Public Warehouse

After a character died, the game automatically returned to the character selection screen, where only "Yan Qing" remained.

"Yan Yi" had survived for less than twenty minutes from birth to death.

Yan Qing was completely dumbfounded.

No, why?

From this, Yan Qing naturally understood that "Yan Yi" had been killed by those two guards, but... why?

What was the reason?

"Yan Yi" didn't even have a pair of shoes. He had nothing on him at all, so why kill him?

It was only a game. If this had happened in real life, Yan Qing would have died with his eyes wide open.

Yan Qing immediately created a new character, "Yan Er," with the same appearance and the same stat distribution. He could still only choose "Reality Mode." Although he could choose other newbie villages, Yan Qing wanted to know why those guards had killed him, so he still chose to spawn in "Nevernight Subordinate Newbie Village."

After descending into the deserted and ruined village, Yan Qing immediately controlled the character toward Ping City without stopping.

Just as he reached the main road, Yan Qing felt the game console's linear motor vibrating. He turned the camera around and saw a group of knights charging over from behind. They were all clad in heavy armor and wore Evil Spirit Masks. Even through the screen, Yan Qing could feel their overwhelming presence.

Yan Qing paid it no mind and controlled "Yan Er" to keep walking. Then—

Slash!

"Yan Er" was pierced through from behind by a spear. The knight at the front used the horse's momentum to lift his entire body into the air, then raised the spear high and flew "Yan Er" like a kite. The other knights laughed uproariously. The scene reminded Yan Qing of a group of young men cheering after one of their friends kicked a soda can into a trash bin.

When "Yan Er's" health bar emptied, the Evil Spirit Knight swung his spear and flung "Yan Er" toward a woodcutter hiding by the roadside to avoid the knights. "Yan Er" slammed heavily into the woodcutter, and the two of them rolled together onto the ground.

"Yan Er" was certainly doomed, and the unfortunate woodcutter who had suffered collateral damage would probably fare no better.

As the knights' arrogant hoofbeats faded into the distance, the game displayed a prompt:

"You died."

After this round ended, Yan Qing put down the game console and went to the bathroom, where he briefly sorted his thoughts.

First, he could be certain that the NPCs he encountered in the game were real people. Only real people could react like that. They might even be real people from the outside world. When Yan Qing controlled "Yan Yi" and "Yan Er," those two people should have truly appeared in the outside world as well.

Second, he didn't know about other places, but the environment in the "Nevernight Sky Subordinate Region" was extremely harsh. The guards were wolves, and the knights were tigers. These people didn't give you any chance to communicate. If they wanted to kill you, they simply killed you.

By rights, since it was difficult to survive near Nevernight Sky, he could just go to Chang'an or Jiangnan. But ever since transmigrating, Yan Qing had been holding in a breath of anger. He had transmigrated for no reason, entered Thieves' Den for no reason, been dragged to this place for no reason... and had even been inexplicably killed while playing a game!

In real life, I'm timid and submissive. Do I still have to hold back in a game?

More importantly, Yan Qing had discovered that character death carried no cost—or rather, character death itself was the cost—which meant he had much more room to maneuver!

He created another new character, but this time Yan Qing did not use the default face number 01. Instead, he chose the heavily muscled body type, face number 06.

When he reached the attribute distribution screen, the default "Vitality" had astonishingly become 3, while Yan Qing still had 10 available attribute points!

That was right. In "Messenger," one's body type affected their default Vitality. Normal players simply wouldn't do this—for the sake of a mere two points of Vitality, sacrificing precious fashion appeal was like picking up sesame seeds while throwing away a watermelon. Of course, some players with unique tastes deliberately chose this body type. They carefully selected all kinds of outfits to create the "Ancient God's Visage" appearance and assault the eyes of every other player with normal aesthetics.

Yan Qing then put all his attribute points into Vitality, astonishingly creating a super-early-game character with 13 initial Vitality, 1 Spirit, 1 Dexterity, and 0 Comprehension. One had to know that Vitality was only somewhat useful in the early game. In the mid and late game, players mainly cultivated Spirit and Dexterity, while 0 Comprehension meant encountering a leveling bottleneck at the fourth advancement—even with the 5% experience bonus from Reality Mode.

But Yan Qing had not created this account for long-term play. He was using it to vent his anger, so he naturally didn't care about Comprehension.

He named it "Yan San" and descended into "Nevernight Subordinate Newbie Village"!

It was the same dilapidated village, but this time he had a different character. Yan Qing noticed that the sun was already slanting westward and that it was afternoon. This further confirmed to him that the game world was the real world outside.

This time, "Yan San" reached Ping City without encountering any knights, and he moved much faster. The high stamina and stamina recovery provided by Vitality, along with the long strides granted by his tall build, allowed "Yan San" to reach Ping City's gates in only a few minutes.

Nothing seemed to have changed. The same people were lining up, and the same guards were watching the gate. There was only one extra head at the entrance—"Yan Yi's" head hung from a straw rope, with a plaque reading "Bandit" stuck into his hair.

People really did adapt quickly. After two character deaths, Yan Qing felt almost nothing at the sight. What he had to do remained unchanged—control "Yan San" to walk to the gate, then, when a guard came over to question him, charge up a punch and knock the guard's teeth out!

The guard took such a heavy blow that he fell straight to the ground, naturally dropping the spear in his hand. "Yan San" immediately picked it up and stabbed downward three times in succession. The guard's scream was choked off by blood in his throat, and after twitching twice on the ground, he no longer had the strength to move.

The sudden scene left everyone nearby stunned. The farmers and woodcutters entering the city immediately hid far away. The guards at the other gates shouted and yelled, but no one dared approach.

"A bandit is killing people!"

"Get the archers here!"

"Bring shields!"

"This is a bandit who came to assassinate a noble! Get the Centurion Knights here!"

If they wouldn't come over, Yan Qing would go over to them!

"Yan San" charged forward fearlessly, gripping the spear as he rushed the guards. But these guards were no cowards. They actually moved in fiercely to surround him. Yet "Yan San" had 13 Vitality and was practically a young Lü Bu. Yan Qing didn't need any skill at all. After a wild flurry of thrusts and retreats, he stabbed two guards to death. The remaining guard saw that the situation was bad and immediately ran.

Yan Qing had originally wanted to chase him, but the game notified him that "Yan San" had leveled up—

"You comprehended 'Basic Spear Technique.' Current level: 1."

"Your Vitality increased by 0.1."

"Your Spirit increased by 0.5."

"Your Dexterity increased by 1."

"You reached Level 2!"

So Vitality, Spirit, and Dexterity were all easy to raise in the early game. It was only because "Yan San's" initial Vitality was too high that he had gained just 0.1 Vitality from leveling up. In a normal gaming environment, none of these three attributes would be worth deliberately investing in. But in this inexplicably chaotic world, without strength in the beginning, one had no right to have a future!

Leveling up delayed him for a moment. Yan Qing watched the last guard run far away and couldn't be bothered to pursue him. He was here to vent his anger, not to die. If he charged inside, he would certainly be mobbed. It was better to stay outside and see if he could wage guerrilla warfare. If more people came to guard the gate, he would keep stabbing them to death. Yan Qing wanted to see how many people this city could send to guard its entrance.

The stirring sound of hooves approached from afar, and even the handheld console's motor vibrated. Yan Qing turned the camera around and saw a group of Evil Spirit Knights charging out of the city toward the gate.

He thought, Isn't this convenient? The enemies I want to kill are delivering themselves to me. He then stood at the gate and waited.

The leading Evil Spirit Knight said something unknown. The other knights suddenly reined in their horses, leaving only him to charge at "Yan San." Just as his spear was about to strike, "Yan San" performed a Perfect Dodge, entering a 0.1-second slow-motion state in midair, and thrust his spear into the Evil Spirit Knight!

"Messenger" did contain action elements, but they required extremely high precision, and the payoff was only average. This was also related to "Yan San's" low Dexterity. If his Dexterity were higher, he could attack several more times during the slow-motion window.

Faced with the full force of 13 Vitality, a glass-like barrier suddenly appeared over the Evil Spirit Knight's body. The spear shattered against it, yet the Evil Spirit Knight not only remained on his horse, his body merely shifted slightly.

A Sigil!

This Evil Spirit Knight was an advanced Messenger!

Yan Qing was surprised, yet it also seemed only natural. "Messenger" was a world with supernatural powers, so its rulers naturally possessed supernatural strength.

But he couldn't win now.

Among ordinary people, 13 Vitality was indeed invincible. Against an advanced Messenger, however, he was merely a somewhat stronger mortal.

Just as Yan Qing was preparing to fight to the death, the Evil Spirit Knight reined in his horse and stopped attacking. Instead, he said, "You. Not bad! Come with me!"

A quarter of an hour later, Yan Qing watched as "Yan San" entered the military camp, registered his name, and received a set of dirty leather armor and military clothes stained with blood, a hard bow, a spear, and a shield. He could even live in a fairly luxurious private barracks room and had a mounted servant at his beck and call.

Huh?

I survived?

The first two times, I did nothing and died unjustly. This time, I charged over and killed several people, only to be recruited into the army?

"Practice your spear and archery tonight and get a good night's rest. If you survive tomorrow, I'll recommend you to become a Centurion Knight."

The Evil Spirit Knight left after saying this. His way of doing things was just like this land—unfathomable, rough, and savage.

But since he had survived, Yan Qing continued playing.

The military camp was huge, and could even be called "spectacular." It had a mess hall, bathhouse, and everything else one could need. It was practically a city within a city. Moreover, all the buildings were made of gray brick and stood in neat rows. Compared to the military camp, Ping City outside looked as shabby as a poor relative's home.

There were also far more training grounds and equipment than expected. There were even areas for simulating siege warfare, street battles, and forest combat. When "Yan San" approached the spear and archery training areas, the game displayed: "Participate in spear/archery training?"

After selecting "Yes," "Yan San" automatically joined the training, and Yan Qing didn't need to control him.

"You comprehended 'Basic Spear Technique.' Current level: 2."

"You comprehended 'Basic Spear Technique.' Current level: 3."

"Your Vitality increased by 0.1."

"Your Spirit increased by 0.5."

"Your Dexterity increased by 1.5."

"You reached Level 3!"

"You comprehended 'Basic Spear Technique.' Current level: 5."

"You comprehended 'Basic Archery.' Current level: 4."

"Your Vitality increased by 0.1."

"Your Spirit increased by 0.5."

"Your Dexterity increased by 1."

"You reached Level 5!"

"You unlocked the Personal Warehouse and Public Warehouse. Press the + key to view them."

By the time dusk had burned the sky blood-red, "Yan San" had reached Level 5. His spear and archery skills were already noticeably superior to those of ordinary Centurion Knights. The others had initially been rather wary of "Yan San," a stranger, but after two hours of training, many of them had completely changed their attitude toward him. Some even invited "Yan San" to eat with them.

It seemed that in this place, preferential treatment naturally went to the strong.

The Centurion Knights' food was excellent. There was meat, steamed buns, and pork rib soup. This place looked ancient, but its living conditions were not inferior to those of modern society.

However, Yan Qing sighed at the sight, because he faced a very realistic problem: he was hungry too.

So what if his game character was powerful? Everything inside was fake. The game character had eaten his fill, but Yan Qing himself was still hungry in reality.

Just then, Yan Qing saw a "Pick Up" icon appear over the Roasted Lamb Leg on the screen. He pressed it instinctively, and the right side immediately indicated that the Roasted Lamb Leg had entered the Personal Warehouse.

Oh, right. After "Yan San" reached Level 5, he had unlocked the Personal Warehouse and Public Warehouse.

When he opened the Personal Warehouse, he immediately saw the Roasted Lamb Leg sitting in the first slot. The Personal Warehouse had a total of 4 × 4 = 16 slots. If identical items could be stacked, that wasn't too few.

The Public Warehouse had a total of 5 × 5 = 25 slots. That was a little small. There should be warehouse expansion items in the game, or players definitely wouldn't have enough space.

Just as he was about to exit the warehouse screen, Yan Qing suddenly thought of something.

A Public Warehouse?

In other words, this was a shared warehouse that all accounts could use?

Yan Qing returned to "Yan San's" Personal Warehouse and selected the Roasted Lamb Leg. As expected, an option appeared: "Transfer to Public Warehouse." After moving the Roasted Lamb Leg to the Public Warehouse, Yan Qing clicked it again, and the game displayed three options:

"Take."

"Transfer to another character's Personal Warehouse."

"Discard."

Yan Qing felt his heart pounding nervously as he clicked "Take."

"Take" displayed two selectable options: "Taken by Yan Qing" and "Taken by Yan San."

The next second, a steaming Roasted Lamb Leg appeared out of thin air in front of him. If Yan Qing hadn't been quick with his hands, the greasy leg would have fallen to the ground. If that happened, he could only have eaten a Roasted Lamb Leg mixed with dirt and dust.

He took a bite, and the meat juices burst between his teeth. The meat was extremely tender, and even though there weren't many seasonings, it was delicious enough. It was only slightly burnt, so the cook's skill seemed lacking. But Yan Qing felt as if he had been hungry for a very long time. He ate faster and faster, growing more and more energetic, until only a thick bone remained, scrubbed completely clean of every shred of meat.

Plop.

A tear fell onto the lamb bone, and Yan Qing himself froze for a moment. He rubbed his damp eyes and mocked himself, "Crying because it tastes good? Seriously..."

He covered his eyes, his shoulders trembling slightly as he gasped heavily. It was as if he were expelling all the frustration, unease, apprehension, fear, and regret from his body. After an unknown amount of time, he drew a deep breath, rubbed his reddened eyes dry, and slapped his cheeks hard, jolting his soul awake.

Through this lamb leg, Yan Qing had finally found his path to salvation in this world.

Although he couldn't log into his own account, all accounts could exchange items through the Public Warehouse. This meant that even while staying in Thieves' Den, Yan Qing could obtain cultivation resources from this world through his alternate accounts!

There were still five days until the first theft operation.

You can go to Discover—Event Center, click the event, and claim the rewards.

Thanks to Blood-Handed Butcher J, WDdddd, EmperorDuck, Hypocritical Demon Lord, Tuluo, Buqi Shixian, Risi Ri, xmukmb, and the other alliance leaders for your support!