Chapter 201 – Dangerous Man?

“Guild Leader, the Flower of Seven Sins’ attack came too suddenly. Setting aside Asura’s side, nearly all of our members who had gone to the primordial secret land had gotten killed. Currently, we have suffered over a thousand casualties already. Just replenishing their equipment will cost us at least 100,000 Gold. If we have them continue exploring the primordial secret land, I’m afraid our losses will be even more severe...” Blackie said with an ugly expression on his face.

Zero Wing had indeed managed to earn a significant amount of Coins through its Candlelight Hotels and Shops in Hundred Flow City and Abyssal Star City. It had even earned some Credits through the Asura Mercenary Alliance.

However, because of the Flower of Seven Sins’ abrupt attack, Zero Wing had lost practically all of the money it had earned in recent days. They even had to dip into the Coins they made through selling Shadow’s Epic Equipment previously.

If they excluded the Coins and Magic Crystals Shi Feng had used, Zero Wing only had a little over 400,000 Coins in its warehouse right now. These were all of the Coins that were left from selling Shadow’s Epic Equipment.

If they were to continue compensating for all of the equipment and progress Zero Wing’s internal members had lost because of the Flower of Seven Sins, the funds they had could, at most, last them for a week.

Not to mention, Zero Wing’s internal member count was continuously increasing as time passed. Meanwhile, the Credits needed to nurture these internal members mainly came from completing Asura’s commissioned quests. Now that it was inevitable for Zero Wing’s members to engage in combat with the Flower of Seven Sins’ members whenever they were out doing Asura’s commissions, Zero Wing was put into a very awkward position.

Although they could now access the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s rich resources, they had only opened up some business avenues in Slumber City. It would still take a considerable amount of time before they could start generating notable sums of profit. Before that happened, unless Zero Wing abstained from making any progress and thoroughly holed itself up in Abyssal Star City, the Guild’s doom was inevitable.

After pondering for a moment, Shi Feng said, “Have someone retrieve all of the Abyssal Heart Fragments from my personal warehouse and sell them at the Auction House. The money from those fragments should help us survive for some time.”

On top of launching an all-out offensive on the Asura Mercenary Alliance and its allies, the Flower of Seven Sins had also doubled the rewards it offered for the bounties it placed on Asura. While the Flower of Seven Sins had worsened its losses by doing so, it had also forced Asura to similarly raise the rewards for its Mount quests. This, in turn, resulted in severe losses for the mercenary alliance.

The Asura Mercenary Alliance was currently paying up to 20 Lineage Crystals per day due to the increased rewards. At this rate, Asura’s Lineage Crystal supply wouldn’t last more than half a month.

As for Zero Wing, the Guild’s situation was even worse than Asura’s. It was no wonder Aqua Rose had come to meet Shi Feng, confident that he would accept her offer.

Shi Feng had to admit that with Zero Wing’s current lack of foundation, the Guild really couldn’t compete with the various superpowers. Whether it was in terms of capital or manpower, Zero Wing was no match for the various superpowers at all.

“Sell the Abyssal Heart Fragments?” Blackie frowned when he heard Shi Feng’s words. “Guild Leader, isn’t this too much of a loss?”

The Abyssal Heart Fragments were incredibly rare and precious items. If used to produce Epic items, there was a chance the fragments could upgrade the Epic items to the Fragmented Legendary rank. On the main continent, one could exchange for a Fragmented Legendary item using just ten Abyssal Heart Fragments. The fragments were worth even more in the Miniature Ancient World.

Abyssal Heart Fragments could easily go for 20,000 Gold or more in the current Miniature Ancient World since even the various superpowers didn’t have a reliable way to acquire Fragmented Legendary items. Moreover, Fragmented Legendary items could provide players with massive improvements in strength. It was especially true for Fragmented Legendary items customized to suit a player. The value of such a Fragmented Legendary item was several times higher than the average Fragmented Legendary item.

However, if they were to sell their Abyssal Heart Fragments now, it was unlikely they could buy the fragments back again for just 20,000 Gold.

“It’s fine. Just sell them. We’ll recover these losses from the Flower of Seven Sins sooner or later!” Shi Feng said definitively.

Honestly, Shi Feng didn’t really mind losing the Abyssal Heart Fragments. Now that he had the Abyss Workshop Certificate, he would have no trouble getting his hands on better items. The only problem was that he needed more time to get his hands on these items.

“I understand. I’ll have someone sell those Abyssal Heart Fragments,” Blackie said, letting out a deep sigh before he hung up the call and contacted one of his trusted aides.

The current situation did not favor Zero Wing, so they had no choice but to endure. However, once they established proper trade channels in the Stratified Abyssal Realm, clashing with the Flower of Seven Sins would no longer be a problem.

…

While Shi Feng was on his call with Blackie, Aqua Rose and Unyielding Ice were flying back to Twilight Echo’s main headquarters in their private jet.

“Aqua, isn’t it too risky to leave 60 of our peak geniuses with Zero Wing?” Unyielding Ice asked worriedly.

Twilight Echo faced fierce competition in the newcomer market this year. Even after paying a significant price, Twilight Echo had only managed to recruit 100 peak geniuses. Leaving over half of these peak geniuses with Zero Wing was a risky gamble.

If Zero Wing failed to deliver on its promise, Twilight Echo might end up with a generation gap in peak experts. Even if those 60 peak geniuses eventually developed into peak experts after returning to the Guild, the delay in their growth would still severely affect the Guild’s development. After all, many of the Guild’s veteran experts could no longer perform as well as when they were in their prime. Newcomers were urgently needed to replace them.

“I admit that the partnership this time is a little radical,” Aqua Rose said, calmly acknowledging her risky behavior. “However, if things turn out positive, Twilight Echo will have a better initiative when the World Passage opens.”

“Do you have so much faith in that guy?” Unyielding Ice asked in confusion. She was well aware of Aqua Rose’s personality. Ever since the incident several years ago, Aqua Rose had stopped putting too much faith in other people.

Shi Feng might be an intermediary with Outerworlders, but his promise of turning Refinement Realm experts into Void Realm experts in just four months was too far-fetched. None of the Outerworld powers they encountered before had that kind of ability.

“It’s not that I trust him. It’s just that he really isn’t as simple as he appears,” Aqua Rose said, shaking her head. Then, she faintly smiled as she continued, “Setting aside how he managed to help Wu Lingling become a Refinement Realm expert in such a short time, just the information we have on him right now makes him a very interesting person. Did you know that he wasn’t even at the Refinement Realm a few months ago? Yet, when I sat before him just now, I felt danger coming from him.”

“Danger?” Unyielding Ice couldn’t help but look at Aqua Rose in shock.

On top of being a Tier 6 God-ranked expert, Aqua Rose’s mental strength standard had already reached the master rank, which granted her an incredibly accurate sixth strength. However, even among Tier 6 God-ranked experts, very few could cause Aqua Rose to feel threatened.

Yet, now, Aqua Rose was saying that she had felt danger coming from a second-rate Guild’s former Guild Leader?

“Although it is only a thought in my mind, I don’t think I am wrong. Zero Wing is likely much more powerful than we imagine,” Aqua Rose said, smiling. “Of course, we can’t discount the Flower of Seven Sins, either, since Gluttony is the one responsible for targeting Zero Wing. Gluttony’s band of lunatics is a menace even to the Five Great Super Guilds. So, there’s no saying which side is better.”

…

Time passed by quickly. After Shi Feng spent a day training and arranging Zero Wing’s and Asura’s affairs, the one-day system update for Slumber City also ended.

It’s about time I get back online.

After looking at the time, Shi Feng climbed back into the virtual gaming cabin in his villa and logged back into God’s Domain.