Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

Half an hour later, the fruit trees were planted in each of the two men’s yards, a pear tree for Wen XingYao and an orange tree for Bai Li. Following their usual sense of symmetry, the former planted the pear tree on the right-hand side of the house, and the latter planted the orange tree on the left-hand side of the house.

After they planted the trees, there was no reason to continue to get tired together, so the two separated and went about their business.

The life of the villagers of Mushroom Village actually wasn’t much different from that of the new players in the game. Bai Li thought it had been a while since he went to the forest to collect things, so he decided to go there.

As a result, once he was out of the village he found that the players were very different from the usual selves. Unlike their usual leisure, they were in a hurry, and swept their eyes around from time to time to observe their surroundings. As long as there was a little wind that shook the grass, their line of sight would fly in that direction. A sparrow swept through the sky and dropped a tiny piece of fluff. Five players, at the very least, spotted the existence of the fluff, and ran over like hungry tigers. They waited underneath it, and started jumping for it as soon as it fell within reach of their hands.

“Mine! I saw it first! Don’t you guys grab it from me!”

“What’s yours! I saw it first! Didn’t I see that bird flying out from the direction of my house? That means I have a destiny with it!”

“Yah, yah, yah! A bird feather you have the nerve to grab like this? Directly give it to brother…”

“You think so! Of course, whoever grabs it, I can squat next to it for a long time!”

Just using their mouths wasn’t enough, several big men actually also tore at each other’s clothes, ripped at their hair, picked each other’s nostrils and other incomprehensible behavior, so that those who saw the situation got scared, and dared not get involved.

The only player who didn’t speak up had the small piece of fluff in his hand. He quickly stuffed it into his backpack, and smiled smugly at the other four. “Don’t argue, this is mine!”

“Hmph!!!” X4

The fluffy feud wasn’t the end, but the beginning.

Next, Bai Li watched as a group of players swarmed around picking up yellowish flower petals that had fallen from a tree, and cut huge blades of grass that were everywhere on the roadside with sharp knives. One held up a weirdly shaped branch and exclaimed “I’m so lucky” as others cast envious glances at him.

All this made Bai Li almost suspect that he was dreaming, otherwise why, a few hours after not having seen them, the players’ behavior has become so difficult to understand even for him, the game developer? Did he board the game wrong, or was it the nature of Interstellar people? Just as Bai Li was about to find out if he knew anyone nearby and ask what was going on, another cheer came from the river not far away.

Bai Li was driven by the crowd, and headed in the direction where the sound came from.

When he reached his destination, he noticed a player holding a huge crab in his hand, and talking excitedly to the people around him.

Bai Li thought, Well, it looks like another good pet has come out. If the player is lucky, he might be able to use the crab as a substitute for walking, just like Long-winded, Scrupulous Son.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way he thought they would.

Zili is the owner of the crab and the one who caught it. He had been lucky enough to have a spicy crab from the Food Basket before, and the spicy and tender crab meat was so addictive that he still thinks about it all the time. But today, he could only wave goodbye to the spicy crab, which he had a greater use for.

He said to his friend, “Haha! It’s not just about catching fish! Look at this crab shell, it’s big and hard, and look at this crab foot, it’s powerful and dominant. if I use them as materials to upgrade my small hut, it should give my small hut good protection?”

HIs friend agreed wholeheartedly with that statement. “Eh, this idea is very possible! Just like that XXX. Didn’t he add the teeth of some animal he found in the forest when he submitted the materials for upgrading the exterior of his house? The eaves of the house became as beautiful as white jade after upgrading, and when he hit it with a stick, it even made the sound of jade knocking!”

The player thought about how the crab’s legs could grow on the left and right sides of his hut after the upgrade. One will help him plant, and one will help him water. If possible, he would like the crab legs to be red. It was festive!

The two people didn’t try to lower the volume of their conversation and were heard by the people around them. The players who hadn’t learned the fishing skill, after they stared at the big crab for a while, turned their heads and went back the way they came. Instead of envying others here, they might as well try their best to search for special and rare upgrade materials!

Bai Li, who watched all this, had a very complicated mood and expression, so to speak. On the one hand, he was surprised that the players seemed to have lost interest in getting pets, when they obviously got a rare species, and yet they could decide their fate as house upgrade materials without changing their faces. On the other hand, he felt that this group of players hadn’t taken the wrong path?

For the sake of upgrading houses, it was okay not to collect precious wood and stone, but why did they go to the trouble of grabbing miscellaneous things? Animal teeth? Crabs? The lint from a sparrow? Flower petals, grass leaves and twigs?

Bai Li can be considered to understand what this group of players were doing before, collecting these strange things, I’m afraid they are not all used to upgrading the house, right?

It was true that when he launched the “house upgrade” feature, there were no restrictions on the materials, but his idea had been that given the detailed list of materials he provided in the Village Chief’s Residence task, even if the players didn’t know how to match at first, they could always copy it, right?

The list of materials given in the task, if someone collected more or less of it, then submitted it in one go, the house upgrade would certainly be stronger than the original and more good-looking. So after a few more times, and an upgrade experience, the players would be able to design their own house the way they want.

Instead, now, players had started to pursue individuality, and treated the house they lived in as a blank sheet of paper on which they could doodle as perfectly mastered by a three-year-old child and take pride in it. Then they use the upgraded house as their capital to show off.

Bai Li looked up and thought about it. He felt that the picture was so beautiful that one more look would take an hour off his life. So breathtaking!

Just then, someone finally spotted Bai Li’s presence. “Big Brother Li Bai! Oh no, LiLi! What are you doing here, are you here to collect materials too?”

Bai Li habitually put on a quiet smile and greeted people, “Hello…I’m not here to collect materials. I just came to look and see…”

“So…” The players were a little disappointed. They thought they could exchange experiences with the game’s creator about upgrading their houses, but when they saw Bai Li’s expression of not wanting to say more, they had the good sense not to continue. However, they didn’t guess that he was resisting the various odd-shaped houses they would face in the near future.

Bai Li thought about it, and still can’t help but try to persuade them, “Have you ever thought about giving up the collection of these items, and choosing ordinary materials? Such as soil, stone, wood, copper ore, iron ore, gold ore and so on to upgrade house items? The village chief’s home you have visited quite a few times, have not thought about making your own house similar to the village chief’s home?”

It wasn’t that his words didn’t move the player, and many who listened to him showed a thoughtful expression, but that thought was still buried deep underneath the exploration of unknown things. Someone came towards Bai Li, shook his head, said, “LiLi, you are indeed very reasonable. The village chief’s house, who doesn’t like it, ah! but we can’t do that just because we like it. We have to add our own ideas, so that it’s more interesting!”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Another person came forward and squinted cheekily at Bai Li before they said, “Besides, I’ve already researched it. The house appearance upgrade can be reset at any time, and it’s only a small loss of upgrade cost. If we aren’t satisfied with the result of the upgrade with the materials we found, it’s no big deal to tear it down and reinstall it. Playing the game is about  tossing and turning things, hey!”

Bai Li was amused by this statement, and no longer dwelled on the players’ brains, which were faster than his. Since they think that there is no problem at all, then let them go “toss”, as the previous person said. Anyway, this was a game, and they wouldn’t suffer from the cost of trial and error.

If a house was badly done and dismantled to start over, the copper coins were still spent to continue to plant and sell food. It was the play that was the management of the game life.

“Since everyone thinks so, then I won’t say more. You play according to your own ideas,” Bai Li said. However, he was also quite interested in following the players who had found a few interesting gadgets, and were looking for their own way to learn to upgrade them.

After another day passed, Lin Wenhuan reluctantly came out of the game, and had dinner with her family after her parents repeatedly urged her to do so. The dinner was actually just a gimmick. After all, just drinking a few nutrients, could that be called normal eating? ONly a few words were spoken and the meal was ready.

Lin’s parents still wanted to hear their daughter talk more about her life in the game: farming and fishing, eating all kinds of delicious food… it was much more interesting than in reality!

Lin Wenhuan tilted her head, finished up the basic nutrient solution, licked her mouth a few times and cast a disgusted glance at the empty shell, as she muttered, “The well water in the game is better than this. When will the nutrient solution company cooperate with LiLi?”

“Is that true?” Lin’s mother opened her eyes wide with a I-don’t-believe-it look. “Huanhuan, tell mom quickly. What did you do in Carefree Farmstead today? How many levels did your character get? What crops can you grow?”

She and her husband were ordinary people. They didn’t have much need for virtual reality games, and they didn’t have much time to play them because they are busy with work. When they got excited to play the game, the game quota had already been snatched up. Afterwards, they learned that their daughter, who had a precious game slot, had become one of the one million players. They wanted to hear her daily chase of the game experience as well.

For the parents, Lin Wenhuan was more or less circumspect. After all, she happened to be in the position of grabbing two places and giving the extra one to her best friend.

It was also clear that even if she told her parents about that, they would understand what she did. Plus there was only one spot for anyone. It was very likely that the matter would gently get revealed.

Still, she’d made up her mind. If there is a chance in the future, she also wanted to follow the example of Mushroom Village player Heart’s Jade, and through the game campaign to get some game slots, and then give them to her parents.

However, that was something that would happen later. Right now, it was better to tell her parents about her experience.