A person with a good-looking face but completely unaware of it, and unfortunately endowed with a mouth, shattered the peaceful atmosphere in an instant. The little cat quickly withdrew a request.

Unexpectedly interested in the face-squeezing card, the player with the unfortunate mouth happily stowed the item in his backpack, finally dropping the topic of unsubscribing, and got up to head in the direction of his lodging.

Staying on the mountain at midnight was dangerous, with the risk of collapsing from exhaustion in the wild. The servant disciples had a place to stay, and if he remembered correctly, it should be on the neighboring peak.

The Tian Zong was located deep in the mountains, divided into inner and outer peaks. The elders and their disciples lived on the inner peak, while the outer disciples and servant disciples resided on the outer peak. The veteran players had run up and down the Tian Zong too many times and were already very familiar with the layout here.

In the dead of night, the Qiyun Peak where the outer servant disciples lived was completely dark. Fortunately, the mountain was high and close to the sky, so the natural light was quite strong.

The houses built against the mountain were lined up, and the small house closest to the bamboo forest was pitch black and silent; that was where he lived.

The scenes from the game became reality, and no matter how you looked at it, there was a sense of surrealism.

Stepping over the threshold and pushing the door open, Lin Zhusheng groped for the lamp, using the light that filtered in through the window. The dim yellow light flickered on, illuminating most of the room.

The room was simple, not large, with a bed in the center, a table by the window, a wardrobe not far away, and a dusty cooking station in the corner. It took him quite a while to recognize that it was a cooking station.

He had just learned on the way that he was an old player who had just been selected to enter the game with a new account. The little cat, having lost its role of guiding newbies, followed him into the room and, noticing his gaze, finally found an opportunity to work its way in. It jumped onto the table and quickly introduced, “That’s the cooking station. You can make energy snacks there to restore stamina in the future.”

Besides energy snacks, other foods could also be made, but right now, the cooking station was not repaired, and there were no materials or recipes for making food.

The little cat didn’t use its broadcasting tone while introducing. Lin Zhusheng nodded, responding politely, and sat down at the table by the window, quickly pulling out the face-squeezing card.

The table had a built-in mirror, not big but sufficient, reflecting his face.

As a newbie turned veteran, the little cat sat aside, wide-eyed, watching this person start to work on his face.

The face-squeezing card had a wide range of effects; almost everything could be changed except for the pupils.

—This person indeed changed everything except for the pupils, and his technique was extremely bold and confident.

The little cat: “…”

A dramatic transformation was unfolding before its eyes. A plain face gradually morphed into one of surprise, then finally into shock. The little cat couldn’t help but take a step back, its pure black fur blending into the shadows, leaving only a pair of glowing, astonished eyes.

After a full few minutes, the hardworking Master Lin completed his transformation project, turning left and right to showcase his labor’s results, grinning with squinted eyes, and turning to say, “Looks good, right?”

The candlelight in the lampshade flickered, revealing a smiling, unfamiliar face.

“…?”

The little cat rarely used the phrase “a face in a sea of people” to describe someone. With ordinary features and an unremarkable face, if thrown into a crowd, it would be like a drop of water falling into the ocean—once in, it would be unrecognizable.

It was as if everyone had this face; you could randomly grab three people on the street who looked just like this, enough to form a trio that could eliminate each other like in a match-three game. It remained silent for a while before finally speaking, “Good-looking… right?”

No joke, on the first day of work, it felt like this player had a huge problem with their taste.

Master Lin took it as a compliment. He looked left and right, quite satisfied.

After resolving one matter, his excitement slightly diminished, and he finally had time to ask about checking his stamina, rubbing his temples and saying, “I’ve been feeling a bit dizzy since just now.”

He often stayed up late, but he had never felt this dizzy before.

Good news: there was no need for the little cat to answer; the moment he spoke, the status bar automatically appeared.

Bad news: at the same time he saw the status bar, he watched in disbelief as the stamina bar jumped from red [1] to [0].

【Name: Lin Zhusheng】
【Level: LV:1】
【Health: 100】
【Stamina: 0】

“Bang—”

Without any warning, the person who was still valiantly rubbing his face suddenly collapsed onto the table, completely out of commission, shutting down on the spot.

The first day in the game ended with him fainting at the table.

The next day, when Lin Zhusheng opened his eyes again, it was hard to say whether he had fallen asleep or fainted. He was awakened by an overly intense light.

It was blinding. The light filtered through his eyelids, casting a red hue, and the moment he opened his eyes, he was struck by it, quickly shutting them again and moving both himself and the chair into the shadows.

Once his eyes adjusted to the surrounding light, he finally opened them again.

The wooden room, simple bed, and simple table were illuminated by sunlight streaming through the window, with green bamboo shadows swaying, brightening the entire room.

It wasn’t the familiar floor-to-ceiling windows and city noise; the scent of wood filled the air, and outside, he could hear the wind rustling through the bamboo forest. He was still in the game.

“Knock knock—”

There was a knocking sound from outside the door, somewhat heavy, followed by a deep male voice calling his name: “Lin Zhusheng, are you there?”

Lin Zhusheng was there, propping himself up on the table, struggling to stand from the chair, and took a couple of steps to open the door.

With a creak, the door opened, and an overly bright sunlight flooded into the room, revealing a tall figure standing at the entrance.

The person was backlit, and Lin Zhusheng squinted, barely able to make out that it was a tall middle-aged man from his shape and voice, with no other information.

But it wasn’t a big deal because the man had a flashing display box above his head: 【Meng Cai (Manager of Servant Disciples)】.

Manager Meng’s expression wasn’t good, especially after seeing Lin Zhusheng’s obviously just-awoken appearance. It was already past the middle of the hour, and the other servant disciples had already gone out to work, while here, the door was tightly shut, and a warm, sleepy atmosphere lingered. Trying to ignore the scene before him, he dutifully reminded, “There are only six days left; you haven’t completed even half of your tasks for this month, so you need to pay attention.”

Then he pulled out a booklet out of nowhere, flipped through a few pages, and continued, “You’ve been here for two years; if you can’t pass the root bone test next time, our sect can only send you back.”

The Tian Zong recruited servant disciples every year. These disciples had the potential for cultivation but lacked the qualifications to become outer disciples, so they worked on tasks while improving their root bones. The Tian Zong was the largest sect in the cultivation world, and competition was fierce. Servant disciples either advanced or left; if they couldn’t become outer disciples within two years, they had to leave.

Lin Zhusheng, who had previously skipped dialogues and plots, realized that his character was a lazy and useless disciple on the verge of being kicked out of the sect.

【Daily Task: Find 100 Lingxu Grass and hand it to Meng Cai, deadline: 6 days】
【Main Task: Level up to LV2 and pass the root bone test to become an outer disciple】

Lingxu Grass, a low-level herb, was very effective for treating external injuries, and the sect used it in large quantities, so they needed servant disciples to help collect it.

The two task boxes popped up in succession, and he became slightly more alert, his habitual smile lifting on his face as he greeted the manager and waved his hand in a small arc.

Unexpectedly, he was so agreeable this time, and his attitude was surprisingly good, causing the manager’s serious expression to falter, his brows relaxing. Before leaving, he turned back and kindly added, “There have been reports of red snakes appearing in the Lingxu Grass collection area recently, and none have been caught yet, so be careful when you go to collect.”

Lin Zhusheng thanked him for the reminder, responding cooperatively that he would definitely pay attention.

Manager Meng left, still looking back in disbelief a couple of times. Watching the man walk away, the veteran player withdrew his gaze and turned back into the room.

The little black cat darted out from the corner, watching him quickly wash up after returning to the room, clumsily tidying his clothes, and then struggling to tie back his loose hair with a strip of cloth, hastily preparing to go out. His stamina hadn’t recovered halfway, but his spirits were high.

It realized that this person was actually quite proactive about game life; perhaps the talk of unsubscribing yesterday was just to get himself an extra face-squeezing card.

Don’t trust anyone, especially game players. Its guess was correct, but it was too late; the face-squeezing card had already been used up, and there was no way to take it back. Lin Zhusheng happily set out with the face he had carefully crafted and his roughly tied hair.

The stamina bar was quite concerning and depleted rapidly. He had a clear self-awareness of his body, which had not exercised for years, and took out the energy snack from the newbie gift pack to munch on during his descent.

This place was different from the city he usually lived in; the wind carried no noisy clamor, only a cool scent of grass and trees, with unknown small white flowers mixed in the roadside grass.

The energy snack tasted decent and was quite chewy; he munched on it all the way down the mountain. The collection area for Lingxu Grass was at the foot of the mountain, where the sect connected with the outside world, in a grove.

The other servant disciples had already completed their tasks and gone to prepare for the root bone test, leaving the grove empty, with only him there. The little cat, as small as a coal ball, landed on the ground, walking over the fallen leaves, watching him squat down and randomly pull up grass.

【You have obtained: Weeds】
【Weeds】
……
【Weeds】

The area around him was bald, and just before he continued pulling up grass, the little cat finally couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you know what Lingxu Grass looks like?”

This person was definitely an old player; old players should have done these tasks before.

After manually cleaning up the nearby ground, the hardworking Master Lin wiped away nonexistent sweat and said, “Pulling grass is boring; I didn’t do this task.”

Having not completed the task, he was asked to leave the Tian Zong, then took the scattered cultivator route, meandering around before eventually becoming an external elder and returning to the Tian Zong, exploring every nook and cranny.

Having never walked the disciple route, he was very curious, which was why he was now painfully pulling grass.

After half an hour, he had collected 99 weeds to put in his backpack, but he hadn’t seen any Lingxu Grass, nor had he encountered a single red snake that was said to be present. Feeling that the feng shui of this area was poor, he decisively got up and walked deeper into the grove.

As the newbie guide, the little cat had completely assimilated into its body, jumping around and playing with the leaves, making noise.

Sure enough, the deeper he went, the more he found. Among the weeds, he finally pulled up the desired Lingxu Grass.

The tips of the Lingxu Grass were white, and there were many around, densely packed. A rough glance showed that he could complete more than half of the task. Without caring about his image, he sat down on the ground. Master Lin, who had never worked in the fields before, had an incredible adaptability and diligently acted as a grass-pulling worker.

The little cat was still flying around, making the leaves rustle, and seemed to be getting closer. Without turning his head, he said, “Go play further away; don’t step on my grass.”

His words were ignored like air. The sound of dry leaves being crushed continued, and it seemed to be getting faster. Feeling that the Lingxu Grass he hadn’t had time to pick was in danger, he quickly turned his head, his hand moving as well, raising his voice, “You—”

The dry leaves were crushed into pieces by the red tail, and as the hair he had raised fell, the first thing he saw when he turned his head was a pair of red vertical pupils, staring deeply into his eyes from less than half a meter away.

“…”

His raised hand was still in mid-air, less than a quarter of a meter from the snake’s head, and no matter what, it couldn’t come down. Caught between running away and freezing in place, Lin Zhusheng, with the other hand still holding a piece of grass, chose to wave his raised hand in a small arc, making a friendly sound: “…Hello.”