As He Huan pulled the dagger free, a green column of light shot up before her. He Liang’s body dissolved into motes of glow within it, vanishing completely.
Beside the light, a dusty little pouch fell to the ground, along with the gleaming dagger still gripped in He Huan’s hand.
Sure enough, the familiar chime of the system echoed by her ear.
[You have successfully slain player He Liang. Sin Value +1. For the next 71 hours, you may be killed by any player without penalty.]
He Huan opened her character panel again.
Sin Value: 4.
Yesterday she had personally killed three people. Today, she had killed another.
Even though he had struck first, Red Names had no rights. In Red Name state, even if the other side attacked first, killing them in return still added Sin Value.
But if you were a White Name, counter-killing didn’t count against you.
So… this system really had a willful way of handing out punishment.
By the rules of this world, each kill gave one point of Sin Value, and each point meant twelve hours as a Red Name.
After twelve hours, the Red glow faded—but the Sin Value itself did not disappear.
Each kill extended the Red Name timer by twelve hours. The times stacked, but also ticked down slowly with the hours.
But if you killed too many people too quickly, the Red state could linger indefinitely.
As for how many kills it took before your Red Name could never be washed clean, He Huan didn’t know.
From the moment she killed her last target yesterday until now, thirteen hours had passed. With this new kill, her total timer reset to—
Seventy-one hours.
Tsk.
She looked at the counter one more time, then decisively closed the panel.
If she didn’t see it, it didn’t exist.
He Huan pocketed the dropped pouch, then turned back to finish collecting the inheritance.
As expected, because she’d been interrupted, the haul was drastically reduced. Quality too—just wood and stone, not even a bundle of straw.
The disappointment nearly gave her heartache.
Luckily, she still had three more inheritance tokens. As long as she wasn’t interrupted again, she could make up for the loss.
After sweeping up the resources, she confirmed the forest was quiet, then headed for the next inheritance site.
What she didn’t know was that five minutes after she left, a four-man squad arrived.
They were He Liang’s teammates, also based in this region. They had set out together at dawn to scavenge resources.
He Liang had been meant to rendezvous with them, but before they met, they’d received his message: “Found a fat sheep.”
In the Dark Night World, “fat sheep” was the term for lone Red Names.
Since He Liang was experienced at ambushing Reds, he’d gone ahead to scout, while the others followed after.
But before they could regroup, another message came—his cry for help.
Knowing the area well, the squad raced there as fast as they could.
They were still too late.
Only a silent forest awaited them, empty as though nothing had ever happened.
“Here?” The first to arrive was a man of medium build, in his thirties, not handsome but with a presence that warned people not to cross him.
He was the squad leader, Yang Tao. He turned to the others.
“Yes, Brother Tao. He Liang’s coordinates point right here,” said Wang Ying, a bespectacled woman in her twenties, double-checking the message.
“He Liang’s death is confirmed?” Yang Tao’s brows furrowed, irritation clear in his expression.
“Mm. His avatar’s grayed out. And just now I saw a green light column here.” The reply came from Luo Mingyu, a tall, wiry man.
“Where’s that item Taishan Mutual Aid gave us yesterday?” Yang Tao suddenly asked, his face tightening.
Luo Mingyu and another teammate, a boy with messy bangs everyone called Xiao Wang, both shook their heads.
Wang Ying’s eyes widened as she remembered. “I think… He Liang had it.”
That was a bad answer. All their faces darkened. Finally, Yang Tao spoke to Xiao Wang.
“Use the scroll.”
“But that scroll cost us a hundred wood!” Wang Ying objected immediately.
“Which is worth more? A hundred wood, or offending Taishan Mutual Aid?” Yang Tao’s gaze swept over them. The others fell silent.
At last, Wang Ying produced a yellowed parchment scroll. She walked to the spot where He Liang had died.
As the scroll crumbled in her hands, an image appeared: the last minute before He Liang’s death.
Though only sixty seconds long, the vision left them all stunned.
When it dissolved into a ball of light and dropped into Wang Ying’s palm, none of them had yet spoken.
The recording showed everything clearly.
Among them, He Liang wasn’t the leader, but he had been their strongest fighter. His stealth-tracking skill was hateful to face.
In just a few days, at least eighteen or twenty Red Names had died under his blade.
Before watching the replay, they had assumed his death had come after a fierce struggle.
But what they saw was no battle.
It was a one-sided crushing.
The chill crept up all their spines.
That Red Name… was not someone they could handle.
“Let’s go. Find Zhou Yuanshan,” Yang Tao decided on the spot.
…
Because of He Liang’s ambush, He Huan was more vigilant. The rest of her day passed without further incident.
She successfully collected the two inheritances left from yesterday, gathered plenty of Tier 2 materials thanks to system prompts, and best of all, she found two wooden chests and a bronze chest.
Her backpack was small, though, so most of her time was spent running back and forth.
She timed it perfectly—stepping into her shelter just before Silent Midnight fell.
Sitting by the fire, she took stock of her day’s haul.
Hardwood: 113.
Granite: 34.
Wood: over 400.
Stone: over 200.
On top of that, some straw, hides, metal, glass, coarse thread—small amounts, but valuable crafting materials.
And food.
Thanks to the prompts, she could now spot edibles everywhere: wild fruit, mushrooms, herbs, honey… None in large quantities, but the variety was rich.
And finally, the chests. Two wooden, one bronze.
She munched on roasted leopard meat for dinner as she casually opened the wooden chests.
Wooden chests had a pattern: one basic material, one crafting material, plus a random third item.
Her luck was good. She got some wood and stone, a piece of metal, and a sheet of plastic—her first time seeing plastic.
The randoms were a bottle of strong liquor and a pair of non-slip gloves.
All useful, all worth keeping.
Pleased, she turned her attention to the bronze chest.
This was her second bronze chest today. The first had given her a fine iron weapon. Could this one surprise her again?
[Obtained Glass x2]
[Obtained Plastic x2]
[Obtained Recipe: Lasting Torch]
[Obtained Recipe: Basic Healing Potion]
At the system’s chime, four things appeared before her. Two were materials. The other two were recipes.
Her pupils narrowed involuntarily at their names.
[Recipe: Lasting Torch]
As everyone knows, in the Dark Night World light is precious. It drives away cold and danger. This recipe teaches you to craft a torch that burns for four hours. Stackable. Requires Wood x2, Straw x1, Grease x1.
[Recipe: Basic Healing Potion]
As long as you have enough blood bottles, you can survive anywhere. This recipe teaches you to craft a basic healing potion. Requires Hemostatic Herb x1, Basic Life Essence x1.
Good. Both of them were good.
The healing potion needed no explanation. In a world this dangerous, anyone carrying a few would have a much higher chance of survival. The trading platform proved it—potions vanished the instant they were listed.
She didn’t have the materials, though. Especially not the Basic Life Essence. She’d never even seen it.
The torch, on the other hand—that was a treasure.
Torches were sold on the market, but none could stack, and none burned this long.
Stackable meant if you brought four, they only filled one slot instead of four. For residents with tiny backpacks, that was priceless.
A torch that lasted four hours, and stackable? It put every other torch to shame.
Without hesitation, He Huan learned both recipes.
She couldn’t make the potion yet, but she had materials for the torch.
She opened her crafting book and quickly found the Lasting Torch.
Beneath it was a progress bar labeled “Proficiency.”
Would something unlock if the bar filled?
Excited, she immediately clicked “Craft.”
[Craft failed! Required crafting tools incomplete.]
Crafting tools… incomplete?
A question mark slowly appeared in He Huan’s mind.
What crafting tools?
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1