Chapter 35
After waking up, Su Wangchuan immediately called Instructor Yu to ask about the situation in the other villages.
What he received was grim news.
A village called Tianshui Village had been breached by a pack of wild wolves the previous night. Nearly a hundred villagers were slaughtered to the last—old people, women, and children, not a single survivor.
More than fifty players, who had logged out to rest, were forcibly pulled back into the game after the village was breached.
Their characters were controlled by the system to fight the wolves, and all of them were torn to pieces.
By the time the Huishui County team rushed over, they did not even dare approach the place. It was a living hell.
Su Wangchuan’s heart felt heavy.
Fortunately, Blackstone Village had held out last night. Otherwise, it would have ended up just like Tianshui Village.
“By the way, Instructor Yu, what about the company people? How were they handled?”
Thinking about how all those players’ characters had died, and recalling the agreements signed upon joining the company, a bad premonition rose in his heart. Instructor Yu sighed.
“According to the contract, thirteen employees were all dismissed this morning.”
“…”
Su Wangchuan opened his mouth but did not recover for a long while.
So cruel.
They were just laborers grinding resources and farming currency. They had no obligation to defend the village.
They had simply logged out normally to rest and sleep.
“Sigh.”
“This game is just like the real world. It has its own operating rules. All kinds of situations can happen…”
“Don’t let it weigh on you too heavily.”
Instructor Yu knew what Su Wangchuan was thinking and tried to comfort him. “Maybe one day, we’ll run into something like this ourselves. Including me—if an irresistible force causes my character to die, I’ll be dismissed immediately as well. It’s just that this time, they were the unlucky ones.”
“…”
The call ended.
Su Wangchuan sat there in a daze for quite a while, then rushed into the bathroom to clear his head.
Staring at the familiar face in the mirror, he warned himself:
“Winter isn’t over yet.”
“There are still huge numbers of wild beasts roaming Huishui County, coming down the mountains in search of food…”
“Instead of wasting time feeling sentimental and pitying others, it’s better to figure out how to survive properly in spirit realm!”
After forcefully pulling himself out of his heavy, chaotic mood, he finally logged into the game.
By morning, players who logged in already knew what had happened in Blackstone Village.
The miserable state of the earthen wall, along with more than eighty wild boar corpses bristling with arrows, was more than enough to show how terrifying last night’s battle had been.
All the wild boars were hauled into the village. Wang Dalang led a group of villagers, busy and energetic, processing the meat.
The village chief and Blacksmith Sun directed the players to repair and reinforce the breaches in the earthen wall using highly adhesive mud.
Everyone else continued clearing snow.
After logging in, Su Wangchuan met Zhao Heiniu, then followed his master, Blacksmith Sun, back to the Blacksmith Shop to forge armor-piercing arrows.
His master told him that the village currently had fewer than a hundred armor-piercing arrows left. If another battle like last night occurred, they would not last long. Today, they had to go all out forging armor-piercing arrows.
Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui had already returned to work and were assisting again.
CLANG!
CLANG!
With Agility reaching 10 points, Su Wangchuan found his rhythm and control becoming even more stable. His forging speed increased again.
As the experience of Hundredfold Steel Forging Technique began to rise bit by bit, as countless sparks and impurities were driven out by his hammering, the gloom and distractions in his heart were also slowly cleared away, replaced by deep focus.
CLANG!
CLANG!!
Su Wangchuan did not notice that his master, Blacksmith Sun, was watching him with a different look in his eyes, silently observing, hesitating to speak.
Nor did he notice that during his hammering of Hundredfold Steel, the sound was gradually converging from two beats into one.
The state of One-Breath Triple Strike seemed to be maturing further.
During a break, Blacksmith Sun walked over, flipping through the Hundredfold Steel arrowheads Su Wangchuan had forged, a smile appearing on his face.
“Wangchuan.”
“I didn’t expect you to improve this fast.”
“In just half a day, you’ve already forged twenty-four Hundredfold Steel arrowheads.”
“So many already?”
Only then did Su Wangchuan realize that his efficiency in forging Hundredfold Steel arrowheads had increased again.
“What’s wrong? Not in a great mood? You’ve heard about what happened in Tianshui Village too?” Blacksmith Sun suddenly asked.
Su Wangchuan froze for a moment, then nodded.
“I heard that more than a hundred people in Tianshui Village… all died.”
“Don’t worry.”
Blacksmith Sun comforted him. “After such a brutal village massacre, the officials at the county seat will definitely take action. If the situation spreads, their hats won’t stay on their heads.”
“…”
“It’s just a pity about the villagers of Tianshui Village. Their militia was indeed a bit weak. They probably didn’t make proper preparations in time.”
“But no matter what, we must protect Blackstone Village and not follow in Tianshui Village’s footsteps.”
“Yes!”
“Come on! Let’s keep going!”
Master and disciple steadied themselves and continued forging.
That night, more than forty players did not dare log out to sleep. Not a single one left.
The news of Tianshui Village’s annihilation had already spread through the village. Once everyone understood the consequences of a village being breached, no one dared log out peacefully. They prepared to guard the village through the night.
Inside and outside the earthen wall, people crowded together, spears in hand. The formation was formidable.
During breaks, Su Wangchuan chose to practice spear thrusts.
He meticulously imitated Captain Zhao Heiniu’s stabbing technique, pushing toward the goal of ten thousand repetitions.
“Senior Brother.”
“Teach us too.”
Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui naturally knew that Su Wangchuan’s Archery was already formidable. He had completely stood out from the group of resource-grinding miners. Using their status as junior disciples, they asked him for guidance.
Su Wangchuan did not refuse.
“First, practice the horse stance. When you can hold it steady without moving or shaking for one full hour, you can start the second stage of training like I did.”
He passed on some of what Captain Zhao Heiniu had taught him privately.
The two understood immediately.
“Alright!”
“Thank you, Senior Brother.”
They had personally witnessed Senior Brother Su Wangchuan’s rise and knew his character well. Naturally, they were willing to trust him.
That night passed without incident.
Everyone, however, was utterly exhausted.
Over the following days, Su Wangchuan forged during the day, stockpiling Hundredfold Steel arrowheads while improving Hundredfold Steel Forging Technique.
The Blacksmith Shop soon accumulated more than four hundred armor-piercing arrows again.
The village became quite wealthy.
On one hand, convoys from the county seat purchased large quantities of wild boar meat from Blackstone Village, bringing in over three hundred taels of silver.
On the other hand, the county rewarded one tael of silver for each wild boar.
Su Wangchuan received ten taels as forging pay and another forty taels as a village reward. For the first time, his savings exceeded fifty taels.
News also arrived from the county seat.
The county government had recruited several hunting teams from the city to hunt beasts outside the city walls, offering relatively high prices. Large numbers of beasts were now being transported into the county seat every day.
The pressure on the surrounding villages eased somewhat.
Even so, Su Wangchuan continued practicing spear thrusts, further strengthening his muscle memory.
With Su Wangchuan’s reminders, Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui successfully passed the first horse stance training and began the second stage.
But on this day, a short video titled “Suspected Beast Sightings in the City—Unlucky Man Has His Organs Eaten in a Park” caught Su Wangchuan’s attention on Douyin.