Gamers of the Underworld

A large erupting volcano with thick black mist was drawn on a poster. In the middle of the poster were two laughing Orcs. The bottom of the poster had the words, “Experience the active Black Volcano! The last experience of your life!” written on it.

There was a line of fine print below that:

“Are you feeling hopeless? Do you feel that life is hard? Are you feeling anxious about your current situation? Come to this famous tourist attraction. The active Black Volcano has the answers that you want!”

Below the fine print was some very fine print:

“Death rate is as high as 90%. Our agency isn’t responsible for any deaths.”

“Hmm… isn’t the Black Volcano the safest tour route?” Brainiac pondered over the poster and asked Sherlock.

“As it’s in the active stage, it will spurt out lava. The more frightening aspect is the poisonous gas that’s emitted. Any normal race that gets near the gas will die. The active stage just started recently. When the Winterfell Merchant Band traveled via the Black Volcano, it was in a dormant stage, so it wasn’t that dangerous.”

Sherlock sat in a chair in the Dungeon Lord Main Hall. In front of him were Brainiac, Eggface, Evelynn, Yoda, and Polio, who was in the kitten form.

“This is the information on the Black Volcano. I spent a lot of money to gather information. Take a look. In the coming future, we’ll survey the area. It’s important to know more about the location.”

Sherlock passed the posters to everyone. Besides Eggface and Evelynn, who were studying the poster seriously, Brainiac and Yoda were befuddled. Polio said, “Meow! What a joke, meow! How can such a poster cost a lot of money? Anyone can get them from the tour agency entrance…”

Polio was going to use his claws to shred the poster and throw it to the ground, but after seeing Sherlock, he nodded and said firmly, “I see. There’s a death rate of 90%, meow. That’s very dangerous, meow. Are there fewer tourists during the active stage of the volcano? This makes it more convenient for us to deploy and investigate, meow, meow,”

“Yes, Yoda will fly the Airship near the Black Volcano. I have signed up for a free tour at the Winterfell tour agency, so a tour guide will follow the Airship to the Black Volcano tourist spot. Polio will be the Mercenary Captain. Remember to disguise yourself as a Knight Mercenary Captain and create a mercenary’s resume and name. Brainiac will be the highly-paid consultant of the mercenary group. Tomorrow, we’ll pay a visit to Lassie. I thought it over for a long time and gritted my teeth before I loaned you out to the mercenary group.”

Sherlock said, “Eggface, once the Airship arrives at the location, you’ll visit the Black Volcano. You’ll be the Logistics Officer at the Black Volcano. You’re responsible for exchange the equipment and goods of the citizens and supervising the construction of the outpost. Evelynn, you’ll produce the promotional posters and place them at the Adventurer’s Guild. The citizens have to spend game currency to participate in this special Black Volcano Mission. After completion of the mission, they can obtain Adventurer’s Reputation Points and upgrade their Adventurer’s Medals. I’m sure you are familiar with these gimmicks. We don’t have to motivate them, and I’m not worried about that. It’s all about rituals, poetic feelings, and a sense of purpose. Within three days, the promotional materials have to be completed. If you can’t cope, you may use the Adventurer’s Missions to obtain the help of the citizens. They are actually quite talented in publicity matters.”

“Can I use the computer?”

“No.”

“If I don’t bring along my computer, won’t I be unable to perform my customer service duty?”

“No, your intention is to play computer games. We can stop the customer service for a period of time. I’ll announce your sick leave.”

“I’m the Commander-in-chief of the Azeroth Faction, the Field Marshal of Red Alert, the Civilization Tutor of Age of Empires, Friend of P Society, King of Assassins…”

“No.”

Sherlock interrupted Eggface’s wild imagination, and the meeting ended. Brainiac was the only one who stayed in the office.

Brainiac was going to discuss something with Sherlock.

“Lord Sherlock, I feel that it’s better not to get involved in this matter.”

Brainiac stood in front of Sherlock, looking very solemn.

“Are you worried about the dangers?” Sherlock asked.

“No, I read in the newspaper that the missing Merchant Band was sending goods to the Northern Dukedom. Lord Alexandria seems to be plotting against Lord Sherlock. During the Winterfell invasion of the Ancient Gods army, Alexandria suggested putting Eternal Fire and Eternal Kingdom together at the frontline,” Brainiac said respectfully.

Sherlock nodded and said, “You’re right, Brainiac. But…”

Sherlock stood up and walked to the window. He looked gently at the rowdy gamers and said, “Sometimes, even if it’s difficult and dangerous, we may have reasons not to back off. Though I’m unable to tell you the details, you’ll understand why I’m doing this one day. This is youth, Brainiac. There are many things that you have to learn. Leave now, and do your work. Tomorrow, we’ll visit Dungeon Lord Lassie.”

“I understand, Lord Sherlock.”

Brainiac bowed to Sherlock and left the Dungeon Lord Main Hall, then stood at the Dungeon Lord Main Hall entrance and stared out in a daze.

“Youth…”

…

A new challenge was awaiting Eternal Kingdom. To the gamers, it was another content update.

However, the gamers had more important things on their minds than content updates. For online games, the actual gameplay wasn’t the first priority, social interaction was.

In social interactions, besides positive elements such as youth, aspirations, friendship, and love, there were darker elements such as slanderous rumors.

In Eternal Kingdom, strange rumors were rife.

[Raintea is a green tea b*tch who acts innocent but is swindling Arthur’s equipment!]

[Life connoisseur gamer? Never involved in a fight? Someone who set up a fake image has to take a rest!]

[Dragonborn was forced to change factions by Raintea?]

[Raintea is trying to break up the Pioneer Alliance. Everyone knows that Arthur and Sylvanas are on good terms, but she is intruding as a third party.]

[Shameless. Raintea is already married in real life! She isn’t a vulnerable girl. She is a married mom!]

[Why is she called Raintea? Calling her green tea would be better!]

[If the Pioneer Alliance has a gamer like Raintea, it will break up sooner or later. Chase Raintea out! We don’t want to see the Pioneer Alliance break up.]

…

The posts were attacking Raintea. Whenever posts mentioned Arthur, they were either compliments or putting him as a victim.

For the past two days, the discussion forum was heating up.

Many gamers were eager to watch the conflict that was about to unfold.

The Guild members of the Pioneer Alliance weren’t bothered. They would file a complaint and wait for the administrator to remove the rumor posts and ban the slanderers. However, since the discussion forum was open to the internet, banned members were allowed to register new accounts. They continued to spread rumors and heat up the discussion forum.

The number of rumormongers was large, and they would create controversial posts and replies in other posts, all of them attacking Raintea. They made Raintea look like an evil and plotting green tea b*tch.

Many gamers retaliated since they were familiar with Raintea, but many more gamers didn’t know Raintea and were just enjoying the show. Slowly, they mistook the rumors as truth and started spreading false information.

Humans were born with an evil nature.

This evil would show itself with mass propagation and peer pressure. Examples of evil deeds were plentiful.

Raintea tried to defend herself, but she couldn’t take it anymore and created a post.

[I only want to be a peaceful gamer. I don’t wish to be embroiled in any conflict.]

She spoke of how she was just a dormant member of the Pioneer Alliance. Arthur and Raintea were just normal friends, and they had never formed a team before. In fact, they rarely spoke to each other. Raintea didn’t have the intention to be a third party, nor did she know why Dragonborn switched factions. She even felt sad about it, never having the intention to hurt Dragonborn and force him to switch over to Victoria City.

Though Raintea’s post was detailed, the replies were sarcastic. Some of them were rebuking her, while some gamers twisted the facts and scolded her. Most of the gamers just watched the show eagerly.

There were some who spoke up for Raintea, and they started conflicts in the posts.

Before long, a notice appeared before all Pioneer Alliance members.

[Raintea has left the Pioneer Alliance.]

Arthur went to look for Raintea, but she avoided him. When she saw Arthur coming, she immediately went offline.

A large crack soon appeared in the Pioneer Alliance.

The subsequent events were totally unexpected…