Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

"Knights and the others are officially forming a guild," Ethan began casually. "There's been a lot of response; you could say most players have joined."

"It seems you're ready to confront them." Iwasaki knew what he meant after a moment's thought.

He carefully reviewed the newly added guild system and understood that the updated guilds were recognized by the game system, which meant they would be protected by the game system.

Or rather, constraints.

This is completely different from the loosely organized player support associations of the past.

The prerequisites for establishing a guild are that there are at least three players, a guild leader unanimously confirmed, and 100 points.

After a guild is established, it can formulate three rules that will be enforced on all guild members.

The guild founded by Nobita retained its previous name, the Player Mutual Aid Association, and even its rules were inherited.

1. Association members shall not harm each other unless it is to save the other from more serious harm.

2. Association members shall not inquire into or disseminate information about the abilities or real identities of other members.

3. Do not intentionally harm ordinary people who have not committed intentional homicide, attempted homicide, or seriously violated morality (such as framing others, refusing to correct mistakes, or being arrogant and sarcastic).

Upon learning that these three rules of the association would be written into the guild regulations, Ethan immediately expressed his regret, stating that he could not accept the third rule (in fact, he could not accept any of the three), and then promptly withdrew from the association.

Nobita simply stared at him for a long time before giving up the last shred of hope he had for him.

It's certain that all the cooperation and closeness he showed before were just a facade. The next time they meet, they might turn from former teammates into enemies.

Unexpectedly, "Tian," a player who had previously been absent from the community and had no further contact with them, agreed to join the guild.

Of course, joining a guild has its advantages, quite a few.

The guild leader can purchase items that can only be used by the guild in the shop, such as group healing banners and damage-sharing formations.

After joining a guild, you'll have the game's rules and regulations to back you up, so you don't have to worry about being betrayed by other guild members, either in the game or in real life.

If there is a real-world task that is difficult for one person to complete, guild members can be invited to assist.

Team games will prioritize pairing players from the same guild.

The guild has a dedicated meeting and lounge area.

Within the guild, players can trade daily play counts, etc.

Currently, the player mutual aid association has attracted most of the players.

Only Ethan, Yui, and Iwasaki remained who hadn't joined.

And coincidentally, if they were willing to form a guild, they would have enough people.

Ethan came with this in mind.

He reminded Iwasaki that he could start his own guild, and that as long as there weren't any overly virtuous rules, he would be quite willing to join.

Despite Ethan's hints about forming a new guild, Kosuke Iwasaki remained unmoved, his gaze calmly fixed on Ethan beneath his black mist form.

"A guild that cannot guarantee that its members will not attack each other is meaningless."

Ethan remained silent for a moment.

His plan to play both sides has completely failed.

He once thought that with his vision and skills, he could easily control these players from ordinary backgrounds.

Looking back now, he realizes that his actions were not clever, that he had left many flaws, and that he had lost the cheapest but most invaluable trust.

No one can truly trust a so-called ally who is two-faced and cannot even make the most basic promise not to harm their companions.

Ethan has never been one to dwell on regrets, and now that the plan has failed, he might as well just be himself.

After figuring out the key point, Ethan seemed to have unloaded a heavy burden, and a smile that others couldn't see appeared under his mask.

“I understand.” Ethan’s voice regained its usual ease. “So, can you accept maintaining a purely transactional relationship?”

“Sure,” Iwasaki replied succinctly.

Ethan nodded, said nothing more, and turned back to his plot of land, as if the probing had never happened.

"The guild doesn't offer us any real benefits right now," Iwasaki explained briefly to Yui.

He believes more in stable relationships based on mutual benefit than in relying on rules and regulations.

Rules always have loopholes, but it's hard for people to betray their core interests.

Of course, fools are an exception, so even if he's certain that someone like Hayato wants to join his team, he won't agree.

Yes, on this point, he thinks Yui, who has a mental illness, is more reliable, at least she behaves normally.

Over the next few days, Peach Blossom Village entered a relatively peaceful farming season. Most players were preoccupied with various matters in the real world and could only log in occasionally to check on their crops.

If you stay in the player lobby or the rest room of the meeting room at night, your sleep efficiency will be higher. If you stay in Peach Blossom Village and don't sleep, you will feel like you haven't slept at all when you wake up.

After Uesugi discovered this, there were far fewer players keeping watch here at night.

Except for Iwasaki.

After building two houses, this guy really settled down here.

Every day, they would stay up until dawn and dusk, observing the subtle changes in the fields, without ever getting bored.

To get him out of this state, we'll probably have to wait for the new game to be released.

Or perhaps he'll figure out the growth patterns of the crops before making a decision.

The third night.

After weeding Yui's and his own fields, Iwasaki sat on the wooden chair he had assembled himself, his gaze fixed on the soft glow emanating from the lighthouse in the distance.

All around was quiet, with only the rustling of the grass in the breeze.

Da da da.

An incongruous sound was mixed in.

Iwasaki's scattered thoughts suddenly sharpened as he heard very faint footsteps.

It was that fox village chief who came down.

The dog's paws sank into the mud with barely a sound, and it seemed to be deliberately moving quietly, making it appear furtive.

After confirming that it was the fox village chief, Iwasaki's wariness dissipated, replaced by curiosity.

It has come down to check on things occasionally these past few days, but only during the daytime; it spends most of its time at the lighthouse.

It's not that there's no communication; occasionally, when players ask questions, it will try its best to answer them with actions, although whether the player understands depends entirely on their abstract comprehension ability.

Perhaps because he held a grudge, the fox never spoke to Iwasaki, and every time he passed by, he held his head high and didn't even look at him.

Even Iwasaki couldn't have imagined that he would offend the village chief so badly by asking just one question.

I don't know what the consequences will be.

Fortunately, it doesn't hold a grudge against Yui, so it shouldn't miss any crucial information.

The fox village chief clearly hadn't expected any players to be online at this time. When he saw Iwasaki, he was visibly taken aback, as if he'd seen a ghost. It wasn't that it was afraid of ghosts.

It was a little surprised, but quickly returned to normal, still ignoring Iwasaki's presence, and casually passed by his door, heading straight for Yui's plot.

Just as Iwasaki was about to get up and go over to take a look, he saw the fox suddenly leap into Yui's field with lightning speed. The next second, the white radishes in the field turned into a ripe state, shimmering with a faint light.

The three-colored fox used all four paws, its movements so fast that it left only a blur. It easily dug out a carrot, put it in its mouth, and then rushed to the next player's field without stopping!

Iwasaki stood there stunned, taking several seconds to come to his senses.

"Can we steal these vegetables?"

After regaining his senses, Iwasaki first sent Yui a private message, and then followed the fox's agile figure as quickly as possible.

Hayato, Uesugi, Oshima.

Almost all white radishes grown there mature around the same time, since they were planted around the same time.

Without exception, they have all now fallen victim to the poisonous hands of the Three Flowers. Uh, let's add one more, Iwasaki. No, we have to add one more, Yui. Okay, Ethan has joined us too.

They swept through the vegetable garden like a tornado.

When Uesugi, who was in the player lobby lounge, came to check on the situation as usual, he was met with a vegetable patch that looked like it had been dug up by dogs.

She suddenly understood everything; the sky had fallen!

"You beast, meow—!!!"

A piercing scream shattered the tranquil night sky of Peach Blossom Village, filled with deep despair and disbelief.

Chapter 266: Silver Cup Manor

The Taoyuan Village Massacre.

The righteous historian Uesugi Hitomi recorded it in this way.

August 8th was sunny, but a light rain suddenly started to fall.

Although it was real rain and had nothing to do with Peach Blossom Village, she still incorporated it into the story using subtle and euphemistic language to express her feelings.

In the dead of night, most players' radish fields were brutally and repeatedly stolen.

Almost half of the harvest was lost.

This means that even after three days of hard work, you might not be able to get your money back for the seeds.

Uesugi, who had painstakingly accumulated points one by one, was heartbroken and breathed heavily, writing down his thoughts in bold strokes.

Not everyone has enough points to plant advanced seeds, especially Uesugi, who completely gave up point rewards in the previous game and can only rely on his old resources.

She knew that growing tomatoes was probably the most profitable, but being conservative by nature, she worried about the long growth cycle, so the first batch she planted were white radishes.

Now that we know the growth cycle, radishes need three days to grow, but at the same time, only 60% of the harvest is left!

Forty percent of them belong to other people!

"I didn't expect you could steal vegetables like that. Who discovered the rule?" Hayato, who came upon hearing the news, wasn't too upset and asked Uesugi curiously.

"I'm not sure, but he shouldn't be from our guild." Uesugi pulled up a chair and sat down next to his freshly harvested crops like a mother cat protecting her kittens, vigilantly surveying the night. "I suspect it's the Demon Mist. He spends all his time in Peach Blossom Village; that's probably how he discovered the rules."

"There should be a limit to the amount of crops they can steal, otherwise they'll just steal them all and there's no point in leaving any."

Taki, unsure how to comfort her, could only analyze the situation.

She only grows tomatoes, so she wasn't affected.

It means that when the crops are about to mature, someone should be there to watch over them and harvest them as soon as possible.

Otherwise, they might actually be able to steal it.

The thought of players possibly fighting each other over protecting the carrot or stealing vegetables in the future makes Takii shake his head.

"There was a warning at harvest time: if 60% of the crops were left on each plot, then 40% had been stolen. There were either two or four thieves." Uesugi counted the radishes over and over, gritting his teeth.

"Since stealing crops from each other is allowed, and there are rules limiting the amount that can be stolen, it means that this game actually supports doing so." Nobita, who had somehow appeared at Uesugi Farm, chimed in.

Taki glanced around and said, "Our guild should add a rule that players in the same guild cannot steal each other's crops to avoid any major conflicts. Even if the game system can't enforce it, we can still implement it internally. Of course, the most important thing is for players to pay attention to the crop maturity time themselves, since the farm won't record who steals."

"Let's discuss it again tomorrow and see what everyone's opinion is. But what you said just now wasn't entirely correct. It's not like there's no way to find out who stole it." Nobi squatted down on an undeveloped plot of land and pointed to a very shallow footprint. "Look, there's a footprint here that's obviously unusual."

These don't look like human footprints at all; they look more like animal footprints.

And the only animal in Peach Blossom Village right now?

"The fox is acting as village chief!"

Inside the lighthouse.

The calico fox was happily calculating its spoils for the night.

Sure enough, if you want to make big money, you can't just rely on honest farming.

From the very first day the players arrived, it secretly used the lighthouse's superior field of vision to observe and record their planting times.

Even if you don't know what they planted, it doesn't matter. There are only three crops: white radish for 3 days, carrot for 5 days, and tomato for 10 days.

Without irrigation from high-quality spring water or better, the growth cycle is basically fixed.

The premise is that pest control, weeding, and watering are done in a timely manner; otherwise, there will be some delays.

If you don't water it for a day, the growth cycle will be extended by two days and the harvest will decrease by 10%. If it's two days, the growth cycle will be extended by four days and the harvest will decrease by 20%.

It withered after not being watered for three days.