The Game Operators' Mission: The Villain Strikes First

The four of them conspired in a Secret Room and finally decided what they were going to do.

That means not striving to be the best, but simply to be better than the competition.

The Fourth Prince's companions were naturally those few other competitive princes.

Prince's Mansion

"The First Prince is a martial arts fanatic, level 108, extremely powerful."

"His sole desire to seize the throne by force stems from the fact that with the throne, he can collect rare and extraordinary items from across the land to aid his breakthrough."

"The Second Prince is an introverted person, always cautious in his actions and conduct. His greatest advantage is that he was once designated as the Crown Prince by the Saint, but he was deposed after only a short time in that Crown Prince."

"The Third Prince is a scholar, always spouting classical phrases. He says he wants to govern the Archipelago using Confucianism so that the people won't need anyone above them and will voluntarily show filial piety to their sovereign and hand over their tributes."

"Is he an idiot?" Player Two laughed.

"Yeah, you'd hand it over voluntarily? You wouldn't even give it to me if I robbed you, let alone offer it willingly."

"What about the other princes?" Player Three pressed.

"The Fifth and Sixth Prince died young, I heard they were assassinated by people from the Daoist Academy," the Prince's steward whispered.

"What? They dared to assassinate a prince? How could they tolerate this?"

"There's no way around it, children are different from adults, especially in the royal family. Children under six are not allowed into the official ranks."

"The Seventh Prince is crippled."

"The Eighth Prince is a rival, and he is quite virtuous, but he is not good to the common people and is too kind to the local gentry. This makes the Saint dislike him, because once the Eighth Prince ascends the throne, he will definitely become too powerful in various places."

"The Ninth, Tenth Prince, and Fourteenth Prince are all henchmen of the Eighth Prince."

"The other princes are still young and not yet adults, so they don't pose much of a threat. Only the Seventeenth Prince is somewhat respectable and is closer to our Fourth Prince."

After hearing this, the three players understood the situation.

They decided to take action.

Wolf Snake Island.

This day.

Several players, whose IDs are "Zhang San", "Wang Er", and "Li Si", are strolling on the newly renovated street.

Yes, there are many, many players using this generic name now.

Because everyone already knows about the method of cursing others by their names.

So they all adopted similar names.

The streets are filled with people like Zhang San and Li Si, which has become a unique sight.

Of course, Corporate Players don't have this freedom.

The three of them, having strolled around for a while, were feeling rather bored.

They didn't join either of those two factions; they are true casual, health-conscious players.

It's not that they don't want to become stronger Immortality, but that they are more afraid of dying.

The three sat on a bench, chatting idly.

Li Si glanced at the villagers on the street and said listlessly, "Nothing has happened these past few days."

"Some things are just trivial matters, too boring."

"Yeah, it's so boring. Our village doesn't assign us any tasks or give us any rewards for them," Zhang San chimed in.

"Wang Er, what do you think?" Zhang San looked at Wang Er.

Wang Er, however, stared blankly at the air in front of him, as if looking at something.

Zhang San asked curiously, "What are you looking at? You seem so engrossed."

Without hesitation, Wang Er replied, "The event channel mentioned that the government issued a notice saying that some kind of Immortality substance has appeared in an ancient well on a nearby island."

Zhang San and Li Si immediately entered the event channel.

Sure enough, some players shared this message.

"Ancient wells Immortality."

"This is a government mission that was triggered temporarily."

"It should occur wherever the conditions are met."

"This task will be generated if there are ancient wells on the island that are over 200 years old."

Some people wondered, "Isn't this a real game?"

"Why can related tasks be generated out of thin air?"

"Nonsense, this is definitely an interactive quest created by the game using the government's background," someone speculated.

The other two immediately became interested.

Because they knew there was an ancient well in East Wolf Village.

The ancient well is located in the Huai Tree Forest at the west end of the village.

It is said that the area was once a prosperous village.

Later, strange phenomena struck, causing heavy casualties. The area eventually became a cemetery, where locust trees were planted.

Because that place was originally a dwelling, there is a well.

Over time, and with no one living there, the well became an ancient well.

The three were pleasantly surprised to find that there was a suitable place near their village.

So they asked the game channel how to accept the quest.

Someone told them, "Go directly to the village chief; the village chief is the government."

"If there's no village chief, go to the elders; the elders are the government."

"Encountering an elder will automatically trigger a government questline."

"Then you request permission from the authorities to investigate, and they will agree."

The three of them immediately became very interested.

They immediately went to the village Council Hall.

Then he requested an audience with the Great Elder.

"The Great Elder is very busy. You can go find the Fourth Elder; he's in charge of all sorts of miscellaneous tasks," the guard said.

So the three of them went to where the Fourth Elder was.

The Fourth Elder, also known as Zheng Dong, met the three of them.

A mission suddenly appeared before the three of them.

"You met the village elder, who mentioned that the village's ancient well has been emitting light for the past few days, as if some treasure has appeared, and he asked you to go there to investigate."

"Accept or not?"

"Accept, accept."

The three of them quickly accepted and then turned to leave.

Zheng Dong was puzzled. These three Descenders said they came to see him, but they left after seeing him.

What are you doing?

Do they think they are exceptionally brave and want to come and admire them?

He felt that this was how it should be.

Sure enough, after becoming the Fourth Elder, he became much more handsome.

No wonder many village women wanted to marry their daughters to him.

And at this time...

Gao Linzhi also noticed this.

He shook his head.

It's obviously another stunt by the game operators.

Sure enough, the three of them arrived at the Huai Tree Forest at the west end of the village.

The Huai Tree Forest, which blocks out the sky, covers an area of more than ten acres.

Inside, there are rows of tall graves.

In front of a grave, there is an ancient well made of bluestone.

The three of them peered into the ancient well and found that there wasn't even a bucket for carrying water.

After observing for a while, the three discovered that seven-colored light was indeed emanating from below.

They threw in a stone and found that there was no water in the well.

After thinking for a moment, the three decided to go into the ancient well to take a look.

The three of them quickly took a rope out of their Game Backpack and lowered it down.

They then went down one after another.

Then they discovered that the bottom of the ancient well was quite large, but it was pitch black inside, and they couldn't see anything.

The light we just saw has disappeared.

Zhang San said, "I have an Everburning Oil Lamp dropped by a BOSS. We can use it to light things up. The key is that it doesn't consume oxygen; it only consumes our Mana Bar."

That would be best.

When the oil lamp was lit, the light seemed to have triggered some kind of mechanism.

Wang Er then discovered that a tunnel had appeared inside the ancient well.

They immediately entered the tunnel.

As they walked, the three suddenly discovered a bronze mechanism on the wall.

Li Si wanted to go forward and take a look, but for some reason, he tripped and fell to the ground.

"Oh no, something's wrong!"

Li Si immediately sensed that something was wrong.

Zhang San and Wang Er wanted to check on Li Si to see if he was injured.

However, at this moment, they discovered that Li Si had involuntarily waved his hand as he fell, and pressed the bronze mechanism.

Then a loud boom was heard.

A large sphere fell down at the tunnel ahead.

The large sphere, weighing tens of tons, rolled towards the three people.

Given their physical condition, the three of them naturally couldn't withstand it.

They are just health-conscious players; their constitution level has only increased to around twenty points.

He's much stronger than the average person.

But they are still human.

Not non-human.

The two were so frightened that they turned and ran.

Li Si quickly got up, but he discovered that his foot was injured and he couldn't run anymore.

Fortunately, the other two didn't abandon him and carried him away.

"Strange, even though I'm not very strong, I shouldn't have sprained my ankle!" Li Si said, puzzled.

The three continued their escape.

But they soon discovered that the tunnel had changed.

The tunnel gradually twisted and began to grow longer.

They were supposed to reach the bottom of the well after running for a while, but they ran for a long time and still didn't reach the end.

Just as they were wondering what to do, Wang Er noticed a sudden intersection ahead.

They immediately ran to a side road.

The large sphere rolled straight forward.

Upon seeing this, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

After passing the stone ball, some of them became discouraged.

However, Yao Li, they found that there was no exit from the tunnel.

Left with no other option, they had to continue their journey through the tunnel.

Then, Zhang San discovered another black iron mechanism on the wall.

For the reason mentioned above, none of the three went forward to look this time.

However, at this moment, for some reason, Wang Er, suddenly overcome with intense curiosity, spoke up:

"I suddenly feel like pressing that button; maybe there'll be a surprise?"

Before Zhang San could stop Wang Er, it happened.

As if possessed, Wang Er subconsciously pressed the black iron mechanism.

And at this time...

The three discovered that both the road ahead and the road behind the tunnel were suddenly blocked.

But spikes appeared on the wall.

This startled the three of them!

The spikes on both sides slowly approached.

The three were terrified.

Only then did they remember to draw their weapons and smash them against the spikes.

Some people pulled out sticks, and some pulled out hammers.

However, those spikes seemed to be divine weapons, completely unafraid of their tools.

Just as the three were at a loss, Li Si suddenly noticed an iron gate on the ground.

Li Si pulled open the iron gate and jumped inside first.

Wang Er and Zhang San followed closely behind and jumped in as well.

After the three jumped in, they discovered there was a secret passage inside.

Zhang San asked with some concern, "Hey, are you still going?"

Wang Er and Li Si thought for a moment and said, "Of course, we're already here."

"Yes, let's go take a look."

At the same time.

Gao Linzhi also noticed this.

He sent Substitute Puppet to help the headmaster with his work, while his own Game Character returned to the village to oversee things.

Therefore, he learned about it immediately.

In fact, when Zhang San and the other two came to him, the Great Elder, he already knew the whole story.

However, he wanted to see exactly how the operations team created and executed game missions.

So he used his intuition to direct his gaze toward the three people.

And at this time...

The three continue their journey in search of the secret to Immortality.

As the three were traveling, Zhang San's Everburning Oil Lamp suddenly went out.

Left with no other choice, they could only proceed in the dark, relying on the faint light to get going.

Fortunately, they are physically strong and have good eyesight, so they can see clearly.

However, for some reason, they always seem to trip each other up.

They all fell and ended up with bruises and swelling on their faces.

Zhang San suddenly came up with an idea.

That is, take out a rope, tie yourself, Wang Er, and Li Si together, and then blindfold them.

Wang Er asked doubtfully, "Lao Zhang, what's the use of doing this?"

Zhang San explained, "We tied ourselves together with ropes to prevent anyone from getting lost. As for why we blindfolded us?"

You'll find out soon enough.

Then, the three of them began to feel their way along the wall.

As they walked, they came to a Secret Room.

"I see. As long as we are blindfolded, we will not be deceived by our eyes, nor will we try to find the way."

"In that case, the path we've walked is the real path!"

It simply means not being misled by illusions.

They removed their blindfolds and then discovered five pillars of different colors in the Secret Room.

The five pillars are red, yellow, green, silver, and black, respectively.

Just as they were pondering what this meant, Li Si felt thirsty, so he took out a bottle of water from his Game Backpack and drank it.

For some reason, he accidentally spilled a bottle of water on the black pillar.

The character for "water" immediately appeared on it.

Zhang San suddenly realized, "The colors of these pillars represent the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth."

So they began searching for items that represented the other four rows.

Wang Er groped around in the ground and found some soil, then placed it on the yellow pillar.

Li Si took out one coin from his game bag and placed it on the silver pillar.

Zhang San also noticed the moss growing on the wall and the oil lamp that had just been extinguished.

He placed them on the red and green pillars respectively.

Immediately afterwards, the five pillars emitted a beam of light.

At that moment, a portal appeared within the light.

The door opened instantly.

"Go in and take a look quickly."

Gao Linzhi smiled.

These three are really quite good.

The treasure was found seemingly normally, entirely under the control of the game.

However, game operators don't make baseless accusations, nor do they give players benefits for nothing.

There's definitely something wrong here.

Sure enough, the three of them soon emerged from the portal again.

They were holding a bottle of water.

That was none other than the Longevity Water that Gao Linzhi had brought back to the island.

"Haha, according to the game description, this is the Longevity Water. Drinking it will add 200 years to your life!" Zhang San exclaimed excitedly.

"Pfft!" He looked down, his face filled with disbelief.

It turned out that Wang Er had stabbed him in the chest with a knife.

Why would you do that? I never said I wouldn't share with you!

"Hmph, isn't it better to have one less person to share?"

"Puff!"

"When!"

Wang Er blocked Li Si's assassination attempt. "Hmph, since I dared to do this, I knew you would follow suit!"

Zhang San lay on the ground, watching his two friends fight each other for a mission reward.

He couldn't help but sigh.

"If I had known this would happen, I really shouldn't have accepted this mission."

The next moment, his figure vanished.

This is a sign of Revive After Death.

"Mission in progress. Players can respawn in the village's Safe Zone after death."

"What?" Wang Er was stunned upon hearing this.

"You bastard Wang Er, you killed your brother, now you're infamous!" Li Si said angrily.

Wang Er immediately retaliated, picking up the Longevity Water Zhang San had dropped and shouting in the event channel as he retreated:

"Family members, does anyone understand?!"

"Two friends of many years turned against me and tried to kill me over a bottle of Longevity Water!"

"And they're trying to frame me, saying I started it!"

"How utterly heartless and shameless!"

Good heavens, this is a classic case of the guilty party accusing the innocent first.

Sure enough, there were quite a few people on his side.