Volume One, Chapter Five: System Announcement

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Glancing at the watch’s glowing screen, Lin Yi opened the chat window with over 99 unread messages and found an oddly consistent theme among them.

“Today I ran into a shady merchant. Though their shop had more items than the system’s store, the prices were ridiculously high.”

“Same here.”

“Poor guy above, just a moment ago.”

At that moment, a user named Cute Piglet posted: “Mine was worse. The merchant’s name was Lisa. I went in thinking ‘women don’t deceive women,’ but she sold ten pieces of wood for 500 gold coins. I fell for her sweet talk without realizing it. When I got back to my own shop, I nearly cried. My poor heart aches—someone please comfort me!”

“Hehe, luckily I was sharp and chased off a sneaky one right away.”

...

As Lin Yi scrolled through these posts about unscrupulous merchants, he lost interest and opened the shop himself. Though he had suffered a loss, it wasn’t too severe.

He kept reading the messages until one post caught his eye: “Why haven’t we felt hungry even after almost two days here?”

At first, Lin Yi thought this was normal, but upon reflection, everything seemed suspicious.

“No hunger, yet why are there fields and farming tools?”

Even if this was a game, NPCs were just like real people—they needed to eat and sleep. If he didn’t feel hungry but did get sleepy, maybe the lack of hunger was only temporary.

With this thought, Lin Yi clicked on the post and found similar speculations below, though most were just descriptions.

“You’re overthinking it. The system made it so we don’t feel hungry at the start, and we won’t feel hungry after that either.”

At that moment, a cold voice echoed through the sky, reaching Lin Yi’s ears.

He hurried out of his room to hear the announcement:

“Congratulations to all kings for surviving the first day. You must have a general understanding of your current situation. I will now deliver some important messages.”

First: On this day, a few kings found treasure chests while patrolling their territories. It is hoped more kings will patrol their lands, though the chance of finding treasure chests decreases over time.

[Note: Patrolling increases subjects’ loyalty to the king and may encourage them to defend the kingdom during invasions.]

Second: After the three-day protection period, the privilege of kings not feeling hunger will be revoked.

[Note: A good king shares hardship with his people.]

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Third: Once the three-day protection ends, the first wave of monster invasions will begin. All kings should work hard to strengthen themselves.

“A reminder: The fastest way to increase your power is by upgrading, but please upgrade cautiously.”

[Note: The frequency of monster attacks will no longer be controlled by the system and can happen anytime, anywhere.]

Fourth: The system store function will be canceled in one hour. Though it somewhat disrupts game balance, the trading function will never be removed. Rest assured, kings.

There is no teleportation here. Don’t expect help from others; your only way out is to strengthen yourselves.

Lin Yi saw many people complaining about hunger not being permanent.

“What? No hunger is only temporary? I don’t have any food at all!”

“The store is closing? I’m relying on it to survive. System, give it back!”

“Treasure chests? I thought those were fake—crying!”

“Quiet, haven’t you seen the monster invasion after three days?”

“I’m doomed, I’m doomed!”

Soon, Lin Yi closed the message window, muttering to himself, “It’s just a bunch of freeloaders whining, with nothing useful.”

The store closing in an hour was no big deal. He hadn’t taken a single coin anyway. But the monster invasion three days from now gave Lin Yi a real sense of crisis.

At the same time, one line from the system announcement stood out as problematic: “Reminder: The fastest way to increase your power is upgrading, but please upgrade cautiously.”

“If upgrading is the fastest way to grow stronger, why then does the system warn us to be cautious about upgrading?”

Lin Yi couldn’t figure out the connection—it seemed like a contradiction!

For a moment, his mind felt tangled like a knotted mess, unable to make sense of it.

He muttered repeatedly, “Castle, monsters, upgrade, don’t upgrade…” trying to find the link between these elements.

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck his mind like lightning, and he understood.

Excited, he almost jumped up, shouting aloud:

“I get it now! So that’s how it is!”

“When the castle upgrades, the monsters upgrade too; if the castle doesn’t upgrade, the monsters won’t either!”

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Lin Yi repeated the realization over and over, and the confusion in his heart melted away like ice in spring.

At that moment, he cursed inwardly, “This damn system is so crafty, like a dog playing riddles with us!”

Meanwhile, he thought about how many others must be frantically upgrading their castles like headless flies, completely unaware of the hidden truth.

Lin Yi hesitated about whether to warn them.

But what if no one believed him?

After all, who would easily trust an unknown stranger’s baseless advice?

Thus, Lin Yi found himself in a dilemma, pacing back and forth for a while.

Finally, after a fierce inner struggle, he decided to send a well-meaning warning in the chat:

“Friends, I sincerely suggest you don’t rush to upgrade your castles just yet—this might be linked to the monsters’ strength.”

But as soon as he sent the message, it exploded like a bomb, triggering a flood of replies.

“Hey man, what’s your problem? You don’t want us to upgrade? Are you out of your mind?” one message bluntly asked.

Another chimed in, “Exactly! I think this guy’s seriously sick!”

Then someone openly accused him: “The guy above is right. I bet he knows he can’t pass this stage and just wants to drag others down with him! Such a person is scum!”

Soon, a mocking message appeared: “Haha, this is hilarious. Look at this guy—could he really be an idiot?”

In no time, a torrent of insulting and unbearable remarks poured down on the message sender like a tidal wave...

Seeing the attacks against him, Lin Yi’s face flushed with anger. Within a second, his message disappeared.

Gritting his teeth, he cursed, “Damn it! Are they so desperate they’d rather die? It’s true what they say: kind words can’t persuade a damned ghost.”

Holding firmly to the principle of “out of sight, out of mind,” Lin Yi decisively stepped out through the grand, mysterious castle gates.

Once outside, he didn’t stop but continued walking.

While walking, he carefully observed his surroundings, pondering where best to place the two precious plots of farmland.