Chapter 139: First Talk of an Alliance

“Is it really necessary to tie them up so tight?”

“Covering their mouths with cloth? That’s so disgusting.”

“What kind of knot is this? Just tie a bow, okay?”

In the corner of the kitchen in the small shop, Mo Xiaobai first tied up the two men and the one woman separately, then tied a large circle around them on the outside. In Bai Hualin’s words, tying them up so complexly meant that even the Monkey King would be unable to jump around.

After finishing the final double-loop knot, Mo Xiaobai patted his hands and said with a “pat”: “That’s a wrap. Let’s go back, drink, eat meat, and wait for Yang Zhi to show up.”

Just after lunch, Bai Hualin wasn’t very interested in drinking and eating meat. She followed him out of the kitchen and fiddled with her COS costume. “Look, does someone in my current state look like anyone?”

“Who?”

“The Wild She-Demon, Sun Erlang!”

Bai Hualin tossed her skirt corner and pointed her right finger at Mo Xiaobai and the others. “That fool, why haven’t you gone to check if the few lumps of fat in the room are dead or alive? Don’t let them suffocate. We need to cut them up for steamed buns tonight. Dead meat doesn’t taste good.”

“Pfft~”

Mo Xiaobai couldn’t hold it back and burst out laughing. Then he looked at A-Dai. “If she’s the Wild She-Demon, then even if I’m no good, I’m the ‘Garden Man’. That fool must be talking about you.”

“Why do you all have nicknames, but I end up being called a fool?” A-Dai looked gloomily at the two people in front of him. Was he being forced to eat dog food?

“Yes, yes, you should quickly think of a nickname too. Then we’ll really be the ‘Bandit Trio’.” Bai Hualin, feeling playful, immediately urged him.

“No need to think. Let’s call A-Dai ‘Stone Buddha’.”

“Stone Buddha A-Dai?”

“No, it’s Stone Buddha Duncan.”

“Great God, stop joking. I don’t have much education, but I watch basketball. Duncan is clearly a foreigner from many years ago.”

“What does that have to do with it? There’s even a Huaxia Person named Wilt Chamberlain.”

Mo Xiaobai gave Xiao Bai an expression of ‘objection invalid’ before coughing lightly and gesturing for the two to sit down. “Let’s stop joking for now. Let’s talk about serious business.”

“Does Great God have any high-level discussions?”

“Shut up. Before we talk business, let me introduce the other party to you first.”

Mo Xiaobai signaled for the two to sit, then said to Bai Hualin. “A-Dai is a friend I happened to meet recently. Although he doesn’t have a Territory right now, he is currently organizing Players to do mercenary tasks. He has a high chance of creating the Plane’s first Mercenary Group.”

“Bai Hualin, A-Dai, you should not be unfamiliar with this name. The Player who was the first to transfer into a Ranger class in the Huaxia announcement recently was her.”

After Mo Xiaobai finished speaking, A-Dai and Bai Hualin glanced at each other. Before now, they only knew the other was Mo Xiaobai’s friend, but they knew nothing else about them.

Now, hearing Mo Xiaobai’s introduction, both of them started thinking their own thoughts deep down.

Especially A-Dai, whose life had been the most ordinary among the three. He immediately clasped his hands and bowed: “I have long heard of your fame. I originally thought Bai Hualin would be a male hero, but I didn’t expect her to be a Heroine. Impressive.”

“You are also impressive. Great God said you could become the head of the Plane’s first Mercenary Group, so you definitely can. I, on the other hand, am quite ordinary. Rangers are always lone heroes, you know~” Bai Hualin had high emotional intelligence and praised A-Dai in return.

Hearing Bai Hualin say this, a hint of excitement appeared in A-Dai’s eyes. Of course, he was not willing to be ordinary. The temptation of the first Mercenary Group was very great for him.

“You two stop praising each other. Originally, I didn’t plan to mention this now, but since we met today, I will let you have a taste of my idea early.”

Mo Xiaobai spoke again, and Bai Hualin and A-Dai immediately turned their heads.

Both of them also wanted to know what kind of matter would make Mo Xiaobai use such a formal tone.

“We have all played games. You should know that many games encourage Players to form groups. Although the Plane has not yet launched an Alliance section, forming alliances and breaking them up between Players is definitely essential.”

Mo Xiaobai first explained what he intended to say, then asked, “I am willing to invite you two to form an Alliance with Daming Village. What do you think?”

An Alliance?

Mo Xiaobai suddenly said this, and neither Bai Hualin nor A-Dai was even a little prepared.

Form an Alliance with Daming Village?

Such a thing, A-Dai had never even thought about it. Being able to sign a cooperation contract with a long-term stable client like Daming Village was already extremely lucky.

If they were to really cooperate, what did they have to cooperate with Daming Village?

He was currently in a starting phase of having absolutely nothing.

Similar to A-Dai’s situation, Bai Hualin was a lone hero. Her rare hobbies were just to earn a little money and then find interesting Instances or tasks around.

She had never considered allying with Players. She came to Daming Village more out of curiosity, and because Cheng Liya was there.

The inner monologues of both of them were written on their faces almost nakedly. Seeing this, Mo Xiaobai couldn’t help but smile: “You don’t need to think too much. When I choose Allies, I won’t consider whether their power is big enough or whether they can recruit a bunch of Historical Celebrities as minions.”

“Because I have this confidence. No other Player faction is bigger than me, and no amount of Famous Scholars is more than Daming Village can hold. I invited you two because I feel you have great ideas. In the future, you can own your own unique characteristics. It’s not about following me to copy a second, third, or fourth Daming Village. Such an Ally is meaningless.”

Choosing an Ally without looking at their power, and claiming their power won’t be bigger than yours?

Listening to Mo Xiaobai’s such a ridiculous self-praise, A-Dai was truly stunned, while Bai Hualin couldn’t help but burst out laughing: “Great God, when you speak, you are just like a big-headed CEO from many TV dramas.”

“This is confidence. It is greatly different from what you are talking about.”

“Okay, okay. Even if you are confident, Great God, and can keep Daming Village’s advantages going, but This Heroine really has no thoughts of forming an Alliance.”

Bai Hualin shook her head, then delivered a super bomb to Mo Xiaobai: “When I was doing the Class Transfer task, I had already decided. I only want to transfer into a Ranger. I will not join the Mohist School, and I have no interest in doing the Mohist School’s inheritance task.”

Bai Hualin, the first Player to transfer into a Ranger, had obtained the Mohist School’s Benevolent Hero inheritance, the Zhanlu Sword.

She actually didn’t want to join the Mohist School!

Mo Xiaobai hadn’t expected Xiao Bai to suddenly pull such a move. He asked strangely, “Can you tell me the specific reason?”

“The reason? It’s still because of the Class Transfer task. If you want to hear it, I’ll tell you. Anyway, I’m not the only Player who entered those three Instances. Many people know the situation at that time.”

Bai Hualin pouted and rested her chin on her hands, beginning to tell her story of the Ranger Instance journey.

“Back then when I left Juancheng, the first Instance I encountered was escorting Mozi to the Kingdom of Chu. It’s the story of ‘Mozi vs. Gongshu’ that even elementary students read. I won’t talk about the assassins we met on the road. Anyway, the process was not smooth. But at that time, I worshipped Mozi quite a bit. Being able to protect him to meet the King of Chu and persuade him not to attack the State of Song made this Instance quite interesting.”

“Two hundred Players died, half of them, but we finally protected Mozi to see Lu Ban. Because I had relatively high Instance contribution, I, along with nine others, witnessed the scene where Mozi persuaded Lu Ban. Then, the next day, we all went to see the King of Chu together.”

“The later story is known to everyone. Mozi tried to persuade the King of Chu with his concept of ‘Universal Love’, but the King of Chu’s attitude was simply not that way. Using our Huaxia way of saying it, it’s ‘I defend your right to speak, but the King’s decision cannot be changed’. So Mozi’s theory of benevolence declared failure in front of him.”

“Then, the story that has been passed down through the ages happened. Mozi directly confronted Lu Ban and conducted a simulated military exercise in front of the King of Chu. Finally, the result did not have any accidents. It was still Mozi who won.”

“But do you know? When Mozi and Lu Ban conducted the military exercise, the look in the King of Chu’s eyes… that look of greed and wild joy. Mozi didn’t see it, but we Players all saw it. It was just like the first time gold ore was mined in the Chu land. In the eyes of King Hui of Chu, the entire Mohist School was a giant gold mine, and it was a gold mine that had been blasted open with gaps.”

“Because when Mozi, as a last resort, chose military deterrence, he had already abandoned the ‘Universal Love’ concept himself. His thoughts contained sympathy and bias towards the weak. ‘Universal Love’, although not collapsing at this moment, had already developed a crack, and it was a crack that could not be fixed.”

“If the core concept of the Mohist School had a crack, it represented its flaw, which the King could exploit. King Hui of Chu spent his life in military campaigns and had no interest in ‘Universal Love’ at all. He only liked the advanced technology shown by Mozi. So he offered him official positions, land, and titles. His goal was to keep Mozi in captivity. He had once succeeded with Lu Ban.”

“Fortunately, Mozi was not stupid and rejected the King’s reward. But just because he didn’t want it, doesn’t mean others don’t want it. If we say the first Class Transfer Instance was a tie between Mozi and King Hui, but after that, the second Instance… when I think about it now, it gives me a headache.”