Chapter 186
Mu Ke held up the horn with a blank expression. He survived this last minute that he didn’t want to remember and let the broken loudspeaker call out the final words.
Once the loudspeaker shut up, the young master, who was already embarrassed to the point of curling up his toes, pretended that nothing had happened and continued with his words. It was just that his tone was obviously weak. “—Bai Liu asked us to come to you to help build a better guild.”
The players of the Scavengers Guild looked at the broken copper loudspeaker in Mu Ke’s hand before subtly moving their gazes to Mu Ke, who was standing on the table.
They didn’t say anything but Mu Ke could read the meaning ‘that’s it?’ from their eyes.
Mu Ke, “……”
The two sides entered a bizarre stalemate, as if someone unknown had pressed the pause button.
Mu Sicheng didn’t retreat from the entrance of the hall and there was no player present who could beat him and run out.
Yet in the same way, these people were very firm. Even if they were trapped here, they wouldn’t be easily persuaded by Mu Ke to give up the right to join the Kings Guild for a leader they had never met and who was under siege.
They could survive in this game for so long. If nothing else, their ability to see advantages and avoid harm was first-class.
Mu Ke took a deep breath and raised the loudspeaker again. The harsh whistle of the loudspeaker echoed through the ground floor of the small, low-cost building and it was accompanied by Mu Ke’s clear voice.
“We aren’t going to stop players who want to join the Kings Guild. If you want, you can go. We just want to persuade players who don’t want to continue being exploited and enslaved by the guilds, but who don’t have a better way out.”
“If someone is tired of being squeezed and harvested at the bottom of the guild, tired of being exploited by more experienced people just to survive no matter how hard you struggle or tired of living in fear with no dignity or ability then you can listen to what I have to say. I might give you a different choice.”
Mu Ke’s eyes were clear. “After I finish speaking, we will let you leave no matter what you choose.”
The players below still had expressions of disbelief but there was obvious curiosity on their faces at Mu Ke’s words.
They knew that the ideal choice from Mu Ke’s words was unlikely to exist in the current game order but they still wanted to hear what this young player could do.
Or perhaps they did have a small hope for a better option than the Kings Guild, even though they knew intellectually that it was impossible.
There were very few players in the game who could survive without joining a guild.
This was the well-understood axiom of survival rates. In extremely harsh situations, such as this game, the survival rate of individuals in a group would be much higher than that of lone individuals.
It was like being trapped in the snowy wilderness. The likelihood of survival for a group of people hugging each other to warm up was much higher than a single person.
Even if the weak in the group were exploited, sacrificed or trampled on for the fun of the strong, they were willing to give up their dignity if it meant living a little longer. This was the way that ordinary players survived after entering this game and it was also the most successful path they could find.
The group squeezing in the direction of Mu Sicheng’s exit gradually stopped.
They looked at Mu Ke standing on the table with wary, disbelieving eyes but their bodies remained around the table where he was standing. They chose to stay and listen to the different choices that they didn’t know were true or false.
This group of players had lived in low-cost housing for a long time. Their faces were dirty and they looked just like those who had lived in low-cost housing for decades in the normal world. They were messy, unkempt and mentally depressed.
There was a type of subconscious sluggishness when their gazes and expressions relaxed. It looked like they had been tortured to the point of mental abnormality.
This group of players squeezed each other and stood together. They raised their heads to gaze at Mu Ke with empty and unfocused eyes, reminding him inexplicably of a refugee place.
In a game where they could adjust their appearance at will, the players who looked like this were usually players at the bottom of the game. They didn’t care about their appearance at all and didn’t have any other requirements.
Their only requirement was to live.
Mu Ke stood on a table that was one meter higher than the others. Under the gazes of so many people, he condescendingly looked at those surrounding him.
At this moment, Mu Ke was even in a bit of a trance. He saw the numb and frozen eyes of these people, which were as weak as he used to be. They were faintly lit up and shouting for help.
The faint anticipation for the legendary newcomer who hadn’t come here, the besieged wanderer, their new leader, the god who saved him—Mu Ke’s words lit up the eyes of these silent people.
“You said… the new president, Bai Liu, will give us another choice. What is this choice?” Someone finally couldn’t help it. He stepped forward, raised his head and questioned Mu Ke.
Mu Ke took a deep breath. “It is a trade. Bai Liu will make a deal with you. After making the deal, he will be responsible for cultivating your abilities so you can independently clear the game and support yourselves.”
“As a group, you will have to pay him a monthly salary on a regular basis but everyone will share it equally. After the monthly salary, it doesn’t matter how many points and items you earn in the game. It will go to you and he won’t ask you for anything, let alone charge you a sky-high commission fee like other guilds.”
The eyes of the players below gradually widened and they looked at Mu Ke with confusion and disbelief. They raised their hands one after another to ask questions.
“He won’t charge us a commission fee and items?”
“Really?”
“He will give us resources to train us?!”
“Yes.” Mu Ke nodded with great certainty and exhaled as he looked at the players. “Bai Liu doesn’t want to exist as the upper class that rules you. He won’t control or exploit you. He will only help you and train you, so that you have the ability to earn more points. That way, you can pay him a monthly salary.”
“Do you know entertainment companies? Compared to a president, Bai Liu prefers to exist as your agent. He will manage you, develop training plans and resources for each of you and plan the route so you can best develop in the game.”
There was a small smile on Mu Ke’s face. “Your new president doesn’t like being a master. He told me that if you are willing to cooperate and trade with him, you will be the boss who pays him a monthly salary. Then naturally, each one of you will be a master of the guild and have the greatest power in the guild.”
“He will delegate the power of the president to each of you and let the guild exist as a community.”
The players below were already chaotic. They had never heard of such a bizarre guild concept. It was almost as if someone was building a trap-filled but seemingly perfect utopia for them.
The audience was still afraid and suspicious. It was because the composition looked so beautiful that they were even more afraid in their hearts. They gathered to discuss it and whisper to each other uncontrollably, but they were getting closer to the table where Mu Ke was and further away from the door guarded by Mu Sicheng.
How could anyone be willing to do such a thing as delegating their rights to the group?
It looked too much like a beautiful lie specially woven to seduce them. There were players who were smarter than them everywhere in the game. This wasn’t the first time that such a full and bright ‘lie’ had appeared.
Nevertheless, they couldn’t help wanting to ask the follow-up to the lie.
Someone asked in a trembling voice, “Bai Liu, no, how is President Bai going to delegate his privileges?”
“If you agree to cooperate—” Mu Ke looked at everyone and was silent for a moment before clicking on his game panel. “Before entering the game, your new president signed a lot of documents and sent them to me. I will now show you this document.”
Mu Ke held up his system panel, which had a copy of ‘78 Explanatory Regulations on the Splitting and Transferring of Management Rights in the Scavengers Guild’ document. He slid down and showed that Bai Liu had signed it. Only Party B’s signature was blank.
“Thousands of copies of this document have been signed by Bai Liu.“ Mu Ke swiped one by one and showed the players below. “If you are willing to accept Bai Liu’s conditions, I will send this contract to you and let you sign it as Party B.”
Mu Ke’s eyes were calm as he explained it. “Bai Liu will transfer the rights and interests of the guild to each of you, so that each one of you owns a part of the guild. He isn’t just talk. He wrote it in black and white. The contract regulations set by the system will make you the guild leaders in the true sense.”
The moment the document appeared, silence fell in the low-cost building so that a needle dropping could be heard.
The players were short of breath, their pupils were dilated and their chests were heaving as they looked at the document held high by Mu Ke. They raised their heads eagerly to read every word on it.
Mu Ke thoughtfully knelt down on the table and lowered the system panel so that players who got closer could see the contract up close.
In this game, anything could be faked through various methods such as the name, appearance, items and skills. Only one thing couldn’t be fake—
It was the contract that had been stamped and certified by the system.
This thing was real!!!
“It is a real contract! A real contract signed by the president!” The first player verified it and roared. Then the originally quiet building was filled with a burst of noise.
The numb expressions on some people’s faces faded and changed to unbelievable excitement, red-faced discussion or silently raising their heads and weeping. Colorful emotions appeared one by one on the faces of the originally stiff and indifferent bottom-ranked players.
Mu Ke finally calmed down the boiling crowd and the first player, who barely calmed down, came forward and asked him, “We are very grateful to Bai Liu, no, President Bai who is willing to make such a decision! We are very willing to have such a cooperation with the president!”
The man paused and his words changed. “However, we want to ask one thing.”
Mu Ke wondered, “What is it?”
Several players looked at each other and then Mu Ke. They clenched their fists in front of their chests and rubbed them nervously. Their previous contemptuous attitude was gone as they leaned forward and asked very sincerely, “We would like to ask, what is the deal that President Bai wants to make with us? Can we… really afford the terms that President Bai asked for?”
“You can afford it. You have something that President Bai finds very valuable,” Mu Ke answered.
“What do we have… that makes the president feel there is value in a contract?” Other people scratched their heads with disbelief.
Mu Ke smiled gently. “President Bai wants your souls.”