Chapter 161

Chapter 161. How’s it going, coming to your senses? (2)

Of course, aside from all that, I was burning with a fierce will to fight.

In the chat window, responses (?) matching my reply popped up like mushrooms after rain…

—————————————-

-[5 are coming](Icarus)

-[Kya, as expected, our king of solo play with no friends]

-[Long live the king!]

-[Go far, but not too far.]

-[So from now on, is our king Laura?]

-[What?]

-[Isn’t this a problem to think about after surviving first?]

—————————————-

‘These damn bastards.’

I guess it’s because they’ve survived in this hellhole for so long.

Everyone seemed to have such sturdy mentalities, so I closed the chat window and hurriedly prepared to resist the five guys charging at me.

And the first thing I did was…

“Jessica, are there any ships currently being dismantled at the shipyard?”

“Yes, there’s one heavy cruiser and one destroyer.”

“Cancel all dismantling operations and have them repaired and rebuilt.”

“Ah… yes.”

I decided to hastily revive the ships I was dismantling for points to secure them as combat power.

After giving those orders…

“Jessica, how many resources do we have left?”

“Huh? Oh, 90,000 minerals and 10,000 rare resources!”

“That’s enough.”

Even if it meant exhausting all those resources, I was determined to hold out in this damn war of attrition.

I quickly moved to use the unlimited hiring function of the mercenary office, a benefit I gained from acquiring (?) Marian.

But here, I unexpectedly ran into a problem…

“I’m sorry, Commander Icarus, but the mercenary office currently has no capacity for hiring.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, of course, it’s not that you’ve been restricted or anything. The issue is that our office is having trouble finding mercenary groups for you to hire.”

“….”

Until now, I hadn’t needed to hire more, so I hadn’t realized this fact.

While there’s no limit to ‘my hiring’ at the mercenary office, separately…

As Marian told me yesterday, due to the recent war, so many troops have been mobilized that the mercenary office is struggling to provide mercenary groups for me to hire.

Of course, this wasn’t just talk.

—————————————-

<Event>

<Mercenary Shortage Crisis!>

<Details>

<Due to the recent clashes between the Pirate Alliance and the Earth Federation, not only the Pirate Alliance’s main force but also the hiring rates of mercenaries by commanders in the region have exploded. As a result, mercenary groups in other regions have completely dried up.>

<For the next week, the mercenary office will only be able to renew contracts with existing mercenary groups.>

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‘This is insane.’

The newly popped-up event message confirmed it outright.

Resigned to the mercenary office employee’s explanation, I groaned at the fact that I’d have to fight the enemy with only my current forces.

But I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing, so I headed straight to the command center.

‘Information is power…!’

I decided to quickly search the gallery for information about the large-scale invasion currently happening in the Central Zone.

But when I opened the gallery, oh my god…

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-[No armbands, let’s gooooooooo](15,235)

-[F*ck sex](64,123)

-[The armbands are too busy to work lololol](71,055)

-[Above is f*cking gay furry porn, and below is some pedo crap](186,133)

-[Nononononononononononono](59,144)

-[Can’t be the only one seeing this](91,560)

-[F*ck, please keep your gore stuff to yourselves, you damn bastards](56,615)

—————————————-

It was like Sodom and Gomorrah had unfolded in the modern world (?), and I couldn’t help but be shocked.

‘What the hell are the other armband bastards doing?’

Even though some rankers, including me, were under attack in the Central Zone…

There were only three of us, so the other rankers = armbands should be managing the gallery’s quality, right?

But in reality, for some reason, the armbands had half-given up on managing the gallery, leaving it filled with so much trash that finding the information I needed was nearly impossible.

This was…

Just when I thought there was no way out and was about to close the gallery, at that very moment…

—————————————-

-[Wristbands are working]

-[Comments are all blocked lol]

-[Seeing these blocked comments, it seems like real wristbands, not just top rankers, have arrived]

-[SSSTC]

-[For a pleasant gallery experience, I hope you live diligently today as well]

—————————————-

‘Oh.’

Like Jehovah raining orbital bombardment on Sodom and Gomorrah, it wasn’t user wristbands but the admin wristbands directly intervening, pushing away the crazy posts.

Only then, in the now pleasantly transformed gallery post list, could I find a post that would solve my questions.

—————————————-

Title: Explanation for those who just entered the gallery

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Image of a toad holding pizza in a chaotic scene]

Right now, the real wristbands are carpet-bombing, blocking idiots for months, so there’s no problem.

But since it was a mess just a moment ago, I’ll write this while I’m at it.

First, why was the gallery in chaos?

Because most of the wristbands who should be managing the gallery were in a state where they couldn’t engage in gallery activities.

You might wonder what that means, but if you hear about the current situation of the user wristbands, you’ll nod in understanding.

1. The 1st and 6th places are too busy with clan activities to intervene.

These two are currently busy with a full-scale clan war among themselves.

2. The 2nd and 4th places have no story.

Roughly heard, they lost in a war and are under internal discipline, so they’re not looking at the gallery at all.

3. The 3rd, 5th, and 10th places are reportedly getting ganged up on in the Central Zone.

Why they’re getting beaten is unknown.

Anyway, with the number of active members suddenly reduced to a third, the trolls are trying to burn down the gallery.

Why they’re doing this is unclear, but with tens of thousands rushing in, it’s just messed up.

And at some point, even those three gave up on managing and let it go, leading to a disaster.

But now, the admins are intervening to quickly normalize the situation.

Comments:

-[From now on, let’s have a time of praising the admins]

-[Admin punch! Admin punch!]

-[These guys were cursing the admins as idiots just an hour ago, and now they’re praising them]

-[lol]

-[How do you know that, Namgoong?]

-˪[There’s a way to know everything](Author)

-˪[What]

-[What’s this about the Central Zone? Are the top rankers fighting or something?]

-˪[No, some clans are launching a massive offensive against solo players living in the Central Zone](Author)

-˪[Oh, damn]

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Title: Attention!) Large-scale battles are currently ongoing at the Earth-Pirate border and the Central Zone!

Author: 까불이

Content: [Image of one cruiser battleship ramming another]

This is for those who can’t grasp the situation.

1. A small-scale clash between clans at the border of the Pirate Alliance and Earth Federation has now escalated into a large-scale battle involving major clans representing both factions (Loki, Humanity) and their main forces.

It seems like both Loki and Humanity are even involving their clan leaders, determined to have a full-scale battle.

Because of this, the mercenary office function is currently suspended.

2. Separately, small clans from various factions, led by Earth Federation, have launched a massive invasion into the Central Zone, where people who essentially live alone are gathered.

They move at different times and dates, and their reasons vary.

But it seems their common goal is to either absorb the existing solo players’ power or simply destroy them.

Comments:

-[Are these guys really trapped in a game?]

-[All they do is fight after eating, damn it]

-[That’s… because it’s a game…]

-[Hey, this isn’t easy.]

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‘…So that’s how it was.’

Although it was just a post explaining the gallery situation.

Thanks to it, I could understand not only my current situation.

But also the exact ‘war situation’ that’s unfolding.