The Operators' Crushing Defeat, Turned to Stone

At this moment, "Xiaoyao Tianshang," "Xiaoyao Dixia," and "Xiaoyao Shanzhong" discussed things among themselves.

They decided to wait and see what these three operators would do.

After all, they had a mission to complete.

Not long after.

Zhang Xiaoshan and Xiao Mei had finished collecting Li Si's body and were about to leave.

Meanwhile, the three players operating the game—the man in soft armor, the beautiful woman, and the man in a short jacket—were lost in thought.

Suddenly, the pretty woman gestured to the man in the short jacket.

The other person nodded.

Then he stood in front of Zhang Xiaosan and Xiao Mei: "Gentlemen, you can't leave yet."

"Why? We want to go home! We want to take our brother back to be buried!" Zhang Xiaosan said, somewhat agitated.

"Heh, because we need your cooperation to find the person who killed the Black Madman." The man in the short jacket said calmly.

"We don't know anything! How can we cooperate with you!" Zhang Xiaosan said excitedly.

"You wouldn't know, but that person must have been following you to see Black Madman, so you should be able to find him through you," the man in the short jacket said calmly.

"Damn it, we're leaving!" Zhang Xiaosan said angrily.

The man in the short jacket shook his head and directly cast two binding talismans at the two of them.

The two of them were unable to move again!

"It's happening again!"

"You bastards! Just because you're strong doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to us!"

"This isn't fair!" Zhang Xiaosan was very angry.

But it didn't work.

In contrast, Xiao Mei remained much calmer and did not utter a word.

The man in the short jacket ignored his anger and simply took out a deck of cards.

There were 54 cards, which were thrown out in one go.

They spun around the two of them.

It then fell back into the hands of the man in the short jacket.

The man in the short jacket glanced at the cards and suddenly said, "Heh, that person will come back. We can just wait here."

The three, including Xiaoyao Tianxia, found it strange.

"Strange, that person's goal was to kill Black Madman, but Black Madman is already dead, so why did that person come back?"

"Yeah, what makes these three people so sure that person will come back?"

"They seem to have divined something; let's wait and see."

Although the three did not understand each other's divination techniques, that did not stop them from waiting there as well.

After all, this is the operator, someone shrouded in mystery.

It allows for close contact and the acquisition of a wealth of information.

Moreover, they had received a mission to revive Li Si, which required them to rescue the two of them first.

As the group waited...

As darkness gradually fell, the twilight, like blood, soaked through the arena.

At this point, Gao Linzhi had finished cleaning up the mess and thoroughly ransacked Black Madman's Crystal Palace.

Several pets were also released to search the area.

In short, the rewards for defeating bosses of higher ranks are indeed extremely generous.

Horses won't get fat without night grazing.

This wave revealed the total output of East Wolf Village over several years.

It's important to know that East Wolf Village is now a vital commercial center for players, generating a large amount of wealth every day.

This demonstrates just how lucrative the rewards are for defeating bosses at significantly higher levels.

Gao Linzhi should have gone straight back to the Wolf Snake Village camp, since many people were waiting for him.

Just as Yao Li, a mission prompt suddenly appeared in the Game System:

[Ding! Zhang Xiaosan wants to revive his partner; you have triggered the NPC's revival quest.]

[Do you accept?]

[Task Rewards: 100 Revival Stone, 100 Free Attribute Points, and a basic understanding of the resurrection rules.]

Seeing such a generous reward, Gao Linzhi naturally chose to accept it.

So he quickly returned to the island arena.

Looking up, Zhang Xiaosan and Xiao Mei were still in the arena, imprisoned.

He frowned immediately.

Logically, now that the Black Madman is dead, the other party should have lifted the previous restraints.

After scanning the area, he immediately noticed something amiss.

But he pretended to know nothing and landed directly on the field.

"What's wrong with you two young friends?" He went straight up to them.

When Zhang Xiaosan saw Gao Linzhi appear, he naturally didn't know that the other party had given him a fortuitous encounter, nor did he know that the other party could have saved his brother but hadn't.

He quickly said, "Senior, leave immediately! There's an ambush!"

This kid is quite simple and honest.

Gao Linzhi nodded.

He then turned around, pretending to Yao Li.

"Stop!"

Three figures suddenly emerged from one of the stands.

They then landed inside the arena, forming a triangular formation around Gao Linzhi.

On the left is a man in a short jacket, who has just taken out a horse-slaying sword with tassels of human hair wrapped around its blade.

Each person killed adds a strand of hair.

In the middle was that beautiful woman, who took out a whisk, which was incredibly white.

A cold, bluish light gleamed in her eyes, suggesting a strong aversion to Gao Linzhi.

But anyone with a discerning eye can see upon closer inspection that it was actually jealousy.

On the right is the silver-armored man, who has summoned a giant armored wolf.

He sat on the wolf's back, toying with three bone-piercing nails in his hand.

The nail's tip was etched with a deep blue hue, clearly indicating it was highly poisonous.

At this moment, the man in the short jacket spoke first.

His voice was like sandpaper scraping. "Hmph, you should have killed that Black Madman!"

"Hand over everything you've lost, and we might leave you with a whole corpse."

Hearing this, Xiaoyao and the other two were speechless.

Hand it over, and all you get is a whole corpse? What kind of villainous statement is this?

If not paying means certain death, and paying also means certain death, then why should I pay?

Gao Linzhi raised his eyes and glanced at the three of them.

There was no anger or interest in his eyes.

He merely confirmed the identities of the three individuals.

There was no game ID displayed above the other player's head.

However, his Appraisal Skill told him that these three were also players.

[***]

[Identity: Player]

[Background: Unknown.]

All three displayed the same items.

Clearly, they are quite special.

You should know that Gao Linzhi's Appraisal Skill have been elevated to the Expert Level.

Even today's top players can deduce a lot of information.

After all, most players are still below level 60.

The same applies to older areas.

The main problem is that NPCs who can provide a lot of experience are usually powerful and difficult to defeat.

Those monster lairs are rarely high-level, and the monsters there are all cunning and difficult to kill.

"How did you know I would come back?" Gao Linzhi asked.

He was curious as to why the other side would be lying in ambush here.

"You're the Canxue, aren't you?" the man in the short jacket said with a faint smile, revealing two gold-plated front teeth.

"Top player in the new server of the game,"

"The possessor of the Pay-to-Win Talent."

"The big shot in the eyes of a newcomer."

"But that's in relation to others. Right now, in our eyes, you're just like that."

"Besides, you just fought the Black Madman, how much strength do you have left?"

"Your game items should all be used up by now, right?"

The silver-armored man echoed, "That's right, don't think we can't take you down."

"We know you can resurrect indefinitely."

We know your trump card.

"But we have numerous sealing techniques and plenty of items; we can wear you down."

"We've been waiting here for a long time, just for this moment."

After he finished speaking, he raised the bone-piercing nail, aiming the tip at Gao Linzhi's knee, dantian, and throat.

Those were all positions for disabled people, not for murderers.

Because they knew that Gao Linzhi could resurrect indefinitely.

Of course, in their view, this meant that the other party had bought a large number of Revival Stone from the event shop.

Although they are in charge of operations, they cannot access the core player data.

Because they don't have the necessary permissions.

Gao Linzhi frowned slightly.

He is a little tired now.

His Game Backpack contained a large number of dropped items.

And he has indeed expended a lot of energy.

Although he was not injured.

However, only 30% of the items purchased from the game store remain.

It's no longer available for purchase.

Due to purchase restrictions.

This game activity to intercept the imperial court has only just begun.

Gao Linzhi didn't have enough game items he had accumulated.

However, he was naturally not afraid of these three.

"I'll give you three breaths," he said calmly.

"What did you say?" the man in the short jacket asked, puzzled.

"Disappear from my sight." Gao Linzhi's voice was very soft, as if he were talking about something insignificant.

"You won't need to leave after three breaths."

The three of them were immediately stunned.

Then the two men burst into laughter at the same time.

The beautiful woman frowned deeply, and quietly stepped back, shielding the two men in front of her.

The man in the short jacket picked up a saber and scraped it across the ground, sending sparks flying.

The beautiful woman flicked her whisk, which suddenly straightened, revealing its inner steel joints.

The giant wolf beneath the silver-armored man growled, and foul-smelling white vapor billowed from the gaps in its armor.

"One," Gao Linzhi said.

"You're asking for it!"

"Do they really think we're just Ordinary Player?" The man in the short jacket was the first to rush out.

His broadsword, carrying a foul stench, slashed fiercely down at Gao Linzhi.

He had practiced this technique for twenty years in a certain place, using special privileges granted to him by the game's operators.

Of course, this is time acceleration; he didn't actually experience 20 years.

He currently possesses the skill level of a master swordsman who has cultivated for 20 years.

He once cleaved a level 70 NPC in two, armor and all, demonstrating the power of his swordsmanship.

However, Gao Linzhi did not draw his sword.

He merely glanced at the knife.

His gaze was like a tangible blade, and the horse-slaying saber snapped just three inches above his head!

He used some kind of Curse Technique.

This is a special spell used to counter advanced weapons.

Curse the weapon, not the person.

This is one of the many random skills he selected from his skill panel.

He has learned far too many skills.

It can be said that he learned everything he could.

Anyway, he won't lack any skills.

The next moment, the knife didn't shatter, but instead broke cleanly, as if it had been sliced by a peerless sword.

The upper half of the blade spun and flew into the twilight.

The man in the short jacket remained in the slashing stance.

Blood was dripping from his tiger's mouth, and a sinister grin remained frozen on his face.

Then his expression changed.

"What kind of skill is this?"

"Two," Gao Linzhi counted casually.

The beautiful woman's expression changed.

She had seen "sword energy" and "blade aura," but she had never seen anything that could destroy someone's weapon with just a glance.

Does this guy have laser eyes?

"Go to hell!"

She screamed and waved her whisk.

Hundreds of steel needles shot out like a torrential rain.

Each one of those was coated with a bone-softening powder, an item from the game's in-game store; touching it would cause immediate paralysis.

She was able to obtain it by only slightly utilizing the operator's permissions.

Gao Linzhi finally made a move.

It wasn't a sword drawn, but a flick of the finger.

A white light shot out from his fingertips, not flying towards the beautiful woman.

Instead, it flew towards the cluster of steel needles.

The rain of needles exploded midway, each one being pulverized by an even more minute, invisible, inexplicable force.

They raised a silvery mist in the twilight.

Within the silver mist, the lingering force of the finger strike pierced through the beautiful right shoulder, leaving a spray of blood.

"Impossible!"

How can you be so strong?

"That's impossible!"

The woman knelt down, her whisk fell to the ground, and fear filled her eyes.

"Three."

The silver-armored man had already ridden away on a wolf.

The giant wolf leaped about on all fours, its armor clashing like a death knell.

He dared not look back, dared not think, only wanted to get as far away from that Canxue as possible—that man was not even human.

It is a calamity disguised in human skin; how bizarre!

Gao Linzhi did not pursue him.

He simply placed his hand on the hilt of the sword and made a feinting slash.

The enhanced blade energy shot out directly.

Ten feet away, the silver-armored man's body slid off the giant wolf's back.

There were no wounds, no bloodstains, only the sudden separation of man and wolf, as if precisely cut by an invisible thread.

The silver-armored man was still crawling when he landed.

He only realized that his lower body was still on the wolf's back after he had climbed three steps.

"Ah!" A scream echoed across the wilderness.

You can't hurt us!

"We're the operators of this game!" the man in the short jacket shouted in terror.

He actually chose to reveal his identity.

Because he knew that once he entered the game, he would be subject to its constraints.

The other party can kill you, but what's even more terrifying is petrifying you.

He knew that Gao Linzhi was skilled in petrification.

He doesn't want to be a stone in the game forever!

"Operations staff?"

Gao Linzhi walked past the three of them without stopping.

"That's right, if you mess with us, you'll be banned!" the man in the short jacket said, his tone fierce but his voice weak.

Gao Linzhi laughed when he heard this.

Do they really have the authority to ban accounts for something as insignificant as this?

That's hilarious!

You must understand, he was a time traveler who, with his unique Power of Space-Time, completed part of the core of the Skyfall Game.

They gained unique privileges Ordinary Player.

What right does the other party have to ban his account?

In reality, banning a prominent online influencer's account can lead to huge lawsuits.

The money spent by influential users is enormous; unless the other party does something extraordinary, the game company wouldn't dare to act rashly.

Because the funds of influential figures are larger than those of game companies.

The man in the short jacket held the broken knife, while the beautiful woman clutched her shoulder.

The silver-armored man was convulsing in a pool of blood.

They looked at Gao Linzhi as if he were a white moon; he was simply too strong.

That's way too powerful!

"No, even if you used game items, you shouldn't be this strong!"

"You... you're not human..." the beautiful woman struggled and cursed.

Gao Linzhi's voice was as indifferent as the wind:

"How ridiculous."

"You've always been like this."

"Having a tiny bit of power, they think they're superior."

"No one is allowed to question us, no one is allowed to resist us."

"I originally only wanted to kill you, but now I find it more interesting to cripple you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached out and touched each of the three people.

Then the three of them turned into three stones.

"No, no!"

The three of them, Xiaoyao and his companions, were terrified.

Three players with immense privileges were actually defeated by that one player with Canxue!

Is this the number one on the list?

"Isn't he afraid of having his account banned?"

"Perhaps these three people simply don't have that kind of authority?"

"They must be outsourced customer service staff who took advantage of the loophole."

"Yeah, I think so too. How could real operations staff personally go into the game and go against the players?"

"That's right, that must be it."