Chapter 51: The Treehouse Outpost

Yu Xunge: "How much does it cost to stay overnight here?"
"Only two silver coins, but it's a better deal if you pay with skill crystals." The bespectacled man pulled out a roster and asked, "May I ask your name? You can tell me quietly."
This was targeted extortion—an alternative form of big data.
Yu Xunge finally got it.
She had to think of a way; she couldn't just remain so passive!
Damn it!!!
Those clever rabbits had turned this into an industry in no time! And they did it so openly, righteously, and logically that it was hard to even feel resentful!

Considering it was getting too late, Yu Xunge decided to stay anyway. As for those who joined the official forces, they had all left with the man in military uniform, presumably to other accommodations.
Spending two silver coins, Yu Xunge checked into a tent that contained nothing except a sleeping bag. She dragged the sleeping bag—which she had no way of knowing whether someone else had slept in—to the side, took out her own toiletries and sleeping bag, and after a simple wash, spent her first night in this otherworldly realm. In the middle of the night, she was woken up by a timed alarm to get up and craft a [Gear of Destiny] skill crystal.

Waking up the next day, she used her loan contract to pick up the teleportation stone in advance from the bespectacled man. Crushing it would instantly send her back to Blue Star. [Teleportation Stone (One-time use)]: Crushing it will teleport you to Teleportation Array - District XX, Road XX, Lane 51, City S. (Array activation time: 1 second) (Maker: Ming Cheng)
Such a pretentious item, and such an ambitious name for a teleportation array.
Yu Xunge asked in detail: "After this is activated, will my whole body be directly sent back, or will a portal open after 1 second and I'll still need to walk through the door?"
The bespectacled man answered: "After waiting for the 1-second activation time, you will be directly teleported away by the array."
With that, he pulled out something that looked like a water orb: "If you can't find a contact point, you can crush this water orb, and our people will pick you up and take you to the nearest contact point. However, there is a certain fee each time. For you... let me see, it will cost three skill crystals per pickup."
She had fallen right into a devil's den.

Yu Xunge took the water orb, smiled politely yet awkwardly, thanked him, put on her hood, covered her nose and mouth with a mask, drew her crossbow, and left the tree house.
She didn't rely on the teleportation stone for escape because she had Apparition, which took a mere 0.1 seconds to cast. She only needed to quickly apparate to a safe place, though the teleportation stone would be necessary if spellcasting or magic use were prohibited.
She needed to make a trip back to the Undercity, as this concerned her subsequent plans: whether to focus primarily on hunting in the wild, or return to the urban area to practice various professions, learn skills, and engage in speculative trading.

After killing a few unavoidable wild wolves, Yu Xunge reached the graveyard near the Undercity, transformed into a cow-patterned cat, and sprinted toward the city.
Without knowing whether any players might be tracking her, turning into a cow-patterned cat was a relatively safe choice.
In the game, it always felt like characters reached the city after running for just a little while, but now that she was in another world, it took her over half an hour of running to reach the gates of the Undercity. Looking up, her in-game character's wanted poster was still hanging on the city wall. The guards did not stop a harmless little cat, and Yu Xunge successfully entered the Undercity.

The little cat was far too tiny for the massive alien capital. She hugged the wall and wandered around circle after circle. During the previous closed beta, she had been pressed for time; apart from the first time when she spent a few hours wandering the streets to get startup capital, she had never properly explored the place.
When the last closed beta ended, she had spent every last gold coin on her. Now, she only had the gold coins she crafted herself. From October 11th to yesterday, December 16th, she would occasionally slack off and skip classes, but every single day she insisted on transforming into a goblin to grind gold coins.
Deducting the silver coins spent on lodging yesterday, she currently had 200 gold and 70 silver coins left.
It was enough to spend, but she wasn't wealthy.
Mainly because the official stronghold was too terrifying, feeling just like a tourist resort...
On second thought, wasn't it indeed a tourist resort? Ordinary players without wealth or strength would never spend money to come here.

Yu Xunge passed by the alchemy shop and glanced at the undead female mentor, Hecate, who was still brewing potions in her old spot. Then she headed to the goblin district, only to abruptly realize that she couldn't understand a word the aliens were saying.
When playing the game, translated text would automatically appear at the bottom of the screen. In her past life, everyone used a translator made through Engineering to hurl insults back and forth with alien races. The item wasn't expensive; you just clipped it to your clothes and it took effect. As time passed, she had actually forgotten about the language barrier and the existence of such a thing as a translator.

She crawled in through the sewer, sprinkled revealing potion everywhere nearby, waited a minute, and then disguised herself as a goblin, changing into a robe matching alien aesthetics. She first manufactured today's three gold coins, then pulled out the price list provided by the officials. Flipping to the back, she found that translators were indeed sold there for two gold coins each.

That was truly daylight robbery! Considering how much players could earn in a single day at this stage, they dared to sell one for two gold coins!
Grumbling curses, she crawled out of the sewer and headed toward the goblin district.
She found that she could now understand those bizarre languages, but when she tried to speak in a low voice, she discovered that the words coming out of her mouth were still Chinese. Yu Xunge didn't dwell on it; instead, she walked straight into the goblin engineer's shop, took out the raw materials, and crafted a translator herself.
This item was an intermediate engineering recipe, and the materials were inexpensive—all the miscellaneous ingredients combined cost only 27 silver coins.
Once the item was made, she could communicate with the goblins. Unfortunately, the goblins here had already been squeezed dry; no one was willing to trade gold bricks with her. Although she could earn a profit from the price difference, she had no spare money left to spend. Old Bill, who used to be the wealthiest among them, had recently been so poor he couldn't even afford alcohol.

Yu Xunge's herbs hadn't run out yet. Previously, thinking she would never be able to enter the game to learn skills again, she had shifted her focus to practical combat training. Eventually, she detoured to the auction house, spending 5 gold coins to buy the skill book [Sanctuary (E-Grade)] and another 18 gold coins to buy [Create Water (D-Grade)]. Having resolved her long-regretted lack of cleaning and water-creation skills, Yu Xunge immediately dove back into the sewer, transformed back into a cow-patterned cat, and left the city.
She intended to level up.
She believed the official forces were already ahead of her. While she wouldn't lose to anyone purely in terms of attribute points, if she wanted to participate in any large-scale official events, she needed to at least reach the threshold.

Returning to the graveyard, Yu Xunge transformed back into her human form. Three years of experience from her past life meant she didn't need any psychological preparation to kill monsters anymore, but she hadn't engaged in high-intensity combat for a long time, so she needed to warm up today.
Walking for over ten minutes in a direction away from the tree house stronghold and the Undercity, Yu Xunge finally encountered a monster.
[Skeletal Wolf] (Level 2) HP: 200/200