Trouble in the Village

Fang Bie had been by the boat for a while now. Although he had only tied it to the riverbank in a rush, the small wooden boat remained firmly afloat on the water, undisturbed by any currents or wind.

Upon noticing that the boat lacked oars, Fang Bie realized that the version of this world must be prior to 1.9.

The version of the Minecraft world was essentially the game version, as boats were automatically equipped with wooden oars in versions 1.9 and later, which also significantly increased their travel speed.

Yinsen was interested in everything novel. As a middle-aged man with a receding hairline, his way of showing interest was to circle around an object and study it.

Fang Bie hadn't said anything, but when he saw Yinsen draw his sword, he rushed forward to stop him.

However, Fang Bie was a step too slow. He watched helplessly as Yinsen cleaved the boat into a pile of splinters with a single strike, then stood by the riverbank, stunned and speechless, his face full of embarrassment.

"Hey!" Fang Bie shook his head. "Couldn't you have been a bit slower?"

He pulled two more boats from his inventory and slowly placed them in front of the other man. "Get on the boat first; I'll explain everything on the way."

There wasn't much to say about controlling the boats. Fang Bie had easily mastered the method in just two minutes; it wasn't difficult at all.

Although Yinsen had been a bit reckless earlier, under Fang Bie's careful guidance, he mastered the technique of steering the boat in no time and began drifting happily along the river.

"Fang, why did the boat suddenly fall apart?" Yinsen was still used to chatting with Fang Bie in English, and Fang Bie was happy to converse in his newly mastered language; the two of them hit it off quite well.

"The boats are very lightweight but also very crude. They fall apart if they take an impact or an attack. However, if you control the force well, you can turn the boat into a block and keep it with you."

As he spoke, Fang Bie gave a quick demonstration. He struck the boat twice with his left hand, turning it into a block floating on the water, which he then easily picked up.

"Oh!" Yinsen nodded to show he understood, then turned around and began steering the boat earnestly.

"You don't have to be too nervous. As long as we don't collide with the logs on the riverbank, our boats won't fall apart." Fang Bie considered himself a skilled boatman, so he didn't take these things to heart.

"I think it seems a bit difficult..." Yinsen was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly shouted, "Oh! A shark!"

Fang Bie followed his gaze. In the distance, a black triangle was floating on the river surface, drifting slowly toward them.

"That should be a Squid floating on the water. Don't worry, it's a neutral creature and won't attack us." Fang Bie had excellent eyesight and immediately identified the creature.

"So it's just a Squid..." Yinsen breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he had been in this world for a few days, he still wasn't used to the feeling of new things being everywhere, but that was precisely why he had come here despite Tony's objections.

The boat's speed was much faster than running. Fang Bie had been delayed quite a bit while searching for various items along the way, but now, the village was finally in sight.

"Yinsen, did you bring the fence I asked you to?" Fang Bie hurried off the boat, holding two new nylon ropes.

"I did, I did." Yinsen held a fence that looked like a wooden stick, took out two wooden planks, and placed them gently by the riverbank, creating a simple dock.

Fang Bie disembarked first, tied the rope to the bow, secured a slipknot on the fence, and pulled Yinsen, who was struggling to dock, onto the shore.

"Your boat..." Just as Fang Bie was about to warn him to hold onto the boat, the recoil from landing caused it to lurch forward, crashing directly into the rocks on the opposite bank.

"Thud!" With a crisp sound, only a few floating sticks and planks remained on the water; the boat was gone.

"That's what I meant when I said it would fall apart upon impact." Fang Bie wasn't angry; he just shrugged and said.

"Then how are we going to get back?" Yinsen asked anxiously, noting that only one boat remained.

"It's fine. Before we leave, we'll just chop some wood and make a couple more boats to leave here," Fang Bie said nonchalantly. "When we have time later, we can build a rail line to connect this place, and then we can travel back and forth very quickly."

"Hmm, that's true." Yinsen thought about it and realized it made sense. The anxiety vanished from his face, and he nodded calmly.

"You can see the village from here. You can see the tallest building, which is a three-story clock tower." Fang Bie pointed to the cobblestone structure not far away. After confirming the boat was tied securely, he pulled an iron sword from his inventory.

"Monsters usually appear near villages, so be careful." Fang Bie reminded him; this was the reason he hadn't stayed long last time.

In many cases, monsters aren't actually interested in players, but due to their attack mechanics, any monster that appears near a player will attack them.

However, monsters have an strange obsession with villagers. Fang Bie had once used this trait to build many types of mob spawners or mob grinders, and it almost never failed.

But this also meant that where there are villagers, there are usually monsters—specifically, Zombies.

In the world of Minecraft, Zombies don't eat people, but they will beat them to death or turn the villagers into their own kind.

Fang Bie remembered that feeding a Golden Apple to a Zombie Villager could turn them back into a villager; this was one of the game's hidden features. Back on his Skyblock, he had often refreshed various types of villagers this way.

"Understood!" Yinsen nodded with a heavy heart and drew his bow and arrows. He had a decent talent for archery, and Fang Bie gave him the arrows he had collected over the past few days.

It was impossible for both of them to charge in with swords; one person fighting in melee while the other provided ranged support was actually the more scientific combat distribution.

Even legends of ancient games knew about the tank-damage-healer distribution, and Fang Bie certainly wouldn't make such a common-sense error. Using these tactics, they had previously killed Zombies and Little Whites several times their number, and they had developed a tacit understanding.

"Whoosh!" The sound of an arrow piercing the air made Fang Bie jump, and he quickly raised his sword to look.

Not far away, a group of Zombies was stumbling toward the village, with two Little Whites trailing behind them.

"Zombies are attacking the village? Let's go help!" Fang Bie said, quickening his pace.