The Strange Origin and Terrifying Truth

Gao Linzhi glanced around.

The dozen or so people entered the building one after another.

Soon someone came to greet them and led them to a rather luxurious reception room.

There were about ten people sitting inside, a few of whom he knew quite well.

The woman he was most familiar with was his former colleague, Lin Qing.

This woman, relying on her unique talent, has finally emerged after several months of development.

Gao Linzhi thought this was normal.

It would be abnormal if the other party didn't show themselves.

Because Gao Linzhi incidentally helped the other party eliminate the two major obstacles in reality, the Liang Clan and the Xu Clan, and because Gao Linzhi didn't care about the other party's resurrection talent, the other party was able to develop peacefully on Wolf Snake Island.

Gao Linzhi naturally wouldn't deliberately suppress or make things difficult for the other party.

Therefore, the opponent can develop.

Gao Linzhi didn't care about that. On the contrary, if the other party could find the path to Immortality, he would be the one who benefited the most.

After all, he was the only normal, Ordinary Player.

And at this time...

Lin Qing naturally didn't recognize him, because Gao Linzhi was using Substitute Puppet.

Not using your real face, your real name, or your real information—that's the true essence of being a coward.

Even if others wanted to curse him, they wouldn't be able to do so.

Even Gao Linzhi wasn't his real name. After all, he was a transmigrator, and this name belonged to this world. The true name of his soul was unknown to everyone.

At this moment, Lin Qing was talking to the others.

"Miss Lin, you are renowned in the industry for handling unusual situations; I've heard you're quite experienced," a male player said politely.

"It's alright, you flatter me," Lin Qing said generously.

"This time, we'll have to rely on you a lot to deal with this monster."

"We're in the same boat; we should still help each other."

Gao Linzhi nodded, indeed, with Lin Qing's talent, he had a unique advantage in dealing with strange phenomena.

Even if one dies temporarily, one can be resurrected.

Gain experience and start over.

Unless you encounter something like a sealed curse, it can be troublesome.

Lin Qing continued chatting with the other people.

One of them said, "This is indeed strange, according to what the Long family said."

"We must find out the whole story."

"Everyone should be careful, lest there be a conspiracy involved," another person said solemnly.

"Yes, if those aristocratic families use this opportunity to exclude dissidents, we'll be in trouble."

"It would be best to send a few people to probe."

"That's right, so we were just testing the waters. No one else came; they were all waiting for our news."

"Yes, the truth will soon be revealed."

Not long after.

At that moment, three people walked in from outside the reception room.

One man and two women.

The man was an old man, and the two women were both young and beautiful, wearing cheongsams with high slits.

The old man spoke up, "Alright, everyone, thank you for coming from afar to help our Long family overcome this calamity."

"All who come are guests."

"For the safety of all our guests, we need you to demonstrate your strength. If your strength is limited, it's best to wait a while and come back when you're more developed."

This old man is very good at talking.

That's tactful enough.

Therefore, none of the dozen or so people felt offended.

Then the old man clapped his hands, and a pretty woman pulled out a large square iron block from her person.

It is one meter wide, one meter long, and one meter high.

She placed the large iron block directly in the center of the reception room.

This pretty girl is clearly a player too.

It's simply impossible for an ordinary person to carry it, nor could they possibly hide it on their person.

If it were pure iron, it would weigh 7.8 tons.

Next, another woman placed a square iron block of the same size in front of each person.

Everyone nodded in agreement; they immediately understood what the other person meant.

This is to prevent unqualified individuals from passing off inferior goods as qualified ones.

"Please pick up this iron block and squeeze it to see what it's like," the old man continued.

Gao Linzhi naturally knew that this must be related to that strange occurrence.

After all, the other party is an iron-eating beast.

Gao Linzhi didn't waste any time and directly grabbed the iron block.

He reached out and squeezed it; the square piece of iron, the part in his hand, turned into powder instantly.

He continued kneading until the entire large iron block was reduced to powder.

The old man nodded and said, "Well done."

His eyes lit up when he looked at Gao Linzhi.

Picking up the iron block is actually not difficult.

Anyone with a body mass of over 100 can do it.

But it's difficult to crush it into powder.

The physical condition can exceed 1000.

Others followed suit, and some even molded the iron block into a piece of clay.

Some people leave only a few traces.

The old man shook his head at those people.

Soon, the two beautiful women asked those who could only leave a mark to leave a message to leave.

"No, isn't mine pretty good too?"

"Yes, why are we being asked to leave?"

"Everyone, this is for your own good. That iron-eating beast has a rule: it can summon iron blocks to crush people," the old man said, shaking his head.

"These are the fundamental rules; if you can't withstand them, you die, and there's no chance you'll even see them."

At this point, the group of people had no further objections, and then took a box from the pretty girl and left.

That was clearly a farewell gift.

The Long family has done a decent job in this regard.

In the end, only 5 interviewees remained in the room.

These five people are Lin Qing, Gao Linzhi, two young men, and a man in his fifties.

"Wow, even old men go sightseeing?" one of the young men joked.

"Hmph, we old folks are better at games than you guys. When we were playing King of Fighters arcade games, you were probably nowhere to be found," the uncle said disdainfully.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Lin Qing. What about you?" Lin Qing immediately revealed her real name.

Actually, it's because many people already know her real name, and besides, this name isn't actually her original name.

Gao Linzhi never looked down on old men.

After all, he was a time traveler, and he knew best how crazy the old man was when playing games.

Many older men are heavy spenders on in-game purchases.

Soon, the five introduced themselves to each other.

Gao Linzhi used the pseudonym "Shindo".

The old man called himself "Sunny Day," while the two young men called themselves "Red Wolf" and "Brother Hua," respectively.

"Alright, now that everyone has gotten to know each other, let's introduce the details," said the Long Family elder on the stage.

"You should all know the general situation through the forum."

"However, some specific details were not mentioned on the forum."

"First of all, this oddity is that it doesn't move."

Everyone's eyes lit up immediately.

"But it is expanding every day; its territory is increasing."

"The so-called domain refers to the area within which fixed-type anomalies can exert their power."

"Previously, its scope was one building; it only consumed the iron within that building."

"And now its reach has expanded to a factory, and it's started consuming the iron in that factory."

"Look everyone, this is where the Iron-Eating Beast first appeared."

"It appeared in a dormitory building."

"Everyone can take a look at these videos; we found them in the building."

"We are not planning to let everyone directly contact it for the time being."

"Please make sure you understand the other party before you speak."

At this moment, two beautiful women took out a projector and projected an image onto the wall.

Everyone quickly noticed that a dormitory building appeared in the video.

The dormitory building is surrounded by barbed wire.

The dormitory building was half abandoned, and many rooms were completely empty.

Not long after, a man suddenly appeared in the corridor of the dormitory building.

The man had barely appeared when he collapsed to the ground, vomiting uncontrollably.

And he was shouting:

"No, no!"

"I'm a player!"

"Get out of here, you weirdo!"

"Don't stay inside my body! This is the real world; you should disappear!"

I see.

Everyone suddenly realized.

Gao Linzhi had known all along that this would happen.

He knew from the beginning that it was impossible for something strange to inexplicably enter the offline world.

The only possible way is through the player.

Then everyone saw the player collapse to the ground.

His body then gradually transformed into a square block of iron.

No wonder the old man gave everyone a piece of iron; it was a way for them to get used to it beforehand.

Before long, the iron block began to absorb the surrounding iron.

First came the railings, then the barbed wire, and finally the steel bars...

The entire dormitory building was thrown into chaos.

A few workers, as if discarding worn-out shoes, left their belongings in the dormitory and stormed out.

Before long, the entire dormitory building was reduced to ruins.

On the ruins, there was only concrete.

There were no steel bars, no wires, no railings, and no locks.

No familiar iron artifacts can be seen.

"This iron-eating beast is indeed very powerful."

Someone exclaimed in amazement.

This destructive power is enough to destroy the world!

"Damn it!"

"In that case, we are no match for it at all." The two young men were stunned.

They forgot who they were, and even forgot where they were.

They were completely absorbed in the recording.

This is terrifying.

This was the first time they had ever seen anything so strange.

But for Gao Linzhi, this was quite normal.

Compared to those giant sea monsters, this strange creature that feeds on iron is really nothing special.

"Damn it, we're in trouble." Lin Qing shook his head. "You know, there's iron inside the human body too."

"Does anyone know how terrifying this is?"

"If we go inside, it will devour our iron."

"A lack of iron in the human body can lead to a variety of diseases."

"And now we have absolutely no iron, which almost certainly means death."

"Because iron is an essential element for the formation of cells and many organs."

Gao Linzhi nodded, agreeing with what the other party said.

The human body also contains iron, and planets are also largely composed of iron.

Once a person goes inside, it will consume the iron in their body, and that person is basically doomed.

"Yes, everyone, don't forget that iron is very important in the human body; without iron, you will become anemic."

"This is still a normal iron deficiency, not a complete lack of iron."

"It can be said that without iron, a person will not die immediately, but will inevitably lose the ability to resist."

"Various health problems will arise in the future."

Everyone was immediately taken aback; now they understood.

They were all a little scared.

Fortunately, they dared to come here because they had Revival Stone.

Or rather, they have their own ways of securing a backup plan.

And at this time...

Gao Linzhi then asked, "Old sir, when did this strange phenomenon begin?"

"When was your video recorded? I don't see the time displayed on it."

Yes, most video recordings include a time limit.

However, this video recording does not exist.

"Just a week ago."

"We discovered this strange phenomenon during the treasure hunt itself."

"At first, we thought we could solve it ourselves."

"But it can't be solved."

"And its appearance, as everyone saw, was caused by this player who, after logging off, died and then transformed into the monster."

"Clearly, this player was possessed by a strange entity before his death."

"After death, this player died in the real world and became a monster."

"Many players have been hunted before, but this has never happened before."

"Therefore, there is only one reason: this player was already carrying the anomaly when he logged off, and the anomaly used him as a channel to enter our offline world."

The old man's words drew sighs from everyone present.

This was something that was bound to happen.

"This makes the problem serious; we must prevent players from logging off at will."

"Before logging off, you must undergo a check within the Safe Zone before returning to our world," Lin Qing said.

Everyone nodded.

"Yes, that's exactly what we should do."

"But if that's the case, how are we going to restrict other players?"

"We must use the company's channels to tell everyone that the world is shared."

"We can't let any more weird things come here."

Everyone sighed.

They knew this was difficult to do.

Because independent individuals won't follow orders.

Logging off is also very easy.

Do we have to kill all the players?

This is clearly unrealistic.

"Alright, everyone, let's discuss how to take down that weirdo," the young man Red Wolf, said, somewhat frustrated.

Upon hearing this, everyone felt a headache coming on.

They simply didn't have any good solutions.

Gao Linzhi had Anomaly Dungeon Ticket, but he didn't know if it would work.

"Let's go to the scene first and see what the situation is like before we make any decisions," Lin Qing suggested.

Everyone nodded.

They quickly boarded a helicopter and began to approach the scene.

At this moment, the strange phenomenon was in the northwestern suburbs of Dragon City.

It was a steel factory.

The steel factory has fallen into disrepair, with only a small portion of the plant still in operation.

At this point, the young player, Brother Hua, became puzzled.

"Strange, why would this player go to the factory's dormitory?"

"He's clearly a player, so why doesn't he go to Liang City or Xu City? Why doesn't he go and make big money?"

"Perhaps it's to hide himself," Lin Qing said, understanding.

This player is a cautious person.

Unfortunately, he didn't die at the hands of the company, but at the hands of a strange entity.