It had no way to stop this kind of monopoly, so it could only let it grow unchecked.
After making up his mind, Gao Linzhi checked the game map.
East, west, south, and north—the Four Wolf Villages surrounded a town called Panlong Town.
From chatting with Zheng Dong and the others over the past few days, he had learned that the town was actually quite small, even smaller than the villages.
That was completely different from the offline world.
The town was more like a medieval castle, housing soldiers and a handful of important people. Its population was small.
Unlike the real offline world, it did not focus on economic functions, but on military and administrative ones.
That had a lot to do with the rampant monsters in the area.
West of East Wolf Village lay the town and West Wolf Village. South of it was South Wolf Village, and north of it was North Wolf Village.
When he had come running from West Wolf Village, he had passed south of Panlong Town.
Since the town was small, he had not entered its boundaries. Instead, he had cut across the area and come straight to East Wolf Village.
Since he was going to conquer a wild nest, he should choose one east of East Wolf Village. The coastline lay in that direction.
It had little connection to the other villages or the town, and once he took it, the village's sphere of influence could easily extend to it.
So Gao Linzhi said to Zheng Dong, "Old Zheng, there are too few monsters around right now. I've decided to head east and take a look. Are there any other monster nests by the sea?"
Zheng Dong thought for a moment. "There are three: Thornfish Nest, Sea Turtle Nest, and Squid Nest."
"All three nests are near the sea. Thornfish Nest is the farthest out, Sea Turtle Nest is next, and Squid Nest is closest to shore."
"You'll need a boat to go farm them."
Gao Linzhi understood. "Does the village have any boats?"
"Of course. They're just stored in the warehouse because none of the villagers go fishing."
"There are too many sea monsters. We only use a lot of boats when we make long voyages to trade with other islands each year."
"If you want to use a boat, you'll need approval from one of the village elders."
Gao Linzhi nodded. No wonder he hadn't seen any villagers fishing.
Fishing was dangerous.
So he applied to the Fourth Elder to use a boat.
If it had been an ordinary player or villager, the Fourth Elder certainly wouldn't have approved it.
But when he saw that the request came from Gao Linzhi, and that he wanted to use the boat to farm more monsters, the Fourth Elder promptly approved an Ordinary Sea Ship.
It was only meant for fishing close to shore, not for long voyages. It could carry five people, but that was more than enough for Gao Linzhi.
He could handle it by himself.
It could go no more than a few miles from shore. Any farther, and if a storm came before it could reach land, that would be the end of it.
Gao Linzhi and Zheng Dong went to the village's warehouse district.
The warehouses there were all made of stone, a stretch of gray-white buildings in the north of the village, at its highest point.
Six village guards patrolled the area, while a warehouse manager inside went around checking the goods.
More than a dozen players were working in the warehouses, alongside a few villagers doing odd jobs.
They took some goods out to air in the sun or rearranged them.
The warehouses stood tall and broad, more than ten meters high and seven or eight meters wide, all built in a conical shape.
Different labels were posted by their doors: grain, goods, ore, tools, weapons, armor... There were dozens of categories in all.
Looking through the open windows, he could see that most of the warehouses were packed full.
In the granary, golden millet and rice filled sack after sack, piled high enough to last for years. The sight alone put one at ease.
The warehouses alone showed that, with the players' help, East Wolf Village was far wealthier than places in the feudal era at the same stage.
It was called a village, but it had about as many supplies as a small town.
Gao Linzhi suddenly felt that having monsters everywhere wasn't all bad.
One benefit was that exploitation by those above had been greatly reduced. They couldn't easily squeeze the people when the roads were blocked by monsters.
The saying "harsh rule is fiercer than a tiger" was clearly borne out here.
Gao Linzhi showed the warehouse manager the Fourth Elder's note, and the man immediately said eagerly, "These boats have been sitting around unused for ages. If you need one, brother, I can send a few laborers to hitch up some oxen and drag it into the sea for you."
Gao Linzhi smiled. "No need to go to all that trouble. I can do it myself."
"Can you manage that alone?" the warehouse manager asked in surprise.
Zheng Dong cut in. "Just open the right warehouse."
The warehouse manager had no choice but to lead them to an equipment warehouse and open it.
A dozen or so laborers, players included, stopped what they were doing and turned to look.
Inside were several Fishing Boats that hadn't been used in a long time. They had square bows and sterns, wide, flat bottoms, and measured around seven or eight meters long and two meters across. They rested on stone supports and had been well maintained, with barely any dust on them.
"These boats are only for use near the shore. They can't make long voyages. We only use them when the fish come in."
"When the fish come in, we drag the boats into the sea. It takes at least a dozen oxen and some logs to get them there."
Gao Linzhi smiled and walked up to a Fishing Boat over five meters long. He tested its balance, found its center of gravity, then crouched and bent at the waist before straightening up.
Just like that, he hoisted a Fishing Boat that weighed at least five or six tons on its own and could carry dozens, even over a hundred tons!
Several players gaped at him.
"J-just how high is his Constitution?"
"Has he already broken level 20?"
"One point of Constitution per level—at level 20, that's only 25 points. Could that be enough to carry a boat this big?"
They had no idea that Gao Linzhi already had 66 points of Constitution, equivalent to thirteen ordinary people.
An ordinary person's maximum lifting capacity was over 200 kilograms. Thirteen people could lift 2.6 tons.
But when Constitution broke through its limit, strength didn't increase by simple addition.
The difference between Gao Linzhi and them was now plain for all to see.
And it had only been a few days.
The only thing limiting Gao Linzhi's growth in strength now was the number of monsters.
It was like how a paying player in the real world could surpass a free player's year of effort in a single day.
Watching this, several unaffiliated players couldn't help entertaining a different thought.
He seemed like a powerful ally worth sticking close to!
At the very least, they had never seen anyone with such high Constitution.
Corporate Players could actually do the same, but by the time they reached his level, there were no nearby monsters left that could give them experience.
And skills were hard to learn. It took months to truly master one and have it appear on the status panel.
Before long, Gao Linzhi was carrying the boat by himself toward the eastern shore.
Meanwhile, Zheng Dong collected three bows and dozens of quivers of arrows from the warehouse.
As they left the warehouse district and walked through the streets and alleys, they drew one crowd after another.
When they reached the village gate, the players working nearby stared at them in amazement.
"Whose lieutenant is this? He's so fierce!"
"Holy crap, that boat must weigh several tons, and he's carrying it all by himself! If he entered a weightlifting competition, he'd break the world record without breaking a sweat!"
Before you continue