An Underworld Candle Lights the Lantern, a Watchman Walks at Midnight

Mu You hurriedly tapped the text to inspect his latest haul.

[Night Watchman's Pumpkin Lantern: A lantern used by night watchmen to light their patrols at night. When lit, it can illuminate things invisible to the naked eye. Increases the event trigger rate by 30%. Only effective at night.]

"A lantern?"

Mu You paused, then tapped the pumpkin lantern's text.

The next instant, a bizarre-looking pumpkin lantern appeared in his hand.

A ghostly face had been carved into the golden-yellow pumpkin. Its interior had been hollowed out, with a transparent bottle placed inside. The bottle was filled with powder-like floating particles that constantly gave off specks of fluorescent light.

The cord at the top of the pumpkin was attached to a wooden stick about two feet long. The pumpkin lantern hung from one end, while Mu You held the other.

"It can illuminate 'things invisible to the naked eye'... What does that mean? Ghosts? Spirits?"

Mu You frowned at that line in the description.

After a moment's thought, he lifted the pumpkin lantern and shone it over the ground around him to test it.

Naturally, nothing unusual happened.

Under the bright daylight, the pumpkin lantern's glow was all but imperceptible.

Besides, the game description had specifically stated that the pumpkin lantern was "only effective at night."

"Looks like I'll have to wait until tonight to try it."

Mu You shook his head and tapped the "pumpkin lantern" text again, returning it to the game. Then he turned his attention to the next item.

[Night Watchman's Backpack: A backpack enchanted with a spatial spell. It contains an otherworldly space measuring 100 meters in length, width, and height (can merge with similar spatial items to expand its interior). Its exterior can transform into any backpack design, and its interior can switch between otherworldly space and ordinary backpack modes at any time.]

"Isn't this basically a storage pouch?"

Mu You stared in surprise. Having been thoroughly steeped in movies and novels, he naturally understood how useful a storage item could be when exploring another world.

He hurriedly tapped the backpack's text.

A small black cloth drawstring bag appeared in Mu You's hand.

However, it was only palm-sized. Rather than a backpack, it was more like a cloth pouch.

But when Mu You pulled the drawstring open and peered inside, he was stunned.

The pouch really did connect to an entrance into another world!

Looking down, he could make out a faint light. Below him seemed to be the interior of a wooden hut. A ladder had already been set up beneath the pouch's opening for easy access.

Unfortunately, the opening was too small. Mu You could barely fit an arm through it.

"Come to think of it, the description said this backpack could change shape freely... How do I do that?"

Mu You looked at the pouch in his hand. After some thought, he laid it flat on the floor and tried picturing a suitcase in his mind.

With a soft pop, the palm-sized pouch actually turned into a large suitcase with wheels and a pull handle.

Mu You unzipped the suitcase and lifted the lid. Sure enough, the same otherworldly wooden hut lay inside. The previously palm-sized gap had now become an entrance one meter square, leaving more than enough room for him to climb in.

Mu You went to the door and locked it, then drew the curtains. Only then did he return to the suitcase and climb down the ladder into it.

After descending the ladder, Mu You turned to look around. Before him was a small wooden hut of less than thirty square meters. Inside stood a crude plank bed covered with a thick layer of hay. Not far away was a wooden workbench holding various empty bottles and vessels.

There was nothing else. The entire hut looked like a workshop that had long since been abandoned.

After looking around, Mu You finally walked to the hut's door, pushed it open, and stepped outside.

Dazzling light greeted him. Outside the hut was a grassy field comparable in size to a soccer pitch, covered in lush green grass. The air was fresh, and there was plenty of light.

Mu You looked up. At the four corners of the sky, he could faintly make out traces of the suitcase's edges.

Directly overhead floated a hazy orb of light, constantly emitting a soft white glow. It served as the light source illuminating the entire space.

Curious, Mu You walked to the edge of the space and reached out to touch what lay ahead.

An invisible wall seemed to block his way. As soon as his hand approached it, it was pushed back.

He tried the other directions, but the result was the same. Invisible walls blocked all four sides, preventing him from taking even a single step outside the space.

The sight reminded him of the movie The Truman Show. No matter how he looked at it, this place seemed like an independent space forcibly carved out of a real world. Of course, it was much more compact than Truman's world. It was more than ample for storage, but living here long-term would be practically impossible.

"But since this backpack can be opened both in the game and in reality, could I use it to travel between the two worlds?"

The thought suddenly occurred to Mu You as he climbed back into his room in reality through the backpack entrance on the hut's roof.

He immediately put the idea to the test, finding an empty drinking glass and tossing it into the hut.

Then he zipped up the suitcase and tried opening the backpack in the game.

A prompt appeared on the screen: [Warning: The backpack contains an unknown item. Unable to open.]

"So it really doesn't work..."

Mu You gave a wry smile. As long as the backpack contained something placed inside from Earth, it could not be opened in the game.

Apparently, finding a shortcut through the "wall" and going straight to the wizard world on the other side would not be so easy.

Fortunately, this restriction did not affect the backpack's use in reality.

Mu You was flat broke in the game anyway and would not need the backpack to store anything anytime soon. He might as well keep it in reality.

After putting away the backpack, Mu You finally looked at the last item.

[Night Watchman's Skin: An underworld candle lights the lantern, a watchman walks at midnight! Once equipped, the game character will be replaced with a "night watchman." P.S. Equipping a skin grants a Fool's game character the corresponding appearance and identity, which can also manifest in reality. Owned skins can be switched at any time, with stats and level retained.]

[Night watchman: An occupation responsible for announcing the time to village residents, as well as performing some nighttime patrol duties. Fixed task: Patrol outside for at least one hour between midnight and four a.m. to receive one year of lifespan. This task can be completed only once per day!]

"A task?!"

Mu You stared for a moment, then was overjoyed.

He had thought there was no way this game should only consume lifespan without offering any way to gain it.

So the way to earn lifespan was to take the place of a native in the game and carry out their original work, receiving lifespan as payment!

That was it. If lifespan was the currency of that world, then doing work and receiving payment was perfectly logical.