After taking his time to eat and drink to his fill, Qi Xu glanced at the current state of the guild. The member cap of 100 was already full.
Almost all of them were from the original golden group chat, along with the growing core team of the "Lai Cai" sales group. The guild had reached its maximum capacity.
But since Qi Xu, as the guild leader, had never explicitly stated the rules and permissions for the server and the guild itself, everyone was tactful enough not to teleport over on their own.
Instead, they were lively in the guild chat area, their excitement completely unrestrained.
In the server's main chat hall, players who had successfully joined the guild now had their names outlined in red, with "Zhan Tu-" added before their nicknames.
It looked super cool, especially Qi Xu's "Zhan Tu-Invincible Black Whirlwind." His name was surrounded by a thick ring of pink, gold, and red, taking up almost as much space as two regular nicknames, firmly planted at the top of the leaderboard.
Qi Xu posted a notice in the guild: "Dear guild members, please teleport to 'Invincible Domain' at 8 PM sharp! This is our guild's first gathering. We'll start with a meeting to clarify matters, then share a meal. Let's take this chance to get to know each other. Looking forward to seeing everyone!"
As soon as the message was sent, the notification materialized directly in front of every guild member. There was no need to click into a personal panel or find the message button; it was proactively pushed to them.
This completely avoided the awkwardness of someone missing the notice because of too many messages.
The reply panel was also very user-friendly. Below the notification were two options: [Received / Ask for Leave].
No need for separate replies; just click directly. And if someone was in a dungeon or a special space where they couldn't receive the notification, Qi Xu would get a response and feedback immediately, showing that the message had not been successfully delivered.
Perhaps because everyone had just come from the big guild meetup and had just joined the guild, they were all waiting for the notice and hadn't gone into any special spaces.
Qi Xu quickly received a summary of the replies. 99 members had checked "Received." This advanced and novel feeling was really quite something.
Soon, he arrived at Qinxiangzhai. At the entrance, he saw Threeking standing there like a wooden dummy, not even going inside to wait.
Qi Xu leisurely hopped off his vehicle. "Yo, no ambush this time?"
Threeking forced a smile. "Whirlwind Boss, what are you saying? I genuinely want to cooperate with you."
"Come on, come on, with that fake look of yours, Bad Ball didn't send you, did he?"
Qi Xu made the connection naturally. Threeking's acting was spot-on, perfectly displaying reluctance, awkwardness, being forced, and sycophancy all in one.
Threeking fell silent instantly.
Bad Ball hadn't expected Invincible Black Whirlwind to be so sharp and simply spoke up directly: "The international server treasure map dungeon. Take this kid with you. I promise he won't cause trouble, and I'll order him to do everything he can to cooperate with you."
Qi Xu was surprised. "I didn't go to your server. How can you talk to me?"
"I used special methods. I only have three minutes. Trust me. Even though I don't think highly of you—in fact, I really dislike you—I won't screw things over when we need to stand united against outsiders. I'll have Threeking bring all the useful items and do everything he can to help you."
Bad Ball sounded rushed, but Qi Xu remained unhurried, putting his hands on his hips as he thought for a moment before speaking. "Why?"
"I want to win. I can't lose the first international competition. You can boss this kid around all you want. If he doesn't listen, I'll deal with him when we're back. I'll cover the entrance fee for the treasure map dungeon. You can distribute the rewards however you like. The items I prepare for you will be the most practical. Your ball buddy, Qiuqiu, doesn't even know what's in the first international server treasure map dungeon. It can't help you. Only I can. I can ask around. What I want is the result—to win, not to lose! If we lose and you refuse to listen to me, I'll do everything I can to kill you!"
Qi Xu had always known that Bad Ball had grand ambitions. He also understood that, at its core, nothing was absolutely good or bad—it was just a matter of different stances.
When it came to uniting against an external enemy, it was naturally a good thing! And this goal perfectly aligned with Qi Xu's own intention. It was a win-win with no downsides.
Yesterday, Qi Xu had already arranged with Wang Buyu to try using telepathy to contact The Third first.
He hadn't even walked in the door yet, and his goal was already achieved—courtesy of Bad Ball.
Even though Qi Xu had already agreed with Bad Ball's idea in his mind, he figured he might as well see if he could squeeze out a little more advantage.
"How do I know you're not sending this kid to spy on me? You two don't have a shred of credibility in my book."
"Then what do you want to do?"
They were almost out of the three-minute mark, and Bad Ball was getting anxious. For the first time in countless sessions, except for back when… he wasn't in charge of the international server competition.
Just thinking about how Invincible Black Whirlwind might embarrass them overseas made Bad Ball fidget uncontrollably. He couldn't settle down at all.
"Give me something good."
Qi Xu smiled shamelessly.
"Foolish! Shallow! Ignorant!"
After cursing, Bad Ball roared at the final moment, "50,000 vehicle upgrade cards! Agree, and we'll sign a contract. If not, get lost!"
Qi Xu didn't trust Bad Ball, and Bad Ball didn't trust Invincible Black Whirlwind either. The contract was the most important precondition for their cooperation.
Seeing he'd gotten enough, Qi Xu immediately agreed. When the contract appeared, he read it carefully from beginning to end, even had his own Chouchou check it for any issues, then signed it promptly.
"You think I'd tamper with the contract?"
"Still haven't reached three minutes? How are you still talking to me?"
Bad Ball exploded in rage. "You! We just signed the contract. We're in a cooperative relationship until the international server treasure map dungeon starts! Are you planning to go back on it?!"
Qi Xu had made a living by writing before everything went down, so he was a master at nitpicking. Completely unfazed, he replied, "Right, it's cooperation between me and Threeking. What does that have to do with you? You're just a management ball from another server. Can't you watch your boundaries? Stop coming around bothering me for no reason."
Even Qi Xu thought he was being pretty infuriating. He really had honed this skill over time.
But… that was exactly the effect he wanted. At the very least, he could openly cooperate with The Third now! On top of that, he'd scored 50,000 vehicle upgrade cards for free. No matter how you looked at it, it was a sweet deal!
Qiuqiu had stopped making any sound—either from being so furious it popped a gasket, or because the three minutes had run out.
….........
