Chapter 8: Outrageous Beginner Gear

Chapter 8: Outrageous Beginner Gear

A game with players naturally had to have NPCs.

Most of the corpses Yang Qiu brought back from the massive swamp had already thoroughly decayed till they were complete skeletons. However, there were about a dozen or so bodies that weren't fully decayed and partially preserved, perhaps due to where their bodies rested, and were like waxed corpses.

Though sort of partially decayed corpses wouldn't be suitable to be used as "game characters" for players in Yang Qiu's opinion. Even the more visually appealing skeletons were testing enough for players’ nerves. If players were given the option to choose such a zombie to play as, they would most likely quit the game at the character creation screen.

Thus, Yang Qiu might as well use the bunch of them as NPCs.

Undead creatures possessed minimal intelligence, moved slowly and clumsily, with limited capabilities. Nonetheless, they could still carry out repetitive actions following a predetermined pattern.

For instance, upon encountering a bare skeleton, they could emit scripted sounds to beckon players over (undead creatures can only emit predetermined syllables and have no idea what they are saying). They could also assign tasks systematically according to the number of players involved. This approach proved to be far simpler than assigning undead creatures tasks such as cleaning or other complex activities.

When he saw the reaction of the trio, Yang Qiu felt that his decision had been the right one. Simply put, a gamer, no matter how hardcore, was still just a gamer. It was like how the most enthusiastic Counter-Strike fanatics wouldn't head to fight wars in Africa as mercenaries just to fulfill their shooter cravings.

"I was wrong! Player characters aren't the most realistic, it's the NPCs!" Skeleton No. 2 howled. "But seriously... Is it necessary to strive for such realism? Can't you spare a thought for players who don't enjoy horror?!"

Give Me Medicine was crumbling as well, muttering to himself, "I was wrong too. I thought I was just pretending to be brave, and the Undercity is great. Those Undercity fatties are good too... A cartoonish style is the best, those who pursue realistic graphics are on the wrong path..."

Cries and exasperation aside, these two were still quite reliable, forcing themselves to approach the zombie NPC and imitating how Qin Guan interacted with it.

"All of you are willing. That's great," was the zombie NPC's scripted response to the players. Then it slowly stood up, entered the small wooden house, and returned with three sets of cleaning tools.

Each set of cleaning tools consisted of a metal bucket, a wooden broomstick, and a dustpan.

Qin Guan, the boldest of the three, gulped hard and accepted the tools first.

As cleaning tools passed into his hands, a new quest appeared on the empty quest log in on Qin Guan's character interface:

———

[Street Cleaning]

Exile Town has fallen into disrepair. You, who have awakened, should perhaps do a little something for this small town.

Clean for one work hour: 0/1

———

Skeleton No. 2, who was the last to accept the tools, asked when she saw the quest information, "What does one work hour mean? Do we have to clean for an hour?"

"Unlikely. It would be absurd for a beginner quest to have us clean for so long. Who would even want to do quests then?" replied Give Me Medicine.

"Let's just see how long it takes to complete one work hour. After all, it's our first quest, and we should at least give it a try," Qin Guan suggested.

Thus, the trio of first-time players got down to business...

Larger debris, such as collapsed beams, random large rocks, and worn-out carts were ignored by them. They weren't here to engage in construction and have a life here. Who cared if the paths were blocked or not, just sweeping away the dust on the streets was sufficient enough.

As Give Me Medicine was sweeping, he suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, this road was actually paved with stone slabs? I couldn't tell from all the black muck covering it."

"There's quite a lot of wooden houses, and the area here seems large. I reckon it must have been real lively in the past," Skeleton No. 2 added while she swept.

"Speaking of which, even though the official site's race background information doesn't mention it, the NPC referred to us as 'compatriots' and assigned us the task of cleaning the streets. It could be possible that we players were originally residents of this Exile Town. Maybe we died for some reason and were then resurrected... What do you think? Could the main storyline of this game be about Undead players rebuilding and revitalizing Exile Town?"

Qin Guan couldn't help but glance at Skeleton No. 2. "Hmm... That's actually a possibility. You have quite an imaginative mind, don't you?"

"Well, of course. I make a living from writing web novels," Skeleton No. 2 replied proudly.

But one thing was certain. The developers of this game, "OtherWorld," were ambitious people.

After giving out the beginner gear, the zombie NPC no longer interacted with the players. Qin Guan, enduring an urge to puke, approached it cautiously, but it seemed as though the NPC couldn't see the players. Thus, the trio had no other choice but to continue their free exploration of Exile Town.

Fortunately, the sly game designer didn't have any intention of hiding the NPCs and placed them in rather conspicuous locations. Just as the trio stepped out of the street they had just cleaned, they spotted another zombie NPC standing idle by a wall.

"That armor and that axe... It's the NPC from the promotional video!" Qin Guan exclaimed excitedly and immediately went over.

When players were within a certain distance, the NPC, clad in tattered armor and wielding a massive battle axe, became active. Its helmeted face turned toward them, revealing a rather well-preserved and particularly hair-raising zombie face.

Qin Guan's initial excitement immediately faded away.

"Hey, compatriots," came the rough, hoarse voice of the zombie general that could most definitely portray the ultimate villain in a movie. "It seems like you've just awakened from eternal slumber. Would you be willing to help me with something?"

"Y-yes," Qin Guan squeaked, suppressing the urge to turn tail and flee.

This is just ridiculous... The real thing is much scarier than on video! To think that this is a friendly NPC, f*cking unbelievable!

Give Me Medicine, also frightened by this zombie general, was muttering to himself in despair, "I will never curse Sylvanas again... She's truly the most charming and perfect Undead queen..."

Blossoming Strokes, on the other hand... had entirely disappeared behind Give Me Medicine with her head hung low, staring at her own bony feet with no intention of looking ahead.

This extremely unfriendly-looking zombie general issued them a quest of eliminating rats at a certain southern area of Exile Town.

The three who accepted the quest didn't immediately set out to complete it. Instead, they continued exploring the town and looking for other NPCs.

The three of them wandered around the streets and alleys near the spawn point, and collectively found about 10 distinctively rotten zombie NPCs.

Other than a few NPCs who ignored them, most of the zombie NPCs would give players quests, but they mainly tasks, such as [Repairing Houses], [Clearing Garbage], [Street Cleaning], [Collecting Firewood], and the like.

Thus, the three of them discussed and decided to start by completing the quest given by the zombie general. At least this quest involved eliminating rats, which sounded much better than miscellaneous tasks such as repairs or cleaning.

As per the quest information, the three of them arrived at the southernmost area of Exile Town. An area that had no intact wooden houses but ruins.

"This should be the place. Let's see where the rats are," Qin Guan said, first picking up a stick, then subsequently picking up a rock as well.

Seeing this, Give Me Medicine and Blossoming Strokes also looked for suitable rocks and sticks to use as weapons. They definitely didn't have the courage to stomp on rats with their feet.

Feeling adequately prepared, the three of them entered the ruins fearlessly.

Crack—

Qin Guan, who was in the lead, stepped on and broke a rotted wooden plank.

Qin Guan glanced down, paid no attention to it, and continued walking forward. Although he wasn't wearing any footwear, there wasn't flesh on his feet, so he felt neither pain nor discomfort.

Then... Qin Guan, who had decent awareness, stared wide-eyed as a huge rat's head, the size of a soccer ball, emerged from behind a collapsed earthen wall.

The three players: "??"

Before the bewildered trio could react, the huge rat with glowing red eyes rushed out from behind the earthen wall.

"What the heck?!"

"F*ck!!"

"AHHHHH—!!"

"Tsk..." Yang Qiu, in the server room on Earth, couldn't bear to watch.

"Three level 0 rookies accepting a quest from the zombie general who clearly looks like a special NPC and immediately challenging the beginner village's mini boss... Sigh, this kind of challenging quest requires patching and a level restriction added."