If he had entered with his real body like the other players, with only one life, he certainly wouldn't have been so selfless.
He was making friends with these people now so he could rely on them when it was time to level up.
"Alright. Thanks, brother!" Zheng Shan looked deeply moved, though a flicker of shame passed through his eyes.
Gao Linzhi noticed and felt a stir of suspicion.
But the words were already out. He used his Level 28 Basic Lightness Skill and leaped off the rock.
The leap drew the Crown Snake's attention, just as expected. It suddenly sprang forward, its body hurtling toward Gao Linzhi as it opened its terrifying jaws and lunged to bite him.
Taking advantage of the moment, the others quickly jumped off the rock and scattered, fleeing in the direction away from the snake's den!
After drawing the Crown Snake's attention, Gao Linzhi immediately ran.
He activated his Level 28 Basic Lightness Skill and moved at incredible speed, his figure darting along like a wisp of smoke.
He wasn't wearing armor and had no extra weight to slow him down, so he ran fast.
At the same time, he summoned his pet, the Corpse Vine.
But the Crown Snake refused to give up.
It whipped its thick body forward and relentlessly chased after Gao Linzhi.
One ran, the other pursued.
Just then, the Corpse Vine entangled the Crown Snake.
The Crown Snake spat a massive amount of venom at it.
A lot of venom, and highly toxic.
But it was completely wasted on the Corpse Vine.
The Corpse Vine feared fire, not poison. It was a vine that fed on corpses—how could it possibly be afraid of poison?
Still, the Crown Snake's stats were so high that its bites and coils alone gave the Corpse Vine a serious beating.
The Corpse Vine had no choice but to burrow underground to escape.
Thanks to the Corpse Vine holding the Crown Snake up, Gao Linzhi finally managed to put some distance between them.
He discovered another advantage of having a Game Character.
If he had been there in his real body, even if he didn't get tired, the terrifying giant snake chasing him would have left his legs trembling with fear.
Now, however, he felt no fear at all. He simply controlled his Game Character and kept running.
As he ran, he unconsciously headed toward Foxy Slope, where he had farmed monsters the day before.
By then, the Corpse Vine was badly injured and could no longer keep up with the Crown Snake.
Gao Linzhi looked up and saw Xu Clan Team Two still fighting foxes nearby. There were more than ten of them.
When they saw the trail of dust behind Gao Linzhi, every one of them immediately went on alert.
"Damn, it's a Level 15 Crown Snake!" someone cried out first.
"The first team isn't here. We can't fight it without taking casualties!"
"Quick, call the first team over!"
"Fuck, I knew there was a reason Rogue Players didn't want to come out and farm monsters!"
"Exactly! We were just minding our own business, fighting weak monsters, and suddenly someone leads a BOSS over here. We've all only got one life!"
The members of Xu Clan Team Two were tense and terrified. They quickly formed ranks and braced themselves for the fight.
They were all wearing Steel Armor. Their defense was excellent, but their mobility was practically zero.
After all, this was a Level 15 BOSS. Most of them were close to Level 10, and they had plenty of people, so they could kill it.
But once the fight started, someone was bound to go down!
And it wouldn't be just one person.
Someone shouted at Gao Linzhi, "Bro, please, don't lead it over here!"
"Yeah, we're all poor. Why make life hard for other poor people?"
"Please, brother! We were forced to become Corporate Players. We didn't choose this—we had no other option!"
At that moment, every one of them looked at him pleadingly.
No one cursed Gao Linzhi for leading the BOSS over.
They weren't idiots. They knew that if they angered Gao Linzhi, who could outrun them, their Steel Armor would only turn them into sitting ducks!
Steel Armor was great against slashing weapons, but against venom, wearing it was practically suicide.
Still, most of them looked utterly despairing.
They knew that in a desperate situation like this, he would definitely drag them down with him!
It was inevitable.
Gao Linzhi looked up at them.
He had no intention of leading the BOSS over to them.
When all was said and done, these people were just tool players for Xu Corporation. They might be here today, but there was no guarantee they'd be here tomorrow.
He had no grudge against them, and he wasn't in a life-or-death situation.
After all, he was a real player and could revive endlessly.
Even so, he still had his principles.
Of course, if they dared to mock and insult him at a time like this, they shouldn't blame him for what happened.
He wasn't about to play the saint.
To the astonishment and relief of Xu Clan Team Two, the player who had led the BOSS over really did circle around and draw it away from them.
Seeing this, the tool players from Xu Corporation shouted one after another:
"Alright, bro, you're a man of honor! I'll buy you a drink one of these nights!"
"Here's a tip: I think someone set you up!"
"Rogue Players rarely farm monsters, so most don't know."
"In this game world, if you kill too many weak monsters, the monster BOSSes will sense a threat and come out to attack!"
Gao Linzhi immediately understood.
Right. This wasn't a real game—it was the real world made game-like.
These BOSSes were, essentially, the leaders of the monsters.
Animal leaders had a natural instinct to eliminate threats from their territory.
Just like tigers and lions, they regularly patrolled their territory, killing or driving away any hunters there that posed a threat!
Gao Linzhi soon ran far away.
The Crown Snake was still chasing him, but it was getting slower and slower. It was clearly about to fall behind.
Its stamina was impressive too. No wonder it was a BOSS.
Gao Linzhi looked back, then tried logging out.
He found that he could log out now.
Of course, his Game Character couldn't log out in the wilderness. He still had to return to the village first.
After logging out, his Game Character would disappear just like everyone else's, but he might be ambushed when he logged back in.
Sure enough, prioritizing Basic Lightness Skill had been the right choice.
He headed toward the village.
As he walked, he pondered something: did Zheng Shan know about this?
Zheng Dong knew, so how could Zheng Shan not know about the Crown Snake's traits?
Zheng Shan had long since figured out that he attracted the most aggro. If they killed too many monsters, it would draw the BOSS out.
Then why hadn't a BOSS appeared at Foxy Slope yesterday?
Right. It must have been killed by people from Xu Corporation.
So there was just one question: did Zheng Shan know the Crown Snake BOSS was still around?
Obviously, if he asked him, Zheng Shan would claim he didn't know the BOSS was still there, and had assumed Xu Corporation's players had already taken it down.
Gao Linzhi's gaze turned cold.
If Zheng Shan had really done this on purpose, then he deserved to die!
After all, Zheng Shan didn't know Gao Linzhi could revive. He only knew Gao Linzhi had one life, just like everyone else. To try to harm him under those circumstances—
That meant trying to get him killed!
What was Zheng Shan's motive?
Xu Corporation?
Tianxia Guild?
Or some other faction in the village, trying to snuff him out as soon as they realized how quickly he could grow stronger?
This was a real game.
Before you continue