Chapter 1 Marriage of Convenience (1/2)

If someone asked Zheng Xiaoguang what the most exciting part about playing an online game was, she would immediately curve the corners of her lips up 45 degrees into a smile and replied that it was being protected by a capable big brother.

Zheng Xiaoguang's big brother was Blooming Pear Tree. He was the gang boss of the Matchless, which was a major gang on this server.

Blooming Pear Tree was quite a somebody in this zone. He was a highly-skilled player and always at the top of the PK (Player Kill) list. He often splashed out a lot of money on equipment in the shop without even blinking an eye. He was not only good at protecting his fellow gang members but also excellent at fighting and slaying monsters in instances. As such, Zheng Xiaoguang always felt great during a mission.

Nevertheless, this good feeling had ended abruptly last week.

Last week, her big brother had ”sold” her to Bluegreen-Clad, the boss of another major gang called the League of Strong Families, as he wanted to ally himself with this Bluegreen-Clad.

Yes, Blooming Pear Tree had sold her out.

What Zheng Xiaoguang was playing was a 3D multiplayer online game named Shiny Sky Online. It was set in a world similar to ancient China, and thus the game characters were all dressed in ancient Chinese clothes. The operator of this game claimed that many stars played this game too, including the one who had become enormously famous recently. The server Zheng Xiaoguang played on was Zone 109 Watery South. Within this zone, there are three major gangs. They were called the Matchless, the League of Strong Families and the Sacred Temple respectively.

As this zone was newly opened, it was impossible to organize a powerful team here to slay some World Boss (a top-notch monster). The biggest problem here was the contradiction between the increasing number of players and the limited number of regions for them to upgrade levels. As such, the players, especially members of the three major gangs, competed fiercely with one another in this zone every day.

The happiest person was of course the game master, since the ”Kill and Rob” equipment in the shop remained to be in great demand since Zone 109 Watery South had been opened a month ago. Such equipment included ”Virtue Pills” which were used to change one's colored ID from red to white (as a way to cover up his or her crimes), and ”Clairvoyant”, which was used to check one's coordinates.

At present, these three gangs were similar in strength. In this newly-opened zone, most players were still working to gain levels instead of improving equipment. They usually used skills to fight and never backed off during a melee, which often broke out when they were busy gaining levels. Such melees prevented everyone involved from gaining levels smoothly, and thus no one could benefit from this.

To change this situation, Blooming Pear Tree, the gang boss of Matchless had a talk with Bluegreen-Clad, the gang boss of the League of Strong Families. They decided to form an alliance and work together to fight against the Sacred Temple. Blooming Pear Tree chose to ally himself with Bluegreen-Clad because he did not like the Sacred Temple's gang boss and his wife.

Blooming Pear Tree and Bluegreen-Clad avowed their commitment to their alliance just by sending a message on Public Chat channel to everyone that they formed an alliance now and their gangs would fight side by side and slay monsters together.

When Zheng Xiaoguang and Blooming Pear Tree discussed the alliance on YY①.

she illustrated her ideas with a metaphor.

“Such an alliance counts for nothing. It’s similar to the relationship between a couple who call each other husband and wife but aren't legally married. They can hold a wedding ceremony and invite all their friends and relatives to the wedding, so that everybody know that they're a couple. However, when one of them suddenly becomes rich or something and starts to detest his or her partner, he or she don't have to apply for a divorce and can walk out on his or her partner directly. The one who’s abandoned can only admit defeat. Without a marriage certificate, he or she can never safeguard his or her legal rights.

”This is nothing new nowadays.”

She had a point. Ties between these two gangs were quite weak, as this was a newly opened zone, and players here were not familiar with one another and usually did not have any personal grudge against one another. The League of Strong Families could make an alliance with Matchless after a talk. It could kick Matchless out and form an alliance with the Sacred Temple in breach of its promise at any time. After all, the League of Strong Families and the Sacred Temple were not deadly enemies.

When that happened, Matchless would be placed at a significant competitive disadvantage no matter how strong it was.

Someone suggested merging the two gangs into one, but this suggestion was rejected immediately. The system of this new zone did not allow that to happen, and even if it was allowed, Blooming Pear Tree would never promise. He would rather fight against the League of Strong Families and the Sacred Temple on his own than disband his own gang to join the League of Strong Families. It was also impossible for Bluegreen-Clad to disband his own gang to join Matchless.