Chapter 543 - The Boss Behind the Scenes

Just as everyone inside the reception hall pondered the identity of the Candlelight Trading Firm’s true boss, Shi Feng finally arrived in White River City.

Overwhelming Smile’s reaction this time was really fast. I just ambushed one group, and it immediately became difficult to find any players. Shi Feng had originally intended to collect more Life Force points after Melancholic Smile had contacted him. However, he never expected Overwhelming Smile to have such decisive precautions. In the end, he had to give up on his endeavor.

It was indeed possible for a single top-tier expert to delay the development of an entire Guild. However, it was not possible for a person to single-handedly annihilate a large Guild, particularly a cautious Guild. Otherwise, many Guilds would have long since fallen into ruin.

After returning to White River City, Shi Feng noticed that both the number and quality of players had increased significantly.

“I wonder what has happened to Zero Wing’s recruitment?” Shi Feng then called up the Guild System.

Shi Feng had busied himself with the Candlelight Trading Firm; he had paid no attention to Zero Wing. He had left the Guild’s management to Aqua Rose and Blackie. If the two of them had not encountered any major issues, they normally would not contact him. So, Shi Feng was not all that worried that anything had happened to the Guild while he had been away.

Currently, Zero Wing was White River City’s publicly acknowledged number one Guild. It stood at the very forefront in every aspect.

Although Zero Wing continued to wage war on Overwhelming Smile, and plenty of battles still occurred between both Guilds every day, with the Candlelight Trading Firm’s financial support, this kind of expenditure was practically negligible. On the contrary, the ongoing war had stimulated Guild members’ motivation, allowing them to improve their combat techniques continuously. They had even made a huge profit through killing their enemies, killing two birds with one stone.

Upon opening the Guild’s System Panel, Shi Feng suddenly noticed that the Guild’s population had greatly increased.

Previously, the member count had balanced around 40,000. Now, however, there were already more than 50,000 players in Zero Wing. Moreover, this number continued to rise.

Throughout this time, Zero Wing had never changed its recruitment standards. On the contrary, the minimum requirements had been raised further in order to increase the quality of the new players. However, instead of seeing a decline in the number of players joining the Guild, the opposite had happened.

Fifty thousand people? Shi Feng pondered the situation.

During the initial stages of God’s Domain, a Guild with 50,000 members could definitely be considered a large Guild. Normally, such Guilds would split its members and develop themselves in multiple cities. Even for a major city like White River City, having 50,000 members at a time was about the limit. As for why there was a limit?

It was because there was a limit to the number of high-resource areas available. Once the player population reached a certain level, the high-resource areas would reach full capacity. Any increase in the player population would result in the decrease in their development speed. Hence, large Guilds would usually assign their members to various cities, allowing their members to develop quickly.

Zero Wing already had 50,000 members. Moreover, the players Zero Wing recruited all had strong techniques. Even if they had not reached the standards of an elite player, they were not too far. Overall, Zero Wing was stronger than second-rate Guilds and only slightly inferior to first-rate Guilds. Not even first-rate Guilds could match Zero Wing’s top combatants. Naturally, Zero Wing required more resources to strengthen itself.

It seems that I have to begin development in other cities earlier than expected.

Shi Feng had never expected for Zero Wing to develop so quickly.

His initial plan to expand Zero Wing to other cities would not have begun for another month. He had also expected for Zero Wing’s member count to reach 50,000 only two or three weeks after that. Now, however, he had to initiate his plan ahead of time.

For now, however, I need to deal with the Candlelight Trading Firm’s problem. Shi Feng then contacted Aqua Rose.

“Guild Leader, do you need something? I’m quite busy at the moment,” Aqua Rose asked pleasantly, smiling.

She had been extremely busy while Shi Feng had been away. Fire Dance and the others had focused on their special training, so all important matters regarding the Guild had been left to her to handle. However, thanks to Shi Feng’s massive daily shipments of top-tier equipment, particularly Level 30 Fine Gold and Dark Gold Equipment, and the flood of enthusiastic players who wanted to join Zero Wing, she was quite happy with her work.

Currently, Aqua Rose dared to pat her chest and guarantee that no elite members of other Guilds in Star-Moon Kingdom were better equipped than Zero Wing’s members. As for Zero Wing’s core members, the equipment they wore consisted of a mix of Level 25 Fine-Gold and Dark-Gold Equipment, with Dark-Gold Equipment being the majority.

If other Guilds discovered this, their eyes would pop out of their sockets.

“Someone’s here to make trouble. What do you think we should do?” Shi Feng laughed.

“Who’s the blind fool? They actually dare to cause trouble in White River City?” Aqua Rose was initially surprised. However, very quickly, she laughed and said, “Where are they? This lady will annihilate them this instant!”

Although Aqua Rose was very busy, her Level had not lagged behind the other core members whatsoever. It was the same for her equipment. Currently, she was Level 27 and fully equipped with Dark-Gold Equipment. The staff she wielded was also a staff exclusive to Elementalists that Shi Feng had obtained from the Twilight Treasure Chests. Although the staff’s Attributes were inferior to Blackie’s Epic ranked staff, her weapon’s Attributes were very well-suited for Elementalists. In PvP battles, it was in no way inferior to an Epic ranked staff.

“The Candlelight Trading Firm.”

When Shi Feng uttered those four words, a realization instantly struck Aqua Rose.

“Guild Leader, are we really going to do this?” Aqua Rose could not help but ask.

Currently, all players in White River City knew of the gathering of the many upper managers of first-rate and second-rate Guilds at the Candlelight Trading Firm. Presently, however, no one had discovered just who stood behind the Candlelight Trading Firm. Only a few core members of Zero Wing knew. After all, it wasn’t just Guilds that were capable of setting up a Shop; individuals could do so as well. Many of the Shops set up in minor cities were mostly set up by Workshops that focused on Lifestyle classes. Not to mention, Shi Feng had also set up the Candlelight Trading Firm under the name of the Horizon Alliance, making it nearly impossible to trace back to Zero Wing.

“Everybody will learn the truth sooner or later. This is just a little sooner than we had planned.” Shi Feng had never bothered hiding the fact that he had established the Horizon Alliance. It was far more convenient to manage a Shop through a Lifestyle Guild. After all, Combat Guilds and Lifestyle Guilds had completely different specializations, and the specialization of Lifestyle Guilds made them more suitable to develop Shops.

In the past, after discovering this matter, many large Guilds had promptly established a Lifestyle Guild to manage their Shops. Shi Feng had only established a Lifestyle Guild ahead of time.

“Guild Leader, leave it to me.” Aqua Rose also grew excited.

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Inside the Candlelight Trading Firm’s reception hall...

Due to Melancholic Smile’s statement, everyone inside the hall had begun to make their guesses of who might be the Candlelight Trading Firm’s owner.

However, even if the boss behind the scenes was impressive, what could he possibly do against so many large Guilds?

As everyone occupied themselves with their discussions, time slowly ticked by.

“This Candlelight Trading Firm sure knows how to treat its guests. They’ve already made us wait for such a long time. Do they really think we are easily bullied?” a representative of a second-rate Guild complained.

Everyone was greatly displeased with the situation. Who were they?

They were the overlords of God’s Domain.

Moreover, they had brought both money and sincerity with them.

Yet, the Candlelight Trading Firm actually dared make emperors like them wait so long. Whoever was behind the Firm must truly be tired of living.

Meanwhile, seated in a corner of the hall, Feng Xuanyang watched the souring situation with a smile.

The Candlelight Trading Firm might have been able to get away with angering the various small Guilds of White River City, but if it angered all of these large Guilds, who would dare supply the Firm?

Without materials, the Candlelight Trading Firm would not produce a single product.

However, Feng Xuanyang’s smile had not lasted long as the doors to the reception hall suddenly slammed open. In the next moment, a large group of players, roughly one hundred, marched into the hall.

These players all radiated imposing auras. Not a single one looked ordinary, and they were all Level 26 or above. Judging from the dazzling glow effect on their equipment, the most inferior equipment they had was Fine-Gold ranked, with the majority of their equipment consisting of Dark-Gold rank.

On their chests, every player wore a six-winged silver emblem. This was none other than Zero Wing’s Guild Emblem.

“Sorry I made you all wait for me.” Shi Feng suddenly crossed the reception hall’s threshold, smiling. Sweeping a glance over everyone present, he laughed and said, “I’m the owner of the Candlelight Trading Firm, Black Flame.”