Chapter 136 The Gathering

Fei Tian Tong and Yongyuan were both considered influential figures among the players present. Players generally looked down on studios, so only the studio boss, Gaishi Qiying, was somewhat respected. Wu Ye, as a director under the studio, held a decent position within the studio, but in the eyes of these big-shot players, he was just a nobody.

Wu Ye, being easily ignored, didn't bother introducing himself and stood silently behind Gaishi Qiying. Unexpectedly, Gaishi Qiying turned his head and said to him, "Go get the wine." Director Wu Ye was instantly demoted to a wine server.

Wu Ye's frustration intensified as he fetched the wine. Gaishi Qiying and Fei Tian Tong toasted and drank merrily, while the four followers behind them stared at each other blankly. Yongyuan and Wu Ye were mentally prepared for their roles. However, the two brought by Fei Tian Tong were not. They were all game players. Even if one was the guild leader and the others were ordinary members, there was no such thing as hierarchy. This situation, where one drank while the others stood, had never happened before. But now that the others were putting on such airs, they had no choice but to play along. The frustration level of these two guys was no lower than Wu Ye's.

Fortunately, Gaishi Qiying was a mature businessman. After drinking a cup with Fei Tian Tong, he immediately addressed the other two personally: "Why are you two standing? Have a seat. What are your names?"

These two players felt a surge of vanity as the other leader greeted them proactively. They didn't stand on ceremony, gave their names, and took their seats. Yongyuan didn't have any information on these two. Gaishi Qiying greeted them politely and then said to all three, "Make yourselves comfortable. I won't keep you company for now. More guests are arriving."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone else entered. This time, it was a lone individual. Gaishi Qiying and Yongyuan had both received Ying Yang's message earlier. Since there were already guests in the room, Ying Yang couldn't just poke his head in and call out.

"Safety First. Is Yongyuan here?" The newcomer introduced himself and then asked for Yongyuan, as they had all been invited by him.

"I am Yongyuan." Yongyuan quickly stepped forward and introduced Gaishi Qiying to the newcomer, while also passing Gaishi Qiying information: "Safety First from Prosperous Flower City, a level five mercenary group leader who gets around, has connections in Prosperous Flower City, sixth on the thief ranking, a formidable character."

"Hello, hello." Safety First greeted Gaishi Qiying casually, unlike Fei Tian Tong, who had put on airs. Gaishi Qiying exchanged a few casual greetings, led him to a seat, and served him wine, treating him exactly the same as Fei Tian Tong.

At this point, there were still a few minutes before the agreed-upon time. Both of these groups had arrived early. Subsequently, people arrived one after another. Some came alone like Safety First, while others brought two or three brothers like Fei Tian Tong. There were even two who brought a woman and were being intimate as they entered. However, they quickly restrained themselves when they noticed the attention of everyone in the room. Yongyuan consistently played the role of introducer, Gaishi Qiying maintained the same attitude towards everyone, and Wu Ye continued to serve tea and wine, his frustration escalating rapidly.

Finally, all the players on the thirty-one-person list provided by Yongyuan to Gaishi Qiying had arrived. These were all influential figures in their respective main cities, but their introductions didn't cause much of a stir. After all, the thirty-one people came from different main cities. Although they were famous in their own territories, they were not world-renowned like Qian Li Zui.

Seeing that all thirty-one people with diverse backgrounds had arrived, Gaishi Qiying felt satisfied. He perked up again and formally stepped forward.

The people present were generally aware of the purpose of the gathering through Yongyuan. Today's get-together was mostly a formality, a matter of etiquette. Also, it was intended to allow these thirty-one people to get to know each other. Everyone was going to Cloudrise City for a common task. It would be a joke if conflicts arose due to lack of acquaintance.

Gaishi Qiying, now at the forefront, began with a righteous speech. Needless to say, he placed his Yingqi in the position of the victim, while Vainglory was portrayed as the arrogant and despotic bully. They at Yingqi had been bullied, but they were merely pitiful merchants. Although they had hired the famous Eagle Regiment, it was still unable to stop the harassment of these bandits. Therefore, Yongyuan, the leader of the Eagle Regiment, had scoured the entire game world and found the thirty-one heroes present. You are the guardians of the game, and the task of eliminating bullies and pests can only be entrusted to you. It is hoped that you can act on behalf of Heaven and uphold justice, and so on.

Gaishi Qiying spoke a load of confusing words, and half the people below were dozing off. Gaishi Qiying quickly brought out something to boost their spirits: rewards. The half who were dozing off immediately woke up. This was their purpose for coming. As for upholding justice, it was impossible to tell who was in the right, and those present were not children. They wouldn't seriously believe they could maintain world peace just by listening to a few words.

"Boss Gai," one of the thirty-one people finally spoke up. "No need to say too much. Just tell us what we need to do!"

"Eliminate Vainglory!!" Gaishi Qiying said.

"Boss Gai, this is an online game. There is no absolute elimination in online games," another person said, using the "Boss Gai" address invented by the previous speaker.

"Everyone, just feel free to kill them. Today, I have brought some things as a greeting gift to everyone. I am a businessman who runs a studio, and I value fair exchange. The final reward I give to everyone will not be a fixed number but will be proportional to your efforts. I think everyone understands what I mean!"

"Wu Ye, bring the things over and give them to each boss." Gaishi Qiying called out, and Wu Ye stepped forward to give each of the thirty-one people two money bags. Seeing the color of the money bags, everyone's expressions changed. These were ten-thousand gold bags, with a gold coin limit of ten thousand gold coins.

Twenty thousand gold coins might not be much in the eyes of Gu Fei and his gang. But for a normal player, this was a huge sum of money that few could afford. Gu Fei and the others always made hundreds of thousands or millions, but that was accumulated bit by bit. Ordinary players had no such opportunities to make money. Twenty thousand gold, although those present were big shots, was enough to surprise them. Moreover, the other party was giving them thirty-one people, two bags each, which added up to six hundred and twenty thousand. Six hundred and twenty thousand gold coins. These big shots had never even heard of such a number of gold coins before. And this was during a time when the currency system had recently been updated, and gold coins were in short supply.

"In the final reward, the things you want will definitely be included." Gaishi Qiying was striking while the iron was hot, continuing to make promises.

"Good!" One of the thirty-one people took the lead and nodded, putting the two bags of gold coins on the table into his pocket. Following suit, players began to continue this action in twos and threes. Seeing that some of the remaining players were still hesitant, Gaishi Qiying smiled and said, "It seems that there are still people who are not at ease. Do we need to sign a formal contract? It's not impossible, but I think it's a bit unnecessary because I believe in everyone present."

Gaishi Qiying's words were a veiled reminder to everyone. They were worried that Yingqi would not fulfill its promises, but conversely, didn't they also have the suspicion of taking the money and immediately running away? They were all reputable people who were worthy of trust, but in fact, Yingqi was the same. As a leader in the industry, not fulfilling promises to players would also be self-destructive.

Once they understood this point, none of the thirty-one people hesitated any longer, and everyone happily put away the money bags.

"Thank you, everyone." Gaishi Qiying said, "Now, let Yongyuan, the leader of the Eagle Regiment, who has fought against Vainglory, introduce the situation of Vainglory to everyone so that everyone has a certain understanding of the opponent's strength."

"Vainglory, seems to be a newly established guild, right? What level?" Someone among the thirty-one people was already asking. The guild level was indeed a question that could estimate the guild's strength.

"Level four." Yongyuan had already stood up to answer the question.

"Pfft!!" Someone spat on the spot, almost in disbelief: "Just level four?" Vainglory had indeed become popular after the city battle, but most players only knew the name and knew that they had won the city battle as the defending side, which was unusual. Only the most gossipy people would go into detail about the specific structure of this guild. The big shots present did not have so much free time. That guild far away in another city had nothing to do with them at all.

"Correct. Level four." Yongyuan nodded.

"What is the average level?" Someone asked again.

"This... is still unknown." Yongyuan said.

"Then what do you know?"

"The current number of people in Vainglory, according to our estimates, should be around two hundred people..."

"Only two hundred people?" Yongyuan was interrupted before he could finish speaking, with eyes wide.

"Two hundred people." Yongyuan was prepared for these people's shock.

The thirty-one people looked at each other. Each of them had a powerful background. A team of two hundred people was not enough to watch for any one of them, but now, in order to deal with these two hundred people, the other party had gathered thirty of them in one breath. Even if the other party had won the city battle by defending the city, they must have seized some opportunity, and it was impossible to defeat the hundreds of thousands of attacking players head-on.

"Just tell us what is so scary about this Vainglory!" Someone asked, after all, they did not think the Yingqi boss was a confused person who could not calculate this. Since they needed to gather so many of them, Vainglory must have some tricks.

"Qian Li Zui." Yongyuan said.

"Oh, I've heard of him."

"That Close Combat Mage?"

"PK maniac."

"Just a fool who only knows about bounty missions."

"His equipment is not bad."

"Fortunately, his equipment is not bad, otherwise, his all-agility build would be useless."

"Just him, do we need so many people to deal with him?"

"Achoo!" Gu Fei, who was far away in Cloudrise City, was sneezing incessantly.