Ten out of ten.

Tragic!

Everything that happened today could only be described with that one word: tragic!

The only silver lining was that the rain had finally stopped. In the final half-hour before nightfall, the glow of the setting sun finally touched the island.

Zhongyuan Yidianhong returned at dusk, soaked through. After emerging from the Bat Cave, he had gone straight to the mountain pool behind the camp to bathe, silent and expressionless.

He spent quite a long time in that pool...

Chu Liuxiang and Zhang San were sensible enough to tacitly avoid bringing up the matter.

However, they all truly needed to bathe. Having drifted in the ocean for so long, their bodies and hair felt as if they were coated in layers of salt, though under the pressure of survival, this had been the least of their concerns. Now that the shelter on the leeward slope was taking shape and fresh water was no longer an issue, personal hygiene had naturally become critical.

Chu Liuxiang and Zhang San had always been close; they had the kind of friendship where they could soak in bathhouses together. But as for Zhongyuan Yidianhong...

Chu Liuxiang suspected that if he tried to join him for a soak, their fragile cooperative relationship would shatter instantly—the man might even gift him eight or ten blood-filled holes in his body for his trouble!

Chu Liuxiang rubbed his own nose. His nose served no practical purpose, but he certainly didn't want to add two more holes to his body just for breathing.

In short, the day passed in a flurry of chaos. By evening, all three men had washed, feeling clean and refreshed. They had also washed their outer garments and hung them on bamboo poles over the campfire to dry, filling the air with the long-lost scent of cleanliness.

Besides fish, they needed to eat something else. The woods were full of broad banana leaves. "Rain hitting banana leaves" was a classic poetic image, but in the context of surviving on a desert island, such elegance was meaningless.

The unromantic Zhongyuan Yidianhong had brought back many banana stems. The hearts of the banana stems were edible, though they required roasting over a fire to be palatable. They weren't exactly delicious; they were merely a means to stave off hunger.

The assassin roasted the banana hearts with a blank expression.

Jiuli knelt upright opposite him, staring with great solemnity at the banana heart in his hands.

Assassin: "............"

When the heart was roasted, the assassin didn't even lift his eyes, simply tossing it in front of Jiuli.

[Yidianhong] gifted [Roasted Banana Heart] to [Jiuli]!

[Roasted Banana Heart: Warm, with a hint of subtle sweetness.]

[Roasted Banana Heart: +50 Stamina, +33 Health.]

It really was a cooked dish!

Compared to raw food, cooked items restored more stamina and health, making them a much more cost-effective choice. However, the player’s Level 1 small bamboo hut lacked a kitchen, and her starting recipes did not include [Outdoor Cooking Tools].

Fortunately, after the three NPCs settled into the Divine Water Palace Farm, they quickly started a fire, and the player had watched the entire process.

- Should I say something?
A. Say nothing.
B. Coach, I want to learn how to make a fire!

Choosing B without hesitation!

Chu Liuxiang: "............"
Yidianhong: "............"
Zhang San: "............"

Chu Liuxiang asked in surprise, "Jiuli, you don't know how to make a fire?"

Jiuli nodded with complete honesty.

Zhang San gasped, blurting out, "Good heavens, how have you survived? How do you eat your food normally?"

Player: "?"
These NPCs asked far too many prying questions.

It seemed she didn't have to answer, as there were no plot cues or dialogue options; the player had free control over her character. But she was suddenly curious: would eating in front of the NPCs trigger a special dialogue?

The silver-haired girl stared blankly at Zhang San, her green, glass-like eyes so empty that he could only see his own reflection. Zhang San was starting to feel unnerved...

Suddenly, with lightning speed, Jiuli plucked a Golden Camellia from the wreath on her head and tossed it into her mouth!

In the next second, her throat moved, and the flower vanished completely.

Zhang San: "?"
Chu Liuxiang: "?"
Yidianhong... Yidianhong didn't seem interested in the activity of watching someone eat; he had already wandered off somewhere.

Question mark bubbles appeared over both pixelated characters' heads.

The player thought for a moment and took the anchovy she had caught earlier from her inventory.

[Eat the anchovy?]
→ [Yes]
[No]

She chose yes without hesitation.

Jiuli tossed the small anchovy high into the air, then—gulp!

In the next second, the anchovy vanished.

Zhang San: "!"
Chu Liuxiang: "!"

Exclamation mark bubbles finally appeared over the heads of the two NPC pixel characters, and their portraits shifted to expressions of extreme shock.

Chu Liuxiang: "Jiuli, spit it out!"
Jiuli: "............"

Jiuli stood as poised as a pine tree, motionless.

Chu Liuxiang: "...You didn't already swallow it, did you?!"
Jiuli nodded.

Chu Liuxiang: "............"

Chu Liuxiang was at a loss for words. "You... ah, forget it. Come here, I'll teach you how to make a fire..."

Chu Liuxiang: "You can make fire by drilling wood... but rubbing sticks with your hands is a poor method; you'll only get blisters without getting a flame. Don't do that. You only need to twist some tree bark into a rope and make a fire bow; that saves effort... Use tinder to catch the flame, and make sure it doesn't get even a drop of water on it..."

[Learned Recipe: Outdoor Cooking Tools]
[Outdoor Cooking Tools: Wood x2; Tree Bark x1; Tinder x1]
[Outdoor Cooking Tools: Allows you to cook food anywhere.]

And just like that, Jiuli acquired the new recipe, evolving from a primitive human to one who could harness fire.

It was just then that Yidianhong returned, carrying a pile of banana hearts.

Chu Liuxiang had given a recipe, so what about Yidianhong?

Jiuli: *Stare...*
Jiuli: *Stare............*

The black-clad pixel character’s hands continued their work, but the ellipsis bubble floating above his head betrayed his speechless mood.

"Whoosh!" A banana stem, roasted charred black on the outside, flew from the black-clad figure’s hand and landed beside Jiuli. The banana hearts had a high water content, and after being roasted, they became soft and easily bent.

The player stared at the roasted banana heart, looking thoughtful...

In that case...

Jiuli tried to use the roasted banana heart as a frame to weave a wreath...

Yidianhong: "............"
Yidianhong: "???"

The assassin’s look finally changed—indescribable, hesitant... The assassin was usually a straightforward man; he had probably never looked at anyone with such a complicated expression in his life...

Jiuli sheepishly put down the banana heart.

Damn! It didn't work!

A Spring Wreath required twelve spring flowers and one wooden branch. Jiuli had thought, since a roasted banana stem is a stalk, why wouldn't it count as a "wooden branch"? Isn't a roasted wooden branch still a wooden branch?

But the system didn't recognize it... because the roasted banana heart was categorized as a cooked dish.

Fine... She had hoped that if it worked, she could have a high-value health-restoring item on her head.

Whatever, might as well eat it.

Since she had chopped quite a few trees today, she could use a bit of stamina recovery to go night fishing at the beach.

Jiuli ate the roasted banana heart and set off toward the beach with her fishing rod, leaving the assassin behind, who continued to stare at her retreating back with an even stranger, more complex look...

...Did she just eat the roasted banana heart in one bite?
...Without even chewing?

The assassin frowned, unable to make sense of it no matter how he tried.

***

After the NPCs moved into the Divine Water Palace Farm, Jiuli’s farming life became even more comfortable and cozy.

Because now, she had automatic watering!

This wasn't because the NPCs had gifted the player a recipe for an automatic sprinkler—it would be too bizarre for NPCs in a wuxia world to provide such a thing. It was because the NPCs would proactively water the player’s vegetable patches!

On the second day after the NPCs moved in, Jiuli, still a hardworking emperor of labor, jumped out of bed at six in the morning and rushed out to fetch water with her bamboo bucket.

At that moment, someone was already standing in the courtyard.

The black-clad pixel character, maintaining his usual pose with arms crossed over his sword—it was the cold and ruthless Snow White, Zhongyuan Yidianhong himself!

Seeing Jiuli jumping around, an ellipsis appeared over the black-clad figure’s head.

You really are the King of Ellipses!

Then, a cold sweat bubble representing awkwardness appeared.

Snow White, what exactly are you feeling awkward about? The player silently mused.

Pixel Jiuli observed him sideways, very casually, with quick, darting glances.

In the next second, the black-clad pixel figure flew across the screen, performed an aerial flip, and landed steadily in front of pixel Jiuli. He snatched the bamboo bucket from her hand and began watering the plots one by one.

After watering, he left the bucket by the edge of the pond and walked away without a word.

Player: "?"
Player: "!"

Ah!
So the NPCs functioned as automatic sprinklers!

She had been wondering how a wuxia background could fit with modern automatic sprinklers... It turned out the author had anticipated this issue and made appropriate adjustments to the game.

So that’s it! So that’s it!

Wait... if that’s the case, if she wanted to expand her planting scale later and develop fully automated large-scale farming, wouldn't she need a lot of NPCs? Did this depend on favorability?

Considering this was a wuxia setting and not a romance game, the social system shouldn't be that massive.

Jiuli guessed that eventually, she might need to master peerless martial arts to catch slaves to serve as automatic sprinklers, with each slave automatically watering eight surrounding plots per day!

If they were master-level Iridium slaves, they could automatically water 24 surrounding plots per day!

Uh... that sounded a lot like a sweatshop... or rather, a sweat-farm?

Eh, never mind, let’s leave it at that.

So, what should she do today?

Ah, Yidianhong had watered all the plots. It seemed one high-favorability NPC could water 18 plots.

Decided!

She would go to the back mountain now to continue gathering wild taro and cassava, process them into tubers, and plant them to expand the farm’s scale!

Chu Liuxiang and Zhang San couldn't be wasted!

Jiuli: *I want them all.jpg*

Thinking this, the player steered her pixel character into the back mountain.

However, after gathering only a few pieces of wild taro, she encountered Yidianhong in the back mountain.

Yidianhong was striding toward the edge of the map, looking around as he walked, as if observing the surrounding environment.

Hmm? What was he doing?

Jiuli followed him nonchalantly.

An ellipsis bubble appeared over the black-clad pixel figure’s head again.

But that was as far as his reaction went; he didn't turn around to scold her for following him, probably too lazy to bother.

Jiuli followed Yidianhong all the way out... and actually walked beyond the boundary of the map.

Ah... so this unlocked a new explorable area.

The game had a map function. The player had previously opened the map to see a bird's-eye view of the entire Bat Island, but except for the back mountain, the farm, and the beach, everything else was black, representing unexplored territory.

Now, with the automatic watering system taking shape, a new area had opened up.

The player felt excited.

Jiuli continued to follow Yidianhong.

The geography of the new map was similar to the back mountain, another stretch of jungle. Following a path, she spotted a river, its banks covered in smooth pebbles. This place was called [Pebble Riverbank].

Yidianhong’s movements suddenly paused.

He flashed behind a large, thick tree trunk. At the same time, he reached back, grabbed Jiuli, and pulled her behind the tree as well.

Because there were people on the pebble riverbank.

A pixel campfire was burning on the riverbank, with four men in black sitting around it. Something that looked like a roasted chicken was cooking over the fire, and various miscellaneous items were scattered about.

Ah, so that’s it!

The player understood.

It was a camp!

Camps of this style were common in *The Legend of Zelda*. This was where the combat system would come into play. Players could gain combat enhancements, swap weapons, and collect supplies by clearing out mobs in camps.

It was a gameplay style that fit the wuxia background even better!

...It felt like it had completely turned into a new game.

It was hard to imagine an author creating such a super-subversive DLC and giving it away for free... Were they a Bodhisattva? They really must be a Bodhisattva, right?

The player only mused on this for a second before shifting her focus back to the game.

She had no weapons... Although a stone axe should work, those mobs were all carrying swords and blades.

No matter how you looked at it, using a stone axe against swords seemed absurd; the damage would probably be like "scraping" against them.

But with Yidianhong by her side... hmm, perhaps this was a combat tutorial?

...Who would have thought *Stardew Valley* would need a combat tutorial?

The player waited patiently for a while. Yidianhong stood just as patiently, not moving.

The black-clad pixel character tilted his head—oh, he was eavesdropping.

Dialogue bubbles popped up over the heads of the mobs sitting by the campfire.

[Damn it... Raining every single day. Haven't been on patrol for more than a few days, and my clothes are already moldy!]
[It’s not even the rainy season, why is it raining every day? Bad luck, everyone was hoping to go out on patrol, why am I the unlucky one!]
[Wang Laoliu, the money you spent on Young Master Ding was wasted... Haha, did you know? Wang Laoliu paid Young Master Ding a full twenty taels of silver just to get out on patrol early!]
[...Try mocking me again, and see what happens!]

So much dialogue...

The idle time was a bit long...

Ah! That’s it!

Closer to their side, there was a large rock, and behind that rock was a trash heap!

A trash heap!

Of course, there wouldn't be metal trash cans in a wuxia game... that would be too luxurious. So trash would appear in the form of a pile, but its essence remained the same.

—It was the player’s free cafeteria!

Trash heaps dropped random good items!

But... if an NPC saw her rummaging through trash, favorability would drop.

Jiuli looked at Yidianhong. His eyes were fixed tightly on the four mobs in the distance.

The trash heap was in the other direction... judging by the distance, she should be able to avoid being seen by the NPC.

Whatever! It’s a waste not to scavenge!

Jiuli’s presence suddenly became calm.

She held her breath, her gaze locked onto something.

She moved without making a sound, as agile as a forest deer, darting quickly behind the large rock, and then... began cautiously rummaging through the trash heap!

Yidianhong: "............"
Yidianhong: ".........?"

The assassin’s expression became indescribable, hesitant once more...