One of the three major guilds, Arc of Light, issued an ultimatum to Shen Xixi’s newly formed union at midnight last night without any warning. It came as a complete surprise to Zhang Heng. They demanded an apology from Shen Xixi for the vicious conflict at Tongzhou that night, surrender the four murderers, and compensate for the losses. If she refused, they would declare war on her. Since no third party was present at the time of the incident, players on the forum couldn’t tell what really happened that night. According to Arc of Light, the number of players from their faction had been tracking down a monster. In the midst of the chase, they ran into another team of players belonging to the union. The Arc of Light players immediately issued the union’s players with a warning, to which they were wise enough to give way to them.
Regardless of why players joined the union, at least they did it intending to protect ordinary people. In other words, if Arc of Light were the ones who killed the monster, the union’s players should gladly accept the outcome. Unexpectedly, union players apparently played dirty. They pretended to leave, but instead, took another path back to where they were initially.
At the critical moment when Arc of Light was fighting the monster, the union players abruptly attacked them out of nowhere. The ambush resulted in five out of the six Arc of Light players’ deaths, where only one managed to stay alive to tell the tale to his faction. Following that, Arc of Light was furious; hence, the confrontation with Shen Xixi’s union.
However, players on the forum had a hard time believing the whole story. First, the Arc of Light survivor was the only one who brought the matter up. Shen Xixi and her union, however, hadn’t yet responded to the accusations. Next, the three major guilds had been trying their best to keep the players under control, intending to show that they were a very reasonable bunch. After all, they had the upper hand over most players, and it was impossible they wouldn’t take advantage of their powerful position. They had people from all manner of life them all the time; hence, it was unavoidable that a few rotten apples festered among them. Many small, medium, and even non-guild players had mixed feelings toward these three major guilds.
Once the player base saw the announcement, more and more happiness seemed to build over their misfortune. One of the most upvoted comments was: ‘The stupid dogs of Arc of Light bully whoever they can whenever they want to. They totally deserve what happened to them.
Less than two minutes after he posted his comment, he was muted by the moderator; the reason for that was attacking somebody with hurtful words. The player forum was actually something that the three major guilds created. Still, most of its moderators were supposed to be selected by players to ensure a fair atmosphere. Instead, the three super moderators were all members of the three major guilds, now endowed with the powers of banning or muting anybody whenever they so pleased.
The player that was muted had no intention to keep quiet. Since it was easy to make a new account on the forum, the muted player returned in less than ten seconds, even using the same username but with a 01 added behind it.
(Come on, you power-hungry pig! I dare you to ban me again! You can mute me, but can you mute justice?]
As soon as this reply came out, players began cheering for him. This was how the internet rolled. If you asked the group of people to confront Arc of Light in person, there wasn’t a single soul who dared to do so. However, no one would back down if you put them behind a keyboard and screen. The super moderator was aware of this problem, and after banning a bunch of worthless keyboard warriors, he gave up.
These cynics typically didn’t care about who was right or wrong in this conflict between Arc of Light and the union. Most simply took the advantage to vent their dissatisfaction with the Arc. Since the union had just been formed not too long ago, most players found no conflict of interest with them. Besides, the union was different from a guild-players who joined the union were complicated. Some were independent teams not attached to any guild, and since the union was in a weaker position than Arc, they were bound to get the sympathy and support of the player base.
For this case, unfortunately, all that sympathy and support in the world had no effect in solving the problem at hand.
Zhang Heng realized that Shen Xixi was in trouble this time as soon as he saw the post. Regardless of right or wrong, establishing the union itself was bad news for the grand guilds. The union’s current structure was relatively loose, and they were no threat to the three major guilds. And Shen Xixi had repeatedly stated that the union’s purpose was only to protect the ordinary.
However, no one would know what would happen if the union continued to grow, that they might one day become a juggernaut powerful enough to turn against the three major guilds. After all, strength within the union’s structure could be gradually cultivated, and player relationships could be enhanced through working towards the same goal. At the moment, everyone was working together to defeat the monster and to distribute the loot as per regulation. If these players were to cross paths in the same quest, there was a good chance that they would work together. Then, slowly but surely, they would stick with each other to form a powerful faction. This incident might just be a catalyst, but it did not matter if it was right or wrong. The three major guilds were tired of simply standing and observing Shen Xixi’s union. This time, they were determined to do something about it. As if it were not bad enough, the two other major guilds’ unanimous silence could only indicate that the situation was slipping toward the worst possible outcome.
They employed a cunning technique-force Shen Xixi to hand over players responsible for the incident. Aiming to tackle the union’s weakest link, they knew how the camaraderie within the union would be fractured forever once she surrendered her people. And if Shen Xixi chose to resist, then the Arc of Light would most likely declare war with the union. Let alone the difference in strength between the two sides—based on the union’s current situation, how many would choose to coexist and die with this new emerging force simply?
So no matter which path Shen Xixi chose to go down with, the union seemed to have reached the end of its road. She had only kept mum about her stand on this matter because the union was in a complete mess right now. After receiving the warning, she immediately contacted the union’s management, including the leaders of small and medium guilds, and representatives of the independent teams, beseeching them to develop a solution. Although Shen Xixi was prepared to face the worst, she felt a chill run up her spine each time she thought about everyone’s reaction.
Nearly 90% agreed that the incident’s team should be handed over to the Arc of Light. It wasn’t like these people cared about the truth. It was just as they said; the truth was no longer important. Whether the Arc was lying or not, the top priority was first to ensure the union’s safety. After that, they could prove their point to the Arc with words.
Shen Xixi looked at the allies in front of her, feeling a deep sense of exhaustion in her heart. No matter what outsiders thought, the reason she established the union was simple: to do the right thing.
Doing the right thing might sound simple, but those who had actually put it in practice only knew how difficult it was to do.
Because the world wasn’t always reasonable.
Before coming here, Shen Xixi had met the players who caused the conflict, and she was at least 80% sure that Arc of Light was the one lying. Even if it wasn’t the other party’s plan, they were obviously about to use this conflict to break the union. Everyone knew what the players’ fate involved in this incident would be if they chose to hand them over to the Arc. Everyone seemed to have deliberately ignored this. Personal sacrifices were underestimated in a big group of people.
