"What do you mean?"
The fierce man stared at Huanyu in complete bewilderment at her cryptic words.
What did she mean by "my intuition was wrong, but Youxi Weixiao wasn't wrong"?
The current situation couldn't be more obvious. Huanyu herself had admitted as much — so what was this about Youxi Weixiao not being wrong?
At a time like this, when Zero Wing could barely keep itself together, claiming they would drive all the major superpowers out of the Cold Spring Great Forest was nothing short of a joke.
"Strictly speaking, I only guessed half right," Huanyu said, laughing in exasperation at the fierce man's blank expression. "Here, see for yourself. This is a message Junya just sent over."
"Junya? Has something new come up at the teleportation gate?" The fierce man looked curiously at the forwarded message.
Junya and the others had originally wanted to see the Dark World's teleportation gate for themselves and, while they were at it, meet some of the Dark World's experts to get a read on its true strength.
Moreover, Zero Wing had dispatched a sizable force to the Dark World, so Junya and her group going there as well would give them a chance to figure out what Zero Wing was really after.
But in his view, Zero Wing going to negotiate with those Dark World factions was a complete waste of time. After all, there was no wolf that didn't eat meat — especially when faced with a prize as tempting as the Cold Spring Great Forest and Stone Forest City. No matter how the negotiations went, the outcome would be the same.
He figured the best Zero Wing could hope for was to salvage a small share of Stone Forest City. Anything beyond that was pure fantasy. The Dark World boasted over thirty thousand Tier 3 experts — not something any single force could hope to contend with.
While the fierce man was carefully reading Junya's message, the first-floor lobby of the Freedom Hotel was filling up with more and more players. Beyond the members of various major factions, many top-tier independent adventurers had gathered as well, and every last one of them had turned their attention to Youxi Weixiao.
"Youxi Weixiao can't have passed along the wrong message, can she? Picking a fight with all the major superpowers at once — that's courting disaster on every front. Forget lasting a week, Stone Forest City won't even hold out three days." Xinghe Wangxi, who had just walked into the first-floor lobby, gaped at the scene before him, unable to believe his eyes.
Everyone who had established themselves in Stone Forest City was deeply concerned about its fate. While it was already common knowledge that the major superpowers had their eyes on the city, the fact that Zero Wing had truly burned all bridges still struck him as incredible.
He had always known Zero Wing's temperament — they would never bend under pressure, their methods were borderline insane, and every time they had staked everything on a gamble, they had somehow won.
But the superpowers they were facing now were no joke, to say nothing of the Dark World involved as well.
Picking a fight with all the major superpowers so openly was essentially painting themselves into a corner.
After all, Zero Wing was no longer what it once was. The resources and territory it now controlled rivaled those of the superpowers themselves. If they could stabilize Stone Forest City and continue growing their scale and their roster of top experts, becoming the Divine Realm's next great superpower was well within reach.
But just as Xinghe Wangxi was lamenting what Youxi Weixiao had said, the members of Demon's Heart had begun to smirk — Zhutian Luanshi in particular. He stared at Youxi Weixiao as though he were looking at a fool.
Truthfully, even he hadn't anticipated things developing this way.
He had expected Youxi Weixiao to try to wriggle out of it, or to explain it away as some kind of misunderstanding. Instead, she had thrown herself directly onto the opposing side of every major superpower, leaving absolutely no room for even a sliver of reconciliation.
If the major superpowers didn't take some action against Zero Wing now, they would lose face for good. And for the sake of that face alone, every last one of them would make Zero Wing pay.
"This young lady from Zero Wing, you really do talk big. You're saying that if we don't play by Zero Wing's rules in Stone Forest City, you'll kick us all out of the Cold Spring Great Forest? Do you really think Zero Wing calls the shots around here, and that none of us superpowers dare to put you in your place?" Zhutian Luanshi sneered at Youxi Weixiao.
With things having reached this point, he was more than happy to pour fuel on the fire and make sure Zero Wing was finished in the Cold Spring Great Forest for good.
"So it really did come down to a fight in the end…" Yuan Tiexin watched the unflinching Youxi Weixiao and laughed bitterly to himself.
He genuinely admired both Zero Wing's future prospects and Shi Feng's strength, and their partnership had indeed brought considerable benefits to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion — which was exactly why he had wanted to help Zero Wing.
Now it seemed like all of that had been for nothing.
Just as Yuan Tiexin was giving up and turning his thoughts to how he would navigate the fallout with the superpowers, a voice suddenly rang out from the crowd, echoing through the entire lobby.
"Miss Weixiao, I apologize for the misunderstanding, but the War Wolf Guild has come here solely to seek cooperation with Zero Wing. We are nothing like the other superpowers — I hope you won't mistake our intentions."