Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It turned out, the system didn't have the classic lines from that famous detective series recorded.

After a moment of silence, Guan Jizhong did not react as Bai Fuling had hoped—falling to his knees in worship and exclaiming, "Wow, so you're the famous Detective Bai! What an honor!" Instead, he reached out, wordlessly picked Bai Fuling up, and hauled him back into the small wooden hut.

"Everything you need is inside," Guan Jizhong said, standing at the doorway. "Stay here and don't wander around. Once I find Liao Zhiqiu, I'll come back to take you with me."

With that, he left without another word. He grabbed a cloth bag off the cabinet by the door, slung it over his shoulder, locked the door, and left.

Hearing the 'click' of the bolt locking from the outside, Bai Fuling was a bit surprised. He got up from the stool in the cabin, took a few quick steps to the door, and pushed against it. "Wait, Uncle, you're just leaving like that?!"

He hadn't even given out the quest yet! Not even a stage reward? So cheap!

The door was locked from the outside and wouldn't open.

Bai Fuling decided that since he was already here, there was no rush to break out. He might as well search the interior first.

An NPC leaving a player in their home was like inviting a mouse into a rice barrel. Or, more accurately, like inviting a mouse into a cheese room—it would burrow holes everywhere.

First, Bai Fuling circled the inside of the house to get the lay of the land.

It was a narrow, ramshackle house built of earth and wood. The grayish walls and worm-eaten wood were proof enough the place was ancient. However, because the interior was sparsely furnished with few miscellaneous items, it didn't appear particularly dirty or messy.

It could be considered a one-bedroom, one-living-room, one-bathroom layout, with an additional small room of unknown purpose next to it.

The door to that small room was tightly locked.

Of course, to a player, there are no locked doors in the world.

Such reckless behavior wouldn't be good in the real world, but this was a game. Players naturally didn't have such scruples.

After all, playing games is all about searching every nook and cranny for clues—some games even require you to fish through toilets because NPCs hide keys in them!

When you think about it, it's quite absurd. Why would an NPC put a key in a toilet? Aren't they afraid it'll get flushed away? Players sometimes simply cannot understand the logic behind such game design choices, and game developers often intentionally include settings that defy common sense.

So, the safest approach is to interact with every possible interactive element.

Seeing the locked door, Bai Fuling of course skillfully pulled out the axe he'd bought at the farmer's market that very day from his backpack. He started hacking away at the wooden door, trying to break it down.

There didn't seem to be any puzzle required to enter here. The small wooden door gave way after a few blows, and Bai Fuling stepped inside smoothly.

The room was dimly lit, but Bai Fuling wasn't fazed at all. He put away the axe and pulled out a flashlight from his backpack.

He knew it! The flashlight he had looted from Pang Chengyu earlier would come in handy! Thanks to the NPC's contribution and his own loot-happy mindset.

The flashlight clicked on, casting a beam of light into the dim room. The beam shone forward, illuminating a photograph on the central wall of the room.

The photo showed two figures.

One was the tall male NPC he had met today. The other was a young girl leaning against him, a head shorter. Their faces bore some resemblance, both having reddish-brown hair.

They didn't look like a couple, and the age difference wasn't right for father and daughter. So, they were likely siblings.

Seeing this, Bai Fuling had a pretty good idea.

In games, based on years of experience, when only one sibling appears physically while the other is presented in a photograph, the other one is probably in a bad way—likely deceased.

Combined with the tall male NPC's earlier mention of finding the culprit behind the "Crescent Scythe Murder Case," it could be guessed—the girl in the photo was probably the victim.

The tall male NPC's goal was to avenge his sister! It all connected now. Bai Fuling nodded. He had been wondering about that NPC's situation earlier, why he was so fixated on finding the killer when he didn't seem like a strictly upright, justice-seeking type.

It seemed he must have made some agreement with Liao Zhiqiu's grandfather to obtain information about the killer, which led to the subsequent series of events.

Below the photo was a table holding an incense burner. Next to it were two plates: one with candies and the other with a necklace.

Bai Fuling glanced at them but didn't take anything.

While players might lack morals, it's better to leave such things alone... Besides, not everything can be taken freely. Taking some items can increase NPC hostility, which isn't conducive to progressing subsequent quests.

Moreover, candies and a necklace were useless to Bai Fuling. His backpack was full now and couldn't hold anything else.

So, after walking around the small room and understanding the driving force behind the tall male NPC, Bai Fuling left.

He sat back down at the initial table and sorted through his thoughts on the current quest situation.

Earlier, his grand detective speech hadn't moved the tall male NPC. That meant the system's built-in judgment criteria weren't based on the text in the dialogue box. So... it was probably due to insufficient reputation, right?

As everyone knows, RPG games often have a reputation factor. Reputation affects how NPCs from different factions treat the player.

Currently, he was still in a state of obscurity, hadn't built up any goodwill, so it was understandable that the NPC didn't trust him.

After mulling it over, Bai Fuling could understand the tall male NPC's repeated disregard for the player.

Thinking about it this way, this new storyline involving the tall man probably wasn't meant for him to receive a quest from this new NPC. Instead, it was to supplement main quest details and tell the player—reputation is important.

Having figured this out, Bai Fuling stopped obsessing over convincing the tall man to give him a quest.

With insufficient reputation, spending more time would be futile.

It was better to go back and farm first. Once his reputation value was high enough, he could consider further contact.

Having made up his mind, Bai Fuling controlled his character to get up from the table. As a matter of course, he picked up the stool he had just been sitting on and smashed it against the glass window next to him.

Yes, it was all just a matter of convenience.

Players use everything at hand to clear a path. Prying open doors and smashing windows are all in a day's work.

A crisp "crackle-crash" sound of shattering glass rang out, and glass shards scattered all over the floor. The whistling, cool forest wind rushed in through the broken opening.

Bai Fuling directly controlled his character to climb out through the window. On the screen, his character displayed a red injury effect, and the health bar above his head began to drop bit by bit.

Huh? Why is it deducting HP? Was the escape posture wrong? Would climbing faster still cause HP loss?

Since the HP loss wasn't significant, Bai Fuling, driven by curiosity, climbed back and forth a few more times.

After two or three round trips, he figured it out: No matter how he climbed, whether climbing out or back in, or how long it took, his HP would drop. The more and longer the contact with the glass, the more HP was deducted—so the health bar dropped because the character was cut by the glass.

The settings were so detailed! Cuts were factored into HP loss! And it could accurately account for different postures. Bai Fuling marveled at the game system's precision.

He got up from the ground and checked his character's appearance.

At this moment, his character's white shirt was covered in red pixel dots. The exposed arms and legs were also marked with bloody scratches. Only the clean, smiling face remained unchanged.

Bai Fuling raised his hand, used the control panel to zoom in on the face, and drew three red cat whiskers on each cheek with the blood. Now his entire appearance was unified.

Haha, this actually looks pretty good. Bai Fuling was very satisfied with his new look. He glanced at the status bar.

"*Bleeding*: You are bleeding and look quite frightening (Passive Skill: May trigger alarm/hospitalization)."

Bai Fuling didn't see any debuffs, so he calmly closed his personal status bar without a second thought.

As for the passive skill listed next to the bleeding status—where in this deep, remote forest would anyone witness it and call for help or get him to a hospital!

If there actually were such people, then he absolutely couldn't let the bleeding status disappear. A passive skill might just be a great way to force a quick return to town.

As any gamer knows, ambulances and police cars are the fastest means of transportation in games.

Bai Fuling left the cabin.

Before leaving, it hit him what the tall NPC guy had said not long ago, so he took the dagger from his backpack and buried it in a corner of the yard.

The devil is in the details... Not long ago, the tall NPC guy said he had caught Bai Fuling through the tracker in the dagger. For this escape from the cabin, just in case, it was better to ditch the dagger first.

Anyway, he still had other weapons now and wasn't short of this one dagger.

After burying the dagger, Bai Fuling walked out of the yard.

The map showed nothing but forest all around, but at least there was a basic compass: north up, south down, west left, east right. Bai Fuling knew he just had to walk in one direction.

Based on what the NPC had said earlier, Bai Fuling guessed this forest might have a system setting that required a guide to get out. But whether that was true or not, only actually trying would tell.

All around were overlapping trees.

What impressed Bai Fuling was that it wasn't just the same tree assets copy-pasted. This game's developers were quite thoughtful—the pixel scenery along the way varied.

Even so, after walking for a while, it started to feel boring.

Bai Fuling was even considering just setting it to auto-walk forward—right then, rustling sounds came from the bushes, and a gray animal emerged from the thicket.

Bai Fuling stared at the gray pixel blocks on the screen for a few seconds before recognizing it—it was a wolf. A lone wolf missing one ear and half its tail.

The [Wolf] above the gray animal's head was red, meaning it was an enemy. It seemed to have caught the scent of blood in the air and let out a low growl at Bai Fuling.

Wildlife appeared! Far from being scared, Bai Fuling's eyes lit up. Wildlife meant meat, fur, and fangs!! Every part was valuable!!

He immediately grabbed an axe from his backpack.

After staring at the lone wolf for a few seconds, Bai Fuling had another thought. This wolf was missing an ear and half its tail—the fur quality probably wasn't great—could he keep it as a pet or mount?

A wolf could count as a local guide; maybe it fit the rule for leading him out of the forest!

So Bai Fuling put away the axe and switched to a wooden stick.

The wolf pounced, the player charged, and primitive brawling began.

The wolf's damage output was higher than the player's, but it couldn't withstand the player's ability to heal.

Bai Fuling still had [Unripe Apple ×2] and [Unknown Fruit ×11] in his backpack. Whenever his health dropped, he ate one; whenever his health dropped, he ate one. In the end, he won again by outlasting it!

The lone wolf whimpered and fell to the ground. Bai Fuling clicked the nearby [Tame] button.

"Taming failed."

Bai Fuling stayed calm and decided to keep trying.

To prevent the wolf from dying, he stuffed a fruit into its mouth to heal it—never mind whether wolves are herbivores; presumably, food that restores health should work for all.

Sure enough, the wolf stood up.

Then Bai Fuling hit it with the stick again, bringing it down to a sliver of health.

The wolf fell.

Bai Fuling clicked [Tame].

"Taming failed."

Bai Fuling wasn't discouraged. He still had 6 fruits left, enough to give a "sweet date" and then hit with the stick, back and forth six times!

The wolf stood up.

The wolf fell.

The wolf stood up.

The wolf fell.

...

After four rounds back and forth, on the fifth try, the screen finally showed: "Taming successful."

Great! Perseverance pays off!

Bai Fuling was very pleased. He fed the last fruit to the wolf, fully healing his newly acquired pet.

"Let's go, Wolfie, back to town!"

A new prompt popped up on the screen: "Cities prohibit [Wolf] entry."

What? Bai Fuling stared at the screen for a moment.

He thought for a bit, opened the pet menu, clicked into the lone wolf's panel, clicked on the name, and edited it.

"Change [Lone Wolf] to [Big Dog]? (Yes\No)"

Bai Fuling pressed confirm.

"[Lone Wolf]'s name has been changed to [Big Dog]."

There. Bai Fuling thought confidently. Surely he could enter the city smoothly now!

Author's Note:

Player: What wolf? This is clearly a big dog.