Chapter 4: The Public Warehouse

After the character’s death, the game automatically returned to the character selection screen, leaving only “Yan Qing” in the roster.

“Yan Yi” had survived less than twenty minutes from birth to death.

Yan Qing was utterly baffled.

No, why?

From the situation, Yan Qing naturally understood that “Yan Yi” had been killed by those two guards, but… why?

What was the reason?

“Yan Yi” didn’t even have shoes on, not a single coin on him—why kill him?

It was just a game. If this had happened in reality, Yan Qing would have died with regrets unavenged.

Yan Qing immediately created a new character, “Yan Er,” with the same appearance and attribute allocation, still only able to choose “Real Mode.” Although other newbie villages were available, Yan Qing wanted to understand why those guards wanted to kill him, so he chose to spawn again in the “Sleepless Sky Affiliated Newbie Village.”

Arriving in the desolate, ruined village, Yan Qing hurriedly controlled the character to head toward the peaceful city.

As soon as he stepped onto the main road, Yan Qing felt the game console’s linear motor vibrate. Turning the camera around, he saw a squad of knights charging from behind. Clad in heavy armor and wearing demon masks, their imposing aura was palpable even through the screen.

Yan Qing paid them no mind and kept “Yan Er” moving forward, then—

*Slash!*

“Yan Er” was pierced from behind by a spear. The lead knight, using the horse’s momentum, lifted him up and then raised the spear high, tossing “Yan Er” into the air like a kite. The other knights laughed boisterously, which reminded Yan Qing of a group of young men cheering after a buddy kicked a soda can into a trash bin.

When “Yan Er”’s health bar drained to zero, the demon knights flung the spear, hurling “Yan Er” toward a woodcutter hiding by the roadside. The two collided heavily, rolling into a heap on the ground.

“Yan Er” was certainly doomed, and the unfortunate woodcutter who suffered this misfortune was likely doomed as well.

As the arrogant hoofbeats of the knights faded into the distance, a game notification appeared:

“You have died.”

After this death, Yan Qing set down the console and went to the restroom, methodically reviewing the clues.

First, it was certain the NPCs encountered in the game were real people. Only real humans would react like that; they might even be people from the real world outside. When Yan Qing controlled “Yan Yi” and “Yan Er,” those two people likely appeared in the outside world as well.

Second, while other areas might differ, the environment in the “Sleepless Sky Affiliated Region” was harsh; the guards were like wolves, the knights like tigers. These people gave no chance for communication—if they wanted to kill you, they just did.

Logically, since it was so tough near Sleepless Sky, why not go to Chang’an or Jiangnan? But ever since crossing over, Yan Qing had been holding a grudge—inexplicably transported, unknowingly ending up in the thieves’ den, inexplicably dragged into such a place… and even killed for no reason just playing a game!

In reality, I was timid and mild; in the game, shouldn’t I be able to strike hard?

More importantly, Yan Qing realized that character death carried no penalty—or rather, the death itself was the penalty—so he had much more room to maneuver!

He created another character, but this time, instead of the default face 01, he chose the large muscular build, face 06.

On the attribute allocation screen, the default “Health” suddenly became 3, and Yan Qing still had 10 available attribute points!

Yes, in the game “Messenger,” physique affected default health, but normal players wouldn’t do this—sacrificing precious style for a mere 2 extra health points was like saving pennies but losing dollars. Of course, some players with unique aesthetics deliberately chose such builds, carefully selecting outfits to form an “Ancient God’s Appearance” to mock all the players with normal tastes.

Yan Qing then put all the attribute points into health, creating a super early-stage character with initial stats of 13 health, 1 spirit, 1 dexterity, and 0 comprehension. Early on, health mattered somewhat; later, spirit and dexterity were key for cultivation, and zero comprehension meant hitting a leveling bottleneck at the fourth advancement—even with the 5% experience bonus from Real Mode.

But Yan Qing didn’t intend to play this character long-term; it was purely to vent his frustration, so he didn’t care about comprehension.

Named “Yan San,” he descended into the “Sleepless Sky Affiliated Newbie Village” once more.

The village was still dilapidated, but this was a different character. Yan Qing noticed the sun was setting in the west, already afternoon, further confirming this game was the real outside world.

“Yan San” ran toward the peaceful city without encountering knights and moved much faster. The high health and stamina regeneration, along with the large stride from his tall build, allowed him to reach the city gates within minutes.

Nothing seemed to have changed: the same people lined up, the same guards at the gate. Only this time, a head hung at the gate—“Yan Yi”’s head tied with straw rope, a “Mountain Bandit” sign stuck in his hair.

One had to admit, people adapted quickly. After two character deaths, Yan Qing felt numb to this scene, but his mission remained unchanged—to control “Yan San” to the gate and, when questioned by the guards, gather strength and punch one right in the teeth!

The guard was knocked to the ground by the heavy blow, dropping his spear. “Yan San” immediately grabbed the spear and jabbed it three times into the ground. The guard’s scream was cut off by blood, and he writhed twice before losing all strength.

This sudden scene stunned the onlookers. The farmers and woodcutters entering the city quickly moved away, and the other city gate guards shouted but dared not approach.

“A bandit has killed someone!”

“Quick, call the archers!”

“Grab your shields!”

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