Black Dragon Empire, Lakeheart City.
The teleportation passage leading to the Ice Crystal World had made Lakeheart City one of the most bustling cities in the Black Dragon Empire. Every day, hordes of players swarmed here, all for the chance to enter the Ice Crystal World and obtain its unique resources. Moreover, leveling up in the Ice Crystal World was significantly faster than in the outside world. Not only were the major guilds sending their members, but even members of various adventurer parties couldn't resist making the trip.
In a high-end restaurant not far from the teleportation square, Jiu Long Huang sat quietly by a floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the massive teleportation gate in the square with a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Just then, a tall and imposing man strode over — this was Long Xue, the branch guild master of the Dragon Phoenix Pavilion in the Black Dragon Empire.
"Guild Master, good news! I've already negotiated with the Miracle Guild. All we need to do is provide intelligence on Zero Wing's members in Lakeheart City, and Miracle will handle everything else. When it's done, everything Zero Wing has in the Black Dragon Empire will belong to us," Long Xue reported respectfully as he approached Jiu Long Huang.
"The Miracle Guild sure acts fast!" Jiu Long Huang laughed upon hearing the news. "I always said Miracle wouldn't just let things go. I was originally planning to quietly eliminate Zero Wing from Lakeheart City myself, but it looks like they've saved me quite a bit of trouble."
"According to my intelligence, Miracle has secretly sent at least twenty thousand expert players, plus another eighty thousand elite members as support," Long Xue said slowly. "To completely destroy Zero Wing's presence in the Black Dragon Empire, Miracle's Elder Council has even dispatched their First Vice Guild Master, Hun Duan Shi Fang — the one who's been leading campaigns on all fronts — to personally oversee the operation. It looks like they intend to end this quickly and restore Miracle's reputation in the shortest time possible."
"Hun Duan Shi Fang is coming too?" Jiu Long Huang was slightly surprised.
He hadn't met Hun Duan Shi Fang many times, but his reputation in the virtual gaming world was known to everyone — a true legend. From his meteoric rise to the present, he had created too many miracles to count. He was widely regarded as the fiercest warrior under Miracle's Guild Master.
Not long ago, Hun Duan Shi Fang had led Miracle to defeat a super guild on the Western Continent of the Divine Realm and seize a neutral city, causing a sensation among the superpowers. This was precisely why the Grand Guild Master didn't want any friction with Miracle.
The Miracle Guild was simply too powerful now. If not for the inheritance issue, they would have already become a super guild.
Having Hun Duan Shi Fang recalled directly had exceeded Jiu Long Huang's expectations.
"It's not just Hun Duan Shi Fang. To quickly deal with Zero Wing, Miracle also brought along twelve guild elders. Zero Wing is finished this time," Long Xue nodded.
In a superpower, anyone who became an elder had to have made enormous contributions to the guild and was a true member of the upper echelon. They also had to meet certain personal standards — much like the Arbiters of Return of the King. To become an elder, one needed to at least reach the Void Realm, or they wouldn't be able to command the respect of others.
With so many experts dispatched, Miracle was surely holding plenty of trump cards in reserve. One could only imagine how furious the Miracle Guild was with Zero Wing.
"Good. From now on, have our people keep a close eye on Zero Wing's members and report any developments to Miracle immediately." Jiu Long Huang glanced at the Zero Wing members walking along the street and smiled faintly. "I was originally waiting for the Beast Emperor's move, but it seems we can't afford to wait any longer."
A total of one hundred thousand troops surrounded Lakeheart City on all sides, and among them, twenty thousand were Miracle's expert players — far stronger than any first-rate guild's best. With Zero Wing's meager forces, they probably wouldn't even serve as a warm-up for Miracle.
Meanwhile, back in Zero Wing City in the Star Moon Kingdom, Shi Feng used a guild return scroll to teleport back right after finishing his instructions for Watercolor Rose's subsequent tasks.
The moment Shi Feng returned to Zero Wing City, he noticed that there were fewer players in the city than before, and it wasn't nearly as bustling as it had been. The members of the various major guilds had noticeably thinned out.
By the time Shi Feng returned to the Candlelight Trading Firm, business inside the shop was also considerably quieter than before.
"Guild Master, you're back." You Yu Wei Xiao looked at the returning Shi Feng and hurriedly reported, "The auction invitations we sent to major corporations and conglomerates have all been returned. Even some who were originally interested have expressed that they have no interest in the auction Zero Wing is holding this time, unless we're willing to sell the virtual shops in Zero Wing City."
"Nobody wants to rent them?" Shi Feng was surprised. "Did something happen at Witch's Hill?"
His proposal would naturally cause some corporations and conglomerates to back out, but it shouldn't have driven every single one of them away. The fact that every interested party had dropped out could only mean something new had come up.
"Yes. Three hours ago, two major guilds had already built small towns in Witch's Hill. They're only basic-level towns, but both have received the backing of every major guild in the Star Moon Kingdom. They plan to jointly develop towns in Witch's Hill and sell large numbers of virtual shops on the open market. Now all those corporations and conglomerates have gone over there to negotiate partnerships." You Yu Wei Xiao nodded. "Furthermore, based on the intelligence I've gathered, some major financial groups and first-rate guilds from other kingdoms have shown great interest and are preparing to invest. If they succeed, our Zero Wing City is going to take a serious hit. Guild Master, perhaps we should sell a small portion of the virtual shops first? We've only just moved into the training base, and there are so many places where money is needed. Our daily profits alone simply can't sustain the training base's operations."
"Impressive! They actually managed to build towns in Witch's Hill in such a short time." Shi Feng chuckled. "As for selling shops, there's no rush. If we're short on Credit Points, take the equipment with weaker stats from this batch and sell it through the Candlelight Trading Firm. Remember to sell in batches — don't let it go cheap. All the high-quality weapons and equipment should go straight into the guild warehouse."
With that, Shi Feng handed over all the dropped items he had collected from Garner Island to You Yu Wei Xiao.
Over seven thousand pieces of weapons and equipment in total, the worst of which were level 50 Mythril Rank gear. This left You Yu Wei Xiao completely stunned — she had no idea where Shi Feng had managed to get his hands on so many weapons and equipment.
Although the mainstream player level had already reached 50, level 50 equipment was extremely difficult to obtain. Iron Rank was one thing, but Mythril Rank was a challenge even for the major guilds, let alone independent players.
There were over seven thousand pieces here. Even if they released just one thousand and sold them for Credit Points, the profits would be enormous. For many players, purchasing with Credit Points was far preferable to spending gold coins. This went without saying for the major guilds — level 50 Mythril Rank equipment was scarce for all of them, and with corporations and financial groups backing them, Credit Points were never an issue. If Credit Points could solve a problem, then it wasn't a problem at all.
"Guild Master, I can really take these weapons and equipment to sell?" You Yu Wei Xiao asked Shi Feng. Normally, he was the most vocal opponent of using Divine Realm resources to exchange for Credit Points, calling it putting the cart before the horse. Now he was having her convert so many resources into Credit Points, and it felt somewhat unreal.
"Go ahead. Just don't sell them cheap." Shi Feng smiled and waved his hand, urging You Yu Wei Xiao to get moving.
Under normal circumstances, he naturally wouldn't approve, as the Zero Wing Guild was critically short on resources. But things were different now. The Source Iron Ore Vein was already in their hands, and as for level 50 Mythril Rank weapons and equipment, they were only valuable right now. In a little while, they wouldn't be. Since they were still worth something, converting them to Credit Points to support the training base's operations was a perfectly reasonable choice.
With Shi Feng's confirmation, You Yu Wei Xiao excitedly gathered all the weapons and equipment and had her subordinates quickly sort through them, separating out the ones with weaker stats. Then, piece by piece, she distributed them to the various Candlelight Trading Firm branches for sale — except this time, the currency was no longer the gold coins of before, but Credit Points.