Zuo Cheng'an couldn't see the full picture, so he lost interest and continued his grand rat-extermination campaign.
Over the course of the morning, he killed eighty-four Steel-Toothed Rats in total, but only one item dropped: a Swift Rat Dagger.
It seemed that item drop rates from simply killing monsters were pitifully low. He could essentially only obtain items by relying on the guaranteed drop from the first kill in each instance.
And the information about first kills in instances guaranteeing a drop was still just Zuo Cheng'an's own wild guess.
He would have to test it in at least one more instance before he could be sure.
Meanwhile,
the young couple seemed to suddenly realize that rather than wasting time arguing like this,
they would be better off putting that time to use and getting more work done.
Youyou stamped her foot in anger and turned to leave. "Wang Guangfei! You've really changed!"
Wang Guangfei felt utterly helpless too. That missing sheep was practically a sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
He had even prepared himself to give up his task and help Youyou clear the instance if he still couldn't find it after another search.
It would be enough if even one of them survived.
But Youyou's cold, self-centered attitude, without the slightest consideration for him, had chilled his heart as well.
"I'm just worried that the missing sheep will run farther and farther away while we're working. Then we'll have no chance at all.
"If by 'changed,' you mean I didn't immediately respond to your demands and do what you wanted without considering the bigger picture, then yes, I've changed."
Wang Guangfei sighed deeply. For the first time, his girlfriend felt like a stranger to him.
"I just hoped I could become part of your life, that you could learn to change the scope of your thinking from 'me' to 'us.'
"But you never did. Not once. Time and again, I held out hope that you could grow, but you... sigh. I failed. Completely."
With that, Wang Guangfei turned and walked away without looking back.
A sudden, overwhelming panic gripped Youyou. She felt as though she was about to lose something forever.
But at the thought of the shelves that were still one-fifth empty, she turned, picked up her basket, and headed straight for the tomato field.
She didn't want to die. As for Wang Guangfei...
She would find him once she finished her task. After all, she only had to act sweet and give in a little,
and no matter how angry Wang Guangfei was, he would forgive her unconditionally.
This time would surely be the same.
The sun drew a little closer to the mountaintop.
"The last one! Got you!"
Zuo Cheng'an chased a Steel-Toothed Rat all the way from the sheep pens to the chicken coops.
Just before it could dart into its hole, he pierced its body with his pitchfork.
[Hidden task: Kill Steel-Toothed Rats (100/100). Completed!]
Only after confirming that the task tab in the game interface showed his task as complete
did Zuo Cheng'an finally let out a full breath of relief.
It seemed his guess had been right. The hidden task he had received really did have the fewest pitfalls and was the easiest.
There was no need to even mention Wang Guangfei. He still had no leads on that last sheep.
Youyou's task of picking tomatoes seemed simple, but it actually contained a trap: the tomatoes would rot rapidly after crying.
Fu You... her working conditions were so awful that even the audience didn't want to watch.
And as for her older sister, Fu Yu...
When Zuo Cheng'an passed the chicken coops that morning, he had seen her being chased all over the place by a flock of "old hens," while carefully protecting the eggs in her arms from breaking.
She didn't dare fight back, nor could she run too far. After all, she hadn't finished collecting the eggs.
When Zuo Cheng'an passed by, she had even taken the initiative to ask whether he had any healing items or items with control abilities.
She was willing to pay a high price or make a trade.
Zuo Cheng'an was quite interested in the item called Shadow-Hiding Spray that Fu Yu offered in exchange.
The spray allowed its user to hide in darkness. It should work very well with his night-vision glasses.
Zuo Cheng'an did still have a third of his Tetanus Potion left in his backpack, but it only worked when applied to a wound.
Who knew whether injuring Red-Eyes' chickens would bring retaliation that night?
So, after wrestling with the decision for a long time, Fu Yu ultimately decided to tough it out herself and didn't buy Zuo Cheng'an's potion.
Zuo Cheng'an found that quite a shame. He could only wait until later and check the market for similar items.
Since he happened to be back at the chicken coops, he might as well see whether she had changed her mind.
But to his surprise, the person matching wits and courage with the nearly human-height "old hens"
had changed from Fu Yu to Fu You.
"Where's your sister?" Zuo Cheng'an asked casually.
The players' tasks in this instance were independent of one another, and there was no competition between them.
There was therefore no need to scheme against one another or guard against others tripping them up.
As the people in the scrolling comments put it, relations between humans were actually quite good when their own interests weren't being infringed upon.
Fu You didn't hide it. "In the cowshed."
Fu You had no reason to divulge detailed information about herself. It would do her no good.
Answering Zuo Cheng'an's question at all was simply basic courtesy.
The full story was that Fu Yu had been pecked and injured while snatching eggs, so her younger sister Fu You had volunteered to swap tasks with her,
letting her older sister Fu Yu do the safe cleaning work while she stayed behind to collect eggs.
Zuo Cheng'an had learned all of this from the scrolling comments.
Sometimes, these viewers liked engaging in one-sided interactions with the players, talking to them and interacting with them from afar,
regardless of whether the players could act as they wished.
When Zuo Cheng'an first noticed this, he had thought his ability to see the scrolling comments had been exposed.
But after observing them, he discovered that the viewers were simply entertaining themselves.
They just found it too boring when there were no fights or thrills, yet couldn't bear to leave, so they found something to occupy themselves.
For instance, right now, they were discussing his task.
[Why isn't this player working? What's he wandering around for?]
[Looks like he finished his task?]
[If I remember right, wasn't his task to kill a hundred Steel-Toothed Rats? That fast?]
[Of course. I counted every single one along with him! He finished his task ages ago.]
[So boring. I thought having Red-Eyes here would make this instance interesting, but this is it? No fun. I'm out.]
[I'm guessing Red-Eyes only assigns tasks in this instance and won't personally participate in the game.
[After all, a level-one instance doesn't qualify for Red-Eyes to join the game. The players here are too fragile. It was probably just brought in for a cameo because the farm is its territory.]
[Inside scoop!! Red-Eyes is back in the Level 3 Dungeon Nowhere to Escape!! The fight for the lifeboats is about to start over there! Go watch it live!]
As soon as that comment appeared, Zuo Cheng'an noticed that quite a few of the eyeballs surrounding him and Fu You had vanished.
They seemed to have all gone to the Level 3 Dungeon Nowhere to Escape, where Red-Eyes had appeared.
Could only Level 3 Dungeons qualify for Red-Eyes to personally enter the fray against the players?
Then wouldn't anyone who could enter a Level 3 Dungeon have to be a player who had reached the third tier, at least?
Just how strong did Red-Eyes have to be to fight a hundred Third Tier players without falling behind?
But the comments had also reminded Zuo Cheng'an that Red-Eyes wasn't on the farm right now.
Previously, Zuo Cheng'an had thought Red-Eyes was hiding in the shadows and watching, so he had remained cautious and done nothing out of line.
Since it had gone to another instance now...
The comments said Red-Eyes was a melee fighter. It probably didn't have the ability to monitor things remotely across instances.
In other words, he could use the remaining time in this instance to thoroughly explore the farm.
And the only place on the farm kept under wraps was the small, two-story building with the red roof in the center.
With that thought, Zuo Cheng'an left the chicken coops and headed straight for the center of the farm.
Might as well use the illustration feature. I couldn't find one that fit very well, so make do with this.
Before you continue