Chapter 25

"Hey, are you in need of money now?" Su Peng asked Ji Ming, feeling a bit puzzled after hearing his words.

"Don't ask for now, just answer me. If you made a million a year, and I borrowed four hundred thousand, would you lend it to me?" Ji Ming's eyes had a slightly obsessive look as he asked Su Peng.

"Your question is quite strange. First, I haven't reached a million a year yet, and second, there are many factors that influence this. Of course, I could generously say I would lend it to you, but that would be somewhat perfunctory and irresponsible," Su Peng said, glancing at Ji Ming.

"Ha ha... Even you won't give a straightforward answer, will you?" Ji Ming laughed, his tone slightly deeper and more serious than his usual demeanor. "Actually, from an ordinary person's perspective, I know the answer even if you don't say it. If I were also making a million a year, you might consider lending to me, but if I can't even support myself, you would probably think a lot more about it."

"That's not a very pleasant way to put it, but I admit you have a point," Su Peng nodded and said to Ji Ming. "Since you know the answer, why ask the question?"

"Just a feeling," Ji Ming said, opening another bottle of beer. "In human interactions, there are always some considerations. Besides family, most ordinary people will evaluate their own value and standards, whether it's income and economic factors or other aspects. So, from this perspective, human relationships are really complex and cold."

"I don't entirely agree with what you said. Family is certainly precious, but I don't think human relationships are purely cold and utilitarian. There are many sincere concerns as well," Su Peng said. For some reason, the image of the girl with the steel teeth flashed in his mind. He organized his thoughts and continued, "Are you visiting a family grave? Did something come to mind? I don't think you're the kind of person who seems so gloomy. These feelings suggest that you've experienced some significant changes in life."

Ji Ming fell silent, just raising his head to drink.

While Ji Ming was drinking, Su Peng noticed a detail: there was a deep scar on Ji Ming's right wrist!

Su Peng squinted his eyes and looked at Ji Ming's left hand, noticing that both wrists had scars as if they had been cut by a knife.

"Such deep scars... The raised marks suggest it cut into the veins... Was it a suicide attempt?" Su Peng thought to himself.

"He doesn't seem like that kind of person," Su Peng quickly made a judgment. At this moment, Ji Ming put down the beer can and, noticing Su Peng's gaze on his wrists, seemed to wake up. He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to cover the scars.

"I've had enough to drink. I'm going to sleep. Otherwise, I won't be able to sober up by tomorrow and won't be able to log in," Ji Ming sighed, stood up, and said to Su Peng.

"Take care. I'll drink a bit more," Su Peng said. As Ji Ming was about to leave, he suddenly heard Su Peng say, "Actually, if you need money now, I can lend you some. Maybe it's a good match. If I had a million, I think I could lend you four hundred thousand."

"Ha ha." Ji Ming stopped and laughed, "No need... but thank you."

With that, he picked up his coat and walked out of the tea room.

"This Ji Ming, there's definitely something wrong with him..." Su Peng watched Ji Ming leave, thinking to himself...

...

At the same time, in Shi Qianjun's office.

Shi Qianjun adjusted the screen with a remote control, watching Ji Ming leave the tea room on the wall-mounted TV.

"Did you find anything unusual?" Shi Qianjun suddenly said, as if talking to himself.

At this moment, the mysterious man in black clothing quietly emerged from the shadows in the corner of the room. "Nothing special. He bought a bouquet of flowers and went to the cemetery to pay respects, then stared blankly for the morning. In the afternoon, he went to a bar and drank for three hours, without talking to anyone. I checked the grave he visited; it should be his parents."

"Is that so?" Shi Qianjun watched Ji Ming return to his room on the monitor, and said indifferently, "Looks normal... You've done well, go rest."

The man in black nodded, standing in the corner of the room, his figure inexplicably blurry. The shadows in the corner became strangely fuzzy, and the man in black disappeared from the room.

"Ji Ming..." Shi Qianjun picked up his pen and wrote Ji Ming's name on a piece of paper on the desk. He drew a line under the name, then added a question mark, but soon erased it and put a period instead...

...

The night passed quickly, and it was soon the next morning.

Su Peng, Ji Ming, Sun Shijia, and team leader Lei Ming logged into the game again.

The three of them logged in at Jiangning City, and it was already daytime in the game. They were still in that dead-end alley.

"Hey? Look, that shop is gone?" Sun Shijia, after logging in, looked around the alley and suddenly pointed to the end of the alley.

Su Peng and Ji Ming looked over and indeed, the uniquely decorated coffin shop had disappeared, leaving only a high wall. Where was the shop?

"That's really strange..." Ji Ming said, looking at the spot. Sun Shijia added, "Is it a bug? Such a large game, it's normal for bugs to appear..."

Only Su Peng touched his pocket, where he still had the set of talismans he bought from the mysterious shop. This confirmed that what happened that night wasn't just his imagination.

"Let's not worry about it for now. We can tell Lei Ming when we log out. Let's go find the Black Water Army camp first," Su Peng said to Ji Ming and Sun Shijia.

The two agreed, and the three of them walked west from the city. After less than half an hour, they reached the Black Water Army camp.

Jiangning City had a total of twenty thousand Black Water Army soldiers, twelve thousand of whom were regular troops, five thousand were reserves, and three thousand were logistics. The camp was quite large and could not be accommodated within the city, so it was divided into two camps, one to the east and one to the west of Jiangning City.

With the emblem given by Han Tuo, Su Peng and his group entered the western camp of the Black Water Army. They were told that Han Tuo was in a meeting, so they waited.

The three of them waited in front of a tent, where they could see the Black Water Army's training ground. Many soldiers were training, horses were galloping on the track, and infantry were practicing battle formations. There was also a shooting range, creating a solemn atmosphere.

Soon, Han Tuo finished his meeting and walked over to the tent. He was wearing black armor and, despite not having slept the night before, still looked spirited.

"You arrived just in time! Ha ha ha, good news makes one feel great. I have good news for you. Last night's battle was a rare military achievement for the Black Water Army in recent years. I've been informed by the commander that I will likely be promoted to deputy commander soon! Ha ha ha ha!"

Han Tuo walked over, took off his helmet and threw it to a guard, and laughed heartily as he spoke to Su Peng and the others.

"Congratulations, General Han," Su Peng and the others congratulated him. They had talked to the guard the previous night and knew that Han Tuo was a formidable presence in the Black Water Army, possibly the strongest among the centurions, with enough experience. The battle last night gave him the military merit he needed for promotion.

"Yes... As deputy commander, I will have twice as many guards, and you will be my guards! Ha ha, as long as you perform well, you will be promoted quickly!" Han Tuo seemed very pleased and said to Su Peng and the others.

Su Peng and the others thanked him, and then Han Tuo got to the point, giving them a pass to register with the military affairs officer, making them official reserves of the Black Water Army.

"You need to improve your skills. There are instructors in the camp who will teach you various combat techniques and martial arts. Of course, some advanced martial arts require military merit. Without merit, you have to pay, but it's worth it. You have enough money, and getting closer to the instructors will make them more willing to teach you."

Han Tuo advised Su Peng and the others, and Su Peng immediately understood that Han Tuo was suggesting they bribe the instructors to learn more skills.

"Thank you, General, for your advice," Su Peng and the others thanked Han Tuo and went to handle the procedures.

After that, things became relatively simple.

Su Peng and the others officially became reserves of the Black Water Army, receiving emblems that allowed them to move around and stay in Jiangning City without being checked by the military.

At the Black Water Army's new recruit training ground, Su Peng and the others finally found the feel of the game again.

The new recruit training officer could teach 'Basic Military Spear Technique', 'Basic Military Saber Technique', 'Basic Military Sword Technique', 'Basic Military Axe Technique', 'Basic Archery', 'Basic Horsemanship', and 'Basic Battle Formation'.

Among these, the spear, saber, sword, axe, and archery techniques were all basic white skills. The basic horsemanship skill increased the speed of the horse by 185%, and learning 'Basic Mounted Combat' would give a 20% attack bonus.

The basic battle formation was a military formation for combat. Currently, new recruits could only learn the Three Talents Formation, which required all three to be trained in the formation to use it, increasing defense and attack by 10%.

New recruits could learn one basic white attack skill for free, and learning additional attack skills cost ten taels of silver.

The basic battle formation could also be learned for free.

Horsemanship was the most expensive... Before being selected as a Black Water Army cavalryman, training horsemanship cost one gold piece.

Fortunately, Su Peng and the others were not short of gold, so they each chose a military martial art and horsemanship.

Then, they began training to accumulate skill points.

In the death cycle game, there were two ways to improve martial arts skills, involving three types of data.

The two ways were to gain experience or to practice and comprehend. The three types of data were martial arts experience, combat experience, and skill points.

Gaining experience meant killing monsters or NPCs to accumulate combat experience, which could be used to directly improve martial arts skills.

However, this method only worked for skills below the white or light blue level. Generally, a martial arts skill had nine or ten levels from basic to mastery.

When improving skills above the white or light blue level, there would be a bottleneck... For example, the Rain Transformation Technique in Su Peng's possession had a bottleneck at the fourth level, and once a bottleneck was reached, combat experience could not be used to force an improvement.

This is where martial arts experience came in... Martial arts experience was not a consumable type of experience. It would continuously grow as long as the game was played.

Combat, practicing, being taught, comprehending breakthroughs, and observing others' battles would all increase martial arts experience, though the amount varied.

This data was a restriction for learning some martial arts. For example, Su Peng's current martial arts experience was insufficient to comprehend the Rain Transformation Technique, including the wooden doll in his backpack.

As for skill points, they were similar to combat experience but did not require killing monsters. They could be increased by practicing and killing monsters.

Su Peng and the others trained in the western camp of the Black Water Army for a whole day, accumulating many skill points. Su Peng himself had improved the military sword technique to the third level and trained horsemanship to proficiency, gaining an additional 5% speed bonus.

"It seems that in about three or four days, the military sword technique will reach the maximum level... After all, it's just a white skill," Su Peng thought to himself. It was almost time to log out for the night.

The bell rang, and Su Peng and the others logged out and came out of the machines.

"Team Leader Lei, I have something to report," Sun Shijia came out first and found Lei Ming, telling him about the strange shop they encountered in the game.

"What?" Lei Ming frowned, pushed his sunglasses up, and said, "This is beyond my authority. Come with me, we need to see Director Shi."

"Is it that important?" Sun Shijia was taken aback but nodded. Su Peng and Ji Ming also logged out and, hearing Lei Ming's words, thought it was a bit of an overreaction but followed him to Shi Qianjun's office...

...

"So, you encountered a shop with a beast-headed coffin in the game, and it disappeared during the day?" Shi Qianjun sat behind his desk, hands supporting his chin, wearing sunglasses, as if deep in thought.

"Is there something wrong, Director Shi?" Ji Ming asked.

"There are some issues... Well, since you encountered it, I'll tell you," Shi Qianjun said, pushing his sunglasses up and continued...

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