The uncle’s ambiguous question made the two confused.

“What?” Shi Hao was somewhat at a loss when he said nonchalantly, “We don’t know if the black tiger you asked about is the same as the one we saw back then. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to see the black tiger by going down straight that way. Still, it’d be better if uncle didn’t go, that black tiger was very strong. If you die, then that’s the end. It’s not worth risking your life.”

Even though Shi Hao didn’t know what this uncle would do, he somehow noticed it. This uncle was definitely not a player but an NPC. There were two reasons why he thought so.

Firstly, if the uncle before his eyes was a player, he wouldn’t just foolishly go into such a dangerous area and do some boring ‘streaks’. ‘Streak’ here didn’t mean he was naked, it was to say that he didn’t have even a single piece of item with attributes on his body. This was too bold and unrestrained of him. When he ran into the monster, it’d be too fishy if he didn’t die. Besides, what he was looking for was the Shifting Tiger we were talking about. 

Secondly, if this uncle was a player, his name would be too unusual. It was Li Yi! Everyone could tell from a glance that it was a real name. Could it be that the player won’t be worried about being found out in life? Thus, only the NPCs would be able to be named like this. Just like Wang Fu from Twin Dragons Village, too.

Therefore, Shi Hao was certain that the uncle was an NPC. Furthermore, Shi Hao had also predicted that the uncle might be a refugee who had just been released by the game’s system. He might rush over to Twin Dragons Village after this.

Shi Hao kindly reminded him, “Uncle, look at this road from here. If you go along, you’ll see a village called Twin Dragons Village. You should go there.”

The dark-skinned uncle shook his head then frowned. “No, no, no! I came here to kill the black tiger. I’ve accepted a task from a Great County Magistrate of a county. As long as I kill the black tiger, I’d be able to receive ample rewards. Well, no more talks. Uncle will be going first. Thank you for showing me the way.”  

Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao were left dumbfounded. That uncle they just met was surprisingly not a new refugee. He even wanted to kill the Shifting Tiger. Just how fearless was that guy he could go there without wearing any item?

Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao quietly followed the uncle named ‘Li Yi’ from behind. They arrived at the roadway of the iron mine. 

“Hehe! Finally found you.” Li Yi stretched his muscles and bones, ready for action after accumulating power. It seemed that Li Yi wasn’t afraid of Shifting Tiger.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Shifting Tiger roared, its bloody mouth wide open like a sacrificial bowl. Then, it pounced Li Yi ferociously. Li Yi didn’t even dodge the attack, letting Shifting Tiger bite him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Li Yi punched Shifting Tiger thrice. Shifting Tiger let him go from its gnawing. Li Yi was so full of energy that it was unnoticeable he suffered any damage. Obviously, Shifting Tiger’s Attack wasn’t as strong as Li Yi’s Defense! The tiger didn’t get to break Li Yi’s Defense.

“F*ck!” Shi Hao who was observing the battle from the sidelines got startled. “This uncle is quite strong. Shifting Tiger’s Attack is definitely stronger than the bandit leader’s, yet the uncle could stay rigid. Awesome! Truly awesome! I like this uncle. He might be a historical NPC.” 

“Yep!” Feng Tianhao continued to watch Li Yi fighting with the Shifting Tiger. Then, he said, “However, the uncle’s Attack is a bit low. He had landed so many blows, yet unable to kill the black tiger. If that was me, I would probably stab it to death with two blows.”

“Ah!” A crow flew past the top of Shi Hao’s head as he exclaimed. He complained, “This uncle is naked, his Attack won’t be as high as the tiger’s.”

What Shi Hao said was right. If Li Yi wore some items, his Attack could be higher than Feng Tianhao’s. Even though Li Yi was a fighter, he was a level 10 fighter. Feng Tianhao was just level 5.

As Shi Hao expected, Li Yi was indeed a historical NPC. Li Yi’s character model came from a general of the same name in Wu state during the Three Kingdoms period. However, the original historical Li Yi’s memories have no influence on Li Yi in the game. The game’s system would erase the original memories of the historical NPC and implant some background information of “Kingdom” so as to avoid memory conflict or even relationship complications when historical NPCs of different eras appear together. In summary, even though Li Yi wasn’t much well-known in history, he was still a decent C grade historical NPC. The skill he had was called ‘A Hundred People’s Resistance’. 

[Skill Name: A Hundred People’s Resistance]

[Skill Grade: Historical NPC’s personal skill, no grade classification]

[Skill Type: Passive, no consumption]

[Weapon Restriction: None]

[Current Level and Mastery: Level 1, 0/100]

[Skill Effect: Increase one’s Defense and Vitality by 6 points]

In brief, Li Yi’s rank was already high. Coupled with the special skill given by the system, he wasn’t afraid of Shifting Tiger even if he was naked.

Not long after, Shifting Tiger was eventually killed ‘slowly’ by Li Yi. If one thought about it, Li Yi may have landed dozens of punches back and forth. It really took a lot of his effort.

“Hey!” Li Yi cleared away the scene, then said before leaving, “Young lads, I’ve killed the tiger. I’ll take what I need and give you the rest.”

Li Yi noticed that Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao were observing the fight from the sidelines. He felt that they weren’t bad people and they were observing because they can’t defeat the enemy by themselves, so he paid no heed to them. In the end, he kindly left some loot for them. In fact, Li Yi was simple and honest. 

“Uncle, don’t leave yet.” Shi Hao said cheerfully as he walked forward. “I need to discuss something with you. Truth be told, we’re going to establish some facilities, so we need outstanding talent like you. Come with us, uncle. We won’t treat you unfairly.”

Li Yi wasn’t in a hurry to give a reply to Shi Hao. In fact, Li Yi has encountered such a situation a lot of times these days. Every time someone caught sight of Li Yi’s talent, he’d be invited to join the team. Li Yi was a man of principle. To be precise, Li Yi was an NPC who has been given recruitment qualifications by the game’s system.

According to the system’s requirements: First, if one wanted to attract Li Yi, they mustn’t make Li Yi dislike them. Next, it was necessary to provide Li Yi with a troop of NPCs and make Li Yi the vanguard officer. Dark-skinned, strong men like Li Yi like to move forwards with his troop and intercept the enemies’ offense on the front line, making him the greatest safeguard for those in the back row.

Upon hearing the requirements, those who intended to attract Li Yi simply couldn’t meet his needs. All in all, there hasn’t been any prompting about a second player’s village in the game. The appearance of the first three player’s villages would be announced by the system!

Other players haven’t got their village yet, how would they be able to have enough NPC soldiers for Li Yi? That’s right, no one else has the troop, but Shi Hao had it!

Li Yi said, “If you want me to help you out, you must provide a troop for me. I don’t want those ‘newcomers’, I only want the native inhabitants of this place.”

Obviously, ‘native inhabitants’ referred to NPCs, while ‘newcomers’ referred to players.

Shi Hao replied joyfully, “Sure. Come to the village with me.”

However, Li Yi turned around and left as he said, “I see! I’ll take my leave. Since you can’t provide the troop I wanted, I won’t join you.”

“Huh?” Shi Hao was taken aback and confused. He clearly said ‘sure’, why did he turn around and leave? Shi Hao was quite bewildered.

Li Yi himself was also bewildered! After he walked some steps, he suddenly remembered. Just now, this young lad said ‘sure’. All this while, Li Yi had heard countless ‘we can’t fulfill those’ and so on. Every time he finished saying the requirement, Li Yi would habitually turn around and leave.

Li Yi truly didn’t expect that he would hear ‘sure’ as the answer!