Hiding Himself

In response to their methods, he decided to do everything he could to protect himself.

First, he needed a simple disguise. Then he needed to find a cave where he could hide from aerial pursuit.

He immediately settled on his next goal in the game: learning Disguise Art.

He could learn it under the pretext of being a guard. Guards often had to hide and protect their targets from the shadows.

So it made perfect sense for him to learn Disguise Art.

The Fourth Elder might even teach it to him of his own accord.

With that in mind, Gao Linzhi wandered through the mountains and soon found a ravine.

It was extremely secluded, with dense trees and vines blocking out the sky.

Looking down from above or from the surrounding area, all he could see below was a vast stretch of trees and vines, along with thick fog that obscured the bottom.

He would have to climb down the cliff to get inside.

It was clearly a good place to hide.

Although it was a dead end, even if his pursuers cornered him, Gao Linzhi could quickly escape into the game as a last resort.

It was winter, and the ravine was filled with dead grass and shrubs, though here and there a touch of green remained.

Gao Linzhi recalled the wilderness survival videos he had watched and decided to try surviving in the wild here.

He had plenty of advantages when it came to wilderness survival.

He could easily obtain survival supplies from the game world.

He had a game status panel and could revive an unlimited number of times. His body had already been digitized, so he didn't have to worry about fatal wilderness survival problems like illness, poisoning, disability, or injury.

Soon, he found a relatively flat slope in the ravine.

There were plenty of rocks, and dead grass and shrubs stubbornly grew from between them.

He planned to cut down some trees and use the rocks and wood to build a simple wooden shelter as a temporary home.

For that, he entered the game once more and took a lot of construction tools from the Fourth Elder's home.

They included an axe, a saw, and rope.

The Fourth Elder didn't ask what he planned to do with them. He simply gave him a knowing look.

Clearly, the Fourth Elder was a perceptive man who had understood at a glance.

After all, all he wanted was for Gao Linzhi to honor the Guard Contract.

After working hard all day, he finally built a simple shelter.

The axe was worthy of being game equipment. It made chopping wood easy and effortless.

Aside from the axe, he didn't borrow anything else, to avoid arousing suspicion.

The same went for food. He took some from the Fourth Elder's home.

And just like that, Gao Linzhi easily managed to survive in the ravine.

Early the next morning.

After tidying up his temporary home, Gao Linzhi entered the game again.

He was about to look for the Fourth Elder and learn Disguise Art.

Before he could say anything, the Fourth Elder spoke first:

"First, you should learn the skills from before. In a couple of days, I'll teach you a Disguise Art. You can use it to change your identity and hide in the village, so no one can secretly target you again."

Gao Linzhi was naturally delighted. That saved him the trouble of asking.

His goal now was simple: kill more monsters, build up more experience, and use it to level up the Basic Skills he had just learned.

His status panel was as follows:

[Constitution: 5]

[Spirit: 7]

[Level 1]

[Experience: 40/100]

[Skills: Heavenly Sight, Earthly Hearing, Person-Judging Art (Incomplete) (0/100), Basic Fists and Feet (0/100), Basic Parrying (0/100), Basic Lightness Skill (0/100).]

He focused his thoughts. "Put all my experience into Basic Lightness Skill."

[Basic Lightness Skill proficiency has increased to (40/100).]

He moved around a little and found himself more agile.

Then he went to look for the Fourth Elder.

The Fourth Elder was once again sitting in the center of the village, in front of the courtyard, dozing in a reclining chair.

"Fourth Elder, I want to kill monsters and gain experience," Gao Linzhi said bluntly.

"You're a guard of the village. You don't need to rush to level up like the other Descenders."

"You'd better learn a few skills first, then go kill monsters and put your experience into various skills. Improve your attributes by leveling up your skills instead of rushing to raise your level."

"Don't worry about your safety. The village will protect you." The Fourth Elder opened his eyes and looked at him.

Clearly, the Fourth Elder thought Gao Linzhi had run into trouble in the real world and needed to level up quickly, gain attribute points, and strengthen himself to deal with it.

Gao Linzhi knew the Fourth Elder had his best interests at heart.

After all, their interests were aligned. A well-developed guard with strong attributes was more valuable to the village.

But the Fourth Elder didn't know that Gao Linzhi had already learned the basics of all four skills.

"I've already learned one of the skills," Gao Linzhi said frankly.

"Very well, then. Take this token to the Stone Wall and find the Patrol Team." The Fourth Elder's eyes lit up, and he continued,

"Tell them I said that any monsters they capture are yours to kill. Have them report the cost to the village afterward."

He sat up, took a Bamboo Token from inside his robe, and handed it to Gao Linzhi.

Gao Linzhi took it and saw the character "Kill" on the front and "Monster" on the back.

Simple and clear.

Gao Linzhi nodded. "Thank you, Fourth Elder."

"It's nothing. You deserve it. Keep up the good work." The Fourth Elder added a few more words.

"Yes."

Gao Linzhi then took the token and once again went to the village Stone Wall to find the Patrol Team.

He saw Zheng Dong, the Patrol Team Captain, busy at work, and showed him the token.

The village had four patrol teams, which took turns patrolling day and night.

One team patrolled during the day, while three teams took turns at night. The four teams switched between day and night shifts at regular intervals.

That showed just how dangerous the night was.

Zheng Dong was the captain of the fourth team.

"All right. Since the token came from the Fourth Elder, you can kill any monsters we catch."

"But you only have the right to kill them. Any items they drop still belong to us," Zheng Dong explained.

"I understand," Gao Linzhi said. He had no objections.

He didn't have to lift a finger, yet he got free experience.

Although only players could make things drop, which seemed a little unfair, the truth was that players weren't scarce in the village right now.

If there had only been one or two players in the village, naturally the village would have catered to them.

But there were dozens of players in the village now, most of them still developing.

Players had to rely on the village to survive.

The village, on the other hand, didn't currently rely on players.

By comparison, Corporate Players were more valuable to the village right now—because the company controlled them, and they could risk their lives clearing out monsters.

Gao Linzhi joined their Patrol Team in dealing with monsters.

By the time the morning was over, the Patrol Team had cleared out the monsters that had appeared nearby, and Gao Linzhi had successfully gained 300 experience.

He put all of it into Basic Lightness Skill.

That brought Basic Lightness Skill straight to Level 3 (40/100).

That was clearly good news for him.