"Did you go to Foxy Slope yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Then let's go to Myriad Snake Cave today. Wait while I make the arrangements." Zheng Shan seemed like an easygoing sort.
He quickly assigned the task of defending the village to one of his men, who accepted without saying much.
Then he took five men, along with Gao Linzhi, to Myriad Snake Cave to level up.
Meanwhile.
In a secluded courtyard in East Wolf Village.
A large locust tree shaded the courtyard.
The player "Little Cat Fishing" stood in the yard.
A voice came from inside the house. "How did it go?"
Little Cat Fishing replied respectfully, "It's done. She'll definitely think the Xu Family did it."
The person inside said with satisfaction, "Good. That way, the conflict between the Corporate Players and the Ordinary Players will only grow deeper."
"And we'll be able to expand our power even further."
Little Cat Fishing asked with some concern, "Captain, isn't what we're doing a little underhanded?"
"You're too stupid!" The person inside the house sneered. "The Guildmaster said that if our organization is to grow strong and overthrow the company's harsh rule, we have to be more ruthless and more vicious than the company!"
"As long as our goals are noble, even dirty methods can be forgiven in the future."
"Our Tianxia Guild is like the roots beneath a towering tree. We hide in the darkest places and use the darkest methods, yet we're nourishing that tree."
"You don't want your descendants to keep being used as player tools by the company, do you?"
"Yes, Captain!" Little Cat Fishing replied, his face alight with fervor.
"Good. Once we overthrow the company, we'll be able to take control of this game and live freely as players, instead of being forced by them to go to our deaths." The person inside encouraged him.
Fifty miles west of East Wolf Village.
A rocky area stood there, riddled with caves of all sizes.
Gao Linzhi was leveling up here with Zheng Shan and the others.
Looking around, he saw thousands upon thousands of venomous snakes in every cave, packed together and coiled around one another like balls of snakes.
These were much easier to kill than those cunning foxes, though he still had to overcome his fear.
Rogue Players had only one life. They couldn't afford to take risks, and didn't even dare to hunt monsters themselves. Instead, they bought monsters to kill.
The group stood on a tall, smooth boulder.
Someone dangled a dead frog from a fishing rod, swinging it to lure the snakes over.
Before long, a horde of snakes slithered toward them. They swarmed up the rock, and some sprayed venom at the people above before they'd even made it halfway.
The group each held a spear in one hand and a shield in the other.
They stabbed the snakes in the head with their spears and blocked the venom with their shields.
Zheng Shan briefly taught Gao Linzhi how to strike a snake's head with a spear.
Unlike Zheng Dong, who had gone out of his way to catch foxes in nets for Gao Linzhi to kill, Zheng Shan clearly didn't have that kind of patience.
He simply told the others to wound the snakes without killing them whenever possible, leaving the kills to Gao Linzhi.
Gao Linzhi was already quite satisfied with that.
He wasn't going to be fussy. He carefully copied their movements, but he didn't get a notification saying, "Learned Basic Spear Technique."
At first, Gao Linzhi was still clumsy at stabbing the venomous snakes and often missed.
But after killing more of them, he got the hang of it.
Mostly, he wasn't very afraid. After all, he was only controlling a Game Character, not descending in person.
Venomous snakes were terrifying, but in the game, they were just experience packs.
One spear thrust, one snake—10 experience points.
Kill 10 and he'd get 100 experience, enough to raise a Basic Skill by one level.
As he kept killing, another horde of snakes surged toward them.
They were brightly colored, with triangular heads, and looked especially vicious and terrifying.
But the group was already used to them and didn't pay them the slightest attention. They simply raised their spears and struck.
The next moment, a red alert suddenly flashed on the Minimap.
Gao Linzhi immediately tensed.
In the next instant, a snake coiled its body amid the swarm and launched itself at them!
It soared to a height of over three meters!
Its jaws gaped wide as it sprayed venom straight at the eyes of a Patrol Team member!
It had launched itself forward and attacked from a distance.
Fortunately, Gao Linzhi had been on guard. He thrust his spear out and struck the flying snake in midair.
Its venom scattered through the air, missing its target.
The team member had narrowly escaped and was still shaken.
"That scared me half to death! I almost went blind!" he said with a shudder.
"If only we had those sunglasses the Descenders talk about," another Patrol Team member said, still shaken.
"Should we set them on fire?" someone else suggested.
"No. Burning the snakes could agitate the swarm and make it hostile toward the village." Zheng Shan immediately rejected the idea.
Gao Linzhi nodded. If they killed just a few dozen or a few hundred, the swarm wouldn't mind; it would only see it as reducing the burden.
So the group continued killing the snakes.
Under Zheng Shan's direction, most of the time they wounded the snakes without killing them, leaving the kills to Gao Linzhi.
They kept this up until the afternoon. Gao Linzhi had gained a full 3,500 experience points. He raised Basic Fists and Feet to level 10 (0/100), Basic Parrying to level 10 (0/100), and Basic Lightness Skill to level 28 (90/100).
The results were encouraging. Every ten levels in a Basic Skill increased his Constitution by one point.
His Constitution was now [5+4].
Suddenly, the snake cave stirred.
A huge snake with a crown on its head slowly crawled out.
It was a full five or six meters long, and as thick as an adult man's calf. Every snake in its path hurriedly scattered, none daring to come anywhere near it.
As it crawled, it flicked its tongue, releasing a green haze.
The grass around it turned yellow and withered, its blades drooping.
When it reached the base of the rock where the group stood, it stopped moving.
Its icy eyes stared coldly at them, though a closer look showed that they were focused mainly on Gao Linzhi.
A warning flashed on Gao Linzhi's Minimap again.
A large, bright red dot appeared.
It was unmistakably the Crown Snake!
[Great Crown Snake: Level 15.]
Suddenly, Gao Linzhi noticed a change in his status.
[Constitution: 5+4 (Poisoned. Loses 1 HP per minute.)]
He had only 90 HP in total, which meant he could last at most an hour and a half.
Gao Linzhi was puzzled. Zheng Dong had warned him yesterday not to kill too many monsters, since it could draw out a BOSS. But he had also said that the Corporate Players had already cleared out the BOSS.
Why had a Great Crown Snake appeared here?
Something was definitely fishy.
He looked at the others. Their faces had all gone pale, and they were clearly afraid.
"Oh no, it's the king snake of the cave. How did it get out?"
"We haven't even killed that many!" Zheng Shan exclaimed in alarm, then groaned. "Someone needs to draw its attention so the rest of us can escape."
They glanced at one another. Clearly, none of them wanted to do it.
"Run as soon as you get the chance! I'll draw its attention first. I'm a player, so I can log out and escape." Gao Linzhi said at once.
Before you continue