Volume 10: Pride and Prejudice in the City-State Chapter 15 City-States and the New World (Part 2)
"…You mean here?"
Looking at the small and exquisite city-state with only a circle of walls and a large number of farmlands and warehouses , Li Lin found it a little hard to accept.
It’s too small. It’s really too small.
Compared with the towns that Li Lin had seen and remembered, this thing should be the smallest and most unreliable city-state he had ever experienced.
It was not an artistic medieval city, nor was it a magical city-state that often appeared. It was a real city-state that seemed to have come out of ancient history. A white low wall about four or five meters high surrounded the entire city-state, and one could clearly see the river winding through the city. The waterwheel above and the sparse houses around it looked like something real, but it was more like a small village than a city-state.
The big cities that appeared in the ancient times in the area where Li Lin was located were much larger than these city-states. These places that seemed to be swallowing up materials and constantly collecting funds and wealth from all over the place seemed to have a permanent population of only more than 20,000 people at most.
What does more than 20,000 people mean? It means that you can see the edge at a glance, and you can see the entire city wall from the hillside.
This is not the same as the city walls that Li Lin had in his mind. There were 20 to 30 meters high walls, and there were endless streams of fantasy caravans everywhere. There were wizard towers and various magical structures inside, and the exterior was shaped like an iron barrel defense array. Li Lin also saw the bastion that suddenly appeared in the core of the city, but Li Lin really thought that the people who came out of the alliance were probably a bunch of rubbish. The diameter of the left and right sides would not even exceed 400 meters. Is there a bastion as small as yours? Are you sure you are not insulting my intelligence with this thing?
How can such a thing cause casualties? You can find a few Level 2 awakenings and throw magic blocks at them from a distance to kill these junks, right? And you can see the conspicuous words "Serve the People" on the hill, but there seem to be many traces of alterations behind it, which is completely different from the initial impression, or even the opposite.
"But the vast majority of players are active in this kind of city-state."
As if she could see Li Lin's disbelief, Alice sat beside him, leaning on the car and looking at the city-state getting closer and closer, and explained to Li Lin:
"Because everyone's level is very low, there won't be any fantasy events or quests at the beginning, so everyone is active in this city-state with low or no magic. Even if they quickly reach a certain level and use experience points to awaken their magic, many people still feel resentful about this place."
"The Wuwei Alliance and other alliances are not of the same mind, but if they want to occupy a few city-states here, it is impossible for a single player guild to do it. After all, although Les Miserables has been very popular recently, it is really difficult for players to communicate with each other and it is difficult to manage properly. In addition, many people can't actually tell the difference between NPCs and players. After the revision, it has indeed become very real, so activities and other things have changed a lot ."
"In this case, many players will need to unite and start managing and adjusting like a proper government. Taxation, invention, culture, art, and the spread of other spirits. It should be said that Les Miserables is really a great game. Li Lin, do you think that communicating with others and playing hardcore adventures are the real connotations of this game? But there are also many people who choose to keep farming and climbing the technology tree, and have the feeling of creating something from nothing. Some people like to be businessmen, and some like to be politicians, but no matter what, everyone has a lot of fun in this game. So, with more happiness, there will naturally be more conflicts."
"So don't feel any psychological burden or think something is wrong because of what I said. Just kill whoever you want. Just like that little girl, I support you unconditionally. After all, we know each other now and are good friends who have exchanged IDs. You won't kill me like taking out the trash, right?"
“…”
I always feel like there's something thorny about it?
Why does it make me feel sick when these words come out ?
And please stop playing the murder joke, okay? I know I killed all your NPC friends and quests, but I really apologize to you, okay?
"If apologies work, then what are the police for?"
"You can actually read minds?!"
"I'm sorry, I'm a graduate student in psychology, and my database contains quite a few cases. So I've already memorized your bottom line and action patterns. Don't even think about running away. I know you won't be really angry. You won't be angry even if I tell you everything. After all, what I told you is the truth, and I didn't intend to lie to you, let alone do anything bad to you. Am I right?"
“…”
Yes, that is indeed the case, because Li Lin nowadays cannot PK and kill people just by making a few jokes.
But can such a thing be seen just from the details of the action and the dialogue? Are all psychology graduate students so terrible?
No, I feel like I won't want to kill anyone if I continue to talk nonsense like this. This kind of evil trend must be curbed! We must not let this kind of dissolute atmosphere continue to spread!
"I didn't say that you can't kill people. On the contrary, I support you killing people. I will be happier if you show an expression and laugh like a villain boss, and say something like "You are really courting death" or "Everything in the world is dust!" Because when you say that, I will always remember what you look like now. Mr. Li Lin, you are actually super cute, don't you know?"
"Just take this as a plea from you to shut up, okay?"
"Yes, that's it. It looks really cute. Oh, yes, take pictures..."
Of course, although she said that, Alice, as a host and psychology graduate student, was sensible and didn't really take photos or anything. But the way she closed her mouth while talking and looked at Li Lin's face seriously without blinking really gave Li Lin a creepy feeling.
However, due to the constant conversation, the car arrived at the gate of the city-state in a short while. Two guards who looked sloppy and wearing crooked armor were collecting taxes at the gate. Seeing Li Lin and Alice getting off the car, the two players were stunned at first, and then after hearing the conversation between the two, they immediately waved excitedly, showing a bright smile that the players were very familiar with, the kind of smile that wanted to drag people into the fire pit.
It turned out that these two guards were all dressed up as players. They didn't even collect the city tax for the straw cart and just let it pass. They looked at Li Lin and the former anchor with joy and rubbed their hands.
"Huh? Players? Welcome here, would you like to join our guild?"
"Join the union for what? Become a janitor?"
Facing the two guards, the former anchor rolled his eyes mercilessly.
"I don't even want to be a host anymore. It's better for us to just play our own games. Why do I have to come to your guild to join in the fun?"
"Don't say that. Actually, I think being a security guard is quite interesting most of the time. Especially when I ask people for a little money. Even though I don't care about that little money, it's really fun. Are you really not going to come and experience life here? This is a whole small city. It's super fun."
"Forget it. We still have to go to the city to cause trouble for the Wuwei League. They are not doing things cleanly. My friend is very angry and is planning to block the door. Let's not do it for now. We can play again when we have a chance."
"Then go ahead. Oh, that's a warehouse, you can take two buckets of paint and throw them on the door, or just take some explosives. I've been fed up with the idiots of the Tasteless Alliance for a long time. It's best to kill them all, but don't destroy the city. It's up to you. Anyway, they're all insured, so you can blow them up as you like."
“…”
What are you talking about?
My god, is this what the current players are like? Aren’t you allies?
Looking at this united front, Li Lin always felt that his e-sports career might be fake.
