999 had originally thought that as soon as Lin Zhaoyang brought the wood back, he would patch up the hole in the wooden cabin. Instead, he simply piled the wood next to the window.
Lin Zhaoyang unfolded his quilt, lay back down in the area of the cabin illuminated by the moonlight, and quietly gazed at the stars for half an hour.
“If I were not worried about the rain leaking in when it rains later, I would really love this hole. Inside the house, I can experience the sunrise and moonfall, the sunset and moonrise.”
“I will patch it tomorrow and leave it for one more night. 999, good night.”
Lin Zhaoyang could not leave this game. For him, this wooden cabin truly was his home, and as long as he lived inside it, he had to build it up step by step.
Players of this world could simply abandon the game if they did not want to play, whereas someone like Lin Zhaoyang genuinely had to live right here. Although nominally considered a player like the rest, he actually could not log off at all.
[Zhaoyang, good night!]
Even though 999 did not need to sleep at all, it still cheerfully replied with a good night, then lay down right beside Lin Zhaoyang. Although the other person could neither see nor touch him, 999 still quite liked cuddling up to sleep with this host.
He fell asleep bathed in moonlight and woke up amidst the sunlight.
Lin Zhaoyang rolled across the floor to wake himself up fully, then climbed up from the ground.
A new day meant a new busy life.
The very first task upon waking up was naturally to repair the roof, which not only granted upgrade experience but also earned him points.
With materials ready and points paid, the damaged roof was repaired, and the sunlit cabin instantly grew dim.
The moment Lin Zhaoyang received the points, he felt happy, but looking at the new quests made him frown again. So many quests required wood, but chopping was truly tedious.
Lin Zhaoyang occasionally wondered why nobody had arrested him for chopping down trees so he could stop working altogether.
Main Quest: Build a Toilet (Wonderful! The damaged house has been repaired, and you no longer have to worry about wind and rain. But do you feel that many facilities are missing inside the house? For example, an absolute must-have like a toilet? House expansion has also been unlocked; if you feel the space is too cramped, you can use wood and points to expand.)
Side Quest: Purchase Daily Essentials (0/2) (Do you feel that many items are missing inside the house? Please fill in the blanks according to the house in your heart.)
Lin Zhaoyang was currently Level 3. After the level-up, some items available for purchase in the mall were unlocked, but his points were not enough for him to squander, so he had ignored the new items in the mall all along.
Side Quest: Craft a Cooking Stove (You only need to gather or mine 5 stones, collect 5 pieces of clay, and spend a tiny number of points to craft it.)
“You have your eyes on my labor and you also have your eyes on my money. Wow, this game.”
It exhausted the player to the point of complete fatigue and then took the player’s money away.
Lin Zhaoyang naively thought everyone was just like him, getting out of breath and needing a rest after doing a little bit of work. In reality, today when he was complaining about the game, it was dead silent around him, and 999 did not even dare to reply.
The further along one went, the harder it was to improve stamina. Lin Zhaoyang’s stamina was a full 12 points lower than the initial baseline.
The only advantage of logging was that it counted as exercise, so chopping trees day after day could continuously increase his stamina, though it would become slower and slower.
Lin Zhaoyang never suspected that it was 999’s mistake. He always assumed the game directly used his actual personal data; since he was physically weak himself, he had nothing to say about it.
“Let us go chop trees, build the toilet first, and then make the water-boiling stove. That way, the basic facilities will all be complete. Wonderful.”
Having said that, Lin Zhaoyang still let out a deep sigh. He had the heart to work diligently, but not an endless supply of stamina. Once his stamina was used up and he was too stingy to buy potions, he would simply stop randomly at some spot along the way to recover.
Lin Zhaoyang’s daily quests included sunbathing for ten minutes every day, and he always over-fulfilled it. It was a testament to his heat tolerance that he did not suffer a heatstroke.
“No wonder the materials used to build a toilet are also wood. The toilet in the wooden cabin is all-wood too.”
Lin Zhaoyang was quite happy looking at the wooden toilet that instantly materialized after he handed over the materials and points. Even though this caused the space inside his wooden cabin to become even more cramped, he could not wait any longer.
He refused to use such a natural outdoor toilet anymore. Besides, whenever he slept, he could casually find any corner and use the wooden floor as his bed. He could sleep wherever he wanted.
“Let us go make a wooden pickaxe just in case, and then do the quest to build the stove.”
Lin Zhaoyang sat on the pile of wood, his slender and frail legs crossed over one another, nibbling on a steamed bun while looking at the quests to plan out the rest of his day.
[Ahhhhh, stop eating steamed buns! You need to buy some other food to eat in combination!]
[You dropped half a kilo, ahhhhh.]
A player’s appearance, height, and weight were all recorded in their personal profile, and the reason for this was self-evident. However, 999 was now even more worried about Lin Zhaoyang’s health.
Lin Zhaoyang’s weight was originally only 41 kilograms, and after these past few days of healthy living, it had dropped to 40.5 kilograms. 999 was about to emit a sharp, piercing screech.
For the past three days, the moment this person woke up he did quests, and whenever it was time to eat, he ate steamed buns and drank mineral water. Was he intentionally abusing himself?
The types of food available in the mall were not too numerous, but as his level increased, buns and porridge were available in addition to steamed buns. Yet Lin Zhaoyang stuck to that fixed combination of steamed buns and mineral water every single day.
Unlike other players, Lin Zhaoyang was truly living inside this game, and this kind of dietary habit would inevitably affect his physical body.