Below the corner was a gap between two mountains, with a small river flowing through the middle. Beside the river was lush green grass, and running across the grass were little yellow chicks waddling about.
Brood after brood.
At a glance, they were clearly the type that had never eaten feed.
Su Shu’s eyes lit up.
The corner was halfway up the mountain. Looking down the slope, Su Shu saw that the slope was not very steep, but it was strewn with gravel and water puddles along the way. She looked at the winding path down the mountain, thought for a moment, and simply retracted her dagger and sat on the ground. She knocked back a health potion into her mouth while twisting her body down onto the ground—
Su Shu rolled down rapidly from the mountainside.
The soft grass and moist soil would not cause any substantial damage to Su Shu, but the bumps along the not-so-gentle slope caused her health bar to drop continuously during her tumble—
Just as it approached the critical point, Su Shu slammed the long umbrella in her hand into the ground!
Her falling momentum instantly stopped!
Su Shu swallowed the last gulp of health potion in her mouth, barely keeping her health bar above the line.
She felt a bit of pain where the stones along the path had bumped against her body, but compared to Su Shu’s training at the academy, this little pain was nothing.
She immediately put away her umbrella, sat up, and patted off the grass clippings stuck to her body.
Her health dropped faster than she had imagined. The place where she stopped was still some distance away from where she had wanted to roll to, so sitting up like this, she didn’t have to worry about alarming the chicken nests below.
In order to strive for realism, wild mobs in the game had no visible levels until a player killed their first monster without a guide.
Su Shu looked left and right, noticing that there was no danger around. She sat on the ground waiting for her health to automatically recover, casually opening the interface to log onto the forum.
The game Meng Hui Jiang Hu could almost be called a game for the whole nation, so the map was remarkably huge. One of the most famous jokes was that for the same quest, players could have eighty-one different paths.
Therefore, Su Shu hadn’t encountered anyone during this quest, nor did she find anything wrong with that.
However, the forum had already boiled over—
——Holy crap, I turned in the ground squirrel quest yesterday, and clearly accepted a quest to help the butcher feed pigs. How come it became catching chickens today?
——Do you guys know I was gang-banged three times by a rabbit that popped out from who-knows-where when I went to catch chickens?!
——I ran in the wrong direction and crossed three mountains before I found those damn little yellow chicks!!
——Asking for coordinates, big brothers!!!
——(Dao Hua Mountain 899,135) Little yellow chicks, come quick!!
Of course, posts calling the planners names and wanting Su Shu’s dog life were also floating on the front page of the forum.
The post with the coordinates had only been published for seven or eight minutes, but the views were already close to ten thousand.
This chick-catching quest was brand new, so these little yellow chicks were also new mobs—
In a game where even ground squirrel meat could be cooked and ground squirrel pelts could be processed, Su Shu reasonably suspected that the chicken feathers from these little yellow chicks should also be useful.
Sure enough, when Su Shu refreshed the forum a second time, a player had already made a new post—
——Holy crap! These chickens drop feathers!
——Everyone, chicken feathers can be used to make clothing!
——Holy crap, I blew up a flock of nearly thirty chickens in one shot and only got a single chicken feather!
——What gives? Did you want one shot to bring a whole field of chicken feathers?
——Tsk, you guys always hold strange expectations for the stingy dog planners.
Su Shu: “…”
She felt that her wish for stewed chicken with mushrooms might fall through.
Since chicken feathers were useful, both new players and old players would come here to take a look.
And incidentally take away some chicken feathers.
As for the game, it had opportunely added some beautiful fashion items that required an extremely large amount of chicken feathers.
——Su Shu could almost foresee the various disputes that would arise later over a field of chicken feathers.
After all, even though this was in the Novice Village, it was still considered part of the wild map.
What if a small BOSS spawned while farming the new map?
Su Shu switched back to the game and looked at her coordinates; they were indeed close to the coordinates posted on the forum. Furthermore, compared to earlier when there were only red dots representing small mobs on the big map, there were now many green dots representing players.
——This was one of the perks for novices.
Once Su Shu reached Level 10 and left the Novice Village, unless in a safe zone, player coordinates of those who intentionally hid their presence could not be seen on the ground of wild maps.
The speed of recovering health through meditating was a bit slow. Having browsed the forum for a while, she had only recovered a small fraction of her health bar.
Su Shu took another bottle of health potion from her pack and continued knocking it back.
The green dots on the map moved very quickly; one look was enough to tell they were not novices.
Su Shu simply found a large rock, pulled out items from her bag, and prepared to watch the show—
Beside the rock was a water puddle. Su Shu looked at the chubby little yellow chicks below and ultimately reached her hand toward the rabbit in her bag.
The unconscious rabbit: pitiful, small, and hopeless.
This place was a bit distant from the area with the little yellow chicks, but it was not suitable for roasting. Staring at the unconscious rabbit, Su Shu lamented that she couldn’t make it spicy while rinsing a pot with the water beside the rock, starting to boil mushrooms with the alcohol lamp bought from the general store.
The first wave of old players running over according to the forum arrived at the chicken nests very quickly—
The little yellow chicks were completely defenseless against the sweep of high-level players. After just a few area-of-effect attacks, whole patches of little yellow chicks fell.
The number of little yellow chicks could not be said to be small, but they could not withstand having low levels and paper-thin health. With a few area attacks from high-level players, the monsters’ respawn rhythm could not catch up with the speed at which they died—
So when the second wave of high-level players arrived, the two sides naturally started brawling.
Su Shu raised her eyebrows, watching the first group fight she had encountered in the game from a distance.
She was far away and couldn’t hear what those people were saying, but she could see them.
——Someone in the newly arrived wave directly stole the unpicked chicken feathers on the ground.
There were too many classes in Meng Hui Jiang Hu. Just looking at the equipment, Su Shu couldn’t tell what class the feather-snatcher was—
However, judging from his movements, that person should be a close-combat assassin type.
While most people relied on hurling water balls and fireballs at each other, the assassin maneuvered smoothly through various flying spells with slick positioning—
One hit, one kill!
Su Shu narrowed her eyes.
Relying solely on movement, could the damage really be that high?
Su Shu stared at that person without blinking—
That person moved fluently, striking smoothly, accurately, and ruthlessly, with occasional blue flashes between the swings of his dagger.
Su Shu withdrew her gaze.
That person was indeed nimble, but he wasn’t placing opponents to death relying solely on physical skill—
If she guessed correctly, that person should have woven appropriate class skills into his movements. Under the full-holographic game rules, the game simulated real-life reactions as much as possible, which was why there was such an effect of one hit, one kill.
This assassin’s idea…
Coincidentally aligned with Su Shu’s future choice of class.
A gurgling sound of water came from beside her. Su Shu’s thoughts were interrupted, and she redirected her gaze back to the rabbit in her hand.
The heat from the general store’s portable alcohol lamp was indeed small, but the pot dug out of the rabbit’s den was not large either. White light continually flashed on the chicken nest side as players died back to the respawn point, but new players likewise joined the fray—
Su Shu considered her own physical skills no worse than that assassin’s, but…
She was just a novice little brother after all; it was better to wait until the excitement settled down.
Not to mention there was such a large rabbit waiting for her.
Right now Su Shu didn’t have extra ingredients on hand, but she had bought quite a bit of chili sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar. Su Shu didn’t know how to skin a rabbit, but she knew there was a dish called scalded skin rabbit.
She rinsed the rabbit in the puddle beside the rock, gave her hand a shake to drain the water from it, and was about to throw the rabbit into the boiling water—
——The rabbit that had seemed dead suddenly snapped its eyes open and pounced toward Su Shu!
Holding the small wooden stick, Su Shu thrust forward following its leaping motion—
Plop!
[System Notification] Player Huai Shuo has successfully killed the Wild World Chief BOSS Mischievous Rabbit at (Dao Hua Forest 117, 378).
[System Notification] Player Huai Shuo has completed the achievement 【The Rabbit’s First Blood】, obtaining the out-of-print title 【How Could You Kill the Bunny】, obtaining Chicken Feathers × 999, obtaining the blessing buff Mother Hen’s Favor.
[System Notification] Player Huai Shuo has reached Level 7, Intelligence +8, Strength +8, Energy +4, Physique +6, Agility +2.
[Server-wide Announcement] Player Huai Shuo has completed the first kill of the Wild World Chief BOSS Mischievous Rabbit at (Dao Hua Mountain 117, 378), obtaining the out-of-print title 【How Could You Kill the Bunny】.
Players server-wide: “…”
Fuck!
The wild world BOSS that was just updated got slaughtered just like that?
Is this person named Huai Shuo a hacker?
Su Shu: “…”
Utterly bewildered.jpg
Which family’s wild world boss was so talkative and asking for a beating?
She really just wanted to eat a rabbit, that was all.
Her coordinates had already been announced by the system. Looking at the rabbit lying peacefully in the pot, Su Shu didn’t have any thoughts of running away after snatching a wild world BOSS either—
Since she couldn’t outrun them anyway, she might as well enjoy eating the bunny in peace.
So when the wave of players closest to Su Shu found her, Su Shu was poking the rabbit in the pot with a wooden stick, disliking that there was no ginger and that it smelled a bit gamey.
Players: “…”
Meanwhile on the forum—
——Gossip thread about that ferocious person who devoured the wild world boss.
——Fuck! The wild world boss can fucking be cooked into food?!
——It’s my fucking first time knowing wild mobs can be put in a pot and boiled!
——I really wanted to make friends with that Huai Shuo person.
——Does the big boss offering the bounty on Huai Shuo still keep his word?
——Soul interrogation: Is the wild world boss tasty?
The players arriving one after another surrounded Su Shu in a circle.
Su Shu picked up a rabbit leg from the pot with chopsticks, looked up and swept a glance at the assassin closest to her, and said calmly: “Do you want to eat?”
The assassin: “…”
Looking at the white and tender little rabbit with a mouth full of fangs in Su Shu’s pot, he swallowed his saliva and shook his head hesitantly.
Su Shu didn’t push him, turning her hand to dip the rabbit leg into her bowl of dipping sauce, continuing: “This is the famous scalded skin rabbit from C City, Sichuan Province in ancient China.”
She took a bite and frowned: “As expected, without complete seasonings, it’s a bit gamey.”
The spectating crowd: “…”
Oh wow, holy crap, she’s actually eating it for real?!
Do you think we came here to watch you eat rabbit?!
Su Shu didn’t do anything; she just quietly ate her food in place. However, her calm attitude, bordering on indifference, poked right at the hearts of the spectating crowd.
A delicate young girl stood beside the assassin holding a weapon: “You are that Huai Shuo?”
Su Shu nodded.
The young girl covered her mouth and giggled: “You sure are amazing.”
“In just a single day’s work, you’ve become famous on the forum.”
“But… do you know that this kind of profiteering behavior of yours is very annoying?”
The more she chewed the rabbit meat in her mouth, the flavorless it tasted. Su Shu felt that rabbits still tasted better roasted.
She swallowed the last bite of meat in her mouth, set down the bowl, and swept a glance at the young girl standing next to the assassin, speaking in a flat tone: “I didn’t know.”
The young girl talking to Su Shu not only spoke delicately, but she also looked like a rose, exceedingly beautiful.
Good-looking people were popular everywhere, regardless of inside or outside the game. Although Meng Hui Jiang Hu allowed players to modify their appearance at the start, it was based on their actual appearance.
Just like Su Shu, although her face had been heavily pinched and adjusted by herself, her features were still quite refined.
Ever since entering the game, the young girl had been coaxed and pampered by those around her. Combined with her decent controls, she was treated like a star surrounded by the moon among the crowd that came today—
Yet right now, she was choked by Su Shu’s attitude.
Feeling that her dignity had been stepped on by an ugly duckling, her face darkened instantly.
The young girl—the Physician Ru Meng Zhi Meng—looked Su Shu up and down with a cold face.
Although Su Shu’s face looked plain, her eyes were like obsidian. Even though there was no expression on her face, she inexplicably felt that Su Shu should be very good-looking.
——This thought shocked Ru Meng Zhi Meng.
She subconsciously looked toward the assassin, but the assassin wasn’t looking at her; instead, he was staring at Su Shu with great interest.
Ru Meng Zhi Meng only felt anger rising in her heart: “Because of your personal desires, the quests in the entire Novice Village were changed! Do you know how big an impact this has on newcomers?!”
Su Shu naturally felt the sudden hostility from Ru Meng Zhi Meng toward her. She blinked her eyes and smiled: “I’m just a newcomer who happened to chance upon a little opportunity in the game. The person who set fire to the mountain wasn’t me, the person sitting in jail until the floor rots wasn’t me, so the person who forced the game to change rules naturally wasn’t me either…”
The corners of Su Shu’s mouth curled up slightly: “As a nobody who entered the game less than 20 hours ago, I can’t take the blame for such a big pot of yours, Miss.”
Ru Meng Zhi Meng said angrily: “You are making lame excuses for your tyrannical behavior!”
Because she was angry, a rosy blush flushed across Ru Meng Zhi Meng’s fair face—
When a beauty got angry, the people surrounding her naturally went along with her words.
Su Shu raised her head slightly, revealing a perfectly mocking expression: “So, righteous Miss, because the new quests are hard on newcomers, you’d rather newcomers not do them at all, is that it?”
Ru Meng Zhi Meng grew agitated: “Bullshit!”
Su Shu remained casual: “I’d rather let you off like a fart.”
That way she could complete her quest quickly.
Ru Meng Zhi Meng: “…”
She took two deep breaths: “We PK. Whoever loses goes to the forum to apologize.”
Su Shu looked at her like looking at an idiot: “Are you sure?”
Ru Meng Zhi Meng puffed out her chest: “I am sure.”
Su Shu let out a laugh and pulled out her hidden personal information—
Beside her blue ID “Huai Shuo” representing a novice, a number 7 hung prominently.
The character Huai Shuo represented by Su Shu was merely a Level 7 novice.
She was wearing a set of rags from the Novice Village, without even a single decent piece of clothing.
Su Shu said with a half-smile: “Miss, do you still have any shame?”
Ru Meng Zhi Meng: “…”
The crowd: “…”
It did seem a bit shameless.
The assassin took a step forward, blocking in front of Ru Meng Zhi Meng: “Her fighting you at the max Level 60 would indeed be winning ungracefully.”
The assassin revealed his ID and offered Su Shu a refined, gentlemanly smile: “I am Wu Ji, three levels lower than her. Let me fight you.”
The surroundings fell even quieter—
This group of people knew that this assassin had always been dark-hearted despite his gentle appearance, but they never expected this person to be so shameless.
Even if Wu Ji was not a max-level boss, as a Level 57 assassin ranked on the leaderboards in the game, challenging a novice whose level was only a fraction of his…
Sure enough, to be a boss and hit on girls, one’s skin must be thick!
However, when the spectating crowd shifted their gaze from Wu Ji’s face to Su Shu’s expressionless face, they felt…
This novice named Huai Shuo indeed lacked the beating of society.
Being surrounded like this, Su Shu had no time to check whether she had made it onto the forum yet again, but looking at the increasing number of onlookers around, she felt she had most likely been posted up again.
However, she came to the game to do business, so becoming famous wasn’t bad either.
She quietly scanned her surroundings; those people who came to watch the excitement had intentionally or unintentionally blocked all her paths of retreat.
Su Shu took a screenshot.
Wu Ji stroked his small dagger, smiling benignly: “Of course I won’t bully you by relying on levels. I won’t use skills, we’ll just fight casually… Rest assured, I definitely won’t rely on levels…”
Su Shu interrupted his earnest persuasion: “Okay, I accept.”
Wu Ji froze.
Su Shu raised an eyebrow: “What?”
Wu Ji pointed at her, feeling a bit incredulous: “You just agreed like that?”
Su Shu shrugged and asked back: “If I don’t agree, will you let me go?”
Wu Ji: “…Of course not.”
Su Shu smiled: “Then why should I waste time listening to your nonsense?”
The spectating crowd: “…”
It seemed to make sense.
The spectating crowd subconsciously took a few steps back, leaving an open space for Su Shu and Wu Ji—
It didn’t matter if that arrogant person named Huai Shuo died, but it wouldn’t be worth it if they were accidentally injured by that lunatic Wu Ji!
Wu Ji immediately stopped being polite, gripping his dagger and lunging sharply toward Su Shu!
Su Shu charged forward instead of dodging. Just as the dagger was about to touch her neck, the long umbrella suddenly unfurled in front of her!
His vision suddenly blocked by the cheap umbrella canopy, Wu Ji only paused his movement slightly before continuing forward—
Riiip!
A large tear was cut across the silk canopy!
Everyone thought Su Shu was unavoidable and about to be struck dead on the spot!
Yet they saw Su Shu seize the opportunity, twisting her slender waist while tilting and sweeping the long umbrella to the right. The iron umbrella ribs spun rapidly, and Wu Ji’s dagger got stuck in the middle, halting for a moment!
Just a fraction of a second’s pause, and Wu Ji heard a sound of tearing fabric right from beneath the umbrella!
A flash of cold light brushed up against his neck from below!