Chapter 35: Joining the Rules

By the time Life-and-Death Brotherhood found Wang Liang, he and his group had already set up in a quiet spot outside Yanggu County, recruiting people.

Wang Liang didn’t know much about the ways of the players, but fortunately, his experience commanding troops in dreams had taught him which methods to use and when. He didn’t treat the players as a regular army; instead, he merged his understanding of them with his own experience and quickly established a set of rules.

Before allowing any player to join, he asked Ghost Without Fear and the others to clearly explain these rules: agree, and you’re welcome to join—everything will be managed according to these rules; disagree, and the city gate of Yanggu is in that direction—safe travels.

The rules Wang Liang set were actually quite reasonable. He understood that soldiers fought for rewards; a battle with no spoils would see men turn on you in an instant. So, the first rule was that all loot would be collected and distributed centrally.

Because of the presence of ghost cultivators, loot included not only the equipment dropped by enemies but also their corpses and similar items. For this reason, Wang Liang had specially applied to the system for an automatic loot collection feature, spending a sum to ensure that even if every one of them died, they could still receive their share of the spoils outside this world, as long as they carried the Hero’s Token.

Discovering this feature had made Wang Liang think back to Niu Xuanguang’s team in the previous world. He felt that team had never truly intended to help him rise; otherwise, they wouldn’t have pulled him in so carelessly, failing to explain the rules of joining. Yet because of this, Wang Liang had ended up with his first windfall, while Niu Xuanguang and his group never even had a chance to reclaim what was theirs—handing over many good things to Wang Liang for nothing.

Most players agreed to the rule that all spoils would be gathered and distributed centrally. None of them could guarantee they wouldn’t die in battle, and they all feared dying for nothing, with no share in the loot. The assurance that they would receive a share even in death was something none of them opposed.

With the first rule in place, there had to be a second: the method of dividing the spoils. Wang Liang understood perfectly well that logistics always came before battle; since time immemorial, wars were won with provisions. So, the logistics team’s contributions were factored into the loot distribution. Any player skilled in skinning, butchering, or bone removal could also count as logistics.

Ghost Without Fear and the others even helped Wang Liang draft a points table for the logistics team: one-third of the loot would be distributed according to logistics points. The remaining two-thirds would be allocated based on individual performance in battle.

Wang Liang didn’t fuss over which battlefield roles were more important; the calculation was simple and direct—damage done in battle determined your share. When the battle report came up, everyone’s points would be clear at a glance.

What about aggro management? That was out of the question. They weren’t a formal raid group, and there were no tanks, so the concept of aggro simply didn’t exist. If someone recklessly provoked a boss and died, their damage would drop to zero, and so would their points.

As for healers, all non-combat roles were counted as logistics and not included in the combat points tally.

This straightforward, even brutal arrangement drew little objection from the players who arrived. After all, even Wang Liang himself was subject to the same rules; everything depended on one’s own performance on the field.

When it came to boss fights, individual contributions were calculated separately, ensuring that no one could snatch a boss drop just because they had high overall points without actually contributing to that fight.

The third rule was introduced because the number of players might not be large; non-players could join—these might be NPCs brought in through connections, or player companions or servants. Regardless of their origin or abilities, their damage would only be counted at half the value of a player’s.

This made things much fairer, especially for those who played summoner-type roles; without such a limitation, no one would be able to compete with them for points.

The final and most crucial rule was battlefield discipline. Players could voice their opinions before a fight about which target to attack first, but once Wang Liang made a decision, everyone had to act together. Anyone who acted out of line would get one warning; the second time, they’d be expelled from the group.

So, when Life-and-Death Brotherhood and his two companions arrived, the scene they encountered looked a bit chaotic but was largely under control. Over thirty players had already accepted Wang Liang’s rules and started to maintain order of their own accord.

Even players who had close ties with Life-and-Death Brotherhood did the same. Some of them, knowing his thoughts, pulled him aside to persuade him.

“Brother, it’s useless,” one said. “Even though he isn’t using the DKP system we’re familiar with, his approach is reasonable. This is just a temporary team, and he hasn’t even said he deserves a cut for providing the Hero’s Token. He’s going to fight on the front lines himself. You want to change the DKP now? You’re in no position to argue.”

Hearing this, Life-and-Death Brotherhood almost jumped in protest.

This was exactly where Wang Liang was clever. If he had done as Ghost Without Fear and the others suggested and claimed a share of the loot for himself right from the start, these rules would never have been accepted so smoothly. But Wang Liang simply said nothing about his sacrifice for the Hero’s Token, and the players naturally felt indebted to him. Though such goodwill might be diluted by self-interest, this was only a short-term alliance—just a day or two. Once the boss was down, the group would disperse; sentiment meant nothing here.

Faced with this situation, Life-and-Death Brotherhood felt as if countless daggers were slicing through his heart. Years of effort, years of painstaking work, had come to this.

He wished he could charge into the crowd and cut down that versatile Wang Jilong on the spot.

But when he looked over and saw Wang Liang, holding his Slaughter Blade and speaking eloquently in the crowd, he could only take a deep breath and comfort himself: “I’m fine. I’m all right. The quest is still ongoing.”

Finally, he walked up to Wang Liang, gritted his teeth, and said, “I want to join.”

Without even looking at him, Wang Liang casually pointed to the side. “Sign up over there.”