As Shi Feng left the seventh-floor VIP suite, Lei Bao and Xiao Yu followed close behind, not lingering in the suite for even a moment.
"Are we just going to head back like this?" Xiao Yu looked at Shi Feng with some worry. "I have a feeling those two brothers won't just let this go."
"They definitely won't let it go, but I only came today to give them a heads-up — to make it clear that pulling strings behind the scenes won't work," Shi Feng said dismissively. "Besides, after what happened today, I think plenty of people will know that Zero Wing isn't someone you mess with. Even if the Fang family carries a lot of influence, those looking to deal with us will have to weigh whether it's worth the trouble."
Xiao Yu's expression brightened in realization.
The Fang family truly did dominate Fenglin City, but most of their moves relied on having others carry them out. Now that Shi Feng had taken down Fang Mingyu — the strongest of the Fang family's younger generation — he had not only crushed the family's prestige but also greatly bolstered Zero Wing's reputation. The impact was far from trivial. When the major factions had reservations about Zero Wing, they would naturally be less willing to do the Fang family's bidding — or might not help at all. After all, people always looked out for themselves first before considering others.
When the Fang family had been ascendant, everyone fell in line. But once a force of comparable strength appeared, people would start to hesitate.
"What we need to do now is accelerate our growth — expand Zero Wing's existing membership further. That means Tiandou Training Center needs to open new branches as soon as possible and ramp up recruitment efforts," Shi Feng said. "At the same time, we should purchase the latest Divine Realm combat equipment for Tiandou Training Center, set up a virtual combat platform, and establish a reward system."
In his previous life, the influence of the Divine Realm had far surpassed even professional martial arts — no industry could compare. The virtual combat platform had played a huge role in that, replacing traditional fighting tournaments to become the hottest phenomenon around.
The Divine Realm's influence was already enormous. Almost anyone you passed on the street was talking about things happening inside it, and even schoolchildren liked to introduce themselves with their Divine Realm IDs and levels.
Now, while the virtual combat platform hadn't yet exploded in popularity, it was the perfect time to get a foothold in Fenglin City.
Previously, Zero Wing hadn't had the capability to pull any of this off, and the timing hadn't been right either. But as more and more competitions emerged within the Divine Realm and people grew increasingly passionate about its combat — becoming ever more familiar with PKing and fighting strategies — the timing was nearly ripe.
"Opening new branches and purchasing all that equipment in Fenglin City won't come cheap. With our current finances, I'm afraid we..." Xiao Yu thought it was a sound idea in principle, but Tiandou Training Center was barely breaking even at the moment, and things on Zero Wing's side weren't exactly rosy either.
Though he now oversaw the training center, he regularly handled financial transfers with Liang Jing, so he had a fair understanding of Zero Wing's situation.
Zero Wing did have Shi Lin City — a veritable gold mine — but the guild had been purchasing vast quantities of materials, expanding aggressively, and spending was climbing ever higher. They had built new towns in multiple locations, and most critically, some settlements had appeared in the Abyssal Depths, drawing away a huge portion of the players there. Revenue had plummeted, leaving virtually no surplus to work with.
"For now, let's shelve the branch expansion. But the virtual combat platform needs to go up first," Shi Feng said after a moment's thought.
He was well aware of Zero Wing's financials. They might not have enough to open branches, but there was still money to buy equipment.
Any corporation or organization that wanted to scale rapidly needed a massive influx of capital, which was why companies sought outside investment to grow as fast as possible. But doing so diluted your own stake and weakened your say in decision-making, among other problems — and it came with heavy constraints, since other people's money didn't come free.
Worse, those who invested could become the deciding factor in any contest. Things that should have been in the bag could fall apart when those investors were bought off by rivals and stabbed you in the back. In the Divine Realm, such betrayals were all too common — most superpowers had clawed their way to the top through exactly that kind of backstabbing.
Right now, Zero Wing might be growing slowly, but they were building solid foundations, step by step. Outsiders found it nearly impossible to gain a foothold within Zero Wing, let alone influence it. This was precisely why the major superpowers found it so hard to take a bite out of Zero Wing. With any other faction, they would have been swallowed long ago.
"Got it," Xiao Yu nodded. "I'll get in touch right away."