Fang Shihan's words echoed through the quiet top-floor reception room, and in an instant the entire room fell deathly silent.
"Black Flame?"
"He's Black Flame?"
Matt and Yubai, standing behind Fang Shihan, stared at Shi Feng in utter disbelief.
Setting aside the fact that he was a member of one of the five great super-guilds in the Divine Realm, virtually every major superpower currently operating in the Divine Realm knew the name Black Flame by now — and it was no exaggeration to say they all feared it.
After all, Black Flame's personal strength was far too terrifying. He had single-handedly developed Zero Wing into its current scale, becoming a legend of the Divine Realm's Eastern Continent, revered and awed by countless players.
But because Black Flame's identity had always been shrouded in mystery, no one had ever learned his true identity to this day. Many factions and players speculated that Black Flame's background was enormously powerful and that the forces behind him were incomparably secretive. Some even guessed that Black Flame had to be over thirty-five years old — certainly not as young as he appeared. After all, the Divine Realm adjusted one's appearance, and looking ten or twenty years younger than one's actual age was perfectly normal.
Yet now Fang Shihan was claiming that Shi Feng — who appeared no older than his twenties — was the legendary Zero Wing Guild Master, Black Flame? How could anyone believe that?
Liang Jing, standing at Shi Feng's side, felt her expression shift dramatically, her heart tightening with anxiety. Shi Feng's true identity was one of Zero Wing's most critical secrets. Very few within the entire guild knew the truth, and those who did were all core members of Zero Wing's senior leadership. She had only been quietly informed because she needed to handle a great deal of the guild's confidential affairs.
Zero Wing's meteoric rise owed much to the mystique surrounding Black Flame's identity. Many superpowers speculated that some major power stood behind Black Flame, because otherwise his achievements would be impossible. On top of that, no one could uncover his real identity, making it virtually impossible for anyone to target him openly — or rather, completely impossible. That was why none of the major factions had made a move; they had all been probing and testing instead.
Now that Fang Shihan had suddenly dropped these words, the consequences were almost too terrifying to imagine.
Though she wanted to speak up and refute Fang Shihan, Liang Jing — who managed all manner of affairs for the guild — knew full well that if she showed any panic or openly denied it, that would only make the other party even more certain the truth.
The only thing she could do was remain silent and let Shi Feng handle it.
Just as Matt and Yubai fixed their unblinking gazes on Shi Feng, he let out a soft sigh.
"That's right. Miss Fang is correct — I am Zero Wing's Guild Master, Black Flame." Shi Feng looked at Fang Shihan and gave a nod.
The moment those words left his mouth, Matt and Yubai's eyes went wide, shock crashing through them like tidal waves. They had never imagined it was actually true.
Beside them, Liang Jing's heart lurched. She hadn't expected Shi Feng to simply admit it without so much as a moment's hesitation — was he out of his mind?
"You're not even going to deny it?" Fang Shihan regarded the perfectly composed Shi Feng with a hint of surprise.
In her view, the exposure of Black Flame's identity was an event of enormous consequence for Zero Wing. Setting aside the ramifications within the Divine Realm, the major superpowers and financial conglomerates in the real world that had been keeping a close eye on Zero Wing would be more than enough to bring the guild to its knees. Once the identity was out in the open, those factions and conglomerates would have no reason to hold back against Zero Wing any longer.
"Even if I wanted to deny it, it probably wouldn't do much good," Shi Feng said calmly. "Ever since I was suddenly trapped in that virtual reality pod for days on end without any way to make contact, and you — who had been probing Zero Wing's headquarters all that time — would have had a very hard time not growing suspicious."
Since his escape from the Space-Time Maze, he had already suspected that Black Flame's identity might have been exposed. After all, he was the one making the major decisions in Zero Wing's real-world operations. With both of his identities suddenly vanishing simultaneously, both the Divine Realm and the real-world Zero Wing headquarters had been thrown into a state with no one at the helm — a situation that would easily invite suspicion.
Fang Shihan coming to visit him here, the head of the Tiandou Training Center, was really just an attempt to confirm exactly that.
"Guild Master Black Flame is truly impressive — you figured out immediately why I suspected you were Black Flame." Fang Shihan smiled faintly at Shi Feng. "To be honest, if not for this unexpected crisis, I probably never would have been able to confirm it. After all, who would suspect that an unnamed recent college graduate — someone who never received systematic training from a major superpower from a young age — would turn out to be a top-thirty expert on the Storm Rankings?"
In the Divine Realm, every expert worth their salt hailed from one of the great super-guilds or top-tier guilds, or had been grinding in the virtual gaming world for decades. The newer prodigies had only risen to prominence because major conglomerates poured vast resources into them, combined with the legacies of those super-guilds and top-tier guilds, and their own extraordinary talent.
And what about Shi Feng?
Young, with no backing to speak of, possessing only an incomplete inheritance — yet he had clawed his way into the top thirty, and might have even cracked the top ten by now. Who would believe that story?
Matt and Yubai, listening from the side, were deeply inclined to agree.
If they hadn't trusted Fang Shihan so implicitly — knowing she never acted without certainty — they never would have believed it was true. Yubai, who had witnessed Shi Feng's strength firsthand, felt it especially keenly.
Just from watching Black Flame's battles, one could tell he was absolutely not comparable to some newcomer who had only entered the virtual gaming world a few years ago. That seasoned cunning, that decisive boldness, that wealth of combat experience — even Yubai, who had spent over ten years inside Illusionary Myth, wasn't sure she could match it. How could a nameless recent graduate from the real world possibly measure up?
"Miss Fang, you've come all this way and said quite a lot — but I doubt you did all that just to confirm my identity. It can't be that trivial, surely?" Shi Feng asked in a level tone, looking at the visibly agitated Fang Shihan.
"Trivial? Guild Master Black Flame, do you have any idea how dire your situation will become once the major factions learn your true identity?" Yubai couldn't help but speak up, seeing how utterly indifferent Shi Feng appeared. "Right now, even if Illusionary Myth did nothing at all, simply leaking this information would be enough for the major factions to tear Zero Wing apart and leave nothing behind!"
It was one thing for the major factions not to know Black Flame's true identity. But now that they did, targeting Zero Wing would be child's play for them. And Shi Feng was acting like it was nothing — did he think this was some kind of children's game?
"That's enough, Yubai." Fang Shihan gently raised a hand to cut her off, then looked at Shi Feng. "I didn't come here for that. Since Guild Master Black Flame is willing to be so direct, then I'll be straightforward as well. With your identity now exposed, I'm certainly not the only one who knows. It won't be long before word reaches the major factions. I don't need to spell out what Zero Wing will be facing then — I'm sure you understand perfectly well."
"And what are you proposing?" Shi Feng asked with a slight smile.
"The Stone Forest City, and the method for reaching the Transcendent rank!" Fang Shihan declared. "Hand them over, and Zero Wing will be able to avoid all of those problems. On top of that, we can provide the guild with a supply of S-rank nutritional and vitality potions — which I imagine are exactly what Zero Wing needs most right now."