TAG Chapter 17

“Bai Er must leave the newbie village within 24 hours, but you still haven’t gathered enough points, right?” Shu Ai asked Zou Yidao.

Zou Yidao shook his head, “Almost there, still 36 points short.”

“How can we earn points?” Shu Ai asked with a displeased expression, “You gather all the people in the village and send them on tasks, and it won’t take long to get it done.”

“What if someone refuses?” Shu Ai inquired, concerned.

“They won’t dare,” Qiao Jingting interjected, “Once we have 100 points, where should we go?”

“Let’s go to Xingri Ma first, one of the four free markets. Xingri Ma mainly deals with weapons and equipment,” Zou Yidao sized up the three of them, “You all need to get some decent equipment.”

“But didn’t you say we should wash our Divine Marrow first?” Qiao Jingting questioned.

“I suggested that you should wash your Divine Marrow first. But if you’re eager to go out, then head to the free market. As a rule, hunting inside the city is not allowed in the free market. It’s an agreed-upon rule among players, and the big guilds have shops there. Anyone who breaks the rule will be challenging the big guilds, so it’s safer there,” Zou Yidao explained.

Qiao Jingting and Shu Ai exchanged glances, and Shu Ai said, “Let’s gather some more points first, it’s safer.”

Qiao Jingting pondered for a moment. Since Qiao Ruidu hadn’t left the newbie village yet, he didn’t need to rush. “Alright, we’ll help Brother Dao with the tasks and earn some points ourselves. As for the shallow water crocodiles…” He suddenly remembered something and furrowed his eyebrows, “If I go kill the shallow water crocodiles now, will I lose points?”

Shu Ai checked, “No, you’ll still earn 6 points. The higher our level is in the newbie village, the fewer points we get from killing monsters there.”

Qiao Jingting felt somewhat disappointed. He had finally found the most cost-effective grinding spot, and now it seemed like he wouldn’t earn any points from it. “It’s okay, I’ll go back to the Void Space and see if I can find new monsters, preferably goblins.”

“In that case, I’ll head to Xingri Ma,” Bai Er’s mutated pupils flickered with enthusiasm, “I want to go out and take a look.”

Zou Yidao said, “After you go out, don’t wander around aimlessly. If you want to grind monsters or do tasks, you can team up at the free market. We’ll come find you soon.”

“Understood.”

“Hey, there’s no hurry. At least have a drink and celebrate,” Qiao Jingting patted Bai Er’s shoulder and pushed him back to his seat.

Bai Er hesitated for a moment, “Alright, but I want to check out some higher-level monster spots first and test my strength. I’ll be back tonight.”

“Go ahead.”

Bai Er stood up again, now holding a pitch-black umbrella in his hand.

The umbrella looked unusual at first glance, with an adult-sized handle and a design resembling a sword hilt. The overall structure was charred, and the umbrella tip was a sharp spike. The umbrella fabric was tightly woven and gave off a solid, ancient feeling.

“Did you have this umbrella custom-made as well?” Qiao Jingting remembered Bai Er saying that he had two commonly used weapons, and this umbrella was clearly a deadly weapon.

“Yes,” Bai Er opened the umbrella and looked at the sun outside, seeming a bit unwilling to go out.

Qiao Jingting took the umbrella from Bai Er, weighed it, and found it quite heavy. Although not as heavy as his six-pointed mace, no one would mistake it for a simple umbrella. He returned it to Bai Er, saying, “If you’re afraid of the sun, then don’t go out.”

Bai Er shook his head, “I want to go and see.” Saying this, he opened the umbrella and left the room.

“We should get going too,” Qiao Jingting said, “Shu Ai, you’re in charge of Brother Dao’s points. I’ll go into the system bug and see. Wake me up when the sun sets; I want to spend some more time inside this time.”

Shu Ai nodded, “Don’t worry, I know all the people in the village.”

Qiao Jingting returned to his bedroom and entered the Void Space once again. He knew he would stay in there for quite some time this time, as there were still seven to eight hours before the sun set. He didn’t need to rush around, so he wanted to verify an idea he had.

In the Void Space, he attempted to open the storage.

He hadn’t held much hope, but to his surprise, the storage actually opened, and he smoothly retrieved his six-pointed mace.

This discovery thrilled him beyond measure. He grasped the weapon and swung and stepped just as Bai Er had taught him. Except for not feeling the weight of the mace and not having anything to target, everything else felt the same as outside. Time in the Void Space was greatly magnified, allowing him to spend a significant amount of time practicing footwork, moves, and speed here. He would work on arm swings and power control outside the Void Space. This combination was bound to substantially enhance his strength.

This discovery might be more valuable than encountering monsters or finding weapons. He believed in Zou Yidao’s words – what mattered was not the choice of profession but how to control and utilize these abilities effectively.

Qiao Jingting practiced for a long time in the Void Space. As he couldn’t feel fatigue, he could repeat a single movement thousands of times. Especially the judo three-step footwork Bai Er had taught him, he practiced it over and over again until he knew it by heart and could apply it flexibly in combat.

When he grew tired of practicing, he started wandering around randomly. Since encountering anything in the Void Space was purely by chance, he could only expand his search range as much as possible.

This time, he encountered four types of monsters: Forest Spiders, Tooth Ghosts, Bullfighters, and Red Centipedes. However, he abandoned the Tooth Ghosts and Red Centipedes as they awarded too few points. He spent a lot of time familiarizing himself with the 24-point Forest Spiders and the 21-point Bullfighters. The Forest Spiders were second only to the goblins in terms of active group attack monsters, while the Bullfighters had the highest points among passive group attack monsters, making them suitable for earning points. Besides that, he also found a Benelli Tactical Shotgun, a Blessing Scroll, an Eagle Eye Rune, and a basket of crabs.

Finding the Rune made Qiao Jingting extremely happy. Runes were extremely rare in the newbie village, and only the highest-level monsters had a chance to drop them. Even if he couldn’t use the Rune himself, he could sell it for a good price.

After a long time had passed, Qiao Jingting was finally awakened. If there hadn’t been things to do, staying in darkness for so long might have driven him mad. Towards the end of his time in the Void Space, Qiao Jingting even began to doubt whether he could wake up at all, and that pressure was even scarier than the fear of death. He decided that in the future, he wouldn’t spend such a long time inside the Void Space.

When he woke up, the sun had just set, and Zou Yidao and Shu Ai were waiting for him to show his spoils.

Qiao Jingting sighed with relief, “Finally awake.”

“What? You didn’t encounter anything?” Zou Yidao asked.

“No, I encountered a lot, but I felt like I was locked away for more than ten days, maybe even longer. In the end, I lost track of time,” he shuddered, “Next time, let’s not exceed three hours.”

Zou Yidao shook his head, “Isn’t that just like being in solitary confinement? Even a normal person wouldn’t handle it well. You’re really determined.”

“Better than being in solitary confinement,” Qiao Jingting calmed himself down and shared his gains from this time.

Shu Ai exclaimed happily, “That’s amazing! This time, it’s a big harvest.”

Even Zou Yidao was somewhat jealous, “You’re really lucky; you found such an incredible bug.”

Qiao Jingting grinned smugly as he took out the Rune from the storage. He hadn’t seen a Rune before. The Rune was a black obsidian stone the size of an egg, with abstract symbols engraved on it, emitting intermittent red light.

“This is my first time seeing a Rune too,” Shu Ai picked it up and examined it, “Eagle Eye Rune, it can enhance vision by 20. Seems quite powerful. Should we keep it for Bai Er?”

“Trash,” Zou Yidao said without reservation, “There’s nothing worth consuming in the newbie village when it comes to runes. Once you eat them, you can’t throw them up, and each person can only eat three. If you find better runes in the future, you’ll have no place to put them.”

“In that case, I’ll sell it.”

“Yeah, sell it.”

Qiao Jingting decided to keep the shotgun and sell the rune for 200 points. The Blessing Scroll could enhance one attribute by 10 for a short time. As a basic item, it wasn’t that useful, but Qiao Jingting still kept it. Thinking back to how he was when he first entered the game, he would have considered it a treasure. Now, however, it was somewhat unremarkable.

Finally, he took out the basket of crabs, and to his surprise, each one was alive.

Zou Yidao was dumbfounded, “You found these in there too?”

Qiao Jingting smiled wryly, “Yes, just when I said I wanted to celebrate with a victory banquet tonight, they gifted me a basket of crabs.”

Shu Ai chuckled, “I’ll buy some more items.”

“Wine, you must buy more wine!” Zou Yidao patted Qiao Jingting on the back, “Let me see how much you can drink, brother.”

Qiao Jingting grinned provocatively, “Who’s afraid of who?”

After a while, Bai Er returned. Apart from some bloodstains on his body, he was mostly unharmed but appeared somewhat tired.

“How did it go? Any gains?” Qiao Jingting asked.

“I tried the goblins for you. They’re formidable. Without firearms, most people in the newbie village wouldn’t be able to defeat them.”

“Yeah, I observed them earlier, and they’re indeed powerful. I don’t plan on fighting goblins; we’ve already chosen our targets.” Qiao Jingting excitedly summarized his gains from today.

“Once we leave the newbie village, will we still encounter the same creatures and items from the newbie village, or will we find those exclusive to other cities?” Bai Er suddenly asked.

The others brightened up at the question. Qiao Jingting grinned, “True, I never thought about that. If it’s true, that would be fantastic.”

“We’ll find out once we reach Star Day Ma,” Bai Er said.

“Definitely.”

That evening, the four of them bought a large quantity of food and wine from the system. Surprisingly, these items were extremely cheap in the game compared to their real-world prices. They spent a few points and filled an entire table.

They sat around the table, raised their cups, and celebrated. The fierce battle from last night was now a thing of the past. After drinking this cup, they cemented their pact, ready to venture together into a new world.

Zou Yidao raised a full cup and said boldly, “Let’s make a toast, celebrating Qiao Jingting’s discovery of a basket of crabs! Hahaha!”

Shu Ai rubbed his forehead and muttered, “Zou Ge, how many reasons do you have to drink?”

“I can think of eight hundred reasons, hahaha! This wine is just too good.”

“Cheers! Cheers!” Qiao Jingting laughed heartily and clinked glasses with Zou Yidao, downing their drinks in one go.

Bai Er sat up straight, holding his wine glass firmly and taking a small sip before putting it down.

“Are you even a man? Always resorting to tricks. You haven’t finished even a single glass of wine all night,” Qiao Jingting handed him the wine glass, “Even Shu Ai has drunk some.”

Ignoring him, Bai Er said, “It tastes awful.”

“You,” Qiao Jingting put his arm around Bai Er’s shoulder, playfully saying, “If you don’t drink, it means you surrender. Call me ‘daddy,’ and I’ll drink for you.”

Zou Yidao burst into laughter.

Shu Ai shook his head helplessly as he watched the two play with the wine.

Bai Er shot Qiao Jingting a sidelong glance, “Each call for ‘daddy,’ one glass to drink.”

“Ah, alright, I’ll drink, definitely,” Qiao Jingting replied with a slurred tongue.

Bai Er grabbed a few bottles of wine, knocked them on the corner of the table, and opened the caps. He poured several glasses in quick succession without taking a breath, saying, “Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy…” He pointed at the wine on the table and coldly said, “Drink.”

Qiao Jingting stared at Bai Er in astonishment.

Zou Yidao laughed so hard he almost fell off his chair, “Men, real men, live up to their words, drink!”

Qiao Jingting stood up with a sudden burst of energy, lifted his t-shirt to wipe his face, then grabbed a glass of wine and gulped it down. Some of the wine spilled down his chin and seeped into his collar, then dripped down his sturdy abs.

Shu Ai watched Qiao Jingting for a few seconds, then a faint smile appeared on his face, and he turned his head away.

After a round of drinking, Zou Yidao and Qiao Jingting hit it off, and they drank more and more. In the end, they lay down on the ground and fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, Bai Er had to leave, and Shu Ai poured two buckets of ice-cold water over them, waking up the two drunkards.

Due to their improved physical fitness, they sobered up quickly after waking. Qiao Jingting yawned and got up, only then remembering that Bai Er had to leave at this time.

Seeing Bai Er’s appearance, he must have been full of curiosity about the world outside the newbie village.

The three of them accompanied him to the Life Tree.

Qiao Jingting patted his back heavily, “Be careful.”

Bai Er nodded slightly, touched the Life Tree with his fingertips, and silently said, “Star Day Ma.” The next moment, he disappeared into thin air.

“This kid,” Zou Yidao chuckled, “He truly lives up to the name of the Bai family, used to being a lone wolf. I’m quite surprised he agreed to cooperate with you guys.”

Qiao Jingting proudly said, “He must have been won over by my personal charm.”

Zou Yidao sneered.

Shu Ai also smiled, “Zou Ge said it; it’s challenging for a solo player to survive in the game. Bai Er is smart, so of course, he would cooperate with people he’s familiar with.”

“Regardless, this kid is reliable, and he shares my ideas. If we want to establish ourselves in the game, we must have our own city,” Qiao Jingting turned to Zou Yidao, “Are all the cities in the game marked?”

“Except for the newbie village, the Free Market, and the Abyssal Nation, the rest are marked.”

“What is the Abyssal Nation?” Shu Ai asked curiously.

“It’s Hell,” Zou Yidao hissed, “I went there once and almost died inside.”

“So terrifying,” Qiao Jingting became interested, “What’s inside?”

Zou Yidao impatiently replied, “Why do you have so many questions? Can’t you just ask the system sprite yourself? Anyway, the top players, the toughest monsters, the most challenging quests, and the highest-level equipment, weapons, and runes are all in the Abyssal Nation. Some things can’t even be bought from the system; you have to get them through your own effort.”

“Can the Abyssal Nation be marked?”

“You’re quite daring to ask,” Zou Yidao glared at him, “Whoever dares to mark the Abyssal Nation won’t live through the day.”

Qiao Jingting shrugged, “Just asking. So, we need to take over a smaller guild.”

“Yeah, out of the twenty cities that are marked, more than half are untouchable, and the rest are temporarily beyond our current strength. Think about it, those who can control a city without being swallowed by a big guild must be formidable characters. So, we have to become stronger quickly and take over one if we don’t want to be controlled by a large guild.”

Qiao Jingting said coldly, “Who wants to be someone’s lackey?”

“Oh, the management style of the big guilds is not as low as Han Bin’s, but they still oppress you one level after another. While you gain the protection and resources from the big guild, you also have to pay a certain price,” Zou Yidao couldn’t help but take out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, “But once you join a big guild, leveling up and enhancing becomes very slow and boring.”

“So, you created your own guild before,” Shu Ai said.

Zou Yidao paused with the cigarette between his fingers, “Yes, but it was swallowed up.”

Qiao Jingting asked the question they had all been curious about, “Does this have something to do with you being penalized and sent back to the newbie village?”

Zou Yidao exhaled a large smoke ring. A rough and unrefined guy who usually never had a serious expression suddenly turned gloomy, “I don’t want to talk about it now.”

“Alright,” Qiao Jingting said, “But if you ever decide to talk about it, I’ll help you get it back.”

Zou Yidao chuckled, “You, you really don’t know your limits, kid.”

“What’s there to fear? No matter how powerful the enemy is, we’ll have to face them sooner or later.”

Zou Yidao nodded with a smile, his eyes carrying an indomitable determination, “You’re right. To leave, we all have to face it.”