The More You Steal, the More You Shave: Gao Linzhi's Chain of Quests and the Court's Response

Bandits pass by like combs, officials pass by like shavings.

This is not an exaggeration, but a realistic description.

Even bandits aren't as ruthless as them at robbery.

Even bandits have to consider time when robbing; they can't stay for too long.

They were fearless and had plenty of time to plunder the villagers' wealth.

Unfortunately, the villagers were powerless to resist.

Gao Linzhi then wondered, why didn't these villagers go to the Safe Zone to hide?

He concealed himself and made his way to the Safe Zone of the village ancestral hall.

A quick glance revealed that the Safe Zone here was too small.

It's less than a third of East Wolf Village.

However, they still developed both upwards and downwards, which should have been enough to accommodate the villagers.

He quickly discovered the reason.

It turns out the villagers couldn't get into the Safe Zone.

A group of villagers stood outside the ancestral hall, forming an invisible wall of air.

"Let us in!"

"There are robbers outside!"

"Gentlemen Descenders, please have mercy."

Gao Linzhi tentatively took a step.

As expected, the Game System displayed a notification.

[Identity verification in progress.]

[Currently engaged in a government-led tax collection campaign; the Safe Zone is not open to non-players.]

Hehehe.

Gao Linzhi.

The game operators are really cunning.

On the one hand, players are tasked with dealing with the imperial court; on the other hand, their character is designed not to initiate conflict with the imperial court.

If the villagers are allowed in now, then by the power of the game's rules, those government officials will be completely helpless.

At this moment, some players also stood at the edge of the Safe Zone, looking outside.

Some people looked reluctant to see it happen.

"There's nothing we can do. Our strongest is only level 45; we're no match for their level 65."

"Exactly, we're in trouble now. I suspect the villagers will completely despise us from now on."

"Damn it, are we just going to stand by and watch the imperial court successfully complete this confiscation mission?"

"Let's fight! Let's fight!" one player said fiercely.

"Yes, yes, go and try it!"

The other players, however, didn't move at all.

After seeing all this, Gao Linzhi naturally had to help these people deal with the imperial court's collection teams in order to complete the series of missions.

He wouldn't do it if there wasn't a benefit to it.

After all, there are too many injustices in the world; how could he possibly manage them all?

Wouldn't that exhaust him to death?

Moreover, it would greatly consume the time he spends seeking Immortality.

Besides, he knew very well that there were far too many ungrateful people out there.

At the same time.

Li Gun also started advertising in the event channel.

"Now we'll take on the task of stopping the imperial court from levying taxes."

"You can contact me if you have any related business."

"As long as everyone pays a certain amount of gold, I can reach an agreement with the imperial court."

"Make sure they don't go to your island."

In reality, this is a form of forced transaction.

Li Gun could bribe the collection personnel with gold based on the value of the materials collected by the imperial court.

When the collection personnel returned to report, they found that a single instance of fraud could wipe out most of the losses.

For example, if the original plan was to collect 10,000 Demon Bone, but only 200 were actually collected, the rest could be written as "disappeared".

You might say, doesn't the imperial court practice divination?

Can't you just get the answer by doing a divination?

These people naturally have ways to deal with it.

Because they also have backers.

The person behind it all will help them modify the divination results.

After all, the Big Head the bribes they received were still handed over to the higher-ups.

This is the feudal dynasty.

It's always a series of bribes.

Li Gun then gave a detailed quote, saying that a small amount of gold would be enough to get these tax collectors to leave.

In fact, the costs for these government officials to collect taxes are also very high.

If the local governor doesn't cooperate, many ships simply won't be able to get through.

Now it's like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their unique abilities.

In order to appease the imperial court and protect their islands, they all tried to find ways to do so.

Players have already landed on more than 3,000 islands.

This number is extremely large.

At this very moment.

After reviewing the documents, Gao Linzhi understood the true nature of the imperial levy team and decided to take action.

He was too lazy to meet directly with people from the imperial court.

He simply went into hiding, and whenever he encountered a member of the imperial court, he would kill him with a single blow.

In any case, none of these officials who levied taxes under the feudal dynasty were innocent.

Kill them all, so that none will escape.

As for the other officials, some might be innocent, and some might even be trying to maintain order and prevent bandits from breaking out.

These collection teams were all bandits.

Good people simply can't stay here; they've long been ostracized or accidentally fallen into the water.

In short, Gao Linzhi simply wielded his knife swiftly and decisively, from the east end of the island to the west end.

He spared none of them.

In just half an hour, he cleared away all the collection team members from the island.

And at this time...

The villagers all stared in disbelief.

They watched as one official after another died out of nowhere.

It was as if an invisible hand in the air was grinding them into powder one by one.

They screamed.

"Something strange is happening!"

"Something strange is happening!"

They fled in all directions.

The ancestral hall is no longer open to the public.

They had no choice but to return to their homes and curl up in bed.

To their relief, the strange creature did not attack them.

It didn't kill a single villager; instead, it only killed those from the imperial court.

They naturally had no idea that this was Gao Linzhi's doing.

Gao Linzhi didn't care what the villagers thought.

After he wiped out the imperial conscription team in that area, he received a game quest prompt.

"You have completed one stage of the quest and have earned 1 Free Attribute Points."

The task seems simple.

But Gao Linzhi naturally knew that things wouldn't be that good.

He then rushed to the next island.

At the same time.

Exclamations of surprise began to erupt in the event channel.

"Something strange happened in the past half hour."

"It's very strange on our island; all the people from the imperial court have died one by one."

"It's as if something strange has happened."

Someone scoffed, "You're overthinking it. It's probably some big shot who's made a move."

"I never expected that the big boss's actions would be as powerful as something out of a monster."

"Yes, it's really terrifying."

"Perhaps the strangeness is simply the work of some powerful beings who have lost control."

In short, even the people in the imperial court never expected that the top player would be so powerful.

It's only been a few years!

They became prey to the enemy.

And so, Gao Linzhi ran a loop every day, clearing ten islands at high speed.

The news quickly spread through the event channels and to the imperial court.

Capital Island.

Inside the imperial city, in the Fourth Prince's Mansion.

"Damn it!" The Fourth Prince smashed a precious piece of porcelain on the ground.

Of course, just as it was about to land, he reached out and gently placed it back on the table.

"The imperial court is now facing a major problem in levying taxes."

"There's a strange entity that specifically obstructs the imperial court's tax collection efforts on the island!"

"It is very fast and extremely bloodthirsty, showing no mercy to the court's people; it has already lost contact with dozens of teams."

"It's obvious that it's wantonly killing the imperial troops."

"This is absolutely unacceptable!"

"We must immediately come up with a plan to resolve this completely!"

At this moment, the three players looked at each other in bewilderment.

Player 1 said, "Your Highness, based on what I understand, this should be the work of a powerful figure called 'Canxue'."

"He's probably doing some kind of game quest."

Player Two chimed in, "Yes, Your Highness, this guy is incredibly powerful, far beyond what ordinary people can match."

"It seems the imperial court is going to take special action against this guy..." the Fourth Prince said thoughtfully.

At this moment, Player Two said again, "Actually, Your Highness, what's the point of punishing him?"

"He has plenty of Revival Stone; he can resurrect thousands or tens of thousands of times."

"Unless he is sealed away."

"And even if we seal him away, other powerful players will appear."

"After all, as long as the game issues a quest, there will be a constant stream of players coming forward."

The Fourth Prince frowned.

Player 1 quickly said, "Actually, the imperial court made a big mistake in this tax collection."

"I think the imperial court should hand over this power of collection to us players."

"Let our players pay the tax."

"In this way, the imperial court can make a lot of money without lifting a finger."

Upon hearing this, the Fourth Prince nodded.

He shook his head and said, "That's true."

"Actually, I suggested from the beginning that the imperial court should cooperate more closely with you players."

Unfortunately, there are always some guys who are just too stubborn.

"They always think you Descenders don't know your place."

"They don't want you to become too powerful."

In fact, Player 1's idea was correct.

If players come to collect taxes, they can quickly move to any open island by switching island spawn points.

Moreover, it allows for the collection of taxes every year.

It doesn't have to wait 10 years.

"Your Highness, it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost if we start now."

"We should resolve this matter quickly, otherwise this levy may come to nothing."

The Fourth Prince nodded.

"That's right, it's time to take this opportunity to cooperate extensively with you players."

"Only in this way can this matter be resolved smoothly."

"Otherwise, the imperial court's tax collection efforts will be completely ruined."

The Fourth Prince was very clear-headed; he was very sensitive to money and provisions.

He understood perfectly well that if the players continued like this, the imperial court would be constantly on its toes.

Everyone else nodded.

What the prince said is absolutely correct.

The Fourth Prince then asked, "Do you have a way to contact him?"

"Of course there is a way."

"We have plenty of ways to contact him." The three players nodded quickly.

Half a day later.

They then contacted Gao Linzhi.

Player 1 said, "Canxue boss, the imperial court wants to establish a cooperative relationship with you."

"The imperial court is willing to offer you amnesty and grant you an official position."

"Please stop disrupting the expropriation team and protect the expropriation process."

"Of course, the imperial court is also willing to entrust the matter of tax collection to you."

"The imperial court is willing to pay a certain price for this."

Gao Linzhi immediately smiled.

"So what price are you willing to pay?"

He definitely has to complete his mission.

Keep in mind, that's a full 500 points of free attribute bonus.

He won't let this go.

Moreover, considering the previous breakthrough in petrification technique, it directly reached two thousand in both aspects.

Therefore, he won't add points easily.

I'll consider allocating skill points after the next skill breakthrough.

Otherwise, it would be a waste.

Of course, you still need to learn the necessary skills.

Learning more skills is the only way to achieve skill integration.

The last fusion directly gave both attributes of 2000.

"We are willing to give you several sets of Master Level Rare Tier Skill Book."

"Of course, you'll need to learn that yourself."

"After all, it's very rare to find Skill Stone for Master Level skills."

Gao Linzhi found this quite interesting.

After all, his skills haven't reached the Master Level yet.

He was naturally interested in this.

"Sure, but I'm doing a quest right now. I have to complete it 500 times first."

The three players were speechless, but there was nothing they could do.

They knew that reaching an agreement immediately was unlikely.

Nothing can stop players' desire for the quest.

They had no choice but to report the news to the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince was immediately enraged.

"Damn lowly commoners, who gave them the audacity to rebel against the imperial court?"

"The imperial court's willingness to take him in and offer him amnesty is a sign of respect!"

"He actually dared to haggle! It's outrageous!"

The more the Fourth Prince thought about it, the angrier he became.

But anger is useless.

The problem now is that the other party isn't afraid of him at all.

He understood this in his heart.

He further understood why the emperor and others disliked these players so much.

Because they have absolutely no concept of hierarchy or social status.

Or rather, all they think about is fists.

He was actually wrong about that.

In reality, players still have a strong sense of hierarchy and social status.

For example, they fawn over powerful figures in every way.

They simply lacked reverence for these feudal dynasties.

Because when facing the imperial court, they still had a way out.

If they are captured by the imperial court, they will be quickly tamed.

These players don't have much of a strong will.

"Then what should we do?"

"Are we just going to stand by and watch them destroy our collection teams?"

"How many tasks does he need to complete?" the Fourth Prince asked the three players.

"I asked other players, and they said there should be about 500 of these chain quests," the player said after thinking for a moment.

"There were only a few thousand collection teams in total, and now he's going to destroy several hundred of them."

"The losses are too severe; who can bear the responsibility?"

"And if such a huge concession has to be made for him alone, how will the other powerful players compromise?"

At this moment, the prince's steward said, "Your Highness, this matter should be handled by the Imperial Observatory."

The three players also felt helpless.

All they could say was:

"Since that's the case, and we can't offer him amnesty, then we'll have to seal him away."

"It seems we'll have to get the Imperial Observatory to send some experts."

"But the imperial court's experts must travel there by flying boat."

But you players can switch quickly."

"It will be very difficult to catch him."