Chapter 44 The Ultimate Social Death Debuff: Qin Wentian's Nightmare Begins

On the third day after Qin Wentian joined the Commoner Guild, Lin Ye felt something was still missing.

It wasn't that Qin Wentian was disobedient; quite the contrary, he was too obedient. If told to move cargo, he moved cargo; if told to stand guard, he stood guard; if told to guide novices, he guided novices. He was as obedient as a dog. Yet, Lin Ye always felt that this person was still missing an "insurance policy."

"Bro, what are you thinking about?" Fatty Wang leaned over, holding a bowl of virtual instant noodles, slurping them until his mouth was covered in oil.

Lin Ye leaned against the window, watching Qin Wentian helping move cargo downstairs, a wicked smile curling the corner of his lips: "Thinking of giving Guild Leader Qin a gift."

"What kind of gift?"

"The Social Death Package."

Fatty Wang nearly spat out his noodles: "Bro, haven't you tormented him enough? He's already miserable enough as it is; his level dropped by twenty, he lost all his equipment, and his guild disbanded. If you mess with him again, he might just quit the game."

Lin Ye laughed: "That's exactly why I want him to be afraid. If he isn't afraid, how will he be obedient?"

He opened his Talent panel and looked at the effect that had been unlocked for a long time but never used—the Social Death Package. This package contained four core effects: 99% Drop Rate Nullification, 100% NPC Favorability Nullification, Forced Modeling Mosaic, and Automatic Voice Changer. He had been saving it, waiting for the right moment. Now, the moment had arrived.

"Fatty, go call Qin Wentian up here."

Fatty Wang hesitated for a moment, set down his noodles, and ran downstairs. After a while, Qin Wentian came up and stood before Lin Ye, his expression somewhat apprehensive.

"Brother Ye, you looking for me?"

Lin Ye pointed to the chair opposite him: "Sit."

Qin Wentian sat down and looked at Lin Ye with a hint of unease in his eyes. He knew that if Lin Ye was looking for him, it definitely wasn't for anything good.

"Guild Leader Qin, how have you felt these past few days since joining the Commoner Guild?" Lin Ye asked.

Qin Wentian was stunned for a moment, then said: "It's quite good. The brothers are all very good to me. Fatty Wang has taught me quite a bit, and Sister Su has helped me a lot. I am very grateful."

Lin Ye nodded: "That's good. However, I feel like something is still missing."

"Missing what?"

Lin Ye's mouth curled into a wicked smile: "Missing an insurance policy."

Qin Wentian's expression changed: "What kind of insurance policy?"

Lin Ye didn't answer; instead, he stood up, walked over to him, and patted him on the shoulder.

[System Notification: You have been affected by the [Social Death Package]. Effect 1: 99% Drop Rate Nullification—the drop rate for killing any monster or opening any treasure chest is reduced by 99%, and you can only obtain white-grade items. Effect 2: 100% NPC Favorability Nullification—all NPCs' favorability toward you is reduced to 0, and they will refuse to provide any service. Effect 3: Forced Modeling Mosaic—your character model will be forcibly processed with a mosaic, and players across the entire server will be unable to see your true appearance. Effect 4: Automatic Voice Changer—whenever you speak in any channel, it will be automatically converted into a loli voice. This effect is permanent, cannot be removed, and cannot be blocked.]

Qin Wentian stared at the system notification, completely dumbfounded. He opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but the sound that came out was—

"Brother Ye, what... what have you done to me?" It was a delicate loli voice, sweet and soft, completely mismatched with his burly image.

Fatty Wang, standing nearby, burst out laughing: "Hahaha! Guild Leader Qin, your voice is so cute!"

Qin Wentian's face turned livid; he wanted to curse, but the voice that came out was still the loli voice: "Shut up! You aren't allowed to laugh!"

Fatty Wang laughed even harder, holding his stomach and rolling on the floor.

Qin Wentian opened his character panel, wanting to check his attributes—but the character model on the panel had already turned into a blurry mosaic. He couldn't see his own face, couldn't see his equipment; he couldn't see anything.

"What... what the hell is this?!" The loli voice echoed in the room, high-pitched and thin.

Lin Ye laughed: "Don't rush. There's more."

He pointed outside the window. Qin Wentian followed his finger and looked—in the Main City Square, several NPCs were whispering to each other. Old Zhang the blacksmith shook his head and sighed: "Qin Wentian? That guy who bullies novices? Not selling. I won't do business with him." Old Wang the pharmacist shut his shop door directly: "Qin Wentian is here? Close the door. I won't earn his money." Old Li the grocer was even more ruthless, directly posting a notice on his door: "Qin Wentian and dogs are not allowed to enter."

Qin Wentian's face turned pale. He wanted to go grind monsters to level up, but after killing one wild monster, the system notification—

[System Notification: You killed a [Forest Wolf], triggering the 99% Drop Rate Nullification effect. Obtained item: Wolf Skin (White) × 1.]

A single wolf dropped only a white-grade wolf skin, not even any gold coins. He killed another, still white-grade. He killed another, still white-grade. He grinded for an hour, gained half a level, and his inventory was filled with dozens of white-grade items, without a single green piece of equipment dropping.

Qin Wentian completely broke down. He slumped in his chair, his loli voice listless: "Brother Ye, what exactly do you want?"

Lin Ye squatted in front of him and patted his face: "I don't want anything. I just want to tell you one thing—everything you are experiencing now is the debt you owe from the past. When the Heavenly Temple monopolized materials, how many solo players couldn't even afford repair stones? When you hunted down Brother Ye, how many innocent players were caught in the crossfire? When you spent tens of millions buying oracle scrolls, did you ever think about where that money came from?"

Qin Wentian fell silent. He knew what Lin Ye said was the truth. He had been too arrogant before, thinking that with money, he could do whatever he wanted. Now he finally understood that some debts have to be repaid sooner or later.

"I... I understand." He said softly, his loli voice laced with a sob, "I will repay it. I will pay off all the debts I owe."

Lin Ye stood up and patted his shoulder: "That's more like it. Let's go, it's time to work."

"What work?"

"Taking you to grind monsters. At your current level, you can't even defeat the monsters in the Novice Village, so how will you repay your debts?"

Qin Wentian was stunned: "Didn't you put the 99% Drop Rate Nullification on me? What's the point of grinding monsters?"

Lin Ye laughed: "That's a punishment. As long as you work hard, I will help you remove it. But if you cause trouble again—" He paused, "this debuff will stay on you forever."

Qin Wentian shuddered all over and quickly stood up: "I will work hard! I will definitely work hard!"

That afternoon, Lin Ye took Qin Wentian to the Ash Plains to grind monsters. Fatty Wang and Su Qinghan went along too. The four of them formed a party, Lin Ye led the way, applying debuffs to the monsters and killing them instantly. Fatty Wang picked up equipment behind him, and Su Qinghan was responsible for casting shields. Qin Wentian followed at the very back, responsible for—picking up white-grade items.

[System Notification: You obtained [Damaged Wolf Skin] (White) × 1.]

[System Notification: You obtained [Shattered Tooth] (White) × 1.]

[System Notification: You obtained [Tattered Cloth Armor] (White) × 1.]

Qin Wentian looked at the pile of white-grade items in his inventory and wanted to cry but had no tears. Before, whenever he casually killed a monster, Blue equipment or Purple equipment would drop. Now, he couldn't even get a green one.

"Brother Ye, can you raise the drop rate just a little?" He couldn't help but ask, his loli voice sounding pitiful, "Even 1% would be fine."

Lin Ye laughed: "No. 99% Nullification means 99% Nullification. Not even one percentage point less. When you have paid off your debts, I will remove it for you."

Qin Wentian gave a bitter smile and stopped talking. He silently followed behind, picking up white-grade items, secretly swearing in his heart—he must pay off all the debts he owed in the past.

After grinding for an afternoon, Qin Wentian's level rose from 25 to 28. Although it was still not high, it was at least presentable. His inventory was stuffed full of white-grade items, not a single one of which was valuable.

"Let's go, back to the city." Lin Ye called out to everyone.

The four of them walked back to the Commoner Supermarket. Players along the way saw Qin Wentian and were all stunned—

"Holy crap! Who is that? Why is he a blob of mosaic?"

"Seems like Qin Wentian? How did he become like this?"

"Hahaha! His voice is so cute! A loli voice!"

Qin Wentian's face was livid; he walked with his head down, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He wanted to explain, but as soon as he opened his mouth, it was a loli voice; the more he explained, the more embarrassing it was.

Back at the Commoner Supermarket, Fatty Wang sorted out today's harvest—over thirty pieces of Purple equipment, over a hundred pieces of Blue equipment, and a large pile of various rare materials. The total value was at least a million gold coins.

As for Qin Wentian's harvest—over three hundred white-grade items, with a total value of less than one hundred gold coins.

He watched Fatty Wang excitedly counting the money, feeling a complex mix of emotions. In the past, the money he earned in a day was enough for an ordinary person to spend a lifetime. Now, the money he earned in a day couldn't even buy a cup of milk tea.

"Don't think about it." Lin Ye walked over and handed him a cup of virtual milk tea, "Take it slow. Debts can't be paid off in a day."

Qin Wentian took the milk tea and took a sip, his loli voice saying softly: "Thank you."

Lin Ye laughed: "No need to thank me. Just work hard in the future."

He turned and walked upstairs, leaving Qin Wentian sitting alone in the corner, drinking milk tea, watching the sunset outside the window. The sunset dyed the whole city gold; the queue at the entrance of the Commoner Supermarket stretched to the middle of the square, and solo players were laughing, making noise, and rushing to buy cheap materials. Everything was so beautiful.

Qin Wentian suddenly felt that days like this were quite good too. Although his level was a bit low, his equipment was a bit poor, his voice was a bit strange, and his appearance was a bit mosaic—but he had never felt so relaxed. No more scheming, no more suppressing others, no more fighting against the market. He only needed to do one thing—repay debts.

He stood up, threw the milk tea cup into the trash can, and walked out of the Commoner Supermarket. He was going to the Novice Village to help those bullied novice players grind monsters. This was the first step in repaying his debts.

When he reached the Novice Village, several novices were being chased by a wild wolf. Qin Wentian rushed up and killed the wild wolf with one slash.

[System Notification: You killed a [Forest Wolf], triggering the 99% Drop Rate Nullification effect. Obtained item: Wolf Skin (White) × 1.]

The novice players looked at him, first stunned, then laughed: "Thank you, Big Brother! Big Brother, your voice is so cute!"

Qin Wentian gave a bitter smile, his loli voice saying softly: "Don't mention it. If anyone bullies you in the future, come find me."

He turned and left, leaving a few novice players behind discussing—

"Who is that person? Why is he a blob of mosaic?"

"Don't know. But his voice sounds so good."

"And he's such a nice person. Helping us kill monsters and not even charging money."

"These days, good people are rare."

Qin Wentian listened to these words, feeling warm inside. He suddenly felt that the feeling of being thanked was much better than being feared.

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was standing on the top floor of the Commoner Supermarket, watching Qin Wentian's retreating figure in the distance, a wicked smile curling the corner of his lips.

"Bro, do you really think he can change?" Fatty Wang walked up and stood beside him.

Lin Ye nodded: "He can. He isn't a bad person, he just took the wrong path. Now he's been given a chance, let's see if he can seize it."

"Then what if he doesn't change?"

Lin Ye laughed: "Doesn't change? Then this debuff will stay on him forever. 99% Drop Rate Nullification, NPC Favorability Nullification, Modeling Mosaic, Loli voice—how long do you think he can endure that?"

Fatty Wang shuddered: "Bro, you're too ruthless."

Lin Ye shrugged: "Not ruthless, just professional."

He turned and went downstairs, leaving behind one sentence: "Keep an eye on him. Don't let him go astray again."

Fatty Wang watched his retreating figure and chuckled: "Don't worry, Bro. Leave it to me."

Meanwhile, Qin Wentian was squatting in the wild monster area of the Novice Village, helping a novice player grind monsters. While slashing monsters, he used his loli voice to teach the novice how to play the game.

"In this game, the most important thing is your mindset. Don't rush, take it slow. Level isn't important, equipment isn't important; what's important is being happy."

The novice player looked at him, eyes red with emotion: "Big Brother, you're so kind. What's your name?"

Qin Wentian was silent for a few seconds, then said: "My name is Qin Wentian. I used to be a bad person. Now—I am learning to be a good person."

The novice player was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Brother Qin, you are a good person. You definitely are a good person."

Qin Wentian looked at him, feeling warm inside. He suddenly felt that being a good person was much more comfortable than being a bad person.

He stood up, patted the dust off his body, and walked toward the direction of the sunset. Behind him, the novice player shouted: "Brother Qin, are you coming back tomorrow?"

Qin Wentian turned his head, his loli voice drifting in the wind: "I'll come. I'll come every day."

The sunset stretched his shadow very, very long. That once arrogant and domineering guild leader of the number one guild on the entire server had finally learned to bow his head. Not because he was afraid, but because—he had finally understood what was truly important.