Let MapleStory experience the Fourth Calamity

As the sandstorm subsided, the woman's face gradually became clear.

The little snail looked at that face and blurted out, "Sophia?"

The woman in front of me was wearing a coarse cloth apron stained with green juice. Apart from the fine lines etched by the wind and frost at the corners of her eyes, the contours of her eyebrows and eyes under her rough skin were almost identical to those of Sofia from Rainbow Village.

Upon hearing this name, the woman froze on the spot.

The tattered bamboo basket she was carrying fell to the sand, and the hemostatic herbs she had just picked from the cliff scattered all over the ground.

She questioned in a wary voice, "Who are you? Why do you know this name?"

This name, buried by the yellow sand for twenty years, should have been unknown to everyone long ago.

The little snail and the others looked at each other, immediately realizing they had mistaken someone for someone else.

He quickly stepped forward, identified himself as an outsider, and explained that this was just an old friend he had met in Rainbow Village.

The woman took a deep breath, her eyes gradually reddening.

She spoke in a trembling voice, "My name is Helena, and I run a pharmacy in the Warriors' Tribe. The Sophia you speak of is my younger sister, born of the same mother."

Helena then invited them into her shop.

The room was filled with the sweet scent of herbs. Under the dim light of an oil lamp, Helena poured water and began to recount her fragmented nightmare to them.

"That was when the environment had just undergone drastic changes, and water and food resources were becoming increasingly scarce."

Helena's hands clenched tighter and tighter. "We commoners have no idea what's going on up there."

I only remember one day, a group of vicious thugs stormed into the village, grabbing people indiscriminately.

As she recalled these events, fear flashed in her eyes: "My parents were beaten to death by them while trying to protect my sisters and me. I vaguely remember that those people were called something like wild boars."

The two sisters, who had lost their parents, were driven like livestock, chained up, along with countless other displaced refugees, all the way to the cold seaside.

There was a huge iron ship that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

"Everyone thought they were going to be put into the hold and wait to die. But during the handover, the officer in charge of receiving the ship suddenly drew his gun and a fierce conflict broke out with the thugs."

Helena tried her best to recall the scene from that year, "I only remember that the officer's name was Lucas. He caused a huge mess and forced Sofia and a group of people into a grain truck."

Helena gave a bitter laugh, tears streaming down her rough cheeks.

"It was so chaotic back then. I was pushed and knocked down by the crowd and somehow ended up on a dilapidated horse-drawn carriage heading to the plateau. From then on, my sister and I never saw each other again."

Helena leaned against the medicine cabinet, her fingers unconsciously digging into the wooden planks. "I hid in the haystack of the wagon and watched from afar as that officer named Lucas blew up the iron chain that allowed him to board the ship."

On that giant ship, some well-dressed men were cursing angrily, while the gangsters on the shore were like mad dogs trying to snatch back our "cargo".

That wasn't even plunder; it was a one-sided sacrifice in exchange for food.

Upon hearing this, Yu Wen frowned and suddenly interjected:

"Boss lady, you mentioned earlier that the people on the iron ship were dressed nicely. Did they have any distinctive markings? Like... metal badges with golden wings?"

Helena's shoulders trembled: "How did you know? I'll never forget that badge. Back then, those ruthless gang leaders would grovel before that golden winged badge when negotiating with the people on the ship."

These words were like a spark falling into a powder keg, instantly igniting an explosion in the minds of several players.

After hearing these words, the little snail, Yu Wen, and Xiao Yu exchanged glances.

As a player who has experienced all kinds of big events, this "game setting" worked perfectly for me.

"Damn, this worldview is so deeply distorted."

Yu Wen lowered his voice, "Brothers, do you remember that fat inspector I bumped into outside Pearl Harbor before?"

When Lucas slipped him the money, the fat man was wearing the Golden Wing Badge on his chest! That's the official emblem of the Sky City Trade Arbitration Committee!

"And what about that wild boar?"

Following this lead, Xiaoyu uncovered another layer of background: "Isn't that local gang on the outskirts of the ruined capital, which monopolizes the underground black market and collects protection money everywhere, the Wild Boar Brotherhood that the agent mentioned?"

The still-warm brain was working at lightning speed.

He recalled the old one-eyed underground emperor in the Pearl Harbor shipwreck area's lament that Lucas was once the highest-ranking officer in charge of a heavily armed fleet.

"Connect all the clues."

Yu Wen dipped his finger in the tea and drew three circles on the scratched wooden table, representing the mafia, Sky City, and Lucas, respectively.

He pointed to the intersection of the first two circles.

"Twenty years ago, the environment changed drastically, and resources were cut off. In order to maintain their extravagant lifestyle, the higher-ups in Sky City needed a large number of lower-level people to mine."

But considering themselves superior, they were unwilling to get their hands dirty, so they secretly supported the Wild Boar Brotherhood as a black glove, allowing them to capture people on a large scale on Treasure Island to use as consumables.

The little snail looked at the water stains on the table and continued to deduce the reasoning.

"And Lucas was the armed leader sent by Sky City to take over this batch of people and mines."

As he stood on the shore, watching countless innocent people being stuffed into the ship's hold like livestock, he saw through the cannibalistic nature of this system. So, at the last moment, he disobeyed orders.

Xiaoyu sighed and added, "Lucas is now the timid and submissive village chief of Rainbow Village."

Back then, he controlled the fleet's artillery and might even have held the Sky City's most secret and shameful secrets. The Sky City leadership dared not engage in a bloody confrontation, and the two sides ultimately reached a sordid political compromise.

"That's right, that should be it."

The lingering warmth wiped away the water stains on the table. "Lucas relinquished his military power and withdrew from the core of power forever. In exchange, he spared the lives of Sophia's group and retreated to Rainbow Village to live in anonymity."

The price he pays is that he has to bear the humiliation for the rest of his life, now feigning madness in Pearl Harbor, cleaning up the mess for GM and us, and watching helplessly as Sky City continues to exploit Treasure Island.

Having grasped this logic, the players felt a chill run down their spines.

The world-building is so dark it's suffocating.

What kind of oppression and scheming have the indigenous people been living under?

Looking at Helena, who was still deeply mired in guilt and confusion, Yu Wen, a player from the second closed beta test, consciously took a half step back.

The first two to be tested, the little snail and the little rain, who were born in Rainbow Village, stepped forward; it was their turn to provide some information.

"Boss lady."

The little snail spoke in as calm a tone as possible, "Your benefactor Lucas didn't die, and neither did Sophia. Not only did she survive, but she's doing very well in Rainbow Village. That village is protected like a paradise, and no gang dares to cause trouble there."

Helena was completely stunned.

The weathered old woman who owned the pharmacy covered her face with her hands and wept bitterly in the dimly lit shop.

That was pure joy and relief after shedding all despair.

After a long while, Helena finally wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

She bowed repeatedly to the players with gratitude, as if she had been revitalized.

"I need to prepare more travel expenses."

Helena murmured softly, a long-lost anticipation on her face, "Once I've saved enough money before next year, I'll go to Rainbow Village... to see her."

In the desolate sandstorm, a touch of warmth finally appeared in the dilapidated pharmacy.

The little snail and the others quietly left the pharmacy, not wanting to disturb this belated joy.

The pharmacy was like a large tent; once the curtains were drawn, the quiet sobbing inside was silenced.

A desolate highland wind, mixed with sand and dust, swept in, and a goose spat angrily on the ground, breaking the oppressive silence.

"Damn it, the more I think about this setting, the more infuriating it becomes."

The goose scratched a handful of its charred hair in frustration. "Those bastards from the Wild Boar Brotherhood, they came to this Warriors' Tribe to rob and kill people back then, and nobody did anything about it?"

The little snail stopped, his brow furrowed. He turned his head and looked at the towering warrior's temple in the distance, which resembled a fortress.

"That's the most illogical part."

His voice was full of incomprehension. "This martial arts instructor was willing to draw his sword and fight us to the death to protect the two blacksmiths. He clearly cared so much about the survival of the tribe..."

"Twenty years ago, when the Wild Boar Brotherhood slaughtered and transported civilians like livestock right under their noses, this righteous guardian, along with those powerful highland warriors, were there."

The little snail gritted its teeth and posed the question.

Where did they go?

The four men exchanged glances, gripped their weapons tightly, and strode towards the camp where the martial arts instructor was located.