In Jingning Town, during the last month of the lunar year, red lanterns hung everywhere, filling the town with a festive New Year atmosphere. Residents were stocking up on holiday supplies, street shops were bustling, and at the end of the street, the incense shop had just seen off a batch of customers, gradually returning to quiet.
Outside, a steady winter rain fell. Inside the incense shop, Xi Mufu was counting the day’s earnings.
This shop had always been run by her grandfather. Six months ago, he passed away, and since Xi Mufu had just graduated from university, she had returned home to inherit her grandfather’s old business.
“Hello, is this… huh, an incense shop?” a young female voice suddenly rang out.
Xi Mufu looked up and saw two young girls lingering at the shop entrance. Their faces were unfamiliar; they clearly weren’t from Jingning Town.
“Yes, it’s an incense shop,” she asked curiously. “Are you traveling? Did you get lost?”
Jingning Town was a famous old town in the region. On weekends, many local tourists visited. Today happened to be Saturday. Even though the weather was cold and rainy, there were still quite a few tourists. Normally, tourists gathered around the bustling main street, rarely venturing to the quieter end of town—much less into an incense shop. So Xi Mufu assumed these two girls must have lost their way.
Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi exchanged glances, both showing shock in their eyes.
They were players from the infinite-world system, having just entered a dungeon called “Guangming Elementary School.” Before entering, they knew players weren’t supposed to leave the school. But while searching for clues on campus, they noticed a shop outside the school gate, its warm lights cutting through the surrounding chill, unconsciously drawing them closer. Even more astonishingly, they were actually able to leave the school and enter the shop!
At first, they thought it was a small convenience store—yet it turned out to be an incense shop… how bizarre!
How could an elementary school have an incense shop outside its gates?!
“We… we’re just browsing…” Kong Yu said cautiously, sizing up Xi Mufu. The shop owner looked young and gentle, but as everyone knew, NPCs in the infinite-world system were terrifying—calm exteriors could hide high damage potential. She stayed on guard, even preparing for combat.
Xi Mufu, hearing them, became even more certain they were tourists and smiled, amused. “There’s nothing much to see in an incense shop. You can go to the main street—it’s lively there, and there’ll be bonfires and dancing tonight.”
Seeing the owner let them go, Kong Yu felt relieved and started to leave, pulling Xu Wenzi along.
But as they reached the door, three bold, red, capitalized warnings appeared repeatedly on their HUDs:
[Conduct a transaction with the incense shop immediately!][Conduct a transaction with the incense shop immediately!][Conduct a transaction with the incense shop immediately!]
Kong Yu: !Xu Wenzi: !
After a moment, they stiffly turned back toward Xi Mufu behind the counter.
“What’s the matter? Need me to show you the way?” Xi Mufu asked warmly.
Her gentle and pretty face, along with her soft voice, somehow made Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi extremely uneasy. Especially her black eyes, which radiated the same strange, oppressive feeling as the red, bold letters on their HUDs.
“We… we want to buy some incense paper…” Kong Yu bit her lip, forcing herself to stay calm as she spoke.
Xi Mufu understood immediately: “You want to visit the Earth God Temple on Main Street, right?” She skillfully prepared two sets and handed them over. “Ten yuan each, twenty in total.”
Occasionally, tourists came to her shop to buy incense paper for the town’s Earth God Temple, so she was used to it.
Seeing the NPC so skillfully handing over the paper, Kong Yu realized that Xi Mufu had probably traded with many players before—but she had never heard old players mention this, nor had she seen anything on the forums. Had all the knowledgeable players disappeared?
A wave of fear surged through her. She carefully took the incense paper, ready to pay with points—since the infinite-world system had no universal currency, players mostly used points for transactions. She and Xu Wenzi were newbie players, having only entered two dungeons with less than 100 points. Ten yuan incense paper would probably cost ten points.
Then a HUD prompt appeared:
[Cannot use points.][Item or skill required.]
Kong Yu’s eyes widened.
In other words, they could only trade using items or skills?!
As new players, they had few points, and even fewer items and skills! She had earned two items from completing two dungeons; if she traded one now, only one would remain! Items and skills were crucial in the infinite world—they could save one’s life. No player would give them up lightly.
This was essentially a forced trade!
Yet… the NPC behind the counter smiled warmly, the smile clearly warning them to pay quickly—or else not leave the incense shop alive.
Gritting her teeth, Kong Yu finally chose to trade the item [Telekinesis Retrieval].
Her two items were [Telekinesis Retrieval] and [Lucky Bracelet]. Clearly, the lucky item was more important—it increased her luck and survival probability.
Xu Wenzi saw the HUD prompt too. She had [Special Dagger] and the skill [Talisman Crafting]. She didn’t know how to use the skill, so it was useless to her. Trading it didn’t hurt, so she made her choice immediately.
·
Two minutes later, Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi stumbled out of the incense shop in a daze.
“This…” Xu Wenzi glanced at the incense paper in her hand, then nervously looked back at the warmly lit shop, silently asking Kong Yu if she should throw it away.
“Shh!” Kong Yu whispered. “We’ll decide later!”
Even if they wanted to discard it, they had to avoid the shop owner, or trouble would follow.
Xu Wenzi nodded and unconsciously quickened her pace back to school.
They entered the school gates, looking for a trash can to dispose of the paper.
“You two went out?” a chilling voice from above boomed. “During this special period, leaving is prohibited. You’ve broken school rules and must be punished!”
Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi froze.
The Guangming Elementary School dungeon storyline involved a little girl falling to her death, disguised as suicide. Players had to identify the culprit—who could be a classmate, teacher, principal, or security guard—and find the evidence.
Previously, they had been exploring to secretly investigate the security guard, but now they had been caught.
Facing the guard’s pupil-less eyes, Xu Wenzi nearly went weak in the knees, almost collapsing.
Kong Yu panicked as well, managing to stay calm just long enough to say: “Sorry, we’re new. We didn’t know about this rule.”
The guard didn’t buy it, repeating sternly: “Breaking the rules requires punishment!”
Both girls went pale.
According to veteran players, NPCs in investigative dungeons follow strict logic. As long as players act within the rules, NPCs usually don’t attack. But if an NPC deems the player in violation, it could erase their life. Players would need powerful abilities to evade or even counterattack.
“I’ll hold it off, you run!” Kong Yu signaled Xu Wenzi silently. She had the Lucky Bracelet, usable once per dungeon to increase luck by 20%. Maybe it could help her survive this.
Although timid, Xu Wenzi couldn’t leave her companion behind. Her voice trembled but she said firmly: “Run together!”
She threw the [Special Dagger] at the guard’s chest. Its damage was high, with a chance for instant kill.
Unfortunately, the guard was far stronger than they imagined. The dagger only pierced his shoulder, negligible damage. He still swung his rubber baton effortlessly toward them.
This could be a major boss, maybe the dungeon’s real culprit!
Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi’s pupils trembled. As newbie players, inexperienced and with few items, who would have thought they’d meet a boss on their first dungeon day?
First, the strange incense shop; now, a suspected major boss—this was a truly miserable turn of events!
As the guard closed in, Xu Wenzi threw the incense paper at him. It hit him squarely and was caught in his hand.
The next moment, the previously menacing guard froze, then lowered his baton and began inspecting the incense paper.
Xu Wenzi: ?Kong Yu: ?
Both were stunned.
But this was their chance to escape. Exchanging glances, they ran immediately.
The guard didn’t even lift his head, slowly bringing the incense paper to his nose and inhaling deeply: “So fragrant—”