"Run! We'll be safe once we reach East Wolf Village!"
"Ah!"
"Damn you, Liang Corporation! I'll fight you to the death!"
"Spare my life! I even treated you to a meal once..."
He turned his head and saw seven or eight people with all sorts of bizarre names over their heads, running frantically in his direction.
Behind them, a group of cavalrymen were riding after them.
The cavalrymen all rode short-legged horses.
Every one of them wore Leather Armor and carried a throwing spear. Their names all had the same prefix, "Liang Clan*," and there were about twenty of them.
They mercilessly hurled vicious throwing spears at the fleeing players.
Gao Linzhi had read plenty of novels, so he didn't freeze up.
He immediately headed in another direction, away from the group.
"Born of the same root, why should we torment each other so?" An old player who couldn't run anymore lay on the ground, panting and weeping bitterly.
"Fool. The truth of the world has always been survival of the fittest!" A cavalryman passed the old player and brought his throwing spear down hard.
"Thud!" A bloody hole appeared in the old player's back.
The old player seemed to have lost all feeling. He only murmured, "I was so stupid. I really thought strangers could develop brotherly affection and confide in each other..."
"If only I could be reborn. If I could do it all over again, I'd never reveal my real identity!"
[ Ding! Player King Wu of Wei has died. Game qualification dropped. ]
Hearing the notification as he ran, Gao Linzhi felt a chill.
The other player had died just like that, without a sound.
This wasn't a game to them!
This was another world, even crueler than reality!
At least he could revive after dying. Even so, he couldn't let anyone discover that—not until he was powerful enough to ignore everyone!
Gao Linzhi ran as fast as he could, but how could his legs outrun a galloping horse?
He'd only been running for five or six minutes before he was panting and could no longer keep up his pace.
He looked back. The mounted players had finished slaughtering the fleeing players.
It seemed they'd soon turn around and come after him.
Sure enough, before long, the "Liang Clan*" cavalrymen on their short-legged horses were riding after him.
The cavalrymen made throat-slitting gestures at him one after another, laughing loudly.
But the next moment, when they got close to Gao Linzhi, they didn't throw their spears. Instead, they swung nooses at him!
Why weren't they throwing their spears to kill him?
Oh, right. He hadn't revealed his real identity yet.
Gao Linzhi understood at once.
They wanted to capture him and force him to reveal his real identity and where he lived in the real world. Then they could confirm where the Game Poster had dropped and kill him there!
Gao Linzhi quickly chose "Exit Game."
He couldn't let them capture him.
The secret that he could revive couldn't be exposed so soon. He needed to wait until he was strong enough to get stronger by spending money!
[You are currently under attack and cannot exit combat normally. To prevent mental harm to the player, do you wish to Force Quit the game?]
[Force Quitting will deduct 50% of your current level's experience.]
Gao Linzhi immediately chose to Force Quit.
As expected, Ordinary Players had comprehensive rights—the Game System had to treat you as a "person."
So, just as a noose flying through the air was about to catch Gao Linzhi, his Game Character abruptly vanished from the spot.
The cavalrymen froze. They hurriedly rode over.
They all started discussing it, their faces full of disbelief.
"How did he disappear?"
"Looks like he exited the game."
"Impossible. We've been keeping him in combat this whole time. How could he exit?"
"Exactly. If people could exit, the others would've done it already. Why wait until we killed them?"
As they spoke, a trace of fear appeared on their faces.
They weren't nameless NPCs. They were real people.
Naturally, they knew the saying, "When something strange happens, disaster is sure to follow."
"We can't let him get away like this!" someone suddenly shouted.
"Fuck! He must have some kind of talent that lets him force-quit in combat. That kind of talent is perfect for fighting!"
"We absolutely can't let him grow stronger. Old Thirteen, tell the family head right now! We'll stay here until he logs back in!" The Cavalry Leader's expression changed, and he immediately gave the order.
A cavalryman quickly pulled out a Green Bamboo Talisman and murmured a few words. The talisman flashed brightly...
They weren't stupid nameless henchmen who would knowingly let the protagonist grow stronger!
"The eighteen of us will split into three groups and take turns hiding nearby. The moment he logs in, we'll kill him with everything we've got!"
"Yes, Captain!" everyone shouted together.
The Cavalry Leader then split them into groups of six, hiding them in the nearby bushes to take turns lying in wait.
Meanwhile.
Gao Linzhi opened his eyes in bed.
He clenched his fists. Damn it!
Without a cheat, this was fucking frustrating. With a cheat, it was still fucking frustrating. What was the point of getting one if it didn't help?
I'm spending money right now!
In other games, spending money just bought you an emotional kick. It wasn't much use.
But spending money in this Skyfall game meant buying your life and your future!
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, another game notification appeared:
[ Ding! The player has just been forced to flee from combat. You may choose one of the following ways to grow stronger—level up, learn skills, buy and upgrade equipment, buy pets...]
Gao Linzhi had lived two lives and played plenty of games.
The quickest way to get stronger without ruining his account was to buy equipment and pets.
Those were external items and could be replaced. At worst, he'd just waste some money.
Levels and skills, on the other hand, came with plenty of pitfalls.
Once he leveled up, he couldn't go back down. Skills might have a limit on how many he could learn.
So he immediately thought, [Buy equipment.]
The next moment, a Novice Set appeared in his mind.
Knives, spears, bows and arrows, along with Leather Armor, a leather cap...
[Green Quality Novice Set, worth 648 Skyfall Stones. Buy now for 50% off.]
He thought it over. Even with all this equipment, he still wouldn't be able to beat them.
He also needed to buy a pet. He'd need numbers on his side.
Another slowly rotating image appeared in his mind:
A brownish-green vine, a Gray Wolf, and a Brown Bear.
These were clearly the pets he could buy.
[Corpse Vine (Green): Grows by consuming corpses. Worth 6,480 Skyfall Stones.]
[Gray Wolf (White): Highly mobile. 328 Skyfall Stones.]
[Brown Bear (White): Great strength. 648 Skyfall Stones.]
The Corpse Vine was clearly the strongest. You got what you paid for.
Spend money!
As the thought crossed Gao Linzhi's mind, the game displayed another notification:
[ Ding! Players can add valuable items such as gold, jewelry, and works of art to their game inventory. Click Recharge to complete the transaction.]
Gold. Perfect.
He remembered that he'd bought 800,000 yuan worth of gold bars before, just in case.
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