Just as One Leaf Knows Autumn and Hu Wan continued forward along the maze corridors, the three skeletons carrying Logging Axes and singing songs had already reached the entrance to North Peak Mine.
Looking at the invisible wall that had stopped countless players, Xiao Sha suddenly waved a hand, stopping Jing Luo and Xiao Wan, then handed the axe to Jing Luo.
While Jing Luo and Xiao Wan were still completely baffled, she rubbed her hands together and leaped outside the cave with a standing broad jump, passing through the invisible wall without any resistance.
"It worked! Hahahaha! I'm the first player to set foot in the New World, aaah—!"
Dawn had only just broken, and the autumn ground was still cold. A damp layer of dew clung to the steep mountain path.
On top of that, Xiao Sha's skeletal feet were the kind that let the wind through. The moment both feet hit the ground, she landed right on her butt and rolled down the slope with a terrified scream.
Luckily, she crashed into a huge boulder. Otherwise, that slide would definitely have carried her all the way to the bottom of the mountain.
"Crazy bastard..."
Jing Luo walked over with a speechless expression, pulled Xiao Sha up from the ground by her head, which had gotten wedged into her butt, then gave her skull a hard knock.
Clutching her forehead as if it were about to split open, Xiao Sha spoke in a pitiful voice that sounded like she was about to cry.
"Damn it... I'm already this miserable! Don't you have even a little tenderness for women?"
Knowing she was faking it, Jing Luo replied without mercy.
"What is a corpse like you even talking about? At least look a little more Moon-hiding, Flower-shaming first."
"Damn it! You wanna fight?!"
While the two clowns started bickering, Xiao Wan, standing on the slope, had all her attention stolen by the distant scenery.
Brilliant morning clouds were etched into one corner of the horizon like a rising spark. Layer upon layer of mountains stretched beyond sight, and everywhere she looked, forests were dyed in autumn red.
It was so beautiful.
Perhaps because she had spent too long in the mine, the sharp contrast made her feel that the world was so wonderful that she even had the urge to stay here forever.
Here, she could jump around as much as she wanted...
She could go anywhere she wished.
"I never expected the world outside the cave to be this vast!"
Seeing Xiao Wan gazing into the distance with longing, Jing Luo and Xiao Sha, who had been wrestling, exchanged a glance. Both grinned, then let go of their tangled skeletal hands.
"Right? That dog—cough! Planner Great One was seriously too much for hiding something this good!"
"So the map outside was finished a long time ago." Jing Luo walked over to Xiao Wan's side and followed her gaze into the distance. With a faint smile, she said, "I thought everything outside was just a backdrop... Looks like I underestimated the development team."
Maybe even the human towns on the surface had already been made.
Don't go south, was it?
Then it was probably in the south after all.
Xiao Wan: "Come to think of it, I couldn't feel it at all inside the mine... It's already daylight outside."
Jing Luo: "It is."
Xiao Sha: "The morning sun is great!"
Xiao Wan: "What I mean is... it's daylight in reality too. We've been online for almost twenty-four hours, right? Do you usually play games like this too?"
Xiao Sha: "Of course not! Staying online for twenty-four hours straight is way too much! We still log off every now and then to walk around, like getting up to eat or something."
Xiao Wan stared dumbfoundedly at the smug Xiao Sha, completely unable to understand what she was so proud of.
Jing Luo smiled slightly.
"That's right. Xiao Sha had two deliveries today."
Xiao Sha froze all over and awkwardly made a coughing motion.
"Cough! I'm still growing, so what's wrong with eating a little more? And don't make it sound like I ate two meals at once!"
Jing Luo: "Oh? You're almost twenty already. Is there really still hope?"
Xiao Sha: "Go die!!"
Watching the two start squabbling again, Xiao Wan could not help asking another question out of curiosity.
"You two... know each other in real life?"
The two looked at each other and spoke at the same time.
"Rather than knowing each other..."
"It'd be more accurate to say we've known each other for years!"
"That's nice..." Xiao Wan looked at them enviously and could not help imagining what it would be like if she had friends in real life too.
"Enough of that. Time to get to work." Jing Luo picked up the two axes lying on the ground and tossed one to Xiao Sha.
Xiao Wan: "Wait, you really don't need to log off and rest for a while? Maybe exercise a little to recover or something..."
Resting the axe on her shoulder, Xiao Sha looked at her strangely.
"What are you talking about?"
Jing Luo also looked at her blank expression as though it were only natural.
"Exactly, what are you talking about? We're people from another world. Earth just needs to provide us with nutrients."
Xiao Wan: "..."
Elsewhere, in the "Sewer Corridor" on the first floor of the maze, the two Skeleton Soldiers were still pushing forward.
One Leaf Knows Autumn had already reached Lv. 5 and was only a step away from Lv. 6.
His current attributes were 4/6/3/1/1. Strength was still his highest attribute, while Constitution, his second-highest, was only a little short of catching up to an old farmer from the Os Empire.
Surpassing the living as a Skeleton Soldier.
By undead standards, that was quite an impressive achievement.
The two had originally planned to return the way they came, but they encountered a Lizardman along the way.
The creature had dark green scales and a shortbow strapped to its back. It crouched in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity.
The two immediately gave chase, but the monster did not attack. Realizing it had been exposed, it turned around and ran.
One Leaf Knows Autumn and Hu Wan chased it for a while, but in the end they failed to catch it and instead arrived at a strange place.
"It got away."
Watching the shadow vanish into the distance, One Leaf Knows Autumn showed a regretful expression.
"By the way, where are we?" Hu Wan looked around. Before them stood a great hall paved with stone slabs.
Towering granite pillars connected to the vaulted ceiling. Extinguished braziers stood along both sides of the black stairs, which stretched all the way to an entrance at the top.
A ring of railings surrounded it, with extinguished torches planted along them, like an abandoned watchtower.
"I don't know..." One Leaf Knows Autumn studied the surroundings as well, only feeling that the place looked strangely familiar.
After a long while, he suddenly realized that this was practically the maze entrance with all the cobwebs removed!
"I see... This might be another entrance to the maze."
As he spoke, a faint ghostly green light flickered in his deep skeletal eye sockets.
"Another entrance?!"
Hu Wan froze for a moment, then immediately followed One Leaf Knows Autumn's gaze toward the end of the stairs leading to the vaulted ceiling.
It really did look similar?!
One Leaf Knows Autumn pondered for a moment before continuing.
"Based on the previous CG animations, this world should have adventurers... Yet so far, the only adventurers we've encountered were the few in the cages. In that case, there's only one possibility: the maze entrance we occupy is just one of many, and it might even be the least popular of them all."
As he spoke, he stared fixedly at the end of the stairs, as though his gaze had already passed through the tightly shut arched door and seen the scene beyond it.
That should be the human world! "Want to take a look?"
One Leaf Knows Autumn looked at Hu Wan. As expected, she answered him with a determined gaze.
As a closed beta player, how could she possibly miss a chance to experience new game content ahead of everyone else?
"...Let's go take a look!"
The two climbed the stairs, crossed the watchtower railing, and arrived before the door. Just as they were about to open it, it creaked open on its own.
A middle-aged man in standard-issue armor walked in from behind the door, yawning.
A Spiked Mace hung at his left hip, a Flintlock Gun at his right, and he carried a shield worth 50,000 Hell Money in his left hand.
Perhaps because he had just come out of a tavern, beer foam still clung to his beard, and he muttered in a language they could not understand.
The two sides came face to face, and everyone froze for an instant.
Just as One Leaf Knows Autumn opened his mouth to say something, the human soldier acted as if he had seen a ghost. He hurled the shield in his hand at the skeletons, then turned and ran.
"Undead!!! Undead! Ring the bell, quickly!!!"
He shouted in terror as he ran, quickly vanishing into the darkness and leaving One Leaf Knows Autumn and Hu Wan at the doorway startled and utterly bewildered.
Hu Wan: "What was he shouting?!"
One Leaf Knows Autumn: "...No idea. Maybe, 'Ghosts'?"
As the two spoke, hurried bell ringing sounded from behind the door, followed by the sound of running footsteps.
One Leaf Knows Autumn's instincts told him this was absolutely not a good sign.
Without a moment's hesitation, he snatched up the shield on the ground and ran down the stairs.
"Run!"