character turn around and look at her, she pointed at the palm-sized grey-yellow mushroom and said seriously, "Doctor Liam said that this mushroom is called a snake-swallowing mushroom. If you eat it, you will get a lot of red bumps on your body and you will die."
"Emma." A young boy, also wearing a patched grey cloth, ran out from behind a large tree nearby.
He pulled the girl behind him and then looked at Alex warily.
The young boy was about 15 or 16 years old. He held the little girl with one hand while clutching a short, black blade in the other.
Alex was also watching him. His character was actually very weak, and he was barely able to stand.
After the two men stared at each other for a while, the young man slowly backed away while holding the girl, still keeping a vigilant watch on Alex.
"Hurry up and go!" After backing up a few meters, he shouted, pulling the little girl and turning to go.
"Wait..." Alex couldn't help but speak up at this time: 'I'm going to starve to death. Can you two kind people give me something to eat?"
The character on the screen also spoke up, but his voice was hoarse and weak.
Alex was treating a dead horse as a live horse.
When the girl heard this, she couldn't help but stop.
"Hurry up and go, ignore him,' the young man said lowly, trying to pull the girl away from here.
This time, however, the girl broke free from the boy's grasp. "Brother, he looks so pitiful. Let's help him, okay?"
Without waiting for the boy to say anything, the girl trotted up to Alex and took out a cloth bag from her body. From the bag, she took out a dark, flat, bread-like object and handed it to Alex.
"Thank you," Alex took the food and thanked her.
After thanking her, he manipulated his character and stuffed the food into his character's mouth, chewing it up in large bites.
"Emma, this is your lunch ration, and you just gave it to him?" The young man also returned.
"Brother, he's really pitiful," the girl said.
"Hey," the young man sighed helplessly, glaring fiercely at Alex, who was still munching away, but not doing anything.
He didn't want to take back the food his sister had given away.
"You've given him the food, Emma, can we go now?" the young man said again.
"Mm," the girl nodded lightly.
The young man looked at Alex with some disgust, then took his sister by the hand and prepared to leave.
"Wait..." Alex spoke again, and because he was still chewing, his voice was a little indistinct.
"Outsider, what is it now?" The young man turned around, his face showing both vigilance and disgust.
The girl, on the other hand, looked at Alex with big, black and white eyes, a little curious.
"Well, kind sirs, I still don't know your names." Alex spoke while rapidly spinning ideas in his head.
Upon hearing this, the young man's face eased a little.
The girl opened her big black and white eyes and said, "My name is Emma, my brother is Ethan, big brother, what's your name?"
"My name is Alex," Alex said.
"Little Emma, let's go," Ethan, the young man, wanted to pull his sister Emma away again.
This time, Alex did not say anything to 'persuade' them to stay.
After eating a piece of bread, the annoying system prompt finally disappeared.
Alex didn't want to stay in the forest anymore.
There were indeed wild fruits, mushrooms and other things in the forest, but he was not able to tell if these things were poisonous or not. Eating them was really just a matter of luck.
What Alex disliked most was taking chances, so in that case, he might as well go back and stay put.
Ethan and Emma, a brother and sister, are supposed to be villagers from Peace Village.
Having lived here since childhood, they can tell whether the wild fruits and mushrooms here are poisonous or not...
Ethan, like the other villagers, is disgusted and repulsed by players like me, and it's not easy to get in touch with him. However, his younger sister, Emma, doesn't seem to dislike me... Thinking about this, Alex's face showed a thoughtful expression.
After I go back, I can ask John about the situation of these two siblings.
Alex thought to himself.
After returning to Peace Village, John's house was still locked.
After playing the game for a few hours and feeling a bit tired, Alex 'placed' his character in an abandoned empty house and then lay down on the bed and took a nap.
When Alex woke up, it was already noon.
After having lunch with his parents, Alex logged into the game again.
After entering the game, Alex controlled his character and went to take a look at the extinguished campfire.
He found that half of the players were still 'zombie-like' near the extinguished campfire.
These player characters may never wake up again.
Because, these players have probably abandoned their characters.
This situation is very common even in other games.
In this day and age, there are just too many games to keep track of.
Players have a lot of choices.
No game is suitable for everyone.
When a new game comes out, as long as the publicity is done properly, players will flock to it, but most players are only interested for a short period of time.
A few days or even a dozen days after the game is launched, most players will lose interest.
Those who remain are the loyal players of the game.