The Uncanny Valley Traveling Guide

Melancholy Song (9)

[Dear players, welcome to the Uncanny Valley. I wish you a happy journey.]

[Start scanning… Identity verification has been completed; Starnet ID: Wen Di; ID name: Wen Zheliu; Activation sequence: 4697800. No abnormal fluctuations in the value were detected. The loading connection has been confirmed for you. Please wait. ]

[Note: Due to the theme, players who log in to this game must be over 18 years old. Patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and players with a history of related mental illnesses are prohibited from logging in. Thank you for your cooperation.]

[The novice tutorial is being loaded for you. Please wait.]

[You are about to enter the first world. According to the Novice Protection Treaty, the system has started the novice tutorial for you. Please note that the novice tutorial will automatically reduce the difficulty of the first world according to the player’s data. The script of the first world is randomly generated. After the player passes the level, it will be put into the general script. ]

[First World Access in progress; countdown to 10, 9, 8, 7……]

Wen Zheliu was in a vast darkness, unable to move. He didn’t know where he was or where he was going. He could only hear Theresa’s ethereal female voice acting as a system prompt, echoing in his ears. When the last second of the countdown ended, his body loosened and he fell heavily onto the damp and soft ground, rolling in a frenzy several times before stopping.

“Damn, what the hell…” He felt dizzy; his limbs were weak. He barely managed to be on his feet before observing his surroundings.

He was standing in the middle of a forest that seemed to be in late autumn. The tall and big trees towered over the gloomy sky. The dead leaves on the treetops were rustling, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves. There was no sun, but looking at the misty fog in the forest, Wen Zheliu initially judged that the time now should be early morning.

Then a ding-dong sound rang in his ears.

[Side quest: You have entered the first world, and the system is now navigating for you. You can open the status bar to check your character’s existing values. ]

A light golden cursor instantly surfaced below his vision.

Wen Zheliu was not in a hurry to follow its arrangements, but carefully observed the surroundings.

Fortunately, the damp and cold fog and dew in the morning wetted the dead leaves under his feet, making them as soft as a fleece blanket and helping silence his footsteps. Wen Zheliu took a few steps along the open area surrounded by silence. Except for the occasional birds flying in the distance, it was simply quiet and isolated.

He had to make sure that there was no movement around him, or no supernatural creatures in ambush, otherwise he wouldn’t even have a chance to cry when he was killed from behind while looking at the status bar.

Wen Zheliu was relieved. He clicked on the status bar and browsed it quickly.

[Player Name: Wen Di]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 0/10]

[Strength: 5, Stamina: 15, Agility: 7, Mental: 9, Authenticity: 1]

[Inventory: Secret Black Box]

[Coins: 0]

[Equipment and Item: novice suits, dog tag with intricate patterns]

His heart sank, and sure enough, his level and points were all cleared, and even the items from Nova City couldn’t be brought in. This is really…

Immediately afterwards, four energy bars slid out in sequence in front of him, and they were evenly distributed on the left and the right.

The first energy bar glows slightly, and the system prompts: [This is your HP, and the overall value determines its length. Strength can increase your determination to fight against unusual things; stamina can increase your physical strength to support your survival; and agility can increase your speed to the finish line. When your HP hits zero, you unfortunately have to say goodbye to your journey.]

The second energy bar also begins to flash, [This is your physical strength. Your level and stamina determine its length. When you need to do some physical exercise, it will become your support and back. When your strength goes to zero, it means you should stop what you’re doing and rest early. If you are still bent on doing it, your HP will burn instead of it. ]

The third energy bar then lights up, and the system prompts: [This is your mental value; the strength of your mental value determines its length. Most of the time, some people call it sanity value, others call it SAN value, call it what you will, but we can all agree on one thing: human beings have a bottom line of tolerance in the face of the unknown. When your mental value goes to zero, please note that you will not die immediately, but whether you will wander in the shadows of darkness from now on and become one of them is still up for debate. ]

Wen Zheliu frowned and listened intently. The fourth energy bar also lights up, and the system prompts: [This is your participation value, and the level of authenticity determines its length. Is this a game world? Maybe. However, you can never go wrong by taking everything seriously. When your participation value is zero, the world you are in will turn its full attention to this alien outsider, and you will become one of the most prioritized targets to be exterminated.]

Wen Zheliu moved his lips slightly and quickly digested the hints given to him by the system, and just then, the task bar in front of him was updated.

[Side quest: novice’s guide (1/1) has been completed.]

[Rewards: 10 experience points, 50 copper coins, the rewards have been sent to your inventory.]

[Congratulations, your level has risen to Level 2]

[Reward Obtained: A rusty dagger. The reward has been sent to your inventory.]

[The side quest has been updated: Get out of the forest (0/1)]

Wen Zheliu couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when he got an item that sounded like it could be used for self-defense. He took the dagger out of the inventory and found that there were attributes on it.

[Item Name: Rusty Dagger]

[Grade: F]

[Activation type: Instant activation]

[Cooldown time: None]

[Attack power: Weak]

[Effect: None]

[Equipment Level: 1]

[Item Description: A rusty dagger, no idea who the builder is or who the former user was. Now, it’s yours, don’t let it break too fast.]

The corners of Wen Zheliu’s mouth twitched. According to the classification in Nova City, F grade items are at most a little better than the stones picked up by the roadside. He weighed the dagger in his hand, waved it twice at random, and finally sighed.

Forget it, something is better than nothing.

As soon as he raised his head, his eyes swept forward casually, and suddenly his heart jumped.

Just now, Wen Zheliu seemed to see a slender, fuzzy shadow as tall as two people’s height, standing behind a tree.

The image it created has not yet condensed on his eyes, yet it has already dissipated in the thick fog, like a lightning-fast, eerie phantom that comes and goes; it disappears before anyone can take a closer look.

What was that?

Wen Zheliu took two steps forward suspiciously, but didn’t dare to get too close. The surroundings were silent; only the sound of his gentle breathing rose and fell in the mist.

He slowly turned the dagger around and held it in his sweaty palm. At this moment, a piercing chill rolled from behind him like an electric shock. As soon as he turned around, a pale and emaciated face with two bulging eyeballs appeared close at hand. A deformed hand too big to be human fanned out to claw at his head!

Wen Zheliu jumped up abruptly, and his mental value plummeted. He cursed out while reflexively swinging the dagger in his hand, only to hear a metallic clanging sound. The rusty dagger turned into a broken dagger in the blink of an eye. It was even worse than a roadside stone.

“This thing is f*cking useless!” Wen Zheliu’s whole body was drenched in cold sweat and his hair stood up with chill. He threw away the dagger hilt and ran forward. At the same time, the system’s unhurried prompt sounded in his ear again: [As the mental value drops, the physical strength value will also become more easily consumed. Please pay attention to this.]

Wen Zheliu was out of breath, and the unknown monster behind him was chasing him with great strides, reaching out and almost hooking his collar several times. Its body seemed to have been forcibly stretched; its hands and feet were terribly thin and long, and one step was equivalent to two or three steps for a normal person. Wen Zheliu was fleeing with great difficulty while stumbling around.

“Normal novice tutorials shouldn’t be too difficult for players, but this is the Uncanny Valley that cannot be surmised with common sense, especially since its master wants my life very much…” Wen Zheliu quickly speculated in his heart, “No, not necessarily. If what Theresa said was true, then her character was indeed implanted with a fair and just side; otherwise, I would have already died before the novice tutorial ended…“

While analyzing the situation, he gritted his teeth, bypassed many trees, and fled in the direction of thinning fog. The ghost behind didn’t make a sound, but its chasing speed became faster and faster. The rustling sound of tree branches was getting closer to Wen Zheliu. From the corner of his eye, he could vaguely see many slender black shadows that kept sticking out half of their bodies from behind the trees that were submerged in fog on both sides of the road. They were staring at him with their pitch-black eyes and also intended to join this huge-disparity-in-strength chase battle.

If this continues, the situation is really not optimistic.

The white fog in front of him was getting thinner and thinner. Wen Zheliu’s heart was pounding. He leapt out of the fog with his last breath, but he didn’t think there was a slope ahead. The dew-soaked dirt was extremely slippery. He cursed, “What the f*ck” out loud, but the momentum under his feet didn’t decrease. As a result, he accidentally tripped on a branch across the block and immediately rolled all the way down the path below.

[Side quest: Get out of the forest (1/1) has been completed.]

[Rewards: 10 experience points, 50 copper coins, the rewards have been sent to your inventory. ]

[The side quest has been updated: Reunite with Companions (0/1)]

The fall just now wasn’t light, and Wen Zheliu’s whole body was in pain. Now, not only has his physical strength bottomed out, but his HP has also dropped by 8%. Besides his clothes, he doesn’t have any self-defense equipment on his hands. He stood up with great difficulty and patted the dirt on his body. Above the path on both sides, the overlapping shadows were still standing silently among the trees staring at him, as if they were still very unwilling.

The watchdog of the forest…?

It seemed that he had just entered their territory by mistake.

Wen Zheliu took a deep breath and ignored these terrifying creatures. While limping towards the end of the path, he already heard the faint sounds of talking ahead.

It should be a group of players who entered this copy, right? He pondered in his heart, and pushed aside the branches, and sure enough, not far away, he saw a dozen men and women dressed in different clothes, in groups of three and two, talking in one place.

“…Hello!” He adjusted his breath and greeted them weakly, “Are you human?”

The conversation came to a close, and a handsome man with glasses raised his head from the crowd to look at him, saying, “Yes, we are all players… Brother, what happened to you?”

“It’s a long story.” Wen Zheliu shook his head, “It’s my bad luck.”

The girl standing beside the man pointed her finger and counted: “Ten, eleven, twelve… including you, exactly twelve. Isn’t that enough?”

As soon as the girl finished speaking, everyone heard a series of system prompts.

[Side quest: Reunite with Companions (1/1) has been completed.]

[Rewards: 10 experience points, 50 copper coins, the rewards have been sent to your inventory.]

[Congratulations, your level has risen to level 3]

[Reward: One novice lucky wheel spin, please check in order.]

[The side quest has been updated: Find the main quest (0/1)]

Wen Zheliu pondered the meaning of the “novice lucky wheel” and said, with a wry smile, “So, I’m the last one here.”

To his right stood a tall man with rough facial features. The man patted him on the shoulder very familiarly and comforted him: “It’s okay, this is just the first novice quest. Just because you have bad luck now doesn’t mean you’ll have bad luck later. Cheer up little brother.“

Wen Zheliu smiled and said, “Thank you, big brother. I don’t know what your name is?”

The man hesitated for a while and did not directly answer Wen Zheliu’s question. Instead, he suggested to the twelve people present: “This little brother’s words reminded me that we have been standing here for a while now. Should we start introducing ourselves? After all, we still don’t know what quest this damn mastermind wants us to do. It never hurts to get to know each other as we are all teammates on the same boat.“

He was born with a robust and strong build. His short-sleeved T-shirt could not hide his sturdy and bulging muscles. He also had a decent appearance, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, which made him appear like a charismatic leader. The players present hesitated at first, then agreed to his suggestion.

It seems that Theresa has told them that they can go back as long as they clear nine worlds. Although Wen Zheliu didn’t know the strength of the first batch of players who entered the Uncanny Valley, the group of people in front of him didn’t cry and complain about this unfortunate situation. Instead, they all began to think about the way out. This was undoubtedly a good thing for him.

“I’ll go first.” The man said boldly, “My name is Mu Tuo. My profession in Nova City was hunter.”

Even though he was very kind at the beginning, Mu Tuo still covered up a lot of information and avoided mentioning his original level and residence in the game world.

“My name is Zhou Qing, and my original occupation was an archer.” The girl who counted the number of people before said with a smile. She had a sweet appearance, with big and brilliant eyes, and she looked very quick-witted when she smiled, “But I think there is still a difference between this profession and hunters.”

“My name is Zhou Yao. I used to be a magician, so it doesn’t seem to be of much use here.” The handsome man wearing glasses smiled helplessly, “As you can see, I’m her brother.”

There were only three women among the twelve people. Besides Zhou Qing, there was also a woman with pale skin and a gloomy expression. She bit the slender cigarette and said coldly, “Lao1… my name is… Du Zijun.”

Then she frowned and smoked, refusing to say another word.

Besides the cigarette, which no one can tell where you got it from, just the word you blurted out subconsciously at the beginning is suspicious enough…

After a round of self-introduction, at present, this group of people’s game occupations is really diverse. In addition to the regular occupations such as hunters, there are also farmers, cooks, exorcists, musicians… and a pair of snuggling lovers who seldom talk to others.

When it was Wen Zheliu’s turn, he just smiled embarrassedly: “My name is Wen Di. I don’t have a specific occupation, but the game that I am best at playing is Survival World.”

“I see, so you’re a new player…” Mu Tuo was deep in thought. Then he looked at him with a little pity and said, “It’s okay, this game should not be difficult. Just take your time.”

Wen Zheliu said yes on the surface, but he was crying inwardly. It might be simple for ordinary players, but it was different for him. During the second novice side quest, he was chased and almost killed by an unknown creature. He didn’t have the slightest hope of what the Uncanny Valley had in store for him.

“Alright! Let’s take a look at the so-called novice lucky wheel.” Zhou Yao said.

Everyone opened their inventories and found an item called [Lucky Wheel Permit] inside. Zhou Qing said: “Since the system just said that we should check in order, does that mean we should spin the wheel in order?”

“It seems so.” said the plain-faced man. His name was Xiong Lin, a professional farmer, “Why don’t we try it out?”

The twelve players glanced at each other and nodded in unison.

In a flash, the sky shone with golden light. A huge and brilliant wheel, accompanied by the spray of fine gold stars, slowly landed in the middle of them. The system prompt sounded: [Lucky wheel, lucky flowers fall on your home! Players are welcome to use this Novice Lucky Wheel. In this event, every player who comes to the Uncanny Valley for the first time can have a chance to draw a free lottery. The maximum prize pool has accumulated to 1,000 gold coins, and there are also high-level B-grade and A-grade items and fragments that you can obtain. Don’t miss this good opportunity!]

The corners of Wen Zheliu’s mouth twitched. He silently looked at the blindingly bright big wheel in front of him and reminded the crowd: “Well… why don’t we start drawing? This thing is too conspicuous. If it attracts something…”

“Yes, yes,” Mu Tuo responded. “What he said is that this thing is too inconsistent with this world. If it reduces our participation, it’s not worth it.“

Then Du Zijun went up with a smile that wasn’t a smile and said, “Then I’ll go first.”

She stood on one side of the wheel. Her fingers clasped the protruding edge and pulled it down hard, making the wheel spin rapidly.

[Novice Lucky Wheel has started.]

With a “clang,” an item that looked like a telescope fell out.

[Congratulations, player, you have obtained a C grade item: The Telescope of True Sight ]

Du Zijun, with a cigarette in her mouth, picked it up with a frown and looked at the attributes.

“How was it?” Zhou Qing asked curiously.

“Investigation item…” Du Zijun snorted coldly, “Not too bad.”

With that, she casually spread her legs and wiped it with her white skirt, then put it away in her inventory.

Wen Zheliu looked at her, only to feel that this woman was filled with a strange aura…

Zhou Yao went up to draw the lottery, then Zhou Qing was next. Mu Tuo, Xiong Lin, and the rest also went up to draw their own prizes. The best item that they got was a C-grade item, and the worst was only 2 gold coins.

Wen Zheliu licked his lips. He was the last one standing beside the wheel.

In a place he couldn’t see, the dog tag in his inventory moved slightly, spilling out a bit of white light and scattering in the air.

[The Novice Lucky Wheel has started. ]

[Congratulations player, you have obtained? Item level:]

[Congratulations player, you have obtained? Item level:]

[Congratulations player, you have obtained? Item level:]

“Huh?” Wen Zheliu’s eyes widened in surprise, “What’s the matter… Is it stuck?”

The system finally repeated the same line again.

[Congratulations player, you have obtained? Item: Companion. ]

The crowd looked at each other at a loss, only to see the wheel shaking violently. White light was leaking out from it, and was slowly interweaving the head, arms, waist, and legs in the air…

Wen Zheliu’s mind went blank, only laughter echoed in his ears.

“Hey, come back to your senses, little fool!”

The author has something to say:

The first copy has officially started!

From now on, He Qin will become classmate 662 item.

1

She was about to say Lao Zi or Lao Niang which is an arrogant way to address oneself.

2

Number 6 pronunciation is [liù] so the author used it as Wen Zheliu nickname.