"What the hell is this!"

Zhang Aniu swung his copper hammer, smashing several players who tried to pick up easy loot into meat pies, then watched as they respawned and scampered away, lively as ever, which made him feel like his world view was about to collapse.

As a mountain bandit leader, he had clashed with the government soldiers several times before.

He knew that even the soldiers, after being brutally slaughtered, would have their morale completely crushed.

But this group of players was simply unreasonable!

Although these people generally lacked combat experience, their "invincibility and painlessness" made them a terrifying force.

Even ants can kill an elephant when in large numbers!

It was only because Zhang Aniu had never played zombie games before, otherwise he would have found these players quite similar to zombies.

Weak and stiff in their movements, but fearless, and because of resurrection, their numbers seemed almost unchanged!

Although he fought valiantly, killing at least thirty players, the crowd surrounding him just kept growing.

And his subordinates around him were nearly all dead...

Even the most cunning Hua Xiao'er, who had been stealthily sniping with cold arrows and killing with each shot, was overwhelmed as the players used their own lives to exhaust his stash of arrows!

Zhang Aniu, despite having the strength of five hundred pounds in each arm, was also wearing down from continuous fighting and was now panting like a bull, eyes bloodshot, his heart chilled with fear, considering making a blood-soaked escape.

He roared, and his left hand's copper hammer flew out, breaking through the players' encirclement as he limped towards the gate of the stronghold.

"Damn it! The BOSS is running!"

"Are you kidding me? We've barely managed to whittle down its health, and now it's running away?"

"Where's the MT? Get the taunt on!"

The players were flabbergasted.

Wan Donglin, wielding an iron-clad shield looted from a bandit's corpse, shouted loudly, banging on the shield, relentlessly cursing and swearing.

But alas... all of this had no effect on a man desperate to survive!

Zhang Aniu, though limping, moved quickly and still managed to wield his hammer, proving to be unstoppable, looking like he might actually make it out.

Jiang Shang watched the scene in a panic but was utterly helpless.

"Get out of my way!"

Just then, the players heard a sharp cry.

A woman, soaked in blood, pounced forward like a female leopard, going straight for Zhang Aniu.

Zhang Aniu swung his hammer, but with diminishing strength and speed, the woman agilely dodged.

She leapt up with her elastic thighs, climbed onto Zhang Aniu's neck, and executed several perfectly standard chokes and neck breaks in close-quarters combat.

Then she raised her right hand high, holding a broken wooden stake like a dagger, and stabbed it into Zhang Aniu's eye socket.

Pssht!

Amidst the splashing blood, the huge man's body heavily collapsed to the ground.

"Phew..."

Xie Biqi got off Zhang Aniu's body, gasping heavily, feeling a surge of hot blood inside her.

'Did I... just kill someone?'

'No, wait, this is a game, it's all in the game!'

'But... it feels too real!'

She was professionally trained and had mastered various combat techniques, timing her attack incredibly well and delivering a fatal blow.

"Come on! Kill stealing!"

Upon seeing the big BOSS fall, the players cheered and then cried out, "Where's the loot? The rewards?"

"Any equipment drop? We have to distribute it fairly; no hoarding allowed!"

...

"Cough, cough!"

Jiang Shang stepped forward, "In 'Alternate World of the Game,' there's no drop system; you have to pick up equipment yourself. We will distribute everything after the battle, but now... we must take over Woniuzhai!"

Then, he turned towards the stronghold and suddenly felt something amiss.

The bandits on the walls were gone... simply gone...

The battle was chaotic, but it ended quite quickly, with all the attacking bandits wiped out.

And the number of players hardly reduced, looking as if they hadn't lost anyone at all.

Even as they lay in pools of blood, laughing heartily with missing arms and broken legs as if it were nothing, they were like a bunch of madmen...

They didn't know how terrifying they appeared to outsiders.

At least, the panic of the Jinxiu Scholar who was left in charge was enough to send chills down someone's spine.

The villagers were highly superstitious, and who would want to make enemies with a group of monsters who seemingly could not die?

When the Scholar witnessed the defeat of the boss, he immediately abandoned the entire Woniuzhai and fled through the back door!

With the main leaders dead or fled, the henchmen naturally followed suit.

After all, what could one expect from bandits—discipline?

"Damn it!"

A player climbed over the palisade and suddenly shouted, "The monsters have run away!"

"Are you kidding me? Monsters can flee?"

"This game is too intelligent, isn't it?"

Other players rushed into the stronghold only to be dumbfounded.

"Regardless..."

"We... have won!"

Jiang Shang raised his wooden spear and laughed out loud.

...

In Grotto Heaven.

Xu Ran took off his VR glasses and immediately heard sobbing from nearby.

It was Zhang Xuanyi!

This delicate-faced girl was crying, her eyes swollen red, with a circle of tissues scattered around her.

"Wuwu... Ranran, I'm so scared!"

Tears covered her face: "I'm really scared..."

During the previous battle, she hadn't killed anyone, but to save her, Xu Ran had split a bandit right in front of her.

The sight of intestines mixed with organs and the oozing blood had terrified the young girl.

There was also the horror of earlier beheadings.

For a schoolgirl, it was simply too much.

"I want to exit the game, I'm not playing anymore."

Zhang Xuanyi sobbed as she spoke through her tears.

"Mm, I support you!"

Xu Ran gently patted Zhang Xuanyi's shoulder, comforting her.

Facing combat and the gore was ultimately too cruel, or else there wouldn't be so many soldiers with post-war trauma.

What he needed to do was comfort Zhang Xuanyi, not continue to agitate her.

"Wait... what language did you just speak?"

Xu Ran suddenly widened his eyes.

Zhang Xuanyi froze, her big eyes flickering innocently, but then she realized, because she had purchased the 'Otherworld Language Proficiency' in the game, she had just spoken in an otherworld language!

Xu Ran and she had also been conversing in that otherworld language!

"That world's language? It can be brought back to the real world?"

"What the hell is the principle behind this?"

Xu Ran's eyes widened: "And... what if there are skills or even supernatural powers later on?"

...

In a study.

Jiang Shang had a serious expression as he wrote a series of strange characters on a sheet of white paper.

"Is this... otherworld script? After exchanging it, it can actually be used in the real world. Combine that with the realism of the experience... traversal? The development team has nearly made no attempt to hide this, what kind of confidence is that?"

His eyes gradually brightened, and then he sighed again.

He regretted not being more determined last time to acquire that gaming equipment.