The figure of the night is getting closer. There was nothing in the desolate forest except for the occasional crow's lonely chirping. At this time, the words of the people who were almost suppressed by the heavy snow were particularly abrupt. Following the footsteps of different shades, Gao Ling and the others have been out for more than a week.

This is the continent of Beltan in the virtual game "The Ninth World". As the northernmost point of this game world, this is undoubtedly the coldest place in the entire game. The North is already inaccessible, let alone a brand new dungeon area north of the massive glacier "Ice Dragon's Gaze".

Gao Ling, who was ordered to travel, was the captain of this march. As the only real player on the team, teaming up with a group of NPCs also feels quite weird.

No one wants to venture here. Especially natives like the Ryezes. Of course, they have no choice when there is a task. After all, Xuanyuan Zun, the king of the northern realm, the man with the terrifying "shock" ability, was the first man to unify the entire northern realm. For Xuanyuan Zun, the king of the north, all the people were full of respect and awe, and his orders were unquestionable.

Recently, there have been a lot of unbelievable situations in this game. And one of the strangest situations is in the North - the monsters that were supposed to stay in their own territory according to the game's settings and refresh regularly suddenly did not follow the rules and began to keep approaching the fortress, and even wanted to break through the fortress.

With the help of the "Ice Dragon's Gaze", Xuanyuan Zun, the king of the north, built a fortress. The purpose of building a fortress is to resist high-level mobs outside the fortress. But lately, it's not just the mobs that have come to attack, even some wildlings have joined the team!

Wildlings and mobs are both NPCs in the game. In order to pass through the fortress, the wildlings who would have killed each other with the monsters actually began to cooperate with the monsters! And as the personnel gathered, they made a number of threatening attacks. Of course, all this will be suppressed, but Xuanyuan Zun, the king of the north, is very concerned about why the wildlings, who have always been peaceful, keep fleeing their original "home" and even cooperate with monsters. So, he asked Gao Ling to investigate.

"It's not easy!" Gao Ling, the level 35 warrior player, said. In contrast to the aborigines, as a player, he has the power and skills that the aborigines do not have, and he is the "nobleman" in this game.

Recently, there has been a rumor among the "nobles" (players) that a flying orc player has found a new boss in the air north of the fortress - the boss is blood-red, like a demon, and people can't help but turn around and run when they see it!

But it's more of an urban legend, and no player has ever taken a picture of the monster, let alone defeated it. At the same time, the official, who has always updated the illustrated book quickly, has uncharacteristically not released any news this time, which is really a bit unusual.

- This series of events may be a bug in the system!

Gao Ling thought so,

- If you are lucky enough to defeat the rumored boss and get a special reward, then it is not impossible to become a player who has become the top player in the whole server!

Indeed, it is a normal idea to farm bosses and drop equipment. But what Gao Ling didn't know was that the base of the organization that controls this world, the Wallbuilder WALLING, has been attacked by the god species! Under the premise that the world wall has collapsed, the whole game has mutated - it is no longer the game world that is controlled by people! It's getting real!

"I don't think these savages will come here when they don't have anything to eat," Seeing that the surrounding woods were gradually darkening and the cold was becoming more and more aggressive, Ruiz (NPC) couldn't help but urge, "Let's go back." Lord Xuanyuan Zun is just asking us to go out of the city to explore the situation outside the wall, and by the way, deal with the wild people here! But the savages are dead, aren't they? Our mission is accomplished! ”

Deeply, Ruiz didn't believe such rumors.

In addition to Gao Ling and Ruiz, this group also has ten members including Noelle.

"I heard that the monster looks like a vampire? Still with wings on your back? This kind of thing only appears in stories that scare children not to run around in the middle of the night, don't you believe it? Lord Gao Ling! ”

Ruiz repeated it there again.

"I haven't seen the boss or anything, so let's not talk about it for now. Did the dead scare you, though? ”

Captain Gao Ling asked with a light smile. This game is really getting more and more realistic, and the snowflakes sneaked into Gao Ling's mouth when he opened his mouth to speak, and Gao Ling's teeth ached. "Tsk," he smacked his tongue and glared at Ruiz impatiently.

"I'm not just going to do a walk!"

Gao Ling is an ambitious player. But you can't come out and explore alone, after all, in the game "The Ninth World", there is no so-called backpack to hold equipment, everything is restored according to real proportions. Therefore, if you want to have enough time, you must have enough manpower and materials to support it, and Xuanyuan Zun's order is just an opportunity.

"Don't mention anything back until the mission is completed, especially some guys who rely on the old and sell the old to shake the morale of the army!"

Gao Ling obviously had no intention of going back. In the face of Gao Ling's provocation, Ruiz did not fall for his provocation. The silence along the way has already shown everyone's dissatisfaction, and he is not alone. Besides, he is already over fifty years old, and he can be regarded as an old guy. This old guy has seen too many nobles like Gao Ling come and go in his life. He didn't care about this painless sentence.

"The wild men outside the walls, dead are dead," he said, "and why should we go after the dead? ”

"But can you be sure they're really dead?"

Gao Ling's voice seemed soft but provocative,

"My dear Mr. Ryze, where is the proof?"

"Noelle sees it," Ryze said calmly, still calm, "and I believe what he says. ”

"Are you questioning me?"

"Nope! I'm just telling the truth! ”

The atmosphere became subtle for a moment. It's like two dry sticks of firewood, and only a little spark is missing to ignite.

"Oh, that's just the conclusion of the ignorant natives. You think I'll take it? ”

As a player, Gao Ling didn't look at these aborigines at all. In his mind, they were nothing more than a bunch of code with a human appearance in the game. Tracking down the wildlings wasn't his purpose, but it was his excuse to find the boss.

Ruiz had expected that sooner or later he would get himself involved in this dispute, but he didn't expect it so soon.

"My woman has said that dead people don't speak." He interjected.

"When did you say that? When you stretch your muscles and work hard only to find yourself penniless? ”

Gao Ling sneered at his pale yellow straw-like eyebrows. But the surrounding partners were all pale, and they were not moved by Gao Ling's evil joke at all. The cold made their faces frozen and unable to move, and even a slightly larger movement could tear their own skin!

"Tsk, you're just ignorant aborigines, just listen to me!" Gao Ling said angrily, "Give you a piece of advice, don't believe a woman's words, don't be sure!" ”

Gao Ling's suppressed anger echoed in the twilight forest.

The harsh living environment in the north has led to the scarcity of players here, and as one of the few players, Gao Ling was naturally reused by Xuanyuan Zun. Although his level is only thirty-five, he is definitely not comparable to the aborigines who are always only one level in terms of combat effectiveness. In fact, everyone has long had prejudices against Gao Ling's arrogance, but they didn't dare to say anything because of their strength.

"But there's still a long way back," Ruiz points out, "and it's going to take eight or nine days." It will be difficult for us to sustain our food and grass until that time. Besides, it was getting dark. ”

Gao Ling glanced at the sky with gusto.

"Isn't that the case every day at this time? Ruiz, as the elder of several of us, you shouldn't be afraid of the dark, right? ”

Noelle saw Ryze's clenched lip and the anger he suppressed under his heavy black cloak. Ryze has lived in the northernmost part of the world for decades, and no matter what the wind and cold, he has experienced much more than the milky kid in front of him. And it has been more than twenty years since he joined the legion and became a soldier! This kind of qualification is not something that makes people happy. But Reze wasn't just angry, beneath his wounded self-esteem, Noelle was vaguely aware of some underlying unease.

Maybe it's just an illusion caused by the confrontation between the two? Noelle hinted to himself, trying to ignore the uneasiness, but it didn't work out well.

Noelle has only been guarding the border for four years, but this is not the first time he has been here. Four years ago, when he followed Lord Xuanyuan Zun from the ancient secret passage in the "Ice Dragon's Gaze" to here, the eerie north of the northern realm frightened him to the point that his limbs weakened. Now that he is here again, he can't help but be embarrassed when he thinks about it afterwards. The same site, the same climate, the only difference is that now he is a veteran with more than 100 patrol experience.

Suddenly, a dark shadow broke the silence of everyone. The rustling of footsteps was unusually clear even in the snow. The crowd couldn't help but worry, what was going on around them? They don't know. But that shadow, very quickly, very quickly, is not of the good kind! "Ahh

Guy behind Gao Ling suddenly screamed. Everyone quickly turned around, and the white snow was gone, only to find that Guy's body had been fiercely entangled by a giant python wearing black scale armor. This giant python was five or six meters long, two fists thick, and everyone stopped in surprise, until the next second Guy's head was swallowed by this giant python in one gulp, and everyone reacted.

"A level forty creature? Bastard, you're even higher than me! Gao Ling silently recited the status bar in his mind and cursed after being able to see it only as a player, "Where's my long sword?" Quick, give me my sword, you shit! ”

"Long sword, long sword!" Gao Ling's back turned into a pot of porridge. And the only one who is calm is Noelle.

"Captain Gao Ling, go on!"

Noelle was also quick to respond. He immediately threw the long sword he was carrying to Gao Ling first. Although it was a white blade without any magic enhancement, Gao Ling still did not hesitate, raised the big knife and slashed directly horizontally.

However, Gao Ling, who wanted to control the force so that the attack only cut off the snake's body and not hurt Guy inside, understood when the long sword touched the giant python that with such scale armor, it was almost impossible to control the strength without hurting Guy.

- No, maybe if you try your best, you may not be able to cut through its scale armor with a single sword!

At such a critical juncture, Gao Ling actually sneered.

"Ahh This brute! Gao Ling was excited by this immersive fear. His body was trembling slightly, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised!

Seeing that the other party couldn't hurt himself at all, the giant python grinned provocatively and spat out the letter and screamed. The suffocating-sounding voice was provocative. Guy showed his head, and although he wasn't dead, his whole head turned dark purple!

"Woo, woo......" Guy was still struggling, his mouth was faintly gasping, but his ribcage was desperately rising and falling.

The terrifying power of the giant python squeezed Guy's right hand and arm to the ground and turned purple, and after continuing to contract, the blood vessels finally couldn't withstand such a lot of pressure and exploded! Blood splattered everywhere like a fountain! Gao Ling knew that if he continued like this, he would lose his life before he could save Guy!

Safi behind him couldn't watch his companion die like this. Raising his broadsword, he mustered up his courage and quickly walked around the back of the python and slashed at him. But the result was still unscathed.

"Let go, let go of Guy, you monster!"

Murray also slashed with his sword. However, let the two of them attack at will, the giant python was unmoved, and the blood bar as high as 1000 was just buckled little by little. Perhaps fed up with this mosquito bite, it finally bared its fangs viciously, biting Murray's throat almost instantly, and then spewing venom out of its fangs, melting Safi into a puddle of flesh!

"Ahh You've killed all my faithful, industrious brutes! Without them, who would handle all this heavy stuff for me? ”

Gao Ling is a little duplicitous. Although he said this, he was angry that his partner had been killed. He could feel that even if it was an NPC or a computer code, he was consciously trying to live hard!

"You bastard, congratulations on your success in angering Young Master Ben!"

Noel suddenly discovered that the snowdrifts around Gao Ling's body had begun to melt! Gao Lingdi's body was slightly red, and the heat was extremely conspicuous under the extreme cold, as if it was a humanoid steam engine! He unleashed his newly acquired skill, "Berserk"! Gao Ling, who exuded a bright red rage all over his body, briefly increased his strength to a level beyond his own level, and his attack showed no mercy to his subordinates. Roaring and writhing his body, he tried his best to use the muscles of his body. With a ferocious roar, Gao Ling unleashed the power of his muscles with all his strength, slashing the blade of the long sword towards the giant python. After a brief collision with the scale armor, it was successfully broken and slashed deep into the flesh of the python!

"It worked!"

Everyone cheered, and the damage caused by the "rage" was immediate, but the powerful destructive force slashed into Guy's body with the same viciousness because it was uncontrollable. A hot air was instantly emitted with a "poof" sound similar to a balloon leaking. Along with it were countless bright red red liquids with a fishy smell, as well as the gushing out of python internal organs. Due to the entanglement of the giant python, the air pressure in Guy's body has long been out of balance. Now that his body had stopped after being slashed into his spine by a long sword, it was like a leaking balloon, and things were spraying wildly.

Ruiz subconsciously blocked his eyes with his hand. Even the well-informed could not accept such a picture. Not to mention the other young people - a few of them couldn't stand the sight and even fell to their knees in the icy snow.

Disgusting, disgusting, even NPCs have the same reactions as human players. And Gao Ling, who is a real player, is also breathing quite rapidly. Even though he usually looked down on these natives, and even just used them as code, when he really killed him by mistake, his heart began to feel extremely uncomfortable. His body trembled nervously at the blood on the ground.

"Dead ...... Dead ......"

It was the first time he had killed an aborigine. He once thought about whether he would kill a civilian (NPC) in the game one day, and he even thought that it was just a code, and he wouldn't be moved by it, but unfortunately this was not the case.

"Bastard, why did you make the game so bloody and real? No wonder the government is starting to rectify this game, what the hell. Gao Ling cursed the developer of the game so hard that he didn't even know who made the game.

"I'm killing NPCs, not real people, not real people......"

Repeating and autosuggesting over and over again, Gao Ling ordered after forcibly regulating his spirit. "Bury Guy, Murray, and Safi......" He drew his sword, thrust it into the ground, and found the stone next to him and sat down. And the people were silent, and did as they were divided.

Thinking about it carefully, apart from the harsh weather, in the past few days, Gao Ling had never encountered such a crisis, nor had he felt such uneasiness. Tonight was an exception, very different from the past, and there was an inexplicable horror in the dark curtain that made his hairs stand on end, as if something was staring at them all the time, and when they were exhausted and relaxed, they would jump out and kill them. For the first time, he felt how annoying Lord Xuanyuanzun's orders and his own ambitions were.

The game map is pitch black, this is an unexplored area, and there are no indications. Everything is unknown, just like a real adventure.

Along the way, they stumbled upon the three-clawed footprints that resembled wild men. For nine days, they have been working day and night to speed up and advance, but the environment has deteriorated day by day, and it has now fallen to the bottom. The eerie north wind blew the shadows of the trees, like hideous creatures. Noelle felt like he was being watched by something cold and inexplicable that didn't like him all day, and Rhy felt it. It's just that he hasn't complained. But at this moment, Reze only wanted to turn the horse's head and flee back to the fortress as if he was dead. But this was a thought that could never be said in front of the chief - especially a senior like Gao Ling, who was eager to show himself in front of Xuanyuan Zun.

But something like this happened, and Ruiz couldn't bear it anymore.

"Lord Xuanyuan Zun asked us to investigate the situation outside the wild wall, and we did so and did our best," Ruiz walked up to Gao Ling and plucked up his courage and said, "But now, we have found nothing, and three brothers have died!" ”

"What if you find the rumored demon? Maybe we can learn something and give Lord Xuanyuan Zun an explanation. But we didn't see any sign of it......"

Gao Ling, who buried his head deep between his legs, had a low voice, and he no longer had the arrogance he had before.

"But this is not Lord Xuanyuanzun's order!"

Ruiz's whole body was not only trembling because of the cold weather, but also because of his excitement,

"Maybe someone is looking away...... Maybe those wild men are the so-called demons? Are you sure that what your nobles say must be right? "Rishi can't stand Gao Ling trampling them like pawns." I know you've never taken us seriously, but we want to stay alive too! ”

Everyone looked at the two of them quietly, and Gao Ling's expression was very ugly. Ryze knew that it would not be good to go head-to-head with the chief, and he turned to the incident that had just happened—"Guy just died casually...... And Sophie, and Murray! I think, you should think about it, he also has a family and children. It's not just him, most of you here, except for you, are the same! ”

But even though Ruiz deliberately suppressed his temper, his voice grew louder. It's no wonder that no matter how much you've been through, you can never get used to the shock of a life passing away in front of your eyes.

The people around him were all staring at Gao Ling because of Ruiz's words, and those eyes were dark and empty. Gao Ling felt a burst of gloom and fear.

“…… I got ......."

Although Gao Ling replied, this was definitely not his compromise. More than half of the food and grass items carried have been consumed, especially the mounts, which is in big trouble! What's more, Gao Ling saw something different in the eyes of Ruiz and everyone - it was the seed of rebellion!

"However, I didn't run away either!"

As he spoke, he stared at Ryze with a cold gaze, the sword in his hand stabbing into the snow. His tone still showed an unshakable feeling. With a proud look on his face, he looked up at the brothers sitting around him.

"When we get to the camp that Guy said and see the corpses of the savages, let's go back!"

When everyone heard this, they all breathed a sigh of relief and showed a happy look. Their eyes were immediately filled with a longing, a desire to go home. It's just that on Ruiz's battered face, there is no luster to be seen for a long time.

Ruiz nodded and retreated to his place, but the small eyes that flashed brightly still looked at Gao Ling secretly.

"Of course, if there is no mess!"

Gao Ling added, this is specifically for Ruiz. In fact, Gao Ling didn't want to give up, but Gao Ling felt the fear of humanity from the aborigines for the first time, and he didn't want to take any risks.

"Noel, tell me again what you see. Be careful and don't miss any details. ”

Gao Ling decided, he decided to return to the fortress after seeing the corpses. Of course, he didn't forget that he could log out of the game at any time, even if it would cost him all his work when he was really scared.

"When I've confirmed it with my own eyes, let's go back. Oh yes, remember to bring things from Guy, Murray, and Safi...... We can't bring people back, so we have to bring something to his family and give them something to think about. Then, Gao Ling turned his head to look at Noel, as if he didn't want to mention anything about Guy anymore.

"Even a guy like this is fine...... Rhyz muttered.