Gao Linzhi thought to himself that the man was absolutely right.
The problem was, would the companies let the Rogue Players grow stronger?
If the Rogues could see the problem, how could the companies not see it?
The companies had ruled the world for years. How could they possibly accept giving up their dominance?
They would surely do everything they could to expose the real identities of the Rogue Players, one by one.
Either get on your knees and become their dogs, or die.
After venting their resentment, the Rogue Players dispersed again and hurried back to work.
They worked even harder than before, all of them sweating as they polished stones and dug foundations.
Gao Linzhi understood them completely now.
They had finally seen a chance to turn their lives around in the game. Naturally, they would work themselves to the bone and wouldn't slack off like they did in real life.
Only one player, called "Little Chi Boss," stayed behind and began haggling with Zheng Dong.
He was a thin man with an honest-looking face, but he drove a very hard bargain.
He criticized the crabs from head to toe.
After a round of haggling, he bought the rights to butcher all the Crab Demons for 50 Copper Coins each.
After selling the butchering rights, Zheng Dong distributed the money among the villagers on the spot, then gave Gao Linzhi 20 Copper Coins.
He told him, "Brother Canxue, follow this road from the village entrance and keep going straight into the village. You'll reach the village center, where you can find the Fourth Elder. He'll make some arrangements for you and provide support for newcomers."
"Our East Wolf Village is different from the other three villages. The elders all believe in treating Rogue Players like you well."
"The elders believe you're the future of the Skyfall Continent."
"You may have only one life, but you can work in the village, make money through manual labor, craft talismans and artifacts, and earn money and village contribution. It's still very safe."
"When we encounter monsters, we'll try to kill them until they're just barely alive, then auction off the rights to kill them to you. You'll gain experience for killing them, and they can drop items and materials, too."
"Then how can I level up and gain experience quickly?" Gao Linzhi asked outright.
"You just need money. I heard you players have a way to bring gold and silver from the real world. Gold and silver are worth a lot here, and they're essential materials for many spirit artifacts," Zheng Dong said.
Gao Linzhi understood what he meant: the Game Backpack.
It seemed others could bring gold into the game, too.
Gold was expensive, but industrially produced silver was cheap, only seven or eight yuan per gram.
In that regard, Corporate Players had a huge advantage. No wonder they could equip themselves with cavalry while ordinary Rogue Players were still doing manual labor.
"I don't have any money," Gao Linzhi said truthfully.
It wasn't that he couldn't make money. The main issue was that he couldn't make it freely in the real world.
Thinking of this made him even more desperate to grow stronger.
Only by becoming strong himself could he break through the companies' suffocating blockade.
He didn't want to be capable of earning tens of billions, yet be forced to settle for a mere ten million.
He wanted to spend money however he pleased!
"Then you'll have to risk your life. You can sign a Guard Contract with the Fourth Elder at the village center. Once you've signed it, as long as you follow the village's reasonable arrangements, the village guarantees it'll train you quickly. The elders will have people help you level up and gain experience, while also protecting your safety and privacy."
Gao Linzhi nodded. "All right, I'll go have a look."
Then he quickly headed toward the village center.
East Wolf Village was clearly quite wealthy.
The villagers lived in brick houses with tiled roofs, each with a large, bright courtyard.
Quite a few children were playing in the village, all of them sturdy.
In front of every house, four or five little brats were hollering and playing, completely unaware of how harsh life could be.
It took him only a moment to figure out that players had brought plenty of supplies from the real world and spent them here, bringing prosperity to the village.
The real world was suffering from severe overproduction, after all.
There had to be limits on what they could bring, though. Otherwise, the players wouldn't be using cold weapons and Steel Armor. They'd be using machine guns, cannons, missiles, and tanks.
And bringing supplies over came with a huge risk: those items could be used to analyze a player's real identity.
If someone bought supplies frequently, it would be even easier to leave a trail in the real world.
The real world was an information society, and the power of big data analysis was beyond what most people could fully imagine.
Before long, Gao Linzhi spotted a small, modest wooden house with no courtyard.
A wooden sign stood in front of it, bearing the words "Fourth Elder."
Beside the sign was a grand armchair. A plump old man sat in it with his eyes closed, dressed in fine silk like a wealthy landowner. A copper bell sat beside him.
As Gao Linzhi approached, the plump old man didn't open his eyes. He simply rang the bell.
Soon, two players—a man and a woman—hurried out of a house behind him.
They had the faces of ordinary passersby, and their names were hidden, but their clothes and demeanor made it obvious they were modern people.
The man wore denim, while the woman wore a floral-print dress.
"My name is Chen Dagang, and hers is Han Xiaowei. They're both fake names." The man was somewhat aloof. He cupped his hands toward Gao Linzhi and said, "I still need to focus on learning Medicine Making. Han Xiaowei, you can explain things to him."
With that, Chen Dagang turned and went back into the wooden house, though he added, "Be careful of the companies. If your real identity is exposed, you're basically as good as dead."
Gao Linzhi nodded and cupped his hands toward Chen Dagang to thank him.
Han Xiaowei looked at Gao Linzhi and spoke warmly. "Canxue, listen carefully."
"In the Skyfall Game, players have only one life, just like NPCs."
"The village is relatively safe. You can work to earn money and buy the rights to kill monsters to level up. Don't even think about leaving the village before you reach level ten."
"Before reaching level ten, new players should remember two things, and they won't lose out."
"First: remember that you only have one life."
"Second: earn more money, build up your village contribution, and buy things that boost your stats."
Gao Linzhi nodded.
"What you need to do now is hurry up and start hauling bricks in the village."
"There are five elders in the village. The Great Elder doesn't handle affairs and spends most of the year in seclusion."
"The Second Elder makes medicine, the Third Elder crafts talismans, and the Fifth Elder crafts artifacts. Once you learn one of these skills, you can sign an Ordinary Work Contract with the village, enjoy its protection, and freely enter and leave without going to the battlefield."
"The Fourth Elder trains guards. If you sign a Guard Contract, you'll have to go to the battlefield."
"If you can't learn a skill yet, you'll have to carry stones beneath the Stone Wall and do heavy labor to earn contribution. You'll need to spend village contribution every day to enter the village and rest."
"Since we all crossed over in our real bodies, we can eat offline, so calories are worthless. Repairing the Stone Wall gives you the best value for your effort, and if you do it long enough, it can even increase your Constitution a little."
"If you're taking the Lone Wolf Path, don't even consider bidding on monsters and leveling up by killing them until you've saved at least one Gold Coin."
"There are three currencies here: gold, silver, and copper. Their exchange rates fluctuate. The current rate is one Gold Coin for 110 Silver Coins, and one Silver Coin for 150 Copper Coins. One Gold Coin contains about one gram of gold, and one Silver Coin contains about one gram of silver."
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