DADH Chapter 34

Uncle Pipilu was surrounded by various players.

[Newbie Task Update 1: Perhaps you’d like to learn farming from Uncle Pipilu.]

Jing Nian, while opening the unfinished newbie task from last time, made his way to the outskirts of the player crowd.

He tiptoed to get a better look inside and noticed that Uncle Pipilu’s expression seemed even more indifferent than before. However, considering how he had to deal with so many newbie players every day, it was probably quite annoying.

Thinking back to the fear of being lifted up earlier, Jing Nian obediently queued up to receive the task. But to his surprise, as soon as he locked eyes with those cold eyes, he saw Uncle Pipilu taking steps towards him.

The players gathered around were forced to step back by the chilling aura emanating from this devilish NPC. They spontaneously cleared a path and watched in amazement as Uncle Pipilu stopped in front of a masked, short figure.

“Follow me.”

Seeing those hands reaching for his back again, Jing Nian quickly shrank back, his voice sounding a bit flustered. “Thank you, but I can walk by myself!”

After saying that, Jingnian somehow felt that Uncle Pipilu was acting strangely, like an AI glitch. After being rejected, the entire NPC seemed to freeze for a few seconds, before slowly shifting his gaze away and walking toward the field.

The players surrounding them were in an uproar.

Because the game’s ranking function wouldn’t be available until level 30, game data could currently only be estimated based on statistics from the Star Network. The highest level players were expected to be around level 20, and those below level 10 could only stay in the Little Fishing Village. Players at level 20 could explore the Life Town map, and some who had reached level 25 had already opened the first small dungeon.

However, none of the NPCs encountered in the three explored maps so far were as cold-hearted and devilish as Uncle Pipilu.

To this day, Uncle Pipilu remained uncharted territory for all players.

And now, Uncle Pipilu was showing particular favor towards a tiny character!

Could it be that this little one had unlocked the method to tame Uncle Pipilu?

Suddenly, a large group of curious players followed Jing Nian toward the field.

The three teammates, who were expecting to witness a spectacle involving the kid, found themselves stuck in the crowd, completely bewildered.

Why was everything turning out completely different from what they had expected? The three of them had even made a secret bet through private messages, wagering that the kid wouldn’t receive a Firewood Cutter because while Uncle Pipilu had a chance to confiscate players’ tools, it wasn’t guaranteed. About 5% of lucky players managed to keep their tools.

So the three of them had all bet that the kid wouldn’t receive one…

But then they saw the kid not only being personally guided by the devilish NPC but also heading to an empty field that resembled a poison swamp. Their expressions changed immediately.

They realized that they couldn’t escape what they shouldn’t have run from—the newbie quest of the kid was apparently on the same level as theirs. So, the three of them quickly initiated a conversation with Uncle Pipilu and accepted the task of learning planting techniques.

It is said that during the beta test, this empty field was still ordinary, with slightly damp and clean soil. Later, it was transformed into its current state by Uncle Pipilu.

The studio behind “Dragon Slayer” had also publicly documented the entire process of the swamp field mutation on Star Network.

Naturally, the source of the mutation was none other than Uncle Pipilu, the devil himself. Rumor has it that he made a fortune by selling firewood cutters. So, Mr. Farmer decided to add a lot of fertilizer to his field to ensure a bountiful harvest next year. In this magical world, the best fertilizer was undoubtedly magical fertilizer. After adding various types of magical fertilizers, the land turned into this nightmarish swamp.

He only wanted a great harvest for himself next year. What could be wrong with a farmer doing that?

…Not a chance!

Players across the network: He just wants us dead!

—

A seed was thrust into Jing Nian’s hand, and he stood by the edge of the field, staring wide-eyed at the terrifying swamp with ominous bubbles emerging.

This poisonous swamp was just not far from the vegetable field. Clearly, when he had come here last time, it didn’t look like this!

Thinking about this, Jing Nian looked up at Uncle Pipilu with a puzzled expression. Unexpectedly, he caught a fleeting smile at the corner of the icy NPC’s mouth.

Although that smile disappeared quickly, Jing Nian had a feeling that Uncle Pipilu was mocking him!

Yes, that’s right, mocking him.

After deciphering the teleportation point program in the Lost Forest and returning, he found that the little one had been brought by the AI caretaker to this upgraded empty field. After silently replacing the AI, he happened to see the doubt in the little one’s eyes.

Huo Yi chuckled to himself.

Well, it served this little trickster right for not keeping his word.

If this little one had come to do the task as promised the next day, he wouldn’t be facing this upgraded swamp field now.

—

Just as Jing Nian was sinking into distress, the baby dragon, asleep in the Dragon Soul Space, woke up. When it opened its eyes and shared its vision with Jing Nian, it saw the poisonous swamp. Slowly, a “?” appeared on its forehead.

Jing Nian shook the half-awake baby dragon and spoke out an answer he could hardly believe himself, “This is… a farmland.”

The baby dragon stretched its limbs and tail lazily, then skillfully nudged Jing Nian’s arm with its head before curling up in his arms. Its big eyes were full of curiosity: “What’s farmland?”

Facing the baby dragon’s insatiable curiosity, Jing Nian had become accustomed to explaining. So, he slowly replied, “It’s a place for cultivation, where crops and fruits are grown.”

“Fruity-fruits?” The baby dragon’s eyes lit up.

Then let’s plant them quickly!

Jing Nian instantly understood from the shared perception that it had remembered its favorite, Life Fruit Milk.

Life Fruits were the fruit of the Elven Tree of Life, originally quite rare. However, because the elves had sheltered the Elven Emperor, they had specially produced some extras to send to the Dragon Clan. This allowed the baby dragon and Jing Nian to receive two every three days.

So, for the greedy little dragon, it was never enough. Now that it heard about the possibility of planting fruits, it seemed unbothered by the toxic swamp and looked at the farmland as if it were a treasure.

Jing Nian hesitated to shatter this naive fantasy.

Not to mention that Life Fruits only grew once every hundred years, he even doubted whether anything could grow in this poisonous swamp.

However, just as Jing Nian was lost in thought, the players who had also accepted the Planting Technique quest from Uncle Pipilu arrived, along with his temporary teammates and a few other players who didn’t want to come back for a second time.

Several brave players had already stepped into the field, pinching their noses, and were already waist-deep in the toxic swamp.

Seeing these players wade into the swamp, Jing Nian compared it to the size of the baby dragon’s body and realized that if he stepped in, it would only reach his chest.

Jing Nian’s face turned dark: orz|||¹I don’t know what this means >.<

However, the screams from the farmland immediately dispelled his doubts.

This poisonous swamp could indeed produce something, and it grew instantly!

Man-eating plants!

The players who had entered the field first were being chased by humanoid man-eating plants with gaping mouths filled with sharp teeth. Each one of them ran out of the farmland covered in mud, emitting a foul swamp smell.

One player was so overwhelmed by his own smell that he vomited on the ground. After he finished, he rolled over and lay on the field’s embankment. “That damned old fox Lao Hua! He only told me the swamp was toxic! He didn’t tell me it would grow man-eating plants!”

Another muddy player crawled over, utterly exhausted, and lay on the ground numbly, staring at the sky. “Damn it! None of the strategies on StarNet mentioned this!”

One player who could still stand in front said, leaning on his knees, “This is deliberate! Those people must have suffered a loss themselves, so they want us to suffer too!”

“Damn it! I’m so angry! This kind of suffering shouldn’t be mine alone! Remember, everyone, don’t tell the secret of the man-eating plants to the new players who haven’t come yet!”

“Good point! Hahaha, I can’t be the only one suffering!”

“Devil Pipilu is truly a devil QAQ.”

Jing Nian:…

So, in the end, you all turned into the kind of people you dislike?

One player happened to collapse right at Jing Nian’s feet, and unfortunately, due to the baby dragon’s altitude, he was even closer to the source of the smell.

It was then that Jing Nian discovered that the embankment of the swamp field actually had a blocking effect!

Standing on the embankment, you could only faintly smell the odor, but the mud odor on this player was like a direct assault on the soul.

Jing Nian quickly raised his tiny paws to cover his nose and retreated frantically.

Inside the Dragon Soul Space, the baby dragon, who had been urging Jing Nian to enter the field with great enthusiasm, also smelled the odor due to the five senses being shared without any barriers.

Suddenly, its little face turned green.

“Yue²Should be “yuck”~”

Yue~

Both inside and outside the Dragon Soul Space, the two voices of cute vomit sounded in a duet.

After smelling this odor, Jing Nian became even more certain that he couldn’t complete this task in the usual way!

With the baby dragon’s chubby body, rolling in the mud was one thing, but escaping from the giant man-eating plant’s mouth…

It was simply impossible.

So, he took small steps backward and decided…

“Duang!”

His backward movement was blocked by something.

Jing Nian looked up, and at the end of his line of sight was a handsome face with a short stubble on the chin.

This familiar scene made Jing Nian’s scalp tighten.

Not good!

However, before he could make a familiar run for it, the familiar sensation of being lifted into the air came again.

This time, the third improved cloak not only didn’t clamp down on his mouth but was also quite comfortable… No, it wasn’t the time to think about this now. Jing Nian felt like crying without tears as he looked at Pipilu, who had once again picked him up with a devilish expression.

When he noticed the man’s name displayed in green above his head, Jing Nian almost couldn’t resist practicing some magic combat on this overly hands-on NPC who had a habit of picking up dragon necks.

However, perhaps it was the overly calm eyes of Uncle Pipilu that gave Jing Nian a glimmer of hope, remembering the previous experience. He held onto a somewhat unlikely hope.

Could it be?

Would he help him complete the task this time too?

—

[Nearby: Level 25 Dungeon – Retrieve the Missing Bride! Looking for a Fourth!]

[World: Level 25 Dungeon – Retrieve the Missing Bride! Looking for a Fourth!]

[Nearby: Level 25 Dungeon – Retrieve the Missing Bride! Looking for a Fourth!]

[World:…]

…

At the entrance to the dungeon, a few players were squatting there, desperately spamming the nearby and world channels.

However, almost half an hour had passed, and they still hadn’t found anyone.

There weren’t many players who had reached level 25, despite the fact that the level 25 dungeon was just the first beginner dungeon for Dragon Slayers. Besides the fixed teams that had been leveling up early and the experts, there were very few players left who had reached level 25.

These four players at the entrance also teamed up one after another, but no matter how they tried, they couldn’t find the fifth member.

You see, the difficulty of this game started from the spawning point and was designed for a full team of five. So these four players didn’t dare to take any risks in a five-player dungeon.

Just when the four of them were about to despair, they suddenly saw three figures appearing at the entrance of the dungeon.

[Nearby: Level 25 Dungeon – Retrieve the Missing Bride! Looking for a Fourth!] x4

As soon as the Jing brothers emerged from the dungeon, they were stopped by four players who all had the same thought bubble appearing above their heads.

The eager looks in the eyes of the four players simultaneously made the Jing brothers think of something unusual.

They’re here!

To rob monsters!

Specifically, they were camping at the dungeon exit, waiting for victims!

So, the eldest brother, Jing Chen, furrowed his brow slightly and without a word, drew the longsword hanging from his waist.

The second brother, Jing Xing, snorted coldly and simultaneously drew a similar longsword.

Only Jing Yan, with excitement in his eyes, drew… a firewood chopping knife!

Since the incident where NPCs confiscated their firewood chopping knives, Jing Yan, who had a bit of superstition in him, regarded the firewood chopping knife as a lucky weapon. He believed that using the firewood chopping knife would help him find his little brother Jing Nian faster.

Seeing the three players together, they needed to figure out a way to separate them and persuade one to join their team of four. They were just about to start their persuasive pitch when they were abruptly tackled to the ground.

Midway through the struggle, Jing Yan suddenly shouted, “Bro! Bro! Bro! I think there’s a misunderstanding! These four…”

Upon hearing the word “misunderstanding,” the two men, who were impatient to find their younger brother and couldn’t stand wasting any more time, had already efficiently subdued the “bandits.”

They watched as the four phantom images disappeared in place.

Then, Jing Yan was faced by the two older brothers with icy stares.

Jing Yan swallowed hard and said, “It’s nothing, let’s go! Once we finish this dungeon, we can go mushroom picking in the next one!”

 

Author’s Note:

Players looking for a fifth member: QAQ

PS: The current outline doesn’t have anything particularly sadistic, so don’t worry~

• 1
  I don’t know what this means >.<
• 2
  Should be “yuck”