The wind blew across the grass, scattering a shower of morning dew. To those walking among the grass roots, it was like a light drizzle.
"Brother Jiang, what did you find today?"
As Xiao Jiang walked back empty-handed, people passing through the bushes asked him questions, but Xiao Jiang just weakly shook his head.
"Shall we search together?"—A figure slid down the long blades of grass, leaving behind a drop of dew. The dew poured directly onto him, soaking him completely. The person sneezed, then chuckled. On his head was a flower, like a hat.
"I...cough cough." Jiang opened his mouth and then coughed.
Jiang was leaning on a blade of grass, with a leaf the size of an umbrella clinging to it for shelter from the rain. His face was pale, and he coughed occasionally. Against the backdrop of the thick green grass around him, he looked even smaller and more pitiful.
"Oh dear, when will you ever fully recover from this?" The person looked at him with pity and handed him a small insect the size of his palm. "Here, have some to play with."
The tiny, palm-sized worm was white and hairless, with eyes like black beans—it was actually kind of cute. Jiang shook his head, refusing.
"I'm leaving now, I haven't found my portion for today yet."
The man grabbed a smooth blade of grass, nimbly climbed up, and quickly disappeared into the top of the leaf.
'Jiang' continued walking forward.
The soil was damp, with clear footprints. He parted two blades of grass and followed the footprints to find his way.
Looking up, the sky was incredibly distant, a vast expanse of vibrant blue. The grasses that were once trampled underfoot were now as tall as the trees. And the trees, in turn, were as tall as skyscrapers.
This is the first time I've felt so profoundly how insignificant I am.
This is a world devoid of modern technology, not even a feudal society. There are no houses, no paved roads, no orderly farmland, and no domesticated livestock.
Looking up and around, all I saw were half-wild men, dressed in burlap clothes, barefoot, and with disheveled hair, leaping and gliding on the grass, chasing after seeds that looked like dandelions, or looking down and searching for something.
They seem to be subjects of the Land of Thumb, growing up inside walnut shells and befriending field mice.
Compared to the others' slovenliness, 'Jiang' was slightly better off. His hair was clean and tied up, he wore a pair of cloth shoes, and his linen clothes seemed cleaner than the others'.
"Jiang looks like one of those adults, tall and with fair skin, but unfortunately he isn't."
He heard the voices of those people talking as they searched for something in a patch of thorny grass.
A moment later, someone shouted, "My clothes are stuck!"
"My hair is stuck together too."
"Don't break these leaves, the sap will be hard to wash off."
It turns out that the sap flowing from this thorny plant seems to have a strong adhesive property.
He continued walking, pushing aside blades of grass with his hands. The world was filled with desolate wilderness, a sense of wildness even greater than his own wasteland, making humans feel exceptionally small within it.
Walking into a shady spot, he looked up and saw a towering tower reaching into the clouds at the edge of his vision, beneath a giant tree that connected heaven and earth.
The tower appears as a smooth cone from the outside, with regular ventilation openings appearing from the center upwards.
The shape looks familiar, like those anthills.
"A communal building?" He continued walking towards the tower, following the footprints he had left behind.
The tower was too far away, and the road was too difficult to walk. He walked for almost half an hour, during which he was hit by dew and grass leaves several times, before finally finding a very narrow entrance under the black tower, with the words "03" written on it.
This is strange. Isn't this a semi-primitive society? How can there be such digital symbols that only a civilization that has developed to a certain level can produce?
He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he still went inside.
Inside was an underground nest, like a hollowed-out tree trunk, surrounded by countless small caves layered upon each other. It was somewhat stuffy and damp.
The room wasn't sealed; there were many small openings in the walls for ventilation and light, and some luminous, moss-like things in the corners. After his eyes adjusted for a while, he could see the environment inside clearly.
Both the ground and the caves appear to be made of a special kind of clay, which feels rough and hard to the touch.
"Ant nest, cough cough cough." He murmured the two words, accompanied by a low cough.
One of the players is a murderer. Find him, or survive seven days.
[Identity: Player.]
[Character: Worker/Commoner]
[Character Mission: Annihilation.]
[Keywords: ant nest.]
[9]
A nine-player game, the first clue: ant nest.
'Jiang', which is Ren Yifei, looked up at the layers of caves and thought that they really did have some meaning.
The character's mission is destruction, but it's unclear whether it's preventing destruction, causing destruction, or destroying what. Ren Yifei is still completely baffled, having not yet seen the resume.
"Ouch." I hadn't felt anything while walking, but now that I've suddenly stopped, I feel a burning sensation on the soles of my feet. Based on past experience, I'm probably getting blisters.
And just now, the road had been covered with various grasses and leaves, leaving many red scratches on the exposed skin, which stung painfully.
Jiang is a person of this era and has long adapted to this environment, so it can only be Ren Yifei's own fault.
The upgraded tactile experience was a disaster for him; Ren Yifei had never felt so frustrated. He had finally transformed himself from someone with delicate skin to his current appearance, and now it was all back to square one.
Although his senses are indeed more acute now, he can react more quickly if there is danger.
The nest—layer upon layer—was filled with small openings; there were no signs of facilities like a communal kitchen, bathroom, or toilet. Could it be that they relieved themselves in the wild?
He took out a wooden plaque from his body, which had a string of strange symbols on it.
He didn't know what these scribbled symbols were before, nor did he think of them as Arabic numerals. But now, comparing the numbers, it became clear: 03319.
The first two numbers are the house number, and the last three should be the cave number.
He quickly found the character's cave, which was on the third floor. He went up the large sloping staircase and walked along the corridor on the third floor. Jiang's cave was in the middle, with the entrance covered by dried bark and leaves.
He lifted the bark curtain and saw inside. He had expected it to be dark, but to his surprise, there was a bunch of glowing plants inside, so although there were no windows, it wasn't dark at all.
Inside the cave, there was a bed, two boxes on the floor, a table and a stool next to it, and a shelf on the other side displaying clay animals, all shaped like insects.
The small cave was packed full, with almost no room for anyone to stand.
Ren Yifei went in, closed the door, and sat on the earthen bed.
He opened his eyes to find himself in a dense thicket of grass, the grass taller than a person, covered in sharp thorns with serrated edges, looking like something not to be trifled with.
Then he saw people all around him, dressed in rags and emaciated, walking back and forth through the gaps in the grass. He thought he had entered some kind of primitive land of little people.
Jiang didn't have many personal belongings. After rummaging through his belongings, he finally found a similar linen robe, only more tattered, along with some rough-style pottery and woodenware.
He even found a brittle, yellowed piece of paper, not made from artificial paper, but from leaves like papyrus, covered with dense writing.
Those are simplified Chinese characters that have been continuously revised; they could never appear in this era.
Its origin, like the numbers at the entrance, is quite mysterious.
This world is abnormal in many ways, but in any case, finding a place to live and not having to sleep in the wild instantly reduces the survival crisis by half.
After a moment, Ren Yifei took off his shoes and looked closely—sure enough, he had two blisters.
He found a bone needle in a drawer. Unable to sterilize it, he simply wiped it and punctured the blister, letting the pus drain out.
Lying on this bed made of mud, Ren Yifei prepared to sort out the current situation.
First of all, the people here are relatively small compared to the rest of the world, probably about the same size as insects in the original world.
Furthermore, the living standards of ordinary people should remain at the level of primitive or semi-primitive societies, but they have already begun to master the wisdom of this era—numbers and writing.
Secondly, while he was in the wild, he didn't see anyone searching for food. There was no searching for plant fruits or hunting and fishing, and not even farmland.
Occasionally, you'd see someone return beaming with joy, not with food in their hands, but with something black.
So, where does the food come from? Where do the clothes we wear come from?
Third, their dwelling was a structure resembling an anthill, piled high in a cone shape. This is also highly illogical. Such a tall tower would require specific building materials and structural features; it couldn't have been built haphazardly.
The question is, who made this thing? And why is it shaped like this?
Everything here is unusual, especially strange.
Unable to find a clue, Ren Yifei opened the resume and skimmed through it in the dim light of the room.
He Jiang was identified as a worker at birth. After he turned three, he came out of the nursery and came here to the lowest level of the nest, where he was marked with a number.
The workers started working at the age of three. The young children spent half the morning studying and the other half the afternoon cleaning.
In order to better serve the community, they need to learn the most basic words and numbers.
As they get older, they can stop studying and start taking on more challenging jobs. These could include making pottery or woodworking, repairing nests, being a primary caregiver, or working as a nursery caretaker…
He Jiang had excellent grades; he had an amazing talent for studying. However, because of his social class, he could only complete the most basic level of education and was not allowed to continue.
Here, knowledge, like some other things, is monopolized by the upper class.
That's fine, he's already learned to read, and he can secretly find some books to read.
The best way to read more books and learn more knowledge is to become a tutor's assistant who teaches the cubs, but for some reason, he, who had the best grades, was sent out to do the most dangerous job - collecting supplies.
Every day he goes out to search for something special, a cube-shaped, black object. All the people wandering around searching have the same job: looking for black cubes.
No one knows where the cubes came from, only that they would be scattered in large quantities after a while, and then they would have to search for them.
These cubes will be collected and processed uniformly.
As long as he completes his daily tasks, he will receive clothes, daily necessities, and other items from above. If he collects a lot of cubes, he can also get some extra things, such as medicine and other useful tools.
The system implemented here is a hierarchical unified management system, somewhat like the old days of the "iron rice bowl".
Food is provided uniformly for all workers in the lair; everyone receives the same amount, neither more nor less. However, this is contingent on completing one's assigned task.
If Ren Yifei returns empty-handed like today, and this happens a few more times, he will be judged as 'incapable of working' and will be driven out of the nest to fend for himself.
It's dangerous outside; going out means certain death.
"So what is the social system of this world?" Ren Yifei asked again, puzzled.
No one can answer this.
Aside from that, He Jiang had no other special identity or experience; he was just an ordinary, sickly laborer. At most, he earned some respect because he often helped others.
On his way here, he passed a pond and saw what he looked like now.
Compared to her previous roles, 'Jiang' appears somewhat sickly, with bluish under-eyes and occasional coughs. She is a tall, slender beauty, like a lamp wick that would be extinguished with a breath.
He could have become a teacher, but he didn't; this was one of the very few unexpected things in Jiang's life.
This small accident changed Jiang's life.
He wanted to know why, despite having the best grades, he was assigned the most tiring job. He later found out it was an order from higher-ups.
"He should not be allowed to come into contact with books anymore; workers and civilians do not need to know that much."
Jiang was very clever, too clever for his own good. He didn't know what a monopoly was, but he knew that it was something that completely blocked the future of those below him.
He felt suffocated and in pain, as if something was oppressing him. At this moment, a thought that could be considered outrageous began to sprout in Jiang's mind.
After reading the introduction, Ren Yifei finally understood what his role's mission was: to overthrow the existing hierarchical system.
"The dungeon is messing with me again."
Author's Note: Thumb Fei: ...It's driving my acting compulsion crazy.