Who are you calling a stable boy?!

Outside the door was Grandpa Chen, who ran a tea restaurant on the street. When Zheng Jing and Xue Qing were in junior and senior high school, they often went to his place on summer weekend afternoons, ordered two cups of lemon tea, and sat there for the whole afternoon, doing their homework or simply watching anime on Grandpa Chen's Wi-Fi.

Grandpa would occasionally bring them some food, such as fried meatballs, fried spring rolls, or sometimes even two large slices of toast covered in condensed milk or peanut sauce.

Luckily, he and Xueqing had good appetites since they were young, otherwise, after eating those two pieces of toast, they would have eaten at least one less bowl of their mother's cooking when they got home for dinner.

"No, Ah Jing, didn't you hear that? There were two really loud claps of thunder just now, boom boom boom!"

"thunder?"

Zheng Jing looked up at the sky.

There isn't even a dark cloud in the sky, could it be a bolt from the blue?

"Grandpa, are you sure you heard me right?"

"Impossible! I wasn't the only one who heard it! I saw in the Fetion group that someone else said a bird was scared to death by the thunder and fell down!"

"That powerful?"

Zheng Jing scratched his cheek.

That doesn't make sense.

If there really was such a loud thunder, with his current hearing, it's impossible that Grandpa Chen noticed it but he didn't hear it...

"Ah Jing, did you sleep in today and that's why you didn't hear me? It's so late and you still haven't opened your mouth... Oh, my mouth!"

Grandpa Chen slapped his mouth.

"Sleep more, it'll be good! Sleep more, it'll be good!"

"Grandpa, I'm really fine. I was jumping around like a baby the day I came back from the hospital."

Zheng Jing smiled and waved his hand.

"It's alright, why don't you come to my place for a bite? Grandpa's treating!"

"Grandpa, I just finished lunch. I can't eat much now. Xueqing and I will come to your place for curry in a couple of days."

"Okay!"

"Why don't you come in and offer some incense? You're already here."

"Alright, alright!"

After offering three sticks of incense to Grandpa Chen and watching the elderly man with graying temples devoutly worship the Great Sage, Zheng Jing smiled and saw the old man out of the alley. He then returned to the temple, hung up a sign indicating that he was going out, and closed the temple gate.

It was a bolt from the blue, and it even scared the birds to death.

That sounds pretty fantastical.

It's like someone is undergoing a tribulation in broad daylight...

"..."

Zheng Jing scratched his cheek.

Since things have come to this, let's get back to the important business.

He opened the panel, hesitated for a moment while looking at the dungeon option.

He has now reached level five, and if he is willing to pay, he can go to Old Lan's place at any time through the courtyard's teleportation function.

But Zheng Jing was hesitant about whether to go now.

The reason isn't too complicated...

Lifespan varies.

Zheng Jing didn't know how long he was going to live, but upon careful consideration, he knew he was definitely not as powerful as Old Lan or the old man when it came to death.

He's now going to find Old Blue, but he's going to his physical body. How can he enter the Soul Society, which is supposedly only accessible to spirit beings? That's the problem.

Moreover, if he were to actually stay in the Soul Society for at least a hundred years, that would be akin to spending his life in prison.

Zheng Jing wasn't worried that Lao Lan would really think he was dead.

Before setting off for the mortal world, he left a letter specifically addressed to Old Lan.

Zheng Jing believed that the old man would deliver the letter to Lao Lan.

He also believed that with Lao Lan's intelligence, he would definitely be able to see the true meaning he left between the lines.

"Old Lan..."

Muttering something, Zheng Jing turned his gaze to the trading house.

His overall level has reached level 5, which means he can now travel to the independent spacetime where the trading post is located.

-

"Silver Scale Breastplate, Blue Quality..."

"Come on, let's make money with money!"

"Hey buddy over there, you're doing pretty well! Our team really needs a solid frontcourt player!"

Faced with a four-armed, red-skinned older sister who was flirting with him, Zheng Jing demonstrated the essential skills of a modern college student: with an awkward yet polite smile, he gently waved his four hands to politely refuse her.

Only after putting those shouts out of his mind did Zheng Jing grin, stop, open the panel, and start studying the map given to him by the courtyard again.

He had just passed through a street of vendors designed specifically for gamers.

Players only need to pay a fee to the courtyard to rent a stall on the street to sell goods.

How is this different from listing goods directly on the trading house?

Of course there are.

Once a property is listed for sale on the trading platform, the courtyard will take a percentage of the transaction from the seller after the transaction is successfully completed.

However, if you rent a stall on the street to sell your wares, the courtyard will not charge this handling fee.

Compared to percentage-based commissions, some sellers are more willing to accept fixed rental fees.

Moreover, this vendor model allows buyers and sellers to communicate directly and promptly.

The courtyard clearly encourages this model, with the vendor street directly connected to the entrance to the trading space. This means that the first thing players have to pass through when they enter is the vendor street.

Only after walking through the long street of vendors can you officially enter the central area of ​​the trading space.

Zheng Jing glanced at the map and discovered that the trading space seemed to be a tower-like structure, with three levels from bottom to top: the Mortal Bone Zone, the Extraordinary Zone, and the Legendary Zone at the top.

Zheng Jing is currently in the lowest level of the mortal bone area.

Having already entered the realm of the extraordinary, he can travel to the extraordinary zone via the elevator in the center of the mortal zone, but he cannot go to the legendary zone for the time being.

However, Zheng Jing was not in a hurry to go up.

He planned to first take a walk around the mission hall in the mortal bone area to see what the difficulty level of the missions in the mortal bone area was like, so that he could make a comparison when he went up to the mission hall in the extraordinary area.

Following the map, Zheng Jing walked through another street of shops.

Both renting a shop and renting a stall can exempt merchants from commission, but the difference is that on this only street of vendors in the Van Gu district, a stall can only be rented for a maximum of 24 natural hours within the trading space, which is one day within the trading space, after which a new application is required.

If there are too many applicants on a given day and the number of stalls is insufficient, the courtyard will randomly select participants.

As for the shops, without exception, they all have long-term contracts with the courtyard.

When Zheng Jing passed by, he looked at the types of shops and found them to be incredibly diverse, ranging from blacksmith shops and potion shops to furniture stores and restaurants.

There are even some shops with more exciting business content.

Chapter 90: Do you understand my Guardian Character?

Seeing the signs and advertising boards of several such shops in the distance, Zheng Jing twitched the corner of his mouth, looked away, and continued walking.

This time he quickened his pace slightly, and soon after walking through another shopping street, he arrived at the central square of the Van Bone District.

The mission lobby is located here.

"Quest to collect Demon Spider Silk Glands. Team needs one more member (frontline position preferred). Reward distribution can be discussed in detail!"

"Cross the Orc Valley quest, recruit scouts."

"Worshiping Worms Mission: Two heavy artillerymen in the team; recruit one heavily armored vanguard; a symbiotic contract can be signed..."

The central square was just as bustling as the street vendors Zheng Jing had passed by before.

Outside the magnificent mission hall, shouts and commotion rose and fell.

Clearly, lone wolves are not common among players, or rather, not every player has the ability to continue being a lone wolf after the newbie bonus period ends.

Teaming up with unfamiliar player teams they've just met is probably commonplace for these players who already seem to have a lot of adventure experience.

With a playful smile, Zheng Jing politely declined several enthusiastic players who approached him to join their teams. He then stepped over the long stairs and entered the fog-filled doorway of the mission hall.

In an instant, the surroundings went dark.

Immediately afterwards, a panel window appeared in front of Zheng Jing, with several options: [Post Task], [Find Task], [Submit Task], and [Meeting Appointment].

Zheng Jing understands the first three options, but what is a "meeting appointment"?

He clicked it out of curiosity.

You currently have no appointments scheduled.

Seeing the prompt that popped up on the panel, Zheng Jing scratched his cheek and then clicked on [Search for Mission].

The next moment, the surroundings brightened up again.

Countless bookshelves instantly filled this vast white space.

Zheng Jing turned around and looked at the mahogany bookshelves filled with scrolls.

The mission lobby will provide players with all available functions in a way that is most comfortable and understandable for each player entering the lobby.

For example, if a Gith Yankee player enters the mission lobby, what he will see before him is probably the Silver Sea of ​​the Astral Plane, and the mission details will naturally not be recorded on these paper scrolls.

After taking a few steps, Zheng Jing did not choose to use the filtering function of the mission hall directly. Instead, he went straight to a bookshelf, reached out, picked up a scroll, and opened it.

-

Sweep away the kobold tribe

Recommended level: LV5-LV7

Mission Summary: A kobold tribe, whose origins are unknown, has recently appeared in the Kuerping Plains. Among them are several kobold priests who appear to have been influenced by dragon blood and possess low-level spellcasting abilities, as well as a mercenary force composed of bear goblins. The client seeks to recruit skilled and courageous players to wipe out this kobold tribe.

Quest Rewards: 50 Courtyard Coins for a Kobold Right Ear; 500 Courtyard Coins for a Goblin Bear Head; 1000 Courtyard Coins for a Kobold Priest Pendant.

Employer's Note: Teams interested in contracting the project can schedule a meeting.

-

Zheng Jing raised an eyebrow.

He closed the scroll, put it back on the shelf, then took a few steps and took a new scroll from another shelf.

-

Cash on delivery

Recommended level: LV5+

Mission Summary: A special experimental subject that has successfully fused multiple viral properties exists in downtown Raccoon City. The employer requires that a DNA sample of this subject be obtained before Raccoon City is destroyed by a nuclear bomb.

Task reward: 5000 Courtyard Coins.

Employer's Note: If you are capable of capturing and bringing back experimental subjects, you can schedule a meeting at any time to discuss the details.

-

After putting the scroll back, Zheng Jing now roughly understood the function of the appointment meeting.

That makes sense. If the function of the task hall is limited to posting and accepting tasks, then why bother setting it up in the trading space?

A meeting place built in a courtyard would obviously make both parties feel at ease to come and talk. Even if they don't reach an agreement in the end, the courtyard would protect the information of both parties, so that there would be no situation of enmity or revenge behind the scenes.

It must be said that although almost all the services provided by the courtyard are free, the courtyard really does deliver on its promises once you take the money.

After gaining a general understanding of the mission lobby, Zheng Jing simply started using the filtering function.

As the bookshelves moved and scrolls fluttered, Zheng Jing read ten lines at a glance.

The quest hall in the mortal realm is indeed mainly prepared for players who have not yet reached the transcendent stage.

Most tasks seem to have a recommended level of around 5 overall, with a few occasionally having a recommended level of 8. The notes also mostly encourage team-based task execution.