Lex tidak bisa menahan cernya. Meskipun dia tidak mendapat gambaran jelas siapa para penyerang ini, alasan serangan mereka tidak cocok dengannya. Jika mereka begitu mudah menghukum seluruh planet ke kematian atau perbudakan, berarti mereka sendiri seharusnya cukup kuat.
Lex ingat Henali punya beberapa konvensi, seperti melarang genosida massal dan budidaya jiwa, tapi pembatasan itu hanya berlaku khusus bagi makhluk di realm Dao. Apa konvensinya bagi makhluk yang lebih lemah, dia belum pernah melihat.
Fakta iblis begitu terang-terangan menggunakan berbagai planet untuk mematangkan setan mereka menunjukkan selama mereka tetap dalam batas tertentu, Henali akan mengizinkan genosida. Bahkan, tiba-tiba terbesit di pikirannya bahwa definisi genosida miliknya dan milik Henali mungkin berbeda. Lagipula, mereka berbicara dalam skala realm, sedangkan baginya satu planet saja sudah urusan besar.
Kalau memang begitu, tidak peduli seberapa dia ingin menolong planet kelahirannya, mereka mungkin sudah dalam pertarungan yang mustahil dimenangkan. Lagipula, meskipun dia mengadakan acara dan membuat orang lain membantu, bukan berarti mereka akan memerangi perang untuk mereka. Mereka hanya akan bertarung selama ada keuntungan. Jika dihadapkan pada kematian pasti, tidak ada cara Bumi bisa mendapatkan bantuan asing.
Meskipun banyak ini hanya spekulasi Lex, dia punya pengalaman yang membenarkannya. Pikirannya sudah mulai bekerja. Jika Bumi runtuh, tidak peduli seberapa dia ingin membantu pengungsi, dia tidak akan bisa merawat mereka selamanya, apalagi kalau jumlahnya banyak. Dalam kasus itu, alih-alih menagih sewa untuk durasi lama, dia bisa langsung menjual hak eksklusif beberapa Minor realm yang terhubung ke Inn.
Dengan itu mereka jadi mandiri lagi dengan sumber daya yang tersedia. Terlebih, ide menjual akses eksklusif ke Minor realm saat situasi darurat kedengarannya jauh lebih baik daripada membuat kelihatannya seperti Innkeeper memberikan perlakuan khusus untuk manusia. Lagipula, koneksi Minor realm baru terus terungkap di Inn hingga hari ini. Dia tetap tidak tahu persis berapa banyak Minor realm yang bisa dia akses, tapi pasti banyak.
Dengan rencana yang mulai terbentuk di benaknya, Lex menemukan kembali kepercayaan diri. Di Bumi robot-robot ini berpotensi jadi ancaman, tapi dia sama sekali tidak takut pada mereka di dalam Inn. Paling parah, dia tinggal mengusir mereka dari Inn.
Hanya karena dia takut pada Henali tidak berarti semua orang berhak mengintimidasi dia, tidak peduli seberapa kuat mereka.
"Kamu bisa artikan ketidakjawabaniku sesuka hatimu, aku tidak peduli. Kamu pikir kamu siapa, berjalan mendekatiku dan mengancamku? Kamu begitu yakin bisa menghadapiku dan lolos?"
"Rasiam manusia lemah, terpecah, dan hanya relevan karena satu manusia jadi kesayangan Henali. Karena kamu pilih untuk tidak menyerah, bersiaplah. Mesin yang kamu lawan sejauh ini setara dengan warga sipil rasmu. Setelah prajurit dikerahkan, kamu tidak akan punya kesempatan 저항."
Tunggu Lex balas, robot itu berbalik dan mulai mundur. Yang lain juga. Sepertinya mereka memutuskan karena tidak bisa mengalahkan Lex, mereka serahkan ke para profesional.
Lex berdiri beberapa menit, memindai area memastikan robot-robot itu pergi. Sepertinya mereka sudah pergi, dan tidak akan kembali dalam waktu dekat. Atau setidaknya yang akan datang bukan robot-robot ini, tapi yang disebut 'prajurit asli'.
Lex berbalik menghadap manusia, tapi alih-alih bersorak untuk dia, mereka mundur selangkah, seolah takut.
Lex ingin menghela napas. Inilah kenapa niemand ingin jadi pahlawan. Hanya di film dan acara TV mereka dapat penghargaan yang layak. Dia lupa total bahwa beberapa menit lalu, dia lutut-deep dalam tumpahan robot.
Dari antara para prajurit, mayor melangkah maju, wajah pucat dan napas terengah-engah. Meskipun mereka berhasil menahan robot, tidak berarti itu mudah.
"Tuan l- eeh... tuan, saya menerima perintah baru. Apakah Anda punya... apakah Anda punya 'Kunci Emas Midnight Inn'?"
"Ya, beberapa."
"Kalau bisa, saya ingin membelinya dari Anda. Menurut perintah terbaru, kami diperintah mundur ke Inn. Tidak ada penjelasan lebih lanjut, tapi perintahnya mendesak. Soal pembayaran, kalau Anda ikut saya, saya bisa berikan pembayarannya. Saya diberitahu setelah dikurangi biaya kunci, sisanya dikonversi ke mata uang bernama MP."
Lex senang terkejut. Dia bahkan tidak perlu merebut sumber daya dari alien, dijual langsung ke dia. Ini sempurna. Kalau dia suka sumber dayanya, dia bisa ambil sendiri dan bayar MP ekuivalen dari saku sendiri. Kalau tidak, Sistem akan urus konversinya ke MP, dia tidak perlu repot.
Ada satu hal saja. Kalau dia beli kuncinya sendiri, harga naik untuk setiap kunci berikutnya. Tapi kalau tamu beli kunci dari Toko Hadiah, harga tidak berubah.
"Mayor, kenapa tidak bawa saya ke uangnya dulu. Saya hanya punya satu kunci sisanya, tapi setelah Anda serahkan pembayaran, Anda bisa ke Inn dan beli kunci yang tersisa sendiri."
"Eeh, baik. Ikuti saya."
Mayor mulai membawa Lex ke basement, sekali lagi, sambil menyerahkan perintah ke semua prajurit untuk bersiap mundur permanen. Segera mereka berlari keliling fasilitas, mengumpulkan peralatan yang mereka butuhkan.
Lex could not help but frown. Although he did not get a clear idea of who these invaders were, the reason for their attack did not sit well with him. If they could condemn a whole planet to death or slavery so easily, then they should be considerably powerful themselves.
Lex remembered that the Henali had a few conventions, such as disallowing mass genocide and soul farming, but those restrictions only specifically applied to beings in the Dao realm. Whatever the conventions were for weaker beings, he had not seen them.
The fact that the devils so blatantly used various planets to mature their demons indicated that so long as they remained within certain limits, the Henali would allow genocide. In fact, it suddenly occurred to him that his definition of genocide and that of the Henali might differ. After all, they were speaking on a realm wide scale, whereas to him even a single planet was a big deal.
If that were the case, then no matter how much he wanted to help out his home planet, they may already be fighting a losing battle. After all, even if he hosted an event, and got others to help out, it wasn't as if they'd fight the war for them. They'd only fight so long as they have something to gain. If they were faced with inevitable death, then there was no way earth could garner any foreign help.
Although a lot of this was speculation on Lex's part, he had the exposure to justify it. His mind already started working. If the earth fell, regardless of how much he wanted to help the refugees, he wouldn't be able to take care of them indefinitely, especially if the numbers were high. In that case, instead of charging them rent for long durations of time, he could directly sell them exclusive rights to some of the Minor realms connected to the Inn.
That way they'd become self-sufficient again with the resources available. Moreover, the idea of selling exclusive access to Minor realms during special situations sounded a lot better than making it look like the Innkeeper was giving special preference to humans. After all, there were still new Minor realm connections being revealed within the Inn to this day. He still had no idea exactly how many Minor realms he had access to, but it was a lot of them.
With a plan formulating in his mind, Lex regained his confidence. On earth these robots could potentially be a threat, but he did not fear them inside the Inn at all. Worst comes to worst, he'll just kick them out of the Inn.
Just because he was afraid of the Henali did not mean everyone had the right to intimidate him, regardless of how powerful they may be.
"You can take my lack of answer however you wish, I couldn't care less. Who do you think you are anyway, to walk up to me and threaten me? Are you so confident that you can just face me and get away with it?"
"The human race is a weak, divided race that only has relevance due to a single human being the Henali's pet. Since you have chosen to not surrender, then prepare yourself. The machines you have fought so far are akin to the civilians of your race. Once the soldiers are deployed, you will have no chance of resistance."
Without waiting for Lex to reply, the robot turned away and began to retreat. So did the rest of the others. It seems they had decided that since they could not defeat Lex, they should leave it to the pros.
Lex stood there for a couple of minutes, scanning the area to make sure the robots were leaving. It seemed like they were gone, and wouldn't be returning any time soon. Or at least, the ones to arrive wouldn't be these robots, but the so-called 'actual soldiers'.
Lex turned around to face the humans, but instead of cheering for him, they took a step back, as if afraid.
Lex felt like sighing. This is probably why no one wanted to be a hero. Only in movies and tv shows do they get the proper accolades. He completely forgot that only a few minutes ago, he was knee deep in robot guts.
From between the soldiers, the major stepped forward, looking pale and out of breath. Although they had managed to hold back the robots, it did not mean that it was easy.
"Mr. l- uhhh… sir, I've received new orders. Would you happen to have any uh… would you happen to have any 'Midnight Inn golden keys'?"
"Yes, a few."
"If possible, I would like to purchase them off of you. According to the latest orders, we've been told to retreat to the Inn. Though no further explanation has been given, the order sounded urgent. As for the matter of payment, if you follow me, I can provide you with the payment. I've been told that after deducting the cost for the keys, the remainder is to be converted into a currency called MP.
Lex was pleasantly surprised. He didn't even need to reclaim the resources from the aliens, it was being sold to him directly. This was perfect. If he liked the resources, he could take them himself and pay the MP equivalent out of pocket. If not, the system would take care of converting it to MP itself, he didn't need to worry.
There was one caveat though. If he bought the keys himself, the price would increase for every subsequent key he bought. But if a guest bought the keys from the gift shop, the price never changed.
"Major, why don't you take me to the money first. I only have one key to spare, but after handing you the payment, you can go to the Inn and buy the remaining keys yourself."
"Uhh, alright. Follow me."
The major began to lead Lex to the basement, once again, while he passed an order to all the soldiers to pack up for a permanent retreat. Immediately they began running around the facility, gathering whatever equipment they needed.
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