Moral blackmail and standing by

The crisis that suddenly broke out in Ling City has subsided, but the discussions on the internet have not stopped.

Besides the admiration and curiosity surrounding Chongxing's true identity, another voice is gradually emerging:

"Damn it, if he has such power, why didn't he make a move from the beginning?"

"If he had intervened earlier, perhaps Ling City could have been free of casualties."

"Yes, Batman is right, with great power comes great responsibility."

"Idiot, that's what Spider-Man said."

"You idiot! That's what Spider-Man's uncle said!"

Gradually, many people were encouraged.

They successively accused "Chongxing" of being indifferent and selfish on Game Forum and game channels.

Some even speculated that he deliberately waited for casualties before taking action, harboring ulterior motives...

"With such strength, how could you bear to watch so many people be killed?"

"They all have parents and children, don't they? Doesn't Chongxing any?"

"Prophet, it's over, it's over..."

Zhang Mingzhen remained completely unmoved by such near-insulting remarks.

They were right; he did not act immediately and did witness the loss of life around him.

He never considered himself anyone's Protection.

For him, "selfishness" was not a derogatory term.

Who doesn't have a selfish side? He has no obligation to be responsible for the lives of others.

Besides, who helped him when his parents passed away unexpectedly?

He doesn't try to morally blackmail others, and no one can blackmail him either!

Do you still think of him as a precocious teenager before he turned twelve?

Ultimately, his decision to take action was simply out of fear of being exposed and forced to change his hiding place.

However, not caring in one's mindset does not mean that one will act idly by doing so.

These statements are clearly being deliberately spread by someone.

If he were to find out who was behind this, he would make them understand whether or not they were truly a "good person."

At this very moment.

Ling City.

The number of people gathered outside Zhang Mingzhen's villa courtyard had grown considerably.

After much discussion, the group finally chose an unlucky individual to go and test the waters.

"What's there to be afraid of? We won't die anyway."

I'll give you 100,000!

Encouraged by various encouragements, the unfortunate fellow finally moved forward.

He sneered inwardly. I was originally chosen as cannon fodder to be tested, and now it's perfect.

This adds up to an extra source of income.

Just as he was about to raise his hand to ring the doorbell, he suddenly heard a dense buzzing sound approaching rapidly from afar.

A swarm of giant bees, each the size of a palm, dark and menacing, rushed towards them.

This group of people had never seen such a scene in real life. They immediately forgot about the visit and hurriedly rushed into the car to take shelter.

The cannon fodder was trying to keep ringing the doorbell, but the giant bee completely enveloped him, forcing him to flee like the others.

If, under these circumstances, one continues the action regardless of life or death, the motive of testing the waters becomes all too obvious.

Fortunately, these giant bees did not pursue for long; once they left a certain area, they stopped chasing.

Nevertheless, several guards responsible for the perimeter were also injured.

The guard who had been stung quickly turned blue and purple.

Everyone was horrified and rushed him to the hospital for treatment, no longer daring to approach the villa.

After making inquiries, it was discovered that anyone who approached the villa would be attacked by a swarm of bees.

The attack will cease once the attacker retreats to a certain distance.

People speculated that it might be a monster tamed by the villa owner.

It seems that a player of unfathomable strength resides there, most likely Chongxing himself.

From then on, no one dared to disturb them again.

Players have now successfully brought their in-game pets into reality, although their combat abilities may be somewhat diminished.

However, the ability to summon assistance in reality is undoubtedly a huge advantage.

Having a Powerful pet is like having a guarantee of safety.

Pets, like dogs, are far more sensitive to abnormal conditions than humans.

This sparked another craze for finding powerful pets within the game.

The news that pet eggs were occasionally sold at the Fragrant Cloud City Auction House sparked fierce competition, with demand exceeding supply.

Although pet eggs need to be hatched and nurtured, with enough Warcraft Experience Pill, they can quickly become combat-ready.

In other words, as long as you have enough Gold Coin, none of this will be a problem.

This directly led to a further increase in the exchange rate between Gold Coin and real-world currency in the game "God's Domain".

However, due to frequent real-world disasters, the purchasing power of real-world currencies has declined significantly.

Conversely, in-game currency remains strong because in-game items can be materialized in the real world.

It is now very difficult to acquire large quantities of Gold Coin using real currency.

Originally seen as a backbreaking job, "trading" has now become a daily task for players, giving rise to a new gameplay style—robbing caravans.

In the game, players can attack other players who are engaged in a trade mission.

Once a merchant dies, the goods he was transporting will belong to the attackers.

Under normal circumstances, each person can only run a trade route once per day.

However, if one can continuously plunder other people's goods, one can submit them multiple times a day, making it a shortcut to quickly accumulate wealth.

Initially, players who were robbed would complain on forums or seek help from guilds and planning teams.

Some have called for revisions to the plan.

Gao Linzhi was initially too lazy to pay attention, but then he suddenly remembered a game he had played.

So he made changes.

"Looting has been changed to escorting."

"You successfully robbed a caravan" has been changed to "You successfully escorted a caravan."

The above content is not fabricated by him, but rather based on games he actually played and modifications made by real game designers.

Of course, if it's just playing word games, that would be a huge rip-off.

He set a limit of 50% of the value of the goods that could be assisted in a single caravan transaction.

If the raiders have no bottom line and continue to assist even after receiving more than 50% of the assistance, the caravan can choose the option of "both sides Mutual Destruction, with nothing left."

This also aligns with reality.

So later, looting, no, "assistance" became almost the norm.

Of course, losing 50% is still terrible, and without sufficient strength, they wouldn't even dare to undertake long-distance commercial transportation.

After all, doing it is like doing it for nothing.

This gradually evolved into a conflict between guilds.

Many guilds began organizing their members to run trade routes together at fixed times, to prevent—no, to assist—other guilds from raiding or attacking them.

Some major conflicts between guilds are directly caused by their excessive "assistance" to caravans.

This is particularly difficult for Rogue Players who don't have a guild to rely on.

They either had to join a guild for protection or pay the adventurers' guild to post quests and hire guards to protect the caravan.

As a result, the profits from a single trading trip are almost entirely gone.

Thus, a new organizational form, somewhere between a guild and a completely solo operation, emerged: the "Rogue Players Alliance".

This refers to loosely organized groups formed spontaneously by players who prefer a freer playstyle and do not want to be bound by guilds, and who connect with each other online.

The so-called alliance is not actually an alliance; it's just that they share a chat group.

There were no constraints between the two sides; they simply helped each other.

They usually go about their own business, but when there is a task that requires collaboration, they gather their companions in the communication group and form a temporary team to carry out the task.

In the game world, cooperation is the choice of most players—it can both increase combat power and share the burden of tasks.

Now the entire God's Domain knows that only "Chongxing" dares to face the challenge alone.

At this moment, a real-world conflict is erupting on the wilderness trade route of Region Three.

The "Wind and Cloud and Cloud Guild" and the "Contending for the World" guild met by chance, which was caused by their accidental encounter while transporting goods and assisting in plundering.

Since there are guilds organizing collective escorts, there are naturally guilds dedicated to providing assistance.

Both of these are well-known forces in the District 3.

Each organization has over 50,000 members and usually doesn't interfere with each other, but recently the relationships between the various organizations have become increasingly tense.

The two sides' main forces unexpectedly clashed, and without much conversation, they immediately went to war, which quickly escalated into a full-scale guild war.

The world chat immediately displayed a warning. "Fight has broken out on the trade route! Individual traders transporting goods, please take a detour!"

"Damn it, you want me to force you to help? I don't need your help, okay?"

"I thought the planners were incompetent, but now I realize they are quite capable."

"I was so stupid, I never imagined this game was planned."

"They fight all the time, and they specifically target trade routes."

"Are there only two guilds in the District 3? I haven't even delivered my goods for today yet, how long are we going to fight them?"

"Luckily, I finished it as soon as I logged on, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to ship it today."

"The Wind and Cloud Contending for the World!"

"A chaotic battle involving tens of thousands of people, cargo boxes were scattered all over the place and nobody picked them up, it's heartbreaking to see, don't give them to me!"

"It was Contending for the World Xia who started it, disregarding the rules and attacking right away. But we, Wind and Cloud, are not to be trifled with!" A member of Wind and Cloud retorted.

"It's just helping out. Who hasn't been forced to help others? What's with the fragile ego?"

"Game designers encourage cooperation. If we help, you can help us out. If we don't fight you, who will we fight?" the player from Contending for the World immediately retorted.

"Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with us lately, even the atmosphere in the game is tense."

"If you're so worried about delivering goods, how easy is it to make money? Can't we all just go our separate ways and live in peace?"

"Yes, things are troublesome enough in real life, why can't everyone get along harmoniously?" someone pleaded.

"Heh, that's especially true in chaotic times. You might be willing, but those in power certainly aren't."

"Gold Coin are hard to come by now. Who doesn't need Gold Coin to improve their strength? There are few circulating in the market. How can you make money without robbing? It's us Ordinary Player suffer the most."

"Yes, when reality is dangerous, some people will shift the danger elsewhere. It's outrageous! It's like the more apocalyptic it gets, the fiercer the infighting among humans becomes!"

The crowd complained.

"I heard that even the 'Excavator' delivery team was robbed a few days ago. Their leader, 'Tractor,' cursed on the world channel for over an hour. They suffered heavy losses!"

"Breaking news! Head to Shanglu Road for some excitement, something big is about to happen! You'll regret it if you don't come!"

"What's the big deal? Stop beating around the bush and just tell me!"

However, the whistleblower never followed up.

Curious players began asking around and gradually gathered at the battle route, but because it was a war zone, they only dared to observe from afar.

"Under One Person, are you still going to keep this up? If you're so capable, then your guild shouldn't be transporting goods either, or we'll fight you to the death!"

Wind and Cloud Guild Leader "Dawn Breeze, Waning Moon" is at the forefront as Shield Guard, and is engaged in a fierce battle with Under One Person, the guild leader of Contending for the World.

"Who's afraid of who? If you can't handle it, don't play."

"You're just unlucky to have run into us."

"You can rob us when we're transporting goods, let's see if we'll take the hit."

As a well-known berserker in the third district, "Under One Person" is a warmonger and, as the leader of a guild, is not afraid of being threatened by his opponent.

The two major guilds were locked in a fierce battle along the trade route, and any passing players who got too close were immediately drawn into the conflict. For a time, no one dared to approach this area.

Just then, players watching from afar noticed a cargo wagon slowly approaching from the horizon—who's this fool who's bringing goods at this hour?

Didn't you see the warning on the world channel? And you're using a high-end truck; if it gets destroyed, the losses will be huge.

As the carriage drew closer, everyone finally saw the name displayed on it.

It turns out the hothead was me—this is the big deal the world channel was talking about!

"Even the Chongxing is delivering goods?"

"Breaking news! The Chongxing player Chongxing is transporting goods and will be entering the trade route war zone soon! Attention! Attention!"

"So this is what they call a big deal!"

"Is it too late to go and watch? These expert cargo handlers always do it differently, right? They only choose the most difficult ones?"

"Does a master deliveryman need to pick a specific time to transport goods?"

"We can transport it wherever we want. Even if we transport it to the city lord's mansion, who can stop us?"

"I'm curious how Wind and Cloud and Contending for the World will react... I hope they'll be smart."

Zhang Mingzhen's shipment was merely a way to kill time.

He had previously discovered a cluster of level 40 stinging wasps in the wild, which was nothing special—these stinging wasps were just slightly larger and somewhat venomous.

However, during the clearing operation, he noticed that some brightly colored "Yellow Stinger Bee" were mixed in with the ordinary stinging wasp colonies.

They are a variant of the stinging wasp, retaining not only its original venom but also an added ability to launch psychological attacks.

[Name: Yellow Stinger Bee]

[Intelligence: 853]

[Physical Defense: 783]

[Magic Defense: 769]

The Mutation Tier Yellow Stinger Bee possess a strong ability to connect mentally, enabling them to sense each other over a wide area and act in highly coordinated manner. They are all offspring of the queen bee.

Zhang Mingzhen had no intention of wasting any more time here—he was already level 43, and the benefits of clearing out these stinging bees would be negligible.

But the thought that there might be a queen bee made him decide to search for her.

After clearing away a large number of stinging bees, the swarm began to retreat in an orderly manner, as if it had received some kind of instruction.

Zhang Mingzhen. He quietly followed the retreating swarm of bees and eventually found his target in a burrow—a Yellow Stinger Bee Queen that could be tamed.

[Yellow Stinger Bee Queen (Level 47) Silver Rank Boss]

[Intelligence: 1613]

[Spirit: 1755]

[Physical Defense: 1574]

[Magic Defense: 1740]

[Psychic abilities: Can remotely control bee swarms, possesses mental interference capabilities, and can confuse targets with lower mental strength than itself.]

Upon seeing the queen bee's attributes, Zhang Mingzhen suddenly had an idea—if he could tame it, his residence in reality would have a group of free guards.

Fortunately, he had the pet-attracting drug he had purchased earlier with him, so he used the drug after severely injuring the queen bee and successfully subdued her.

This is the origin of bee colony protection in reality.

The queen bee's mental interference was indeed dangerous; if Zhang Mingzhen hadn't possessed superior mental strength, he probably would have already fallen victim to it.

The system indicated that the queen bee had attempted to use mind control on him, but it was unsuccessful.

However, for Ordinary Player, the Queen Bee's mental strength is enough to suppress everyone, and they can feel at ease in the short term.

After subduing the Queen Bee, Zhang Mingzhen brought her into the real world to replace the Azure-Scaled Dragon Python that originally guarded the residence—the latter was too conspicuous in size and also had times when it was lazy and slept, making it inconvenient to perform the guarding task.

Unlike bee colonies, these are social creatures that automatically divide into three shifts, with fixed guard bees.