◈ Chapter 357. The Great Collapse of Tianxia Tongyi.
Within the homeland, his prestige was such that even birds soaring overhead would plummet.
Moreover, after Chairman Jianwei pledged allegiance to Liu Junchun, it would be no exaggeration to say that China, with its population of over a billion, revolved around a single man—Liu Junchun alone.
Even now, it was the same.
“Deliver the situation to the lord……!”
The fall of Tianxia Tongyi’s branches.
At least one person had to survive and deliver this situation to the lord.
It was clear their target was Wuxing, but.
‘They set foot on Chinese soil just to capture Wuxing?’
He could tell the numbers didn’t add up even with rough calculations. However, soon enough, an unbelievable scene unfolded before the man’s eyes.
*Thud—* Early level 400s. Combatants of Tianxia Tongyi, classified as high-level even if they weren’t top rankers, collapsed helplessly. It wasn’t a skill. It wasn’t magic.
“Troublesome.”
A movement that felt not the slightest bit of effort.
*Swish—* He had simply swung his sword.
The man asked, trembling.
“……
W-why are you doing this?”
A dry answer came from Kinber.
“I’ve heard that line too many times. I’m sick of it.”
“……
You’re definitely the supernova Kinber?”
“Supernova, Kenber, trash. I don’t care what my name is. So how about phrasing it differently this time? Because of you lot, I’ve had to tear all the way to Shanghai. Wouldn’t it be best for both of us if you came clean here?”
“…….”
A blatant threat.
Yet the man kept his mouth shut. No, he had no choice but to keep it shut. The loyalty toward Liu Junchun would not allow him to surrender to the enemy.
Of course.
[Abnormal status, ‘Brainwashing’ has occurred.]
It wasn’t voluntary loyalty.
Even now, his mouth remained sealed.
At that, Elsidor grew curious.
“How fascinating. For trash, his lips are sealed unusually tight. I suppose that means the leader is somewhat capable. As the adventurers say, green tea in a garbage dump, or something like that?”
Green tea, all of a sudden?
What kind of bizarre metaphor was that?
Kinber’s blank gaze turned toward Elsidor.
Elsidor corrected himself.
“Ah, not just green tea, but a green tea teabag, I suppose.”
Had he uttered that nonsense in earnest, not as a joke?
‘Who in the Golden Palace taught you such words?’
Kinber wondered for a moment but let it pass.
Tianxia Tongyi was bloated in size for nothing.
More than an hour had already passed just raiding a few branches.
‘We too must not be exposed.’
Kinber had no idea what potential this madman, this Blood Elf, had seen in him to act alongside him, but he hadn’t forgotten his own predicament.
‘Both he and I have less-than-clean backgrounds trailing behind us.’
Kinber.
One of the players infamous to the point of being recognizable at a glance.
Elsidor, too, had his act of butchering Rakheed broadcast to the entire world, so the same applied. How could the actions of such people be considered normal?
In broad daylight.
Repeatedly infiltrating Tianxia Tongyi branches.
The two of them created seas of blood wherever they went.
Elsidor raised his sword and spoke.
“As expected, leaving them half-dead isn’t enough to make them talk.”
Knowing this, Kinber had persuaded Elsidor. If they treated the entire Tianxia Tongyi as they had the supernovas—gathering them like sorted recyclables—it might spark a backlash.
—“We’re going to kill them all, so how could there be any wind?”
Elsidor still didn’t understand but yielded. It was the adventurers’ world. He admitted that there were bound to be things he couldn’t grasp from his perspective, and that was why.
“S-stop! No matter how much you torture me……!!”
*Stab!*
Kinber watched the shrieking man in silence.
Until now, they had left them half-dead.
As he had said, from now on, there was no time for leisure.
‘It’s about time they get suspicious.’
Even if he had to drive them to the brink of death, he had to find out the whereabouts of Wuxing.
And also the location of Liu Junchun, who had given Wuxing such orders.
“I shall keep you alive in agony.”
Because their perspectives differed, Elsidor’s torture could be described in one word as horrific. To the point that Kinber, who had built his notoriety and witnessed all manner of things, furrowed his brow.
But it was thanks to that.
“……!”
The excruciating pain overwhelmed the loyalty remaining in the man’s head.
[Abnormal status, ‘Brainwashing’ is released.]
No, it was enough to make him forget Liu Junchun’s machinations.
“I-I’ll talk. The whereabouts of Wuxing and Liu Junchun……! Shanghai, a hotel a few blocks from here. The general assembly is being held with the entire hotel rented out.”
The Tianxia Tongyi general assembly.
Fortunately, the location was in the same area, Shanghai.
The man choked, spat blood, and barely continued.
“Kuh…… However, he might be trying to flee about now. He’s an extremely suspicious man. Seeing as he even placed ‘brainwashing’ on me, who had sworn true loyalty.”
Only then did Kinber realize.
‘If it was an abnormal status, it makes sense.’
The behavior of Tianxia Tongyi guild members who never revealed absolute secrets even in a half-dead state.
The corner of Elsidor’s mouth rose coldly.
“Brainwashing. A fitting method for trash.”
Elsidor’s skill was literally razor-sharp. The man passed out the moment he finished speaking. Kinber said nothing more and immediately activated [Stealth].
Elsidor likewise concealed himself in nature.
Now that the location was pinpointed.
No more words were needed between the two.
However, there was one thing they needed to confirm.
“Six is enough to cut their throats, pointy-ears.”
Liu Junchun and the five stars—six in total.
Tianxia Tongyi had been built upon the monarch’s brainwashing. They were no different from a sandcastle that would collapse, unable to even dream of revenge, the moment their monarch vanished.
Elsidor snorted.
“I know, trash. Any more effort than that is a luxury. Let’s finish this quickly.”
Glancing up at the sun, he added.
“It’s about time to water the garden.”
*Beeeeep—!*
A blaring siren echoed throughout the hotel.
At first they thought it might be a fire alarm, but it wasn’t.
The hotel manager ran down the hallway as if his breath would give out.
He bowed his head to the Tianxia Tongyi guild member.
“A fire alarm during the general assembly? I can clearly see what the lord thinks of you lot. A shame. The beds in this hotel were rather soft, you know.”
“I am deeply sorry. But it is not a fire!”
“……
It’s not a fire?”
*Beeeeep—!*
She had thought there was nothing else but that ear-splitting noise.
Could it be……?
The woman raised a mace from her inventory.
“Then it must be a rift, without a doubt!”
“I am afraid that is not the case either……!”
“What?”
For there to be such commotion when it was neither a fire nor a rift emergence alarm—it was beyond the woman’s comprehension.
Could it be a rebellion targeting the general assembly?
That final possibility had crossed her mind.
‘Daring to stand against the lord?’
In her mind, there was no one in Tianxia Tongyi with such audacity.
Besides, what kind of person was the lord?
A flawless man who immediately identified and expelled impure elements.
But the truth always surpasses imagination.
What awaited the woman was an unbelievable reality.
*Static—* “……!”
A transmission.
—“I-intruders……!!”
That’s right. Someone had raided the general assembly hall.
“Which sons of bitches.”
They had struck the main base of Tianxia Tongyi.
The woman relayed this to the hotel manager, whose face had gone pale.
Above all, she had to inform the lord of this news swiftly.
“You, deliver this situation to the lord.”
“I shall.”
“Because I have to deal with those arrogant bastards.”
*Tap-tap-tap!*
The manager running out suddenly asked from behind.
“B-but, where is the lord……?”
“……!”
She flinched at those words.
Her assigned mission had been to support the successful holding of the general assembly.
Yet she didn’t know where the lord was actually staying.
Of course, it wasn’t her fault.
‘……He never told me such things in the first place.’
Because the man called Liu Junchun did not even trust subordinates tamed by [Brainwashing].
Upper floor? Lower floor? No, was the lord even in this hotel?
‘Wait……’
The alarm had been ringing for a long time now.
‘Could it be the lord knew everything from the start?’
If he knew, then why…….
‘……had he not taken any action or offered any support?’
As she was lost in thought, a message appeared before her eyes.
[Abnormal status, ‘Brainwashing’ occurs.]
Doubt vanished from her mind, and blind loyalty surged forth.
The woman snapped at the hotel manager.
Upper floor or lower floor?
“Upper floor or lower floor, you find him and deliver the message!”
“I-I will do so!”
The manager began to ascend the grand central staircase of the hotel.
Soon, like the woman.
Those led by [Brainwashing] disguised as loyalty began to gather.
Their objective was singular.
To punish the raiders who had disrupted the general assembly.
Why was their lord taking no action?
They could not even harbor such doubts as they went to face the raiders.
At that same moment.
“…….”
In the restricted underground area of the hotel.
Liu Junchun and the five stars were watching the monitors.
Liu Junchun had grasped the situation early.
Guangzhou, Tianjin, Beijing, Chongqing, and Shanghai.
The monitors covering the walls showed not only the branch managers.
A CCTV system that even Tianxia Tongyi’s executives didn’t know about was in operation.
“Fast.”
Thus, from the moment the Guangzhou branch fell.
Liu Junchun had been watching everything.
But as you could see, watching was all he could do.
Elsidor.
The absolute power of an elf.
Mental strength that lightly ignored most abnormal statuses.
And the cold-bloodedness not to be swayed by vague emotions.
‘In some ways, he is a more dangerous existence to me than Ihoyeol.’
Because at this point, there existed no means within Tianxia Tongyi to stop that Blood Elf.
Liu Junchun admitted his mistake there.
‘Was that a mistake?’
Complete severance.
The homeland and Tianxia Tongyi, perfectly isolated from the international community after withdrawing from the AAU Agreement.
Even if they now revealed the recorded footage to the world, saying they had been attacked by Elsidor and Kinber, they would receive nothing but mockery.
Thus, Liu Junchun spoke.
“Delete all records related to them.”
“!”
The analyst manipulating the monitors flinched at those words.
He knew he could not dare question the lord’s will.
But he simply couldn’t understand.
‘Th-this is evidence, my lord……!!’
The only evidence that the great Tianxia Tongyi had suffered enormous damage from a despicable ambush.
But to object while the lord, and even Wuxing, watched with wide eyes? It was unthinkable.
“……I shall obey your command.”
*Click—* [Delete]
When he pressed the button, the monitors began to go dark rapidly.
The CCTV system had been completely initialized.
In the darkness of the extinguished monitor lights, Liu Junchun muttered.
“A guild with no room for excuses. Is this the great collapse of Tianxia Tongyi?”
But I, Liu Junchun—
this seat has not yet fallen.
It was merely that the timing had been moved up a little.
Only the method had changed slightly.
“At the same time, it is time to raise a new curtain.”
Yes, from the start, the only ones who would survive this general assembly.
Were none other than himself and Wuxing.
Liu Junchun’s sinister voice rang out.
“Guild Management System, open.”
A system only the guild master could activate.
A message floated before Liu Junchun’s eyes.
As befitting a top-tier guild like Tianxia Tongyi, countless functions were activated.
──────[Guild Management System]
Guild Name: Tianxia Tongyi
Members: 48,491,954
Fame: 140,683,492
1. Guild Inventory
2. Guild Skills
3. Member Management….
──────
But Liu Junchun’s gaze headed to only one place.
[Fame points are sufficient.]
That condition had already been met long ago.
However, there had been far too many people with whom to share the accumulated merits.
He had merely needed to reduce the number of heads.
But now, that was no longer the case.
Liu Junchun looked at Wuxing.
“I can gladly bestow it upon you.”
And soon, he activated the monarch’s unique skill.
[Skill, ‘Declaration of War’ has been activated.]
[Guild, ‘Tianxia Tongyi’ has declared the founding of a nation.]
[Titles are distributed according to fame contribution.]
[Five Counts have been selected.]
…….
Liu Junchun gazed at the flowing messages.
‘No one will know.’
Only a [Monarch] can recognize a [Monarch].
The current nation-founding message could only be witnessed by one possessing the qualifications of a monarch—that is, by someone with the [Monarch] class.
‘I am the only monarch among players.’
The king of Yusra, Hakuna, was indeed a monarch.
But he was, after all, a native of the Arcana continent.
Meaning he could not witness the message.
Therefore, in the face of the great collapse, Liu Junchun swallowed venom rather than sorrow.
‘I will grow my strength in the shadows, Ihoyeol.’
He had finally seized the background of a nation where he could fully display the abilities of the class [Tyrant].
Therefore, the past homeland, China, was no longer needed for Liu Junchun.
Tianxia Tongyi, which was merely a guild, was the same.
Liu Junchun spoke ruthlessly.
“Erase all systems and information without leaving a single thing behind.”
“……Yes, my lord.”
China had been subordinated to Tianxia Tongyi and could no longer function as a nation.
If Tianxia Tongyi’s system was deleted in such a situation…… The aftershock would immediately manifest as the collapse of the Rifts.
‘The people will not be able to endure.’
The analyst’s fingers trembled, but it was a brief moment.
[Delete]
*Whirrr—*
Soon, six connectors activated.
Liu Junchun and Wuxing.
They entered the Arcana continent.
Having abandoned Tianxia Tongyi and their homeland…….
A message suddenly popped up.
[Guild, ‘Tianxia Tongyi’ has declared the founding of a nation.]
[Titles are distributed according to fame contribution.]
[Five Counts have been selected.]
…….
Only one thought came to mind upon seeing that message.
‘The great houses that surpass even empires, Claudi, the Four Houses……?’
This, doesn’t it sound similar?!
I flinched.
……
Liu Junchun, could it be you’ve finally come down with eighth-grader syndrome?
“Utterly pitiful.”