Shi Feng's voice was thick with surprise, and Ning Feng and the others turned to look at him with odd expressions.
"Is something wrong?" Shi Feng asked, puzzled by the strange looks.
The information Watery Rose had relayed to him definitely couldn't be wrong. Even if there had been a mistake on her end, Duan Hanshan had independently confirmed the fall of the Purple Thorn Kingdom. There was no way the Azure Merchant Association—a power on par with a super guild—could be mistaken as well.
"It's not that anything is wrong." Ning Feng shook his head and spoke softly. "It's just that the Purple Thorn Kingdom fell nine days ago."
"Nine days ago?"
Shi Feng was momentarily stunned. He thought Ning Feng was pulling his leg.
According to the intelligence Zero Wing had received, the Purple Thorn Kingdom had fallen less than a day ago. Even allowing for some error margin, it shouldn't be off by that much.
"The Purple Thorn Kingdom truly fell nine days ago. It shook the entire Divine Realm. The players and forces that had been operating there were in absolute misery," the third-tier Shield Warrior beside them nodded and chimed in. "Afterward, a great many players and forces that had escaped the Purple Thorn Kingdom banded together to seize resources from neighboring kingdoms. That led to two massive battles involving over a million combatants. Countless guilds were wiped off the map—even two second-rate guilds dissolved entirely, putting every major power in the surrounding regions on edge."
"Exactly. Then, three days ago, a massive swarm of monsters suddenly poured out of the Purple Thorn Kingdom and surged toward the Star Moon Kingdom. Fortunately, this time the Star Moon Kingdom didn't suffer the same problem where third-tier-and-above NPCs were unable to fight. But even so, in just half a day, nearly half of the Star Moon Kingdom's territory fell and became a nesting ground for those Holy Sculpture creatures," Ning Feng explained slowly, watching the disbelief on Shi Feng's face.
Shi Feng found it genuinely hard to believe.
But Ning Feng had no reason to lie to a complete stranger, and the expressions of everyone present were perfectly natural—nothing at all like they were putting on an act.
If all of these people were really acting, then he would honestly have to admire their skill.
Reaching the Vacuum State was necessary to fool his Domain perception. Only at the Vacuum State could players control the subtle movements and facial expressions that gave away a person trying to deceive someone.
Two hundred top-tier experts—that was a number not even the five great super guilds could produce.
"What exactly is going on?" Shi Feng's mind churned with questions. "I was inside the spatial labyrinth for seven or eight hours at most. How did nine whole days pass without me even noticing?"
From the moment he had received the news, he had rushed back to the Eastern Continent without a word, never even logging off to rest along the way. There was absolutely no possibility of having dozed off midway. Everything had happened while he was fully conscious.
"Nine days in seven or eight hours?" A possibility suddenly struck Shi Feng, and his expression turned grave. "Could I have been trapped in a space-time chaos zone?"
Time flow discrepancies were not uncommon within the Divine Realm. Usually, time moved more slowly inside, which was why a single day in the Divine Realm lasted forty-eight hours—equivalent to two days in the outside world.
But there were also special locations where time flowed at an extreme clip. In some cases, spending just half a day inside meant an entire month had passed outside. During that month, the player would remain in a state where they could not be disturbed—they could only exit naturally, otherwise there was a high risk of falling into a deep coma with no telling how long recovery would take.
Fortunately, such incidents were exceedingly rare in the Divine Realm—most people only ever heard rumors about them.
He never expected to experience it himself. And Watery Rose and the others might have been in the same situation…
"By the way, Vice Leader Ning Feng, how are things currently with the major powers in the Star Moon Kingdom and their efforts against the Holy Sculpture creatures?" Shi Feng steadied himself, calmed the turmoil in his heart, and asked Ning Feng.
Time had already passed, and there was nothing he could do about it. The only silver lining was that only half the Star Moon Kingdom had fallen. With Zero Wing's strength as the kingdom's number-one guild, plus Stone Forest City, things shouldn't have spiraled too far out of control. After all, besides the main force that had gone to the Western Continent, there were still people like Melancholy Smile and Orchid holding things down in the Star Moon Kingdom.
Since he had no way to contact the outside world from this area, his only option was to gather as much current intelligence as he could.
"I can only say the situation doesn't look good." Ning Feng shook his head. "The Holy Sculpture creatures were already having a devastating impact on the Star Moon Kingdom, and Zero Wing—the kingdom's number-one guild—for reasons unknown, didn't have a single main member show up when something this big happened. Fortunately, some Zero Wing reinforcements arrived from Stone Forest City to fight those Holy Sculpture creatures, and they barely managed to stabilize things."
"But precisely because of this, a force called the Hand of the Sacred Heart has emerged in the Star Moon Kingdom. Not only did they quickly establish a foothold in resource-rich areas swarming with Holy Sculpture creatures, they also built numerous guild towns. They even seized a fortress in the Orc Empire—despite it crawling with Holy Sculpture creatures—creating a large safe patrol zone that lets surrounding players once again operate and develop in those areas. At the same time, the Hand of the Sacred Heart has been rapidly absorbing second-rate and third-rate guilds across the kingdom, sparking battles everywhere."
"Moreover, every major super power—even the Black Water Guild—seems to be extremely wary of the Hand of the Sacred Heart. Not long ago, the Hand of the Sacred Heart conquered a guild headquarters city from the Star River Alliance. Right now, the Hand of the Sacred Heart's prestige in the Star Moon Kingdom has already surpassed what Zero Wing once held. It probably won't be long before they make their move against Zero Wing, and when that happens, the entire Star Moon Kingdom will be engulfed in flames once again."
At this, many people present sighed heavily.
They were all players of the Star Moon Kingdom. From the moment they had entered the Divine Realm, they had been living and developing within its borders. Facing the onslaught of the Holy Sculpture creatures was already dire enough, but instead of uniting, the kingdom's major powers were fighting each other even harder. At this rate, how could they possibly stand against those ever-strengthening Holy Sculpture creatures?
The Holy Sculpture creatures they faced now were far stronger than those encountered at the start.
The first Holy Sculpture creatures had been mere level-100 Lord-rank monsters. Forget their third-tier classes—even a small squad of second-tier experts could take them down. But the Holy Sculpture creatures they encountered now were Great Lord-rank at minimum, and Holy Sculpture Destroyers—high-level Great Lords—had begun to appear as well.
According to everyone's estimates, it probably wouldn't be long before fourth-tier Legendary monsters emerged among the Holy Sculpture creatures. When that happened, the entire Star Moon Kingdom would be finished.
"The Hand of the Sacred Heart?"
"Now that's interesting."
Shi Feng searched his memories from his previous life, but he couldn't recall ever hearing about this force. Still, for a power to rise so quickly in the Star Moon Kingdom after the Purple Thorn Kingdom's fall, establish a safe zone, and even capture a fortress in the Orc Empire—their foundations had to be formidable.
"Brother, we're escorting a trade caravan to Silver Wing Town. Would you care to come along? Right now, Silver Wing Town is garrisoned by fourth-tier direct guards and a host of powerful war puppets. It's one of the few safe havens within the Orc Empire, and it's also the hub of trade there. Our leader has considerable influence in Silver Wing Town, so if you're looking to gather intelligence, going there would make things much easier," the third-tier Shield Warrior suggested to the contemplative Shi Feng.
"I'd appreciate that," Shi Feng thanked him for the invitation.
He was completely lost in this area. He didn't even know the way to the Star Moon Kingdom, so going to Silver Wing Town would be ideal.
"By the way, what should I call you?" The third-tier Shield Warrior let out a quiet sigh of relief when Shi Feng agreed, then asked with curiosity.