Assassin Ronin Shinemon ran out from the teleport gate as well.
He took a deep breath and shouted, "Main continent, I'm back!!!" Then he threw a short dagger at a player, hitting a critical hit in one strike.
He regretted running away with the other players and getting stuck in the starting city for so long.
Now that Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 hired them, attacking those wearing red hats, how could they not come?
Thud!
Archer Legolas Fan was also there, shooting an arrow that narrowly missed Ronin Shinemon's head, critically hitting another red-hatted player. Behind them, players flowed out from the teleport gate non-stop, spreading in all directions throughout the city and beyond.
Looking at the numbers, in the defeated battle of Sirius, over twenty-four million players participated.
They then scattered to eight surrounding cities.
If calculated simply, twenty-four million divided evenly to eight cities is three million. Of these three million, half fought to the death in the battle for eight cities. That leaves... one and a half million.
Compared to the Tuguria conquering army now left with just over three hundred thousand,
Even if all these three hundred thousand were Shamshir and Raspberry Pie's people,
One and a half million versus three hundred thousand...
No way it could overturn the situation.
LegolasFan met Blazing Knight in front of the city office, trying to protect it from the Red Hat Army. Behind them, they encountered a handsome, well-built man and greeted him, "Mr. Ben, glad to see you again."
Ben tried to smile as sincerely as possible, to not make his character look suspicious.
He said that he felt lucky he didn't reveal himself along with the traitors. It was Ben who had everyone wear red hats to distinguish enemies from allies during this chaotic battle among friends.
He led the traitorous army for a moment, directly heading to the city office with the aim of capturing the two city lords. But when he passed through the active teleport door, he became cautious.
As the strategist of the Templar Knight guild, his extensive experience in his field served him well, especially now.
Ben sensed danger and an ominous feeling. So he blended into the crowd, re-donning the mask of Ben, the strategist of the Templar Knight guild.
When Ben saw a sudden arrival of massive player armies from nowhere, he thought he had made the right choice.
"You can't underestimate the lords of the metropolis."
These five people were not defenseless children with bundles of gold waiting in the market to be stolen. They had merits; otherwise, they wouldn't have sat on the throne for so long.
Blazing Knight, seeing the situation, understood something and expressed his displeasure by saying, "Ms. Gwen and Mr. Gu used us as bait to lure the traitors into making a move!"
LegolasFan glanced derisively at the person who led them to be attacked by dwarves in Sirius city for a moment and then sarcastically said, "On my way here, fighting from the teleport door to the front of the city office, there were thousands of Templar Knight guild members in red hats attacking fellow members."
Ugh!
Blazing Knight was choked with anger and could only curse, "Ungrateful brats!"
Ben took the opportunity to deflect blame and clear himself, "That might be one of the reasons Ms. Gwen seems distant from you, Steve. She found out there are traitors in our guild and wasn't sure if you were the leader of this rebellion."
Blazing Knight believed it immediately, confused by the melee where guild members and acquaintances suddenly turned on each other.
Even reporters covering the battle on TV were puzzled, and so was Blazing Knight, who knew nothing beforehand.
"That's right! It has to be like that. No wonder she seems so distant," Blazing Knight muttered, reflecting on the actions of Guinevere 28, or Lilian, both in and out of the game.
Entrusted with information, LegolasFan certainly understood the whole story. Seeing Blazing Knight lead part of his forces to protect the city office and the two city lords, he said what he had heard, "As Mr. Ben said, the two city lords realized early on that there were traitors in the army but didn't know how many or who they were. We were always prepared, waiting for the traitors to reveal themselves, and then we exited from the teleport door with force."
Everyone there praised Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 for their excellent luring strategy, but Ben's face turned stiff inside. He cursed Shamshir and Raspberry Pie.
He had an instant conclusion.
None of his plan had faults; the fault lay with Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 being vigilant because of Raspberry Pie's betrayal, damn it!
Ben hadn't forgotten this, but he didn't see it as a problem. Even if the two were alert, it wouldn't matter because out of the remaining 300,000 troops, 50,000 were their people! Regardless, they managed to take down Guhai Wubian, Guinevere 28's golem tanks and inflicted significant damage on the city lords' army.
But Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28's alertness led to what he hadn't anticipated: That LegolasFan standing in front of him now!
A new variable, large in quantity, pouring out of the teleport door. How could he control the situation as he wanted anymore?
That's precisely what Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 wanted traitors like Ben to think. From now on, the group that CEO Butter worried would control the game won't dare betray in the middle of a battle anymore.
Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 did this for the remaining city lords so they wouldn't have to worry about betrayal on the battlefield again, making it clear that they were cautious now and ingraining this lesson deeply.
Big investments hiring millions of players at one time bring everlasting peace, no more waking up scared of a knife in the back.
Ben learned his lesson, deciding never to take opportunistic actions again and reached a conclusion:
Since the other side was prepared and distrusted their own allies, there was no reason to hide anymore!
This chaotic mess was announced worldwide.
Even at wedding banquets, people were still talking about it.
"It's been days, and you're still talking about this?' Phakin said at a Chinese banquet table, seated with former executives from Colony Asia on Mars.
Everyone at this table was discharged from Mars and are all friends who held the same rank as the groom.
A burly man, who used to be the manager of electrical engineering at the Asian colony, shook his head and said in Japanese, "Kin-kung, oh Kin-kung," while pointing around the Chinese table. "We've all returned from Mars before you. Now we have our own small businesses. Our storefronts are all in the MGC game, so how could we not keep up with the news?"
"You've just come back and haven't adjusted yet, huh? Haha."
"In today's world, this online game is considered another continent. In the past, we watched to see when the US and China would clash and go to war, similarly, we now follow how events unfold in MGC."
Phakin exclaimed, "That much?!"
The sun-tanned Indian man, a former mining manager, added, "Stay a while, and you'll get used to it. Each one of us here pioneered Mars, faced many hardships, and it took time to adjust when we returned. Every day on Mars, we had to work all the time, everywhere, every day. When we got back, being idle made us feel restless because we weren't working constantly. Haha."
"Eventually, you'll get used to it."
"Exactly."
The seniors and juniors who had returned earlier gave plenty of advice to Phakin about adjusting to life on Earth.
The sun-tanned Indian man added further, "If you still can't adjust, play the MGC game in the meantime. I guarantee that if you start a business or have other work, you'll definitely need this game."
Everyone at the table agreed, "Keep an ID; it will be useful for sure."
It couldn't be helped. The people at this table were pioneers of Mars who later became managers and were then sent back to Earth. At the same time they were on Mars, MGC Online became popular, so each of them who returned did not have an ID for the game.
They had to sign up after returning.
Thus, they assumed that Phakin, who had been stationed on Mars with them, must also not have an ID.
Little did they know that Phakin...
The rugged-faced woman sitting next to Phakin elbowed him, changing the subject, "Hey, hey, I haven't seen you looking this clean-shaven without a mustache and beard in a long time. Back on Mars, you never shaved... Look, see, the girls at that table are looking at you. You must be quite handsome, haha," she said, glancing toward the bride's table.
Phakin looked toward the Chinese table and saw Tangmo looking at him. He waved and then turned back. "I know someone at that table. They may have mentioned me. Don't tease me, sis. I've always been naturally handsome."
The rugged woman pretended to want to puke. If they weren't close, he wouldn't have been able to brag like this with a straight face."
As for Tangmo, at wedding receptions, what else could people talk about besides matters of love and romance?
All of her friends were already paired off with partners, leaving only her still single, leading to her being the center of teasing.
Naturally, looking for a match for a single woman led first to... the groomsmen's side.
The groomsmen's table, located next to the bride and groom on stage, was naturally the table of former executives of Colony Asia on Mars. These people had shared both joys and sorrows with the groom all along, forming strong bonds. Meanwhile, her table consisted of the bride's friends who had strong bonds from studying together, seated on the opposite side.
It wasn't long before the girls glanced over, but the other side waved at her!
Tangmo must have known Phakin, yet she didn't greet him, didn't make eye contact, or mention him because she was afraid something like this might happen.
The girls immediately turned and interrogated Tangmo.
"Do you know him!?"
"Tell us everything, Tangmo!"
"Oh, he's quite good-looking."
Tangmo winced and quickly tried to change the subject, pointing to the fish maw soup on the table. "If you don't hurry and eat, it'll get cold!"
But the girls wouldn't let it go..."
At weddings, whether Thai or Chinese-Hong Kong... there had to be a chairman, who was an influential person in the locality, or at the district, provincial, or national level, to bless the bride and groom.
For hundreds or thousands of years, this tradition has never changed.
For the bride's side, it's not such a big deal. The bride recently graduated and doesn't know many influential people, so it's usually someone known to the bride's parents who gives the blessing.
But on the groom's side... in his thirties, slightly older than Phakin, with work experience, he definitely knows local influencers. And when it comes to weddings, they must be invited, partly to congratulate, but mainly to "save face" for these people.
As the ceremony went on for a while, Phakin, having filled up on shark fin soup and expensive dishes at the table, turned to just listening.
Phakin frowned, thinking his friend would invite some major business partners or local politicians to give blessings, but instead, someone with a pig-like face was invited to speak.
"Who is that?" he asked softly, but everyone at the table heard. The rough-looking sister explained, "You just came back, so you might not know. This person is one of the top five advisors of Guhai Wubian."
An advisor to Li Wei?
Phakin looked at the pig-faced man, whose voice was also hoarse, and asked, "Why does someone like that have the status to be the wedding chairman? He's just an advisor."
The rough-looking sister sighed and shook her head, saying, "When I first came back, I was just like you, not understanding why people in online games had so much influence. You'll understand as time goes by. In my view now, Wang San Long is comparable to Guo Jia, Xun Yu, and Jia Xu (the top advisors of Cao Cao)."
Hearing this, Phakin smiled and asked, "So, Guhai Wubian can be compared to Cao Cao then?"
The rough-looking sister seriously nodded. Phakin asked further, "But Cao Cao seized the emperor and commanded the officials. Would the Chinese president allow that?"
The rough-looking sister was momentarily speechless, then said, "It's just a game, not real life!" Phakin chuckled and nodded. He was joking; he knows how much online games affect real life now. Then he asked, "So, Guhai Wubian is a major client of A Zhang (the groom), right?"
The rough-looking sister shook her head, "He's the major shareholder in A Zhang's construction company. A Zhang invited him to be the chairman, but Guhai Wubian is very private and never appears in public. He usually sends close associates to events like this."
Phakin acknowledged. At that moment, he saw the pig-faced man glaring at the bride's friends' table and didn't say anything more. He turned to look at Tangmo with some concern.
There is no problem with influential people or their representatives attending the wedding. Just stop eating abalone and shark fin and listen to the speech. Who would cause trouble in the middle of a wedding?
But the issues arise after all the ceremonies are over and everyone parts ways.