MMORPG: Crowd Control

Lei Zhen was thoroughly impressed with the architectural style of the Neutral City, Yelan.

However, he didn't let it confuse his main objective of coming here.

"Howard, Candice, the two of you can book a hotel to stay in with the other crew mates. I have some other matters to do here, so you guys can enjoy yourself." Lei Zhen turned to them and instructed.

"Can I not join, Master?" Candice asked in a timid tone.

Ever since their dungeon expedition, they had rarely talked much besides the massage she gave him on the ship and now she was being instructed to leave him alone.

It was clear that she thought she was being sidelined or cast aside, almost as if she was no longer of use.

Showing her teary eyes, Lei Zhen remained expressionless.

"I'm not going to play around, but going to an important meeting that you probably wouldn't understand." He said calmly, seemingly trying to persuade her to do as instructed.

And to his surprise, Candice rebuked his remarks with some cold hard fact.

"Of course, I wouldn't understand anything if you never reveal anything to us." She said adamantly.

To put the cherry on the toppings, Howard also interfered and said he could handle the other crew mates alone.

"Chancellor, I believe I alone am enough to handle the other crewmates," Howard said, patting his chest as if it was his glory to be that capable.

Lei Zhen raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering when did the two of them begin to be so close to cooperate in such a manner.

"Whatever, if you want to come then fine. Though don't say I didn't warn you. The meeting is a discussion that you probably won't understand even if I wanted to explain it to you." He then warned, turning around and making his way toward the meeting location.

He was already kind of late, and delaying any further wouldn't be any good, considering how he wasn't a big shot either.

Sometime later, Lei Zhen met up with Griselda, who had been waiting alongside two unfamiliar players.

"They are?" Lei Zhen asked, glancing at the two players.

"You are really one useless and hands-off guild leader," Griselda sneered coldly.

"These two females are part of the Zero Fear guild and had the position of an officer. Yet you couldn't even recognize them. Are you really trying to manage a guild or are you trying to play doll house?" She then questioned, causing Lei Zhen to smile awkwardly in response.

It was extremely clear that she was frustrated with being overloaded with work regarding the guild whereas Lei Zhen was enjoying his time without any headaches.

How could she not take this opportunity to scold him?

After scolding Lei Zhen for a good while, Griselda finally decided to introduce the two officers of their guild.

"This person is Hilda and this one is Melissa. Both of them are capable players that could lead a group of 20 people by themselves in a dungeon." Griselda introduced, emphasizing their importance to the guild.

Lei Zhen nodded his head as he waved hello to them.

"Anyway, let's save the introduction for later and head to the meeting." He then said impatiently. Though it was pretty obvious to Griselda that he merely wanted to avoid any more humiliation of him neglecting the duty of a guild leader.

Nevertheless, Griselda decided to save him some face and not haunt him like some ghost.

"Alright, you've heard the guild leader, Hilda, and Melissa. Let's head inside." She said, giving them a slight wink.

Hilda and Melissa understood her meaning, following Griselda behind. Soon, the four of them entered a large meeting room, filled with numerous players with different guild badges.

It wasn't wrong to say that the scene seemed no different than a protagonist entering a site and seeing tons of zombies, except these swarms of zombies, were all chattering about the disappearance incident.

"This is insane! What is Tundra doing, allowing this kind of incident to even happen?"

"I don't know either, but I know almost all guild leaders are now alarmed and we're attending here to resolve the issues."

"Yeah, like how are we supposed to resolve the issues when no one else knows the actual cause? Not to mention, the culprit or the disappearing players."

While walking through these people, Lei Zhen heard the complaints of other members.

None of them actually had thoughts or worries regarding the actual disappearance of players, showcasing how humanity truly was.

So long as the problem doesn't relate to them, they wouldn't even care. Hence, it was obvious that none of them actually want to be here if it weren't an order of their respective guilds.

Just when Lei Zhen was distracted, he finally saw Tang Qiaolian from afar, chatting with a mysterious player that carried two daggers in his belt.

"Let's head over there," Lei Zhen turned to Griselda and said calmly. Out of everyone here, only Tang Qiaolian was someone he was familiar with.

Griselda had no problems with it either and tried to follow him until she was halted by some of her fans. Her fans are spread worldwide so it wasn't a surprise that there are even professional players wanting her autographs.

Seeing that scene, Lei Zhen sighed softly and decided to meet up with Tang Qiaolian alone, allowing Griselda to interact with other members.

After all, this might be a meeting, but it could also be counted as a gathering of influential players in Magnolia. Therefore, it was of no harm to have Griselda make more connections.

As Griselda became occupied with her fans, Lei Zhen arrived next to Tang Qiaolian.

"This is?" The person that was chatting with Tang Qiaolian raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lei Zhen with a questionable look.

"Oh, this person here is my friend, Lei Zhen." Tang Qiaolian was slightly surprised by Lei Zhen's arrival but kept her cool and introduced him.

"Lei Zhen, this is the representative of the Cancer Guild, Karl." She then introduced Karl, the Shadow Assassin and right-hand man of the Cancer Guild leader.

With her introduction, Lei Zhen and Karl shook hands, greeting each other formally.

"Nice to meet you, Karl. I'm Lei Zhen and the guild leader of Zero Fear." Lei Zhen smiled calmly. Now that things have taken a turn for the better in his real life, remaining incognito was no longer necessary.

It was also why he didn't bother to cover his face with a mask.

Meanwhile, Karl twitched his face slightly, though he made sure to keep it quite hidden well, acting as if nothing happened.

"It's good to see some new faces in Magnolia as well. After all, the Zodiac Guild has been dominating the world of Magnolia and other games for quite some time." Karl smiled briefly.

"Anyway, I can see you have something to discuss with Guild Leader Tang, so I shall excuse myself for now." He then said, turning around and leaving, seemingly having no interest in staying any longer.

Once his presence was gone, Lei Zhen chuckled softly and joked, "It seems like Karl doesn't seem to want to talk with me."

Tang Qiaolian shrugged her shoulders.

"You have more chances to talk with him, but we have another private room reserved for us. Right here is too noisy with many members complaining that it's a waste of time." She then said, bringing Lei Zhen to a more secluded room.

Sometime later, Lei Zhen saw some familiar faces and was surprised to see someone sitting in the wrong position.

"Isn't she the vice leader of the Aries Guild? Why is she sitting in your Miracle Wing's chair?" Lei Zhen asked her, clearly enquiring about Cecile, who was sitting opposite the Aries Guild.

And the members of the Aries Guild were glaring at Cecile with some unfriendly look, almost as if they wanted to launch an attack.

"Wasn't it all thanks to you, Lei Zhen?" Tang Qiaolian teased and proceeded to explain Cecile's current situation.

Of course, she made sure to keep the matter that she had used him previously hidden. That was the kind of detail that didn't need to be relayed.

By the time Lei Zhen finished hearing her situation, he laughed and sat next to Cecile.

"It seems like you managed to find a backer so quickly." He said in a laughing manner.

Cecile rolled her eyes at his trash humor and crossed her arms.

And just when Lei Zhen was about to continue to tease her further, a new person entered and the secluded room was tensed up right away.

Lei Zhen's expression and mood quickly changed. The person that entered was none other than Shan Lin- someone that he used to be close with.

Shan Lin was equally showing a complicated expression, clearly not expecting to see Lei Zhen here.

"How have you been these days, Lei Zhen?" Shan Lin smiled awkwardly and said, seemingly trying to strike up a conversation with him.

Alas, Lei Zhen ignored his questions and went straight to the topic.

"I'm here today to discuss the disappearing players and how most of the affected players are within our region. Hence, the chances of any of us here could become a victim."

His outright humiliation of Shna Lin subsequently enraged the members of the Aries Guild as they took it as an insult to their pride and dignity.

"Hmph, a brat that can't even have top gears equipped on you. How dare you disrespect our guild leader?"

"A greenhorn brat next to a traitor. What a nice couple!"

As the Aries Guild started cursing back, Tang Qiaolian sighed inwardly, knowing full well that this was going to be one complicated meeting.