The system assigned every player a place to stay. Ji Xun saw "C District, No. 1003" written on his panel.
Apart from Tang Cha, who had also been assigned to C District, Xin Xin and Zhou Yang were in E District, Fang Rui had been placed in B District, and Lu Jiancheng was in F District.
Xin Xin said, "I don't know if we'll ever see each other again, but you all have to stay alive!"
Tang Cha nodded hard.
After leaving the Uninhabited Village, the players' social channels and the shop had both unlocked. They added one another as friends, but before they could take a closer look at the shop system, another announcement came over the bus speakers.
[Next stop: Headquarters Base, E District. Players arriving at their destination, please prepare to disembark-]
The ash outside the windows vanished. Through the glass, they could see a massive iron gate standing open ahead, with two huge words written on it-E District.
Holding Xin Xin's hand, Zhou Yang said to the others, "We're heading off. Take care."
Tang Cha nodded hard. "Take care!"
The bus stopped. Zhou Yang was just about to get off when he suddenly paused and turned back. "Remember how the system said 'players must figure out how to play for themselves' when we first boarded? We guessed back then that the game might have two modes: competitive or cooperative. When you enter another game, remember not to trust other players too easily."
With that, he smiled at the players and entered E District with Xin Xin.
Tang Cha frowned. "Does Zhou Yang mean there could be bad people among the players?"
Fang Rui said, "If a game has two conflicting main quests, nothing a player does to complete their quest would surprise me."
Tang Cha looked worried. He had only cleared this game because his teammates had worked so well together. If he ran into teammates who stabbed him in the back next time, wouldn't that be the end of him?
Fang Rui and Lu Jiancheng got off in turn. When the bus finally reached C District, Ji Xun brought a listless Tang Cha with him to the district's iron gate.
Only when he stood right in front of it did Tang Cha realize the gate was six stories tall.
"Is this gate... meant to keep giants out?" Tang Cha marveled.
Several stern-faced NPCs stood near the iron gate. Seeing the two of them get off the bus, they said, "Show your identification tags."
Tang Cha froze. What identification tags?
One NPC elbowed a colleague at the sight. "Look at that clueless face. Obviously a newbie."
Tang Cha was furious. "I heard that!"
Do you staff members resort to personal insults, too?
Startled, the NPC looked Ji Xun up and down. "You're a newbie, too?"
Ji Xun nodded and asked, "We don't have tags. How do we get in?"
Looking as though he had spotted a rare animal, the NPC took Ji Xun and Tang Cha to register their information as new players.
"I've never seen such a calm newbie before. The ones before him started bawling the moment they got off the bus. They looked worse than I do, and I've been dead for decades. And that batch yesterday-did you hear? They started going crazy and biting people as soon as they got off. It took the city guard to restrain them."
"Yeah, the last time I saw a newbie this calm was... the last time." The NPC sighed. "That guy's now number one on the Top 100 Ranking. I had the honor of welcoming him into the city back then, and afterward I got three months off for a workplace injury. Those were the days!"
"That young man in the black trench coat is so handsome. Why does he look a little familiar, though?"
"I think the little dimwit beside him is pretty cute. Come on, place your bets! Let's see which of these newbies makes it into the Top 100!"
"Ji Xun, why was getting into the city such a hassle for us? Zhou Yang and Xin Xin didn't have to do any paperwork. They just walked straight in!" Tang Cha was utterly baffled. Ji Xun had refused to lift a finger, leaving him to run back and forth filling out over a dozen forms for the NPCs, all in exchange for two identification tags no bigger than keychains.
Ji Xun said evenly, "Because Zhou Yang and Xin Xin are veteran players."
"What?" Tang Cha jumped in front of him, incredulous. "Those two weren't newbies?"
Ji Xun said helplessly, "Didn't you notice? Zhou Yang and Xin Xin kept a very low profile in the instance. Zhou Yang, especially, barely spoke at all. The few times Xin Xin spoke, she was guiding us, like when she reminded us about the Man-Snake appearing, and the bones inside the kang."
"Then... they were there to help us clear it?" Tang Cha stammered. "The game's that considerate? Newbies even get a protection period?"
Ji Xun said, "Probably. Everyone fell into a deep sleep on the first night. When I woke up, I noticed Zhou Yang was pretending to be asleep. I suspect he would have woken us up if I hadn't woken up myself."
Tang Cha wore an expression that said, "That's actually a thing?" He decided to message Zhou Yang later and ask.
The system had assigned each player a small, detached, single-story house. Ji Xun was very satisfied with that.
Tang Cha said goodbye to him and set off to find his own place. "Ji Xun, let's do the next instance together!"
For the sake of his own survival, Tang Cha decided to stick close to this powerhouse.
Ji Xun nodded with a smile, then entered the house to inspect his domain.
Though there was hardly any furniture, Ji Xun's opinion of his new boss was soaring. That goodwill lasted only until the second before he checked his mailbox.
"Dear player, please claim your point reward for the beginner instance 'Uninhabited Village' below."
Claimable points: zero (to three decimal places).
Ji Xun's smile froze. Then he pressed his lips tightly together.
"No. 009."
[Hello, dear player! How may I help you?]
"Why do I have zero points?" Ji Xun's voice was displeased. How was refusing to pay an employee any different from making him work for free?
Ji Xun felt insulted.
[Uh... here's the thing. The way you cleared the instance deviated from the main storyline, forcing the Uninhabited Village instance to close for emergency repairs. We've suffered major losses-]
"So you're saying it's my fault?" Ji Xun narrowed his eyes slightly, his fingers continually rubbing the hilt of the knife at his waist.
[No, no, no. We merely hope you'll use somewhat gentler methods next time. After all, the main system has received a joint complaint from over a dozen NPCs in the Uninhabited Village. To soothe our employees' wounded spirits, we have no choice but to withhold your point reward this time.]
"How was the original main storyline supposed to go?"
The Uninhabited Village instance would most likely be sealed away, so 009 stopped being cryptic.
[After entering the instance, new players survive the first night safely with the help of veteran players. They then uncover the Uninhabited Village's secret. Once they locate all four villagers, they can clear the instance.]
That told him practically nothing.
"How were the players supposed to find A-Fei?" Ji Xun asked, puzzled. The riverbed wasn't somewhere beginner players could just casually venture down to.
[If you hadn't gone into the river, A-Fei would have come up on his own.]
Only, the A-Fei who emerged would have been mentally unstable and attacked indiscriminately. The players would have needed to lure him to Grandpa Jin's cottage.
Grandpa Jin's side quest might not have been triggered either, and the players wouldn't have received help from the father and son when they finally left the village.
That also meant more of the players would have died.
"So the easiest way to clear it was actually to smash the kang and dig up the grave?" Ji Xun's voice took on an oddly dangerous edge. "You're saying all that work we did was pointless?"
Sensing his displeasure, 009 hurried to add more.
[Although your method took a little more effort, you were the first player to unlock the true ending.]
Players who had cleared the instance before had merely escaped the village alive, while the slaughter within it continued. Only Ji Xun and his teammates had sealed that wicked village away for good.
Although the monster NPCs had lodged complaints afterward, the main system's slap-on-the-wrist punishment also made its stance clear.
It approved of Ji Xun's way of clearing the instance.
Before you continue