LWGP - Chapter 68
Chapter 68: Novice Village
When Wang Jiu came to, she found herself standing in the ruins of an ancient city.
The ground beneath her feet was a dilapidated stone disc, about four hundred meters in diameter.
She wasn't alone. Five or six thousand people stood on the disc with her, its edge sealed off by a towering, rosy light.
A massive, dark crowd. The visual was terrifying, more shocking than any army in a television series.
Among them were all sorts of people: old and young, men and women, even families holding children and infants.
A System notification arrived: "Descent complete. Welcome to the Ninth District, 444 Novice Village resurrection point. We wish you a pleasant game, goodbye."
Everyone was dumbfounded. Novice Village? 444?
So it really had fucking turned into a game.
"Fuck! This novice village name is so unlucky!"
"Yeah, that's messed up!"
"But isn't this our Luoyang's Tianyuan Square? The System sure knows how to pick a spot, this place is very classical."
"In your dreams. This is clearly the old Luo Heng Street No. 3 public toilet."
Fuck, no way!
Many people grew agitated, accusing the bald man of talking out of his ass. Annoyed, he shot back, "Why would I lie to you! My shop was right across from that public toilet. Dammit, it was bad luck for over a decade, and now even in a doomsday game, I descend into a public toilet… Fuck!"
Everyone was exasperated.
This 444 Novice Village was toxic.
But most people were more concerned about something else.
"What was that sound just now?"
Gak, gak, gak.
A strange call.
In the vast ruins, many trees had encroached upon the city's remains beyond the disc, and wild grass grew everywhere. There was a rustling in the dense thickets nearby. The thousands of others might not have noticed, but a group of people standing near the edge felt an inexplicable unease. Soon, one of them kicked a loose stone from the ground and tossed it.
With a rustle, the bushes shook violently, and then a massive… yellow duck charged out.
"Another player? A player of another species?"
"Could be a monster, too."
"We'll know if we hit it."
The bravest person was the first to step out. He flicked his wrist, a dagger appearing in his hand, but before he could move, the duck leaped up and slammed into his abdomen.
Bang!!
It was unclear how strong the duck was, but the man was knocked to the ground. Before he could get up, the duck jumped onto his head and pecked at his skull three or four times with its beak.
On the final peck, the man's head burst. He died instantly, but his body turned into a white light that flew back to the disc, where he reappeared a second later, still looking terrified.
"Fuck, I died once, and my HP was deducted by 1!"
"The System just congratulated me for being killed by the novice village mob, the Big Yellow Duck. Shit!"
Many people were horrified. Ducks were this badass?
There were monsters in reality outside the dungeon vortexes now?
After they questioned the System, it responded: "The tutorial period's nanny mode is over. From now on, the monsters will get stronger and stronger. If you are weak, you will die."
It was exceptionally cold and ruthless.
A few people charged out and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the duck. These people were likely stronger, armed with swords and knives, and they quickly finished it off. The duck's body burst, dropping a copper coin and a few duck feathers.
However… they were soon surrounded by a dozen more ducks, but those ducks were then quickly surrounded by a hundred people.
But such a violent commotion was bound to attract more and more monsters, and these people would eventually scatter.
Perhaps there were other novice villages in Luoyang. After all, the number of locals who chose to descend in the Luoyang area was surely not small.
Five thousand people in 444 Novice Village was far from enough.
With so many people, there were bound to be plenty of monsters.
As expected, ducks began to emerge from all directions around the disc. It was obvious they were the lowest-level monsters in the novice village.
Thump. A duck was sent flying by a kick, its body bursting into a copper coin upon landing.
Yes, just a single copper coin, no duck feathers.
Wang Jiu frowned but didn't linger. While many people hesitated, caught between attacking the ducks and being surrounded by them, the strong and perceptive had already broken through the mob and charged out. While they were still arguing whether the disc was a landmark or a toilet, Wang Jiu had already left it. And she wasn't the only one; she noticed at least a dozen others running outward.
In the novice zone, there were more people than monsters. To get monster kills, one had to go to less crowded areas with wild mobs, not to mention the even rarer dungeon vortexes.
Wilderness Unknown Dungeon. Wang Jiu had wanted to enter one for a long time and had no intention of wasting time in the novice village area.
So she ran at full speed, certain that the mountain she had targeted would contain a dungeon vortex.
But along the way, she could see many scattered monsters like chickens and geese throughout the novice village.
As she passed, people were constantly falling, swarmed by chickens, ducks, and geese, and getting beaten senseless.
The System was probably very busy right now, sending out notifications like, "Congratulations, you have been killed by a Big Yellow Duck/Clumsy Chicken/Dopey Goose."
Too many people were dying; white lights constantly flashed in and out of the resurrection area.
It was tragic, truly tragic.
"If these are monsters, do the original creatures from reality have their own novice villages?"
System: "Correct. They will descend into the environments where they belong. Different species have different descent and resurrection points."
Wang Jiu: "Dying and resurrecting deducts HP? Do you drop items and lose levels?"
System: "You drop items and lose levels."
It was concise and to the point.
They were becoming infinitely close to game data, yet they still possessed real, flesh-and-blood bodies.
One could only say that this game was terrifying enough to digitize an entire planet.
What kind of terrifying super-technology was this?
Wang Jiu had no time for sentimentality. She could only process this information and do her best to search for and absorb more.
Right now, everyone was a rookie. Everyone had to explore.
Swish! A single sword strike took care of a wild dog that had darted out from the bushes to bite her.
After it hit the ground, it burst into a copper coin and a dog tooth.
Her drop rate wasn't great, but fortunately, the gains were minimal anyway. And now that the game had fully loaded, these small monsters dropped items directly upon being killed, which could be collected with a single click.
These were all things the System had promised before, and it had indeed delivered.
After killing the wild dog, she also received 5 experience points. For her, at level five, it was a drop in the bucket. She would need to kill at least three hundred more to reach level 6.
Weaker monsters gave less experience.
The little yellow ducks from before only gave 1 experience point. After killing 50, those players could level up to 2.
Wang Jiu assessed her surroundings. Fortunately, the ruins still faintly revealed some of their former contours. She and the Old Lady had traveled to Luoyang and lived there for over a year. The latter had been very fond of this city, rich in Chinese history and culture, and had mentioned it many times after returning to the capital.
Before, with cars, no city felt that large. But now, on two legs and surrounded by ruins, it seemed enormous.
But Wang Jiu had already scanned the area from the resurrection point and locked onto a mountain to her left front. While there were many thickets where various plants had overgrown abandoned buildings, this one was a natural mountain and stood out.
Generally, after modern development, there were few mountains left within high-end cities in the country. But in its original topography, there were quite a few.
It was the closest to the 444 resurrection point, yet it still took Wang Jiu ten minutes of sprinting at full speed to reach. She avoided all the small monsters along the way to save time.
On her journey, she could also see some monsters that were a higher level than the wild dogs.
Level five.
To fight a level five mob here, a player would need a combined total of over 30 points across their three attributes.
When she was about five or six hundred meters from the mountain, Wang Jiu could already hear the sounds of players fighting.
It seemed there were quite a few players.
She wondered if there was another novice village very close to here.
People from 444 Novice Village would surely come as well, and most would be in groups.
Adding in players from other villages, the number of people entering the mountain was likely not small.
Wang Jiu stopped pondering and quickly approached the mountain. At its foot was a stream, shrouded in a thin layer of mist. The air was heavy with moisture. Across the three-meter-wide stream was a patch of grassland.
When she arrived, eight people were already there, seemingly a familiar, tight-knit group.
The buffer of the tutorial period had allowed many small groups to take shape, especially among the young people.
They were currently fighting a group of level 5 water lizards.
The water lizards were mostly over a meter long, with greenish carapaces. They clung to the bank, attacking the group and preventing them from crossing the stream.
The lizards' tails remained in the water, occasionally slapping the surface to send splashes flying over. Although it was a non-lethal ranged attack, it was painful and obscured vision.
Their movement speed was not fast, but their charging burst was powerful. One hit would knock someone down, and two would cost them HP. They could either return to the resurrection point or resurrect on the spot. Either way, it cost 1 HP. It all depended on whether they wanted to flee or keep fighting, and whether they had enough HP to spare.
But this group wasn't weak. The eight of them worked together. Although one had just died when Wang Jiu arrived, he had resurrected, and the other seven had already killed several water lizards. There were still a few more in the water. The stream was long, and there were surely more of these monsters upstream and downstream. Most people, seeing that someone was already fighting here and could clear a safe passage, would not risk going elsewhere.
"Miss, come join us. We can only cross once we've cleared a path."
Seeing that Wang Jiu had managed to get here from the novice village alone, the group figured she was skilled and wanted to recruit her.
But it was also a statement—they hoped she wouldn't backstab them while they were fighting the water lizards.
They had reason to be cautious. Just three minutes ago, someone had done just that, attacking one of their brothers to try and loot his dropped equipment, only to be killed by them in return.
They really hoped this young lady, with her exceptional looks and aura, wasn't like that.
They meant well, but Wang Jiu replied, "No need, thanks."
Then, with a running start, she leaped directly over the water surface occupied by the lizards, landing on the other side of the four-meter-wide stream.
Without a backward glance, she ran off, disappearing into the mountain in a few moments.
"She's an expert." The group's unofficial leader, Lin Fengmian, was a steady person and made his judgment. The others all agreed that her Agility attribute had to be at least 25.
Because their leader Lin Fengmian's Agility was 20, and he couldn't make that jump.
"So strong." The group was envious, but it also spurred them on. "An expert has already gone in, and she's faster alone than all of us. Who knows how many dungeon vortexes are in this mountain. If they take them all, there'll be nothing left for us. Even a young lady is this strong. Let's go, brothers!"
Stimulated by Wang Jiu, the eight of them rallied their morale, coordinated their efforts, and finally killed all the water lizards in that section of the stream. Just as they were about to cross the river, Lin Fengmian suddenly turned and slapped away an incoming arrow.
"Who's there?!"
Looking up, they saw a team of about thirty people rapidly approaching from behind.
Lin Fengmian's expression changed drastically. He made a split-second decision. "Retreat!!"
The eight of them had no choice but to run in another direction.
The team of thirty considered chasing them but ultimately gave up.
"Let's cross and get into the mountain first, don't waste time."
"Dammit, that little team is pretty smart. Not like those idiots before who cursed until their necks were red, only to get killed by us for their gear."
"They are smart, and not weak either. They're the ones who killed all the water lizards. A pity, they must have dropped some stuff…"
"Afraid of not getting good stuff once we're pushing dungeons in the mountain? Let's go!"
The thirty people quickly crossed the stream.
Lin Fengmian's group ran a fair distance. Seeing that the other team wasn't pursuing them, they breathed a sigh of relief, not planning to go far.
A few of them were furious. They had been the ones to clear that section of the stream, and now they had to watch the others pass and get far ahead before they could cross.
But not only was the other group large, they even had an archer. They were too strong to mess with.
They grumbled and cursed, but Lin Fengmian remained calm. "Get used to it. This isn't the era where you'd get yelled at for cutting in line for breakfast. I think that group is probably made up of people recruited early on by one of those corporate groups in Luoyang. I recognize the leader. His name is Pan Zhen."
Pan Zhen? Most people in Luoyang knew of him.
He was a notorious hoodlum in the early days, someone their parents' generation loathed. But it was exactly this kind of person who built connections, latched onto a corporate backer, and became a successful upper-class figure.
That's just how the world works.
The others understood and stopped cursing.
"There will be more and more people and teams like this in the future. Without regulation, even things like clearing the field, which was common in games we used to play, will happen often. Bad people will become worse, and good people might turn bad. The only way is to become stronger."
"They've entered the mountain. Let's go!"
Even though they were intimidated by the other group's numbers and strength, not one of the eight suggested turning back to grind wild monsters for levels.
The path to becoming stronger was right in front of them. How could they retreat in fear?
They didn't even want to resurrect on the spot, let alone waste time running back from the resurrection point, because the longer they waited, the more experts would arrive!
Just like that woman from before.
"I'm just curious, if those thirty people ran into that woman from before…"
"It'd probably be tough for her. She'd either have to escape on the spot or die and go back to the resurrection point. They have ranged attacks, there are a lot of them, and I bet that Pan Zhen's attributes aren't low."
As they discussed and crossed the stream, Wang Jiu had already entered the mountain, prompted by the System.
"A thick fog lies before you. You have discovered a mountain. It is called Huize Mountain. We hope you can find its mysteries within, and—survive."
The System's voice, tinged with drama and emotion, came through.
Wang Jiu raised an eyebrow and took a step forward. The moment she entered, a black shadow shot toward her.
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