Substitute Puppet Takes the Stage, Playing It Safe to the Extreme

Half a day later.

Elder Council Hall of Wolf Snake Village.

Gao Linzhi was very satisfied with the Skill Stone and Talent Stone that Xu Gou had brought back.

This is why, in the extraordinary world, even the strongest individuals still establish sects, clans, and dynasties.

While sitting at home, people deliver cultivation supplies to me.

He only needs to make a move once or twice at crucial moments.

He scanned the two piles of items in front of him:

"Talent Stone: Breath Concealment, Blue Tier"

"Effect: Grants the Blue Tier talent 'Breath Concealment' upon use, which can conceal one's aura to a certain extent, preventing detection by other beings. No level required."

"Upgradeable. Upgrade requirement: one higher-tier Talent Stone."

Skill:

"Basic Invisibility, Intermediate Invisibility, Advanced Invisibility."

"Basic Burrowing Technique, Intermediate Burrowing, Advanced Burrowing"

Gao Linzhi had learned the Basic Burrowing Technique while studying a bunch of random Basic Skills.

"Basic Camouflage, Intermediate Camouflage, Advanced Camouflage."

This collection of items represents the stealth skill system, and more can be added later.

He learned everything at once and leveled up to level 100 simultaneously.

As a result, his constitution increased by another 80 points—from the original [Constitution: 5+660] to [5+740].

745 points in constitution, still a bare constitution.

After finishing his lesson, he looked at another pile of books.

Those are skills related to healing and removing negative buffs, and are associated with talents.

"Talent Stone: Resistance, Green Tier"

"Effect: Grants the Green Tier talent 'Resistance' upon use."

"Slightly resists negative buffs, no level required."

"Upgradeable. Upgrade requirement: one higher-tier Talent Stone."

"Talent Stone: Enhanced Healing, Blue Tier"

"Effect: Grants the Blue Tier talent 'Enhanced Healing' upon use."

"Able to learn High-Tier Skill, Enhanced Healing effectiveness to some extent."

Skill:

"Basic Heal, Intermediate Heal, Advanced Medical."

"Basic Purify, Intermediate Purify, Advanced Purify."

"Basic Regeneration, Intermediate Regeneration, Advanced Regeneration, Expert Regeneration."

"Upgrading any of the above skills requires a physician-related profession."

"If you are not a medical professional, you need to master medical-related talents in order to level up."

Gao Linzhi has Basic Heal and Basic Regeneration skills, so he doesn't need to waste a Skill Stone.

However, the other party requires a medical profession, so it seems he needs to master medical-related talents.

Fortunately, the Talent Stone provided by Xu Gou already included medical-related ones.

This is normal; if it weren't included, Xu Gou wouldn't have submitted it, wasting his time.

It's so convenient to have someone run errands for you.

They've already fed him to his mouth.

Unlike when I used to play games, I no longer need to worry about missing materials to craft or missing quest tokens.

He studied everything directly and leveled up all of them to level 100.

However, the "purification" category of medical treatment belongs to the magic category, increasing spirit by 30 points.

I've already learned Basic Heal and Basic Regeneration, so my constitution only increased by 50 points.

Therefore, his attributes changed again:

[Constitution: 5+740], increased to [Constitution: 5+790]

[Spirit: 7+420], upgraded to [Spirit: 7+450]

Very nice.

There was another significant improvement.

The total number of skills is currently 65, with a maximum of 70.

After Gao Linzhi had adjusted to his newfound power, Xu Gou cautiously knocked on the door and entered after receiving permission.

He bowed his head and pleaded, "Master, Steward Zhang from Sirius Island hopes you can protect them."

"For this, they are even willing to offer you a Golden Talent Stone."

Why is that?

"Because they were attacked by local Native Village, who initially surrounded the Giant Dune to them."

"Now that we've seen a significant increase in production after our efforts, they want to reclaim that Giant Dune."

"Oh, I see." Gao Linzhi nodded.

It's only human nature.

Sure enough, now it's time for my top-tier military strength to demonstrate its protective value.

To receive offerings from those below, one must demonstrate military strength.

High-energy-consuming waste products will inevitably be phased out.

Even if he were the emperor, it would be the same.

But who is Gao Linzhi?

He then wondered if this was some kind of conspiracy.

Having remained entrenched on Wolf Snake Island, they had made it difficult for the other side to make a move.

Then he realized that, fortunately, he was playing a regular game and controlling Game Character.

They had no idea that their real-life counterpart and their Game Character were different.

This is the information gap.

He never told anyone.

If anyone is plotting against me this time, they are definitely thinking of sealing myself away.

Gao Linzhi immediately thought of this.

Because he has always been highly vigilant about his own safety.

Unlike those vain guys who are all talk and no action, running around aimlessly, shouting "vain" but actually just saying "Go, go, go."

He never truly left Wolf Snake Island.

Wolf Snake Island was his base of operations.

To others, it should have been an impregnable fortress that he had managed.

If the enemy wants to deal with him here, they have to consider the forces around him.

That would waste a lot of Revival Stone.

If we lure him out, we'll only need to deal with him and a few others.

Now that the enemy is leading us to another island, there's likely an ambush there.

He needs to be prepared.

Of course, I still have to go.

After all, this involves the core of upgrading and becoming stronger—a continuous supply of Talent Stone and Skill Stone.

It can be said that if the other side did indeed launch an ambush, then they have found their core weakness.

Just like those scammers.

However, this would give him a reason to directly occupy the Giant Dune.

That way, Talent Stone and Skill Stone can be produced continuously.

After thinking it over several times, Gao Linzhi agreed.

However, to fit his persona, he summoned "the Puppet Best."

"Are there any puppets that can be remotely controlled and still allow the controller to exert about one-third of their power?"

The Puppet Best frowned and said, "I have indeed created a Magic Puppet, but it needs to be upgraded before it can unleash even one-tenth of the remote controller's power."

"The main principle is to infuse the remote controller's magical power into it, while simultaneously attaching their spiritual power to it."

"In this way, it can share the remote controller's mental attributes, thereby enhancing the spell's power."

"Furthermore, it can also serve as a platform, allowing the remote controller to cast spells from an extremely long distance."

"So, it's a magic-type turret?" Gao Linzhi said directly.

"Yes."

"Very good. What materials are you still missing for the upgrade? List them out."

"Puppet Best!" she exclaimed excitedly, as she was worried about the difficulty in obtaining the materials.

Although she is the General Manager of Four Village Trading Company., it would be difficult for her to take advantage of the company.

After all, there are many people watching, and besides, the mysterious world has many ways to verify your innocence.

This is much easier than the offline world.

The other party doesn't need any evidence; a simple skill to detect lies is enough to expose you.

Therefore, she could only obtain what she was entitled to step by step.

And now that the bigwigs are personally supporting us, that's certainly great.

So she quickly said, "It's mainly purple-grade materials, including Purple Tier Magic Bone, Purple Tier Silkworm Silk..."

Gao Linzhi listened while opening the box.

In the previous two events, he was rewarded with many random materials, as well as specified materials.

If the other party says one thing, he will produce one thing.

And so, after the Puppet Best had listed a total of thirty-six purple-grade materials, Gao Linzhi had finished organizing them.

He packed it up and took it out.

"These are the materials you requested. I need to upgrade them as soon as possible and hand them over."

"Yes, boss," the Puppet Best said excitedly.

She immediately took the materials and then went to upgrade.

Gao Linzhi then said to Xu Gou, "Tell them to hold on for a few more days."

"Understood."

Xu Gou understood Gao Linzhi's thoughts perfectly; he felt he had truly chosen the right person to side with.

With your cautious manner, sir, you're bound to climb to the top step by step.

The old man wasn't the kind of nouveau riche who, having just become a big shot, started indulging in unrestrained pleasures.

Like those fools in history.

Before the country was even conquered, he started to act arrogantly and domineeringly, and as a result, he was beheaded.

He left with peace of mind.

The Big Black Fatty even sent a letter urging him to hurry up.

"Brother, how's the situation?"

"I'm under immense pressure and desperately need a big shot to step in and calm things down."

"What's the rush? If you can't delay for a few days, then just leave already. We're customers, not your employees," Xu Gou said dismissively.

Anyway, he now possesses the core technology... Even if the natives reclaimed the Giant Dune, wouldn't they still have to cooperate with them?

Of course, Xu Gou wouldn't be that evil, making people endlessly work like Meng Po (a figure from Chinese mythology who suffers endless labor).

If you successfully obtain a Talent Stone and Skill Stone, you will grant the other party their freedom.

As for how to transfer game privileges, aside from dropping them upon death, he remembered that others had figured out other methods.

It turns out that by exploiting a certain game function, you can bring up the Game Character interface from when you logged in before, which includes a Game Character logout function.

You can then log out of the Game Character, which will cause the Game Poster to drop.

Of course, most people wouldn't do that unless they were being threatened.

It can only be said that the world is so vast, and the strategies and tactics in games are countless.

Three days later.

Puppet Best, so he handed a bluish-green puppet to Gao Linzhi.

"Boss, this is the Magic Puppet. The materials you provided are all of the best quality for its tier, which is why it can unleash 22% of the controller's mental attribute, and its stored mana has also doubled."

"Very good, change his appearance to be like mine."

"That's easy."

In less than half an hour, a puppet that was almost identical to the "Can Xue Waves Across the Map" appeared.

"Very good, you've done a great job this time. You'll be credited with a major achievement, and it will be included in the company's bonus distribution later."

"Thank you, boss. Here is the instruction manual."

"Okay, you may leave."

The Puppet Best leave the instruction manual behind and step aside.

She thought to herself, "This boss is really cunning."

In this way, she can easily obtain a central position.

Because she can satisfy the other party's core need to "survive".

It turns out that researching puppets and developing puppet technology was the right path.

Those in higher positions have a greater need for this kind of thing!

Gao Linzhi looked at the other person's back and confirmed that the other person was green on the Minimap before he began to control the puppet according to the instruction manual.

"Substitute Puppet, Purple Rank"

"Effect: A magic-based puppet that can be remotely controlled via mental link."

"The maximum amount of one's mental attributes can be utilized is 22%."

"Upgrades can continue."

Very good, Gao Linzhi quickly connected with the Substitute Puppet according to the instructions.

It's actually very simple; it's just like controlling a Game Character.

He has a wealth of experience.

Compared to the smooth and immersive experience of controlling Game Character, controlling this Substitute Puppet feels like playing a 2D game, requiring fast reflexes.

After spending half a day getting used to it, he finally became familiar with the operation and then called Xu Gou to set off.

Of course, even Xu Gou didn't know the relationship between his real identity and the Game Character.

In fact, nobody knew this.

Everyone else entered the game using their real identity.

He won't tell anyone.

He would ruthlessly kill anyone who knew this secret.

The appearance of Game Character is inherently different from their real-life appearance.

Upon entering the game, players will be given a modified appearance.

This is also to prevent players from having their true identities discovered as soon as they log in.

However, even with such great benefits offered by the game, many people still exposed their true identities due to carelessness, excessive excitement, and inherent stupidity.

And that was it; he was hunted down and killed by the company, revealing his game privileges.

Three days later.

Sirius Island.

Near Giant Dune.

The two groups are facing off.

One group consisted of villagers, while the other group was comprised of local Corporate Players, represented by the Big Black Fatty.

As for individual investors, those who know, know; there are only a handful, and they have absolutely no right to get involved in such a large sum of money.

They could only cower in the distance, watching the two groups from afar, trying to gain some advantage.

Among the villagers, there were a full 16 elders, clearly a powerful group.

They were elders from several nearby villages, gathered together.

A plump, fair-skinned elder stepped forward:

"Mr. Zhang, this Giant Dune has always belonged to us."

"We have already been more than generous in allowing you, the Descenders, some time; now it is time to return it to us."

"Ridiculous! We agreed to a 20-year contract, and it's only been a few months!" the Big Black Fatty sneered.

"Hmph, when that agreement was signed, it was you who, relying on your countless cannon fodder, forcibly took this sand dune from us!" The Fat White Elder remained silent, while a Granny Elder beside him spoke angrily.

"That's right, the agreement is invalid, and it must be returned to us immediately!" the villagers shouted.

"Get them out of here!"

"These damned Descenders, how much good stuff have they stolen from us?"

"Get off our island!"

The two sides immediately engaged in an angry war of words.

Both sides seem to have a point.

But to put it bluntly, it's still a struggle for interests.

If Giant Dune were still the one with a 2 out of 10 Giant Dune, which is actually a 1 out of 10 chance, the village wouldn't risk coming to steal it.

They will be content with those shares.

Now, it's "eight out of ten", and there are more and more high-quality Talent Stone and Skill Stone.

This is where the strategic significance lies.

It directly determines the foundation for the village's rapid growth, so of course it must be seized.