The Truth About the Flower Anomaly, and the Start of the Temporary Treasure Hunt

After watching for a while, Gao Linzhi realized what was going on.

This is definitely a player court has courted to sow discord.

It must be said that the people in the imperial court are incompetent at doing serious work, but they are very adept at the three tricks of being sarcastic, sowing discord, and stirring up trouble.

Sure enough, before long, the argument between the two sides escalated.

Many genuine grievances were brought up one by one.

"You damned companies! You killed my wife, you took my game account, and your account number is... on island 3023!"

"That's right, one of my friends was also killed by them!"

"Me too, I also escaped by sheer luck. When I first entered the game, I thought it was a large group of people playing together, and I excitedly looked for people to team up with."

"In the end, I was surrounded and pursued by these Company Executive Players. Fortunately, my talent is water movement, so I managed to escape by sea in time."

"That's right, those damned Company Executive Players, we have to get revenge!"

"Now they're scared, and they're starting to talk about valuing peace and maintaining order again. Where were they before?!"

One by one, the bloody cases were brought to light.

Moreover, it includes time, place, names, and plot details, making it clear to Gao Linzhi that most of it is based on true events.

The Corporate Players, not to be outdone, were clearly just making excuses.

Some say it's because the Rogue Players brought this on themselves, while others say it's because they were trying to steal territory.

Many Rogue Players started stirring things up again:

"Boss with Canxue, you can't fall for these people's tricks!"

"They've always coveted your talent, and this treasure hunt is definitely a trap."

"These damn companies, for the sake of 300% profit, completely disregard any moral bottom line, let alone your Pay-to-Win Talent?"

"Hmph, enough nonsense. You brought that on yourselves. Besides, this game is all about the survival of the fittest, it doesn't follow the same rules as reality. If you're weak, who can you blame?"

"If that's the case, then don't come to us casual players for help!"

"Exactly, you said it's a law of the jungle, so now that you're weak, don't beg the strong for help!"

The number of Company Executive Players is significantly smaller.

Actually, there are the most Corporate Players, but most of them are just mediocre; those in the know understand.

They are not allowed to speak freely on the channel.

Therefore, only a few Company Executive Players can speak freely.

Therefore, their firepower is naturally not as fierce as that of Rogue Players.

Furthermore, everything the other party listed was true.

They therefore couldn't keep up with the pace.

However, these people naturally have ways to deal with it.

They immediately summoned their cavalry and horses, and started arguing with the Rogue Players.

"You say you're being hunted down? Produce some evidence!"

"Heh, a bunch of enslaved servants, and now they're speaking up for their masters?"

"It's ridiculous. You take the hits when fighting the boss, you get beaten when you work, you're discarded after you've served your purpose, and this is how you end up."

"So you still want to work for them? Why don't you run away? Run to the Safe Zone, to our Wolf Snake Island Safe Zone, where no company can bully you."

"It's quite simple; all you need to do is buy Respawn Point Switch Talisman."

Gao Linzhi frowned slightly.

Clearly, the people in the imperial court were merely acting as a facilitator.

Now that the casual players' tempers have been ignited, they're bound to erupt.

After all, they've been suppressed for so long, and now that they finally have a chance, how could they not retaliate?

To be honest, even now, Rogue Players haven't really gotten their revenge.

This time, it can be said that the imperial court has grasped the lifeline.

In the treasure hunt incident, the Company Executive Players sought help from independent players, which became a perfect trigger.

Those independent individuals naturally couldn't stand this and wanted to take the opportunity to vent their anger.

It must be said that feudal dynasties were highly skilled at manipulating people's hearts and plotting schemes.

Of course, this only applies to conspiracies. Once a direct confrontation occurs, the low efficiency and extremely high internal friction will expose the true nature of the feudal dynasty.

So they started arguing back and forth in the game channel.

The online forums were also rife with heated debates.

This event is destined to become a record in the history of Skyfall Game – "The Rupture Between Casual Players and Corporate Players".

After observing for a while, Gao Linzhi understood what was going on, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

He only cares about his own interests.

He'll firmly hold the top spot on the game leaderboard, relying on his unique talent as the Only Ordinary Player to consistently dominate.

Those so-called Company Executive Players, the imperial court, Rogue Players —anyone who obstructs his path to Immortality is an enemy of the Dao.

After that, Gao Linzhi stopped checking the game channel and continued his treasure hunt on the island.

He traveled in secrecy.

As the players and the imperial officials left, the villagers gradually lost their frenzy.

They seemed to regain their senses and began to slowly disperse towards the distant village.

With tens of thousands of villagers, the scene was quite spectacular.

Like the receding tide.

Gao Linzhi followed some villagers, intending to check on their condition.

In his mind, these strange villagers were most likely related to the soul-nourishing treasure.

He followed the villagers to a village.

The stone tablet at the village entrance reads, "Summer Flower Village".

The village roads are lined with all kinds of flowering trees that bloom in summer.

As these villagers stepped into the village, under Gao Linzhi's Appraisal Skill, they suddenly began to change one by one.

[Ordinary villager.]

[An ordinary, unremarkable villager from Summer Flower Village]

Gao Linzhi found this strange.

Just a moment ago, it was showing that the other party was a Flower Anomaly clone.

However, once they entered the village, they became ordinary villagers again.

What are these rules?

Could it be that the village itself has some kind of protective function?

The strange trouble is known to everyone.

But now this village seems even stranger.

And the most mysterious place in a village is its ancestral hall.

Where could the treasure be hidden?

Gao Linzhi immediately thought of the ancestral hall in the village.

He quietly sneaked into the village.

He followed several villagers all the way to the ancestral hall.

This is an ancestral hall decorated with flowers, unlike ordinary ancestral halls.

Its courtyard wall is entirely made of intertwined flower branches.

Its main hall was also decorated with flowers and trees.

Even the memorial tablets were carved from dried flowers.

Just as he expected.

Something about this ancestral hall looks off.

Gao Linzhi used his Appraisal Skill again.

The next moment, the entire ancestral hall was revealed to him in its true form.

The exterior of the ancestral hall began to fade, revealing a huge rose tree!

[Rose Corpse Tree]

[A strange entity disguised as a shrine absorbs human offerings and creates bizarre clones.]

It turns out that this ancestral hall has been occupied by a strange flower.

It creates a phantom, disguised as an ancestral hall, to lure people in and offer incense.

Gao Linzhi suddenly understood why the villagers were sometimes strange and sometimes ordinary.

That's because the rose tree was strange; it didn't kill the villagers.

It treated the villagers like leeks to be harvested.

When danger arises, he releases his strange clones; when the danger is over, he releases the villagers to continue providing incense offerings.

This is a highly intelligent anomaly.

It might even possess human consciousness.

This is also the most tricky and difficult of the strange phenomena.

Because it possesses wisdom and the potential for growth.

It naturally has to abide by strange rules as well.

However, since it possesses wisdom, it will make flexible use of the rules.

As for its rules, they should be that one cannot touch its villagers or the source of its incense offerings.

The villagers suddenly rioted because that Old Daoist Tiansheng from the imperial court threatened them with killing in order to find out where the treasure was.

That's when its rules were violated.

That Old Daoist Tiansheng was shrewd; as soon as he realized something was amiss, he turned and ran.

Gao Linzhi looked at it more carefully.

Beneath the rose bushes lay piles of white bones.

Gao Linzhi wasn't surprised by this.

Beneath the flowers lie buried remains.

This is a common story setup.

Those white bones must be those of the dead villagers.

As mentioned in the previous rules, when this anomaly encounters a newcomer, it will turn the newcomer into a villager, causing the original villagers to wither away.

Withering means turning into bones, which then become nutrients for flowering trees.

Every single one of these villagers is caught; none of them can escape.

This rose bush is strange; it's clearly intentionally maintaining the total number of villagers.

There are many advantages to doing this.

It can prevent the incense from burning too much, or it can prevent the incense from burning too little.

Too much incense burning is also harmful to it – because it can't absorb all the incense, and the accumulated residual incense will eventually give rise to a real ancestral hall.

A true ancestral hall can ward off evil spirits.

This is why the number of villagers remains constant.

At its core, all of this is logically consistent.

As Gao Linzhi was thinking this, he suddenly noticed that among the strange features of the flowering tree, one of the roses was displaying streaks of green light.

Gao Linzhi looked closely and saw that it was a piece of emerald green jade, brimming with powerful vitality.

Gao Linzhi should have noticed it immediately.

However, it was clearly masked by the Flower Anomaly scent.

This made it difficult for Gao Linzhi to detect immediately; he could only detect it with the naked eye.

I see.

This must be the soul-nourishing treasure.

The trap is this Flower Anomaly.

This thing is hidden in a very hot place.

That's really interesting.

Would a typical player dare to take something from a strange creature?

Of course I wouldn't dare.

But Gao Linzhi dared to do it.

He decisively stepped forward and took the jade directly.

They then quickly left the ancestral hall.

At this point, the rose bush seemed to have no reaction whatsoever.

At the same time.

In the game world, on a large island.

The people from the Zhao's Group were laughing wildly.

"Haha, he really fell for the trap!"

"Indeed, even the most capable person fails once they make the mistake of greed!"

"That thing is already in their hands; this Canxue is nothing special."

"He had no idea that the real trap wasn't the strange object, but the treasure itself!"

A group of senior executives were laughing happily in the conference room.

They seemed to foresee the scenario of capturing Gao Linzhi and exploiting his Pay-to-Win Talent.

As for the possibility of triggering large-scale conflicts with Rogue Players, they don't care at all.

Moreover, they were well aware that the independent individuals were a disorganized bunch, and no one would actually step forward to help Gao Linzhi, who had lost his talent.

Their greatest skill is their silver tongue.

After all, there are a lot of people.

In reality, most of the game access is given to casual players.

After all, how many people are in a company's Company Executive? The majority are frontline employees.

Although the Company Executive Players collected a large number of game qualifications through the pursuit, a considerable number of individual players still survived.

Moreover, they unwittingly played a role in elimination and selection; those who survived were either mentally strong, incredibly lucky, exceptionally talented, or all three...

"Hmph, he's not stupid. Don't get too excited," Marketing Director Chen Lina shook her head. "He won't be so eager to use this treasure on his own soul."

"Only when the treasure is bound to his soul can he not escape us."

"Right now, we can only observe his movements through the treasure. Once he discovers something is wrong, he can simply destroy or throw the jade away."

"So our next plan is to age his soul, forcing him to use this jade that nourishes his soul."

"That's right."

Everyone nodded.

These people are indeed high-level elites; from the very beginning, they anticipated that Gao Linzhi would not use the soul-nourishing treasure immediately after seeing it.

That's just the way it is.

Gao Linzhi did not use the jade immediately.

After escaping the village, he came to a remote place on the island.

He was about to log off and leave the island.

The Game System prompted the following:

[Ding! Congratulations, player! You have successfully triggered the temporary event: Island Treasure Hunt]

[The person carrying the ultimate treasure cannot leave the island for 3 days.]

[You can leave in 3 days]

Depend on.

Gao Linzhi cursed the game operator in his heart.

The purpose is clearly to provoke other players.

Sure enough, the game's treasure hunt event channel reappeared.

A system announcement suddenly sounded in the event channel:

[Ding! Congratulations to player Can Xue Waves Across the Map for successfully obtaining the ultimate treasure, the Jade of Verdant Soul Nourishment, across the entire map!]

[This treasure can slowly nourish the soul, extending its lifespan by up to 1000 years. It can also slowly repair soul damage and resist the erosion of distracting thoughts...]

To put it bluntly, this is the most precious treasure of the Incense Path.

The other players immediately became agitated.

The flame war that had been raging on other channels suddenly stopped.

"Holy crap, it's such a treasure!"

"Isn't this the most precious treasure of the Incense Stream?"

"I'll offer a thousand tons of gold, the big shot will sell it to me."

"You're talking nonsense. How much gold do banks have in reserves? You wouldn't have a thousand tons, would you?"

"Yes, I'm offering two islands; please sell them to me, sir."

For a time, Company Executive Players dominated the channel because they could afford to pay the prices.

The casual commentators who had been so vocal in their criticism earlier fell silent.

Because they could only watch with envy.

What can they do?

How can I get a powerful figure to give me a treasure?

How big is your face?

Or should we tell the big boss not to sell the treasure to anyone in the company?

Even a traitor within the imperial court couldn't say that.

Gao Linzhi also quite helpless.

They're being a bit too high-profile now.

The key to treasure hunting is to keep a low profile.

It's best if no one else knows.

And this treasure itself is indeed quite good.

Moreover, it has the endorsement of the Game System.

It's safe to say it can't possibly be fake.

The Game System isn't so bad as to be a trap in this regard.

It's not fake, but that doesn't mean it has no side effects.

Just like many medications, which can heal injuries but may also have various negative effects.