38: Comparing yourself to others will only make you miserable.

Chen Yuting huffily took her puppet back to her room to get equipment, leaving Gu Qinghan lying on the sofa, laughing heartily.

It has to be said, humans are indeed social animals.

Even someone as reclusive as Gu Qinghan could relieve some stress by occasionally joking and teasing Chen Yuting.

After taking a sip of water, Gu Qinghan looked out the window, preparing to go outside again.

The zombies within five hundred meters of him had long been cleared out, and even if more zombies ran in, his skeletons would quickly deal with them.

It wasn't that he didn't want to clear more zombies, but rather that the farthest distance he could remotely control his skeletons was five hundred meters.

If he were compared to a signal tower, then these signal-receiving skeletons could only operate within five hundred meters of him.

This made Gu Qinghan a little awkward; he had originally planned to conquer the world without leaving his house.

Now it seemed this goal was out of the question.

At least not in the short term.

"Hmm? When did an archway appear over there?"

Gu Qinghan was about to get up when he suddenly looked up again, gazing outside.

Through the window, he could see that in the scene which previously only had a green belt, there was now a stone archway.

The archway was only about two meters tall and didn't look far away.

"This thing, when Chen Yuting came out earlier, it definitely wasn't there."

Gu Qinghan was very certain about this, as he paid close attention to the vicinity of his residence.

This archway had appeared in less than ten minutes.

For a moment, Gu Qinghan thought someone was playing a prank.

He quickly hid in a safe spot, then used Vision of the Dead.

A skeleton patrolling outside the house suddenly paused, then turned and walked directly towards the archway.

The other skeletons also gathered around; Gu Qinghan intended to swiftly eliminate this intruder.

But after searching for a long time, he didn't find any trace of anyone.

"No one, and it can't be a zombie..."

Gu Qinghan looked out the window at the archway, lost in thought.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he thought of a possibility:

This archway was the masterpiece of this game!

The skeleton sharing his vision walked forward, and at the archway, the space seemed to shimmer with a faint silver glow, like mercury.

Looking back and forth, it seemed that only the thin layer of film under the stone gate was somewhat unusual.

Vaguely, that thin film trembled a few times.

Gu Qinghan frowned, watching this scene; to be honest, he felt that something might emerge from it.

After waiting another ten minutes, the space at the stone gate was still rippling like a water surface.

However, the frequency of these fluctuations was getting higher and higher, like boiling water about to erupt.

Moreover, Gu Qinghan stared at the stone gate for a long time and realized that it shouldn't be a stone archway.

The seemingly stone material was more like some kind of metal; it was only at first glance that he mistook it for stone.

This gate seemed to be constructed entirely from these black metal blocks.

And just as Gu Qinghan was distracted, the space at the stone gate suddenly shook violently.

Immediately after, a humanoid monster, resembling a piece of deadwood, walked out from within.

As soon as the monster appeared, it lunged at the surrounding skeletons.

Several skeletons immediately met it head-on, and after more than ten seconds, this treant-like monster was unwillingly chopped off its limbs and fell to the ground.

Gu Qinghan had already come outside and saw the monster's attributes.

[Pain Treant: Level 7]

[Combat Power: 110]

[Description: Monsters from another world. Sensing unfamiliar auras, they will entangle and kill all targets they see.]

It was a new monster.

Gu Qinghan immediately chose to kill this treant, and after a grating squeak that made one's teeth ache, the monster was completely dead.

A round red fruit burst out, and Gu Qinghan saw that it was an edible item:

[qi and blood fruit: Permanently increases maximum vitality by 1-10 points based on one's profession. Each person can consume a maximum of 10 fruits.]

Gu Qinghan immediately raised an eyebrow and tossed it into his mouth.

He only felt a burst of sweet and sour fruity flavor, and then Gu Qinghan discovered that his vitality had increased!

1 point!

"I knew it..."

Gu Qinghan's mouth twitched slightly; his vitality hadn't increased at all when he leveled up before.

But even though he was prepared, the fact that he could only get the minimum benefit still made him feel a pang of frustration.

"Forget it, better than nothing."

Gu Qinghan could only choose to compromise in the end; after eating ten points, his vitality would go from 20 to 30.

Although he was still a glass cannon, the breading on the outside was thicker, wasn't it?

The space at the archway was still fluctuating, so Gu Qinghan simply took a look at what the archway was.

[gate of calamity: Black Iron Rank]

[Description: A portal that randomly appears in the game, spitting out monsters irregularly. When all monsters behind the gate of calamity are cleared, the corresponding reward can be obtained.]

"Sure enough, the zombies in this game were just an appetizer; now the intensity is gradually increasing."

Gu Qinghan watched the gate of calamity fluctuate again, and it actually spat out two treants simultaneously.

However, his skeletons still quickly cut them down, but this time nothing dropped.

In the necromantic space, three small, wooden-board-like ordinary materials also slowly appeared.

"It seems I can't leave this place for a while, but it seems these treants give a lot of Necromantic Energy."

Gu Qinghan was a little helpless; a monster spawn point had appeared right outside his home, and he didn't know if this was good fortune or misfortune.

He sent two skeletons to patrol, while the remaining eight skeletons directly guarded this Black Iron-rank gate of calamity.

The frequency of treant appearances varied, sometimes four or five at once, other times only one.

However, they could never break through the blockade of Gu Qinghan's skeletons and soon all turned into pieces of deadwood on the ground.

Gu Qinghan simply ran up to the second-floor balcony, where he could both observe the battle and practice his Bone Spike aim.

Even if something dropped, he could directly collect it into the necromantic space from that distance.

It wasn't until dusk, when Gu Qinghan could no longer clearly see the treants' positions, that he turned and returned inside the house.

By this time, he had already eaten ten fruits, and his vitality had reached 30 points.

Not only that, but he even had two extra fruits.

"Dinner time! Today we're having tomato beef noodles!"

Chen Yuting's voice came from the first floor, and Gu Qinghan quickly went downstairs.

After glancing at the somewhat appetizing dishes, Gu Qinghan suddenly looked at Chen Yuting and asked mysteriously:

"Do you want something exciting?"

Chen Yuting let out an "ah," and then her cheeks flushed deeply.

Gu Qinghan immediately realized she had misunderstood and quickly explained:

"I mean, I'll give you something to eat, but the result is random. Want to try it?"

Saying that, he took out a fruit and dangled it in front of Chen Yuting.

When Chen Yuting saw the item's attributes, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said she was willing to try it.

As she put the fruit into her mouth, Gu Qinghan could clearly see her expression become quite intoxicated.

The fruit tasted like a sweet and sour cherry, but juicier, exactly Chen Yuting's preferred flavor.

Gu Qinghan watched her finish eating and asked somewhat nervously:

"How was it? How many vitality points did you gain?"

Chen Yuting pouted and said a little sheepishly:

"My profession might not be very suitable for this fruit; it only added 3 vitality points, hehe."

Then, she looked at Gu Qinghan, the meaning in her eyes unmistakable.

Gu Qinghan's expression subtly froze for a moment, then he pretended to be nonchalant and said:

"It's fine, even though I gain 5 points from one, I won't make fun of you."

Chen Yuting hummed in acknowledgment, pushed a bowl of noodles towards Gu Qinghan, and asked:

"But I'm very satisfied! There must be some unlucky guy who only gets 1 point of increase. Just thinking about it is hilarious, hahaha."

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"Eat slowly, you're coughing up tears!"

Gu Qinghan wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and took a deep breath.

So humiliating!