All players: I can choose my own dungeon rewards.

Under the guidance of the little boy, Wang Zhifan followed into the dark mountains and walked for half an hour on the winding and rugged mountain road before arriving at his destination, Xiaohe Village.

Xiaohe Village is a small village built on the top of a low mountain. The houses in the village include brick houses and thatched houses, with a total of about fifty households. The overall appearance of the village is small and shabby, exuding a sense of darkness and desolation.

When Wang Zhifan stepped into the mud and stone entrance of Xiaohe Village, he found several villagers standing at the doorsteps of their homes looking at him with a mixture of indifference and curiosity.

It was a rather contradictory feeling. The villagers were clearly surprised by his arrival, and there was undisguised resistance or hostility in their eyes.

"Xiao Qiang, are there only old people and children in your village? Where have the younger people gone?"

At this time, Wang Zhifan found that most of the villagers of Xiaohe Village who appeared in his field of vision looked to be over 60 years old, and there was no middle-aged or young people. He asked the little boy next to him who was wearing a rustic blue shirt.

"Uncle, are you talking about my brother, sister, father, and mother? Grandma said they have all gone to work in other places and will not be back for a few years."

Xiao Qiang blinked and answered, his tone sounding a little lost.

"Well, they will definitely come back to see you and bring you lots of gifts."

After hearing this, Wang Zhifan realized that Xiaoqiang was probably a left-behind child, so he immediately spoke to comfort him so as not to make the child sad.

The two chatted like this for a while, and after a while, they arrived at the end of the small village and stopped in front of a thatched house closest to the cliff.

This is the boy Xiaoqiang’s home. When they arrived, they happened to see an old woman with wrinkles on her face and gray hair looking out.

The old woman was holding a lit incense stick in her hand. When she saw her grandson coming back, the incense stick in her hand dropped to the muddy ground out of surprise. She approached with a fairly steady pace.

"A Qiang! My dear A Qiang! Grandma knows that you are blessed and nothing will happen to you!"

The old woman with gray hair and wrinkles on her face then bent down slightly and excitedly hugged Xiaoqiang in her arms, her face full of joy at the return of her grandson.

Wang Zhifan, who was standing aside, did not disturb the reunion of the grandmother and grandson, but suddenly turned his head to look at the cliff more than ten meters away. He sensed that more than a dozen people were coming up quickly from the bottom of the cliff.

"Players? As expected, they all come here."

Without even having to walk over to take a look, Wang Zhifan knew that the person coming up must be a player.

On the one hand, only players can climb up the cliff so easily, and the NPCs he currently sees definitely do not have this ability.

On the other hand, he is already familiar with the routine of the dungeon and will always gather other players with him at a certain point.

However, Xiaoqiang's grandmother obviously didn't notice that a group of outsiders were about to arrive. After holding her grandson, she quickly turned around and looked at Wang Zhifan to thank him:
"Young man! Thank you for bringing my grandson back! If you need any help, please let me know..."

Wang Zhifan immediately gave the old woman a proper smile and said:
"You're welcome, grandma. Your grandson's return was mainly due to the protective jade pendant you gave him. Saving him was just a piece of cake for me.

The only thing I want to know now is where the Land of the Dead is. I might need to stay there for a month."

While saying these words, Wang Zhifan subtly observed the subtle expressions on the old woman's face, trying to infer something from them.

Because he is indeed lacking in intelligence at the moment and needs accurate and true information to plan his next move.

The first and foremost problem was that he had to figure out which area the Land of Dead Souls was and whether it was where they were currently standing.

Otherwise, if you take it for granted that the place where you first landed is the land of dead souls, it will easily lead to many subsequent problems.

Sure enough, as Wang Zhifan said the three words "Land of Dead Souls", he keenly noticed that the old woman's slightly turbid pupils shrank, and it was obvious that she was very afraid of this place.

The old woman then sighed and advised Wang Zhifan:
"Hey... young man... the Land of Dead Souls is not a good place. I advise you not to go there. There are many evil things there, and they are very fierce. They are far from being comparable to the lonely ghosts here. Even outsiders with profound Taoism have suffered a lot there..."

While the old woman was persuading Wang Zhifan, more than ten people came up from the cliff not far from them.

Most of these people were relatively young, dressed differently, both men and women, and there were even three white people and two black people among them. They were obviously a group of gamers.

The players' perception was undoubtedly better than that of ordinary people. When they heard the old lady who was talking to Wang Zhifan, who looked like a player, mentioned the Land of Dead Souls, they all came closer.

Wang Zhifan didn't care about these approaching players, nor did he mind sharing his information with them, so he replied to the old woman:
“Grandma, I know the Land of the Dead is dangerous, but I have reasons to go there. I won’t regret it even if I die in there.

Please tell me where the Land of the Dead Souls is. If possible, can you tell me which places in the Land of the Dead Souls are safer..."

He then brought up another more critical issue, which was the safe zone in the Land of Dead Souls. After all, it was a survival-type copy, and it was important to find a place where one could rest in peace.

However, before the old woman in front of him could answer him, Xiaoqiang, the old woman's grandson standing next to him, was persuaded. He raised his hand and pointed to the dark mountains in the distance, and said to Wang Zhifan:

"Uncle, I know it to my soul. It's the only mountain pass over there. I heard that place is very big..."

Snapped!
Before Xiaoqiang could finish his words, the old woman slapped him on the mouth, neither too hard nor too light, forcing him to stop talking.

"A Qiang! Who told you about that place?"

Then the old woman raised a stern face and shouted, obviously unhappy that her grandson knew about such a place.

"Wow... Grandma! Grandma!"

After being beaten like this, Xiaoqiang immediately started crying and even tried to roll on the ground to hide the truth. The scene became a little chaotic for a while.

"Don't cry, Xiao Qiang. Your grandma is worried about your safety."

Seeing this, Wang Zhifan helped pull Xiaoqiang up from the ground to prevent him from getting his clothes dirty. He also said a few words to comfort the child. Knowing that this situation was not something he could easily handle, he turned around and prepared to leave.

The reactions of the players watching nearby were similar. They could tell from the way the old woman beat Xiaoqiang that what Xiaoqiang said must be correct.

Now that they knew the location of the Land of Dead Souls, they could immediately go there to investigate, or ask around elsewhere.

But before Wang Zhifan had walked a few steps, he heard the old woman's warning from behind him: "Young man, the Land of the Dead is very dangerous. The safest place I know is the several dilapidated temples there!
There are broken ancient Buddha statues in the ruined temple, which can protect you through the night! But please remember, it must be a dark ruined temple to be safe!

If you see a temple that is not in ruins, or even has lights on at night, be very careful! "

After the old woman finished speaking, she pulled her grandson Xiaoqiang into the thatched hut and then closed the wooden door tightly, probably because she was going to give her grandson a strict education.

Her last words were spoken in a loud voice, and the players who were leaving all heard them clearly. For a moment, everyone stopped and began to gather into small groups to talk and discuss.

"Brother! I didn't expect that you not only arrived at the village before us, but also have first-rate intelligence gathering abilities!
How about you work with us to clear this instance? The three of us are all from Xia Country, and we are determined to unite and advance together! "

Three players, two men and one woman, walked up to Wang Zhifan. All three were dressed like Xia people. One of them, a sunny young man with a warm smile on his face, invited Wang Zhifan. His sincere eyes would make anyone feel good about him.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I'm not used to forming a team, so I won't join you."

After hearing this, Wang Zhifan quickly and politely declined the other party's invitation and said that he wanted to act alone.

It was inevitable that he would respond in this way.

Because he knew very well that he was different from other players, his equipment was much better than that of players of the same level. If he got too close to other players, his problems would easily be discovered, leading to a series of troubles.

Therefore, it is most appropriate to choose the lone wolf strategy, which can protect his secrets to the greatest extent.

At the same time, his personal strength is strong enough, and he does not have the most obvious weakness of a lone wolf.

"Brother! What era is this? Are you still using the lone wolf tactic? The penalty level has been lifted in this dungeon. It's very dangerous for you to act alone!"

The sunny young player couldn't help but shake his head and replied with a slightly exaggerated tone.

"Look at those people over there, they are not from our Xia country!
If you act alone and they ambush you outside, can you handle it?

Besides, there aren’t many of us in Xia Country this time. If we don’t unite together, how can we ensure a smooth passage?”

The man then nodded and pointed in the direction of the three white people and two black people among the players, wanting Wang Zhifan to recognize the current situation and understand that the Xia people must unite in order to survive this survival mission together.

I have to say that what this young man said makes a lot of sense.

In the dungeon where the penalty level mechanism has been cancelled, if players do not join a group to keep each other warm and insist on going solo, they will easily be defeated one by one by the group players.

After all, when there are players of the same level, having more players against one has an absolute advantage.

But Wang Zhifan also understood that unity has a prerequisite, that is, there must be enough trust between the members of the group, and it would be best if they were all very familiar with each other, the kind who knew each other inside out.

If a player treats another player as an old friend when he meets him for the first time, it can only be said that this player has an intellectual defect.

This is the key reason why Wang Zhifan chose the lone wolf strategy. He didn't even know the three players in front of him, and it was unrealistic for him to join them just because the other party said some nice words.

Wang Zhifan, who didn't want to continue to dwell on this issue, immediately shook his head to express his second refusal, then turned and headed down the mountain.

The three Xia players behind him did not continue to pester him when they saw him turn around and leave. They just looked at each other and exchanged glances.

After Wang Zhifan walked quite far away, the sunny young man lowered his voice and said to the two people next to him:
“This guy remains to be seen…

Generally speaking, in a copy of this level, all the fools would have died long ago. I guess he is the type who is confident in his strength...

But it’s not like we haven’t encountered strong opponents before, and we were able to defeat them smoothly after a few coordinated moves…”

Another young man with a more indifferent temperament did not comment. He turned his eyes to the direction where the other players were standing and said:
“Except for the one who just acted alone, it seems that everyone else in this instance came in as a team.

There were three white people in one group, two black people in another group, and four men and women gathered together who might be from the Han country judging by their makeup.

If we are all a group, the three of us don't have much advantage, so we have to be careful."

"Well, try not to act recklessly in the early stages. At least wait until you enter the Land of Dead Souls and let others help you find out the general situation."

The shorter female player among the three nodded and replied. As she spoke, a small silver dagger appeared between her fingers and flipped rapidly. Her movements were extremely agile.

Among the other groups, the content of their conversations was also very similar, basically confirming each group's strategy for clearing the current copy.

Although it was impossible for them to discuss detailed tactical content in such a semi-open manner, some general ideas could still be initially unified here.

The most notable point is that these player groups, without exception, behaved very restrained. They did not start a crazy civil war just because the penalty level of this dungeon was lifted. Instead, they first separated themselves into the strongest group and then tackled the dungeon.

The reason behind this is easy to understand. None of them are novice players and have long passed the stage of passionate brawls.

It is known that if players indulge in infighting in the early stage of the copy, resulting in a lot of people dying or being seriously injured at the beginning of the copy, the difficulty of clearing the copy will definitely increase significantly and it will be very easy to fail.

On the other hand, if the players are restrained enough in the early stages, the overall progress of the dungeon will definitely be smoother. At least, most of the difficulty of the dungeon will be revealed after the players have explored for enough time.

At that time, the player teams will be divided into males and females, and the winner will take all and make a lot of money, without having to worry about unexpected situations in the final copy that will be difficult to pass.

However, there is a problem in these confrontations, that is, lone wolf players are generally not qualified to sit at the table.

Most of the time, lone wolves are assumed to be a piece of meat on the table, and it depends on when the player team will take action.

This is the status of Wang Zhifan in the eyes of other players. After they confirmed with their own eyes that he was acting alone without teammates, they regarded him as a meal on the menu in their hearts.

In order to maximize his value, they will definitely not take action against him quickly, and at least let him go through the minefields in the copy.

If he unfortunately dies during the journey or is lucky enough to get a treasure, it can improve his cost-effectiveness as a meal. (End of this chapter)