Chapter 35: Investigation Mission of the Mysterious Ancient Tomb

"Brother Suifeng, we hit the jackpot!"
I Want to Be Immortal said excitedly. He hadn't been entirely sure what the ghost servant would drop, if anything. In other games, this kind of quest monster usually didn't yield any good loot, dropping at most a quest item.
There really wasn't much hope for anything great.
However, in this game, fighting monsters in the wild was far too difficult, and there were only a handful of manageable monsters left in the village. Thus, even dropping some trash items would still count as a profit, right? Never had he expected that it would actually drop a valuable item.
He was instantly overjoyed.
Although it was just a quest item, having a quest meant there were rewards, and having a quest meant an opportunity had arrived.
When playing games, one shouldn't fear difficulties; what one truly feared was not even being given the chance to overcome those difficulties.
"Take it. This is what you've earned," Xiao Jie said.
At that moment, the hunter's wife suddenly spoke from the bed.
"Dear, what happened to me? I feel so weak all over, as if I've been asleep for years. Oh my, I'm so hungry. Could you get me something to eat?"
"Alright, alright, alright! What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you right now."
"I just want to eat the meat soup you stew."
Yang Baichuan excitedly went off to stew meat for his wife.
Watching this familiar scene unfold before him, Xiao Jie was slightly stunned. The NPCs in this game had always given him the feeling of living people.
Now, seeing yesterday's dialogue repeated verbatim, he felt an inexplicable sense of discord.
Fine, at the end of the day, this was still just a video game.
Once Yang Baichuan finished stewing the chicken soup for his wife, Xiao Jie was finally able to strike up a conversation.
"Master Yang, that evil specter has been eliminated, so your wife will be fine from now on. By the way, while eliminating the specter, my friend here picked up this item."
As soon as Xiao Jie finished speaking, I Want to Be Immortal hurriedly brought out the talisman and handed it to Yang Baichuan.
"Uncle Yang, please take a look. I picked this up just now when I struck down the evil specter."
"What? Such a thing actually exists? Let me have a look!"
Looking at the paper talisman, Yang Baichuan's expression suddenly turned grave.

"I've seen this symbol before!" He said, his gaze drifting off into memories of the past.
"That was three years ago. When I was hunting in the forest, I accidentally spotted a sneaky fellow digging up graves on the East Mountain. As a hunter of Ginkgo Village, it is naturally my duty to safeguard the village's safety. Seeing that person act suspiciously, I followed him all the way to an ancient tomb deep within the valley. The mysterious person hid inside the ancient tomb and vanished without a trace, and on the stone door of that tomb was a symbol just like this one.
However, it was already growing dark at the time, and flying solo, I wasn't sure what dangers might lurk inside the ancient tomb, so I didn't investigate further.
Originally, I planned to gather some men a few days later and return to investigate.
As it turned out, my wife fell ill the very next day. Over the past three years, I've been entirely occupied with finding medical treatment for her, and so I completely forgot about the matter. Oh my, seeing this item of yours has finally jogged my memory."

Hearing this, Xiao Jie thought to himself: Goodness gracious, this has triggered a major plotline!
Three years ago—wasn't that precisely when the game servers launched? This meant that no one had ever triggered this quest until now.
Guided by the principle that the harder a quest was to trigger, the higher the rewards would be, the subsequent content of this quest would definitely be lucrative.
He immediately chimed in, "Clearly, some secret is hidden within that ancient tomb, and it's quite possible that this ghost servant was sent by that mysterious person."
I Want to Be Immortal quickly echoed, "Yes, yes, yes! It must be so."
Upon hearing this, Yang Baichuan's expression also turned grim. "Damnable! If that truly is the case, I will not let that fellow off the hook!"
Yet, his expression immediately turned troubled again as he looked at I Want to Be Immortal. "Brave warrior, my wife has only just recovered, and I cannot leave her side at the moment. Would you be willing to help investigate this matter?"
I Want to Be Immortal accepted the quest right on the spot: "Leave this matter to me."
Simultaneously, Xiao Jie heard the system prompt.
[System Prompt: Your teammate has triggered the quest [Investigate the Mysterious Ancient Tomb] and has shared it with you. Do you accept? Yes/No.]
Xiao Jie decisively accepted, while Yeluo unexpectedly refused.
"Apologies, I have no interest in investigation quests, so I won't be participating."
Xiao Jie thought to himself: You've got to be kidding me, Big Sister, you're going to dodge such an obvious windfall?
"The rewards for this kind of quest are bound to be extremely generous. They're once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. If we form a party, we can look out for one another."
Yeluo shook her head. "Sorry, I have my own gaming habits and don't really like partying with others." With that, she stepped aside, maintaining an attitude of complete disinterest.
There was nothing Xiao Jie could do about it. The young woman had high perception and high level, which would certainly be useful for this kind of investigation quest, but she insisted on playing as a solo wolf.
Still, it didn't matter. This quest had no time limit; at worst, he could go grind monsters and level up with I Want to Be Immortal first, and tackle it once their levels were higher.

Just as they finished accepting the quest, Yang Baichuan seemed to suddenly remember something.
"Eliminating the evil specter this time was entirely thanks to the three—ah, two of you. Yang expresses his gratitude here."
Xiao Jie asked, "What about becoming a hunter?"
"Naturally, there's no problem. From now on, you are my disciples, and you can come to me for guidance at any time."
"Then Master, when will you teach us how to be a hunter?"
"There's no time like the present; let's do it today. Follow me." With that, he led the two of them out of the house.
Xiao Jie thought to himself that this game was indeed still a game. Although it behaved with extreme realism, at the end of the day, there were still rules to be followed.
Yesterday, when he hadn't completed the quest, Yang Baichuan was utterly unwilling to teach him, claiming he had to take care of his wife.
Today, the moment the quest was completed, he immediately stopped caring about his wife.
And just now, when giving out the investigation quest, he had made the excuse of needing to tend to his wife and being unable to leave the house—it was a masterclass in lateral double-talk.
Yet, because of this, Xiao Jie actually felt a sense of familiarity. He was far too accustomed to games operating according to such game logic.
In fact, if the game truly operated entirely on realistic logic, he might have found it somewhat uncomfortable.
While they were talking, the two of them followed Yang Baichuan to the backyard shooting range, while Yeluo hadn't left either, watching from a distance.

Yang Baichuan (Hunter): "To become an excellent hunter, the most important thing is archery. Today, I will teach you the techniques of using a bow and arrow.
The primary technique of archery is a steady hand. Only with a steady hand can you hit whatever you point at. If your hand is unsteady, your aim will be off, so once you draw the bow, you must release the arrow before your strength gives out.
The second is aiming. Archery looks simple, but learning how to aim is no easy task. When the arrow flies out, it does not travel in a straight line; it follows an arc, so you must judge its flight trajectory in advance.
The third is great strength. The stronger the bow, the more strength is required to draw it, and naturally a powerful bow makes for a fierce arrow. If you wish to hunt down ferocious beasts, you must possess great strength.
Come, try shooting a few arrows."

[System Prompt: You have learned Bow Weapon Mastery (Novice), and obtained temporary weapon [Training Bow] and [Training Arrow × 10].]