Chapter 5: NPCs Have Meetings Too?

Strolling all the way to the village chief's house, Liu Kongkong still felt a flutter of excitement in his chest. He'd been in the game for several hours now, and this was his first time actually walking around the Starter Village. Taking in the houses along the road and the NPCs walking beside him, even a seasoned veteran like Liu Kongkong couldn't help but marvel at how exquisitely detailed Hunt Heaven's modeling was.

"Tsk tsk, look at this NPC — they call her Widow Wang? She's absolutely stunning, and that little chic style she's got going on~" Liu Kongkong leaned in and took a deep sniff, clicking his tongue in admiration.

What he didn't expect was that Widow Wang caught every bit of it.

"Liu Dameng, what do you think you're doing?! So many people are watching!" Widow Wang looked to be in her early twenties. Her face flushed red as she stared at Liu Kongkong, her fingers fidgeting nervously with the hem of her clothes.

Are these NPCs really this intelligent? Liu Kongkong was taken aback. He'd assumed the NPCs' dialogue would be pre-scripted, yet this one had actually reacted to such a small gesture of his.

His little stunt had also been noticed by the players nearby.

"Did you see that? That Master Liu from the blacksmith shop just interacted with Widow Wang. I bet those two have some storyline between them — maybe we should go ask them both tomorrow. There might be a special quest involved."

"A top-tier beauty like Widow Wang having something to do with that scrawny monkey from the blacksmith shop? Can he even handle it? He can't handle that!"

In Hunt Heaven, players could adjust their character's physique, but Liu Kongkong had been in such a rush to log in that he hadn't bothered with such details, so he kept his real-world body. Years of grinding away at home day and night, combined with barely eating, had left him quite thin and frail.

Thin was one thing, but saying he couldn't handle it? What was that supposed to mean? Liu Kongkong turned to look at the player who'd mocked him — his ID was "Long Wind" — and quietly filed the name away in his memory.

Following the procession of NPCs, they finally arrived at the village chief's house.

The moment he stepped inside, Liu Kongkong spotted a long table set up in the room. Quite a few NPCs had already taken their seats. The village chief sitting at the head of the table matched Liu Kongkong's mental image of the role perfectly — a big bald head and a wispy goatee. Glancing around the room, Liu Kongkong noticed that unlike the rustic style of the Starter Village, the village chief's home was decorated in a far more lavish manner.

This game was impressively realistic. Compared to the village chief's place, his own blacksmith shop looked like a refugee camp.

"Ah, you two are here — we were just waiting for you." The village chief's eyes lit up the moment he saw Widow Wang. He stood up and gestured for her to come over. As for Liu Kongkong, he didn't spare him a single glance.

Liu Kongkong didn't mind. He spotted an empty seat at the far end of the long table and sat himself down, while Widow Wang was arranged to sit at the village chief's left.

Once everyone was seated, the village chief surveyed the room with a satisfied look.

"Good evening, fellow villagers. You've all worked hard today. But given that this is the first day of operation for our Starter Village No. 0113, I'd like to hold a brief wrap-up meeting. Mainly to discuss and address a few issues that came up..."

"Personally, I don't see any problems. These folks are quite pleasant." A kindly-looking old man said with a smile. Liu Kongkong glanced at his attire — a Daoist robe, giving him an air of otherworldly elegance. By all appearances, an NPC like this should have had players flocking to him in a Starter Village. Yet he looked thoroughly pleased with himself. Why?

"Of course you're happy, Old Cripple Chen! You just changed your outfit and suddenly had people sweeping your floors, buying you food and drink. I heard you even had them herd your cattle for you. Your busted leg can barely carry you on a normal day, and now you've got yourself a whole crew of free labor." The middle-aged woman beside him said with a distinctly sarcastic tone. Liu Kongkong glanced at the name floating above her head.

Tailor Qi Ajuan? Looks like she runs a shop too. But that wasn't the point — from the woman's words, it sounded like Old Cripple Chen wasn't actually a Daoist at all...

NPCs that deceive people? This was quite an eye-opener for Liu Kongkong. Ordinary players had almost no wariness toward Starter Village NPCs. After all, in their minds, these were just bundles of data whose only job was to symbolically hand out quests and help players get familiar with the game.

"Alright, regardless of what these friends do, we must receive them warmly — after all, it's the command of the Divine. Don't be stingy with your Divine Power either; the rewards that need to be given out cannot be skimped on. Getting them out of the village is our mission, after all." The village chief spoke in a mild tone. If Liu Kongkong hadn't noticed the little old man periodically flaring his nostrils to catch a whiff of Widow Wang's scent, he might have been fooled by the man's demeanor.

As for the "Divine" and "Divine Power" he mentioned, Liu Kongkong guessed it was just the development team and the operations staff's quirky sense of humor — "Divine Power" was probably just experience points.

"Alright, since there are no major issues, let's proceed as agreed. Everyone report your income and expenses for the day. Ajuan, you go first." Seeing that no one had anything else to say, and exhausted after a full day of receiving players, the village chief moved things along. Being the village chief, he naturally hadn't been able to escape the players' endless questions.

Income and expenses? Did each shop have to hand over their earnings? Liu Kongkong glanced at the measly 4 silver coins left in his inventory — the numbers clearly didn't add up!

"Sure. Today I distributed a total of 97,550 points of Divine Power. Shop revenue came to 13 silver and 40 copper coins. As agreed, half goes toward village development — here's 6 silver and 70 copper coins." Ajuan pushed the coins across the table to the village chief without a second thought.

Half! Liu Kongkong stared at the in-game currency on the table. If he reported honestly, wouldn't he owe over 20 silver coins?

"Ajuan, I've told you before — your clothes are priced too high. You know there aren't any high-yield monsters around our village. You should consider lowering your prices a bit..." The village chief was clearly not satisfied.

"I can't lower them! After labor costs, there's barely any profit left!" Ajuan immediately got flustered. The village chief quickly waved his hand. "Alright, alright, we'll do it your way..."

So the village chief's authority wasn't all that absolute.

Next came the shop owners reporting their accounts one by one. After listening to the whole round, Liu Kongkong found that business really wasn't great for most of them. Even the potion shop owner had only sold 17 silver worth of goods.

"These people are so stingy — they'd rather die than use a potion!" the potion shop owner said helplessly.

"Look on the bright side. They have the blessing of the Divine and can respawn. Early on, when they have no money, of course they won't want to spend it." The surrounding villagers chimed in to console him.

Next were the class trainers. Their income was genuinely high — after all, Starter Village No. 0113 had at least tens of thousands of players, and every player who learned a skill from them paid a decent sum. They were the village's primary source of in-game currency.

"Your turn, Liu the Blacksmith. Today you..."

"Today I distributed experience — no, I mean Divine Power..." Liu Kongkong nearly slipped up in his nervousness. "...98,810 points. Shop revenue: 1 silver and 20 copper coins."

"1 silver and 20 copper coins?!" Everyone stared at Liu Kongkong in shock. He'd only sold that much in an entire day?

Liu Kongkong had already decided to throw caution to the wind. If he told the truth — that he'd made over 40 silver — he couldn't produce that much money anyway, since he'd already withdrawn the funds from his account on the way over. Since he was going to lie regardless, he might as well report even less. It was just a game, after all. Surely they wouldn't hit him with any serious punishment.

"Here's 60 copper coins." Liu Kongkong pushed them across the table without so much as a flicker of expression.

The village chief let out a sigh. "Your problem is the same as Ajuan's — your goods are priced too high. And on top of that, your quest gives out a basic weapon. Go home and think about lowering your prices."

"Can't lower them even a little. My labor costs..." Liu Kongkong mimicked Qi Ajuan's words. The village chief quickly cut him off. "Alright, alright, 60 copper coins is better than nothing."

He turned his head.

"Now for me. Today I distributed a total of 5.14 million points of Divine Power, and 57 gold..."

Listening to the village chief report his figures, Liu Kongkong immediately guessed the man was probably a main storyline NPC — the experience he'd distributed was dozens of times more than Liu Kongkong's own. At the same time, he was puzzled that nobody had questioned his own reported revenue at all.

So it seemed like making up numbers wasn't really a problem?