Chapter 699 - Banished

“The Flower of Seven Sins?”

A serious expression overcame Shi Feng when he saw this name.

He had not expected that Exemplary Willow to be so vicious.

It would have been fine had she just hired a bunch of Red Names and small Workshops to harass Zero Wing. At most, it would make things a little difficult for the Guild. However, it was a completely different story if she hired the Flower of Seven Sins.

As a mysterious assassin organization of the virtual gaming world, nearly every virtual reality game contained traces of the Flower of Seven Sins. In the past, the Flower of Seven Sins had even developed itself into one of God’s Domain’s peak powers.

No Guild could afford to offend the Flower of Seven Sins.

As long as one could afford the organization’s price, these assassins could even take out a Super Guild’s Guild Leader. Everyone was afraid of them.

In the past, five Super Guilds had banded together to suppress the Flower of Seven Sins, threatening to retaliate if the organization accepted any assassination requests on their respective Guilds’ upper echelons. Unfortunately, those Super Guilds’ efforts had been futile. In less than ten days, all five Super Guilds gave up on suppressing the assassin organization; the Flower of Seven Sins had made a statement by killing their upper echelons once. There were even God-ranked experts among those who had died. From then on, the various Super Guilds in God’s Domain no longer bothered with the Flower of Seven Sins.

Back then, the incident had shaken God’s Domain. The Flower of Seven Sins had become a power that no one would dare provoke.

However, the organization’s asking price was also extraordinarily high. Even Open Source Corporation should feel a sting from the cost of hiring the organization.

Exemplary Willow must’ve hired the Flower of Seven Sins to deal with Zero Wing’s upper echelons. Even OSC can’t afford to target the entire Guild. Shi Feng gave the situation some thought.

The best method to deal with Zero Wing was to kill the Guild’s upper echelons to Level 0. This would certainly collapse both Zero Wing’s strength and reputation.

As for the possibility of the Flower of Seven Sins failing to carry out their contract...

Since its creation, the Flower of Seven Sins had never once failed a job. Their strength was practically endless.

Even Shi Feng was not confident of surviving an assassination attempt from the Flower of Seven Sins right now, not to mention the Guild’s other members.

If I remember correctly, before the Flower of Seven Sins takes action, the organization usually invests some time to investigate their target’ before taking action. In the past, the Flower of Seven Sins would take anywhere from five to ten days to collect information. If Exemplary Willow went directly to them and hired the organization after she returned from our meeting, I should still have roughly four days before the organization takes action.

If their target is much stronger than their initial estimations, the Flower of Seven Sins will adjust their quote to their employer and will only take action after their employer agrees to the new price.

Right now, the best way to avoid this mess is to increase the strength of the Guild’s upper echelons significantly within four days, forcing the Flower of Seven Sins to renew their price. If that happened, Exemplary Willow might not consider the price worth it and give up on the organization altogether.

Shi Feng had some understanding of the Flower of Seven Sins’ rules and pricing.

Killing a system-recognized, third-rate expert cost 500,000 Credits. The price increased depending on the expert’s strength. Moreover, this was only the price for one death.

As for system-recognized, second-rate experts, the minimum asking price was 3,000,000 Credits.

The minimum price for first-rate experts was 10,000,000 Credits.

Top-tier experts cost 100,000,000 Credits at the very minimum.

Above them would be apex experts, and the organization charged upwards of 500,000,000 Credits for each kill. Ordinary people could never afford the Flower of Seven Sins. Only those large Guilds and corporations with significant financial strength could do so.

However, rather than spend so much money to kill an opponent, it was more cost effective to send their own men to get the job done. Hence, only when one had no other options would they employ the Flower of Seven Sins.

This was precisely the case for Exemplary Willow right now. At this point, even the Star Alliance was helpless against Zero Wing in the Star-Moon Kingdom, not to mention Twilight Echo, which did not have the home ground advantage.

The cost of killing Zero Wing’s upper echelons to Level 0 was astronomical. Only a massive existence like the Open Source Corporation could afford such a price.

Currently, the Flower of Seven Sins had yet to determine the strength of Zero Wing’s upper echelons. Based on Shi Feng’s estimates, killing a fifth-floor expert of the Trial Tower should cost at least 500,000 Credits, a sixth-floor expert would cost at least 3,000,000 Credits, a seventh-floor expert would cost around 10,000,000 Credits, and an eight-floor expert should cost at least 100,000,000 Credits.

Currently, Zero Wing upper management consisted of more than 20 players, and the majority were sixth-floor experts. Only Fire Dance and Violet Cloud had reached the seventh floor. If everyone could improve their strength, the cost of killing them would increase exponentially. At that time, even OSC would have to reconsider.

Following which, Shi Feng contacted Aqua Rose, instructing her to turn the Guild’s upper echelons’ focus on improving their strength and progressing through the Trial Tower as much as possible. Shi Feng would also go all-out to supply everyone with the Hundred Berry Wine.

Although Aqua Rose did not understand Shi Feng’s intentions, since he had given the order, she had no choice but to do as he wished.

For a time, Zero Wing’s upper echelons ceased grinding monsters in the Stoneclaw Mountains. Instead, they focused on their progression in the Trial Tower.

As for Gentle Snow’s message, she wanted to inform Shi Feng of OSC’s investment into the Star Alliance, becoming one of the Guild’s major shareholders. She also stated that OSC intended to deal with Zero Wing, so he should be wary of the Star Alliance.

Naturally, Shi Feng had already taken appropriate measures to protect Zero Wing.

Hence, not long after Shi Feng read Gentle Snow’s message, shocking news spread throughout Star-Moon City.

Stone Forest Town was no longer open to the Star Alliance. Any Guild that was affiliated with the Star Alliance was also barred from Stone Forest Town.

This incident instantly attracted the attention of every player in the capital city.

Everyone was confused as to why Zero Wing would suddenly declare war against the Star Alliance.

The Stoneclaw Mountains had long since become an iconic symbol of Star-Moon City. Meanwhile, Stone Forest Town was an indispensable resting place for players grinding in the Stoneclaw Mountains.

Without this resting place, the Star Alliance would fall far behind the other Guilds. Of course, the Star Alliance could seek the aid of others to help them repair their equipment in Stone Forest Town. However, Shi Feng had prepared for that as well.

Shi Feng had limited the amount of equipment players could repair.

In other words, in addition to one’s own equipment, players visiting Stone Forest Town could only help one other player repair a set of equipment once. Moreover, he also placed a limit on the players’ Levels; only players who were Level 30 or above were allowed to repair their equipment in the town.

With this, he restricted the Star Alliance’s options of repairing equipment in Stone Forest Town.

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“Can someone tell me what is going on here?” When Galaxy Past received this information, he nearly jumped out of his seat from anger.

The situation had changed so suddenly that even Galaxy Past did not understand what had happened.

Why had Zero Wing turned against them?

The Star Alliance had only considered striking out against Zero Wing. The Guild had yet to take such considerations seriously. Yet, Zero Wing chose to humiliate the Star Alliance publicly.

The Star Alliance had already mobilized the majority of its combat power to the Stoneclaw Mountains. If the Star Alliance’s members could not rest in Stone Forest Town, how was the Guild supposed to compete with the other Guilds?

Silence filled conference hall. This was the first time anyone had seen Galaxy Past so furious.

“Guild Leader, maybe Zero Wing made this move because they think that we are becoming too big of a threat?” Purple Eye was also confused by Zero Wing’s drastic actions. They had clearly minded their own business until just recently.

“Zero Wing must’ve found out about OSC’s investment into the Star Alliance,” Red Feather reasoned.

“Even if we have OSC’s support, there is no reason for this. Zero Wing has clearly made us out to be their greatest enemy,” Purple Eye said as she shook her head.

“Go. Contact Black Flame immediately.” Galaxy Past agreed with Purple Eye’s opinion. He needed to sort out this matter with Black Flame properly.