Zero-Sum Game and Willingness to Cooperate
After a brief negotiation, the two teams reached a consensus—to set aside their differences and prioritize clearing the level together.
This was within Lin Yu's expectations—he spotted Gao Shan in the opposing team immediately and deduced from Gao Shan's expression that Gao Shan definitely recognized Li Nian.
At the same time... Li Nian should be aware that she has been exposed.
However, since Gao Shan didn't react immediately and Li Nian didn't do anything excessive, Lin Yu could deduce...
The two sides are unlikely to engage in a life-or-death struggle—which aligns with the information he has received from "Order".
Within the [Instance], clearing the dungeon takes priority.
Unless you encounter someone who is extremely heinous and whose death would significantly improve the safety of the entire Player community or even the level of public security, you can prioritize cooperating with them.
"Order" is not an anti-human organization.
Of course, this is also why Lin Yu chose to conceal his identity and cut ties with Li Nian, because Li Nian's reputation as a "Master Thief" is quite well-known, while his identity as "Zhu Ming" is not clear.
It's best to hide it if possible—this is also to reduce the three people's wariness for future cooperation.
After all, Lin Yu knew all three of the opponents and was aware of their skill level.
"Gao Shan" goes without saying; Lin Yu, through his identity as "May May," can be considered his friend.
This is a core member of "Order," a captain-level "Tier 2" member. Although they retreated when facing the four members of the "Freedom Alliance," they are definitely not simple characters.
The captains of "Order" are definitely not weak.
Lin Yu had also met "Seagull" before; he had been very active at the Sea City auction.
Lin Yu also remembered that this guy had successfully stolen Grandpa Radish's key Item right under everyone's noses and in front of many "Tier 3" players, which showed that he was quite capable.
At the time, Lin Yu thought he was a "thief" or something—who would have thought he was actually a "student"!
This further demonstrates the high quality of Seagull's operation at that time.
After all, the Snowy Owl is the obvious "Tier 3" and the Gao Shan is the "Police," so the "Tier 2" and "student" can only be the Seagull.
That illusory figure just now was enough to demonstrate that the Seagull's direct combat capabilities are definitely not bad.
As for the "Snowy Owl"...
What kind of simple character could someone be who dared to directly engage in the battle on the elevated highway that day, draw their sword against "Fluoxetine," and be invited by "Robin" to be their partner?
Although Lin Yu was confident in himself, seeing Snowy Owl in the opposing team still made him ponder: Was Li Nian Lin Yu powerful than he had imagined, or was Fei Dao actually hiding his true strength?
Regardless, Lin Yu felt it was best to avoid a direct confrontation with them.
These three are clearly a level above Little Fire Dragon, Squirtle, and Deadshot— those three who had their weapons removed by Li Nian right from the start!
And once the biggest controversy— Li Nian's status as a member of the "Freedom Alliance"—was put aside...
"Before we start working together, we need to confirm one thing—that is, we are truly capable of working together."
Lin Yu spoke up, bringing up a question again.
That is...
Although both sides can disregard various real-world factors and organizational stances to cooperate sincerely, however...
This is, after all, an Instance that is highly likely to be a [competitive] type of battle.
"We are very likely in a [competitive] type of Instance, where the Clearance Conditions our completion are not the same, and may even be somewhat symmetrical."
At this point, Lin Yu paused, then asked, "So, what are your Clearance Conditions?"
His decision to bring this up wasn't because he didn't want to cooperate with the other party.
On the contrary, it was precisely because Lin Yu didn't want to fight these three guys that he brought this up—so that he could take control of this controversial topic.
The Snowy Owl didn't think too much about it; upon hearing Lin Yu's words, it simply nodded.
"Our Clearance Conditions is 'preventing Willow Town appearing in the world'."
"The quest conditions were a bit strange, because we entered the [Instance] in a place that resembled a mountain stronghold, where there were some bandits... because their behavior was so out of line with our standards, and the whole stronghold was full of disgusting things, we got into a conflict after a few words, and then I killed them."
As the Snowy Owl spoke, Lin Yu was greatly shocked.
Just as he had guessed, the other party was initially the one trying to rob the caravan—but what Lin Yu hadn't expected was that the Snowy Owl's side would actually slaughter those bandits.
But seeing that neither the Gao Shan nor the Seagull seemed to have any objections, Lin Yu realized that he had underestimated the moral standards of the traditional "Night Watcher" and "Order."
Indeed, within a [Instance], clearing the dungeon should be the priority in principle.
However... to cooperate with ruthless bandits would already violate their principles!
The carefree Seagull chimed in, "Anyway, we found some letters on those bandits. They mentioned they were going to rob a caravan that would pass through Fu Yuan Mountain, Double Saw Mountain, Five Springs Mountain, and White Ridge Mountain. And there was something in that caravan, something about 'the key to preventing Willow Town from reappearing'..."
"But we questioned a few of the weaker, surviving bandits, and those who did not know anything about stopping Willow Town from appearing in the world— the Willow Town they knew was just an ordinary town, located a few dozen miles west of White Ridge Mountain."
"There was this guy who seemed to be the leader. He said he'd heard that Willow Town was renamed on the advice of some Daoist Mage, borrowing the name of some ancient town... but that bastard was too badly injured, so he died before he could finish speaking."
Seagull spoke, Lin Yu nodded in agreement.
"I see... Then I can assure you that this 'Willow Town' is not that 'Willow Town.' I can tell you that there is indeed a lost ancient town, buried deep in Double Saw Mountain, and that is the real Willow Town —and our Clearance Conditions is 'reaching Willow Town.'"
"Based on the information I have now, and combined with your Clearance Conditions, it seems that the Clearance Conditions for both factions in this [confrontational] Instance are indeed not a completely zero-sum game."
"We can still cooperate."
Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Snowy Owl frowned. "So, you mean Willow Town is a lost ancient town, buried underground? You want to reach Willow Town, but we can't bring it back to life... How can we cooperate and achieve a win-win situation?"
"Isn't this already a zero-sum game?"