Chapter 4: Is This Also Considered Saving Someone?

So killing wild monsters also counts as doing a good deed?

Seeing the two system prompts that suddenly popped up, Chen Shicheng was a bit puzzled—killing wild monsters actually counted as a good deed!! He had been wondering how to qualify as a good deed, thinking he'd have to go around saving lives and healing the wounded every day, and was planning to find Newbie Village and pick up a side job like a doctor right away.

He never expected that the wild monsters seen everywhere by the roadside would bring him such a surprise—this isn't just making money while standing still!

Unfortunately, a low-level little wild monster actually only yields one merit point; if he extracts it three times a day, he can only harvest three merit points per day.

One merit point equals a year of hard training in a skill, and mastering the most basic sword technique to perfection consumes 26 points. If he relied on killing those petty wild monsters for such scraps, raising a skill to max level would take a full nine days!!! Is this a joke?

It seems he still needs to find another way to earn merit points! Chen Shicheng turned his gaze to the window of the ruined temple; that little girl had somehow climbed back in at some point and was staring at him unblinkingly.

Seeing Chen Shicheng provoking her with a funny face, the little girl indignantly muttered, "What's there to be proud about? If my uncle were here, he'd have already slaughtered all those bandits."

"No matter how strong your uncle is, he's not here now—if you've got the guts, get him to fly over!"

Chen Shicheng, taking a break from his busy schedule, teased the little girl a bit, ignoring her angry huffs, and following the same routine lured the outer bandits out one by one to deal with them.

Doing this wasted a lot of time, but it greatly increased safety—he didn't want to be careless like before and get shown up by the wild monsters.

It wasn't because he feared the game's 100% realistic pain; mainly he didn't want to lose face in front of the NPCs. After all, the little girl was still looking at him disapprovingly. Thus, after spending several minutes luring and killing monsters, only the last bandit remained surrounding the ruined temple's gate.

Looking at the bandit captain with an Lv. 2 marker above his head, Chen Shicheng hesitated for a moment.

Although his perfected Basic Sword Technique could easily kill a level‑1 bandit, the process wasn't that simple.

Even with the skill's passive effect "Stamina Consumption Reduced 40%", after taking down six bandits he was a bit out of breath, and the Tang Sword that usually obeyed his arm felt heavy.

Thinking that the bandit captain might have greater strength than ordinary bandits, Chen Shicheng still decided to be cunning.

Hey, girl.

What for?

Help me out—make a commotion at the door, and I'll finish off the last bandit from behind.

Say thank you!

?

Chen Shicheng watched the smug little girl click her tongue, reluctantly saying "Thanks".

The little girl, as if she'd just won a battle, broke free from the old man's restraint and ran to the door, starting to slap it.

Bang bang bang!

As the sound rang out, the bandit captain at the doorway, who hadn't noticed he was the only one left, immediately stopped turning and lunged straight at the ruined temple's gate, completely unaware of Chen Shicheng sneaking up behind him.

Considering his remaining stamina and the hardness of his spine, he reluctantly gave up the idea of a single beheading blow and instead opted for a stab at the bandit captain's kidney.

Pfft!

The Tang Sword lived up to expectations, delivering a clean thrust through.

But being mindless also had its advantages: the bandit captain showed no reaction a normal person would have to a sudden stab, completely ignoring pain and panic, and immediately turned his head to sweep at Chen Shicheng with a wide arc.

Holy shit!

Having no time to pull the Tang Sword out of his muscle, Chen Shicheng made a split‑second decision to let go and fall flat.

He instinctively tried to roll over and stand up, but the bandit captain didn't pause, stepping forward and raising his greatsword for a charged strike aimed at Chen Shicheng on the ground, his muscles bulging and veins visible in an instant. "Watch out!" the little girl inside the temple frantically slapped the door, trying to draw the bandit captain's attention.

Her action had no effect, but Chen Shicheng wasn't just waiting to die.

In the brief pause while the bandit captain held his sword aloft, Chen Shicheng didn't retreat—he did a lazy donkey roll and ended up at the captain's feet.

At the same moment, the bandit's sword came crashing down.

A diagonal slash!

Whoosh! The heavy‑backed cleaver brought a sharp whistling as it slammed hard into the ground.

Just as the Tang Sword stuck in his muscle couldn't be quickly drawn, the bandit captain's sword, after sinking into the ground, presented just the right opening when he tried to pull it out.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Shicheng rose, grabbed the hilt of the Tang Sword, and slashed downward at an angle.

Splash!

Instantly, yellow, white, red—all sorts of sewage gushed out.

The bandit, his abdomen caved in, collapsed without a sound, twitched twice on the ground, and then lay still.

【Killed Lv. 2 Soulless Bandit Captain, over‑level kill doubles experience, gained 8 experience points, gained 11 copper coins. (No skill manual obtained, cannot level up, experience points stored in the experience pool.)】

【Killed Lv. 2 Soulless Bandit Captain, Stealing Heaven Pendant effect triggered—extract this instance's 1 merit point? (Remaining uses: 3/3)】

【Saved the lives of the grandfather and granddaughter, Stealing Heaven Pendant effect triggered—extract this instance's 20 merit points? (Remaining uses: 3/3)】

Huh?

Looking at the system prompts on the panel, Chen Shicheng was utterly bewildered.

He himself had gone out intending to kill the wild monsters, yet this grandfather‑granddaughter pair had already hidden in the ruined temple, merely waiting for the monsters to disperse to survive—there was no mortal danger, so does that also count as saving lives?

With too few control samples, he couldn't immediately figure out how this ancient relic works, so he temporarily gave up.

But those 20 merit points are just too tempting—ancient wisdom says saving one life beats building a seven‑story pagoda! 【Effect activated successfully, merit +20. (Remaining uses: 2/3)】

【Merit: 51】

Seeing the merit points restored from the consumption of his Basic Sword Technique, now close to their previous value, Chen Shicheng felt relieved that his efforts against those wild monsters hadn't been in vain.

Besides merit points, the seven wild monsters also contributed 32 experience points and 29 copper coins—too bad the experience points can't be used yet, and he doesn't know the purchasing power of the copper coins.

Just as Chen Shicheng was pondering the game's prices, the ruined temple's gate creaked open, the little girl darted out, crouched beside him, and asked worriedly.

Are you okay?

"What could happen." To prove himself, Chen Shicheng punched his chest twice, "See? Not any worse than your uncle."

Thank you, young hero, for risking your life to save us; this old man has nothing to offer in return.

"Hold on!" Chen Shicheng reached out to stop the old man who had followed close behind the little girl, "Don't say things like 'in the next life I'll be your ox or horse'; first let me ask you a question."

"Um, please go ahead, young hero," the old man said somewhat embarrassedly.

"What's the nearest village from here?"

(End of chapter)