Chapter 324: with translation of chapter title

Pfft.

A laugh came from beside the round table, as he had secretly lost to Ji Ming, allowing Rodrigues to escape the players' humiliation.

Apula, sitting beside him, looked bewildered; as a newcomer, he only knew that everyone present were former captives, and had no idea about the early anecdotes of the team's founding.

After finally managing to muster a little dignity, Cloi also let out a sigh, looking at this group that were nominally her subordinates but actually hard to describe—these monsters and spirits.

Forming the Soul Spirit Council was naturally Ji Ming's idea; with so many high-ranking prisoners now in the jail, sending them off to mine like before would be a terrible waste of talent—suitable people should be placed in suitable positions.

—for example, sending them to do hard labor.

According to his design for the game development team's structure, it should at least be divided into three levels.

The highest level is himself, the planner and commander of the team's overall direction, as well as the investor and provider of all operational resources.

The second level is the core production team, which includes angels, giant dragons, treants, dwarves, snow leopards, and white wolves; whether contributing labor or intellect, they are responsible for holding up the game's framework and maintaining its internal stability when major external changes occur.

The third level is the player-cooperating team; its founding members include Da Huang, the village chief of Dog Dog Village, and the knight Qimis, as well as the beastman Huok and the members of the Iron Rope Adventure Squad that I brought into the dungeon. They must cooperate with the players' actions to the greatest extent according to the team's needs, and they are the NPCs with the highest appearance rate.

But over time, they have gradually shifted from being the players' guides to being guided by the players, losing their ability to act as a bridge between the game developers and the players.

Therefore, Ji Ming needs to establish a completely new, stronger, and more efficient department to take over their responsibility.

As captives taken by force, their loyalty is naturally low; if they are simply thrown into jail or given an unimportant idle post, problems will eventually arise.

To solve this problem once and for all, we must give them enough busy work and good treatment, binding them thoroughly to the chariot of the Soul Spirit Throne, so that they can no longer and will not want to leave.

Hey, Ji Ming needs a strong new department, and there just happens to be a batch of special combat power with nowhere to go—what a coincidence!

Thus the Soul Spirit Council was born, appearing as part of the new map in the dungeon.

... this name is definitely not Ji Ming deliberately disgusting Lao Yang Tou; as everyone knows, being a paragon of order and goodness chosen by the Holy Light God, he has always respected the elderly.

"Hey, Wendigo, I never expected you to answer my call. It's me, I'm the Master of Living Spirits. I've also set up my own council over here. Do you have time to come give some guidance? After all, there are some old acquaintances of yours here—spider and bird folks—come say hello to your former leader."

Wendigo didn't speak, just hung up. Ji Ming put down the magic channel, smacked his lips, and suddenly thought, "How is this not some kind of blond?"

No, no, this is going too far—I'm the Pure Love War God. How can I, after successfully capturing my target, call the victim to show off and even try to send a video tape? That's not decent!

Thus, feeling guilty, Ji Ming dialed again, intending to apologize to Wendigo.

"Hey, Lao Yang Tou, I really didn't mean to cuckold you, little sheep—listen to my explanation..."

Well, now really no one is answering.

Ji Ming, determined to form a lower council, first drafted a personnel list that included the Spider Queen, Avians, Dragon God, Lich, Werewolf, and Apulan—whom he struggled to describe, having dozens of chaotic personalities and being conjoined with an Earth Resentment Demon, a guy who needs to max out his buffs at White Eagle.

But while the list is easy, the position of council chair worries him; logically it should be him, yet since this is a sub-department of a sub-department, having himself as chair might lead to an awkward encounter with Lao Yang Tou, where they'd stand as equals, making him look foolish.

But if given to a certain councilor, the Spider Queen and Avians, having defected from the Shadow Church, would naturally band together in their new home, forming the same faction.

Although the Lich and Dragon God had never met before, both being solitary, they built a deep friendship in prison, and will surely stand together in the new department.

"Apulan" is indeed a person, but with so many personalities and the Earth Resentment Demon as a cheat, he doesn't need any allies—one person is already a team.

This way they form a stable triangle, and adding any faction could upset the balance.

In other words, having no shortage of strength, they only need a leader whom nobody dislikes, who poses no threat to them, and who doesn't meddle.

So Ji Ming referred to a very famous adventuring team from mythology and entrusted the precious council chair position to…

Cloi: "Huh? Me as council chair? Really?"

Low EQ: "Exactly, who made you so weak? I even gave you a vacation to go grind monsters at the combat training camp, yet your level still can't catch up—others can wipe out three of you with a flick of the wrist."

High EQ: "This shows my trust in you, Cloi—I actually believed you were capable all along!"

Ultra-high EQ: "Look, it's called the Soul Spirit Council—it's obviously modeled after whom? Don't you want to take revenge for your people?"

In this world, the strongest motivation is always profit, especially for those parts you were forced to give up due to external factors but now have a chance to reclaim.

Thus, Adel, who had originally been disheartened and planned to spend her life as is, will become a second Ji Ming for revenge, spending her days working overtime at the clinic honing her medical skills, and nights in the dungeon developing optimized magitek armor as a super overachiever.

And his background is even more tragic—his whole family killed, he fled alone from the depths of the Wasteland Plains, following magical beasts, eating raw flesh and drinking blood for days, just about to get back on track, when Ji Ming, trying to show his own value, bloodily abused him in public, causing him to lose control; the wolf pack he had just gathered was shattered, he couldn't escape the Shadow Demon's claw and became the first stumbling block of Sunlight City, then Ji Ming captured him, threw him into jail, tortured him into insanity, after release he was sent to patrol the barren wasteland, later reassigned to guard the dungeon entrance as a watchdog—Cloi, naturally, could also...

"Envoy Sir, I think I really can't do this!"

"If you can't do it, then… I'll beat you to death!"

"Alright, now I can do it."

To avoid being beaten to death by the Envoy Sir, Cloi ignored the players' excuses and began reciting the prescribed opening lines.

The so-called opening lines are just clichés heard in every game, meant to convey that…

——We are NPCs you can talk to; players can accept quests from us, and by building favor they can hire us, gaining the right to reverse‑execute player commands.

"That's harsh—can we even hire our own boss?"

Although the Dragon God and Spider Queen, being too large, aren't present, the Lich and Avians etc. are still here, so the players activated the scan function, revealing an incredibly lavish simple panel.

Then they realized, wow, except for the guard wolves all being level fifty or above, if they could cater to these big legs, they wouldn't have to wander sideways in another world for at least a year.

Thus the players showered these honorable councilors with gifts; the councilors felt like street vendors, each with a table piled high with miscellaneous bottles and jars.

Amid the frenzy of favor‑grinding, some players began asking more important questions—could the Lich teach a spell? Could the Spider Queen give a pet? And… does this Soul Spirit Shrine have any special structures inside?

"Hehe, of course there is."

The projected Dragon God let out a low rumble, pointing toward the lightning‑wreathed giant tower outside the window.

"Your purpose in coming here must be that, right? It's where the Sovereign Sir resides—if any of you can reach the top floor, you'll get a chance to meet Him."

"Wow!"

As He expected, the players gasped, their eyes on the high tower showing a hint of fervor.

But just then, a young man with an especially sharp gaze snorted coldly, uttering an out‑of‑place sound.

"Ridiculous—meet Him? What's the point of seeing a game boss?"

: ？？？ No names.

Even before these newly hired employees could show their loyalty with a salute, another player cut off his arrogance and snide remarks.

"Hey, isn't that President Park? Your level's rising fast, everyone's really into the game—your talk is just boring."

The one who spoke was naturally Fan Tao Zhu, who had come in together with the Gunblade Elites to scout the map. We're all folks who dabble in the business world, always comparing who's superior; their joking remarks were laced with barbs, full of sarcasm.

Especially after he tacked on a line, "Right, friends?", now whether it was the Gunblade Main House or members of the other internal-test guilds, they all burst out laughing in unison.

Such uproarious laughter was practically piercing Piao Renshuang's ears. Although as Silla's behind-the-scenes crown prince, relying on genuine national-level investment, he had quickly assembled his own powerful team, but how could it compare to the foundations of these internal-test veterans.

He could only hold back the bodyguard behind him who wanted to strike someone, trying to find something... find... a bit...

Damn it, why does everyone I look at dodge away?!

He couldn't find anyone to back him up; instead, this sweep of his gaze thoroughly exposed his timidity. No choice; to maintain 【Tiger Magpie】's standing in the game, Piao Renshuang also had to grit his teeth.

Haha, Mr. Fan truly lives up to the name of a game lover, but I still have to remind you: a game is a game; if you take it too seriously, you might end up being played by it.

But before his words had even finished, he hadn't had time to move his somewhat stiff facial muscles to put on a cold expression when he heard a snicker from the corner.

That was a man who looked somewhat weathered, holding a lit incense stick in his mouth and spat.

Damn, I don't know which fake-face bastard announced a ten-billion-dollar investment in the gaming industry; what bullshit the Park family Tiger Magpie.

Huh?

Piao Renshuang exploded upon hearing that; seeing it was a stranger made him even more furious, thinking 'I can't beat Fugue, can't I beat you?' He immediately wanted to order his bodyguard to teach a lesson to this ignorant fool who dared offend our Park family.

But just as the bodyguard was about to strike, he felt his body suddenly become extremely heavy; he quickly pulled up his panel and saw that his twenty-plus level strength-specialized physique had actually been immobilized by a spell.

Who is it?

Even if Piao Renshuang was reckless, as the heir of a great family he was certainly no spoiled idiot; upon sensing something amiss, he immediately looked around and saw not far away a woman wearing a long coat.

Although she looked somewhat unkempt, at least she had brushed that possibly never-groomed messy silver hair back, letting Piao Renshuang see a face that seemed somewhat familiar.

This is...

All right, senior, let him go; I can handle this myself.

Having called a halt to this newly risen legendary demon hunter, the long-time observer Howard stepped out from the crowd.

Recently he had recruited many people in real life who claimed to have superpowers or familial inheritances; after a somewhat ridiculous vetting, he let in a batch of idiots who had been deceived to the point that even they believed it.

Then they, together with Constanna Senior, loudly slapped their own faces, actually making all their bragging come true in the game, and thus he, who now commanded a large batch of ability-users, became an otherworldly version of Nick Fury, soon able to assemble a superhero team.

Upon seeing Howard arrive, Piao Renshuang immediately beamed and wanted to step forward to shake hands, but all he got in return was the other party planting their feet and a light remark.

Mr. Park, this Death God is a very important friend and strategic partner of our 【Starlight】 Guild; may I ask what conflict you have with him?

Death God!!

Piao Renshuang had of course looked over the internal-test star player survey data, naturally knowing this multiverse-level suicide champion's title, but he wasn't a decadent old man, so how could he possibly become...

But no matter what, I've recently been trying to find Thomas Capital for funding to keep adding investment to the game, and now Howard himself has proactively spoken up...

Haha, no, I just didn't realize he was the famous Death God; I was just about to go over and say hello.

Howard grinned.

Oh, is that so? Then I can relax~