Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

The light dimmed and then brightened again, and Wei Chen found himself standing in the game world.

This was a world he knew all too well. Under the gray-blue sky, the wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see, with rolling hills and dense forests in the distance, and a wide meadow nearby, dotted with a few shrubs and scattered wildflowers.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of grass and trees, a stark contrast to the drab, coal-smoke-laden atmosphere of the city. There were no bicycles, no metal buckets, no people or things to worry about. Here, there was only himself, and this vast world forever waiting for him to redefine it.

Wei Chen took a deep breath, stretched his muscles, and then strode towards the open field ahead.

He started by hunting the "monsters" in the city—chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, rabbits, and dogs that spawned in the open areas around the village houses. They had low attack power and gave little experience, but their large numbers and fast respawn rate made them worthwhile. He carried a wooden stick in each hand and struck them one by one, each blow landing precisely on a vital spot, killing them instantly. The poultry and livestock didn't even have time to struggle before turning into a white light, becoming items and experience points in his inventory.

"Too little experience." Wei Chen shook his head. A chicken only gave him one point of experience, and a pig only three. He spent more than half an hour cleaning up the hundreds of poultry and livestock that spawned in the city, and only managed to accumulate less than two hundred experience points. This was a drop in the ocean compared to the ninety thousand experience points he needed for the next level.

He had long ago discovered the pattern to leveling up in this game world—the number of monsters that spawn each day is limited; once they're gone, they're gone, and you have to wait until the next day. In other words, no matter how hard he tries, the daily experience cap is fixed, and there's no rushing it.

"Forget it, there's no use in rushing." Wei Chen thought to himself, turning his gaze to the open fields outside the city.

The monsters outside the city were stronger and offered more experience points than those inside. There were pheasants, wild dogs, wild boars, oxen, roe deer, and occasionally wolves and deer. He carried a machete, searching the open fields. When he encountered a lone wild boar, he would rush forward, slashing it cleanly across the neck, bringing it down swiftly.

Even when faced with packs of wild dogs, he remained calm, using the terrain and his movement to take them down one by one. Wolves were the most troublesome, fast and fierce, but even they were no match for his agile skills. He seized an opening, plunged his knife into the wolf's throat, and the wolf howled before collapsing and turning into a flash of white light.

Over two hours, he killed nearly two hundred monsters, gained several hundred experience points, and replenished the number of various animals in his backpack to the maximum limit—999.

他看了看自己的背包，野鸡999只、野兔999只、野猪999只、黄牛999只、狍子999只、狼999只、鹿999只……每一格都塞得满满当当，像一座移动的肉山。

Back in reality, the sun was already high in the sky, and the leaves of the trees lining the dirt road rustled in the morning breeze. Wei Chen stood beside his bicycle, looked around to make sure no one was nearby, and with a thought, three pheasants appeared out of thin air in the bamboo basket on the back of his bicycle.

With another wave of his hand, a large, fat wild boar appeared on the back of the bicycle, firmly wedged against the edge of the basket. The boar weighed over two hundred pounds, heavy as hell, pressing down on the back of the bicycle with a squeak.

Wei Chen tied the bicycle with a rope, checked its strength, adjusted its balance to make sure it wouldn't fall apart halfway, then got on and rode towards the steel mill.

As I rode onto the highway outside the city, more and more people appeared. Workers rushing to work, vendors carrying loads on their shoulders, and children with schoolbags on their backs were coming and going on the road.

Wei Chen rode his bicycle, the plump wild boar on the back seat and the three pheasants in the bamboo basket standing out conspicuously. Passersby turned their heads, some staring intently at the wild boar as if nailed to the spot, unable to look away for a long time.

An old man carrying a load on a shoulder pole stopped, stared at it for a long time, and muttered, "Good heavens, what a huge pig they killed..." A young woman next to him also stopped and tugged at the sleeve of the man beside him, "Look at that wild boar meat, it's even fatter than the ones we bought for the New Year..."

Wei Chen ignored the stares and rode his bike steadily. After about ten minutes, just as he turned onto the main road leading to the factory area, he was suddenly stopped by two men. Both were men in their thirties or forties, wearing worn blue overalls. One wore glasses, and the other carried a bag, looking like he was on a shopping trip. The man with glasses blocked the way, his tone urgent: "Comrade, are you selling this wild boar? How much do you want? I'll take it all."

Wei Chen stopped the car and glanced at the man: "Sorry, I'm not selling."

The man paused for a moment, then asked, "Not selling? Where are you going to send this wild boar then?"

"I'm a purchasing agent for the steel rolling mill. This is what we're buying for our factory canteen," Wei Chen said.

The man persisted: "You can sell me half! I'm a purchasing agent for a food processing plant, and we're short of meat. Sell me a hind leg, and we can negotiate the price!"

Wei Chen shook his head: "I'm really not selling. This is goods ordered by the factory, and I need to deliver them back to meet my deadline. Comrade, why don't you ask someone else?"

The man opened his mouth, as if to say something, but seeing Wei Chen's resolute attitude, he had no choice but to reluctantly step aside. Another man beside him watched Wei Chen's departing figure on his bicycle and sighed, "What a pity. Such a big wild boar. If we could have gotten our hands on it, it would have been enough to feed so many people..."

Wei Chen didn't look back and continued riding. After riding for a while, just before reaching the factory gate, he was stopped again. This time it was a middle-aged woman, wearing a faded floral blouse and carrying a bamboo basket. She stopped him: "Young man, are you selling your pheasant meat? My husband is sick and wants some chicken soup, but we can't buy any on the street..."

Wei Chen looked at her, then at the three pheasants in the bamboo basket, and hesitated for a moment: "Sister-in-law, these pheasants are from a factory order, I can't sell them. But..." He paused, then lowered his voice, "If you're really in a hurry, wait here tomorrow morning at this time, and I'll bring one over for you."

The woman's eyes lit up: "Really? Thank you so much! I'll definitely be here tomorrow!"

As he approached the factory gate, Old Li, the guard on duty, recognized him from afar. Old Li poked his head out of the guardhouse, squinted at him for a while, and when Wei Chen rode closer, he shouted in a loud voice, "Wei Chen! Got some good stuff again?"

Wei Chen braked the car, one foot on the ground: "Yeah, I caught a wild boar and three pheasants. I'll hand them over to the logistics department."

Old Li's eyes widened immediately: "A wild boar? How big?"

"About two hundred jin (100 kg)."

Old Li gasped, walked out of the guardhouse, and circled Wei Chen's bicycle. Seeing the large, fat wild boar on the back, he exclaimed, "Wei Chen, you're amazing! Do you know how hard it is to get meat these days? I have an old comrade who works at a food processing factory. Last month, they finally managed to get a pig, and the whole factory was buzzing about it, like it was New Year's. I heard that pig even gave a temporary worker a chance to become a permanent employee—just think about it, a pig can make someone a permanent employee, that shows how precious this meat is!" Old Li lowered his voice, "If you hand over this wild boar, the factory leaders will definitely remember your achievement."

Wei Chen smiled and said, "It's not that exaggerated, I was just lucky."

"Good luck?" Old Li clicked his tongue twice. "I've been guarding this place for years, and I've seen countless purchasing agents come and go, but none of them are like you, able to get good stuff every now and then. Your methods are even more unconventional than those old purchasing agents who have been doing this their whole lives."

Old Zhou from the security department happened to be walking out from behind the guardhouse. Hearing their conversation, he quickly approached and asked, "Wei Chen, did you bring back a wild boar?"

"Yeah, my hunter friend shot it, and I begged him to let me get it," Wei Chen said.

Old Zhou slapped his thigh: "Good lad! You've really got it! Do you know how hard it is to get a wild boar these days? The fact that you managed to get one has even caught the attention of the factory leaders." He lowered his voice, "I just passed by the office building and saw Director Li on the phone with the logistics department, asking about your matter."

Old Li chimed in, "That's right! I've worked here for so many years, and I've seen purchasing agents bring in flour, peanuts, but bringing in a whole wild boar is a rare sight! Your methods are really something else!"

Wei Chen didn't say much. He greeted the two of them, got on his bike, and entered the factory area.

The factory area was even busier than in the morning. Workshops were rushing to meet demand, the roar of machines echoing through the buildings and making the ground tremble slightly. Workers walked in twos and threes along the road, some carrying lunchboxes towards the canteen, others pushing carts carrying materials. Wei Chen rode his bicycle through the main road, and people kept greeting him along the way.

"Wei Chen! I heard you've gotten your hands on some good stuff again?" A middle-aged worker in blue overalls poked his head out of the workshop door, his voice quite loud.

"We caught a wild boar," Wei Chen replied, without slowing down the car.

The worker hesitated for a moment, then quickly took a few steps to catch up: "Wild boar? How big?"

"About two hundred jin (100 catties)."