MMORPG: Crowd Control

Lei Zhen was chuckling at his naivety to fall for such low-level deceptive words of Albert Freedman.

From the get-go, he was never assigned by Robert Knightman, but by the Holy Church.

How did he find out?

It was because Albert Freedman had mentioned Robert Knightman being tasked by a goddess, a detail that should have been unknown to others.

According to Kate's words, she had mentioned only her father, Robert, and some from the Holy Church knew about the purpose of the Ferold's Ring.

Therefore, even if Albert was assigned by Robert, he should not be able to know about this news, unless he was a spy from the Holy Church.

'Fool me once, but don't think you can fool me twice…' Lei Zhen's eyes turned ice-cold before taking a few seconds to return to his calm composure.

Being tricked and deceived was akin to betrayal, something that Lei Zhen absolutely despised. This was a trait similar to Chris, who hated betrayal more than anything, and the reason why they got along well.

Realizing this matter, Lei Zhen quickly texted Tang Qiaolian about Albert Freedman and warned her to be careful of NPC proclaiming to be a bartender or approaching her randomly.

Just when he finished texting, a familiar person came into the store, and his face was slightly red.

"Ugh, I can't believe my teammates actually betrayed me."

Yup, the familiar person was none other than Tie Longkun and he came in, ranting to Lei Zhen the moment he saw him.

"What happened?" Lei Zhen casually asked, acting as if he didn't know what happened to him.

Tie Longkun flashed a depressed smile as he explained the situation of what happened in Magnolia.

Of course, Lei Zhen was barely listening since he knew what it was about anyway.

"Anyway, I managed to team up with the Goddess Griselda and an unknown Chancellor. I tried so hard to earn their trust, but guess what I got in the end? A stab to the back and I was forced out of Magnolia for 24 freaking hours. Because of that, I'm now working this shift as well with you since I have nothing else to do."

As Tie Longkun continued to speak, he was bawling in sadness, causing Lei Zhen to feel slightly bad about his predicament.

However, it was only for a glimpse of a second as Lei Zhen patted his shoulders.

"Are you sure that you were betrayed or did your comrades do it for a reason?" Lei Zhen asked, seemingly acting as a consultant.

"What else could be?" Tie Longkun raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What other possible reason could they have to outright kill me when I have slain so many monsters for them?"

"If those comrades of yours really planned to betray you from the start, then wouldn't you have noticed it?"

"Uhhh… that is a good question."

"Look at you, my fellow coworker. Have you tried to look at your phone that's connected to the Magnolia chat system and see what they have to say?"

"Y-You're right, Lei Zhen. I was too enraged to even check my phone and rush straight here without thinking." Tie Longkun had a look of enlightenment as he quickly took out his phone.

And sure enough, there was a message from 'Goddsss Griselda' explaining the events and his eyes boggled wide when he even saw a transfer balance of 100 silver coins.

"Holy smokes, 100 silver coins transferred??!" Tie Longkun was practically jumping up and down in joy.

"I didn't get betrayed but it was a heroic sacrifice for the greater good. And Goddess Griselda even said they would wait for my revival before adventuring the swamp again." He added.

"Look at you all happy now. Shouldn't I receive some rewards for consulting you and preventing you from making a big mistake?" Lei Zhen teased, clearly enjoying the naivety of his coworker.

'If only my enemies are as innocent and naive as you. How easy would it be for me to take them down?'

Sometime later, Tie Longkun finally calmed his emotion after cheering for 5 minutes or so.

He smiled brightly at Lei Zhen and gave him a thumbs up. "Hehe, thanks for your words. Otherwise, I might have mistaken my fellow comrades as traitors."

"You're welcome!"

"Go and take some onigiri from the store. It'll be my treat." Tie Longkun laughed, patting his chest.

"Wow, getting 100 silver coins and only treating me to a three-dollar onigiri?" Lei Zhen chuckled softly.

Onigiri is a rice ball wrapped in seaweed with some fillings inside, making it very tasty and similar to sushi.

"Well, then what else do you prefer here? Other than the delicious rice ball of the onigiri and its ingredients, I don't know what else is good here. You don't seem like the type to eat candies or chips either."

"Don't worry, I'm just teasing you. Grab yourself an onigiri as well, and we can eat since there aren't any customers around."

"Alrighty then, I'm kind of hungry too now after my anger vanished completely." Tie Longkun said, rubbing his stomach that was growling a little bit.

With that said, Tie Longkun went to the section that stored onigiri and wondered which flavor to get.

There were tuna onigiri, salmon onigiri, teriyaki chicken onigiri, shrimp tempura onigiri, and many more flavors to choose from.

"Lei Zhen, what flavor do you prefer?" Tie Longkun turned toward him and asked, unable to make up his own decision.

Lei Zhen pondered for a second before deciding to get some fried food for tonight. He had always been eating healthy, so eating some fried food once in a while would be fine.

"Just get me the shrimp tempura onigiri." He then said, watching over from the register.

"Gotcha, two shrimp tempura onigiri it is." Tie Longkun chuckled, grabbing the two onigiris to the register and paying directly on his phone through the barcode.

Of course, it was priced at a discount using his employee status, and one of the great benefits of being an employee at a franchise convenience store.

As the two of them ate their late-night snack behind the register, Lei Zhen found it amicable to converse with Tie Longkun, something that was hard to find in this era.