Chapter 2902: Whatever Makes Him Happy
"Sorry, I've killed plenty of people from player families, and not every one of them came seeking revenge. Besides, once someone's dead, where would they even go to take revenge?" the Gem Man said matter-of-factly.
"If no one here talks, who would even know someone like that came to Zone 031?" Hate Feather added.
"I'm more curious whether he can actually get his hands on a cross-wormhole teleportation device," Chan Juan said. "If you guys want to make a move, could you wait a bit? Let me broaden my horizons first?"
The Gem Man and Hate Feather both fell silent. Well, with such a big commotion moving the device over, how could no one possibly know about it?
"Don't focus on that person," Lou Fei said. "If he really can send some people away, cooperating with him to clear the instance would actually be a bargain for us."
"Ms. Lou, you're lowering your stance too much," Hate Feather said. "If he rushed to King's City first and killed your people, I'd love to see if you'd still be so generous!"
"My condolences," Lou Fei said calmly. "The dead aren't my relatives or friends, so I can't pretend to be magnanimous on others' behalf. I'm just telling everyone from an objective standpoint—letting him clear the instance is the lowest-cost option for us to safely get through this crisis."
"You've already seen the precedents of Pengfei City and Xing City. He doesn't even need to fight us directly to make us suffer. If the twelve main cities are destroyed, it's hard to say whether the instance will even still exist by then."
"Ms. Lou, there's no need to be so alarmist," Mei Zheng spoke up at this point. "There are many ways to achieve victory without having to clash head-on."
Lou Fei's face darkened at this. "I've said all I have to say."
With that, she turned and left with her people. The remaining group was silent for a second before Chan Juan said, "She has no backbone. I heard that surnamed Yu guy even killed one of her enforcers, and she didn't even mention it."
Mei Zheng looked at the remaining city archons who hadn't spoken yet. "You won't find a life as good as Zone 031's in any other district. Think carefully, all of you."
"Can you pull this off without a single leak?" an elderly man who had seemed to be dozing off suddenly asked. "Those player families won't reason with you."
"Unless they're prepared to massacre the entire zone," Mei Zheng said coldly. "I'm betting they don't have the guts!"
With the strength of a single player family, it's hard to truly achieve a zone-wide massacre. At most, players would come in and slaughter on a large scale. But if they really wanted to transport super-large weapons across zones to wipe out an entire zone, the people of that zone wouldn't just sit idly by—this is also why the title of Super Player carries so much weight. Once you become a Super Player, even the Game Government grants you certain conveniences, while others obviously don't get that privilege.
On the surface, the disappearance and destruction of some zones seem random, or stem from the covetousness of a powerful zone's forces. But in reality, whenever a zone-wide annihilation is involved, either the Game Government is pulling the strings behind the scenes, or forces of equal power have nodded in approval or participated in it. Otherwise, how could it be so easy?
This also involves certain policies and strategies of A-level wormhole points toward B-level and below wormhole points. It's not like having immense power allows you to act completely without restraint—after all, there are too many people with immense power, and the game itself has its own restrictive rules for player factions.
Everyone understood Mei Zheng's implication. It was nothing more than the old trick of finding a scapegoat. But the problem was, they were stranded players. Others had plenty of ways to achieve their goals—hadn't Xu Huo just provided a ready-made solution?
"If that's all you've got, then pretend I never heard this," the old man said as he stood up.
Mei Zheng didn't try to stop him, only said, "There's a difference between a man and a dog. Once you've lived as a man, can you really go back to being a dog, only to die like one?"
The old man wasn't provoked. He paused briefly, then left.
After he was gone, the archons of the other main cities also left one by one. As Chan Juan left, she said, "I've seen a lot of people gathered together, but they still can't muster two brains between them. In the end, strength speaks. Purple's been lucky for me lately—I'll make my campaign signs purple."
The Gem Man and Hate Feather stayed until the end. They strongly supported Mei Zheng's idea. The former said, "Those people have had it too easy for too long. They've lost the last of their fighting spirit. That surnamed Yu guy has a big background—he's a walking treasure vault. If we kill him, are we really worried about not getting a cross-wormhole device? Why suffer this humiliation!"
Clearly, Mei Zheng and Hate Feather shared the same intention. Pride and revenge were secondary—Xu Huo's wealth was immense, and he had just slaughtered half a city of players. He himself was a walking goldmine!
"The election process is lengthy. We still have time to plan carefully," Mei Zheng said a few more words to the two before politely seeing them off.
"I noticed the people from the other cities didn't say anything. They might choose to side with Lou Fei," Two Meters Tall said as he walked over.
"That doesn't matter anymore," Mei Zheng said. "Did you pick the person I asked for?"
Two Meters Tall nodded. "A kid who's been with me for three years. Decent character."
"Have him leave Zone 031 immediately and go to another wormhole point to await orders." Mei Zheng's gaze was deep. "Life is a big gamble. Let's see who wins and who loses."
When the twelve main cities and the Allied Forces announced the public election and began producing the nameplates, promotional brochures, and campaign videos needed for the election, Xu Huo had already dealt with Liao City and Lin City. The players of both cities were more than willing to take over Xing City and cooperate with him in completing the election, and they even volunteered to persuade the players of Gray City and the displaced Pengfei City.
So by the evening of that day, news of the king election had spread throughout the twelve main cities, seven Allied Forces cities, four stranded player cities, and the other smaller towns that had been roped in.
Although there were other candidates, the key figure was Xu Huo. His photo was placed in the center, and he was the main focus of promotion in every city.
The candidates' ideology and policy leanings were what voters cared about. Although the election was semi-coercive, Xu Huo still promised some favorable policies on the advice of the twelve main cities and the Allied Forces—such as promoting improvements to the welfare system, expanding the area of technological farming, adding more shared water sources, and perfecting the laws that had long been abandoned.
In addition, he also wrote down some restrictive clauses targeting stranded players, which would also need to be added to the law.
The twelve main cities: ...
Anyway, he would be leaving once he cleared the instance. Whatever made him happy.
Xu Huo spent a considerable amount of time organizing the rules for stranded players. It was impossible to make them completely law-abiding, and it was even impossible to completely prohibit killing. Under special circumstances, it was hard to distinguish between active and passive actions—not only was it difficult for the law to define, but even the game had trouble defining it. So he focused on ordinary people. Player-on-player killings were common. Given the current situation in Zone 031, the only line that could be drawn was between ordinary people and players.