Ganged up on

"Two more monsters, and I should reach Entering Martial First Layer!"

Cao Hong glanced at his stats. The progress bar for his primary cultivation technique was nearly full.

More than a day had passed since he entered the game, yet he had not advanced even a single cultivation stage. Leveling in this game felt slower than in any other game he had played.

Still, he had fallen deeply in love with this game world.

Everything here felt so real.

Aside from the fact that players could keep resurrecting, everything was no different from the real world.

That included their names.

There were no nicknames in this game. Everyone entered under their real name.

In other words, whatever your name was in reality, that was also your name in the game.

Cao Hong had played plenty of games over the years and accumulated considerable experience, so the first thing he did after entering was seek out a martial arts school and become an apprentice.

He was confident that no more than ten people in Beginner Village 10021 would reach Entering Martial First Layer before him.

After all.

Beginner Village 10021 alone had thousands upon thousands of players.

However—

This game really was difficult.

Because the world was almost entirely true to life, its monsters were far harder to deal with than those they had fought in other games.

Even with so many players constantly exploring, they had only gained a rough understanding of the area within ten li of Beginner Village 10021.

As for anything farther out, they could do nothing.

Cao Hong crouched down, took a small dagger from his equipment inventory, and began carving up the wild deer lying motionless before him.

This game had no one-click gathering function.

Aside from equipment that dropped on its own, materials from wild monsters had to be cut off and collected by hand.

Cao Hong had thoroughly studied the guides before venturing into the wilderness.

He knew exactly which parts of the wild deer were valuable and which were not.

With considerable effort, he cut away most of its valuable parts.

Before Cao Hong could continue, the deer abruptly vanished.

He knew its time was up.

Another drawback of this game was that wild monster corpses despawned too quickly.

The system did not care whether you had finished gathering. Once time was up, the corpse would not remain for even another second.

"Still, selling this back in the village should get me a few dozen copper coins!" Looking at the materials in his inventory, Cao Hong smiled in satisfaction.

A few dozen copper coins were enough to buy a decent weapon.

The iron sword he had bought for his trips into the wilderness had cost only thirty copper coins.

Cao Hong stood up and glanced at the sky, making a few calculations.

"It's only noon. Killing two more monsters shouldn't be a problem. Looks like I can reach Entering Martial First Layer today!"

The wilderness was more dangerous at night.

Although players could resurrect repeatedly, every resurrection came at a price.

Cao Hong did not want to be sent back to square one when he was so close to Entering Martial First Layer.

The iron sword slid free, spraying blood.

A wild deer half as tall as a person fell to the ground and lay still.

Cao Hong's body shuddered slightly, and a delighted smile spread across his face.

Entering Martial First Layer!

After nearly two days, he had finally crossed the first threshold and pulled ahead of the vast majority of players.

After quickly harvesting his spoils, Cao Hong prepared to head back.

Although his cultivation had advanced, he still did not want to act rashly.

But—

Just as Cao Hong was about to turn back, his keen eyes spotted a figure.

A large saber in hand, dressed in ragged clothes.

That was—!

A humanoid NPC!

Cao Hong realized it immediately.

All the wild monsters he had encountered during his time in the wilderness had been beasts. This was his first encounter with a humanoid NPC.

The other party held a weapon and looked rather fierce.

Half an hour earlier, Cao Hong would have been inclined to retreat.

But now that he had reached Entering Martial First Layer, his soaring strength filled him with assurance and confidence.

Besides, the humanoid monster before him did not look particularly formidable.

A humanoid NPC. Killing him might get me some good drops. With that thought, Cao Hong slowly approached the humanoid NPC.

The other party seemed to notice him as well and immediately charged at him, saber in hand, yelling wildly.

Bring it on!

Cao Hong thought to himself as he took his stance, ready to test his strength against the humanoid monster.

But—

Before Cao Hong could show what he could do, more humanoid monsters like the first began pouring out around him.

One, two... ten... twenty!

They crowded together and surrounded him in an instant.

Cao Hong's face turned ashen, and his grip on his iron sword faltered.

He had never imagined that the one-on-one fight he had envisioned would turn into a gang beating in the blink of an eye.

Looking at those gleaming sabers and predatory stares, Cao Hong forced down a mouthful of saliva.

Run!

That was Cao Hong's immediate reaction.

But—

He was already surrounded. Before he could flee more than a few steps, a flurry of saber blows cut him down.

The agonizingly real pain instantly drained the color from his face.

Before he could scream, several more sabers filled his vision.

Fuck...

That was the only thought Cao Hong managed before his vision plunged into darkness.

A moment later, the white light dissipated.

Only an iron sword remained on the ground.

Qin Shujian stepped forward. Zhao Shanlin promptly picked up the iron sword beside him and handed it over.

"Stronghold chief, this is what the Otherworlder dropped."

"Mm!"

Qin Shujian accepted the iron sword and checked its stats. They were no different from those of an Ordinary Bandit's saber, so he casually tossed it to a bandit who was using a wooden club as his weapon.

"Pass on my order. Kill every Otherworlder who ventures more than two li beyond the boundaries of Beginner Village 10021. No mercy."

"Yes!"

Zhao Shanlin immediately acknowledged the order.

Then he and the other bandits scattered into the wilderness to search.

Although he did not know why Qin Shujian wanted to wipe out these Otherworlders, he had no intention of asking.

Having joined the Liangshan Stronghold, Zhao Shanlin had some understanding of what he should and should not ask.

Especially since, in his eyes, these Otherworlders might look much like them.

But ultimately, there were still differences.

That reminded him of something Zheng Fang had once said.

Those not of our kind were bound to harbor different loyalties.

So killing them was simply killing them.

Once Zhao Shanlin and the others had all dispersed, Qin Shujian was left alone.

He was quite pleased by the respect Zhao Shanlin had shown him from beginning to end.

Some things did not need to be examined too closely.

As long as they obeyed and could serve his purposes, that was enough.