11: Chapter 11 Server-wide Wanted Poster?

Chen Ergou didn't sleep a wink all night.

To be precise, after logging off from the game, he lay on the creaky, dilapidated bed in his rented room, tossing and turning like a pancake, his mind filled with that sentence Shen Ruoxi said before she left.

"Chen Ergou, you just wait."

Wait for what?

To die?

The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became. Who was Shen Ruoxi? The guild leader of the number one guild on the server, [Dawn], known as the "Iceberg Empress". With tens of thousands of people under her command, a single breath from her could blow a street vendor like him to the ends of the earth.

"It's over, it's over, it's over…" Chen Ergou rolled around on the bed clutching his pillow. "She's definitely going to issue a server-wide wanted poster. By then, millions of players across the server will be hunting me down. I won't even be able to leave the Novice Village before I get hacked back to level one…"

He even imagined the scene—

[System Announcement: Server-wide wanted criminal "Ergous Stall". The killer can receive a reward of 1000 gold coins, provided by the [Dawn] guild.]

Then, as soon as he left the safe zone, red-named players would appear from all directions, swarming towards him like ants moving house, shouting, "Ergou, hand over the gold coins and we'll spare your life!"…

Wait, no, he didn't have any gold coins either.

Chen Ergou felt even more desperate.

He tossed and turned with these wild thoughts until 3:00 AM, when he finally couldn't hold on any longer and drifted into a hazy sleep. When the alarm went off, he crawled up with dark circles under his eyes, downed a cup of instant coffee, and tremblingly put on his VR helmet.

"If I die, I die. Better to get it over with early."

He pressed the login button with his eyes closed.

The login screen flashed by, and the sunlight of the Novice Village shone on his face.

Chen Ergou opened his eyes and found himself still standing at the same spot where he had set up his stall yesterday. The crooked-neck tree beside him was still crooked, and the air was filled with the distinct scent of grass from the Novice Village.

No wanted poster.

No red-named players hunting him.

There wasn't even a system announcement.

"……Hmm?"

Chen Ergou was stunned for a moment, then carefully opened his system panel to check his status.

[Player: Ergous Stall]

[Level: 8]

[Title: empresss nightmare (Gold · Rare)]

[Title Effect: When attacked by members of the [Dawn] guild, damage is reduced by 5%]

Chen Ergou stared at that title for a full ten seconds.

"This…… is that it?"

No wanted poster? No hunting? Just a title?

And this title effect is way too pathetic, right? Damage reduced by 5%? If tens of thousands of people each slashed him once, a 5% reduction would still kill him!

But on the other hand, at least his life was saved.

Chen Ergou let out a long sigh of relief. Just as he was about to sit down and set up his stall, he suddenly noticed his private message inbox flashing frantically.

99+.

He opened it and almost jumped off the ground.

"Boss Ergou! Are you still selling the regret potion? The last one was too powerful!"

"Brother, do you still have that substitute scarecrow? I'm willing to pay double the price!"

"Big Boss Stall Owner, can you save a shrinking cookie for me? Please!"

"Ergous Stall, right? I'm from the [War Temple] guild, and I want to discuss a long-term partnership with you……"

The dense stream of private messages hadn't stopped since last night.

Chen Ergou was dumbfounded.

He hurriedly opened the world channel, only to discover that he had actually made it to the trending topics.

"Holy crap, did you guys see that post? [Dawn] guild leader Xiguang publicly declared war on a street vendor!"

"That stall is called Ergous Stall, and it's said that the things sold there are insanely weird!"

"Someone used his regret potion and said the five-second rewind is real, but the side effect is having to speak your inner thoughts for two minutes. It cracked me up, hahahaha!"

"He even got a Gold title—empresss nightmare! This guy is a warrior!"

"I'm going to add him as a friend. The stuff he sells is so interesting!"

Looking at the overwhelming discussions in the world channel, Chen Ergou was completely bewildered.

He wasn't wanted; he…… was famous?

"I, Chen Ergou…… am famous?"

He pinched himself. It hurt. It wasn't a dream.

Just then, the myriad worlds stall system went ding.

[System Prompt: Congratulations to the host for reaching 500 Reputation Points. Unlocked new item—clairaudience potion!]

[clairaudience potion × 3: Drop into the ear to hear all conversations within 200 meters, lasting 10 minutes. Side effect: You will also hear the inner monologues of NPCs.]

[Price: 50 gold coins/bottle]

Chen Ergou's eyes lit up.

clairaudience potion? Can hear others talking? This thing is great! It's an artifact for intelligence brokers!

And the side effect is hearing the inner monologues of NPCs…… what kind of side effect is that? Don't NPCs just have those few lines of dialogue? If I hear them, I hear them.

"System, this item is great. Come on, list it, list it!"

[Listed: clairaudience potion × 3, price 50 gold coins/bottle]

However, before listing it, Chen Ergou hesitated.

He had a bad habit—whenever he sold something, he always wanted to test the effect first. Last time he tested the regret potion, he almost got himself killed, but he just couldn't control his hands.

"Just one drop, one drop is enough."

He unscrewed the cap and carefully dripped one drop into his left ear.

The cold liquid slid into his ear canal, and a tingling sensation spread from his ear to his entire head.

Then—the world changed.

The originally quiet Novice Village suddenly became incredibly noisy. Sounds from all directions flooded into his ears like a tide, so clear it was as if someone was whispering right next to his ear.

"——Let me tell you, yesterday's dungeon boss was too fierce. We wiped three times!"

"——Brother, where did you get your equipment? It looks pretty awesome."

"——Honey, I was wrong. I really didn't look at that female player's profile. I just clicked it randomly……"

Chen Ergou's mouth twitched.

Good heavens, this clairaudience potion is too powerful, right? You can hear the conversations of everyone within 200 meters clearly! And that guy explaining to his wife, do you know that the more you explain, the worse it gets?

But these were nothing.

What really made Chen Ergou's scalp tingle was that he suddenly heard a completely different voice.

That voice didn't come from any player, but from—the mind of the smiling Novice Village village chief NPC next to him.

"Another batch of leeks…… these players are like they're never-ending. The batch from yesterday just left, and another one is here today. Sigh, was the canteen serving stewed pork ribs for lunch today? I hope it's not potato stewed with potatoes again……"

Chen Ergou froze completely.

He whipped his head around to look at the village chief.

The village chief NPC was still standing at the entrance of the village with a smile, greeting every player who passed by: "Welcome to the Novice Village, brave adventurer!"

But Chen Ergou heard the voice in his mind clearly—

"This kid has looked at me three times. Is he going to accept a quest? Please don't accept one. I don't want to move today……"

Chen Ergou gasped.

The NPCs in this game…… have self-awareness?!

He quickly looked at other NPCs.

Old Wang at the blacksmith shop was hammering away, saying, "What kind of equipment do you want to forge, customer?" while thinking in his mind: "I, a dignified dwarven forging master, am repairing scrap metal for these newbies every day. It's absolutely humiliating……"

The proprietress of the grocery store was greeting customers with a smile, thinking to herself: "Will that handsome young man come to buy things today? He took an extra look at me when he bought a torch last time. Hehehe……"

Chen Ergou felt his worldview collapsing.

These aren't NPCs at all! They are clearly living, breathing people trapped in the game as tools!

While he was in shock, the side effect of the clairaudience potion suddenly became even more pronounced—from far away, a very faint, very old voice drifted over.

The voice carried an indescribable sense of vicissitudes and arrogance, as if it came from somewhere extremely remote.

"……I, the dignified No. 1 Sword Saint of the Myriad Worlds, have actually fallen to this state…… However…… the things on that kid…… are a bit interesting……"

Chen Ergou shivered.

No. 1 Sword Saint of the Myriad Worlds? What is that? Who is talking?

He pricked up his ears to listen carefully, but the voice was intermittent, like a radio with a bad signal, and he couldn't hear it clearly no matter what.

Just then, the system suddenly popped up a notification—

[System Prompt: Detected special NPC signal, recommended that the host go to the west corner of the Novice Village.]

Chen Ergou stared at this notification, his heart racing.

The west corner of the Novice Village? He had been there; it was just a wasteland, not even a ghost in sight.

But now…… he wasn't so sure.

That voice, that voice claiming to be the "No. 1 Sword Saint of the Myriad Worlds", where on earth did it come from?

Chen Ergou rubbed his chin, a flash of curiosity in his eyes.

"Alright, anyway, I don't have anything to do today…… let's go take a look."

He packed up his stall and walked towards the west corner of the Novice Village.

What he didn't know was that with this step, he was walking into a gargantuan secret.