Discovering a Village

"Strange. There's hardly any sugar cane along this river..." Fang Bie casually snapped off a stalk and chewed on it. Its sweet, crystalline taste spread through his mouth.

He had followed the river for a long time without seeing anything particularly unusual or worth gathering. Fang Bie couldn't help thinking he might have chosen the wrong route today.

If he'd headed for the grassland instead, he might already be on his way back with two sheep. All he'd have to do was add a few finishing touches to the fence he'd mentioned before, and he could turn it into a sheep pen.

And sheep bred when fed wheat, so it wouldn't take long for them to produce a lamb. Whether he slaughtered it for mutton or sheared it for wool, either would be a good return.

Fang Bie glanced at the sky again. The sun hadn't reached its midpoint yet, and he hadn't used up even half his time. He should be able to keep going a little farther.

Since he'd already chosen this route, he might as well stick with it to the end. He couldn't expect to find something every time; life was about having both gains and losses.

Fang Bie continued onward. He wanted to see whether the river might offer him an unexpected find, even though he clearly remembered that there wasn't much worth noticing along its banks.

Still, even after coming back from that other world, his base was in dire need of rebuilding. In theory, even a bit of dirt he dug up would be useful, so he didn't have to worry about coming up completely empty-handed.

"If this really is the original version, then aside from sugar cane, there doesn't seem to be anything special along the river." After searching for a while, Fang Bie decided he would turn back once he reached a certain point.

He wasn't a child. He knew that giving in to a moment of stubbornness wouldn't help him find more things. It would only waste what little time he had.

He decided to head back. Following the river had another advantage: he wouldn't lose his way home. It was nearly noon now, and he'd spent half his time on the road. Aside from a few stalks of sugar cane he'd found along the way, he had nothing else to show for it.

His earlier frustration wasn't unreasonable. On his previous outings, he'd always found something important or worth celebrating.

Whether it was the bows and bones he'd gotten from killing Zombies and Skeletons, or the beef and mutton he'd acquired, all of it counted as necessities.

Fang Bie narrowed his eyes and carefully scanned the area. There really was nothing else around. He'd already left the forest where he lived and reached a grassland dotted with only a few trees.

Only then did Fang Bie remember why he'd felt there was something off about this world.

The world of Minecraft was beautiful and dazzling, but it was, after all, a data world built from someone's imagination. Everything in it followed fixed rules.

Compared with the bizarre, diverse, and ever-changing real world, the Minecraft world—with only a handful of basic elements—could feel fresh at first. After that, though, all that remained was probably endless emptiness.

Fang Bie knew that curiosity and novelty were what kept him going in this world, but they weren't enough to sustain a person. If he stayed too long in such a monotonous, dull place, he'd go mad, wouldn't he?

"Looks like these portals really are essential..." Fang Bie murmured. This world was so monotonous that portals connecting it to other universes must have appeared for a reason.

He seemed to have grasped a little of what the portals were truly for. Then, as he made his way home, he spotted a patch of color on the grassland that stood out from everything around it.

It was the color of cobblestone!

Fang Bie whipped around. After placing a simple marker by the river, he immediately ran toward it.

If he wasn't mistaken, it looked like a building—one made by human hands.

Ordinary materials couldn't have such intricate signs of being worked by hand. Only people like them could strike stone and turn it into cobblestone.

Fang Bie ran all the way over and soon reached the building. The other structures on this land came into view as well.

"Haah! Haah! Haah!" Fang Bie panted heavily. It was the first time since arriving in this world that he'd run so fast.

He hadn't expected this body to be so strong. The river was a thousand meters from the village, yet he'd covered the distance in just a few dozen seconds.

He'd guessed right. In Minecraft, apart from structures built by players, the only places that used this special material were Temples, Dungeons, and villages.

Fang Bie had considered this possibility from the start, so he'd hurried over mainly to confirm whether anyone lived in the village.

Just as he'd expected, when he arrived, he saw people walking around the village. They looked different from him, and their bodies seemed to be made of blocks.

They saw Fang Bie, who had come from far away, but showed little reaction. They simply turned their square heads away again, as if they'd seen a rock.

Some Villagers worked in the fields, doing simple tasks like harvesting and clearing. Others tended the surging pool of Lava in the Blacksmith.

Still others tidied the books on the shelves in the village Library. Aside from their somewhat square appearance, they looked more like robots with basic intelligence.

Fang Bie knew his guess had been right. Rather than people, they were more like machines that could move. That also explained the existence of Zombie Villagers.

Although this world looked absurd, everything had an explanation. Fang Bie felt he was beginning to understand some of its mysteries.

He didn't stay long in the village. Instead, he took out a Shovel and scraped a yellowish-brown path into the grass. (In versions after 1.9, right-clicking the ground with a Shovel creates a path.)

The Shovel's durability quickly wore down. By the time he'd scraped the path all the way to the river, less than ten percent remained.

The sun was slowly sinking toward the west. Fang Bie rubbed his slightly sunken stomach. He'd spent the whole morning walking without realizing it, and hadn't eaten a thing.

This world had a hunger mechanic. When he felt his stamina dropping fast, he hurriedly took a bowl of Mushroom Stew out of his Backpack and gulped it down.

Then he took the Crafting Table from his Backpack and set it down by the river, placing a Chest beside it.

He put all the less important items, such as dirt and Stone, into the Chest, keeping only basic food, tools, and wood.

"Five Wooden Planks can be crafted into a boat..." Fang Bie felt his memory growing hazy. That wasn't a good sign. If he lost his memories, how would he craft all those complicated items?

Fang Bie jotted this down in his notebook. It looked like he needed to make a Crafting Guide soon. Then he climbed into the boat and quickly paddled back the way he'd come.