Stop! We're friendly forces! (Seeking Monthly Passes at the end of the month!)

Gudening led five teammates, relying on his familiarity with the route to successfully overtake the main force. They hurried all the way to the Mushroom Kingdom, hoping to help Mei Er save his restaurant amid the "raging flames of war" in the mushroom forest.

But after actually arriving, they could only stand dumbly beneath the sign for [Big Mushroom Hand], questioning their lives as they watched the bustling yet impeccably orderly scene.

Before they even had time to ask what was going on, Mei Er shoved a basket onto each of their backs and sent them into the woods to pick mushrooms.

They all transformed into old men picking mushrooms.

The group put away their swords, guns, and other weapons. Looking at the baskets on each other's backs, the brushes in their hands, and the wooden mushroom knives, they all felt utterly speechless.

But after forcing out bitter smiles, they still obediently set off to pick mushrooms.

From the very first day it opened, Mei Er's restaurant had always been unable to keep up with demand.

Yet even if they could not get hot food or buy magical mushrooms, huge numbers of players still gathered here because everyone had tacitly designated this area a "ceasefire zone."

—Whether they were merely stopping for a rest or setting up camp to log in and out, this was their first choice.

This massive flow of people kept Mei Er's little restaurant perpetually short on stock.

He had no choice but to buy mushroom ingredients from other players on the spot, then cook and sell them himself.

And it was not just mushrooms. Anything in the restaurant that could not be gathered and processed locally had been acquired through trades with players.

Mei Er spent more than ten hours a day working.

He was