"There's really not a single bug left for me."

Wang Linchi looked at his zeroed level; the only equipment left on him were his main weapon, the Kirin Pen, and his secondary weapon, the Kirin Fan. As for the rest of his gear, it had all been unequipped and stored in his inventory.

His Experience, converted into real power, was instantly wiped clean.

Luckily, the game had a modesty feature: characters without equipment would only display their default profession's appearance, preventing any embarrassing nudity.

Next, I should raid a dungeon and level up, Wang Linchi thought, casually putting on all of his Level 1 equipment.

When selling gear previously, he had set aside Scholar Profession equipment for Level 1 and Level 5.

As for Level 10, that was his Qilin Set.

Mounting his horse, his randomly assigned pet accompanying him, Wang Linchi planned to raid a dungeon to level up.

The starter pets came in three types: tiger cub, lion cub, and baby elephant. Wang Linchi had randomly received a tiger cub. Not only were its attributes poor, but its only Skill was a claw attack that inflicted damage and had a 10% chance of causing the enemy to bleed.

It couldn't benefit from Wang Linchi's enhancements, such as the crucial amplifications from the Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum Cards and the Jade Cards, nor could it gain the Four Gentlemen Wine's amplification.

At the entrance to the City of Simplicity lay the dungeon portal. Players wanting to enter a dungeon would come to the city gate and make their selection.

Wang Linchi's arrival didn't attract any attention. Everyone was either hurriedly entering a dungeon or had just emerged from one.

As for recruiting players for a dungeon raid, that mostly happened within the city, where teams were already formed. Few would come to the dungeon entrance to shout for members.

Wang Linchi selected a Level 10 dungeon and quickly found one that he quite fancied.

Mystery of Nanling Village... it's more of a puzzle-solving dungeon, Wang Linchi mused while searching for a synopsis on the forum, choosing to view only the Abyss Difficulty information.

There are two routes?

The dungeon's objective was to either seal or kill the Evil Demon at the bottom of the village.

It had to be completed within three days. As time passed, the villagers would be affected by the Evil Demon's influence, becoming possessed one by one.

This was a fairly easy dungeon. Quite a few Players had completed the sealing, received their settlement, and achieved a pseudo-victory.

The reason it was a pseudo-victory was that while Players could enter the exchange interface to trade for items, the Abyss Crystals obtained were very few, and there was no real victory reward—not even a first-clear reward.

Though called a victory, it was, in reality, a failure; they were just allowed to save some face.

To truly claim victory, one had to kill the Evil Demon that was about to break free from beneath the village.

As for any other path to victory, one could basically forget it.

Precisely because of the pseudo-victory option, it had become a popular spot for many Players to farm Abyss Crystals. A quick run could be completed in an hour.

This was much faster than other dungeons.

Therefore, most of the content on the forums consisted of walkthroughs for achieving a pseudo-victory.

Without hesitation, Wang Linchi chose Abyss Difficulty and entered the Mystery of Nanling Village.

No one ridiculed or looked down on him; who would know what dungeon he entered or what difficulty he chose? Such information was private. God-given World would never announce it, as there was no need.

Upon entering, Wang Linchi appeared at the village entrance.

This environment is much better than the Black Wind Stronghold, he thought.

Back in the Black Wind Stronghold, the overall atmosphere had been very oppressive, but here in South Ridge Village, it was sunny, and the air was fresh.

"Young man? What are you here for?" a man resting at the village entrance asked.

"I came to…" Wang Linchi was thinking about how to explain. There were relevant guides on the forum, but with so many, they could easily influence his approach. His goal wasn't a pseudo-victory, but to defeat the Evil Demon.

"Wait, you bear some resemblance to someone from back then…" the man mused, seemingly to himself.

"Ah, you misunderstand. I came to fulfill a promise," Wang Linchi replied.

"A promise? What promise?" The other party was stunned, unsure what he meant.

"This is something I need to discuss with the village chief; I can't tell you." Naturally, Wang Linchi wouldn't foolishly spill everything.

He did not plan to follow the identity-based strategies from the forum but intended to take a different path.

If he was to kill the Evil Demon, he definitely needed to be well-prepared. Just like the Black Wind Stronghold, South Ridge Village also had something similar that could help.

Wang Linchi couldn't help but sigh; it's truly beneficial when there are many Players, as they can figure out everything in a dungeon instance.

Especially as time went on, various strategies would become more comprehensive.

The reason no one had truly cleared it yet was because the subterranean Evil Demon was too strong, far beyond what current Players could handle. They could only use the dungeon to farm Abyss Crystals.

"There, that's the village chief's house. You can go by yourself," the person said, pointing the way for Wang Linchi.

Wang Linchi nodded slightly and started walking.

After he knocked, the door was opened by a man in his fifties, who looked surprised to see Wang Linchi.

"Who are you?" As the village chief of the small South Ridge Village, he knew everyone. The sudden appearance of a stranger naturally prompted him to ask.

"My ancestors left instructions that I should come to South Ridge Village this year to suppress the Evil Demon. They said the time has come, and the seal on the Evil Demon is about to shatter," Wang Linchi stated frankly.

That was correct; Wang Linchi was pretending to be the descendant of the person who had suppressed the Evil Demon years ago.

"Evil Demon? What Evil Demon?" The village chief was completely baffled. Their village enjoyed peace and prosperity. Where could there possibly be an Evil Demon?

"You mean such an important matter wasn't passed down in your village!" Wang Linchi feigned astonishment.

Indeed, it hadn't been passed down. As for why the tradition had been interrupted, even Wang Linchi wasn't sure. No one had investigated, as most Players were focused on speed-running the dungeon for rewards.

"No, it wasn't. You're not deceiving me, are you?"

"Young man, if you're short on travel money, I can give you some. Don't resort to such unscrupulous tricks," the village chief said, his face full of suspicion, clearly doubting Wang Linchi was a scammer.

It was a normal reaction. After all, if someone suddenly appeared claiming a world-ending Demon King was sealed near your home, you'd also think they were crazy.

"Why don't you check the village's ancestral hall? Perhaps there's some information there," Wang Linchi suggested, raising an eyebrow.

Indeed, information about the Evil Demon was in the ancestral hall; this was something Players had discovered, so Wang Linchi could use it as leverage.

"Go away, stop causing trouble! As if I wouldn't know what's in the ancestral hall." Upon hearing this, the village chief's expression darkened. As village chief, no one had spent more time in the ancestral hall than he had. Wang Linchi's words, therefore, rather annoyed him.

It was essentially a roundabout way of calling him ignorant.

"Fine then, I'll be leaving," Wang Linchi said, not pressing further. "By the way, the seal has already started to leak. Within three days, the entire village will likely be consumed by the Evil Demon. If possible, it's best to arrange for an evacuation."

This situation was like wooing an aloof goddess; fawning over them wouldn't work.

So Wang Linchi intended for them to seek his help instead; otherwise, how could they cooperate with his subsequent plans?

Then, he took out a piece of gold. "However, according to the agreement, I must retrieve my ancestor's belongings. Consider this payment for the storage costs over the years."

"Your ancestor's belongings? What are they? Don't tell me it's the land deed to the village," the village chief said, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the gold in Wang Linchi's hand.

"No, it's a Bronze Coin Sword, about so big..."

Wang Linchi gave a brief description, and the village chief instantly recognized it as the Magic Sword hanging at the entrance of their ancestral hall. The item was indeed worthless; it had been hanging there for a long time, ever since he was a child.

But at this point, his initial enthusiasm for the gold vanished. What if what Wang Linchi said was true?

Of course, I should get the gold first, he resolved.

"This is our village's Mansion-guarding Magic Sword! We can't give it away, we just can't!" the village chief exclaimed, hoping to bargain for a higher price.

"That's fine." Wang Linchi retrieved the gold and said, "I'll wait in the nearby town for three days. When you're all dead in three days, I'll come back to collect it. I'll consider the service of burying you all as payment for its safekeeping."

Wang Linchi had guessed that showing the gold would make the other party want more; this was precisely to set up his pronouncement of their deaths within three days.

Watching Wang Linchi turn to leave, the village chief was taken aback. He had never expected Wang Linchi to be so decisive.

"Wait! We can discuss this, we can definitely discuss this!"

"You said there's an Evil Demon beneath our South Ridge Village, and the evidence is in our ancestral hall, right? How about we go and take a look?"

"And we can check out our village's Mansion-guarding Magic Sword while we're at it," the village chief hurriedly said, stopping Wang Linchi. That Bronze Coin Sword was useless to keep anyway. It would be much better to exchange it for gold, which was far more practical.

"Sure, but I will only give you an hour at most." He certainly couldn't just walk away. If he did, how would he obtain the Abyss Crystals?