Chapter 45: Qin Wentian completely lost his mind as he removed his equipment upon entering the guild territory.

The fact that Qin Wentian was helping newbies grind monsters in the Novice Village was recorded by a few players and posted on the forum. The title was very eye-catching— "Former top guild leader of the entire server, Qin Wentian, is reduced to helping newbies fight monsters in the Novice Village, and his voice is still a loli voice."

As soon as the post was released, the entire server exploded again. Some mocked him, some sympathized, and some began to re-examine this former "bully."

But Qin Wentian didn't care anymore. He only wanted to do one thing now—repay his debts. He wanted to pay back, bit by bit, the debts he owed to the solo players in the past.

That afternoon, while Qin Wentian was helping some newbies grind quest monsters in the Novice Village, he suddenly received a system notification.

[System Notification: You have entered the range of the former Heavenly Temple guild territory. This territory has been reclaimed by the system and is currently ownerless.]

Qin Wentian was stunned for a moment. The Heavenly Temple guild territory? That was a place he had spent tens of millions of gold coins to buy, and it was his proudest achievement.

After the guild disbanded, the territory was reclaimed by the system, and he had never dared to come back and look. Now that he had wandered here without realizing it, he felt a complex mix of emotions.

"Let's go inside and take a look," he said to himself.

He walked to the entrance of the territory, pushed open the gate, and walked in. The inside of the territory was empty; there wasn't a single person. The former guild hall, warehouse, and training grounds had all turned into ruins.

The Heavenly Temple flag still hung on the wall, but it was tattered and covered in dust.

Qin Wentian stood in the center of the hall, looking at all of this, unable to describe the feeling in his heart. He recalled the days of holding meetings, training, and formulating plans here.

Back then, he was the most powerful person on the entire server, and a single word from him could make thousands of people work for him. And now? He had become a piece of trash with only level 28, a loli voice, and a character model that was a blob of pixels.

"Sigh," he sighed and turned to leave.

[System Notification: You have entered the core area of the Heavenly Temple guild territory, triggering the [Guild Territory Strip Equipment] effect.]

Before Qin Wentian could react, his equipment began to automatically fall off one by one. His helmet flew off, his chest armor flew off, his leggings flew off, his boots flew off, and even his weapon flew off.

He looked down and saw that he was left with only the newbie underwear provided by the system, standing in the center of the hall bare-chested, his entire body covered in pixels.

"Wh... what is going on?!" Qin Wentian panicked and hurried to pick up his equipment, but the equipment disappeared as soon as it hit the ground, directly reclaimed by the system.

[System Notification: Your equipment has been reclaimed by the system. Trigger condition: Entering the core area of the Heavenly Temple guild territory. This effect was set by player "Ye" and is permanently effective and cannot be removed.]

Qin Wentian looked at this notification, his face turning pale. He quickly opened his private messages and sent a message to Lin Ye, his voice urgent and fearful, still that delicate loli voice.

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: Brother Ye! My equipment was reclaimed by the system! What is going on?

Lin Ye replied in seconds, his tone filled with amusement—

[Private Message] Ye: Oh, that's a new effect I added for you. As long as you enter the Heavenly Temple guild territory, your equipment will automatically come off. The equipment will be reclaimed by the system and donated to newbie players. Aren't you trying to repay your debts? This is one way to repay them.

Qin Wentian looked at this message, wanting to cry but having no tears. Although those pieces of equipment weren't worth much, they were things he had worked hard to grind for. Now they were all gone.

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: Brother Ye, can you give the equipment back to me? Even just one piece would be fine.

[Private Message] Ye: No. We agreed on repaying the debt, so you have to see it through to the end. If you think it's unfair, you can choose not to come to the Heavenly Temple territory. No one is forcing you to come.

Qin Wentian fell silent. He knew Lin Ye was right. The debts he owed in the past could not be repaid by just a few pieces of equipment. What was this small price compared to that?

He stood up, bare-chested and covered in pixels, and walked out of the Heavenly Temple territory. The players along the way were all stunned when they saw him—

"Holy shit! Who is that? Why is he naked?"

"That looks like Qin Wentian? How did he become like this?"

"Hahaha! His model is all pixels, you can't even see his face!"

"And he's bare-chested! Is this some kind of performance art?"

Qin Wentian kept his head down and walked quickly, 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 that loli voice, and the more he explained, the more embarrassing it became.

He simply stopped talking and walked back to the Commoner Supermarket with his head down.

When he returned to the supermarket, Fatty Wang was busy behind the counter. Seeing Qin Wentian walk in bare-chested, he almost choked on his own laughter.

"Guild Leader Qin, what happened to you? Were you robbed?"

Qin Wentian's face darkened, and he said in a low, loli voice: "Brother Ye reclaimed my equipment."

Fatty Wang was stunned for a moment, then laughed even harder: "Hahaha! Brother is too ruthless! He didn't even leave you your equipment!"

Qin Wentian ignored him and went upstairs to find Lin Ye. Lin Ye was sitting by the window, munching on virtual melon seeds. When he saw Qin Wentian walk in bare-chested, the corners of his mouth curled into a wicked smile.

"Yo, Guild Leader Qin, why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth, his loli voice filled with anger: "Brother Ye, you've gone too far. If you want me to repay my debts, I accept it. If you want me to suffer social death, I accept that too. But if you don't even leave me my equipment, how am I supposed to fight monsters? How do I level up? How do I repay my debts?"

Lin Ye stood up, walked over to him, and patted his shoulder: "Don't worry. I've already prepared equipment for you."

He took a set of equipment out of his backpack and handed it to Qin Wentian—a Newbie White-tier set, requiring level 1, with all stats at 1 point. It was exactly the same as the starter set given by the system, down to the color.

"Put it on," Lin Ye said.

Qin Wentian looked at the equipment, his face turning green: "Brother Ye, you want me to wear this? What's the difference between this and being naked?"

Lin Ye laughed: "There is a difference. Being naked is too ugly; wearing this is at least more decent. Besides—" He paused, "Aren't you trying to repay your debts? Fighting monsters in this is what you call repaying debts. Fighting monsters in an epic set is called enjoyment."

Qin Wentian fell silent. He knew Lin Ye was right. When he used to fight monsters in his epic set, he had never considered how those solo players who couldn't even afford white-tier gear felt. Now, he finally understood.

"Fine." He took the equipment and put it on, piece by piece. White-tier chest armor, white-tier leggings, white-tier boots, white-tier weapon. The stats combined didn't even add up to a fraction of one of his old epic equipment pieces.

"Let's go," Lin Ye said, "I'll take you to grind monsters."

"Still grinding?" Qin Wentian gave a wry smile, "Wearing this, who could I possibly beat?"

Lin Ye laughed: "With me here, what are you afraid of?"

That afternoon, Lin Ye took Qin Wentian to the Ash Plains to grind monsters again. Fatty Wang and Su Qinghan went too. The four of them formed a party, with Lin Ye leading the way, applying debuffs to the wild monsters and killing them instantly.

Fatty Wang picked up the loot, and Su Qinghan was responsible for casting shields. Qin Wentian followed at the very back, responsible for—getting beaten up.

[System Notification: You were attacked by [Ash Wolf], losing 150 HP. Current HP 50/200.]

Qin Wentian looked at his health bar, his face turning green. Back when he wore his epic set, the Ash Wolves couldn't even break his defense. Now that he was wearing white-tier gear, he was down to critical health in just three hits.

"Brother Ye, can you cast a shield on me?" he asked pitifully.

Su Qinghan glanced at him, raised her hand, and cast a small shield on him. Only then could Qin Wentian barely hold on.

After grinding for the afternoon, Qin Wentian's level rose from 28 to 30. Although it still wasn't high, it was at least better than before. His backpack was stuffed with white-tier items, not a single one of which was valuable. Meanwhile, Lin Ye and the others earned another few hundred thousand gold coins.

Returning to the Commoner Supermarket, Fatty Wang counted the money excitedly. Qin Wentian sat in the corner, drinking virtual milk tea and watching the sunset outside the window.

"Guild Leader Qin." Lin Ye walked over and sat down next to him.

"Hmm?" Qin Wentian turned his head to look at him.

Lin Ye handed him a cup of milk tea: "You worked hard today."

Qin Wentian took the milk tea, took a sip, and said in a low, loli voice: "It's not hard. Compared to the sins I committed in the past, this little bit of hardship is nothing."

Lin Ye nodded: "It's good that you can think that way. However—" He paused, "Just helping people grind monsters in the Novice Village and fighting in white-tier gear is not enough."

"Then what else needs to be done?"

Lin Ye took a list out of his backpack and handed it to Qin Wentian. The list was densely packed with names and IDs, at least a hundred of them. Next to them were notes on the time, location, and losses they suffered from being bullied by the Heavenly Temple.

Qin Wentian looked at the list, his hands trembling. He hadn't expected Lin Ye to have recorded all the evil deeds of the Heavenly Temple. One by one, case by case, clearly and distinctly.

"This is the debt you owe from before," Lin Ye said. "Some of the people on this list had their monsters stolen by your people, some were scammed out of their equipment by your people, and some were camped at their spawn points by your people. If you want to repay your debts, you have to find them one by one, apologize in person, and compensate for their losses."

Qin Wentian was silent for a long time. Some of the people on the list he still remembered, others he had forgotten. But regardless of whether he remembered or not, these were debts he had incurred.

"Fine." He stood up and tucked the list away, "I'll go. Find them one by one, apologize one by one."

Lin Ye patted his shoulder: "That's more like it."

Qin Wentian turned and walked out of the Commoner Supermarket, heading toward the first name on the list. That player's ID was "Newbie White," who had been scammed out of a set of newbie equipment by someone from the Heavenly Temple. The loss wasn't large, but to a newbie, that was all the possessions they had.

When Qin Wentian found Newbie White, he was grinding monsters in the Novice Village. Seeing Qin Wentian, he was stunned at first, and then instinctively took a step back.

"Y... you are Qin Wentian?" Newbie White's voice was filled with fear.

Qin Wentian nodded, his loli voice low: "It's me. Before, people from the Heavenly Temple scammed you out of your equipment, I'm sorry. I'm here to repay the debt."

He took a set of Blue equipment out of his backpack and handed it to Newbie White. It was what Fatty Wang had given him when they were grinding monsters today. Although it wasn't worth much, it was much better than the white-tier gear Newbie White was wearing.

Newbie White looked at the equipment, stunned: "You... you're here to apologize?"

"Yes." Qin Wentian lowered his head, "For the past, I'm sorry."

Newbie White was silent for a long time, then took the equipment, his eyes turning red: "It's... it's okay. It's all in the past."

Qin Wentian watched him, feeling a sour ache in his heart. He hadn't expected that a stranger would forgive him so easily.

"Thank you," he said in a low voice, and turned to leave.

Next was the second, the third, the fourth... Qin Wentian found them one by one, apologized one by one. Some people forgave him, some people scolded him, and some people didn't even remember who he was. But he didn't care; he was simply doing what he had to do.

By the time he reached the seventeenth person, it was already dark. Qin Wentian's legs were so tired they felt soft, but he didn't stop.

Lin Ye stood on the top floor of the Commoner Supermarket, watching Qin Wentian's back in the distance, the corners of his mouth curling into a wicked smile.

"Brother, how long do you think he can keep this up?" Fatty Wang walked up and asked.

Lin Ye thought for a moment: "I don't know. But no matter how long he can keep it up, at least he is doing the right thing now."

"Then what if he keeps at it forever?"

Lin Ye laughed: "Then this debuff will stay on him forever."

"Why? Hasn't he already changed?"

Lin Ye shook his head: "Changing doesn't mean he doesn't have to repay his debts. The sins he committed in the past won't be paid off in a few days. This debuff is to remind him—never forget the mistakes you once made."

Fatty Wang nodded, half-understanding.

At this moment, Qin Wentian was squatting in a corner of the Novice Village, staring blankly at the eighteenth name on the list. That player had already quit the game, their ID had turned gray, and they could no longer be contacted.

Qin Wentian looked at this name, unable to describe the feeling in his heart. He wanted to apologize, but that person was no longer there. He recalled what Lin Ye had said— "Some debts cannot be repaid just because you want to. Once missed, it's for a lifetime."

He stood up, crossed that name off the list, and walked toward the next one.

The night was deep, the starlight dim. Qin Wentian's figure cast a long shadow under the moonlight, lonely yet determined. He didn't know how long this path would take, but he knew—this was his own choice, and he had to keep going.