Chapter 9: Getting Called Out

It really was this guy? Liu Kongkong tapped on the post author's profile. The other party had hidden their character attributes, but their character's location was clearly listed as Starter Village No. 0113.

He opened the post and started reading.

"Damn it, this guy is calling me out?!" Liu Kongkong stared at Lonely as a Song's post. It gave a detailed account of how he had figured out that Liu Dameng the NPC was acting strangely, along with a transcript of their conversation — including the part where Liu Kongkong had made him buy ten weapons, which the poster was actually praising as evidence of Hunt Heaven's impressive NPC intelligence.

"Many of you may have already noticed that NPCs in this game don't speak in rigid, formulaic ways — conversations with them feel incredibly natural. This is most apparent with Blacksmith Liu in Starter Village No. 0113, and it's precisely because of him that I received a hidden quest!"

All I did was send him off to kill three hundred wild rabbits. Who else could have issued him a quest in that scenario? The only participants were me and… and…

"…That's right — the rabbits! After a night of slaughter, I finally killed three hundred wild rabbits. And in the process, I discovered just how meticulous the development team is. Blacksmith Liu made me buy ten weapons before he'd give me the quest. At first I thought this NPC was just trying to make money off me, but I was wrong — dead wrong. The durability on those ten weapons was exactly enough to last through killing three hundred rabbits! So Blacksmith Liu had calculated all of this from the very beginning…"

Liu Kongkong's mouth twitched. He had calculated it, sure — but what he'd calculated was how much the guy could afford to spend, and whether quoting too high a number would scare him off.

A blind cat stumbling onto a dead mouse. Selling a few weapons at random and ending up praised on the forums — only he could manage something like that.

"…Just as I killed the last rabbit, I noticed that a talking wild rabbit had suddenly spawned in the rabbit area. Out of curiosity, I struck up a conversation with it. From what it said, I learned that the rabbits were furious about my slaughter of their kin, and they demanded I reveal who had put me up to it! I told it about the grudge between Blacksmith Liu and their clan — but the rabbit flatly denied everything! It even issued me a quest to go back and ask Blacksmith Liu exactly when this all started! Has anyone ever seen a wild monster issue a quest to a player? Well, I have…"

They want an explanation from me? Liu Kongkong blinked at that part. He had no explanation to give — he'd only sent the guy to kill that many rabbits to make the quest harder. Still, it didn't matter much. Whatever that talking rabbit was and wherever it had come from, it had at least helped cover his tracks. As for the rabbit's quest, Liu Kongkong mulled it over for a moment…

"I'll deal with it tomorrow. I'm tired."

He slept straight through until seven-thirty. He lazily switched off his alarm and stared blankly at the ceiling.

He had no choice. NPCs in Hunt Heaven started work at eight, and while there was a shop manager in the blacksmith shop's storage room, he'd logged off in such a hurry last night that he hadn't had time to figure out how to use the thing. If he overslept today, the shop wouldn't be able to open on time.

After washing up, he threw together a quick cup of instant noodles and climbed back into the Game Pod.

"Hunt Heaven! Launch!"

"Ding. Welcome back, traveler from another world."

This traveler from another world did not want to come back this early! Liu Kongkong grumbled inwardly. Even back when he was doing boosting and carry work, he'd never had to get up this early. He logged in and immediately opened the shop's front door.

"Master Liu! You're finally open!"

The moment the door swung open, Lonely as a Song — who had been waiting outside for over an hour — let out an excited shout.

"Was it really necessary to be here this early? You…" Liu Kongkong started, thinking it was just a quest turn-in and wondering why the guy was so worked up. Then he looked up. "Holy shit, why are there so many people?!"

There was a long line snaking out from his shop's entrance. The village gate guards had even been forced to come over and manage the crowd.

Lonely as a Song hadn't expected his post from the night before to draw so much attention either. Some players had noticed he was in the same starter village as them, and whether out of curiosity or a desire to pick up a quest, they all wanted to see what this "one-of-a-kind" NPC looked like.

I should've hidden my character's location! Lonely as a Song felt a pang of regret. With this many people watching, what if someone snatched his quest?

"So, you finished the quest, right?" Liu Kongkong looked over at Lonely as a Song, and suddenly realized he could see the other player's level and a rough outline of their stat panel. He glanced at his own skill bar — a new inspection skill had appeared.

Passive Skill [Sharp Eye] Level 1

He'd been browsing the forums last night and hadn't seen anyone mention this skill. Was it NPC-exclusive?

But now wasn't the time to think about that. The sudden crowd at his shop's entrance was giving him a headache. With this much commotion in front of the blacksmith shop, if there was another meeting today, what sales figures should he even report?

"Done, done!" Lonely as a Song quickly triggered the quest completion confirmation, then asked carefully, "Master Liu, yesterday when I was out in the fields killing rabbits, suddenly…"

"A talking rabbit came looking for you, right?" Liu Kongkong casually hit confirm. A flash of golden light burst out, and Lonely as a Song's level — which had been sitting at 5 — jumped straight to 7! Three hundred rabbits was no joke. Lonely as a Song felt a surge of joy; he'd already been close to level 6, but jumping two levels at once was still a thrill.

As for the fact that Liu Kongkong already knew about the talking rabbit, he wasn't surprised at all. The two sides were old enemies, after all — this blacksmith probably knew more about it than he did.

"Did it tell you to come ask me when all this started?" Liu Kongkong put on an air of deep, inscrutable wisdom. Lonely as a Song nodded vigorously.

"Don't bother with it. Rabbits have terrible memories…" He hadn't come up with a plan before bed, and had woken up rushing to get to work, so Liu Kongkong was just making things up as he went.

"What about my quest then?" Lonely as a Song pulled up the quest and showed it to Liu Kongkong, looking a bit conflicted. It was a hidden quest, after all, even if the rewards weren't much.

The Rabbit Clan's Doubt? Liu Kongkong snuck a glance at the quest description. It was a simple delivery quest, but the reward was actually decent — a full hundred EXP. For a fetch quest, that was pretty generous.

"Don't be tempted by such petty gains. Those rabbits are extremely cunning. The quest they gave you is only the first step — in the end, they'll have you killing villagers and your own kind, all to achieve their goal of taking over Starter Village No. 0113." Liu Kongkong warned with a grave expression. "You wouldn't want future players to be born into a village overrun by wild rabbit monsters, would you? For the sake of all humanity — let it go."

Is it really that serious? Lonely as a Song's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. It was just delivering a message — how did all of humanity end up getting dragged into this?!

The other players standing behind him also wore expressions of shock. Such a terrifying quest chain lurking in a tiny little starter village!

"But this quest wasn't easy to get…" Lonely as a Song was reluctant to give it up. Only he knew how long it had taken to kill three hundred wild rabbits, and he'd worked hard to get this quest.

Liu Kongkong waved a hand dismissively. "No need to feel sorry about it. I'll compensate you, naturally. Look here!" He produced a weapon as he spoke.

"'A Lifelong Promise'? Is this a weapon? Why does it look so weird — holy shit, look at those stats!" Lonely as a Song had initially just noticed the strange shape of the weapon Liu Kongkong was holding out, but once he actually read the stats, his jaw dropped.

The players behind him heard his exclamation and crowded forward to get a look.

"Equipping this reduces Attack by 100%?! What kind of insane thing is this?!"

"It's pure garbage!"

"You clearly don't understand the game. You have absolutely no idea what that 100% really means!"