Peach Haven Village (VII)

Bighead asked through the gate, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Ding Shi said, "I'm the village chief's assistant. I'm here to find out what's going on."

Bighead asked, "What situation?"

Ding Shi began to grow suspicious. Even if most villagers kept chickens at home, they would not keep their gates shut; they would leave them merely ajar. Bighead had barred the gate from the inside. Moreover, under normal circumstances, ordinary villagers would open the gate to speak instead of questioning someone through it.

Ding Shi said, "It's about collecting the public grain. I need to confirm that you rented out all your fields."

Bighead said, "Yes, I rented them all out. Go back. I have things to do."

Ding Shi asked, "Do you have any water?"

Bighead paused mid-step. After thinking for several seconds, he said, "Yes." It was impossible for him not to have any. He could not refuse such a request.

Helplessly, Bighead pulled out the gate bar and let Ding Shi into the courtyard. "I'll get you some water." Clearly, he had no intention of inviting Ding Shi to sit down.

Ding Shi nodded in thanks and noticed the yellow mud on Bighead's pant legs. Strange. Ding Shi had circled the courtyard and seen no vegetable patch, and the women had said Bighead neither grew vegetables nor farmed. Where had the yellow mud come from?

Yet nothing seemed wrong with the front yard.

As Ding Shi observed the courtyard, Bighead brought out a gourd ladle of spring water. Ding Shi estimated that Bighead had not had time to poison it. Poisons of that era were mostly crystals and needed to be dissolved, while liquid poisons had a strong smell. Feeling reassured, Ding Shi drank half a ladle. He had to admit, the sweet aftertaste of the spring water was truly delicious.

Ding Shi returned the ladle to Bighead. Bighead had been watching Ding Shi the entire time. Taking the ladle, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Ding Shi."

Bighead nodded. "Right, you're a college student." The college student label was one of the identities the system had assigned them from the beginning. Since the village chief had publicized it in advance, the villagers had accepted that identity.

Bighead then asked, "I heard people in the county town talking about something called NPC. You're a well-informed college student. Do you know what it means?"

Ding Shi's heart skipped a beat. NPC was not a term from this era. No one in the county town should be saying it. Bighead had definitely heard of NPC and might even know what it meant, but why did he think it was merely some fashionable new term?

Ding Shi nodded. "NPC is an abbreviation for the three words NO, PANDA, and CAT. It means pandas are not cats. For example, when a bride and groom get married, the bridesmaid and groomsman are NPCs. They are not the main characters; they are supporting characters. The bridesmaid is not the bride, and the groomsman is not the groom."

Bighead understood Ding Shi's words, but he did not understand Ding Shi's meaning. Nor did he know how to put it into words.

Bighead pressed on, "Are you a player?"

Ding Shi asked in confusion, "What's a player?"

Bighead eyed Ding Shi suspiciously. "Someone who plays games."

Ding Shi said, "I generally don't play games. I only played hopscotch when I was little." His expression made it seem as though he were looking at an idiot.

Bighead gave a dry laugh. "I heard they caught a thief in the village this morning. Is that right?"

Ding Shi said, "I don't know. I haven't heard about that. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."

Bighead released the dagger behind his waist with his left hand and saw Ding Shi out. Only after watching Ding Shi ride away did he close the courtyard gate.

Hearing the gate close, Ding Shi hid his bicycle among the reeds, then jogged back to Bighead's house and circled around to the backyard.

Peering over the wall, he saw that the ground in the backyard was uneven. It was clear that there had once been two small vegetable plots there, with little bamboo sticks still planted in them. After observing and waiting for a while, Ding Shi climbed over the wall into the backyard and headed straight for the corner. A hoe lay there, beside a patch of obviously freshly dug soil.

Jialing's voice came from the front yard. Ding Shi went from the back door, past where the urine bucket was kept, to the front hall, and saw Bighead driving away alone.

What perfect timing!

Ding Shi returned to the backyard and began digging. Before he had dug even a meter down, he hit something. He brushed away the dirt with the hoe and found a human hand.

Holy shit! Li Si had been buried by a villager. NPCs could kill players? This was the low-risk casual instance the system had mentioned?

Ding Shi found the description of the instance's extremely low danger level and raised his question.

The system replied: If you court death, you die. The system is helpless too. If you insist on jumping off a cliff, then no matter how low the difficulty, you will still die.

That reply gave Ding Shi a clue. It meant Li Si had actively brought this upon himself. Now only one final question remained: had Li Si been killed while stealing from Bighead's home, or had he been tricked by Bighead?

No matter what, he needed to inform the village chief and secure the scene first. As for breaking into someone's home, that did not matter. He was the village chief's assistant.

Ding Shi went through the back door to the front hall, intending to cross the courtyard and leave. The room beside the front hall quietly opened. Bighead followed behind Ding Shi, a dagger in his right hand and a vicious look in his eyes.

Ding Shi suddenly stopped, extended a finger, and pointed at the ground. Bighead lowered his head and saw the shadow of himself holding a knife cast by the setting sun in front of Ding Shi.

At that instant, Bighead was nearly brought to tears by his own stupidity.

Ding Shi turned and asked, "Why did you kill Li Si?"

Bighead looked shocked and uncertain. "Because he was a player." Ding Shi's calmness only made him panic more.

Ding Shi asked, "A player? You believed him?"

Bighead said, "At first, I didn't. But he said a lot of things. He talked about the background of our era, future developments, the full-scale opening up in '93, all the way to internet livestreaming."

Ding Shi asked, "What did he want?"

Bighead said, "He wanted to work with me. I would help him make money, and he would help me get a player identity."

Ding Shi asked, "How?"

Bighead said, "Kill a player."

Ding Shi asked, "Did it work?"

Bighead said, "No. I killed him, but I got nothing."

Ding Shi said, "Turn yourself in. The net of heaven is wide-meshed, but nothing escapes it."

Bighead shook his head. "No. I don't want to be an NPC. Maybe if I kill you, I can get a player identity."

Ding Shi said, "Impossible."

Bighead asked, "Why?"

Ding Shi said, "Because you're no match for me."

Bighead stopped talking and rushed forward with a slash. Ding Shi snapped his fingers, and a five-kilogram stone appeared in his left hand. The dagger struck the stone and broke in two.

Ding Shi tossed aside the stone, hit him with a German suplex, then trapped Bighead in a Triangle Lock. Gradually, Bighead rolled his eyes from lack of oxygen. Ding Shi released him at the right moment, pulled out some vines used for tying firewood, and securely bound Bighead's hands and feet. He then stopped a villager on his way home and asked him to report to the village chief.

The village chief contacted the yamen with a hand-cranked telephone, then arrived at Bighead's house with several villagers. Soon after, the constables arrived in a three-wheeler and interrogated Bighead on the spot. Bighead fully confessed to murdering Li Si. When the constables left, they praised Ding Shi for his bravery in fighting criminals.

After all the commotion continued until four in the morning, this side quest was completed with a perfect rating. He received 1 blade. Village chief satisfaction: 30.

Not long after they first met, Ding Shi had already taken a dislike to the boastful Li Si. The theft of the firewood knife further convinced Ding Shi that Li Si was someone who caused trouble. Still, Li Si being killed rather than killing someone had somewhat exceeded Ding Shi's expectations. Looking back afterward, Ding Shi became even more certain that NPCs were normal beings. They could think, have all kinds of ideas, and even actively kill players.

Another matter concerned Ding Shi. When the murder occurred, neither Zhang San nor Zhao Liu had come to the scene. Half the village had shown up, yet the two of them, who were also players, had not. That was rather strange. Aside from watching the excitement, they also needed to gather intelligence. Perhaps they simply did not care, considering this was only an extremely low-risk casual instance. Or perhaps they believed Ding Shi would tell them everything unconditionally the next day?

As the village chief's assistant, Ding Shi first rode his bicycle to take the village chief home. Then he assisted the hurriedly arriving coroner at Bighead's house in collecting Li Si's body. The road was narrow, so Ding Shi and the coroner worked together to haul the body to the village entrance on a flatbed cart. By the time this exhausting labor was done, it was already past seven the next morning. This task rewarded him with 0.5 blades, and village chief satisfaction rose to 40.

During the new book period, updates will remain at two chapters a day, occasionally three. Updates will be released at eight in the morning and eight in the evening.