The Association's Outrageous Tactics, and the Court's Countermeasures

When Zhang Shan stepped into this forest city, he still had many wonderful expectations.

After all, this is a place full of greenery.

His illusions were quickly shattered...

At this very moment.

Using his "psychic" abilities, Gao Linzhi witnessed Zhang Shan's experience.

At a registration window.

A beautiful receptionist greeted Zhang Shan with great enthusiasm:

"Hello, sir."

"We are very pleased that you have taken the initiative to respond to the call and register."

"Welcome to register your real identity."

"In addition to providing your real name, address, and workplace, we will also conduct a comprehensive medical examination on you."

"This physical examination is mainly used to determine whether you have been subjected to bizarre control or contamination."

"If a similar situation were to occur, we would provide adequate treatment."

Zhang Shan sensed something was off, but didn't think much of it.

After all, he was ordered to conduct a test, so he complied with their approach and began to follow them step by step.

I gave my real name and underwent a medical examination.

During the medical examination, he drank a cup of tea.

This is supposedly for inspection purposes.

"It contains markers, similar to the barium meal used in hospital examinations."

"It can accurately identify the pollutants in your body."

Zhang Shan didn't think much of it and followed the doctor's instructions.

After drinking it, he found himself feeling somewhat dizzy.

"Don't worry, take a deep breath. Dizziness is normal," the doctor said with a smile. "It's because these fluids can cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain."

"The brain is a prime target for bizarre contamination."

In Gao Linzhi's view, this was clearly a case of the other party deeply hypnotizing Zhang Shan.

As expected, after testing Zhang Shan's strength and assessing the opponent's strength...

Then the doctor spoke:

"Sir, please describe your own talent."

"This will help us with the investigation."

It's important to know that talent is arguably even more important than a player's real name.

Even if you reveal your real name, there's a good chance no one will care.

If you reveal your talent, and that talent is very useful, then your talent is destined to be noticed by others.

Just like now, there are countless people who are eyeing Gao Linzhi's talent.

The fact that they are not attacking Gao Linzhi on the surface is actually a way to lull him into a false sense of security.

Gao Linzhi understood perfectly well that if he were to actually appear one day, he would be doomed.

A massive wave of attacks will come.

Zhang Shan, on the other hand, was very Fortune.

Because his talent is utterly worthless.

He only has one white talent.

"Boar Strength".

In other words, once a player creates an account and is born on an island, they will have the power of a wild boar.

It's fair to say that this kind of talent doesn't offer much potential for growth later on.

It always comes down to the strength of having one more wild boar.

Of course, in the very beginning, there was a significant advantage in pioneering new lands.

Zhang Shan was able to survive until Gao Linzhi broke the company's monopoly and the environment of being hunted down, largely thanks to this talent.

Of course, right now, they have no advantage whatsoever and have become the bottom-ranked player.

That's why I accepted this probing task.

After accepting the mission, you can become a core trainee of the Four Village Trading Company.

They are entitled to a free 4-square-meter Safe Zone room, but of course, it's just for living, not ownership.

Gao Linzhi's psychic abilities continued to expand.

He saw the doctor turn and leave.

Then, he saw a new scene.

The doctor took out his phone and said:

"This is just a white talent."

"It's useless."

When Gao Linzhi saw that they had actually done this, he truly hadn't expected that these people could be so despicable and so foolish.

After witnessing Zhang Shan's experience, Gao Linzhi fully realized the bottom line of the United Association, which was now truly beyond words.

I was just bored and thought the United Association would consider its reputation and wouldn't use players' registration information to harm them.

He really overestimated the other party.

The sign that an organization is doomed is that it will violate some common sense principles that everyone knows.

Some people do things that everyone knows they shouldn't do.

Some actions that everyone knows are foolish have become the norm for them...

The corporate system has existed on Blue Star for hundreds of years.

Time has passed so long that much decay has taken hold.

This is similar to many of the infuriating decisions made during the late Ming Dynasty.

The military pay went missing, and the suppression of the people required taxation, which in turn led to the emergence of more rebels, creating a vicious cycle that continued to worsen.

On the one hand, there was a large amount of land consolidation, leaving ordinary people with no land to cultivate; on the other hand, taxes were too heavy, leading to a large amount of land being abandoned, and even if ordinary people had land, they couldn't afford to cultivate it.

All sorts of bizarre and contradictory phenomena thus appeared openly and brazenly.

And now the company's structure is clearly like that too.

The United Association knew that doing so would damage its credibility, but a few people, for the sake of enormous profits, still defied public opinion and did it.

Gao Linzhi understood their motives: if they could find someone with extraordinary talent among the registrants, like Gao Linzhi, they wouldn't care about losing credibility.

They destroyed the United Association's reputation, but reaped the benefits themselves.

This is the same idea as those landlords and gentry who refused to pay taxes, leading to the downfall of the Great Ming.

Not paying taxes benefits them; Great Ming falls, they can simply replace it with another emperor.

However, they had no idea that the newly established dynasty would show them absolutely no mercy.

As a result, attempts to restore the Ming dynasty were commonplace throughout the Qing dynasty.

Moreover, many of them were initiated by landlords.

The reason is that the Great Ming treated them too well.

In Gao Linzhi's view, these guys were undoubtedly extremely evil.

They chose the dumbest approach.

If Gao Linzhi were to become the president of the United Association, he would be driven mad by these people.

He felt that some people were truly idiots, willing to destroy the very foundation of the entire United Association for a little immediate gain.

Don't say it's impossible in reality; there's an old woman who set fire to a mountain for a mineral water bottle...

They actually took advantage of the registration opportunity to hypnotically collect the talents of the registered players.

They don't care about reputation at all now.

Bored people are really overestimating them now.

All he could say was that the company's system had completely fallen apart over time.

It's like a family business.

In the beginning, everyone was united and worked hard to build the market, saving every penny.

When the second or third generation takes over, it's all about waste, extravagance, new industries, and new startups.

The son sells his grandfather's land without a second thought.

The last remaining large family business collapsed.

Not long after.

The relevant information was then leaked.

Gao Linzhi isn't the only smart person.

Other players are also monitoring this registration event.

On the Archipelago Forum.

It's already boiling over.

"Shocking! The so-called player registration is a complete scam!"

"They actually used hypnosis to collect the talents of Ordinary Player!"

"If your talent is exposed, if your talent is the same as that of the Canxue powerhouse, I think you will definitely be arrested immediately and have your talent taken away."

"That's right, their way of calculating everyone's talent is definitely not for good reasons!"

"I have a very talented friend. He's a free agent who just got the game access and joined. He was born on Wolf Snake Island."

"Having not experienced the previous horrific events, he wasn't wary and went to register anyway."

"And what happened? My poor friend never showed up again."

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.

Although some people doubt the veracity of the story, 70% of people tend to believe it is true.

The news spread quickly.

"Is this still the United Association?"

What are they doing?

Some people find this very funny.

The United Association quickly gained a bad reputation.

At this point, the United Association's senior management also quickly issued a new statement.

"We have never done anything to collect player talents."

"We have investigated the situation reflected on the forum and found nothing of the sort."

"Those videos were all staged to destroy the reputation of our United Association."

If Gao Linzhi hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have truly believed their statement.

Of course, Gao Linzhi also believed that the United Association would not directly issue an official order to collect players' talents.

But that didn't stop some people from taking this opportunity to do their own thing.

Just like at the end of the Ming Dynasty, everyone said they should be loyal to the emperor, but how many of them were actually loyal?

Saying it is one thing, doing it is another.

A number of skilled Rogue Players have gathered on Wolf Snake Island.

They began to talk to Gao Linzhi about their anxieties and discuss how to deal with the situation.

"Don't panic, everyone. I can guarantee your safety on this island."

"Everyone, please stay put on this island for now."

"As for traveling, I recommend our company's Substitute Puppet, which are handmade by the Puppet Best. I've used them for a long time and they work very well." Gao Linzhi took the opportunity to make another sale.

Everyone was naturally happy about this.

At this very moment.

The imperial court also heard the news.

They couldn't help but find it funny as well.

The Fourth Prince's Mansion.

"I never imagined your offline world was so dark," the Fourth Prince said, shaking his head.

A sense of relief flashed through his mind.

He still thought the player world was completely peaceful and clear.

It turns out that everyone's human nature is the same.

Now he understands a little better why the previous dynasties were able to defeat the player.

It's definitely exploiting the same human nature...

It must be said that the Fourth Prince was far more astute than that Giant Admiral, seeing the crux of the matter at a glance.

"Ah, Your Highness, this is precisely why we have pledged our allegiance to you; you are truly wise!" Player One seized the opportunity to flatter.

"Hahaha, I was worried about this before. Once you players start using registration to deal with us, it will be difficult for us to hire players to cause trouble in the offline world."

"Because they can quickly locate this person."

"However, your United Association is truly foolish; they actually used this opportunity to collect your talents, hoping to steal the talents of others."

"Yes, Your Highness, this has completely destroyed the United Association's credibility," the player agreed.

To be honest, he didn't know that anyone could do something so foolish.

"It must have been done by a very small number of people. They just wanted to take advantage of the situation and make a quick buck. The higher-ups in the United Association wouldn't give such an order," Player Two analyzed.

The Fourth Prince immediately sneered, "A person without integrity cannot stand."

"They can't control their own nature, and they can't blame anyone else for making such a scandal."

"Yes, if the United Association can't control its own attributes, it has no right to require everyone to register."

"It's like a hospital saying it can't control its doctors and can't perform surgeries according to the normal procedure—would anyone still go there for surgery?"

"Heh, they actually did something like this, it's even more outrageous than the imperial court..." The Fourth Prince stopped abruptly.

What he really meant was, "They're even more shameless than some people in the imperial court..."

In fact, the Fourth Prince was not surprised by this.

Because the imperial court often did this.

For example, openly deceiving the people by saying, "This year's tax will be collected until next year; we'll collect two years' worth of taxes at once."

"We won't be collecting taxes next year."

However, when they came to collect taxes again the following year, this time they said, "Since this year's taxes were paid last year, we won't collect them again."

"But this time, the taxes will be levied the year after next and the year after that..."

Good heavens, in the end they just collect taxes for two years every year, and keep collecting taxes for a hundred years...

The Fourth Prince had personally witnessed some officials doing this.

Therefore, he could understand why the United Association was being dragged down by a very small number of people.

"Your Highness, then we can take this opportunity to thoroughly ridicule them and ruin this registration process," Player 1 suggested.

"Well said. This matter is entrusted to you. You must completely ruin it for them and prevent them from compiling your players' data." The Fourth Prince nodded.

"Your Highness, we must also take this opportunity to undermine the United Association's credibility and prevent them from further controlling the players."

"By the way, I will report to the imperial court to establish a separate Players' Bureau, which will be used to recruit players like you who are loyal to the court." The Fourth Prince pressed his advantage.

This is similar to the debate surrounding the Qingming Festival.

The Qing Dynasty vied for famous generals, while the Ming Dynasty killed them.

Although the Qing Dynasty was more barbaric, it still surpassed the Ming Dynasty militarily.

As they were talking, suddenly, the steward of the Prince's mansion slowly walked over, cupped his hands in greeting to the Fourth Prince, and said:

"Yes, Fourth Master, the Crown Prince requests your presence."

"Your Crown Prince, what is it?"

The Fourth Prince had no choice but to hurriedly get up and leave the palace.

The three players exchanged glances; they knew that the Second Prince was the Crown Prince.

This Crown Prince has very little presence; he's either enjoying himself or on his way to enjoy himself. His favorite thing to do is sit-ups.

Of course, everyone knows that he can't do without enjoying life.

If he is too active in politics, the emperor will become uneasy.

Not long after, the Fourth Prince returned.

It only took half an hour.

"This Crown Prince has truly lost his mind."

"He actually told me not to have much contact with you," the Fourth Prince said with displeasure.

"What's going on?" the three players asked, puzzled.

"The Crown Prince said, 'Don't worry about you players, do whatever you want. We just need to take care of the Capital Island.'" the Fourth Prince said with dissatisfaction.

"Perhaps His Crown Prince has other plans," Player One said.

"Hmph, I think this Crown Prince just wants to get by and doesn't want to cause any trouble, just like Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty in his later years, who only wanted to indulge in pleasure and didn't even want to suppress any rebellions," Player 2 mocked.