Liang Shumo: [It is a very simple dungeon, but until we exit the game, neither of us can make a sound louder than 60 decibels.]
The starting point was an uninhabited open space, while the destination was a dilapidated courtyard containing two fairly clean mahogany chairs.
Liang Shumo specifically stopped at the entrance to send Lin Zhaoyang a reminder message. Although it was simple, every dungeon had its rules, and failing to follow the rules meant failure.
Lin Zhaoyang: [Don’t worry, Brother Mo. I absolutely will not make a sound.]
Since he wasn’t able to help out in the first place, he definitely couldn’t afford to cause any trouble.
Lin Zhaoyang thought to himself secretly that if a beginner dungeon was already this difficult, what kind of weird exploration maps would there be later on?
Seeing that the other person understood, Liang Shumo gently placed him on the courtyard ground and signaled for him to take a seat on the chair.
Once both of them were seated, Liang Shumo pressed the exit key, bringing the dungeon to an immediate end and returning them to the same unfamiliar space they started in.
“I’ll give you everything I picked up inside the dungeon. With your level, all of it will be useful to you. If you find anything useless, you can just go sell it.”
Liang Shumo dumped all those items out onto the ground in a single pile, waiting for Lin Zhaoyang to pick them up.
Lin Zhaoyang didn’t refuse. He had actually found it quite strange at the time, as the items didn’t look like something a level 88 player would ever need. They felt more like a bunch of ragged little trinkets, so if they were meant for him, it made complete sense.
“The system told me that if I am over-encumbered, I won’t be able to carry items out.”
The supplies players submitted at the beginning were equivalent to a dungeon entry ticket. As long as they successfully cleared the dungeon, everything in their backpacks could be taken out, but being too greedy definitely won’t work.
“…”
“Never mind. Let’s add each other as friends. Once you reach level 20, you can visit other people’s islands. I’ll just hold onto these for you for now.”
Since he had already picked them up, he might as well save them. He couldn’t just throw them away now, as that felt a bit embarrassing.
Liang Shumo didn’t have the hassle of running low on stamina, after all, so a minor miscalculation was completely normal. He had assumed he could help the other person gather things and let the little newbie take them all out together.
“Ah, alright. Thank you, Brother Mo.”
Since the other person had gone through the trouble of picking things up for a long time, Lin Zhaoyang couldn’t bring himself to say they could just throw them away, so he simply accepted them. Besides, he would probably be lacking resources when he reached level 20 anyway, so having a little extra wouldn’t hurt.
“Well, little newbie, see you next time if we get the chance.”
“Goodbye, Brother Mo.”
The two of them exchanged an awkward farewell before logging out and returning to their respective islands.
With this dungeon run concluded, not only did he harvest some useful resources, but Lin Zhaoyang also added his very first friend in this game.
[How was it? Did your teammate bully you?]
[Did you meet a good person?]
999 had been sitting right next to the teleportation array eating potato chips and watching television. Although he was waiting for Lin Zhaoyang, he couldn’t just sit there doing nothing, so the moment he caught sight of a human figure appearing in the center of the teleportation array, he blurted out the question.
“He’s a very good person.”
“Since he’s a teammate, I shouldn’t end up getting bullied, right?”
Having encountered someone like Liang Shumo who carried him through the entire process on his very first two-player exploration dungeon, Lin Zhaoyang suddenly found himself full of anticipation for the next two-player exploration dungeon.
Watching the naive Lin Zhaoyang, 999 opened his mouth as if to speak but ultimately said nothing. When it came to certain matters, rather than saying a word or two about things that couldn’t be proven right now, it was better to wait until the other person experienced them firsthand.
Deception and lies were the norm in life. Not encountering them in the first half of one’s life was sheer good fortune, but in this game, not everyone he met down the road would be a good person.
Players were scattered all over the world, and both benevolence and malice coexisted. At the very least, the probability was fifty-fifty.
[As long as you are fine, then do you want to try a solo dungeon? The first dungeon will reward you with a drawing board, which you can use to draw and pass the time.]
999 guessed that Lin Zhaoyang wouldn’t be very interested in solo exploration dungeons because they were somewhat boring in a way, resembling personal capability upgrades, but it never hurt to try everything at least once.
“Mm-hmm, I’ll go put the things from my backpack into the storage first.”
Lin Zhaoyang was right in the middle of an excited state, so he was naturally more than happy to keep entering dungeons. Furthermore, he was genuinely bored most of the time and needed something to pass the time.
The process for a solo exploration dungeon was even simpler. Selecting start initiated entry into the dungeon right away, and because there was no need to match with teammates, the loading speed was extremely fast.
“Welcome to the art studio.”
“Please choose a pattern you would like to paint. Once the similarity of your painted work reaches eighty percent, you will clear the dungeon and can take away ten drawing boards and ten tubes of paint.”
“I am your temporary instructor.”
As soon as Lin Zhaoyang entered the dungeon, he was thrust straight into the storyline. The rules were introduced to him by a refined-looking man wearing silver-framed glasses.
One second he was bidding farewell to 999, and the very next second he was dropped straight into a dungeon, encountering someone who looked like an art teacher.
The scene transitioned so quickly it felt just like a dream.
Lin Zhaoyang stood very close to the man, with only a twenty-centimeter gap between them. Being plunged into the plot so abruptly felt quite unfamiliar to him, but he still followed the other person’s instructions and selected an oil painting of small daisies.
Although Lin Zhaoyang was still feeling a bit dazed, he had heard the rules clearly. There were at least a dozen oil paintings displayed in front of him, and he picked the one that looked the simplest.
After Lin Zhaoyang made his selection, the man nodded slightly. “Alright, then I will teach you step by step how to paint it.”
Lin Zhaoyang’s eyes flickered between the drawing board and the person in front of him. There was no name displayed, and no queryable information was available, making it temporarily impossible to tell whether this was a real human or a so-called NPC.
In terms of both appearance and intelligence, Lin Zhaoyang felt the man was just like a genuine human being.
“I will teach you step by step, and you will learn step by step. Now it is your turn to paint.”
The man brushed a green background onto the drawing board, turned his head toward Lin Zhaoyang, and signaled for him to start copying.
“Oh, oh, oh. Alright.”
Lin Zhaoyang hurriedly gave his assent. Although he hadn’t paid close attention to how the man painted it, it was just applying a coat of green paint anyway. Such a simple task meant he finished brushing it on very quickly.
“To avoid wasting your time, once you confirm you are done painting, I will make the paint dry instantly so we can move on to the next step.”
“Oh, oh, oh. Alright.”
Lin Zhaoyang stopped looking at the man and earnestly followed along step by step. If he made a mistake, the man would even correct him, directly utilizing the power of the game to roll back the action.
Although he didn’t quite understand why a solo exploration dungeon involved learning how to paint, a one-on-one teaching session with a teacher who was this gentle and infinitely patient was simply wonderful.
At first, Lin Zhaoyang genuinely thought it was pretty nice. Ultimately, however, learning was a tedious process, and his lack of painting skills meant he frequently made mistakes.
It felt wrong, and those small daisies were not easy to draw either. When on earth would this painting class be dismissed?