The Mystery of Firewood Chopping (A Special Chapter for Silver Alliance Leader Gallant Lazy Sheep)

Beep—beep—beep!

Listening to the dial tone on the other end, Xiao Jie let out a cold, expected sneer.

So, you've already cracked? Liu Qiang, oh Liu Qiang, you're still the same old you.

He understood Liu Qiang too well. With a person like that, being duplicitous or playing dumb was useless. Liu Qiang still possessed a modicum of cunning; since Han Luo was already dead and the grudge between them was set in stone, it didn't matter how much he pretended that nothing was wrong or that he didn't care about the enmity—Liu Qiang would never truly believe it.

And begging for peace with soft words was the worst possible strategy. A man without a bottom line like Liu Qiang would never abandon his hatred because of a plea; instead, such weakness would only invite even more unscrupulous actions from him.

Only by projecting a position of strength could he make the other party uncertain of his true state, causing him to hesitate and fear taking rash action.

Of course, Xiao Jie wasn't entirely certain of this. Liu Qiang had been gone for so long; heaven only knew how strong he had become. If he had already grown powerful enough to ignore the laws of physics and reality, and could simply wipe him out with a spell from afar, then no amount of maneuvering would matter.

Though his words just now had been arrogant, his heart wasn't as calm as he appeared.

Liu Qiang had been playing Old Earth for so long that he was bound to be formidable, and since he knew where Xiao Jie lived, there would be no escaping if he really decided to strike.

He could choose to move and hide, but in this information age, as long as one had money, connections, and technology, finding someone was far too simple. Moving wouldn't make him safer; it would likely only expose his own vulnerability.

When dealing with jackals and hyenas, that was the most foolish course of action.

So, he decided not to hide at all, but to mock the other party without restraint, leaving him unable to gauge the truth.

He had calculated that Liu Qiang wouldn't dare to act. While the man had a bit of petty cunning, he valued his personal interests too highly. He would never do anything that resulted in a net loss. He was fine with harming others for his own gain, but if it meant harming both himself and others, that was absolutely out of the question.

That was why the guy would rather use two precious activation codes to set a trap than step into the arena himself.

Still, he had to prepare for the worst. If the guy were truly provoked into losing his mind and decided to strike, he needed a second step in place.

Xiao Jie sat before his computer, exported the recording, and began to edit it rapidly.

Gaining power in the game was a long-term process; he didn't know how long it would take to get revenge that way. If Liu Qiang really came for him, even if he were to die, he couldn't let the man get away with it.

And if he could leverage the power of the Black Windbreaker to take him out beforehand, that would be even more perfect.

The editing was finished quickly.

Xiao Jie dialed the number the Black Windbreaker had left behind.

"Hello."

"What is it, Mr. Xiao?"

"Liu Qiang just called me. He threatened to kill me, saying that ending my life would be as easy as crushing an ant. Are you people just going to ignore this?"

As he spoke, Xiao Jie sent over the edited recording.

"Uh, Mr. Xiao, your editing technique could use some improvement."

"..., fine, I did edit it, but if he hadn't said those things, I wouldn't have had anything to cut. So, he still wants to kill me, right?"

"Apologies, but I'm afraid this evidence isn't very strong. Besides, recordings are no longer accepted as valid evidence. However, rest assured, we will strike without mercy against any criminal who dares to violate the Player Management Act. If Liu Qiang truly makes a move against you, he won't be able to escape."

"And what if he hires someone to do it? That kid is definitely loaded."

"If he hires someone, we will be able to dig him out through interrogation. Please rest assured, when it comes to maintaining legal order, we do not allow anyone to harbor any delusions of luck, especially regarding the management of game players. There is no room for negotiation."

Then wouldn't I be dead already? Xiao Jie thought. While revenge required one to put life and death aside, it was better to stay alive if possible.

"Can't you send a few people to protect me?"

"Haha, Mr. Xiao, let's not joke. How could that be possible? There are too many conflicts between players, and our manpower is limited. We can't protect everyone. We can't just have someone come to us for protection every time they get into trouble. We are a law enforcement agency, not a security firm. We can only guarantee that we won't let a single bad guy slip through the cracks."

Xiao Jie wasn't surprised by this result. He was a mere ordinary person; what right did he have to demand protection? As long as there was a guarantee that no bad guy would be let off, that was enough.

Hanging up the phone, Xiao Jie sighed.

As things stood, he could only pin his hopes on the power of the state.

Although he felt that Liu Qiang was nine times out of ten too afraid to act directly, and if he did, he would likely end up ruined himself, the act of placing his fate in the hands of others left Xiao Jie feeling very uneasy.

I'm still too weak, he thought. I can only rely on the protection of others.

If he were powerful enough, he wouldn't need to go through all this trouble.

If anyone dared to provoke me, I'd just wipe out their entire family. The speech he had given Liu Qiang about pursuing power wasn't entirely a performance; part of it had come from the heart.

For a fleeting moment, Xiao Jie almost couldn't resist withdrawing all his money to buy gold, just like that "I Want to Become Immortal" guy from the morning, and getting a set of gear to go outside the village to grind mobs and level up.

But in the end, he held back. With a blank expression, he picked up his bowl of noodles and began to eat. One bite in, he wore a look of helplessness—what a waste of a bowl of noodles; they had turned into a clump.

After finally finishing his lunch, Xiao Jie returned to his computer.

He clicked on the help post in [Boundless Sea of Knowledge] regarding how to chop firewood, and a flood of replies had already appeared.

[Is there really someone still chopping firewood for a fire these days?]

[Probably a wilderness survival blogger.]

[What kind of trick is there to chopping firewood? You just chop it.]

[Use an axe, what the hell is a wood-chopping knife?]

[I chopped wood when I was a kid. You have to chop along the grain. Branches have textures at the joints; if you follow the grain, it's very easy to chop them off.]

"Never chop vertically against the trunk; it's very easy to chip the blade that way."

"First, don't chop at hard spots like knots, and second, the blade alignment must be correct. When chopping diagonally, there needs to be an angle between the direction of the blade and the direction of the swing."

"Because the blade is a wedge, it experiences a tangential torque when swinging. You need to pre-set an angle to make it easier to correct."

Xiao Jie's eyes lit up. So that's how it is. Truly, there are professionals for everything; even chopping firewood has so much nuance.

However, once explained, it was simple: avoid the hard parts, strike the weak points, and master the angle and force.

If this were any other game, such precise operation would be difficult to execute. But in Old Earth, the graphics were realistic enough to render every detail of the branches, and since he could control the angle and force of his attacks with the mouse, it was entirely achievable.

Of course, it required high skill, but that wouldn't stump him.

He searched for some pictures of branches online, compared them for a moment, and quickly grasped the concept of the chopping notch.

Re-entering the game, Xiao Jie went to the Back Mountain, found a dead tree, and observed it carefully.

Sure enough, there were many forks around the trunk, each with a slanted opening.

Xiao Jie raised his wood-chopping knife, aimed at a slanted opening, thought for a moment, tilted it slightly to allow for a bit of torque, and swung down diagonally with force.

Crack.

System Notification: Dry Firewood +1.

He swung again.

System Notification: Dry Firewood +1.

Haha, so easy!

However, joy turned to sorrow. His mouse twitched just a little, and he struck the trunk instead—Crack!

Firewood chopping failed!

Fortunately, it was just a failure; the durability didn't decrease.

Xiao Jie steadied his nerves, found the right angle, and swung again.

This time, there were no mistakes.

Crack—crack—crack—crack!

Xiao Jie chopped one piece of firewood per swing. After a dozen swings in one breath, the dead tree was stripped down to a bare trunk in an instant.

Xiao Jie immediately moved to the next tree. In less than five minutes, he had chopped enough for a bundle of firewood; his efficiency had increased by about one and a half times.

The more Xiao Jie looked, the happier he became. He could definitely make money now.

Crack!

As the branches on yet another tree were cleared away:

System Notification: Your Firewood Chopping skill has leveled up. It is now Proficient Level.

<strong>[Firewood Chopping (Proficient)]</strong>

Passive Effect: Stamina consumption when chopping firewood reduced by 20%, critical hit rate increased by 20%.

Skill Description: Through constant repetition, you have successfully mastered some techniques and methods of chopping wood, elevating this seemingly ordinary craft to a Proficient level. You can now chop wood faster and better.]

Firewood chopping has critical hits? What kind of effect is that?

The answer appeared soon after five or six swings.

Crack! A single strike actually severed two branches at once.

Great success in chopping firewood—Dry Firewood +2.

Well... I suppose that adds a bit of a sense of accomplishment to the tedious work of chopping wood.

As the number of critical hits increased, Xiao Jie actually started to feel a bit excited. Even though it was just a simple wood-chopping game, it gave him a rare sense of achievement.

At the very least, it was much more interesting than the boring, dull online games currently on the market.

He spent the entire afternoon chopping wood. Sure enough, after finding the right method, his returns increased significantly. Not only did his stamina drain more slowly, but the durability of his wood-chopping knife barely dropped at all.

By three in the afternoon, his inventory was stuffed with dry firewood.

This time, he exchanged it for a reward of 200 wen from Wang Da Niu.

After buying four Steamed Buns to max out his satiety, Xiao Jie continued chopping.

When he finally raised his Firewood Chopping skill from (Proficient) to (Expert), a system notification sound made him overjoyed.

<strong>[System Notification: Through continuous wood chopping, you have gradually mastered the techniques for using bladed weapons. You have comprehended the associated skill [Blade Weapon Mastery (Novice)]</strong> from the <strong>[Firewood Chopping]</strong> skill.]