Before he knew it, the Fire Crystal Rock in front of Yang Ling had been completely excavated.

He weighed the cloth pouch in his hand, finally gathering the half liang he had been extorted for.

By this time, five hours had passed, and the miners of the mine vein were gradually leaving.

Each one looked utterly exhausted.

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After all, the Fire Crystal Rock was incredibly hard, and every strike required all their strength.

Thanks to his experience points, Yang Ling was able to alleviate most of the fatigue and muscle soreness, but he still pretended to be very tired.

He hid in the shadows and, as expected, saw Fifth Brother scanning the area, seemingly looking for anyone who dared to work overtime without reason.

"Today, I'll just play it safe and avoid his attention every day."

With this thought, Yang Ling put on a weary expression and slowly walked towards the exit.

"Fifth Brother, it's that kid Yang Ling."

A lackey spotted Yang Ling and immediately pointed him out with a grin.

Fifth Brother nodded in satisfaction.

"This kid's finally getting the hang of things."

Handing over the Fire Crystal Rock was a daily routine.

As Yang Ling queued up, he suddenly heard shouting and pleading from the front.

"Five hours a day, and you can't even gather half a liang of Fire Crystal Rock!? You're useless! Beat him!"

A steward, furious, ordered the Mine Vein Guards to beat a frail young man.

The young man screamed and begged for mercy as he was beaten.

Yang Ling glanced around and noticed that the miners present mostly looked on with schadenfreude whenever such incidents occurred.

"Damn it, you bunch of NPCs, you wretched 'Divine Realm'! I'll report you all when I get out of here!!"

The young man, unable to bear the beating, cursed loudly.

"What gibberish! Still dare to curse!? Beat him! If he dies, it's on me!"

The steward was enraged.

Yang Ling was slightly startled and immediately focused on the young man.

Character: Zhang Wei

Occupation: None

Level: 1

Strength: 2

Agility: 2

Spirit: 1

Health: 20

At this moment, Zhang Wei's health was rapidly decreasing and would soon hit zero.

"He has levels and health!

He's not an NPC, he's a player like me!?"

Yang Ling was pleasantly surprised.

He was currently at the Fire Crystal Rock Mine Vein in Qingshan City.

Having been here for over half a month, he would check the attribute panel of everyone he saw, trying to find another player like himself.

For half a month, he had no luck.

Unexpectedly, he encountered a player today!

After the surprise, Yang Ling felt a bit troubled.

In this situation, Zhang Wei might be beaten to death!

"Alright, don't actually kill him. If Supervisor Wu blames us, I won't take responsibility."

The steward waved his hand.

Hearing this, the Mine Vein Guards immediately stopped.

Zhang Wei could no longer speak, only groaning on the ground.

His health had plummeted from 20 to 1.

"These Mine Vein Guards have a base strength attribute of 10, much stronger than ordinary people. But they're NPCs and can't level up, so they must have other ways to get stronger."

"This is also the direction I should focus on next."

At this moment, the steward looked down at Zhang Wei and said coldly:

"You couldn't gather a liang of Fire Crystal Rock, so you won't get a single coin. You'll go hungry today, and if you can't gather enough tomorrow, you'll starve to death in a few days. Think about it!"

With that, he continued collecting Fire Crystal Rock from the other miners.

Soon, it was Yang Ling's turn.

"Only a liang today?"

The steward frowned slightly.

Then he noticed Fifth Brother and his ilk watching from a distance and seemed to understand, letting out a snort before handing Yang Ling ten copper coins.

"Thank you, Steward Niu."

Yang Ling accepted the ten coins and immediately expressed his gratitude.

Steward Niu's expression softened a bit:

"If every newcomer were as sensible and motivated as you, I wouldn't have to waste so much effort."

With that, he waved his hand as if shooing away a fly.

Yang Ling tactfully left, helping Zhang Wei up as he did.

The nearby miners shook their heads.

They were all here, yet he still cared about such trivial matters.

Outside the mine vein was a village for the miners, with all the necessary food and drink.

Yang Ling brought Zhang Wei to his place, a simple wooden hut that leaked when it rained and was drafty when it was windy.

"Wake up."

He tried to rouse Zhang Wei.

But Zhang Wei remained motionless, seemingly in a state of unconsciousness.

"Does low health cause fainting?"

Yang Ling pondered, then dug out a box from under the bed. Inside were the hundreds of copper coins he had saved over time and a bottle of Healing Salve.

He glanced at the Healing Salve, and its attribute panel automatically appeared.

"Healing Salve (Defective), restores 10 health points."

"There'll be more expenses in the future, but... I can't just watch him die."

Yang Ling shook his head helplessly and fed Zhang Wei the Healing Salve, giving him a few sips of water as well.

He observed Zhang Wei's attribute panel.

Watching as Zhang Wei's health slowly increased.

About a minute later, it increased by 1 point.

When his health surpassed 10 points, Zhang Wei showed signs of waking up.

"Even though the salve is defective, it restores 10 health points as stated, no ambiguity there."

"It hurts so much, am I out of the game?"

Zhang Wei groaned, instinctively trying to sit up.

"You're still in the 'Divine Realm.'"

Yang Ling replied.

"Huh!?"

Zhang Wei's eyes widened, then he exclaimed in surprise:

"You're a player!?"

"Of course, who else would save you if not a player?"

Yang Ling replied.

"Quick, tell me how to leave the game! I've been stuck here for half a month, it's worse than death!

The developers of 'Divine Realm' are a bunch of bastards! Bastards!!"

Zhang Wei grabbed Yang Ling's arm, agitated.

Yang Ling's heart sank; the other player couldn't leave either.

He said in a deep voice:

"Calm down, I can't leave here either. I was hoping you might have a way."

"You can't leave either?"

Zhang Wei was stunned, muttering to himself:

"What on earth is going on..."

Yang Ling didn't disturb him, turning to repair his pickaxe.

He hadn't saved enough to buy a better pickaxe, so he had to make do with this one, which was his lifeline!

"It must be a bug, they're probably fixing it, and once they do, we'll be able to leave."

Zhang Wei seemed to convince himself, looking at Yang Ling:

"What's your name, brother?"

"Hmm?"

A hint of surprise flashed in Yang Ling's eyes.

"You don't know my name?"

The other player couldn't see the attribute panel?

"Should I know your name? Are you famous here?"

Zhang Wei was a bit confused.

Yang Ling's expression turned serious:

"Did you notice anything off while mining today?"

He seemed to understand why Zhang Wei couldn't even gather a liang of Fire Crystal Rock.

If Zhang Wei couldn't see the attribute panel, he probably didn't have experience points either.

Without experience points to alleviate fatigue and muscle soreness, how could he mine the Fire Crystal Rock without training?

"Off? Yeah!"

"This damn Fire Crystal Rock is too hard, I couldn't dig it at all! That half liang was scraped off with all my might!"

Zhang Wei's face turned green:

"The developers of 'Divine Realm' are a bunch of dogs!"