A house by the bridge, in a room on the second floor.
A young girl sat intently at a table, painting.
Stroke by stroke, she sketched the flowing lines of an anime girl's body onto the paper.
As the girl added the final stroke.
"Yosh, finished. So tired."
"Time to eat."
The girl stretched comfortably, rising from the floor and shuffling to the room's door.
At the door, she didn't open it directly. Instead, she leaned carefully against it, pressing her ear to the wood to listen for any sounds outside.
Once she confirmed there was no movement, the girl swiftly opened the door.
A meal tray was placed on the floor outside. The food on the tray was still warm.
It seemed to have been reheated.
The girl expertly brought the tray in and then closed the door.
Opening the door, grabbing the food, closing the door – it was all done in one fluid motion, a clear sign she'd done it countless times before.
Returning to her desk, the girl picked up the note placed on the tray.
"What do you want to eat tonight? Remember to write it down and leave it on the tray."
"Anything is fine as long as it's not carrots and is light."
The girl wrote her reply on the back of the note, then clasped her hands together.
"I'm starting my meal."
...
After eating her fill, the girl sat at her desk, a look of contentment on her face.
"So satisfying... Nī-san's cooking keeps getting better."
She placed the cleaned tray aside.
The girl picked up the drawing she'd finished before eating, along with several other drawings she had completed previously.
Without exception, they were all of beautiful girls, with just a tiny bit of cleavage showing.
However, despite how well each of these drawings was executed, they shared one common flaw.
That flaw was... these beautiful girls were a bit... poor. They couldn't afford airplanes from airport shops.
Not just this drawing, she had drawn many more, each one well-done but very impoverished.
This point also made the girl quite frustrated.
"Hmm... no art resources... how am I supposed to draw large breasts... If only I had a model."
The girl pouted and murmured, her gaze flicking to the game helmet resting on her bed.
Recalling the game's introduction, her expression became complex.
After a moment of silence, she took a deep breath, as if making a difficult decision.
"If there are many people, you can log out, and you can change your appearance. This way... little sisters, hehe..."
One minute later, the girl lay on her bed, the game helmet on her head.
...
At 4:30 PM, in the wilderness west of the first-level starting town.
Ling Feng supported himself with his knees, gasping for breath. He glanced back in the direction he came from.
The city guards were no longer in sight.
Relieved, Ling Feng slumped to the ground, cursing the city guards under his breath.
"Hoo... damn it, chasing me all afternoon, was it necessary?"
"I didn't rob anyone, didn't kill anyone, and for some red name, they chased me for dozens of blocks."
After resting for a while and recovering most of his stamina, Ling Feng stood up and looked around.
"Where am I now?"
Ling Feng looked at the unfamiliar grassland with a bewildered expression. He had been chased here by the city guards.
When fleeing, he hadn't paid any attention to direction.
This had resulted in him running around the city for over an hour, playing a game of cat and mouse with the city guards.
He only managed to escape the starting town by blundering about.
"Huh? Wild boars!"
Ling Feng spotted two or three wild boars milling around on a patch of grass in the distance.
But he had no equipment on him right now. What should he do?
He couldn't possibly have a one-on-one man-to-man duel with a wild boar, could he?
But he didn't have a weapon.
As for robbing someone else's weapon?
The system had a feature for automatic weapon retrieval, so there was no need to worry about equipment being stolen or lost.
Ling Feng, frustrated, kicked a stone.
Wait...
A stone?!
He recalled a scene from the first episode of Sword Art Online. It seemed like sword skills could be used without cold weapons.
Ling Feng picked up a stone from the ground, closed his eyes, and recalled Kirito's movements when using sword skills.
He paused, then made a throwing motion.
At the same time, the stone in his hand emitted a red light, indicating the skill had been successfully cast.
"Bang!"
A whistling sound pierced the air.
Ling Feng threw the stone, generating a sonic boom-like projectile effect.
The stone, like a shooting star, slammed violently into the ground.
[Congratulations on learning the sword skill 'Dart Throw']
"Nice, good, let's pick up some more stones."
After the experiment was successful and he had learned a skill, Ling Feng excitedly crouched down and began collecting pebbles. This gave him a means of attack.
Ten minutes later, Ling Feng looked at the hundreds of pebbles in his inventory with some hesitation.
He felt like he didn't have enough firepower.
"Only a few hundred stones, should I pick up more? I still feel like it's not enough."
"Never mind, I'll kill these few wild boars first, then collect more."
Ling Feng smiled and walked towards the three wild boars not far away.
"Hmph hmph."
A wild boar, leisurely circling on the grass, suddenly looked around, as if sensing something ominous.
But it was just a wild monster, it didn't have that many thoughts.
After a while.
"Wuhu, takeoff!"
"Hey, can't hit me, mad?"
"Hey, I dodge, I dodge, I dodge again, you guys are just too weak."
"Look at my serpentine movement."
Ling Feng was being chased by three ferocious wild boars, but he was enjoying himself.
While running and dodging, he constantly provoked them.
His hands also didn't stop, continuously "throwing" stones at the wild boars.
If his targets were players, they would have been furious at Ling Feng's annoying demeanor.
Ling Feng had completely let loose, living in the moment and prioritizing happiness.
Soon, the three wild boars were easily dealt with by Ling Feng's kite-like tactics, without him taking any damage.
Of course, it wasn't that he feared the wild boars; their clumsy charges were easy for him to dodge.
It was as simple as an adult playing with a child.
[EXP+72 (+18)]
Well, well.
Killing three wild boars gave him less experience than someone killing one wild boar.
One wild boar gave 24 experience points; he had to kill four to equal one for someone else.
The road to revolution is not yet complete, comrades must continue to strive.
Xin!
Four flashes of light flickered in the distance. Four wild boars spawned and ambled into Ling Feng's field of vision.
Seeing this, Ling Feng's lips curved into a smile. He ran towards the four wild boars, shouting.
"Hey! Boy! Want some lunch?"
[EXP+96 (24)]
"Hey! Brother, look, I'm unarmed. Come on, if you dare, kill me!"
[EXP+48 (12)]
"Brother Wolf, calm down, don't do anything rash. Look, there are so many of you... no, wolves... one by one... hehehe, don't rush, there's enough for everyone."
[EXP+120 (30)]
That afternoon, the grassland was strewn with "corpses," and the culprit was the "unarmed" human demon.