Chapter 355 – Offloading (1/2)
Chapter 355 – Offloading
Asskickers United had spent all gold available to them. The guild treasury was completely empty. The guild members also suffered disastrous losses. They were hunted down by other players every time they stepped foot out of the city. What little gold they did manage to earn would be eaten up by the cost of recovering from their losses. They couldn’t even get any levelling done.
This was simply too much of an ordeal. Some players could no longer endure and withdrew from the guild. Even though they were willing to become members, they had no real attachments to the guild. They were far from optimistic about coming out on top in this conflict against Bloodlust Blades, feeling Asskickers United would be the first to fall. Such occurrences were common in intense wars of attrition. Roughly 6,000 players had left the guild, with only 60,000 remaining. However, that number was still dropping.
“Let them leave if they want. We can’t rely on such players to grow the guild. We’ll just recruit new people later on. This is an opportunity to weed out the coattail riders. The members staying behind are the ones who truly make up the heart of the guild, so make sure to reward them properly after all this is over,” Nie Yan said after Guo Huai briefed him on the situation.
“The problem is, how are we going to get through this crisis? Our guild treasury is empty. We’re basically running on fumes,” Guo Huai said with an anxious look. The situation had developed far beyond his expectations. Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades had become the targets of everyone. However, there was nothing that could be done. It was their own fault for putting up such lucrative bounties! The number of players participating was constantly increasing, meaning more and more gold had to be spent every day paying out rewards and compensating losses.
Guo Huai initially thought they could hold out for at least 10 days. Who could have known they would be on the verge of collapse before even five days! After managing the guild for so long, he had deep attachments to it, even using his own personal funds to purchase gold so he could support the guild. He really didn’t want to see the guild he painstakingly built from the ground up fall in such a way.
Nie Yan chuckled. “Leave it to me. For now, take this 50,000 gold to tide us over.”
“50,000 gold isn’t enough.” Guo Huai shook his head. “It’ll probably keep us afloat for the afternoon, and even that’s uncertain…” He was all too familiar with how fast their gold was draining away.
“Don’t worry, I also brought a lot of equipment with me back from the Underworld,” Nie Yan said with a confident smile. His bags were all filled to the brim. To borrow the words of Plenty, they would certainly earn a staggering amount from selling everything he had smuggled back.
“I see, that’s good. Let’s cope as best as we can.” Judging from his confident appearance, Guo Huai believed Nie Yan had secured around 100,000 gold’s worth of equipment, which would last them a day or two.
Bloodlust Blades was also suffering. It was possible this 100,000 gold was just what Asskickers United needed to come out on top in this war.
Never in his wildest dreams could Guo Huai have imagined that Nie Yan hadn’t secured 100,000 gold’s worth of equipment but rather 1,000,000!
Guo Huai couldn’t be blamed for his faulty conjecture. Even in the best case scenario, Nie Yan could have only secured 100,000 gold’s worth of equipment working by himself in the Underworld. However, thanks to the assistance of Plenty and all of Fallen Angel, he had come back with five bags full of top quality equipment!
While Nie Yan and Guo Huai chatted, Bladelight, Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the rest of the gang arrived as well. They showed excited expressions when they saw Nie Yan.
“Boss! When we heard you returned, we rushed back to see you!”
Seeing this familiar group of faces, Nie Yan’s lips parted into a warm smile. He noticed Undying Scoundrel was only wearing Level 40 equipment. His level was only 43.
Nie Yan patted Undying Scoundrel’s shoulders with a faint smile. “How did you end up in such a miserable state?”
“I was ambushed and surrounded while levelling outside. I lost all my equipment and dropped a few levels. I still haven’t gotten the chance to recover,” Undying Scoundrel replied with an awkward chuckle.
Nie Yan’s expression slightly trembled. Since the guild treasury was empty, it was impossible for Undying Scoundrel to recover from such a setback. Without decent equipment, levelling up became much harder. Given he had dropped down to Level 43, it appeared he dropped quite a few levels after dying.
“Boss, ignore him. Who told him to be so reckless? When he got surrounded, he started going on a player killing rampage instead of running away. It would be strange if he didn’t die,” Summer Bug interjected.
It wasn’t just Undying Scoundrel. Nie Yan noticed lower-quality equipment here and there on all of them. Their levels had also stagnated. It was only Tang Yao who appeared relatively unaffected. Thanks to recently acquiring a few special items, he started levelling by himself in high level maps, where few players could follow.
“Boss, now that you’re back we can rest easy. Bloodlust Blades is losing guild members even faster than us every day. I refuse to believe they’ll outlast us!” Undying Scoundrel said optimistically.
Nie Yan was moved as he looked at this group of players. He had reviewed the guild logs. Since the guild couldn’t compensate them according to the terms of their contract, many contracted members had left. The ones who still remained behind despite these hardships were the most faithful brothers of the guild! Their loyalty was without question!
Nie Yan showed a bright smile. “You guys can put your worries to rest. Our lack of funds will be resolved soon enough. Asskickers United will always stand strong. We’ll never lose! No matter how rich Bloodlust Blades is, they’ll still fall before us!”
“Boss, we believe in you!”