Chapter 4

Xia Xifeng blinked. The panic and fear he had forcibly suppressed due to transmigrating into a strange and dangerous world seemed to be soothed somewhat at this moment, even giving rise to a trace of excited anticipation.

This ripple of emotion was like just entering a blockbuster game. After enduring a difficult but brief tutorial phase, wearing ragged newbie gear and holding a worn wooden club and stone sword, you traverse an unremarkable winding path and arrive at a valley, where the view suddenly opens wide before you.

A leisurely background melody plays, mingling with the sounds of wind, laughter, and various noises full of the breath of life. The cutscene, panning from a panoramic bird’s-eye view to close-ups of NPCs, slowly unfolds, signaling the official beginning of the player’s adventure in another world.

“I’m honored,” Xia Xifeng responded with the same gesture.

Halfling etiquette—he had seen it countless times through the screen.

The little character on his screen had performed it countless times too.

In reality, Xia Xifeng didn’t do cosplay. He was just an ordinary gamer and had never made such a gesture.

But when the image of that little character surfaced in his mind, the ceremonial motion was executed correctly, though somewhat clumsy and stiff.

Qin Lang also responded to Leo in the same way.

He didn’t care about game lore; he’d skipped through all NPC dialogue. But when players accepted countless quests, those repeated motions—even if he hadn’t consciously memorized them—his body had unconsciously remembered.

Leo also gave a reaction they were very familiar with.

He used a brilliant smile and cheerful body language to express his delight at receiving the response: “You actually understand Halfling VIP etiquette?”

Xia Xifeng smiled: “We are traveling merchants, after all.”

Leo gave Xia Xifeng a thumbs-up: “You two will definitely have an impressive merchant caravan in the future.”

“Thanks for the good wishes.” Xia Xifeng pointed ahead. “Is that young lady someone you know? She’s been secretly watching you.”

Leo looked where Xia Xifeng pointed: “Oh, that’s my little sister. Roxie, what are you hiding behind the tree for?”

The Halfling girl who hadn’t hidden well jumped out from behind the tree trunk.

The young girl in a light green floral dress had a head of brilliant pale blond hair, braided into two long pigtails. The strands shimmered under the afterglow of the setting sun.

She lifted her fair, cute face, her azure blue eyes tinged with hesitation: “Brother? Is that Brother Leo?”

Leo spread his arms wide: “Of course it’s me. You’ve only been away two years and can’t recognize your own brother?”

Roxie dodged Leo’s arms and hid behind the comparatively taller figure of Xia Xifeng, relative to Halflings.

Leo: “…Roxie, I think even if you couldn’t recognize me, you shouldn’t be hiding behind a stranger.”

Roxie poked her little head out from behind Xia Xifeng and stuck out her tongue: “Dirty and smelly, no hugs for you. This tall person has the aura of a Sunflower Pendant on him, so he’s not a stranger.”

Xia Xifeng, who had been genuinely confused as to where his super-high affinity came from that he could attract a strange little girl’s trust, suddenly understood.

In the game, if a player reached Respected reputation with the Halfling race, they would receive a Sunflower accessory.

Now that the game world had become reality, did a player possessing a Sunflower accessory automatically achieve Respected reputation with the Halfling race?

If a game had an item that could directly boost a player’s faction favorability from 0 to Respected, it would at least be Legendary quality.

Oh, wait.

Game developers would never release such a bugged, gameplay-breaking item.

Only reality didn’t care about “balance.”

Xia Xifeng took the pendant out of his backpack: “Yes, I am Leo’s friend, Xia Xifeng. Just call me Feng. He’s Qin Lang, you can call him Lang. Pleased to meet you.”

Qin Lang forced the corners of his mouth to curve upward slightly to show his goodwill.

Roxie shuddered and moved to hide away from Qin Lang’s direction.

Leo reached out and grabbed Roxie, who had left the cover of Xia Xifeng, grinning ferociously as he gave his sister a bear hug: “You actually dare to despise your brother for being dirty? Take this!”

Roxie shrieked: “Let go!”

“Hahahaha, feel my beard attack!”

“Get lost!”

Xia Xifeng watched the siblings roughhouse without a care for onlookers and lightly nudged Qin Lang with his elbow, lowering his voice: “Leo’s hair couldn’t also be golden, right? I thought his hair was taupe.”

Qin Lang sized Leo up: “Mm.”

Xia Xifeng said: “I hope his hair really is taupe, or else how dirty must he be?”

He rubbed his arms. He’d thought he and Qin Lang, covered in dust and grime, were dirty enough.

Qin Lang took a step away.

Xia Xifeng: “What’s wrong? Am I so weak I can hurt you with this much force?”

Leo pounced over: “I heard all that!”

Xia Xifeng: “Ack!”

Leo scooped up a handful of dirt, jumped up, and smeared it on Xia Xifeng’s chest.

Qin Lang slowly walked over to the Halfling girl who was squatting on the ground cursing her brother and coldly watched Xia Xifeng and Leo “battle.”

“Brother is so childish.” Roxie looked up. “Thank you for being friends with my childish brother.”

Qin Lang said: “No need to thank me. Xia Xifeng and Leo have similar personalities. Their friendship is just right for them.”

Roxie burst out laughing.

She had initially been frightened by Qin Lang’s coldness and the scent of blood on him. Hearing Qin Lang respond to her words, she realized she had judged him by appearance.

Although Lang appeared aloof, he didn’t seem hard to get along with.

“Brother, stop roughhousing. You brought friends home—aren’t you going to throw a party?” Roxie stopped her childish brother.

Leo, who had jumped onto Xia Xifeng’s back and was choking him, shouted: “We ran into a pack of Hyena Wolves today, we’re exhausted. Rest today, party tomorrow.”

“Eek!” Roxie shrieked in fright. “That dangerous? Are you hurt?”

Leo hopped off Xia Xifeng’s back: “Almost a goner. Good thing I ran into Feng and Lang. Let’s go home.”

Roxie patted her chest and let out a sigh of relief.

Lifting the hem of her skirt, she formally expressed her thanks to Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang.

The Halflings who had been drawn to the valley entrance were all cheerfully watching Roxie, Leo, and Xia Xifeng roughhouse.

They, too, had sensed the aura of the Sunflower Pendant on Xia Xifeng and did not come over to question these two unfamiliar tall people setting foot in the valley. They treated them just like clansmen returning from a long journey, their gazes very gentle and familiar.

After hearing Leo’s words, they came over and successively expressed their gratitude to Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang, inviting them to be guests in their own homes.

“Hurry and find the Village Chief! Tomorrow we must hold a grand welcome party!”

“First thing tomorrow morning, I’m going into the city to buy wine. Who’s coming to the city with me? Let’s go together!”

“Me! Me!”

“I’ll drive the cart. It’s a good chance to sell some things too.”…

At the mention of a party, the Halflings danced with excitement.

The return of a traveling clansman only warranted a small affair, but the arrival of a friend bearing the Sunflower Pendant—that demanded a huge, elaborate celebration!

The Halflings’ enthusiasm was a bit overwhelming even for the naturally sociable Xia Xifeng.

Qin Lang’s mouth pressed back into a thin line.

Roxie suppressed a giggle and lightly kicked her brother, who was enjoying the spectacle, telling him to go rescue their friends from the tight encirclement.

Only then did Leo squeeze into the crowd and pull Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang out: “Chat tomorrow, chat tomorrow. We’re all very tired.”

The incredibly enthusiastic Halflings finally parted to make a path.

Xia Xifeng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Watching a group of Halflings bouncing around you through a screen, you’d only think the game’s optimization was good—so many NPCs onscreen at once without dropping frames. In reality, being warmly surrounded by a group of strangers, he himself was almost glitching out from awkwardness.

Xia Xifeng quietly chatted with Qin Lang through the system, once again complaining: 【I never imagined the Sunflower Pendant’s effect would be this powerful. We only met Leo today, and he already gave us such a valuable item. How can Halflings this naive possibly survive in the apocalypse?】

Qin Lang, somewhat annoyed by the noise, rarely responded to Xia Xifeng’s chatter: 【Perhaps because they trust each other completely and are very united.】

Xia Xifeng thought for a moment and agreed: 【True. Even when facing the greatest difficulties, Halflings who haven’t gone mad always trust their kin and always stand united. That really does make overcoming hardships easier. How lucky we are to run into Halflings right after transmigrating!】

Qin Lang thought the same.

That’s why, seeing a Halfling in danger, even without certainty of emerging unscathed, he immediately took the risk.

Xia Xifeng: 【I wonder what mysterious force threw us here. If That being can see our ‘future,’ the fact that we met a Halfling bearing the Sunflower Pendant right after transmigrating… perhaps That being holds no malice towards us.】

Qin Lang didn’t answer.

There was nothing to answer. Facing an existence with such mighty power, they could only hope the other party was benevolent.

Leo was unaware of the anxiety in his two new friends’ hearts.

He led his friends home. His parents had received word early and were already preparing a feast.

Though Halflings were short in stature, they loved building spacious, large houses.

They all possessed a fine artistic sense and adored bright, warm environments. Just as the game’s official positioning described them, the places they lived were filled with a cozy, fairy-tale-like charm.

The guest room Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang stayed in was considered spacious even for them. The large bed in the middle was big enough for two to sleep very comfortably.

If Halflings slept on it, they could roll around freely.

Leo’s family was quite wealthy. Every bedroom had its own attached bathroom, and the bathing facilities were all magical products—the bathwater could heat itself.

Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang took turns showering and changed into new clothes.

Xia Xifeng had practiced a few times along the way and could now use animal hides to make clothing.

When they left the bedroom, Leo had also finished his bath and shaved his beard, changing into comfortable, loose-fitting clothes.

Xia Xifeng almost didn’t recognize him: “Your hair is actually golden!”

Leo’s hair was even more dazzling than his sister Roxie’s. Even though the sky had darkened, his hair reflected a golden, sparkling radiance under the magic lamps.

Though Halflings were short, their body proportions were very well-balanced, like scaled-down dolls.

The cleaned-up Leo not only had brilliant golden hair but his once taupe skin had become fair. When his bright, smiling, jade-blue eyes looked towards Xia Xifeng, Xia Xifeng felt as if he were seeing a prince protagonist straight out of a fairy tale.

“I told you so earlier…” Leo said helplessly. “Was I really that dirty before?”

Xia Xifeng cheerfully teased Leo, while Roxie, hands on her hips, nodded continuously.

“Enough chatting, come eat the feast!”

Leo’s parents came out carrying a huge roast chicken to the dining room.

Xia Xifeng hurriedly pulled Qin Lang to help.

All kinds of grilled meats, stews, and fruits covered the long dining table. The aroma made Xia Xifeng’s stomach rumble like thunder.

Xia Xifeng blushed bright red.

Leo’s parents, however, were very pleased, believing Xia Xifeng’s rumbling stomach was the highest praise for their culinary skills.

The first day in this strange world—in the morning, Xia Xifeng had still been anxious about whether he could even survive; by evening, he had taken a hot bath, eaten a feast, and fallen asleep on a soft, spacious bed.

Leo’s parents, considerate of their exhaustion from the day’s events, didn’t pull them into long conversations.

After the meal, they thoughtfully urged Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang to go back to their room and sleep.

Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang lay side-by-side under the same blanket. Although their bodies were exhausted, sleep didn’t come easily.

Xia Xifeng: 【There’s no Sunflower Valley near Green Sand City, but the newbie dungeon is called Sun Valley Ruins, similar in name to Sunflower Valley.】

Qin Lang: 【Yeah. The Boss is the Halfling Evil God, Inson.】

Halflings were warm, cute, fairy-tale-like little people, always trustworthy—unless they went mad.

All game dungeons were “snippets” of game storyline events. The story of the Sun Valley Ruins dungeon was a historical snippet of the Halfling Inson slaughtering his hometown and ascending to become an Evil God.

Unfortunately, even after Inson became an Evil God, no Halflings were beguiled by him.

Halflings couldn’t become evil; they could only go mad. Inson hadn’t gone mad, but because Halflings were forever immune to his beguilement, he degenerated into a mad god.

The emergence of an evil god from among the Halflings, who could never fall into darkness, was one of the preludes to the apocalypse.

Unfortunately, the game’s historical records were vague and incomplete, and even if the chronicles specified a date, no lore-obsessed setting enthusiast player would memorize year numbers. Xia Xifeng didn’t know when Sun Valley would be destroyed.

Xia Xifeng: 【Forget it, let’s sleep. Doomsday is definitely still far off. Even if disaster is imminent, what can two small fry like us do against gods?】

Qin Lang thought the same.

The two were indeed too tired. Although utterly exhausted, they also fell asleep immediately.

Soon after Qin Lang fell asleep, he was kicked awake by Xia Xifeng.

He sat up. Under the faint moonlight filtering through the window, he watched coldly as Xia Xifeng, eyes tightly shut, flailed his limbs around.

Qin Lang recalled childhood memories.

The elders of the two families often took care of the kids together. He and Xia Xifeng frequently shared a bed in their childhood.

Xia Xifeng normally slept peacefully, but whenever he encountered something exciting during the day, he would inevitably perform vigorous calisthenics in his deep sleep at night—much like how some people snore when overly tired.

And during these times, Xia Xifeng would sleep extremely deeply and be very hard to wake. Even if woken, once he fell asleep again, he’d resume flopping like a fish out of water.

Qin Lang found the hemp rope Xia Xifeng had crafted while practicing his skills in his backpack and tied Xia Xifeng’s hands and feet together.

He tied them loosely. If Xia Xifeng woke up, by bringing his hands and feet together, he could easily slip free of the rope loops. But while asleep, Xia Xifeng wouldn’t be able to move wildly anymore.

Qin Lang pushed the bound Xia Xifeng into the corner of the bed, tucked the blanket neatly around him, and continued sleeping.

Clean, efficient, practiced, and very skilled.