Quadruple split.

Chapter 2681 Current Affairs
There's an old saying that goes, "Those who understand the times are the heroes."

In this sentence structure, the so-called heroes are generally the kind of great men who can bend and stretch, such as Han Xin who could endure the humiliation of crawling between someone's legs, King Goujian of Yue who could endure hardship and humiliation, and the small-leaved parasol tree that was forced to work extra hours a few months ago.

By observing the examples above, we can easily see that the so-called "flexibility" mainly focuses on "flexibility" and has almost nothing to do with "stretching".

Of course, considering that people often like to romanticize most of their actions, this statement is quite reasonable. Moreover, countless historical records and stories have shown us that people who know when to 'bow' are generally better than those who cannot bear the slightest grievance and can only 'stretch'.

That is why, as the cream of the crop among professional gamers, the person who is communicating with Mo Tan and Cordova in this conference room at this moment is certainly not short-sighted. Even Mr. Keyi from the Fishing King Club, who is much more inexperienced than others and has not yet been tainted by the dregs of the professional circle, has never intended to be an enemy of an organization like the Viper Merchant Guild.

Incompatible values ​​are minor issues, conflicting styles are minor issues, and difficulty in unifying moral values ​​are also minor issues. Ultimately, a mature person would not act impulsively. While it is true that acting bravely for a just cause is a good thing, it is absolutely not wrong to choose to protect oneself when there is a very high probability that one will be killed for standing up for others.

To put it bluntly, it's more of a form of wisdom than 'indifference'.

And without a doubt, regardless of whether these professional gamers are cold-hearted or not, they are definitely a group of people with brains. So even though they are willing to reach one, two, or even countless win-win deals with Mo Tan and others, they will theoretically not make any promises when it comes to the sensitive topic of being enemies with the Viper Merchant Guild.

Even the Undying Studio, which suffered a major setback at the hands of the Viper Merchant Guild, is no exception.

Gui Jianchou dared to tell Mo Tan that he did indeed have a grudge against the Viper Merchant Guild, mainly because as the 'victims,' it was only natural for them not to cause trouble for the other party.

Ultimately, all of this stems from the sheer strength of the Viper Merchant Guild—so strong that everyone can easily back down and retreat without any psychological burden.

Of course, if things develop normally, even if everyone is quite afraid of the Viper Merchant Guild, as long as Motan and Cordova continue to show strong hostility towards the Viper, they will definitely receive support from professional organizations. However, this support will mainly focus on providing 'resources'. Even if they can contribute some manpower and effort, they will definitely do a good job of keeping it secret and disclaiming any involvement.

Having witnessed the fate of the "Immortal Studio," everyone had already made up their minds that they must maintain a safe distance from such organizations until they have developed to a certain level, and try to avoid any interaction with them if possible.

After all, organizations like the Wanderer's Inn, the City of Miracles, the Mercenary Guild, the Archaeologists' Association, and even the Thieves' Guild would think twice before taking action against these organized and powerful otherworldly beings. However, the Viper Merchant Guild, by its very nature, is not afraid of being wiped out completely; any attack they make is essentially a fatal blow. Therefore, in order not to become the second "Undying" to be wiped out entirely, no one would openly offend those villains.

Let alone Motan and Cordoba, even the big sponsors who give these clubs and studios countless sums of money every year would never allow them to engage in such anti-intellectual practices.

While direct controlling shareholders like Luo Ou and Liu Hong could indeed induce [Red Constellation] and [Windbreaker Bird] to undertake such suicidal actions, the problem lies in the fact that these two bosses do not have any significant intellectual deficiencies, so naturally they would not do such a thing.

But then again—

There's an old saying that goes, "Those who understand the times are the heroes."

In this sentence structure, the so-called heroes are generally the kind of great men who can bend and stretch, such as Han Xin who could endure the humiliation of crawling between someone's legs, King Goujian of Yue who could endure hardship and humiliation, and the small-leaved parasol tree that was forced to work extra hours a few months ago.

For example, the various professional gaming organizations that followed the statement from [Songzhi Studio].

That's right. If the existence of the Viper Guild makes professional players quite wary, thus making these big shots who usually dominate and act arrogantly in other games as quiet as chickens, then after the spokesperson of Pine Branch Studio, Officer Hao, who is called Hermes in the game, made his statement, the nature of the matter changed completely!

As everyone knows, although [Songzhi] is not qualified as a game studio, it is not even 'third-rate'. Moreover, its competitiveness and influence are ridiculously low. It can't even compare to well-known peers, let alone online groups like [Yuhuo].

However, that's not the main point of the problem.

Because [Songzhi Studio] never needs to prove itself to others, but within the industry, almost all studios and clubs must prove themselves to [Songzhi Studio].

Although it's not always necessary, if [Pine Branch] needs someone to prove themselves and that person encounters some difficulties, then this 'interlude' will undoubtedly become a 'pause,' so that the person in trouble will never have to worry about this again.

In short, whether you are a small startup with only a couple of employees sleeping in a shared dormitory, or a super-large celebrity club like [Red Constellation] that has international influence and contributes a lot of taxes every year, you are all equal in front of [Pine Branch Studio].

The reason is simple: after all, all organizations engaged in this work, before the embodiment of a force representing supreme will, before the pine branch—symbolizing tenacious qualities, revolutionary will, and unwavering spirit—possessing a positive symbolic meaning, have only two choices:

Cooperate/obey/accept;

Or die.

Of course, the word 'death' might be a bit too harsh. After all, law enforcement by the people is humane, and the gaming industry isn't the kind of business that easily violates some kind of "blue holy book." So, let alone eating peanuts, there might not even be a symbolic criminal punishment. But even so, it's a foregone conclusion that those who refuse to cooperate will be simply sentenced to immediate execution in their careers.

Moreover, once someone makes a minor grudge, the troubles they face will likely be far more serious than simply ending their current career abruptly. However, to avoid getting too far off-topic, we'll leave those details aside for now, since theoretically no one would be that stupid.

And precisely because no one among those present was foolish enough to do that, the atmosphere in the meeting room immediately took a 180-degree turn after Officer Hao briefly expressed some opinions that he considered 'somewhat hasty'!

Sharp turn!
There's a saying, "The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it to heart." But the people present knew very well that if they thought Officer Hao wasn't paying attention when he said those words, they would be truly clueless.

Damn it, those are criminal gangs!
What is organized crime? The Viper Guild is organized crime! It is undeniably organized crime, without a doubt, and without any room for argument!
But the fact that Viper is a criminal organization is one thing; the fact that Viper was personally labeled a 'criminal organization' by Hermes, Officer Hao, and the spokesperson for [Pine Branch Studio] is quite another. Was that inconsiderate?

Don't take it seriously?
We should talk about it however we want.
What a joke! If any of these people actually believed Hermes's polite remark and didn't take his accusations against the Viper Guild seriously, they would be severely reprimanded by the club or studio's higher-ups as soon as they got back. They would be fined or even fired!
After that, the club leaders had to shamelessly try every means to find Hermes, even risking going to Bella Street in the game's Free City, to personally explain the situation, apologize, and boast that they would fight to the death with that blind serpent who had angered the heavens.

Even if we take a step back and assume that Officer Hermes, whose rank we don't know, was just saying it casually, everyone must treat this officer's casual remark with the utmost seriousness, decisiveness, and resolve!
This is a matter of principle, a matter of principle that absolutely cannot be taken lightly, a matter of principle that must be dealt with immediately even if it means the studio loses so much money this year!

The reason is simple: Hermes, appearing in such situations, never represents himself, but rather is a personification of a 'principle'.

His very existence is a principle.

Even if he made a mistake, he would still adhere to principles until he was transferred from his current position because of that mistake.

Moreover, who among those with a discerning eye doesn't know about the Viper Guild's actions within the Realm of Innocence? From the perspective of a high-ranking official, is it wrong to say that the Viper Guild is a criminal organization? Is there any fundamental error in that statement? Is there even a single word that is incorrect?
No, really no, not even a little bit.

Since Commander Hermes's words are reasonable, well-founded, and convincing, if none of you here do not hurry up and make a statement, then you are truly unworthy to be here in this meeting.

【Could it be that……】

While everyone was expressing their loyalty one by one, the Crimson Constellation, Jiuzhong, secretly glanced at the young man who was sitting quietly in the corner with a peaceful smile on his face. The young man nodded in greeting as soon as he noticed her gaze. His demeanor was very reassuring. After politely returning the smile, he turned his head naturally and began to chat casually with the people around him.

[While it's unlikely, if someone could actually influence that officer... well, just to be safe, let's remind everyone later that under no circumstances should we have any conflict with Brother Mo or his people.]

After making up his mind, Jiuzhong stopped thinking about those unfounded things and started chatting with people while racking his brains about how to fight the Viper Merchant Guild to the death.

This wasn't just her problem; in fact, almost everyone in the meeting room, except for Hermes, Cordova, and Motan, was worried about it.

So, putting Cordoba aside, is there some unspoken understanding between Hermes and Motan?
The answer is yes.

In fact, as early as when Cordova expressed that the professional players wanted to meet as soon as possible, Mo Tan had already foreseen the subsequent developments, and even guessed the reactions of everyone after he mentioned the Viper Merchant Guild.

This wasn't because he was exceptionally gifted or incredibly intelligent, but rather because the outcome was rather predictable.

Unfortunately, Mo Tan was not satisfied with the result he had guessed, so while chatting with Ji Xiaoge and others, he contacted Yi Dong and asked the latter, who often added friends as his agent, to contact Hermes and briefly convey his intention that 'Tan Mo' needed to put some pressure on the Viper Merchant Guild.

During this time, thanks to Mo Tan's intelligence, at least five criminals who had fallen into the "Innocent Realm" have been sent to where they belong. Officer Hao, who has made many contributions and owes Mo Tan a lot of favors, is also very righteous. After understanding the situation, he immediately said "no problem".

Of course, this doesn't mean he has completely become Mo Tan's dog. Rather, in Hermes's own eyes, who mingles in the underworld of the Free City, the Viper Guild is an extremely detestable and evil force that is completely contrary to his sense of justice.

So, is it wrong to declare war on organized crime?
As a good person, I haven't made things up or lied. I'm just simply expressing my opinion on the Viper Merchant Guild. Is there a problem with that?
Even assuming the worst, if one were to simply summarize the nature and actions of the Viper Guild and then submit it to their superiors, would the superiors' feedback be something like, "Let them be"?

That's utterly absurd.

In conclusion, Hermes felt absolutely no guilt about helping Mo Tan with this favor. In fact, he always felt that these professional gaming organizations, which made a fortune every year, should do something beneficial for ordinary people.

The cyber citizens in "The Realm of Innocence" are, of course, also considered ordinary citizens. Victims like those from "The Undying Studio," who have citizen ID cards, naturally deserve justice.

Whether the Immortal Works itself needs this justice or wants to seek it, Hermes doesn't care.

The word 'justice' itself can explain a lot.

If even upholding 'justice' requires hesitation and fear of this and that, then it's utterly meaningless.

"Ah."

Watching the big guys scrambling to express how much they hated the Viper Merchant Guild and what they wanted to do, Hermes let out a satisfied sneer.

As the atmosphere gradually shifted from lively to awkward, Mo Tan coughed lightly and stood up.

"If no one minds, I'd like to add a couple of points about causing trouble for the Viper Merchant Guild, just to get the ball rolling."

Chapter 2672: The End