Chapter 8: Outrageous Beginner Gear

A game with players naturally had to have NPCs.

Most of the corpses Yang Qiu brought back from the massive swamp had already thoroughly decayed till they were complete skeletons. However, there were about a dozen or so bodies that weren't fully decayed and partially preserved, perhaps due to where their bodies rested, and were like waxed corpses.

Though sort of partially decayed corpses wouldn't be suitable to be used as "game characters" for players in Yang Qiu's opinion. Even the more visually appealing skeletons were testing enough for players’ nerves. If players were given the option to choose such a zombie to play as, they would most likely quit the game at the character creation screen.

Thus, Yang Qiu might as well use the bunch of them as NPCs.

Undead creatures possessed minimal intelligence, moved slowly and clumsily, with limited capabilities. Nonetheless, they could still carry out repetitive actions following a predetermined pattern.

For instance, upon encountering a bare skeleton, they could emit scripted sounds to beckon players over (undead creatures can only emit predetermined syllables and have no idea what they are saying). They could also assign tasks systematically according to the number of players involved. This approach proved to be far simpler than assigning undead creatures tasks such as cleaning or other complex activities.

When he saw the reaction of the trio, Yang Qiu felt that his decision had been the right one. Simply put, a gamer, no matter how hardcore, was still just a gamer. It was like how the most enthusiastic Counter-Strike fanatics wouldn't head to fight wars in Africa as mercenaries just to fulfill their shooter cravings.

"I was wrong! Player characters aren't the most realistic, it's the NPCs!" Skeleton No. 2 howled. "But seriously.. Is it necessary to strive for such realism? Can't you spare a thought for players who don't enjoy horror?!"

Give Me Medicine was crumbling as well, muttering to himself, "I was wrong too. I thought I was just pretending to be brave, and the Undercity is great. Those Undercity fatties are good too.. A cartoonish style is the best, those who pursue realistic graphics are on the wrong path.."

Cries and exasperation aside, these two were still quite reliable, forcing themselves to approach the zombie NPC and imitating how Qin Guan interacted with it.

"All of you are willing. That's great," was the zombie NPC's scripted response to the players. Then it slowly stood up, entered the small wooden house, and returned with three sets of cleaning tools.

Each set of cleaning tools consisted of a metal bucket, a wooden broomstick, and a dustpan.

Qin Guan, the boldest of the three, gulped hard and accepted the tools first.

As cleaning tools passed into his hands, a new quest appeared on the empty quest log in on Qin Guan's character interface:

———

[Street Cleaning]

Exile Town has fallen into disrepair. You, who have awakened, should perhaps do a little something for this small town.

Clean for one work hour: 0/1

———

Skeleton No. 2, who was the last to accept the tools, asked when she saw the quest information, "What does one work hour mean? Do we have to clean for an hour?"

"Unlikely. It would be absurd for a beginner quest to have us clean for so long. Who would even want to do quests then?" replied Give Me Medicine.

"Let's just see how long it takes to complete one work hour. After all, it's our first quest, and we should at least give it a try," Qin Guan suggested.

Thus, the trio of first-time players got down to business..

Larger debris, such as collapsed beams, random large rocks, and worn-out carts were ignored by them. They weren't here to engage in construction and have a life here. Who cared if the paths were blocked or not, just sweeping away the dust on the streets was sufficient enough.

As Give Me Medicine was sweeping, he suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, this road was actually paved with stone slabs? I couldn't tell from all the black muck covering it."

"There's quite a lot of wooden houses, and the area here seems large. I reckon it must have been real lively in the past," Skeleton No. 2 added while she swept.

"Speaking of which, even though the official site's race background information doesn't mention it, the NPC referred to us as 'compatriots' and assigned us the task of cleaning the streets. It could be possible that we players were originally residents of this Exile Town. Maybe we died for some reason and were then resurrected.. What do you think? Could the main storyline of this game be about Undead players rebuilding and revitalizing Exile Town?"

Qin Guan couldn't help but glance at Skeleton No. 2. "Hmm.. That's actually a possibility. You have quite an imaginative mind, don't you?"

"Well, of course. I make a living from writing web novels," Skeleton No. 2 replied proudly.

"Oh, oh, oh! You are in the online literature circle. That explains it!"

Skeleton No. 2, ID Blossoming Strokes, real name Wang Miaomiao, was a 28-year-old online writer who had achieved financial stability and had been single throughout her entire life.

Blossoming Strokes was no hardcore gamer and didn't know much about VR games. The reason she had joined this "game community" was similar to Qin Guan's—she had been drawn in by the three promotional videos on the official site. Also, the 188-yuan material cost was equivalent to merely typing a thousand words or so for someone in her position, so she had made the payment without a second thought.

During the character creation, Blossoming Strokes had nearly been scared away by the excessive emphasis on "realistic character modeling." If it weren't for the fact that she had already paid and felt it would be a waste to not take a look inside, as well as holding slight hope that the in-game graphics would be cartoonish, Blossoming Strokes would have already quit the game.

However, upon entering the game, the notion of "quitting" had disappeared from Blossoming Strokes' dictionary.

There was no way she was doing that. It was absolutely impossible! Even if the skeleton she played as and the zombie NPCs were so scary that they would give a child nightmares for weeks, she would never give up!

Despite being a super casual gamer who usually just admired the scenery while playing games, she was now determined to play this game hardcore until the end!

VR games were actually this amazing. Compared to PC games, consoles, arcades, and mobile games, none of them could even hold a candle to VR games!

Had she known earlier, she would have jumped headfirst into the world of VR games a long time ago!

While the three chatted idly while sweeping the streets, a notice popped up in the quest log after around 10 minutes, indicating that the task was complete.

"Told you guys a beginner quest wouldn't have us sweeping the streets for an hour. The developers wouldn't dare be that arbitrary even if the game has impressive hardware," said Give Me Medicine, feeling triumphant at his prediction.

"Looks like this game's quests are still within a normal range." Qin Guan also breathed a sigh of relief.

When creating his character, Qin Guan had already decided to make a video to spread the word. However, if the developer didn't prioritize player experience and the quest mechanics turned out to be a mess despite the impressive hardware, Qin Guan would definitely be criticized by his viewers.

The three of them returned to the zombie NPC, laughing and chatting, to complete the quest.

The zombie NPC collected the returned cleaning tools and, after a while, emerged from the run-down but surprisingly sturdy wooden house holding three sets of clothing.

The clothes consisted of a white short-sleeved T-shirt and cropped shorts with an elastic waistband.

Upon receiving the clothing, the three players felt perplexed.

"Am I mistaken, or are these outfits strangely familiar?" Give Me Medicine voice trembled as he unfolded the pullover and pants given by the NPC.

"You aren't mistaken.. These look like the sort of 3 for 10 yuan T-shirts you can get at discounted stalls near the market." Qin Guan's mouth twitched. "And these pants.. they're like the widely advertised one-size-fits-all cropped shorts that cost 5 yuan."

The three players fell silent.

"This is outrageous! Aren't we supposed to be in a world of swords and magic? Isn't this a world with an undead race??

"Giving us regular T-shirts and cropped shorts from the real world as beginner gear? Are they not afraid of hurting player immersion?!" Qin Guan spared no effort with his criticism.

"I can't believe it. Can't the developers allocate some effort and resources to create beginner gear that fits the game's setting?" Give Me Medicine exclaimed, both amused and perplexed at the same time. "Would it be that difficult to draw some clothing designs?"

In the control room back on Earth.

"It isn't cost-effective to customize specific styles," Yang Qiu muttered.

Since he had only disguised the magic plane as a game and couldn't actually turn it into one, the stuff used by players "in-game" couldn't magically appear out of thin air.

Rather than spending money and effort to order customized outfits from manufacturers, wouldn't it be practical to use inventory from clearance sales?

"Let it go, guys. It's all good as long as we can wear them," said casual player Blossoming Strokes, who wasn't too concerned about the impact on player immersion. She had put on the clothes as soon as she received them.

Qin Guan and Give Me Medicine, who cared more about the immersive experience, fell silent and followed suit in wearing the clothes.

It wasn't a big deal when everyone was just bare skeletons, but once someone started wearing clothes and they themselves didn't, the atmosphere became awkward..

Having experienced the unconventional style of beginner gear, the three players began to understand the game's unique and distinctive approach, even though they should have realized it earlier just by looking at the rudimentary official site that seemed to have been made with a lack of graphic designers or programmers.

But one thing was certain. The developers of this game, "OtherWorld," were ambitious people.

After giving out the beginner gear, the zombie NPC no longer interacted with the players. Qin Guan, enduring an urge to puke, approached it cautiously, but it seemed as though the NPC couldn't see the players. Thus, the trio had no other choice but to continue their free exploration of Exile Town.

Fortunately, the sly game designer didn't have any intention of hiding the NPCs and placed them in rather conspicuous locations. Just as the trio stepped out of the street they had just cleaned, they spotted another zombie NPC standing idle by a wall.

"That armor and that axe.. It's the NPC from the promotional video!" Qin Guan exclaimed excitedly and immediately went over.

When players were within a certain distance, the NPC, clad in tattered armor and wielding a massive battle axe, became active. Its helmeted face turned toward them, revealing a rather well-preserved and particularly hair-raising zombie face.

Qin Guan's initial excitement immediately faded away.

"Hey, compatriots," came the rough, hoarse voice of the zombie general that could most definitely portray the ultimate villain in a movie. "It seems like you've just awakened from eternal slumber. Would you be willing to help me with something?"

"Y-yes," Qin Guan squeaked, suppressing the urge to turn tail and flee.

This is just ridiculous.. The real thing is much scarier than on video! To think that this is a friendly NPC, f*cking unbelievable!

Give Me Medicine, also frightened by this zombie general, was muttering to himself in despair, "I will never curse Sylvanas again.. She's truly the most charming and perfect Undead queen.."

Blossoming Strokes, on the other hand.. had entirely disappeared behind Give Me Medicine with her head hung low, staring at her own bony feet with no intention of looking ahead.

This extremely unfriendly-looking zombie general issued them a quest of eliminating rats at a certain southern area of Exile Town.

The three who accepted the quest didn't immediately set out to complete it. Instead, they continued exploring the town and looking for other NPCs.

The three of them wandered around the streets and alleys near the spawn point, and collectively found about 10 distinctively rotten zombie NPCs.

Other than a few NPCs who ignored them, most of the zombie NPCs would give players quests, but they mainly tasks, such as [Repairing Houses], [Clearing Garbage], [Street Cleaning], [Collecting Firewood], and the like. historical

Thus, the three of them discussed and decided to start by completing the quest given by the zombie general. At least this quest involved eliminating rats, which sounded much better than miscellaneous tasks such as repairs or cleaning.

As per the quest information, the three of them arrived at the southernmost area of Exile Town. An area that had no intact wooden houses but ruins.

"This should be the place. Let's see where the rats are," Qin Guan said, first picking up a stick, then subsequently picking up a rock as well.

Seeing this, Give Me Medicine and Blossoming Strokes also looked for suitable rocks and sticks to use as weapons. They definitely didn't have the courage to stomp on rats with their feet.

Feeling adequately prepared, the three of them entered the ruins fearlessly.

Crack—

Qin Guan, who was in the lead, stepped on and broke a rotted wooden plank.

Qin Guan glanced down, paid no attention to it, and continued walking forward. Although he wasn't wearing any footwear, there wasn't flesh on his feet, so he felt neither pain nor discomfort.

Then.. Qin Guan, who had decent awareness, stared wide-eyed as a huge rat's head, the size of a soccer ball, emerged from behind a collapsed earthen wall.

The three players: "??"

Before the bewildered trio could react, the huge rat with glowing red eyes rushed out from behind the earthen wall.

"What the heck?!"

"F*ck!!"

"AHHHHH—!!"

"Tsk.." Yang Qiu, in the server room on Earth, couldn't bear to watch.

"Three level 0 rookies accepting a quest from the zombie general who clearly looks like a special NPC and immediately challenging the beginner village's mini boss.. Sigh, this kind of challenging quest requires patching and a level restriction added."