Yan Qing had assumed he would sleep poorly in this unfamiliar cave. He had always been the sort who suffered hormonal imbalances whenever he traveled—unfamiliar environments triggered Hakimi's stress response.
But unexpectedly, when Yan Qing woke this time, he felt as refreshed as if he had put on red underwear on New Year's Eve. It was a precious sensation he had been unable to experience ever since he had developed the bad habit of working.
After washing up, he reheated the leftover meat buns from last night—yes, there was even a fireplace in the room—and ate breakfast before opening the Game Console.
Messenger, start!
With no windows, Yan Qing could only judge the time from the Game Console. It should have just turned dawn outside, with the sky still retaining the deep blue of night. 'Yan San' had already gotten up and was practicing spear techniques.
"Change the game mode from 'Automatic Evolution' to 'Manual Control'?"
Yan Qing had discovered Automatic Evolution when he was about to log off last night. After a brief investigation, he found that it was essentially an AFK system, but a relatively intelligent one: the game character would automatically deduce his next actions based on his past gameplay. For example, since 'Yan San' had somehow ended up enlisting at the military camp, he would sleep at fixed times, attend drills regularly, and obey orders until Yan Qing logged into the account and controlled him.
Yan Qing let 'Yan San' continue idling and opened the shared warehouse, taking out a bowl of steaming pork rib soup. The meat buns still were not quite enough; one needed some hot soup first thing in the morning.
By the time the assembly bell rang on the training grounds, 'Yan San' had already leveled up once more. This meant that even if Yan Qing acted as a hands-off manager, 'Yan San' could still reach Level 10 within four or five days.
The soldiers gathered on the training grounds, and 'Yan San' quickly found his superior—the Evil Spirit Knight from yesterday.
At this moment, a name floated above the latter's head: 'Centurion Chief Uwan Ryu'. Someone else had told him that name, but once a game character learned the information, the system would automatically associate the name with the person.
Uwan Ryu: "It's our second battalion's turn to enter the secret realm today. Same rules as usual: ten archers, rewarded with five Yu; five melee soldiers, rewarded with thirty Yu. You, join the melee unit!"
The person Uwan Ryu called out was none other than 'Yan San'.
Yan Qing had no idea what they were going to do, so he simply went with the flow and let a cavalry slave help him put on heavy armor, equip a spear, a great bow, a quiver of arrows, and even bandages and strong liquor for emergency treatment. Everyone else fought to sign up, but they were all scrambling for the archer unit. The melee unit relied entirely on Uwan Ryu to select its members personally.
Besides the archer and melee units, Uwan Ryu also selected twenty people as a reserve unit.
After forming the teams, Uwan Ryu did not head outside the military camp. Instead, he led them deeper inside. The farther in they went, the more heavily guarded it became. There were even watchtowers, fortifications, anti-cavalry barricades, and towers... The military camp Yan Qing had known before was actually only the outer living quarters. The interior was not only even more heavily guarded, but the army's main forces also seemed to be devoted to guarding the inside.
Under the aim of dozens of heavy crossbows from four directions, the fortification's gate slowly opened. Uwan Ryu led them into the most heavily guarded area within the military camp.
Even Yan Qing could not help growing curious. What exactly required the entire military camp to surround and protect it?
What appeared on the screen was, astonishingly, a residence.
Yan Qing wondered what important figure lived inside to require an entire military camp as an escort. But after taking two more steps closer, he saw pale-green ripples appear across the residence's vermilion gate, and the game displayed the relevant information:
"Suppressor of Three Mountains Zheng Family"
"Background: Zheng Shan was a universally acclaimed philanthropist. Every year, he donated money to repair bridges and roads, funded academies, and cared for widows, widowers, orphans, the elderly, the disabled, and other unfortunate people. Yet no one knew that the Zheng Family was actually a den of thieves. Every year, Zheng Shan robbed travelers, kidnapped people, committed murder, and set fires in other regions. He was a vicious bandit known throughout the underworld as 'Suppressor of Three Mountains'. However, he was enthusiastic about charity after returning to his hometown, so the authorities had never suspected him..."
"Challenge Level: 8–15"
"Maximum Participants: 15"
"Objective: Kill 'Suppressor of Three Mountains' Zheng Shan"
Uwan Ryu said, "Let me repeat this: all loot belongs to the public, and I'm the only one allowed to touch any chests. Anyone who violates the rules will receive no mercy! As for you, stay by my side later. If you can make it out alive, you'll become a Centurion Knight. But if you retreat or run away when facing the monsters... then you'll stay inside forever."
"Make one last check of your weapons. Second battalion, enter the secret realm!"
So that was it!
No wonder Black Wolf and the others knew the Thieves' Den so well.
No wonder Uwan Ryu had a protective token.
It turned out that the people of this world could discover dungeons and excavate the resources within them!
From the perspective of this world's people, a dungeon—a place that formed its own world—truly deserved to be called a secret realm.
When 'Yan San' entered with the team, the scene abruptly changed. It was clearly early morning outside, but after entering the dungeon, it became night. They arrived in the courtyard outside the residence. Many braziers had been arranged throughout the courtyard, stretching all the way into the residence. Five fierce-looking servants were patrolling in the middle of the path. The names 'Bandit Servant' floated above their heads, along with health bars.
Uwan Ryu: "Archers, split into left and right wings and wait for crossfire. Melee unit, stay close behind me. Five steps forward!"
With that, Uwan Ryu took five steps forward and forcefully planted his crescent-bladed guandao into the ground. He was not at all afraid that the servants ten steps away would seize the chance to charge him. Yet even after all the melee soldiers moved behind Uwan Ryu, the servants still showed no reaction.
Yan Qing naturally understood why—the dungeon monsters followed programmed behavior. Uwan Ryu's position happened to be just outside the monsters' aggro range.
Uwan Ryu drew his heavy bow and ordered, "Prepare!"
'Yan San' and the other teammates drew their heavy bows as well, while the archer unit had already split into left and right wings and taken positions behind them, ready to fire.
"Fire!"
Fifteen arrows shot toward the five servants like water being splashed. Each servant received an average of three arrows, and their health dropped by a third. But although the bandit servants had been struck, their movements were completely unaffected. Instead, they raised their great blades and charged!
They're digitized!
These monsters were different from real people. Injuries did not reduce their combat ability. They would die only when their health was depleted!
"Guards, engage!"
Uwan Ryu picked up his guandao and engaged the foremost servant. The other melee soldiers also each drew one servant toward themselves, leaving none unclaimed. It was worth mentioning that apart from Uwan Ryu and 'Yan San', all the other melee soldiers were sword-and-shield fighters who focused on defense.
While the servants were charging over, the archers behind them fired another volley. Thus, when 'Yan San' engaged his servant, the opponent had only half its health remaining. But this was a Level 8–15 dungeon, which meant that even the weakest servant was Level 8—higher than 'Yan San'. As a result, when 'Yan San' stabbed the servant, it lost only 15% of its health.
The battle ended quickly. Although Yan Qing operated him with great effort, he was still struck twice by the servant and lost roughly 10% of his health.
Yan Qing then opened the personal warehouse, clicked on 'Meat Bun', and selected Eat.
"Where did you get a meat bun?" the sword-and-shield soldier beside him asked in astonishment, panting heavily.
Yan San: "I had one left over from breakfast."
After eating the meat bun, a small section of slowly recovering green health appeared in the health bar. As a veteran player, Yan Qing naturally understood what this meant: the green health represented the amount the meat bun could restore, but it took time to take effect gradually.
After the battle, Uwan Ryu did not continue advancing. Instead, he allowed everyone to rest briefly and relax their muscles. Yan Qing looked at the 'spirit jades', 'Roasted Chickens', 'Blood Replenishment Pills', and 'steel ingots' floating above the corpse of the servant, then glanced at the Centurion Knights, who acted as if they could not see the dropped items at all. After thinking for a moment, he controlled 'Yan San' to approach the loot.
"You picked up Spirit Jade ×300."
"You picked up Roasted Chicken ×2."
"You picked up..."
"What are you doing!" Uwan Ryu's roar seemed capable of piercing through the Game Console and exploding beside Yan Qing's ears.
He saw Uwan Ryu stand up and tighten his grip on the guandao, his eyes glaring at 'Yan San' from behind the Evil Spirit Mask.
"Why are you stepping on the corpses of these monsters!"
Yan Qing had a sudden flash of inspiration and replied, "They hit me twice just now. I'm upset."
Uwan Ryu looked at him for a while before saying, "Don't step on them. Their clothes have to be collected later. If you're injured, hurry up and apply medicine. We'll be fighting again soon."
Yan Qing now completely confirmed that the people of this world could not see the loot dropped by dungeon monsters!
Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed unreasonable. Who would carry money, food, and all kinds of materials on them? But Messenger was an MMORPG, after all. It could not make dungeon monsters drop only relevant items. Otherwise, after running a dungeon full of humanoid monsters like this one, players' inventories would be filled with low-level weapons and clothes, which would serve no purpose except taking up warehouse space. And after finishing a run, players would definitely exchange that garbage loot for spirit jades. In that case, it would be better to give them spirit jades, supplies, and stackable materials directly.
Although the people of this world could enter dungeons, they were ultimately not players in the game. Thus, they could neither see nor enjoy these player-friendly loot mechanics.
After resting, Uwan Ryu led them into the main residence. As soon as they entered, they saw five servants eating inside. The same method was used: maintain the distance, fire together first, then have the melee soldiers take over while the archers provided crossfire.
Because the main residence was narrower, the five melee soldiers had little room to maneuver. Yan Qing managed to dodge only once, and the battle ended only after he had lost a full 20% of his health.
The good news was that after two battles, 'Yan San' had already reached Level 7.
Just as Yan Qing was preparing to eat a Roasted Chicken to restore his health, the sword-and-shield soldier beside him said, "Battalion Lord, I... I can't go on."
This sword-and-shield soldier had no health bar above his head, but he had multiple injuries. His shoulder even bore a wound so deep that bone could be seen, and it had cut straight through his armor.
Only then did Yan Qing notice that, aside from 'Yan San' and Uwan Ryu, all three other sword-and-shield fighters were injured and in terrible condition.
It was easy to understand why Uwan Ryu was unharmed. He had changed classes and possessed a protective token. But 'Yan San' had clearly been struck several times too, so why was he also...
Yan Qing looked at the health bar in the lower-left corner of 'Yan San's' screen and immediately understood everything.
Like the dungeon monsters, 'Yan San' was a digitized creature. No matter how many injuries he suffered, they would not affect his combat ability. He would die only when his health bar was emptied. Moreover, while a real person needed to stop the bleeding, disinfect the wound, and bandage it to recover, 'Yan San' only needed to eat a bun or a Roasted Chicken to restore his health.
Digitization affected not only injuries but also fighting styles. These servants charged forward fearlessly in battle, never dodging and simply trading wounds for wounds. Fighting monsters that were both 'unafraid of death' and 'unaffected by injuries' would inevitably result in injury, no matter how careful one was. No wonder the melee unit's reward was six times that of the archer unit, yet no one volunteered. The risks were simply too great.
Thinking about it this way, it was only natural that the locals called dungeon monsters monsters: they were tough, unafraid of death, willing to trade their lives for their enemies', and would even revive when the dungeon refreshed. If that was not a monster, what was?
Before you continue