White light scattered and revealed Cao Hong's pitch dark expression.
He clenched his teeth in fury whenever he thought about how he was hacked to death by the flurry of blades just now.
He instinctively checked his attributes.
Cao Hong's expression became even uglier when he saw his attributes, and he screamed, "I'll f*** your mother!"
No matter how cultured of a man he was, he couldn't stop himself from cursing at this moment.
On his stage tab were the large words "Martial Entry-Level Zero." Those words blinded him with anger.
He died once and dropped a level.
A loss like that made Cao Hong feel heartache for the first time in his life.
However, he didn't remain furious for too long when he saw white light shimmer constantly around him.
"F***, you blasted Liangshan Stronghold!"
"To hell with you!"
The curses of various players spread into his ears.
"I chased after chickens and ducks all day long and was about to finally reach Martial Entry-Level One. Then you cleared all my progress to zero directly. I'm not playing this lousy game anymore!" Another player said furiously.
The rest of the players looked at him with sympathy when they heard his words.
At this moment, Cao Hong also saw the notification he received from the system.
"You have been killed by the Mountain Bandits of the Liangshan Stronghold!"
Liangshan Stronghold!
Mountain Bandits!
Cao Hong suddenly reached an understanding when he combined his experience with the words of the other players.
As it turned out, he was not the only one who was killed. Other players also experienced a similar encounter to him.
"It looks like all of us have been killed by the Mountain Bandits of the Liangshan Stronghold. We can't let this matter go like this. When have NPCs bullied in any game?"
"We should form a team and massacre all of the Mountain Bandits from the Liangshan Stronghold!" one player suggested.
These words immediately got the approval of the other players.
Anyone would be furious if they encountered something like that.
They had spent a great deal of effort accumulating experience points, but it was cleared to zero when they respawned. They wasted a day or two with the effort they put in. None of the players could accept that.
Even Cao Hong was stifling the anger in his heart.
However, when he was about to take out his weapon, he noticed something that made him frustrated once again.
His weapon. He had dropped it.
When he respawned, his weapon had become loot for an NPC.
"I am not a man if I don't exact revenge. We'll see who has the last laugh!" Cao Hong clenched his teeth in fury.
He saw that several players had already formed groups and were walking out of the village. He followed behind them.
Players could respawn. That was their greatest advantage.
Even though they knew that the Mountain Bandits of the Liangshan Stronghold were probably stronger than them, they had the advantage in terms of numbers.
Cao Hong believed they could squash the Mountain Bandits to death just with the number of players alone.
…
On the other side, in the Liangshan Stronghold, Qin Shujian let out a satisfied smile when he looked at his constantly increasing Life Value.
He couldn't deal with the starter village for the time being.
However, it didn't mean that he had no way of restricting the players' growth.
Most of the players hadn't even reached Martial Entry-Level One. They were much weaker compared to the Mountain Bandits from the Liangshan Stronghold.
Moreover, even though the Mountain Bandits were unintelligent, they were still Mountain Bandits. They had the advantage in terms of battling and killing compared to the new, inexperienced players.
The Mountain Bandits could also respawn. Qin Shujian didn't have to worry that his Mountain Bandits would be expended.
Finally, the coincident inclusion of Zheng Fang and his group gave the Liangshan Stronghold a considerable boost in strength.
Thus, Qin Shujian had decisively sent out a large number of Mountain Bandits to surround Starter Village #10021 and kill any players they encountered.
"I don't believe that the players will amount to anything if I restrict their activities to the starter village," Qin Shujian thought as his lips curled to form a cold smile.
The most powerful aspect of a player is their ability to level up by defeating monsters and being able to respawn an infinite number of times.
But, if there was no option for them to level up by defeating monsters, then all they had was the ability to respawn infinitely. That made them similar to an ATM that never stopped working.
Qin Shujian was adopting the method of leveling up by defeating monsters.
However, what was different for him was, he was farming players as if they were monsters.
"A Mountain Bandit of the Liangshan Stronghold, Sun Xiaoer, has advanced to Martial Entry-Level Two as he has killed so many Outlanders!"
Suddenly, a system notification caused Qin Shujian to freeze.
He then became elated.
"Level up. Other Mountain Bandits can also level up by killing players!"
This discovery came as a shock to Qin Shujian, but it was also a welcome surprise.
He always thought that the other Mountain Bandits had to follow the steps and practice if they wanted to enhance their abilities.
However, the situation was completely different now.
Other Mountain Bandits could also level up by killing players!
This meant that the Mountain Bandits of the Liangshan Stronghold could improve quickly.
Qin Shujian had been worried about a problem at the start. His abilities had improved too quickly and the rest of the Mountain Bandits from the Liangshan Stronghold couldn't keep up with his progress.
However, that concern just vanished.
The Mountain Bandits could level up by farming players.
Qin Shujian rubbed his chin and murmured to himself, "I wanted to level up my strength as soon as possible and attack Starter Village #10021 directly to completely remove the players as a threat."
"However, since the Mountain Bandits of the Liangshan Stronghold can level up by farming players, then there's no need to rush to take down the starter village."
It was much better for him to profit as much as possible by leaving the village alive to be farmed by the Mountain Bandits.
However, while some Mountain Bandits leveled up, it was natural that some other Mountain Bandits died.
As the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, Qin Shujian knew what happened to every Mountain Bandit.
He received a notification from the system every time someone leveled up or died.
The Mountain Bandits who were killed by the players respawned after three days.
As long as the Liangshan Stronghold was not destroyed, these Mountain Bandits could continually respawn. However, if the players destroyed the Liangshan Stronghold, then the Mountain Bandits would no longer respawn.
"A Mountain Bandit of the Liangshan Stronghold, Tie Dan, has advanced to Martial Entry-Level Two as he has killed so many Outlanders!"
"A Mountain Bandit of the Liangshan Stronghold, Wu Goudan, has died!"
"A Mountain Bandit of the Liangshan Stronghold…"
A few notifications sprang out from the system. It proved that there was an intense battle between the Mountain Bandits and the players.
At this moment, several players were approaching from far away.
Qin Shujian happened to notice them, while they also happened to notice Qin Shujian.
The two parties involuntarily looked at each other.
However, two seconds later, one of the players shouted, "It is the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, run quick!"
The rest of the players also came to their senses.
They were some of the players who witnessed the battle between Qin Shujian and the rest of the expert NPCs at the starter village entrance a day ago.
They had a rough understanding of Qin Shujian's abilities. They knew they were no match for him.
It was true that players could respawn. However, no one was willing to experience the pain of death, especially for such a meaningless death.
Thus, these people turned to run the instant they saw Qin Shujian.
"You wish to run?' Qin Shujian tapped on the ground with the tip of his toes. His body sprung up into the air like an arrow out of its quiver.
He kicked his foot out in the air. A tremendous burst rang out in the air.
The player who lagged behind the group didn't even have time to turn around to see what was happening. The kick landed on his back and turned him in a bolt of white light that scattered into the surroundings.
The loud noise also caused the rest of the players to turn their heads back involuntarily.
They saw the scene of Qin Shujian killing a player with a mere kick, and they became even more fearful.
"F***!"