“Do you want to keep going?” Han Ming glanced back at the three, his expression calm and indifferent, as though nothing had happened.
It was already evening. If they kept fighting, they could probably get these people to level ten in one go, but it might take until midnight.
“Mm... Maybe we should call it a day. It’s about dinnertime, anyway. Let’s head back to the human camp first.” Xue Yun had made up his mind: he had to befriend this young man. He was their one and only chance to change the course of their lives!
“That works. I should get this hair trimmed, too. It’s pretty embarrassing when people keep mistaking me for a girl.” Han Ming wasn’t in a hurry. He’d only returned to this world a day ago, and there was still a lot he didn’t know. He needed time to get used to it all.
The group turned back. Han Ming sat down near the building and marked the location so he could find it directly next time. Then, led by Xue Yun, he followed the others to the human camp.
The cities of the past were no longer fit to live in. A truly safe refuge needed defenses on every side. The so-called human camp was a level-two fortress that could hold up to a hundred thousand people. It had three gates, each equipped with two level-thirty-five fully automated magic cannons that could bombard any monsters entering the area. Their firepower was astonishing.
Besides the human guard force, all of whom were level ten or higher, there were also over a hundred mechanical guards that had been specially commissioned. Their levels ranged from ten to twenty-five.
The human camp’s trump cards were its two level-forty mechanical guardians. But activating them cost a huge amount of World Coins, so they wouldn’t be used lightly unless there was no other choice.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this setup was absolutely safe. Unfortunately, someone of Han Ming’s caliber could blow up ten fortresses like this with a single ultimate skill.
Only the defenses of the most powerful legendary fortresses could hold off a level-100 boss.
“Aside from the walls of solid copper and iron, it doesn’t look all that different from an ordinary city inside.” Even with the world turned into a game, the things that had existed in reality were still there: high-rises, electronics factories, food streets, and all kinds of places to shop and spend money. The only thing that stood apart was the Adventurers' Guild, an industry that had gradually emerged after the world became a game.
“Yeah. When you think about it, it’s only been a year, and the world’s already become like this.” Xue Yun sighed. He’d been an ordinary office worker. Then monsters attacked his city, and many of his bosses and colleagues were killed. He was one of the few who survived. But luckily, he’d met Mo Li—a glimmer of light in this dark world!
“Let’s get this mess of hair sorted out first, then go eat.” With Xue Yun leading the way, Han Ming found a barbershop. When he first walked in, the owner really did mistake him for a girl. It wasn’t until Han Ming spoke that the owner realized his mistake and apologized over and over.
“Just cut it to about the length an ordinary person would have. Thanks.” At Han Ming’s request, the barber trimmed his hair. It took half an hour to finish. Han Ming looked at himself in the mirror from every angle and was quite pleased with the style.
Han Ming’s new look made An'an’s heart flutter. His features were regular, handsome, and refined, though the dark circles beneath his eyes were quite pronounced. He looked very laid-back overall.
After paying, the group left the barbershop. “I didn’t expect the currency used in the real world to have become the coins monsters drop. No wonder you all reacted so strongly when those guys tried to force prices down earlier.”
If it were just game currency, having a little more or less wouldn’t matter much. It could only be used in the game. But now that it could be used for everything from meals to shopping, its value was another matter entirely.
Looking at the meager two hundred or so World Coins in his inventory, Han Ming was speechless. He never thought he’d see the day when he had to grind for money, too.
He also realized just how valuable the blue pistol they’d given him was. A level-twenty blue-grade weapon went for fifty thousand on the market—a fortune to these people.
Han Ming wasn’t the type to thank them outright. That would feel too sentimental. His style was to repay them with something of equal or greater value.
At the restaurant, An'an eagerly took the seat beside Han Ming and asked, “Brother Han Ming, what kind of food do you like?”
“Anything’s fine. I’m not picky. And you can just call me by my name—there’s no need to add ‘brother.’ It sounds way too chuuni!” Han Ming had wanted to complain about it from the start. Anyone would think they were filming a xianxia drama.
“How could I just call you by your name? I’ll call you Brother Ming, then.” Seeing how firm she was, Han Ming could only sigh helplessly. “Suit yourself.”
After a simple meal, Han Ming asked Xue Yun and the others to show him around the human camp. He wanted to get familiar with how the area was laid out.
Han Ming soon learned that this place had the same difficult problem people faced a year ago: buying a house!
Living inside a human camp let you continuously recover health and mana, and the higher the fortress level, the faster the recovery. It was a special effect you couldn’t get out in the wild. Having a place of your own in the camp came with plenty of conveniences; those without one could only rent a room at an inn and keep paying rent and lodging fees.
The Knife-Skull Gang had been a bunch of thugs made up of homeless people with no fortress to call home. Their greedy looting and price-gouging had been an attempt to scrape together enough money to build a level-one fortress of their own. After all, the wilderness was full of danger.
Even the cheapest house in this human camp cost a hundred thousand World Coins. Only then did Han Ming realize that the weapon he had was worth half a house. How much would rare purple gear or epic orange gear cost, then? The price had to be through the roof!
But so far, nobody in this human camp owned any purple gear. Even when a wealthy buyer offered the sky-high price of five hundred thousand, there was still no response.
Only experienced players like Han Ming understood the reason behind it. Purple gear only dropped from monsters and bosses level thirty or higher, while orange epic gear only dropped from monsters and bosses level sixty or higher.
The highest-level humans in this camp were only level twenty-two or twenty-three. How could they possibly take on a level-thirty boss? This was the real world, after all. There were no resurrection stones for sale. If you died, you were really dead!
For the same reason, the usual practice of taking on bosses above your level in games had changed. Now, people wouldn’t dare challenge one unless they were at least the same level. Without a sure chance of winning, they could easily throw their lives away for nothing.
So far, the only boss above level thirty Han Ming had seen in the ruined city was the Man-Eating Flower Queen. He could already see a chance to make a fortune!
