A Comprehensive Network: An Endless Adventure Begins as a Wanderer

Cheng Yi blinked.

For people who have grown up with the common sense that "you have to turn on the lights when it gets dark," the ability to see in the dark is far more impactful than they imagine.

He drew the curtains, closed the bedroom door, and squeezed himself into the narrow gap between the wardrobe and the wall—almost the darkest corner of the entire house, which used to be pitch black, but now seemed to be covered by a thin layer of gray gauze, with distinct outlines and clear details.

He could even see the crooked mark he had carved with a knife when he was a child on the inside of the cabinet door. It was left when he was seven years old and his height was measured. The words "Cheng Yi" were written next to the mark, the strokes of which were ridiculously childish.

Cheng Yi reached out and touched the engraving mark. His fingertips touched the rough grooves on the wooden board, and he suddenly smiled.

He stepped out of the gap and casually pulled back the curtains. The afternoon sunlight flooded in, making him squint instinctively—the switch between dark vision and normal vision was extremely fast, requiring almost no adjustment time, as natural as adjusting the aperture of a camera.

Cheng Yi sat back down at the table. The three-delicacy potato noodles had clumped up a bit, but he still slurped them down, soup and all. He didn't waste the sesame seeds that fell on the table; he picked them up one by one and put them in his mouth.

After eating and drinking his fill, he leaned back in his chair, his gaze falling on the story instance icon on the panel that had been lit up for several days.

Story Dungeon: Krum Camp

Challenge Level: 3

Dungeon Difficulty: Special

Dungeon completion requirements: Clear Kram's Camp

Dungeon death penalty: Soul Weakness (lasts 3 calendar day)

Instance Description: Following the faint grassy path beside the Three Pigs Trail, a noisy goblin camp comes into view...

Challenge level 3 corresponds to a level 3 adventurer party.

Cheng Yi is currently level 3, but with his mastery of the Trickster Master, Shadow Binding Ritual, Moon God Flying Knife, Observation Haki, Night Eye, Poison Sac Ring, and other skills, he is far beyond what an ordinary level 3 wanderer can match.

Not to mention he also has the Kafton Elixir—although there are only two doses left, the Black Widow Salad can restore health and increase poison resistance, plus the sleep and detection magic brought by casting spells, making his methods much more abundant than a few days ago.

"We should be able to fight now."

Cheng Yi stood up and threw the takeout box into the trash can.

With everything in order, Cheng Yi squinted and opened the story instance.

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Cheng Yi stood at the entrance of the Three Pigs Path and took a deep breath.

The damp scent of grass and trees filled my nostrils, mixed with earth and a kind of rotten, sweet, and fishy smell.

The path was longer and darker than he remembered, with the intertwined branches of the trees on both sides almost completely blocking out the sky. Tiny patches of light filtered through the leaves, falling to the ground like scattered gold dust.

He didn't rush to leave.

Cheng Yi closed his eyes, and his Observation Haki spread silently, like a spider web extending into the depths of the path.

Within a radius of about 300 meters, every subtle movement of life was clearly fed back to his senses—a few squirrels leaped among the treetops, a snake coiled in a pile of dead leaves, and further away, there were traces of the breath left by some larger creature, but it had been a long time and was no longer a threat.

He opened his eyes and stepped into the grassy path beside the road.

My footsteps were very light; the soft soles of my sneakers made only a very faint rustling sound as they stepped on the fallen leaves.

The dark vision granted by the Eye of Night is equally useful in the forest during the day. Details hidden deep in the shadows of the trees—moss on the bark, ants on the ground, small animals flashing by in the bushes in the distance—are all as clear as if they have been highlighted.

After walking for about half an hour, Cheng Yi suddenly stopped.

The Observation Haki detected the anomaly ahead.

It wasn't the scent of living things, but rather some kind of carefully arranged, unnatural structure. He crouched down, squinting at the ground about twenty meters ahead—the fallen leaves were piled up incorrectly; the edges of a few leaves were slightly curled up, as if someone had lifted them from underneath and then casually tossed them back.

Cheng Yi picked up a dry twig from the ground and gently reached out.

The moment the withered branch touched the fallen leaf, the ground suddenly sank.

"Click".

A sharpened stake shot out from beneath the fallen leaves, skimming the edge of a dead branch before slamming into the trunk of a nearby tree with a whooshing sound. The tip of the stake was coated with something dark brown. Cheng Yi leaned closer and sniffed it—it was dried blood mixed with the grease of rotting animal.

"Good heavens," he muttered to himself.

If you're not careful, stepping on it could result in your foot being pierced by the stake at best, and at worst, you'd be impaled through the entire body by the stake. Goblins may be stupid, but they certainly have a despicable talent for setting traps.

Cheng Yi bypassed the trap and continued forward.

On the next leg of his journey, he discovered two more similar traps—one with a tripwire attached to a log, and the other a deep pit disguised as a puddle, with countless sharp spikes stuck in the bottom.

After walking for about an hour and a half, Cheng Yi vaguely heard the sound of water. It sounded like something was slowly flowing in a low-lying area.

He quickened his pace, passed through a patch of low bushes, and suddenly the view opened up before him—

A small stream lies across the way.

The water is not wide, about seven or eight meters, and the current is clear, allowing you to see the pebbles at the bottom and the small fish swimming around. The banks are covered with waist-high reeds and wild grasses, swaying in the wind and making a rustling sound.

On the other side of the stream was the entrance to a cave, half-hidden by vines and shrubs.

The cave entrance was small, about two people wide, and in the darkness extending inward, one could vaguely see man-made piles of stones and wooden frames. From inside the cave, faint sounds of commotion could be heard.

Cheng Yi did not cross the river rashly.

He crouched down, using the reeds for cover, and squinted to carefully observe the situation at the cave entrance.

His Observation Haki told him that there were two living creatures at the cave entrance.

One was crouching behind the stone pillar on the left, holding something long and thin in its hand. The other was half-lying in the bushes on the right, in a more casual posture than the one on the left.

Goblin sentries.

Cheng Yi's gaze lingered for a moment longer on the sentry on the right—beside him lay a bow, its body wrapped with animal sinew, the string taut, and seven or eight feathered arrows tucked into its quiver, the arrowheads gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

Archer.

Cheng Yi frowned.

His current darkvision, Observation Haki, and Shadow Teleportation are absolute weapons at night. But during the day, especially in open areas like this, a skilled archer can make it difficult for him to move an inch.

There was almost no shade to hide in on either side of the stream—the left side was a bare riverbed, and the right side was a low thicket of reeds. Although the reeds could obscure the view, the splashing water and sounds would immediately reveal his position once he waded into the water. The archer's position, however, conveniently covered the entire crossing area.

Cheng Yi slowly retreated, going deep into the reeds, and found a secluded corner to sit down.

"Wait until it gets dark."