Nighttime Empire, City of Nightfall.
The Star Ring headquarters, once ablaze with lights and thronged with crowds day and night, had seen a steady decline in visitors ever since Zero Wing's meteoric rise. By now, apart from guild members themselves, virtually no new applicants showed up seeking to join.
It could be said that among the four great guilds in the City of Nightfall, Star Ring had become the most downtrodden — it couldn't even compare with those so-called first-rate guilds.
Yet at this very moment, the conference hall on the top floor of the headquarters was packed to the brim. Among those present were representatives from numerous superpowers as well as a fair number of senior figures from various dark guilds, all gathered here to discuss how to secretly counter the ever-growing Zero Wing and fend off the invasion from the Outer World.
However, after reading the intelligence reports that had just landed in their hands, every single person in the room wore an ashen expression.
"Is Han Guang Shiying completely insane? She actually abandoned Mythic Illusion to lead her people straight into Zero Wing — isn't she afraid of retaliation?"
"Wasn't Han Guang Shiying always at odds with Zero Wing? What on earth is going on?"
"This whole thing seems to have caught Mythic Illusion off guard, too. According to the intel, the ten thousand or so people under Han Guang Shiying's command acted as though it had all been planned long in advance. They simultaneously divested their shop holdings across various NPC cities and exchanged all their redeemable resources from Mythic Illusion at the same time, leaving the guild with absolutely no room to react."
Though Han Guang Shiying's defection with her followers to Zero Wing paled in comparison to the Outer World's operations, it still left every superpower representative in the room stunned and bewildered.
Setting aside that Mythic Illusion was one of the five great super-guilds, Han Guang Shiying's position and strength within it meant she had a strong chance of becoming its future leader. And on top of that, Zero Wing's current situation was anything but optimistic.
Zero Wing possessed Zero Wing City — a transit hub connecting two continents — making it a thorn in the side of every major power in the Divine Realm. It was also the very first guild the Outer World's forces intended to crush.
Now that the Outer World's powers had already begun mobilizing and a full-scale war was on the verge of erupting, everyone was scrambling to avoid Zero Wing. Yet here was someone who voluntarily joined. No matter how they turned it over in their minds, the assembled crowd simply couldn't make sense of it. Some even suspected that Han Guang Shiying and Shi Feng had some sort of clandestine arrangement — otherwise, why would a woman with such a boundless future bring her people to join a guild that was teetering on the brink?
"Everyone, settle down!" Lu Tiandi rose from his seat, gazing over the increasingly noisy hall. "Even though Han Guang Shiying has joined Zero Wing and bolstered their strength somewhat, it won't change our plans in the slightest. Based on what I've gathered, this war will see more than ten Outer World superpowers leading NPC armies to attack both the Twin Tower Kingdom and the Star Moon Kingdom."
"To ensure the Twin Tower Kingdom and the Star Moon Kingdom fall as quickly as possible, we need to launch a propaganda campaign right away. We must do everything in our power to lure the expert players out of those two kingdoms, and at the same time keep players from other kingdoms and empires away from them. Without expert players to bolster their forces, those two kingdoms — with only Zero Wing and their NPC troops — will have no choice but to await their doom!"
The representatives of the various superpowers and the senior figures of the dark guilds all nodded in agreement.
"Chairman Lu, rest assured. We'll mobilize our people across every kingdom and empire to steer those independent experts away. We won't let a single one of them become a fighting force for Zero Wing!"
"Exactly. We can also post bounties, encouraging these experts to join the defensive corps of other kingdoms and empires. Those independent players will be more than happy to sign up, and when that happens, the Twin Tower and Star Moon Kingdoms will be left with no one to call upon!"
In the current climate, where Zero Wing stood unrivaled, their own lives had been anything but comfortable. On the surface, Zero Wing had Shi Feng — a fifth-tier Sword Saint — and even the five great super-guilds were, for the time being, powerless against him.
But behind the scenes, there was plenty of dirty work Zero Wing simply couldn't prevent.
In a clash between two worlds, players held a position of tremendous importance. Even a mere third-tier Class player could significantly influence the outcome of the war — it was never a matter of relying solely on NPCs. When an NPC fell in battle, reviving it was exceedingly difficult, but players could respawn and fight again and again. Moreover, the battlefield was vast. No matter how heaven-defying one's individual strength, at most they could affect a few localized areas. To secure victory, a massive number of expert players working in concert was essential.
The last world war had only been won on the Eastern Continent's side because so many powerful players had joined the fight, preventing the Outer World's NPC armies from achieving their objectives. Otherwise, the Eastern Continent would have fallen long ago.