An extraordinary life journey through old Beijing courtyard houses

Jiang Baobin concluded that the skeletons in the waterway were people who were trying to find a way to survive.

Little did they know that this effort would only hasten their own demise.

Because they didn't have enough breaths, all but those who managed to return drowned in the waterway.

Only the two corpses, for some unknown reason, continued to sink.

After entering the undercurrent, they were carried to the bottom of the pool.

Then, due to buoyancy, it floats upwards.

Their strange journey finally ended when they were stuck at the location where Jiang Baobin had discovered them...

This is a body of water that is about 100 square meters.

Only a very faint light shines here.

You would never notice it unless you looked very closely.

Below it, a "monster" is slowly swimming along the edge.

The "monster" is somewhat special; its eyes are all located on the front.

Unlike ordinary animals, there is one on each side.

It seemed to be observing, or perhaps waiting for its prey to arrive.

However, its patience finally ran out, and it slowly swam back to the center of the water.

Then it slowly peeked out, revealing only two wary eyes...

Oh my god! It's Jiang Baobin!

What's this guy trying to pull?

He (rolls his eyes first): What a pretentious charade?

I'm scared, okay? Who knows if the system has arranged for monsters like Tesla to guard the waterway entrance?

As soon as I step out, it will leap out with its gaping maw, and with a snap, I'll become a snack.

He was panting heavily, his eyes wide open!

Because the sight before us was truly bizarre—it was an enormous cave, so large that you couldn't even see the end of it!

A beam of light was shining down from the high ceiling of the cave.

It creates a magical landscape!

Jiang Baobin withdrew his gaze from looking up and looked into the cave.

In stark contrast to the breathtaking beauty of nature, the scene below is simply appalling.

Everywhere you look, there are skeletons, a massive amount of skeletons!

The area around the waterway is the most densely populated!

Jiang Baobin only glanced around and saw dozens of bodies!

They were all lying down with their heads facing the water.

The cave contains even more, densely packed and countless.

Holy crap! This is a 10,000-person crowd!

How did I end up in a place like this?

He was genuinely hesitant about whether or not to go out into the world...

The system had already seen through him and realized he was a coward, so the real challenge began:

"Ding! Special mission: Unravel the secrets of 'Azure Pool' and find the 'Giant Cave Secret Realm' that was sealed off due to an earthquake collapse."

(The system is good at naming things, isn't it? What is Black Dragon Pool? It's obviously uncultured.)

"This instance will close in 180 minutes."

"You are the fourth player to have found the secret realm."

"Reward: ① 6 freely assignable attributes;"

"② Storage space valid for 70 days (all players have a uniform volume of 1 cubic meter);"

Wow! This is great, this is great!

It even has storage space!

But what does the 70-day validity period mean?

Also, isn't 1 cubic meter too small?

System, come out here! Why aren't you being stingy to death?

Never mind all that for now, let's quickly allocate attribute points:

"Game cheat codes for virtual world players in courtyard houses"

Current time: November 30, 1948

Player: Jiang Baobin

Health Status: 75%

"Physical Attributes:"

"Wisdom: 20"

"Five Senses: 20"

"Explosiveness: 20"

Endurance: 20

Agility: 14

"..."

He allocated half of his six attribute points to "Agility" and the other half to "Stamina".

This will max out your stamina. Therefore:

"Ding! 'Endurance' has reached the single-item limit of version 1.0."

"The player achieved this achievement by ranking third."

"Reward: Enthusiast-level cultural interests—writing, painting, calligraphy, music, dance, sculpture, antique appreciation, public speaking, and performance;"

Players can choose one as their personal preference.

Jiang Baobin clicked his tongue in frustration—it's true what they say, if you're slow on one step, you'll be slow on every step of the way.

Because I spent too much time building my shack, my ranking dropped significantly.

They dropped from first place to fourth and third respectively.

Compared to those players who came later and surpassed them, I still seem too conservative.

Ugh……

But it's too late to regret it now; all you can do is try your best to catch up.

This guy was holding short guns in both hands and had a "hammer" hanging from his back as he slowly walked out of the water.

As soon as he stepped outside, Jiang Baobin frowned.

His sense of smell was still very keen, even though the cave had been there for who knows how many years.

However, an indescribable and extremely disgusting stench still lingered.

Suddenly, something caught his attention.

It made him temporarily forget the strong protest from his nasal cavity—

A bright yellow horseshoe-shaped gold coin, very eye-catching!

This made Jiang Baobin extremely happy—I was overjoyed!

No, it's more like bowing your head to see joy.

When he looked down, he discovered that there was some gold and silver near almost every skull.

Because their flesh and blood no longer exist.

Even the clothes were severely weathered.

Heavy things like gold and silver are naturally exposed.

"Om Mani Padme Hum!" Jiang Baobin chanted a mantra.

Then I looked at the horse hoof gold.

The other person completely ignored him and remained lying there perfectly fine.

"May the Supreme Lord Laozi command this swiftly!"

"..."

"Still not working?"

The guy touched his nose and gave an awkward smile.

There's nothing I can do; my chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) has kicked in again.

We should just pick up the gold honestly.

With a thought, it obediently disappeared this time.

With another thought, it appeared out of thin air in his hand again.

"Gagaga..." The guy grinned with satisfaction and gave the system a hundred thumbs up.

However, because this great space turned out to be temporary, I'm taking back ninety-nine of the likes...

Jiang Baobin cautiously walked towards the center of the cave.

Countless corpses surrounded the area.

Beneath that beam of light was a low platform of considerable size.

On the stage sat a magnificent armchair, upon which sat a skeleton, looking imposing and dignified.

The other clothes had weathered away, leaving only a thick cloak.

Wow! This is quite a grand affair!

Jiang Baobin then began to carefully observe the leader—

The person had no obvious injuries, except for a broken bone in the right chest.

It's unclear whether it was stabbed by a knife or spear, or severed by an arrow.

However, judging from his arrogant demeanor, he's unlikely to be very good at charging into battle.

It is more likely to be hit by a ranged arrow.

He rested his right hand on a knife with a jade handle.

In ancient times, there were very few people who were qualified to use jade.

He stood on two magnificent chests inlaid with jewels.

Since the box was being stepped on, it must not be very big.

It is half a meter long and only twenty or thirty centimeters wide and high.

Five large boxes were placed to the left, right, and behind the chair.

Jiang Baobin used the tip of his spear to lift the lid, revealing it to be full of copper coins.

Clearly, these treasures were also meant to be buried with this leader.

Jiang Baobin looked away and glanced around.

However, he always felt that he had overlooked something.

No matter how hard I try, I just can't remember.

So, what exactly is it?