The Emergence of the Tianxia Guild

At noon.

Players logged off one after another to eat in the real world—they couldn't bear to spend in-game currency on food.

But Gao Linzhi followed Zheng Dong and the others straight to the Village West Canteen for a meal.

After all, as a village guard under contract, he had free room and board.

Not logging off to eat was easy to understand, and going online and offline wasted time too.

Just as Gao Linzhi was heading into the village, a player named "Little Cat Fishing" walked up to him.

"Buddy, a word in private," Little Cat Fishing asked.

"Something on your mind?" Gao Linzhi glanced at Zheng Dong.

Zheng Dong waved him off. "Go handle your business. I'll order some good dishes for you first—you can eat when you get there."

"Then I'll trouble Captain Zheng."

After that, Gao Linzhi followed Little Cat Fishing to a secluded spot.

"Bro, you're not a Company Executive, are you?" Little Cat Fishing asked directly.

"Oh, what makes you say that?" Gao Linzhi countered.

"Simple. Company Executives wouldn't sign a life-risking contract like that," Little Cat Fishing said with disdain.

"Their specialty is digging up Ordinary Players' real identities, killing them to explode their loot, then grabbing homeless people from the real world, training them into cannon-fodder alt accounts, and making them work for profit."

By the end, Little Cat Fishing was grinding his teeth, righteous indignation burning in his voice.

"I see. So in this game, you can't reveal your real identity," Gao Linzhi nodded slightly.

"Bro, if that's all you're thinking, you'll be screwed soon enough." Little Cat Fishing shook his head with a cold smile.

"Oh, why?"

"You can hide your real identity in the village, sure, but once you're alone in the wild, their capture squad might grab you."

"Then they'll torture you for your real identity—can you take that?" Little Cat Fishing countered.

"Fair point. So what should I do?" Gao Linzhi said thoughtfully.

"Simple—Rogue Players unite, organization against organization. When we go out, we have high-level players leading the group, acting together. They can't touch us then." Little Cat Fishing's face lit up with excitement.

Gao Linzhi nodded. What this Little Cat said made sense.

"So what's your organization?"

Little Cat Fishing's face beamed with fervor. "Our organization is called Tianxia Guild. Our creed is 'Equality for all, one world under heaven.' Our mission is to resist the oppression of the companies and protect every member."

"Oh, noble creed. Keep up the good work—I admire you for it." Gao Linzhi smiled, turned, and walked away. "Let me know when you succeed. I've got to eat."

Damn, such an obvious fishing attempt. If I couldn't see through that, would I have transmigrated for nothing?

My twenty thousand hours of web novel reading aren't wasted, are they?

"Wait... don't you believe me? Are you going to fight alone?"

"Let me tell you, in this game, going solo means you absolutely can't beat Corporate Players. They have ninety-nine ways to screw you over." Little Cat Fishing hurried after him, pressing on.

Gao Linzhi shook his head with a laugh. "Hahaha, isn't the game more fun the higher the difficulty?"

"The script of life—it's too simple."

"For me, it's already too boring. Only high-difficulty challenges make me feel the reality of living!"

Little Cat Fishing froze for a moment, then sneered inwardly.

Damn, what a poser!

Wait until the Corporate Players catch you and torture you—then you'll know regret!

Little Cat Fishing watched Gao Linzhi's back, then turned and left.

He knew the other guy didn't believe him now, but he'd get it soon enough.

Only their Tianxia Guild could take on those big companies!

Then he spotted another player hauling bricks and immediately sidled up:

"Bro, allow me to introduce you to the sun of us Rogue Players—Tianxia Guild."

Gao Linzhi shook his head inwardly. Tianxia Guild? I could just as well call it Supreme Alliance!

The village canteen.

It was at the west end of the village, right next to a Demonic Creature Prison. As the name suggested, that was where demonic creatures were held and sold to players for slaughter rights.

The ingredients that dropped were sent straight to the canteen for on-site processing.

You could say the canteen was built around the prison.

Gao Linzhi had already arrived at the canteen and met up with Zheng Dong at a table in the corner.

By now, quite a few people were in the canteen—most were patrol members, with very few players.

"Today we have rabbit meat—ingredients dropped by those monsters. Eating it long-term can improve your physique!" Zheng Dong pointed at the dishes he'd ordered, speaking to Gao Linzhi.

Gao Linzhi smiled. "That's great. I'll have to eat plenty, then."

The two sat down and began their meal.

Before long, another player walked straight over to their table.

The man had a name floating above his head—"Xu Clan* Old Seven."

Seeing this, Zheng Dong knowingly picked up his tray and moved to another table.

"Something on your mind?" Gao Linzhi took a bite of the food and found it tasted excellent.

Too bad this wasn't his own body; if he wanted to feel full, his Main Body would have to eat in person.

"Brother Canxue, there's a kilogram of gold here. If you can find a way to lure Lin Qing outside the village, all this gold is yours. Afterward, there's another four kilograms." Xu Clan* Old Seven didn't beat around the bush; he spoke in a low voice.

As he said this, he pulled out two large gold bars and placed them on the table.

The gleaming yellow bars made everyone in the dining hall draw in a sharp breath.

Clearly, the local villagers also recognized gold's value.

Gao Linzhi looked at the gold bars and reached out to grab them.

[Can recharge 1000 gold. Recharge?]

[No.]

One kilogram was 1000 grams, so in this game, one gram apparently equaled one gold.

"Lin Qing and I are both village guards now, and we're both students of the Fourth Elder. She's my junior apprentice-sister, you know." Gao Linzhi said disdainfully.

"You've only just met. You can't have that deep a bond, can you?" Xu Qi said coldly.

"I mean, you need to add more gold. A hundred kilograms of gold might be about right. Do you know what talent she has?" Gao Linzhi shook his head.

A hundred kilograms was a hundred thousand grams—that was a hundred thousand gold.

If he could charge a hundred thousand gold in one go, Gao Linzhi wouldn't have to fear any Xu Corporation anymore.

In reality, at a thousand yuan per gram, that was a hundred million yuan!

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Gao Linzhi's outrageous demand, Xu Qi didn't curse him out. Instead, he seemed lost in thought.

He nodded slightly. "Then I'll have to go ask the young master first."

Hearing this, Gao Linzhi sneered inwardly.

Sure enough, these real-world companies, by monopolizing the economy, could easily amass vast wealth.

A hundred kilograms of gold didn't seem to put any pressure on them at all.

With that much gold, they must have transported it from reality into the game.

He didn't believe a single village could casually produce that much Hard Currency.