Chapter 891: What's Wrong With an Adventurer Opening a Chest?

"There are too many side quests! My brain is on overload!"

After leaving Manichaeism, the newbie village, the game entered its first map scene: Zhuge Yu's hometown, Changkong Village.

Unlike the Manichaeism on the mountain, Changkong Village was much larger.

And there were many more side quests in the game.

Even back in Manichaeism, Zhang Yi had already noticed that the game had a lot of side quests.

Many inadvertently discovered items were useful and, like Matryoshka dolls, were linked one after another.

For example, at the beginning of the journey up the mountain, a wooden barricade encountered along the way required players to find a bottle of朽木剂 (rotting wood agent) to corrode the barricade before they could successfully break through it.

Generally, this rotting wood agent should only be used to corrode wooden barricades and would not be of much use later. However, this agent was actually related to a common side quest.

He was stuck for a long time until he saw other people's conversations in his game group to figure it out.

Upon arriving at Changkong Village, the larger map meant even more side quests.

Almost every area had one or two side quests, and more importantly, these side quests were not that easy to solve.

Ordinary RPG games like Final Fantasy series or Xenoblade Chronicles typically have side quests that simply involve defeating a few small monsters or finding certain items and people.

In Fate Seeker, while the beginning and end were similar, the process itself was not so simple. The entire process leaned more towards a detective, reasoning, and puzzle-solving gameplay style.

This required players to activate their Palace of Thought and use their clever little brains to figure out how to complete the side quests.

Coincidentally, many of these quests offered quite generous rewards. Some provided martial arts and mental techniques, while others gave elixirs that increased skill points in the game.

To put it importantly, you could still complete the game's main story without these. However, the crucial point for many players was that becoming stronger in the game was highly addictive.

If it were just a common piece of equipment, a relatively useless medicine, or silver, many players wouldn't pay too much attention. But martial arts and mental techniques, along with moves that increased skill points, health, and internal energy, were completely different.

It's like how players approach Souls-like games like Elden Ring: after completing the first playthrough, some players might find the Royal Capital sewers too grim and bother-some to explore in their second playthrough, or deem the path to unlock the Valkyrie too tedious. Or they might skip optional BOSSes if possible. But an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, for example, would be a must-have.

One could say the side quests in Fate Seeker were similar; if you triggered them and didn't complete them, you'd feel like something was missing.

In addition, Fate Seeker also featured many mini-games, and Chen Xu had added more gameplay compared to the original version. For instance, in gambling games, besides various casinos, there were also Cuju, board and card games, coin tossing, and cricket fighting.

Of course, Zhang Yi didn't even want to glance at these gambling games in the game.

On one hand, he was a very positive person who always stood firmly against gambling and drugs. He could never tolerate these two major harms. Although it was in a game, his will was quite firm – not even in a game!

On the other hand, his luck was always terrible. Even though Fate Seeker was a single-player game, these gambling games weren't about comparing stats or attributes; they relied entirely on probability, or what was called pure luck. He was quite confident in his own luck; why play a mini-game he knew he would lose?

Of course, besides these luck-based mini-games, there were also projects in the game that truly required players to use their intellect: the traditional Chinese entertainment of Go. But he didn't know how to play!

Side quests were frustrating, he couldn't stand gambling and drugs, and now he couldn't play this Go mini-game either. The game was good, but his intelligence was getting annihilated!

As he sighed, a voice invitation suddenly popped up.

"Old Song, why did you call me?" Zhang Yi asked, puzzled.

"Where are you in the game? Have you reached Kaifeng Prefecture? I just finished a female protagonist's quest, but I saw in the game group that I seemed to have chosen the wrong option, didn't successfully romance her, and my cloud saves were overwritten!" Song Ren's depressed voice came through the voice channel.

"I just finished the main quest in Jingnan Posthouse and arrived at Kaifeng City. If you want it, I'll send you my save file." Zhang Yi said, then opened his save location, copied a file, and sent it over.

"But why are you progressing so fast? Haven't you done any side quests? These side quests are incredibly difficult, and there's even a Go mini-game that I can't find a guide for!" Zhang Yi said with some frustration.

Side quests were okay; with enough thought, he could usually get through them. But this Go game, he was truly powerless.

"I haven't explored all the side quests, I skipped some. As for Go, it's very simple!" Song Ren's voice in the voice channel suddenly became triumphant.

"Simple? You passed it? Send me the Go puzzle guide." Zhang Yi was a little surprised.

He didn't want to look up guides for side quests, but for Go, he really had no choice.

"Guide? I'm too lazy to look. I write my own. What's so hard about Go?" Song Ren hummed a few times in the voice channel.

"You know how to play Go?" Zhang Yi asked, somewhat suspiciously. If it was a normal game, he could use Go software to play. But these were all endgame puzzles; how could he play?

"I know nothing! I can't figure out the moves with many steps, but for the puzzles with one or two steps, or two or three steps, can't you just try them one by one? You'll always find the right steps." Song Ren chuckled.

Listening to Song Ren's words in the voice channel, Zhang Yi in the game fell into a moment of silence. Exhaustive search for a Go mini-game? You really are something!

Hanging up the call, Zhang Yi decided against the exhaustive search method and temporarily put down the mini-game. Although Song Ren's answer suggested the Go mini-game's rewards were abundant, it was too time-consuming and laborious.

As someone completely ignorant of Go, he chose to wait until a text or video guide became available, then copy the answers. Temporarily putting the Go mini-game aside, Zhang Yi continued to push forward with the game's main story.

He finally saw the game's first city: Kaifeng Prefecture.

The bustling marketplace, the瓦肆 (theater district) with storytellers and performers, the meat market with people coming and going—even though it was just a location in the game and certainly not a 1:1 scale replica of reality, Zhang Yi was incredibly moved by the sight. Especially the market outside the Imperial Palace, which was extraordinarily prosperous and lively with people coming and going.

It also reminded Zhang Yi of the descriptions in A Record of Dream in the Eastern Capital:

Outside Donghua Gate, the marketplace was at its most flourishing... All food and drink, seasonal fruits and flowers, fish, shrimp, turtles, crabs, quail, rabbit jerky, gold and jade treasures, clothing – nothing was mundane, everything was a wonder of the world.

Later, Hangzhou was equally prosperous.

"Go back and see Bao Zheng? No, not yet. I'll explore Hangzhou first." After just solving the first case, Zhang Yi looked at the main quest in the game and chose not to immediately seek out Bao Zheng.

Instead, he planned to wander through the streets and alleys first, as this was the true fun of the game. Whether it was open-world, box garden game, sandbox game, or even a linear RPG game, players' desire for exploration never changed.

Zhang Yi had already thoroughly explored the bustling Kaifeng before, and had also unlocked some new mini-games. Now that he was in Hangzhou, exploration was naturally a must.

Wandering through the streets and alleys, and talking to everyone he met, Zhang Yi inadvertently picked up several side quests.

"Hmm...? There's a chest here? Divine weapon treasure?"

Walking down the streets and alleys, passing a calligraphy and painting stall, Zhang Yi's eyes suddenly lit up because there was an interactive wooden chest in front of him.

From his hometown Changkong Village to Jingnan Posthouse and Kaifeng, although he had discovered many side quests and explorable content, this was the first time he had seen a treasure chest.

'What are you doing! Do you think there's no law in Hangzhou!?'

Controlling Zhuge Yu to violently open the chest in front of him, the shopkeeper, hearing the commotion, rushed out of the store with an angry face.

Listening to the furious words, Zhang Yi was about to retract his hand, but a second later, a line of text appeared on the screen: [The mechanism of the chest is damaged, try again and it might open].

But at the same time, Zhuge Yu shook his head: 'No, this is the shop owner's chest. Forcibly opening it might violate the Great Song Laws.'

"The shop owner's chest? I'm opening the shop owner's chest!"

Zhang Yi ignored him and went straight for it. Was the Hyrule's Old Rogue, Skyrim's Big Bandit, afraid of this? What were the items in NPCs' houses for in games? Weren't they for the brave hero to take for free?

This chest probably related to a later side quest, but what was the big deal? At worst, he wouldn't do the quest, and just see what treasures were inside!

He knocked twice more, ignoring the shop owner's shouting.

The chest creaked open.

But before Zhang Yi could see what was inside, a furious shout came from behind him: "Stop!"

Turning his head, he saw several constables surrounding him.

The screen immediately went dark, and the next scene that appeared was back in Kaifeng Prefecture.

'Young hero! I never thought I'd see the day I had to judge you!'

'Young hero Zhuge, the state has its laws. Stealing in broad daylight cannot be dismissed with just a few words.'

'According to the Great Song Laws, anyone who steals five strings of coins or more shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude! Guards, take him away! Parade him through the streets three times to set an example, then exile him to the frontier!'

[Zhuge Yu, who had not yet made a name for himself in the Hangzhou area, was arrested for theft and exiled to the frontier. Years later, things had changed beyond recognition, and the Anti-Heaven Alliance had grown so powerful that nothing could be done to stop it...]

??????????

Looking at the game over screen, Zhang Yi was completely bewildered.

Just opening a chest, and it's game over!? What's wrong with an adventurer opening a chest!?(End of Chapter)

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