The Terrifying Strangeness

Because she was different from others—she couldn't log off!

Once she logged off, she would face the full-force encirclement and pursuit of modern corporations.

That intensity would be ten or a hundred times greater than tracking Gao Linzhi, and she might even face the combined pursuit of several companies!

"Little Cat Fishing" sighed and directly logged off and vanished as well.

As long as he was in the village, it didn't matter much where he logged off.

Gao Linzhi, however, did not leave immediately.

He could revive after death.

Naturally, he wanted to thoroughly familiarize himself with the anomalies.

Just in case anomalies appeared in reality later, he would be prepared.

About half an hour later, the White Mist finally spread to the Fourth Elder's courtyard.

A faint sound reached his ears—it was the Fourth Elder's voice.

"Don't be nervous. This is the anomaly 'Silence.' As long as you don't make loud noises, nothing will happen."

At this moment, the entire village was eerily quiet. The usual dog barks and insect chirps were now completely absent, a silence so terrifying it was suffocating.

Gao Linzhi peered through the crack in the window at the courtyard.

He saw layers of White Mist piling up in the yard.

A cricket crawled out from a crack in the wall, fluttered its wings, and was about to chirp, just letting out a faint sound.

Then it fell, landing on its back, and died like that.

For a moment, Gao Linzhi unconsciously slowed his own breathing.

After an unknown amount of time, suddenly, from the direction of Lin Qing's side room—

The window was shoved open, and something was thrown out.

"Bang!" It was the sound of a firecracker!

"Damn it!" The Fourth Elder's low voice rang out.

Then Gao Linzhi noticed the White Mist in the courtyard rapidly increasing.

Almost half the village's mist converged there.

In the Minimap in his mind, a bright red dot appeared directly.

Gao Linzhi focused intently on the courtyard's movements.

A white, faceless figure appeared in the courtyard almost in an instant!

"Come out, come out..." The Faceless Man drifted to the side room's window and spoke in a low voice.

Lin Qing naturally wouldn't go out.

And the Faceless Man just paced back and forth there.

Mist emanated from its body, gradually seeping into the window.

Gao Linzhi watched through the crack in the window.

Even though he was an Ordinary Player who could revive infinitely, observing an anomaly this close still felt terrifying.

It was hard to imagine how terrified Lin Qing must be inside that side room right now.

"Evil spirit, begone!" The Fourth Elder finally made his move.

A blue light burst forth violently, striking directly at the white Faceless Man in the mist.

The blue light hit the target, but the Faceless Man only swayed slightly.

Then it changed direction and headed toward the main hall in the second courtyard.

Gao Linzhi couldn't help but feel a slight chill.

That blue light should be a Tier 3 Talisman.

White, green, blue, purple, gold, red—the game quality was universal.

And this Faceless Man seemed to be a fairly common anomaly. Even a Tier 3 Talisman only had this taunting effect—it was indeed a gimmick-based monster.

He wondered if the Fourth Elder had any other methods.

Gao Linzhi immediately moved to the back window and looked toward the second courtyard.

He then saw a figure flying out of the main hall where the Fourth Elder lived—the silhouette was clearly the Fourth Elder.

He didn't look like a fat man at all; his movements were extremely fast as he vaulted directly out of the courtyard.

The Faceless Man then floated along, chasing after him.

This chase went on for who knows how long.

Gao Linzhi looked at the Minimap.

He saw one red dot and one green dot chasing each other, all the way out of the village.

He kept reading, his mind growing drowsy, but he persisted nonetheless.

Before long, the Fourth Elder came huffing and puffing back into the courtyard.

Bare-chested, exposing his upper body, he slapped his own fat belly and said:

"Good thing this old man ran fast, or I'd have been done for this time."

"You two, come on out."

Lin Qing didn't move.

And Gao Linzhi didn't step out of the room immediately either. He glanced at the Minimap and spotted a Red Dot on it.

Its position overlapped perfectly with the "Fourth Elder."

Excellent. This Minimap could identify the Faceless Man's disguise.

Great!

Standing at the doorway, he called out to the courtyard: "Fourth Elder, is that Faceless Man really that formidable? Even you could only flee?"

The "Fourth Elder" smiled faintly at him. "You'll soon know how formidable it is."

"Watch out, he's fake!" Another Fourth Elder's voice rang out from a distance. "The sun hasn't come out—the Faceless Man won't leave!"

The next moment, the "Fourth Elder" vanished, and the Faceless Man appeared.

It charged at Gao Linzhi's door, but when it slammed into it, a faint glimmer flashed across the door, and it recoiled.

In Gao Linzhi's eyes, it wasn't a retreat born of fear, but one of disgust.

The Faceless Man had things it loathed?

Gao Linzhi suddenly felt he'd discovered something.

Then the Faceless Man began pacing outside the room.

Gao Linzhi took a deep breath.

He wasn't all that scared, naturally.

At worst, he'd die once and revive.

He watched the Faceless Man.

Before long, as the sky began to lighten.

White Mist receded, and the Faceless Man finally disappeared.

Gao Linzhi could hear a sound of relief.

And at that moment.

Gao Linzhi logged off.

His consciousness returned to the real world. He opened his eyes and looked around.

In a mountain stream, a simple wooden shed. All around were only birdsong and insect chirps—no monsters, no Faceless Man.

Though Gao Linzhi had never faced real danger from start to finish, he still felt a genuine sense of relief.

Chaoyang rose. Gao Linzhi ate a few bites, then logged back on.

After logging on, in East Wolf Village, Chaoyang was also rising.

And the White Mist had vanished without a trace.

Gao Linzhi shook his head.

For the first time, he truly understood the horror of the Faceless Man: even a village elder—basically a minor boss in the game—could only dodge and flee.

There was no way to fight it head-on.

The gap was too vast.

Just then, the Fourth Elder's voice rang out again from the courtyard.

"You two—are you both alright?"

"The Faceless Man is gone. You can come out now."

"Fourth Elder, do you remember what you told me yesterday?" Lin Qing's voice sounded.

"Right, you're a cautious one. Yesterday I told you..." The Fourth Elder recounted everything in detail.

Only then did Lin Qing feel reassured, but she still didn't open the door.

It was Gao Linzhi who opened his door first.

Because on the Minimap, there was no Red Dot.

Sure enough, this time the Fourth Elder didn't flip—he remained as he was.

Standing in the courtyard, he looked Gao Linzhi up and down and asked:

"I can see your Basic Lightness Skill isn't just at the entry level—you've improved it quite a bit, haven't you?"

"Mm." Gao Linzhi didn't hide it.

He didn't question how the Fourth Elder knew—the other party could easily find out through Zheng Dong.

Besides, it showed in the way he walked.

Having skill and not having skill were two different states.

Just like in the real world—people who practiced ordinary martial arts walked with a spring in their step.