The Appearance of the Crown Snake, the Conspiracy Behind It!

"You went to Foxy Slope yesterday, right?"

"Yes."

"Then today we'll go to Myriad Snake Cave. Wait for me to arrange things." Zheng Shan seemed like an easygoing person.

He quickly assigned the village defense to a subordinate, who accepted without a word.

Then he led five people, along with Gao Linzhi, to Myriad Snake Cave for leveling.

Meanwhile.

In a remote courtyard in East Wolf Village.

A large locust tree shaded the yard.

The player "Little Cat Fishing" stood inside.

A voice came from within 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. This way, the conflict between Corporate Players and Ordinary Players will deepen."

"We can continue to grow and expand."

Little Cat Fishing sounded a bit worried: "Captain, isn't this a bit... underhanded?"

"You're too naive!" the person inside sneered. "The Guild Leader said that for the organization to grow strong and overthrow the company's harsh rule, we have to be crueler and more ruthless than the company!"

"As long as our goal is righteous, even if our methods are dirty, they can be forgiven in the future."

"Our Tianxia Guild is the root beneath the towering tree. We hide in the darkest places, use the darkest means, but we're drawing nutrients for the tree."

"You don't want your descendants to be used as player tools by the company forever, do you?"

"Yes, Captain!" Little Cat Fishing said with fervor.

"Good. Once we overthrow the company in the future, we can control this game and live a free player life, without being forced to die by them." The person inside encouraged.

Fifty li west of East Wolf Village.

There was a place of jagged rocks, filled with caves of all sizes.

Gao Linzhi was following Zheng Shan and the others, leveling here.

Looking around, each cave held tens of thousands of venomous snakes, densely packed and tangled together like snake balls.

These were much easier to kill than those cunning foxes, but one had to overcome the psychological barrier.

Rogue Players only had one life and couldn't afford risks. They didn't even dare to actively hunt monsters; they bought monsters to kill instead.

The group stood on a tall, smooth rock.

Someone used a dead frog hanging from a fishing rod to dangle and lure the venomous snakes over.

Soon, a swarm of snakes crawled over, surging up the rock. Some, halfway up, spat venom at the people above.

The group held a spear in one hand and a shield in the other.

Spears stabbed at snake heads; shields blocked the venom.

Zheng Shan briefly taught Gao Linzhi how to spear a snake head.

Compared to Zheng Dong, who specifically used nets to catch foxes for Gao Linzhi to kill, Zheng Shan clearly lacked that patience.

He just told the others to only injure, not kill, leaving the kills for Gao Linzhi.

Gao Linzhi was already satisfied with this.

He wasn't about to be fussy. He carefully studied the motions, but no prompt for "Learned Basic Spear Technique" appeared.

At first, Gao Linzhi was clumsy at stabbing these venomous snakes, often missing.

But after killing many, he got the hang of it.

Mainly, he felt little fear—after all, he was just controlling a Game Character, not descending in his True Body.

Venomous snakes were terrifying, but in the game, they were just experience packs.

One spearhead, one snake, 10 experience in hand.

Kill ten, and that was 100 experience, enough to level up a Basic Skill.

As he kept killing, another swarm of snakes surged over.

They were colorful, with triangular heads, looking especially fierce and horrifying.

But the group was long used to it and paid no mind, simply raising their spears to stab.

The next moment, the Minimap suddenly flashed a red alert.

Gao Linzhi immediately became vigilant.

Then, a venomous snake coiled up from the swarm and launched itself fiercely at them!

That height was a full three meters or more!

The snake's head flared wide as it spat a stream of venom straight at a patrol member's eye.

A spring-loaded launch, and a ranged attack to boot.

Fortunately, Gao Linzhi was already alert. He thrust his spear out, striking the flying serpent midair.

The venom scattered in the air, missing its target.

That team member escaped disaster, his heart still pounding with lingering fear.

"Scared me half to death—I almost went blind!" He shuddered.

"If only we had those sunglasses the Descenders talk about," another patrol member said, still shaken.

"Should we burn them out?" someone else suggested.

"No. Burning the snakes will stir up the whole nest and make the village their enemy," Zheng Shan refused outright.

Gao Linzhi nodded. Killing a few dozen or even a few hundred like this wouldn't bother the snake swarm—they'd just see it as lightening the load.

So the group continued killing the venomous snakes.

Under Zheng Shan's command, they mostly wounded without killing, leaving the finishing blows for Gao Linzhi.

He farmed all the way until afternoon, racking up a full 3,500 experience. 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 satisfying. Every ten levels of basic skills boosted his Constitution by one point.

His Constitution was now [5+4].

Suddenly, a commotion stirred within the snake cave.

A large snake wearing a crown slowly crawled out.

It was a full five or six meters long, as thick as an adult man's calf. Wherever it passed, all the venomous snakes scrambled to flee, none daring to come within half a step.

As it crawled, it flicked its tongue, releasing a green mist.

The lush green grass around it withered, its blades drooping.

When it reached the rock where the group stood, it stopped moving.

Its cold, serpentine eyes stared fixedly at the group—but upon closer inspection, they were mostly locked onto Gao Linzhi.

On Gao Linzhi's Minimap, another warning lit up.

A large red dot appeared.

It was that crowned snake!

[Great Crown Snake: Level 15.]

Suddenly, Gao Linzhi noticed a change in his status.

[Constitution: 5+4 (Poisoned state, loses 1 HP per minute.)]

He only had 90 HP in total, meaning he could last at most an hour and a half.

Gao Linzhi was a bit puzzled. Yesterday, Zheng Dong had warned him not to farm too many monsters, or they'd draw out the boss. But he'd also said the Corporate Players had already cleared the boss.

So why was a Great Crown Snake appearing here?

Something was off.

He looked at the others. Their faces were pale, clearly showing fear.

"Not good—that's the king snake of the cave. Why is it coming out?"

"We haven't even killed that many!" Zheng Shan's face tightened, then he frowned. "Someone needs to draw its attention so the rest of us can escape."

The group exchanged glances, none of them willing to volunteer.

"You all run when you see the chance! I'll go first and draw its attention. I'm a player—I have the option to log out and escape," Gao Linzhi said directly.