Gao Linzhi remembered that Noble Rank 8 unlocked Advanced Auto-Fighting Mode, allowing him to handle a hundred targets at once.
That meant that even if a hundred targets attacked him simultaneously from near and far, the automated program could still handle them.
Now this was the kind of treatment a pay-to-win player deserved!
He had previously used up all his Skyfall Stones to raise his Basic Skills limit to 20.
Now he had learned only 13 Basic Physical Element skills. His next step was to learn magic skills.
He silently thought, Buy magic skills.
The shop opened in no time.
"Basic Fire Element, 50,000 Skyfall Stones; Basic Earth Element, 50,000..."
Hmm, nothing had changed.
He had 500,000 Skyfall Stones now, enough to buy ten skills.
He bought Basic Earth Element, Basic Fire Element, Basic Water Element, Basic Wood Element, and Basic Metal Element all at once.
Those were exactly the five basic magic skills.
That cost him 250,000 Skyfall Stones.
Then a notification appeared:
"Basic Fire Element: (Increases Spirit by one point every ten levels.)"
There it was. As expected, magic skills could increase Spirit.
Other people would have to train slowly and grind away before they could even get started.
After they did, their levels would already be so high that they would have to fight high-level monsters, making it hard to accumulate experience.
But he was different. He could just use a Skill Book and learn the skill!
And he was still Level 1, so fighting any monster gave him full experience. He also had the experience bonus from Noble Privilege!
He still had 24,500 experience points, enough to max out two skills right away.
After a moment's thought, he put the skill points into Wood and Earth first.
They were obviously for healing and defense.
He maxed out Wood first.
"Basic Wood Element has reached Level 100. Spirit increased by 10 points."
"You have learned Basic Healing Technique."
Next, he maxed out Earth.
"Basic Earth Element has reached Level 100. Spirit increased by 10 points."
"You have learned Basic Earth Shield Technique."
As expected, one was for healing and the other for defense.
He still had 4,500 experience points. After thinking it over, he put them into Fire.
Wait a minute. His skill limit should be full again now.
Thirteen physical skills, plus five basic magic skills, plus two newly learned spell skills.
He would have to raise the limit again, or he probably wouldn't be able to learn anything new.
So he spent another 17,500 Skyfall Stones to unlock five skill slots, raising his skill limit to 25.
After all that spending, he still had 233,256 Skyfall Stones left.
Spending money felt great, and he just couldn't stop!
Then he put the rest of his experience into Basic Fire Element. It was a must-have skill for traveling.
"Basic Fire Element has reached Level 45. Spirit increased by 4 points."
"You have learned Basic Fireball Technique."
There it was.
Now he had 21 skills, and his skill limit was full again.
He needed to keep grinding for experience.
Just then,
he suddenly heard a faint sound in the distance.
With 115 points in Constitution, his hearing had improved tremendously. Even sounds from several kilometers away could reach him if he was downwind and the breeze carried them over.
It was the sound of helicopter engines.
He looked up and saw at least ten large helicopters bearing down on the mountain range.
The helicopters served as platforms, from which they released large numbers of drones to conduct a sweeping search.
He had seen this tactic on the forums long ago.
It was far more efficient than using vast numbers of people, and much safer too.
But what good would that do?
With his current mobility, he could just head to the next city or mountain range.
Then he could find a way to get more gold.
He couldn't use the Corpse Vine anymore, but he could find other, more discreet pets.
For instance, he could find a cat or a crow to steal gold for him.
Or he could get gold from the game and use it to recharge.
Blue Star was huge. For a little superhuman like him, the wilderness was no longer an insurmountable obstacle.
He could even find a cave system, burrow deep underground, and go into seclusion. No one would be able to find him there.
He soon came up with a plan.
One week later.
Five thousand kilometers south of Xu City.
An unbroken stretch of deep mountains lay there, one range after another, with rivers running into rivers. The area covered a full 360,000 square kilometers.
It had a typical karst landscape, riddled with caves full of water and countless winding passageways.
It was, without a doubt, a no-man's-land.
With Blue Star's current capabilities, even drones couldn't search the area.
The terrain was complicated, there was too much ore, and the magnetic fields were chaotic. There was no signal at all.
As for searching on foot, that was even more impossible.
Even if they sent in a million soldiers, they wouldn't be able to get far.
Many places were simply impassable.
Even dropping a nuke here would be like pouring a cup of water into the ocean. There were just too many mountains.
Gao Linzhi had gone straight to the heart of it, hiding in a deep cavern.
As for the traces he had left along the way, they had long since been washed away by "three rainstorms a day and rampant plant growth."
He wasn't going to act like those contrarian protagonists who stayed put after being hunted by a powerful force, insisting on provoking a fierce confrontation just so they could show off.
He was a normal person, not a puppet controlled by an author. His head was on straight.
Wouldn't it be better to flee far away, build himself up, and come back to crush them?
Going out of his way to survive on the edge was just asking to die.
He was hiding in a limestone cave. Even if the cave collapsed, it wouldn't matter; he could dig his way out.
He wasn't short on oxygen, either. He had used the Corpse Vine to dig dozens of ventilation shafts.
It was pitch-black inside, and the only sound was running water.
An ordinary person would have gone mad by now.
But Gao Linzhi didn't care. He could log in and play the game...
And so he returned to his normal gaming routine.
Every day, he slept, ate, and logged in.
There were 24 hours in a day. He spent at least 16 hours in the game, slept for only five, and spent three hours eating.
Meanwhile.
At the conference center on the ninety-ninth floor of a high-rise in downtown Xu City,
a gloomy atmosphere hung over the room.
"It's been a week, and we still haven't found him," Second Branch's Xu Zongyin said calmly. "We're all smart enough to understand what that means."
"A venomous snake. A venomous snake is lying in wait. Once it grows into a king cobra, it'll come out and poison every one of us."
Even Xu Zongtong of the ever-arrogant Third Branch no longer argued.
He knew Second Branch was right.
He might be arrogant, but he wasn't stupid.
The man had gone into hiding, but he would definitely take revenge.
That much was clear from the video they had recorded. He had rammed the noodle shop owner who reported him into a bloody pulp right there in the street.
He could have simply left, but instead he had killed the informer before going. That showed how deep his grudge ran.
"I've already submitted the information we have on this guy to the Company Management Committee. I'm sure he'll be caught before long," Xu Zongtong said reluctantly.
Before you continue