"Fuck, that bastard Hogg actually dared to target us! He's asking for a beating."
That evening in the real world, inside a private room at the barbecue restaurant in the school's snack plaza, Cheche had already had a few drinks and was a little tipsy. He wolfed down some fragrant grilled kidneys as he spoke to the large group around him:
"I'll log in and beat him up as soon as I'm revived."
"You should worry about how you're going to get past Hogg's 'Chieftain's Guard' first. You couldn't even handle the four Netherworld Knights protecting him.
"Not to mention the savage soldiers Hogg had armed.
"And Hogg himself was an excellent gnoll assassin. Lady Dorothy had trained him personally."
Ge Bao snorted into his glass.
He looked around at the others in the private room, cleared his throat, and said:
"Uh, I called everyone here tonight to talk about the news Niu Niu brought back. What do you think of Hogg's proposal?
"We're all guildmates, and we all took part in the assault on Blightwater Town, so everyone has a say in this.
"So don't hold back. If you have any thoughts, speak up."
"What thoughts could we possibly have?"
The four student athletes who'd been invited for barbecue had already entered full-on "stuff-your-faces" mode. They'd just finished training that day and were starving. Daxiahu held a grilled scallop and kept shoveling it into his mouth as he mumbled:
"You're the ones who took the town, so you decide. But Hogg said Old Chen helped him work out the details, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the plan.
"Even if you don't trust Alpha Corporation's AI, you should have faith in the professor's professional judgment."
"Exactly, exactly."
Scholar Zhou picked apart a chicken leg and said, narrowing