MMORPG: Crowd Control

It was the morning of the next day after the fiasco incident at the Tris Port.

Everything was quickly back to normal, but the news of Charter Heisen being imprisoned for his crime of attempting to harbor a wanted criminal spread like wildfire.

"Can't believe Charter Heisen would do such a thing. And here I was a huge fan of his back then."

"I know right. I supported him even though his little brother is a national traitor, but who would have thought that Charter Heisen is the same as well?"

"Damn, it was a good thing the legendary Senior Jack Scarecrow came in clutch. Otherwise, we might have made another enemy from the other side of the sea."

People in the lobby and outside the streets were all talking about this explosive news.

Of course, this kind of incident didn't make much of an impact on the players since they believed it was just another backstory of some sort.

This was something that Lei Zhen had experienced when Tang Qiaolian didn't bother listening to the sobbing story of Arachne either.

While the NPCs were all discussing this incident and the players continued to do their own business, Lei Zhen was getting ready to meet with this elusive blacksmith.

"Did the "wind" gave you an approximate location of this elusive Smither Gary?" Lei Zhen turned his attention toward Candice.

Candice nodded her head.

"Smither Gary's location isn't in any of the populated areas nor the slum area of Cinderton. He resides somewhere a bit outside of the Cinderton, nearing the wasteland field." She answered solemnly.

The wasteland field was an outskirt of Cinderton in which monsters roamed around the area. Adventurers and other players would usually go there to hunt for monsters and loot.

And although soldiers based in Cinderton were also deployed there, their job was mainly to prevent any monsters from entering the vicinity of Cinderton.

Sometime later, Lei Zhen proceeded to leave the Benestein Hotel along with Candice.

Howard, Emmanuel, and the rest of the crewmen had a hangover after their crazed drinking of booze last night.

What surprised Lei Zhen the most was that Howard seemed to love alcohol, but because he had banned them from drinking it on the ship, they could not enjoy alcohol until yesterday night.

Thus, all of them seemed to have drank till their last breath, almost as if they were afraid of not being able to taste the alcoholic content again.

"Sigh, why do all my crewmen love to drink alcohol?" Lei Zhen lamented softly.

"Do you like alcohol too, Candice?" He then asked her.

Candice's body trembled slightly as she adamantly shook her head, "A-Absolutely not."

'Damn, another alcoholic person.' Lei Zhen exclaimed inwardly.

Her mouth might have said no, but her body's actions and speeches betrayed her completely.

"I really don't like alcohol, Master." Candice protested when she saw the doubts on his face.

"Hmm, is that so? I was thinking that we should go get some drinks later on, but I guessed not then." Lei Zhen rubbed his chin and said.

"M-Maybe we should instead, Master." Candice hurriedly changed her mindset.

"Hah, got'em. I was just joking and look at you behaving excitedly already." Lei Zhen laughed as he teased her.

After last night's incident when Candice flat-out called him lying, he had ordered her to not use the wind against him.

And since she still had the slave collar active on her neck, she could not refuse the order, allowing Lei Zhen to breathe a sigh of relief.

Thus, Candice was completely caught off-guard by Lei Zhen's fake genuine tone of speech and exposed herself.

Meanwhile, Lei Zhen merely shook his head and sighed softly.

"It's fine to like drinking boozes or other alcoholic contents, but make sure to do so in moderation. I don't wish to have anyone become drunk to the point of not knowing what they are doing." He said calmly, referring to his previous incident of acting out of character.

"I-I understand, Master." Candice nodded her head repeatedly, almost as if she was afraid that Lei Zhen would not believe her.

Sometime later, Lei Zhen and Candice walked near the border entrance to the wasteland field.

The wasteland field was a dangerous region that no normal civilians should venture there without authorization.

After all, they could not afford to have a civilian injured or died there under the watchful eyes of the military. That would have been a neglect of duty and could result in them losing their job.

"Stop right there. The path ahead is a restricted area and only authorized personnel could enter." One of the soldiers said and stopped their movement.

Luckily though, Lei Zhen had a badge that Jack Scarecrow gave him last night which granted him permission to enter these restricted areas except for the top secretive ones.

"Can I perhaps continue my path with this badge?" Lei Zhen took out the badge and asked calmly.

Upon seeing the badge and the silver coating of it, the soldier swallowed some of his saliva nervously as he made a salutation.

"Of course, you can enter." The soldier said in a solemn tone and moved aside slightly.

Lei Zhen might not know the true values of the badge he was holding, but a military soldier like him could not have mistaken for what the badge represented.

It was the highest authority granted to a person by Jack Scarecrow or other high-ranking officers that are similar rank to his.

Such a badge would obviously not be stolen or dropped, so the soldier didn't even hesitate to move aside and allow Lei Zhen to walk past the restricted border.

Seeing that it was quite easy to access a supposedly restricted area, Lei Zhen was quite pleased with the badge that Jack Scarecrow gave him.

He stored the badge back into his inventory and proceeded to walk ahead, facing the vast wasteland field.

"Phew, they weren't kidding when this region is really a wasteland." Lei Zhen chuckled softly when all he saw ahead was nothing but sand.