Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Stud is a kind of wisdom.

The province is the province, the flowers are the flowers.

If this were a normal farm game, then the higher the value of the plant, the higher the profit.

At the same time, the faster the snowball rolls.

In addition, he has always had a lot of points, which he has hardly spent. He also just got 4 small longevity pills, so he doesn't have to worry about his lifespan for a while and it's more than enough for him.

Without hesitation, he immediately exchanged for three tomato seeds and planted them.

Charging for watering is a bit excessive.

He chose a high-quality spring that costs 3 points to water once, giving him enough leverage to snowball his success in the early stages.

Even if it's bad, it shouldn't be enough to make him lose money, right?

"What crop are you planning to grow?" Iwasaki sent Yui a private message.

“One of each, do you have any suggestions?” Yui replied.

This is the safest and most rational choice.

It allows you to observe the growth cycle and value of different crops at once, which can help you determine how to plant them in the future to maximize profits.

Iwasaki wasn't 100% sure that doing this would maximize his profits, so there was an element of gambling involved. Naturally, he wouldn't ask Yui to do the same.

After planting the seeds, there seemed to be nothing else to do, so Iwasaki decided to explore the area.

Especially that lighthouse.

After he told Yui, she told him to wait a moment, then went to his farmland and tried to wield a hoe to till the plot he had just planted.

Click.

Yui froze in place as a line of red text appeared before her eyes.

[First Warning: Do not destroy living crops]

“Some rules in Peach Blossom Village are not explicitly stated.” Yui breathed a sigh of relief, her body stiffening for a few seconds before her movements slowly returned to normal as she put away the hoe.

"Can't we damage the crops? Then does that mean we can't damage the trees either?" Iwasaki guessed, glancing at the lighthouse. "They mentioned the acting village chief earlier; perhaps he knows more about the rules."

Yui and Iwasaki walked together toward the lighthouse.

Taki and Uesugi walked ahead of them. After entering, they did not immediately choose a plot of land, but headed straight for the most conspicuous lighthouse.

"Uh, is the village chief home?"

Uesugi came down from the lighthouse and saw several farmlands covered with green tomatoes that looked like they were about to ripen.

There were still obvious signs of life around, so Uesugi guessed that the acting village chief mentioned in the game lived here.

It's unclear whether this village chief is an NPC or something similar to the players.

After waiting for a few seconds, there was no response at all.

"Was he sleeping at night?"

Muramasa Taki looked at the sky; it must be late at night.

It is indeed impolite to disturb others at night. In some games that pay attention to details, NPCs also need to sleep at night, and they will get angry if they are woken up.

Just as they were preparing to leave and return at dawn, the door creaked open.

"Hey!"

A fox dressed as a peasant woman emerged from the lighthouse.

Uesugi couldn't help but rub his eyes.

Strange, has it been too long since I've been online? Even the fox I see looks handsome.

Why is its fur so mixed colors? Is it a mixed breed?

"Who are you to the village chief?" Taki asked, staring at the open door. He didn't think that the fox in front of him was the so-called acting village chief.

"Hey!"

Sanhua was unhappy.

The acting village chief is standing right in front of you, you short-sighted fool.

Uesugi's eyebrows twitched, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Are you the acting village chief?"

The three flowers nodded proudly.

This is ridiculous! The village chief isn't even human.

However, considering that this is a game, it doesn't seem so unacceptable.

Iwasaki followed behind the two, observing silently without saying a word.

With a soft swish, the three tomato plants in the field ripened one after another, turning from green to a bright red ripe state, with a shimmering golden light all around.

Sanhua immediately forgot about these clueless players and raced against time, as if she had three heads and six arms, harvesting and loosening the soil at the same time, then throwing down seeds and watering, as if afraid of wasting a single second.

Do village chiefs work this hard at farming?

Chapter 265: Guild System

Watching the fox village chief frantically working in the fields like a wound-up toy, Uesugi and Taki looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Village chief?" Uesugi Hitomi called out tentatively.

"Busy!"

Without even raising its head, Sanhua's claws moved so fast they were just blurry. Having just harvested the tomatoes, it loosened the soil, planted seeds, and watered them all in one go, as if being a second slower would mean missing out on a fortune.

It couldn't help but feel nervous, as the harvest of these crops was not only related to its performance, but also to its status in the heart of its master, Dongshan Shen.

It dared not forget how its fur had become so mixed colors!

Coupled with his own personality of liking power, he naturally tried his best to climb the ranks.

“Village Chief, we’d like to learn more about the rules from you.” Muramasa Takii stepped forward, his voice tinged with helplessness. “Could you tell us how long the maturation cycle is for different crops? And how are the profits calculated?”

"Waaah! (Of course, the more expensive ones are more valuable, but cheap ones have their advantages too, like quick harvests. Anyway, hurry up and plant them, and bring them to me for inspection after you've harvested them.)"

Sanhua managed to respond with a few words while her claws continued to move.

It has been cultivating the fields here for a month, and has gained some experience.

Currently, there are only three types of crops. Generally speaking, the more expensive the seeds, the longer the growth cycle, and the higher the quality of the water used for irrigation, the higher the points and contribution value obtained from the harvest.

Sanhua, who was guided by Dongshan Shen's orders and was determined to implement them, was preparing to squeeze every last penny out of the villagers' players' harvest.

It certainly hopes to provide the highest value crops it can, which is also related to its performance.

Having just finished tending to the three fields, it began waving its paws excitedly, whimpering as it pointed to the land where the seeds had just been planted, and then towards the lighthouse, its movements vigorous.

However, players cannot understand its fox language.

"Is it expressing a chronological order? Judging from the frequency of the claw waving, it seems to refer to the growth cycles of different crops?"

Uesugi tilted his head: "It seemed to point to the place where it was planted, and then to the lighthouse. What does that mean?"

"Village chief, can we communicate by writing?" Iwasaki, who had been observing for a while, asked.

Sanhua's movements froze instantly, and her whimpering stopped abruptly.

It had never learned to write and was illiterate.

A feeling of shame and annoyance welled up inside it, and it snorted in dissatisfaction. It turned around, strode back to the lighthouse, and slammed the door shut, leaving the players standing there.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, their gazes instinctively turning to Iwasaki.

“It seems the village chief is illiterate.” Iwasaki showed no remorse, however, the village chief’s actions themselves were information, and his strategy was correct.

Tomatoes are probably the most profitable crop right now. Didn't you see that even the village chief, who takes his fields so seriously, is growing tomatoes?

This information is quite valuable; it wasn't a wasted trip.

It's a bit of a shame that Yui has already planted the seeds, and the crops can't be destroyed, so they can only wait for the harvest.

However, Yui only has 60 points, so she planted only tomatoes and then had trouble even watering them.

Planting one crop of each now leaves you with 15 points. Using the cheapest river water to irrigate them, it can last for 5 days, which is already quite risky.

If she waters the plants more than once a day, she won't last three days.

[Peach Blossom Village Announcement: With nine players, a new area, "Pine Forest," will be opened. Trees in the forest can be felled without wasting resources.]

A patch of fog on the notebook map dissipated, revealing a forest.

"A logging permit? Is this to encourage us to build houses?" Uesugi speculated, this being the only main use she could think of for the moment.

"Maybe."

Takii wasn't quite sure.

This game definitely feels completely different from other games; it's entirely devoid of the atmosphere of fighting and killing.

As a player, the game naturally takes priority; real-world matters can be put aside for the time being, and the tasks within the game must be completed.

A group of players who had finished cultivating their land picked up axes and headed towards the pine forest to start chopping down trees.

Chopping down trees is easy; apart from a few players who have little combat ability, other players can chop down trees all day without getting tired.

The problem is that not all players know how to build houses.

In particular, this game does not have a blueprint system that can automatically generate buildings based on materials.

However, this doesn't stump players with initiative. If they don't have a blueprint, they can quit the game and search for tutorials online, although it's a shame that it takes a long time and the finished product isn't perfect.

Yui is a player whose physical attack methods are rather weak, and she doesn't even have any bonuses to stamina, so she puts all her points into spirit.

This is also an important reason why she chose Iwasaki as her teammate. Her own body is too fragile and she has no means of defense, so she needs a strong teammate.

All night long, until dawn, Iwasaki helped her chop wood and build a house, while she wandered around the map, occasionally digging in the dirt, squatting on the ground in a daze, or licking something.

"Is this all you got for one night?"

Iwasaki looked at the pile of inconspicuous crumbs that Yui had packed back and asked.

Yui nodded and picked up one of the slightly larger fragments.

Although the fragments are small, upon close examination under sunlight, subtle artificial textures can be discerned.

“These are remnants of some kind of metal,” she rubbed them carefully. “I’ve tasted them; the fragments all have a similar texture, so they might be weapons.”

Iwasaki didn't dwell on why she could taste it.

Weapons, huh?

He looked around at the pastoral scenery with a thoughtful expression.

"So, Peach Blossom Village is actually an ancient battlefield?"

As expected, the game was not so simple. It also contained puzzles waiting for them to solve, but the answers would only be gradually revealed after a sufficient number of players and the amount of crops they contributed.

Yui casually buried the wreckage at her feet: "If that's the case, this must be just a very remote part of the battlefield, otherwise we wouldn't be unable to find even a relatively intact weapon."

Iwasaki shook his head, dismissing Yui's guess: "It makes no sense for weapons to turn into fragments, even in a border battlefield. It's more likely that some mechanism in this place accelerates the corrosion of metal."

Yui simply said "oh" and didn't argue.

To confirm whether his idea was correct, Iwasaki even used his points to redeem a hoe, then buried it in the ground to see if Peach Blossom Village would really accelerate the erosion of metal, just as he had guessed.

It was already several hours into the day, and it was close to noon. After observing the condition of the planted plants, Iwasaki prepared to continue building the house.

In reality, he could easily have used a clone doll to get by.

Right now, the most important thing is the game content. He has already decided that before the first batch of crops grows, he will live in Peach Blossom Village, except for necessary physiological needs.

Anyway, Tokyo is still a mess in reality, so his true form can just find any empty house to live in for a while.

"Hao."

A voice interrupted his work. Ethan, dressed in samurai armor and carrying a hoe, walked over to greet him casually.

Iwasaki stopped what he was doing. He knew that this guy always had a purpose in doing things and wouldn't come over just to say hello for no reason.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the direction of his land. Its location was rather ambiguous, maintaining a certain distance from the land where Nobi and the others were gathered, but closer to his side.