Chapter Thirty: The Extraordinary Adventures of Zhang San (Seeking Recommendations)

“Ahhh! Gentlemen, surely we can talk this out!”
Today was destined to be an extraordinary morning; all the animals living across the vast plains heard a scream that sounded like a pig being slaughtered.
Of course, no pig was actually being killed, nor was anyone being butchered like one.
Zhang San was simply too nervous, and then terrified by the swarm of skeletons, prompting such a desperate cry.
“Wait, stop! Don’t come any closer!”
Zhang San wished he could sprout two extra legs right now.
Behind him, a dense mass of skeletons surged like a tide of white, rushing at him.
Outnumbered so absolutely, all Zhang San could do was run for his life.
“Are these monsters insane? I didn’t provoke them, didn’t call them—just wandered outside the valley, and now they’re chasing me like rabid dogs! Is this really necessary?”
Well, Zhang San admitted that when he saw traces of arson by the valley, he was tempted to start another fire himself.
But it was only a thought—he hadn’t acted on it! That hardly counts as a crime, so why were these skeletons so relentless?
He stole a glance at the mob pursuing him.
Good heavens, they looked just like savage dogs with glowing green eyes, making him shudder.
Though they wore hats to shield themselves from the sunlight, that protection was only temporary.
In a few hours, the sun would ignite the eerie, mysterious gas these monsters emitted, and not even an immortal could save them then.
So by rights, the skeletons should have chased him only briefly before retreating, but these ones weren’t playing by any rules—they had no sense of honor!
“The countryside is full of tricks; I need to get back to the city!”
At this moment, Zhang San only wanted to finish his task, return to the kingdom, marry a wife, have a few children, and live a peaceful life.
Suddenly, a thought struck him.
“Hmph, keep chasing me—I dare you!”
On impulse, Zhang San decided he wouldn’t let this go so easily.
He resolved to lead the skeletons on for a few hours, letting the sun burn them all to ashes.
“Praise the sun!”
Human behavior, ever perplexing!
An hour later…
“Gentlemen! How can you run so fast?”
Zhang San found his legs were about to give out, while the skeletons seemed as vigorous as if they’d consumed a ton of stimulants.
“Don’t overdo it; do your best!”
Now Zhang San understood why Mo Fangyuan had said those words, but it was too late.

“Am I really going to die here? No—absolutely not! I haven’t helped His Highness yet!”
Zhang San slowed his pace.
Faced with life and death, his thoughts grew sharper and his emotions calmer.
Of course, that had nothing to do with the skeletons; they simply noticed that the arsonist, whom their Lord Skeleton King despised, had finally stopped.
Their faint reason told them that if they captured him, they’d receive the Skeleton King’s favor and ascend to a higher rank.
Monsters operated under the law of the jungle; if you didn’t grow stronger, you became food for others.
This realization sent them into a frenzy.
“So soon…”
The skeletons’ speed suddenly multiplied, and Zhang San knew he couldn’t delay any longer.
He leapt straight into a large cave ahead.
Fighting the mob on the open plain meant certain death, but inside the cave, the terrain would limit their numbers, giving Zhang San a chance to fight five or ten at a time.
Perhaps he could even find another exit and escape.
His Highness Mo Fangyuan once taught the warriors that the larger a mine’s entrance, the more tunnels and complex terrain it contained, usually with several exits.
Even with weak legs, Zhang San forced himself to keep going, stumbling deeper into the cavern. In the narrow passages he set some TNT traps to hinder the skeletons’ advance.
He slew a few skeleton cannon fodder who had tracked him by scent, gasping for breath.
“Whew! Whew…”
It was just as Mo Fangyuan had described: the cave was riddled with tunnels, crisscrossing in all directions, effectively blocking the monsters and giving Zhang San a reprieve.
Of course, it also left him, a hopelessly lost soul, confused about which way to go.
“Step! Crack! Step! Crack…”
The sound of bones clashing echoed from the far end of the tunnel, grating on his nerves.
“Keep steady!”
Zhang San muttered under his breath, imitating Mo Fangyuan’s melodramatic tone.
He took off his boots and stowed them in his inventory, then crept forward like a thief, doing his best not to make a sound.
“Returning the way I came is impossible now.”
He dared not light a fire for illumination, lest the skeletons find him.
So he pressed against the wall and groped through the darkness.
He crawled and crawled, and only when the skeletons’ noises faded did he stop.
By then, his feet were rubbed raw from the rough ground, every step feeling as though he were walking on blades.
“Your Majesty, I’ve paid a painful price for the kingdom’s progress—you must reward me handsomely!”

Zhang San was deeply moved by his own sacrifice—he had rendered a great service to the kingdom!
Once he felt the monsters were far away, he pulled his legs in and squatted in a corner to rest.
The Blockfolk possessed an innate racial gift: whether freeman or professional, each had a personal inventory, like the portable space of heroines in apocalyptic novels.
The size depended on their talent; those gifted had large inventories, the less gifted small ones.
Zhang San was average, with fourteen slots for fourteen types of items.
It was said that the king had thirty-six slots—a once-in-a-millennium genius among the Blockfolk.
“A genius like that must surely be the hero to revive our people!”
He pulled out a long, thick wheat baguette and began eating, smacking his lips.
For the Blockfolk, eating was the main way to heal physical wounds.
With his belly full, Zhang San felt his body gradually recovering.
“In that case, let’s rest a bit longer!”
Like most people, he grew sleepy after eating, and now that he knew he was safe for the moment, his tense nerves relaxed.
He didn’t know if it was night or day outside, but that hardly mattered.
“Regain my strength, then explore!”
He blocked the tunnel’s other end with cobblestone, closed his eyes for three seconds, and five seconds later was snoring.
He was utterly exhausted.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the cave, the skeletons wandered aimlessly through the tangled tunnels.
The cave’s complexity was enough to confuse even intelligent creatures like Zhang San, so the mindless skeletons stood lost, unsure what to do.
Without a wise skeleton commander, they’d never find Zhang San in this lifetime.
In his sleep, Zhang San felt something calling him—a summons both urgent and, strangely, desired by his own body.
Realizing this, he snapped his eyes open.
“What was that weird dream? Nothing but sensation, no image.”
He brushed the dust blocks from his body and got up to continue onward.
His wounds and fatigue had mostly healed, and his spirits lifted.
As Mo Fangyuan would say: “After a day, I’m a man of iron once more.”
Such terrifying resilience—perhaps that’s why the Blockfolk have thrived on the Block Continent for generations.