Chapter 4: The System Shop
Those Who Obey Me Win still held the bloody stone he had used to bludgeon his “father” to death. Blood dripped off his face and clothes.
His eyes locked onto Su Qiong, who was standing quietly beside Granny Li. He looked like a starved hawk zeroing in on its prey. He remembered his brother’s tip: killing a self-aware system NPC not only gave massive experience points but also had a high chance of dropping rare skills and weapons. In IF, skills and weapons meant everything. Slaughtering all 405 villagers combined wouldn’t equal the loot from killing one system NPC.
Su Qiong was wearing the cheap mimicry cloak the bat had given him. It had no defensive stats, but it blurred his presence to help him blend in. Normally, players wouldn’t realize he was a marshmallow monster unless they walked right up to him.
However, against a player who had just hit Level 2 and was blinded by bloodlust, the low-level cloak was useless. Su Qiong’s true nature was totally exposed.
Under the cold moonlight, Those Who Obey Me Win took a menacing step toward Su Qiong.
Before Su Qiong could react, Shi Yuntian stepped smoothly in front of him, his hand gripping the hilt of his massive sword. “Want to fight?”
Su Qiong was still useful to him. Even if he wasn’t, Shi Yuntian would never let someone steal his prey.
A flicker of hesitation crossed the murderer’s eyes. Shi Yuntian was using the same gamer tag he had used for over a decade. That name came with a terrifying reputation: Boss Shi, the Berserker, the three-time world champion. Even with a level advantage, Those Who Obey Me Win knew he couldn’t beat a pro gamer in a direct fight.
“No. Just looking,” Those Who Obey Me Win muttered, backing down. He grabbed his mimicry “brother” by the neck and violently hurled him into the cave. “Search the house! Find every last coin!”
The other players watching from their caves slowly pulled their heads back inside. They looked at the mimicry NPCs sitting next to them in the candlelight, dark thoughts stirring in their minds.
The method Those Who Obey Me Win had just demonstrated was brutal, but simple and fast. Suddenly, the fake families didn’t look like loved ones anymore. To the desperate players, they looked like walking treasure chests filled with experience points and money. After all, if the guy with the strategy guide did it, it had to be the right way to play, didn’t it?
Back in Granny Li’s cave, Yu Qimiao stared at the dinner on the table. He had completely lost his appetite.
“Is that really how we have to clear the level?” Yu Qimiao asked quietly.
“Maybe. The system did say there’s more than one way,” Shi Yuntian replied, taking massive bites of food. “Killing NPCs is normal in games. Don’t be too softhearted, kid.”
Yu Qimiao picked up his chopsticks, then slowly set them down again. His stomach was doing backflips.
Lu Shufan wasn’t bothered at all. Smiling brightly, he turned his attention to Su Qiong. “Little Useless, you wandered around out there for a long time. Did you find anything?”
Su Qiong nodded. He opened his control panel and slowly typed out everything he had seen and heard, one sentence at a time.
The three men watched him painstakingly peck at the screen.
“Useless Little Pastry, can’t you just talk?” Lu Shufan asked with a sigh.
The useless little pastry shook his head. Speaking to players was a premium feature. He had to buy it from the System Shop using KPI.
Su Qiong opened the shop interface and turned it around for them to see. At Level 0, he couldn’t buy much. He pointed to one item: [Speak with Players] Price: 3 KPI Available KPI: 0
Shi Yuntian scoffed. “Heh. Even death games can’t escape pay-to-win mechanics.”
“How do you earn KPI?” Yu Qimiao asked.
Su Qiong tapped the screen to show them the rules for white-name NPCs: [Role-Specific Mission: Guide players through an instance. KPI awarded equals 10 multiplied by the instance difficulty multiplier.]
Then, Su Qiong flipped to the next page: [Standard Mission: Kill a player to obtain KPI equal to the player’s level.]
Yu Qimiao blinked. “The guiding mission sounds hard… but the standard mission… well, there happen to be three Level 1 players sitting right here.”
The moment the billionaire said that, the two world-famous gamers felt a chill crawl down their spines.
Shi Yuntian took back his earlier statement. This game wasn’t pay-to-win; it was pay-with-your-life! He looked at Yu Qimiao in disbelief. The guy looked like a perfect, polite gentleman, but under pressure, he was willing to sacrifice his teammates—and himself—without blinking.
“Actually, now that I look closer, Useless Little Pastry types pretty fast!” Lu Shufan laughed nervously.
“Mm-hmm!” Shi Yuntian agreed instantly.
“He doesn’t really need to talk, right?”
“Mm-hmm!”
“What if he doesn’t even want to?”
Su Qiong obediently held up a little sign: I do.
Seeing the desperate yearning on the marshmallow’s featureless face, Yu Qimiao’s heart instantly melted. He had never expected to survive IF anyway. If he was going to die eventually, what did it matter if he died a few extra times to help the cute NPC?
“Little Yu, don’t do anything crazy!” Lu Shufan panicked, wishing he could bite his own tongue off. He never should have brought it up!
Shi Yuntian quickly jumped in with gamer logic. “Look, the system doesn’t restrict who he can kill. Why should we offer up our own lives? Killing three Level 1 players gives the same KPI as killing one Level 3 player. Don’t we have a convenient, higher-level target in the village?”
Those Who Obey Me Win had just hit Level 2. He was the perfect target.
“Exactly!” Lu Shufan cheered. “Useless Little Pastry doesn’t have any attack power. We shouldn’t tire the poor child out trying to kill three people.”
“That makes sense,” Yu Qimiao nodded thoughtfully.
Desperate to move on before Yu Qimiao offered his life again, the other two quickly changed the subject to tomorrow’s plan.
Based on Su Qiong’s notes, the abandoned caves were empty. That meant the real clues had to be across the river. They agreed to wake up early and find a way across. They also needed to go to the city. Gangan Village had no jobs and no way to earn the 100,000 yuan needed for their quest. The city was their only hope.
“We’ll be busy tomorrow,” Shi Yuntian yawned. “Let’s get some sleep.”
Granny Li set up simple beds for them. It was crude, but at least they each had a warm cotton quilt.
Outside, the snow fell heavily. Deep into the night, Su Qiong woke up to a strange sensation. His body was gently floating up and down.
Because his marshmallow body had no mass, he couldn’t feel temperature, but he was incredibly sensitive to drafts. Even the slightest breeze would push him around. Su Qiong realized that wind was blowing straight through the cave!
The wind seemed to seep directly out of the solid stone walls.
Earlier that day, Su Qiong had thoroughly scouted the area. Gangan Village was carved into the base of a massive, solid mountain range. These weren’t small hills of dirt; they were thick walls of bedrock. He hadn’t seen a single crack anywhere on the mountain’s exterior.
So where was this wind coming from?
Su Qiong unravelled his bandages and pressed them against the rough stone walls, feeling for cracks. He found absolutely nothing.
Strange, he thought. Because he had zero thickness, he could squeeze into any space that air could pass through. Had he missed a hidden tunnel?
Before he could figure it out, the sun began to rise.
Yu Qimiao was the first to wake. When he saw Su Qiong, he gasped in shock. “What happened last night?!”
He grabbed Su Qiong’s arm. The white bandages were covered in dark grime, and the ends were frayed and torn from scraping against the rock.
Su Qiong quickly typed out a report about the mysterious wind.
“If that happens again, wake me up. I’ll search with you,” Yu Qimiao promised. “I almost forgot you can’t speak. Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to get you points today.”
He gently unwound Su Qiong’s ruined bandages, washed them in a basin of water, and began re-wrapping them. Yu Qimiao was surprisingly good with his hands. He carefully braided the cloth at the ends of Su Qiong’s arms, creating five distinct fingers for each hand.
Having actual human-like fingers made Su Qiong incredibly happy. He flexed his new hands, testing his grip. Then, a brilliant idea struck him. He pointed his new index fingers eagerly at his puffy stomach.
Maybe Yu Qimiao could do what the trashy game system refused to do! Su Qiong looked up at the billionaire, his heart full of hope.
“You want your stomach wrapped too?” Yu Qimiao smiled. “Let me try.”
The fabric around Su Qiong’s torso was one giant, seamless piece, making it much harder to shape. Yu Qimiao worked at it intensely for a long time, only finishing as the other two men began to wake up.
Lu Shufan crawled out of bed, yawning and scratching his messy hair. He blinked at the NPC. “Oh, Useless Little Pastry! That giant bow on your stomach looks lovely! It almost gives you a waistline.”
Su Qiong’s dream shattered. Yu Qimiao hadn’t given him six-pack abs; he had tied a massive, pretty bow across his belly.
Without a word, Su Qiong pulled his gray cloak tightly around himself to hide the humiliating bow. He was furious. Did a weak piece of code not deserve abdominal muscles?
Outside, the snow had stopped.
The morning sun bathed the village in light. When Su Qiong floated down to the riverbank, the scenery was totally different from the night before. The rocky shores looked normal. The crimson water was gone, replaced by crystal-clear, ordinary river water. The stone monument now read: Gangan River. The warning not to cross had vanished.
A simple bamboo raft bobbed in the water.
Su Qiong noticed the ferryman leaning on his pole. It was the creepy, filthy bachelor who had terrified them at the entrance yesterday. His oar was a long wooden pole with a flattened end—the exact same club he had been dragging through the dirt near the bloody caves last night. Su Qiong felt a chill of dread.
The old man looked exhausted, but his mind seemed normal. He acted like he didn’t recognize any of them, cheerfully greeting the players and inviting them onto the raft.
The group looked across the water. The beautiful, glowing cabins from yesterday had turned into ordinary, run-down thatched huts.
“What’s going on?” Shi Yuntian frowned. “Was yesterday an illusion?” Lu Shufan asked. “We all saw it. Could we share a hallucination?”
Su Qiong typed out an explanation: You entered the village yesterday at dusk. Dusk is known as the hour when demons emerge. The veil drops, allowing you to see supernatural truths.
Lu Shufan rubbed his arms, shivering. “I thought this was supposed to be a realistic level without magic?”
“The system never promised ghosts don’t exist in reality,” Yu Qimiao said calmly. “Let’s cross and take a look.”
They took the raft across. The thatched huts were totally normal and completely empty. The ferryman claimed the village only used them for weddings and ceremonies.
The players exchanged a look. They all knew the old man was lying.
The only way to discover the river’s true secret was to cross it again at dusk.
“Ferryman, tonight we need—” Lu Shufan started, but a loud, rattling engine noise echoed from the village entrance.
The bus was here.
Because Gangan Village was so remote, the bus only came once every three days. Since the game strictly lasted five days, this meant they only had two chances to reach the city. If they missed this bus, they were losing valuable time.
“Anyone going to the city, get on now!” the burly driver bellowed out the window. “I’m leaving in two minutes!”
Abandoning the river mystery for now, the orphans sprinted toward the entrance alongside a crowd of villagers and players.
When they arrived, the bus was nearly full. It had thirty seats, and an aggressive sign was taped to the door: ONE PERSON PER SEAT. NO OVERLOADING.
Those Who Obey Me Win had beaten them there. Leading his followers onto the bus, he grabbed a villager who was already sitting down and yanked him up by the collar. “Give me your seat. You hear me?”
The villagers weren’t intimidated. The man yanked his collar back, glaring defiantly. “This is my seat! Why should I give it to you?”
“You dare talk back to me? You must want to die!” High on the power of his first kill, Those Who Obey Me Win raised his fist to strike the villager.
Before the punch could land, a massive hand clamped around his wrist, nearly crushing the bones.
“You don’t cause trouble on my bus,” the giant driver growled, looming over the player. “Where’s your ticket?”
Those Who Obey Me Win froze. “T-ticket?”
“Get the hell out, fare dodger!” The driver physically threw the player out the doors and into the dirt. “Cause trouble again, and I’ll call the police!”
“Wow, the police in a horror game actually exist?” Lu Shufan laughed in amazement. “A society governed by the rule of law! This game really is realistic!”
Yu Qimiao frowned, realizing the actual problem. “We don’t have tickets either. What do we do?”
The moment he spoke, Su Qiong poked him in the arm with his new, braided fingers. He casually handed Yu Qimiao three stamped bus tickets.
The surrounding players stared at the little marshmallow monster in absolute shock.
“What the… where did you get those?!” Lu Shufan gasped.
