Every NPC was real, and so were people's hearts!

There were pitfalls everywhere.

Pitfalls everywhere.

Schemes were everywhere.

Those newbie players would have had their characters ruined by traps long ago.

He had to get stronger as quickly as possible!

Thinking this, Gao Linzhi arrived at the entrance to East Wolf Village.

Several people, including Zheng Shan, stood by the village gate.

When they saw Gao Linzhi, surprise showed on their faces. They seemed astonished that he had escaped the Crown Snake's pursuit.

Zheng Shan hurried forward.

He bowed deeply. "Thanks for luring the King Snake away, brother."

"I'm really sorry. I used to farm Myriad Snake Cave all the time, and the King Snake was always killed in advance by people from Xu Corporation. Whenever a BOSS appeared, they'd claim the whole area and leave nothing for anyone else."

"I really don't know why the King Snake appeared this time."

Gao Linzhi replied coolly, "Oh, I see."

His gaze turned cold, but he kept his expression neutral.

In his mind, he checked the Minimap.

Zheng Shan, who had been marked yellow to indicate neutrality, was now red, the color for enemies.

Clearly, Zheng Shan had been neutral toward him before, but after what he'd done, he had no choice but to take an antagonistic stance!

Good. The Minimap could directly help him figure out where people stood.

Being a real player was great. He just had to spend money without thinking.

Real players only had one problem when playing games: they didn't spend enough.

"Fine. We've learned our lesson. Let's all accept it and move on." Gao Linzhi gave Zheng Shan's shoulder a firm pat.

"Uh, that's true. You'll have to be careful from now on."

"You should just work in the village. Like the other Rogue Players, buy monsters to kill. It's safer that way," Zheng Shan advised, putting on a concerned air.

"Good point." Gao Linzhi nodded.

Just then,

the players working at the construction site near the Stone Wall began chattering among themselves.

They seemed to have just heard what had happened to Gao Linzhi.

"See? I told you farming monsters out there was dangerous."

"Yeah. Those locals said they were farming monsters when a BOSS suddenly started chasing them."

"Hmph, this is a real world. BOSSes aren't going to wait for players to level up before they take them on. BOSSes know they have to strike first, too!"

The Rogue Players shook their heads and went back to hauling stones.

They were very glad they hadn't chosen to go out and farm monsters.

"'Can Xue Waves Across the Map' is a newbie, right? Hasn't he only been around for a few days?"

"Yeah, and he's already faced a life-threatening crisis. He got lucky this time and survived, but what about next time?"

"That's why you have to keep your head down and survive until the end. Slowly train your skills, buy monsters to kill, and build up your skills. Just like in real life, this is a game where the last one standing wins!"

"Exactly. Being impressive early on doesn't mean anything. The real king is the one who outlasts the competition!"

They chatted and nodded in agreement.

But they hadn't considered one thing: with the Company Executives' elite players scheming against them at every turn, could they really keep their heads down and survive?

Gao Linzhi pretended to part ways with Zheng Shan and went to rest at the Fourth Elder's courtyard.

In reality, he kept the Minimap open the entire time, watching Zheng Shan's movements.

He soon noticed that after resting for a while at the village entrance, Zheng Shan spoke with someone and then headed into the village.

Before long, Zheng Shan arrived at a courtyard.

Another player he vaguely recognized, "Little Cat Fishing," was inside.

Zheng Shan and Little Cat Fishing started talking. Before long, they seemed to get into an argument.

Wasn't Little Cat Fishing a member of Tianxia Guild?

Gao Linzhi thought for a moment, then followed the Minimap's markers all the way there.

Soon, he reached a spot not far from the courtyard and could just make out their conversation.

"I'm not doing this anymore," Zheng Shan said firmly.

"That brother's a good person. If he were the kind of Rogue Player who only cared about himself, I wouldn't feel the slightest guilt about setting him up."

"But Brother Canxue is a hero the likes of which I've never seen before. I've barely met a handful of people like him in my entire life."

"Killing a hero like that would be a sin!"

Little Cat Fishing sneered. "A good person? From what I know, he has incredible comprehension. He learned the Basic Skills taught by the Fourth Elder in a single day."

"He must have raised his Basic Lightness Skill above level 20. He was already sure he could escape."

"He tricked you!"

"He lured the BOSS away only because he knew he wouldn't die. He didn't do it because he was a good person, like you said."

Damn, a prophet? Kill him, kill him.

Gao Linzhi thought to himself.

"So that's how it is." Zheng Shan looked thoughtful. "If you knew we couldn't kill him, then what was the point of asking me to do this?"

"It's simple. We're using one enemy to kill another. Now he'll definitely think the Xu Family did it," Little Cat Fishing said confidently.

"If we don't put pressure on these Rogue Players, if we don't make them realize there are wolves out there, they won't join Tianxia Guild."

"The Xu Corporation executives don't want to go all out against us just yet. They want to slowly boil the frog and deal with all the Rogue Players one by one. That takes too long."

Zheng Shan fell silent, lost in thought.

"We need to create the impression that Xu Corporation is hunting players."

"We need Ordinary Players to believe that Corporate Players are hunting down lone Ordinary Players to take their Game Posters. That way, they'll join Tianxia Guild so they can band together for warmth," Little Cat Fishing said confidently.

"Don't you think what you're doing is despicable?" Zheng Shan sneered.

"If the goal is righteous, what does it matter if the methods are despicable? You have no idea how harsh the company is toward Rogue Players like us. If we don't stoop lower than them, how can we beat them?"

"Do you really think we can win by fighting them openly and honestly?" Little Cat Fishing said mockingly.

Zheng Shan was speechless.

Gao Linzhi watched and couldn't help shaking his head.

People really were complicated.

Zheng Shan wasn't completely bad. At least he still had some sense of shame.

But as far as Gao Linzhi was concerned, the man deserved to die.

Because he had already made a move against him!

"Forget it. I'm done dealing with you. Don't come to me again, no matter what happens," Zheng Shan said coldly.

He turned to leave.

"Pfft!" He stared at the long sword sticking out of his chest.

"H-How dare you kill me?" He turned to look at Little Cat Fishing. "Aren't you afraid the village will put out a bounty on you?"

"It's fine. We'll make it look like a monster killed you. A monster showed up just last night, after all."

"You've only got yourself to blame for trying to back out. You have to die so our secret stays hidden." Little Cat Fishing didn't pull out the long sword. He left it in Zheng Shan's body.

Then he raised a hand, and Zheng Shan vanished along with the sword.

Obviously, he had been put into the Game Backpack.

When all was said and done, Little Cat Fishing was a player, and players had a natural advantage when it came to killing people—disposing of bodies was incredibly convenient.