Minecraft: Is this still the Minecraft I used to play?

Chapter 4: The Players' Gathering Place?

After some time, Shi Qian arrived near the target location.

But to his surprise, this time the target was not a single person.

Because on the hillside not far away, there were several wooden houses that looked like matchboxes, with a few workbenches and furnaces scattered outside.

This doesn't look like the size of an individual player; it's most likely a small group.

Upon closer reflection, Shi Qian understood why this time it wasn't a single target.

His mission has been upgraded; he now needs to kill 1000 players, and he has also acquired three new skills.

Going to fight solo players would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

It's not that lone wolf players are necessarily bad, but now they're facing multiple opponents.

This target is probably a practice round for a newcomer, chosen based on his current skill level.

He killed hundreds of monsters underground, almost making him vomit.

At least he has some operational capability; otherwise, asking him to fight a group of players with one hand would be pure suicide.

Shi Qian observed the small settlement and, based on the number of houses and workbenches, could roughly estimate that there were between 5 and 8 people there.

"It's alright, we should be able to win."

The system shop really does sell everything. While waiting for monsters in the mine, Shi Qian did some research and discovered that he could buy weapons.

However, the price of that item was too much for Shi Qian to bear. After unlocking three skills he liked, he gritted his teeth and exchanged them for a stone sword.

Upon receiving it, I discovered that its durability was only five points.

It's gotten to the point where it's beyond words.

Shi Qian waited a while longer, and after confirming that there were no other players nearby, he quietly crept over.

He hid behind a house to observe the situation in the camp.

He's now thinking about switching to vertical walking; that skill would be really useful for reconnaissance.

"Boss, I've found iron!"

A player emerged from the camp and headed straight for the house where Shi Qian was hiding.

Fortunately, he went inside and didn't go around to the back, otherwise he would definitely have found Shi Qian.

"Where did that person come from? Do they have mining tunnels leading underground here?"

Shi Qian felt he needed to reassess the number of players in this camp.

"It looks like they've just found the iron ore."

"That player is very excited; it feels like they've just begun their development."

This suggests that they certainly had very little, or even none, iron equipment and items.

"Can fight!"

Shi Qian dug down to the bottom of the house and confirmed that there were only two voices inside.

Once a good location is found, start digging.

"Boss! What's under your feet!"

"What--"

The player known as the "boss" fell down before he could finish speaking.

"who are you?"

Shi Qian ignored his questions and first punched him, putting him in a poisoned state. Before he could react, he immediately laid down a spider web to trap him.

The player who found the iron ore was also stunned, and it took him two seconds to go forward and check the situation.

As a result, he bumped head-on into Shi Qian, who was building the structure, and the debris that had fallen behind him.

"You! You killed my boss!"

The players then realized that the unknown person in front of them was no good and was probably after their supplies.

They immediately drew their wooden swords and confronted each other.

"Huh? A wooden sword?"

Shi Qian almost burst out laughing when he saw how nervous but vigilant the player looked.

I punched him and threw a spider web at him, to let him experience what his boss felt like.

He leisurely stood behind the player, threw a punch every now and then, and killed the player without taking any damage.

They didn't even use the remaining four points of the stone sword's durability.

"They could clearly mine iron ore, so why don't they make stone swords?"

Shi Qian thought about it again and again but still couldn't figure it out.

Iron ore requires at least a stone pickaxe to mine, and they have furnaces.

This at least proves that they had stones and stone tools to mine iron ore.

Moreover, since they already have wooden swords, they must know the recipe for stone swords, so why don't they make stone swords?

It's understandable that the player accidentally picked up the wrong item.

But the key point is that his boss also pulled out a wooden sword.

You can't exactly name the target something like "[Player Party Using Only Wooden Swords]", can you?

Shi Qian really didn't understand.

However, he felt that things were not so simple, and that it was very likely a problem with the world.

Another day of wanting to kill someone—

After dealing with the two players, Shi Qian didn't rush to leave.

Instead, just like in the mine tunnels, they first "buried" the player's belongings and restored the room.

Then they went out through the tunnel they had just dug in, sealing the entrance behind them.

If all the players in this camp act this way, then there's nothing to worry about.

His two skills are off cooldown; it's time to begin the hunt.

However, we still can't just rush in head-on, since he has no protective gear and a few punches from one person could kill him.

Although the camp looked like it had 5 to 8 people, Shi Qian had only seen these two so far.

It's possible that these two have a penchant for building tiny, dilapidated houses, perhaps even more than they could live in.

However, since the system hasn't indicated that the task is complete yet, there must still be people here.

Shi Qian searched all the houses on the ground, lost three hearts, killed two people, and then found no one else.

"It seems there really is no one left on the ground, so it can only be..."

Shi Qian turned his gaze to the tunnel in the middle of the camp.

That's where that miner crawled up.

If there are still people here, they must all be mining down below.

"The underground situation is unclear, and the roads are in single-cell spaces, making it easy to run into people directly."

After thinking for a moment, Shi Qian decided to wait on the ground for a while longer, and only go down if no one came up.

As a result, while waiting, the grass around me, which was originally one block tall, grew to two blocks.

Shi Qian shook his head to clear his mind.

"We still have to go down."

The stone sword only has a little durability left. If there are many people below, I estimate I will have a hard time holding them off.

Although these players all have levels and give more energy, it's still not enough.

Shi Qian stretched his legs and feet, then prepared to continue walking.

After only a few spaces down, they heard a sound coming from around the corner ahead.

"...It really is quite a coincidence."

Shi Qian silently retreated again, blocking the view and listening for any movement.

"I don't know if the guy the boss mentioned offline is gone or not. He killed several of our people, and I want to get revenge on him."

"They should have left by now... After all, so much time has passed. They probably came for the supplies, and once they've looted everything, they'll likely run away."

"I hope he's really gone. I finally leveled up and unlocked the stone sword recipe. I was hoping to use him as a test subject."

There were only two people talking inside, so there probably weren't any more people.

Moreover, their conversation did clear up Shi Qian's doubts.

The words "level up" and "unlock stone sword recipe" made Shi Qian instantly understand what was going on.

It seems this world is full of unscrupulous merchants.

Shi Qian originally thought that he was the only one who needed to kill people and creatures to exchange for things, but now it seems that the players in this world are the same.

However, it's simpler for players because they can gain experience points not only by killing monsters but also by mining.

But Shi Qian still felt it was a huge rip-off.

When will it be necessary to unlock crafting recipes in Minecraft?

But now is not the time to think about these things, because the player said he unlocked the stone sword recipe, which means that Shi Qian needs to use his stone sword with some durability to fight two players, one of whom has a stone sword with full durability.

It doesn't look like a good match at all.

Furthermore, it's unclear whether anyone is waiting for support below them in the mine tunnels...

Shi Qian began frantically browsing through the system's shop, looking for everything he could afford.

Until suddenly an object came into his field of vision.

"Have it!"

...