Chapter 8

It has to be said that this month of fighting has been very fruitful for Li Yalin. Not only has he acquired weapons, equipment, and materials in his inventory, but he has also accumulated a wealth of combat experience and learned new combat skills.

The lowest level of skills is F. As long as Li Yalin accumulates enough experience, he can choose to upgrade his skills and increase their power.

Among the two initial skills he learned, he upgraded Instant Step to E and Combat Mastery to D.

After a series of attempts, Li Yalin found that the so-called increase in combat power described in Combat Mastery actually means a comprehensive improvement in his combat techniques, experience, and proficiency with weapons. In short, it is a very powerful skill.

To ensure a better experience in combat, Li Yalin naturally decided to focus on Combat Mastery for the time being. As for Instant Step, upgrading it one level was enough.

In addition to these two skills, when Li Yalin upgraded Combat Mastery to D, he also learned a new and practical attack skill—Raging Hurricane!

This is a very powerful active skill that allows Li Yalin to perform a more powerful finishing attack after four consecutive strikes, dealing astonishing damage.

Of course, the power of Raging Hurricane is great, but it also consumes a lot of stamina. With Li Yalin's current capabilities, he cannot use it multiple times in succession, so he can only use it as a finishing move.

Fortunately, the monsters Li Yalin faces now are all minor enemies, and ordinary attacks are sufficient. Once Raging Hurricane is used, the monsters on the first floor can't even last a single round.

With three practical skills at his disposal, Li Yalin is quite satisfied. The only regret is that he seems unable to learn the sword techniques of this world. He has tried many times, but each attempt ended in failure, forcing him to give up.

Well, these three skills are pretty good. Being too greedy might invite trouble.

With this thought in mind, Li Yalin prepared to start his enjoyable monster-killing journey. However, today was destined to be an extraordinary day because the players he had long been waiting for finally appeared!

In the central square of the Starting Town, countless white lights flickered, and batches of young men and women appeared with the light. There were so many of them that the central square quickly became crowded.

They have finally arrived?

Looking at the dense crowd in the distance, Li Yalin's brows gradually furrowed.

Whether the arrival of the players is good or bad for him, Li Yalin is uncertain. In this situation, he can only take it one step at a time.

At least, compared to these players, he has a nearly one-month head start, right?

Moreover, Li Yalin doesn't see any conflict of interest with these players. If necessary, he could even cooperate with them.

After all, according to the anime plot, these players will soon be trapped in the game for at least two years before they can be freed.

He will find a chance to make contact later. For now, he will focus on clearing the monsters for the day. These players will probably need to adapt to the game first.

With this thought, Li Yalin turned and left the central square, heading towards the wilderness to continue his monster-killing journey. However, what he didn't expect was that after these players logged into the game, a terrifying event that shocked all the players occurred!

What... is going on?

When Li Yalin finished his day of monster-killing and returned to the Starting Town, he was surprised to find that the entire town was shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere. Young men and women, full of sighs and complaints, could be seen everywhere on the streets. What happened? Did everyone already know they couldn't return to the real world?

Even so, there's no need to be so dejected, right? By the way, when he returned to the city, it seemed that no one was clearing the monsters in the beginner area. What happened?

No! He needs to find out what's going on!

With too many questions, Li Yalin must investigate clearly. Therefore, after patrolling the streets, he chose a target to ask.

That player sitting in the corner, holding his stomach, is you!

"Are you hungry? Would you like a sandwich?"

According to Li Yalin's observation, about half of the players on the street were holding their stomachs, probably because they were hungry. After all, a whole day had passed, and it would be difficult for their stomachs not to growl.

Don't think this is just a game; it has a hunger system. Li Yalin doesn't know if players will die of hunger if they don't eat, but let's not think about that for now. The priority is to hook up with this player.

Taking out a delicious sandwich, Li Yalin is sure he can get her attention!

"Who are you?" Unexpectedly, this player, who had been holding his stomach, was quite cautious. He moved his body backward, as if he didn't trust Li Yalin, especially since Li Yalin was a stranger.

There's no way around it; Li Yalin is currently wearing a black cloak that covers his face. He doesn't want to reveal too much for now. Moreover, this player also has similar thoughts, as he is also wearing a brown cloak that covers him completely.

However, this person's voice is quite pleasant, clear, and slightly childish, indicating that it's a girl's voice.

Did he hit the jackpot? Could this be a girl under the cloak?

"You can call me a passerby. You haven't eaten all day, right? If you don't eat something, you won't be able to hold on." Li Yalin's situation is special; he is neither a player nor a native, which is hard to explain. He can only try to hook up with this girl using food.

If it doesn't work, Li Yalin will have to try someone else. After all, there are so many players, and he's not afraid of not finding someone to talk to.

Faced with the fragrant sandwich, the girl under the brown cloak was clearly tempted. She leaned forward slightly but quickly pulled back.

"Why should I trust you?" The girl under the cloak hesitated for a moment before asking Li Yalin.

"Fine, if you don't trust me, then forget it. I was just trying to be kind, but it seems I wasted my effort." At this moment, Li Yalin has no other choice but to use a reverse psychology approach. Of course, if this girl remains cautious, he won't be able to continue the conversation.

"Wait!" Seeing Li Yalin put the sandwich away, the girl under the cloak couldn't help but react.

She was really hungry and didn't care if the sandwich was problematic. She just wanted to fill her stomach!

She quickly snatched the sandwich from Li Yalin's hand and started to devour it, clearly very hungry. A fairly large sandwich was finished in just a few bites.

"Your eating is quite impressive." Li Yalin's lips twitched. It's just one day without food; does it have to be so exaggerated?

"I was really, really hungry..." Being described as "impressive" by Li Yalin, the girl immediately lost her composure, her voice trembling and her pitch dropping.

"Can you tell me what's going on with the players on the street?" Taking this opportunity, Li Yalin casually asked, pretending to be indifferent.

"You don't know what's happening?" Li Yalin's question seemed to surprise the girl. She had assumed he was a player like her, as NPCs wouldn't initiate conversations with players.

"I'm not sure. I logged in and went out to fight monsters right away." Li Yalin shrugged, making a helpless gesture.

"Really? Haven't you noticed that the logout option is gone?" The girl continued to ask, surprised.

"I didn't notice."

"..."

Perhaps it's a benefit of his穿越 (穿越 means "穿越" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越" in English, but in this context, it means "time travel" or "transportation to another world"), Li Yalin seems to understand all languages. Even though the girl is speaking Japanese, Li Yalin can understand her completely, and his words are automatically translated into Japanese, with no sense of awkwardness.

Although it's strange, this is a good thing for Li Yalin. At least he doesn't have to worry about communication, right?