Village Construction Blueprint

Year 2108.

A subsidized apartment in City A, China. Inside a gaming pod, Zhan Xiaobai stared intently at the virtual interface of “The Rise of Cities in the Three Kingdoms,” waiting to enter.

Zhan Xiaobai, twenty-two years old, had muddled through four years of university without achieving anything noteworthy, spending his days playing games. So graduation day had also marked the start of his unemployment. Unable to find a decent job in City A, he resorted to immersing himself in online games.

“Virtual Game ‘The Rise of Cities in the Three Kingdoms’ open beta countdown: ten, nine, eight… one, zero. Launch.”

At the instant “zero” appeared, Zhan Xiaobai tapped to enter the game’s start screen. The Three Kingdoms system beauty, Xiao Zhao, appeared. He set up his account, password, fingerprint, and retina scan, then typed in his favorite character name—“Xiaobai.” Confirm.

Haha, registered successfully! It only took seven seconds.

Xiao Zhao smiled, “Welcome, player Xiaobai, to ‘The Rise of Cities in the Three Kingdoms.’ The current era is Eastern Han, Guanghe year 180. You have ample time to build your city.”

A flash of white light. Dressed in coarse linen, carrying a bronze blade, level-zero civilian Zhan Xiaobai appeared in a barren wilderness—utter desolation, wild grass, wasteland, roaming beasts, with not a trace of human activity in any direction.

This was the charm of the virtual game: no beginner’s village, no supply depot, no pharmacy or equipment shop (though big cities had them, early-stage players could hardly afford anything). Everything depended on players starting from scratch, building their own city bases. Naturally, early-stage development was extremely difficult.

This virtual world had no small towns, only system-generated medium and large cities—dozens of famous ones like Chang’an and Luoyang. All vacant land allowed players to build villages and towns themselves, even raising a village to the scale of an imperial city. Among the many Three Kingdoms games on the market, one focused on city-building and management was rare indeed.

Developed by China’s most renowned Shengshi Online Games company, this Three Kingdoms-themed virtual MMO was projected—by international market surveys—to have at least eighty million players in China, peaking at two hundred million. Asia would see no less than three hundred million, and worldwide, at least six hundred million. As a semi-professional gamer, Zhan Xiaobai had recognized its potential early, securing a closed beta account three months ago and participating in the ultra-secret beta (only ten thousand accounts for China; he’d gotten one by sheer luck).

Today was the open beta launch. Zhan Xiaobai had been excited all day, preparing a month’s worth of food reserves and rushing to enter the game at the first possible moment.

The system’s player count bar showed that within the first ten seconds of the open beta, the number of players in China had already surpassed a million and was climbing rapidly.

Zhan Xiaobai wasted no time, immediately checking the system map to see his location.

His spawn point was randomly assigned—it could be the rich water towns of Jiangnan, the wilds of the southern barbarians, the deserted islands of the East Sea, or the Gobi of the Western Regions. If a player died, the system would reassign a random location (options after death: revive at current location, at a random spot, or at a player-set respawn point).

“Xiliang!”

Seeing his location on the map, Zhan Xiaobai was startled: he was about a hundred kilometers from the stronghold city Weiwu, and equally distant from the Qiang tribal zone, near the Longyou region—a relatively dangerous place, with formidable Qiang and Man tribal forces, as well as NPC big shots like Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Dong Zhuo.

From his beta experience, Xiliang was not only dangerous but resource-poor. Developing a city base here would be a daunting task. The main local products were horses, wool, and fierce troops.

Should he develop here, or commit suicide and respawn in a more prosperous region?

After a brief hesitation, Zhan Xiaobai made up his mind—he’d stay. The wilderness had its advantages; fewer players would dare claim territory here. Most importantly, he coveted the strategic resource—warhorses.

In the two seconds he spent staring at the map, several flashes of white light appeared within a ten-square-kilometer radius—other players randomly spawned in Xiliang. (Given the Han Empire’s 25 million square kilometers, even with ten million players, there’d be less than one player per two square kilometers—very sparse. Player density wouldn’t rise significantly for days.)

Time to get moving, Zhan Xiaobai told himself.

He had two options: first, level up by slaying wild beasts (levels zero to ten), then choose a profession and join a powerful player faction with a village; or, seek out wild NPC villagers, do quests, and obtain various items, including the rare and precious “Small Village Construction Blueprint,” to build his own city and become a lord.

Having participated in the beta, Zhan Xiaobai’s goal was clear: to be the first to find the “Small Village Construction Blueprint.” Time was life. If he could build a village at the very start of the open beta, he could dominate his region and perhaps compete with the other warlords.

He didn’t dare delay, sprinting across the wilderness in search of the scarce wild NPCs. Before he could find an NPC, he encountered a player.

A player with “Afei” hovering above his head saw Zhan Xiaobai running and followed, calling out, “Hey, big brother, can you help me? I’m new and don’t know how to play!”

Zhan Xiaobai glanced back at him—a young man of eighteen or nineteen, a bit rough around the edges. But anyone who’d entered the virtual world at the first moment was surely an experienced gamer.

Zhan Xiaobai invited Afei to his friend and party lists, smiling, “Sure, I participated in the beta, so I know a thing or two.”

Afei’s eyes sparkled as he cried, “Thanks, big brother! I can’t believe you took part in the beta—that’s amazing. I tried for three days and nights but couldn’t get an account. What should I do?”

“Alright, let’s split up and look for NPCs. I’ll head west, you go north. When you find one, take the quest and let me know—we’ll do it together.”

“Okay! Big brother, I’m off to search.”

Afei dashed away in another direction.

Zhan Xiaobai chuckled and ran west. Encountering a cooperative partner at the start of the open beta—luck was truly on his side.

In this game, whether questing, fighting monsters, or building, teamwork was essential. Zhan Xiaobai never shied away from collaborating with other players; someone seeking cooperation was always welcome. Along the way, he recruited three more players, forming a five-person squad—the maximum allowed for level-zero civilians. The five split up to search for wild NPCs and quests.

Zhan Xiaobai ran for over five minutes, not a shadow of an NPC in sight, and was chased by several wild beasts, nearly spitting blood in frustration.

But patience was needed. Finding wild NPCs was all about luck, and even if you found one, you might not get the “Small Village Construction Blueprint” quest. During the beta three months ago, it took him ten days to find a wild NPC and get a weapon reward quest. It took a month to obtain a blueprint, build a small village, and become one of the few beta players with village-building experience. The beta ended before he could develop it into a town.

“Wait, something’s off!”

Zhan Xiaobai suddenly stopped. He noticed traces on the grass—signs of human cutting, clearly different from the surrounding wild grass. In wilderness without NPCs, there should be no sign of human activity. Where there were traces, NPCs must be nearby. This was a key clue he’d learned during the beta.

But where was the NPC? The area was wide open—no place to hide.

Just as he was vexed, his foot slipped. With a thud, he tumbled, seeing stars, and fell into a hidden pit.

A trap.

Regaining his senses, Zhan Xiaobai found himself at the bottom of a deep pit.

In front of him lay a gray-haired, injured-legged “Distressed Old Village Chief.”

What luck—a rare wild NPC, and a “distressed type” at that. Zhan Xiaobai could hardly believe it. Usually, the more help a player gave an NPC, the greater the rewards.

The old village chief lay in the trap, groaning in excitement at Zhan Xiaobai’s sudden appearance: “Help! Hero, if you save my life, I’ll be forever grateful! Cough~!”

Zhan Xiaobai quickly climbed up and helped the chief, asking, “Don’t worry, old chief, tell me what’s happened!”

The distressed chief pleaded, “Please, hero, rescue me from this trap and find some medicinal herbs for my wounds. I will reward you handsomely!” He trembled, pulling out a blueprint.

Zhan Xiaobai was beside himself, eyes reddening at the sight. A blueprint—such a thing was worth tens of thousands of yuan, unattainable except by luck and timing. If he sold it, he could easily fetch a million, with buyers lining up.

He reached out to take it, hoping to examine its color and pattern (really, just wanting to grab it), but the old chief quickly withdrew his hand, clutching it to his chest, gazing at Zhan Xiaobai pitiably: “Hero, please save me!”

Zhan Xiaobai gave an awkward smile, showing no embarrassment. This old man was clever—no way he’d let the blueprint go for nothing.

He looked up at the pit: five or six meters deep, with steep, vertical walls. Not only could he not rescue the chief, he was trapped himself.

Zhan Xiaobai quickly contacted Afei and the other three via the friend communicator, urging them to come at once—something important had happened.

Though Zhan Xiaobai hadn’t specified, Afei guessed he must have found an NPC. He was so excited he ran like the wind, arriving at the coordinates in under five minutes. Peering into the darkness of the pit, Afei called, “Big brother, are you alright? Haha, why are you sitting in a pit? Is it cool down there?”

Zhan Xiaobai laughed and scolded, “Quit joking, hurry up and find a rope to pull me out!”

“Alright!” Afei replied, but scanning the empty surroundings, he sighed, “Big brother, where am I supposed to find a rope out here?”

Zhan Xiaobai rolled his eyes, “Weave grass into a rope, or find a long vine—figure it out.”

“Weave grass? If I could do that, I’d be rich. Better find a sturdy vine,” Afei muttered, head down, searching for a rope.

Zhan Xiaobai waited in the pit, occasionally chatting with the old chief to build rapport, and to see what treasures he had. The chief kept his secrets.

Soon, the other three teammates arrived.

During this time, Zhan Xiaobai had them weave a large grass basket to haul up the chief—he didn’t have the strength to climb the rope himself.

Half an hour later, Afei returned with a long vine and pulled Zhan Xiaobai out.

Zhan Xiaobai didn’t immediately pull up the chief. Aside from himself and Afei, the other three were “Autumn Water,” “Sword Tyrant,” and “Young Hero of Spring and Autumn”—all veteran players from the forums. They knew how valuable wild quest NPCs were.

The five sat around the pit, excited. Only Autumn Water was a woman in her twenties; Sword Tyrant a man in his thirties; Young Hero of Spring and Autumn about the same age as Zhan Xiaobai, early twenties; Afei the youngest, just an adult.

Zhan Xiaobai looked at them, smiling, “I won’t say much—I can tell you this: the NPC in the pit has at least one blueprint, likely the ‘Small Village Construction Blueprint.’ Once he’s out, we must guard him, preventing other players from stealing it, until we have the blueprint. One thing: there can only be one owner of the blueprint, and only one leader in this team. If you’re willing to follow me, you’re welcome to stay—you’ll benefit when the village is built. If not, you can leave.”

Young Hero of Spring and Autumn quickly said, “Brother Xiaobai, don’t worry—the blueprint is yours, since you found it. We’re just here for the ride!”

Autumn Water nodded.

Sword Tyrant gave a crooked smile, “No objections from me.”

After their discussion, they lowered the basket and hauled the old chief out.

The distressed chief, now back in daylight, was moved to tears, “Benefactors! I have nothing to offer but this blueprint as your reward!”

Zhan Xiaobai, trembling with excitement, took the blueprint from the chief’s hands—the very first small village construction blueprint in the entire system. He examined its properties, astonished.

“Small Village Construction Blueprint: 1. Allows construction of the lowest-level village, max population 100, automatically grants a village administrative hall. Can be upgraded to a medium village after reaching certain size. 2. Special attribute: Recruit NPC villagers; 5% chance to recruit exceptional NPC villagers.”

From his beta experience, all blueprints had only one attribute. This one had a special attribute—he wondered why.