Noob Player

It was like playing hide and seek. Shen tried to look for the girl but he could not find her outside. Meanwhile, ZhenZhen had died three times already. Her figure formed in the respawn spot with an expression of shock.

"What is this? I don't see any monsters, how did I die?" She truly did not see what thing killed her. It was instant death.

"There you are!" Then ZhenZhen heard a voice from the entrance. She looked up and saw the man who was doing a squat with the stone, 'Maybe he is the guide who will lead me out of the village?' She could not help but become hopeful.

"Did you drop a level? How many times have you died?" Shen asked with concern. He tried to search for her to reduce her number of deaths. However, his familiarity with the land did not help him to find the female player. In the end, he gave up and returned to the village, waiting at the respawn spot to stop the girl from her doom.

"Huh!?" ZhenZhen was taken back. She thought the young man was an NPC, but she was wrong. From the things he asked her, he was clearly a player. On top of being a player, this young man knew that she had died more than one time, "Are you a player?" ZhenZhen asked the obvious.

"Of course, I am," Shen nodded his head mixed with guilt, "So did you drop a level?"

"No, I am still level 1 so I don't drop a single level," ZhenZhen shook her head. Then her gaze turned strange as she looked at him. She looked at Shen then at the stone, back and forth. Who would expect a player to do such a thing?

"Are you a bodybuilder in the real world?" She had read once that a bodybuilder was a maniac working out to shape their bodies. The young man might not be satisfied with the flat and no-shaped body of his game character hence he tried to shape his body.

ZhenZhen glanced at Shen's upper arm that had formed biceps, big ones that easily noticed despite the short sleeve clothes. She glanced at his chest, his chest was quite big as well.

Shen was relieved to hear that. He truly felt guilty if she dropped a level because of his carelessness, "No, I am playing a game. That's my profession, I guess," he did not say he was a pro player or even steamer but playing a game. However, ZhenZhen thought Shen was one of the two, 'What a weird way to phrase it,' she thought.

There was a stone chair at the back of the respawn spot. ZhenZhen sat there, "So how long have you been in this village?" Since he was a player, he should know where this place was, "By the way, I am ZhenZhen."

"I am Runner," Shen took the chair next to ZhenZhen, "I have been in this village since the first day of the game. If you look into the forum, you should know me."

"Woah! Are you a famous pro?" ZhenZhen was not aware of the famous noob yet. While she browsed the forum daily, she only looked for the posts that related to her passion. She did not care about the forum's trend except for a few things.

"No, I am not. Don't you know the first viral video on the forum? I am the noob who was hunted down by the streamer, don't you know that?" Shen looked at ZhenZhen, 'Does she pretend to not know me out of goodwill?' It could be the case.

"I don't know," ZhenZhen shook her head while recalling her time browsing the forum. She did not recall that she had seen a viral video of bullying, 'Nah, whatever, I have to go back to the city. I hope he knows the way back to the city.'

'But wait a minute, I want to know first what thing that killed me,' she was curious about her mysterious death.

"Do you know what kind of monster that lives around the village? I was killed instantly but I can't see the monster who killed me," ZhenZhen mumbled.

A smile formed on Shen's lips, "Do you want to know the monster killed you?"

Even though ZhenZhen did not know what caused Runner to smile, she nodded her head. It was a lie if she was not curious.

"Follow me," Shen brought ZhenZhen out of the village. He knew why ZhenZhen could not find her killer. He brought her to the biggest tree near the village and stopped eight meters away from the three.

"Hide," Shen instructed as he hid behind a tree. Even though she did not know why she should hide, she followed the instructions. Runner pointed in a direction, upward to the big tree.

ZhenZhen recognized the tree, that was the place where she died earlier. Following Runner's finger, she spotted a nest, a giant nest. Then she found two black-feathered chickens with two little hands.

One chicken was incubating in the nest. Most likely there were eggs in the nest. Another chicken, slimmer yet taller, standing next to the nest. As if it was the guardian of the nest.

"You died from that guy's attack. Despite their size, the chicken is quite fast. You must be ambushed from the tree," Shen explained.

ZhenZhen's eyes shone. She did not resent the chicken for killing her. However, there were many ideas in her head: how to cook the giant chicken, 'Giant deep-fried chicken?' The simplest way to cook the chicken, and most people loved fried chicken.

ZhenZhen snapped out of her wild ideas, 'I have to go back to the city and get the class. I will come back for the chicken later.'

"So, Runner. Do you know how to go back to the city? I have to go back to finish my class quest," ZhenZhen said in a hurry. She could not wait to start cooking, especially with the exotic ingredients in front of her. There must be some challenge to cook the giant chicken. She could not wait to overcome the challenge.