Suddenly, a system notification chimed.
A friend request popped up in front of Chen Xiaoyan.
However, she ignored it.
Ever since she became famous, people added her as a friend every day. The game settings didn’t have a “do not disturb” mode yet, so just like in the real world, Chen Xiaoyan would only take the initiative to add others rather than being added.
Fifty thousand players was a small number for a game.
But that didn’t mean there were no “monsters” among them.
On the contrary, there were plenty.
There were harassers, people looking for partners, and even those looking for “sisters.” All sorts of weirdos existed.
While Chen Xiaoyan was leisurely sunbathing, Tianxia Wushuang was as anxious as an ant on a hot griddle, pacing around in circles.
‘It’s been so long since I sent the friend request. Why hasn’t she accepted yet?’
Thus, Tianxia Wushuang had Wudi Tang send a request as well, but that wasn’t accepted either.
“Boss, Chen Xiaoyan isn’t accepting the friend request. What do we do?”
Tianxia Wushuang took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tapped his fingers on the table, lost in thought for a moment.
Then, he suddenly snapped his eyes open, his sharp gaze sweeping over Wudi Tang.
“Call the managers for a meeting immediately.”
If Chen Xiaoyan didn’t agree to talk, he didn’t want to go and negotiate with Mu Qingxue.
According to the information from his insider, Mu Qingxue was the one planning everything, though she was rarely seen in the spotlight.
Furthermore, Chen Xiaoyan held a certain level of status in both Xueyan Pavilion and Jian Ge. If he could persuade her, this war might be avoided.
A few minutes later, the various managers of Wushuang Lou arrived at the inner room of the small courtyard, standing before the low table.
“I have two points to make. First, we can prepare to go to war with Xueyan Pavilion and Jian Ge ahead of schedule. Second, everyone, send a friend request to Chen Xiaoyan right now.”
Everyone understood the first point.
But the second point…
The managers looked at each other and asked in confusion, “Guild Leader, why are we adding Chen Xiaoyan?”
Tianxia Wushuang didn’t answer.
At that moment, Wudi Tang stepped forward and said, “The Guild Leader naturally has his reasons. Let’s not ask too many questions.”
The managers didn’t argue. They were just employees anyway, so why care so much?
In an instant, eight managers sent friend requests to Chen Xiaoyan simultaneously.
This caused the system on her end to beep incessantly.
‘What’s going on?’
Chen Xiaoyan was a bit dazed.
How could there be so many notifications in such a short amount of time?
Curious, she clicked on the friend requests and found that people from Wushuang Lou were actually adding her.
There were ten of them in total.
Chen Xiaoyan scrolled through the request logs and saw the one from Tianxia Wushuang. She fell silent.
‘At a critical moment like this, why is the Guild Leader of Wushuang Lou adding me? Could there be some kind of conspiracy? If I accept, will a wave of public opinion immediately appear on the World Channel? Is he trying to use a sowing-discord tactic to mess with the mentality of the players in both guilds?’
Chen Xiaoyan thought it through carefully and felt it was unlikely. Without any real evidence, it wouldn’t be persuasive.
It would only make her completely despise Wushuang Lou, and Tianxia Wushuang shouldn’t be that foolish.
‘Forget it. I’ll accept and see what he has to say first.’
**[Ping! Chen Xiaoyan has accepted your friend request]**
Tianxia Wushuang, who was planning the operation with his managers, saw the notification and quickly stopped the meeting.
Tianxia Wushuang: “Hello, Chen Xiaoyan. I am Tianxia Wushuang, the Guild Leader of Wushuang Lou.”
Chen Xiaoyan: “I know who you are, Master. Is there something you need?”
Tianxia Wushuang: “I wouldn’t dare call myself a ‘Master’ in front of the Big Sister of Heavenly Fragrance.”
Tianxia Wushuang: “I wonder if you are interested in stopping this war?”
Chen Xiaoyan: “? What do you mean?”
Tianxia Wushuang: “My Wushuang Lou has no intention of fighting you. What happened in Ping’an Town was all a misunderstanding. If you agree, we can sign a non-aggression treaty and announce it to all players.”
Chen Xiaoyan: “This… you should talk to Qingxue about this, not me.”
Tianxia Wushuang: “You should know how much she hates Wushuang Lou. To this day, I still don’t understand why Guild Leader Mu Qingxue dislikes us so much. Is it because Wushuang Lou is hindering the development of Xueyan Pavilion?”
Chen Xiaoyan was speechless.
‘Isn’t that obvious? Who wouldn’t want their guild to be number one? With a threat like you around, I would do the same if I were in her shoes.’
Chen Xiaoyan: “Master, I’m not the one in charge. It’s useless to look for me.”
Tianxia Wushuang: “Haha, Big Sister Chen Xiaoyan is being too modest. How about this? As long as this war can end, I can unilaterally pay you… 1,000,000 as a fee for your hard work.”
If you wanted the horse to run, you had to let it eat some grass.
‘1,000,000?’
Chen Xiaoyan’s eyes widened, and she sucked in a cold breath.
None of these guild leaders in Xianjie were simple figures. He was willing to give away 1,000,000 just like that.
She was very tempted, but she wouldn’t agree. Once she did, it would be a betrayal.
Although 1,000,000 was a lot, it was worth nothing compared to the trust of Mu Qingxue and Liu Yue.
Chen Xiaoyan: “Master, I’m sorry, I can’t help with this. I can mention this to Qingxue, but as for whether she agrees or not, that’s out of my hands.”
Tianxia Wushuang: “I’m doing this for the sake of peace in Xianjie. I admit Wushuang Lou isn’t as strong as you, but we aren’t weak either. Once the fighting starts, it will be impossible to determine a winner in a short time.”
Tianxia Wushuang: “In a dragon-tiger hegemony, even the victor will be heavily wounded. Are you willing to see other guilds reap the rewards while we both suffer?”
‘Is he implying Lunhui Hall?’
Chen Xiaoyan fell silent.
She had to admit that what Tianxia Wushuang said made sense.
Xue-bao had expressed her worries about Lunhui Hall more than once.
‘If we and Wushuang Lou start fighting, what if they suddenly come and snatch the fruits of our labor?’
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoyan quickly sent a private message to Mu Qingxue and told her everything Tianxia Wushuang had said.
Mu Qingxue: “1,000,000? Is he treating us like beggars?”
Chen Xiaoyan’s face darkened. ‘Did this girl miss the point?’
Chen Xiaoyan: “Xue-bao, the point is Lunhui Hall.”
Mu Qingxue: “I know. You can reply to Tianxia Wushuang now. There is only one way to stop this war, and that is for Wushuang Lou to join the Alliance and surrender three management positions.”
Chen Xiaoyan: “Surrender management?”
Mu Qingxue: “Yes. Our Xueyan Pavilion wants two, and Jian Ge wants one.”
Chen Xiaoyan: “Good grief, are you trying to turn Wushuang Lou into a puppet?”
Mu Qingxue: “Not exactly. It’s mainly for monitoring purposes.”
Chen Xiaoyan: “This… I don’t think he will agree.”
Mu Qingxue: “It’s fine. If he doesn’t agree, we fight. The arrow is on the string; it must be fired.”
Chen Xiaoyan: “Alright, I understand.”
Chen Xiaoyan switched back to the private chat with Tianxia Wushuang and conveyed Mu Qingxue’s terms to him.
Then, there was no “then.”
Tianxia Wushuang didn’t reply at all.
Chen Xiaoyan shrugged.
‘See? I knew he wouldn’t agree.’
—
Shen Ce Fu, Players’ Happy Courtyard.
The managers of Wushuang Lou were collectively silent in the inner room. They didn’t dare look at their Guild Leader’s gloomy face.
The wooden ribs of the paper fan in Wudi Tang’s hand were bent by his grip, and his eyes were filled with rage.
“Boss, let’s fight. Neither Xueyan Pavilion nor Jian Ge is worried about Lunhui Hall reaping the rewards, so why should we?”
“Agreed.”
“I agree as well.”
The managers all agreed with Wudi Tang’s words.
Things had reached this point, and Tianxia Wushuang had no other choice.
Giving up three management positions and joining the Alliance was already treating Wushuang Lou like a puppet.
‘I, Qin Wushuang, worked so hard to build Wushuang Lou, only to have it controlled by a woman in the end? Ridiculous.’
‘Fine, if we fight, we fight.’
‘Since we’re going to fight, we’ll give it our all.’
‘I want to see just how much strength their two-guild alliance has.’
“Tang-zi.”
“Boss.”
“Recruit players in the Xianjie Penguin group and on the World Channel. The salary will be double that of Xueyan Pavilion—no, three times. After signing the electronic contract, we can pay one month’s salary in advance.”
Three times?
And advance payment?
Everyone present gasped.
‘How much money is that going to cost?’
Even Wudi Tang was stunned by Tianxia Wushuang’s extravagance. He swallowed hard and silently gave a thumbs-up.
‘Being rich is truly willful.’
“Boss, are you sure?”
“Guild Leader, this isn’t a small amount. Why don’t you reconsider?”
With a *thud*, Tianxia Wushuang slapped the surface of the low table. His fierce gaze swept across everyone in the room.
He sneered, “Then what do you want me to do? Give up and hand Wushuang Lou over to them? Or do you have a better way for Wushuang Lou to survive this crisis?”
The managers all lowered their heads and remained silent.
Except for Wudi Tang, who was a die-hard fan of the Guild Leader, they didn’t have very deep feelings for Wushuang Lou.
If Wushuang Lou disbanded, they could just go and idle away their days in Xueyan Pavilion.
What was the difference?
“Boss, that’s not what everyone meant. They’re just afraid you’ll invest too much money and end up with nothing.”
“Brother Tang is right. We’re just afraid you’ll lose both your money and your men, Guild Leader. The loss would outweigh the gain.”
“Guild Leader, we don’t have to go to war.”
“We don’t? Just let them bully us?”
“Of course not. Instead of a full-scale war, we can give them a taste of their own medicine. Aren’t they blocking the Replicas? Then we’ll kill the people guarding the Replicas. Aren’t they ambushing us? Then we’ll ambush their managers. We can even issue bounties on the World Channel. Anyone who kills a manager or an important member of Xueyan Pavilion or Jian Ge once will receive a massive cash prize.”
The manager’s words made everyone’s eyes light up.
“Holy crap, I think that’s viable.”
“However, if it goes on like this, it’ll come down to which side can hold out the longest.”
“Then let’s hold out! Who’s afraid of who? I’ve been annoyed by those women for a long time.”
Tianxia Wushuang cupped his chin and pondered.
He really liked the idea of the bounty. Brave men would always emerge under the promise of great rewards.
The damage didn’t need to be that strong as long as the level of harassment was high. The goal was to make them so overwhelmed that they had no heart to worry about how to mess with Wushuang Lou.
“Haha, Juhua Xin, did you play a lot of online games before?” Wudi Tang laughed, hooking his arm around the manager’s neck.
“Ouch, Brother Tang, take it easy. My neck is about to break.”
“Yeah, this kid really knows his way around bounties.”
“It’s nothing. I used to be a warrior who lived off bounties in other online games, so I’m quite familiar with this area.” Juhua Xin’s tone was slightly proud.
“Shh—look at this guy, he’s starting to show off.”
“I’m happy to!”
“Enough.” At this moment, Tianxia Wushuang spoke, and everyone immediately fell silent.
Wudi Tang let go of Juhua Xin and stood to the side.
“Juhua Xin, I approve of your idea. Go and handle it yourself. Once it’s done, ask Tang-zi for your bonus.”
Juhua Xin was overjoyed. He excitedly patted his chest and guaranteed, “Don’t worry, Guild Leader. I’ll definitely handle it perfectly for you.”
“Tang-zi.” Tianxia Wushuang looked at Wudi Tang again.
“Boss.”
“In a moment, I’ll log off and transfer the funds to you. Juhua Xin’s bounty is one thing, but the recruitment cannot stop. Furthermore, we need to start a battle of public opinion on the World Channel.”
“Got it, Boss.”
“However, Boss, I have one thing to tell you.”
“Speak.”
“I can donate 6,000,000 to the guild as an incentive fund.”
Tianxia Wushuang didn’t reply immediately, trying to figure out Wudi Tang’s intention.