[System Notification: Welcome player Mortal Dust to Death Jianghu!]
[New player detected, generating initial attributes...]
[Assigning birth location: Apricot Blossom Village (Safe Zone)]
[Kind Reminder: Please pay attention to satiety and stamina consumption, allocate attribute points wisely, and explore dangerous areas cautiously.]
[Wish you make a name for yourself in the Jianghu!]
With a series of system notifications.
Zhang Fan felt a slight sensation of weightlessness, as if his soul was forcibly pulled out of his body by a gentle yet irresistible force.
When he regained consciousness, the scene before him left him completely stunned.
He wasn't looking at a phone screen but was standing in the midst of a vibrant peach blossom forest.
The scent of damp earth after the rain mingled with the intoxicating sweetness of petals lingered at the tip of his nose.
Underfoot, the soft grass felt tangibly real.
He reached out to touch the peach tree beside him, the rough texture of the bark clearly registering at his fingertips.
"Damn, this VR technology is at least fifty years ahead of its time, right? This touch, this smell... this is the fucking complete metaverse!"
Had he really entered a mysterious game, or had he traveled to another world?
Zhang Fan looked around, deeply shocked by the scene before him.
In the distance, majestic green mountains shrouded in mist resembled a slumbering giant.
Nearby, a small bridge spanned flowing water, the sound of the stream echoing in his ears.
An ancient village lay quietly in the valley, wisps of smoke rising from the rooftops, like a living classical landscape painting.
At the village entrance stood a weathered stone tablet, engraved with ancient characters — Apricot Blossom Village.
This fairyland-like scenery formed a stark and eerie contrast with the menacing name "Death Jianghu."
Just then, a semi-transparent attribute panel quietly appeared before him, its minimalist design imbued with the charm of ink painting.
[Nickname: Mortal Dust (can be modified once randomly)]
[Identity: Outsider]
[Level: 1 (0/100)]
[HP: 50]
[Strength: 3]
[Agility: 4]
[Stamina: 5]
[Spirit: 5]
[Charisma: 3]
[Skill: None]
[Equipment: Tattered Cloth Shirt, Tattered Cloth Pants]
[Backpack: Empty]
"Mortal Dust? Quite fitting, isn't it just a speck of dust?"
Zhang Fan chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"But these attributes... Strength 3, Agility 4, Charisma 3? This is the lowest I've ever seen in a game, right?
With an initial HP of only 50, it feels like a gust of wind could blow me away."
As Zhang Fan was examining his attributes, a golden system notification box suddenly popped up in front of him, the text gleaming brightly, particularly eye-catching.
[System Detection: The average survival time of the previous nine players of this account is less than a month, triggering a special protection mechanism!]
[Congratulations, you have received the Novice Special Gift Pack reward!]
[Randomly drawing a talent ability...]
A luxurious roulette appeared before Zhang Fan, densely packed with various talent names, most of which were gray ordinary talents, with only a few glowing with golden light.
The roulette spun rapidly, and finally, the pointer stopped on a square emitting a faint golden glow.
[Congratulations, you have obtained the Unique Talent: Heaven Rewards Diligence]
[Heaven Rewards Diligence]: Diligence can make up for clumsiness, practice makes perfect, repeated efforts will eventually be rewarded.
Zhang Fan was momentarily stunned. The description of this talent was simple, but the word "unique" made his heart race.
"The previous nine players couldn't survive a month?" He swallowed hard.
Was it the game character that couldn't survive a month, or the player?
"What kind of place is this? But this talent... sounds like hard work will pay off?"
He tried to open the talent details, but the system only displayed that simple introduction, with no specific attribute explanation.
"Forget it, let's figure out the rules of this world first."
Zhang Fan shook his head, refocusing his attention on the unrealistically beautiful Apricot Blossom Village before him.
He pondered as he cautiously made his way toward the distant Apricot Blossom Village.
The cobblestone path underfoot was uneven, carrying the texture of time, each step feeling so real.
The village houses were purely wooden structures, and he could even clearly see the mortise and tenon joints on the beams and the moss between the tiles.
This was beyond what "real" could describe; this was another world.
At the village entrance, an old man drying herbs looked up at him, his gaze sharp and profound, not at all like a pre-programmed NPC.
"Another outsider," the old man spoke, his voice aged yet calm.
"Welcome to Apricot Blossom Village, the last pure land in this chaotic world.
However, young man, I must warn you, outside the village, it's not so peaceful."
"Thank you for the warning, elder." Zhang Fan cupped his fists in a salute, though inwardly he was skeptical.
"Pure land? This game is called Death Jianghu, and you call this a pure land? I don't believe you, you sly old man!"
He continued walking into the village.
A few children with ponytails laughed and ran past him, chasing a colorful butterfly, their innocent laughter momentarily lifting the shadow of Wang Yun's death from his heart, leaving him inexplicably relaxed.
This tranquility and harmony seemed too beautiful to be of this world.
He passed by a blacksmith's shop, where the sound of hammering filled the air, full of life.
A burly man with a bare torso was swinging a hammer, sweat rolling down his bronze muscles.
Beside the man, a slightly slender young man was intently sharpening a short blade.
As Zhang Fan walked by, the young man glanced up at him.
Zhang Fan's heart skipped a beat because above that young man's head, a line of text only visible to players appeared: [Drifting Cloud].
At the same time, Zhang Fan noticed that nothing was displayed above the burly blacksmith's head, clearly marking him as an NPC.
Seeing the other man's cold demeanor, Zhang Fan didn't approach to speak.
It seemed he wasn't the only "outsider" in this novice village.
He wandered around the village for half a day, like a true tourist.
Zhang Fan watched the villagers work from sunrise, saw vendors selling candied hawthorn and rattles on the street, and observed a young couple whispering under the willow trees by the river.
Time passed slowly and realistically here.
The setting sun dyed the sky a brilliant orange.
He hadn't even finished exploring the village or familiarizing himself with the NPCs and the village yet.
However, just as Zhang Fan was immersed in the realistic game world, a sudden, intense hunger pang, accompanied by a strong sense of dizziness, hit him.
In three seconds, he felt hungry.
And it was the kind of hunger that felt like he hadn't eaten for three days, a deep, bone-penetrating hunger.
On the attribute panel, a red warning message abruptly popped up.
[Ding! Your satiety is below 60%, attributes are starting to decline. Please eat as soon as possible.]
Immediately, he felt his limbs weaken, and his vision began to blur slightly.
This hunger was so real, it made his heart tighten, and he felt like he could eat a whole cow.
"Satiety? You have to eat in the game too?"
Zhang Fan instinctively patted the "Tattered Cloth Shirt" he wore.
The pockets of the shirt were empty, not a single coin, not even a thread.
It was then he realized that in this seemingly idyllic paradise-like world, he was penniless.
In this fairyland-like Peach Blossom Spring, he was already out of place, needing not just poetry and distant lands, but also oil, salt, rice, and firewood... and even a full stomach.