Chapter 91: The Anti-Immorality Alliance's Ambush Leads to a Global Abyss Boss's Counterattack

Three days after the global protection fee package went online, nine people sat in a secret room within the Liberty City guild territory on the US Server. William sat at the head of the long table, with Yamada Ichiro of the Japanese Server's Sakura Shrine on his left, and Kim Hyun-tae of the Korean Server's Goryeo War God Temple on his right. The remaining six were presidents of several medium-sized European and American guilds—all die-hards who hadn't signed the protection fee agreement and intended to hold out to the end.

William slammed a tablet onto the table. The screen displayed real-time sales data for the global protection fee package from the Unscrupulous Business Center's official website. The numbers were still ticking up, having already surpassed five billion gold coins.

“Three days, five billion.” William’s voice was very low. “The nine guilds represented here would have to pay a combined total of over five billion gold coins in protection fees every year. Kim Hyun-tae signed, Yamada signed, and I signed. But signing doesn't mean we've submitted. Lin Ye is using the Lord of the Abyss and the six abyss speakers to pressure us, threatening us with cross-server debuffs. This debt cannot be settled just like that.”

Kim Hyun-tae leaned back in his chair with a faint expression. “President William, that wasn't your attitude when you were signing on the third floor of the Unscrupulous Business Center. Your bow back then was quite textbook; do you want me to play the video for a quick review?”

William’s face flushed red, and he slammed the table as he stood up. “Kim Hyun-tae, I haven't even settled the score for you selling me out yet. You sent the chat logs of us discussing how to deal with Lin Ye directly to him—I remember that. I didn't call you here today to rehash old grudges, but to discuss how to turn the tables. Signing the agreement doesn't mean you're willing. You said it yourself: people find it easiest to understand reason when they have no money. Now that your money is all gone, what reason have you understood?”

Kim Hyun-tae didn't respond. Yamada Ichiro stepped in to mediate. “President William is right; we were forced to sign the agreement. But the resources and player numbers we can mobilize now are restricted by the agreement. Thirty percent of the warehouse materials were distributed to solo players, and the guild's elite teams have to carry solo players through dungeons for free every week. To turn the tables, our few guilds alone aren't enough.”

William sat back down and pulled up a map on his tablet. It was a map of the core area of the cross-server battlefield, marked with seven or eight red dots.

“The core area of the cross-server battlefield isn't restricted by any server rules. Dying in this area doesn't result in a level drop, but you lose all materials and gold in your inventory. Lin Ye's Abyssal protection package also works here, but his global Abyssal Boss summoning authority has a fatal loophole in this zone.” William’s finger drew a circle around the Void Behemoth's spawn point. “Cross-server teleportation for Abyssal Bosses takes time. From the bottom of the Abyss to the core area of the cross-server battlefield, it takes at least three minutes. Those three minutes are our window of opportunity. With two thousand people focusing fire simultaneously, three minutes is enough to kill him ten times over.”

The air in the secret room froze for a while. Kim Hyun-tae spoke slowly, “Where did you get this intelligence? Even I wasn't aware of the cross-server teleportation time for Abyssal Bosses.”

The corners of William’s mouth curled up. “People from the US Server official staff discovered Lin Ye's Talent authority logs in the cross-server channel's backend. His Abyssal Boss summoning function has a delay in the cross-server channel; three minutes is fixed in the system's low-level code. This intelligence cost me two million in real-world currency.”

Yamada Ichiro gasped. “You bribed the US Server officials?”

William didn't deny it. “Not just the US Server. We have people in the European Server and Southeast Asian Server as well. No matter how strong Lin Ye is, he's just one person; no matter how ridiculous his Talent is, it must follow the game's underlying rules. The three-minute delay is a natural rift between his Talent and the cross-server channel—it's not a bug, but a reality dictated by the low-level code. We'll divide the two thousand people into four groups of five hundred, taking turns to focus fire. No matter how fast his debuff reflects, it has to reflect one by one. With two thousand people taking turns, there will eventually be a moment he can't keep up.”

The six die-hard presidents nodded one after another. Kim Hyun-tae remained silent for a long time without taking a stance, and Yamada Ichiro wasn't in a hurry to speak either. William looked at the two of them, his tone softening. “I know you're afraid of breaching the contract after signing the agreement. But the location of this operation is in the core area of the cross-server battlefield, so it doesn't count as a breach. The agreement states that one must not cause trouble on the native servers of the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or US Servers; it says nothing about the core area of the cross-server battlefield.”

Kim Hyun-tae glanced at Yamada Ichiro. Yamada Ichiro nodded slightly. Kim Hyun-tae turned to William and spoke slowly, “I've signed the agreement, so the elite teams of the Goryeo War God Temple cannot participate in this operation. However, I can provide intelligence support. I can map out Lin Ye's daily online time and activity patterns.”

William paused for a moment and then smiled. “Deal.”

Yamada Ichiro followed suit. “The same goes for Sakura Shrine. We can't provide people, but we can provide materials and gold. The Mana-Sealing Scrolls and space locking traps needed for the operation—the quality of Japanese Server specialties is number one in the world. I will provide these supplies.”

William stood up and extended his hand toward Kim Hyun-tae and Yamada Ichiro. Kim Hyun-tae shook it, and Yamada Ichiro did as well. The scene of the three of them shaking hands was fully recorded by the secret room's surveillance.

The action plan finally finalized by the nine guilds was very meticulous: two thousand elite players would split up and sneak into the core area of the cross-server battlefield ahead of time, posing as small parties of solo players farming materials, scattered across the various monster zones surrounding the Void Behemoth's spawn point. Lin Ye would go to the Void Behemoth's spawn point every Wednesday afternoon to harvest a wave of materials—Kim Hyun-tae had long since figured out this pattern. Once Lin Ye entered the focus-fire range, the four groups would launch their attack simultaneously, using Mana-Sealing Scrolls to seal cross-server teleportation and space locking traps to restrict movement, with two thousand people concentrating fire to strive for at least one kill within three minutes.

The plan was sound and the logic was clear, but they missed one thing. When Lin Ye went to the Void Behemoth's spawn point every Wednesday afternoon, he didn't go alone.

On Wednesday afternoon, the area around the Void Behemoth's spawn point in the core area of the cross-server battlefield looked no different than usual. Solo players were farming materials in groups of two or three, and occasionally, patrolling cross-server merchant caravans passed by. Everything was normal.

Lin Ye appeared at the entrance of the spawn point right on time. He stood alone at the entrance of the Void Behemoth's lair, holding the abyss decay longsword. William lowered his voice in the remote command channel: “Target has arrived. Everyone in position, wait for my signal.”

The abyss decay longsword was thrust into the ground. A dark purple light instantly spread out—not a domain, but a cross-dimensional summoning gate. Behind a golden office desk at the original site of the sealing array on the bottom floor of the Abyss, the nearly four-meter-tall Lord of the Abyss was reviewing performance appraisal forms. The Abyssal Pickaxe in its hand vibrated, and the purple energy core was lit up by a cross-dimensional command.

The Lord of the Abyss put down the performance appraisal forms and stood up, hoisting the Abyssal Pickaxe onto its shoulder. “Lin Ye is summoning. Notify all Abyssal Lords globally: assemble at the cross-server core area.”

The Lord of Destruction knelt on one knee to accept the order. The Lord of the Abyss's low-pitched command spread through the global Abyssal ley lines along the cross-dimensional infection chain, and the energy core of every Abyssal Lord received the same signal simultaneously.

The Lord of Dark Erosion put down the patrol logs for the Japanese Server's Abyssal City. The Lord of Frost closed the forge in the European Server's Abyssal City. The Lord of Corrosion stood up from his throne in the Chinese Server's Abyssal City. The Lord of Flame extinguished the forging fires in the Korean Server's Abyssal City. Six abyss speakers, forty-seven middle-tier lords, and over three hundred lower-tier lords—global Abyssal energy converged along the cross-dimensional infection chain at the same instant.

A dark purple cross-dimensional rift tore open above the Void Behemoth's spawn point. It wasn't a three-minute delay; the rift took less than three seconds to open.

The Lord of the Abyss stepped out first, its nearly four-meter frame slamming onto the battlefield floor, its feet carving two deep pits into the rocky ground. The six abyss speakers followed closely behind, lining up in a row. Forty-seven middle-tier lords stood in the second row, and over three hundred lower-tier lords spread out in the third row. William’s meticulously placed space locking traps were crushed directly by the soles of the Lord of the Abyss's feet like toy clips. The energy of the cross-server teleportation sealing scrolls was blown away by the combined aura of the six abyss speakers before it could even unfold.

The two-thousand-man encirclement was instantly transformed into two thousand people being counter-surrounded. All the elite players who had sneaked into the core area were enveloped by the aura of the Abyssal Lords; they couldn't grip their weapons, couldn't cast skills, and their legs were going weak. William stood on the distant command height, his hands shaking, his lips trembling—his entire being was shaking from the inside out.

Lin Ye stood at the entrance of the Void Behemoth's lair, holding the abyss decay longsword. His voice wasn't loud, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly: “A three-minute delay? The intelligence you bought was wrong. The resonance mechanism between my Talent and the cross-server channel was upgraded before you even bought that intel. Didn't Kim Hyun-tae tell you?”

William whipped his head around to look at his tablet. Kim Hyun-tae’s private message avatar was still lit, but he was no longer online. Yamada Ichiro’s avatar had gone gray.

The Lord of the Abyss looked down at the group of elite players huddled together, then turned to Lin Ye. “How should we handle these people?”

Lin Ye sheathed his sword. “Make them sign the agreement. Those who don't will have their cross-server privileges permanently banned.”

The Lord of the Abyss slammed his Abyssal Pickaxe onto the ground, causing the earth to tremble. Two thousand people simultaneously received a system prompt: [You have been locked by Cross-Dimensional Decay Backlash. Refusing to sign the agreement will result in the permanent loss of cross-server eligibility in 24 hours. Currently, all teleportation functions are unavailable.] The first elite player was the first to raise his hands: “I'll sign!” The second, the third, two hundred, five hundred, over a thousand... The scene of two thousand people kneeling to sign the contract unfolded in the cross-server core area, a sight even more spectacular than the queue in front of the Unscrupulous Business Center.

William watched as the Anti-Unscrupulous Alliance he had spent two million real-world currency to build collapsed like a row of dominoes at the slightest touch, and he slumped onto the command height. He opened his private messages and sent a text to Kim Hyun-tae: “You sold me out again.”

This time, Kim Hyun-tae replied: “President William, I never intended to cooperate with you from the start. When Lin Ye had me sign the agreement, he gave me a task: identify the restless elements in the overseas guilds and report to him at any time. This secret meeting you convened was recorded from the moment you sent out the first invitation.”

William stared at the dialog box on the screen, his finger hovering over the keyboard, unable to type another word. The intelligence he spent two million to buy was fake data Lin Ye had deliberately left in the cross-server channel. Of the nine guilds he had convened, two of them had been Lin Ye's plants from the very beginning. The three-minute window he had meticulously planned was a trap set by Lin Ye from start to finish. And now, two thousand elite players forced into signing were lining up toward the cross-server teleportation array, each holding a newly signed protection fee agreement.