When Lu Yu logged in, only the setting sun remained in the sky, and night soon fell.
Whether in reality or in the game, it was Lu Yu's first time on the night shift, and he was a bit excited. At half past ten, he stopped his cultivation, fully armed, waiting to start his job next to the logistics courtyard.
His eagerness wasn't just because it was his first night shift, but also because once he completed today's patrol task, he would have enough experience points to upgrade his Fierce Tiger Fist.
To upgrade his Fierce Tiger Fist, he had been battling for three or four days in the game, and he was about to achieve a small goal. How could he not be excited and thrilled?
After ten at night, the logistics courtyard closed its doors. Inside, the family servants and steward were reconciling the day's accounts and inventory.
Around ten fifty, everyone would leave, and at that time, the security task here would be handed to Lu Yu.
He patted the whistle in his pocket; it was still there and not forgotten in the room.
As eleven o'clock approached, the steward responsible for the logistics courtyard locked the warehouse door and the courtyard gate.
Seeing Lu Yu waiting at the gate, noticing he was dressed in official Protector attire, he paid no heed and left the logistics courtyard.
Lu Yu started his patrol work, which was essentially checking for any unusual happenings around the logistics courtyard.
In the deep night, only a few places in the outer courtyard of the Han residence were still lit; this side of the logistics courtyard was even quieter, with only occasional sightings of other Protectors patrolling at night.
There was no movement in the logistics courtyard, not even a single rat in sight.
Several hours passed, and at first, Lu Yu would carefully check the corners Wang Qiang highlighted, but now he just casually glanced as he passed by, as long as there were no major issues.
Boring.
Indeed, the biggest problem with night shifts was boredom, especially when the work involved just roaming around with no one to talk to.
Perhaps not pairing him with others for the patrol was to prevent them from chatting, making it easier for outsiders to spot them.
"Boredom is also good; it means tonight's task can be completed easily."
Just as Lu Yu was comforting himself this way, he suddenly received a system notification.
[Task Triggered! Thief in the Han Residence—the warehouse in the logistics courtyard has been mysteriously losing items lately. As a formal Protector of the Han family, it's your duty to identify this thief. Task Reward: 200 experience points.]
Suddenly triggered the task, Lu Yu was caught off guard, quickly picked up his saber and whistle, and rushed to the logistics courtyard warehouse, finding no anomalies.
When Lu Yu reached the main gate of the logistics courtyard, he only saw a distant silhouette, whose speed was much faster than his; he couldn't catch up.
Lu Yu instinctively wanted to blow the whistle, but when he put it to his lips, he halted and chose not to sound the alarm.
Now the person had fled, and he had no evidence of who did it. Blowing the whistle and alarming others might end up with him getting blamed.
After all, he had just joined the Han family and was more prone to suspicion.
Lu Yu put away the whistle, walked to the logistics courtyard gate, observed carefully, and found no traces of forced entry.
He circled the logistics courtyard but did not find any traces left by the thief.
Looking at the over-two-meter-high courtyard wall, he hesitated, put the saber into his backpack, jumped forcefully, grabbed the top of the wall, and climbed over into the logistics courtyard.
The logistics courtyard comprised three parts, a front account room, an empty courtyard in the middle, and the warehouse at the back.
Things were received in the account room, while only the servants and steward responsible for the logistics courtyard entered the courtyard and warehouse.
Lu Yu glanced at the condition of the courtyard, finding nothing suspicious; the account room had doors open at both ends, and they were locked, preventing his entry.
Walking to the warehouse, he found no traces of the lock being tampered with; everything seemed normal.
Lu Yu doubted whether the person he saw was indeed a thief or whether the thief had keys to all the doors of the logistics courtyard, leaving no trace.
He left the logistics courtyard to continue searching for traces left by the thief.
Until the rooster crowed at dawn, Lu Yu still hadn't found anything suspicious, and the logistics courtyard didn't seem to have been visited by a thief, appearing completely normal.
Yawning, stretching lazily, seeing the experience points credited upon completing the patrol task seemed to diminish his drowsiness significantly.
Seeing the White Steward and the servants at the logistics courtyard starting work, Lu Yu headed to the canteen, planning to have a meal and then catch up on sleep.
On the way, Lu Yu added 200 experience points to his cultivation technique, bringing Fierce Tiger Fist to the third level.
[Through diligent cultivation, Fierce Tiger Fist has broken through to the third level, Qi Blood +8]
[New skill acquired—Fierce Tiger Fist - Evil Tiger Roar (Novice)]
[Through diligent cultivation, breakthrough to Body Refinement Realm level two, Qi Blood +3]
Qi Blood had reached 38 points, and compared to Body Refinement Realm level one, level two was significantly stronger.
Simply from the Qi Blood value alone, Body Refinement Realm level two's Qi Blood was nearly double that of level one.
Moreover, with Fierce Tiger Fist breakthrough and learning a new skill, the difference grew even larger.
Lu Yu noticed this fact, understanding that in this game, attempting a challenge beyond one's level is extremely difficult.
Next, to further improve the Fierce Tiger Fist technique, it requires as much as 1000 experience points, making it unlikely to advance in a short time.
After increasing Qi Blood to 30 points, it also requires 300 experience points to raise one point, and to advance from Body Refinement Stage two to Stage three requires 500 experience points.
In a short time, the only way to improve strength is by practicing two newly understood skills extensively and increasing skill levels.
Qi Blood isn't generated out of thin air; its rapid increase simultaneously consumes a large amount of stored nutrition inside Lu Yu's body. In the morning, Lu Yu ate two whole roasted chickens and eight bowls of porridge before feeling full.
Leaving the canteen while patting his stomach, Lu Yu felt for the first time that eating was somewhat of a burden.
"If the stronger you become, the more you need to eat, then wouldn't the world's strong people be eating all the time?"
Lu Yu thought there must be other ways to supplement the nutrition needed for cultivation. One method he knew was consuming medicinal foods that greatly replenish Qi Blood.
However, Lu Yu hadn't seen any protector eating the canteen's medicinal foods every day. Although those protectors ate quite a lot, it seemed to be within a normal range compared to him.
"There must be other ways to replenish nutrition that I don't know about," Lu Yu pondered.
Back in his room, he laid down on the smooth hardwood bed and fell asleep, exiting the game.
"Phew~"
He removed his helmet, exhaled deeply, got out of bed, drew the curtains, opened the windows for ventilation, and cleared the stuffy air accumulated in the room overnight.
Brushed his teeth, washed his face, ate breakfast, then lay back on the bed to sleep.
Before falling asleep, Lu Yu had a question. He had been lying in bed and sleeping for a week without feeling any physical discomfort.
Unable to understand this, he blamed all these issues on this magical game.
Perhaps because he exercised daily in the game, his brain assumed he was also exercising daily in reality, so he wouldn't feel discomfort.
After finding a reason for himself, he fell asleep.
...
Two days later, Lu Yu had grown accustomed to staying up all night and sleeping during the day. This adaptability and speed of switching biological clocks even surprised him.
After two days of observation, Lu Yu discovered that every night around one or two o'clock, someone would come to the logistics courtyard. But the first two times, he was a step behind the thief and couldn't catch the thief on site.
This time, Lu Yu hid in a corner facing the logistics courtyard's main entrance. All indications showed that the thief entered through the main door.
Or in other words, the thief had a key to the logistics courtyard's main door.
But Lu Yu also had a question; the thief came every day, and things went missing from the warehouse daily. Why hadn't the person in charge of the logistics courtyard noticed the problem?
After a long wait, Lu Yu finally saw the thief's figure. The thief was masked and wore all black, making it hard to notice him in the cover of night.
However, to the prepared eyes of Lu Yu, the thief's figure was very conspicuous.
The person in black glanced around, seeing no patrolling guard on duty, and quickly stepped forward to unlock the logistics courtyard's door.
Click ~ the door closed, the thief had already entered the logistics courtyard.
Lu Yu quietly faded into the darkness…
Having locked the warehouse door, the person in black looked around, realizing he hadn't left any traces, then headed towards the accounting room to exit the logistics courtyard.
Everything was going smoothly, just like before, easily entering and leaving without anyone noticing, the person in black thought.
As he was about to lock the accounting room's door, he suddenly felt something off; why hadn't he heard any footsteps?
Something's wrong! Even during the night, patrol guards occasionally walk by, but from entering to leaving today, he hadn't heard a single footstep. What's going on?
"Capture him, I want to see which ingrate dares to steal from the Han family!"
Wang Qiang's voice echoed, and numerous guards emerged from the surroundings, holding lit torches to brighten the night, illuminating the logistics courtyard's entrance.
The figure in black froze, the key in his hand fell to the ground with a clear sound, jingling ~
Early the next morning, the martial arts field was crowded with people, even the newcomers who should be practicing their fist techniques stood silently in a corner.
In front of the crowd was Steward Zhang, dressed in black, despite his middle age, his physique was more robust than anyone present.
Behind Steward Zhang stood Wang Qiang and Lu Yu. The black-clad man caught the previous night was tied to a wooden post on the martial arts field.
The mask covering his face had been torn off, and confronting his appearance was Lu Yu, who had seen the logistics courtyard's White Steward several times.
Upon waking up and hearing that White Steward stole from the logistics courtyard, Steward Zhang was deeply unbelieving, thinking it to be slander. But when he saw the White Steward dressed for night stealth bound to the pillar.
His expression turned gloomy, filled with distress alongside fury.