"First, bow to Heaven and Earth, for the union of yin and yang, with Heaven and Earth as witness.
Second, bow to your parents, for the grace of raising you, which descendants shall never forget.
Husband and wife, bow to each other, to be joined as one, through wealth and poverty, never to part."
A withered old man with few teeth left in his mouth shouted with all his might as two young people, holding a length of red linen, kowtowed in turn.
The bride wore clothes that were neither old nor new, a piece of red cloth covering her head. Though her attire was simple, at least it had no obvious patches.
The groom was in a sorrier state. The large and small patches on his everyday clothes were sloppily done, and he could only cover the mess by draping himself in a borrowed piece of cloth.
Zhou Yuan stood amidst the boisterous crowd, feeling neither celebratory nor disdainful, only confusion.
He was originally a proper Blue Star native, but he never expected to wake up in what seemed to be a game world, yet wasn't quite.
He called it a game world because, in his eyes, everyone had an HP bar over their head, and he himself had an attribute panel.
As for why it wasn't quite a game, it was because in the month since he had transmigrated, he had been subtly probing and discovered that the local villagers couldn't see things like attribute panels or HP bars.
They were just normal, living people. They experienced birth, old age, sickness, and death; they had to work hard to survive; and they would gossip about the Zhao Family's affairs and the Li Family's squabbles.
Just when Zhou Yuan thought this gamified reality was his unique advantage, he heard the village elders warn that one must be careful of the undying and indestructible demons when venturing out.
Some of these demons were strong, others weak, but they all shared one common trait: they were undying and indestructible.
Even if you killed them with great effort, they would revive after the midnight hour.
Fortunately, the demons all had their own territories and would rarely venture out. Otherwise, no village would be able to survive.
The more Zhou Yuan heard, the stranger he found it. How could such an illogical power like being undying and indestructible belong to weak creatures?
Why would such powerful and unbeatable demons imprison themselves? What did they eat? What did they drink? Surely they couldn't all be free of worldly desires.
Combining this with his ability to see HP bars, a bold guess formed in his mind.
Perhaps those demons were game monsters. They weren't undying and indestructible; they just respawned on a timer.
But that didn't make sense either. If this was a game world, the human NPCs were far too normal. How could their different emotions and personalities be simulated?
For a moment, Zhou Yuan couldn't tell if the world had become a game, or if he was the one who had become gamified.
"Smack."
A rough, large hand patted Zhou Yuan's shoulder. A wrinkled old man spoke.
"Shi Tou, what are you spacing out for? Are you jealous seeing Ergou get married?
Don't blame the village for not helping you find a wife. Your father left for the army early, and your mother passed the day you were born.
Even if the village paid to find you a wife, who would help you raise her after you join the army? And if you're lucky enough to have a child, who would look after the two of them?"
"Big Huang Uncle, I wasn't thinking about that. I was just thinking about the Conscription Order from the county."
"What's there to think about? You're not planning to run, are you? That won't do.
Our village has sixty-seven households, and we have to send twenty-three able-bodied men. If you run, another family will have to take your place."
"Shi Tou, in the past few years, it's always been other households sending their men, either for military service or labor.
We all looked out for you because you were just a kid and didn't make you go. Now you're sixteen, a grown man. You can't keep avoiding it."
"Of course not, Big Huang Uncle. I have a conscience. I would never run away and bring trouble to others."
It wasn't that Zhou Yuan hadn't thought about running. But the village, not trusting someone with no family ties, had assigned three men with families of their own to eat and live with him.
He couldn't possibly beat three villagers on his own. He could only try to understand this world first and then make a plan.
"The ceremony is complete!"
With a high-pitched shout, the newlywed couple was pushed into their bridal chamber. The village women brought out baskets of soft yellow millet cakes and a few bowls of rich, slow-cooked chicken soup.
The villagers who came to the wedding had all given gifts, so they were naturally entitled to a meal of soft yellow millet cakes.
The twenty-three men, including Zhou Yuan, who were set to join the army not only got the millet cakes but also a serving of chicken soup that had been simmered over a small fire.
The soft yellow millet cakes were made from millet, and they had a soft, sticky texture that was decent enough. It would have been even better with a bit of sugar for flavor.
The rich chicken soup had been cooked for a long time, with a layer of fragrant fat floating on top. There were even two small pieces of chicken inside.
One dish lacked sugar, the other salt. Mentally, Zhou Yuan had no interest in eating, but his body craved it desperately.
"Slurp, slurp..."
As he drank the soup and ate the cake, Zhou Yuan dared to say that this was both the most tasteless and the most delicious meal he had ever had.
Tasteless was the food's essence, but delicious was his body's feedback. His body, long deprived of oil and fat, wanted to lick the ceramic bowl clean of every last drop of soup.
He looked up and saw men actually licking their bowls clean. By not doing so, Zhou Yuan instantly seemed much more well-off.
"Shi Tou, don't waste it! Lick the bowl clean."
"Big Huang Uncle, I've decided to live differently. The first step starts with not licking my bowl."
"Getting bold, are we? If you don't want it, give it to me."
After filling his stomach, Zhou Yuan stood up and headed home. The three villagers quickly grabbed their millet cakes and followed him, eating as they walked.
His completely different aura, combined with the three honest villagers following him, instantly made him the most distinguished-looking young man in the village.
"I say, Big Huang Uncle, it's not like I'm going to run. Why do you guys follow me around all day?
Hurry up and go home. If the bride's village folk see this, they'll think we people from Qiaoxi Village are so cruel."
"Shi Tou, we just can't rest easy about you. You have no ties. If you bolt into that old forest, who knows how many people will suffer because of you."
"That's going too far. If you say that again, I really will run away."
"Alright, alright, I won't say it. You're the boss, we'll listen to you."
With some fat in his belly, he should have had a good night's sleep, but Zhou Yuan tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
One reason was the thunderous snoring of the two men on the straw mats, while Big Huang Uncle, who was on watch, stared at him intently.
Another was the unknown nature of this new world, which left him with a severe lack of security.
But most importantly, his initial plan had failed. He had originally used the excuse of wanting to "see some blood" to take over the task of slaughtering the chickens for the village.
But after killing three whole live chickens, he didn't gain any experience points or anything of the sort.
This turned his plan of gaining power by hunting poultry into a fantasy.
"The undying demons might be game monsters that respawn on a timer. Could it be that only they provide experience?
Or maybe the chickens are too weak to generate experience. Should I try killing a person?"
Zhou Yuan stared at the three villagers, compared their builds to his own, and decided to be a good neighbor.
After all, these people had families, and they had helped his predecessor survive until the age of sixteen. Even a rabbit doesn't eat the grass around its own burrow. He'd better find some scoundrel outside the village to experiment on.
"Shi Tou, why are you staring at us? Don't you go getting any foolish ideas.
It would be a real joke if we old-timers didn't fall on the battlefield, but fell to one of our own instead."
"That won't happen. Big Huang Uncle, why don't you sleep on my bed? I'll keep watch for a while."
"I wouldn't dare. You little rascal have been acting mighty strange ever since you heard about the Conscription Order.
I was hoping to enlist in my son's place. I can't let you get me killed."
"Da Huang, we're all neighbors. Where's the trust? Forget it, I'm going to sleep."
Proofreader: Peter Pan