GHG chapter 235: The Game Pool

Wang Shun tries to stop Bai Liu resignedly, "No one would participate while gambling."

"Do the rules allow it?" Bai Liu glances at Wang Shun.

Wang Shun pauses, "The rules allow it."

But he hurried adds, "But the players that participated almost never survive the preparation season. Controlling the gamble requires a lot of resources and manpower.

"Then I'll just have to keep winning," Bai Liu responds simply.

He cuts off Wang Shun who still wants to continue speaking, "I'll leave the guild to you. it won't be very easy for us from now on, try not to show your face along with the other guild members."

"--You might get beat up by other guilds."

"...Why would we get beaten up?" Before Wang Shun can process that, Bai Liu waves his hand at him lazily, walking toward the members of Wandering Circus.

Shortly after, Wang Shun understands what Bai Liu meant by it won't be easy.

"Mister Wang Shun, people are arguing on the forums!" Someone hurried to report to Wang Shun, looking around in a panic as he makes his way there, "Where's Mr Bai?! Someone is impersonating him and making posts on the forum!"

Wang Shun turned on his system panel, his expression slowly turning blank.

There are more than ten posts at the top of the forum, and the person that posted it isn't even anonymous, letting their name be displayed nakedly--they're all Bai Liu.

He used fierce words to make fun of the top ten biggest guilds. Not only did he criticise everything he could, but he also flattered his team 【Wandering Circus】 excessively, even egotistically declaring war on the number one player Spade--

--【 I don't really like how the label number 2 to Spaded is stuck on me, but I'd really like to see Bai Liu is number 2 being stuck on Spade. 】

Wang Shun feels lightheaded as he stumbles backwards, nearly falling over!

This is the most intense period of the support season, and a small spark among the fans of the big guilds can cause a massive explosion. The teams of the guilds would do everything extra cautiously, fearing that their opponents will find their weaknesses.

And now that Bai Liu has nuked the forum so many times, everyone on the forums is targeting and attacking Bai Liu.

A lot of furious fans are saying that they will gang up on Bai Liu and beat the crap out of him through the screen.

Wang Shun who got tossed into the mess by Bai Liu watches it numbly, falling limp onto the chair as his eyes go blank, letting out a bitter laugh, "Hitting and running, Bai Liu you're such an asshole..."

On the other side.

The asshole chairman Bai Liu does not feel guilty at all for his actions, only getting more smug. He takes out an extravagant-looking sunglasses out of nowhere and puts them on, strutting to the entrance of a game with the members of Wandering Circus, lifting his head as he picks the game that he wants to enter.

Mu Sicheng looks around with alert, asking with confusion, "Is it just me? Why do I feel like a lot of people are hostile toward us..."

"It's not just you." Mu Ke opens up the forum and frowns, "All of the comments on the forum are about us, but they're all negative...the reason being a person claiming to be Bai Liu made posts to provoke other guilds."

Liu Jiayi leans closer to take a look. Aftering browsing through all of the posts, her face becomes ==.

You'd know this insanity is caused by Bai Liu even if you think with your feet.

--This kind of reverse advertising is too extreme. Even though it gave them a lot of attention, Wang Shun's side is going to get a headache from this.

Because when these fans can't find Bai Liu to express their anger, they will most likely release their anger on the guild...

As they discuss, a lot of players are approaching Bai Liu's team with a glare.

Bai Liu described the characteristics of the Wandering Circus very clearly in the posts, he even wrote about the sunglasses he's wearing, so, the players recognise Bai Liu with one look.

After Bai Liu finishes picking a game, he turns around, lowering his sunglasses leisurely, revealing a pair of black irises and smiling back at the players that are approaching them.

He seems to think it's all too interesting.

But Bai Liu turns around again swiftly, "Let's go, we planned to clear ten games in a day. If someone can't take it anymore just yell stop, we'll continue after taking a break."

The five disappear among the crowd.

A pair of apple-green eyes stare unmovingly at the scene unfolding in front of him from a corner, then turn around to enter a level three game.

Inside the Gambler's Guild, Charles pulls out a silk scarf in front of his chest.

The golden string of fate embroiders a crown on the scarf. As Bai Liu's face vaguely appears, Charles puts the scarf back into his pocket, s faint smile appearing on his face as he raises a wine glass toward the air.

"--to the victory and wealth gifted by fate, cheers."

Inside the King's Guild, Hearts swayed a bottle of Psyche's Tears, this is given back to her by Liu Jiayi.

Hearts eyes look through the tear-shaped bottle, drifting far away, seemingly reminiscing a soul that has far vanished within the drops of tears left, until someone knocks on her door.

Someone pushes the door open anxiously, reporting quietly, "My queen, Bai Liu seems to be joining The League this year..."

"Then we shall join." Hearts puts the glass bottle back, responding plainly, "We already did everything to stop him, getting this result may be the true result."

Hearts looks at the picture on her office table, it is a picture taken after they passed a large instant dungeon -- this is what the guild's chairman's like, feeling the need to do things ritualistically to consolidate people's trust toward her, such as taking pictures together.

In the picture, Liu Jiayi lifted up the corner of the witch's veil, and an innocent smile is shown on her usually cold face, standing next to Hearts with trust. The background is an eerie fog -- it's a background of a dangerous level three game.

Though the sense of danger seems to vanish for Liu Jiayi's smile.

Liu Ji stood in the background clumsily, Ji Yifang who had bruises on his face kneeled next to Liu Jiayi, holding out a victory sign with a big grin, and Titan who has a big form kneeled in the background silently, even though he tried his best to lower his head, the camera only captured his chin.

Hearts stood in the middle, and Liu Jiayi was leaning into her embrace -- they were the core of this team this year, surrounded by everyone.

Her gaze stops momentarily on the picture, then she reaches over to cover the picture.

Hearts puts the glass bottle within the depth of the cabinet before lifting her head, "Let the news of the little witch betraying King's Guild spread."

The reporter's form paused, he then lifts his head to show his red eyes, "Your majesty, is the little witch really not coming back..."

No emotions show on Hearts' face as she continues to order, "...Let the secret bench player we arranged for the little witch out, and put her into a game today, I will start training her to be an official member..."

The reporter's head drops limply, "...yes, my queen."

As the reporter is turning to leave, Hearts suddenly calls out to him, "Wait."

The reporter turns his head, surprised to find that the usually decisive queen has lost her composure and holding her forehead, looking at the picture on her table in a daze -- he remembers that the queen just covered the picture.

He doesn't know why the queen suddenly uncovered it again.

The reporter asks cautiously, "your majesty, do you need anything?"

Hearts lowers her gaze, she reaches out to caress Liu Jiayi who is on the picture with her pale fingers, sentimentally and helplessly letting out a sigh before she shuts her eyes tiredly, throwing two boxes toward the reporter.

"--These are originally super rare tools that are prepared for the little witch, one of them is a pair of contact lenses that can let her see no matter what condition she's under--" Hearts falls silent for a moment, she then continues, "--the other tool is a potion, she can gain her sight back permanently after drinking it."

"Bring it to her for me," Hearts says plainly, "and tell her this--the next time we see each other will be on the battlefield."

"--Let her know that no matter what she chooses, her future, betrayal, or doubts, don't run away from it, look at them with her own eyes."

"Consider this my final lesson for her."

The reporter stands for a long time, bowing before leaving, "Yes, your majesty."

Hearts faces the picture in solitude, sitting in the dark longingly, at last, putting the picture into the drawer containing Psyche's tears.

In the deepest part of the drawer, an older picture can be vaguely seen. In the picture, a young Hearts is sitting on the lap of a man with an unclear face, her waist was circled by him as she waved her arms without care, laughing boldly.

Hearts lock the drawer and gets up, leaving without turning her head.

Golden Dawn's Guild.

Even though the guild that has the third rank has a bright name, its headquarters is located in a dingy area. From the outside, the building appears to be lifeless, nothing catches people's attention, just like this guild's mannerisms, simple and strict.

Though what contrasts with the outside is the inside of the building, there are lights everywhere, as bright as the most radiant day in summer. There are players constantly walking back and forth with the systems panel opened to analyse a large amount of data with a serious look, it is as if it's a high-tech experiment base, it looks nothing like a guild where players gather.

Golden Dawn is a very unique guild. Compared to the open guilds that let a mass of players join and quit, Golden Dawn is just like Killer's Sequence, it's a very conserved guild.

To join Golden Dawn, players need to go through a strict audition. No one knows the requirements to pass this guild's audition, all they know is that there are very few players that can join or quit this guild, so there are very few normal players in the guild -- this makes the information about the inside of the guild extremely hard to seek, making it very mysterious.

Most guilds' impression of Golden Dawn is just like how Wang Shun describes it--it's like a place where there are basically only foreigners.

Just like Wang Shun's impression of it--the chairman of Golden Dawn is also a foreigner.

"Knock knock knock--!" Someone knocks on the chairman's door, "Captain Georgia, I have something to report."

"Come in."

The door is pushed open. The person sitting behind the office table is a tall man with long dark brown locks and dark brown eyes.

The captain named Georgia has a face with a clear outline yet they are gentle. Using the description of how the fans describe them, it looks as elegant as the dawn, and it is as luxurious as a golden shimmer. In simple terms, he looks super expensive.

The moment that this captain appears in the first League, he is already thrown into the safe zone by his fans and got the Death-Exemption Medal, being famous for earning the medal just with his face --he is ranked third among the most good-looking people poll, just below Hearts. This is related to how he likes to stay low and dislikes showing his face.

His side profile makes him look quite amicable. But when he looks straight at you, that feeling will instantly disappear.

Georgia's gazef is full of intent when looking at people, people that meet his gaze can't help but will have the illusion of 【 I seem important to him】. Though after actually getting to know him, you'd realise that he is just observing you to learn whether you are hostile or not, he's a serious person that is not to get along with.

Just like his personality, Georgia's long dark brown locks are tied highly and neatly behind his head. But he has a complexion that seems unhealthy, the bottom of his lips are unusually pale, though these are unnoticed by anyone due to his actions.

The person that came in immediately approaches him nervously as he sees Georgia push himself up, motioning for him to sit, "Captain, your injuries of being corrupted by a monster haven't fully recovered yet, just sit while you listen to my report!"

Georgia coughs into his fist, apologizing before sitting back down.

The person lets out a sigh of relief as he continues, "Captain, what happened is that one of the Anomaly Authorities contained two anomalies. One of them is called Rose Perfume, and it is a special first-grade red, the other one seems to be body parts that are related to the Rose Perfume, I heard that it's extremely dangerous, they are unable to classify its grade."

"These body parts can allegedly affect other anomalies to make them evolve, so putting them in the area where most anomalies are in isn't a great idea, they're preparing to send it to the Anomaly Authorities to the area in another country."

"--For now they're leaning toward sending it to our area, which is area three." The person hands the system panel over to him, "Area 1 lets us clear out a space using it to only contain the anomaly that has an unknown danger, if you agree with the request of area one, we will start working as soon as we log out of the game."

Georgia takes the system panel, but he frowns when he sees the signature on the application form, "--is it Cen Buming? Aren't these kinda special first-grade one transference usually requested by the captain of branch three?"

The person hesitates for a moment as he doesn't know how to tell Georgia about it, but soon holds his hands up in defeat under Georgia's direct stare, telling him honestly, "--I heard that the captain of branch three resigned."

"He resigned from the team?" Georgia pauses, "Why would he leave? That captain seems to love his job."

"--Don't project yourself onto everyone, captain," His team member complains, "not everyone is a workaholic like you, going to work even though you can take breaks from your injury. The work in the Anomaly Authorities is really tiring, and the wage isn't as much as what you can get from the games, I can totally understand why the captain resigned."

Georgia gives him a look, "this is a sacred job."

His team member dryly makes a zipping motion on his lips and stops speaking.

After Georgia signed the application form, he gives the system panel back to his team member. After his team member takes his system panel back, he gives Georgia a worried glance. Instead of leaving, he asks quietly, "--Georgia, is your little brother still throwing a fit because you didn't bring him to a mission and ended up getting hurt?"

He's referring to him as 【Georgia】 instead of 【captain】, clearly switching his attitude to ask about his personal life.

Georgia slows down perusing the documents. His fingers tighten around his pen, but he doesn't lift his head.

His team member understands tacitly, "Or is it because your little brother joined the game behind your back for a while year and even joined our guild to join The League, but got mad because you caught him redhanded?"

Georgia still doesn't say anything.

His team member can't help but starts rambling, "Young people are all pretty reckless, he did that because he's worried about you. Maybe you can talk to him, you're his last family member. Your body condition has been pretty bad after being affected by that anomaly, and even keep getting injured, he just wants to protect you..."

"He is my last family member." Georgia lifts his head as he cuts off his team member, "If he really considered my feeling, he shouldn't do this behind my back."

Because of his emotional turmoil, Georgia's usually calm face is dusted with a light shade of red, and his breath quickened significantly as well, he lowers his head and starts coughing violently.

"Ok! Ok! I'll stop talking! Georgia calm down!" His team member raises his hands helplessly as he steps backwards, "Deep breaths!"

Georgia raises his hand with a plain expression, "Please get out."

His team member has no choice but to turn away, at last leaning on the crack of the door and muttering, "Georgia, I heard that the captain of branch three left because of a person named Bai Liu."

"Allegedly the Rose Perfume is made by him. Though for some reason, area one let him go and he even took the captain of branch three with him. Someone said that the captain of branch three fell in love with Bai Liu, which is why he went with him, there's no other reasonable explanation."

The team member shrugs, "sound ridiculous right? I think it's ridiculous too, but they're just rumours, don't take them too seriously."

After he is done, he quickly shuts the door and escapes before Georgia can scold him for gossiping.

Georgia who is left alone in the room frowns as he falls deep in thought, "Bai Liu?"

On the other side, Bai Liu and his team who just finished grinding ten games just came out from a game.

Bai Liu's shirt and pants are soaked as if he had just been fished out of the water, though they are all just sweat. Not to mention Mu Ke who immediately lies falls limp on the ground the moment he came out. Liu Jiayi plopped onto the ground, panting as if she is about to die.

Mu Sicheng is the only one that's better, leaning on the wall as he chugs a recovery potion, sweat dripping down from his hair.

It's obvious that the one with the best condition is Tang Erda, besides that his back is a little wet, and he looks the same as before he enters a game.

The players waiting at the entrance to poke fun at Bai Liu have turned to stones--this is the tenth time they've seen this group of people appear from the game entrance.

These psychos...clearing a level two almost every half an hour. And about the level three instant dungeons, the games on the screen are like being devoured by these people as they dimmed one by one.

The audience from the television area gawks at them--they watch these five's television as if its playback speed is times thirty-two, sometime before they could even understand what the game even is about, the five have already cleared it and gone into another game.

There were a lot of misjudged people cursing at Bai Liu on the forums, but it has all quieted down in the forum, and no one dares make a noise.

Tang Erda's ability is too impressive.

Where did Bai Liu even find such a terrifying ace?! How high even is this guy's attack stats, and how does everyone else keep up with Tang Erda's attack speed?! Can they even see that guy's shooting his gun?!

Under the huge amount of attention, new topics have successfully replaced Bai Liu's original posts, becoming a hot topic that everyone in the game is talking about.

Bai Liu ruffles his hair while laying down on the ground, combing his hair that is dripping sweat backwards as he lets out a huff, turning to Tang Erda with a small smile, "With that ten round of games, you are the one with the highest points--it seems like the audience really like your appearance and ability, of course, us too."

"..." Tang Erda doesn't know how to talk about the issue concerning his attractiveness, so he diverts the topic stiffly, "That's it for today's training. Log out of the game, you need to understand the information about the opponents in the future."

"Why are there more..." Mu Sicheng lets out a cry, sitting on the ground in utter despair.

Bai Liu gives him an ok sign.

In Bai Liu's rental apartment.

Bai Liu takes a whiteboard and a few markers out of nowhere, standing it up for Tang Erda's convenience as he explains. The others sat on the bed across from Bai Liu, lining up neatly as they stare at Professor Tang who is about to give them a lecture.

Being stared with gazes hungry for knowledge by his past enemies, Tang Erda can't help but feels unnerved, though he suppresses that feeling, clearing his throat as he lifts a red marker to draw on the whiteboard as he explains:

"The top ten guilds in the game are your main enemies, you have to be ready to fight any of the guilds. As they say, the more you know about them the more likely that you will win. I will now tell you about the key traits of each team..."

Tang Erda looks around intently,

"Since I'm not too familiar with Killer's Sequence, and you are all familiar with King's Guild, so today we will be talking about the third guild--"

"--Golden Dawn's guild."

After Tang Erda has finished explaining, the others start packing up. The ones that need to go home went home, and the ones that need to go to school went to school. Bai Liu stares at Tang Erda staring at the words 【Golden Dawn】 in a daze, he pours a cup of water and hands it to him, "You know their guild leader, no?"

Tang Erda pauses and doesn't take the water that Bai Liu offered, "I don't even want to ask how you know."

"I can tell." Bai Liu sets the water aside, sitting next to Tang Erda, "You are intentionally avoiding talking about his ability--this is what you usually do when talking about someone you're close with, can you tell me more about chairman Georgia?"

Tang Erda takes out a cigar from his pocket, motioning at Bai Liu, "Do you mind?"

Bai Liu smiles slightly, "You know I don't like the smell of cigars, but smoke if you want to."

Tang Erda lights his cigar up, taking a deep puff slowly, "--I'm not that close with him, we're just co-workers. He's from the Anomaly Authorities from area three, he is in charge of containing highly dangerous anomalies."

"To be exact, the one that is actually close to him--" Tang Erda looks at Bai Liu, "--is you, Bai Liu."

Bai Liu understands immediately, "What happened between me and him in other timelines?"

"When your underling Mu Sicheng is smuggling anomalies in foreign countries, he met Georgia who was on patrol, so he kidnapped him and gave him to you. No one knew what you did to Georgia, or what anomaly you used to corrupt him, after a night, you let him back again."

"But after Georgia gets back, his body condition kept getting worse each day. It's like he is experiencing excruciating pain every day and he's out of his head, he couldn't even tell say clearly what you did to him that day, sometimes he even displayed suicidal behaviors."

Tang Erda gradually lets out a puff of smoke, "--Later on, Georgia's little brother Armand ambushed Mu Sicheng's smuggling to avenge him, and he died together with Mu Sicheng."

Pot Fish Chilli: Sicheng: why am I always the one getting hurt?!?!