The male supporting character was actually myself.

The G Technology Company undercover agent, who had been waiting for an opportunity, quickly caught up with their elite team. Lin Ruochu didn't pass on any valuable information to them, so the undercover agents could only speculate based on conventional methods.

Other ordinary players, seeing the uniforms, knew it was another elite team from M Technology Company. They hurriedly followed, hoping to at least pick up some benefits. There were four routes leading to Hero's Canyon, and the professional team, well-equipped and powerful, was focused on getting through as quickly as possible, not even glancing at the monsters they killed.

Regular players can follow behind and, if they're lucky, pick up a lot of gold coins and equipment that drops.

If you're skilled enough at finding bargains, you can even follow them all the way to the edge of Hero's Canyon, where you can get hundreds of gold coins just by killing a single monster – a sure-fire way to make a profit!

And so, a large group of players followed Jiang Chen and his companions into the first level.

"Eagle and I will lead the way, Xiao Si and Wushuang will bring up the rear, and Yao Yao will just follow in the middle. If you get tired, just let us know and we'll find a place to rest." Jiang Chen's team consists of professional gamers specially trained by M Technology Company. They usually play games or work out to improve their agility and endurance. Each of them can run all the way to the next level without even breaking a sweat.

The eagle is an orc-like creature with a strength-boosting skin. It charges in with a classic Gatling gun and unleashes a barrage of bullets.

His task was to escort the team to the second level as much as possible. Since underwater combat wasn't his forte later on, he just needed to avoid slowing down his teammates and didn't need to worry about conserving bullets. He could just crush them with artillery fire.

The monster that crawled out from underground in the first level was shot down before it could even show itself, leaving only a golden glitter on the ground.

"As expected of a professional expedition team!" Lin Ruochu followed behind without having to worry about anything. Any remaining threats were eliminated by OGN's pinpoint fire. As an employee of G Technology Company, she had never dared to be so blatant before, and she couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

No matter what, Perfect World is M Technology's territory, so they can naturally launch a big offensive and bombard it; in contrast, G Technology, on M Technology's territory, can only pretend to be an ordinary player and dare not be so high-profile in order to avoid being discovered and banned.

Lin Ruochu was even more cautious, so every time she arrived at Brave Canyon, she was either severely depleted of weapons or seriously lacking in energy and stamina.

With the support of a large group this time, we should be able to gather enough strength to clear the level in one go!

Chapter Nineteen Arrival

With all-around firepower covering him, Jiang Chen only needed to occasionally fire a shot or two, and the others didn't even need to lift a finger. The fierce little white cat found that it had no use for its skills, so it could only lazily slump on its host's shoulder and wait to reach the next level.

The final level of Treasure Island is located in the heart of a snow-capped mountain that is clearly visible from any direction. To reach it, you need to traverse four major scenes: grasslands, hills, lakes, and mountains, which include various smaller scenes of varying difficulty, such as deserted villages and graveyards at night.

Simply traversing mountains and rivers is a huge test of physical strength, let alone dealing with the myriad strange and powerful monsters along the way.

"As expected of a professional team, your speed in clearing the levels is too fast!" Lin Ruochu had never experienced a level that was heavily protected and only required her to follow along. In the past, she had always struggled to pass through a level and had to rest for a while before she could continue.

As Jiang Chen ran and fired his gun, he couldn't help but laugh when he heard her sigh, "If this place hadn't been designated a no-fly zone, we could have been faster and saved more energy. We could have just sat comfortably on the plane."

"Hmm, that makes sense." She thought of the other party's helicopter. Sure enough, the various restrictions on Treasure Island were actually meant to give ordinary players a relatively equal opportunity.

Otherwise, with the financial and human resources of M Technology Company, they would have already flattened Treasure Island.

With everyone full of energy and stamina, they quickly ran to the end of the checkpoint, where a supply point was set up.

Players can replenish the guns and ammunition stored in the warehouse according to their needs. After all, there is a weight limit in the game, and the ammunition consumption along the way is not enough to support the next level, so it is necessary to replenish and take a short break.

"The waterway is next, I'll cover the rear." Eagle, who had traversed Treasure Island countless times and was very familiar with the route, replenished his ammunition and stood at the back of the group, letting the virtual elven avatar, Peerless South, take the lead.

Just like in the story, the virtual image of elves has the same characteristics—slender figure, intelligent and agile, elegant and beautiful.

The elf from the South of Peerless has long golden hair covered by a crown of golden leaves, a handsome face, and long, pointed ears that give him excellent hearing even underwater. He wears a silver robe that shines like stars and has a nearly two-meter-long slender leaf sword at his waist.

In Perfect World, the Elf race is primarily skilled in ranged combat with bows and arrows, but they also possess the power to draw a bow and arrow and shoot through monsters dozens of meters away, making them formidable in melee combat as well.

The only problem is that the elves are very fragile. Melee mages rely on their keen eyesight, exceptional hearing, and agile movements to avoid injury. They are subject to complex environmental limitations in other maps, but they can dominate the most restricted areas in the Treasure Island underwater world.

Unlike on land, once you enter the underwater world, those silent monsters can always jump out and attack unexpectedly.

Ordinary players need to control both their body and their breathing, always ready to take a breath to avoid choking on water. Only experienced veterans who have died countless times in this level can spare the energy to deal with underwater monsters.

"Just keep swimming forward, leave the monsters to me; leave the oxygen to Xiao Si." Wushuang Zhinan made a cool gesture, drew the long sword from his waist, and stepped into the water, his exquisitely carved leather boots gradually sinking.

Lin Ruochu glanced back and saw a girl named Xiao Si giving her a sweet smile. "I'm an alien from Planet Nix, a healer type who excels at healing and support."

With a wave of her hand, this alien girl with light green skin, huge eyes, and star-studded makeup appeared in her hand, revealing a beautifully crafted and luxurious green scepter that shimmered with light.

"The Tree of Life?!" Lin Ruochu was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked at the team leader OGN, "Are all the people ranked at the top of the Weapon Rankings from M Technology Company?"

Jiang Chen shook his head and laughed, "That's not it. The core mechanics of the game 'Perfect World' are quite fair, and there's not much we can control or change. You created Jingzhe and topped the leaderboard, but weren't you just an ordinary player who now joined M Technology Company?"

We don't have that many weapon-making geniuses, but we can recruit them into our team. Unless... the weapon is created by our old rival, G-Tech, we won't accept their offer.

After all, G Technology wants to develop holographic game pods to exploit players as slaves, and they can't bear to lose their talent.

Lin Ruochu: [?_??]

What, what is it to harvest players as slaves?

How come I've never heard of this?

As an undercover technical executive at G Technology Company, she felt a little guilty, unsure how much of what the other person said was true or false. She didn't press further and simply followed silently, preparing to go underwater.

"Ha~" The little white cat yawned boredly and muttered, "No matter what, virtual games are still M Technology Company's territory. They have so many high-end talents and professional players. I rack my brains but I can't figure out how a lone soldier like the protagonist can win against the wisdom and cooperation of so many people."

The protagonist's halo is so unreasonable! They just let him beat the game like that! He's clearly a brainless, irresponsible piece of trash who hasn't learned anything, yet he can do whatever he wants just because he has a halo. Ugh!

Jiang Chen gave it a sly smile, and before plunging into the water, he lowered his voice and said, "Don't worry, the script team doesn't care anymore. Even without his halo interfering, we can still beat the game!"

Since it's a man-made challenge, there must be a way to break it. In the original story, after the male and female protagonists accidentally passed the challenge and obtained the key, other players started to succeed one after another.

Because the game rules stipulate that only the person who solves the ten mysteries and collects all the keys first can inherit the legacy, Si Anrui is full of motivation and afraid of being overtaken by others, so he puts in a lot of effort to constantly improve his ranking in the game.

In the dramatic plot, Si Anrui falls out with M and G Technology Companies one after another because they have also obtained the key and want to compete for first place.

Jiang Chen speculated that the reason why the male and female protagonists were able to clear the game was not much due to Si Anrui's influence, but most likely because of Lin Ruochu's help. After all, her Jingzhe skill was one of the key factors for success, which greatly narrowed the gap with other professional players.

Moreover, thanks to Lin Ruochu's comprehensive protection, Si Anrui's real account was not traced out. Otherwise, M Technology Company would have targeted him and just waited for the key to be collected before banning his account.

For ordinary players to challenge game companies, it's simply wishful thinking without the protagonist's plot armor!

Putting everything else aside, which of the company's top talents isn't a hundred times better than Si Anrui in terms of brains, physical strength, and endurance? Without the help of an unreasonable halo, what merit or ability does he have to be ahead of everyone else?

Upon entering the underwater world, the realistic feeling of holding one's breath is unsettling.

Human beings' innate fear of water is amplified to an extreme in this level, and even professional gamers will inevitably experience a racing heart and difficulty concentrating.

In real life, Lin Ruochu can swim and can overcome speed very quickly;

Everyone else had gone through this challenge many times, so they naturally adapted to the feeling of floating in the water much faster.

The scepter in Xiao Si's hand glowed brightly. As soon as it entered the water, a soft light emanated from the top of the emerald, enveloping his teammates. The "Life Protection" skill was released, and everyone felt the feeling of holding their breath disappear as they were within the protection range and could breathe freely.

"As expected of the number one spot on the medical category list, the auxiliary effects are amazing!" Lin Ruochu praised sincerely. She truly admired the design skills of this weapon. As a weapon-making master, she understood all too well the difficulty involved.

"The original design was better, but we still couldn't find a more suitable material to build it." Xiao Si explained with a smile: "Currently, the life protection effect can only ensure that people who can swim can breathe freely without feeling breathless, but if teammates can't swim in reality, even if they can breathe, they will still panic and lose control of their bodies, which will greatly affect their underwater combat."

She was originally just an ordinary player, but because her reaction speed wasn't good at fighting, she chose to be a healer and be responsible for casting support skills for her teammates.

But her real-life friends who used to play with her always complained that she was in the way. No matter what the reason for the loss was, they would curse and blame it on her, complaining that she was too slow to heal, not good at replenishing mana, too slow and fragile to protect herself, didn't know how to position herself or tactics, and that she allocated the wrong skill points and couldn't remove negative effects, and so on.

At first, Xiao Si could tolerate it, after all, they were good friends in real life.

But as time went on, she got angry because everyone in the team, whether they knew her or not, would blame her for the failures.

Nobody has such a good temper that they can be manipulated at will every day, especially in the virtual world where you can delete a friend and then not care who they want!

Just then, M Technology Company tried every means to poach her. In the past, she only wanted to play games together to relax because of friendship and never considered turning games into a career, so she refused several times. Later, Xiao Si realized that it was better to do her job as a support role with a salary than to work hard for nothing. So she immediately chose to join M Technology Company and become a full-time support player.

Aside from needing to run dungeons for missions, she has plenty of time and a large quantity of rare materials to experiment with. She is currently preparing to create another medical weapon in hopes of making up for her shortcomings in combat.

The professional team doesn't make unreasonable demands on the wet nurses. They can earn a generous salary and be highly motivated just by doing their job well. Xiao Si thinks it's so awesome!

Just like now, Wushuang Zhinan is leading the way, easily clearing out monsters with a long sword that scatters starlight with every swing; the captain occasionally adds a shot; the newly joined Yaoyao is walking in the middle, and I just need to use the Tree of Life to create a protective layer behind her, with the eagle bringing up the rear, making me feel very safe.

Even if the mission fails, no one will shirk responsibility or blame others; by then, professional players will be reviewing the game and preparing to try again.

They proceeded through each level in an orderly manner, and by the time they reached Brave Canyon, the other three teams had also arrived.

"As expected of a professional team, we've been incredibly lucky to have followed them all the way here today. We've collected over ten thousand gold coins alone, we're rich! Haha!"

"Damn, you're really lucky! I was fortunate enough not to die, but I didn't get much, only a few thousand gold coins."

"There's someone even luckier. I saw in the group that someone came in with the Eastern Front. The third boss dropped a top-tier armor, which that girl picked up. Damn! She just casually listed it and made hundreds of thousands!"

"Don't even mention it. I saw it too, but there were too many people and I was too afraid to get too close to the other team rushing through the checkpoint. So, someone else got there first."

"The girl had just picked it up when she got hit by a bullet from a monster and died."

"I won big without even kicking the bucket! Top-tier armor, worth hundreds of thousands! Damn, why don't I have such good luck..."

……

A group of players waiting to snag a bargain gathered in the safe zone, whispering amongst themselves, none daring to venture forward rashly.

If you're not a member of someone else's team, you won't have teammates to protect you. If a stray bullet comes flying at you, you'll be badly injured, if not killed.

These professional players from M Technology Company naturally had no intention of killing, but they were so powerful that they could kill monsters with bullets as if they were free. If you got caught in the crossfire and were killed, it would be a pointless death.

Since we've already followed them this far, we might as well play it safe and wait for them to advance into the canyon. Maybe we can find even more good stuff then!

“There’s only one hour left on the countdown, we can’t afford to waste too much time.” Jiang Chen glanced at the countdown that had already started above and instructed, “Wushuang, follow me, we’ll clear the way with our bows and arrows, one on the left and one on the right; Yaoyao, it’s up to you now.”

Lin Ruochu didn't fire a single shot from beginning to end. Full of energy and confidence, she held Jingzhe in her hand, tested the aim, and said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of any monsters that are a little further away."

Finally, the most crucial moment arrived. The little white cat perked up, shook its fur, and listened for a while with its fluffy ears. Then it went up to its host and whispered, "Host, there are people from G Technology Company mixed in with the crowd at the back. They're planning to come up and steal from us when we're almost done!"

"So far, no one has been able to successfully enter the canyon. Who knows what unexpected situations might occur inside? Everyone, be careful," Jiang Chen instructed, while also giving the little white cat a wink.

The fluffy little cat immediately understood, made a throat-slitting gesture with its little paw, and grinned mischievously: "Don't worry, host, with the assassin cat here, I guarantee that if they dare to come up here, they'll die without a burial place!"

"Whoosh!" With the bow fully drawn, Jiang Chen fired the first arrow, pinning down the monster that was closest to him, which was peeking out from the cliff face of the canyon, without triggering any detonation mechanism.

Wushuang Zhinan also took out the elven longbow, concentrating intently and not daring to be distracted. As soon as he released the arrow, the monster on the other side of the cliff fell down.

Lin Ruochu did not make any rash moves and watched intently as her opponent smoothly cleared the monsters at the entrance of the canyon.

Before this, M Technology Company would usually close off the entire area under the guise of an update when trying to complete the game, making it impossible for ordinary players to enter. Even the undercover agent from G Technology Company couldn't get a video of the game's completion process firsthand, and she didn't even know how far the other side could get.

Judging from the captain's and Wushuang Zhinan's superb archery skills, even without Jingzhe's help, the difficulty shouldn't be too high, and clearing the level is just a matter of time.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

More than a dozen arrows were fired at lightning speed, but Jiang Chen and Wushuang Zhinan did not step into the canyon.

Everyone held their breath and watched. Even Lin Ruochu, who had tried to come here many times, was puzzled. She had never been able to clear out so many monsters so quickly. Every time, when she got to the seventh or eighth monster hanging on the cliff, it would inexplicably explode.

The monsters at the entrance have all been cleared out, so why aren't they moving forward?

"Prepare for the Awakening of Insects!" Jiang Chen raised his hand to signal, "Uncertain location, but a monster attack is imminent!"

Chapter Twenty: Checks and Balances

Monsters attack right at the entrance?

Lin Ruochu, who had never fought to this point before, was a little nervous. Sure enough, as soon as the other party finished speaking, she caught a glimpse of a gray shadow flying from the nine o'clock direction. Without even thinking, she subconsciously pulled the trigger.