Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Sha Zhu felt a surge of excitement rush to his head, his chest filled with the heroic spirit of rescuing a damsel in distress. The slight embarrassment he had felt earlier because of the "leftovers" had vanished, replaced by immense satisfaction and pride.

He straightened his chest, waved his hand, and tried to make his voice sound more nonchalant and hearty: "Sister Qin, you're being too polite! We're neighbors, it's only right to help each other out! Take it back quickly, don't let it get cold! I'll save some for you later... later when I have more!" The last sentence was almost blurted out, carrying an unconscious promise.

With tears in her eyes, Qin Huairu nodded forcefully, saying nothing more, but she gave Sha Zhu another deep look, a look that contained a thousand unspoken words.

Then, clutching the two lunchboxes that were like treasures to her, she glanced around hastily like a startled fawn, turned around quickly, and ran back to the closed door of the Jia family's house.

Sha Zhu stood there, watching Qin Huairu's disappearing figure, his heart still pounding, his face burning, and the icy touch on his fingertips still lingering.

A cold wind swept by, but he felt hot all over.

Sister Qin, so pitiful and gentle, like a fairy, even boasted that she was a good person... A surge of warmth mixed with pity, protectiveness, and some kind of hazy emotion welled up in his chest.

He felt he had done a tremendous good deed, saving a family from collapse and winning the gratitude of the most beautiful person. This feeling was even more intoxicating and comforting than drinking two ounces of strong liquor.

He hummed a tuneless little tune and walked briskly back to his room, feeling that the late autumn evening wasn't so cold and unbearable anymore. As for what was in those two lunchboxes, whether they were really "leftovers," and whether they would cause any trouble, he had long since forgotten about them.

Behind the tightly closed door of the Jia family, Banggeng's joyful cheers soon came: "Mom! There's meat! It's meat scraps!" and Jia Zhangshi's voice, though low, couldn't hide her urgency: "Keep your voice down! You brat! Hurry, eat it while it's hot!" and Xiaodang's soft, satisfied chewing sounds.

Qin Huairu watched the children wolf down their food silently, while she carefully picked up a piece of oily bits from the dish with her chopsticks, chewed it slowly, and that rare oily taste made her nose sting again. She glanced at the gradually darkening twilight outside the window, then at the empty, still warm lunchbox in her hand, her eyes filled with complex and unreadable emotions.

Standing behind his window, Yi Zhonghai witnessed the silent "handover" at the Central Courtyard. He saw Sha Zhu's dazed, cloud-like appearance, Qin Huairu's perfectly timed tears and gratitude, and the long-lost "vitality" faintly visible through the Jia family's doors and windows. He slowly drew the curtains, the cold, smug smile on his lips unseen in the dim light.

The first step was successful.

A secret supply chain, using leftovers as bait and gratitude and budding feelings as fishing lines, quietly descended into the seemingly calm but actually turbulent waters of the courtyard house during this late autumn when resources were extremely scarce.

Sha Zhu, this seemingly fierce but actually simple-minded big fish, has already tentatively taken the bait. Meanwhile, Yi Zhonghai remains calm and collected.

Tonight, the Jia family's dinner table is filled with a bit of oil and heat; in Sha Zhu's dreams, there might be an extra gentle and grateful figure; and on Yi Zhonghai's "retirement chess game," an important piece has been slowly placed according to his wishes.

In late autumn in Beiping, night falls exceptionally early and exceptionally deep. Lead-gray clouds hang low, as if they might collapse at any moment and swallow the entire city. The alleyways are silent early on, with only the howling wind whistling like a ghost, whipping up withered leaves and dust that crackle against the tightly closed doors and windows.

In the courtyard, to save the meager amount of lamp oil and to ward off the ever-present chill, every household turned off their lights early and huddled under their blankets.

Only sporadic coughs, or the faint cries of starving children, leaked through the cracks in the tightly closed door, only to be swallowed by the wind. A sense of oppression permeated the air, a longing for food and warmth, and a deep anxiety about whether they would have enough to eat the next day.

A faint, dim light shone from behind the thin wooden door of the Jia family's house in the middle courtyard. Banggeng smacked his lips, savoring the rare aroma of pork cracklings from his lunchbox at dinner, muttering in his sleep, "Meat...so delicious..."

Little Dang nestled in her mother's arms, seemingly sleeping more peacefully. Qin Huairu, using the faint moonlight filtering through the window, looked at the children's dirty yet unusually content sleeping faces, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

The two heavy, still-warm aluminum lunchboxes from Sha Zhu, and the unintentional touch of his rough fingers as he handed them over, made her pale cheeks flush slightly, only to be overwhelmed by a deeper sense of bewilderment and sorrow.

She didn't know how far this path would take, but she knew what kind of eyes and calculations lay behind this meager assistance. Next door came Jia Zhangshi's heavy snoring, occasionally interspersed with a few indistinct murmurs in her sleep, mostly cursing and swearing.

Yi Zhonghai, lying on the cold kang in the east wing, stared at the dark ceiling with his eyes open, the faint flame of scheming that had just ignited in his heart flickering.

In the east courtyard, the lights in Wei Chen's small house were already off, and all was quiet. Da Huang was curled up in its doghouse under the eaves, its ears twitching occasionally as it caught the slightest sound in the wind, but it quickly returned to calm, because it smelled its owner's familiar and reassuring scent.

At midnight, all was silent; even the wind seemed weary, leaving only a deathly stillness.

Inside the house, Wei Chen slowly opened his eyes. The room was dark, yet clearly visible to him. He quietly rose, his movements as gentle as a cat's, making no sound. Listening intently, he could hear his mother's even, long breaths from next door, indicating she was fast asleep. In the yard, apart from the sound of the wind, there was no other noise.

He walked to the window and gently touched the windowsill with his fingers. The cold touch of the wood was palpable. He didn't open the window immediately, but instead quietly spread his spiritual energy out like ripples on water, carefully sensing the courtyard inside and out.

This ability comes from his exceptional mental strength. Within a 153-meter radius, although one cannot truly "see" anything, one can keenly perceive the breath of life, fluctuations in energy, and even subtle sounds.

The front yard, the middle yard, the back yard… the air in each household was thick with the hazy atmosphere of sleep or light slumber. Big Yellow's breathing was steady. A faint breeze stirred as a night owl darted across the wall. Further away, the alley was deserted, save for the occasional, deliberately soft, yet still muffled footsteps of patrolling militiamen, which gradually faded into the distance.

It is confirmed that everything is safe and secure.

Wei Chen took a deep breath, and the internal energy within his body, which originated from the game world and had become increasingly refined and profound through his own hard work, quietly began to circulate.

In an instant, his entire aura seemed to vanish, merging with the surrounding darkness. He gently pushed open the window a crack, and the icy night wind immediately rushed in. Without hesitation, his body swayed slightly, like a weightless shadow, and he silently slipped out through the crack, landing without even disturbing a speck of dust.

He didn't go through the gate, nor did he climb over the noisy courtyard wall. He took a deep breath and moved lightly, his toes barely touching the cracks in the brick wall, and like a leaf swept up by the wind, he floated lightly over the nearly two-person-high wall and landed in the dark alley outside. The whole movement was fluid and natural, as if he had practiced it a thousand times.

He didn't linger in the alley, but accelerated suddenly with a powerful leap, yet remained as light as if weightless. In a few bounds, he had already left the Nanluoguxiang residential area and turned into a more secluded back alley lined with high courtyard walls on both sides. Few people came here during the day, and at night it was like a forgotten corner, with only the eerie green eyes of stray cats gleaming in the shadows.

After confirming that no one was around and even the chirping of insects had fallen silent due to the cold, Wei Chen stopped in the deep shadows of a corner of a courtyard wall. It was sheltered from the wind, and with some long-rotted debris piled up at the base of the wall, it was an excellent hiding place.

He held his breath and focused his mind, spreading his spiritual power like mercury across the ground, carefully sensing the surrounding area of ​​several dozen feet—aside from the sound of the wind and the faint sound of patrol clappers in the distance, there was no sign of any other living creatures approaching.

It is here.

My thoughts sank into the depths of my consciousness, my mind touching that mysterious "gateway." In an instant, the cold air, dim light, and howling wind of the real world receded like the tide. In their place came a warm, tranquil, and uniquely fragrant aroma filled with the scent of grass and trees.

He was already inside the "Hunter's Hut" in the "game world".

Wei Chen wasted no time admiring his own safe house. He went straight to the corner of the house, where a clear mirror stood.

Standing before the mirror, he closed his eyes. Within his body, the inner energy that originated from the initial gift of the game world and had become increasingly refined and profound through his years of diligent practice of the "Nine Heavens Sun Shooting Technique" began to flow and circulate at an unprecedented speed.

The breath travels swiftly along certain hidden and complex meridian pathways, and wherever it passes, the muscle fibers seem to be kneaded and reshaped by an invisible hand.

If any outsiders were present at this moment, they would surely be horrified. The reflection of Wei Chen in the mirror was undergoing a bizarre and visible transformation!

His shoulders expanded outward and upward as if inflated, his trapezius and deltoid muscles bulging, slightly stretching and tightening his once-fitting cotton undershirt; his chest became thicker and broader, and the outline of his back muscles became clearer and stronger; his waist and abdomen remained lean, but the lines were sharper. The muscles in his arms and thighs also bulged, exuding a sense of explosive power.

At the same time, his facial bones seemed to be undergoing subtle adjustments. His cheekbones were slightly raised, his jawline became more defined and angular, and his nose bridge appeared straighter. The soft tissues of his entire face also subtly changed under the influence of internal force, reducing his original refined appearance and adding a ruggedness and fortitude honed by hardship.

Even his height seemed to have increased by more than two inches, making him appear even more imposing.

In less than twenty breaths, the person in the mirror had completely transformed. The handsome, gentle, and even somewhat scholarly young worker, Wei Chen, had vanished, replaced by a burly man of about thirty, with a face as dark as iron, features as sharp as if carved by a knife, piercing and deep eyes, and a robust physique like a mountain boulder. He exuded an aura of world-weariness, composure, and fierce courage, completely different from his former self.

This was the identity he had used for nearly a year in black market transactions, codenamed "Iron Tower."