Chapter 2: First Entry into the World of Martial Arts

  A majestic sculpture stands tall in the center of Newbie Village.

  Just half an hour ago, because I was really bored and had nothing to do, and couldn't bear the cold wind from my dormitory to the classroom, Ye Kai accidentally entered a net cafe opposite the student apartment and started playing an online game called "People in Jianghu".

  Ye Kai had never played online games before, but entering this game couldn't be said to be accidental. Three people from the same dormitory, Zhao Xu Ri, Chen Xue Liang and Sun Peng, joined in on the first day of "Jiang Hu"'s public test and became a part of it.

  It has been over half a month since the "Jianghu" started its public test, and the three of them have been living in an internet cafe - dormitory, with a two-point, day-and-night life. In one word, it's regular. In addition, these three people also unintentionally began to subtly influence each other.

  In this half month, Ye Kai never heard three people discussing which girl in the class was beautiful - they hadn't seen any girls in the class for half a month; never heard three people complaining about how bad the cafeteria food was - the cafeteria's regular working hours were in serious conflict with the three men's working hours; also never heard anyone lying in bed at midnight reciting "long night, no sleep" - they hoped to be forever sleepless...

  The great motherland's famous mountains and rivers, historic cities; some only heard in martial arts novels or movies with all sorts of strange names; concepts like strength, agility, and body techniques that keep popping up... These are the topics that have been swirling around Ye Ke's ears these days.

  Just an hour ago, Sun Peng used a move called "Iron Lock Across the River" to open the weak door of their dormitory. This was the 18th time they had returned to Qing Early Artistic School. At this time, Ye Kai should have gotten up and gone to class to study scientific and cultural knowledge. During the process of getting up, Sun Peng, a stick technique expert, and Chen Xue Liang, a swordsman, were discussing which move to use to close the door after opening it with "Iron Lock Across the River".

  Ye Kai walked out of the house door, and behind him came the angry roars of Sun Peng and Sun Xue-liang. One shouted "Sweeping a thousand armies", one shouted "Endless fallen wood". The two joined forces, and with a loud crash, they shook off wooden chips from the iron-clad door panel.

  The cold wind outside was biting, a good weather for hibernation. But from the student dormitory to the classroom, there were still hundreds of meters away. Ye Kai didn't love online games, but it didn't prevent him from being a student who didn't like studying. In the end, the north wind blew him into an internet cafe opposite the student dormitory.

  The internet cafe was bustling with activity. Everyone wore a pair of sunglasses, paired with cutting-edge computers, the entire internet cafe looked like a scene from "The Matrix". Ye Kai had never eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run, and he also knew that these sunglasses were necessary equipment for the game "Jianghu", used to create a virtual environment.

  When the net manager brought Ye Ke to his position, he handed him a pair of sunglasses. Ye Ke was taken aback for a moment before taking them. Well, since he had nothing better to do, he might as well take a look at what this thing was that these three guys were so obsessed with.

  Ten minutes later, Ye Kai's incarnation, with the name Feng Xiao Xiao, male, 173 cm tall and 56 kg in weight, was born in a certain corner of Jianghu - a novice village. It is worth mentioning that there was originally an appearance item, but for now, a unified virtual avatar will be provided by the system, and real avatar recording work will be done after the public test ends.

  "Man in Jianghu" is a joint effort by multiple internet companies, with the entire country sharing one server. According to statistics, the number of registered users has reached 1 million, and so far, there have been no instances of "lag". The game quality can be said to be top-notch. And Ye Kai, now he is also a part of this massive army of 1 million.

  Thatched cottage, bamboo fence, kitchen smoke, this is the first scene that comes into view. But I myself was wearing only a pair of white pants, this product of modern civilization seemed out of place with the surrounding scenery.

  Just as he was at a loss, an elderly man in a yellow robe beside him smiled and greeted him: "I am the village chief, child, you are not young anymore, don't idle around every day, help the villagers do more things! Come, take this clothes and wear it first."

  "With a 'swish', the person had already changed into a new outfit, with a yellow color similar to that of the village chief, but the style was clearly not something a intellectual like the village chief would wear. It was more suitable for the common laborers. But I wasn't picky, after all it was better than those pants from earlier! Thinking about those pants made me think: if I were a girl, what would I be wearing? And if I had been wearing underwear when I traveled back in time, wouldn't that have been even more ridiculous?"

  What the village chief just said about "helping villagers do things" should be a hint to himself, right! Okay! Now let's go see what needs to be done to help the villagers!

  The wind began to make contact with the villagers in the village, to see if it was true as the village chief said. The village is not big, and there are only a few people coming and going, but everyone has something to do and everyone needs help.

  The woodcutter Li, who lived at the east end of the village, had run out of firewood. Unfortunately, he was bedridden with illness and asked Feng Xiao to help him chop some more. Feng Xiao found it strange, "Since you can't get out of bed, why do you need firewood? Just snuggle up in your quilt and sleep!"

  In the west of the village, blacksmith Zhang was out of copper ore, but he was in a hurry to forge an iron knife and couldn't leave his post, so he asked Wind Soso to help him dig some copper ore. But what's strange is that he clearly wanted to make an iron knife, yet he urgently needed copper ore - wasn't this making trouble for no reason?

  There is also Wu Xuejiu, who said that he was writing an article and had used up all the paper, so he asked Feng Xiaoxiao to help him buy some more. After Feng Xiaoxiao left, he suddenly realized that Wu Xuejiu had asked him to buy things but hadn't given him any money - was it a game where you could buy things without spending money, or was Wu Xuejiu just trying to swindle him?

  The most absurd one is Wang Dama from the south of the village, who said that her little Mao was gone, but she had to go feed the chickens and also asked Feng Xiao to help find him. Feng Xiao was dizzy with anger, wondering whether the chicken or the child was more important!

  This whole pile of completely illogical requirements makes the wind howl like a cloud, he has no idea where to start. Since it's so troublesome, just forget about it! Since it's called Novice Village, I suppose it's just for novice players to get familiar with the environment and operations. This environment can be explored while playing, as for operations, this virtual game doesn't even have any operable elements!

  The wind was blowing gently and directly found the village chief, expressing his willingness to leave the village. As a result, the village chief recited the following poem:

  You promised to help Uncle Li chop firewood, but it's not done yet.

  You promised to help Zhang Dabo dig a mine, but it's not done yet.

  ……

  In the midst of the howling wind, I knew it wouldn't be this troublesome! Turning back to try and see if I can make an excuse. Rushing to Uncle Li's house, but Uncle Li doesn't care at all, only repeatedly emphasizing that there are many trees in the forest south of the village, and finally not forgetting to lament that he's getting old, his memory is bad, and he left his axe there! What high-intelligence NPC, what human-computer interaction, can be so difficult to communicate with?! Damn it! Turning back again to go to Aunt Zhang, Wu Xuezhu...

  In the end, he stood tall like a statue in the middle of the village, feeling that the one who needed help most was himself.

  Frustration returned to frustration, annoyance returned to annoyance. Although Ye Kai's heart had already cursed the game and was convinced that it was boring to the extreme, his stubbornness also made him determined to successfully leave this novice village.