Stuck

Inside the pitch-black thatched hut, Li Muyang opened his eyes, feeling incredibly drowsy, and stretched his back.

"So there really are other dangers in this broken village..."

He muttered, feeling somewhat speechless.

After surviving the night, nothing of importance happened in the game dungeon the next day.

The game character simply went to ask Steward Wu for some money and food, which was a standard perk for a provider.

For the rest of the time, Li Muyang took Little Wild Grass for a walk around the village. Aside from the fact that he couldn't take her outside the village gates, there were almost no personal restrictions; the two of them could go to most places within the village.

Now that he was responsible for providing for Little Wild Grass, Li Muyang no longer had to go up the mountain to work. He had become an idler in the village, with his food and lodging provided.

But no one envied him.

In fact, when he passed by with Little Wild Grass, most people avoided them as if they were a plague, terrified that getting too close to her would result in their vitality being drained.

The day passed quickly and uneventfully. Li Muyang wandered around the village all day, but failed to trigger any plot points.

At night, Li Muyang chose to go to sleep, and as expected, he died again.

When he reloaded his save and chose to stay awake all night, he survived safely until dawn.

Was this murderer specifically waiting for Li Muyang to fall into a deep sleep before striking?

On the third night, Li Muyang again chose not to sleep.

But unfortunately, the game character, having pulled two all-nighters in a row, couldn't hold on and fell asleep midway.

Consequently, Li Muyang saw the expected pop-up window: [You have died, game over].

After this death, Li Muyang opened his eyes and temporarily exited the game.

Looking at the pitch-black night outside the window and feeling the exhaustion in his body, Li Muyang stretched his back long and hard.

"So tired..."

Li Muyang sighed.

He had pulled two all-nighters in a row and was now incredibly sleepy.

That was just how galgames were; even if the theme and character designs were interesting, it was hard to keep someone hooked—even Kaleidoscope couldn't manage it!

At this moment, Li Muyang didn't have the same urge to stay up all night playing games as he had before.

He had gathered enough information to basically confirm that some kind of danger was hidden in this village, something that would emerge and kill him once his game character fell asleep.

This was likely the first major hurdle after adopting Little Wild Grass. Following the usual tropes, clearing this hurdle should bring him closer to her.

Having clarified this, Li Muyang exited the game and stood up with a yawn.

Before going to bed, he checked once more to ensure the door was locked before lying down to sleep.

Judging by the [No Time Limit] tag on this game dungeon, it was clearly a quest that would take a significant amount of time, not something that could be finished in a day or two.

Li Muyang had plenty of patience. With his endless Spirit Rice Jar, he wasn't worried at all. Now that he had no pressure to survive, he could pour his time and energy into this raising-sim game.

Once he lay down, Li Muyang fell asleep quickly.

After a night's rest, the first thing Li Muyang did upon waking in the morning was to move the pickle jar off the top of the Spirit Rice Jar.

The dirty, unremarkable-looking Spirit Rice Jar was now filled to the brim with plump, high-grade spirit rice.

Once the rice in this jar was emptied, it would truly refill itself overnight.

Having confirmed this, Li Muyang was completely free of worries. He happily got up, washed, and headed out to work.

He continued to herd a group of eerie "two-legged sheep" up the mountain. After driving them into the valley, Li Muyang found a spot to sit down.

Game with Fairies, initiate!

Opening his eyes once more, Li Muyang returned to the empty stilt house.

Then...

[You have died, game over]

"This is absolutely cursed!"

At dusk, Li Muyang sat up abruptly, feeling quite frustrated.

He had spent the entire day exploring in the game, yet every time, he died in some inexplicable way.

Not only would he die if he fell asleep at night, but even if he dozed off in broad daylight, he would die quickly, resulting in a game over.

The murderer who killed Li Muyang specifically chose to strike whenever he fell asleep.

At one point, Li Muyang even suspected Little Wild Grass was the culprit. He locked the little girl in the room, stayed far away from her, and lay down on a roadside where there were plenty of villagers.

And yet, he still died.

Later on, he even went to sleep right in front of Steward Wu's door, but he still died.

—That murderer dared to kill in broad daylight!

He could even kill right under Steward Wu's nose.

This was simply bizarre.

Steward Wu was considered a formidable expert within the stronghold; to kill someone right under his nose... who could be so arrogant?

Li Muyang, having died continuously for an entire afternoon, felt rather dejected.

This is a bottleneck...

As a veteran gamer, Li Muyang was no stranger to this kind of situation.

When playing games, it was easy to get stuck on a certain level for a long time.

If he were stuck in his past life, he would simply pull out his phone and search for a walkthrough online.

Now that he had arrived in this strange world without computers or the internet, playing a system game that only he possessed... there was nowhere to look for a guide.

On the way to herd the "two-legged sheep" down the mountain, Li Muyang sighed gloomily.

The frustration of being constantly stuck was overwhelming, to the point that even the spirit rice he cooked tonight didn't taste as fragrant as the last meal.

However, after finishing this bowl of spirit rice, the increase in spiritual energy did not diminish despite Li Muyang's lack of appetite.

Li Muyang's cultivation soared once again.

When he finished his meditation and regulated the surging spiritual energy within his body, the character experience bar on the system interface had changed to [Li Muyang: Qi Refining Realm Second Layer 43%].

Yesterday it was only 27%, and the day before only 12%... This speed of cultivation growth felt like a dream.

At this rate of increasing by more than ten percent every day, he would soon be able to break through to the third layer of the Qi Refining Realm.

And once he broke through to the third layer, he could apply to learn the Cloud and Rain Art.

There were not many techniques the sect was willing to teach outer disciples for free, and the spirit planter's Cloud and Rain Art was one of them.

After all, if one truly had the talent to be a spirit planter, the sect only needed to provide two plots of spirit fields, and the spirit planter could produce a steady stream of spirit rice.

A sect this large needed to be maintained, and a massive amount of spirit rice had to be distributed every month.

Therefore, the sect was quite generous when it came to cultivating spirit planters.

Li Muyang intended to learn the Cloud and Rain Art; if he could become a spirit planter, he wouldn't have to crawl into that foul-smelling valley every day.

Being a spirit planter was also the most leisurely and cost-effective profession among the outer sect.

Thinking of this, Li Muyang took a deep breath, his expression invigorated.

"Work hard! Cultivate! Strive!"

He could not let down such a good item as the Endless Spirit Rice Jar!

Seeing that it was getting late outside, Li Muyang locked the door, climbed into bed, and opened the game once again.

In the empty stilt house, Li Muyang smiled at the little girl before him, who had a pale yellow health bar hovering above her head.

"Sleep now. Tomorrow, I'll take you for a stroll around the stronghold."

And then...

[You have died. Game over.]