MMORPG: Crowd Control

Lei Zhen might have the scenario familiar, but Tang Qiaolian and Shan Lin were both confused by Liu Lingxin's words about the monster screaming.

"Was there a party nearby hunting some monsters so you heard their screams? I doubt an artifact could release a monster screaming effect." Shan Lin tilted his head and asked confusingly.

Meanwhile, Liu Lingxin shook her head as she understood the situation back then despite having some fear of it.

"No, I'm sure that there isn't a party nearby. Otherwise, the screaming would have been heard a long time ago, and not when my artifact has been used." She said, dispelling the possibility of being incorrect given her expertise and experience in Magnolia.

With her reassurance, Shan Lin no longer questioned if she had heard wrongly.

As an experienced Magnolia player, there are things when you are absolutely certain of something, and questioning that further is considered disrespectful.

"Since Lingxin had said it herself, then I'll believe her words." Tang Qiaolian intervened and said, patting her on the shoulders.

However, the room became awkward when they noticed Lei Zhen was holding a perplexed expression, seemingly in deep thought.

"Lei Zhen, are you alright?" Tang Qiaolian walked over and asked in concern.

Lei Zhen snapped out of his daze when he heard her voice.

"What's the matter?" He then asked.

"I'm asking you what's wrong. You just sat in a daze and seemed to be out of sync."

"Is that so?"

"Stop acting innocent and tell me what's on your mind." Tang Qiaolian rolled her eyes and said, clearly knowing that he must be hiding something. Every single time when Lei Zhen behaved in such a manner, it meant that he realized something but was unsure about it.

He was the cautious type that doesn't speak up his thoughts unless he was absolutely confident about the result.

Lei Zhen scratched his head and laughed awkwardly, feeling that his so-called expressionless and emotionless was failing him hard.

Was he always this predictable?

Taking a deep breath, Lei Zhen decided to explain how he had managed to find a famous blacksmith previously.

"When I went to meet with this famous blacksmith, I activated Omnivision and saw monsters were actually being smelted into an item." He said truthfully, keeping some of the non-important details aside.

By the time Lei Zhen finished explaining his story, the other three were all astonished by the fact.

"How are you so lucky, Lei Zhen?" Tang Qiaolian exclaimed in shock and looked at him with horror.

"Most blacksmiths are all eccentric and have an arrogant attitude, mainly because they know their craftsmanship skills of making weapons or repairing weapons are mandatory for us players. Yet you were actually able to locate a famous one and had him promise to make a specialized weapon for you?"

Although only Tang Qiaolian was exclaiming in shock, Shan Lin and Liu Lingxin were both equally terrified by Lei Zhen's ability to receive such a great opportunity.

Specialized weapons crafted by a blacksmith are no joke in Magnolia.

And if one could count properly, there were only about 100 players or so that were fortunate enough to request a blacksmith to craft a specialized weapon.

"It took some convincing and a person to help, okay? I'm not that lucky." Lei Zhen shrugged his shoulders and said, not daring to claim the credit alone when it was mostly obtainable because of Candice's identity.

Back then, if it wasn't because of Candice's identity as an elf and that Smither Gary took notice of her, then he would have left empty-handed.

Not to mention, it was all thanks to Candice's GPS with the wind communication that allowed them to locate Smither Gary in the first place.

Alas, the more Lei Zhen attempted to explain and clarify that he wasn't omnipotent, the more suspicious they were and believed he was hiding some secrets.

"Tsk, I can't believe you would keep such benefits all to yourself, Lei Zhen. I'm disappointed in you." Tang Qiaolian clicked her tongue and shook her head repeatedly, showing a disdainful expression.

"What did I do?" Lei Zhen showed a confused expression. This was the reason why he didn't want to reveal much without having confidence about it.

They won't believe you even if what you tell them is the truth.

However, if you tell them lies, then they'll believe you wholeheartedly, almost as if they are playing some imposter games without a brain cell.

"Anyway, can we meet with this blacksmith and discuss this further?" Tang Qiaolian shifted the topic after she was done teasing Lei Zhen.

Lei Zhen nodded his head.

"That's fine, we can meet with him once this meeting is over." He said calmly.

Though he made sure to give a glance at Shan Lin and said, "Except you. You are the guild leader of the Aries Guild, so you must be busy. Instead of joining us, you should focus on investigating the affected players' last known location."

Shan Lin smiled bitterly when Lei Zhen practically meant that he could not be trusted and was forced to do some trivial task.

Tang Qiaolian didn't bother to say anything and left with Liu Lingxin, clearly having zero intention of mending their relationship. In fact, she was joyous to see Shan Lin's facade being exposed and that Lei Zhen was able to see the truth now.

'Father is probably going to scold me for being so noisy, but it's worth it. Deceiving Lei Zhen for so long and still showing those disgusting smiles pisses me off.' Tang Qiaolian cursed inwardly.

Sometime later, the secluded room was left with Lei Zhen and Shan Lin alone.

Shan Lin tried to be friendly and asked, "Are you having fun in Magnolia lately?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't like to play Magnolia. Also, I have sent the money back to you regarding the MagnoPod you purchased for me in the past. Now I don't owe you anything." Lei Zhen responded quite coldly.

As much as he didn't want to blame him, he couldn't help himself whenever he recalled that his father became a major shareholder of the Lei Enterprise and how he concealed this matter from him for years.

It was as if a splinter was lodged into his skin, unable to be extracted.

The pain was continuous and would always remind him of this particular incident. Thus, the best way to avoid provoking such pain was to not deal with the cause directly.

After all, it was an imaginary splinter and not a real one, so as long as he could not see or hear from it, then he would be at peace.

"You're still unable to forgive me…" Shan Lin showed a dejected expression, seemingly disappointed to see how their relationship had been ruined to such a degree.

"If you are the one being deceived for years, then you would behave the same way as me. This is worse than the betrayal I received back when those shareholders colluded and collectively kicked me out of the company." Lei Zhen said, exiting the secluded room.

After leaving the secluded room, Lei Zhen met up with Griselda, and surprisingly, Candice was able to become friendly with her already.

By the time he was out, the two of them were already chatting happily.

"What are you so happy about?" Lei Zhen interrupted and asked Candice.

"Oh, Master, you have returned." Candice recognized the voice and smiled blissfully at Griselda.

"Lady Griselda was just relaying a story of you being a chancellor at Yors Castle and how the two of you planned and fought in the swamp."

"Lady Griselda?" Lei Zhen raised an eyebrow and glanced at Griselda suspiciously. She was more of a rough woman than a lady if he had to be honest. Though, her true self was concealed from the public.

Meanwhile, Griselda sent a text message to him privately, with her saying that she was ashamed of him for buying an NPC slave- and a woman on top of that.

In addition to that, she also warned Lei Zhen to not attempt anything funny with Candice because she would not let him off easily.

Lei Zhen twitched his mouth when he finished reading her text message.

"I see, but we should start sitting in our assigned seats now." Lei Zhen chuckled softly, pretending to not have read the text messages.

Sometime later, everyone in the room took their assigned seat, and almost the entire duration was talking about the affected players disappearing in Magnolia and being hospitalized in the real world.

Of course, it was all just talk without any concrete plan to counter the incident because there wasn't much information regarding the culprits and the Tundra company had stated it was not a bug.

Therefore, the players themselves couldn't really do much until there were more victims and the culprits made some slip-up, allowing them to pick up some clues.

Time slowly passed by, and the meeting finally ended after 3 hours or so.

"Phew, this was quite the pointless meeting." Griselda stretched her arms and said disappointedly.

And she continued, "This was more of a gathering to socialize than caring about the matters."

Lei Zhen nodded his head in agreement.

Other than the discussion he had with Tang Qiaolian in the secluded room, this meeting was no different than the government relaying some dumb information that is known to the public already.

"It was pointless, but there are still some fruitful developments, Griselda." Lei Zhen said, informing him of his plan after the meeting.

"So what do you say, Griselda? Are you willing to join me or continue grinding levels with Hilda and Melissa?" He then asked.