The great retreat

From the conversation between Old Wu and Li Nian, Lin Yu gained a deeper understanding of the last "Tier 4" member of the "Freedom Alliance," namely this bald "Inventor."

Although he's an older man, the "Inventor" is surprisingly... quite meticulous.

At least he understands what Li Nian wants to hear and knows what to say to make Li Nian happy.

What a kind person.

During the pause in Lin Yu's conversation...

The exchange of dry humor between the "Comedian" and "Tengshe" has, to some extent, gotten on the "right track."

"Oh my, that joke about scorpions is absolutely brilliant," Tengshe wiped away tears from the corner of his eyes. "Seriously, buddy, you're truly the most talented person I've ever met... Your humor rivals that of Ma Sanli and Chen Peisi!"

The Comedian quickly waved his hand, saying, "That's too much praise. I'm far from being a master like that!"

"Not far, not far—if it were possible, I'd love to listen to your jokes all day long, but alas," Tengshe straightened up and cleared his throat, "Alas... we all have our own things to do."

The Comedian slammed his notebook shut and sighed.

"Yes—so, shall we now move on to the 'battle' part?"

Tengshe shook his head. "That's not entirely true... After all, the moment you and your companions appeared here, in a sense, I had already failed."

"After receiving the 'Order's' plea for help, the task assigned to me by the organization, and the result of our discussions, was to 'stop the 'Freedom Alliance' as much as possible'... Right now, we are in a special period, and our primary goal is to preserve our strength."

"If the losses are too great... our priority should be retreat."

"Therefore, I can't possibly go all out here and fight to the death with the two of you 'Tier 4' experts... It's not worth it."

Tengshe spoke, he glanced at his Partner.

"Besides, your 'Freedom Alliance's' 'Zhu Ming' is really too unexpected... I need to retreat with these guys now—the seawater is about to flood in, isn't it?"

"Given their condition, it's not suitable for the three of them to stay here any longer."

"So... it's not so much a question of whether I should fight you, but rather whether you should stop me from retreating."

The Comedian shook his head after hearing Tengshe's words. "For the same reason, I don't intend to stop you either... I don't need to fight you to the death here, do I?"

"Even if it's two against one... to be honest, although Old Wu and I are also 'Tier 4,' our rankings are much lower than yours—you also bear the responsibility of saving your companions. If we really try to stop you, you probably won't hold back, and the scene will inevitably be very tragic... We also have two 'Tier 2' here, which is a sight I really don't want to see."

"Besides... we have no need to kill you— Zhu Ming didn't kill those three guys either, he just trapped them, didn't he?"

The Comedian spoke up, Tengshe nodded. "Very good, then it seems we have reached some kind of consensus."

"Of course—but even though I say that, I might still need to ask for other people's opinions, after all, our 'Freedom Alliance' is a very democratic organization," the Comedian said, turning his head, "What are your opinions?"

Chen Le sighed, "I've witnessed enough of the tricks of 'Tier 4' beings today... I don't want to provoke any more conflict."

Old Wu nodded. "The Night Watcher have never had any direct conflict of interest with us, nor have we ever had any grudges against them... Since your side is willing to reconcile and make concessions on this matter, there is no reason for us to continue to hold on."

Li Nian's eyes darted around, and she voiced her objection. "No way—they suddenly stormed into this [Instance] to take down the three of us and stop 'Fishing Man' from Tier Advancement... How can we just let this go?!"

"We have to get our revenge! Let others know that we, the 'Freedom Alliance,' are not to be trifled with!"

Upon hearing Li Nian's words, Chen Le turned around, a look of disbelief on his face. "Are you serious?"

"Is this the first day you've met her, you Fishing Man? She can't take anything seriously."

The Comedian said helplessly.

Lin Yu also looked at Li Nian: "That's a good idea. You go and fight 'Tengshe' first—it's your responsibility to teach this 'Night Watcher' guy a lesson."

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Li Nian immediately smiled and said, "Hehe, I was just kidding... Why are you so serious!"

Chen Le sighed, "You have to joke about everything—look at the occasion, A Nian!"

"What if the 'Tengshe' reacts negatively?!"

Tengshe scratched his stubble-covered cheek, trying to smooth the tangled strands of hair around his face. "How could I possibly be stressed by something like this? I'm human, not some animal."

Old Wu chimed in, "I think Li Nian meant well; she probably felt that someone needed to play the bad cop in this situation!"

Li Nian nodded. "That's right, Old Wu understands me best. That's exactly what I think."

Lin Yu glanced at Li Nian, then looked at "Tengshe" and said, "Anyway... if you want to leave, that's for the best. We won't stop you—so please do as you please."

"This place will soon be flooded—you'd better hurry if you want to leave."

As Lin Yu spoke, Tengshe glanced at her and nodded meaningfully.

"Good!"

The moment Tengshe responded, Lin Yu also raised his hand and spoke calmly.

"However... now that an 'agreement' has been reached, I won't put you in too much of a difficult position, just in case anything unexpected happens—it wouldn't be good if you blamed us for it later."

Lin Yu finished speaking.

Then, the Frost on Chongming's body began to melt, the golden light around Robin began to fade, and the sleeping Mountain Sparrow also slowly awoke.

Lin Yu's methods for controlling them were also carefully considered. They were not only the optimal solution during the battle, but also had another characteristic: they were all means for him to bring them back to their senses and restore their ability to move at any time.

As the three "Tier 3" individuals recovered, they all showed varying degrees of confusion.

"What happens?"

"Teacher Tengshe, did you win?"

"No... I'm afraid we haven't won, look!"

"Inventor," "Comedian"... the "Tier 4" of the "Freedom Alliance" has arrived?!

The three exchanged a brief conversation and soon discovered that not only were all the members of the "Freedom Alliance" standing unharmed, but there were even two more... "Tier 4" members.

"Damn it... is this the only option left, a fight to the death?"

As "Chongming" spoke, he stood in front of "Robin" and "Mountain Sparrow".

But then Tengshe spoke.

"It's over—we don't need to fight anymore."

"This mission has failed... I've reached an agreement with the 'Freedom Alliance,' and it's time for us to leave."

"[Azure Sea Sky Dome] has been closed—this Ruins City will be completely submerged, which may attract the attention of other forces in the Pure Ruins and even other 'Player.' According to the intelligence of 'Order,' experts from the 'Marauders' were also active in the Nether Void Realm before—so, we should leave as soon as possible."

Tengshe spoke, Chongming looked at Tengshe in surprise.

"But..."

Facing Chongming, Tengshe unusually hardened his stance. "No buts... We really have to evacuate, that's my decision!"

"We couldn't defeat the other side even without the presence of the 'Tier 4' from the 'Freedom Alliance'... Now that the 'Freedom Alliance' has two 'Tier 4' members, if things really get heated... we'll definitely suffer."

The Mountain Sparrow also looked in that direction and said, "That's right, 'Chongming' teacher... don't forget, we're not here to wipe out the 'Freedom Alliance'."

"Besides... they actually spared our lives—at least just now, they definitely had the chance to kill me."

"I've already been 'lenient' by them once in this matter."

As the Mountain Sparrow spoke, it looked at Lin Yu and nodded slightly.

Lin Yu narrowed his eyes.

This "Manga Artist" is quite a discerning person.

Chongming, who was initially reluctant to retreat, naturally understood the situation after being persuaded by the two.

"I see..."

Chongming spoke, he looked at the members of the "Freedom Alliance," his expression somewhat complicated, but he finally spoke.

"This time we were outmatched... and we are truly grateful for your leniency."

"We'll meet again..."

Chongming spoke, he turned around decisively, his Chain Blade clashing as he slashed a dark rift behind the four "Night Watcher".

Then, the four of them crawled inside and disappeared.

Old Wu watched the four leave and breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally gone... You really did a great job, 'Comedian'... It's all thanks to your 'Heart Domain' that you influenced 'Tengshe' and made him directly 'sue for peace'."

"I don't want to fight him here... I came in a hurry and wasn't prepared at all."

The Comedian nodded. "To be honest, I really don't want to fight 'Tengshe' either... Judging from Fang Qing's description, this guy is way too over-the-top!"

"However, his choice to sue for peace... may not have been entirely influenced by my 'Heart Domain,' and even the influence I exerted on him using my 'Heart Domain' probably had less than five percent of the effect on his peace negotiations."

"I always had a feeling that even without my 'Heart Domain,' this guy was genuinely looking for an opportunity to leave."

As the Comedian spoke, Old Wu stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Indeed... it's quite unexpected. He didn't even have the thought of giving it a try."

"Perhaps the pressure from Zhu Ming before was too great!"

As Old Wu spoke, he attributed the credit to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu smiled and said modestly, "Not at all, Old Wu... What pressure could I possibly put on a 'Tier 4'? It was just his own decision."

That being said, Lin Yu also knew that the retreat of the Tengshe could indeed be largely attributed to his own efforts.

However, this probably has nothing to do with "pressure," but rather with...

It concerns "interests".