Opening New Lairs

It had no way to curb this monopolistic behavior and could only let it grow wildly.

After Gao Linzhi made his decision, he checked the game map.

East, West, South, North – the four wolf villages surrounded a town called Panlong Town.

From chatting with Zheng Dong and the others these past few days, he learned that the town wasn't large; in fact, it was much smaller than the villages.

This was one point that was completely different from the offline world.

The town was actually similar to a medieval castle, housing soldiers and a few important figures, with a small population.

Unlike the real world, it didn't focus on economic functions but rather on military and administrative ones.

This had a lot to do with the rampant demonic creatures in the area.

To the west of East Wolf Village were the town and West Wolf Village. To the south was South Wolf Village, and to the north was North Wolf Village.

Back then, when he ran from West Wolf Village, he had passed south of Panlong Town.

Because the town was small, he didn't enter its boundaries but cut through it, arriving directly at East Wolf Village.

Since he intended to explore wild lairs, he should choose the east of East Wolf Village, which was the coastline.

It had few ties to other villages and towns, and once captured, it would be easily encompassed by the village's sphere of influence.

Thus, Gao Linzhi said to Zheng Dong, "Old Zheng, there are too few monsters right now. I've decided to check out the east. Are there any other monster lairs by the sea?"

Zheng Dong thought for a moment and said, "There are three: Thornfish Nest, Sea Turtle Nest, and Squid Nest."

"These three nests are all by the sea. Thornfish are the deepest, Sea Turtles are next, and Squid are the shallowest."

"We'll need to take a boat to clear them."

Gao Linzhi understood, "Does the village have boats?"

"Of course, we have boats, but they're all hidden in the warehouses because no villagers go fishing."

"There are too many demonic creatures in the sea. They are only used on a large scale for annual long-distance voyages and trade with other islands."

"If you want to use a boat, you'll need approval from the village elders."

Gao Linzhi nodded; no wonder he hadn't seen any villagers fishing.

Fishing was dangerous.

So, he submitted an application to the Fourth Elder, requesting to use a boat.

For any ordinary player or villager, the Fourth Elder would definitely not approve.

But seeing that it was Gao Linzhi's request and that it was for the purpose of farming more monsters, the Fourth Elder decisively approved an Ordinary Sea Ship.

It was suitable for fishing near the coast, not for long voyages. It could seat five people, but for Gao Linzhi, it was enough.

He could handle it alone.

At most, he could go a few miles from the coast, no further. Otherwise, if the waves came, he wouldn't have time to dock and would be completely finished.

Gao Linzhi and Zheng Dong went to the village's warehouse area.

This was a fully stone-built warehouse area, grayish-white, located north of the village and at its highest point.

Six Village Guards were patrolling and guarding it. A supervisor was in the warehouse area, checking the goods in rotation.

Inside the warehouse, over a dozen players and a few villager laborers were working.

They were taking out some goods to dry or reorganize them.

The warehouses were tall and large, at least ten meters high and seven to eight meters wide, all with a conical structure.

Different labels were posted at the entrances: Granary, Warehouse, Ore, Tools, Weapons, Armor... Classified into categories, there were dozens of them.

Looking through the open windows, most warehouses were packed to the brim.

In the granaries, golden millet and rice were stored in sacks, piled high, enough to last for several years, which immediately made one feel at ease.

Just from the warehouses, one could tell that with the participation of players, East Wolf Village's wealth far surpassed that of the contemporary feudal era.

It was called a village, but in reality, its supplies were comparable to a small town.

Gao Linzhi suddenly felt that the widespread presence of monsters wasn't entirely detrimental; it had its benefits.

The benefit was greatly reduced exploitation from above – because it was inconvenient for the authorities to exploit them, the roads were blocked by monsters.

This was where the saying "oppressive governance is fiercer than tigers" was demonstrated.

Gao Linzhi presented the Fourth Elder's note. The warehouse supervisor immediately said obsequiously, "This boat has been here for a long time unused. If you need a boat, I'll send a few laborers to hitch up some oxen and drag it into the sea for you."

Gao Linzhi smiled and said, "No need for such trouble, I can do it myself."

"You alone? Can you manage?" the warehouse supervisor asked in surprise.

Zheng Dong interjected, "Just open the corresponding warehouse."

The warehouse supervisor reluctantly went to a tool shed to open it.

Over a dozen laborers, including players, stopped their work and all looked over.

Inside were several fishing boats that hadn't been used in a long time. They had square bows and sterns, wide flat bottoms, about seven to eight meters long and two meters wide, placed on stone racks. They were well-maintained, with hardly any dust.

"These boats can only be used by the sea, they can't sail far, and are only used when there's a fishing alert."

"When a fishing alert comes, we drag the boats into the sea. It takes at least a dozen cows and logs to pull them."

Gao Linzhi chuckled. He walked up to a fishing boat over five meters long and tested its balance. After finding the center of gravity, he crouched down, then straightened up.

A fishing boat, weighing at least five to six tons on its own and capable of carrying dozens to a hundred tons, was effortlessly lifted by him!

Several players watched, dumbfounded.

"Just how high is his Constitution for this!"

"Could he have broken level 20?"

"One point of Constitution per level, so level 20 is only 25 Constitution. Can that lift a boat this big?"

They naturally didn't know that Gao Linzhi already had 66 Constitution, equivalent to thirteen ordinary people.

An ordinary person's maximum lifting capacity is over 200 kilograms, so thirteen people would be 2.6 tons.

Furthermore, when Constitution breaks past a certain limit, the increase in Strength isn't a simple addition.

The difference between Gao Linzhi and them was already clearly displayed.

And this was only after a few days?

What was currently limiting Gao Linzhi's strength increase was the number of monsters.

This was like how in the real world, a pay-to-win player could surpass a normal player's year of effort in a single day.

Seeing this, the few independent players couldn't help but develop other thoughts.

It seemed this was also a powerful ally to latch onto!

At least they hadn't seen anyone with such high Constitution.

In reality, Corporate Players could achieve this, but the problem was that once their levels were high enough, there were no nearby monsters left to provide experience.

And learning skills was very difficult; it could take months for a single skill to be truly learned and appear on the status panel.

Soon, Gao Linzhi, carrying the boat by himself, walked towards the eastern coast.

Meanwhile, Zheng Dong collected three bows and dozens of quivers of arrows from the warehouse.

Emerging from the warehouse and walking through the streets and alleys, he immediately drew a crowd.

When they reached the village entrance, many players who were working stared in astonishment.

"Whose subordinate is this, so valiant?"

"Holy crap, a boat this big, weighing at least several tons, and he can lift it alone. If he went into weightlifting, he'd easily set a new world record!"