Guard Contract

This kind of fat old man, in the real world, would be the type to fake a fall for money, yet now he had such strength!

Even a fierce tiger couldn't compare!

"Both of you, since she's willing to join our East Wolf Village as a village guard, that makes her one of us. From now on, you can't lay a finger on her." He spoke with a calm expression.

Xu Qi couldn't help but add a threatening tone: "Fourth Elder, this is an internal conflict among us players."

"Though your village is prosperous, with only 1,254 people in total, our Xu Corporation governs Xu City in the real world, with a population of 4.95 million. Don't underestimate us just because we only control a few dozen player accounts right now." Lao Ba followed up.

"Each player only has one life, but every time one dies, we can replenish them. In truth, we have a reserve army of 4.95 million."

"You'd better think this through carefully."

Hearing this, the Fourth Elder's originally calm face grew serious.

He took a deep breath and remained silent for a long time, as if weighing the pros and cons.

Meanwhile, Gao Linzhi watched everything unfold with indifference.

Lin Qing, however, wore a calm expression tinged with confidence as she said, "Fourth Elder, my Purple Talent is actually..."

She glanced toward the courtyard behind him.

"Oh, then follow me." The Fourth Elder nodded, leading her into the yard and into a room.

Lao Qi and Lao Ba could only watch helplessly as the two left.

After a long while, they emerged again.

Lin Qing now looked relieved, with a hint of superiority in her eyes as she regarded the others.

The Fourth Elder, on the other hand, was beaming with joy.

"Your Xu Corporation is far too arrogant!" He declared with righteous indignation.

"Heaven has a virtue for nurturing life, yet you oppress your own kind at every turn. What clearly belongs to others as their opportunity, you forcibly seize—utterly inhuman!"

"The sage said, 'Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.' Your actions are nothing short of insane!"

"East Wolf Village will not tolerate the bullying of Rogue Players, nor will we allow you to lay another hand on Miss Lin!"

Hearing this, Gao Linzhi understood that Lin Qing's talent was undoubtedly astonishingly powerful!

What could it be?

Brother Li's entry sequence into the game was very early, so his Inheritor's talent would be excellent.

But the game character he himself had created had a very late number, clearly an extra account gifted by the Game System.

The two were not the same thing.

Lin Qing was the one who truly inherited Brother Li's game character.

It seemed one Game Poster represented one game qualification.

Lin Qing's real talent was definitely more than just Purple; it could even be Gold, or even Red!

Only a talent of such high quality would make the Fourth Elder willing to go to war with a company holding a reserve force of 4.95 million for the sake of a Rogue Player.

"What? You actually..." Lao Qi looked incredulous.

Did this Fourth Elder not know what consequences would come from opposing them?

To put it bluntly, they only needed to send people to harass the village outskirts constantly to bankrupt East Wolf Village!

After all, they had plenty of manpower.

Lao Ba, however, tugged at him and said quickly, "Let's go. Report this to the Young Master immediately."

Then, without another word, the two hurried away.

Gao Linzhi's heart stirred. He checked the game Minimap.

He noticed that the two were sprinting toward a relatively luxurious compound in the village, a five-courtyard estate.

That must be Xu Tianlang's residence.

At that moment, the Fourth Elder enthusiastically prepared to leave with Lin Qing, completely forgetting about Gao Linzhi.

It was Lin Qing who noticed him and pointed at him.

"Oh, right, there's you too. When you get old, you tend to forget things. You come along as well." The Fourth Elder slapped his own forehead.

Then he led the two toward the east of the village.

The two walked in silence.

The Fourth Elder, however, shared a lot of inside information about the village.

For instance, the village's future—now that players were around, the village's economy was booming, the population was multiplying rapidly, and the land was expanding. It was about to upgrade from a village to a town...

In short, East Wolf Village's prospects were bright, and the path was smooth.

His skill at painting rosy pictures was no less than that of any corporate CEO.

Before long, the three arrived near a large estate.

There were few other houses nearby, but there was a vast expanse of lush green Bamboo Forest.

Some players in linen clothes and native villagers were cutting down green bamboo.

The players were all working hard, while the native villagers worked for a while and then rested.

After cutting the bamboo, they used saws and hatchets to split it into bamboo strips.

Only when they had accumulated a certain amount did they hand them over to an old steward at the gate of a large courtyard.

The old steward, dressed in fine kudzu cloth and sporting a goatee, was counting the bamboo strips and giving orders to the players:

"Dinosaur Express Ultraman, 1,000 strips, one Bing Gong."

"Riding a Horse to See Flowers, 3,000 strips, three Bing Gong."

"Just Love Playing Games, 2,000 strips..."

The Fourth Elder introduced to the two: "This is the Third Elder's place; he's in charge of Talisman Crafting."

"We're here to see this old fellow first, to get you some talismans to protect yourselves."

"Usually, newcomers who come here to learn skills have to first shave 100,000 bamboo strips to temper their minds and train their hand and eye strength."

"Then they enter the courtyard to learn to make bamboo talismans. Once they pass bamboo talismans, they move on to paper talismans, and once they pass paper talismans, they move on to jade talismans."

"Since you're willing to sign the Guard Contract, naturally you don't have to do these trivial tasks. The village will directly equip you with all kinds of necessary talismans," the Fourth Elder explained.

"Er Gou, call your Third Master out," the Fourth Elder said directly to the old steward.

"Oh, it's the Fourth Elder. I'll go right away," the old steward quickly nodded and bowed.

At that moment, some of the busy players stopped their work and looked at the two with curiosity.

"How novel, there are players joining the guards again. Do they really think this is an ordinary online game?"

"Heh, looks like there are still some thick-headed ones trying to shoot to the top."

"They won't cry until they see the coffin. A few before tried this shortcut, and they died miserably."

"Yeah, relying on the village for development is fast, but there's only one life in this game, and there are irresistible aberrations!"

"Exactly, demons are easy to dodge, but aberrations are hard to guard against! When we encounter aberrations, we can still log off to hide, but once they sign the contract, they'll have to fight to the death with the village!"

Hearing this, a flicker of disdain passed through Lin Qing's eyes, but it quickly vanished.

Before long, the Third Elder appeared.

A short, thin old man with a stubborn expression.

He looked at the Fourth Elder, his face somewhat displeased, as if the other owed him several thousand gold.

He reluctantly pulled a stack of jade talismans from his bosom and handed them to the Fourth Elder.

"Fifty Blue Grade Defensive Jade Talismans, fifty Blue Grade Offensive Jade Talismans, and four Purple Grade Escape Jade Talismans. Use them sparingly—these were barely crafted by me and my two Descender disciples."

The players all watched, drooling with envy, their eyes turning red!